atinyreads

[atinyreads]

Chaotic Good | ateez x reader

Pairing: ateez x reader

Genre: drama, au, romance, revenge

Warnings: being pushed off a bridge

Word Count: 1442 words

a/n: hi! so, this is a random idea that came to mind a while ago. honestly, I'm not 100% sure the direction I want to take this yet. this is just a draft of what came to mind. as such, I would really appreciate your feedback on it!! Comments, reblogs, or if you'd like to PM or send an ask to give your thoughts would mean a lot to me because I like the idea, but I'm not sure where to take it/if it could get confusing. Thank you for reading! <3

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Out of breath, you limp along in the tunnel, suppressing the shivers and fear that coils in your stomach.

Your heart is hammering in your chest erratically with dread twisting in your gut and your throat tightening with terror. As you came to a clearing, the sky above you were unnaturally dark with layers of gigantic and heavy dark clouds giving off an ominous and threatening feeling. The misty haze that surrounded you was like a veil bringing with it a feeling of menace and dread while the wind seemed to escalate in strength and rattled the branches of the trees. There was a flickering of white light bursting across the sky and in the distance, thunder rumbled like the echo of a drum.

Glancing around at your surroundings, you notice that you’re on a broken bridge with caution tape plastered across the railings. You’re battered and bloodied, your clothes torn and pain surges through your body - a searing and grating ache that causes you to grit your teeth in agony and close your eyes tightly. Your hair is frazzled and deep down, amidst all the anguish, you’re silently praying for someone to find you and save you.

Suddenly, a car approaches you, its headlight blinding you from seeing who it is. A figure steps out, beautifully dressed in contrast to you. Her high heels are a glossy black and her dress is an eye-catching and short blood red dress. Her neck and arms are adorned in beautiful gold jewellery but if you look closer, those jewels are yours.

As she approaches you, lightening flashes through the sky and cuts through the darkness like a camera flash while a thunderous echo brings forth a shower of rain that drenches the two of you in no time. Under the bridge, the sea boils and churns with crested waves hurling against the large boulders.

You were beginning to get delirious as the pain began to rob you of any rational thinking. With tears pooling at the rims of your eyes, you shallowly breath in a breathe before speaking to the person in front of you.

“Why?” You ask meekly, “Why are you doing this?”

The girl in front of you gloats evilly and as she steps right in front of you, she slaps you hard. 

“They’re mine,” she sneers, “You don’t deserve any of what you have.”

Love, adoration, affection and respect. You have won hearts from around the world in an instant ever since you started your career. You are a part of the group Ateez and while being the only female member brought forth a fair share of criticism and controversy, many fans fondly regarded you for being yourself - your talent shining through every time you took the stage and it was inspiring to all those who would be in the crowd. All eight boys love you dearly, notably Yunho, who was the first to pursue you.

But the person on this bridge with you, who is supposed to be your best friend, the one you thought you could trust - is actually a wolf in sheep’s clothing - a snake in the grass. Initially, she supported you dearly but you noticed a shift in her behaviour after returning from the European leg of the tour. She began to flirt with your boyfriends and get extremely close. She would borrow your things and never return them, forcing you to ask back for it constantly.

When you confronted her, she accused you of jealousy and told the boys about it. They stood up for you but then, strange things began to happen. You found yourself in scandals one right after the other, the worst being when a news outlet got wind of one of Yunho’s deepest secrets that only you and the boys knew. As much as you tried to defend yourself, Yunho refused to look at you, and the next thing you knew, an article released an exclusive about Yunho and your friend, who were both seen together sharing a kiss.

Yunho contends it was a drunken mistake but to help bury the hatchet of all the sudden scandals surrounding the group, the company confirms the two of them are dating - that they have known each other for a long time and have begun getting to know each other more intimately. Heartbroken and devastated, you yell at Yunho seeking answers but all he tells you that maybe it’s for the best right now, if you didn’t create all these problems, he wouldn’t have to pretend. The others are torn and spend less time with you outside of practice. 

And now, here you are, your friend Ara grabs your hair and pushes you harshly towards the broken railings. Your head begins to spin and you feel yourself moving in and out of consciousness. The colour was drained from your face, and fresh terror began to rear up within you. Your body was beginning to feel numb and you didn’t dare move as fear and anxiety eclipsed your thoughts.

“You won’t get away with this,” you cry out, “The heavens above see you for the monster that you are.”

“I already have gotten what I wanted,” she snips sharply, “And no one will take it away from me. Heaven would have to send someone better than me, and honestly? There isn’t anyone.”

Laughing maniacally, she pushes you hard and you feel the edges of the broken railing cutting your skin. Before you can even register what happens, you’re already falling. Time seems to slow down as memories of your life flashes across until you plunge in the deep, icy cold and roaring waters.

Thunder boomed throughout the sky, shaking everything to its core with the trees thrashing and writhing against the fierce winds while you sank to the bottom of the ocean, completely alone.

-

Goddess Persephone watches in anger and fury at the events that just occurred while her husband Hades remains pensive. Rage is thrumming through her veins and her irritation crackled with her temper sparking.

Many years ago when you were a baby, during the Spring Equinox, your parents, who were anthropologists, visited the temple of Demeter in Eleusis and prayed for your protection for years and years to come. Goddess Persephone was enamoured by your innocence and accepted you like her own, watching over you since then.

“This cannot happen.” she seethes.

“There is nothing we can do,” Hades responds, “Fata viam invenient.”

“No,” Persephone states, “That girl has haughtily challenged Fate itself. She believes she is higher than the Fates. I will not condone it.”

Hades sideyes Persephone recognizing the resolution in her voice.

“So what do you propose should happen?”

Persephone remains quiet for a minute before signalling a maid, “Find our daughter. Tell her she has a quest.”

Meanwhile, in a beautifully decorated, dimly-lit room, a young girl awakens from her slumber. As she stretches, she gazes around her room before slowly making her way out of bed. She drapes on her favourite ebony silk robe before exiting, taking the glass of orange juice that is already waiting for her. As she strolls down the golden hallway, those who are passing by bow before her. And then, a maid runs up to her.

“Your Mother wants to see you.”

Taken aback the girl responds, “What for?”

“You have a quest.”

-

“I don’t want a quest.” The girl states matter of factly towards her parents.

“Too bad. You’re doing it.” Hades responds blankly.

“Mommm, why are you sending me on a quest? Why can’t you send my brother?”

“Because Y/N, only you can fulfil this mission.”

Persephone gestures towards the crystal ball in the middle of the room. As she touches it, flashes of memories run across until the last one - the one at the bridge fades into the cloudy mist.

The girl is taken aback at the mistreatment you have incurred and turns to her mother with concern.

“She looks just like me…and she has the same name.”

“I named you after her. Her mother and father brought her to your Grandmother’s temple many years ago. You were born not too long after.”

“Why does she look like me?”

“The Fates work in mysterious ways so for that I cannot explain,” Persephone answers, “Nevertheless, we can use it to our advantage. I’m sending you to earth, you will take her place for now.”

“And do what exactly?”

Persephone turns to her daughter, an exact look-alike of you. Truly, it could possibly be considered a marvel to witness. The daughter of Hades and Persephone was an exact carbon copy of you.

Persephone smiles at her before declaring unapologetically. 

“Seek revenge.”

[atinyreads]

Shining Armor

Pairing: Knight! Jongho x fem! reader

Summary: Your village gets attacked in the middle of the night. Unlucky for you, Jongho decides to take you with him.

Word count: 2.2k

Disclaimer: I'm in no way condoning, justifying, encouraging nor promoting this kind of behavior. This is not supposed to represent Jongho in any way.

Warning: kidnapping, blood, murder, pillaging, a little bit of physical violence against the reader

◇◇◇

It was the middle of the night when you were woken up by the sound of snorting horses and their hooves that stomped over the gravel path of your village. The voices of men mixed together with the noises of the horses. You sat up in your bed, your heart was hammering against your ribcage. A group of men showing up in the middle of the night was never a good sign, especially in times of war.

As quiet as possible, you sneaked into the living area of the house. Your parents were already standing there together and peaked out of a small gap of the shutters. Your father turned his head when he heard you approach and then looked back at your mother. "You two, go hide, I'll deal with anyone who comes in." He tried to guide you both to a somewhat safe spit, but it was already too late.

The door of your small home swung open, and three men invaded your family's living space. One of the three stood out especially. His armor was pitch black, while the metallic armor of the other two were silver. The only thing they had in common was the blazon of the neighboring kindom on the right side of their chest. "One more move, and your heads are going to roll." The man in the black armored spoke before ordering the two men by his side to search the house for valuables and money. Your parents stood in front of you, trying to hide you away from the strangers eyes.

"Get out of my home!" Your father barked at the intruders, but the three of them were unimpressed by his order, they didn't even bother to turn their heads and just continued looting. It took just one stern glance from the black armored warrior to make anyone freeze up, including your Dad.

Their metallic armor was rustling while they moved around. You kept your eyes on the man who was still standing in the doorway. His hand was resting on the hilt of his sword while he made sure that his men didn't miss a single nook or cranny. From outside, you started to hear screams of women and men alike. From the gap between the shutters, you could see the neighboring house. The thatched roof was currently going up into bright red flames. The dry material was easy feeding material for the fire to grow.

You turned your attention back to the men in your home. The tension was unbearable. The three of you hoped that they would just take what they wanted and leave again. At first, it looked like you were one of the lucky few who would get away, as the men finished plundering your home and moved to leave. The two men left first, and the man in black armor was about to follow before he turned around again. His gaze traveled over your small family before his eyes caught you through a small gap between your parents' bodies. His eyes narrowed at your parents before piercing right through you. "I'm taking the girl with me." It wasn't a question. It wasn't a request. It was a fact, an order.

Your mother's gaze turned fearful, she quickly searched for eye contact with your father, but he wasn't even looking at her. Your father had puffed his chest out and protectively stood before you and your mother. He might have let this man silence him, but he wouldn't give up his family without a fight. Anger burned in his gaze, with which he fixated the intruder. "You already took everything we have. Leave my home, now!"

The warrior grimaced his face, his eyes were cold, and his stance unwavering he was looking at your father like he did when he looked at bugs he was about to squish between his fingers A few unlucky ladybugs had already shared this fate. Deserved, as he would say, because how dare them stain his flawless armor with their red color? The only color he allowed was the red blood he drew from his enemies.

You had never seen brown eyes that managed to look so cold, to the point your whole body began to shiver. "Took what exactly?" He spat out with as much disdained as he could muster. It was his mission to show everyone in his way how little he thought of them. His hand that was previously just resting on the hilt of his sword now gripped it instead, ready to draw if he had to. "There's barely anything in this shithole. Do you think that's going to satisfy anyone?"

The warrior puffed out his chest just like your father did, but his heavy armor made him look more imposing, even causing your father to take a step back. "Hand me your daughter. Now! Unless you want me to paint the steel of my sword with your blood." A lazy smug smile spread on his face as he leaned forward, getting into your father's face. "And then I'll take her anyway."

Your father wanted to fight back. You could see it in his eyes, but what could he realistically do? He was huge, armored, and armed, and on top of that, he was not alone. His men were plundering the village in other houses, men and women were screaming alike, but you couldn’t worry about it right now, you had to worry about yourself.

The warriors eyes were on you again. His steely gaze caused you to flinch back and hide behind your mother like a scared child. He chuckled. "A little shy, are we?" His voice was a low murmur. He was seemingly satisfied by your reaction. Your body tensed, your throat tightened, you wanted to cry from being under so much stress. "Lucky. That's how I like 'em." He threw another cocky glance in your father's direction. He obviously wanted to provoke him, and he succeeded.

With an angry scream, your father attacked the armored warrior. His fist was closed tight to the point his knuckles turned white, but his resistance against the strangers' orders was short-lived. The warrior drew his sword, with such ease that one could think it weighted nothing more than a feather. The sight made you want to puke as your father got impaled on the sharp weapon. Time went by slowly, the event just barely registered in your brain as you had to watch your father stumble back, clutching his hand over the wound, choking up blood and eventually going down to the floor with a dull thud.

The world went silent for a second before your mother let out a gut-wrenching scream. She dropped to her knees and crawled over to her husband. She cradled his face, begging him not to die and to stand back up, but it was pointless. His heart had stopped beating shortly after being pierced by the sword. You were left standing on weak legs, wide-eyed and unprotected. Just what the warrior wanted.

He put his sword back into its scabbard before walking up to you to pull you against him. His arm was wrapped around your waste, the metal of his armor poked into your soft sides. He apparently didn't think you would struggle because his grip wasn't particularly tight. You began to squirm. "No, no, no! Let me go!" You yelled at him, put your hands on his shoulder, and tried to push him away.

The only thing your actions did was earn yourself an eye roll from him and a more firm grip on your waste. "Yes, yes, yes!" It was clear that he was mocking you. "Don't make it harder than it needs to be." He muttered as he roughly pulled you with him out of your home.

You screamed and wriggled in his hold, hitting him and trying everything to get out of his grip. You even yelled for your mother, but she didn't react. She was staring at your dead father. She was completely apathetic, to the point she didn't even notice the abduction of her own mother.

"Jongho! Did no one teach you that you don't drag the ladies screaming and kicking out of their house?" A male voice called out, followed by a hyena like laugh. You looked into the direction the voice came from. It was a man with blonde hair, a boyish grin decorating his lips, and blood was sprinkled all over his face and armor.

The man earned himself an angry glare from the one who dragged you out along with him. "Shut it, Wooyoung! How about you get your ass back on your horse? We're done here."

Jongho kept dragging you with him. Your resistance was useless. He managed to pull you with him with the same kind of ease he could draw his sword. He led you to a pitch-black horse. It looked just as mean as its rider. Tears of terror rolled down your face as your mind slowly began to process this quick follow-up of events. "Let go!" You whimpered, your voice was high-pitched and cracked occasionally.

The warrior stopped. His head turned toward you, but his eyes were still as cold and steely as before. "Why are you crying?" With his free hand, he gripped your face. The metal of his armor was now also poking into the skin of your face. He held you still and moved his face closer to yours. Unexpectedly, his tongue darted out and licked away the tears that had escaped your eyes. You flinched back as much as you could with his hold on you, your nose scrunched up, and your body shivered with disgust at the wet feeling of his tongue on your cheek. "Don't worry. Your life will be good as my wife." He murmured with a soft tone, but instead of soothing you, it only made the hairs on the back of your neck stand up.

"Oh come on Jongho, did you never learn -" The voice of the man from before was heard again, you remembered Jongho calling him Wooyoung. He never got to finish what he wanted to say because Jongho's head shot up and locked his burning gaze on the blonde. "One more word, and you'll join the peasants under the ground!" That was enough to make Wooyoung shut up, he just raised his hands to show that he had given up and walked to his horse to avoid Jongho's path.

Now that Wooyoung was dealt with, you were back in Jongho's fixation. You were still struggling, although your attempts seemed almost pathetic. That was what he was probably thinking too, because a mocking grin tugged at his lips while he watched you squirm like a worm in a bird's beak. "That's enough, settle down."

His patience with you was running out, and when you still resisted, despite his stern order to settle down, he backhanded you across the face. A few of his men turned their head to see what was happening before quickly turning away again to stow away their looted goods, deciding that it wouldn't be worth it to mingle with Jongho's business. Your cheek was left red and warm, pulsating with pain. His slap would have already been powerful in itself, but the metallic gloves of his armor intensified the impact even more.

You held your warm cheek and looked up to the warrior in shock. The stinging pain forced tears to well up in your eyes again. "You'll need to learn some manners before you can mother my future children." He saw the look of horror on your face when he mentioned having children and chuckled lowly. The only thing you would remember from this moment was how emotionless his eyes looked. His brown eyes seemed black, the light of the burning houses behind you reflected in his dark eyes. He took the opportunity of you freezing up again and hoisted you up on his horse.

He joined you behind you so he could wrap his arms around your waist while he held the reigns. With a whistle, he signaled his men to mount up and get ready to leave. As you were forcefully taken with them, you turned your head to see the destruction they had caused in your hometown. Several buildings were burning down, black smoke disappeared into the black night sky, and a few corpses were lying around, some of them you even knew.

"Why me?" You asked when you turned around and stared forward. You could imagine how your mother must be feeling right now. Just like you, she lost everything in just one night.

You heard his chuckle from behind you, but there wasn't any humor in it. "Why not?"

Outraged you snapped your head around, your eyes were blazing with fury. "What do you mean, 'why not'?

"I mean exactly what I said. Why not. Do I need a reason to take you with me?" He asked. The men that were riding behind him were as quiet as the night, trying to hear what their General was saying. "Good, you want a reason? I think you'd look pretty in my bed. Does that satisfy you?" You saw the dirty smirk on his lips and quickly turned away again. You pressed your lips into a thin line. You wanted to scream but held it in the back of your throat. Still, a small frustrated sound left your mouth that only earned yourself another chuckle from Jongho.

[atinyreads]

dayoung you little shit

Pitiful, You're Pitiful

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ch. iii

group : ateez

pairing : aged up!wooyoung × aged up!reader

genre : angst, mature

word count : 2.5 k

warning : adultery, cheating, medical condition (?), mentions of loss/miscarriage, negative depiction of wooyoung

a/n : I'M FINALLY UPDATING THIS HOLY SHIT i would like to thank stress and my manic episode for making me abandon sleeping at 4 am and just went nyoom with this

a/a/n : btw happy black day 🫶🫶

buy me coffee ?

The three weeks that passed after Wooyoung's incident was rather hard on you but it was severely... bland.

Mind you, there was nothing in particular that happened but between finding out you were pregnant with a child you didn't even know how your cheating husband would feel about and finding out the person your husband cheated with was his staff member, you couldn't tell if your morning sickness was mostly caused by your pregnancy or as a physical reaction to your current marital situation. Not to mention your daughter had been severely opinionated regarding your care of her father.

Despite everything, you still took care of Wooyoung well. That day you left after finding out that Wooyoung was with a bitch who had some audacity to make big claims about her status, and you came back not two hours later with Wooyoung's things. Upon your arrival, Wooyoung was visibly tense, as if he was being wary and you assumed that the nurse said something about the whore he was with not being his wife and he panicked because how was she supposed to know that? You didn't make things easier for him either when you showed up all calm and collected unlike how a wife usually would react upon finding out that her husband had been hospitalized. He knew how you would usually fuss over him when he was ill so your behaviour struck to him as abnormal and concerning. Or well, something to be concerned about, it's not like he would be concerned over you at this point, right? Though, you excused yourself as being out of it and he just bought the lame excuse. Luckily, his mom soon came and later when you brought your children to visit him, your behaviour became less of a concern and the next two days he was under observation went by smoothly.

But still, the turmoil you felt didn't die down, it stayed stagnant within you and you were at a point where you were feeling too much but couldn't exactly let anything out. Except for puking, that's non-negotiable.

"You need to check that stomach bug out," Wooyoung said as he poured himself a glass of coffee upon hearing your footsteps nearing the kitchen. You had gotten into the habit of ignoring him because you didn't know what you would do or say to him if you opened your mouth. So you simply let out a hum of acknowledgement, not even bothering to answer him completely, not after you just emptied your stomach. "Did you drink any wine last night?" Wooyoung asked, now leaning on the counter to look at you who had situated yourself on the stove to prepare your children some breakfast before they had to go to school. But of course, you simply shook your head whilst turning the electronic inductor on and placing a pan over the surface.

It seemed like Wooyoung had taken note of your odd behaviour and while normally you would be glad that your husband had taken interest in you, all you felt was just sick to the pit of your stomach. It was as if his attention no longer mattered knowing that he shared that with someone else. Someone who hadn't done anything for him for years only to be betrayed yet someone worth risking his marriage and vows to you for.

Wooyoung huffed and pushed himself off the counter to go over to you, leaning on the countertop close to you to take a good look at your face. "I'm worried. You seem like you haven't been yourself for quite a while now," boy did you want to whack him and claw his eyes out for saying that because how dare he act like he cared when you knew he had something going on with a cheap side piece. But you held it in as best as you could, balling your hands tight that the spatula in your hand almost snapped and just shrugged, "d'know what you're talking about," you muttered lowly, trying to avoid as much interaction with him as you could. With a sigh, Wooyoung tried to push some hair out of your face but for some reason your body moved involuntarily out of the way as if revolted by his touch which surprised Wooyoung who stood aghast, staring at you with wide eyes as you stared him back with nose twitching. Knowing you (ironically), you would not avoid his touch or act as if he was going to hurt you because (to his knowledge) he had never hurt you nor does he have shown any inclination that you should be afraid of him. Both of you just stood there in the kitchen, Wooyoung in surprise at your reaction and you in annoyance and once you finally took a good look at him, you glared at him in anger and boy did Wooyoung took notice of that.

"What?" He asked, stupidly, you might add. "What?" You answered back, returning to scooping breakfast to your children's plates. "Okay, sure, act like you haven't been avoiding me these past three weeks, (y/n). Did something happen when I was in the hospital?" yes, you got hurt but you were as fine as a peach because your mistress was there, "Are you mad that you had to take care of me these past three weeks?" no, but I am mad that your whore claimed to be your wife to the nurses and even had the gall to visit you while I was right there against my will, pregnant and all, "Did I do something wrong?" and that was when you snapped your head and crossed your arms at Wooyoung, "I don't know, Wooyoung, you tell me. Did you do something wrong?" though he wanted you to answer him, the tone of your voice surprised him greatly to the point that he straightened up. "Hm? Tell me Wooyoung, is there something you think that you know is VERY wrong that you wish to tell me right here right now?"

How you wished you had a camera to capture just how stupid Wooyoung looked. It was obvious to him, or made obvious to him, that you knew that something was up but there was no way Wooyoung could confirm that you knew that he had been cheating on you with his subordinate out of all people. As much as it was the most logical answer to your sudden hostility, Wooyoung didn't want to accidentally confirm his suspicion much to your dismay.

The moment he heard footsteps rushing to the kitchen was the moment Wooyoung believed that God existed because he knew the conversation was coming to an end. "Morning!" Woohyun chirped, throwing his book bag by the doorway before rushing to give you a hug, completely unaware of the tense situation or even the stare-off you were having with your husband. With one final glare, you shifted your attention from the cheating bastard Wooyoung to Woohyun, smiling to cover up your annoyance, "Morning Woodonnie," it had been a while since Woohyun grew out of his lisp phase but the nickname stuck and he liked that you had a special name for him, "Slept good?" he nodded with a wide grin, "Want food?" his grin widened and his nod was firmer. "Dayoung, do you want food?" you asked your daughter, who was too busy grinning on her phone to actually look at you, "Hey, Dayoung?" You called out again, sighing after carefully handing Woohyun his plate of eggs and half a toast.

Realizing that Dayoung was ignoring you, Wooyoung huffed and snatched Dayoung's phone, causing her to let out a 'hey!', "Your mother was talking to you, Dayoung," he stated, unimpressed with his daughter's blatant disregard for you (for once). Dayoung rolled her eyes and turned to you, "Yeah, I want breakfast, if not I wouldn't have come here now, would I?" Wooyoung was about to scold her but he was stopped when he saw you visibly gag, halting everyone's activities. Then you gagged once more before dropping the spatula on the counter and rushing to the toilet without saying anything else.

"She hadn't thrown up on those eggs, did she?" Dayoung asked, cringing at the thought of you doing something to her breakfast. Wooyoung snapped his head to Dayoung and glared at her, "Can you not? Your mom is sick and the last thing she needed was for you to act disrespectful to her," he scolded which surprised Dayoung because, to her knowledge, Wooyoung hadn't been that defensive of you for a long while.

"Is mom okay?" Woohyun asked, worry visible on his face and he was about to get off his chair to go to you when Wooyoung patted him on his head, "Don't worry about mom, okay? She'll be fine and she'll be even finer if she sees you eating," he smiled, trying to assure Woohyun which thankfully work as Woohyun began eating his breakfast with so much gusto Wooyoung had to tell him to slow down.

When Wooyoung got to you, you were getting out of the bathroom, looking pale and sweaty. He immediately approached you with a small towel he grabbed from the linen closet when he was getting to you, "Really, (y/n), you need to go to the hospital and get this checked out. I'll go with you today, okay? You definitely can't go anywhere yourself right now, I-" you simply snatched the towel from his hand and pat your mouth dry, refusing to look at him as you turned away, "I'm fine, Wooyoung, I can manage myself," it was the first time that you hoped he would just shrug and go back to not caring but of course, Wooyoung didn't come through when you desperately needed him to. Instead of leaving you be like you wanted, Wooyoung grabbed your shoulders gently and turned you around, "(y/n), please stop being stubborn and let me help you, okay? You're clearly unwell and whatever it is, we can get rid of it and you'll be better!"

You knew that he didn't mean it like that because you knew that he didn't know about the growing person inside of you. But still, with your current state both physical and emotional, you were hurt and you couldn't help but think that his words meant that he didn't want the child that he helped create.

Balling your fists, you used the tension in your hands to stop yourself from rushing over and punching Wooyoung in the face. Instead, you pushed his hands off of you. "Like I said, I can manage myself. Shouldn't you be worried about work? You know, with people at work that you need to give more attention to?" you tried pushing past him to tend to your children but he effectively blocked your path with his body, frowning down at you, "What's with you? I'm trying to help here, (y/n), I'm worried about you!" "Well, maybe you've been ignoring me too much too long to the point that right now I'm so used to doing things myself without your help, Wooyoung. You've been very absent from me and I'm sorry to say this but it has come to the point that your presence is actually making me feel annoyed and I don't know if it was because of you in general or if it's because of this very uncharacteristic shift in your behaviour that's making me wonder if you're compensating for something or if you genuinely want to be there for me now."

Though you had managed to not physically hit him, your words stung worse than any slap you could deliver to him. Wooyoung was painfully aware of how distant he had been with you since your miscarriage and what he thought was his attempt to give you space had instead caused a rift in your marriage. He never meant for things to go this far, heck he never thought that he was capable of cheating on you but when another woman approached him when he was crying in the practice room to offer him a shoulder to cry on, he felt like his own pain was being acknowledged. After all, the loss didn't just happen to you, it happened to him too. While you were in your zombie state, Wooyoung manned the ship and put himself on the back burner, not even letting himself falter and stupidly not letting himself process the pain. He wasn't justifying his infidelity whatsoever, he knew that it was beyond wrong and he was disgusting for committing to it for so long. But it felt nice to let his vulnerability taken care of even if it ended up with him using someone he had no affection for as a mean to get some form of twisted connection because he was too ashamed of himself to touch you again.

Wooyoung stood there silent, not knowing how to react, or more like not knowing what to react to first. So you simply shook your head and walked past him, this time successfully.

Soon, Wooyoung heard Dayoung and Woohyun saying (yelling) their goodbyes which was then followed by the front door shutting.

When the silence of the empty house settled in on him, he found himself slumped on the couch, emotionless as your words kicked him all over. His chest burned with hatred for himself and his fingers became tingly from anxiety. He couldn't help but think of the ways he had failed as a husband and perhaps as a father considering how his daughter treated you. It dawned on him how mad he was when Dayoung disrespected you earlier, how he hated seeing you, who had always treated Dayoung with a lot of consideration, to be treated that way. And while he felt justified for chastising his daughter for her action, it was almost laughable how he didn't do the same when what he had been doing was a hundred, if not a thousand times more disrespectful. He was a hypocrite. You didn't deserve this.

Negative emotions welled inside Wooyoung, creating turmoil that almost made it hard for him to breathe.

Unfortunately, despite his realization, Wooyoung found himself driven to an action he had repeatedly done like a sick act of compensation when he was feeling bad. His hand fished the phone out of his pocket and his fingers moved as if on their own, immediately finding the contact that he didn't even bother to fake because he trusted that you wouldn't snoop because you were not that kind of a person.

"Hey, I know you're not busy until later in the evening, can I come?"

And the self-hate repeated itself.

But how much can he hate himself when he is being distracted by shallow, unfulfilling "pleasure" instead of dealing with his true feelings? How much more pain should he give you before he could finally take the first step to stopping and coming clean?

Maybe this was the last time he did it.

Maybe.

network :

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[atinyreads]

reminds me of snow white with the red hair omg 💗

TWTHH Spinoff: Little Touch of Heaven [Teaser]

Pairing: physician!Yunho x herbalist!reader

AU: historical au (Joseon era)

Summary: Dedicating his life to his work, Yunho had never bothered to entertain the idea of settling down. Despite encountering many charming women throughout his career, none had sparked his desire for companionship. But everything shifted when he met a certain herbalist whose medicinal knowledge seemed to surpass even his own. What began as mere intrigue might have gradually developed into affection.

A/N: Special thanks to the sweet @sundaybossanova for coming up with the main concept of Yunho's spinoff.

Main Story | Spinoff Masterlist

"Mr. Ryu, I'm afraid I'll need all your raspberry and peppermint leaf supply for the day. Lady Park hasn't been doing too well in the early stages of her pregnancy," the physician announced upon entering the apothecary where he regularly obtained his medicines and herbs, his eyes busily scanning around for anything else that could be useful.

"Is that so? You might want to consider our latest batch of Codonopsis root imported directly from China just a week ago. It's highly effective in boosting vital energy and reducing fatigue during pregnancy."

Yunho's head shot up in surprise.

First of all, why hadn't he thought of that before? More importantly, the feminine voice addressing him sounded nothing like the elderly man who usually managed the store. He turned to find a young woman behind the counter, his eyes widening in astonishment.

"O-oh, um... hello there. I didn't realise Mr. Ryu had such a young wife," he blurted out before cursing himself, feeling embarrassed for making such a hasty assumption.

Your face immediately twisted in disgust, "Goodness gracious, you're severely mistaken! I'm his daughter!"

Way to go, you complete idiot!

This is probably gonna be the least angsty one out of all the spinoffs hehe but y'all know how I am, the climax might get a little exciting🙈 As always, I'm excited to hear your thoughts on the concept!

Tag list (1/8): Tumblr is a bitch and won't let me mention more than 5 users in a single sentence, so now my tag list looks like a complete joke🤡

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All Rights Reserved © edenesth // DO NOT REPOST, TRANSLATE, PLAGIARISE OR REPURPOSE.

[atinyreads]

christmas dinner ; j.yh

— synopsis:: it didn't just end with one dinner.

— contains:: fluff (very much of it), accidental confessions (?), ceo!yun x secretary!reader, f!reader

— wc:: 1,5k

— note:: this fic is dedicated to my lovely lilo/@seonghwaddict <3 this is not my best work because i'm so bad at writing fluff, oml- it's short and quick :,) but i hope you like it. yours dearly, secret elfie <3 gasp this is my first fic of 2024 hihi

The hall was warm while you sat at the long table full of food and drinks, conversing and laughing with your colleagues as you enjoyed the Christmas dinner your boss had hosted. You sat next to him, Jeong Yunho, talking to Wooyoung, who was sitting right across from you. The dress code was red and green, perfect for that one dress that has been collecting dust in your closet, the rhinestones shining under the warm lights with every movement, with your hair done, so your neck and v-line of the dress was revealed. It went well with the delicate chain of your necklace and dangling earrings. 

You’ve been Yunho’s secretary for a little over a year now and everything has been going smoothly, a bit too smoothly for a simple work relationship, though. After a while of sitting in the same position, you adjusted your legs to get more comfortable, your knee bumping against Yunho’s. You didn’t pay any mind to it, though, keeping your knee pressed against his as you continued your conversation with Wooyoung. Softly leaning forward, your chest pressed against the material of your dress, the skin threatening to overflow the seam. 

Through all of this, Yunho couldn’t seem to take his eyes off you, following each and every movement of your well-manicured nails to your smooth legs that were currently pressed against his knee. He didn’t hear a single word that left your glossy lips.

“How do you see it?” Wooyoung’s question harshly pulled the young CEO out of his thoughts. Wooyoung seemed to notice his friend’s absence, a small smirk stretching on his reddened lips, the effect of the wine evident.

“Huh?” Was all Yunho mustered before turning to look at you and then back to Wooyoung.

“He isn’t even listening,” Wooyoung deadpanned, looking at you with a scowl on his face directed at you. Turning back to Yunho, he clarified, “I think, young Leonardo DiCaprio was hotter than Johnny Depp.”

You scoffed as you leaned forward. “Johnny Depp was way hotter than Leonardo DiCaprio, just admit it,” you hissed, a playful glint shining in your eyes. While you and Wooyoung continued to argue about who was hotter, Yunho just chuckled as he took another bite of his food. “Even Yunho agrees with me.” You touched said man’s shoulder as you stuck your tongue out to your friend. 

“Only because he has the hots for you,” he blurted, making you laugh heartily, not believing a word Wooyoung said. Yunho on the other hand almost choked, quickly grabbing for his drink to flush down the food that was stuck in his throat. Your hand moved from his shoulder to his back, patting his firm back. “Please don’t die on us!” He wailed dramatically. 

Through the hours, your co-workers went home one by one, until it was just you, Wooyoung, and Yunho. You stayed behind to help clean up and get the place ready for after christmas break. After you were done, you looked at your work with a proud smile. “Done!” You huffed, high-fiving Wooyung. “Let’s go home,” you said as you reached for your jacket that was draped over the back of your chair and wrapped your scarf around your neck. 

Wooyoung got picked up by his roommate, San, and left you and Yunho alone. “Bye!” You waved your friends goodbye. The cold breeze of the december night had you shivering, shoving your nose into your scarf to protect your airways. “I wish it snowed so the cold would pay off,” you muttered into your scarf as you smiled up at Yunho. The man felt his heart leap into his throat as he nodded with a soft smile. 

“Heard it’ll snow tomorrow,” he said through a chuckle, his warm breath fogging in front of his face. After a short moment of silence, Yunho spoke up again. “Do you need a ride?” He asked, pointing at his car. 

You followed his finger and then looked back at his face. “No, I’m good. My sister is gonna meet me halfway.” You shook your head as you waved a dismissive hand in front of your face. Yunho could see the light discoloration on the tips of your fingers and your lips due to the cold. 

Yunho’s brows furrowed as he tilted his head sideways. “(Y/N),” he started, making you look at him. “It’s really fine, I don’t want you to freeze and it’s really late.” He went quiet, looking intensely into your eyes. When you noticed that he wouldn’t relent, you agreed, nodding. “Sweet, let’s go!” You quickly called your sister to tell her not to leave the apartment and that Yunho was driving you. A sigh of relief fell from your lips as the passenger seat started heating up and warm air was hitting your face. 

“Thank you,” you said happily, earning a nod and a hum in response. The low rumbling of the motor relaxed you as the pretty lights whirred past your eyesight, the car drowned in a comfortable silence as you sat still with your hands shoved into your pockets. While you basked in the silence and peace of the moment, Yunho’s nerves were on overdrive. He wanted to say something, anything, but didn’t know what. Every now and then, he sneaked a glance your way, his fingers twitching around the wheel. Thankfully, but also not thankfully, the drive didn’t take too long. 

Yunho parked the car and unbuckled his seatbelt. “Let me walk you to your door.” Before you even had the chance to gather yourself and unbuckle your seatbelt, Yunho was already on your side, opening the door for you. “You better not cut from my paycheck,” you joked, poking him in the chest, thus earning a soft chuckle. His voice was always a weak spot of yours, warmth pooling in your belly every time you heard it. “I had fun tonight.” You hummed, walking side by side. You nodded as you rang the bell. “I, uhm, wanted to ask you something,” he trailed off, tilting his head slightly as you looked at him, eyes round in curiosity. At this point, Yunho felt his heart in his throat.

Just before he could continue, you two heard somebody yell, “mom, (Y/N) brought her boss!” Your sister’s voice echoed through the whole neighborhood as she looked out of the window straight at you both. “Mom said you should invite him inside!” 

Wide eyed, you looked up at Yunho only to be met with a wide smile, his hand waving at your sister. “I’m sorry, I can’t, my mom’s waiting!” Your sister pouted at his answer.

Suddenly, the heavy doors opened, revealing your mother with a container in her hand. “Here, take this.” Yunho was practically forced to take the food your mom made, smiling and thanking her for it. After giving her a hug and bidding you goodbye, he left. 

“Ow!” You rubbed the spot where your mom pinched you. “What was that for?” 

“Don’t miss out on this.”

A week passed and you were back in your office, typing away on your laptop, organizing the to-do lists of the month. You shivered as a cold breeze brushed over your skin, your teeth clattering together. Just as you wanted to stand up and look if somebody kept a window open, you saw Yunho in the doorway with two paper cups in his hands. “Figured you’d like some hot chocolate.” 

You two spent a good hour conversing and talking about the upcoming events regarding the company, and to no one’s surprise, Yunho agreed with all your plans and outlines. You were talking about an upcoming meeting, showing Yunho the timetable and the attendees that would be flying in. Your train of words came to a halt when you felt Yunho’s warm hand on yours, the other closing the laptop. “What are you doing? Do you not like it?” Your brows furrowed as you searched Yunho’s face for any sign of dislike. 

He just sighed, a smile stretching on his lips. “You did great, but we just got back from the holidays and you are working so hard. Look,” he straightened his back. “How about we go out and eat something, my treat.”

You shook your head with a sigh. “I can’t,” you trailed off, looking down at your notes. “You already did so much for me, I just–”

“(Y/N), I like you.”

“Huh?”

Yunho huffed, running a hand through his hair. “I like you, like, like like you. And I know it’s wrong, you’re my secretary, I’m your boss…” He stopped talking once you touched his hand. “I’m sorry, I didn’t want to tell you like this.”

A smile slowly stretched on your lips as you leaned forward. “I like you too,” you whispered, squeezing his hand. “Like like you.” This earned a soft chuckle from the man. Standing up, he took your face in his large palms.

“Can I?” He asked sheepishly. When he got your affirmation he needed, he leaned in and planted a soft peck on your waiting lips. “So, how about that dinner I talked about?”

@a1sh1teruu 2024 | ©️ do not steal or plagiarize

[atinyreads]

Pairing: mafia! Seongjoong x f! yn

Word Count: 3517

Warnings: cursing, mentions of violence, minor injuries, slight possessive/yandere joong (not super noticeable), smut warnings under cut

Genre: Fluff, smut, mafia au, exes to lovers, M for mature audiences

Summary: After leaving the mafia scene for five years, you've had to go back and beg for help from the boss of your former family...and your ex.

Smut Warnings: unprotected sex (DONT DO THIS unless you discuss safely outside of sex!), some praise, degredation, spitroasting, oral (m & f receiving), deepthroating, rough sex, creampie, fingering, felching (again), squirting, one spank, dom/sub (seongjoong dom, yn sub), undernegotiated kinks (its been a while since they fucked so things may have changed but they don't discuss. don't do this)

Written for tipsy drabbles! took me like 3 days to write the smut itself lmao

-

“So. You’ve found your way back to me, begging for me.” You keep your eyes lowered, not afraid but too ashamed to look Hongjoong in the eyes. You haven’t seen the head of the MATZ gang in a long time. Not since the last boss was alive and he was just a capo in his own right. Not since you had left him standing in the hall of his mansion, citing immaturity when it was just your fears of commitment to a mafia member. You know you broke his heart, but he stitched it back up quickly, yelling after you that if you ever came back he wouldn’t help you.

And yet, how the tables have turned.

“I had…I had nowhere else to go. Turn me away if you wish, but hear me out first. Please, Hongjoong.” You keep your gaze focused on your ratty sneakers, a far cry from the Louboutins you used to wear.

“Look at me first.” You freeze. From his tone of voice, you know he knows why you’re here. “I won’t repeat myself, YN.”

Slowly, you bring your head up, wincing at the sharp pain in your throbbing head from the sudden movement. You’re sure you look a mess, with the black eye and split lip. You keep your line of sight trained on the window next to Hongjoong instead of his face, but you can’t miss the way his eyes darken at the sight of you broken in front of him.

