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sparklingchan · 2 months

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A Duel of Hearts || Kim Seungmin (Stray Kids)

Pairing: Reader(fem.) X Seungmin Word Count: 5k+ Warnings: Suggestive, strong language(ig), mention of suicide (not the main characters). Genre: Royal AU, Friends to Lovers, Dark Academia, Angst mixed with fluff. Description: Caught in a dilemma of affection, Kim Seungmin, a prince, finds himself drawn to you. There was but one obstacle to his pursuit —you've set a single condition for all potential suitors: no royal lineage. A/N: Hello everyone! Here's another installation of the SKZ Royal AU. Idk why but Seungmin has this Dark Academia kind of vibe so I tried to incorporate that here. Hope you guys like it! More to come<3 Do check out the other fics in the skz royal series. (The stories are not interrelated) Here's the link.

You like to believe that your new dorm room is starting to grow on you.

It wasn't anything like your room back in your parents' house of course; but over the past twelve months, you'd renovated your dorm room enough to feel at home.

You'd replaced the light blue curtains with grey ones, swapped the single candle stand with a lantern to help you study better at night, put on a white table cloth and the list goes on.

A knock on your door pulls your attention.

It must be Wendy, you think to yourself, walking toward the door.

Correction: your only friend Wendy.

"Gosh, I really hate this academy, y/n." She walks in complaining, "I cannot believe they gave me a B in geography. I love geography. I cannot believe they'd ruin my overall grade like that."

"What happened?" You ask, closing the door behind her.

"I don't know! I will deal with this later, anyway," she says, fishing out a note from the pocket of her blazer. "I'm here to discuss a more pressing matter."

"What's that?"

"Of course, it's one of your lovers, y/n. I have two more lover letters in my backpack. Do you need them?"

You half chuckle and half sigh, taking the note from her and tearing it into bits.

"Ouch." Wendy says, staring at you, "Tell me y/n, it's been over a year since you joined the academy. All the boys here would die to even see you across the hallway yet you've kept the door to your heart locked. Why?"

"I am not not open to having a relationship. I just dislike how most of these men who pursue me are of royal blood. And if there's anything I despise most is royalty. That letter you gave me right now? It was from the Duke's son. It's his third letter in a row. That boy just doesn't know when to stop." You press your hand to your forehead, stressed.

Wendy nods her head, "Yeah, he is an annoying brat, I'll give you that, but y/n, I really don't understand your dislike towards royalty? Any girl out there would love to be pursued by royal suitors, including myself."

You smile in response, "It's a secret."

As always, Wendy just chuckles and doesn't push you to answer further because really, you don't know what you'll do if you ever have to explain yourself. It's a secret you rarely even discuss with yourself.

"Come on, we'll be late for our afternoon class." You say and walk towards the door, already tired of the day ahead of you.

“But Professor, do you not think that the first king of Taru was a horrible person morally? I mean, he did kill all of his wives when they failed to birth a son.”

If there is anyone in this academy who you think hates you to the core is your History Professor. The amount of times you’d ask him a question and he’d reply very vaguely, never answering to the point was insane. So naturally, you had developed a habit of asking him odd questions just to spite him.

Your Professor looks at you, almost angrily, and answers, “We are no one to judge a historical figure. Miss y/n.”

“But sir, you are portraying him as a role model to the class. Don’t you think that’s wrong? As you said, we are no one to judge him.”

Your professor hisses through gritted teeth and turns towards the board, not bothering to answer you. A subtle smile finds your lips.

“So, class as I was saying. The first King of this country- Taru- built the longest bridge in -”

“Excuse me, sir?” A hand shoots up from among the students followed by a voice, “May I answer Miss y/n’s question please?”

Your professor rubs his temple and sighs, nodding, “Go ahead, Mister Seungmin.”

You turn your head up to look at the owner of the voice, and much to your surprise, it is Kim Seungmin. He’s one of the quieter kids in the class but you’ve worked on a few projects together so you know that there’s more depth to him than just being the quiet kid by the window seat.

“Y/n, I think we could still look up to the King as a leader. Yes, he was ruthless to his wives but we don’t need to look up to him as a husband. He was, on the other hand, a great leader who led his country to become one of the greatest in the world, second to none.”

“Well, does that answer your question?” The professor asks and you nod, bowing towards Seungmin. He bows back.

The professor teaches the class for an hour more, letting you guys dismiss after his daily warning of, “You'll be going to universities next year so do work hard this year,”

You gather all your things and walk out of the class, stomach growling, almost begging you to make your way to the dining area for lunch.

For lunch, the menu rarely changes except on holidays.

And in all honesty, you’re tired of having chicken stew with rice everyday since you stepped foot in this academy, but the other options are extremely limited so you join the line of hungry and tired students, complaining about how difficult this year has been.

Once you have your plate of rice and stew, you seat on one of the empty benches and begin to gobble up the rice like there’s no tomorrow.

“Um, y/n? Mind if I join you?”

“Seungmin?” you ask, almost surprised, “Have a seat, please.”

Seungmin mutters a small ‘thanks’ and claims the seat in front of you, placing his backpack on the sides.

“So what have you been up to?” he asks to break the ice. It seems like you’re more focused on the rice in front of you than him.

“Eating?” you chuckle, “What’s up with you? How’s your preparation for University?”

Seungmin, licks his bottom lip, deep in thought.

How was his preparation for university going, really? He doesn’t know. He doesn’t even remember the last time he opened his books after school.

In fact, lately, his mind has been occupied with something entirely different-you.

You, who acts so indifferent to the rest of the people yet helped Seungmin when he was almost failing a chemistry project evaluation.

You, who says she has no friends yet packs extra food from home for Wendy.

You, who says she is having a hard time adjusting to the academy yet she’s his favorite person here.

How could you not be on his mind?

“Eh, it’s okay. I guess.” Seungmin scratches the back of his head. “How’s yours?”

“Not really well, to be honest . If only that duke’s son would stop sending me those stupid letters, my life would be a lot more peaceful.” you say and it’s true that those letter have been nothing short of a nuisance since you came back from the semester break. You respect his feelings, but you’re not obligated to like him back. Hell, you’ve never even spoken to the man. “He’s so persistent, it scares me, really.”

Seungmin could feel his anger building up. Of course he knows you have quite a few admirers. Even some of his friends are in that crowd. But Seungmin likes to think he always had the upper hand.

Yet he feels annoyed, offended at the thought that someone was pursuing you to the point of fear.

“He might be a duke’s son but he isn’t behaving like one.” Seungmin comments.

“Well, it doesn’t matter. All of these aristocrats and royals believe that the world is at their disposal. They could just command it and everything would go according to them. It’s ridiculous. I’m so glad you’re not from a royal line or else we wouldn’t have been having this conversation.” you say and Seungmin’s world stands still.

You think he’s not from a royal family?

You didn’t know who he really was?

He almost wants to tell you the truth, that he, in fact, is the descendant of the very king you were talking about in History today. But he chooses to remain silent. He’s enjoying your company way too much to ruin it in one day.

“Yeah, thank god for that.” Prince Seungmin replies.

The next few days pass by in the blink of an eye and the academic pressure gets worse.

"Wendy, could I borrow your lantern? Mine is broken, I think." You ask Wendy one afternoon.

The sun brightens up the inside of Wendy's room.

"Yeah, sure." She passes you her lantern, "I have a spare one. Going to the library?"

You nod.

There's no better place to study than the library. Especially on such a warm and cozy afternoon when everyone just wants to take a nap.

"I'll see you at dinner then?"

"Sure thing."

You walk the corridors, fiddling with your pockets, making sure you'd taken all your stationary. It would be a hassle to walk back to your room again.

As soon as you enter the library, the sounds of the world as if disappear. Not even the tapping of pens could be heard without focusing hard.

You find a suitable seat for yourself by the window and settle down there.

The library feels colder than your room and you're grateful for it. At least you wouldn't be sleepy now.

"Someone's working hard, I see." A teasing voice whispers from behind, "May I join you?"

Seungmin’s voice, much to your surprise, brings a smile to your face.

"Sure." You say, shy like a kid in kindergarten.

He claims the seat across you, setting his books and stationary on the table.

And for the next three hours, the only sound you hear from his side is that of his breathing. Even and steady.

He's busy reading a book and his eyes are focused on the pages, never once wavering anywhere else.

He's quite sincere, you realize.

The sun sets and the students light up their lanterns and immediately go back to studying. Seungmin glances at you for a second, his lips curving into a soft smile. You smile back, albeit shyly.

Hours pass by and you know it's almost time for dinner because your stomach is growling. Louder than ever.

"Y/n," Seungmin speaks to you, putting his book down, "Want to have some warm Noodles? There's a new stall in town which sells delicious noodles."

You contemplate for a second before agreeing with a smile.

"Noodles sound amazing right now."

The both of you pick up your lanterns and walk out the main gate into the streets of the town.

While the town is busy and bustling with activities during the day, at nightfall the town comes to a standstill. Something you've always liked.

"It's not in the market square, I presume." You say as Seungmin navigates through the lanes of the market.

"No," He replies, "But it is quite near to the market."

After a five minute walk from the market square, you finally see an old bamboo hut in the distance, dim and quiet.

But the moment Seungmin and you are seated on one of the wooden benches, you're as if in a trance. The aroma of herbs and spices and chicken broth is nothing like you'd ever felt before.

"Grandma, we'll have two bowls of noodles with a side of Kimchi, please." Seungmin says.

"Sure thing, son." The woman replies with a twinkle in her eyes.

"You're a regular here. " You say to Seungmin, looking around the interiors of the stall. "It's cozy and the noodles smell amazing already."

"Oh, y/n, wait till you taste them. It'll be like nothing you'd ever had before."

And true to his words, the moment you eat those noodles, flavors burst in your mouth.

It is a perfect blend of sweet and salty, but the black pepper adds the perfect spice to the combination of flavors.

"Seungmin, this is amazing!" You say, taking a second bite. "We have to come back here again!"

He can only chuckle at your reaction. If you'd say the word, he'd bring you to this place everyday. Without fail.

The two of you eat quietly, only sharing a glance of amazement once in a while.

"I'll pay, y/n." Seungmin offers once you guys are done eating, bellies full.

"No! Let me pay." You get up immediately and walk up to the old lady.

Seungmin can only shake his head at you.

"How much will that be, grandma?" You ask, taking out your purse.

"Oh, its on the house today. " the lady says, much to your surprise, "Master Seungmin brought his girlfriend out for a date at our place. I couldn't take money from you today."

Seungmin and you stare at each other, wide eyed and speechless and hearts racing.

"Grandma! She's not my girlfriend! We're classmates." Seungmin says, the tip of his ears bright red.

You nod, shyly, "There's nothing of that sort going on between us!"

Grandma smiles as she pours soup into a bowl, "Well, not yet maybe. I have an eye for things like that, you see."

When you exit the hut, Seungmin remains quite, his lips pursed in a line. It's truly endearing to see him flustered like that.

"Well, that was awkward." You say, trying to lighten up the mood.

Seungmin nods, rubbing the back of his head, "Sorry about that. I don't know why she'd say that."

"No, no, it's okay. She's an adorable woman." You say.

The rest of the walk passes by in silence.

For some reason, you always find yourself in these silent moments with Seungmin. But you like the silence. It's calming, not uncomfortable.

"So, I'll see you tomorrow?" He asks as the two of you reach the entrance of your dorm building.

You nod. You're about to turn around when he pulls you in for a gentle embrace.

Your heart stops. Your breathing stops. The earth stops.

Without even meaning to, you find yourself melting into the embrace.

The next second, Seungmin pulls back and walks towards his dorm, not even saying a word.

And you're standing there, mouth hanging open.

What are these nervous sensations Seungmin is making you feel?

"So why were you not at dinner yesterday?" Wendy asks the next morning, an eyebrow raised in suspicion, "Were you with a boy?"

You try to calm the heat spreading to your cheeks, "Kind of. But it wasn't anything like what you think. I swear. We were studying together and then he asked if I wanted to try a new food stall in town. That's all."

And then he hugged you Goodnight. And you haven't been able to forget the way his body felt against yours.

"And who exactly is 'we'?" Wendy asks again, the tone of suspiciousness still present in her words.

"Seungmin and I." You say.

Wendy stares at you, flabbergasted.

Seungmin and you?

You went out on a supposed platonic date with a Prince?

"Y/n, Seungmin is-" Wendy's words are cut off by the ringing of the hourly bell, indicating that your classes are about to begin.

"Wendy, I'll tell you all about it. Promise. See you later." You say and disappear into the crowd of hurrying students but Wendy doesn't move.

Wendy has a different plan in her mind. Something she considers more important than attending boring lectures.

"Kim Seungmin, can I see you for a second?" Wendy drags Seungmin by his arm the moment he steps out of his dorm building.

He stares at her, confused.

He didn't have a class yet; he was just stepping out to get some breakfast. Where was she dragging him early in the morning?

"What's wrong?" He asks.

Wendy and him have never even talked with each other before so why this sudden interest?

Wendy stands in front of him, eyes full of doubt. Her hands rest on her hips.

"Are you trying to mess with y/n?" She asks flatly.

Seungmin is taken aback, "What? No! Of course not!"

Why would she even think that? Seungmin almost feels angry.

"Then why are you hanging out with her late at night and why is she oblivious to you being of royal blood?"

Seungmin sighs, "Okay, Wendy, listen. I'm not trying to mess with her or anything. But its true I haven't told her about my family yet. And I will tell her. But I just want her to know me for me. Before she starts to dislike me just because I'm of royal blood. Do you think I'm wrong?"

Wendy thinks for a second before replying, "Well, you don't mean any harm. But...I think you should tell her about yourself. I mean if you're trying to get her to like you back, might as well be honest about your life."

Seungmin’s eyes are wide with shock. How did she even know about Seungmin’s crush on you? Did one of his friends spread the rumor? Did she try to spy on him?

"Hey, don't look so surprised, your majesty." sarcasm drips from her words, "Everyone here knows you like her. We have eyes, you know?"

Seungmin doesn't reply, embarrassed. Of course it is hot gossip when a prince falls in love, isn't it?

People have written sagas and books and poems about it. What is a little academy gossip compared to that?

You find out Seungmin hanging out with a female friend the a few days later during lunch, and you try to shake off an uncomfortable feeling.

"Seungmin, could I speak to you for a second?"

The girl looks at you, from head to toe and nods her head. "Hey, she's quite pretty, Seungmin."

Seungmin sighs, "Oh, shut up, Sojong. Don't you have a class?"

His ears are red again, like how they were back at the noodles shop.

"I'm going now anyways. Bye sweethearts!" The girl walks off with a smile, and you're left confused.

"Don't mind her. She's my cousin. An idiot cousin, if I may add."

It feels as if a weight is lifted off of your chest. Your lips automatically curve into a smile.

"I didn't know you had a cousin in the academy."

"Yeah, well. Now you do. So what's going on?" He replies.

"Um.. did Wendy say something to you a few days ago? About you going to the noodles stall with me?"

Seungmin chuckles, "Oh yeah. But it's alright. She's your friend. I get that she's quite protective of you."

You smile, "Thanks for understanding. But , umm...Seungmin, she also might have implied that you kind of want to go out with me."

Seungmin’s soul almost leaves his body. Wendy could not have shut up about it, could she? Now you probably think Seungmin is some kind of creep trying to get into your pants.

"Hey, it's okay. Wendy always exaggerates everything and she wants me to get a boyfriend desperately so I understand if you didn't say anything of that sort to her. She's not very good at conveying messages." You say.

"But I did." Seungmin says, mustering all his courage, "I did say that. To her. And it's totally okay if you don't feel the same way about me. I really do. "

You almost feel like laughing.

You haven't been able to get him out of your mind for the past few days. And he thinks you don't like him?

The both of you had been busy with different classes and tests and projects. The few glances and greetings you shared with him during lunch would become the highlight of your day. And he thinks you wouldn't want to go out with him?

Impossible.

"I do, though. I'm open to the idea of going out with you."

Seungmin was not prepared for that answer. He was sure he'd get rejected, but here you were, looking all shy and sweet while confessing to liking him back?

"Um..so how about tomorrow night? There's a nice restaurant with live music and all. I could book us a table there."

You try to supress the grin that is trying to claw its way onto your face.

"Sounds great. See you then."

"Yeah, see you." He replies, heart hammering hard against his chest.

The night finally comes and you find Seungmin standing just outside of your dorm building.

He wears a black long coat and pants, paired with a high collared white shirt and a rose in his hands.

Your legs feel weak the moment your eyes meet. And the gravity of the situation finally dawns on you.

By tonight, Kim Seungmin might become your boyfriend. He's handsome, intelligent and funny, yet he decides to go out on a date with you?

Why? How did the two of you even end up here?

On the other hand, Seungmin feels like he'd been hit by the cupid's arrow. The only thing he can think about as you make your way towards him is how beautiful that long, pink dress looks on you and how he couldn't wait to make you his.

"For the beautiful lady." He says, offering you the red rose.

Shyly, you take the rose.

"Shall we?" He asks, gently taking your hand. Your hand feels warm.

"Yes." You reply, intertwining your fingers with his.

Oh, how beautiful it feels.

To be able to walk hand in hand with the man you admired so much. It feels natural. Like this is how the two of you were always meant to be. Maybe if Wendy had never told you about how Seungmin felt about you, you'd have never made the effort to ask him if he ever saw you in a non-platonic way.

But you're glad everything that happened happened. You're not someone who liked to live with what-ifs.

The restaurant he'd booked just adds to the beauty of this evening. The ambience is nice and a musician plays a beautiful melody on the piano, matching to the aesthetic of the place.

"I had booked a table for two by the name of Kim Seungmin. "

The waiter takes you to your place, a large candle adorning the center of the table.

You take your seats and the waiter takes your order and leaves.

Seungmin gets a hold of your hand again, intertwining your fingers.

"I can't believe we're actually out on a date." He chuckles, tracing his thumb across the back of your palm.

"I can't either. It's surreal." You say, "But I love it. I love being here with you."

Seungmin nods, "I love being anywhere, as long as you're with me."

"Didn't know Kim Seungmin was such a flirt, huh." You laugh, your cheeks heating up.

"Oh, you're in for a long ride, baby girl." He says, pressing his lips softly against your fingers.

Goosebumps.

Indeed, you were in for a long ride.

That night, the two of you walk back to the academy campus in silence.

A silence that is so calming and so comforting, it feels almost like a soothing hug from Seungmin.

When you two reach the main entrance of your dorm, Seungmin pulls you in for a hug again.

And just like last time, you melt into his arms.

He smells like smoke and mint and comfort.

"I had a great time, y/n." He whispers, pulling away but keeping your faces close.

He put strands of your hair behind your ears, so soft and tender.

"I did, too." You reply, your hands gently settling on his cheeks.

"Can I kiss you, y/n, please?" Seungmin asks, almost pleads. Like kissing you is what would keep him alive from that day on, like kissing you would fill his lungs with oxygen, like kissing you is the drug that he just cannot quit.

And you can only nod before he crashes his lips onto yours.

And yet again, he's gentle and tender and you sigh into his mouth when he pulls you closer.

He tastes like the tiramisu you had back in the restaurant, sweet and like strawberries.

"I'll see you tomorrow, then." He says when you pull back, breathing heavy. His eyes are shy with a sense of pride in them. He couldn't believe that the girl he'd been crushing on since last year was finally his. He couldn't believe his luck.

And neither could you.

"Yeah, see you!" You say and kiss his lips once again before jogging into the dorm building.

Seungmin goes to sleep that night dreaming of you and wakes up yearning for you in the morning.

And the cycle repeats every day, for the next 2 months.

The two of you had become inseparable, spending every possible moment with each other.

Whenever your schedules would not let you spend a lot of time together, the two of would make sure to have at least one meal together. That single meal would be the highlight of both of your days.

But the final exams loom over you like an ominous grey cloud.

"So, as you already know, our country neighbors multiple other countries, each with their own king and set of rules. I want you all to remember the names of all current kings and all new rules they had added to their country during their tenure. " the history teacher was going on and on, "Remember, you only have a month left for your finals. That final grade would determine the trajectory of your lives. Study well."

And he finishes off with that threat.

You were so busy jotting down notes during the class that you didn't notice Seungmin's absence from the day's class.

You'd been late this morning and didn't have time to even have breakfast before coming to class. Naturally, you'd assumed he'd been in the class.

"I don't see your boyfriend today, y/n." Wendy says after class, as if reading your mind.

"Yeah, I've been wondering the same thing." You say, absently, stuffing your books back in your bag.

Wendy tags along with her other friends for lunch and you excuse yourself, making your way towards Seungmin’s dorm building.

You'd been to his room multiple times now, yet everytime you're surprised by how neat it is. The books are neatly lined up on the shelf, the blankets are folded on the bed and his shoes are neatly stacked by the corner of his cupboard.

"Missed you at class today." You say to Seungmin, whose eyes widen with excitement when he sees you enter the room.

"Yeah, I spent nearly three hours solving a problem last night, I didn't wake up on time." He says, patting the space near him on the bed.

You sit beside him, "Can we study together at night? I need your help."

He agrees immediately, pecking your cheek.

"In fact, we could go to the library right now, what say?" He asks.

"Did you forget, Seungmin? We have a field trip today. In the second half. We're supposed to assemble at the playground after lunch."

Seungmin chuckles, "Yeah. A field trip to the old fort of Taru. Almost forgot about it."

Something he'd been dreading for weeks now.

When it was announced that the final year students would be going on a field trip, he was excited in the beginning.

But when he found out the location of the said trip, he was devastated. The old fort of Taru was his ancestral home. His grandfather and great-grand father and great-great grandfather fought multiple wars and ruled the country from that fort and when they passed away, Seungmin’s father had shifted his family to a new palace just outside the city, deciding to turn the old fort into a museum for tourists.

Seungmin didn't dislike the old fort. In fact, he loved visiting that place . Every year, he'd look forward to visiting the old fort to pay homage to his forefathers during special festivals that only the Royal family celebrated.

Yet, he was dreading today's trip. Because at the entrance of the new museum, stands a tall painting of him and his family, welcoming tourists to their ancestral home.

And if you see the painting, his façade is going to disappear and you'll know his identity and that would be the end of his beautiful daydream.

But when you pull him by his collar and kiss him with so much love, he cannot help but wish for this dream to last forever.

When the time finally comes to board the horse carriages that would take the students to the fort, Seungmin starts rethinking every single choice of his till date. He knew he was hurting you, he knew you would be devasted to find out who he really is. But he would die if had to lose you.

And his greatest fears come to life the moment he sets foot out of that damned carriage.

Wendy, with her hand on your shoulder, stands near the fort entrance. You'd reached the fort earlier since the girls were sent off earlier. And Seungmin wishes they hadn't been.

You look confused, sad, eyebrows furrowed in exasperation.

When Wendy sees Seungmin, her eyes widen. "She knows." She mouths at him.

Seungmin swallows the lump in his throat, "Y/n, I swear..I swear I didn't do it to deceive you. I really like you and hell, I even love you. Please. Hear me out."

You don't say a word and stare at him with a piercing gaze.

"Y/n, please. I don't know why you hate Royal families but I promise you, I'm not as bad as you think they are. You know me, y/n. I'm your Seungmin!" He insists, trying to hold your hand.

But you pull away.

"You lied to me. You're no better than them." You say, almost a whisper, "Forget about what happened between us. It's over now."

And with that, the love of Seungmin’s life walks out of his life, leaving him in shambles.

You'd not slept properly for a week now and even stopped attending any classes. You had buried yourself in your books, revising every single page of every single book for as many times as you could.

The only time you did step out of your room was during lunch and dinner and even then, you made sure to avoid him at all costs.

It had been dreadful, really. You thought it would be easier for you to move on and forget the past few months if you kept reminding yourself of Seungmin’s lies, but it only made you miss him more.

He lied, yes; but he also made you fall in love with him, which was worse. Falling in love and dreaming of a family with Seungmin was never on your cards, you were sure you'd always marry the person your parents would have chosen for you. But here you were. Heartbroken and infatuated; both by the same person.

And today is no different from other days, or so you thought.