“What. Happened.”

His voice is cold and you flinch, hands wringing behind your back as you refuse to break down in front of your first lover (and if you stop lying to yourself, he still is in your heart). “...It was Yang Beomhun. I left you but he tracked me down and thought he could use me as leverage against you. It didn’t work, but at that point, he decided he might as well keep me around for himself and the pretence he had put up dropped. I…don’t know what else to do.”

It was a miracle you were even let back into his mansion. You thought you would have to live a life of suffering with Beomhun as your tormentor, but one of the family had somehow recognised you and let you in, citing it to be some sick joke.

And maybe it was. Who leaves the mafia out of fear for their future, only to end up being run ragged by the justice system? It’s ironic, ending right back up where you left, but once again, you have nothing left to lose.

“Why don’t you just leave him? You clearly are able to.”

You choose to ignore the jibe. “I couldn't. I’ve tried. It was a miracle I made it here, and that was with the help of someone who likely has gotten into deeper trouble.” You can feel your body shaking with the effort to keep your cool. “I don’t know what to tell you. Give me a new life, or just fucking kill me, Hongjoong. I don’t want to be caught in the middle again. I left to avoid the danger but no matter what I do, all I get is the same thing.”

Silence settles over the both of you. It’s only a moment later you realise you finally admitted the real reason you left. Your head shifts lower and you squeeze your eyes shut, both from embarrassment and trying to keep yourself on your feet.

After a long breath, you feel slender fingers on your chin that tip your face up. Blearily, you blink your eyes open to see Hongjoong staring down at you, eyes hiding any emotion. “Why didn’t you tell me?” His voice is soft, softer than you’ve heard in a long time. “I would’ve protected you, given you the safest life I could.”

“I…back then I didn’t want that, Joong. I just wanted a normal life. Not a safe one.” Your eyes are fighting to stay open.

“And now? What do you want?” You open your mouth to speak, but instead, your legs give out and Hongjoong drops to keep you from cracking your head on the wooden floor. “YN, wait–”

-

When you reawaken, you’re in an intricate bedroom you remember as the one you stayed in when you and Hongjoong were still dating. It’s changed quite a bit, his bookshelves cleared and the desk is gone, but otherwise, the drapes remain the same, and the carpet and plants as well. Your body aches but your mind is refreshed, the exhaustion from yesterday gone.

You can feel a heavy weight on the left side of the bed and your heart softens at the sight of Hongjoong sitting beside you, head in his arms as he rests his torso on the bed. As much as you hate to admit it, you missed him every moment you were gone. But you hurt him irrevocably and you know there’s not much you can do to win him back.

Your hand reaches up involuntarily, just about to brush through his platinum blond locks when his head snaps up. Your hand jerks back although his eyes are still closed. “You’re up,” he hums, eyes slowly blinking open. “The medic said you were just exhausted, but I’m glad to see you’re up.”

You stare at him, brows furrowed. “Why are you glad? I hurt you. I don’t deserve your worry.”

Hongjoong’s brow raises. “I don’t think you get to decide who I get to worry about. Yes, you hurt me. But we were young and dumb. We were hardly adults, thrust into a dangerous situation. And I would be lying to say I didn’t miss you, rosebud.”

Your face flushes at the nickname you hadn’t heard in years and Hongjoong smiles at the sight of it. He shifts over, leaning in to brush his nose against yours when the door slams open. “Boss, Seonghwa’s back.”

Your brows furrow. “Seonghwa?” The name escapes your lips before you can catch it and Hongjoong’s eyes narrow to level a sharp gaze at you.

“You met him?” His question is light but there’s danger behind it.

“Yes—He’s the one that helped me escape Beomhun. He was new on the task force, but he saw how Beomhun treated me and was the only one who cared to help me.” You speak quickly, trying to ease the tension lurking in Hongjoong’s eyes. “I swear on my life, Joong. He’s done nothing wrong except help me.”

Hongjoong stares at you for a long moment before he stands quickly, smoothing down his suit. “YN, come. Let’s see this Seonghwa for ourselves.”

Before you can even say anything, he grabs your wrist, pulling you along. You don’t know how to react, much less if you should react, and the entire way down to the basement is silent. You come to a stop behind a glass window, two-way if you remember correctly, and you stare at the slender figure sitting at the table, with sharp eyes and a split lip. “That’s him,” you breathe out.

Hongjoong hums. “Aww, he came all this way to see if you were alive? How sweet. Why don’t you go and show him how much you appreciate him? After all the work I put him to to keep you safe?” His hand pushes at your side a little and you snap your head towards him.

“Joong–” you gasp in shock and confusion.

Hongjoong turned to stare you down. “What? You think I would actually just let you go like that, five years ago? You’re mine, and you’d do well to remember that.” He chuckles low in his throat, his lips pulling into a shark’s smile. “Seonghwa here is my underboss. I trust him the most when it comes to my personal affairs, and I think he deserves a reward for the work he’s done. Come on, baby, why don’t you show him how good you can be?”

Before you can say anything else, he swings the door open and pulls you through. “Hwa, say ‘hi’ to my little rosebud. She’s here to give you a little treat for protecting her.”

He pushes you forward again and you stumble on your feet until large, warm hands land on your waist as you stop between Seonghwa’s open thighs. “Aren’t you just precious, huh,” he groans, pressing his thumbs into your hip bones. “Little missy is just too worried about me, is that right, baby?”

You cast a glance back at Hongjoong, where he’s taken a seat from across the room and is palming at the growing bulge in his pants. Without even thinking about it, your thighs squeeze together and you flush. “Joong–” Back when you were still with him, the two of you would find newcomers to fuck, some kind of sick power play Joong got off on. It’s somewhat comforting to see not much has changed in that regard…and it makes heat bloom in your core.

Seonghwa’s hand gripping your chin directs your gaze to his dark eyes. “Come on, miss, I went to all that work keeping you safe, don’t you want to show your appreciation?” He arches a perfect brow and you swear the expression on his face only serves to make your face even hotter.

“Show him how good you can be, YN,” Hongjoong commands from behind you, his voice heavy. And, well, who are you to disobey him? Immediately, you drop to your knees, your habits from years back still ingrained into your brain.

Seonghwa chuckles, his fingers combing through your hair slowly as he palms his cock straining against his leather pants. “Come on, princess. Show me how good those pretty lips are.”

You don’t need much more prompting than that, quickly reaching forward to undo his belt and slide his zipper down. With a groan, Seonghwa lifts his hips enough for you to shove his boxers down, revealing his hard cock. The tip of it is an angry red, dripping pre-come and your eyes zero in on it.

Seonghwa places his hand on the top of your head, and you don’t need much more prompting before dipping down and pressing a kiss to the tip. You can hear him sigh and it's enough to make you sink down to envelop the head of it in your mouth, letting spit pool around it. Any other day you’d be in the mood to tease, but with Hongjoong watching all you want is to be good.

“Shit, her mouth is so good,” Seonghwa groans, his thighs straining as his hands tighten in your hair. “So perfectly willing to be used.”

You feel another spike of heat in your core as you clench around nothing at his words. The way he doesn’t even direct it at you, only at Hongjoong turns you on more than you’d like to admit it would. “You can be rougher with her, she likes it,” Hongjoong’s voice cuts through the fog slowly encapsulating your mind.

Without hesitation, Seonghwa pushes your head down even further and you gag, eyes rolling back at the rough treatment. “Holy shit, she’s into it.” There’s absolute glee in Seonghwa’s voice, and his hips give an experimental thrust. You moan around his thick length, eyes squeezing shut as your spit dribbles down his length. Any shame you feel dissolves into arousal and you can’t help but wriggle your hips, trying to get any sort of friction.

“Look at you, so needy for anything.” Hongjoong’s voice is closer than you remember, and you flinch when you feel his cool hands on your shoulders. They trail down, patting your ass before reaching to cup you through your pants. “Come on, hands and knees for me, okay?”

It takes you a moment to respond, but when Hongjoong paps you on your cunt again, you scramble to present your ass to him while still keeping Seonghwa in your mouth. You can hear both of them chuckle at your eagerness. “She’s such a perfect slut, Joong,” the bite in Seonghwa’s voice makes you whine low in your throat. “So happy to just take cock and sit still, all pretty for us.”

Hongjoong hums as he pulls down your pants and underwear in one swift moment, pressing his fingers against your sopping pussy. “She’s so wet, truly the perfect whore for us,” he sighs, scissoring his fingers to stretch you out. His movements are fast, precise, and more slick gushes out of you as you keep moaning around Seonghwa’s cock.

Before you can grind against his hand, his fingers disappear just as fast as they entered you and you whine, feeling much too empty. “Eager or not, bitches should learn patience,” Hongjoong sneers and a smack resounds in the room. You register the stinging pain on your ass a second later and you moan, the sound of it muffled.

Your eyes tear up from the pain and Seonghwa coos, his long fingers brushing away the tears. You lean into the comfort subconsciously but as you do so, you can feel the blunt head of Hongjoong’s cock rubbing against your folds and the slick sounds make your brain fuzzy. The tip of it repeatedly catches on your clit and each time it sends a shock to your core.

Before you can whine any more, Hongjoong lines his cock up to your cole and pushes in without any warning. Your eyes snap open as your body is pushed forward and Seonghwa’s cock is driven deeper into your mouth. “Shit–” Seonghwa groans, his other hand coming down to grip your hair and keep your head in place.

Hongjoong giggles from behind you before drawing back and slamming back in again. The force of his thrust spears him so perfectly inside you, the girth of his cock stretching you open so well. He didn’t prep you well enough, but the sting makes you even wetter. It’s been years, and he still knows exactly what you like and it makes both your heart and your cunt throb. Seonghwa’s cock is longer, but the stretch of Hongjoong is just what you like and you clench around him.

“God, after all this time, you still are so fucking tight. Maybe I didn’t fuck you well enough before,” Hongjoong leans down to whisper in your ear, his weight pushing you impossibly further onto Seonghwa’s dick. “Maybe I’ll let Seonghwa fuck you too until your pussy is nice and sloppy for me to take any time I want. You may be mine, but Seonghwa is too and it would be cruel of me to not let my two playthings have their own fun.”

You’re a little ashamed to admit the idea of that makes you moan, and Hongjoong presses a kiss to your shoulder before biting the flesh, his hips starting to jackhammer into you, setting an unforgiving pace.

Your body goes lip, Hongjoong’s arms around your waist and Seonghwa’s hands in your hair the only thing keeping you up. You really do feel like a doll used only for their enjoyment but something about it is perfect and you keep your mouth slack as your eyes roll back in your head. Your cunt is throbbing, pulsing around Hongjoong as he hits the spongy spot inside of you with surprising accuracy. Seonghwa’s started thrusting into your mouth as well, your jaw aching but you couldn’t bring yourself to care.

You can hear them speaking to each other above you but you’re too far gone to make sense of anything they’re saying, letting your eyes flutter shut as the two men on either side pound into you. But before you can say or do anything, Seonghwa comes, ropes of his come shooting down your throat without you needing to swallow. As his orgasm washes over him, he pulls his cock out, moving one of his hands to your jaw and squeezing, keeping your mouth open and pliant. The tip of his dick rests against your lower lip as drops of come land in your mouth and dribble down your lips. When his cock softens, he tucks himself back in and leans down to spit in your mouth.

“Swallow.” His voice is rough and heavy, and you follow his command immediately. You don’t even notice Hongjoong stilled his hips until a moment later and you whine.

“So greedy,” Hongjoong scoffs, his hands gripping your waist and his nails digging into the skin. Without warning, he pulls you back down on his cock and you moan so loudly it’s bordering on a scream. “Your cunt is swallowing me so well, baby. I could do this for hours and I bet you’d just let it happen. God, I can’t believe I let you go last time, no one else could be such a perfect little cumdump for me.”

He punctuates each other with another thrust until he’s groaning as he reaches the edge of his pleasure, his come shooting deep into you and coating your walls. “God, she’s taking you so well,” Seonghwa hums, brushing your hair out of your eyes, the gentleness of his actions the complete opposite of how he was treating your mouth not a minute earlier.

Hongjoong laughs, pulling out his cock to see his come dripping out of you and making a little pool on the floor. His arms release you and you collapse onto the cool tile, your body shuddering. “She’s good, isn’t she,” he says fondly, his hands coming to pull apart your cheeks, admiring the sight of your hole fluttering around nothing. “She hadn’t even come after that. Would you like to reward this good behaviour, Hwa?” 

A chuckle leaves Seonghwa as he moves around to settle in between your legs. You’re too tired to shift to see what they’re doing and you gasp as a flat tongue presses against your dripping hole. Your back arches and Hongjoong chuckles, pressing down on your shoulders to shove you further onto the tile.

Your thighs are shaking from the effort of keeping your hips up, but Seonghwa’s grip doesn’t relent as he licks into you like a starved man, tasting both your slick and Hongjoong’s come. The way it flicks your clit and it doesn’t take long for you to come apart on the title, moans spilling out of your mouth easily as you feel a great pressure on your core and your body shakes from the effort of it. You can hear the sloppy, wet sounds of Seonghwa licking up your release and even when you try to clench around his tongue you just know with how loose you are it doesn’t change much.

“Fuck, I didn’t know she squirts,” you hear the awe in Seonghwa’s voice and Hongjoong hums, please.

“Like I said, she’s really the perfect slut.” Hongjoong pats your head, but the praise doesn’t really register, your mind is all fuzzy from the fucking you just received, and all you do is yawn. You hear soft laughter from the two of them and Hongjoong pulls you into his arms as he kisses the top of your head. “All right, I get it. You can sleep, baby. We’ll clean you up. Just relax.”

At his sweet words, you let your head drop to his shoulder as you let him manoeuvre you so he can pick you up to bring you to a bath. You’re happy to be back.

-

As Hongjoong tucks you into bed, Seonghwa leans against the doorframe, waiting for you to finally drift off. As soon as your breathing levels, Seonghwa moves to stand by Hongjoong sitting on the bed, and he speaks up. “Beomhun asked for his money.”

Hongjoong’s eyes narrowed. “He doesn’t get it. He broke the rules of the deal and laid his hands on my girl. The agreement was for him to scare her, not fucking hurt her.”

Seonghwa nods. “I know. He has been taken care of. Jongho and Yunho are happy to have been promoted, and I’m sure they’ll bring flowers to the funeral.”

Hongjoong chuckles, low in his throat to keep you from waking. “Good, good. It’ll be good to have some of our men higher in the police force too. Beomhun’s death was needed. But make sure she never finds out.” Seonghwa nods. “Can you go get a report from Yunho?”

Another nod. “I’ll see you later,” Seonghwa says, patting Hongjoong on the shoulder. “We’re still on for dinner, right?”

Hongjoong smiles. “Of course. Come here.” Seonghwa moves to stand between Hongjoong’s legs, much like how you did with him down in the basement. Without another word, Hongjoong pulls Seonghwa down to press a sweet kiss to his lips. “I’m happy to have both of you back. I’ll see you later tonight. Maybe YN will be awake for dinner as well.”

Seonghwa flushes red before kissing Hongjoong once more before slipping out the door. Hongjoong turns his attention back to you, brushing your hair out of your face.

“You’re back now, and I intend to keep it this way. No running away from me anymore,” he whispers, his fingers trailing down your face to ghost over your lips. “You’re mine, rosebud.”

[atinyreads]

TWTHH Spinoff: Take Me Away [2]

Pairing: private investigator!Wooyoung x courtesan!reader

AU: historical au (Joseon era)

Word Count: 7.7k

Trigger Warnings: forced prostitution, brief mention of suicidal thoughts, attempted sexual assault

Summary: While working on a new case in town, Wooyoung was captivated when he stumbled upon a beauty unlike any other. Just as he began to believe that he might have found a Lady Park of his own, word got out that she was merely the newest courtesan at the town's brothel. Disheartened by this revelation, he nearly abandons his pursuit of her until he hears whispers suggesting that she may not have been there of her own will.

Part 1 | Main Story | Spinoff Masterlist

"So, that's what happened... My lord, I realise it might seem shameless of me to have declined the bonus before and now ask for it, but I must save her!" Wooyoung pleaded, recounting everything from the beginning: from the moment he bumped into you on the street—alright, he might have left out the part where he was infatuated like a schoolboy and moping around like a fool—to discovering the truth about your situation, and the recent visit he had paid you.

Before the general could offer reassurance, another voice interrupted from the entrance of the study, beating him to it, "Hwa, we have to help him! The poor thing must be scared out of her mind!"

All three men turned their heads to find Lady Park standing there, her eyes wide with worry as she entered the room. Seonghwa didn't hesitate to rush to his wife's side before wrapping an arm securely around her smaller frame, "What are you doing here, my love? It's late, you should be resting."

The private investigator felt his breath catch as he beheld his former dream girl. He'd be lying if he said he didn't miss her. She looked even more beautiful than before, if that were possible, seemingly glowing. Perhaps that was the effect of receiving the general's affection. He had to calm his foolish heart and maintain his composure as he rose from his seat to bow respectfully to her, watching as she offered him a warm smile in response.

"I couldn't sleep when Jongho told me Wooyoung was here. I got worried and had to come see if everything was alright," the lady said, addressing her husband as she pouted at him, "Please tell me you're going to agree to his request..."

Seonghwa chuckled, gently nuzzling his nose against her head before planting a tender peck there, "I was going to agree, but you came in just in time to cut me off," He turned to face the younger man, who looked at them with a mix of admiration and gratitude, "Don't worry, Wooyoung. We'll provide all the assistance you need. If you'd like, I can send Jongho along with you on this mission."

The assistant felt his cheeks flush at the unexpected offer. He couldn't fathom sneaking into a place like a brothel, even for such an important cause. Fortunately, the investigator declined with a shake of his head, sensing his friend's apprehension, "No, sir. That won't be necessary, your financial assistance is all I require for now. This is something I must accomplish on my own."

Lady Park nodded, speaking on behalf of her husband, "Alright, but if you require anything—anything at all—please don't hesitate to ask. We'll do everything in our power to support you."

"Thank you, my lady. I'll keep that in mind; I really appreciate it," Wooyoung replied with a deep bow. If his current situation hadn't been so urgent, he might have remarked on how unusually attentive the general was to her. Seonghwa was always by her side, but there was something different in the carefulness of the way he handled her.

"If that's all, we'll be turning in for the night," the newly married man announced as he guided his wife out of the room.

The investigator nodded quickly, "Of course. I've kept you both up long enough; please don't let me stop you."

"Come, my love. You need rest."

Before leaving the room completely, the lady turned back to Wooyoung again, her expression earnest, "Promise me you'll get her out of there," the younger man nodded firmly, "I promise, my lady."

As Lady Park's words lingered in the air, Wooyoung sensed the depth of her plea. He discerned the subtle pain reflected in her eyes, a silent acknowledgement passing between them. The general's wife seemed to grasp the anguish of being trapped in a relentless nightmare all too well, to be abandoned by one's own father.

His resolve to save you had already been firm, but now, fueled by the lady's empathy, his determination surged even stronger. It wasn't just about a silly crush anymore; it became a quest to right a grave injustice and bring solace to a soul in torment.

After the couple retired to their private quarters, Wooyoung stayed behind to devise a more comprehensive plan with the ever-meticulous Jongho, who had once been his greatest asset when they were gathering evidence against the former Minister Jang. With precision, the assistant outlined all his suggestions in a neatly drafted plan, folding the parchment into a perfect rectangle before handing it to the investigator.

"Here, decide which ones suit your situation the best. Just let me know how much you require, and I'll take care of all your transactions. You should probably head to the dressmaker's shop for your disguise as soon as possible if you wish to set those plans into motion the following night."

"Thanks, Jongho. You're a real one."

"Yeah, yeah. Just go."

In no time, Wooyoung arrived at the entrance of Hongjoong's shop, cautiously stepping inside while marvelling at the colourful hanboks on display. He braced himself for a possible lecture from the older man, knowing that he was already swamped with orders, not just from Lady Park, but from noblewomen all over town. And here the investigator was, about to place an urgent special order that needed to be fulfilled before the next nightfall.

His steps halted abruptly upon hearing the familiar, annoyed sound of a throat clearing from the back of the shop, "Jung Wooyoung, you'd better have a good explanation for welcoming yourself into my shop at such an early hour," came the gruff voice.

"H-hyung, listen... I know the last thing you want is to see my face first thing in the morning, but—"

"Damn right, I don't. So, get straight to the point. There better be a valid reason for your presence, or I'll see to it that you're banned from entering my shop for good."

Arms crossed over his chest, Hongjoong listened with a raised brow as the younger man swiftly retold the tale he'd shared with the general just hours earlier. Rather than reacting as seriously as expected, the dressmaker merely grinned teasingly, "Ahh, I see you've finally moved on from your little crush on Lady Park, huh? I hate to admit this, but I guess I am feeling slightly proud of you."

Wooyoung couldn't hide his unamused expression as he pursed his lips in disbelief, "Really? That's the only thing you can think of saying after everything I just told you?"

With a scoff, the older man snatched the parchment out of the investigator's hands, "Yes, and? Don't get sassy with me now. Show me the design you need done immediately, or you can figure out how to go about this on your own."

"Okay, okay, sheesh. Here's a sketch of the design I've seen on the male servants in the brothel. Fortunately, it's not too complicated, so it should be easy for you," the younger man said, handing over the sketch as he watched Hongjoong inspect it seriously, "Got it. This should be done in a few hours. You owe me a meal after this, Jung."

The investigator saluted playfully, "Yes, sir."

Noticing the exhaustion evident in Wooyoung's eyes, the older man softened, "You haven't slept a wink, have you? You look like you're about to keel over. Go take a nap in the back; there's a bed. I'll wake you when it's ready. We can't afford for you to pass out on the job. Poor Miss Han won't stand a chance if that happens."

Though he joked, the younger man sensed the concern behind his words. He nodded gratefully, "Thanks, hyung."

Once his head hit the pillow, he slipped into a deep sleep, just as Hongjoong had predicted. Since leaving you the previous night, his mind had been consumed with endless thoughts, meticulously crafting an elaborate plan to rescue you. He examined every detail, acutely aware that even the smallest mistake could jeopardise the entire operation. Failure was not an option, especially when it concerned you. He had made a promise to get you out, and he was resolute in keeping it. But for now, he would succumb to his exhaustion, if only for a brief respite.

I'll be there soon, Miss Han.

He awoke hours later, his sleep haunted by dreams of your frightened face pleading for him to save you. The dressmaker stood at the edge of the bed, gently shaking him awake, holding out the disguise, "How's this? Is it close enough to the real thing?"

With a groggy rub of his eyes, Wooyoung pulled himself up to sit. He blinked repeatedly to clear his vision, then turned his attention to the replica of the servant uniform laid out before him. As he examined it, his eyes widened at how closely it resembled the actual outfit.

"It's perfect, hyung," he declared, nodding in approval, "They'll never suspect a thing."

"This way, Mr. Jung. She's ready for you."

Today felt different from the first day. The emotions swirling inside you were no longer tinged with dread or overwhelming fear.

Instead, anticipation coursed through you as you sat straight on the king-sized bed in the same room. Biting your lip, you waited eagerly to see him again. Since he last bid you goodbye, your thoughts had been consumed by him. The sincerity in his eyes lingered in your mind, nearly bringing tears to your own. It was hard to believe that someone cared for you so deeply, especially considering your own father's indifference. Despite this, part of you still had doubts, wondering if you would ever see him again.

Yet, here he was, keeping his promise.

"Hi, Miss Han," he greeted, almost shyly, as he waved awkwardly by the entrance. After closing the door behind him, he made his way to the table in the centre of the room, setting down the duffel bag he'd been carrying on his shoulder.

You smiled meekly, approaching him, "Hello, Mr. Jung. It's good to see you again."

His smile faltered slightly at your words. He sensed the surprise in your tone as if you hadn't expected him to return, and it hurt him to think you might not trust him fully. With determination, he nodded and reassured you, "Of course, I promised to get you out of here. You'll be seeing a lot more of me from now on."

Your eyes widened in wonder as he unfurled his bag, revealing a set that looked like an exact replica of the uniform worn by the male servants in the Mansion of Midnight, "Woah, where did you get that?" you asked, curious and astonished.

With an enthusiastic beam, he replied, "It's all part of my job. I often need to wear disguises. With this, I'll be able to move around the establishment without any issues. Now, if you'll excuse me."

Blushing furiously, you turned away immediately as he hastily moved to undress and change into the servant outfit.

Your cheeks burned as you struggled to recover from catching a glimpse of his bare back. He seemed so calm, as if undressing was the most natural thing in the world. But for you, it was a different story. Being a virgin through and through, you hadn't been near any men other than your father all your life. Even then, he wasn't home most of the time.

To be in a room alone with a man like this, and for him to get changed so casually before you, was enough to fluster you. You had barely spoken to any boys up close before this, let alone in a situation like this. The unexpected moment left you feeling both intrigued and embarrassed, unsure of how to act or what to say next.

Before you could further overthink it, Wooyoung proudly announced, "Alright, I'm done!" Startled, you turned to see him looking just like one of the many servants in the brothel, though perhaps a bit too handsome to blend in seamlessly. Nonetheless, you hoped no one would pay too much attention to him.

Stuffing his own clothes back into the bag on the table, he assured you, "You stay here. I'll be back as soon as I can. Today, I'll work on figuring out the full layout of the entire place and create a detailed map before I start investigating their operations."

You nodded, feeling a mix of apprehension and gratitude, "Don't worry, I'll be right here. Be safe out there, Mr. Jung."

With a final smile directed at you, he sneaked out the same way he entered once he was sure the coast was clear, leaving you alone in the room, your thoughts swirling with anticipation and anxiety.

After the investigator departed, you sank back onto the bed, feeling a rush of embarrassment flood over you. You scolded yourself mentally for being such a child, recognising that now was not the time for such distractions. Contemplating the situation, you understood why he seemed so unaffected. His focus was solely on his mission, leaving little room for trivial concerns like your reaction.

Feeling foolish for allowing yourself to be so affected, you resolved to move past it. What truly mattered was for his plan to succeed, and for you to finally gain freedom from this place. And to do so, you braced yourself for more moments like that.

As hours passed with you sitting alone, worrying about whether or not his disguise remained undetected, you heard footsteps approaching from outside. Your heart leapt with hope, anticipating his return, only for it to plummet when you recognised the feminine silhouette through the paper walls.

It wasn't just any female; it was Iseul.

Oh god, what is she doing here?

Her intentions became clear as she called out to Wooyoung in a seductive tone, "Mr. Jung, are you truly enjoying yourself in there? Your silence speaks volumes. I had my doubts, and now they're confirmed. A man who is enjoying himself wouldn't be able to keep his voice down; I'd know that. I told you she wouldn't be able to satisfy you. It's not too late to change your mind, you know? I'll treat you much better, trust me."

In a panic, you decided to speak up, hoping to persuade her to leave you alone, "I-Iseul unnie, everything is fine! Please don't worry about Mr. Jung. I'm sure you have plenty of clients waiting for you."

She scoffed dismissively, "Oh, please, stay out of this, rookie. I wasn't speaking to you. You'd better keep quiet if you know what's good for you. I'll leave only when he tells me to. What say you, Mr. Jung?" Your anxiety escalated as you felt her suspicions intensify with each passing moment of the private investigator's silence. This could all end if she so much as pushed the door open. Who knew what consequences awaited you and Wooyoung if you were found out?

"Mr. Jung...? Why isn't he responding? What have you done to him, Han?! If he doesn't answer by the count of three, I'm coming in, do you understand?"

As Iseul's threat escalated, Wooyoung suddenly appeared through the room window right on time, catching you off guard. Aware of the risk of being seen in his disguise while with you, he swiftly shed the servant outfit, leaving himself shirtless.

With the door starting to creak open, panic surged within you. Acting on instinct, you quickly tugged open the outer layer of your hanbok and pulled Wooyoung onto the bed with you. Without a second thought, you pressed your lips firmly against his, the only action that seemed to make sense in the heat of the moment.

Almost spontaneously, he wrapped his arms around you, drawing you closer and kissing you back with fervour, doing everything in his power to make the act appear convincing to the senior courtesan.

"M-Mr. Jung...?" she croaked, her eyes widening in disbelief at the unexpectedly intimate sight before her.

Breaking away from the kiss, he turned to her with a feigned look of annoyance, protectively using his body to shield your partially undressed form, "Excuse me, but what exactly do you think you're doing in here? My silence should have been clear enough that I'm not interested in you or your services. What's so difficult to understand? Also, I'd show Miss Han more respect if I were you. If you don't leave us at once, I'll file a major complaint against you. I'm sure that wouldn't help your reputation now, would it?"

With clenched fists, Iseul stormed out of the room, her pride wounded beyond repair, "I'll get you back for this. Just you wait, Han."

Once she was gone, the two of you jumped apart, red-faced as you scrambled to put your clothes back on. Clearing your throats, you tried to push aside the awkwardness and ignore the rapid beating of your hearts. The investigator reached into his bag, retrieving a fresh parchment. He distracted himself by immediately sketching the layout of the place while it was still fresh in his mind.

Throughout the evening, he remained focused on refining the map, and you stayed close, ensuring he had everything he needed: snacks, tea, a blanket in case it got chilly—anything to make yourself useful and assist him in his task. At the same time, you both fought to recover from the fact that you'd just shared your first kiss with one another so aggressively, constantly reminding yourselves that it was all for the mission to get you out and held no deeper significance.

As you escorted the investigator to the door at the end of his session, you pondered addressing the obvious elephant in the room. It became apparent that you both felt equally bothered by it when you simultaneously began to apologise.

"Look, I'm sorry for kissing you—"

"I apologise for touching you like that—"

You blinked rapidly, clearing your throat and rubbing the back of your neck sheepishly, "I suppose there might be more of that in the future if we want to succeed. Perhaps it would be wise for us to establish now that any intimate encounters we have from this point onward will be solely for the sake of the mission and nothing more."

But what if I want more than that?

Despite conflicting thoughts, Wooyoung smiled and nodded in agreement, reminding himself that exploring his attraction to you was not the priority at the moment.

The following week, the investigator faithfully honoured his daily promise, buying up all your time and effectively warding off any other potential clients. By this point, everyone in the brothel recognised you as Mr. Jung's girl. The other girls looked on with envy, marvelling at your ability to captivate the attention of such a young, handsome patron. His generosity and apparent protectiveness, as evidenced by his exclusive attention to you, sparked admiration and jealousy among them. It was as if he feared anyone else laying claim to you.

As the days went by, you grew closer, bonding over your shared time together. You developed an admiration for his profession, understanding the meticulous planning and inherent risks involved in his work. Witnessing his passion for what he did stirred emotions within you, though you struggled to define them. Was it gratitude, the joy of friendship, or something more?

Yet, amid the newfound closeness, a nagging uncertainty lingered in the back of your mind. What would happen to your relationship once he succeeded in freeing you? Would you still remain friends, or would circumstances pull you apart? The mere thought of never seeing him again left you with a pang of sadness, leaving you to ponder the depths of your feelings and the unknown future ahead.

You were startled from your thoughts as Wooyoung once again slipped in through the room window, following his routine from the past week. This time, however, he finally met your gaze with hopeful eyes. Changing out of his servant's disguise and settling back at the table, he began, "Good news, Miss Han. After digging through shady operations for so long, I finally unearthed something big. This wouldn't just be enough to secure your freedom but could also lead to the Mansion of Midnight's downfall."

"Really? What is it?" you asked, eyes wide.

He nodded, gesturing to the chair beside him, "You might want to take a seat first."

Just when you believed you had reached the limit of your trauma, another wave crashed over you. Through him, you learned the extent of the horrors perpetrated by the establishment. He cleared his throat, "I was right. Their operations are nowhere near clean. Other than forced prostitution, they're also exploiting minors, conducting illegal side businesses involving drugging clients to prolong their stay and coercing victims into settling debts, even if it meant sacrificing their own daughters... just like you."

"How despicable..." you murmured, sinking back in your seat as the weight of the revelation settled over you.

Wooyoung reached out, gently clasping your hand on the table, "It'll be alright. I promise I'll put an end to this once and for all."

Concern etched your features as you covered his hand with yours, "But Mr. Jung, what if the authorities are on their side? They must have some powerful allies to operate for so long. What if things don't go as planned? It's too risky. What if they retaliate when they find out you've uncovered so much? Who knows what they'll do to you?"

His grin widened as he rubbed a comforting thumb over your skin, "Are you concerned about me now, my lady?"

You frowned, gripping his hand tighter, "You know better than to call me that, I'm no lady."

At some point, you had grown accustomed to his mildly annoying antics as a result of the time spent together. He eventually felt comfortable enough to reveal his true self, showcasing a playful side that oddly made your heart flutter around him even more. Amidst the constant anxiety of your situation, his optimism provided a refreshing contrast. Slowly, he had become your source of solace, the only one you could rely on in this turbulent environment.

Leaning closer teasingly, he smirked, "You are to me, and that's all that matters. But that's beside the point. It's good to know you finally care enough to worry about me too."

Pushing him away gently, you clucked your tongue, "And what if I am? You... you're all I have, Jung Wooyoung," you admitted, feeling a surge of emotion as you contemplated the potential consequences of his plan failing.

Sensing you were on the verge of tears, he turned to face you properly, his heart skipping a beat at the softness in your voice when you said his name. But he didn't let it show; if you only knew what your words had done to him and his poor heart. A selfish part of him wished to be that for you forever. To be the only one you'd depend on, the only one you'd go to when you needed a shoulder to cry on, the only one you'd share all your sorrows and happiness with.

Gently grasping your shoulders, he turned you to face him, "Hey, hey, look at me. You may be right. They might have some corrupt official backing them. But don't forget who I have on my side. I have General Park, His Majesty's most trusted warrior. Who do you think holds more power here, hm?"

He couldn't help but feel a warmth spreading through him as he watched the adorable expression on your face, seeing the realisation dawn upon you as you absorbed his words. It was clear that you had momentarily forgotten about the powerful allies he possessed. This newfound confidence filled you with hope, making the idea of escaping from this place seem less like an impossible dream.

"Tomorrow is the day we're freeing you and bringing this place down. Are you ready to get out of here, my lady?" he asked, his voice filled with determination.

Returning his smile, you nodded eagerly, "I sure am, Mr. Jung."

But when tomorrow finally arrived, all your hopes and dreams came crashing down as you received the news that your usual appointment with Wooyoung had been replaced. Instead, your time had been reserved by one of the scariest clients known for his brutal force. This client, known as the Mad Dog, was infamous for leaving courtesans bruised, scarred, and unable to walk for days.

Should've known it was all going too well.

The brothel madam looked down at you with feigned pity as you trembled in fear. The staff busied themselves, fixing your hair and makeup, preparing you in an even more revealing hanbok than the usual ones you wore when meeting with the investigator.

"I'm sorry, my dear," the madam cooed rather sarcastically, "I'm not sure how the Mad Dog found out about you, especially considering how new you are. But you know what he's like; he always gets what he wants. He offered to pay twice the normal price, and who are we to say no to him? Just endure this for today. I'm sure sweet Mr. Jung will be gentle with you later on."

Without offering her a response, you fought to contain the panicked tears threatening to spill as the madam left after ensuring you stayed put. Just as the staff completed the final touches on your appearance, a smug figure materialised at the room's entrance. Looking up, you saw Iseul standing there, a smirk playing on her lips as she observed your distress.

"Congratulations, rookie," she sneered, "It's quite an accomplishment to catch the Mad Dog's eye. You've been doing so well lately, securing such a loyal client early in your career. I had to put in a good word for you." Your eyes widened in horror as you realised she had been the one to orchestrate this.

"You're welcome, Miss Han. Enjoy yourself tonight. I promise I'll take good care of Mr. Jung for you in the meantime," she added with a grin, biting her lip before slipping out the way she came.

No, please. This cannot be happening.

Seated once more on the edge of the familiar bed, tonight was different. Emotions flooded through you—fear so intense it threatened to overwhelm, and a desperate urge to jump off the building. The open window seemed to beckon, tempting you with its freedom to the afterlife. Yet, a part of you held out hope for a miracle, yearning for Wooyoung to appear through that very window and rescue you from this nightmare.

Just as you contemplated reaching for the window, your heart seized at the sound of heavy footsteps—unlike the investigator's usual light tread—approaching the room. Paralysed with fear, you could only sit and watch as the intimidating man strode in. Closing the door firmly behind him, he nodded approvingly, "I suppose I can see the appeal. You're quite the beauty, aren't you?"

His nickname, "Mad Dog," seemed fitting as you observed his nearly crazed eyes. A shiver ran down your spine as he scanned you from head to toe, making you feel exposed and violated just by his gaze alone. With his middle-aged appearance and burly build, coupled with a receding hairline and furrowed brow, he resembled a creature straight out of your worst nightmares. The mere thought of him near you turned your stomach. How could anyone possibly willingly allow him to touch them?

With a sleazy lick of his lips, he wasted no time closing the distance between you. Panic surged through you as you realised you couldn't do this. Your eyes darted to the exit, and you made a desperate dash for it, but he was faster. He let out a guttural laugh as he ensnared you in his beefy arms, "No, let me go! I refuse!" you screamed, struggling against his grasp.

"I don't think that's up to you, doll. I've paid a hefty amount for you, this better be worth it," he growled, throwing you onto the bed and tearing open the outer layer of your hanbok as if it were paper. Tears streamed down your face as you cried, "Stay away from me!" You scrambled backwards, trying to put some distance between you, only to find yourself cornered against the headboard.

"Help! Somebody, please, help me!"

"Shout all you want, sweetheart. No one's coming to save you."

Wooyoung's blood boiled as he absorbed the brothel madam's words, "What do you mean she's with another client? I've had her reserved all week. Is this how you conduct business? It seems you're not honouring my requests very well."

She let out a teasing laugh, playfully slapping him on the arm with her decorative fan, "Oh, Mr. Jung, don't be so upset. She's not with just any ordinary client; it's a valued patron we can't afford to turn away. He's paid double your usual rate. You'll have her all to yourself again by tomorrow. In the meantime, we've selected our finest girls to compensate for today. Take your pick. And just for you, we'll even offer a discount," she said, gesturing to the lineup of courtesans batting their eyelashes seductively at him.

Ignoring the courtesans, he pressed further, "And who is this client you're speaking of? I can pay triple the amount if that's what it takes for me to have Miss Han."

The other girls exchanged jealous huffs, wondering what made you so special for the investigator to be this possessive. Iseul's grin widened as she intervened, "It's the infamous Mad Dog, Mr. Jung. I'm sure you've heard of him. Unfortunately, money won't sway his desires. He's not someone we can afford to offend. Now, how about I show you a good time today? Who knows, you might find yourself forgetting all about her after this."

His heart lurched in his chest at the revelation. After meticulously gathering information about the big clients in the Mansion of Midnight, he knew the Mad Dog was the most notorious of them all. The mere thought of that abomination laying his rough hands on you filled him with a murderous rage like never before. He had promised to keep you safe and could not allow this to happen to you.

He would never forgive himself.

With only you in mind, nothing else mattered as he pushed the brothel madam aside and stormed up the stairs to your usual room, "No, wait! Mr. Jung! You cannot do this!" they called out to him, trying to stop him, but he shoved anyone in his way aside.

His blood ran cold when he heard your familiar voice crying miserably for help. Kicking the door open, he saw red and nearly went feral at the sight before him: your outer layer of hanbok torn to shreds, the skirt of your inner layer pushed up to your thighs, and the man's head buried in your neck, seemingly trying to leave his mark, trapping your arms above your head as you struggled helplessly against him.

"Get your filthy hands off her, you bastard!" Wooyoung growled, his fury fueling a surge of strength as he pulled the Mad Dog off your delicate frame, landing a punch on his cheek hard enough to send him crashing to the ground with a groan.

As he watched you immediately curl up, shaking like a leaf, his heart broke. Hastily, he draped a blanket over you, shielding you from further exposure. Meeting your tear-filled gaze, you pleaded pitifully, "Please, take me away from here."

Pressing a kiss onto your forehead, he locked eyes with you, "I promise I will. I'm here now, you're safe with me."

Relief flooded through you as his presence reassured you that he wasn't just a figment of your imagination. For a moment, you had feared he wouldn't arrive in time to save you. You knew he would come, but the thought of him being a moment too late haunted you. If he had been, you feared losing the last shred of your innocence, making you forever tainted and unworthy in his eyes. It was then that you realised your feelings for him were undeniable. It was so much more than just gratitude or the joy of friendship.

You wanted more than to be a charity case.

You wanted him.

Wanted to be with Jung Wooyoung.

"You'll regret that, boy. Do you even know who you're dealing with? You're that loyal little customer of hers, aren't you?" the monster threatened as he struggled to push himself off the ground.

The investigator held you close as you whimpered, trying to comfort you while glaring at the Mad Dog, "I am, and you'll regret messing with my woman," he asserted. Clinging to him, your heart pounded in your chest for different reasons: for his words, desperately hoping he meant them, and for fear of his safety from the man's potential wrath.

"Stop this at once, Mr. Jung! If you persist, we'll have no option but to blacklist you from our establishment," the brothel madam warned, her eyes widening in disbelief at the scene before her.

Wooyoung's smirk widened, "I'd like to see you try. I didn't want to do this the hard way, but you've given me no choice."

The Mad Dog chuckled, "And what exactly do you plan to do, kid?"

"You'll find out." With a sharp whistle aimed out the open window, a group of what appeared to be royal guards swiftly entered through the main entrance, causing everyone to freeze as they tried to comprehend the sudden turn of events.

"Is this the woman you mentioned, Investigator Jung?" the head guard inquired, pointing to the brothel madam.

"Yes, that's her," Wooyoung confirmed.

The woman froze in panic, "Wh-what is the meaning of this?"

"You, as the owner of the Mansion of Midnight, are under arrest for forced prostitution, exploiting minors, drugging patrons, and coercing victims into settling debts through illegal means," the head guard stated monotonously.

She resisted as the guards secured her arms in a tight grip, preventing her from escaping, "No, that's not true! There is an official who can vouch for the legitimacy of my business."

"If you're referring to the local magistrate who took your bribes and covered up your illegal activities, I regret to inform you that he's already in custody, awaiting trial. He didn't protect you during his interrogation," the head guard responded before instructing his comrades, "Guards, search the premises and arrest all accomplices."

"Yes, sir!" came the unified reply.

She sagged hopelessly in the grasp of the guards behind her as the rest dispersed to halt all operations and apprehend the other culprits, "H-how...?" she stammered.

Wooyoung fixed her with a stern gaze, "It appears you've truly forgotten what I do for a living and the powerful allies I have. Perhaps you should have thought twice before accepting me as a client. That was the first misstep leading to your downfall."

As the guards dragged the brothel madam out, leaving the Mad Dog panicking in his spot, he realised he had underestimated the young man before him. He hadn't known this was the famous Investigator Jung all along. Suddenly, he regretted the threats and taunts he had hurled just moments ago.

He wasn't the only one in a state of anxiety; Iseul stood wide-eyed, shaking, and attempting to sneak away unnoticed. However, the investigator's keen eye caught her every move. With a nod in their direction, a few guards swiftly stepped forward to capture them before they could flee.

"This one's guilty of sexual assault and violence against countless women, and this one has encouraged his actions," Wooyoung declared firmly, "Perhaps they could both use a good lesson in the torture chambers. I'm sure General Park would approve."

Both Iseul and the Mad Dog pleaded for forgiveness as they were dragged out of the room, their cries fading into the distance.

Thank god, it's finally over...

Overwhelmed by the torrent of emotions you just experienced, the sudden relief was enough to render you unconscious, lying limp in Wooyoung's arms. With an exhausted sigh, he cradled your head against his neck, planting a gentle kiss on your temple and whispering, "Rest now, my lady. I won't let anyone harm you again."

As you regained consciousness, you blinked and rubbed your eyes until the unfamiliar surroundings came into focus. Panic surged through you as you shot up from the bed, causing the comforter around you to slip down and reveal the high-quality sleepwear you were dressed in. In an instant, someone entered the room from the doorway. Pulling the comforter up to your chest as a shield, you cowered in fear, "Wh-where am I and who are you?" you stammered.

The elderly woman smiled warmly down at you, "Hello, Miss Han. I hope you've had a good rest. My name is Eunsook, and I'm the head maid of General Park's estate."

Your jaw dropped as you tried to process her words, "G-General Park...? As in the strongest general in all of Joseon, the King's most trusted warrior?"

The head maid chuckled and nodded, "Yes, the one and only."

"Was it Mr. Jung who brought me here?" you croaked, to which she replied, "Indeed, Investigator Jung brought you here as soon as the situation at the Mansion of Midnight had been taken care of. Would you like to see him, my dear?"

"I... I'm sure he has more important matters to attend to than to see me. He promised to free me, and he's done that... There's no more reason for him to see me," you murmured, lowering your head. As much as you longed for him, you knew better. You didn't deserve him. Even though you were now free, you still came from a humble background and had nothing to offer him.

Your head snapped up when you heard the familiar sound of tongue clucking, and you were surprised to see Wooyoung there, shaking his head disapprovingly. It turns out he had been hiding by the entrance the whole time. However, the cheeky grin on his lips betrayed his feigned disappointment. It was clear he didn't have the heart to actually lecture you; he was prepared for this. Somehow, he knew your lack of confidence would potentially get in the way of you expressing your true feelings.

"Really? After everything I've done for you, you don't think there's a reason for us to see each other anymore?" he said teasingly, "So you have no plans to repay me, hm?"

Eunsook couldn't help but giggle into her fist at your flustered expression, clearly caught off guard by the investigator's sudden appearance. The elderly woman bowed slightly, "I should probably go check on Lady Park. I'll be leaving you two alone to talk."

With a grateful nod in her direction, he approached you and settled onto the bed, facing you directly, "Tell me, do you truly believe there's no need to repay me for all the effort I invested in rescuing you?"

Avoiding his piercing gaze, you gulped, "So, what is it that you want then? As I've said, I don't have much to offer other than—"

He gently reached for your hand resting on your lap, interrupting your words. His touch was reassuring as he stroked the back of your palm as if it were second nature, "It would be great if you could start by allowing me to court you, my lady."

You gasped, meeting his eyes immediately, "What? You cannot possibly mean that, you deserve someone so much better—"

Shaking his head, he squeezed your hand gently, "That's not what I want to hear. I want to know what you want, my lady. Do you want to be with me? If not, I can leave you be, if that's what you truly wish. Your happiness is all that matters to me."

Swallowing the lump in your throat, you didn't realise tears were streaming down your cheeks until he lifted a hand to wipe them, "Tell me... what is it that you want?"

Emotions swirled within you as you felt your heart fluttering at his caring and respectful demeanour. His considerate words and actions were something you had never experienced in your life. The affection you felt for him in that moment threatened to burst from your chest.

The soft and sincere look in his eyes only deepened your emotions, causing tears to flow harder. Summoning all your courage, you dared to squeeze his hand back. What kind of fool would you be to push him away now? You couldn't bear to let him down, nor were you selfless enough to let him go.

Drawing closer to him, you chose to let your actions speak and pressed your lips softly against his, warmth enveloping your body as you felt him kissing you back with equal tenderness. He cupped your wet cheek gently, his touch offering a sense of comfort and security.

Pulling back slowly, you whispered against his lips, "You... I want you, Jung Wooyoung."

"Then it's me you shall have."

And that marked the first day of him courting you. As days turned into weeks, you settled into a new routine at the general's estate. Lady Park's kindness knew no bounds, and she graciously allowed you to stay there, knowing you had nowhere else to turn. Certainly not to that decrepit place with your despicable father.

Amidst this new life, you found solace in the companionship of the mistress. She taught you the art of embroidery, a skill that not only passed the time but also allowed you to contribute in some small way to the household. When you weren't with her, you spent your time with the investigator as you got to know each other better.

Then came the news—the Mansion of Midnight had been officially shut down. It was a relief to hear that justice had been served, and the perpetrators were facing the consequences of their actions. The girls who had been trapped there were finally free, receiving the care and support they deserved from the government.

Life seemed to be looking up in every way, but there was one thing that weighed heavily on your mind—Wooyoung's plans to introduce you to his parents.

"You worry too much, they're going to love you," were the last words from Lady Park and Eunsook before sending you off. The journey to his family estate passed in a blur, and before you knew it, you found yourself seated in the living hall of the estate. It was smaller than the general's, given that they were an average family.

Wooyoung reached for your hand and brought it to his lips, pressing a kiss on your knuckles, "Relax, love. Everything will be okay," he reassured you. But despite the assurances from everyone, a part of you still feared how his family would perceive you.

As his parents finally greeted you, your heart raced with nervous anticipation. Throughout the meeting, it was evident that you were finding it difficult to be yourself, tiptoeing around cautiously despite the elderly couple's friendly demeanour. Deep down, you imagined all sorts of possibilities, fearing their kindness might be a facade meant to separate you both once you left.

Sensing your nerves and doubts, his mother gently set down her teacup and offered you a warm and motherly smile, "Miss Han, I hope my son hasn't been bothering you too much with his antics. I know he can be a handful, but we can see he's serious about you. When the time comes for him to propose, I hope you'll consider giving him a chance." His father chuckled and nodded in agreement as you stared at them in shock.

Reaching out to pat your hand, she continued, "We understand your concerns, but we want you to know that your past doesn't matter to us. Our priority is our son's happiness, and if that means being with you, then we're more than happy with it."

The remainder of the day unfolded smoothly as you dined with Wooyoung's parents before he escorted you back to the general's estate that evening. Lingering by the entrance, he seemed reluctant to part ways just yet. Your intertwined hands swung back and forth as he playfully wiggled his eyebrows at you, "I told you everything would be fine, didn't I? Would it hurt to believe me?"

You scoffed, rolling your eyes, "How can I when all you do is trick me over and over for fun? Do you even love me?"

Feigning offence, he dramatically gasped, placing a hand over his heart, "Excuse me, I'll have you know that while I may joke about many things, my love for you is genuine."

Your cheeks flushed with embarrassment as he embraced you, pulling you close, "Stop teasing and say it back already," he urged.

Just as you were on the verge of relenting, a loud clearing of the throat startled you both. Seonghwa stood by the gates, arms crossed over his chest, looking unamused, "Must you two do this right in front of my house?"

His cool demeanour vanished as soon as his wife appeared beside him, giving him a playful smack on the back of his head, "Leave them alone, you idiot!" she chided, before dragging him back into the estate, calling out, "Please continue!"

Laughter filled the air between you as you watched the couple go. After the moment passed, Wooyoung bit his lip, "There's a festival in town tomorrow, and I know you've been eager to go. Shall I pick you up at the same time tomorrow?"

Nodding shyly, you replied, "Yes, same time. I'll see you, Woo."

"See you, love." With a final peck on your lips, he pulled away. Before his hand could fully slip away, you held on, "Wait, I love you too."

With a cheeky grin, he teased, "I know."

"Ugh, you ruined the moment," you said with a playful sigh. Turning to leave, you couldn't help but smile as he whined behind you. Laughing, you added, "Go home, Woo. Don't be late tomorrow." He may be a fool, but he's the fool who saved your life. He's your fool, and you couldn't wait to have more moments like this with him.

Y'all, I'm sorry if this seemed rushed or anything. I sincerely hope this meets expectations! It's not easy trying to fit everything in a two-shot, but I really didn't want to drag it any longer than it has to be because I'm aware I have 6 more spinoffs to complete HAHA

As always, thank you for reading and let me know your thoughts! <3

Tag list (1/5): @itstheghostofmypast @huachengsbestie01 @minghaoslatina @weedforthoughtz @minkiflwr @cheolliehugs @ho3-for-yunho @the-kpop-simp @writingwieny @stayatinykatsy @skzline @green-agent @stayinhellevator @vampzity @tinyteezer @evidive @vantediary @superbbananananana @kimyeolchan @chocolate-scoups @decadentstrangernacho @vic0921 @foxinnie8 @marievllr-abg @sunnyhokyu @seungmin-in-thebuilding @heyitsmetonid @sansaurora9904 @darkestacademiamindsx12-blog @pay13 @kpop17 @professormingisglasses @newworldwritings @chicken-fifi @thunderous-wolf @shythinggiver @madnpan @yandere-stories @anxiousskylar @frobin4ever @starssongs98 @kamabokogonpachro @chngbnwf @dollce-exe @jan-l @lovelyred2 @haven-cove @watermelon2319 @dreamingofyeo @akimkim @scuzmunkie @satsuri3su @mismatchfluffysocks @borntoshineateez @st4rhwa @ddaeing @tropicalsstuff @bts-army380 @skteezcursed @beauty143

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[atinyreads]

Affair of the Heart

summary: you had been Seonghwa’s secretary for 6 months. 3 of those months you had been secretly seeing each other. things were going well between the two of you and work. that was until Seonghwa’s father says that it is time for him to get married of someone of his choosing. will Seonghwa go against his father and stay with you? or will he do what he has always done and listen?

pairing: CEO!Seonghwa X Secretary!OC 

genre/warning: fluff, angst, smut

word count: 9k

note: after a long hiatus, i bring you this long overdue scenario. i hope you enjoy.

Keep reading

[atinyreads]

Terrifying

Summary:  Your gentle giant of a boyfriend Yunho doesn't always know how strong he is. This is proven during a fight between you two when he throws his guitar.

Genre: angst

Pairing: bf!Yunho X fem!reader

Word Count:  1944

Warnings: mean Yunho, arguing, swearing

networks: @newworldnet

© by bethelighthalazia. Do not repost, copy or translate. Unless stated otherwise, those works are mine and born from my own ideas. I don't have any claim on the mentioned real existing Idols whatsoever.

It was late in the evening when your boyfriend of two years arrived home from practice. You had cooked his favorite for him and then waited for his return. In the morning, he had said his schedule would end at 6 pm today. Now, it was almost 11 pm. The table set, you had waited patiently, but when Yunho didn't come home at 8, you resorted to the sofa, curling up on it with Yunho's hoodie he left laying there in the morning.

You didn't notice the keys jingle in the lock, nor did you hear your boyfriend enter the shared apartment. You fell asleep only a few minutes after you had laid down on the sofa and were now deeply asleep. Yunho only let out a tired sigh when he noticed you, he didn't mean to be this late, dance practice took longer than he had hoped. Seeing the set table, he then quietly put the food away into the fridge, so the two of you could eat it the next day. Contemplating whether to move you to the shared bed or leave you on the sofa, Yunho's decision is made the moment you shuffle. He gently picked you up and then set you down on the king sized bed in the bedroom, covering you with a blanket and then left to take a shower.

The next morning, you woke up cuddled against Yunho's large frame, a soft smile on your face, but then you remember the last evening, he again came home much later than he had told you. How many times did he promise you to be home early, but then break this promise. But you never said anything, because you knew that he works hard, it's normal to have late work and practice as an idol. You know that. Then why did a tear steal its way from your eyes? Why did it upset you that he came home this late last night?

Because it was your anniversary. Because it's the second time this year that he forgot such an important date. First your birthday, now your anniversary. 

You tried to be quiet, to suppress the sob that built up in your chest, but his strong arms around you didn't let you leave the bed. Swallowing hard, you tried to shuffle out of his grip, but this movement woke him up too, causing you to wince mentally.

“Morning, love…” He hummed with his usual sleepy voice which, on any other day, would have made you smile, but today it just brought another tear from your eyes. You didn't turn around, just whispered “Morning Yuyu” and curled up. This actually made him frown,you usually would smile at him, turn around to kiss him and then cuddle and try to make him stay in bed with you. “You have schedules today, you should get ready soon.” A look at the alarm clock on your nightstand confirms your words, but Yunho shook his head behind you. “We don't have any schedules today and the next two days, so we can spend the day together.” 

Normally you'd be happy about those words, but this morning, you just couldn't. “Okay, let's do that. Are you hungry?” Even your voice lacked the usual enthusiasm, even though you're trying to be happy to have your boyfriend home and for yourself for three days. And of course Yunho would notice this, turning you around, so he could look into your face while talking. The sight of your tears lets him stop and frown though. “Are- why are you crying, love? Are you in pain?” His voice filled with concern, he doesn't even realize that he's the reason you're crying this morning. 

“Y- you really forgot, hm?” It's a simple question and while you swallow down the disappointment and hurt, you manage to give him a little, almost crooked smile. “It's okay though, you had a hard week, it's not your fault, Yuyu. We can celebrate it next year.” Those words cause his eyes to go wide. The dinner he had put away, you on the sofa, it slowly falls in place. It had been your anniversary and he really did forget about it. 

Although, after only a few seconds, his shocked expression turns into a frown, then into something that looks angry or annoyed. “You know that my work will always be like this, y/n. I have to practice and sometimes it makes me come home late. You knew this from the beginning.” He said, leaning back a bit to look at you, which leaves you with confusion. 

“I know that, Yuyu, that's why I said it's okay, I don't-” “Then why are you acting like I'm the bad guy now?” He cut you off, which is unusual for him. He always listened to you, never interrupting you when you spoke before. Swallowing to not start to cry in front of him now, you just nod and get up from the bed, but he grabbed your wrist. Not the usual gentle way though, his grip was a bit harsher this time.

“Hey, we’re talking, I asked you something, y/n.” Frozen in place, you just stay at the edge of the bed, swallowing down a sob before you try to answer confidently, but your words only come out in a whispered voice. “I didn't, Yuyu…please, your grip hurts.” You didn't look at Yunho, somehow scared of him at this moment, but thankfully he lets go of your wrist. The shuffling behind you caused you to wince, but he had turned his back to you when he sat on the edge of his side of the bed, so you quickly made your way to the bathroom. When the door closes behind you, you could hear a loud thump, he had slammed his hand on the nightstand with a little annoyed growl.

When you came out, he wasn't in the bedroom anymore, so you made your way to the living room, where Yunho sat on the sofa, playing a game on his console. He still looked angry, so you let him be and walked to the kitchen area, where you saw all the food from last night thrown away. “Yuyu, did you-” You started, turning to leave the kitchen, but you almost ran into him. “Why did you throw it away?” It was a simple question from you, but for some reason, it flipped something inside him, an annoyed look on his face again.

“Another thing to nag me about? It's not really edible, so I threw it out. Hand me that water, so I can go back to my game.” Nag him? You never nagged him about anything, where was this coming from now? “Yuyu, I-” “Yuyu, I. You what? Looking for another reason to cry about?” He mocked, pushing past you to grab a bottle of water from the fridge before leaving the kitchen again, leaving you standing there, wondering what was wrong with him today.

You didn't know why he was like this, but you didn't like him talking to you like this, when you supported him all the time and never complained about anything to him. After a few moments, you follow him, swallowing the lump in your throat and stand in front of the TV now. You could hear the sound of his character dying in the game, but you didn't care. That is, until he stood in one move and started yelling. 

“What the fuck, y/n?? You just ruined hours of playing!” It's the first time ever that he's yelling at you and it hurts. “I don't care, Yunho! What's wrong with you today?” You're not yelling, the shakiness of your voice present as you try to speak up, tears already welling up in your eyes, but you don't cry. Yet.

“What's wrong with me? What's wrong with you? You wake up and cry about me being late, then you nag at me. Don't you think you should be happy that I'm working hard?!” You never before witnessed him this angry, and for the first time in the years you know him, you're scared of Yunho. “You know how fucking hard it is to always go to work, let everyone walk over me while I'm always nice to everyone? Be told that I have to practice more, to be perfect?!”

With only a few steps, he walks over to grab his guitar, holding it up. “And then, I come home later because I did fucking practice, and it's not good enough! No, my girlfriend has to cry about me forgetting to be home in time for dinner.” “It's not about the dinner, Yunho! I told you it's okay, why are you yelling at me now?” You tried to talk back, your voice isn't nearly as loud and stable as you had hoped though. “Why am i- maybe because I'm fuckin tired of you making me to be the bad guy here?! If it's okay and just dinner, why do you have to cry about it?!” With those words, he lets out his built up anger, throwing his guitar at the TV. With you standing near it, you flinch, eyes widen and when both things break and pieces split off and hit you, you can't hold back the sobs. 

The moment Yunho threw the guitar, he realized what he did, his eyes widened in shock, real shock this time. Not only about your sobs, but also because he hurt you. All the anger subsided immediately and he took a careful step towards you, but you just flinched and stumbled backwards. “Y/n, I- I'm sorry, I didn't-” He whispered, his voice a stark contrast against the yelling only moments earlier. You knew he meant this, but you're terrified, dropping onto the floor in a sitting position as sobs shake your body and tears just run free. You didn't even register the pain yet from where the little pieces of debris had hurt you, nor did you care about them bleeding a bit.

“Please, let me- let me take a look…you're hurt, love-” You heard his voice, but only shook your head no, still crying. Letting out a heavy sigh followed by an own sob, Yunho quickly reached for his phone, calling his best friend and putting him on speaker the moment Mingi picked up. “Yunho? Yah, why do you wake me?” Mingi sounded as if he just woke up, but when he heard your quiet crying through the phone, he sat up in his bed, fully awake. “Is y/n crying? Wha-” “Yes, she is…can you come here? Right now?” It didn't need any more words for Mingi to hang up and hurry to rush into the apartment not even five minutes later. The apartment was not far from the dorms, which came in handy this time. However, when Mingi walked into the living room, he froze in place, seeing the shattered TV, the broken guitar and you sitting on the floor, crying and hurt.

He quickly stepped over to you, noticing you flinch when Yunho made the tiniest of movements. Mingi knew that Yunho always bottles up his anger and sometimes it just has to burst out, this time, it seems to have happened around you, which Yunho always tried to avoid. “Hey, it's okay y/nnie, I'm here. He won't hurt you, okay?” Mingi whispered, gently checking your wounds, which are merely little scratches and nothing too deep. Then, he picked you up to carry you to the bedroom, gathered some of your things before just carrying you out of the apartment and took you to the dorms with him. 

taglist: @mingis-mizu, @tinyelfperson, @hotteokkay, @minkiliciouss, @bunnliix, @gong-fourz

(if you want to be added to a taglist, follow the taglist-link in my pinned post)

[atinyreads]

Glitter and Gold

Pairing: Yandere Dragon! Seonghwa × Reader Summary: You get sent away as a sacrifice to the dragon, but instead of being met by a fire-breathing dragon, you encounter a handsome man who seems too good to be true. Word count: 2.8k Disclaimer: I'm in no way condoning, justifying, encouraging nor promoting this kind of behavior. This is not supposed to represent Seonghwa in any way. Warning: Some kind of soulmate bond, yandere behavior, mention of murder.

A/N: Didn't post in a long time because I had literally zero inspiration, and Ghost from Call of Duty kind of had me in a chokehold (I wish). Anyway, here's a small oneshot and I hope some of you like it. :)

◇◇◇

You could feel it. The burning jealous stares that followed you as you walked through your village, they wanted to puncture your skin, burn it off with just their stare. It was mainly young women who looked at you like that, their beautiful faces were adorned by angry frowns. Normally it would have made you want to crawl into a hole and never come out again, but now your chest was swelling with pride your head held high as you felt an odd sensation of satisfaction. You were the chosen one, the one who would be sent to the dragon as an offering. A sacrifice, that's what you are, but it's an honor. Your sacrifice would be the reason why your village would be able to live in peace for another year. It was said that only the most dazzling beauties would be chosen worthy enough to be sent away.

And now the time has come, you were the chosen one. Not those girls who looked down on you throughout all of your life. You're not pretty enough, not smart enough, not charming enough, and most certainly not worthy of anything, not even the same air they breathed. That's what they had always told you. For the longest time, you were their personal punching bag, their outlet for all of their frustration and pressure that was laid upon their shoulders. This was over now.

Your departure was quick and almost anticlimactic, but you didn't mind it. You had no interest in getting emotional with people who had tormented you your entire life, although not everyone did it, everyone knew about it, yet no one did anything to intervene.

The first step outside felt like you had achieved true freedom, even if the sentence of being a sacrifice hung heavy over your head. You had thought about running away, but there was nowhere you could go. Your small village was located in a valley, surrounded by huge snow-capped mountains and vast forests which were the homes of dangerous wildlife. Now, a mountain inhabited by a dragon might not necessarily sound like the safer option, however, you had a reason to go there. It was also the reason why everyone was jealous of you.

It was an old tale, no one really knew if it was true, but everyone believed in it nonetheless. It was said that if you were chosen by the dragon as worthy enough to be kept alive, you'd spend the rest of your life living in wealth. That's why you decided to take your chances with the dragon, rather than just accept your certain death.

The euphoric feeling of being free from those damned people that had been tormenting you your whole life, and the determination of wanting to live a better life, kept the fear that wanted to envelop your heart at bay. No matter how much you might fear walking through the dark forest which never seemed to end, or the thought of what lived inside the mountain you were approaching, you would keep walking because you were desperate for a new life.

Your feeling of hope diminished quicker than you would like. After almost four hours of foot walk you stood in front of the beginning of the mountain trail that would lead toward the cave. The muscles in your thighs were burning as well as your feet, you weren't used to walking this long without a break but you had forced your body through this ordeal, you didn't care how much it hurt. Your heart was in your throat and not just from physical activity, but from anxiety too. Understandably, who wouldn't be afraid of the outlook of meeting a fire-breathing dragon?

As soon as you set foot on that trail it felt like an invisible barrier sucked out all of the energy that was left in your body. Your legs suddenly felt like jelly, ready to give up from underneath you at any given second, but once again, you forced yourself through it.

Faster than you'd like you stood in front of the massive cave. Your mouth was opened in awe as you stopped in your tracks. Mountains of gold coins, gems, and glittery jewelry filled the cave as far as you could see. A small path between the huge piles leads deeper into the cave. Carefully you followed the small path, you were tempted to reach for the jewelry, or the gems that glittered in various colors between the gold coins, but you kept your hands to yourself. If there was truly a dragon living in this cave, it certainly wouldn't be very pleased should you touch any of its treasures.

As you walked deeper into the cave, your anxiety rose within you. Every corner was filled with treasures, there was barely any walking space. You started to doubt the dragon's existence, after all, how could it live with such minimal space?

Steps echoed off of the walls from deeper within the cave, steps that weren't your own. You froze in your tracks, straining your ears to pick up on any more sounds that might follow. Your body refused to move, even when you saw the silhouette of a human coming out of the dark. The sunlight from outside provided minimal lighting, but enough to illuminate the man who stepped in front of you.

You held your breath, you knew immediately that he was different from you. Small patches of red scales covered him in some places instead of skin, but eventually, they merged with his normal skin. The man came to a halt shortly in front of you and stared into your eyes. Unnerved by his stare and the serious look on his face you shifted your weight on your legs and inched a little away from him.

His eyes wandered over your face and down your body, his gaze was analyzing and cold until something suddenly shifted in him and his eyes seemingly softened. Even a small smile stretched on his face. "You can breathe, you don't have to hold it just because of me." He almost had a teasing tone as he spoke to you.

You let out the air you were holding in your lungs. It was as if your body was reacting to his smooth voice because your tense muscles relaxed a little as soon as he spoke to you. "You're not a dragon." You blurted out.

You managed to draw a low chuckle and a headshake from him. "Oh trust me, I am." His hand reached out to grab your chin before you could flinch away he had caught your face between his fingers and forced you to properly look at him. "Beautiful." He mumbled while he turned your head from side to side, so he could examine your face from every angle.

"That's a little too much touching for a first meeting, don't you think?" You mumbled quietly and pulled your head back as you became flustered. While you talked you couldn't look away from him, his eyes were mesmerizing. They were golden, almost seemed like they were glowing, and the color in his irises swirled like liquid gold.

He let go of your face, but not without a dissatisfied grumble. "Is it? But you're a sacrifice to me, are you not? You belong to me now."

His brazenness left you speechless for a short moment, but you didn't need to say anything anyway because he took the word again. "Don't worry, I'm just messing with you." He said with a smirk on his lips. However, with how serious he said it, you doubted that he was just messing with you.

"I... what are you?" This question has been burning on your tongue since you first spotted the scales on his body.

"Asking the important questions right from the beginning, hm?" His hand came up to his face to brush away a strand of his black hair that had fallen into his eyes when he leaned closer to inspect your face. "As I said, I'm a dragon. I might not look like one right now, but in my true form I'm indeed a dragon." He motioned down his body and continued, "This human body is just a costume. I learned that it's less intimidating for mortals like you, and honestly, it's way more practical too."

"Do you have a name? How old are you, and how does this whole dragon thing work?" The questions spilled from your mouth like a waterfall once you realized that he wouldn't be a threat, at least for the moment, and your body relaxed.

Another chuckle with his smooth voice reached your ear. "Curious little thing aren't you? You can call me Seonghwa. My age?" He shrugged his shoulders, looked away from you for a second, and fixated his gaze back on you shortly after. "I stopped counting the years, and as for how my nature works, how about we talk about this at a different time? I don't want to overwork your pretty head."

You couldn't help but feel a little offended. He made it seem like you were too stupid to comprehend what he would tell you. "Fine. Where are the other girls that got sent here?"

"Other girls?" He seemed bored just thinking about it, his brows furrowed, he looked like he had to remember what you were talking about. As if there weren't any girls sent to him, every year for multiple centuries. "I killed them." He finally answered.

Your breath got caught in your throat, fear started to claw at your heart once again. So, was this going to be your end? The scaled man in front of you chuckled when he saw the fear in your eyes. "Don't you worry, my precious little gem." Seonghwa's hand reached out again to get a hold of your chin, his thumb brushed over your lips, and his eyes followed his own movement. "You're the one I've been waiting for."

"The one you've been waiting for?" You asked a bit unsure. You didn't know if you had to fear for your life or not.

He nodded. "You're destined to be with me, you, a mere human don't feel it of course." He paused and you almost flinched away when he suddenly put his hand over your chest exactly where your heart was located. "But your heart. It only beats for one purpose, and that is to belong to me. It's beating in a specific rhythm, almost as if it's calling out to me."

You swallowed down your fear, or at least you tried to, and replied to him with a hint of doubt in your voice. "A specific rhythm? Doesn't every heart beat in the same way?"

You could swear that he rolled his eyes a little, but he quickly overplayed it with his charming smile. "You don't get it. As I said, you're just a human." He put his hand under your chin and grabbed you with his thumb and his index finger to tilt your head up. "You're the one I've waited for, everything else is meaningless now. Don't worry your pretty little head about it."

"Stop calling me pretty."

"Why? It's the truth after all." Seonghwa leaned closer, getting into your personal space more than before, to the point you could feel his warm breath fan over your face. You panicked a little when he didn't stop crossing the distance between you two, you were sure he would try to kiss you. You were about to pull away when he did something against your expectations.

Instead of kissing you, he pressed his forehead against yours and his hand came up to cup your cheek, you felt his thumb brush over your skin, gently, almost as gently as a feather, it felt like you were just imagining his touch. "Don't worry," he murmured. His breath smelt like the smoke of a forest fire but somehow it wasn't unpleasant. "I waited so long for you, I can also wait until you're ready to fully be with me." The words he spoke were nothing but a mere whisper. "I can wait," He repeated a bit more firmly to make sure that you heard him properly.

He moved his head away from your face and more to the side so he could whisper in your ear. "I'll wait until I can kiss you until I can explore every inch of your body," Seonghwa took a small break, his eyes glinting with mischievous as he added, "Until you're willing to let me claim you, in every possible way."

Seonghwa gently brushed your hair back before his hand landed on the side of your neck with his thumb caressing your cheek. He brought his face closer to yours again, your eyes widened and you were about to pull back however, he was faster than you again because he stopped shortly before his lips would touch yours. You felt his warm breath on your lips, it distracted you to the point you almost missed the words he whispered to you. "My desire to kiss you is overwhelmingly big."

"Don't-," Seonghwa shushed you before you could protest any further. Another chuckle resonated from deep within his chest. "Don't worry, I won't. I told you, didn't I? I will wait until you want me as much as I want you." He distanced himself a bit from you, a lazy half smile tugged at the right corner of his mouth. "But when that time comes I might make you beg for my touch." It seemed like he wanted to make a joke, but you had a feeling that he was dead serious.

With a sigh, he moved away from you, this time he really left your personal space. Seonghwa held his hand out to you, waiting for you to grab it. "You've asked enough questions for now, don't you think? It's time you see where you will live with me." You were too busy staring at him in awe, so you didn't catch the words he muttered under his breath. "For eternity."

The way he stood, with his posture being flawless, as well as his perfect face and the gentle smile on his lips, you could have thought that he was royalty, if it wasn't for the red scales embedded into his skin. Maybe he was royalty, some kind of dragon royalty if it even exists. You thought to yourself as you took his hand.

Together with you, he started to walk deeper into the darker part of the cave. He seemed to navigate in the darkness just fine, while you were stumbling after him like a newborn foal, with just his hand as your guide. Eventually, a small source of light fell into your eyes, and as you walked closer you realized that the light were torches attached to the cave walls. Seonghwa stopped in front of two ridiculously big oak wood doors. You and to crane your neck to be able to see where they ended.

How would those doors even open? "How-" And again, Seonghwa didn't let you finish your sentence. He let go of your hand walked up to the door, and pushed one of them open with ease. "I might have a human body right now, but I still have the strength of a Dragon. Now come." He nodded toward the inside, silently telling you to go in.

Those huge doors made you a little nervous, inside your head, you were imagining what would happen if the door suddenly closed while you were walking through it. Swiftly you scurried inside and Seonghwa followed with a smile. A loud noise echoed through the room as the door fell closed behind him. You were surprised to see a fully furnished living room. Everything was illuminated by torches attached to the wall, allowing you to see the extravagant furniture.

"You like it?" Seonghwa quietly asked you close to your ear.

You only gave him a small nod as you continued to look around the room. There were more cave tunnels, leading away from the living room probably to more living space, such as a bedroom. "I'm glad. You'll be spending a lot of time here." He was still close to your ear and whispered to you while he stood behind you.

While you looked around your gaze traveled to the, now closed, oak doors. You didn't think about it at the time, but you were trapped now. There was no way you would ever be able to push these doors open on your own. Your breath hitched when Seonghwa suddenly wrapped his arms around your waist and pulled you against his body. "A lot of time." He growled into your ear. In this moment you realized that it wasn't just something he said without real meaning. It was a promise and a threat at the same time. However, you realized it too late, you were already in the claws of this dragon and he sure as hell would never be willing to ever let you go again.

[atinyreads]

[Wonderland]

Pairing: Pirate!Kim Hongjoong x Fem!Outlaw!Reader

Genre: Fluff, Angst, Smut, pirate au, lovers to enemies to lovers

Synopsis: You only had one goal in your life, take revenge for your parents death. However, when Kim Hongjoong, the man who you believed had betrayed you, comes back into your life, you find yourself reeling as old wounds, affections and mysteries that you had buried deep into your heart threaten to re-emerge.

Warnings: Blood, gore, death, knives, guns, thievery(the usual pirate stuff), Woosan are dating, reader and Hongjoong are disgustingly down bad for each other, Kingdom Wonderland Hongjoong(this is a warning cause that era is dangerous and can cause death), like two smut scenes(smut warnings below the cut)

Word Count: 19458

Smut Warnings: oral(both receiving), cunnilingus, cum eating, fingering(f receiving), marking, unprotected sex(don’t be sick, cover your dick)

You hated the rain. It always ruined your plans. Perched on the roof of the building opposite the head of the police, Park Jinyoung's house, you were trying to discreetly face his bedroom to get a clear shot. Unfortunately for you, the rain decided to pour down the exact moment you had a clear shot.

The thunder rumbled and Jinyoung woke up with a start. If he turned his head, he could get a clear view of you, suspiciously perched on the roof with a gun pointing in his direction.

You had to hurry before he caught sight of you. You had lost your chance and before you got discovered, you had to get away. You slipped off your perch and hurried to the other side, out of sight.

You unloaded the gun and slipped it back into its case, grabbing your mask and concealing yourself so that only your eyes were visible.

You caught hold of the pipe you used to scale up and slid down as quickly as you could. Hurrying out of the dimly lit alley, you tried to work out which route was the fastest.

Making up your mind, you made a sharp left to walk into another alley. Just to your luck, however, you saw two police coming out of the same alley. You turned on your heel to avoid them and started walking towards the port.

This proved to be a mistake because on the port, a crew of what you assumed was pirates was in an intense fight with the police.

Oh well, you thought, at least no one will pay any attention to me.

Swerving your body so that you could see them but they couldn’t see you, you tried moving past them, silently. You should have kept your focus on yourself and not given in to curiosity because the moment you looked up to get a better view of the crew, you locked eyes with him.

The one person you never thought you would see again.

The one person you never wanted to see again.

Kim Hongjoong.

Hongjoong wasn’t particularly superstitious. He was as realistic as a pirate could be. But even he couldn’t ignore the weird chill that settled in his bones as his ship drew near the land of Utopia.

He told himself that it was because he was visiting this place after a long time. After all, the memories he had here weren’t all that happy.

“Are you alright? You look like you’ve seen a ghost” Seonghwa said.

Hongjoong shook his head. “I’m all right. It’s just, coming back here feels…strange.”

Seonghwa gave him a worried look. “We can turn back, you know.”

“No! I’m fine, seriously. Besides we’re running low on resources. We won’t survive another journey, if we turn back now.”

Seonghwa still looked apprehensive, so Hongjoong tried giving him the most reassuring smile he could manage.

“We're here.” Yunho announced as the ship drew closer to the port.

As the ship docked in the port, Hongjoong’s strange feeling of uneasiness grew. He ignored it the best he could and forced a smile in front of his crew.

“Let’s go. We have a day to collect the supplies we need and meet the people we want to meet. Hurry and be back before nightfall.”

With that, they got off the ship to run their errands.

Almost immediately, things went south. As soon as the ship was out of sight, they were cornered by the Utopian police force, like they’d been waiting for them.

Whipping out his guns, Hongjoong yelled at his crew to fall back, shooting some of the policemen, with San on his side. He saw Mingi, the sniper, climbing up to get a better aim and shot the man following him.

Wooyoung and Yeosang were standing back-to-back shooting at anyone who tried approaching them. Seonghwa and Yunho were already retreating to protect their ship, Aurora. Whereas Jongho, who had somehow used all his bullets was in a hand-to-hand battle.

“Captain, we need to get back to Aurora before they kill us all.” San said.

Hongjoong shook his head, “We can’t afford the risk. If they gain control of Aurora, we’re done for.”

San maneuvered around him, shooting two people at once and then stepped away to help Jongho.

Hongjoong’s eyes swept over the area, trying to find an exit. A mistake because his eyes locked with you. Hongjoong froze in surprise, even though your face was covered with your mask, he recognized you immediately.

Your eyes widened when they met Hongjoong’s and you saw him freeze in place. Tearing your gaze away from him, you saw a man trying to attack him from the behind. Acting on instinct, you pulled out your gun, reloaded it and shot the man through the head in one swift moment.

The other police turned around in surprise, not expecting anyone to save the so called ‘pirate king’. Cursing yourself for drawing attention to yourself when all you wanted was to sneak away, you quickly sidestepped the bullet that flew towards you and shot the man who had tried to shoot you.