At around half past midnight, you hear a knock on your door. Wendy had gone home for a week and would be back tomorrow, so you are genuinely curious as to who would knock on your door at such an ungodly hour.

When you open the door, you see those eyes again- the black orbs that you'd fallen so deeply for.

"Y/n, do you have a minute? Please?" Seungmin pleads when you freeze at the sight of him.

"No. I'm afraid not." You reply, your heart hammering against your chest. The tightness in your throat does not help.

"Please, y/n. I beg you, please."

Across the hallway, a few girls pop their heads out of their doors, wondering where the male voice is from.

Sensing no other option, you pull Seungmin inside your room reluctantly.

"Fine. Say what you have to and then leave." You mutter.

You're doing everything in your power to avoid any sort of eye contact with him because you know that is what your weakness is.

He sits at the edge of your bed, while you sit in your chair, across the room.

"Y/n, you don't have to take me back. But I want you to know that I never meant to deceive you. It is pure, genuine love that I feel for you. I know you hate me because I'm of royal blood but ignoring that part, you did like me, didn't you? Before you even knew about my family. I'm still that person. I may be a prince but that is not all I am."

Your throat gets tighter and your eyes mist over with tears.

"It doesn't matter. Our relationship started from a lie. And as a matter of fact, I cannot ignore that you're a prince. I had one condition for all suitors and I cannot withdraw it for anyone."

Seungmin swallows, his eyes bloodshot, "Can you at least tell me why you hate Royal blood so much? What did they ever do to you?"

You scoff, "You really wanna know, huh? Does it still matter now? Because I'm never going to get back together with you, Seungmin."

"I want to know."

And so you tell him.

"I hate royals so much because I am one of them. I am a princess. A forgotten one, but the blood of royalty still courses through my veins."

You were a little girl of around four when your now parents had adopted you, more or less. You didn't know who they were or why they were taking you away from your mother and father- the king and queen of Nabha- a country neighboring Taru. You only remember crying till your head hurt. You remember your birth mother crying, standing at the gates of the castle while her emerald crown fell at her feet.

When you turned twelve, your adoptive parents told you the truth of your adoption.

Your adoptive mother worked in the Royal Palace as a governess for royal children while your adoptive father worked as a royal architect. They'd both met in the palace and fell in love, eventually married. You were born to the queen and king a year later. Everything was going well.

But as all stories go, yours had a villain too. Your own birth father- the king. He was the worst kind of person. He was cruel, unjust, abusive and hated you because you were a girl. He had prayed to every God known to mankind for a son, only for him to receive a daughter in return. But he refused to crown you the heir. For the next few years, the king traveled to all neighboring countries , looking for some solution to his problem. And then he found it. An oracle that told him to disown his first born daughter, in order to be blessed with a son.

When the king arranged for your adoption, he didn't even bother consulting his wife. One morning, you were in her arms and the next, you were being taken away to Taru by your adoptive parents.

The Queen killed herself the next morning.

"And that was the day I promised two things to myself: First, I would never set foot back in that country. I made Taru, your country my home. Second, I would never marry a man of royal ancestry. Because I know, no matter what happens, I never want to be associated with royals ever again. Betrayal is all we'll receive at the end under the pretense of a greater good."

Seungmin is speechless at this point. He thought your dislike towards royal lineage was just a matter of preference but now, he understands you. Truly. He understands why you'd take his lies as a sign of betrayal.

"Y/n, I-"

"Save it. You have your answers and I have mine. Leave."

He walks out of the room without a word and the moment you lock the door behind him, he falls on his knees, crying. His heart aches for you. For everything you'd been through and for everything he put you through. He cries for you.

But little does he know, behind the closed door, you're on your knees too, sobbing into your hands. Every single fiber of your being begged you to stop him and you chose to ignore it.

You wonder if you'll ever be able to hate Seungmin like you wish you did.

Wendy is lecturing you again this morning, her face tense.

"Y/n, we're leaving this academy forever tomorrow. Can you please give yourself the closure you deserve? Just go and talk to Seungmin. You don't have to hate his guts forever. "

The final exam results are out today, which means that your parents would be coming to pick you up tomorrow evening. You'd be leaving this place and all the bitter-sweet memories associated with it forever. It hurts you a little.

But you had to be strong.

"I've got my closure, Wendy. I promise. Can we talk about something else now?"

Wendy sighs, "Y/n, if this is what you want, then I shall support you. But know that I genuinely will always believe that you and Seungmin were meant to be. Even if you get married and have ten kids with someone else!"

For the first time in months, you allow yourself to laugh at Wendy's stupid statements. She joins in too.

But her words stick with you throughout the day.

That night, after you're done packing most of your stuff, you crash on your bed, a thousand thoughts circling your head.

I genuinely will always believe that you and Seungmin were meant to be. Even if you get married and have kids with someone else!

Even the thought of marrying another man and having his kids nauseated you. Are you really ready to let go of Seungmin, forever?

You had spent a long time trying to forget Prince Kim Seungmin, his voice, his words, his touch, but had you really succeeded?

After today, you might never see him again. Are you ready to live with that regret forever?

The answer to all these questions is no. You are not someone to live wondering the what-ifs.

So you jump out of the bed, lantern in hand and run towards Seungmin’s dorm.

"Y/n, did you come here by mistake?" Is his first reaction when he opens his door, hair messy and eyes alert.

You shake your head, "No. I need to talk to you. Can I come in?"

He let's you in.

"So, what's up?" He asks, rubbing the back of his neck. He looks nervous. Like the first time he had taken you out for dinner to grandma's noodle shop.

"I've been thinking. About you and about us. And I.. I'm scared. I will not lie. I do not trust royals, but for some reason, I trust you. I know that there’s a thousand things that could go wrong but I still want to be with you. If you'll have me again"

Seungmin is dumbfounded. Literally. How does one even respond to things like these?

"Seungmin, say something!" You insist.

He forces the words out of his mouth, "I'm g-glad you feel that way."

You scowl, hands on your hips.

"I bare my heart open to you and this is all you have to say? Really? Listen, if you've found someone else in these few weeks then I understand, I really do but please at least-"

He kisses you. He kisses you so beautifully, it pains you to even think that you were willing to give up this. And for what? A horrible father who coincidentally was also of royal blood?

His tongue nudges at your tongue playfully, while his hands are cupping your face, thumbs circling your skin in comfort.

You'd never felt so much peace.

When you pull away, he gently presses his forehead onto yours, "I wouldn't dare find someone else. I assure you, whatever prejudices Nabha had, they do not exist here in Taru. I'm not like your birth father and I will never be. I promise. I will do everything in my power to convince you about it."

And for some reason, as usual, you believe him.

You kiss him again, knowing that if you could go back in time, you would not change a thing. You would let Seungmin easily win the duel of your hearts a thousand times over.

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sunnytaes · 1 year

Text

The Ballad of the Phoenix

❅ Pairing: Hwang Hyunjin x Lee Minho x Lee Felix

❅ Genre/themes: angst with a happy ending (eventually), eventual fluff, adventure, fantasy au, royal au, childhood friends to enemies to lovers, Felix is Steve (but not really), arranged marriage (but not really), prince!Hyunjin, prince!Minho, mage!Felix

❅ Warning(s): alcohol mentions, brief description of an animal pelt, Felix (unfortunately) does not appear in this chapter

❅ Chapter word count: 6.7k

❅ Chapter summary: Prince Hyunjin of Mahonia and Prince Minho of Cerasus have been distant for years after once having been close as children. Their parents want them to marry to unify their kingdoms, but both princes adamantly refuse. They agree to give reconnecting a chance, however, though it proves to be difficult when neither is willing to bend.

❅ Note(s): This fic is for the Clownracha fic exchange and it is dedicated to my lovely Lennie, @decaffedthoughts! Lennie, I hope you enjoy it. I made a playlist for the series, which you can find here. Pls listen to it in order :)

Chapter 1: Forget-Me-Not

The afternoon sun seeped in through the tall windows of the castle, squares of light broken up by the shadows of the window panes travelling across the large canvas set up next to the window. Delicate, practised hands were adding small, vaguely flower-shaped dots of orange to the rhododendron bush on the canvas. In front of the canvas sat His Royal Highness, Prince Hwang Hyunjin of Mahonia, the Kingdom of Winter.

The young prince was sitting in a decidedly un-princelike manner, hunched over his canvas with his paintbrush clutched tightly in his hand, but the determined expression on his face was certainly that of a king’s. His long hair had been tied crudely out of his face with a stray piece of twine, and his princely outer robes had been tossed haphazardly on the large bed, leaving him in only a white undershirt, the paint-splattered sleeves rolled up to his elbows, and his everyday pants, the piece of linen he used to protect the fine material from paint long since abandoned on the floor.

Hyunjin’s painting was interrupted by a firm knock to his door, two raps in quick succession, followed by a third a moment later. Hyunjin only knew one person who knocked in such a unique manner and a smile spread across his face.

“Come in, Seungmin,” the prince called out, rinsing his brush in the wooden bowl next to his easel before placing it on the cloth next to the bowl to dry.

Hyunjin’s personal attendant and the closest thing he’s had to a friend all his life poked his head into the prince’s chamber, his fluffy brown hair flopping slightly to the side from the angle, his round golden wire-rimmed glasses also falling slightly askew. Hyunjin could only see his collar and a bit of his left shoulder, but he knew Seungmin was wearing the same garb all of the palace staff wore, a royal blue tunic belted at the waist with a gold braided cord, black trousers, and polished black loafers. Each tunic bore the kingdom’s crest — the Hellebore Mountains with the moon rising behind the peak, surrounded by a wreath of plum blossoms — embroidered on the left side, just above the heart, and Seungmin’s featured a small gold pin of the same crest on the mock neckline of his tunic, indicating that he was a member of the royal family’s personal staff.

Hyunjin did not need to see the rest of his friend’s uniform in that moment to know that not an inch was out of place, with starch-pressed creases in the trousers and shoes so well-polished one could see their reflection in them. Seungmin was often better dressed than Hyunjin, the latter often having the odd paint stain somewhere on his clothing or hands, despite the amount of care he took to prevent that from happening.

“Your parents are requesting your presence,” Seungmin said, casting a glance at Hyunjin’s canvas. He hummed appreciatively at the painting, meeting Hyunjin’s eyes as he spoke. “It seemed serious, so you might want to make yourself look… a bit more presentable. But quickly, it also seemed urgent.”

Hyunjin let out a sigh, picking up a rag to wipe the stray flecks of paint off of his hands. Some of the fresher flecks came off easily, but some only smudged deeper into his skin, and others had long since dried.

Seungmin took his leave, off to do whatever it was he did when he wasn’t taking care of Hyunjin. Hyunjin honestly didn’t know what he got up to in his spare time, but he did not care so long as Seungmin was there when he needed him, which he always was. Technically, the prince’s attendant or his personal maids were supposed to help him dress, but Seungmin had given up on that very shortly after he took on the role, and Hyunjin had also dismissed his maids from assisting him, as it made him feel like a child being doted on, which he hated.

The rest of the kingdom thought him to be a spoiled, arrogant prince, but Hyunjin and those closest to him, albeit not that many people, knew that was far from the case. The prince did not care what others thought of him, though. He knew that his subjects called him the Ice Prince because of his cold exterior, but he did not mind. He was warm to those who mattered and polite but succinct with those he was unfamiliar with, and if that made him come across as cold, then so be it.

Hyunjin dressed himself quickly, praying his parents wouldn’t notice the splash of yellow paint that had made it onto the knee of his trousers, and started to make his way to the east wing of Icehaven Palace, where his parents resided. Hyunjin spent most of his time in the south wing, in a former guest room that he had claimed for his own because of the beautiful view of the garden below his window, and the Hellebore Mountains on the horizon, marking the edge of his kingdom. Though it was customary for a prince to stay in the east wing with the rest of the royal family, Hyunjin found himself forgoing custom more often than not, and even though he occasionally returned to his childhood bedroom in the east wing to watch the sunrise, he had called the room in the south wing home for as long as he could remember.

Arriving at the east wing, Hyunjin made his way to his parents’ shared room, as that was usually where they were when they summoned him together. He nodded at their personal guard, Mingyu, as the taller man stepped aside to let him in.

Entering his parents’ chambers, Hyunjin was met with the familiar scent of mulled spices and old wood that he came to associate with the space. His mother was sitting in her favourite chaise lounge by the window, the midnight silk of her dress blending into the indigo velvet of the chair. A chalice was perched delicately in her hand, likely containing her favourite plum wine, a Mahonian signature. Hyunjin’s father stood by her side, staring pensively out the window and looking in Hyunjin’s direction when he entered the room. Like Hyunjin, his father had long hair, but his swept past his shoulders where Hyunjin’s only reached his jaw. The king often wore his hair in a complicated braided knot atop his head, accenting his crown perfectly, but now his hair was loose, flowing past his shoulders as the gold crown rested on the vanity next to the queen’s matching one.

Hyunjin was unaccustomed to seeing his parents so casually, but he did his best to appear unfazed by the sight. He greeted his parents with the low bow customary for greeting Mahonian royals, with one fist clasped over the heart to signify fealty to the crown. When he straightened his posture, his parents were smiling warily at him, as if they were nervous too.

“Hyunjin, please sit,” his mother said, gesturing towards one of the armchairs facing the chaise lounge.

Swallowing his nerves, Hyunjin sat in the one closest to the fire.

“There’s something we would like to discuss with you,” the king said, his focus solely on Hyunjin now.

“I only snuck out to get paints once, Seungmin had no idea!” Hyunjin blurted, wringing his hands in his lap.

His father quirked a bemused eyebrow at him, while his mother appeared to be hiding her smile between her chalice.

“That is not what we were planning on discussing, but we can address that later.”

“We have always appreciated your independence, Hyunjin, and we would never force you to do something you didn’t want to do, but there is something we would like you to consider,” his mother said, smiling at him warmly.

Though both of his parents were looking at him with uncharacteristically fond expressions, Hyunjin could not help but feel the anxiety rising in his chest.

“What is this about?” he asked.

“We’ve been talking with the King and Queen of Cerasus, and we were thinking it would be greatly beneficial to both kingdoms if you were to get married to their crown prince, Prince Minho,” the queen said apprehensively, as if she knew what Hyunjin’s reaction would be.

Predictably, Hyunjin shot out of his chair immediately, causing it to tumble backwards and land with a dull thud on the carpet. “If we were to do what?” he exclaimed, eyes frantically darting between his parents. Surely they had to be joking.

“We are not trying to force you, Hyunjin, but we would like you to consider it,” his father said calmly, ignoring his son’s burst of frantic energy.

“It seems a little forceful,” Hyunjin chuckled nervously, reaching his hands up to tangle his fingers in the roots of his hair, loosening his ponytail and causing him to look probably about as frazzled as he felt.

“You don’t have to commit to anything right now,” Hyunjin’s mother explained gently, resting her chalice on the side table next to her. “We have invited Prince Minho to stay with us at the castle for the summer. All you have to do is get to know him better, and tell us how you feel at the end of the season.”

“I already know how I feel about him,” Hyunjin grumbled, crossing his arms. “He hates me. Why couldn’t it be Prince Yeosang instead?”

“Prince Yeosang of Celosia has already expressed his intent to marry a commoner,” his father said with a sigh. “Besides, weren’t you and Minho friends? I seem to remember you two running around the Cherry Blossom Palace wreaking havoc everywhere you went.” “Not anymore,” Hyunjin said with a pout, arms crossed defiantly. He was well aware that he was behaving childishly, but he could not bring it upon himself to care. He would continue to refuse marriage to Prince Minho even if it was the last thing he did.

His mother gave him a look, and Hyunjin sighed, tossing his arms in the air. “Fine, he can stay here. But I make no promises beyond that.” “That is all we ask of you, son,” his father said, something akin to pride in his eyes.

Hyunjin was dismissed from his parents’ chambers and left in a huff, not even bothering to greet Mingyu this time, leaving the poor guard with his hand lingering halfway in the air.

Not a single member of the staff dared to speak to him as he thundered through the halls of the castle, a storm forming on his brow as he made a beeline for Seungmin’s room.

When Minho’s parents, the king and queen of Cerasus, the Kingdom of Spring, first suggested to him that he marry the Hwang prince, he adamantly refused. He’d known Prince Hyunjin since he was a toddler and Hyunjin was a dumpling-shaped infant, on account of their parents being good friends and their kingdoms being allied. The two princes had been friends as kids, Minho had many fond memories of chasing stray cats together through the gardens of his palace and peering through the telescope in the large conservatory in the Cherry Blossom Palace.

But as they aged, Hyunjin grew distant, and one year at the annual Harvest Ball held in Celosia, the Kingdom of Autumn, Hyunjin avoided him like the plague, even going so far as to run away when Minho tried to approach him. They were still kids then, especially Hyunjin, who was two years Minho’s junior, and Minho knew he should’ve been the more mature one and tried to talk to the other prince about it, but instead Minho reacted in the way he knew best. If Hyunjin was going to act coldly towards him, Minho would be cold right back.

Years later, after Hyunjin had continued to act coldly towards the elder prince and Minho delivered sharp remarks any time they were forced to be together, Hyunjin had developed a reputation in his kingdom.The citizens started to refer to him as the Ice Prince, not simply because he was prince of the Kingdom of Winter, but because he acted coldly to everyone he met, staying locked up in the castle and refusing to go out to meet the citizens on holidays as was expected of royalty.

Minho, on the other hand, though he had grown to act coldly towards Hyunjin as the years went by, had earned the title Angel Prince because of his delicate features and his benevolence towards his people. Prince Minho was often seen in soup kitchens helping the needy and donating toys to local orphanages, and had even purchased an animal shelter with his own money to keep it from shutting down. Whereas Prince Hyunjin was feared by his subjects, Prince Minho was revered.

Though they had been friends as children, Prince Minho was firmly against marrying the frigid prince and moving to his equally frigid kingdom for even part of the year, and he vocalised as much to his parents, who were disappointed but agreed that they would not force him. But when a courier from Mahonia arrived with a letter addressed to him, Minho briefly reconsidered his stance on the Ice Prince.

Prince Hyunjin had personally written to him saying that his parents had also tried to talk to him about a marriage between the two of them, and while he was not enthusiastic about the idea of marriage, he had made a promise to his parents that he would try to get to know Prince Minho.

The letter was an invitation for Minho to come stay with him in Mahonia. Minho was not thrilled at the prospect of staying in the winter kingdom, where he hadn’t been since he was too young to remember; both his and Hyunjin’s parents much preferred spending their time together in the warmer Kingdom of Spring.

Minho was moved by the letter, regardless, because it would have been easy for Prince Hyunjin to continue to avoid him like he had all these years, and the fact that he hadn’t outright rejected the idea without a word to Minho or his parents was enough for Minho to find himself packing his bags with his warmest clothes in hopes that the Ice Prince he knew had thawed his heart since the last time he had seen him.

The day of Prince Minho’s arrival at Icehaven Palace, Hyunjin was doing his best not to be found. That is to say, he was hiding in a far corner of the library where he hoped no one would think to look. Hyunjin was not much of a reader himself, but he had gone looking for Seungmin during his days off enough times that the prince was very familiar with the royal library and all of the nooks and crannies that would make perfect hiding spots.

That’s how he found himself wedged in a bookshelf in the least frequently visited part of the library that had been suspiciously cleared of its lower shelves, leaving an oddly Seungmin-shaped void where the books should be. Hyunjin was not a coward, not at all, but there were many things he would rather do than entertain the Prince of Cerasus for weeks and pretend that there was any chance of the two getting married, and folding himself into a pretzel in a bookshelf that was probably pressing bruises directly into his bones was apparently on that list.

Hyunjin wasn’t sure how long he was going to hide, but he figured emerging at dusk would be a safe bet as he would only have to interact with Prince Minho at dinner and then would be able to excuse himself to his chambers for the night. Judging by soft light filtering in through the domed skylights built into the library, it was mid-afternoon, and Hyunjin would have to be here for a while longer.

With a sigh, he reached his hand up to the shelf above him that did, in fact, contain books, and grabbed a book at random. As he pulled it off of the shelf, a plume of dust emerged with it, causing Hyunjin to splutter and cough and hold the offending book at arm’s length. Of course Seungmin would only clean the shelves he would need to create his hiding place.

Carefully shaking out the book and wiping the cover with his sleeve, Hyunjin began to read. He wasn’t too interested in the ancient methods of agriculture of Mahonia, which, despite being the winter kingdom, were still plentiful, but he was bored enough that it didn’t matter as he soon got engrossed in the text for the sake of having something to do.

Despite the book likely having been relegated to an unused part of the library for a reason, Hyunjin found himself losing track of time. It wasn’t until a pair of black trousers and spotless black shoes appeared in his periphery that Hyunjin became aware of how much time had passed. As he looked up to meet Seungmin’s eyes, the sky showing through the skylight had darkened significantly, dusk being well underway.

“Just what exactly do you think you’re doing here?” Seungmin said, in the same bored tone he often adopted when Hyunjin was being too erratic for his liking. “And in my hiding place, no less?” Pouting, Hyunjin dog-eared the page and pretended not to see Seungmin’s responding wince. “Didn’t think anyone would be able to find me.”

His whining tone was met with an eye roll as Seungmin crossed his arms impatiently. “Most people would not think to look for you in the library, because everyone knows how much you hate reading. But I’m not most people. Now get up, you’re due at dinner in half an hour and you’re covered in dust. Not to mention your fiancé has been wandering the castle like a lost soul because you didn’t come to greet him.” “He’s not my fiancé!” Hyunjin protested, groaning as he slowly eased himself out of the cramped bookshelf nook, his joints creaking in protest. Seungmin made no move to help him.

“Visiting prince who your parents are ‘suggesting’ you marry, same difference,” Seungmin said, looking as if he was holding back a laugh as Hyunjin finally stood to meet his eyes, his face red from the sudden blood rush and his long hair tossed haphazardly in his face. With a fond smile, Seungmin picked a few dust bunnies out of Hyunjin’s long hair like he’d done many times before, adjusting the prince’s hair so it was back in the neat half ponytail he normally kept it in. “Let’s go, Prince Dust Bunny, you should wash up before dinner. Wouldn’t want to make a bad impression on your future husband.”

“That ship has long since sailed,” Hyunjin grumbled, following Seungmin with heavy footsteps as they made their way out of the library.

“What’s with the book, by the way?” Seungmin asked as they were almost at the grand doors of the library, only sparing a cursory glance back at Hyunjin, who still had the book cradled in his arms like it was more precious than it probably was. “I’ve never seen you get more than ten pages into a book without giving up, you must have been really keen to avoid this prince.”

“Thought Yunho might like it,” Hyunjin mumbled reluctantly, having in fact brought the book with him instead of leaving it where he found it because he thought Seungmin’s boyfriend, the palace gardener, would enjoy its contents. Hyunjin knew Yunho hated reading, but he did enjoy hearing Seungmin read to him, something the gardener and the prince shared in common.

Seungmin’s retort died in his lips as a voice called out further down the hallway, “Prince Minho, we should really return to your chambers and wait to be summoned for dinner.”

Hyunjin froze, quickly thrusting the book in Seungmin’s direction, leaving the poor attendant to scramble to hold it properly. Approaching from the other end of the hallway at what could only be described as a leisurely stroll, was none other than the very person Hyunjin was trying to avoid, with a very flustered guard, one of Hyunjin’s own, trailing after him hopelessly.

Hyunjin hadn’t seen Prince Minho in years, but he looked the same, only more handsome, if that was possible. Minho had really grown into his features, much to Hyunjin’s annoyance, and his confident posture seemed to indicate that he knew it.

The winter prince was still frozen in place when Prince Minho and his escort’s path overlapped with his. Hyunjin was regretting not ducking into the nearest supply closet to hide, because Prince Minho looked even more beautiful up close. Warm brown hair, rosy red lips and chestnut brown eyes that narrowed upon seeing Hyunjin. Hyunjin had once known Minho well enough to know when the guarded expression he used with those he wasn’t close to fell over his features, and he could still see the moment it slipped into place as the Cerisian prince stopped in front of Hyunjin.

Hyunjin wanted nothing more than to avoid eye contact, so he let his eyes trail from the polished boots Prince Minho wore, to the silken white trousers, to the lavender silk robe and matching overcoat gilded in gold flowers. The garment was typical of Cerisian court attire, but he must have been freezing when he arrived. Hyunjin found he did not care about whether the other prince was cold on his journey or not when they finally met eyes, and the air around them was palpably tense.

Though equal in rank, it was customary for royals to bow to each other upon greeting as a sign of respect. Neither prince moved to bow, choosing instead to maintain prolonged eye contact. Hyunjin was the first to break, because even though he didn’t want to initiate contact, he knew he should based on the fact that he was the one hosting.

“Prince Minho,” Hyunjin said with the slightest inclination of his head toward the other royal, nothing close to the customary bow. He couldn’t bring himself to bow before the man who had been unkind to him for years, the other prince didn’t deserve that kind of respect. Out of the corner of his eye, he noticed Seungmin bristle slightly at his cold tone. It was not one he used often, usually reserved for courtiers who thought their status meant others should bend to their will, and Seungmin was unaccustomed to hearing it. The last time Hyunjin had seen Prince Minho had been long before Seungmin was promoted to be his personal attendant.

“Prince Hyunjin,” the spring prince replied, equally as frosty, his stare seeming to pierce through Hyunjin’s perfectly crafted cold persona that he adopted around the Cerisian prince, straight into his soul. He looked simultaneously menacing and bored, like he would rather be anywhere else in the four kingdoms. He probably did, Hyunjin knew that Prince Minho had accepted his invitation, but he didn’t know how much of that was the prince’s own will and how much of it was his parents’.

Suddenly, Prince Minho’s demeanour changed, his shoulders loosened as he blinked owlishly at Hyunjin, his gaze trained on Hyunjin’s hair.

“Is that… dust in your hair?” he asked, seeming almost amused.

Hyunjin’s eyes widened marginally, shifting his gaze to Seungmin, who had clearly missed a dust bunny in his tidying of his prince’s hair. Seungmin shrugged apologetically but utterly unhelpfully, leaving Hyunjin to fend for himself. Hyunjin took a look at the high, vaulted ceilings, almost as if begging the gods to help him come up with an answer, and failing that, his gaze trailed to the portraits of his ancestors that were lining the hallway in ten foot increments. Neither the gods nor his ancestors appeared to be on his side, because no answer came.

Squaring his shoulders, Hyunjin looked directly into Prince Minho’s piercing brown eyes before addressing him. “What’s it to you?” was the only thing that came out of his mouth, a childish response he would’ve expected to have given at the age of eight, not twenty two.

Frustrated and ashamed and utterly unwilling to let Prince Minho see the flush that was beginning to creep up his neck, Hyunjin surged forward, brushing past Minho with a brisk nod to his guard, Seonghwa. A baffled Seungmin was on his tail the entire time as the abashed prince rapidly made his way back to his chambers to wallow in peace.

Prince Minho of Cerasus arrived at Icehaven Palace in the middle of a blizzard, after eighteen days of travelling across the continent on horseback. To say he was exhausted would be an understatement. He was unaccustomed to long distance travel, only travelling between cities and towns within his own kingdom, and occasionally to Celosia. But neither Cerasus nor Celosia had weather quite this terrible. Minho had never encountered such weather before, and he now understood why the Mahonian king and queen always made the journey to his kingdom instead of asking him and his parents to visit them here. Minho was quite convinced that if he had to live here for any extended period of time, he’d want to get away whenever he could as well.

His reception was nice enough, the queen greeted him personally in the expansive main hall of the castle, fussing over his tired appearance and snow-covered form. He was assigned a personal guard, as all of his had returned to his kingdom upon abandoning him in a kingdom he had never been to with people he hardly knew (he definitely wasn’t harbouring a lifelong grudge against each and every one of those guards and their descendants), and a personal attendant for his stay in Icehaven Palace. They both seemed nice enough, and were both around his age which would be nice for a change. Many of the guards in Minho’s palace were in their thirties or older, and while they were interesting to be around, Minho did not have the chance to spend time with many people his age.

The guard was a slim but imposing figure, seeming to tower over Minho and looking like he was taking account of every breath Minho took with his wide but piercing eyes, which was a little unnerving, honestly. He was introduced as Lieutenant Park Seonghwa, one of Prince Hyunjin’s personal guards who had been reassigned to Minho for the duration of his stay. If the lieutenant was upset about this assignment, Minho could not tell. The attendant was introduced as Yang Jeongin, who apparently knew all of the ins and outs of the castle and would be able to secure Minho whatever his heart desired, within reason. Minho was polite to his new companions, as he was raised to do, but he wondered all the while how long it would take for him to evade his new shadows and be able to roam the castle without feeling like he was being kept prisoner.

In the meantime, Minho would have to make do with the situation he was in, so he politely excused himself from the queen, though she was very insistent that he wait just a few moments longer in case her son decided to show up, but it had been abundantly clear to Minho as soon as he stepped in the castle and was greeted only by the queen and a handful of staff members that Prince Hyunjin was not going to grace them with his presence any time soon.

After Minho insisted on making his leave, Jeongin led him to the chambers where he would be staying for the month he had to live there as Seonghwa carried the small sack of Minho’s belongings he had brought from home. The chambers were well-decorated and nearly as big as his chambers back home, he could tell it was one of the ones meant for important guests.

The main room had a small sitting area to the right of the door, in front of a fireplace, which Jeongin had rushed in to light as soon as they arrived. The bed against the left wall was massive, much bigger than the one Minho had at home, because he hated feeling small in such a large bed. It was dressed in indigo silk sheets, with a gold brocade on the comforter and pillows. Minho smiled, recognizing the set as a gift from his parents to the Mahonian king and queen many years ago. Minho’s kingdom was the primary exporter of silk across the continent, so it was a safe bet that most if not all of the silk in the castle had been produced in his kingdom.

Though the bedding was familiar to him, the room also had more animal hides and pelts than Minho had ever seen gathered in one place before. He supposed it was only logical, as they would need to keep warm somehow in the frigid winter kingdom, but Minho shuddered nonetheless at the sight of a particularly realistic white pelt laying across the back of one of the chairs that must have belonged to an arctic fox at some point.

Probably interpreting his disquieted shudder as a shiver of cold, Jeongin appeared at Minho’s side, wiping the soot from his hands on a white handkerchief with the blue and gold kingdom crest embroidered on it.

“Would you like me to draw you a bath, Your Highness?” the attendant asked, reaching to help Minho out of the heavy winter cloak he had purchased specifically for this journey. Minho obliged, letting the sharp-eyed man take the cloak off of his shoulders.

“That would be nice, thank you, Jeongin. And you may call me Minho, I do not require honourifics when we are away from the public eye. The same goes for you,” he said, turning to address Seonghwa, who was in the process of placing Minho’s bag in the armoire that was to the left of the door, parallel to the bed. The lieutenant paused, his brows furrowed and wide eyes full of confusion as he pointed to himself as if to say “Me?”

Minho let out a laugh at seeing the man’s previously intimidating face shift into such an innocent-looking one. “Yes, you. I estimate we are all about the same age, and I don’t have the luxury of being surrounded by people my age when I am at home. So please, refer to me comfortably.”

As Seonghwa stood there, still dumbfounded, Jeongin piped up brightly “Alright! Minho it is! How would you like your bath?”

“So scalding my skin turns concerningly red and I have a reason to miss dinner,” Minho replied with a deadpan look on his face. Minho had come to accept that his humour was doomed to be criminally underappreciated, but to his surprise, Jeongin’s face broke out in a gleeful dimpled smile as he scurried off in the direction of the bathing room that lay beyond the bedroom.

“You got it, boss!” the young attendant exclaimed, sounding slightly too excited about the prospect of drawing Minho the hottest bath he’d ever been in. A surprised laugh bubbled out of Minho’s chest. He could learn to like it here.

A long bath that left him smelling so floral it reminded him of home and a short nap later, Minho decided to dress himself and wander the castle a bit before dinner. Jeongin had disappeared from his room before his nap, after unpacking Minho’s bag and steaming all of his clothes free of wrinkles and hanging them up in the armoire, a task he did not have to do but did nonetheless. Minho had a feeling the attendant would insist on doing many more things for him over the course of his stay, even though Minho was used to pretty much being left alone at home. Minho wasn’t sure if all personal attendants were this dedicated, as he had not had one since he had nannies as a child, or if Jeongin was just a special brand of enthusiastic.

Nonetheless, Minho was able to leave his room with one less shadow than he had entered it with, only Seonghwa, who had been posted outside of his door, following him now as he wandered aimlessly throughout the cavernous halls of the castle.

The layout was considerably different from Minho’s home, with tall sandstone walls and arched doorways and ceilings, instead of the bamboo walls and ornately painted tiered ceilings Minho was accustomed to. He had expected to be cold in the castle walking around in his Cerisian attire, since the place was made almost entirely of stone, but he actually felt strangely warm. Not uncomfortably so, but enough to make Minho question exactly how the castle was being heated, as the small torches mounted on the walls appeared to be more for lighting than heating.

Now that he thought about it, Minho remembered feeling warmer as soon as he set foot within the palace boundaries. Granted, it had still been cold, because there was still snow everywhere and Minho apparently had delicate Cerisian sensibilities, but to the best of his memory, he had started to warm up as soon as he entered the palace’s outer boundaries, not its walls.

Minho’s thoughts were broken as he became aware of two things at once. First, Seonghwa’s presence only a couple of paces behind him, much closer than the trailing distance he’d been maintaining up until now. It appeared Seonghwa had been trying to get his attention, which he would have succeeded in doing, had something, or rather someone, not immediately grabbed Minho’s attention as soon as he spotted them. Second, walking closer to him and looking in any direction other than Minho, which let the older know immediately that he was being avoided, was none other than the Ice Prince, Hwang Hyunjin.

Given that the other prince had not received him despite personally inviting him, Minho had an inkling that Hyunjin had been actively trying to avoid him, and would likely scurry away immediately upon making contact, as he had often done when they were children. Which was why Minho, despite having initially paused upon spotting Hyunjin, continued his leisurely stroll down the hallway, making sure to keep his eyes on Hyunjin the entire time, so that if the other prince looked in his direction he would be forced to make eye contact.

When they inevitably did make eye contact, Minho stopped where he stood and schooled his expression into the bored one he used when the ladies who worked at the soup kitchen would try to set him up with their sons and daughters, even though he was secretly delighted at the fact that this eye contact appeared to be making Prince Hyunjin squirm.

Certain that the Ice Prince would run away at any moment, Minho made no move to bow. He did not want to embarrass himself in front of his new guard or the attendant by Hyunjin’s side when he was left in a perfectly polite ninety degree bow in the direction of the space the younger prince had occupied before fleeing.

“Prince Minho,” Hyunjin spoke first, startling Minho so much that his careful mask almost slipped. He had not expected the Mahonian prince to speak to him at all, though the level of frostiness in his tone was not surprising in the slightest.

“Prince Hyunjin,” Minho returned, fighting to match the cold tone with his own that he was quite unaccustomed to using. Hyunjin had changed drastically since the last time Minho had seen him.

He had frustratingly grown to be what looked to be a couple of inches taller than Minho, but luckily they were not standing close enough that Minho had to look up to him. He was sure he’d die if that happened. His face had lost nearly all of its dumpling-like softness that Minho had once fussed over for hours when they were children, and was now angular in a very flattering way, making him look all the more like the Ice Prince he was said to be. His hair was also much longer than Minho had ever seen it, long enough to be kept in a short ponytail, with only a few wisps falling out, and… “Is that… dust in your hair?” The question slipped out before Minho could stop it, but he found himself unable to regret it once he saw the look of panic flash across Hyunjin’s face. It made him look more real, much more like the Hyunjin he once knew.

“What’s it to you?” the younger prince blurted, before his eyes widened and he darted past Minho, who could only sigh as he watched him leave. Definitely like the Hyunjin he once knew.

After the mess he had made of himself in the hallway, Hyunjin did not want to attend dinner, begging Seungmin to say he had a stomachache and would be retiring early. It wasn’t a complete lie, as Hyunjin’s stomach felt as uneasy as it had used to feel on the boat rides they used to take to Cerasus when he was a child. But Seungmin refused to lie for him, and said that he would not bring him food later on if he skipped dinner, knowing quite well that Hyunjin had not eaten all afternoon and was likely starving.

Seungmin’s persuasion unfortunately worked, so Hyunjin found himself seated across from Minho at the long but mostly empty dinner table, his mother having given up her usual spot next to the king so that the two could sit opposite each other. She seemed quite fond of Minho, asking him many questions about his travels and his life back in Cerasus, but Hyunjin tuned most of it out, focusing only on his dinner. He tried not to eat too much, but he was really starving and ended up being the last one to finish eating, well after everyone else had finished.

After Minho excused himself abruptly but politely and retired to his chambers with Jeongin and Seonghwa on his heels, Hyunjin’s mother shifted back into her usual chair so she could glare at her son properly.

“What was that?” she questioned, taking a sip of her plum wine as she stared daggers at her son over the rim of her goblet.

“I don’t know what you’re talking about,” Hyunjin mumbled around a large bite of persimmon tart.

“Manners, Hwang Hyunjin,” his mother snapped, like he was five years old again. Heat rose to Hyunjin’s face as he forced himself to swallow the pastry with a sip of plum wine to wash it down. The sweetness of the wine cancelled out the sweetness of the dessert, leaving his mouth with a bitter taste in it, but Hyunjin couldn’t bring himself to eat or drink anything more now that his parents seemed set on interrogating him.

“Why do you insist on giving our guest, your guest, the cold shoulder?” his mother questioned. Hyunjin looked to his father for help, but the king seemed very interested in the contents of his wine goblet, swirling it counterclockwise and decidedly avoiding inserting himself in the conversation.

“He’s mean to me,” Hyunjin grumbled, hating how much he sounded like a petulant child.

“Have you even spoken to him since he arrived?” the queen retorted.

“Well-” Hyunjin started, before deciding that the interaction in the hallway did not count as a conversation. “No, but-”

“But what, Hwang Hyunjin?” his mother sighed. Hyunjin remained quiet, because he did not have a way to end that sentence that would not result in his mother scolding him more. He could tell she was starting to get frustrated with him as her nails were tapping rhythmically against the cherry wood table.

The king chimed in now, placing his hand placatingly on top of his wife’s to stop the tapping. “All we ask is that you try to speak with him, Hyunjin. Perhaps he’s changed since the last time you saw him. Think about how out of his element he must feel here. It needs to be you who reaches out.” Hyunjin knew his father was right, but he hated it. He would rather walk through a blizzard in nothing but his undergarments than be the one to break the years-long tension between him and Prince Minho, but he had made a promise to his parents, after all, and he couldn’t let them down.

Masterlist.

Taglist: @wooyussy @saltyone101 @burningupp

#skz fic #stray kids fic #skz au #danceracha fic #hyunho fic #skz royal au #skz fantasy au #stray kids angst #hyunjin fanfic #lee know fanfic #stray kids series #felix fanfic #hyunlix fic #minlix fic

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ninjaturtlemaniac · 4 months

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Part 1 Trolls Headcanons/ Theories/ Thoughts/ Ideas

Part2 Part3 Part4 Part5 Part6 Part7 Part8 Part9 Part10

Trolls - in general Trolls are pretty rare outside their usual kingdoms and it's considered good luck to meet one.

Brozone - drastically changed their looks coz they hate that they used to dress the same.

Bruce - one of those dads who would get a new barbeque and show off all the cool features to the other local dads.

Bruce - "No kids, we're not keeping that stray animal, end of story, no way..." - 1 week later and he's giving it kisses and building it an over the top kennel with a heated blanket and a water fountain.

Bruce - (canon?) carried all their eggs, indirect reason why his hair is so big. (Side note - I read somewhere someone called all their kids 'The Bakers Dozen' and I frigging love that)

Floyd - solo career after he left Brozone - all his songs were PINK FLOYD SONGS! (Maybe that could've been his stage name?)

Floyd - his hair is naturally pink but JD made him make it redder because 'we're a boyband and pink is a girls colour'

John Dory - has embarrassing baby pictures of his brothers as leverage

John Dory - over-exaggerates his retellings of stories "I fought off 30 no no no 40 snakes with one hand behind my back."

John Dory - always casually asking Poppy, Brandy and Viva to marry him, over small things too "Brandy, these pancakes are delicious, marry me."

Clay - writes long and very detailed critical reviews of restaurants

Clay - has reading glasses. Probably the ones that attach magnetically at the nose ridge.

Clay - labels everything (labelmaker is to Clay as Gary is to Branch)

Clay - very into color coded itineraries and always know everyone's business "Poppy is currently at Smidge's pod doing her hair" "How could you possibly know that?" "I have my sources."

Clay - also a notary and registered marriage celebrant

Clay - hair was always naturally green but JDs hair was already green. JD said he had to be yellow for the band, they needed that color coordinated group vibe.

Clay - has drafts for his own book series

Clay - actually plays golf

Clay - gets clumsy when trying to impress someone he admires (imagine him meeting King Peppy and he just knocks things over)

Clay - competitive af - brothers know better than to verse him at anything - has an over the top victory dance

Viva - that concept art of tiny Viva is the age she was when they escaped the Troll Tree. So like 15 maybe?

Viva - wants to make up for all the missed holidays/birthdays/parties with Poppy so she is constantly popping out from places with gifts yelling SURPRISE!

Branch - for Pop Trolls - being in a famous singing group is the equivalent of being a recognized expert in your field. So the fact that Branch is in TWO famous boy bands is like he has several PhDs.

Branch - Kismet formed inside a group home for Trollings

Poppy and Vivas mother - my theory is that they managed to keep princess Viva a secret from the Bergens. They chose the Queen for Trollstice when they discovered what they thought was her first egg. The Troll Tree escape plan came about when Chef promised the new royal trolling for the young Bergen prince.

#trolls #dreamworks trolls #trolls floyd #trolls john dory #trolls branch #trolls brozone #trolls viva #trolls clay #trolls bruce #trolls queen poppy #queen poppy

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causeilikelix · 11 months

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Stray Kids Soulmate Smut Au Series

Member Scenarios (warnings tbd)

If you'd like to be added to the taglist for the whole series or just individual fics, please leave me a comment or shoot me an ask!

I have no posting schedule at the moment, all I know is that I'll be writing Felix's last because I know myself and I'll get carried away.

Synopsis under the cut:

In the magical world of soulmates, you can begin looking for them when you turn 21. Once you touch them, the overwhelming urge to consummate the union takes over you until you fulfill the desire.

Bang Chan (18+)

Bodyguard x bratty, younger ward au

Chan is your bodyguard who is determined to keep you out of trouble and protect you from those who want to use you to get to your rich and powerful father. The only problem? Trouble is your middle name. Going out to clubs and getting random guys to grind up on you is one of your favorite pastimes and Chan has to go along with it. You love how he gets gruff and protective when other people put their hands on you. With your 21st birthday creeping up on you, these outings get more dangerous since anyone could be your soulmate. On the fateful night of your 21st birthday, you go out to dance and when you dance with the wrong person, Chan isn’t so sure he can keep his hands off you much longer.

Minho (18+)

Prince x Maid, Bridgerton era au

Part One:

Everyone in the ton is invited to the final tea party before the Queen announces who will be the lucky lady betrothed to Prince Minho. Everyone except the help, of course. It is the final opportunity for eligible ladies of age to meet with the prince to determine if they are soulmates. The lady you work for has managed to get you into the tea because she’s not interested in the prince and would rather spend time with you. Bored, you wander around the gardens and you run into a young man who also seems to want to escape. After some banter, you touch accidentally and you realize this man is your soulmate. Once you consummate the union, you have to rush away to find your lady in time for the introduction of the prince, only to find out that you just fucked him behind a hedge. And how he can’t take his eyes off you.

How will you survive if he’s supposed to marry someone else?

Part Two:

Prince x betrothed sister, 40s Italy, past lives au

You are a noble lady who is not quite ready to enter society, being just under 21. Your older sister, however, is out and your family is in talks with the royal family to betrothe her to the prince if they cannot find his soulmate by the final masquerade ball of the summer. Luckily, you have no interest in marriage or soulmates, mostly because you think you’ve found yours already.

In a lonely bookshop that very few frequent, you’ve been sharing secret notes with another reader of your favorite poetry book. You can’t remember how it began, but all you know is that you have been corresponding anonymously with someone through notes hidden in books and you may be falling in love. Your multiple attempts to discover the identity of the person have all failed. Including promising to be at the bookstore on your birthday instead of at the ball.

On the night of the masquerade and your 21st birthday, your sister discovers her soulmate in someone else and begs you to take her place. You’re torn but ultimately agree. You dress up in your sister's gown, don your mask, and attend. While you’re there, you see Prince Minho mingling with other guests and when you lock eyes you get the sinking suspicion that you’ve met him before…

Changbin (18+)

Brothers best friend x reader college au

Your older brother, Chan, and your neighbor, Changbin, have been best friends since they were kids. You were just Chan’s little sister for years so you thought that Changbin would never look at you twice, which made your crush on him that much more difficult. Especially since you eventually developed a friendship with the three of you. Halfway through high school, your family moved away for your dad’s job but you went back to college in your hometown.

Low and behold, you run into Changbin again and your friendship picks up right where it left off. The two of you reminisce and he invites you to his place to play Mario Kart and watch Jurassic Park, just like old times. The entire time you’re at his apartment Changbin is nervous around you and you wonder why until you beat him at Mario Kart and tackle him in victory.

Changbin finds himself torn… between his soulmate and his best friend.

Hyunjin (18+)

Rich CEO x Assistant reader au

You and your boss have been exceedingly careful. Hwang Hyunjin is rich and successful and gorgeous and every single woman in his company envies your position, allowing you to be close to such an immaculate being. You, however, find it very stressful. Since you’re both successful adults who haven’t yet found your soulmates, you have to be very careful and go to extreme lengths on occasion to keep from touching. You can’t let love get in the way of your work. It doesn’t stop you from trying to quietly entice him. You often wear borderline sexy outfits to work with the hopes that one day your hot boss will finally touch you to at least see if you’re soulmates, but he’s so hot that you can’t help but feel aroused in his presence. You simply wouldn’t know until then.

One day, Hyunjin has a photoshoot and interview for a high fashion magazine and he looks incredibly delectable. You stay nearby in case he needs something but you keep to your own work. While he’s getting pictures taken, the director gives him a prompt and asks him to think about something that makes him hot. The director wants to sell sex for this collection. When you look up, Hyunjin is staring straight at you and you are not sure how much longer you can keep your hands to yourself.

Jisung (18+)

College student Jisung x slightly older college student barista reader au

Han Jisung is the bane of your existence. You’re both in the same major so you take a lot of the same classes and it’s as if he made it his personal mission to annoy you every time he sees you. He must, because he does. He does it in small ways, like asking you dumb questions during class just to get you riled up, stealing your pens, and overall being a nuisance. Why does he pay so much attention to you?

One day while you’re working at the coffee shop you’re the manager of, Jisung comes in for some coffee and specifically requests for you to make it. Despite the fact that you’re absolutely slammed, you have to comply. You make his drink and pass it to him, not realizing that your fingers brush in the process. Jisung’s demeanor changes immediately, instantly getting a little more serious. You continue working through the rush, wondering why suddenly you feel the intense urge to rail Jisung into the next century.

Closing suddenly can’t come fast enough.

Lee Felix Yongbok (18+)

Professor x graduate student au

Professor Lee’s class is one of the most coveted on campus. It fits into multiple fields of study and even the undergrad students desperately want a chance to take a class with him, even though he only teaches at the master level. You finally get a chance to take his class, lucky since it’s required for you major, and you realize why everyone wants to take his class.

He’s intelligent, he’s fun, he’s charismatic, and he’s positively stunning. He’s easily the most beautiful man you’ve ever laid your eyes on. And even you you’re initially hesitant to act like all the other students in the class and fight for his attention and a chance to touch him just to see if he’s theirs, you find yourself dressing up as well. Not to impress him! Not at all.

One day during class, he asks a few people to collect the paper that is due and you happen to be one of the people he calls on. You gather the papers and ignore the ugly looks from all the others who wish they were in your position. Professor Lee is teaching with no care in the world until you trip on the bottom stair. Papers go flying and your cheeks burn. Professor Lee gasps and helps you gather them while making sure you’re okay.