Meanwhile, Hongjoong, who had found his bearings again, slipped back into the battle.

“You should go back before they get reinforcements.” You mentioned to Hongjoong casually, as if you were talking about the weather.

“Right. Reinforcements. Yeah. Uh–let’s do that.” The great pirate king stammered.

Walking backwards to not give any chance for the enemy, the two of you quickly made your way to Hongjoong’s crew.

Quickly ordering Ateez to get to the ship, Hongjoong and his crew fought their way back to their ship. You dragged your feet, not wanting to get on the ship but not wanting to stay and get killed either.

As you came closer to the ship, you saw Mingi and Seonghwa hanging from the rigging and shooting any police that dared to come close to the ship with their muskets.

A bullet whizzed by dangerously close to your ear and you twisted around to see a group of police following you. You stopped in your tracks, turned around and started picking off the police closest to you.

Hongjoong, who hadn’t noticed this, kept running to the ship and jumped on. Before he realised that he had left you behind, the Aurora started pulling out of the port.

Honjoong heard Mingi yell something and looked up, to see Mingi climbing down shouting something at him.

“What?” Hongjoong asked.

“–Y/n! You left– “Before Mingi could complete his sentence, Hongjoong had already jumped off the ship and started swimming back to the land, back to you.

You shot a man who was running in the direction of the ship and turned around to warn Hongjoong, only to see the Aurora pull out of the harbour, with none of your (temporary) allies in sight.

“Of course”, you gritted out, “of course he would leave you, Y/n, you’re a fool for thinking he wouldn’t.”

You knew you had to get out of here, soon. In your haste to escape, however, you made a fatal mistake. You swear that looked away for only a second but that was enough for a bullet to hit you in the leg.

Your leg gave out on you and almost collapsed in pain. Managing to not fall down despite the unbearable pain, you tried limping away, blindly shooting in all directions.

You were clearly not thinking definitely not thinking logically because you would have never wasted your bullets like that if you had your wits around. Hongjoong’s reappearance and his betrayal (again), combined with your leg injury was affecting you more than you initially believed.

However, loss of bullets aside, it proved to be a somewhat useful choice because you were able to limp away and sneak into a hidden alley.

You leaned against a wall which hid you and caught your breath, trying to assess the extent of your injuries. You had a few shallow cuts on your face, hands and hips but the main problem was your leg. The bullet had thankfully not cut through any bone, but it had dug in your muscle and was stuck. The bleeding hadn’t stopped and from what little you knew about healing, you knew that if you tried to remove the bullet, you might risk losing your leg for good. You had to find a healer, fast. For the time being, though, you tore the sleeve of your shirt and made a makeshift bandage. You hoped that it would be enough for now.

Next, you tried thinking about a way out. You had no doubt that your hiding spot would be discovered soon enough and the more you stayed here, the more dangerous it was. However, you couldn’t exactly leave because there were police out trying to find you. You couldn’t sneak out nor could you escape them with the way your leg was. The only option you had was scaling the wall to travel by roofs which again wasn’t a very practical way.

Since you were running out of time, you decided that you had to scale the wall if you wanted to live. The rope that you carried around for this purpose was definitely not the best option but it would have to do. You neatly tied one end of the rope into a knot and threw it so that it fit around the edge of the ledge just below the roof. Then, you tied the other end around your body to keep you from falling.

“I know you’re here, little snake. Come out before we find you and maybe we’ll let you live.” You heard a someone sing in a faux sweetly, their voice twisted with disgust.

You had to move fast before they found you. Ignoring the flaring pain in your leg, you forced yourself to start scaling the wall. It turned out that you were a minute too late because when you climbed halfway, you heard a patter of footsteps and the police arrived.

“Oh there she is. Told you we’d find her here.” A policeman said, smugly. “Come down, little outlaw, don’t make us mad.”

You kept climbing, the mix of adrenaline and fear giving you a speed boost. You heard someone click their tongue, like a disapproving parent. A policeman threw a knife at you, trying to cut the rope but missing and the knife buried itself in your back, making you cough blood out. Or maybe they were aiming for your back, in which case, they had achieved their target perfectly.

“Don’t kill her you idiot! Our orders are to bring her alive.” Another police, seemingly of higher rank, reprimanded him.

“I can’t wait to see what the legendary outlaw, Halazia looks like under that mask.” A voice gloated.

“Why do you always call me Halazia? What does it even mean?” You asked Hongjoong, smiling softly when he dropped a kiss on your lips.

“Do you know that you’re the light of my life, love?” Hongjoong asked.

You blushed. “What does that have to do with my question? Are you trying to avoid it? Now I’m even more curious.” You said in mock offense.

Hongjoong just laughed and pulled you in a kiss that made you forget about anything else.

You shook your head, snapping out of it. Now wasn’t the time for reminiscing, especially not about the man who was the reason of your predicament. Panting heavily, you pulled yourself on the ledge with difficulty. Immediately, you collapsed, your body giving up on you.

You heard some thumping down and idly wondered if they were following you up. Barely mustering up the energy to pull out your dagger, you prepared yourself to die as there was no way you would let them take you alive.

“Wait! Please don’t! It’s me, Y/n It’s me, Hongjoong.” A frantic voice called out.

You could recognize that voice anywhere, no matter what. Great, now you were imagining things too.

“You’re not imagining things, love, I’m really here.”

What…? “Hongjoong?” You rasped out.

“Yes. I'm going to pick you up now; it might hurt a little.” He replied and you were gently picked up by a pair of strong arms.

Hongjoong quickly made his way down, as gently as he could to not hurt you more. The feeling of panic he had been experiencing all day got worse when he saw how badly you were bleeding.

“How are you here? I thought you left again.” You mumbled, the delirium from pain making you emotional vulnerable and painfully honest.

Hongjoong felt a pang in his heart at your vulnerable state.

He hurried on, picking up his pace. He had to get you on the ship, to Yeosang, the healer. He couldn’t lose you again. Your head rolled to a side, your eyes closing involuntarily.

“Don’t close your eyes please, Y/n. Please. I can’t watch you die” Hongjoong pleaded.

Hongjoong burst through the door of your childhood house, his eyes searching for you desperately. The moment he saw you, he ran towards you, pulling you close to him.

“Thank god, you’re all right, Y/n. I was looking everywhere for you. I thought I–“

“They’re hanging my parents tomorrow. Jinyoung was successful in framing them.” You cut him off, your voice emotionless. “I’m sure they’ll come for me next. Jinyoung wouldn’t leave me alive.”

“Let’s run away then, Y/n, please. We were going to leave soon anyways. We can leave sooner. The Aurora is almost completely built and I can tell the others that we need to leave earlier. I’m sure they’ll understand, Y/n, please, they love you. Please, darling, I can’t watch you die.” Hongjoong pleaded.

You had to pull yourself out of your memories once again. Your delirium was making you remember things you would much rather forget.

You also knew that Hongjoong had a point. If you let your eyes close and let yourself drift away, you might not come back. You fought against your body, which was telling you to rest, with every bit of your remaining will.

Hongjoong reached the port, and boarded the ship, taking you to the infirmary on the ship.

“Yeosang! Come here quickly.” He ordered

Yeosang hurried towards you, assessing your injuries. He glanced at Hongjoong who was hovering around nervously.

“You’re distracting me, Captain. Get out.” He said firmly.

“I-ok.” Hongjoong turned away from you and walked back on to the hull of the ship. He wanted to stay beside you but he knew that that would only disturb Yeosang and besides he had a job to do.

Hongjoong walked towards the man who was kneeling on the hull of his ship, hands and legs tied. The same man who had thrown a knife to your back.

He stopped a little away and watched as San punched the man straight on his face. The man’s pained whimper almost drew a smile out of Hongjoong.

He walked up to them and whispered to San, “I’ll take care of him.”

San nodded and stepped away. Hongjoong faced the man with a dark smirk. He untied the man and offered to help him up. The man watched his hand warily, choosing to stand up on his own. Bad move. Hongjoong’s smirk widened as he slapped the man hard with the same hand he had offered help with.

The anger that he had been barely suppressing after seeing you hurt had burst out like a volcano.

“I’m going to ask this once and only once. Tell me who tipped you off about us and who ordered you to attack us.” Hongjoong said.

“And what makes you think I’ll tell you that?” The man leered.

"Oh I see what this is. You’re not afraid of us yet, huh.”

Taking out his dagger, Hongjoong circled the man humming thoughtfully. “Hmm, let’s see. You stabbed her somewhere here, didn’t you?” He asked, plunging the dagger in and out of the man’s back, causing blood to spurt out.

The man fell down, crying in pain.

Hongjoong took out his gun, putting is dagger away. “And you shot her…. was it this leg?” He shot the man in his leg.

“Oh, oops! I made a mistake. It was the other leg. Guess I’ll have to rectify that.” Hongjoong said, shooting the man in the other leg too.

The man was sobbing on the floor, a mix of blood, sweat, tears and drool pooling around him. “Please! Please don’t kill me, please. I’ll tell you everything! It was Park Jinyoung. We were just following orders.”

“Oh? I never said I was going to kill you, did I?” Hongjoong said, in mock surprise.

“Please just let me go.” The man begged, weakly.

“Let you go?” Hongjoong murmured as if he was contemplating. “I’ll let you go alright.”

The man sobbed in relief, thinking that he was saved. He was proven to be mistaken however, because Hongjoong stepped over the pool of blood, picked the man up and tossed him in the sea.

For a moment, there was complete silence. Hongjoong turned to his crew members. “What? I let him go, just like he wanted me to.” He said innocently.

“Well, couldn’t you have chosen a less dirty way of doing that? I’m the one who has to clear the whole mess up.” Wooyoung whined, drawing a laugh out of Hongjoong.

At that moment, Yeosang stepped out gaining everyone’s attention. “Y/n's going to be fine. I healed her wounds but she needs to rest to recover all the blood she lost. So don’t go in there and risk waking her up. Let her rest.” He announced

When you woke up, you were sleeping in an unknown bed and the floor was rocking gently. You turned your head around to get a better look at your surroundings. The dimly lit room looked like an infirmary but all the beds, except yours, were empty. The décor was unique, almost reminding you of– Oh. 

You were on board the Aurora.  

The haziness in your brain slowly decreased as you remembered what had happened. You helped Ateez. They left you. You were going to die. But then…. he came back? 

The fact that Hongjoong came back for you left you dumbfounded. It caused a flurry of a lot of complicated confusing feelings inside you; feelings that you thought you had already gotten rid of. 

“Oh, you’re up.” A voice said from the door. 

You shot up and then immediately slumped against the bed as you felt your head spin.  

“Wait no! Don’t get up. Yeosang said that you need to rest to recover.” Hongjoong said, panicked. 

“How long was I out?” You asked, internally cringing at how gravelly your voice sounded. 

“About half a day. Are you feeling better now?” He asked, his voice weirdly soft. 

 The softness in his eyes and voice was throwing you off, the image of him that you had so carefully built in your mind to protect yourself had started to crack. 

“Why did you come back? I thought leaving people behind when they need you was your speciality?” You tried making your voice harsh but it came off as miserable more than anything. 

Hongjoong didn’t react, almost making you think you hadn’t said anything at all. Instead, with a careful voice he said, “You should rest more. We’ll talk in the morning.” 

“We’ll talk now.” You said, firmly. 

“I had forgotten how stubborn you could be.” Hongjoong scoffed. “Fine. We’ll talk now but after that you have to get some rest.” 

You knew that if you resisted, Hongjoong would just leave so you gave a single small nod.  

“What do you want to know?” Hongjoong asked. 

“Start at the beginning.” You replied. 

“The beginning? You mean– “  

You cut Hongjoong off. “Why are Jinyoung’s men after you?” 

“Oh. That. Well, I've been attacking his ships. Also, he just dislikes me.” Hongjoong smirked. 

“Why? I thought you and him were best of friends?” You asked, sarcastically. 

Hongjoong just shrugged, not giving you an answer.  

You stared at him, waiting. You realized that you weren’t getting an answer out of him and you packed that information away in your brain. 

You changed your approach. “Why did you come back for me?” 

“Why did you help us?” He challenged. 

This was getting you nowhere. Besides your mind was too addled to answer his(or yours) questions. 

You sighed. “This conversation isn’t over. We’ll talk again in the morning.” 

Hongjoong fought back a smile and stood up, walking out and closing the door behind him. Once the door was closed, you slumped down regretting getting outwitted. 

This won’t do, you decided. You couldn’t get put off your game when you goal was so close. You had to somehow stay alive while outwitting both Jinyoung and Hongjoong. You were too close to give up. 

You woke up as soon as the sun rose, feeling much better. You got off the bed and walked towards the mirror, to assess your condition. Yeosang had done a really good job of healing you. Apart from a few trivial scratches that he didn’t bother to heal(not that you wanted him to considering how tired he must have been after trying to keep you alive), you were completely alright. 

Next, you had to work on the issue of your clothes. The clothes you were wearing were in a bad condition thanks to the fight yesterday. Or was it the day before?  

Your glanced around the room, hoping to find something you could wear. You spotted a pile of clean clothes beside your bed and wondered how you had missed it. You picked up the clothes to examine them. You had no doubt they were Hongjoong’s, indicated by the little ‘hj’ on the collar. 

You sighed. You really didn’t want to wear his clothes ever again but you had no choice.  

Just as you were buttoning up the shirt, Hongjoong walked in. He saw you and stopped looking like a deer caught in headlights.  His eyes ran over your figure and his lips parted, letting out a huff. 

You smirked. “My eyes are up here, you know.” 

His eyes shot up to yours and he acted nonchalant as he turned away but you caught sight of the redness of his ears and barely suppressed a giggle. 

Buttoning up your(his) shirt and tucking it in your(his) pants, you told him to turn around. You had stuff to do and getting distracted by a very attractive pirate wasn’t on your agenda. 

You walked towards a chair settling down and motioned for Hongjoong to take a seat opposite you. 

Hongjoong sat down and you let your eyes meet his, waiting. 

“So…” He begins awkwardly. 

“Where are we?” You ask, your voice bland. 

Hongjoong looks surprised, he hadn’t expected your talk to go this way. “Just off the coast of Utopia. We’re waiting to see when we can go back.” 

“I know a place where you can dock. It’s a little far off from the city but your ship will be safe and undiscovered there.” You said, all business. 

“I–ok. Why are you helping us?” Hongjoong asked, seriously. 

You shrugged. “You saved and healed me. I owe you.” 

“You saved us first and only got hurt because of that. You owe us nothing.” He fired back. 

“Then let’s just say that I want to get back as soon as possible and cooperating with you is the only way I have.” You replied. 

“Ok.” Hongjoong said. 

“Okay….?” 

“Don’t you have more to say?” Hongjoong asked, confused. He had expected this conversation to go like the last one the two of you had. 

“Oh, yes, where are my things? Return them to me.” You said and gave Hongjoong the directions to the dock you were talking about.  

It was an old dock which was used before the city shifted away and soon it was forgotten. You had found it on an accident when you were searching for a place to use as your hideout. 

“I’ll tell Yeosang to return your things.” Hongjoong said, pulling you out of your thoughts. 

When Yeosang entered the room, he was met with your smile.  

“Thank you, Sang–uh, I mean Yeosang, you saved my life.” You said, gratefully. 

He handed you your things. “You can call me Sangie, you know. Or have I lost that privilege? And I did not think you needed to thank me for anything.” He said, fornoly. 

Your smile dropped. “I do need to thank you now. Also, I don’t think we–any of us–are on a nickname basis.” 

That seemed to anger Yeosang. “Why aren’t we? We used to be best friends, Y/n, all of us. You know us. Do you really think we turned into whatever image you’ve painted of us?”  

“I never painted any image of you, Yeosang. You say we used to be best friends but tell me why I’ve never heard a word from any of you all this time. You're talking to me now because I’m on your ship after helping you guys escape but would you have talked to me if I hadn’t helped you? Hell, even if you hadn’t been attacked at all. Would you have talked to me if you were in Utopia right now like you planned to be?” You scoffed. 

“I would have. We would have.” Yeosang said, confidently. 

“Sure, keep telling yourself that.” You answered coldly and brushed past him to go to the deck. 

Yeosang sighed. He knew you had a point and he was sure you were not going to treat any of them as your friends before your misunderstanding was cleared. He had no idea how to do that, though, since you would not believe anything they said.  

Yeosang had to find a way to fix things because even though none of them said it, your presence(or the lack of it) was felt deeply by everyone. You were a part of the crew. No, you created the crew with Hongjoong, you were practically the co-captain. Even though you wanted nothing to do with them, you had saved them. Yeosang hoped that that was a sign that you did not hate them as much as you pretended to.  

You stood at the deck, staring at the waves as you tried to organize your thoughts. You had figured out that whatever you thought about your the crew might be a misunderstanding. But you also knew that you had a point. If it was a misunderstanding why didn’t they contact you? Why did they not explain themselves immediately? 

The day you decided to run away with Hongjoong and the kids was today. Hongjoong had convinced you to run away, to come back and take your revenge later. After all, he’s said, revenge is a dish best served cold. And you had believed him. You believed him when he said he loved you and you believed him when he said he was completely and always your side. 

The Aurora was ready to sail and you were hiding in your quarters because if you were spotted by Jinyoung’s men, it would put everyone in danger. 

You had dared to hope. Hope that you would be alright, if not now then soon. As long as you had Hongjoong and your crew you’d be able to face everything. Oh, how naïve you were. 

It was departing time and you waited for the ship to start. However, you could not feel the gentle motions which would have Indicated your freedom. Instead, the ship stood still and your anxiety grew. You tried to convince yourself that there must be some minor problem or even that you had miscalculated the time and it wasn’t departure time yet. 

You heard the banging footsteps of someone coming closer and flinched. You knew that it wasn’t one of your team because their footsteps were never this loud. You scrambled to pick up your knives as you mentally searched for a route of escape.  

As the footsteps grew closer, you positioned yourself behind the door so that you could launch your attack right away. 

The door swung open and a tall, burly man wearing the uniform of the police walked in, holding his gun up. As you drove your dagger in his neck, you mind was already in an overdrive. No doubt Jinyoung had found out about your plan. Saving the crew, especially Hongjoong, was the only thing that your focus zeroed on as you hurried to the deck.  

If you weren’t so frantic, you would have noticed how tranquil it was. There were no sounds of struggle at all. It was as if there were no invaders on the ship. 

You were met with the most dumbfounding sight when you climbed on the deck. The crew and the police were standing side by side, as if there wasn’t any enmity between them. What was even stranger was Hongjoong and Jinyoung talking to each other like they were friends. Hongjoong was laughing like he had no worries in the world, like he hadn’t just betrayed you.  

Your footsteps came to a halt as your brain took in the entire scene. The shock was enough to momentarily disable you from doing anything and that’s when Jinyoung spotted you. 

“Oh there’s the lady of the hour!” He sneered. “What did you do to the man I sent to fetch you? Don’t tell me you killed him. That’ll just add to your long list of crimes.” 

“That would please you, wouldn’t it? To have an actual crime to convict me of.” You spat out, mirroring his sneer. 

Jinyoung actually laughed at that, his laugh dry and cruel. “Come on boys, catch her.”  

“Don’t forget our deal.” Hongjoong's melodious voice rang out. 

Jinyoung rolled his eyes and nodded. 

Your head snapped towards Hongjoong, even as you were struggling to escape. “What have you done, Kim Hongjoong?”  

“Oh my dear, I have done nothing but make a deal.” He said, calmly. 

“What deal?”  

“It was a very easy deal, in fact, the safety of my crew in exchange for you.” He grinned.  

The crew looked at you with mixed emotions of pity and apology but they did not make a single move to go against their captain.  

“What about us then, Hongjoong?” You asked, dreading the answer but also looking forward to it so that your heart could finally break and you’d be free from the torturous clutches of hope. 

“Us?” Hongjoong scoffed. “What us? Ok, I’ll admit, I had fun fooling around with you but do you really think I would love a traitor’s child who is a wanted criminal? I did not think you were that stupid, Y/n.” 

You take it back. You would've rather that he said nothing at all. You shouldn’t have asked, because you were sure that the pain in your heart was lethal. Ironic, isn’t it, that you realised the true extent of your feelings for Hongjoong when he was crushing your heart to smithereens and laughing about it. 

If looks could kill, Hongjoong would have dropped dead. Your glare was burning, rage and betrayal and pain pouring out of your eyes. Even as you were dragged away, your eyes never left Hongjoong’s, burning through his soul. 

You brought yourself back with a sigh. No, you decided, you were not mistaken. There was no way it could be a misunderstanding when even just thinking about it broke your heart all over again as it was happening to you right now. You were just starting to recover from his betrayal that had left you a shell of the person you were before. You would not subject yourself to more suffering at Hongjoong’s hands. You had had enough heartache. 

You stood at the deck just staring at the waves and feeling the breeze on your face long enough for the ship to pull in the port and for Hongjoong to approach you. 

He cleared his throat. “We’re here.”  

You let your disinterested gaze settle on him. “Well I guess this is it then.” 

“Right. Uh, yes. I just–“ He swallowed. 

“Don’t. Whatever you’re going to say just don’t.” You cut him off. 

“Can you at least let me explain? I’ll never bother you again, if that’s what you want. Please.” He pleaded. 

The anger you had tried to suppress burst out at that. “What do you want to explain Hongjoong? The part where you handed off to Jinyoung without another thought? The part where you told me that whatever we had was just ‘fooling around’? Or the part where you said that you could never love the child of a criminal? Just what do you want to explain?” You snapped at him, making him flinch imperceptibly.  

But Hongjoong was never the one to back off from a challenge. “Well, you’re alive right now aren’t you?” 

You actually laughed at that. “Tell me Hongjoong,” You said looking him straight in the eye. “Do I look alive to you right now?” 

Hongjoong had heartbreak written all over his face and you had to fight the urge to laugh again. You could not believe the audacity of his to look heartbroken after what he had done.  

“Just…I know you probably wouldn’t believe me but I just want you to know. I love you. Always have, always will.” Hongjoong said softly. 

“It’s not that I don’t believe you. I can’t believe you.” You turned and walked away before you could see his face fall. 

As soon as the ship stopped, you climbed off.  

Hongjoong saw you get off the ship and he was reminded of the last time he saw, when you were getting dragged off. 

It was the day before Hongjoong and you had planned to leave with the kids. Hongjoong was on cloud 9 because you were going to be alright and with him. He was sure that the plan had succeeded and Jinyoung had no idea about your plan. Nothing could go wrong and the nine of you would finally be happy. Or so he thought. 

Hongjoong stepped out of the house you were hiding in and as discreetly as possible, he made his way to the main street. He still had to gather some supplies for tomorrow. 

He felt someone following him and took a detour. He had to be careful to make sure no one knew anything about the plan.  

He kept his footsteps calm and acted like he hadn’t realised anyone was following him. He turned a sharp right which would hide him for a moment and swiftly hid in an alley, silently. 

The follower stepped around the turn and when he couldn’t see Hongjoong, his footsteps fastened as he sped past the alley without another glance.  

Making sure that there was no one following him any more, Hongjoong breathe a sigh of relief. He stepped out and took a different route to the market.  

However things went wrong almost immediately. As soon as Hongjoong had stepped in a different alley he was cornered by a dozen of men. He recognized them from their uniform. Police. Jinyoung’s men. 

Though Hongjoong was sure that no one knew of your whereabouts except his crew, he still felt a pang of fear when he thought about you. He hoped that you were alright.  

“Well looks like the prey finally stepped in the trap.” Jinyoung’s sneering voice sounded. 

Hongjoong glared at him. 

“Now, now stop giving me that look. I’m only here to talk.”  

“Ah yes, because having a dozen swords pointed at my throat puts me in a great mood to talk.” Hongjoong replied sarcastically. 

Jinyoung actually had the nerve to laugh at that. He ordered his men to drop their weapons.  

“Now Hongjoong. Let’s make a deal shall we? I know that you are planning to smuggle Y/n out tomorrow in your ship.” Jinyoung said. 

Hongjoong realised that Jinyoung had no idea where you were if he had to come find Hongjoong like this. “A deal huh? You must be truly desperate. What if the people find that you cornered an innocent civilian and threatened him like this?” He said, acting like he wasn’t affected. 

Jinyoung sighed. “Fine. I didn’t want to take it this far but you leave me with no choice. Either you help me or I will bring the entire force of the police on your ship tomorrow and massacre your crew. And I will make your beloved beg for death in front of you. Or should I make you beg for death in front of Y/n?” 

Hongjoong blanched at the mention of you. He realised just how much he had underestimated Jinyoung. They should have had been more careful. Of course Jinyoung would know that they were planning to set sail tomorrow morning. Of course he would doubt that they were smuggling you out. Practically everyone knew how close the nine of you were. And Jinyoung had been your father’s friend. He had witnessed firsthand the bond between the nine of you. 

Jinyoung continued like nothing had happened. “Or you could help us and we’ll let the eight of you go free. We’ll never be of any hindrance to you. Tell you what, I’ll even make sure that Y/n remains alive. The decision is yours.” 

“Why would you go to such lengths to get Y/n and then promise that she remains alive?” Hongjoong asked, confused.  

“Oh, kid, you have no idea of how the world works do you? Your betrayal would be a far worse torture for her than anything that I could come up with. Now, we’re running out of time. Make your decision.” Jinyoung laughed cruelly. 

Hongjoong knew what he was going to do would tear apart you and him in the process. He knew that neither of you would be the same again. But he told himself that it was better than seeing you die. At least you’d be alive. You’d hate him but you’d be ok. That’s all he could wish for.  

Hongjoong took a deep breath, readying himself. “Fine. I’ll cooperate with you. But if you ever break our deal, ever, I will find you. And I will tear you apart limb from limb and deliver your remains to your house.” 

The glint in his eyes had Jinyoung shivering and he wondered for the first time if he had threatened the wrong person.  

Hongjoong walked out of the valley and went back to his house, where the rest of Ateez had gathered. They looked up surprised when their captain showed without the supplies and he explained what he had done. There was a lot or anger and a lot of tears but a look of mutual understanding passed between them. They understood why Hongjoong had done that. He knew they would. After all they loved you too. 

When he saw you being dragged away, he clenched his fist, fingers digging into his skin to stop from reacting. He had to stop the disgust that welled up in him when Jinyoung laughed and the pain that overcame his heart when he saw the betrayal in your eyes. He clenched his fist tighter and did not stop even when his fingernails broke the skin and blood started dripping down his hands. 

Hongjoong knew that this would be the last time he would see you so he drank in your features, committing you to memory. He forced himself to not flinch when he saw the hatred in your eyes directed at him. He accepted it all and told himself that this was the least he deserved.  

Hongjoong pulled himself out of his memories. He knew that it would do no good to anyone now. You would not listen if he tried explaining and you had every right to. Besides, it would just sound like excuses or worse, lies to you. 

So he made a promise that even if he had lost you forever, he could still help you without you knowing. He could love you from afar. That would be enough.  

You travelled through the thick forest as fast as you could.  You knew for a fact that Jinyoung had no idea that Yeosang had healing powers so that meant that you had the advantage of time. He wouldn’t be expecting you to be back on your feet so soon. In fact, he might even think that you had died. His guard would be low so you couldn’t waste this chance. As much as you hated meeting Hongjoong again and as much as you hated the fact that seeing him again made you realise you still loved him, you had to admit that one good thing came out of it. 

Your thoughts turned to Hongjoong and the crew. You wondered if he still needed something to hug to sleep. You wondered if he still overworked himself and wished he didn’t because you could no longer help him. And then you cursed yourself for still caring about him. You cursed yourself for opening your heart again just after meeting him once. But you couldn’t forget how he had held you close when he came back to save you. How he had begged you not to close your eyes. And how he was so careful with you as if you would break any moment. 

Turns out, your treacherous heart was your worst enemy after all because it still longed for him. 

You had to focus, you told yourself. You had to be very careful if you didn’t want Jinyoung to discover you before you were ready and getting distracted would be dangerous. You had to put your feelings aside for the moment.  

Swiftly making your way out of the forest thanks to the trail you had memorized, you soon reached the outskirts of the town.  

Slipping off your usual mask and outfit, you opted for an outfit that looked like a normal girl’s. You did not need your mask because you were sure that nobody knew of your identity. No one had unmasked Halazia and lived to tell the tale and you knew that Jinyoung hadn’t told of your real identity to his men.  

Mingling with the crowd, you made your way to your hideout making sure no one noticed you and even if they did, all they saw was a simple town girl.  

You slipped inside the house that everyone thought was dilapidated making it the perfect hideout. You still made sure no one saw you, though, because that was attract unnecessary attention. 

You walked inside, spotting a note from  Lee Minho who was your informant and old friend. No one except you knew that Minho was still alive because like you Jinyoung had killed his family. He had put Minho’s house on fire and Minho had barely survived but his family died. 

Minho knew that you were Halazia. So he agreed in helping you take both of your revenge.  

You took care of the actual ‘killing’ part, while Minho provided you with whatever information you needed. The two of you communicated through notes that you left for each other in the hideout, like this. 

The note that Minho had left you read: “There are rumours that you died. Jinyoung seems to believe so. I don’t. I know you’re alive. Jinyoung has lowered the security. His wife and daughter are out of town.” 

You knew exactly what Minho was saying. Since the security was low and Jinyoung’s family was out of town, this was the perfect chance to attack. You had already made it clear to Minho that you weren’t going to harm his wife or daughter since they were pretty much innocent. 

You decided that you would launch your attack tonight. You left a note for Minho that simply said: “I’m alive” and made your way out of the hideout after donning the outfit that you used when you were Halazia. 

The sun was almost setting and soon it would be dark. It had taken you he entire day to reach the town, even with the trail you had marked so you knew that Hongjoong and the crew would still be stuck trying to find their way out. 

You climbed on the roof of a building, choosing your preferred way of traveling by the roofs to reach Jinyoung’s house. 

You slipped in through the back door, quickly picking the lock. You wanted to see the look Jinyoung would have on his face as you drove your dagger through his heart and shooting him from afar would not give you the same pleasure. You wanted to hear him beg for his life. 

You walked towards his study, keeping your footsteps silent. You thought he’d be alone but you were surprised when you heard the voice of the vice-captain of the police talking to him 

You hid behind the door, listening in. 

“Is Halazia dead?” You heard the vice-captain ask. 

“Yes.” Jinyoung chortled. “And you know the funniest thing? She died thinking that Hongjoong had actually betrayed her.”  

So Jinyoung did think you had died. You wondered what he meant when he said that you ‘thought’ Hongjoong had betrayed you.  

“What do you mean?” The confusion in the vice captain’s voice mirrored your own. 

“Oh did I not tell you?” Jinyoung cackled, the entire story coming out with gleeful laughs. 

Each word that came out of his voice made your heart sink lower and lower. Funny how you found out that Hongjoong had not betrayed you after burning the last bridge of reconciliation between the two of you. 

“Some of my men saw Hongjoong’s ship heading towards the old port. Safe to say that the crew won’t be coming out of the forest alive.” The vice-captain said after he had gotten over the shock of Jinyoung’s revelation. 

You felt the coil of dread grow tighter around your heart. You could not let Hongjoong or the kids die. Not after what you had just learned. You had to see him and apologise for the way you had treated him after everything he had done for you. Even if he wanted nothing to do with you after you had talked, you couldn’t, you wouldn’t, forgive yourself if anything happened to him 

You were out of the house before you could hear Jinyoung’s reply. You travelled as fast as your legs could take you, reaching the outskirts of the forest in half the time you would usually take.  

You scanned the forest trying to figure out where your crew could be. They couldn’t have come out already since they were not aware of your trail. You just hoped that they hadn’t gotten themselves lost or worse killed. 

Tracking the crew would be much more difficult so you decided to track the police. The men Jinyoung had sent wouldn’t know the first thing about being discreet and would stick to the common but longer route. If you found them, you would find the crew. 

Swiftly making your way to the common trail, you found numerous footsteps that indicated that you were right. Jinyoung’s men had passed by here and not a huge amount of time had passed as the footsteps were still fresh. If you hurried, you might be able to catch them.  

You followed the footsteps, going deeper in the forest. Soon, you heard sounds that sounded like fighting. You picked up your pace, slipping in the shadows to not get discovered. 

You had turned out to be right, your crew was indeed ambushed but they were fighting back and weren’t losing.  

You climbed up a tree that gave you range and cover, pulling out your gun. You had only ten bullets of you had to make each of them count. 

You looked at your crew, figuring out who needed your help the most.  

Your eyes fell on Hongjoong who was holding his own against three men and forced yourself to look away, telling yourself that he was fine. 

Wooyoung and San were back-to-back working efficiently, needing no help at all. 

Jongho was fighting alone but Mingi, who was up in a tree like you, no doubt was carrying out his duties as a sniper perfectly and helping Jongho.  

You spotted Seonghwa and Yeosang a few meters away. Yeosang was healing Seonghwa who had a bullet wound in his leg. You saw five of Jinyoung’s men heading towards them and you scoffed at the nerve of attacking a healer. 

You readied your aim and started picking off the men who were trying to harm a healer. Five bullets gone, five men down.  

You turned back towards the fight, half of your bullets used. You saw Yunho getting cornered and scrambled to help him, shooting two men, leaving him to deal with the other two. A man was about to attack Jongho from the back and Mingi hadn’t noticed so you took care of him 

With just one bullet remaining, you turned towards Hongjoong. You felt the fear course through your body when you saw that more than half of the men were focusing on attention. 

You one remaining bullet wasn’t going to be of much help but you fired it anyway. You slid down the tree, pulling out your daggers and rushed to help Hongjoong. 

You jumped into the fight, immediately stabbing two men, your daggers singing. The men were surprised, they hadn’t expected you to suddenly appear. Their shock gave you an advantage and you cut through them quickly, making your way to Hongjoong. 

Hongjoong was doing really good at holding them off and you noticed that thankfully he didn’t seem too hurt. He looked up and his eyes locked with you and he froze.  

You pulled him away from a sword just in time and sent a dagger flying at the man. That snapped Hongjoong out of his trance and he quickly joined you in defeating the men. 

The odds were turning in your favour but then you saw Wooyoung get stabbed and fall to the ground. No one except you had noticed and as the man who stabbed Wooyoung bent to finish him off, you sent your dagger flying to his heart and prayed that it found him before his did Wooyoung. 

Your dagger found it’s mark and the man fell before he could hurt Wooyoung more. San noticed and ran to protect his boyfriend. 

In your haste to save Wooyoung however, you lost sight of the man you were fighting and he sent a bullet flying towards you. Hongjoong pulled you out of harm’s way but the bullet grazed his cheek drawing blood. He sent a bullet of his own towards the man and the man crumpled.  

You had no time to worry about that right now though as the two of you ran to help San. Yeosang had successfully healed Seonghwa and the two had joined Yunho. The eight of you, excluding Wooyoung, managed to beat back the remaining attackers. 

After scouring the area to make sure there were no attackers left and catching your breath, you leaned over Wooyoung to assess his injuries.  

The crew looked like they had questions for you but you gave them a look that said, ‘later’. 

“Yeosang, do you think you could heal Wooyoung right now?” Hongjoong asked, focusing on the priority. 

“Well, I could try but I doubt I’d be able to. My healing isn’t strong enough right now and it’s pretty much exhausted.” Yeosang answered, solemnly. 

“Even if you could, it wouldn’t help.” You spoke up. “Your healing only deals with wounds not poisons, doesn’t it? Look at the area around the wound, it’s blue. The dagger was poisoned.” 

“What? I do keep a few antidotes on the ship but it’s too far away right. Besides I don’t even know much about poisons, our poison expert was always….” Yeosang trailed off. 

“Me.” You completed. “You’re right, Sangie, the ships too far away. Which is why we have to go to the town. I can get the poison out of him and then you can heal his wound.” 

You were met with seven dumbfounded faces. 

You rolled your eyes. “We don’t have time, guys. We need to move quickly.” 

“Right. San carry Wooyoung. Yunho and Seonghwa, watch our backs. Mingi, make sure no one is following us. Yeosang and I will guard the front. And Y/n…. I suspect you know a faster way to get to wherever you’re taking us, don’t you?” Hongjoong said, not even stopping to doubt you and the crew followed, all of them trusting you completely. 

Your heart melted at how quick they were to trust you even after everything that had happened. If you didn’t have more pressing matters at hand, you would have burst into tears for finally having your family back. Instead, you just blinked away the moistness in your eyes and started finding the trail you had marked. 

As quickly as you could, the nine of you made your way out. Soon you reached the outskirts of the forest. 

“We need to be careful from here. Jinyoung thinks that I’m dead and he must be thinking the same about you guys because you were ambushed. We need to make sure he doesn’t find out we're alive before we’re ready to let him know.” You spoke. 

The crew nodded. “Can we get there without attracting attention?” Hongjoong asked. 

“If we’re smart about it, yes.” You replied, already trying to work out the way you should take. You cast a longing look at the roofs before looking at the alleys. Thankfully, Utopia had a lot of secret alleys, most of which you knew like the back of your hand. 

You told your crew to be quite as you lead them to the alley. They followed, silent and quick as mice. 

Mapping out the twisting alleys in your head, you took them to your house without anyone noticing. 

As soon as you were in, you got to business.  

“San and Yeosang follow me. The rest just make yourself at home.” You ordered, leading San and Yeosang to the room you used as your infirmary. 

You told San to lay Wooyoung down on the singular bed and checked the wound. The poison hadn’t spread too far but you could already see the effects it was having on Wooyoung. He was having a high fever and the paralysis would set in soon. You had to be quick. 

You hurried to the cabinet where you stored the ingredients used for the antidote and took them out making an antidote as quick as you could. You had San make Wooyoung drink the antidote.  

You stepped back and prayed for the antidote to work. You told Yeosang to heal Wooyoung's wound and waited as he worked his magic. Wooyoung’s wound disappeared, leaving only a scar.  

It seemed like hours had passed when the bluish blemishes on Wooyoung’s skin started to fade. The antidote had worked. You breath out a sigh of relief and told Yeosang to go rest.  

Then you turned to San. “He’s going to be fine, but it’ll take some time for the poison to get completely out of his system and for the fever to reduce. It might even take the entire night. I could look over him if you want to rest.” You said softly. 

He shook his head, holding Wooyoung’s hand tightly. “No. It’s alright, Y/n, I’ll stay with him.” You could hear the unshed tears in his voice. 

“Ok.” You said, voice softer. “If you need anything or even if you just want someone to talk to, don’t hesitate to call out. And San? Wooyo getting hurt isn’t your fault. Do me a favour and don’t blame yourself, okay?” 

You pulled San in a hug, kissing his forehead. He nodded, basking in the comfort you offered long enough to pull himself together and then let go. You gave him a soft smile and walked out, closing the door behind you. 

You found out that the kids had already gone to sleep. Seonghwa, Yeosang and Jongho passed out in the two rooms you didn’t use but still had gotten furniture for. While Mingi and Yunho had somehow managed to fit their 6 feet something bodies on your tiny couches.  

That’s when it struck you that maybe the reason you had gotten such a big house and so much furniture was because unconsciously you wished for the nine of you to meet again. Even when you had almost gotten caught trying to get this house, you still never gave up. It even overlooked the sea and you had convinced yourself that you wanted this house because it was pretty much isolated. But perhaps you had wished to meet Ateez again. That thought made you smile. 

You saw that Hongjoong was still awake, though. He looked like he was waiting for you. Or maybe he was just waiting to make sure Wooyoung was fine.  

He was sitting on a chair in the kitchen, probably to not disturb the kids sleep. You realised with a pang that the chair he was sitting on was right beside the chair you usually sat when you had time to eat. 

You slid in your regular chair, adjusting it so that you faced him. “Wooyoung’s fine. He’ll be back on his feet by tomorrow.” You said before Hongjoong could ask. 

He practically melted with relief. “Thank god.” 

You noticed the wound he had gotten on his cheek while saving you had not healed. You reached out and caressed it. “Why didn’t you have Sangie heal this?” 

“He looked dead on his feet after healing Wooyoung. I didn’t want to exhaust him even more.” He said leaning into your touch. 

A familiar mixture of expiration and love welled up in you. He was still your Hongjoong. Your beautiful, kind, selfless, Hongjoong. You couldn’t understand how you had made yourself believe that he could be anything else. 

You dropped your hand from his cheek, standing up and pulling himself to his feet. “Come on, let’s get that thing disinfected. You don’t want to get an infection.” You said, leading him to your room and making him sit on the bed as you rummaged around for the first aid box you used for smaller injuries. 

You nonchalantly pushed his knee away, slotting yourself between his legs to get a better look at the wound and ignore the way Hongjoong’s breath caught in his throat. You also ignore how his eyes were roaming over your face, drinking you in and choose to only focus on the wound.  

You carefully disinfect it. The wound is not too deep and just putting a bandage would work so you apply a bandage over it, tracing your thumb over the bandage once. You quickly step away from Hongjoong, packing up the first aid box and putting it away. 

Hongjoong was still staring at you when you turned back. “We need to talk.” It came out a whisper. 

Hongjoong nodded and you sat beside him. Both of you waited for the other to start.  

“Well..” 

“So…” 

The two of you said at the same time. Both of you laughed and Hongjoong motioned for you to start first. 

Taking a deep breath, you started talking. You wanted to speaking calmly but the story came out almost indistinguishable because of how shaky your voice was. Hongjoong understood every single word you said, however. 

You told him of how you had sneaked into Jinyoung’s house to kill him, and how you had heard about what Jinyoung had actually done to the two of you. 

Hongjoong listened carefully and filled in the gaps of your story. By the time you were done, both of you were crying. 

You made the first move and jumped into Hongjoong’s embrace, his arms coming around you to keep you from falling. He pulled you in impossible close as if he would never let you go again. You wouldn’t either. 

When the two of you had calmed down a little, he pulled away from you, looking you in the eyes and saying, “I’m sorry for not telling you earlier.” 

You shook your head. “Don’t be. I wouldn’t have heard anyways.” 

“Still. I’m sorry. I should have at least tried.”  

“Well then, I’m sorry for not listening to you. For not giving you a chance.” You said. 

“Stop apologising for that. You had every right to. You thought that I had betrayed you. I would’ve done the same.” He replied. 

“See? I can’t accept your apology and you can’t accept mine. This will never end. So why don’t we just replace all of our “sorry”s and “thank you”s with “I love you”s? I would much rather hear that from you.” You said, gently. 

Hongjoong agreed. “I love you, Y/n”. 

“I love you too, Hongjoong.” You reached up and pulled him in a deep kiss that conveyed all of the unsaid words between you and Hongjoong. 

The two of you drifted off in each other’s arms, finally feeling like you had found the part that you were missing. 

That morning you woke up feeling unfamiliarly warm. You remembered the events of last night and smiled to yourself, burying your head in the crook of Hongjoong's neck. 

“Finally up, huh?” Hongjoong said and you could hear the smile in his voice. 

Without opening your eyes, you replied, “Were you watching me sleep? Wow, I can’t believe I’m dating a creep.” 

Hongjoong sputtered. “Wait, what? We’re dating?” 

You opened your eyes and looked at him, raising your eyebrow up. “Wasn't that obvious? Or do you think I kissed you and let you sleep with me just for fun?” 

“Well when you put it like that…” Hongjoong said with a shit-eating grin. 

You groaned, burying your head in his neck again. “It’s way too early for this.” You grumbled. 

You could feel Hongjoong laugh, his body shaking under yours and you let yourself smile too. 

You basked in his warmth and couldn’t believe you had survived with him for so long. 

“What are we going to do now, love?” Hongjoong asked softly, suddenly serious. 

You pulled away, meeting his gaze. “I never want to let go of you ever again, Joong.”  

“Me neither. Will you join us?” Hongjoong asked, hopefully. 

“Is there still a place for me on the Aurora?” You asked. 

“Of course there is, Y/n. In fact I don’t think there was ever a time that there wasn’t a place for you. We all missed you too much. Of course, I missed you the most.” Hongjoong added the last part playfully and you giggled. 

“Then of course I’ll come with you, love. But I have some things that I need to do before we leave. A few loose ends to tie up.” You said. 

“I know that, darling. And we’ll help you every step of the way even if you don’t ask for it.” He promised. 

You leant in and met his lips in a grateful kiss. “Maybe when we’re done, we could go in search of Wonderland.” You grinned against his lips. 

“What do you want to do once we become pirates?” You asked Hongjoong curiously. 

The two of you were laying on the roof in each other’s embrace, stargazing. 

“And what prompted this sudden question?” Hongjoong laughed. 

“Oh nothing.” You waved your hand. “Just curious.” 

“Do you know the story of Wonderland?” Hongjoong asked. 

“The story of what?” You asked, giggling. 

“This is very famous story among pirates. Can’t believe you don’t know it.” Hongjoong scoffed, playfully and started his story.  

“Long ago, there was a pirate who was well known for being kind to people who treated him well. Kind of ironic, don’t you think with the image pirates have? Anyways, while he was on a voyage, he spotted an island in the middle of basically nowhere. The island wasn’t marked on his maps either and he was pretty sure he had never seen it before. That pirate was naturally curious, so he turned his ship for the island. He apparently found an unbelievable number of treasures on it. When he came back to take his wife with him there, he couldn’t stop talking about how beautiful that place was and how everyone who lived there was happy. He called the place ‘Wonderland’. It’s every pirate’s dream to at least see that place once in their life.” Hongjoong finished his tale, dramatically. 

You laughed. “Joong, I hate to break this to you but that place is probably imaginary.” 

“Wow, Y/n I can’t believe you’re crushing my dreams before I even had the chance to chase them.” Hongjoong pouted. 

You had an urge to kiss his pout away and so you did just that. Hongjoong deepened the kiss, causing you to moan in his mouth. 

“Ew! Can you two not do that when any of us can walk in and see you?” Seonghwa yelled, clearly disgusted. 

He had come to call the two of you for dinner and he had had to witness the traumatizing sight of the two of you kissing. 

Seonghwa’s yell, made the two of you break apart, laughing shamelessly as you followed him down. 

Hongjoong made a sound of surprise, breaking the kiss. “You still remember that?”  

“Of course I do. Hwa’s expression still cracks me up.” You said, giggling slightly. “We should really go downstairs, though, before one of the kids walks in on us.” 

“But it’s comfortable here.” Hongjoong whined. “And I really don’t want to get up.” 

You shook your head, exasperatedly but still smiling. “Then you can stay here. I’ll go down alon–” 

Hongjoong was up in flash, not letting you finish your sentence. 

“Come on, get up. We have to get downstairs don’t we?” He said cheekily, offering you his hand.  

You let him pull you up, still laughing and then the two of you went down, hand in hand. 

The kids, it turned out, were still asleep. You sent Hongjoong to wake them up while you decided to find something for breakfast. Your kitchen was very bare, since you never had guests over but you managed to scrape together enough sandwiches for the whole crew. Or so you hoped. 

Yunho and Mingi were the first ones to appear, the others following behind them. Wooyoung, who was looking much better, rushed to help you but you waved him away. 

“Are you feeling better now, Wooyo?” You asked, gently. 

“I–yes. Thank you, Y/n for saving me. San told me what happened.” Wooyoung replied, gratefully. 

You shook your head. “You don’t need to thank me. It’s enough that you’re feeling well.”  

Seonghwa and Hongjoong helped you serve breakfast and the nine of you dug in. When all of you had eaten, Mingi and Yunho volunteered to wash the dishes. 

You sat back, marvelling the domesticity of it all. Hongjoong took your hand in his, caressing it softly as if he could read your thoughts. If the rest of Ateez saw the two of you holding hands, they did not comment on it. 

Once the nine of you were done, you gathered around the table, the atmosphere turning serious. You stared at each other, the silence becoming thick. 

“I’m assuming you found out the entire truth, Y/n?” Yunho asked. His tone wasn’t accusatory but you flinched anyway. 

“Yes. And I want to apologize to all of you. I shouldn’t have jumped to conclusions.” You said, quietly. 

“You don’t need to apologize, Y/n. You couldn’t have known. Anyone would have reacted the same way you did. Really, you have nothing to be sorry for.” San said, gently but firmly, the others nodding along with him. You sent him a grateful smile. 

Hongjoong noticed and pouted. “So when I say that, you don’t agree but when San says it you agree? Wow, Y/n, I’m hurt.”  

You laughed, blowing him a kiss. 

“Ugh, not even a day back together and they’re already disgusting.” Seonghwa gagged. 

“I know right.” Mingi agreed. “Y/n are you sure you want to date that guy again?” 

“Mingi are you sure that’s the cause you want to fight for?” Hongjoong jokingly challenged. 

“Oooh looks like Mingi won’t have a crew anymore.” Wooyoung whistled. 

“Please. Hongjoong can’t leave me, I’m his only sniper.” Mingi smirked, confidently. 

You giggled. “You’re not his only sniper anymore, Mings.” 

“Does that mean you’re joining the crew again?!” Yunho asked, overjoyed. 

“I thought that was obvious?” You said. 

All of Ateez broke out into dazzling grins. 

“Group hug!” San yelled, pulling you and Hongjoong. 

Hongjoong grumbled but it was ruined by the huge smile he wore. 

When the nine of you broke apart, Yeosang yelled, “Which one of you took my wallet?” 

Eight pairs of eyes turned to you. 

“What?” You grinned, sheepishly handing Yeosang his wallet back. “It was too tempting to not at least attempt.” 

“Remind me to never hug you again, Y/n.” Seonghwa joked and you laughed shamelessly. 

“So what now? Are we leaving?” Jongho asked. 

“I still have some stuff to do before I can come with you guys.” You answered, regretfully. 

“And we're going to help you with it.” Hongjoong said immediately. 

“You don’t have to–“ 

Your protest was cut off by Seonghwa. “He’s right, we are. Correct me if I’m wrong but the ‘stuff’ you have to do is killing Jinyoung, is it not? I think we deserve to get our revenge by helping you too.” 

You nodded, clearing your throat. “Thank you, guys.” 

“How are we going to do it though? If we just go and kill him, there’s a high chance we’ll get caught and we definitely don’t want that.” Jongho said. 

You smirked. “Oh we’re not just going to kill him. We’re also going to uncover his crimes to the people. Without getting caught of course.” 

“And I’m guessing you’ve got it all figured out?” Hongjoong said, fondly. 

You grinned at him. “You know me too well, Joong.” 

You and Mingi were perched on the roof of the building right opposite to the pub Jinyoung was in. You were keeping a careful eye on it. In case something went wrong, the two of you had to be quick. 

You watched as Hongjoong walked in, acting as if he hadn’t seen Jinyoung. He approached the bar, sliding on the bar stool next to Jinyoung. When Jinyoung noticed him, Hongjoong acted surprised as if he wasn’t expecting him to be there. 

“What is the great Captain of police doing in a bar that is famous for serving to criminals?” Hongjoong sneered. 

Jinyoung covered up his shock quickly. “I could very well be undercover on the chase of someone you know. What is a person who is associated with a well know criminal doing, trying to start a conversation with the Captain of police, huh? Do you not know I could arrest you right now?” 

Hongjoong looked mildly bored at that, as if Jinyoung's threat didn’t mean anything to him. “And on what terms would you arrest a normal businessman who is simply trying to get a drink after a long day?”  

“A normal businessman? You? You are a dirty pirate and you dare–“ Jinyoung was positively bursting with outrage. 

“Do you have any proof of that? You would just arrest an innocent man based on your assumptions? Our police force is really amazing.” Hongjoong snarked. 

“You dare to say that after you have attacked every single ship I sent out in the sea?” Jinyoung challenged. 

“Oh, I see what this is. Someone attacked your ships and you’re just looking for someone to pin the blame on. You are absolutely pitiful.” Hongjoong said, in faux sympathy. 

To any other person who was eavesdropping, it would seem like Hongjoong was really just an innocent citizen who the Captain of police was targeting for no apparent reason. You supressed your grin. Hongjoong was playing Jinyoung perfectly. 

Mingi let out a low whistle. “Wow. Our captain could become an actor if he tried.”  

You laughed silently. “Well he certainly has the face and the talent for it.” 

Meanwhile, Hongjoong leaned over Jinyoung, under the guise of picking up his drink and whispered in his ear, “You’re absolutely right. I did attack all of your ships. But you can’t prove it, can you? If you could, you would have arrested me already. I bet it drives you crazy to always lose to me.”  

Hongjoong sat back on his stool, a sinister smile on his face. Jinyoung was practically turning red with anger. 

“Don’t you think he's provoking him a bit too much? We can’t have Jinyoung leave too soon, we need to buy as much time as we can for Wooyoung and San.” You said, worried. 

“Don’t worry too much, Y/n, it will probably be fine.” Mingi said, but you could detect the uneasiness in his voice. 

Things went wrong as soon as he said that. Jinyoung grabbed hold of a bottle and swung it at Hongjoong but he was too slow. Hongjoong grabbed hold of the bottle, easily ripping it out of his hands. 

“Sit down, old man. Or things will not end well.” Hongjoong said in an easy-going manner but with an undertone of a warning. 

That seemed to anger Jinyoung more and he smashed his glass on Hongjoong’s hand. You and Mingi stared at each other wide eyed. 

Hongjoong winced when the glass cut through his skin.  

“This is bad.” Mingi whispered. “Should we intervene?” 

You were about to reply when you saw Hongjoong glance in your direction and shake his head slightly. 

“No.” You decided. “Not yet. He has it under control for now. Let’s wait a bit.” 

Hongjoong threw a winning smile to the distressed bartender who was signalling to the security before slipping into the shadows. Jinyoung was dragged out, his protests being ignored. 

You sighed as you and Mingi climbed down to meet Hongjoong in the alley. Jinyoung had left far sooner than you had taught he would.  

Hongjoong was waiting for the two of you and you rushed to him, checking his hand. “I told you not to start a fight, Joong.” 

He smiled sheepishly. “Yeah, well, I didn’t think he would get that angry.” 

“We need more time. I doubt San and Wooyoung would be out yet.” Mingi said. 

“Time for me to get to work then.” You grinned. 

“Be careful. He’s already pissed off. Don’t let him kill you.” Hongjoong warned. 

You kissed his cheek. “You worry too much. I have it under control. Now go find Yeosang to heal your hand.” With that, you jumped on the roof, following Jinyoung. 

Hongjoong turned to Mingi. “Follow  Y/n just in case she needs back-up.” 

“Already on it. You listen to her and go find Yeosang.” Mingi replied, going after you. 

San felt like he was going to lose his mind. He was sure he and Wooyoung had searched everywhere for the ‘proof’ you said they would find in Jinyoung’s house. They had found nothing and they were short on time. 

“I doubt he’ll keep anything here where any one can find it. He must have hidden it well.” San said to Wooyoung who was shuffling through the drawers in Jinyoung’s study. 

Wooyoung straightened up and sighed. “You’re right. The problem is we don’t have time. We need to get away from here before he comes back and Hongjoong and Y/n can only keep Jinyoung distracted for so long.” 

San ran his gaze over the room. “If you had to keep such important documents safe, where would you keep them?” 

“I’d burn them.” 

“Thanks, that helped a lot.”  

Wooyoung shot a grin at him, stepping away to look at the bookshelf. San followed, helping him search. 

They could find nothing except rows and rows of books. San turned towards Wooyoung, breath catching in his throat when he saw how close they were. Wooyoung looked at him, his gaze falling to San’s lips. He gulped and took a step back, stumbling. San panicked, trying to catch him before he fell and his hand slammed against a book.  

The book fell down, revealing a safe behind it. However San was too busy making sure Wooyoung was alright to notice. “Are you alrig–” 

“What’s that?” 

“What?” 

Quickly, Wooyoung stepped towards the bookshelf, pulling the books hiding the safe down. He and San shared a look. 

“So that’s why we couldn’t find anything.” San muttered. “It’s locked.” 

“Of course it’s locked, San, who keeps a safe unlocked?” Wooyoung sassed. 

He laughed when he saw San pout, kissing it away. 

“Come on, we have a safe to unlock. What do you suppose the pin could be?” 

“Maybe his birthday?” San suggested. 

“Do you even know his birthday?” 

“…..no?” 

“Great! That only leaves us with like a million options.” Wooyoung replied, sarcastically. 

“Maybe we could just take the safe with us?” 

“No. Jinyoung would find that out immediately and we’d lose the factor of surprise. We need to catch him off guard.” 

“Then we’ll have to try all the million options, I guess.” 

Both of them looked back at the safe, sighing. 

You watched as Jinyoung ambled down the street, still fuming from his run-in with Hongjoong. You were aware that Mingi was following you only a few feet behind. You were sure you wouldn’t need him but any help was always welcome.  

Jinyoung was sticking to the main streets and that was making you worried. You couldn’t stall him in the middle of main road. You hoped he would use one of the many alleys that Utopia had. That would make your work easier. 

As you got closer to Jinyoung's house, your anxiety increased. Fortunately for you, though, it looked like you were in luck because just a few roads away from his home, he ducked into an alley. 

You leaped from the roof, landing in front of him, making him stop. The shadows hid your identity so Jinyoung looked at you in confusion. 

“Get out of my way, I am the captain of the police.” He ordered. 

You stepped in the light and Jinyoung’s face flashed with recognition. “I know exactly who you are, Jinyoung.” You smirked. 

“Halazia. The legendary outlaw who had been stealing the funds of the nation. Or should I call you Y/n?” Jinyoung snarled. 

You laughed. “Funds of the nation? Funds of the nation, huh. I wonder then why the nation hasn’t caught me yet? I mean the Captain of the police even knows my name. Surely it would be easy to track down a petty thief, wouldn’t it?” 

“I was being lenient on you because your parents were the best of friends with me once and this is how you pay me back?” Jinyoung sputtered. 

You knew what he was trying to do. He was trying to irk you with the mention of you parents. You did not give him the satisfaction, though. 

“Oh no, I believe that it’s because those ‘funds’ are actually money you embezzled. You don’t need to worry, they’re in the hands of people who actually need them. Hmm…now that I think about it, they did become funds of the nation after all, huh.” You added thoughtfully. 

Jinyoung threw a punch at you, which you sidestepped quite easily. The rebound made him stumble forward and fall flat on his face. 

You stifled a laugh. “I wonder how they let such a crass man become the Captain of the police? Starting fights in dark alleys and all.”  

Jinyoung got up, ready to hit you again but you were faster. You kicked in the legs causing him to fall on his knees in front of you.  

You grabbed his hair pulling his face up and whispered darkly, “This is where you should be. On your knees. Begging for your life.” 

The fear in Jinyoung’s eyes thrilled you. You had dreamed of this moment ever since that day when you were dragged off the Aurora. However, as much as you would have loved to kill him right there, you had a plan to execute.  

You smirked as you hit Jinyoung's head against the wall hard enough to knock out for a little time but not hard enough to cause any real damage. The worse he would suffer from would be concussion, if you were lucky.  

You looked around for a place to hide his body. You couldn’t leave him in the middle of the road for anyone to find but he was heavy. The best you could do is hide him behind the trash cans with Mingi’s help. 

“Putting the trash where it belongs, I see?” Mingi chortled. 

You couldn’t stop the loud cackle that left you. “Let’s go check on Woosan. Hopefully they’d have found what we need by now.” 

Wooyoung was freaking out. They had not managed to open the safe yet and their time was running out. 

“Seriously why does he need to keep it in a safe? He had already hidden it!” San bemoaned. 

“Just break it.” A voice sounded from behind them, making them jump. 

Wooyoung whirled around. “Hongjoong what are you doing here?” 

“Trying to help you guys? You were taking way too long.” 

“How did you even get in?” San asked. 

Hongjoong rolled his eyes. “You kept the door unlocked. Do we really have time to argue about that?” 

He strode forward pulling a drill out. Wooyoung and San stepped away letting Hongjoong work.  

“Where did he get a drill from?” Wooyoung whispered to San. 

“Well, he’s Hongjoong. Isn’t that enough of an explanation?” San shrugged. 

Hongjoong had soon drilled through the safe and it creaked open slowly. Wooyoung leaned forward to check inside and sure enough the proof of Jinyoung’s embezzlement. 

“This should be enough to get him arrested, right?” San asked. 

“More than enough.” Hongjoong assured. “We just need to make sure they go to the right person.” 

Wooyoung grinned in triumph. “Let’s get out of here then.”  

The triumph was short lived, though, because they heard the front door open and someone stepped in. The three of them exchanged startled glances when the footsteps drew closer to the study. 

The door opened and the Vice Captain of the Police stepped in. 

When you and Mingi reached back home, the night had almost gone by. Your cover of darkness would soon disappear but you still had one last thing to do. Considering, of course, that Wooyoung and San had succeeded. If not, then your plan would be a bust and Jinyoung would start come after you with the full force of the police behind him. 

You opened the door and walked in, to be met by silence. You spotted the proof you had fought so hard to find on the table and smiled in triumph. Your crew had succeeded, not that you had any doubts that they wouldn’t. 

You picked it up, turning to Mingi. “I just need to deliver these now. I’ll be back before sunrise.” 

“Y/n…where is the rest of the crew? If the proof made it here, they should have been here too.” Mingi said, with an undertone of concern. 

You looked around worried. “I’ll check upstairs. You search for them here.” 

You rushed upstairs, praying that they’d be there. However, the only thing that greeted you was darkness and silence.  

You ran back to Mingi. “Any luck?” 

“No. The house is empty.” 

Fear clawed its way up to your throat. The crew wouldn’t leave without a good reason unless… 

Unless…. 

Unless they’d been caught. Unless they’d bargained themselves, again, for your sake. 

You did this. If only it wasn’t for your revenge and scheming and tricks. If only you hadn’t pulled them back, made them help you. If only you were a normal girl with a normal past and a normal life. 

You chewed on your lips as your thoughts spiralled.  

Mingi touched your arm, brining you back to reality. “Don’t make it your fault when we don’t even know if something’s actually wrong. And even if something’s actually wrong then we need you more than ever right now. We need to take Jinyoung down as soon as possible.” 

You nodded. You weren’t a normal girl with a normal past and a normal life. Your life was full of revenge and scheming and tricks and if you couldn’t change it then you had to use it to your advantage.  

The crew had given you a fighting chance by making sure you found the proof and you couldn’t waste it. 

“Mingi, I need to go. This needs to be done before the sun rises.” 

He squeezed your hand, reassuringly. “Do what you need to. I’ll try to find the crew in the meantime.” 

“I’ll meet you back here in an hour.” You squeezed his hand back before leaving.

As you climbed the roofs, your mind was racing. You had to figure out where your crew went and if they were alright.  

You knew Hongjoong would make sure that no harm would come to them. But you weren’t sure if he would make sure he remains alright too. You knew that he would sacrifice himself for them in a heartbeat and that scared you. What if he had– 

No, you decided, that was a dangerous train of thought and one you did not have the luxury to contemplate. Hongjoong would be alright, you just needed to find them. 

You had to focus on making sure you weren’t caught since you were heading to the elite area of the city. It was the most well-guarded area and even one misstep would lead to you being captured. 

You hid and watched as the guards made their rounds. You would about five minutes to pick the lock of the window before the guards came back and you would be exposed. 

You waited till the guards disappeared before quickly making your way down to the balcony. You were in plain sight as you had no cover here and if anyone peaked out of their window or if the guards came back, you would have no time to escape. 

Lock picking was never your speciality, however, as you hadn’t quite managed to master it. And the lock on this window was proving to be more challenging than usual. Your time was running out, though and you could hear the footsteps of the guards coming closer. Just as the guards turned the corner, the lock gave way in your hands and you slipped in, silently pulling the window close behind you. 

Prosecutor Bang Chan was not known to be a very tidy man so you weren’t surprised to find the mess on his table. But he was a fair man and was persistent in chasing his cases to the end. Most importantly, he’d been out for Jinyoung’s blood for as long as you could remember. For the Captain of the Police, Jinyoung had sure made some powerful enemies. 

You knew that if Chan got his hands on this proof, Jinyoung was done for. So, you decided to help Chan out a little. You giggled to yourself. Jinyoung should’ve seen this coming. 

You carefully placed the proof on the table, making sure that Chan would see it as soon as he walked into his office. 

Your work here was done. Now all you had to do was get out of here safely. 

You waited till the guards disappeared again and then got out carefully, shutting the window behind you and putting the lock in place. The only trace you had left behind of your midnight visit was the valuable information lying on Chan’s table. 

You climbed up to the roof and started making your way back to your house. Your thoughts turned to your crew again and you hoped that Mingi had found them. That they were alright. 

When you reached back you were again met with silence but this time the coldness was missing from the air. Walking in, you were met with the sight of Mingi and Yunho passed out on the couch again(they had claimed it for themselves) and you sighed in relief. At least they were ok. You had no idea what had happened but at least the kids were fine. 

You silently opened the door of your room, expecting Hongjoong to be asleep too but to your surprise, he was awake, waiting for you. You shut the door behind you just as quietly as you had opened it, to not wake the others up. 

“Are you ok? Are you hurt? What happened? Is everyone else alright—” Your worry spilled out of you, making your words almost incomprehensible.  

Hongjoong cut you off with a kiss, that you melted into immediately, closing your eyes. It felt good to be held by him, his soft lips on yours, his hands caressing your face. It was so tempting to just stay like this, to let him kiss you till your lips bruised and your mind went blank but you had problems you needed to solve. You pulled away, making him chase your lips.  

“What happened?” You asked, more calmly this time. 

“You didn’t tell me that Minho became the Vice-Captain of the police.” 

“He goes by Lee Know now—what does that have to do with anything?” 

“Well, he wanted to apologise for setting up an ambush for us so he took us off the wanted list. We were catching up with him and we lost track of time. I’m sorry for making you worried. I didn’t think we’d be this late.” He said softly. 

“So you’re free?! You can go back to sailing now without having to worry about being caught?” 

Hongjoong nodded, making you smile. 

“I know this is too much to ask from you,” he began, voice uncertain, “and I know you want a normal life after this is all over but will you join us? Will you come with me?”  

“Of course I’ll come with you, Joong.”  

“Really? But I thought a normal life was what you wanted?” Hope coloured his voice even as he asked you that. 

“Love. Look at you. Look at me. Do you really think either of us could have a normal life now?” A smile crept on your face. “Want to know a secret? I like it better this way.” 

“Do you?” 

“Mmhm, I do. Besides, pirates are hot.” 

That drew a chuckle out of him. “Are they now?” 

“Yep. They are. Especially the one standing in front of me.” You giggled. 

And then Hongjoong was kissing you. Or was it you who made the first move? You couldn’t really remember. The kiss was needy and passionate and searing, making everything else fade. Your hands found their place in his hair, tugging on it, making Hongjoong growl in the kiss. The sound sent heat rushing straight to your core.  

Hongjoong’s hands toyed with the hem of your shirt. “Can I?” He asked with an edge of desperation. 

“Please.” You breathed back, just as desperate. 

He made a quick work of your shirt, pulling it off you and throwing it somewhere. He wasted no moment to attach his lips to your neck, leaving a trail of kisses and love bites in his wake. You pushed him backwards, making him fall on the bed, you on top of him.  

“My turn.” You whispered, unbuttoning his shirt and revealing his perfectly sculpted body. You dived right in, colouring his skin with your marks as if he was your canvas. You paused to admire him, his neck and chest covered with your marks, his lips bruised and you couldn’t believe that he was yours. 

Hongjoong used that moment to flip your positions so that you were lying underneath him. His hands hovered over your pants, silently asking for permission. 

“Joong, love, please. I need you. I need to feel you.” You pleaded. 

In no time at all, your pants were off and he started sucking on your clit, making your hands fly to his hair and your back arch. Hongjoong ate you out like he had been starving for years and you were his only meal. It was messy and fervent and had you crying out in pleasure. His nose nudged your clit and your orgasm tore out of you harshly making you feel like you were floating. 

Hongjoong swallowed your cum and smirked when he caught you looking at him. You almost came again when his tongue slipped out, licking the remainder of your juices from his lips. 

“You think you can handle coming again, darling?” He asked smugly. 

“You look like you need it more than I do, Joong.” You said, pointing at his erection, which was leaking with pre cum. 

Hongjoong’s eyes darkened. “Damn right I do. Tell me if it hurts.” 

He entered you slowly, giving you time to adjust to his length. You whimpered softly at the stretch but soon the pain was replaced by the pleasure.  

“You can move now.” You murmured. 

As soon as Hongjoong heard that, he started driving into you at a speed that had you seeing stars. You brought his lips to yours, the taste of you on his lips only causing you to unravel faster. Both your and Hongjoong’s moans got lost in the kiss. His pace did not slow down even as you clenched around him, both of you chasing your highs.  

“Cum with me, love.” Hongjoong grunted against your lips. 

That was all it took for you to be thrown off the cliff, your orgasm almost blinding you. Hongjoong followed and you felt his cum fill you up. After the two of you rode out your highs, you collapsed against Hongjoong’s chest. He pulled out of you, cursing softly as some of his cum spilled out. 

He pressed a kiss against your hair and then another on your shoulder. “Let’s get cleaned up, love.” 

You shot him a lovesick smile. “Or maybe we could just go sleep.” 

Hongjoong laughed as he brushed your hair out of your face and he picked you up, carrying you to the shower. 

After showering together, and a quick second round, you were lying in the bed, cuddled up against Hongjoong. Your head was on his chest and he was stroking your hair.  

“You know,” Hongjoong began. “I can’t wait to spend our forever together.” 

“Who says I’m spending forever with you?” You teased. 

Hongjoong scoffed. “That’s not what you were saying earlier.” 

“Maybe I’m having a moment of post-nut clarity.” 

Hongjoong shook his head, not able to hide the fond smile that was growing on his face. “Sure love, whatever you say.” 

You buried your face in the crook of his neck, hiding the little smile of your own in his neck. “I love you, Joong.” You whispered against his skin. 

Hongjoong’s smile grew as he whispered a confession of his own in your hair.  

The next few days passed without any news and you could see that your crew was getting antsy. And to be honest, so were you but you did a better job of hiding it. 

“Maybe the evidence wasn’t enough.” You said Hongjoong, not letting anyone else hear your conversation. “Or maybe something went wrong and Bang Chan never received it.” 

Hongjoong shook his head. “Stop worrying, love, I’m sure nothing went wrong. Maybe the case is being investigated and they just haven’t announced it.” He said, gently. 

You had always admired Hongjoong's optimism. But it did nothing to quell the myriad of doubts swirling in your mind. “I should go and check, then. Find out if anything is actually getting investigated. Or maybe I should just go and kill Jinyoung now.” 

“You could.” Hongjoong agreed. “But then he would become a martyr who was killed by a cruel outlaw and the people would never know that the actual criminal was him.” 

You sighed. You had to admit that he had a point. “I hate the fact that you’re right about this.” You whined, making Hongjoong laugh.  

“Aren’t I always?” He retorted. 

The deadpan stare you gave him cracked him up again, dissolving into a fit of laughter. No matter how hard you tried, you couldn’t hide the smile that grew on your face. The effect that Kim Hongjoong had on you was too strong. 

Hongjoong caught sight of your smile but before he could even say anything, you shut him up with your lips. You felt him grinning in the kiss and pulled him deeper in, not giving him a chance to break the kiss. 

Your worries were soon found to be uncalled for, however because the very next day the announcement of Jinyoung’s arrest was broadcasted over all Utopia. They had found him guilty on all charges and he was set to be sent to prison next week. 

“You know,” Yeosang commented, “Utopia’s judicial system can sure be quick when they want to be.” 

You barely suppressed your laugh but the others weren’t so subtle. “Good for us. We’ll be rid of this place sooner.” Jongho cackled. 

You had to admit he had a point. You couldn’t wait to feel the sea breeze in your hair, to feel the waves lapping beneath your ship, to be back to the place you belonged to, to be back with the people you belonged with. It was a wonderful thought. A wonderful dream you hoped would come true sooner rather than later.  

Hongjoong saw that your expression had turned pensive and dropped a kiss on the side of your head. “A penny for your thoughts, love?” 

You sent him a wide, blinding smile that had his heart do flips in his chest. “Just… thinking about much I love you. All of you. And how lucky I am that you love me back.”  

“Don’t say that. If anything we are the lucky ones. I’m the lucky one.” Hongjoong, the genuineness in his voice, words and eyes making you melt. Then he continued, cheekily, “But you love me the most right?” 

You snorted. “It’s not a competition, Joong!” 

“What’s not a competition?” Seonghwa asked, curiously, making both you and Hongjoong yell, “Nothing!” 

“Wow, ok.” Seonghwa grumbled. “Guess we can’t even ask anything now, without the captains getting mad at us.” 

“Captains….? Plural?” You asked, confused.  

“Well, yeah, Y/n, when your referring to more than one person, you use plurals.” Seonghwa said, matter of factly, making Hongjoong snicker. The glare you sent him did nothing to faze him as his laugh grew even wilder after seeing your expression. 

“If I’m the co-captain, does that mean I have the authority to push him off the ship?” You whispered conspiratorially to Seonghwa. 

“As the first mate, I whole heartedly support your decision.” Seonghwa agreed, sporting a grin. 

That snapped Hongjoong out of his laughing fit. “Hey!” He protested. “I can’t believe that two of the people I trust most are leading a mutiny against me!” 

This time it was you who shook with laughter. “Is it a mutiny if everyone already acknowledges me as the captain?” 

You ignored Hongjoong’s yell of, “Of course it’s a mutiny!” turning to Seonghwa and whispering, “Maybe we should do it as soon as we set sail.”  

“Or we could just leave him here.” Seonghwa giggled. 

Hongjoong stared at the two of you in mock betrayal make you smile widely and press a swift kiss to his pout. Hongjoong smirked in the kiss, pulling you closer. 

“Ew. Ew. Ew. Can you not do that when I’m right here?” Seonghwa grumbled. “Why do I always have to witness this?” 

You broke the kiss, laughing wildly when Hongjoong cursed at Seonghwa and Seonghwa walked away rolling his eyes. You were still laughing when Hongjoong swept you in for another, much deeper kiss. 

It was the day. Jinyoung was going to be carted off to prison in front of the whole public. It was also the day you were going to leave Utopia behind with your crew for good. But first, you had some things to take care of. 

You double checked your outfit, making sure your face would be covered. You did not want anyone recognising you as the whole plan depended on making sure no one could trace it back to you. Hongjoong walked over to you just as you were making sure you had everything you needed. “Are you sure you’ll be fine on your own, love?” He asked. Hongjoong trusted your skills but he couldn’t lose you again, not when he’d just found you.  

“Of course I’ll be fine, Joong.” You sent him a reassuring smile, softly caressing his cheek with your hand. “I’m the ‘legendary outlaw’ Halazia remember? I know the streets of Utopia better than anyone else. Besides we need Aurora to be ready to set sail immediately in case something goes wrong.” 

Hongjoong still looked worried but he nodded slightly.  

“Guys? We’re getting late.” Wooyoung called.  

You pecked Hongjoong’s lips, before dropping your hand. “Be careful.” 

“You too.” 

Sending a smile his way, you walked out. 

You pulled your hood over your hair, climbing to the roof. The clock tower showed that you had about ten minutes to get to the town square where Jinyoung’s crimes would be read out before he would be taken away from the public’s eye forever. This was the best and last chance you had.  

You were sure that the square would be packed. Practically every citizen of Utopia who could manage to come would be there. The emotions would be running high, everyone would want to kill the former captain of police. The perfect place and time to assassinate him.  

You grinned to yourself, slinging your rifle over your back. You ran, jumping from roof to roof, making sure no one saw you. Not that there was anyone to see you. The streets were empty. Just as you expected, everyone was in the town square. As long as you remain hidden when you shot Jinyoung, no one would be able to find out exactly who killed him.  

You reached the town hall and checked the time. Three minutes to go. You scanned the surroundings to find a place where you could get a proper aim and could also remain hidden.  

There. It was the perfect place. The roof was high enough that if you were quick you could hide before anyone discovered you and it gave you a good vantage point.  

The crowd below grew restless as the seconds ticked by. One minute left. You supressed the maniacal bout of laughter that threatened to spill out of you as you picked you rifle and attached the suppressor. 

“Five,” you whispered, “Four. Three. Two. On—" 

Jinyoung was forced to step out. You couldn’t control your laugh this time as your bullet travelled quickly and silently. It burrowed into his heart as a fountain of red shot out.  

Time seemed to freeze for a moment as the people tried to make sense of what just happened. And then all chaos broke lose. 

You pressed your lips together to stop yourself from making a sound as you slipped into the shadows. You had to be as discreet as possible to not get caught, especially since the crowd would definitely notice the rifle strung over your back. By now you were sure that the shock would be fading off and the police would be searching for the culprit. Minho had promised you to keep them off your back but you couldn’t take any chances.  

Quickly, you made your way away from the town square. There was just one thing you needed to do before you could leave with your boys. The streets were still quiet empty, a small blessing that you were grateful for.  

You slipped inside a seemingly dilapidated house. This was the place Minho and you had decided to meet after. He said he had something to give you. And so did you.  

You were staring blankly at the wall, when the door creaked open, rousing you out of the haze. Minho walked in, grinning and you relaxed. 

“Hello, Y/n.” Minho said, smiling widely, “Missed me?” 

You rolled your eyes at him, laughing. “As a matter of fact, I did not.” 

Minho clutched his heart, dramatically acting like he was in pain. You couldn’t believe that they were going to make him--of all people--the captain of the police force and you told him exactly that. “Ouch, Y/n! After everything I’ve done for you.” He said, in a mock display of betrayal. 

You couldn’t hold back your giggles and both of you dissolved into a pool of laughter. “I can’t believe we’re laughing after we killed a man.” You said, breathlessly. 

That seemed to sober Minho up. “Yeah, right. You and I both have places to be soon so I’ll make this quick.” 

“Make what quick?” 

“Let me speak, Y/n,” Minho sighed exasperated. You nodded, pressing your lips together. 

Minho continued, “Have you heard about a certain outlaw named Halazia?” He smirked. “Well guess what? Apparently she wasn’t really guilty of anything at all. Yeah, so she’s been cleared of all charges. I wonder who she was though. Guess we’ll never know.” He said, with the air of a man who was simply gossiping with his friend. 

You stared at him, speechless. Halazia—no, you had been cleared of all charges? It felt surreal, like a very vivid dream.  

“So—so, this, uh, Halazia person,” You said, trying to play along with Minho, but struggling to keep your voice even, “she can…she can just, you know, wander in the streets of Utopia, um, without covering her face?” 

“Yes!” Minho answered, cheerfully. “it also means that now she has to come visit her friends because she has lost that excuse. She wouldn’t not come visit them would she? Especially since she’s leaving him all alone” 

Knowing Minho, that was a thinly veiled threat. 

You threw yourself at him, hugging him tightly. “Of course I’ll visit you, Minho. I’ll miss you too much not to.” 

Minho hugged you back. “I can’t believe I’m saying this but I’ll miss you too, Y/n. So much.” 

You squeezed him once and then stepped away, smiling. “Now, I have something to give to you too, although it’s nowhere as good as your gift.” 

You handed him an envelope. Minho peered inside, curiously and then looked up at you shocked. “Is this….?” 