Without thinking, you reach for one of the papers at the same time and your fingers brush. Felix looks at you, eyes dark and he dismisses class without looking away from you. The class is silent for a moment before he finally tears his eyes away from you. His demeanor changes and he tells the entire class to leave unless they want to fail. You begin to scramble away to follow his orders like an obedient little girl but you freeze when he locks you in his gaze again and rasps: “Not you.”

Seungmin (18+ suggestive)

Lawyer x Lawyer au. Suggestive, no full smut

You and Seungmin have been rivals since law school. Always trying to best each other in your final grades, who got to be valedictorian (it was you), and the most important: who wins the most cases. For years, you two have been working for different law firms in the same building and have been keeping a tally of who wins what.

One day you are pitted against one another in a heated divorce case. Not your usual type of case, but you took it in order to be against Seungmin. The case is emotional and dramatic and you find yourself arguing so intensely that the judge orders a break. You both storm off to the break rooms to console your clients but the hallway is too narrow and for the first time in all these years, you brush arms.

The arousal is instantaneous and you look at each other in equal surprise. You each go to your separate chambers to calm your clients down before you excuse yourself. You seek him out, looking into each office until suddenly someone grabs your arm and pulls you into an empty conference room.

Of all people, why did it have to be him?

Jeongin (18+ Suggestive)

Tattoo artist x client au. Suggestive, no full smut.

You are too innocent for your own good. Jeongin recognizes this in you the second you walk into his tattoo shop in your short pastel skirt and matching top. You ask him if he has time to do a simple tattoo of a line-art flower on your thigh. Obsessed with you already, Jeongin quickly reschedules his next appointment and invites you in. As the only artist in his shop, he can pretty much do whatever he wants. The walls are covered in his art and you know you’ve come to the right place. You discuss the tattoo you want, you fill out the paperwork, and sit down in the chair while he prepares the stencil.

The second his fingers graze your thigh to put the stencil on, several things become apparent to you all at once. First, he’s the hottest guy you’ve ever seen. Second is that this hot guy is your soulmate and you can tell by the stickiness growing between your legs. The third and most important thing?

You forgot to put on underwear this morning.

And Jeongin?

He can definitely smell it.

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sailorrlino · 11 months

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Crown | One | (lmh)

𓆩⟡𓆪 Pairing: Lee Minho x reader

𓆩⟡𓆪 Summary: The prince of the Unseelie Court has a single job: find a suitable marriage to strengthen the ties of his court and to keep the peace of the city. But when he stumbles across you at a bar and feels the thread between you form, Minho knows immediately that he’s found his other half, his mate. When he comes across you again at the ball meant to find his marriage match, disaster ensues and the fight for his crown begins.

𓆩⟡𓆪 Word Count: 8,542

𓆩⟡𓆪 Genre: Urban Fantasy | Soulmates | Angst |

𓆩⟡𓆪 Rating: 18+ Minors are strictly prohibited from engaging and reading this content. It contains explicit content and any minors discovered reading or engaging with this work will be blocked immediately.

𓆩⟡𓆪 Warnings: Explicit language, worldbuilding, talks of politics and social economic issues, slight depictions of anxiety, Minho and reader both are very cranky and overall don't have great outlooks on life, depictions of blood and core, violent action scenes, really creepy creatures idk, mentions of a deceased parent and mild references to childhood trauma (more like a suggestion that reader had a rough childhood) and Minho ruminates on some family obligations

𓆩⟡𓆪 A/N: This chapter took so much longer to write than I thought that it was going to but it is finally here. I have been super nervous about it and I kept editing it over and over again because the later half with the action/magic sequences were really giving me trouble. I don't usually struggle this much, but writing has been super hard which is also why I somehow managed to write something under 10k for the first time in what feels like a year? Also, the creatures mentioned here are inspired by displacer beasts in D&D in look/aesthetic only. I hope you enjoy my little fantasy world that I have been obsessing over - I am really excited to be writing this and cannot wait to delve into the plot fully. I have some really fun and crazy things planned!

𓆩⟡𓆪 Disclaimer: All members of Stray Kids are faces and name claims for this story. This is entirely a work of fiction and by no means is meant to be a projection, judgment or representation of real-life people. Any scenarios or representations of the people and places mentioned in works are not representative of real-life scenarios.

⟡ Main Masterlist ⟡ Series Masterlist ⟡ Playlist ⟡ Ask ⟡ Next Chapter

If there's one thing I am sure of, I am sure that you have always belonged with me. -AKIF KICHLOO

It’s going to be a bad day. To be fair, it usually is. This time, though, Minho wakes with premonition sweat on the back of his neck and a spark of magic at his fingers, brought to life by whatever nightmare plagued him just moments before.

His worst days always start like this: a nightmare that feels more than just a dream but he cannot remember, sitting right on the edge of his vision, watching from the shadows. Sweat slips down his back, the touch of a reaper’s finger. Magic crackles at his fingertips, ready to protect himself.

The dreams themselves don’t happen that often, but they happen enough that Minho’s looked into them. He’s asked the royal family Lorist about dreams numerous times. Seungmin is tricky, though, his words and explanations twisting and never really landing in anything that feels meaningful. Still, Minho remembers the way that Seungmin’s tricky chatter quieted when he told him about the dreams, the way the Lorist’s mirth faded, replaced with something darker before returning to his usual, smirking self.

Peeling the sheets off of sweat-slick skin, Minho sits up. The world tilts, spinning unbalanced on its axis as he recovers from the dream. He leans forward, elbows pressed into the tops of his knees, and hangs his head down, taking in a deep breath. He remembers that the Lorist told him a calm, quiet mind was the best tool for remembering what is just beyond one’s reach.

Minho tries and fails. His mind hasn’t been quiet in years and he doesn’t suppose it ever will be.

Rain paints the glass of the floor-to-ceiling windows in front of his bed. This high up in the building, the clouds darken the windows with a frosty glaze and the rain freezes, spider webbing once it hits the cool glass. The sun is hidden behind darker, thicker clouds somewhere in the east. He thinks he won’t see it today.

Not that he minds the rain, usually. Stratos is a city of rain, the epicenter of unusual weather and lightning storms charged with the earth's natural magic. Minho can feel it humming in the air beyond the window as he walks barefoot and unsteady to the bathroom, eager to throw cold water on his face.

Cool water spills from the wall in the bathroom. The wall is hewn rock and living lichen, glowing mushroom caps, and other fauna and flora that glow in the darkness where they thrive. The water spilling from the wall is always bitter, fresh and invigorating, waking him up further as he splashes his face. He’s unsure of the system of portals and ley lines that makes his home full of pieces of his home here, in the apartment building he pays too much coin for, but it’s a nice touch, to feel the bite of the river from home.

Home.

The apartment building in the sky isn’t home. Not really. It’s a place that gives him space and the agency to be himself and do what he wants, but home is a faraway dimension that he hasn’t seen since he was five. Home is now one of the Burned Kingdoms, fallen away to ash and ruin.

Except for the Gwy, this river that streams through the worlds. Through his childhood bedroom. Through the room reserved for him at the Unseelie Court, through many worlds and other places. There are other names for it, he knows, this river that runs through the entire world and other worlds. But it’s always been the Gwy to him, cold and sweet-tasting.

It is one of the few memories of home he has, beyond the burning and the carnage. He tries not to think about that as he leaves, grabbing his tablet by the desk and flicking upward. His windows darken, muting the frosty rain in favor of moving pictures and screens.

One panel of glass displays the news. Another panel brings up messages and an agenda for the day. He purposely doesn’t look at the agenda, tapping the tablet to bring up his recent messages, which are most notably from Chan.

Chan: Jeongin and I will be escorting you tonight. No giving the kid a hard time, this is training.

Chan: And before you ask, yes this is low-risk enough for him to be on duty for. No I will not hear any complaints as the captain of your guard. Yes, I think that he will be nervous and awkward.

Chan: Do not let Changbin bully his way into joining us.

Chan: This is a gala not a party.

Changbin: Tell the illustrious Captain Bang to let me fucking go tonight. The kid won’t even get to enjoy the fact that it’s a party.

Changbin: I don’t care what Chan says, it’s a ball and it’s got drinks and shit, it’s basically a party. Even if it’s fancy.

Blowing out a sigh, Minho pinches the bridge of his nose. He doesn’t want to think about the gala tonight. Does not want to think about how once more his mother is going to push him into suitable marriage options, insisting that the world is going to end if they do not ally themselves with a suitable powerhouse in the city.

It’s both true and untrue. Minho knew from a young age he would always have to fill obligations as the heir to the Unseelie throne. He would never get to have a life outside of politics and trickery and diamond-studded niceties. Yet despite his loyalty to his court and the fastness at which he obeys, there is something rearing inside of him that screams there is more there is more there is more.

Minho doesn’t know where this comes from, this little sliver of him. He’s been an obedient and resolute child since birth - painfully so, according to most of the courtiers. And yet there is this tiny thread that unspools inside of him once in a while, filling him with doubt and chaos and thoughts that perhaps rebelling, that stepping away from his loyalties wouldn’t be the end of the world.

Perhaps there is something out there in the world calling to you, Seungmin had said one night over a glass of wine. His eyes had been twinkling and there was a little secret smirk on his face. Perhaps it is a part of you that exists elsewhere.

Minho has no fucking idea what the Lorist means. He rarely does. Seungmin’s existence in the court is purely out of traditions to the old ways. Hundreds of years ago, he would have been a seneschal and something like a seer. Now, with the watered-down blood of the fae, Seungmin is little more than a showy novelty hidden in the astronomy tower of the Unseelie Court.

Still, Minho likes him. Likes the way that they feel like friends, in a way. Doesn’t always mind that the Lorist talks in circles when giving advice, but is quite normal when he wants to play video games and frustrate the rest of them with his cheating.

Honey-scented coffee reaches Minho as he leaves the bedroom, still dressed in nothing but sweatpants hung low on his hips. Felix is in the kitchen, a hot mug of coffee floating toward Minho. His lips twitch as he reaches out for it, plucking the mug from the air. It resits a little before Felix’s magic lets it go.

“Good morning, finish that fast. We have your suit fitting to get to.” Felix’s deep voice is a stark contrast to his elegant features. He turns to look at Minho with a smile, his eyes the color of emeralds. “I put it on your calendar that you probably ignored.”

“I didn’t ignore the calendar.”

Felix hums, turning back around. His blonde hair is pushed back, mullet-style, and soft looking. He’s already dressed for the day in jeans and a cable knit sweater, his bag laying across the counter where his tablet lights up with notifications.

“So you were just afraid of a specific event on your calendar,” Felix supplies. Minho winces and sips the coffee. It is perfectly flavored with sweet cream and hints of honey, his favorite. “Either way, we need to get to Almas early. You know she doesn’t like to be kept waiting.”

Lifting a hand, Felix snaps his fingers once. There’s a spark as green as his eyes between them and a scone appears in front of Minho. He plucks it out of the air, eyeing the witch whose back is turned to him. Felix’s magic always leaves the scent of cinnamon when he uses it, singing Minho’s nose.

“Thanks,” he deadpans, tearing into the scone with his teeth. “Can you order a box of those chocolates that Jeongin likes from Sprinkled Sprite? He’s on duty tonight training with Chan. I’d like to give him a gift.”

“How kind of you.”

Minho heads back to his room to change. “It’s not from me,” he corrects, even though Felix is already scoffing as he turns and begins tapping on his tablet. “Please address it from the royal family, Felix.”

“Uh huh.”

In his room, Minho gets dressed, eyes on the screen as the news blares on, red font swiping across the screen for an emergency announcement. His brows pull together, eyes fixed on the images in front of him as he buttons his shirt from bottom to top, fingers nimble.

A reporter is on the scene, holographic caution tape flashing in the rain behind her. Minho thinks she’s a werewolf from the amber color of her eyes and claw-tipped fingers, but he looks away from her to focus on the flurry of activity behind her where nephilim police keep people on the other side talking to one another as rain slicks off their police-issued coats.

“Another grisly murder in the third floor of this apartment building,” the reporter says, speaking loud enough that the mic can pick up her voice over the tap tap tap of the deluge. “Located in downtown in the Lethe sector, it’s the second murder in recent weeks, coming days after a brutal crime scene just three blocks down. Is it a coincidence? Is it the start of a serial killer? SPD says it's too early to tell.”

The TV turns off and Minho looks at where Felix is standing in the doorway, green eyes fixed on the now empty windows. He flicks his gaze to Minho and offers him a tight-lipped smile. “Perhaps best not to start the morning with such dreadful news.”

“I’m going to have to hear about it anyway. The daemons are pushing for an audience. They say the reported murder wasn’t the first and that this has been going on for weeks.”

“Well, then the queen will take an audience with them if she feels it’s necessary.” Minho eyes Felix, but there’s no emotion on the witch’s face. “Ready to go?”

Minho flexes his fingers and rolls his shoulders. “Yes.”

You’re going to have a bad day. You knew it when you woke up on the edge of a dream that left you sweat-slick and short of breath. The dream hovered right on the edge of your mind, slipping through your grasp like grains of sand as you tried to dig and pull the memories back.

It’s always like this. Waking up from something you can’t remember, carrying around the dregs of a nightmare with you all day. You always feel hollow after, like something terrible has happened but you can’t recall what. Can’t place the feeling of the shadow that slinks from your dreamscape into your waking hours, watching and waiting until you fall asleep again.

The bad day comes for you like you knew it would. You’re going to be late to work. Again. It’s a condition that the public transportation system has made incurable. Buses are always behind, the subway is only reliable from midtown to uptown, and the only carpooling services here are run by the pixies who are too easily distracted by lights to get you where you’re going on time. Especially in the Lethe sector.

Jisung will just have to cover for you like he always does. He’s good at that, turning on the vila charm and glittering smile. It’s useful, having him to count on. You feel a little bad about it, but you make up for your lack of timeliness in other ways like making sure he doesn’t get the shit beat out of him when he takes on dangerous clients, his knife in the dark.

Still, as the rain pours down on your coat and the street's drain systems fail, causing water to surge around your ankle along with the garbage clogging the drains in the first place, you wonder if he’ll ever get tired of covering for you.

A cat yowls and runs down an alleyway as you walk by, startling you. Pulling your jacket closer, you keep your eyes lingering in the shadows of each alley you pass. Your dagger is strapped to your calf under your pants, but you’re still wary walking down the streets in the pouring rain, especially now.

Murders happen in the Lethe sector all the time. You’re no stranger to that. You’re even responsible for a few of them. But the types of murders being whispered about in the circles that you pass and being murmured in the closed doors of the clubs is that something isn’t right. There is something moving through downtown, tearing creatures apart.

In a way, you’re unconcerned. As long as you and yours are safe and protected, it isn’t your business what is prowling through Lethe. As long as Hyunjin and Jisung are alive and healthy, you don’t particularly care to find out what’s murdering its way through apartment complexes.

Below the drowning surface of the streets is worse than above. Water runs down the steps of the subway like a waterfall, splashing out onto the floor before it spreads and eventually spills onto the tracks. There are wet floor signs everywhere as the subway androids drive around with mops, doing nothing but certainly trying to squeegee the water into drains.

You jump the pay meter, ignoring the way it blares red when you do so. The little androids are so worried about the deluge that they don’t turn at the sound of a payment being skipped, making you grin. Serves the transportation system right for charging you at all for something public.

The train car is full of soaked wet people huddling in seats. At least the air conditioning doesn’t work so you don’t have the sting of cold air clinging to your skin as you tuck yourself in an empty seat, trying to make yourself as small as possible.

At the end of the car is a group of solitary fae, heads tilted together and giggling over their phones. You watch them from the corner of your eye. They’re dressed mostly in black with merchandise from a vampire band you vaguely recognize.

Dropping your eyes to the ground, you stare at the scuffed shoes on your feet. You wonder what it’s like to go out to a concert with friends dressed in band tees and high on pre-concert adrenaline. When you go out with your friends, it’s to work. To watch Jisung bat his eyelashes and trade secrets and kisses for the elite who come from uptown to slum it without watchful eyes. To slip a knife between the ribs of someone who got a little too close, who was a little too rough. To get battered by Hyunjin as he tries to hone you into a warrior he so desperately tells you that you need to be.

With a heavy sigh, you lean back and close your eyes, pressing your head against the window. The rocking of the subway car on the tracks is gentle, soothing almost. As you sink into the exhaustion that pulls at your skin and bones with greedy hands, you slip away somewhere between wakefulness and sleep, a sort of in-between.

Here, in between, is where you feel the same thing you always do: a void. A missing piece. Something not right inside of you, like a lock with no key. For a long time, you thought that perhaps you were just built wrong. It was a good enough guess because you’re certainly not the kind of faerie that your mother’s court is proud of.

This feels deeper, though. Like there is something out there waiting for you, calling to you. Your father wasn’t helpful when you told him about this feeling of something waiting for you beyond, chalking it up with a tight smile and a mutter of the word destiny.

You don’t believe in destiny, though. There is nothing meant for anyone. People are born, things happen to them, then they die. Unless they’re immortal, which is pretty common in Stratos.

An announcement chimes above your head announcing a stop and you look up to see the group of solitary fae clambering to get off the car. As they pass, one of them turns to look at you. Their eyes are large and round, like a horse. One is crystal blue while the other is wholly black, no iris, no whites. You startle, recognizing the dark eye of a seer as the faerie stares at you with uncanny sharpness.

Something tingles at the back of your neck. The faerie doesn’t move and outside of the train car, their friends start to call their name, but the faerie is motionless, cocking their head and pinning you with that stare. Ice forms in your veins as their friends all turn to you, mouths going tight like they sense what's about to happen.

“Save Jeongin,” the faerie says, voice paper thin. They nod as if confirming what they’re telling you. “Save Jeongin, find the missing half.”

The words hit you with an invisible force. You squirm in your seat, watching as the faerie blinks, a little dazed. They turn on their heel and rush off the train just as the doors to the car shut and the train dings as it shoots forward again, leaving you staring at the shut doors.

Goosebumps break out over your arms. Something within you stirs, like a predestined feeling of knowing. Perhaps it's because the seer just told you something that is most likely valuable and a little haunting, but perhaps it's your instinct. Your father always said you had a preternatural instinct, a gut feeling about things that were beyond the normal predictiveness of the fae.

Swallowing hard, you lean back in your seat and fight a shiver. Jeongin. You have no idea who or what that is. The name means nothing to you, and you know a lot of names. You’re in the business of knowing names. You memorize the sound and shape of it, running over the faerie's instructions over and over until it's committed to memory to ask Jisung about it later.

Save Jeongin, find the missing half.

Anxiety creeps up your spine, walking its cool fingers up to the nap of your neck where it settles like a collar. You feel it squeeze as you replay the words over and over in your head. You have no idea what the ‘missing half’ is but it doesn’t feel good.

Cool air meets you when you step off the train and into the much drier air of the subway uptown. There are transportation workers here, dressed in all black with red sashes and polite smiles. Though the smell of rain rushes down the stairwell, there’s no deluge of water, no cloying scent of garbage.

Topside, the world is still covered by misty rain. At least the sidewalks aren’t swimming, rain rushing down the gutters with a loud roar as the storm drain systems operate. Umbrellas move along the sidewalk like beetles, their little black shells crawling along the evening foot traffic.

To your right, cars are lined up, occasionally beeping impatiently from people who are tired from their day working in the city and just want to go home. You wonder what it must be like, to wake up at the same time every morning and sit in a car for an hour to go to some flashy building uptown. Maybe you’d have a desk in a nice glass office and get to look out over the rest of the world, watching the people below you move like ants.

Or perhaps you’d be one of those workers who only worked until you found a wealthy partner to support you, becoming the trophy they could tout around at parties and drape in jewels. Then, your partner would slip down to downtown in the middle of the night and visit the seedy bars and clubs in the underbelly, where they would ultimately whore their way through the riff raff.

You grit your teeth. It always comes back to this, your dreams coming full circle to your reality. You’re not good at dreaming. Perhaps as a child, tucked against the small window at your father’s cafe you were a dreamer. Thought about what you might do with your life, what potential you might have.

That was snuffed out. No need to think about it, no need to lament over it.

The Glass Thorn Hotel stretches upward into the sky, iridescent and glowing from all of the hidden lights fixed to the building. It stands out among the rest of the city, a shining beacon of light among dark office windows. Crowds of people with their umbrellas press together behind red rope, watching the slow drag of cars come along to drop off the city's elite: government officials, royals, music idols, movie stars, business owners.

A car hits a puddle as you walk around the side of the building, splashing you from ankle to hip. You let out a frustrated yell. You were already wet from the knee down, but how you feel clammy near your ass as you hurry to the rear of the building, flashing your phone to show your ID and work badge at the door.

The Unseelie faerie at the door scrutinizes your ID, white eyes flickering from the glowing screen to your face. You grit your teeth and stare back at him, daring him to say something. His lips twitch in a frown before he hands you the phone back and opens the door further.

“Do dry off,” he murmurs, voice like velvet. “You’re dripping all over the place like a wild animal.”

“Noted,” you grit back, stepping inside.

The service hall is tight and bustling with activity. There’s an intention detector just ahead of you, a line of creatures going through and waiting for the thrumming energy field to buzz green. The detector is made up of two glass panes on either side of a carpet, flowing with magical energy as two armed vampires stand on either side.

Shoving your phone in your pocket, you ask for a towel to dry off, shivering in the cool of the hallway.

A scoff comes from behind you. You turn your head to the side a fraction, glancing at the security guard who shakes his head and mumbles something under his breath. Your hearing isn’t as sharp as a full-blooded fae, but you hear him well enough to know he calls you a half-breed.

You stiffen and turn forward, determined not to let it get to you. It isn’t the worst thing you’ve been called and it won’t be the last time you earn the name either. Your lack of magic has earned you snide glances your entire life. They have no idea that there is a river of magic running deep in you. It’s just inaccessible. Useless.

Passing through the intention detector is easy, though uncomfortable. The magic clings to your skin like tiny little claws latching in, sticking to you and digging in to find your intention, to see if you mean harm. You certainly don’t mean harm to anyone here.

Save Jeongin, find the missing half.

You hope that if someone in the building tonight is looking to harm this Jeongin that they get disintegrated by the detectors long before you have to do anything.

After signing in, you get directed to wardrobe where you pull on black dress shirt and quickly tuck it into your black pants before rushing toward the swinging kitchen doors.

Noise explodes when you enter the kitchens. People hollering, the sound of oil crackling accompanied by the slamming of metal knives and pans against burners, glass shattering followed by screaming as someone drops a dining plate.

You spot Jisung lifting a serving platter of champagne flutes, his ochre eyes on the pixie being scolded as he makes a face you can only read as yikes while rushing over to him. He doesn’t see you coming at first, standing and watching the chaos, golden glow around him as his mind wanders.

“You’re glowing,” you mumble to him as you pick up a serving tray of champagne. He snaps his head in your direction, the faint glimmer around his body vanishing but his million-watt smile making up for it. “Why are you so giddy?”

“Perhaps the pixie who dropped her serving plate called me a cunt earlier,” he said, sniffing indifferently as you both head toward the servants hall to slip through the dark and enter the banquet hall of the hotel. “Perhaps I charmed a spriggan to tie her shoe laces.”

“Deserved it, then.”

“Perhaps so.”

Darkness envelops the two of you as you move behind a murky, darkened veil. The magical veil is for cosmetic purposes only, shielding the entire venue from the unsightly serving staff as the gala on the other side of the dark wall buzzes with activity.

“You were late again, by the way. Shira asked where you were.”

“I’m sure you lied and said I was here.”

“I did,” he confirms, sighing as the two of you step around rushing servers.

Jisung gives you a dark look. He looks exquisite tonight, his almond eyes lined with brown kohl, enhancing their alluring pull. There’s a sweep of shimmer on his cheekbones and his golden hair is styled back and laced with lines of glitter. His features are soft and round - innocent, which is what he likes people to think. You know he’s anything but.

“You look beautiful,” you offer as he gestures for you to lead the way through the darkened veil. “Stay away from the Unseelie.”