“Yes. They’re still alive.” You affirmed. “I don’t know where they are but we’re trying to find them. This is all the information I have. I just thought that you should know.”  

“Thank you, Y/n I—thank you.” Minho beamed, eyes teary. 

“Of course, Minho. We’ll find them. But now, both of us must go. Otherwise we’ll both be late.” You said. 

Minho blinked the tears out of his eyes. “You’re right. Goodbye Y/n, safe travels. And I wasn’t kidding when I said you had to come visit.” 

You laughed. “I wasn’t kidding when I said I would, either. Goodbye Minho. You’ll find them.”  

You walked out of the house, finally feeling at peace. 

Minho clutched at the envelope you had given him, carefully to not crumple it. “I will. I will find you, my love. I won’t stop till I know you’re safe.” He promised.

Hongjoong was starting to get anxious. It was almost time to weigh anchor but you weren’t here yet. He hoped that you were alright, as he chewed on his lip nervously.  

“She’ll be alright, you don’t need to worry so much, Captain. Y/n knows how to take care of herself.” Seonghwa said.  

Hongjoong nodded but didn’t reply. Yes, he knew that you could take care of yourself quite well but there were hundreds of things that could go wrong. He didn’t want to find you bleeding out on a roof, surrounded by Utopian police ever again. That was the scariest day of his life, watching you die because you stopped to help him and being powerless to stop it. 

Just as he was about to suggest going out and searching for you, he heard Wooyoung yell, “There she is!” 

Hongjoong breathe out a sigh of relief when he saw you. There you were, running towards the ship that you had built with him and grinning like you had no worry in the world. it almost felt like he was back to the time before anything had happened, when both of you were free and young and so so in love.  

The last one was still true, at least for him. He hoped that it was true for you too. 

You climbed up the ship, thanking Yunho who had helped you up and waving at everyone else. You were still laughing and happiness was such a good look on you. Hongjoong thought that you looked the most beautiful when you were smiling. 

You turned towards him and before he could say anything, you crashed your lips onto his. Hongjoong kissed you back immediately and he could almost taste your smile. Both of you ignored the disgusted cries of your crewmates, too lost in each other to notice.  

When you finally broke apart, gasping for breath as your body reminded you about your need for oxygen, you noticed that you were alone on the deck with Hongjoong. Everyone else had left, and it seemed like Seonghwa had ordered for the ship to weigh anchor as the captain was a bit preoccupied.  

You looked over to the said captain, who was coming to the same conclusion. Hongjoong’s hair was a mess and his lips were bruised. And he looked absolutely divine.  

“I doubt they need you for a while.” “They could do without us for some time.” 

Both of you said as the same time and you laughed. “Lead the way then, Captain.” 

“Please don’t call me that.” Hongjoong groaned, intertwining your fingers with his and pulling you below deck to his quarters. 

As soon as the door closed, you were all over him, kissing and nipping at his lips. Hongjoong matched your eagerness, his hands running over your body. You pinned him down on the bed, moving to unbutton his pants. His dick sprang up, already hard.  

You smirked at Hongjoong, kneeling down and taking him into your mouth. He groaned as you bobbed your head, squirming and gripping your hair. 

“Fuck, Y/n, that feels so good.” Hongjoong moaned, 

You fought the urge to gag, as you sped up, determined to get him to his high Your cunt throbbed and the sounds Hongjoong was making were driving you crazy. 

“Ahh, fuck, Y/n, I’m going to cum.” He warned, right before he let go. You continued sucking him, determined not to waste a drop. Hongjoong shuddered at the sensation making you grin.   

You let his dick slip out of your mouth, grinning and licking your lips once more, just in case. You looked over at Hongjoong, who was looking at you like you were a goddess and resisted the urge to blush. 

“Come here, love.” Hongjoong pulled you over, lying you down on the bed as he took your panties off. You spread your kegs, trying to hide your smirk at his entranced expression. 

 You were already wet enough that he could slip his fingers in without a problem. Slowly, too slowly, he slid his index finger in, causing you to moan at the sudden intrusion. Hongjoong started scissoring inside you, stretching you out for him. He found your sweet spot and you cried out in pleasure. 

“That feel good, huh?” He crooned, his voice making you clench around his fingers. 

Hongjoong sped his ministrations up, eager to be inside you. His impatient fingers made your toes curl as your orgasm quickly approached. However, as soon as you were about cum, he pulled away, leaving you tethered on the edge.   

“I think I’ve stretched you out enough, Y/n.” He chuckled darkly, fully aware of what he’d done. 

You whined in complain, making him laugh quietly. “I just want us to cum together, love.” Hongjoong said, pressing a soft kiss to your forehead. 

He stroked his dick once before lining it up with your hole. Then he slammed down into you causing you to yelp in pleasure at the slight burn. He set a merciless pace, too desperate to slow down. You dug you nails into his back harshly, keening at the sensation. Hongjoong groaned at the sting, sure that there were going to be indents when he woke up.  

Hongjoong’s quarters were full of the sound of skin slapping on skin and the little moans and groans the two of you were letting out. It was, in your opinion, the most beautiful melody in the world. As both of you chased your highs, Hongjoong came to the conclusion that your moans were better than any song he could ever hear. Nothing could compare to this. 

“Ahh, I’m going to cum, Joong.” You exhaled.  

You shuddered as you fell apart and Hongjoong didn’t stop thrusting into you until you slumped down, gasping for breath. He pulled out just after you were done, cumming on your stomach as he sighed in bliss.  

He flopped down beside you, pulling you into his arms as both of you came down from your highs. You snuggled into him, chest heaving as you both caught your breath.  

After a while of holding each other silently, you whispered, “Do you have a washcloth or am I going to have to walk to the bath covered in your cum?” 

Hongjoong snorted. “I do have a washcloth, but I feel like I would like the second option much more.” That earned him a light hearted smack on the arm from you and he laughed again. 

“Come on, let’s get cleaned up.” You nagged, unable to hide the fondness in your voice. 

Hongjoong picked up the washcloth beside his bed, cleaning you up. You winced, still sensitive, when he wiped your core. As you cleaned each other up, you marvelled at the soft domesticity of it all. Here you were, pirate and outlaw, and yet you were so gentle, so loving with each other. Hongjoong, and Ateez, made you feel the most humane you had in a long time. 

You collapsed back on the bed after you were done cleaning up and Hongjoong jumped in right after you. “Don’t you have to go check on the boys?” You asked, holding him closer to you. 

“That’s a paradox,” Hongjoong teased, “You can’t tell me go while not letting me leave.” 

You laughed, “Haven’t I always done that though?” 

“No, I’m pretty sure I’m the one who did that.” He said, lightly. 

“Then I guess the only option we have is not letting either of us go.” You spoke, meaning every word. “I love you, Kim Hongjoong.” 

“I love you too, Y/n.” Hongjoong said, the genuineness in his words making your heart melt. 

“But seriously, don’t you need to check on the boys? Seonghwa must be cursing your name by now.” You joked. 

Hongjoong grumbled. “He can handle it. I’m too tired and comfortable right now to leave. Go to sleep, love, that’s a problem for tomorrow.” 

You had to admit that you were too lazy to get up either. Yeah, Hongjoong was right, that was a problem for tomorrow. Right now, you would just enjoy your rare moment of peace and bask in the triumph and happiness of finally getting everything you wanted. 

You smiled at Hongjoong, who had already fallen asleep, before drifting off yourself. 

Epilogue. 

 You looked up from the loot you were rummaging through when you heard Jongho yell. If it was anyone else, you would have just ignored it, as them shouting without a reason was a very common thing. But no, this was Jongho. You rushed over and you saw that the rest of your crew had thought the same thing as you and they were going towards Jongho as well. 

“What is it? Are you ok?” You asked worriedly. 

Jongho didn’t reply, staring down at the bag he was holding in shock. 

“Jongho?” Hongjoong said, tapping at his shoulder. 

That seemed to shake Jongho out of the stupor, as he pulled out something from the bag. “It really is real,” Jongho whispered, voice shaky, “I was almost beginning to believe that it was just a fantasy.” 

You looked at the thing he was holding and looked up again in amazement. You could hardly believe it either because you too were starting to think that it was just a myth. You exchanged glances with Hongjoong and the rest of the boys as their expressions begun to change from surprise to joy.  

“We finally found it!” Wooyoung chuckled, thrilled.  

You started joined in the laughter as the crew cheered. 

Yes, you had finally found it. That thing that you were searching for months now, ever since you’d left Utopia behind. Ever since you were free to roam the seas. No, ever since you and Hongjoong had built Aurora.  

Ateez’s last goal, the ending. Ateez’s beginning. 

The Cromer. 

Taglist: @hanjisungs-bigtittyg0thgf

[atinyreads]

Hi! can I request an ateez 9th member poly au but the scenario is they make her feel left out, being mean and entertains another girl from another grp and she was painted as the villain by that girl! so they gang up on her, she suddenly left the group and now they’re chasing her back!!

Missing Piece

Pairing: Ateez!ot8 x f!reader

Genre: Idol au, Angst, Mature

Warnings: ignorance, tired, mention of drugs( just a rumor), leaving the group, feeling left out, light arguments, anxiety, evil intentions(a pick me not y/n), a mess of emotions nothing more.

W.C: 6.9k

Note: please I want to thanks to people for reading and reblogging. Reviews are always appreciated. Spread love not hate. After writing this fic, I realized that I don't know how to write 9th member fics😔. I hope this what you wanted anon <3.

Network: @cultofdionysusnet @k-vanity

Now let’s take a moment to appreciate my dear friend @dreamsoffanfics Thanks for helping me out and being my proofreader. A dear friend indeed <3.

"Congratulations Ateez!"

Whenever this phrase echoed, you always felt proud and satisfied with yourself for coming a long way. It's obvious that your hard work and determination made it possible for you to stand strong and shine on this ground.

But, a wave of emotions was running inside you today because of the feelings that are itching your mind.

The scandals you are in lately.

The staff and other idols who are passing by while making your way towards the private room are constantly congratulating you and the members of your group. They all are having a wide smile across their faces but you just hesitantly smiled towards others. You know very well that everyone is aware of the scandal you are currently dealing with.

You excuse yourself from the washroom and Hongjoong notices you stepping away in another direction. He called out your name and asked where you were off to but you didn't reply or turned back.

All the members were gathered in front of their room to enter but when they saw their leader---the captain was standing in front of the door and looking in a particular direction. They all looked towards your fading figure into the hallway.

"Where is she going now?" San asked the captain but quickly noticed the anger on his face.

Hongjoong slammed open the door and others followed him inside the room, "I don't know. She didn't reply to me when I asked her. She is really becoming stubborn."

"What's her problem? Isn't she acting so childish all the time?" Mingi slumped down on a cushioned chair and closed his eyes when placing himself comfortably.

Jongho shook his head while removing the mic and earpiece from around his neck and placing it on the wide desk in front of the mirror. "What about the updates on her scandal? The way she is sneaking around here and there, I feel like believing those are not just scandals."

"No. I don't think that's possible. I don't see a sign from her taking any drugs." Seonghwa stated and looked at the leader who was leaning against the wall after removing all the unnecessary items from him. When he caught his eyes, the one standing sighed.

"But she didn't even deny it." Hongjoong said and raised a brow.

Yeosang nodded and spoke up, earning others attention to his words,"When the manager asked her to explain the matter she remained silent and was staring down as if she was high on drugs. Even when the company tried to answer the question about her on the internet, she refused to make a statement."

Some of them nodded and others had confusion visible on their faces.

Wooyoung pointed at your bag beside his and asked, "why did she bring this bag again?" He lifted the bag and found it to be the same bag which you're carrying everywhere, "it seems like she has a lot of stuff inside it."

"Open it." Hongjoong orders the younger one but he hesitated to the command. "I said open it. I am asking you for it and she has no say in this."

"But it's a girl's bag."

"Don't act like we don't stay together. Even if I ask her about bringing this bag, she won't reply. And if something inappropriate is there then we would apologize to her later."

The younger nodded but before he could open the bag. The manager entered. Hongjoong signaled to put the bag down.

It was always a bit challenging for you to be in a group where you are the only female member. All the fans accepted you very willingly and gave you lots of love on the day when it was announced you would be the last member of the debut line. Yeah, the competition had always included the five girls with the boys but you didn't expect back then to be in the lineup of the final showdown. As you were very sure of Minnie to be debuting with them. Her talents and looks are always remarkable and you admired her dance moves and vocals so much. And, you're sure others loved her more than you. They have a strong friendship with her even after her debuting in a different group 'Stray Kids'.

But your members never made you feel left out or different for being a girl. At first they were a bit hesitant to have you as the member but gradually you all became close and had so much fun together during the first MV shooting. Your debut was memorable with you all traveling to a different country and experiencing several new things.

Moreover, your members treated you like the baby of the group. They pampered you so much and of course, they won't leave a chance to annoy the shit out of you. You felt closer with Jongho because he was around your age so you were always paired up with him. And that's how the deep friendship started between you both.

Ateez are very close with Stray Kids and for that you all often meet them to dine out and hang out on off schedule days and after encore and promotion stages. You loved Minho's company a lot because you both clicked together perfectly. But there was something you noticed: San doesn't like you spending time with Stray Kids and sometimes, he and the others often drag you away with your members telling them that they need to hurry back to the dorm because something urgent came up. Only for you to get scolded later by Hongjoong that being so friendly with others would lead you to get into a lot of scandals.

What about them?

They often can be seen talking with Minnie after the performances or concerts and even two or three of them hanging out with her. Did you ever say anything? No. Then how come the dating rules only apply to you? You had enough one day and screamed at her and them, telling them that because of her Ateez would soon be under controversy but she quickly apologized to you and cried to them.

That was not the end. Because of her Hongjoong treated you really badly. He and other members used harsh words on you and others supported him on the fact that you had overreacted for no reason. They really started to go out alone without you - you were already used to it. But after the incident, they purposely made you feel left out. That didn't even stop them being friendly with her. They even did the new dance challenge with her and the way she was leaning on Seonghwa's arm made you glare at the video longer until the manager announced the practice time.

All these struggles really made you exhausted day by day and it's even showing in your performances and interaction with others. One afternoon, you were in the middle of the preparation for the comeback when you suddenly got to know about something trending under your name on all social media platforms.

'Is y/n really taking drugs?'

And the comments under the post - some supporting your side saying it's fake but you were shocked to see the amount of people believing the post and making strong comments that your recent appearances do look like you are under its effects. You ignored the news, you ignored everyone. You thought about the trainee days and then after debuting. You had lots of fun with Ateez. There are a lot of good memories and there are a lot more than just memories which couldn't be revealed everywhere. You tried to talk with others but never had the courage so you kept everything to yourself. Whenever you were asked to clarify on this matter, you remained silent.

One day, finally you had a talk session with your manager to discuss the ongoing situation. Many of your fans went against you and you accepted their opinions because you didn't make any strong denial statement on it so it's obvious for people to suspect you. You are being a bad influence on the industry.

"Are you sure about this?" the manager had concern and worry etched across her face but you just nodded and sighed when she kept staring at you.

"I don't want to change my mind. I have come up with this decision after thinking a lot."

She opened a file on her tablet before passing it to you to read, "read this. And, what about them? This is a big decision so please think carefully."

"I know."

"Will you be fine after this? People might blame you more."

"I don't have any other option. Even if I have, this is the only thing that seems right to me right now."

She just nodded in acceptance.

.

.

.

As the manager entered the room, she noticed Wooyoung placing your bag down to the side of the chair. Hongjoong stepped forward to greet her and she sent a quick smile to everyone present in the room, also noticing your absence there.

"You all don't have any more upcoming schedules this week so hurry up, we have to leave for the dorm. You guys look so tired. You all didn't got enough rest the last few days." She announced and stared at Hongjoong who seemed to want to ask her something.

"Do you want to say something?"

He nodded, "Y/n is not here since we came back from the stage. She went towards the stairs and I asked her but she seemed a bit lost. Where is she? Do you know about it?"

She sighed, "she is probably in the restroom, don't worry."

"Before the day of the comeback, she had a talk with you. What did she tell?" Seonghwa asked, who was now wearing a black t-shirt with just a washed face. He wasn't wearing his stage outfit anymore.

"You all will get to know about it tomorrow morning."

"What is it that you can't tell us now?" San asked her curiously.

She shook her head, "it's not like that. I can tell you but she doesn't want me to tell you. Don't get your hopes up. Just know it's nothing good." She handed over the food bag to them so that they could feed themselves inside the van while going back home. She asked the last two members to quickly change into a comfortable outfit and took your outfit to the restroom.

.

.

As soon as she handed you the outfit, you thanked her and asked her to wait outside. Changing into the comfortable soft fabrics made you sigh in relief. But you felt tears welling up in your eyes while staring down at the mic, earpiece and the stage outfit in your hand. A lot of emotions coursing through you but your mind was only focusing on the fact - this was your last stage performance.

You wiped your tears and put on a fake smile before exiting the door. the manager took the things from your hands but before you could step forward, she grabbed your wrist and looked at your face, scanning the smudged eyeshadow and liner. You were crying and she caressed your hand.

"Y/n, you are not okay with this. Please, I would suggest that you change your mind."

You shook your head before removing her hand. "Trust me. I will be okay without all of these problems." She watched your retreating figure until you took a sharp turn.

When you reached the door of the private room, it was expected to hear their loud laugh or them having weird singing competitions that could be heard from outside. But now, it's so quiet. Are they that tired? Or did they already leave for the dorm without you? That's not possible, the car was for you nine so it won't leave until nine of you have entered it.

You tightly held the handle before pushing the door open only to find them gathered around the couch but staring at you. You noticed Wooyoung holding a bag at the end of the couch.

A bag, wait, your bag. No!

You hurriedly went over to the couch to find it was your bag and the things were already scattered on it. You tried to pull the bag from his hold until Yeosang grabbed your wrist and turned you around.

"What is this?" he asked you in a demanding tone.

You licked your lips before prying his hand off from your wrist, "nothing. you don't have to know." You snatched the bag, "and why did you even touch my bag without my permission?"

"Since when are we asking each other to touch our things?" Yunho asked and got up from the chair to make his way towards you. You tried to pick up the things and place them inside the bag but Hongjoong blocked your hand and signaled Mingi to take the things away from you. The tall man finally stood in front of you, "and you better explain what all these boxes are for?"

"Nothing..."

Yunho exhaled sharply and grabbed your biceps tightly, "Y/n, what are you hiding from us? what is it that you can't tell us?"

Mingi was glancing between you and the things which he was putting inside the bag. Seonghwa stood beside the man holding you and stared at you sharply, "are these the drugs?"

"Please just shut up!" you screamed at them.

They slightly flinched at your sudden outburst but it was not noticeable by you as your teary eyes blurred your view. You put your palm over your ears and closed your eyes tightly.

"Please shut up. I can't hear any more of this. I know you don't trust me like before but please don't blame me every time. Because of me, this group is already under so much controversy and I'm really sorry for that."

You were going through a lot and having them all cornering you in the room, confined to a little space was too much.

San pushed Yunho so that he could hug your crying form, "It's okay, y/n. No one is blaming you. But why are there so many boxes containing various pills in your bag? You can tell me if those are distractions." he continuously rubbed your back.

You were crying in his hold, clutching his white t-shirt tightly. He didn't care that his fresh t-shirt was getting wet because of your tears when you were crying helplessly. It was breaking their heart to see you like this but what could they do. If you are doing something wrong then they must solve it and for that they need to talk to you but here you are not telling anything and always ignoring them since the incident happened between you and Minnie.

Realizing you were holding San tightly, you quickly removed his arms from around you and glared at him. Everyone observed your sudden change in mood and Hongjoong held your biceps to turn you towards him. At the tight hold you said harshly "let go of me."

"Y/n, enough. What's wrong with you suddenly?" His demanding tone was obvious and your glaring eyes didn't faze his expression. "Don't show me that look."

"Then leave me."

"Joong, leave her hand. We are all tired and we need to go to the dorm. We can ask her about this there." Seonghwa said calmly and placed his palm on the younger's shoulder. the latter sighed and you snatched your hand from him.

Everyone's eyes followed how disheveled you were looking while picking up your things and no one tried to stop you as you were all going to the same place after all. When you pulled the zip of your bag, Wooyoung stepped forward to offer you the food but you rejected it and went outside the room, slamming the door. They flinched at the loud noise but no one noticed your tears and emotions while exiting the private room backstage for the last time.

"I will be good without all of them." You have repeated this line to yourself a lot of times but still you felt the emotions to return back all over again.

Wiping your eyes, you raised your head only to find Minnie standing in front of you with folded hands and innocent eyes, the way she always looks at others. She was still wearing a faerie stage outfit and smiling at you. Ignoring her presence, you tried to turn around but her voice made you halt.

"Are you carrying those drugs in the bag again? So should I post it clearly that you are being spotted taking drugs?" she was smirking when you turned around.

"What are you saying?" You gripped the bag tightly when she glanced at it and chuckled. Stepping forward to you, her smirk grew wider, "it was me who posted that about you. and even if you say this to anyone, no one is going to believe you."

"It was...you." you watched her in disbelief when she lightly laughed and twirled a strand of hair between her delicate thin fingers. She pouted and blinked at you, "you shouted at me in front of them so I had to take my revenge."

"And it's just-"

"It hurts my pride." She made a disgusted face at you and bumped against your shoulder, "well, thank me for not doing something else but....I just ruined your career. Goodbye!"

You saw her walking like on a cat walk towards the corridor and smiling innocently to everyone in her way. She turned a little and smirked at you before taking a turn leaving you there in shock.

"Y/n...you're still here." You heard Jongho's voice and then saw others exiting the room but before they could ask you something, you ran towards the elevator and fortunately it just opened for the staff members queuing in front of it and you got inside with them. They were all glancing at you because of your weird behavior and you being alone with a sad look.

As soon as the ding sound indicated the arrival to the ground floor, you wasted no time and speedily walked towards the car. You got inside and sat in the far back, waiting for others to come.

.

.

After they got into the car, they found you sleeping peacefully at the back. "She is sleeping." Yunho told others and placed your head on his shoulder while adjusting in the seat beside you.

"Let her sleep. She is extremely tired." Hongjoong said and scolded Wooyoung who was about to say something loudly.

Seonghwa shook his head, "but she has to eat."

"I will feed her after we reach home. Leave her for a while. Let's not ask her anything more today." Yeosang started and closed his eyes while leaning back.

Yunho kept stroking your head so that you don't wake up and he felt you nuzzling into him and he smiled while looking down at you.

>>>><<<<

You stretched your arms, you heard their voices coming from a distance. You groaned and rubbed your eyes. Your body was aching so bad that you felt like going back to sleep again. But then you remembered your plans for this night.

You got up and stepped outside the room, their voices were coming from the living room and when some of them caught your sleepy figure entering the room they sent a smile towards you.

"Y/n come eat with me. Others have already had their dinner and I will accompany you while the rest keep doing whatever they do at the moment." Yeosang called you from the table and patted the chair beside him. You were hungry but you didn't feel like eating anything because of all the emotions you had inside.

Is my decision okay?

You shook off the feeling and walked towards the table. Some returned back to discuss the topic they were busy with and the youngest of the two joined you both at the table.

"So, as we don't have a schedule this week. How about we go on a trip somewhere?" Wooyoung suggested and Yeosang nodded before urging to start eating.

Your heart ached when you heard the joy in his voice and how they were planning for the week.

"But can we not spend time inside the dorm? I don't feel like going out." Jongho whined.

"What do you say, y/n?" Yeosang asked and you glanced at him to your side but remained silent.

He shared a glance with Wooyoung before the younger one spoke up: "Hey! Do you want to stay inside or go out? We will decide after what you say."

"I......whatever you all will agree on." You mumbled softly.

"But-"

"I said whatever you guys will agree on! It doesn't matter what I say. You all will be off on your own." You stood up from the table and took deep breaths, "have fun without me. Whatever you guys do, enjoy yourself and live a happy life."

"Y/n...if-"

"Yeo I don't want to hear anything. I'm going to sleep. Goodnight."

The moment you had to pass the couch where others were sitting but their attention was on you after you shouted at the table, Mingi grabbed your hand, "Are you okay?"

You glanced at the grip and to the others.

"You all are always meant for each other. The eight of you are soulmates and I'm just an extra character who acted as a villain in the group and destroyed your success with my scandal."

Hongjoong stood up, "Don't think like that. We can sort this out together."

"No. People already hate me for this and even if I try to claim myself innocent then all the fame I have already lost is never coming back. I'll still receive more hate. It wouldn't have happened if you guys really cared for me." You whispered the last line.

San scratched his neck and spoke up, "But you have us. Even if they hate you, we will show them that you are the best."

"But you don't have me. I can't do anything in return so it's better for me to move away from the scene so that you don't have a problem on your way to success. There's still a long way to go and I can't stop you all from that."

Seonghwa shook his head, "You are not stopping us. You keep us motivated, Y/n. You'll always be with us like the final missing piece of the puzzle."

"Sometimes there's an extra piece to distract you and confuse you and I'm that extra piece. You are already complete without me."

"Why are you thinking like this?" Mingi asked you softly.

"Because you all made me feel like this." You sighed and turned back but before stepping forward, you said loudly, "Just remember that even if I'm not with you all in this journey you all will move forward and achieve everything. You deserve a lot and on top of that, be happy. Don't let yourself fall apart because of a missing piece."

Your quick steps led you to your room and you fell on your bed. Cries getting muffled by the sheet and you pushed your face into it more. When you were saying those words earlier, you stood strong but deep down, your heart was heavy.

Time passed and you didn't realize when you fell asleep. A figure stepped inside your room, he smiled at your sleeping figure, his dimples peeking out even in the dark and his sharp eyes staring at you softly. He adjusted your body to a comfortable position and pulled you closer to him, lulling you to sleep. You mumbled something in your sleep and he smiled and patted your head. Soon, he fell asleep with you in his arms.

Now, this is the secret that nobody knows yet. You're dating all of them. Since the day of the debut you all found comfort in each other's arms. This can't be mentioned in the public media and nothing can be obvious if you are really dating one of them - let alone all of them. They're always so protective and showered you with love, making your heart warm and a wide smile visible on your face.

In many shows and interviews, you've referred to them as your strongest pillars of life and that you would be always thankful to them for being with you.

But lately it turned into a disaster after you all met her again after a year at the show when Minnie introduced herself to them and they became friends quickly. You didn't mind the friendship at first but when they started to blame you on whatever she tells them, they started pointing out her right proving you wrong in every aspect.

She really had to destroy your career---even your relationship with them.

<<<<<<>>>>>>

"You are here?" Yunho yawned while nodding his head and rubbed his eyes while making his way towards the table after greeting the leader. "I thought you're the one sleeping with her."

Yunho shook his head before gulping down the water, "No. San told me that he wanted to sleep with her." Hongjoong nodded and turned his attention back to the food on the table.

The rest of them soon started to gather around in the living room. Wooyoung saw San coming last into the wide space but all alone. He creased his brows and asked him, "Isn't she coming for breakfast?" He put down the plate on the table.

"It'll soon be lunch time." Jongho said and laughed. Yeah, it's true that they woke up so late that they have passed the morning and it's already noon but they're still preparing breakfast.

San, who was still rubbing his eyes, looked at him and then around the room, "She isn't here?"

"No..."

"When I woke up, she was not in the bed."

Hongjoong stood up and took the phone in his hand before watching everyone in confusion,

"Did she tell any of you where she is going today? Does she have something to do?"

He dialed your number but the line was dead.

Mingi skipped to your room to see if you had left any sticky note but nothing was there. Wait. Not even your things were there. Only a few items were there but the photo frames with a few boxes were missing too. He went back into the living room to inform the others about it. They were so lost and confused about the situation when suddenly the doorbell rang.

Jongho quickly opened it to be greeted by their manager whose appearance was more serious than usual. She walked inside and looked at everyone before sighing and sitting on the chair near her, "Have you checked your phones?"

When they shook their heads and told her that they had just woken up. She turned her phone screen around to take a look at it.

'Y/n, the member of Ateez is leaving the group...'

San snatched the phone from her hand and scrolled down the whole post only to find out the news was announced by their own company and there was also an apology letter from your side posted. So many things happened just in the morning.

"What is this? Where is she?" Hongjoong demanded a clarification of this situation from her but she only shook her head before brushing some strands of hair back.

"She has already left the place. These past few days, you were busy and didn't notice her preparing for this day so I was there to help her collect everything. I tried to change her decision, make her understand but she had already lost hope in this. She was so disturbed with the whole scandal and all."

"Can't we contact her?" Wooyoung asked her while tears were threatening to fall from his eyes.

"No. Your company has banned you from having any contact with a former member. I don't think it's good for your image."

"I don't care about my image. I want her back. How can she leave the group? And she didn't tell us anything about this the whole time..."

Seonghwa looked at the leader and sighed, "That's why she was saying things like that last night."

And now, they realized how they have ignored you all these past months just to believe that girl whom they had befriended and trusted so much that they doubted you on taking drugs and being jealous of others too much.

But their career can't be stopped here. They need to move forward on this journey - even if that means with a missing piece in their group.

>>>><<<<

[2 years later]

"8 makes 1 team...Hello we are Ateez."

The whole audience in the arena cheered. Ateez with wide smiles and sparkling eyes were watching their fans from overseas greeting them by shouting out their names. They felt so loved at that moment that they forgot the pain inside their heart, not getting to be loved by you anymore.

They love their fans a lot but your love was the precious one and when Yeosang realized that you were not there beside him in the choreography, tears fell from his eyes. It's already been 2 years but still everytime he cries during this step where you are no longer smiling while spinning with him in the center.

The concert went for two hours and they quickly changed into some casual wear afterwards and decided on takeout for the day.

The next day, at night they planned to stroll around the city and take in the view of the new place overseas and enjoy the place. They were not given any schedules for the vlog so they were free to roam around.

"I have seen this place just across the street that has a good variety of foods. Let's try it out." Yunho stated his search for this place and others agreed quickly.

All of them entered the big glass door of the restaurant and eyes roaming around in appreciation of the new place. The things decorating the tables, shelves and each corner with the soft melody of the overflowing music with the right amount of warmth and light were a perfect setting. Many customers turned towards them, a table with four girls recognized them but the rest just watched them curiously as they were standing awkwardly until a waiter offered them a helping hand.

They opted for a table at the very end as it was a bit away from the other tables and a bit hidden by a wooden rack.

They all settled down and the waiter waited for them to order. After a lot of complaints, whines, bickers and scolding, they had decided on the menu to be ordered finally.

For the time being, they were waiting for the food to arrive. They gossiped on a lot of stuff, few scrolling through Instagram and taking aesthetic pictures of the place but they don't forget to see any update from your private account. nothing. Jongho sighed and switched off his phone.

"Here is the food!" A cheerful voice made them look up at the person with two others trailing behind her. The girl didn't look at their faces but the eight boys from around the table were staring at her. she was joking with the girl beside her while placing all the bowls down the table. the other two left her when she turned around, "is there some-"

her voice got lost in her throat when she finally locked eyes with the ones watching her intently.

"y/n. you are here."

oh. they're having tours in this country. you're so busy these past few days that you didn't notice that they have announced the tour dates. yeah, even if you have left the group and moved away to a different country, you keep yourself updated with them.

you just can't get over them and this kills you inside.

"uh...um...congratulations on the comeback."

"Why did you leave the group? You don't even contact any of us." Hongjoong asked you from just the opposite direction from where you were standing.

"Isn't it obvious that I left the group not to keep in touch with you all?"

"But why?"

"Now your group is free from scandals and under no controversy. You all are having comebacks and your fans even forgot about me and giving you all the love you guys deserve. So what's the point of me being there." You chuckled in an unamused way.

Wooyoung stood up and suddenly hugged you catching you off guard, "you don't know how much we missed you. Everyday we thought that you'll call one of us or will show up to the front door. But you totally disappeared."

"It hurt us, baby. It hurts to not wake up to your side. It hurts not to see your smiling face and you walking around the dorm. Heck! I watched all the videos of you to hear your voice." San bit his lip to prevent himself from crying.

It hurts me too...

You just curled your fingers, wanting them to stop or you might break down in front of them. You thought after joining at your friend's restaurant that you won't ever come across your past life but who knew after two years here, you would be facing them again.

Licking your lips, you pushed Wooyoung off from you and eyed him before turning to them, "but you all became used to ignoring me then why suddenly you all are acting like this."

"No it's not like that."

"Really Mingi? Are you sure you're not the person who blamed me that for me all your hard work will be gone."

The chatters around the place increased with the entry of some more customers. Little did you know, your friend noticed the current situation you were in and she told other workers to take your place and not mind anything at the end table.

Jongho glared at Mingi but still he also knew that the news got them all shattered because it was their first accusation after the debut and they knew very well the cause of any controversy regarding a group. They all feared for their dreams to be crashing down.

But they were also worried for you. They all asked you about it but you're not the outspoken type and you remained silent and refused to talk to anyone. You distanced yourself from them when they hinted their anger towards you and it really scared you.

and that girl Minnie really played her wicked games with them at their weakest moment. "I'm sorry. Please forgive us for not being there for you. We-"

"Jongho, there's nothing to forgive or forget. I had some great memories with you all and I loved every moment but for me I don't want someone's dreams to end."

You weakly smiled at them.

"But what about you? How are you?" Seonghwa asked you while he approached you and held your hands in his, he caressed the soft skin and stared down.

"Honestly, I don't even know about myself. I'm totally living a different life. People don't recognize me after dying my hair and not wearing makeup and I don't come out often to serve the customers but unfortunately today I did and...."

"And what about the......drugs?"

"Joong-"

"It's okay Hwa. He is just obeying his rules being a leader." You bit your lip when retreating the hand from the hold, "those boxes in my bag were not drugs. Those were my anxiety pills. I used label-less boxes so that people won't know about my problems but that only led to some bigger problems."

Yunho stepped forward, "you had anxiety?" You nodded.

"What caused you this? I swear y/n tell me what happened to have this happen?" He was furious and you watched his impatient hand brushed his hair back.

"Yunho.....it's you guys. You all did this to me." After voicing out the words, you stared at them blankly.

"Us?" Yeosang asked you but also to himself.

"The ignorance. The blames and accusations adding up to the online comments on my posts were stressing me out and I had a consultation with my family psychiatrist." You sighed at the end of the sentence.

San suddenly asked you, "what about your dreams, y/n? You shared so many things with me with us. You planned a whole future with us. What about that?"

"I really wanted to spend my whole life with you all. To create so many memories together but I think those will just remain as dreams because of the rumors. Even if I want to get back. I won't because it would hamper your future and dream."

"But who spread the rumors on drugs?" Hongjoong sat down and held his head.

"It's-... it's..." you bit your lips and proceeded, "it's nothing. You don't have to worry about it now. I'm out of this whole thing and you are all free from all controversial posts."

You tried to smile but the tears falling from your eyes betrayed you.

"You are not coming back to us?" Yunho held your hand, he held it so dearly as if you were a delicate person. He didn't want to let it go but still somewhere in your eyes he saw the distance between you both.

There was no sign of love from you.

"No."

Jongho came in front of your view, "but please we need you. It's no more the same feelings without you. There's really a missing piece in our life." He gulped the lump of sadness and continued, "and, It's you, y/n."

"No you are a perfect team even without me. Eight makes a perfect team like you." You looked over all of them.

"And nine makes the perfect family." Seonghwa said in a hushed voice.

You shook your head, "then work on your teamwork and make it a family. I hope you will find a better girl for yourselves."

Wooyoung pushed aside Seonghwa and cupped your cheek and Hongjoong just stood behind him, watching you keenly.

"Please, y/n don't do this to me. I got to see you after two years and...and just for you to say leave me again?"

"Woo, people might be watching."

"I don't care."

"But I care. I have to work unlike you who will go back to your country after the tour ends. I have to stay back here and face these customers again and if somehow this scene got to the media then it'll be a new situation to handle. Please, I beg you. I don't want to be in a similar situation again."

You inhaled and continued, "and this time it won't be because of me but because of you. So stop before anything happens again."

" but you can stay with us. We can move out from the dorm and stay somewhere else. Also, you don't have to be with us for the sake of being a group member but as our girlfriend." Hongjoong said the words very precisely but you just laughed at him.

"You have lost the right to call me that way before. Don't say that word again. I hate it. I don't want to stay with any of you."

"But-"

"The food is getting cold. They worked hard in preparing this."

San held your hand when you stepped back, "At Least eat with us. Last time, you didn't even eat properly with us."

"Y/n, I miss you a lot." Yeosang looked at you with a longing feeling but you just ignored it.

I miss you all too...

And I know I shouldn't...

You took deep breaths, "I'm telling this to all of you. And it's my final wish to you so please kindly keep it. Just forget about me. You all have a long way to go to achieve success. Don't get stuck in the past. Pretend I never met you all. I was never a part of your life."

San gripped your wrist tighter.

Hongjoong said in a low voice, "this is impossible for us to do. How can we forget you? How can we forget all the memories of us?"

You stared at the grip and glanced at his face. He had changed a lot in these two years and the maturity in his voice and demeanor was visible.

He stared at you helplessly and waited for your response. You removed the grip and turned around.

"Enjoy the meal!"

How can they just eat now? They all have lost their appetite after this and the way you didn't even turn back to them for the last time left them staring at your direction until you disappeared behind the door beside the desk.

You entered the door and tears slid down your cheek and whispered to yourself, "pretend I was just a missing piece of your dream

[I just realized that I don't know how to write 9th member aus like what did I write here. It could have been better but still I tried so appreciate me🥹]

Taglist: @mymoodwriting @justhere4kpop @anyamaris @yeoobin @icchyi @jwnghyuns @piratequeen-queenofgames @dinonuguaegi @oreharuuu @hwanring @sanwifesstuff @kiwiisnthereoops @kiwiraccoon @hyuukah @kazscara @aceofspadesbiofalltrades @nvdhrzn @meowmeeps @vtyb23 @haechansbbg

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Sure Dead Apple is already insane enough but Dazai and Chuuya worrying about their fits at the end of the movie like Dazai wasn’t held hostage in evil dragon ville and Chuuya didn’t fly across the city is hilarious like. Let’s not forget that Dazai somehow pulled a Miraculous Ladybug to change his fit at the end of the movie cause where tf did he pull his full ass ADA attire out of the rubble of a fucking castle. And Chuuya’s like “Wanna help me find my hat” to Aku like I get how it’s a heartwarming scene but YOU LAUNCHED YOURSELF ACROSS THE CITY POOKIE YOUR HAT IS GONE. They fr didn’t wanna be caught lacking and I respect them for the grind.

[atinyreads]

Love you, forever

❀Boyfriend!Mingi❀

TW: nothing, except angst and then fluff *cries*

Word count: 2,427

A/N: Am I okay? Not really. Did Mingi's IG post send me into a spiral of depression? Kinda yeah. Did writing this help? Abso-fucking-lutely not, I'm even more in shambles, I don't even know what life is anymore guys, I'm hurting, bye. I'm fine, don't y'all worry, at least I'll be fine tomorrow lol Mingi's IG post really destroyed me, I'm a libra, I'm dramatic okay? Your feedback is appreciated! This little piece is for all of my fellow Mingtis' who are hanging on by a thread, love y'all! And please listen to Tunnel to get the feels even more going, trust me! *cries again*

            I couldn’t help but sigh for the nth time as I squeezed my eyes shut tightly, chest tightening the longer I stared at my notebooks. It felt like nothing was going my way anymore, like everything was falling apart. I couldn’t define the tipping point of it all, but everything was starting to become too much. The stress, every new day brought more challenges without an obvious solution. The assignments felt like they were only adding up more and more, overtaking every thought of mine and only inducing more stress. Things started to become overbearing, I started feeling like a failure. There was a constant pressure on my chest, threatening, about to burst just at a simple innocent glance thrown my way by a stranger. I ignored it as best as I could, the thoughts and emotions, but it was getting harder day by day. It didn’t help that after a misunderstanding, my boyfriend wasn’t talking to me…everything just felt too much. Like I was overstimulated without a concrete reason, and not even my friends could help anymore. It felt lonely, it felt cold, and it felt downright depressing. It was fine as long as I wasn’t at home, as long as I wasn’t left on my own with my loud thoughts making me feel even more miserable.