He nods, eyes serious. “I know.”

Giving Jisung a single encouraging nod, you step through the veil. It feels like stepping through static, your ears popping on the other side. The gala is loud, the sound of all the voices and the music bustle washing over you as you slip into your role as a server for the night.

When Jisung told you that the events company he sometimes works for needed extra bodies to serve at an event uptown, you’d immediately said yes. You needed the extra cash and beyond the fact that the opulence reminds you how you are worlds awat from the elite members of Stratos, they’re not the worst jobs.

But you’d almost bailed when you realized that the event was hosted by the Unseelie Court. Hyunjin was going to have a meltdown when he realized where you were too. But a single look at your bank account had you swallowing down years of bad memories and putting on a smile as you extended your tray of champagne flutes.

Attending patrons tended to ignore you anyways. No one's eyes drifted to your tipped ears that were far too short to be entirely fae. No one glanced twice at your face, a mess of fae features with something else. Something unnamed.

A black and blue butterfly passes you, a glowing trail of blue following its path. Your eyes follow it as it floats upward toward effervescent lighting. The ballroom has been transformed into a glowing cave of darkness and magic. Glowing flowers and vines drape on the walls and across the ceiling, floating lights of pink and blue drifting in the air offering gentle lighting.

Beneath your feet, the floor is soft moss, dotted with mushrooms and other illuminated flora. The air smells sweet, sticky and humid against your skin. You imagine yourself on the inside of a volcano long burned out, the inside becoming home to all of the things that thrive in the dark, that make their own light.

It’s beautiful, and the creatures inside of it are all the more beautiful still. A moon wraith drifts by, her hair long and silvery. She’s watery at the edges and opaque enough that you can see right through her in some parts. She’s in silk that looks spun out of light, eyes wholly black with glittering stars.

A dizzying number of creatures drift by you. You see glittering gossamer wings, soft-furred brownies, sharp-fanged vampires, a grinning werewolf, groups of nymphs giggling behind scaled hands. A popular musician passes you, his siren song making you turn your head as he drifts by. He’s not even speaking but you hear the soft purr of his music, the longing notes as he continues into the room, turning heads as he goes.

Cameras flash as a group of politicians pose together. You recognize the princes of the Solar court posing for a photo. She’s otherworldly, her moss eyes vulpine and sharp, her doll-like face illuminated in the lowlight. Her dress looks like it’s made of light, threads of glowing sun wrapping around her light body and casting her in a gold gleam.

Council members fill up the room. As you navigate, you recognize the leading members of the species of Stratos in the room. Not all twelve are present, but not all twelve members of the city’s ruling body are equal as they should be. Even among the top there is a social hierarchy that dictates invitations.

A routine forms for your night. Circumnavigate the room while holding a tray, keep your eyes down, go back to the kitchen to receive another when you’ve emptied what you’re carrying. It’s easy money though your arm is a little sore and your shoes feel too tight on your feet. Ignoring it, you enter the main gala again, eyes scanning the room for Jisung.

Your eyes alight on the vila as he bows his head and accepts thanks for something that a werewolf is telling him. As though he senses your eyes, Jisung looks across the room in your direction until he finds you. He offers a small smile and nod, letting you know that he’s okay. He’s well-enough equipped to take care of himself, but you have been his protector since you were children in school, standing up to the bullies who used to knock him down and cut his hair.

A tingling sensation slides down the back of your neck. You pause and stiffen, staring at a lichen covered wall where two spriggans swing from vines, but you’re not watching them. Your eyes unfocus as you feel the prickling awareness bloom, static spreading down your spine.

It’s a peculiar feeling that’s similar to when your instincts kick in and scream at you to do something specific. Lifting your gaze, you sweep the room a few times, looking for a noticeable threat or whatever is giving you this niggling feeling. There’s nothing that immediately looks out of place to you: flashing lights, low pulsing music, the din of voices and writhing bodies as they move around one another.

There’s a larger crowd than there was before. Late comers are filling in before the seat portion of the gala starts and they have dinner while the faerie courts lament about the long-lasting history between them as they approach the anniversary of the peace between the four of them. You hope you get to sit in the server hall and rest your feet for that portion. Listening to the leaders of the city is the last thing you feel like doing.

A server hisses at you to move and snaps you from your trance. You nod and roll your shoulders, joining the rotation again. The platter feels heavier in your hand and your heart beats a little faster. Instead of keeping your eyes low and to the ground as you carry around what looks like truffled kelpie eyes, you keep watch on your surroundings. The tingling sensation that you’re missing something immediate is there, pressing down on your spine.

Applause starts to thrum through the crowd of attendees as you pass off the last of the eyeball truffles on your serving platter. You glance toward the front of the room where there are two holographic screens displayed as the queen of the Unseelie Court takes center stage on a glass platform.

Queen Jieun is a spectacle to look at. Her hair is raven black, shining blue under the lights of the floating orbs and glowing flora. Her dress is a marvel of sweeping skirts of black and charcoal gray, tiny beaded details depicting vines twisting up the dress. The bodice is a cage of black branches and thorns, frosted with frozen dew and forming a violent collar around her delicate throat.

The queen of the Unseelie Court is everything she could be, delicate and sharp, dangerous but coy, beautiful but terrifying. You swallow past the sour taste in your mouth at seeing her, repressing a shiver as you bow your head down and make a beeline for the opaque veil as she gives her opening address, voice like dark velvet.

Jisung grabs you and yanks you to a standstill. You bare your teeth at him in frustration but he gives you a wide-eyed, pleading look. A quick glance around the room lets you know that none of the other servers are moving, all standing rigid around the room with their heads cast down and arms laced behind their back because it’s impolite to not show reverence while the queen is speaking.

Gritting your teeth, you stand next to him and lace your hands behind your back. Fixing your eyes on the floor, you take deep breaths in through your nose and let it out slowly through your mouth. The queen’s voice is like nails on your skin, rattling you down to your core the more you hear the raspy laugh and each accented word.

Queen Jieun doesn’t know your face or you wouldn’t have come tonight, knowing that the Unseelie Court would be here. But she does know your name - especially your mother’s - and being in the same room as her feels oppressive. Like a hand is pressing down on our throat, determined to crush your airway.

A brush of fingers against yours draws your attention. Jisung isn’t looking at you, but his fingers are twining with yours, giving you a squeeze. Your heart constricts and your throat tightens, nearly overcome by a sweeping of fondness for him. You squeeze his hand back and turn forward, steeled and strengthened to listen to a woman who unknowingly shapes your entire existence.

There’s a round of applause as she asks the queen of the Solar Court to join her. They use fanciful words to depict how long ago, the four courts of the fae were at odds with one another. It was far before Stratos ever existed and the fae lived in their own world before it joined the Burned Kingdoms. Worlds lost to some magical blight, something all-consuming.

Now, the four courts of the fae live in harmony. Tense harmony filled with political jockeying, vying for the council seat, and an ever-changing game of chess where they seek to out power one another. The Unseelie Court is better at it than most, but they aren’t where the power lies here this evening.

The sovereign of the Seelie Court sits at the table of honor, their jade eyes honed in on the two monarchs speaking at the front of the stage. The sovereign is beautiful, with high cheekbones that look sharp enough to cut glass and red stained lips the color of crushed berries. Their copper long hair is intricately braided and there’s a circlet resting just above a proud brow. It’s hard to look at them for any amount of time, the power and glamor radiating from the faerie always makes you avert your eyes after a few seconds.

Sovereign Seren is the Unseelie queen’s opposite in almost every way. Where color seems to blanch where Queen Jieun goes, the world around the sovereign is brighter and warmer and you swear you see colors you never knew existed before. This is what the old blood of the original fae kingdom looks like. This is a faerie who has existed for thousands of years, and pins a cutting stare onto the two fae on the stage.

A static pulse ripping from somewhere in the building distracts you. You turn toward the kitchens where you felt it from, staring at the opaque veil between the gala and the serving staff. You can’t see through the veil at all, can’t hear any sounds but what is on this side of the magical barrier.

Your stomach sinks. The feeling of wrongness creeps up on you and you glance around to see if anyone else felt a shiver of strange magic. No one seems alarmed or looking in the direction you felt the wave emanate from. Jisung is staring at his feet, yawning.

Turning back to the magical wall, you stare at it as though you could will it to show you what's on the other side. This feeling of anxiety and fight or flight is different from earlier in the evening when you felt that cool tingle pressing on your neck. Now, your gut twists and you cannot shake the omen that has settled deep in your stomach, warning bells going off.

You turn to Jisung. “Something isn’t right,” you murmur to him. He looks up at you, eyes round and alarmed. He knows to trust you. “I think I felt something a moment ago and I have this horrible feeling-”

Terrible screams rip through the gala as servants spill through the magical wall. Immediately there are creatures shooting to their feet from tables and guards swarming the two fae royals on the stage. Jisung grabs your arm in alarm, looking as chaos breaks out along the far side of the room where servants are stumbling into tables and fleeing from the kitchens and halls in droves, several of them slick with blood.

Grabbing Jisung’s arm, you pull him behind you as the table in front of you gets shoved, the attendees rushing to get away from the unknown source of terror. You feel the threat like a pinprick, a knife of awareness as you move backward toward the gala entrance with Jisung pressed behind you. The two of you are careful to keep together, feet tangling with one another in the mess while your eyes are trained on the veil, waiting.

When you see the source of the mayhem, you freeze. The creature is a void, so dark that it bends the light as it slinks through the magical veil. As it passes, the wall of magic crackles, electricity popping and whining as it shatters and drops, revealing the servant hall. Jisung’s nails dig into your skin, drawing half moon circles of blood with his grip as the two of you stare at the massacre of bodies and limbs.

“What the fuck is that?” Jisung breathes, hand trembling.

You have no idea what the creature in question is. It’s sleek and shaped like a jungle cat, but its entire hide shines with leathery skin as it prowls into the room, shadows flickering strangely around it. Two long appendages grow from its back, lashing out like a whip and plunging into people. There are rows of serrated teeth at the end of each appendage, chittering like a saw as it pulls victims down.

It’s hard to watch but harder to look away as the creature holds a Solar Court guard down to the ground and turns him into something unrecognizable, an oozing husk of a body as the guard nearly melts with whatever the teeth do to him.

Jisung turns and vomits behind you. Your stomach is hardly in better condition when another creature slinks around the corner from the kitchen, the same buzz shivering over you with its presence. This one is closer and you realize that it’s just you and Jisung, frozen and staring as fae guards and a pack of werewolves press in on the first creature.

This one, though, seemsed fixed on you. It’s hard to make out and discernable facial features, but you immediately feel like prey. You squeeze Jisung’s arm. “Run,” you whisper.

Jisung doesn’t hesitate. He lets you go in favor of running and you’re on his heels, leaping over a broken chair as you go. The banquet hall doors are a mass of bodies and screaming creatures shoving and pulling. Only three sets of doors are available for the escape of the people inside as hundreds of people try to stampede through them.

As you approach the crowd, they start screaming and running toward you, herded toward the center of the gala as more of the cat-creatures prowl from the lobby into the event space, their whip-like limbs and teeth tearing into victims as they go.

Bodies slam into you. Jisung’s hand gets knocked from yours and you scream his name. He’s yanked from you in the sea of people and you shove your way through the panicking crowd in the direction you think he was pulled in.

Stumbling, you end up at the south end of the room, a body slamming into you and knocking you to the ground. Rolling to your front and pushing yourself up, you freeze, eye level with one of the creatures that is cornering a faerie dressed in the leathers of the Unseelie Guard. He’s got a sword out and he’s bleeding from his brow, standing in front of either a dead body or someone who is unconscious as he snarls.

He’s young you realize, vulpine face full of terror but eyes lit with fire. You scrambled to your feet, slipping on spilled blood. The creature prowls toward the faerie but he doesn’t move, determined to stand over the body laying on the floor instead of turning to run.

Around the room, there are several people trying to fight off the monsters. You see the Sovereign from the corner of your eye, her green magic flashing so bright you see stars. Behind you, a faerie skids to a halt and looks at the Unseelie guard.

“Jeongin!” he screams, voice cracking.

Jeongin. The name resonates with you immediately and the hair on the back of your neck stands on end. Save Jeongin, find the missing half.

Without considering the consequences, you stepward and teeter right into the pool of your magic, falling headfirst into the bottomless well of energy.

Your magic is unpredictable at best and you’re wildly untrained. Beyond a few parlor tricks, your energy sits inside of you untapped and waiting. It feels like an ever-flowing river, cycling and rushing through your entire body. Sometimes, you try to dip your hand in. But you can never grasp it, can never pull out a handful of it to do what you want.

That certainly insn’t the case now as your panic jumpstarts your magic. You’ve only done this twice before. Once was the first time you ever fell headfirst into your magic. You had just been trying to get a jar of cookies from the highest shelf, but you’d fallen from the counter and tried to soften the blow. You’d melted right through the floor and set off some sort of reaction, your magic eating away at the foundations of your home until there was nothing left.

The second time, you’d been ambushed with your mother leaving a very tense meeting with her family at their estate. You’d been afraid and reacting out of instinct to protect yourself, pulsing like an electromagnetic generator and sending a wave of energy outward.

It had leveled a building and left a scorch mark on the earth. You hadn’t even managed to save your mother.

Now, it doesn’t matter. The seer’s words echo through you and you lose yourself to the surging power, becoming a livewire. The thing senses you, turning on you and away from the faerie - Jeongin - to attack. It’s too late. Your palms are burning up with magic and you imagine a blade, something to cut away at the creature. You let your magic fly, a flash of something razor thin.

Black ichor sprays as it hits the monster. It splatters outward, making you flinch as it hits you hot and wet. Its two halves fall on the ground, leaking onto the floor. The air around it shimmers for a moment, vibrating before it settles and all that’s left is the dead thing.

Someone screams your name. Jisung comes running toward you, a loping creature following him. Jisung is covered in blood, blonde hair soaked red. Your power shakes as you reach for him, one hand outstretched the other shaping another blade of energy.

Jisung’s hand grabs yours and you pull him to your chest, holding him as you throw your magic again. You hear the way it cuts the air, an audible hum as it hits the creature and slices thickly through its hide. It hits the ground heavily, the air glimmering again like the fabric of this world is registering that something has happened.

Elsewhere, beasts are slowly being felled. The high priestess of the witch covens wields white fire around her, a whip of flame cracking as she advances on a creature. Lightning crackles up the sword of a nephilim solider, arching as he slices through the leg of another.

“What the fuck was that?” Jisung breathes, holding on to you for dear life. “Did you just-”

“Yes,” you pant.

“How?”

“I just panicked, honestly. I have no idea.”

Jisung hugs you tightly. “Thank you.” You give him a squeeze back and he peels away, looking over your shoulder. “There are three Unseelie fae staring at you.”

Save Jeongin, find the missing half.

Licking your lips, you turn to look at the group of fae behind you. The young one that you saved - Jeongin - stares at you with wide eyes and his mouth open. A little marveled. A little afraid. Behind him, the faerie that he was standing in front of is sitting up with the help of the one who had yelled Jeongin’s name, his eyes glued to you as well.

It’s the one Jeongin had been protecting that attracts your attention. When you look at him the sounds of death and chaos fade to a dull roar, blocked out by your tunnel vision as you stare at him. Suddenly, the world feels right, like everything makes perfect sense. Everything is aligned.

He’s devastating to look at. Amethyst hair hands down in his face, matted with the blood that drips down the side of his head. He has unfathomably dark eyes, feline-shaped and sharp. He’s made up of equally soft and sharp features, nose round and jaw honed. His mouth is fixed in a grimace, but you think his lips are plush. Gentle.

Your heart beats loud in your ears as you stare at him. That strange sense of instinct is screaming now, louder than before, pressing down on you like you’ve finally figured out what it wants from you. It tells you that it wanted you to look here, at this person. The man sitting on the floor, staring up at you with a mix of confusion and wariness.

Suddenly, you realize that in this moment there is the absence of something else. Most of your life you’ve spent wandering around as though you were looking for something else or like something was missing. Just a small piece of you that was impossible to find.

Now there’s a key sliding into a lock. Your mouth dries as you feel like something clicks. Like suddenly, now that the two of you are staring at one another, everything makes sense. Rationally, none of what has happened tonight makes sense. The creatures, the attack, the chaos and your sudden dip into your magic.

Yet… it feels right. Entirely, wholly right, for the first time in your life.

Horror creeps in slowly as your mind begins to put together the details too slowly. It seems that the faerie on the floor - someone important, by the looks of his guards - has already come to a conclusion you haven’t reached just yet. He’s shaking his head and pushing back a little bit, eyes never leaving you.

Such beautiful eyes, you think absently, under all of the whirring of your thoughts.

When you were little, you asked your dad what it felt like when he realized your mother was his mate. It had seemed like a good idea at the time but this face had clouded over in a way you’d never seen before, etched glass of pain and sadness. You’d regret asking immediately and thought that he wouldn’t answer until he finally did.

Like suddenly there was no longer a piece of me missing or looking for something, he’d said. Like everything made sense, even if it didn’t really. Just instinctual knowing that I was suddenly whole.

Jisung says your name and pulls on your arm but you’re anchored to where you stand. Unable to move and think beyond the word that is circling your thoughts over and over again. As soon as you even think of the word, you can’t get rid of it. Can’t shake the feeling that you’ve come to the right conclusion about whatever this feeling is.

Mate you think. Mate. Mate. Mate.

No word in the world seems more appropriate. It echoes inside of you - rattles the stars, even. You’re so sure that he’s your mate, not a sliver of doubt in your heart. Fear, perhaps. Despair, even. But nothing has felt surer to you than this moment, looking at him.

“Your highness,” Jeongin says, though it’s phrased like a question. He’s looking at the faerie on the floor and you put the rest of the pieces together. Unknowing, the young guard continues. “She just saved our lives.”

Your highness. You look at the crest on his broach. The elm tree that is stitched in the armor of the guards. Horror unravels in you like a slow blooming flower, each petal bringing with it the new weight of trepidation as you stare at the prince of the Unseelie Court.

“Doesn’t matter,” the other guard growls and points a blade at you. “Until this is sorted out, everyone is an enemy.”

The prince snarls vicious sound, canines on display as he jumps to his feet, hand shooting out to grab his guard’s arm. “Do not,” he hisses. “Point your weapon at my mate.”

⟡ Main Masterlist ⟡ Series Masterlist ⟡ Playlist ⟡ Ask ⟡ Next Chapter

#lee know smut #lee minho smut #lino smut #lee know fanfic #skz minho smut #skz fanfic #lee know x reader #lee know #skz #stray kids #minors dni #minors do not interact #skz smut #lee know imagines

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inncubus-honey · 9 months

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fantasy c.o.d men au

a/n: a new fandom! maybe, just depends how much I write about mw2. also the nicknames are for a gn! reader, despite some being more feminine then others, but these are for a gn reader. I hope y'all like it for another fandom writing apart stray kids and now kinda redacted stuff. feedback is always appreciated. also I added references to some games with the weapon choices for the boys. hehehe.

also I hope it makes sense that the fantasy aspect is their weapons and little blurbs with you in the world; I could always expand on it in another post if y'all want to see it

c.o.d men x gn! reader

Word Count: 3.2k

price- longsword

obviously he uses a longsword. hes been on the royal guard since he was a young boy, like 13-16. his father had been part of the royal guard when he was a boy. he thought it was the coolest thing ever; protecting people and using such a great weapon really drove him to join after his fathers death in battle. but he then left the guard with gaz to help around the country as mercenaries.

you bandaged johns arm as he sat with you grumbling. an injury from training with his boys today; johnny got a little rambunctious with his duel daggers.

“fucking crazy kid…but hes slowly improving..” john grumbled as you wrapped his arm up.

“hes just excited about joining the mystical 141 mercenary group. give him some slack, Captain.” you teased back, finishing the wrapping. he scoffed at your comment and put his armor back on.

“well, hes a little too zealous at times…but i can tell he’ll be good for the team.” john stood from the med bed and re-equipped his sword to his sword. he smirked at your figure moving around and cleaning up the medical supplies.

he walked up behind you, giving a series of fluttering kisses to your neck as his arms wrapped around your waist.

“ive missed all day, love…” he whispered to you as you placed your hands atop his. he had been training with 141 while you had been seeing patients all day.

“me too, captain.”

ghost- spymaster

the spymaster of the 141 mercenaries. john recruited ghost when he saw him stalking upon roofs around the town at night. when morning came, john found him at a pub in a dark corner as he watched everyone. when he sat down with him and got to talking, he learned that at that point he was a hitman for hire. he decided to put his skills to good use.

“simon, darling come to bed, please i miss my lover…” you looked over to his larger figure in the corner, arms crossed and staring at you from his hiding spot. a smirk graced his lips at your words when your eyes met.

“was wonderin’ when you’d notice me, sunshine…” uncrossing his arms with a small chuckle, simon made his way towards your shared bed.

“well, i was wondering when you would come by yourself, darling.” simon smirked at your comment, taking off his gear to settle in for the night.

before you could do anything else, simon pulled you forward by the back of your legs, plopping down onto your chest. he let out a low groan as you gave a small chuckle, putting your hand in his short blonde locks.

“goodnight, darling..” a quick kiss to his forehead.

“night, sunshine..” he was out like a light.

soap- dual daggers

chaotic good of the party. will go in killing everyone crazy or be the sneakiest rogue ever and be in and out. he joined the 141 before simon; he sought out price and gaz as they were looking for recruits and went around the kingdom looking for them. he wanted to join them ever since hearing them and how they stopped the gas poisonings by general hadir, the brother of general farah who was an ally of the 141.

“dear…you are going to give me grey hairs.” soap dangled from the rope after stepping the trap as you ventured in the woods. he was fighting the rope with grunts and trying to cut with his dagger, but falling short as he would miss and fall back down.

“well whoever grunt...set the fucking trap knew what they grunt doing…” following the rope with your eyes, you found the anchor for it by a tree which led you to walk and cut it.

soap landed onto the ground with a grunt and cough as he got a bit winded by the action. with a roll of your eyes, you walked over to where soap laid and helped him up and dusted him off.

“thank you, buttercup. now lets go home, so we can spend some time alone…” he gave you a smirk as he wrapped an arm around your shoulders and yall started walking in the direction of yalls cottage.

“mmhmm…did your ribs bruise again?” you raised an eyebrow at him as yall walked side by side.

“maybe…” he coughed out as his other arm went to support his ribs.

“absolutely, they hurt a lot…” he whined with a chuckle out of you as you shook your head and continued walking as soap whined the whole way.

gaz- rift mage

gaz met price as he was an apprentice of the royal court mage. price would eat with gaz whenever they could, price taking gaz under his wing when they left the kingdom; gazs family disowned him upon discovering he had magic. price taught him how to fight with a weapon in case he could not use his magic. over the time of their travels, gaz felt more comfortable about his natural abilities and not hiding them as much.

“come on, my little spitfire…” gaz gave a slight tug at your sleeve as you stood in the library, sorting the books with a big pout on his lips. the 141 had an off week, but you had to work some days of the week. gaz huff as you moved from shelf to shelf, following behind like a lost puppy.

“gaz, im almost done. just a few more minutes, darling..” chuckling as gaz groaned and threw his back. after finally finishing placing the last books away, you grabbed your things and found gaz asleep in a chair near the back of the shop. his head sloped down onto his chest with his arms crossed over his chest.

holding in a chuckle, you walked over to him, gently shaking his shoulder to wake him up.

“gaz, darling, im done lets go home…” you whispered to him, gaz slowly started to stir in the chair, stretching his arms out with a yawn and looked over at you.

“im ready and awake, spitfire, i swear-yawn” standing up with a pop in his back, gaz hooked his arm around your waist and led yall out of the bookstore back to your shared home for the rest of the afternoon. an occasional yawn escaping gazs mouth earning a small giggle from you.

alex- bardice

a bardiche is kind of pole-arm, which alex was a god at using. he picked up the pole-arm when couldnt do close combat anymore after losing his leg; he opted for long range combat afterward. he joined after price and gaz help him and general farah with hadir, he wanted to help people and bring justice like them.

watching alex pull back the bardiche only to stab into the training dummy again and again was something you could watch all day. sitting on one of the many hay bales around the training center, you were doing your own thing by doodling alex in many poses with his pole-arm. he saw out of the corner of his eye with a smirk as you moved your pencil around the page.

“getting my good side, dearest?” he smirked to you, leaning against the pole-arm as he used a handkerchief from his pocket to wipe away the sweat from his forehead.

“every side is your good side, alex.” you smiled back, shutting the book and walking over to alex who was also shirtless at the moment. afterall it didnt hurt to use your boyfriend for anatomy practice; slyly you smiled at him while placing your hands on his sweaty chest. his muscles moved up and down with deep breaths as he took you in his tired and aching arms.

“im glad my dearest thinks so. i dont just work out to keep good at fighting…its also for you, dear..” his breathy voice whispered in your ear, his mustache tickling your neck as he left light, fleeting kiss up and down. snorts and squeaks left you as you tried to push away alex who only brought you in closer to his larger frame.

“a-alex! stoop..that-haha- t-tickles!” the shrill laughs left you, alex only stopping to let out gravelly chuckles in your ear. but soon, he thankfully did stop the tickles and swayed you both back and forth a bit.** **aqua lovesick eyes bore into yours, ones that you could spend an entity in.

“i love you, dearest..” alex vowed to me.

“i love you most, alex.” i vowed back to seal it with a kiss.** **

keegan- scythe

the ghosts were also a traveling group of mercenaries, only being found at night in pubs when people were looking for them. keegan was known for his large scythe attached to his back and the skull face paint that decorates his face during missions. he joined the ghosts when after he was with another mercenary group called vipers.

“it smells good in here, firefly.” keegans arms wrapped around your waist as you chopped up some vegetables for a stew for dinner. you saw more bundles of wheat on the table as keegan rested his head in your neck.

“thank you, kee. i have bread in the oven from all the wheat you keep cutting.” i smirked at him as he placed his scythe against the wall near the front door. as you placed the vegetables in the pot and mixed everything together.

“we should start selling wheat, kee. i can only make so much bread a week before i start hating the taste.” a chuckle left him as you stirred the pot and he took a seat at the table. he rested his head on his palm, calloused from years of use of the scythe, aqua eyes watched your figure as you moved about in the kitchen.

“maybe we can sell the bread you make; people would come in hoards for your bread.” keegan smirked as you dished up the now ready stew and brought over two bowls to the table. he loved how domestic life was with you; one of the few constants in his life. the ghosts and you were always there for him, it took him awhile to get to use it after the vipers.

but, damn, he wouldnt trade this for anything in the world.

“firefly… i love you alot. i would do anything for you, i hope you know.” smiling, you reached out your hand and grabbed his hand, softly rubbing your thumb across the back of his hand.

“i know, dear. i would do the same for you, keegan; i love you more.” you told him back, a toothy grin spread across his lips as there was a light pink dusting across his cheeks, it made him look cuter.

“i know, firefly…now lets eat.” he pressed a quick kiss to your lips before yall dug into the delicious looking stew.

roach- necromancer

not being able to speak never bothered roach; his parents used sign language with him while others wrote notes if they did not know. roach always felt like no one could really understand him despite everything he could say or show. in his emotions, he always felt limited when it came to that. until joining the 141; they always seemed to read him better than others. price knew he was hungry for certain foods in taverns, but didnt know if they had it or not. ghost always knew when roach needed more ink or another book for his spells. gaz and soap would be there him when he was looking around booths in the village and people would try to scam him because he was mute.

roach was sitting at the tavern table, scribbling down notes he needs for spells and the ingredients needed for those spells. you were up at the counter ordering some mead and roasted stew that he always wanted. when the order was confirmed, you started making your way back to yalls table when you saw a group of patrons around roach; poking him and shoving as he sat there and tried to ignore them.

rushing over him and the group, pushing the men away from him and he guarded his book with his body.

“leave him alone! what gives you the right to bother him?” you shouted as you stood in front of the table. the group of patrons scowled as you pushed them away from your partner.

“he practices witchcraft! the worst kind of all; necromance. he needs to leave!” they shouted back at you as your hands rested on your hips, looking equally as mad at them.

“has he done anything to you? made any rude gestures? sent some ghost your way?” raising a brow at him, waiting to see what his answer would be. the man's mouth fell ajar, eyes rapidly blinking as he looked around for something to say.

“well..n-no, but its unnatural-!” you cut him off by raising a hand up to him as he tried to sputter out an answer.

“but nothing. he has every right to be in here as much as you do, so leave him alone before i make you.” you shoved your finger into his chest, making him stumble backwards as his eyes continued to widen as your words. his face paled, gave a huff and he walked off with his group behind him.

looking back at roach, you walked over to him and took his face in your hands looking over him for any possible scrapes or bumps from the patrons roughhousing him. as your eyes trailed over his soft face, roach placed his hands over yours. he gave a soft smile and slow nod as if to answer your question.

‘im fine, precious. no injury, just took my quill.’ hitting his thumb with a closed fist against his chest then making his hand sideways as he spread his fingers apart then moving his fingers against one another. then moving in front of him, taking his fist from behind his ear and down to hand you understood what he meant.

‘are you sure?’ you signed back which made his smile wider as he brought you down next to him and pressed a kiss to your lips which made your concern melt from your face. you pressed one back to him as you placed your head on his shoulder and he got back to writing in his spell book.

alejandro- dadao

alejandro and rudy were allies and honorary members of the 141. they were a traveling duo looking to help where they could, like the 141; alejandro always felt like he was supposed to do more than just travel around with his childhood friend. not that he hated it, but he also felt lost whenever they got ready to travel to the next town. but when they landed in your town, it felt right to alejandro and he wanted to stay.

alejandro opened the back with a smile as he brought in the burlap sack clad flour and sugar you needed in the bakery. placing them near the other sacks in your low supplies as you stood behind the big butcher block table which you made pastries on.

“thank you, ale. i would have done it, but i needed to get these breads ready and in the oven.” you smiled up at him as he walked over and hugged you from behind, giving feathery kisses along your neck.

“its no problem, mi corazon, i love helping you and watching you do what you love most.” he smiled into your neck as you both swayed to the imagery music. sweet notes of vanilla, fruits, lavender, and many other notes wafted through the air which warm, fuzzy feelings in your chest as you leaned against alejandro.

“do you happen to have any extra cherry pie, mi corazon?” he whispered as he pressed a quick kiss to the shell of your ear. his warm hands gently slide up and down your sides.

cherry pie was alejandros favorite dessert, so whenever it was baked, he would always sneak a piece when you werent watching. meaning you would have to make more then buy more cherries and it was just a cycle of baking cherry pies.

“if you check the oven, love, you’ll find two cherry pies…one is yours.” an excited whoop left alejandros throat as he turned you around, pressing a passionate kiss against your lips. he ran over to the oven and pulled out the two pies with the peel, placing them on the counter.

“you’re amazing, mi corazon! you always spoil me too much with your pastries and sweets.” pulling you away from the dough on the butcher table, bringing you into his body again as a grin graced his lips. gentle hands rested upon your jaw as he brought you both closer once again; gentle lips danced against one another as you rested your hands on his chest.

“well, you deserves it, alejandro. you do a lot for me and the people here…its the least i could do for you…” you whispered against his lips when you pulled away for a moment. alejandros signature smirk returned, pushing loose baby hair away from your face so he could see it better.

“thank you, mi corazon…it means a lot to hear you say that.”

rudy- illusion mage

rudy and alejandro met as kids when other kids were picking on rudy for his magic. all the other kids thought he was a horrible mage for having illusion magic; most thought it would be used to trick and try to control people. but rudys magic only ever activated when he was in major distress as a kid, when he was older and enrolled into a magic school he learned to control it and use his magic whenever. when alejandro met his partner and decided to stay in that town, rudy didnt mind one bit as he liked the thought of a fresh start in a new town.

you sat at your desk, working on some paperwork for your boss at the bookshop. you had been there all day, sorting through the records of payments and what inventory was in the shop. rudy entered the house from nightly patrol duty, dropping off his coat and illusions dust at the front door.

“amor, what are you doing up so late?” rudy walked over to where you sat, giving you a soft kiss against your shoulder as he rested his head in the crook of your neck.

“i have to get these papers done for the bookshop, cielo…” rested a hand on his jaw, giving back a light peck on the lips. rudy chuckled as he pulled out your chair from the desk.

this caused you drop the papers and quill onto the table as your lover picked you up from the chair, bridal style.

“rudy! i have to get those done soon!” a squeal left your lips as he carried to your shared and dropped you upon yalls bed.

“soon. you said you can finish them soon, lets just cuddle for a bit, amor.” he plopped his body down onto yours as his arms went to wrap around your waist.

knowing rudy wasnt to let you from cuddling for at least a while, you gave huff in defeat which was followed by a chuckle. you begrudgingly wrapped your arms around back, slowly running your nails up and down as you pressed a kiss to his temple.

“you’re a pain in my ass, cielo. but i love you…” whispering to him as yall snuggled into the bedsheets further.

“i love you more…” rudy soon drifted into sleep as he laid on your chest. soon you followed him as well, your hands resting his hair with small smiles gracing your faces.

a/n: as i wrote this, I read the wikis of war zone operators and was thinking about doing a part 2 with some, let me know if y'all would like that and if you want to see certain characters in it

#cod mw2 x reader #cod men x reader #captain price x reader #gaz x reader #simon riley x reader #soap mactavish x reader #alex keller x reader #keegan russ x reader #roach x reader #alejandro vargas x reader #rudy parra x reader

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halesandy · 1 year

Text

Ana’s Fic Recommendations - April 2023

Hello! It’s me… again!

Ana with a new portion of reading I did and loved since my last list which was made in January 2023.

Enjoy :) And don’t forget to give your love and support to all those wonderful people who gave us these masterpieces <3 Please forgive me if I put smth I already recommended before in here, lol. It’s either I forgot oooor (what’s more likely) I love it sm that I wanted to include it again!

Please note that most of these might be rated 18+, so read the authors’ notes carefully!

BTS

@sopebubbles - new series Lone Wolf, 18+ - ot7 x reader

@jae-bummer - Platonic Friend Time - JJK x reader

@onlyswan - In which Jungkook is giving up on you but you have so much love left to give - JJK x reader

@soraviie - you assume it's unrequited.txt - ot7

@ugh-yoongi - Loose Lips - MYG - reader

@angelicyoongie - returned with Abubdance - ot7, 18+

STRAY KIDS

@imagine-a-life-like-this - whole masterlist and new series Sugar and Spice, 18+ - LMH x Reader

@jae-bummer - An Influx of Chargers - HHJ x reader, You Found Me - HJS x reader, Game Night Gone Awry - BCH x reader, Fake Boyfriends & Melted Ice Cream - BCH x reader

@taeminsung - The View - LMH x reader, Close To You - LMH x reader

@j-a-nuary - In which Han thought he was dating his best friend

@bloomingbutterflysworld - masterlist

@outro-jo - When skz says “no” - ot8

@feelbokkie - masterlist

@pettypuppy-jonghyun - Confession - BCH x reader

@voquenutella - SKZ find out you're pregnant 1 - 2

@leviackermanscleaningbuddy - SKZ Prompt Game - Changbin, Minho. 18+

@sluttywonwoo - Instead Of You - LMH x reader + HJS, 18+

@yxngbxkkie - masterlist

@lixie-phoria - masterlist

@dreamescapeswriting - Time Heals All Wounds - SCB

@yangkitties - SKZ as your college boyfriends - ot8

@astraystayyh - Conversationd with Minho, LMH x reader, Vanilla - BCH x reader

@angelwonie - Kiss Me More, LMH x reader, 18+

@caseiloveu - Confessing Your Crush - ot8

@staytheword - Kind Regards - SCB x reader, 18+, Falling Rain - BCH x reader, 18+

@straylightdream - Between The Lines - BCH x reader, 18+

@sugrlamb - Love Blinks - LMH x reader

@bbujiikseu - Playdate - LFX x reader, 18+

ATEEZ

@imagine-a-life-like-this - whole masterlist

@mangiverse - masterlist

@ateezforpresident - Your first vacation together - ot8

@ateezreactionsandscenarios - Let Me Show You - KYS x reader, 18+

@sluttywoozi - What Should We Become? - CHS x reader + KYS, 18+

@bluehwale - unconventional first encounters with ateez + part 2

@nczennie - Royal Icing - JWY x reader, 18+

@ohmyamor - He's Kinda Hot - KHJ x reader

@talkbykhalid - Idiot in Love - KYS x reader

@hwaightme - Like The Cherry Blossom Falls - JYH x reader

#bts fic recs #stray kids fic recs #ateez fic recs #k pop fic recs #bts x reader #stray kids x reader #ateez x reader #ana's fic recs

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danihow · 7 months

Text

♡ Dani's recommendations

♥ means fluff

★ means suggestive

☽ means angst

✦ means smut

♥★☽✦

(I'll be updating it as it goes bc i'm still seraching the really old ones i loved)

Marvel

TBA

Stray Kids

Series:

Shattered puzzles by @hyunnows (hyunjin x fem!reader, non!idol AU, amnesia AU?) | ♥★☽ | Ongoing

Drabbles:

6:36 by @forlix (bang chan x gn!reader, established relationship, domestic) | ♥ | 1.2k

ATEEZ

Series:

TBA

Long fics: (not necessarily multichaptered)

Crescent by @sorryimananti-romantic (prince!san x assassin!bodyguard!femreader, royal AU) | ♥★☽ | 17k words

Win by @sorryimananti-romantic (wooyoung x princess!assassin!reader, royal AU) | ♥★☽ | 42k words in two parts

Like a dream by @i-luvsang (fae!yeosang x reader, fantasy AU) | ♥☽ | 13.3k words

One-shots:

Daisy by @moanz111 (poet!yeosang x florist!reader, non idol AU) | ♥ | 4.3k words

Forget-me-not by @seonghwaddict (hongjoong x reader, neighbors to ?) | ♥ | 1k words

In each other's arms by @kimsohn (mingi x fem!reader, bestfriends to lovers) | ♥ | 3k+ words

The worthy type by @mazeinthemiroh (idol!yunho x reader, best friends to lovers, hurt/comfort) | ♥ | 1.7k words

Dandelions by @hwanchaesong (yunho x reader, friends to lovers) | ♥ | 1.7 k words

Kiss it better by @imagine-a-life-like-this (wooyoung x fem!reader, best friend to lovers) | ♥ | 1.9k words

Our little star by @littleocean-rose (san x fem!reader, soulmate AU) | ♥ | 2.1k words

Am I your favorite? (1) (2) by @deja-yu (san x fem!reader, friends to lovers) | ♥☽ | ? words

Do not disturb by @hwasdvlly (idol!seonghwa x fem!reader, established relationship) | ♥ | 0.5k words

Headcannons:

ATEEZ as middle school teachers by @thelargefrye | OT8

Enhypen

Series:

HYPE BOY by @onlyjaeyun (jake x fem!reader, kinda single parent au, SMAU and written) | ♥★☽✦ | Fifty chapters, complete

Long fics: (not necessarily multichaptered)

One-shots:

Seventeen

BIRTHDAY BOY by @odxrilove (mingyu x fem!reader, uni au, friends to lovers) | ♥☽ | 8.1k words

TXT

Rebound and restoration by @blackhairedjjun (yeonjun x fem!reader, best friends lovers, break up) | ♥☽ | 5.4k

&TEAM

So this is how it feels by @kimakento (Nicholas x fem!reader, hananaki disease, unrequited love) | ☽ | 2.6k

83 notes · View notes

lettersfromaphrodite · 10 months

Text

[16.40]

― pairing : Chris x fem! reader ― content warnings : fluff, a little bit of angst, smut (but it's not too explicit), royals au, Chris is a Duke, reader is a Countess, there’s a mysterious bandit pulling those Robin Hood cards guess who could it be, medieval settings as always // main inspiration for this from Elisa di Rivombrosa ― word count : 4.489

― notes : this fic looks familiar?it is! I’m reposting ALL my works on this brand new blog and therefore please, bear with me! as always, askbox is always open and feedbacks are always welcome 💌

👑 ROYALS! STRAY KIDS SERIES

Chris // Changbin // Jisung // Hyunjin // Seungmin // Minho // Felix part one | part two // Jeongin

«Promise me you’ll only get married for love.» your mother had told you countless times when you were younger; you loved to recall her words as you peacefully stared into the small lake close to your family’s territories, your eyes losing in the majestic nature in front of you.

Your horse neighed not too far away from you, and you quickly glanced at her, just to see that she was peacefully eating some strands of grass. Shifting on the rock you were seating on, you went back fantasizing.

Sometimes, you wondered if you were really going to keep the promise you made to you mother when she was still alive, but you had to admit there were days where you thought you probably would not. You were a noble, and hardly noble people got married for love; nobles’ marriages were all about money and politic interests.

ugging your knees to your chest – as much as your gown allowed you to, you smiled to yourself as you thought about being lucky to have grown up in such a serene and happy environment; your parents met at a ball, and luckily, they quickly fell in love. Their love lasted all their lifetime, and they always made sure to make both you and your brother grow up with the same values as them.

«Well, this is definitely an uncommon place to meet, My Lady.» an unfamiliar voice startled you, and your head snapped towards its direction.

Judging by the voice, it must have been a boy probably around your age, but you couldn’t make out said boy’s features, since he wore a mask covering the lower part of his face so that only his eyes could have been visible, if it wasn’t for the hood hiding his remaining features.

He comfortably sat sideways on your horse’s saddle, which surprisingly enough let him do it without any warning neigh; furrowing your eyebrows, you wondered how she could be comfortable when a bandit was sitting on her back with a bent knee and a short blade elegantly dancing between his fingers.

«Who are you?» you asked with a wary tone as you stood up, your blue gown falling once again around your legs until it touched the grass, and your eyes locked on the blade.

«Oh, you never heard about me?» he asked, clearly pretending to be hurt, judging by the tone of your voice. «I definitely must work harder, then.» his mischievous tone worried you, but the stranger must have been noticed your discomfort, because he put his blade away with a polite «Forgive me.» the action confusing you.

You were about to ask him another streak of question, mixed with a «Get the hell down of my horse.» in a way which wouldn’t have been considered worthy of a Countess, when he surprised you once again. His head slightly turned left, holding up a finger to silently tell you to keep quiet, and immediately jumped off your horse.

«Well, My Lady. This had been an wonderful first encounter, but I have to go.» he politely bowed towards you, «I’ll see you soon!» he added, and with that, he ran back in the direction of the woods, his cape helping him blend in with the nature surrounding him. You stood there, dumbfounded, trying to process what just happened, before you noticed a small patrol of officers clearly looking for him.

«Forgive us, Your Grace.» one of them referred to you, his strong foreign accent accompanying his army’s uniform. «Have you perhaps seen a bandit around here?» your eyes widened for a second, and the officer mistaken your expression for fear. He tried to tranquilize you, but he honestly was not making an exceptional good job, since he told you a lot of information about said boy. «The Hawk and his man have been spotted running back towards the woods.»

«Yes- yes, I saw him,» You nodded at the officer, pretending to be still shaken from the story about said terrible and cruel bandit, «he went that way.» you told him, pointing on your left, instead of pointing towards the woods.

They politely thanked you, before storming off on their horses, chasing for the Hawk in the wrong direction. Before they could realize you lied, you quickly got on your horse with a hammering heart, confused at your own actions.

Apparently, ou just saved the town’s most wanted bandit’s life, and you absolutely didn’t know why.

«How early is too early to leave?» you politely asked your brother, which was standing next to you in the Duke’s sumptuous ballroom; your eyes annoyingly studied the crowd, and you quickly noticed that, behind the people dancing in the middle of the room, there was a small group of women focused on something, or rather, someone.

«I see you spotted the Duke’s charming son.» your brother whispered as he followed your gaze.

«Hyunjin,» you giggled, «How am I supposed to see him?» you whispered back, referring to the fact that between all those people, only a mop of wavy blonde hair was visible. You and your brother shared an accomplice giggle, and talked how obviously those women were interested to his title, when you spotted a familiar figure gracefully walking towards you.

«Your beloved Countess is coming this way,» you hastily whispered to your brother, and you smiled at the fact that at the mere sight of her, Hyunjin’s cheeks tainted with a faint shade of red, «don't do anything I wouldnìt do.» «If you put it this way, I believe I have plenty of choices.» Hyunjin joked, taking a few deep breaths to hide his flustered state; the three of you entertained a pleasant small talk for a bit, and eventually, your brother asked her to dance, leaving you alone and finally giving you the opportunity to get some fresh air.

No one was on the balcony beside you, and you were grateful for your time alone, since formal balls have always annoyed you to death; you gracefully placed your gloved hand on the marble balcony, your eyes wandering on the fountain in the middle of the small labyrinth under you, when a strangely familiar voice snapped you out of your daze.

«Well, this is definitely an uncommon place to meet, My Lady.» you turned around at the speed of light, expecting to find the Hawk once again, but you were meet with a young, blonde boy around your age.

«Your Grace.» you politely bowed to him, and he quickly shook his head.

«Please, let’s forget formalities when we’re alone,» he chuckled, your eyes shifting between his warm brown eyes to the dimples cornering his amazing smile with your brows slightly furrowed in confusion. «I see we share a mutual dislike for balls.» he added with a teasing whisper as he walked next to you.

«I’m Chris,» he said, slightly outstretching the palm of his hand towards your frame, as you noticed you were definitely close, and you immediately took it, placing your hand in his as you introduced yourself as well and Chris briefly kissed the knuckles of your gloved hand.

For a moment you thought you were able to feel his plump lips over the layer of satin covering your skin, but you settled for ignoring the thought, and politely smile at him.

“I wouldn’t blame all those women, if they were amazed by his beauty and not only his title.”

The afternoon quickly went by, and only when you saw two butlers lightening up the candles on the balcony, you realized that you and Chris basically spent the afternoon talking on the balcony, as you helped him hide from all those “annoying women,” as he had previously referred to them.

The clear sky had slowly painted itself with dark colours, and the dim lights provided by the flames of the candles were dancing on Chris’ features, making him look even more handsome.

«Christopher?» you both heard an authoritative voice approaching the balcony, and Chris immediately pulled on your waist while murmuring a streak of apologies.

Chris held you close to his body as you both hid next to the heavy curtain, which separated the balcony from the ballroom, and hidden by darkness, you saw a man walking few steps on the balcony, turning his head left and right. You couldn’t think straight with Chris’s soft breath gently fanning your cheeks, and you were sure there was a raging blush covering all the way from your cheeks to your chest.

Chris’ gaze was focused on the man while his back was pressed against the marble wall and slowly, his hand reached out to partially drape the curtains over both your frames with a slow movement. Eventually, the man got tired of looking for Chris, and deducing he was not on the balcony either, he got back inside with what seemed an exasperated sigh.

«Thank you,» Chris sighed, leaning his head against the wall «If he found me, my father would had thrown me immediately in those harpies’ group.» he tightened the hold on your waist, and you realized just then that you had been clinging on his strong arms the whole time.

Chris was attractive, and he was also a kind and gentle boy, but as much as you could appreciate his company and be attracted to him, you wondered what would have happened if someone found you like this, hugging on the balcony behind a curtain.

«Chris, we should-» you mumbled, and you believed you lost any capability to speak as soon as he looked back at you, now both fully aware of your proximity. Beside your brother, you’ve never hugged a man, let alone being alone and close like this, your noses almost touching in such a compromising pose.

«Usually, by now there would be a game of cards going on in the room next to the ballroom.» Chris said, «Care to join?» his wide smile was enough to make you nod immediately. Chris led you through the ballroom, his arm tightly linked with yours as you were accompanied by curious whispers.

«So… The Duke.» Hyunjin said with a smug smile once you both were back on your carriage leading back home.

«So… The Countess.» you remarked with the same tone, before both of you erupted in giggles.

«You’re gonna be the talk, sister,» your brother said with a sigh, «you were the only one he willingly spent time with.» You were glad to the darkness in the carriage for hiding the wide smile on your lips.

Months had passed since you first met Chris, and incredulously enough, you were now a couple. He had been nothing but gentle and caring with you, and his natural gentle behaviour quickly got your brother’s approval.