It's been three days since we’ve spoken, Mingi and I, and it was maddening. I knew this didn’t mean the end of our relationship, but I never took it well when he was upset because of me. Especially when he was the one to pull away, to give me the cold shoulder. Especially not right now, when all I wished for was to curl up by his side and inhale his familiar cologne, closing my eyes and relaxing into my boyfriend’s arms. I needed him here, and I knew he needed his space when upset, but I felt like being selfish and just texting him. If the tears in my eyes weren’t proof enough that I was seriously on the verge of breaking, then I don’t know what else was. I sniffed loudly and pushed my notebooks aside, blood boiling just at the simple sight of them. It’s those damned notes which were making me feel like this, and the impeding feeling of failure, of failing another important class and never finishing this wrenched course and university altogether. It was frightening, and I didn’t want to be alone anymore. My friends were always a text away, but my body was craving the warmth of my boyfriend, my soul was yearning for his. I didn’t want to be alone anymore, and I didn’t want to drown and wallow in this horrible feeling anymore. I needed the love of my life next to me.

Quickly wiping my tears clean from my eyes, I adjusted my glasses on the bridge of my nose and unlocked my phone, noticing that I had gotten a notification from Instagram. At the beginning of our relationship, which was quite a few years ago, Mingi and I had set each other’s accounts to send notifications when one of us posted, being madly in love and eager to see what the other was up to. Despite the passing of time, and of our emotions only deepening, we never turned the setting off, and I was surprised to find a notification from his personal page. With another sniff, I clicked on the app and was presented with ten images of my boyfriend, out and about, enjoying his day. His black hair was fluffy and not necessarily styled, but the messy look always fit him extraordinarily. His bare face looked healthy, and it had a nice shine to it under the lightning of the place he was at, and I couldn’t help but sniff again as I scrolled through the pictures, trying to ignore the fact that the blue and greyish sweater he wore was a gift from me for his birthday two years ago. And perhaps the tears wouldn’t have sprung free from my eyes if it weren’t for that video in which he was dancing to the music softly playing in the background, locking and popping in tiny as he grinned and chuckled. Mingi was a dance major with a minor in music, and he was living his best possible life at the moment. He was happy and content with where he was at, and it always brought so much joy to my soul, but seeing him enjoying himself while I was wallowing in self-pity certainly set off an uncontrollable amount of tears and ugly gasps for air. It made me happy that he was doing okay, but seeing him made me miss him terribly, and I couldn’t help but close my phone and lay down on my bed, curling up into a ball as I cried into my pillow.

This crying session was really due time, the emotions bundled up for way too long now, but it still felt horrible that I had to try and push the feeling of loneliness away and comfort myself, while foolishly trying to smell Mingi’s cologne since I was wearing his oversized blouse. The only problem was that I had stolen it from him a long time ago and it didn’t carry his cologne anymore, it had my scent, and that just made me gasp for air as my heart clenched more, making me miss him even more. And perhaps if it weren’t for the sobs increasing in volume and the self-wallowing I was so focused on, I would’ve noticed or heard the jiggle of keys and the opening of the front door. But I was too busy ripping my glasses off my head and throwing them behind me, rubbing the heels of my palms roughly against my eyes and trying to calm my irregular breathing as my throat finally seemed to ease up, my chest somewhat lighter than before. But I knew the crying session wasn’t over, it was just a matter of time until another strong wave of sadness and yearning would hit me, sending me into another fit of ugly sobs. I just couldn’t help it, it felt like the world around me was falling apart and I couldn’t do anything about it, just let it ruin me in the process.

But as I pushed myself back up into a sitting position and rubbed the snot off my face with the sleeve of my blouse, I heard footsteps outside of my door, startling me. Very few people had keys to my apartment. Like my parents, bestest friend and…well, Mingi. We didn’t live together yet, we were planning on moving in together soon, but both of us had keys to each other’s apartments. And I knew it couldn’t have been my parents as they live five hours away and never visit on weekdays, neither could it be my best friend as she was away on a two-week business trip with her work colleagues. And that could only mean…that it was Mingi. And almost as if sensing my confused state, the door to my room opened and Mingi stood in the doorway, dressed and looking the same as in the pictures.

“Hey, I—baby?” His raspy voice was quiet and his eyebrows furrowed when his eyes fell on me. I sniffed loudly, frozen for a second, until another wave of yearning and loneliness hit hard, making me cry again as I stared at my boyfriend helplessly, “Oh my God, what’s wrong?”

He rushed inside, almost tripping over his feet, but made it to the bed safely and before he could really as much as reach out for me, I sprung forward and jumped on his lap, wrapping my limbs around him like a koala. Mingi grunted in surprise due to the sudden attack, but his arms were instantly wrapped around my middle as I held onto him tightly, hiding my face in his warm neck as I tried to control my breathing and stop the tears. He was here now; I wasn’t alone anymore. I had him and I would always have him, no matter what. His body was warm and soft against mine, so familiar as it engulfed mine into his, Mingi’s nose nuzzling against the top of my head as I slipped my fingers through his soft hair, sighing contently at the feeling of being held. In his arms, it was always as if the world disappeared, like it was just the two of us, like nothing and nobody could hurt us. He’s been the one and only man to ever make me feel like that, and it made me think quite often how lucky I was to have found such person. And Mingi’s sweet, yet musky scent finally made my sobs settle into loud sniffs, arms tightening around his neck involuntarily as if I was afraid he’d leave.

“Baby?” Mingi’s voice was small, almost afraid, as I felt a kiss pressed against the top of my head as he shifted, bringing us higher up on the bed as he held me close against himself.

“I missed you,” I croaked out, lips trembling slightly, “so much, Mingi.”

“I’m sorry.” Mingi whispered, letting out a heavy sigh, “I shouldn’t have ignored you for three days, that was shitty of me. Why are you crying? What happened?”

I sighed and shrugged lightly, “I don’t know, I just—”

I chewed on my bottom lip, letting the silence stretch on as Mingi carefully cupped my cheeks and raised my head up, our faces close to each other as we stared in each other’s eyes. Mingi’s sharp eyes were soft and filled with so much worry, that it made me pout as I tried to put my jumbled thoughts into words, “I don’t know. Things got too much; I suppose. The classes and assignments, the fear that I won’t finish my dissertation in time, and you then getting upset…I’ve been feeling under the weather for quite a while now, actually. I guess I just broke today.”

“Why didn’t you tell me?” Mingi’s expression was sour and it made me feel guilty as I looked away from his eyes, following the sharp bridge of his nose, well defined and tall. I shrugged, getting comfortable in his lap as I laced my fingers together around his neck, Mingi’s warm and big hands settling on my hips.

“You worry a lot about me, Mingi, I didn’t want to burden you again with something so insignificant—”

“Your wellbeing is very significant to me, Y/N, and you know that.” His voice had an edge to it as his grip slightly tightened against me, his own lips forming a pout. I stared at him for a few seconds before sniffing again, eyes taking in his tan face, his dark and warm eyes, the mole under his eye and on his jaw, and his plush lips. I had missed him dearly.

“I know.” I mumbled and looked back into his eyes when Mingi pulled our bodies flushed together, leaning ahead to nudge his nose against mine, his breath tickling my face. I couldn’t help the small smile that appeared on my lips, and I averted my eyes shyly as Mingi chuckled.

“I’m not upset anymore.” He said, licking his lips before bopping his nose against mine again, “And you’re too stressed to study more today.”

My lips pulled into a tight line as I hummed, shoulders sagging a little, but Mingi suddenly grinned incredibly wide, his uneven and protruding front teeth showing, a little ‘imperfection’ I adored way too much about him. His eyes suddenly held an exited glint in them and I couldn’t help but feel intrigued, raising my eyebrows in question at him.

“I brought you your favorite cake, as an apology.” He bit his lower lip as his cheeks lightly flushed, “But the weather is really nice today and I think some fresh air will do you good.”

“What are you suggesting?” I asked as I leaned forward, resting my chin on his left shoulder as I hugged him tightly.

“We drive out to our favorite spot by the waterfall and have a little picnic, we can pick up some food on the way, and then drive around aimlessly after the sun sets.” There was a short pause and a low hum coming from deep within Mingi’s chest, “How does that sound?”

New tears gathered in my eyes, but not for the previous reasons I was crying about not even twenty minutes ago. My chest was filled to the brim and my heart was beating fast and loudly in my ears, filling me with warmth and so much love that I felt like I would burst. Mingi always knew what I needed, he was always there for me, he always provided whatever he could best. I chuckled quietly and sniffed loudly again, nodding my head wordlessly before I pulled back and looked him in the eyes, a smile stretching onto my lips.

“I love you.”

Mingi’s giggle was deep and low, rolling his eyes playfully as if he tried to brush off those words, but unable to do so, “And I love you.”

I closed my eyes and leaned forward, closing the small gap between our lips as I pressed a soft, but lingering kiss against Mingi’s soft and warm lips. He tasted like the watermelon chapstick I have given him while we were on vacation, his lips chapped from the salty ocean air. And everything suddenly felt in place, I found serenity within myself as Mingi kissed back eagerly but softly, his lips capturing mine between his as his large palm melted into my lower back. Being in his arms and feeling him against myself brought a sense of security and contentment, of acceptance, and want that only Mingi could provide. His teeth lightly grazed against my lower lip as he nipped at it before just slightly pulling back, pressing his forehead against mine as he nuzzled his nose against the skin of my cheek, making me flush at the endearing gesture.

“I assume that’s a yes, then.” I chuckled and pressed a swift kiss against Mingi’s lips again.

“Yes, love of my life, let’s go.” I knew the nickname always flustered Mingi, making him call me cheesy. But this time he said nothing as he giggled quietly, scrunching his nose and squeezing his eyes shut in a cute manner, making my cheeks hurt from how widely I was smiling at him.

God, I have missed him, the love of my life. Song Mingi.

Masterlist

[atinyreads]

look after you || k.hj (m.)

🩺 pairing ⇢ nurse! (fem) reader x struggling musician! Hongjoong

🩺 synopsis ⇢ after a long night at work with little to no sleep, you nearly doze off on your way home, hitting a tattooed, spikey-haired guy in the middle of the road. Panicking, you run out to help him and go with him to the hospital, only to lie and say he was your husband so you could go back with him. Well, when he woke up, he didn't exactly take it the way you thought he would...

🩺 genre/au ⇢ enemies to lovers (kind of), some angst, smut, fluff, hospital au

🩺 warnings/tags ⇢ 18+ MINORS DNI, injury, car accident, hospital scenes, unprotected sex, undefined relationship, mention of possible suicide attempt, Hongjoong is a scruffy underground musician, trauma with touch, tattoo!joong, grumpy sunshine, cum shot, biting, teasing

🩺 word count ⇢ 10.3k

🩺 taglist ⇢ @atinywhore @jjhmk @yukine-smx @roe-sinning @meowmeowminnie @yeritheloml @y00nzin0 @yesv01 @halesandy @shegotboreddsoo @kangyeosangelic @gayliljoong @sanshineeeeee @kodzukein @baguette-atiny @seokwoosmole @nyeatinyjunkie @juliettechokilo @pockyddalgi @justaqueerbufoin @hwaightme @likexaxdaydream @ssaboala @gtr-skyline-lover @miriamxsworld @daegale @knucklesdeepmingi @naiify @yeoyeoland @arya9111 @mdibby @8tinytings @angelicyeo @wooyoungjpg @lonewolfjinji @asjkdk @charreddonuts @mangishii @yeoyeoland @pink-hwaberry @wooyoluvrr @maru-matt @pearltinyy @loveuwoo @m3chigo @northerngalxy @silverpixiedust23 @interweab @skz1-4-3 (if I missed you please lmk!! bold = can’t tag)

masterlist

A/N ⇢ this story is purely fictional! I am not nurse, and do not have unlimited knowledge on this topic. However, I am a healthcare worker, so I know a little, but not a lot. I am sorry for any information this is incorrect. This is meant for entertainment purposes only. This is not meant to take place in reality.

They never prepare you enough for the things you might see within the hospital walls. 

Nothing is ever enough within those few years of education, the desperate attempt to create life savers. No one tells you how much it hurts to see a child suffer until death, a mother, a daughter.

You just wanted to be something. Do something. Be like the girl you dreamed of being as a child—a child who put bandaids on her mother, all over, decorating her like a painting. Sometimes, your mother would act like she was hurt, just for you to play make-belief, “stitching” up her “wounds.”

And here you were, in the hospital locker room, tears falling silently down your cheeks as you unclipped your hair, letting it fall just like the tears. You sniffed, hiding your face in the locker, although no one was around to see. It was embarrassing enough to yourself—you couldn't believe you were crying. You just…couldn't stop.

The day was rough—just too much. Too much death, too much sadness. This wasn't what you dreamed of. You never thought about how hard it would be to put a smile on your face to a patient, right after witnessing someone leave the world. To act, really. You should've taken up that career instead. You were pretty damn good at doing it—well, until you landed behind the curtain.

You haven't slept in ages. It's been constant insomnia on top of twelve-hour shifts, sometimes even longer, and once you are able to lay down, the only thing you hear is the sound of a patient crashing, the cries of family members. It had you questioning your profession. Your devotion. Your childhood.

As you made your drive home, for some reason, the lines on the road soothed you. Your eyes began to beg for sleep, rolling back ever so slightly as you continued. The gentle patter of rain graced the windshield, the red hue of the stoplight in front of you nearing. 

You stopped at the light—pausing to look at the city around you. The city was bright, even at the dark hour of midnight. People were walking, carrying on,  bar lights bright, apartments lit up in an array of colors. You took in a breath and closed your eyes.

And you closed them a little too long when a car horn sounded behind you.

You jumped, feeling apologetic for holding up the line, and continued forward. People passed you with impatience, but you didn't care. You kept going, crawling, really, till you felt sleep creep up once again, shutting your eyes. You drifted off, only for a short moment, and suddenly you awoke with haste—but not quick enough. In your headlights stood a man, walking across the street, and you didn't have enough time to move. You slowed as best you could, tires screeching, praying to anything, anyone, that this was your imagination.

As your car came to a screeching halt, you hit the man with a thump, causing him to crumble to the ground. You gasped, now wide awake, a scream caught in your throat.

You swallowed hard, hands shaking as you pulled over as best as you could and put your vehicle in park, looking around for any sign of someone. 

No one, absolutely no one, but you and this man you just hit. Just a few blocks back, the city was bustling, bars were hopping, but now, it was like a wasteland. You stepped out of your car, gasping for air, and sprinted through the rain to get to the man.

He was lying still, his head bleeding, his back on the asphalt. His black clothing hid the damage he received from the hit, hiding his body, his black hair covering his face. The only thing you saw was the black ink of a tattoo on his hand as it grasped the road.

“Oh my god,” you breathed, kneeling down to him. You assessed him as best as you could, fighting an anxiety attack. “I am so sorry, oh my god.”

He groaned in response, his arm visibly broken. You hurriedly dialed the emergency line, panting, nearly in tears. You didn't even think about the consequences of this action—you were only worried about the man, the stranger, in front of you. 

After nearly crying once more on the phone, the paramedics explained that they would arrive quickly. You hung up and looked over the stranger once more. “Are you alive?” you asked like a dumb ass, nearly face-palming. You were a nurse, goddammit. Act like one. 

You leaned over him, as gently as possible, putting a finger under his nose, and you felt a soft breath hit it. You checked for an airway obstruction, but nothing. He was breathing fine. In pain, but breathing.

The man tried to move, to roll over sharply, but you quickly bellowed, “Wait, please, you could have a spinal injury,” you pleaded, and surprisingly he stopped. “Don't move.” You caught a glimpse of his face. A large cut near his eyebrow painted his skin crimson, but his eyes were beautiful. His lip was cut, too, and you felt immense pain just looking at him. God, what if he was homeless? He looked it. What if he didn't have insurance? Oh god—

You saw how much blood was coming from his head as he looked up at you. His eyes were hazy, like he wasn't really seeing. You hurriedly looked around for anything to stop his bleeding, and when you found nothing, you took your coat off, then your scrub top, and you quickly put your coat back on. You held your shirt to his head as gently as possible, applying pressure, praying that the paramedics would come soon—

Your anxious thoughts were interrupted by sirens. You let out a sigh of relief.

When the ambulance pulled up, two men came to you with a stretcher. You were barely alert enough to hear them say anything. You mumbled a few things, your hands shaking as they set down the gurney. You mumbled to have them put on a neck brace, chest tightening at how the man cried in pain. You let out an ugly cry with him, but no tears fell. They gently rested him on the stretcher, his head steady, but his arm—

“Are you crazy!” you hissed, standing up quickly. “His arm….he needs his arm stabilized!”

“I’m sorry, mam,” the one man condescendingly said, giving you a dull look. “We know how to do our job. We don't need your input.”

You huffed. Mam? Mam? That was insulting. “I’m a nurse, I also know what I’m talking about.”

They ignored you like everyone seemed to ignore you. They began to move away, but a small object caught their eye that lay right where the man was. You picked it up, finding it to be an empty wallet—you’d give it back later.

They rolled him towards the ambulance, and you followed, forgetting about your car, and everything in it, leaving the scene behind. The paramedics didn't seem to care that you went with them, so you sat in the vehicle, watching them treat the guy you hit. You wanted to throw up as they treated him, as you sat still, like a worthless piece of paper. A crumbled-up piece of paper. Yeah. Crumbled. 

When you arrived at the hospital—a hospital that wasn't yours, you walked beside the homeless man, nearly reaching for his hand. However, your race with him was put to a stop as the emergency room staff stopped you as he headed into the wing.

“I’m sorry, only family members are allowed inside,” the woman softly muttered, her eyes genuine. 

She reminded you of yourself.

What….what if this man was really homeless? What if he had no help, no insurance, no family? You had to do something. You’d feel horrible if you didn't do anything.

“I’m—I’m his wife!” you blurted out, louder than you intended. 

The young lady gave you a heartfelt look and nodded towards the door. “Go ahead. There’s a waiting room inside. What’s your name? I’ll let them know you’re the guardian.”

You told her your name, sparing no second longer than needed, and you ran into the emergency room, sitting down in a hurry.

It was now a waiting game.

—

For what seemed like forever, a doctor came out into the waiting room, looking right at you. 

“Miss y/n?” He asked.

“Yes?”

He cleared his throat. “….You are Kim Hongjoong’s guardian?”

You paused, almost forgetting your whole spiel at the entrance. You remembered the name from his ID in his wallet, and nodded sharply, standing up quickly. “Is he all right?”

“He sustained many injuries, but nothing too major. His arm is broken in three places, and that will limit his mobility quite a lot. We set his arm, but he might possibly need surgery.”

You nodded, relief washing over you. Good, minor injuries. Phew. 

The doctor pondered for a long while as he stared at you. “The paramedics stated that you were the one to hit him with the car.”

You sighed. “Yeah, he came out of nowhere—”

“Why was he walking alone so late at night?”

You looked around the waiting room, seeing only one other soul in the corner seat, sleeping. You wondered about what to say, as your little white lie was becoming a web. 

“I uh….he works late?”

“He was intoxicated at the time of the accident—”

“He works at a bar?” you tried not to sound like you were questioning that statement.

The doctor deadpanned and then sighed. “Listen, I’m sure there's stuff that’s none of my business. So I’m going to choose to ignore this,” he nodded toward the emergency wing. “But you’re welcome to go see him. He’s awake now.”

You wondered for a second whether you should go back there. If he was going to rip your head off for lying, for hitting him with your damn car.

You nodded, telling yourself to grow some damn balls. “Okay, I’ll see him.”

The doctor led you to a room at the very end of the hall, the lights dim. There, in front of you, was the man you hit. He was all bandaged up, a large one spanning around his forehead, covering some of the spikey black hair. His arm was wrapped in a cast and held up for circulation, and his eyes were wide open. Right on you.

“Your wife is here,” the doctor spoke nonchalantly as he entered with you. However, you were stationary at the door. 

“Wife?” he scoffed, coughing a bit. He tried to sit up, but you put on your act, walking up to his bedside. 

“Don't move,” you spoke sweetly, eyes pleading. The attractive man just furrowed a brow, his lips curling down in a grimace.

“We’re gonna keep you here for observation tonight, and see how you are doing in the morning to keep an eye on that arm of yours.” The doctor quickly did what he needed to do and left, leaving you alone with….your husband?

The pretty homeless guy spared no second in the questioning. “Who the fuck are you?”

Your eyes widened, looking down at him. He gazed up at you, his eyelashes fluttering as he blinked. A tattoo peaked out of his hospital gown, where it met the skin of his neck. 

“Listen,” you sat down roughly on the seat next to the bed. He watched you emotionlessly. “I’m sorry—I didn't see you when you walked across the road. I take full responsibility,” you breathed, getting nervous under his gaze. 

You were expecting him to scream at you. Well, at least to freak out in some way. It was more alarming that he sat still, completely still, his mouth set in a line.

You blinked.

“I don't care, it’s fine,” he sighed. He showed no emotion, nothing. Not even a twinkle of anger. It was the look in his eye that told you that maybe, just maybe, he ran in front of your car on purpose.

Your eyes widened at the man in front of you—at hongjoong in front of you. He looked distraught tired, brown eyes never leaving your face as you gazed at him. He raised his eyebrows slightly, tilting his head.

“You can leave now,” he huffed, eyes dropping to your open mouth before darting up back to your eyes. “I’m not sure why you're even here in the first place.”

It was your turn to scoff. You crossed your legs in irritation at his lack of care. “Well, maybe because I hit you with my damn car? Maybe I’m worried, maybe I feel horrible, maybe I wanted to see if you were going to be okay.”

Hongjoong just blankly stared. He didn't show any signs of pain, of anger, of anything, really. 

“You don't have to worry,” he spoke eventually, turning away from your gaze to look forward. You watched the tattoo dance against his neck as he moved. “I’m fine. This is all fine.”

You didn't know what to say, how to feel. Your head was spinning, all the tiredness washed away. It pained you to see him so empty, so barren, even though he was a stranger. “I feel like I need to do something for you.”

He bit the bottom of his busted lip, as if forgetting. He made a face, the only expression he’s shone. “No need.”

“But I need to,” you leaned forward, closer to him. He turned to you, eyes void. “I’ll pay for your hospital bill, maybe treat you for a dinner, I don't know—”

“Don't,” he hissed. His eyes grew dark, the fire in them rising. You nearly shrunk back in response to his sudden change of attitude. “Listen, just forget about this, about me, all of it. I don't need your money, or your time, or—” he paused, his anger faltering as he looked at you. “Just…just carry on with your life. I’ll only affect it if I stay in it.”

You frowned, wondering what he meant by that. It didn't matter, though. Your guilt was all-consuming—and the fact that he most likely ended up in front of the car on purpose really was overbearing.

After a second of just…staring at one another, you sighed. “One meal.”

He didn't make a face. Didn't change his plain, empty expression. You looked at his starless eyes, his pale skin. You had the need to brighten him up, to heal him. That was your job, after all.

He opened his mouth to speak, but a nurse came in before he could say a word. You immediately straightened, putting on a smile, hoping he would keep up the act even though he had no reason to. You didn't want to be kicked out—not right now. 

“How are we feeling, Hongjoong?” the young nurse asked, a smile on her bright face. 

“Fine, I guess.” His response was toneless. The nurse still bubbled around, checking his vitals. You watched as he stiffened as the woman touched him. 

She looked at you, arching a brow. “Oh? Are you the wife?” she let out a hum of appreciation, then turned her gaze to Hongjoong. “You’re lucky with this one. They said she freaked out when they didn't stabilize your arm and when they wouldn't let her inside the emergency wing! She must really love you to nearly fight someone to get back here.”

Hongjoong, for the little time you knew him, showed more emotion on his face than ever after hearing that. After hearing that someone—you, a stranger nonetheless—was distraught at his expense. His lips flattened in a line, his gaze faltering.

You grabbed his good hand, although bruises were painted across his knuckles. Old, yellowing bruises. You furrowed your brows, subconsciously rubbing a thumb softly over the colored skin. Hongjoong stiffened, eyes widening, at either your caring touch or the pain it could have been causing. Or both.

You felt your stomach tighten as you met eyes with him. The air was stuffy, his eyes were….practically begging for a reason for your attention, as if he’d never had it before.

“I’m lucky to have him,” you sighed, acting but feeling an intense pull to him. Just touching him, although you didn't even know him, felt like a second nature. 

Maybe it was the regret, the disparity, of hitting him, of being the reason his life was almost nonexistent. Maybe this feeling was because of the responsibility you felt for doing this to him. It didn't matter if it was true; this tension you were feeling with the stranger was more powerful than what you felt with your ex, the one before that, and the one before.

His face was devout of color besides the bruises that scattered his skin. He looked drained, tired, alone. The nurse just smiled at you two, noticing your bloody scrubs and messy exterior. “You’re a nurse, too?”

You just nodded, lost in the feeling that strummed through your body.

Hongjoong’s hand twitched under your hold, his eyes still wide. Still on you.

“Well, Hongjoong,” the friendly nurse smiled. “Don't let her go, she’s a keeper.”

He tore his gaze from you to look at your hand on his. He swallowed hard, blinking. “Ah, yeah.”

Soon after the nurse left, your hand still rested on his. He sat silently, staring forward at the whiteboard with his name on it.

“I….” you struggled with your words, realizing you were still caressing his hand. “I’m sorry,” you said as you pulled your hand away. His head shot towards you.

After a few moments of silence, he said, “It’s okay.” His tone was soft, defeated. 

You wiped your hands on your thighs, sweating buckets. “I, uh, I should go.”

He watched you stand up, but your back was turned, unable to see the wishful glance he offered you. 

You stopped in the door frame, turning around to meet his eyes once more. 

“It was nice to meet you, Hongjoong,” you smiled, watching the glimmer in his eye trying to sparkle. “I wish you well.”

Before you were able to leave the room, he called for you.

“Wait,” he breathed, voice raspy.

You froze.

He took a breath in, exhaling his words. “What’s your name?” 

You turned around. “Y/n,” you spoke softly, your chest aching at the little half-smile peeking through his bruised lips.

“y/n,” he repeated, blinking slowly. He didn't say anything else. You didn't either. You smiled at him once more before turning on your heel and walking out of the room, despite the tear in your heart telling you to stay.

And on your way out, you paid his hospital bill in full, not a single regret in your mind about it.

—

After a few days, you continued your days like normal.

Well, as normal as they could be. Your mind wandered to the spikey haired guy at every sparing second, thinking of how his eyes pleaded something unreadable, how his hand twitched underneath yours.

You were at the hospital, reaching the end of your workday in the emergency room. After running in with a few scruffy-looking guys, they reminded you of a certain someone, and you just wanted to tear at your hair. You were certain your odd feelings were due to the fact that you hit him with your car, and nothing else. This will pass. 

When the quietness of the night was about to still, a man ran into the emergency room door.

“My friend is hurt,” The man huffed in desperation. You turned to the commotion, seeing a thin, black-haired man holding up another—his friend. But that friend and his familiar spikey hair jolted something inside of you.

You jumped out of your seat behind the nurses’ station and ran to the men, meeting eyes with the taller one. He was just as beautiful as hongjoong was, but his eyes were frantic.

“Sir, what happened?” you questioned, reaching out to the man who was just who you thought. Hongjoong’s head rolled back, his eyes squinted in pain, his teeth barred. You carefully steadied him. “What’s hurting you?”

At your voice, Hongjoong opened his eyes wide, looking straight at you. “Y/n?” he grunted out, his breaths strained. He shut his eyes again, and you almost couldn't take the look he had on his face.

“His arm,” the other guy said to you as you called for help,  struggling to hold Hongjoong up. “He got into a fight at the bar, some guy decided to mess with his broken arm and, well…..”

You felt a sense of rage fill your body. You wanted to ask Hongjoong why the hell he was at the bar only days after getting hit by a damn car, let alone getting into a fight.

A few other nurses gathered around, all helping to walk him over to a bed. The wing was empty at this time of night—only a few people around. Once again, Hongjoong looked extremely uncomfortable as the nurses touched him.

You held him gently as you set him down on the bed, feeling his fingers curl around your arm.

He held on to you with his good arm—the hand you held only days before. The other nurses fluttered around, setting things up, but Hongjoong just stared up at you.

“Hi,” is all he said, his fingertips etching into your skin.

Your chest tightened, forcing yourself to smile. “We must be fated or something,” you joked, hoping to brighten him up. “That or you just frequent hospitals often.”

He blinked up at you, his eyebrows knitted in pain. “Maybe I just wanted to see you again.” He coughed as he joked.

Your heart skipped a beat, the other nurses and the man that came with him side-eyeing you.

“If you wanted to see me again, there are better ways than this,” you huffed, looking around. “We have to get an X-ray, alright? We’ll give you something to ease your pain meanwhile.”

The air between you two was undeniable. He nodded, emotion sparkling in his eyes, unlike the days before. You wondered if you were the reason for it.

It was probably just the pain.

The other nurses wheeled him to the radiology room, leaving you alone with the man who brought him there.

“You’re the girl that hit him, aren't you?” His voice was soft, gentle. It held no anger.

You turned to him, seeing the caring exterior he showed. “I….yes.”

He tilted his head at you, blinking, as if figuring you out in a single glance. “He’s been looking all over for you. You…paid his bill. He doesn't like handouts.”

Your eyes widened. “Oh? I didn't think he ever wanted to see me again. You know, I hit him with my car—that isn't something to take lightly—”

“You paid his bill,” the man repeated, crossing his arms. “He feels indebted to you. Please just make sure he knows not to feel that way.” The man sighed, looking into your eyes. “Despite how he looks, he ruminates over things. He’s sensitive. He’s a mess right now.”

You sighed, too. “I…I paid his bill because I did this to him—”

“No,” he interrupted, eyes serious. “You didn't.”

You knitted your brows. “....What do you mean?”

The man gave you a deadpan stare, as if not wanting to spell it out. He let out a breath he seemed to be holding. “He….he jumped in front of your car on purpose, y/n,” he bit his bottom lip. “So no, you really didn't do it to him. He’s…he’s just been a mess lately—and now that you acted sweet, played a wife, held his hand or whatever, he’s even more of a mess.”

Before you could ask what he meant by that, Hongjoong was back, alert and upright, but the pain still rested on his face. His gaze met yours, and you felt your stomach swirl in a mess of emotions.

You couldn't look him in the eye as you took care of him.

—

Hongjoong was sleeping as your shift was about to end. Before you clocked out, you couldn't help but go to him, check his injury out, check his vitals. His friend—Seonghwa, you learned his name—left about an hour ago.

As if noticing your presence, his eyes slowly peeked open, slightly drugged and delirious from the pain medications.

“I didn't expect to see you here,” he mumbled out, blinking lazily.

“I didn't expect you, either,” you spoke, keeping your emotions in check.

Silence enveloped you as you checked his pulse ox. 

“Why’d you do that?”

He turned his head to look at you. “Do what?”

You unclipped the pulse oximeter from his finger. “Why’d you get into that fight? You were really injured.” You wanted to ask the deeper question, the question as to why he stepped in front of your car, but you didn't want to overstep.

He shrugged, wincing. He didn't have an answer. He didn't owe you one, really. 

“Just,” you breathed, moving over to the computer to open his chart. “Just don't do anything like this while you’re healing. You need surgery. You need rest.”

He bit his lip, probably stopping himself from saying something he shouldn't. 

“Also,” you sighed, looking over at him. “Your friend told me you were looking for me?”

“Yeah, well,” he scoffed. “I really didn't mean to meet you here.”

You let out a chuckle. “Well, here we are.”

He nearly smiled at you, lips curling beautifully. He had a bit of dried blood on his lip, and knowing that you were supposed to be leaving, you still reached for a washcloth. You didn't need to do this—in fact, you were acting against every thought in your head as you leaned forward and brushed the cloth against his lip, watching them part.

His breath hitched as you neared, as you touched him, and once again, his hand twitched, begging to touch you.

Your hand lingered on his cheek for a moment too long, meeting his eyes. He stared at you, expression unreadable, lips parted.

“Thanks,” he muttered.

You took a second to study his face before you moved away from him. His eyes followed you as you put space between you and him, dark and beautiful. 

You logged out of the portal on the computer. “We’ll move you to your own room before we prep you for surgery,” you said gently, heart aching as you met his gaze once more. “The doctor will tell you more.”

“Will you….be there for the surgery?” he showed no specific feelings as he asked the question.

“I am only part of the emergency department right now,” you shrugged. “I don't think so.”

He pondered for a second before nodding, settling himself back into the comfort of his hospital bed. “Okay,” he spoke softly.

You offered him a solemn look, causing him to stiffen.

“What?” he asked.

“What?” you repeated, confused.

He blinked. “Why are you looking at me like that?”

“Like what?” you frowned.

“Like you feel sorry for me.” He looked pained, a deeper type of pain.

You thought about a response to that—you didn't necessarily feel sorry for him, you didn't pity him either. In fact, you just felt an immense feeling of wanting to see him happy, to see him without pain.

Which confused you incredibly, given that he was just a stranger.

“I don't feel sorry for you,” you clarified. “I just don't want you to be in pain.”

“You don't even know me,” he huffed, his expression contorting, and you figured that he didn't even know how he was feeling—what he was feeling. “Why would you even care if I’m hurting?”

You smiled at him. “Because you don't deserve the pain.”

He just stared at you, hazily, emotionally. There was a light in his eyes—a light that wasn't there the other day. “You don't know me well enough to know that.”

The air grew cold; you had nothing left to say. You wished he realized that he didn't have to suffer like this.

“Goodnight, Hongjoong,” you hummed, walking away, feeling his stare burn into your back.

—

The next day, you found yourself drawn to the bed Hongjoong was in yesterday. It was empty, with him now in a room of his own in another part of the hospital.

You typed away at your computer as your colleague, Yeosang, came up to you. 

“Hey,” he leaned over the counter of the nurses’ station. “There's a guy asking for you.”

Yeosang, although very young, was a surgical resident in orthopedics. He was super smart, super sexy, super everything. You went to school together, spending lots of time in the library and everywhere else together. 

“Who?” you mumbled without looking up.

“He’s a patient I’m prepping for an open reduction surgery, but he’s having a hard time letting anyone touch him. Says he only needs you or something.”

You looked up, hands freezing on your keyboard. Hongjoong. “He won't let anyone touch him?”

Yeosang sighed, propping his head up on his palm as he leaned on the counter. “We had to give him more pain medication, and it made him a bit….difficult. I suspect he has some sort of trauma.”

You frowned. “And why is he asking for me?”

Yeosang gave you a knowing look. “I don't know. He kept saying your name, saying he needed you.”

You tried to avoid the rush of blood to your cheeks. “I don't even know him.”

“Yeah, about that….” Yeosang looked a bit confused, a smile peeking through his lips. “He keeps calling you his wife.”

Oh, dear god. “How drugged is he?” you huffed, looking defeated. 

Yeosang laughed. “I kept telling him that you weren't his wife, and he got super mad at me. He said only his wife can touch him. I really need him to stop this so I can get him into pre-op,” The surgeon sighed, giving you a pleading glance. “I’ll ask the attending if you can scrub in—”

“I’m an ER nurse,” you raised a brow. “I have other duties, Yeosang.”

“Y/n, please,” Yeosang pleaded, “ignore the rules or whatever. Can you just come and help me so we can get him into surgery?”

Your mind wandered to the fact that Hongjoong was having a hard time. Sure, he was delirious off of his meds and pain, but knowing that he was struggling with touch, a part of you crumbled.

So you followed Yeosang—after getting approved by the charge nurse, and went up to the third floor.

As you neared the room, you let Yeosang enter first. 

“Mr. Kim, I have Nurse y/n here for you.”

There Hongjoong was, his eyes frantic, his breathing rushed. He was anxious, a mess. The nurses tried to ease him, and relax him, but he wasn't having it. That is, until he saw you in the doorway.

“y/n,” he breathed, as if he knew you forever. Everyone in the room let out a sigh of relief.

“Hi, Hongjoong,” you spoke softly, walking slowly near him. You sat in the chair next to his bed, scooting closer as the room emptied, Yeosang being the only other presence. “I heard you were asking for me.”

He blinked, his eyes lined with worry, with anxiety. For someone who looks so tough, he looks like a completely different person.

He didn't speak; he just looked at you, his eyebrows furrowed, his expression all over the place. You took a glance at Yeosang, who was observing you before you reached for Hongjoong's hand just like before. 

The bruises were faded now, only old scars left on his skin. A tattoo trailed the skin of his arm. You went to rub his knuckles,  but Hongjoong gripped your hand tightly.

You met his frantic gaze. No words were spoken. He just pleaded with his touch, his eyes. You knew he was scared. 

“It's okay,” you hummed, fighting the urge to tuck his hair behind his ear. “It's a simple surgery. You will be just fine.”

He mumbled something, but you weren't able to catch it. Yeosang stood in the doorway with his arms crossed, the other nurses peering over his shoulder from the hall. Hongjoong’s gaze moved to the door, seeing everyone watching him.

And you realized that, more than being anxious, he was embarrassed, too.

You looked to Yeosang, giving him a desperate look, a silent cry for him to leave and to get those damn nosy bitches out, too. He complied, and they were alone once more.

“It’s alright,” you hummed, and this time, you did reach out to his face, gliding a gentle hand across his cheek. Without thinking, he leaned into your touch, craving it, longing for it, as if you were really his wife. “They’re gone now.”

His eyes were droopy, his lips downturned. He looked tough, someone with a rough exterior, but now, he was crumbling. He was alone. Alone to the point that he called for you, basically a stranger to him. 

The moment could have lasted forever. His eyes bled into yours, yours into his, your hand on his cheek drawing circles into his skin. He took in a breath, and nodded.

“Will you let them take care of you?” you asked him gently.

He hesitated. You also did, as you realized that he leaned into your touch rather than avoiding it. That he felt comfortable with you—the one who hurt him. In his eyes, though, he didn't see it that way.

Your hand stilled on his cheek, his worried eyes lighting up a little. You didn't even realize that his good hand—the hand that you were holding just a minute before, was now resting on top of your hand that was on his cheek. He gripped it, his medical haze confusing him, confusing you.

You froze, your eyes wide. You allowed his fingers to interlock yours, having him hold your hand to his face as he shut his eyes. He was vulnerable. Human. Although he looked tough, looked troubled, he was just a person under all that trouble. Just a normal guy with normal feelings, normal fears.

And you were indebted to each other. You for hitting him, him for his gratefulness of your care.

“I’ll be there with you,” you murmured, knowing that Yeosang was still outside the room, close enough to hear, close enough to see. “I’ll be in the room while they’re operating.” 

He nodded, his grip loosening slightly, but he still didn't release your hand.

“I’ll look after you,” you offered, and his eyes met yours once more. 

He slowly let go of your hand, allowing you to move back. You looked at Yeosang through the window, giving him a curt nod for him to come back in. 

Hongjoong let the other nurses touch him, but not without a grimace on his face. Yeosang’s words swirled around your mind; I suspect he has some sort of trauma.

Trauma. Trauma that didn't quite reach you—your touch. He allowed it, actually, he wanted it. You wondered what made him okay with yours. Why he needed you when you were the one to do this to him.