Surprisingly enough, Chris’ parents were ecstatic about him finally choosing someone, and they quickly fell in love with you. You quickly found out how romantic he was, always gifting you roses, expensive presents or sometimes, writing his feelings in secret letters you’d mysteriously find on your pillow.

No matter how many tender or passionate kisses you and Chris had shared, you’d always be a blushing mess, your heart hammering in your chest and the feeling of burning desire creeping through your body. You and Chris were free to date and to be seen as a couple in the public eyes, and so scenes where Chris had his arms tightly draped around your waist weren’t that uncommon anymore, but you still couldn’t help feeling incredibly flustered about it.

«People are staring,» you’d whisper every single time.

«I can't blame them, they must be pretty envious,» Chris would answer, «after all, the prettiest girl in town is my fiancée.» he’d kiss your forehead affectionately, leaving the warmth and the passion of your more intimate kisses only for the two to know.

Since your parents raised both you and Hyunjin to be polite with your servants, a strange habitude had been going on since you were kids; in fact, you were invited to their smaller and humble balls. You and Hyunjin had always more fun spending your nights with them and actually having sincere fun, instead of spending your time at someone’s ball pretending to have fun while being in the same room of a bunch of overdressed ladies and gentlemen.

However, you kept wondering why your servants were so happy they constantly look like they were on cloud nine since your engagement with Chris had been announced, few weeks later.

«You couldn’t find any better man,» some would say, and you’d smile at them and nodded, but still wondered why they seemed to personally know him, sometimes. Your happiness, unfortunately, wasn’t the only side of the coin you had to consider.

The people’s discontent was worsened by the injustices suffered by the authorities charged with governing your hometown, and this is where the Hawk comes in: him and his men had restlessly targeted the commander of the army entrusted to your city, and repeatedly plundered their headquarters, so as to redistribute supplies equitably among all the villagers.

The Hawk’s mysterious identity became a real enigma, and no one in the village dared to expose him, since he was helping poor people by challenging public authorities. As much as you – and your brother, secretly approved his actions, you could not help but be annoyed at the boy anytime you met him.

The Hawk proved to have the ability to show up at the most inconvenient times, and yet another time this theory had proven itself being the truth as you were quietly swimming in the small lake where you first met, the thin fabric of your white chemise was the only shield your body had in that very moment.

«We must stop meeting like this,» he said, and you totally immersed back in the water, leaving only your head out. The Hawk was there, once again seating on your horse’s saddle, as he waved at you with a gloved hand, «pretty entertaining, I must admit.» You scoffed, swimming towards him and the pile of your clothes laying on the grass.

«You must stop sneaking up on me like a pervert.» you told him, getting out of the water while fully aware that the chemise was clinging on your body at the point where there was almost nothing left to the imagination. The Hawk whistled, and you resisted to the temptation of throwing a small pebble at him.

«Care to turn away?!» you said, and he chuckled at your annoyed tone as he turned around until you were facing his back. You quickly dried yourself and re-dressed, as a rather strange comfortable silence now fell upon the two of you.

No matter how the boy managed to annoy you or rile you up so effortlessly, sometimes you could not help but feel like you already met him somewhere, you still never got to wrap your mind around it.

«I came to congratulate on your engagement.» he said, as you were striding towards his direction. «I bet the Duke’s ecstatic about it.» he added, and you mistook the malicious irony in his tone for sarcasm.

«Is that envy I hear?» you said, holding on the reins of your horse before telling him to get off your horse. «He is ecstatic about it, and I am as well.»

With another amused chuckle, the Hawk gracefully climbed off your horse, looking at your frame getting further and further away as you quickly rode away on top of your horse.

«I’m glad our marriage won’t be annoying, love.» he murmured, looking at your frame with a wide, smitten smile safely hidden under his mask.

What you definitely did not expect, was to be kidnapped by the Hawk’s men a month before your marriage, while you were headed to the village in order to choose the flowers for your bouquet.

Strangely enough, no one dared to hurt you, neither tie you up. In fact, you were sitting in their hideout, arms crossed in front of your chest in annoyance, politely waiting for the Hawk to arrive, as his man stood few steps from you, as if waiting for your outburst of rage.

«Care to tell me what’s happening?» you asked, for the umpteenth time, irritation clear in your voice. Their hideout was neatly hidden in the woods, and you doubt that any authority would have found it unless they perfectly knew the zone or followed one of them; there were few small hideouts built on the trees – which definitely blended in with the surroundings, and you wondered who these people actually were. «Do you live here?» you asked out loud, trying to calm down, already knowing that no one would have answered you anyways.

One of the Hawk’s men quickly appeared on top of his horse, followed by few others, loudly warning everyone that some soldiers had followed them.

From there, everything happened too quickly for your to realize; delicate hands – probably a woman’s, gently but firmly helped you up and guided you towards one of the almost invisible ladders hanging from the small houses, when a pair of strong arms immediately took her place, and helped you climb up.

«Mislead them and make sure you have lost them before coming back!» the man which was basically carrying you up shouted to his men, and you quickly realized that you were indeed climbing your way to the Hawk’s private den with said man following you close behind.

«Don’t you even think about it.» his low and warning tone sent a shiver down your spine, and you wondered how could he be aware about the fact that you were thinking about refusing his help and call for the soldiers.

Differently from all the times you met him, you could feel he was dead serious, and you settled for obeying him; after all, he was a bandit. You curiously watched as him and the other quickly gathered the ladders so that no one had a way to climb up unless they would roll them all the way back to the ground, and you plopped on his small mattress with your arms crossed in front of your chest.

You refused to talk for the next couple of hours, and the Hawk didn’t pay much attention to you, either, too busy spying and observing what was happening just below them.

«Care to tell me what’s going on?!» you asked as soon as the shouting below you had stopped, signalling that the soldiers effectively followed his men away from there.

«Your soon to be father in law approved the army's behaviour.» he explained, leaning against the wooden wall, after putting his bow and arrows back in their place. «If he wants to see you again, he’ll have to take his statement back, so that the town’s not going to be under their control anymore, and of course the soldiers must leave.»

«You’re kidding me, I hope!» Your eyes widened comically wide. He slowly walked in front of you, «The Duke is never going to do that.» you added with an obvious voice, and he simply kneeled in front of you.

«Trust me, he will.» he said, tilting his head to the side. «I know him better than anyone else.»

«And how could you, I wonder? You’re a rebel.» you scoffed, looking at the wall on your right.

He hesitantly took off his leather gloves, tossing them on the mattress next to you, before holding your hands in his; you tried to break free from his hold, but he was indeed too strong for you, and plus, the familiar touch let you speechless for a moment. You spent enough time with Chris so that you could recognize his touch between hundred people, but… The Hawk couldn’t be Chris, right?

With slow movements, he guided your joined hands towards his cape, in order to take it off and expose the higher part of his face.

Blonde, wavy hair and warm brown apologetic eyes met yours, and you froze; he guided your hands on his cheek, lowering the fabric which was covering his face from the nose and below, and your hands started to tremble at the sight of Chris staring back at you.

our head started to spin, trying to process the fact that the most wanted bandit in the city was your soon to be husband, the boy you loved with all your heart; your first instinct was to scream, but somehow you couldn’t find your voice. Chris didn’t move an inch, your hands still joined in mid-air as he waited for you to say something.

«You… Chris, you lied to me.» you mumbled, feeling your heart sink and tears threatening to fall from your eyes. Chris furrowed his brow in a sad expression, before nodding, adverting his gaze.

«Believe it or not, you were safer not knowing anything of this.» he answered, and your heart calmed down a bit. Chris sat next to you, as he explained everything the Hawk and his men were doing, and you couldn’t help but forgive him.

Deep inside, you knew that his intentions were good, and by now, you knew Chris well enough to be certain that he would have never hurt you on purpose. As much as it pained you to find out like this, you had to admit that knowing his identity was risky, especially since by now, there was a bounty on his head.

That afternoon, was the first time you and Chris made love, since no more lies were hidden between the two of you. Chris’ kisses were soft but passionate, and the fact that you were sprawled on his small mattress in his small wooden cabin made it feel even more intimate.

ware of it being your first time, Chris made sure to pepper your body with soft kisses, the movement of his hips slow and sweet; he’d praise you every few seconds, his raspy voice and his body pressed flush against yours while his length was moving inside you making your head spin, resulting in your nails sinking and scratching his back and Chris groaning in response right next to your ear.

Chris waited for you to build your orgasm just to come with you, moaning next to your ear and mumbling promises that could put the most experienced lover to shame.

«Do you think your men heard us?» you asked, hiding your head in the crook of Chris’ neck as you were now cuddling and sharing much gentler and softer kisses.

«It’s probably a good thing,» Chris chuckled, caressing your spine with gentle fingers as one arm was behind his head. «So they can get used to it quite soon.»

«What?» you said, propping yourself up on your elbow to look at him. «What do you mean?»

«They’re all people you know pretty well.» Chris offered you a wide, malicious smile as he reached out to gently boop your nose. «Well, some of them are my servants, but the others are… yours.»

«Please, don’t tell me my lady in waiting is part of this, too.» you said incredulously closing your eyes while connecting all the puzzle pieces which had been laying in front of you for months, and Chris laughed, suddenly pulling you to his body while rolling the two of you around.

«Do you think all my love letters walked on your pillow by themselves?» his grin widened as he saw your narrowed eyes as you pretended to be angry at him.

«I’m really an idiot.» you mumbled with a pout, and Chris made sure to kiss it away every time it appeared on your features.

You’ve been hiding in the bandits’ den for five days, and not only you and Chris had made love for countless times, but you also met almost three quarters of your servants, diligently taking turns between working at your residence and working on their part time job as rebels.

«Now I understand why you were so happy about my marriage.» you mumbled one night during dinner, while you were seated around a small campfire, and some servants started laughing, while others deeply apologized to you. Your lady in waiting was quick to seat next to you, hugging your shoulders as the cloth, which was supposed to hide the lower part of her face, was neatly pooled around his neck.

«He had been anxious about you all the time.» she confessed, her tone low and only for you to hear. «He kept thinking that if you ever found out, your feelings would have changed.» you carefully listened to her as your eyes travelled towards Chris’ frame which was animatedly talking with one of his friends, not too far from where you were.

«Please, remind me that sentence you always say - you know, the one about your husband.» you answered, turning towards her.

«That… Men are idiots?» she asked, her brows furrowed in confusion. You nodded, your eyes once again locked on Chris.

«Yeah, he’s an idiot for thinking something like that.» you sighed, «He’s lucky, he’s cute.» and the both of you erupted into complice giggles.

Chris turned towards your group with a wide, triumphant smile on his face while holding a letter in his hands. «We did it!» he exclaimed, and you were sure that among the woods, their loud cheering could be heard everywhere.

Learning that the Hawk and Chris were the same person all along had been quite a shock, but learning that Hyunjin was aware of it all along was even worse.

«Ah! I knew it!» your brother hugged you close, affectionately kissing your hair after you and Chris – still dressed up as a bandit, had rode back to your house on his horse, his arms securely around your waist as he held the reigns. «I knew you were safe with him!»

«You knew?!» you groaned, your eyes repeatedly shifting from Hyunjin to Chris, and they both gave you an innocent smile; you sighed, settling for ignore both of them in order to finally get a warm bath.

Things quickly returned to normal, needless to say, both you and Chris grew nervous as days went by, your marriage approaching and now, being just a week away.

Chris loved to sleep at your house, even if you weren’t married, yet, and also loved hugging you from behind while both of you were watching the sunset from your small bedroom’s balcony.

«So, I was wondering,» Chris’ malicious tone made you chuckle in anticipation, as you felt his chin resting on your shoulders and his hands around your waist, over your white chemise. «Should I wait for you dressed as the Duke or dressed as the Hawk?» he joked, gently rocking your bodies around as you giggled together.

Chris affectionately kissed the side of your head as you both waited for another day go by, waiting for the day to be officially proclaimed husband and wife.

all works © lettersfromaphrodite

Do not modify, repost, translate or plagiarize my stories. I only publish my works on tumblr & AO3.

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#fanfics #stray kids series #stray kids scenarios #stray kids x reader #stray kids fantasy au #stray kids royals series #bang chan fanfic #bang chan scenarios #bang chan x reader #royals au

134 notes · View notes

sparklingchan · 22 days

Text

Serendipity || Seo Changbin (Stray Kids)

Pairing: Reader(fem.) X Changbin

Word Count: 5.4k+

Warnings: Suggestive, mentions of pregnancy (the reader is not pregnant) , mentions of poison, Changbin is sweeter than sugar. Set in the Joseon Era.

Genre: Royal AU, Arranged marriage AU, fluff with very slight angst.

Description: The King of Joseon had chosen you as his queen. But there are those that wish for this union to fail. Will your love be enough to overcome the competitiveness of the Palace?

A/N: Hello everyone! Back with another installation of the SKZ Royal AU. I am genuinely in love with this one ngl. King Changbin is a rizzler y'all. Hope you guys have fun reading this <3

Do check out the other fics in the skz royal series. (The stories are not interrelated)

Here's the link to the masterlist.

Being a woman in this country is not an easy task. Especially when one is a candidate for the position of the country's Queen.

You'd dreamt of this for years, the idea sewn into every thought by your father even since you were child. With time, you'd welcomed the thought without a complaint.

"My lady, the Royal messenger is here." Somi informs you, and your nervousness just goes up by a thousand.

Did you manage to become the Queen and make your father proud? Or did you get disqualified and were now just a daughter of some minister and free to marry any other commoner like yourself?

You run down the hallway and enter the pavillion in front of your house, the colorful banners of the Royal entourage shine under the bright sun.

You straighten your robes and kneel down, head almost touching the ground, as a mark of respect for the King's verdict.

The chief Eunuch opens up the scroll in his hands.

"Please find enclosed the Royal Edict from the King's Court:

I, Seo Changbin, the King of Joseon, have chosen Miss y/n of House Kim as my wife and, by extension, the Queen of our beloved country. I have consulted the three High State Councilors and my mother- the Queen Dowager about the same and we have all unanimously agreed that she would be the best choice for the country as well as the Royal family, owing it all to her wits, beauty and manners.

Congratulations to Miss y/n and her family.

The Royal family would also like to extend an invitation to the bride-to-be to shift into the Detached Palace at the earliest as part of the customary pre wedding ritual. "

It feels as if someone had punched out the air from your lungs, you couldn't speak nor stand, while your parents and brother continuously thanked the Royal Eunuch, accepting all the gifts sent by the Palace for you.

But you couldn't move. You just stayed there, frozen. For life as you had known it has come to an end.

And thereafter begins a new, Royal chapter of your life.

"I'm going to miss you, my child."

The days since the Edict pass by in a heartbeat. All the members of your family were busy with packing your belongings while you were busy with mentally preparing yourself to leave your family and house behind forever.

Yes, you'd always wanted to be a Queen. Yes, you'd spent years getting ready for this role. Yet when the time finally comes, it hurts you to think about leaving behind twenty three years of your life.

"I'm going to miss you too, mother." On hearing your words, your mother cries harder.

But as usual, your father shows no emotion. His face is calm.

"Remember, y/n, there are no friends in the Palace other than your husband. You cannot confide in anyone but him. The other concubines will do anything to gain his favor, but you shall always be a step ahead. Be vigilant and loyal. You will make a great Queen." He says. Like the strategist he'd always been.

"Yes, father." You reply, swallowing the lump in your throat.

Your mother clinges to your arm.

"We will try and visit you whenever we can. I'm sure his Majesty will allow."

"Yes, of course. You can visit me anytime. The Palace is only a few hours from here."

"Oh, my child! How will I ever live without you!" Another sob tears out from your mother's throat. You hug her with all the love and care you could muster up in that moment.

Your father walks out of the room, hands behind his back and face twisted into a frown.

The Detached Palace is to be a temporary residence for the bride-to-be. For over the next thirty days, you would be receiving lessons on various subjects like history, Royal Etiquette, sewing, cooking and most importantly- lessons on intimacy. The last lesson is considered most important, according to Somi, since it allows you to birth as many healthy heirs as possible.

After helping you dress up for the night and setting up your bed, your maids take your leave for the night, only Somi remaining by your side.

"Do you think I'll see the King tomorrow? It's queer but I'd like to know what my future husband looks like, at least."

Somi sighs, "I don't think it's allowed, my lady. I believe you can only see his Majesty on your wedding day. A month from now."

You're oddly disappointed. You had dreamt so many nights of seeing the King, holding his hand, being by his side, yet the King in those dreams often never had a face.

Was it wrong to yearn to look at your future husband's face? Just once?

A subtle knock on your door startles the both of you.

"Yes?"

"My lady, the King is here to see you." Your handmaid almost whispers the words through the door.

With unparalleled urgency, Somi helps you straighten your clothes and rushes off towards the door.

"Your majesty." The maids and Somi greet him with the customary bow, while you purse your lips in a line, head hanging in a subtle bow.

Your heart hammers against your chest. It's so loud, you're sure even the King could hear it.

"Please give us some privacy." The King commands.

And you heart beats faster on hearing his voice for the first time. Gentle, yet authoritative, just like you'd dreamt.

When Somi closes the door behind her, you almost regret wishing to see your future husband. The proximity makes you nervous and you could only hope you'd not faint in front of him.

"My lady, you may rise."

You'd almost forgotten you were still bowing to him. You mentally slap yourself.

"Y-yes, your majesty. " your voice comes out as an embarrassing squeak, your eyes still on the ground.

You'd prayed for this moment for years, y/n. Why couldn't you just meet his eyes?

As if sensing your inner conflict, the King takes two long strides towards you and hooks his index finger under your chin, sending a chill down your body.

"My lady, please look at me."

And you do.

And he's like everything you'd ever wished for.

Perfect, like a beautifully crafted sculpture.

His soft brown locks, his rosy lips, the subtle mischief in his eyes. Everything is perfect.

"Y-yes, your majesty. Sorry." You mumble.

The king smiles, rubbing circles into your cheeks.

"You may call me Changbin when we're alone."

You nod.

"I just came to ask if you're finding your new residence comfortable. We both shall be busy with lessons tomorrow onwards so I figured tonight would be a good time to visit my bride."

His bride? His bride?

Your legs feel weak.

"I'm finding it extremely comfortable, your majesty. Thank you for your hospitality. "

Changbin let's out a low chuckle, leaning towards you. His lips hover inches above yours. And when he speaks, you feel hot air on your lips, "I told you, y/n. Call me Changbin."

You frantically nod.

"Good. Better be careful next time, my bride."

When you wake up the next morning, you're sure you'd dreamt everything that happened last night.

But apparently not.

"The King is a dashing young man." Somi teases as she lathers a concoction of herbs into your hair. "You're lucky, my lady. He seems to be a gentleman."

But you are too caught up in your thoughts to reply to her.

Did the king of Joseon really come all the way to the Detached Palace to see you? What if he's disappointed with how you had reacted? But he shouldn't blame you at all.

You had not been expecting anyone yesterday night, especially not him. But he did come to you. And he touched your chin. If you focus hard enough, you could feel his touch lingering in the area.

"My lady?" Somi clicks her fingers in front of your eyes, "Come back to earth. We have to get you ready for the classes today."

Blushing, you reply, "What classes do I have today?"

You had three classes today: Palace etiquette, literature and what Somi insists most important: lessons on reproduction.

While Palace etiquette mostly includes lesson on how to behave with Royal elders, ministers, maids, the King, literature includes important pieces of literature that are important for a woman.

And lastly, the most dreaded time arrived.

The reproduction lessons.

The tutor shows you all sorts of obnoxious hand movements and some drawings of couples in intimate positions. You feel uncomfortable from the beginning till the end.

A woman at least five decades older than you is teaching you about intimacy? Very awkward, to say the least.

But you heave a sigh of relief when the classes end for the day and you make your way to your room in the Detached palace.

"It's just the first day, Somi and I'm already tired to the bone." You say, kicking your shoes off.

"Well, it's going to be a lifetime of time this now, my lady. And you best be prepared for it."

You reply Somi with silence. But her words make you wonder. If this palace life would ever be less tiring someday? Would it even be worth it?

Perhaps not.

But King Changbin 's face flashes in front of your eyes; his sparkling eyes, mischievous grin, his feather like touch- maybe he is what will make everything worth it.

That night, after your maids get your bed ready while Somi is combing your hair, a familiar announcement echoes through the corridors of the Detached Palace.

"My lady, the King is here to see you."

His smiling face peeps through the doors as your maids hurry out of the room. He wears blue silk robes, and you feel weaker in his presence than you did yesterday.

"Did you miss me, y/n?"

And thus begins a month of secret nightly visits by the King of Joseon to the Detached Palace.

Everyday, you wake up looking forward to the time when King Changbin would come knocking at your doors, always up to some jesting.

Sometimes, he brings you fruits you'd mentioned you liked or he tells you stories from his childhood. At other times, he tells you about that one teacher he will hate till the end of time.

But most times, he spends his time listening to you talk- about everything and everyone, about the skies and gods, about ghosts and afterlife, about favourite foods and literature. After you'd overcome the initial shyness, opening upto Changbin was as easy as breathing, almost natural. Of course, you were still nervous around him, but it's a feeling you'd come to like.

Is this what the writers and poets describe as 'butterflies'?

"Do you think I'll make a good Queen?" You ask him one night. He sits in front you on a cushion, across the room, a position you told him is appropriate for two unwed people (although he did not agree to it initially).

If your nightly shenanigans were to be ever discovered by anyone, you would not want to be found in close proximity to each other even though you were betrothed to each other. He's breaking Palace rules everyday as it is.

He hums, "Of course! I think you'll make a great Queen. You're so good at your lessons already."

"That does not guarantee anything. I might not be good at taking the responsibilities."

"Do you trust my judgment, y/n? I think you'll make a great Queen. And even if you are overwhelmed, I shall always be here."

That night he leaves earlier than he usually does, owing to the fact that tomorrow is the day where his concubines are to be welcomed into the palace. Five of them.

The thought leaves you feeling bitter and dejected, but you make sure to not make those feelings obvious. This is a rule for Kings, to take as many concubines as possible to ensure the continuation of the blood line.

"Don't worry, my lady. Your rank in the palace is above these petty concubines. They will not mess with you." Somi comforts your thoughts the next day.

"But what if Changbin favors them more?"

Somi does not reply to that question.

On your 18th birthday, your father had promised to you that he would make you the Queen of this country. He kept his promise because here you are, after five years, getting dressed to be married to the most powerful man in the country.

Your father always insisted that powerful men do not love but Changbin's sparkling eyes always contradicted everything your father had taught. Nevertheless, you know the competitiveness among the concubines for the King's affection is mad. More often than not, even the Queen gets involved in petty fights.

But you try to remove all thoughts of your father and the concubines today. Because today, you are to be married to King Changbin. From today, your name will be written in the historical logs of the Royal family. From today, a new life begins.

"Are you okay, my lady?" Somi asks, "You look worried."

"I'm fine. Just hope the ceremony goes well."

The ceremony does go well and in all honesty, you were not worried about the ceremony itself. You were worried about the aftermath.

The maids guide you to your new palace, and get you dressed in white robes for the wedding night. The night when you will finally meet Changbin as his wife. The butterflies swim around in your belly.

The bed is decorated with flower petals and a few candles are lit. Everything is perfect.

"The King is here." One of your ladies in waiting announce and you get up to greet your husband.

The maids leave the room as the doors slide open and Changbin steps in, also dressed in white robes. He looks dashing, but his signature grin is nowhere to be found.

When the doors close behind him, he walks past you to the bed, the scent of liquor evident in his breath.

"Have you been drinking, your majesty?" You ask him, worried by his odd behavior.

What was wrong with him? Why wouldn't he even bother to meet your eyes?

"Changbin." He slurs, wrapping the blankets around him, "Call me Changbin."

He turns away from you and is snoring away in no time.

The butterflies in your stomach flutter around before dropping dead.

You did not sleep that night. Even though you were sleeping next to the man you love, you felt lonelier than ever.

Many times during the night, you consider walking out of the bed chamber to the servants quarter so you could talk to Somi. But you couldn't do that. Because you were now the Queen of this country and every single step you take will have its repercussions.