Eventually, Hongjoong entered the operating room, knocked out by anesthesia, but not without you holding his hand, making him childlike, making him….a normal human being.

—

After the surgery, Hongjoong sat in his bed even more dazed than before. Before the daze wore off, he kept calling you his wife, causing confusion to stir around the hospital. 

As you left Hongjoong’s room to go back to the ER, Yeosang followed. “What’s this about?”

“I don't know what you mean.” 

You walked faster.

“I mean, why does that guy keep calling you his wife?” Yeosang’s shoulder bumped into yours accidentally as you turned a corner. “And why are you the only one who can touch him? Why did you—”

You stopped suddenly. “Why did I what?”

Yeosang let out a breath. “Why did you….touch him like that? As far as I know, you….you aren't married.”

“I’m not married, you’re right,” you nodded, confused by why you touched him like that, too. Confused as to why he looked so relaxed with your touch rather than freaking out. “And…let’s just say we have met each other before. I did that to calm him down.”

You continued walking towards the elevator, Yeosang following still. “Okay, but you still didn't answer my question about why he keeps calling you his wife.” you pressed the down button and waited.

“Is that really any of your business?”

“Just a little—”

“Why?” you interrupted, turning towards him, arms crossed. “Why does it matter to you?”

You didn't mean to sound rude, you and Yeosang were good friends for a while. You've never dated, but you’ve flirted with each other occasionally. You never thought much of it other than being a little playful.

But the look on Yeosang’s face caused you to pause your racing thoughts. “Because I thought we…we had something going on?”

You blinked. “Do we?”

“I mean,” Yeo scoffed. “With the way you were looking at him, I don't think I have a chance.”

The elevator dinged, doors opening. You paused for a second before entering, Yeosang following.

It was quiet before the doors closed.

“I didn't think I looked at him any differently than anyone else,” you admitted honestly, causing Yeosang to look over at you. 

He gave you a smile, although it didn't quite reach his eyes. “You feel something for him, huh?”

You frowned, leaning back against the wall. “I barely know him. I only…” you sighed. “I only met him twice.”

“But yet, you are the only one he allows to touch him,” Yeosang breathed as the elevator dinged on the first floor. 

“That’s something to think about.”

—

Hongjoong was back to his normal self when you went to check on him in the evening; the anesthesia and meds had worn off. His arm was bandaged up and held in a sling, his eyes empty once more. 

You hesitated on entering, but his stare moved to you.

For a second, you saw regret, and embarrassment, cross his face before melting back into a void stare.

You entered, but he didn't look at you. He avoided your gaze, too. Very unlike his earlier, medical high self. 

You took his blood pressure, fingertips gently wrapping around his tattooed bicep as you put the cuff on. He didn't say anything, didn't even spare a passing glance. He just kept looking forward.

“119 over 79,” you mumbled out, letting loose of the cuff.

He nodded, coughing a bit. He didn't say anything, though.

“Dr. Kang told me that you’re cleared to be discharged,” you tried to start a conversation, but things just felt too awkward. You wrote down his vitals in his chart. “That’s good. Can I call anyone to pick you up? Maybe the guy that was here—”

“No,” he said quietly, looking down at his arm. “There is no one to call.”

“You need someone to help you. You just had surgery—”

“I have no one, y/n,” he hissed, finally looking at you. “Not like that’s any of your business, anyway.”

You didn't know what to say, so you just stared at him with confusion. He was putting his walls up.

“I just….don't want you to suffer alone,” you admitted.

“Why?” he let out a laugh, but it wasn't humorous. “I don't need your worry.”

“Okay,” you breathed, defeated. There was no point; he was just a stranger, just a man. Although, this feeling you had about him was overwhelming. And when you touched him, you wanted to hold him longer. Wanted him to feel better.

You left the room without a glance toward him and carried on the rest of your day as best you could.

—

Hongjoong was sitting on the bench outside the hospital entrance, head low, as if sleeping.

You knew you should keep walking. You shouldn't give him any attention, any time of day. But your chest ached as you got closer and closer, and as you reached him, you couldn't bear to walk past him.

“Why are you still here?” you asked him, keeping a good amount of distance away from him.

At your voice, he looked up quickly, as if waiting for you despite his nastiness earlier.

He took a second to respond. “I, uh, I’m just sitting here.”

You looked him over. His black hair was no longer styled spikey, it laid flat across his forehead softly. His tattoos were on full display in the black t-shirt he wore. 

“You don't have anywhere to go,” you meant to ask it like a question, but it came out more like a declaration. He furrowed his brows at your words but didn't deny it.

“I’m fine, I’ll figure it out,” he sniffed, the cold air dancing around him. He didn't even have a coat.

Without thinking, you spoke quickly. “Come with me.”

He tilted his head. “Why?”

“Because,” you huffed, taking a step closer to him. “I owe you.”

“For what?” he spat out, probably not intending to sound rude. 

You gave him an honest look, and his eyes softened. “Did you just forget that I hit you with my car? That I broke your arm?”

He just sat there, blinking slowly. “You don't owe me anything, y/n.”

You reached your hand out. His own hand twitched. “Come with me.”

After a long moment of just staring at your outstretched hand, he let his hand find yours, standing up at his full height. You got a good look at his face, his eyes, his lips. He was breathtakingly beautiful. So beautiful. 

You held his hand as you walked to your car, feeling a flutter of emotion in the pit of your stomach.

When you got to the car, you helped him into the passenger seat, despite his aggravated digs at you. You leaned over him, buckling his seatbelt, feeling his hot breath against your cheek.

You paused, frozen, inches away from his lips.

He swallowed hard, eyes glancing down at your lips. He didn't make a move. You didn't, either. 

You pulled away, forcing yourself to get out of his personal space to shut the door. You saw him tilt back his head and take a deep breath before you got to the driver's seat.

As you drove, you asked random questions like a goddamn idiot.

“So, uh,” you swallowed, looking over at him for a second. “What do you do for a living?”

What kind of damn question is that?

“I’m a musician,” he mumbled, looking out the window. “Kind of.”

“Ah,” you nodded, thinking of what to say next. Now you were thinking way too much into things. “What do you play?”

He looked down at his arm, sighing. “Well, I played the guitar, piano, some other things. I don't think I’ll be picking anything up for a while.”

“You will, eventually,” you tried to encourage him, but he just kept his gaze even out the window. You arrived at your apartment, pulled into the parking lot, and shut off the car. “We’re here.”

He nodded, watching you get out of the car. You opened his door, and with slight hesitation, you leaned over him again to unbuckle his seatbelt, but before you could, he stopped you with his good arm. 

You paused, inches from his face, meeting his eyes.

“Thanks,” he muttered quietly. “I’m sorry for how I acted earlier.”

“You don't have to be sorry,” you whispered, feeling an immense pull to him, to his lips.

You ignored the urge and unbuckled the belt, but you didn't back away. Not like you could, anyway, with Hongjoong’s grip on your arm tightening.

The belt slowly slipped off of him.

He chewed on his bottom lip, his eyes dancing with emotion. “I was just… embarrassed. And drugged, and uh, well,” he paused, thinking. “Mostly embarrassed. I can't believe I freaked out over a little surgery. That’s so lame—”

“No, it's not,” you hummed softly, delicately. “It's a normal fear.”

He smiled. Actually smiled. From the little time you knew him, you haven't seen a genuine smile on his face. Or any sort of light, really.

“Thanks, uh,” he sniffed. “Thanks again. For looking after me.” his eyes fell to your lips. “You don't even know me, and you still…” he trailed off.

You realized that you were inhaling the air he was exhaling, that you were eye to eye, almost nose to nose. His breaths were shaky, labored, and tired. 

“I would want someone to look after me in the same way,” You whispered. “That’s all.”

“That’s all?” he tilted his head upward, leaning against the headrest, warm, brown eyes on full display. 

“Mhm,” you swallowed. 

His eyes glimmered. He didn't have anything to say, and you didn't either. Realizing that you were shrinking the space ever so slowly, you took the opportunity to back away from the musician. He let go of your arm, but not without a little tug on it beforehand.

You cleared your throat as he got out of the car. You shut the door for him, and you walked together—slowly, till you reached your apartment door.

When you entered, hongjoong strayed back behind the door, not entering. You turned to face him, eyebrow raised. 

“Come in,” you beckoned, and with one more second of hesitation, he followed you in, shutting the door behind him.

He surveyed the place, his eyes finding the piano that sat in the corner of the room. His eyes danced as if surprised to see it there.

The air was thick. The room was quiet. You tossed off your shoes with ease, noticing his struggle with his own, so you bent down the help him. He didn't pull away, didn't speak. He just let you take care of it—of him.

“I don't mean to be a bother,” he mumbled as you untied his shoe. “But I’d really like to shower.”

You glanced up at him. “Oh,” you nodded, taking off his shoe before standing up. “Sure. it’s the first door down the hall.”

He didn't make any move. He stood, a confused, shy look resting on his face.

And then you realized.

He had no clothes to change into. Nothing. He also only had one working arm, and one covered in material that couldn't get wet.

“I can help you,” you trailed off, trying not to read too much into his stare. 

“If you comfortable with that.”

—

In the bathroom, Hongjoong stood anxiously as you waited for the water to warm up. It took a second, and most of the time, the hot water only lasted so long.

You figured a shower would be too difficult to help him with without seeing too much. You opted for a warm bath, filling the water up once it got hot enough. You made sure to add some suds to it, so he wasn't too uncomfortable.

When you turned around to face him,  his eyes were cloudy, his lips in a line.

“Do you….not like baths?” you mumbled, scratching your head. “I probably should've asked you before I—”

“It’s not that.” His eyes met yours, switching his weight onto his other leg. 

You didn't pry, knowing he was just probably embarrassed that he needed help for something as trivial as a bath. 

Walking toward him, he backed up into the door. You nearly smirked but maintained your cool as you grabbed the plastic bag off the sink counter. “I just have to wrap your cast in this. It'll just be a second. You might want to take your shirt off before I….”

He blinked, eyes wide. “Huh?”

“I don't think you normally bathe in clothes,” you murmured slyly, tilting your head. “Unless you like that.”

He didn't move. His body was as stiff as a board, his throat bobbing as he swallowed.

“Just take your shirt off, dammit, or I’ll do it for you.”

You saw his expression change the minute the words left your mouth.

His good hand found the hem of his t-shirt, hesitating to take it off. You realized that he probably did need your help with taking it off, but with the look in his eye, you weren't sure what would happen if you got any closer to him.

But you moved closer, anyway, setting the plastic bag back onto the counter. His back was nearly up against the wooden door, his breath hitching as your fingertips gently pulled at the fabric.

“Why are you….so okay with this?” he breathed before you could pull the shirt up.

You met his gaze, his eyes unreadable. Almost as if he didn't know what he was feeling, either. 

“I told you already,” you shrugged, smiling.

He blinked, his eyes red with emotion, begging to send a flood down his cheeks. “I don't deserve your help.”

“You do, though.” Ever so slowly, you began to pull his shirt, soft, carved abs appearing as you moved it up. “Because you know, you don't have to suffer alone.”

“Who said I was suffering?” he croaked out, his eyes, his tone, spilling his guts out on the floor for her to see. 

You didn't say anything. You just slowly tugged the black t-shirt over his casted arm, watching him wince slightly. Then, he stood, half-naked, emotionally charged in front of you. He was no longer a stranger. No longer someone that you classified as a patient, either.

His eyes spoke volumes, his good hand twitching at his side. You looked at it, and took it in your own.

“Come on,” you nodded behind you. “I’ll help.”

He looked like he was ready to cry. Ready to break down. He didn't, though, and you walked him over to the bath. You unbuttoned his jeans, but turned around as he stepped out of them and into the tub. 

The soap covered his lower body, all that was on display was his torso, his slim shoulders, the tattoos inked on his tanned skin.  He didn't break away from your gaze as you began to wash him.

“I feel….something I shouldn't be feeling,” he swallowed, his voice raspy, tender, defeated. 

“And what’s that?” you wondered before running your hands through his silky hair, coating the strands in your lavender shampoo.

He shut his eyes, sighing. “I don't know what it is, but what I do know is, for some reason, your touch is very calming when everyone else’s hurts me.”

You paused, hands still tangled in his locks, but he opened his eyes.

A confession of feelings—worth more than any other cliche words. He stared up at you, heart on his sleeve, confusion and fear and everything in between dancing around his eyes.

“For the first time,” he whispered, the only sounds in the room being your shaky breathing and the quiet trickle of water from the spigot. “I feel…comfortable being touched. I….need it.”

His lips parted, his hair dripping wet, your hands still frozen within the strands. You didn't know how to respond, didn't know exactly how you felt, either. But you also knew one thing, and it became ever so apparent as his hand slowly reached your cheek, wet fingertips leaving a trail of soap across your skin.

You blinked slowly.

Softly, gently, you moved forward, over the tub, and brushed your lips against his. His eyes remained open from shock, but his lips moved slowly along with yours.

You pulled away, but didn't go too far, resting your forehead against his. His breaths tickled your skin, sending a blush to your cheeks. 

Emotions are complex. You didn't know exactly why you kissed him. Why you needed to. Why you wanted to do it again. But what you did know was that you liked how his touch felt, liked the little smile that appeared as you kissed him, liked how he gently pulled you back into another kiss.

You took in his breath as you kissed once more, this time a bit more urgent. Your hands gripped his soapy hair, his hand rested softly on your cheek, his thumb on the corner of your lips, his fingers tickling the lobe of your ear. 

He kissed you like he knew you forever. Like he knew just how you liked it. You found your hand trailing down his tattooed neck, fingers dancing on the ink, his dewy skin, his tongue in your mouth.

You parted once more, so close, breaths tangling, fingers scrunching. His breath was hot against your face, his dark eyes pleading.

You’d so get on top of him in that damn tub. You wanted to, so bad. But you remembered that his arm was hurt, that you were the one that did it, and you nearly stood up to move away before he gripped you by the arm.

“Don't go,” he breathed hazily.

So you didn't. You washed him, this time, knowing that you were begging to end this bath and fuck him silly till the sunrise. Till the warm, glow of the burning star fluttered through your blinds. And with that damn look on his face, you knew he was thinking about it, too.

You helped him out of the bath, not turning around this time. He stood slowly, body on full display, even more tattoos, even more scars covering the skin you didn't get to see. 

You sheepishly handed him a towel. He took it, but didn't use it to cover himself up.

“You’re not dating that damn doctor, are you?” he spoke, his tone serious, deep. Sensuous. 

You breathed out, “No.” 

He grinned, cheshire-like. “Good.”

You could tell he wanted to rip your clothes off. He wanted to claw at your skin like some goddamn animal, his expression pained in all of the right ways. 

You needed air. God, this bathroom was stuffy.

Turning on your heel, you forced yourself to walk out of the damn room, because if you didn't, Hongjoong would become something far more stranger than, well, a stranger to you.

But he had other plans. More impulsive plans.

He followed you out of the bathroom and into your main living space. He gripped your hand, his fingertips gently pressing into your skin. When you turned to face him, he was dripping wet onto the lightwash wood floor, beads of water collecting on the ends of his hair. His eyes were wide, begging you for something, anything.

So you gave up on your act.

“Do you want to fuck me right now?” you wheezed, smiling as his eyes widened even more. “Is that what you want?”

You stepped closer to him at his silence, and arched your body against his bare torso, feeling the hardness of him press your thigh, his lips begging to meet yours once more.

You teased him, lifting your mouth to his, letting out a sigh. He shivered as your hands felt up his bare skin, and your hot breath tickled his face. 

He nearly growled, his good arm wrapping around your waist swiftly, tugging your body towards him completely, holding you here as his mouth crashed to yours. His broken arm begged to touch you, too, and without thinking, he moved it quickly. He hissed in pain, his arm definitely hurting him, but he didn't care as much as you did. You tried to part from his lips, to ask him if he was okay, but he bit hard down on your lip to keep you from speaking. 

You moaned while he stuck his tongue down your throat, his hand now tearing at your top, your waistband. You hurriedly tore off your clothes for him, giving him no second to stare at your body before tossing yourself onto him again. He grunted, moaning into your mouth, the vibrations tickling every part of you. He pushed you back, nearly tripping over the throw rug, the coffee table, until your back slammed into the keyboard of your piano.

The keys slammed as your ass hit them roughly, the musician making music without even intending to. His hips bucked into yours, your core right where he needed it, his dick pulsing, aching to be inside you. You lifted your hips, grinding them against his cock, gaining pleasure in his expression.

He nearly whined as you bit his ear lobe, his hips shifting into you, begging for you.

“Can I get inside you?” he moaned, eyes frantic. “I need you, fuck, I need it bad.”

In more ways than one, he needed you, but now, he needed your body. Needed your touch, your moans. You obliged, your body already wet enough for him to enter. You lined up, and without a second to waste, he slowly moved into you, causing you to toss your head back at the feeling. His eyes rolled back; a whine left his pretty pink lips, his chest heaved in pleasure.

His head dipped to suck your nipple, tongue gliding over the sensitive skin of your breast. You huffed, trying so hard to breathe. He let out moans that did something dangerous to your body, to your mind. You moaned along with him as his hips snapped.

“Oh, god,” he whimpered, his tone light, airy. Water dripped onto the soft skin of his chest from his hair. “You feel so good.”

You smiled, tearing your hands up his back as the piano cried along with you. The keys clicked, moaning from the weight above them. The music filled the room, tangled within your breaths, your sweat. You gripped the back of his head, lacing your fingers through his wet, dripping hair, feeling yourself get wetter and wetter by the minute.

Your walls caved into him, his cock pulsing inside you. He looked into your eyes for a long moment as he moved, his black hair stuck to his forehead, his mouth open in gratification. He kissed you, tongue dragging across your bottom lip, tugging on it. He liked to bite.

You felt euphoria reach you before you knew it, and you cried out, gripping his hair, pulling it as he fucked you. His face pained, his teeth barred, his eyes shut tight. Just his expression—his appearance—could've made you come on the spot.

You felt tingles in your fingers, and your toes, and saw stars in your vision. Black spots fluttered, your heart rate probably much higher than it should be. You didn't care if you died right here, right now. It didn't matter. Nope. This was bliss. So much better than that damn vibrator.

You felt like you were on fire—no, more like a falling, burning star crashing to earth. Your stomach ached at his pressure, your hips aching, your head pounding. You came onto him with haste as your vision blurred, tearing into his shoulder blades, leaving little marks on his skin. At your actions, you witnessed the look of utter satisfaction on the pretty boy��s face, his breaths quickening, shallowing. He let out a whine, just as musical as the keys underneath you.

Before he could come, he pulled out, cumming all over your breasts, your stomach. You sighed, closing your eyes, trying to catch your breath.

He stared at you, eyes low, lips swollen and red. So fuckable, so delicious. 

He looked at how he painted you, smirking a bit to himself. He was so full of life, full of emotion. “Let me go grab that towel,” he breathed, his voice crackling a bit. You watched in enjoyment when he walked away from you, watching his ass, his legs, the tattoos move with him.

He returned with the towel, wiping you gently as if he hadn't just made you nearly black out. You gazed at him, not sure what you were feeling, how you were feeling. You could do it all night with him, with this guy who was a stranger only a couple of days before. It wasn't too often that you acted on your desires, but there was no possible way you were supposed to avoid this, avoid him.

When he was done, when you were clean, he set the towel down on the floor, but his eyes didn't leave you. 

“What?” you hummed.

“Just,” he breathed, smiling. “That was really good.”

“I hope so,” you chuckled the feeling of the room lightening, almost in a playful way. “I hope this wasn't your goal all along—you really freaked me out when I hit you.”

He looked down as you jumped off the piano. “Uh, yeah. I bet I did.”

You moved to him, gently reaching to hold his cheeks for him to look at you. “I got you now, huh? No more running in front of cars, unless it's mine. I’ll be prepared next time.”

His eyes widened as if he was shocked by your words. That you knew he did it on purpose. He didn't deny it. He just leaned into your touch, eyes closing tight in comfort.

“Like I said,” you started, giving his lips a little peck. “I’ll look after you, if you’ll allow it.”

He took in a deep breath, opening his eyes, meeting your sincere gaze. His lips curved up. “I’ll look after you, too.”

You smiled along with him. You wrapped your arms around his waist tightly, embracing him, feeling even more intimate than sex. He let out a shaky breath, as if finally realizing he wasn't alone, didn't have to be. That he deserved a caring touch, a longing touch, a needy touch. That he could actually have something to himself.

You didn't know what you were to each other, and it really didn't matter. There was no need to label it so specifically. You could be his rock, his personal nurse, the person to stitch him up when he gets hurt. The one he could confide in, have sex with, whatever he needed. Whatever you needed. 

So when he kissed the top of your head while you hugged him, you tightened your arms just a little, holding onto him as long as he’ll let you.

You’ll look after each other.

[atinyreads]

forbidden love [trope — san]

inspired by: love 365 — video game

pair: ceo!san/afab!reader

word count: 3.4k

content: smut, angst, forbidden love, age gap, allusions to office sex, hotel sex, pretty vanilla which considering san it shouldn't be, completely consensual!

author's note: also inspired by the other san req. i got for the 500 event bc ceo!san is just something i cannot resist writing

trope masterlist

“Honey, you remember Mr. Choi, right?” your father asked you.

“Uh, the CEO, right?”

“Yeah. Don’t you remember playing with his little girls in the neighborhood growing up?”

“Oh! Mr. Choi San! Right.”

“Who did you think I was talking about?”

“The other one you introduced me to— the one with the incredible voice who chose pharmaceuticals over singing.”

Your father laughed heartily. You watched him with a bemused smile as he cracked up for much longer than he should’ve been laughing in the first place. Finally, he calmed down and continued, “No, not Jongho. San, yes. So, anyway, he and I were talking about your inability to get a job—”

“Great, now you’re just broadcasting it to the entire goddamn neighborhood. Dad, I said I’m trying to get in my friend’s company—”

“You’ve been saying that for months. San said he could get you a job right now, and you’re going to take it, got it?” your father interrupted.

“Come on! I want to work in the entertainment industry, not for—”

“Not another word. Look, I invited San to meet us here, and he’s going to offer you the job in front of me, and you’re going to take it, got it?”

You pouted and crossed your arms over your chest. Arguing with the man was next to impossible at this point, so you had no choice but to just listen. You sat and stewed in angry silence until the man of the hour showed up. He seemed to glide into the coffee shop while oozing charisma and intensity, making your heart nearly leap out of your chest. It had been a while since you had seen San, and the last time you could properly recollect him was at your high school graduation.

You always thought the man was attractive, but seeing him wearing a three piece suit and glasses with his hair slicked back instead of his usual attire of jeans and a t-shirt (not that he looked bad in that either) was definitely a sight to behold. You couldn’t help but hold your breath as he walked right up to you and your father, the man immediately greeting his friend first.

“Seonghwa, it’s been so long,” San said as the two went for a brief hug.

“I saw you last week at the pickle ball game, shut up,” Seonghwa rolled his eyes. “You remember my daughter, right?”

“Of course,” San smiled kindly at you as soon as he laid his eyes on you. “Hi, Y/N.”

“H-hi, Mr. Choi,” you responded weakly.

You held out your hand for him to shake, only to immediately be met by a frown. “Come on, Y/N. We’ve known each other far too long for that.”

Before you could even react, San pulled you in for a hug. You fully stopped breathing again when you felt his firm arms around you, and you nearly gasped for air when he let you go.

The three of you sat down and talked logistics. San needed a new receptionist, and it was decided you would work as his receptionist until you managed to secure the job at your friend’s company, and there were more logistics worked into the conversation, but the only thing you could think about was how you were going to pressure your friend to get you a job at their company faster because there was no way in hell you were going to last at Mr. Choi San’s company.

“I-I thought I was to be your receptionist?” you asked San with complete shock upon reviewing the paperwork in his office.

“You are, though.”

“B-but this seems more like secretarial work…?”

“The term secretary seems to be a little demeaning nowadays. How about office assistant for the title, then?”

“Am I helping you or the office?”

“Executive assistant.”

“I-I… I don’t know…”

“Y/N,” San sighed. “We both know that your father is going to kill you if you don’t take this job, so call yourself whatever you want, but this is what’s going to be expected of you here since this is the only position we need to fill. Sorry, but that’s the deal.”

“Alright, Mr. Choi…” you reluctantly accepted your fate and started signing your name on the documents.

After submitting the documents to him, you made your way out of his office and went to your station, your mind reeling with thoughts. You wondered if you could get out of the job by messing up every single thing that came your way, but if you did, your father would have your head. That, but you also did not want to mess up the relationship between your father and the man you were working for, so you just settled for putting even more pressure on your friend to get you the hell out of this job.

Your friend did not pull through. It had been six months, and your friend had yet to hold up their end of the bargain, but honestly, you weren’t complaining. You found yourself having fun working for San. He was very understanding and patient, which surprised you given how he used to yell at your friends to get their ass in the house to finish their homework when you all were growing up.

Those little anecdotes, however, slowly started to seep out of your mind. You had to do your best to remember these memories because, honestly, you were starting to forget who San was in your life. He was slowly morphing from the neighbor kids’ dad to the incredibly sexy man you reported to on a daily basis.

While you were insanely attracted to the man, you still made sure to do your job well. This meant that if San texted you at two in the morning on Sunday, you responded to him. This meant that if he needed you to stay and work overtime with him, you did it. This meant that if he asked you to run personal errands with him, you went with him.

“Y/N, can you come here for a second?” San asked you one day at work.

“What is it?”

“Smell this.”

San opened his suit jacket and gestured for you to come closer, which you did so very cautiously. You took a light sniff of his jacket from about a foot away and said, “Good.”

“Really? You smelled it from all the way there?” San was skeptical. “Seriously, I need to know. Can you actually smell it properly, please?”

Your brain told you to refuse, but your hormones, which were already swimming because you could actually smell how amazing his cologne was from that foot distance, said otherwise. You shifted closer and sniffed again while getting a good whiff this time. You felt your face heat up slightly as you nodded and said quietly, “It smells good, Mr. Choi.”

“Must you call me Mr. Choi?” San sighed as he adjusted his jacket. “It’s very stifling.”

“Mr. Choi, you’re my boss. I’m going to be respectful.”

“And for that, I thank you, but sometimes, I seriously hate when you call me Mr. Choi.”

“Why is that?”

“It’s… Stifling.”

You blinked and looked the man right in the eye. “You already said that. Is everything okay?”

San let out a light sigh before shaking his head. “It’s fine. I’d just rather hear you call me by my name.”

There was a brief moment of silence between the two of you, and when San looked at you again, your heart fluttered rapidly. There was something unspoken in his gaze that made you want to find out more, and if it weren’t for his cologne, you probably would’ve let it go.

“What do you mean?”

“I… Never mind. Just let it go. Anyway, can you look over this report for me?”

San gestured for you to approach closer, which you did, and soon, you were leaning over his shoulder and reading the report on his computer screen. You got more and more of the notes of his cologne, the pine and the musk seeping into your brain and deleting all the logic in it. It deleted so much of your common sense that you found yourself leaning so far over his shoulder that your breasts pressed against it, turning you on even more just feeling how firm his broad back was.

“It looks good. I would just change a couple of sentences.”

“Which ones?”

Pushing further into him, you moved so that you were right against him as you moved his mouse and clicked around before reaching over and typing on his keyboard. The more intimate your actions became, the more the tiniest bit of your rational brain left screamed at you to stop, but you didn’t want to, and you couldn’t when San placed his hand over yours, his hand engulfing yours and the mouse.

“I see. Thank you, Y/N.”

“You’re welcome, San…”

You should’ve moved. You shouldn’t have been that close to him in the first place. You should’ve stopped either yourself or him, but it was too late. When he reached for your cheek with his other hand, you could’ve moved away; but instead, you moved into his touch— his warm, gentle touch.

“Tell me to stop,” San breathed out as he brought your face to his.

You didn’t dare tell him to stop. He pressed his lips gently against yours at first before pulling back to gauge your reaction. But, you didn’t want him to stop. You wanted to feel the warmth of his lips seep into yours, his hold on your face to slip from your cheek to your neck, then maybe down your shoulder, hips, and to your waist. And, like a mind reader, he did just that. He kissed you once more, this time with more force and passion. His hands moved so that he brought you onto his lap, one hand on the back of your neck and the other on your waist as he kissed you ferociously.

“Fuck,” San breathed out in between kisses. “Please don’t tell me to stop now, beautiful.”

There was no way in hell you were going to tell him to stop now.

“Gosh, you’re so pretty,” San uttered as he brushed your hair out of your face. “Don’t stop moaning for me, beautiful.”

Your relationship with the CEO got very complicated to say the least. After that day in his office, the two of you simply could not keep your hands away from each other. You loved it when he held you close to him and made you feel like the most special girl in the world, and he loved it when you sank into his embrace, your body begging for more than a simple hug. So, frequently, after work, you found yourself spending restless night after restless night in San’s hotel suite.

“San— Ah!” you moaned loudly when he pushed his face under your jawline and left sweet, painful kisses behind your ear. “I want you… Please…”

“What do you want, beautiful?” San asked, his hands trailing down your body before hooking into the waistband of your skirt and panties and pulling down. “Do you want my fingers to fill you up?”

Two of his fingers stroked the lips of your quivering pussy lightly, making you cling to his shoulders. While one hand worked on making you wetter, the other pushed your shirt up and went under your bra, his thumb tracing circles over your nipple.

“Or do you want me to toy with your nipples and pinch them until they turn purple?”

“I want you in me,” you whined. “Don’t tease me… Please…”

You watched San’s face go a light shade of pink as he heard you whine and beg. Quickly withdrawing his hands, San got straight to work, his clothes falling to the ground rapidly. “Of course, beautiful. Anything for you.”

As San tore open a condom packet and rolled it on his throbbing, fat cock, you got out of your own clothes and tossed them aside, your arms outstretched for him as soon as the two of you were ready. San fit himself into your perfect embrace and rubbed his cockhead along your folds and against your sensitive clit a couple times before pushing into you. You moaned loudly and brought San further into your embrace as you clung to him, your body still not used to his massive size.

“Fuck, darling, you’re so tight,” San groaned in your ear as he dropped his head down. “I’m going to start moving, okay?”

You could only muster a nod in response. The second San started moving, you dug your fingernails into his skin and held him tightly, your cunt tightening further as you brought your legs around his waist. Your heart and pussy clenched when you heard his labored groans rip through your body.

“Shit, it’s like you’re trying to break my dick off,” San hissed as he rammed his cock further into you.

“San,” you breathed his name out, unable to conjure up more words as your brain was turning to mush with every harsh thrust.

You ran your fingers through his hair and grabbed his head, weakly guiding him to your lips, which he consumed in a heartbeat. Saliva dripped down your mouth as you dropped it open, allowing the man complete access to let his tongue violate your own. His thrusts didn’t let up in the slightest as he made out with you messily, his own hands squeezing and groping all of the parts of your body he desired.

“Mmm— Ah! S-San,” your voice trembled as wave upon wave of pleasure rushed through your body. “C-cum— Hnngh!”

You flung your head back into the plush pillows of the hotel suite bed and cried loudly as you felt pleasure wrack your body, your thighs and hips trembling as you came hard, your arousal fluid squirting all over the sheets.

The erotic noises of San’s cock driving in and out of you with your fluid adding squelches was too much for the man himself to bare. Pushing your hips up, San hammered into you at a fresh angle, making you cum one more time as he buried his cock deep within you. With a final, lingering grasp, San shoved himself all the way inside you, the head of his dick hitting your cervix, allowing the two of you to cum with bed trembling moans and groans. San’s cum spurt into the condom and nearly burnt a hole within you with how hot his load was.

“Fucking hell,” San hissed under his breath as the high of his own orgasm wore off. “Darling, that was so fucking good. You’re so fucking good. You’re too good to me…”

San let out a blissful exhale and kissed you lightly over and over again as his searing hot cock remained inside you, the heat from the man’s body revving your engine up all over again. But, that moment quickly faded when you heard his phone ring. With a groan of disappointment, San forcibly detached himself from you to answer the call.

“What does she want now?” you heard San utter to himself as he fully got out of the bed to answer the call.

You combed out your hair with your fingers and struggled to sit yourself up. Wrapping yourself in the duvet, your eyes warily tracked San as he paced the hotel room slowly.

“I don’t understand why you’re having such a hard time signing these papers… It’s been five years. Stop dragging your feet.”

It was his wife. His wife. The woman you came to respect as you grew up. The woman who was the mother of your friends. The woman who was still married to the man you were sleeping with. San’s fucking wife.

“San, we can work this through. We’ve done it so many times in the past. Please, think about your daughters.”

Each word ripped through your heart. Here you were laying in a hotel bed with the father of your friends while his wife, the mother of your friends, was trying to repair their broken relationship. A bad feeling settled in your gut as you thought back to the happy memories of your friends and their family.

“They’re grown women. I’m sure they’re just as sick and tired of all of this as I am. Sign the papers.”

“San, please.”

“Sign the goddamn papers. I have to go. Don’t call me again unless you’ve done so.”

With that, San hung up; and although the conversation had ended, the terrible feeling plaguing your heart did not.

“What’s wrong, beautiful?” San asked as he laid eyes on your consternated face.

“San, you’re still married,” you whispered out.

“That relationship ended years ago, Y/N,” San said with a heavy sigh. “Please don’t look at me like that. Don’t be alarmed.”

“How can I not be alarmed, S—”

Before you could finish your thought, San sat down on the bed and cut you off with a kiss— a telling kiss, a kiss that showed you just how much you meant to him.

“I said don’t be. You trust me, right?” San asked with his low, reassuring voice and that lingering hand that cupped your cheek just right. “Don’t think about it. It’s done. It’s been done. I… I love you, now.”

You wanted to cry. Tears brimmed your eyes as you heard the words leave his mouth. The feelings you tried denying yourself were coming to surface, but you knew that you should not let them surface at all. Not like this. Not when you were coming in between a family.

“I… I know, San,” you responded lamely.

It certainly did not help when he wrapped those big, strong arms— the arms you fell in love with— around you. You remained limp in his arms as San did his best to show you exactly how much you meant to him, but that didn’t change the fact that what you were doing was seriously wrong and that it needed to end before anyone else got hurt.

San didn’t know what happened or where he went wrong. The only thing he knew for sure was that your resignation letter was on his desk. You didn’t say anything in that letter other than that you were leaving. No reason as to why or how— you were simply leaving. However, San was having none of that.

He raced to your house. He broke many laws doing so, but, God, he needed to see you. He needed to know what went wrong, and he needed to know as soon as possible since his messages to you weren’t delivering, his calls weren’t going through, and even his emails were getting bounced back.

When San knocked on your door, though, he did not expect to see your father, and he did not expect to see the man so angry.

“You have some fucking nerve showing up here, you asshole,” Seonghwa spat out.

“Seonghwa, what’s—”

“Who the fuck do you fucking think you are, Choi San?! You fucking psychopath!”

“What are you going on about?”

“You slept with my daughter! What on fucking Earth is wrong with you!” Seonghwa screeched, his voice nearly echoing in the silent streets of the neighborhood.

San’s blood ran cold. Sure, in the back of his mind, there was a constant reminder that you were the daughter of his friend, the friend of his daughters, the girl he watched grow up right before his very eyes, but none of that actually registered until Seonghwa berated him.

“You fucked my fucking daughter, Choi San!” Seonghwa yelled at the man. “Stay the fuck away from me and my family you, you fucking disgusting human being! How fucking dare you lay a finger on her like that when I trusted you!”

“Seonghwa, you don’t understand! We—”

“I don’t give a fuck! I heard it from my daughter, and I certainly don’t need to hear it from you, San! I recommend you stay the fuck away from me and her, otherwise I’m going to slap your ass with a lawsuit you piece of shit!”

Seonghwa slammed the door in his face. San, motionless, stayed on the front porch with his head bent down in shame not because Seonghwa yelled at him, but because he did the unthinkable— he fell in love with you. You, his best friend’s daughter. You, the woman he never should have gotten intimate with. You.

You watched him from the window in your bedroom as he let out a sigh and retreated to his car, and you continued to watch him as he sat in his car and held his head with one hand and his chest with the other. You couldn’t see his face, but you could tell.

He was crying too.

trope masterlist

trope taglist: @eyeryis @sinnarols @k-hotchoisan @aaasia111 @sunshineangel-reads @hwallazia @dazzlingstarrs @hyukssunflower @yunhogrippers @oreoqueen

network: @cromernet

apply for the taglist here!

[atinyreads]

Hi can you please do a scenario where Akutagawa protects his injured s/o on a mission. 👏👏👏

[Aw yiss! Akutagawa!! My baby seriously needs more attention. Thanks for requesting, and I’m sorry this is late!]

It was a simple mission. Things were never supposed to go so horribly awry.

An integral member of an enemy organisation had to be taken out. Naturally, Mori had entrusted the task to Akutagawa and the Black Lizard. That also meant you. The plan was for Hirotsu and the others to clear the way while Akutagawa and you were you to go after the target.

But things did go awry.

“Damn it.” You cursed under your breath as you slid down against the wall, the side of your stomach bleeding profusely.

While Akutagawa had stayed behind to deal with the more skilled security, you had snuck on ahead to finish the job. Unfortunately, however, an armed guard had apprehended you right outside the chambers of your target. You managed to kill him, but not before he landed a bullet in your side.

You breathed heavily. The person you were supposed to assassinate had fled right before your very eyes and there wasn’t a single thing you could do about it. A string of curse words escaped your lips, interrupted only by your bloody coughs.

Hearing multiple footsteps approaching, you tried to get up. But your vision was going hazy and you couldn’t balance on your feet. You fell back down with a thud, clutching at your side to try and staunch the bleeding. 

“Well, well. I never thought this would be how I finally go out.” You muttered to yourself.

Too weak to even think of defending yourself, you leaned back resignedly into the wall as members of the enemy organisation surrounded you. You closed your eyes.

But instead of the sound of bullets, you heard a sudden scream of agony. Your eyes shot open, and for a moment, you couldn’t comprehend what you were seeing. There was black and red everywhere. The atmosphere was filled with sounds of screaming and something sharp cutting through the air. 

And in the middle of the carnage, there was Akutagawa.

Your shoulders slumped as relief coursed through your veins, along with something else. It was over within seconds, corpses and shattered glass everywhere. Akutagawa coughed as he walked over to you.

“The target just fled from here. You can still catch him if you move quick.” You said hurriedly, wincing at the effort.

“To hell with the target.” He muttered, picking you up with both arms, “I’m not letting you become just another casualty.”

A warm feeling spread through your chest and you averted your eyes from him. So Akutagawa did care about you, after all. With the demeanour he maintains, it gets kind of hard believing that sometimes.

You put an arm over his shoulder as he carefully manoeuvred his way through the blood and the corpses, trying not to get his shoes dirty. 

“Tch, look what a mess you’ve made.” You jested.

“Me? Don’t forget you’re the reason for it.”

You laughed, despite being on the verge of passing out. And that’s just what you did. Resting your head on his chest, you closed your eyes and faded into unconsciousness.

Akutagawa looked at your unconscious form in his arms as he walked away from the building. He would never admit it out loud, but when he saw you huddled up against that wall, blood seeping through your clothes, his heart stopped for a moment. Panic and rage filled him for an instant and the result was that carnage he had just left behind. 

He had purposely made sure every single one of the enemy members who had surrounded you was dead. There was no way anybody could hurt you and just get away with it.

He sighed. Hopefully, you’d be fine after getting a bit of medical attention. He had meant what he had said earlier. In the mafia’s world of death and misery, you were something good. He would never let you be just another casualty.