When morning comes, Changbin wakes up in a haste and greets you with a subtle nod and walks out of the chamber in long strides.

You well the tears back. It's your first day as Queen and hadn't he always promised to be there when you were overwhelmed? Had he lied? Or was it Changbin's doppelganger who visited you every night in the Detached palace?

Somi comes in a few minutes later with an excited smile on her face.

When she does your hair for the day, she asks, "So, how was the wedding night?"

You want to answer her truthfully - how cold Changbin had been, how he had not even looked at you let alone touch you, how you think he had changed almost overnight. But you see the prying eyes of the other palace maids and swallow your sadness.

"It was perfect. Like everything I'd ever hoped for."

"He was gentle, I hope." She says through a grin, but it feels like someone pouring alcohol on an open wound.

"Yes. He was."

As part of royal customs, the new bride is supposed to visit the senior most female member of the family and greet her. In your case, the member happens to King Changbin's mother.

Somi dresses you in the most exquisite silks and adorns your hair with the most precious flower but you feel nothing at all when everyone compliments you on the way out of your new Queen's palace.

Your mother in law's palace is a little far from the Queen's palace yet it is as beautiful as any other palace. From inside as well as outside.

"Greetings, your majesty. It is nice to meet you." You bow in front of the Queen Dowager.

The woman-not more than sixty years of age- looks at you with a gentle smile.

"Come in, y/n. Please be at ease."

You're seated in front of her on a cushion while the Queen Dowager's maids serve you breakfast.

"I hope your first day here goes well, my child. Our family is thrilled to have you." She says.

"The pleasure is all mine, your majesty. I am honored to be a part of this family." You say.

In the back of your mind, you wonder if Changbin is thrilled to have you or not. Probably not.

The mere thought of yesterday's rejection stings.

"Y/n, truth be told, my son is a quite a troubled man. His father was murdered in front of his eyes. He was made the king when he was only 16 years old. It's been 7 years since then, but the burden only gets worse. I hope you, as a Queen and as his wife, can help him lessen these burdens. Can you do that?" The Queen Dowager asks again, sipping tea from a small cup.

"I will do everything I can to help him." If only he'd let you.

"Good, good. I'm glad. And one more thing, y/n, you know as Queen one of your primary duties is to produce an heir for Changbin's throne. I hope you're working on that, yes?"

Heat reaches your cheeks. If only the poor woman knew what her dear son had done last night. If his behavior continues, perhaps it will be long before the Queen Dowager sees the face of a royal grandchild.

"We are trying, your majesty. We will not disappoint you." You reply, sipping tea from your own cup.

"Great! I shall send all types of herbs and tonics to help you conceive as fast as possible. I shall also draw up a chart after consulting the astrologer..." the Queen Dowager's voice fades into the background as your mind drifts off to the nights in the Detached palace, when Changbin would come and spend all his free time with you, against the rules of the palace. At that time, you had been sure that producing an heir would be a beautiful process, not a chore.

But Changbin does not even treat the thought like a chore.

Did he not love you? Did his Royal duties burden him too much?

When you leave the Queen Dowager's palace, you walk past The King's palace. It is as beautiful and majestic as they say. But you wonder if you'll ever be able to set foot in the same.

As if on cue, you see Concubine Jung walking out of the King's palace, her maids behind her. The butterflies in your stomach burn with jealousy.

She has a smirk on her face when she sees you.

"Eun, did you know there's a rumor around the palace that the King refused to sleep with the Queen last night? Sad, isn't it?" Concubine Jung says.

One of her maids giggle and nod, "Of course! How could the Queen even live with this shame?"

You cry yourself to sleep that night, while Somi does everything in her abilities to soothe you.

Needless to say, nothing worked.

"My lady, wake up. The King has invited you to breakfast with him." Somi informs one morning, six months after your wedding.

"Tell him I have a bad stomach bug. I cannot go."

You'd be found dead before sharing a meal with him and that obnoxious Concubine Jung. You'd shared enough meals with them already.

The past months, the King had not visited you even once but often you'd see him walking the gardens with Concubine Jung at his side.

After the first few weeks, you had no tears left to shed anymore so when the rumor came in last month that Concubine Jung might be pregnant, your eyes do not water no matter how much you force yourself to cry.

"I do not wish to congratulate them." You say, true and plain.

"My lady, he's invited only you. Not anyone else."

So you agree. As a last attempt to make your marriage work, even if it's just for your own sake.

Somi dresses you in green robes- The King's favorite. You quickly make your way to his palace, as if someone else would take your place if you didn't hurry. It's sad your thoughts had turned so negative in just half a year in the palace.

Your father had told you the King would take in many lovers during his lifetime, and that being Queen is about having power, not being loved.

But you think he didn't warn you enough. He didn't warn you how lonely it would be to sleep on the cold bed every night, how painful it would be to see the King smile at someone else.

Even if you did wish for a child, how could you produce you a child without Changbin?

"Good morning, your majesty." You say to him when you enter his bed chamber. It smells like cinnamon, a smell he'd often carry with himself back when he used to visit you at the Detached palace. Back when you were sure the king had been in love with you.

"Hello, my Queen. Please have a seat."

The butterflies dance around for a split second.

"Did you sleep well last night?" He asks, taking a seat in front of you.

"Yes." Lies. "Thank you for inviting me over."

When the maids leave the both of you alone, his demeanor changes.

"Actually, y/n, I had something to talk to you about." He says, casually, as if he hadn't been hurting you everyday for the past few months.

"What is it?" You ask.

He sighs, "It's mother. Ever since that rumor of Concubine Jung being pregnant spread. She wants the first grandchild to be of the Queen."

His words do not faze you, "How can I help you, Changbin?"

He frowns. Since when had your tone become this melancholic?

"Um, so if I have your consent, I'd like to try for a child tomorrow night. We'll see how that goes, yeah?"

"Okay. I will be honored." You say.

You finish up the food quickly and almost slide the doors open when he grabs your arm from behind.

"Y/n, what is it? Did something happen? Are your parents well?"

"My parents are well enough, thank you for asking." You say, keeping your eyes on the ground.

"Then? What happened? Is it Concubine Jung? Really, you did not have to be jealous of her. She's not pregnant. I can assure you of that. I have not consummated my marriage with any one of the concubines."

His words seem to have an effect on you. Your heart blossoms with hope but you keep your face and voice neutral.

"I am not jealous, Changbin. If one of the concubines get pregnant, I shall wish you both well."

You force your arm out of his grip and walk out the palace, not looking back once.

Changbin's stares at your leaving figure, now worried beyond relief that he might have broken the one person he cared for the most by his pursuits of a greater good.

While the past few months for you had been filled with loneliness, for Changbin it was almost the same-if not worse.

The first night of your marriage was filled with as many butterflies for him, as it was for you.

He had fallen in love with you and he wasn't afraid to show the world how much you meant to him. He wanted to hold you, kiss you, make love to you. And he had all plans to do that on the first night.

But that was until he had overheard a secret conversation between Concubine Jung and her father- Minister Jung.

For all he knew, Minister Jung had always wanted his daughter to be the Queen but being the dim-wit that she was, Concubine Jung could not even get through the first stage.

"Father, it's been two days since I'd been in the palace and that man has not visited me once. He had not even asked for my name the day of the welcoming. What kind of man is he? And you say I am to be Queen!"

"Hush, child. In this palace, even the walls are listening. Be careful. And as far as the position of Queen is concerned, you need not worry. If the King does bed the Queen tonight and she get pregnant, we shall make sure her pregnancy terminates before maturity. I have connections with all sorts of medicine vendors in the country, be assured, she shall never see the face of a child. After we weaken the Queen, we can take her throne as easily!"

Changbin had wanted to laugh at the man's foolish plans but deep down, he was worried as well. For you.

Which is why he pushed you away for so long and kept Concubine Jung close. While she tried everything in her power to seduce him, he refused her under the pretense of keeping an oath of abstinence for a year.

Every time she tried to even hold his hand, Changbin thought of you; your innocent eyes, your talks, your wit, your hands, your beautiful hair. No woman could make him feel like you do.

Changbin's secret informants had confirmed that Minister Jung had not one but two houses full of gold and cash he'd collected as illegal taxes from the local people. He'd also sometimes force husbands to send their wives to him in exchange for money. Even the thought nauseated Changbin.

Every time Concubine Jung visited, he made sure to collect some sort of evidence through her. He even visited her every night and while she snored away, he stole some of her gold jewlery and clothes to get them checked as evidence of the illegal taxes her father had been collecting.

And sure enough, after a few months of spying on her and her father, Changbin had gathered enough evidence by now to expose both of them at the court.

But he realised quickly that Minister Jung had a few tricks up his sleeves as well. The rumor of his daughter's pregnancy would make it difficult for Changbin to expose him easily, and so Changbin waited every night that the rumors would die down so he could run to the Queen's Palace and hug you with all his might. You were not safe unless the father and daughter were deposed.

And for some selfish reasons, Changbin had hoped you'd understand the reason behind his distance. But no woman could find a logical reason behind her lover being absent and it was horribly wrong for him to expect you to do the same.

"Are you stupid?" His friend, the eccentric dancer Minho had asked him.

Changbin had told him how coldly you'd behaved this afternoon when he'd asked you if you wished to try for a child. Most women would giggle and blush. But you were like a statue.

"You push her away for months and make her feel lonely and not loved and what not and you have the audacity to ask her that?"

"Well, yes. Mother had been pressuring me for a child and obviously, even with the pressure, I would never do anything that y/n would not have wanted but I thought it would be a great way to reconnect with her. Even if it didn't end in child making or whatever."

Minho let's out a frustrated groan, "You have to learn so much, Bin. But let's start with this- be honest with her. She's your wife and you ought to tell her everything. Give answers to all her questions and hold her hand if she let's you. Small steps first, a child can wait."

Changbin nods, " Okay, should I go to her right now?"

"Yes, you idiot!" Minho says, earning a slap on the arm from The King of Joseon.

He should be glad he's not being beheaded for calling the King an idiot.

You're almost done getting ready for bed when the lady in waiting makes an unexpected announcement .

"My lady, the King is here to see you."

Your heart leaps and the butterflies come alive again only to die down once you realise why he might be there. For a child. Isn't that why he's here? Isn't that why people get married in the first place?

"Y/n." He sighs when he enters the room, almost out of relief. He purses his lips.

"Is there anything I could help you with?" You ask.

Oh, how badly he'd hurt you. He could see the hurt in your eyes, in your voice, in your mannerisms.

"Y/n, I'm sorry. I really am. I know I have caused you pain and I cannot imagine how lonely it must have been. But I hope you know that I really do love you and only you."

"Then why the distance? Why visit Concubine Jung every night?" You ask, hands on your hips.

The tears that had left you threatened to return again.

And he tells you everything. From the conversation he overheard to how insistently Concubine Jung asked him for a child to how much solid proof he'd collected over the months and how he'd sent those evidences to the Minister of Security, who in turn ensured that by tomorrow the Jungs will out of the palace and be imprisoned for life.

It all makes sense to you now, of course it does. Yet you feel guilty. He'd been trying to protect you, all this while.

"I'm sorry, Changbin. I shouldn't have jumped to conclusions. I only-"

"Don't apologize, y/n. It's me that should apologize. I should have somehow tried to contact you and tell you about everything. I'm-"

"No, no, Please. Don't. You only tried to protect me and-"

"No, y/n, it's all my fault, please-"

Somi overhears the entire conversation through the door, her mind finally relaxing after the misunderstanding had been solved between you and the King. She could no longer stand you being this sad. And she somehow knew King Changbin had his own reasons for his behavior.

She hears soft sounds of kissing through the door and takes it as a sign to move away from the door, and join the other maids waiting outside the palace door. She smiles to herself.

The butterflies burn with passion.

"I do not wish for a child this early. I want to be here like this with you for a while, just y/n and Changbin and maybe two or three years later, we could try for a child. What do you think?"

When he kissed you initially, you half expected this to end up in the bed. But it did. And you're glad it did.

The butterflies bloom more than ever.

You're wrapped in his arms, tightly. The nakedness no longer bothering the either of you.

"I agree. I want to be this close to you every night, not as a Queen or the mother of your child. But as y/n. As your wife."

Changbin draws his face closer to you, pecking you on the lips, "And so you shall, my love."

And so you shall.

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leviackermanscleaningbuddy · 1 year

Text

SKZ DRABBLE-OT8

The one where the rules are broken, and maybe better than before.

Or the twentieth installment of the SKZ!pack prequel series, from the other side of the story.

Tags: Skz, stray kids, stay, ot8, skz!pack, skz!abo, poly!skz, omegaverse, pack!prequel, skz!pack prequel, prequel series, bang chan, lee minho, seo changbin, lee felix, hwang hyunjin, han jisung, kim seungmin, yang jeongin, y/n, skz x you, skz x reader, ot8 x you, ot8 x reader, skz drabble, angst

Genre: Angst, Hurt, Comfort

Title: The Other Things (From Changbin's POV)

I fucked up.

I know that.

But as I stare at the screen of my phone, watching the call go immediately to voicemail-again-I can feel the anger bubbling up to fill the cracks between the pools of guilt and fear sitting in my gut.

What the hell was she thinking?

“Fuck!” I swear vehemently and toss the phone across the room. It hits the wall and falls to the floor. I’ll worry about that later.

Leaning forward, elbows on my knees, I rake my fingers through my hair, over and over, the movements short and repetitive and furious, as I try to think of what to do.

I couldn’t tell Chan. Hell, I couldn’t even tell Jisung or Felix or Seungmin. They’d never forgive me.

So I stand up slowly, taking in a deep breath, and retrieve my phone, dialing the number of the only person I know who won’t immediately blow this out of proportion.

I watch it ring, and then the line connects.

“What?” Minho’s voice snaps through the speaker, annoyed and aloof and altogether entirely Minho.

I immediately feel the band around my chest loosen just a bit.

“Hyung.”

I swallow, suddenly not able to get the words out, and I hear him sigh through the other end of the phone.

“What?” He repeats again, but doesn’t ask anything else, and that’s what I’ve always liked about Minho, why I called him over anyone else.

He doesn’t care about other peoples’ business enough to pry.

But he always shows up when you ask him to.

And right now, I needed him to.

I clear my throat and try again, trying not to think of the dozens of unanswered calls and messages weighing down the phone in my hand.

“I messed up.”

Minho snorts, and I hear the clatter of cookware in the background, he must be cooking.

“Is this supposed to be news to me?”

I pinch the bridge of my nose and take in another calming breath. My chest feels tight once more as I think back to the argument, and I wince, glad no one can see.

“No, like, I royally fucked up this time. Like enough that I don’t know if I-or hell, anyone-can fix it.”

There is a brief silence, and then Minho says, “Okay. Well what do you want me to do about it?”

I know he’s not trying to be smart, or cold, or anything other than straight forward, but it still hurts a little, hearing him ask so bluntly.

“I can’t get a hold of (Y/N). She’s ignoring my calls.”

Another beat of silence, and then I hear Minho click his tongue, as if he’s understanding something he hadn’t before. The sound of a pot clangs into the sink.

“Christopher’s gonna fucking kill you.”

I roll my eyes, but he’s right, and that’s exactly why I’m coming crawling to him for help instead of my best friend.

“I know. Why do you think you’re here?”

Minho scoffs audibly, but I hear the jangle of keys as if he’s grabbing things off the counter in preparation to leave.

I hope it’s to help me.

“I can’t save you from him. And I wouldn’t want to.”

I run my tongue over my teeth, feeling agitated suddenly.

The longer we spend talking, the longer she could be getting herself into trouble, or worse.

I wouldn’t put it past her to do something stupid right now, not with how furious she was with me when I last saw her.

“Hyung, I’m not asking you to protect me, just please, can you-” I stopped.

It wasn’t like me to ask for help, but I needed his in this moment, and I’d just have to deal with it.

She wasn’t going to answer me, she’d made that more than clear.

I take in a stuttered breath and try again.

“I know I fucked up, I know that, believe me, but I she’s not going to talk to me, and I need to make sure she’s okay.”

A sigh, and then Minho says, “Well c’mon then, dumbass. I’m outside the dorm with the car.”

Relief pools in my stomach, and I open my mouth to thank him, my eyes burning slightly, but he beats me to the punch.

“And don’t even try to get sappy or sentimental on me, because I will retract my help and leave you on your own, so help me god. Now get downstairs.”

I clamp my mouth shut and end the call.

********

“Wait, wait, wait!” I grab Minho’s shoulder, and he grumbles as he shakes me off, navigating the car down the cramped roads of the campus.

I point toward the lit up bus stop, and the figure walking toward it.

“That’s her! Pull over!”

“I have eyes, thank you.” Minho mutters with annoyance, but he swerves the car over to the curb without another word and I’m out the door before we’ve even come to a complete stop, my feet slapping down hard on the pavement.

The panic in my gut is making it hard for me to think straight.

She turns at the noise, expression on guard, and I lunge toward her before I’ve even had time to think.

I come to a stop in front of her, chest heaving, and she stares at me, expression unreadable, face hard.

She doesn’t say a word.

Suddenly, all the fear coagulating in my stomach starts to bitter into something angry, something dark, and I glare at her, the next words from my mouth are ones I instantly wish I could take back.

“Where the fuck have you been?”

Her eyes darken, and her lips press into a thin line.

“Out.” Is all she says, and I feel a manic laugh starting to bubble in my chest at the response.

Really? That’s all she’s going to give me? I’ve been trying to reach her for hours, worried out of my goddamn mind, and the only explanation to where she’s been is fucking ‘out’?

She’s still holding my gaze with her own, fierce and defensive, not backing down an inch, and I feel the rage bubble heatedly into my throat.

I clench my fists.

“That’s all you have to say for yourself? We’ve been trying to reach you all goddamn night, (Y/N), we were fucking worried.”

I see the corners of her lips turn up at that, as if she wants to laugh in my face, and I wouldn’t blame her.

Not after what I’d said earlier.

How could she think I’d be worried? When all I did was push her away?

She turns her head stubbornly to the side, and that’s when I see it, the drying blood in the corner of her lip, the fresh, red mark across her jaw, already starting to fade to purple around the edges.

Everything inside of me devolves into hot, fiery rage, and this time, it’s not directed at her.

I feel out of control as I pinch her chin forcefully between my fingers and yank her gaze back to mine, ignoring the way she winces slightly under the rough touch.

“You’re fucking bleeding.” I growl out, my entire body hot and electrified, like I just touched a red hot poker. My eyes dart once more to the bruising marking her pretty skin, and I can feel myself spiraling. “What the hell happened?”

She yanks from my grip and turns on her heel, stalking toward the bus stop, not giving me another glance.

“I handled it.”

I don’t think, I lunge forward and grab her wrist, stopping her forward movement as she turns to glare at me with undisguised hatred over her shoulder.

Good, I deserve it, and hate is still an emotion, and I’d rather her look at me right now with any emotion rather than with nothing at all.

Nothing is when you know you’ve lost them.

“Where the hell are you going?”

She grits her teeth, I see it in the clamp of her jaw, and then she spits out, “I’m getting on the bus and I’m going home.”

It’s there again, the manic urge to laugh bubbling up in my chest, the insane urge to yell and kick and hit and do anything, anything at all, rather than feel like this for one more fucking torturous minute.

But instead, I meet her head on, I can’t seem to back down, and snap right back, “You’re not getting on the fucking bus, (Y/N).”

She stares me down, eyes cold.

“Like hell I’m not.”

God, why do we both have to be so goddamn stubborn?

She tugs from my grasp once more, and I let her, before turns away again.

I bite down on the inside of my cheek so hard I taste copper, and take another step after her, catching her once more.

She doesn’t even bother turning around this time.

And when she speaks, her voice is deadly.

“Let me go, Changbin.”

No. I don’t think I will.

I drag her backward easily, toward Minho, toward the waiting car, and she digs in her heels, fighting me, but it’s no use.

I’m a madman, fueled by rage and adrenaline, and I’m fucking sick of this cat and mouse game.

I reach the curb and shove her none too gently toward the car.

“Get in the fucking car, (Y/N).”

I see the resolve still in her eyes, see the fire in the depths of her irises, and she crosses her arms stubbornly over her chest, staring me down.

“No.”

Damn it all, I love her fight, I always have, but could she just fucking not for once and fucking listen to me?

I’m caught in a glare down with her, neither of us willing to give up, and then the sound of the car door opening draws my attention.

Minho appears, annoyed resignation on his face, his eyes dark, as he leans against the open driver’s door and pins her down with his gaze.

“(Y/N).”

The way he says her name has her instantly turning her head.

His expression brooks no arguments as he says in a low, cool voice, “Get in the car.”

I think she’s going to resist, ignore him, the same way she’s ignored me all day, but instead, she huffs an angry breath, and opens the door to the backseat, sliding in without another word, before she slams the door so hard the windows shake.

Minho gives me a pointed stare across the top of the car, and returns to the driver’s seat.

I’m so angry, I can feel my pulse in every goddamn inch of my body, but I clench my hands and get into the passenger seat, slamming my own door for good measure.

Minho sighs, long and heavy, but I simply smirk and slouch back in the seat, crossing my arms over my chest and staring straight ahead.

Oh, baby girl, two can play at this game.

Minho pulls away from the curb, and I force myself to stare out the window, ignoring the building scents of smoke and frost coming to a head in the space of the small car, tense and uncertain and at odds.

Finally, Minho glances into the rearview mirror at her and asks, “What happened to your lip?”

I huff a humorless scoff beneath my breath, but don’t take my eyes off the road ahead.

She’s not gonna tell him. She’s too goddamn stubborn.

“Just some stupid frat boys.” I hear her say sullenly from the darkness of the back seat, shifting slightly, my ears over attuned to her and her every movement.

My alpha growls at her words, dangerous and on edge, and I have to force myself from immediately demanding an explanation from her once more, maybe some names, some descriptions.

God, I really need to fight someone right now.

Frat boys will do just fine.

Especially if they touched what’s mine.

I can’t help it, I open my big, dumb mouth, and poke the bear a little bit more.

Everything smart inside of me is telling me to shut up, but I can’t.

I want her to suffer, to be scared, to feel stupid, to feel guilty, like I had all day since the fight.

I turn in my seat and fix her with a glare.

“See, this is why you never should’ve went to that stupid party on your own in the first place-”

She immediately straightens, the fire reignited in her eyes, and her volume rises in anger, her voice shaking.

“Do you even fucking hear yourself?” She narrows her eyes at me, and I have to stop myself from letting my gaze drift to the blood by her lips. “I’m an alpha, Changbin. An alpha! Just like you, just like Minho, but just because I’m a girl-”

Stop, something whispers, stop now, before you cross another line.

But I can’t.

“And would they have attacked you if you hadn’t been a girl?!” I bellow out, all the anger and fear and exhaustion finally coming to a head, misdirected at her, the twisted messed up source of it all.

I see the tears pool in her eyes as I stare at her, chest heaving with rage, but she doesn’t bite back, instead she sits back in the seat and stares doggedly out the window, lips clamped, until I finally break eye contact and turn back to the front.

Minho shoots me a sidelong, accusatory look, but I ignore him, staring out the windshield as I unlock my fingers slowly, one by one.

My palms have red, angry crescent moons dug into them, a tribute to the anger I’ve been trying to keep inside.

The rest of the ride home is silent, and the only thing filling the car is the overwhelming, choking smell of smoke.

******

When Minho parks the car, she gets out of the back seat without a word and heads toward the elevator without a single backward glance.

I let her go, because what the hell am I supposed to say?

I get out, and Minho follows, but he doesn’t fall in line with me as I walk toward the elevator, and when I turn back, he’s leaning against the car, staring me down with an unreadable expression, swinging the keys between his fingers.

I sigh, and rake a hand through my hair.

“Let me have it.”

Minho stays silent, his gaze never leaving mine, and then he finally says, “I’m not going to ask what happened. It’s not my business. But you better fucking fix that-” He motions to the elevator where she disappeared, his expression hardening minutely, and I can tell he’s angry, can tell he’s fucking furious in this moment. “-before I take care of it myself.”

I stand rooted in place, as he pushes off the car and walks past me toward the elevator now, not giving me another glance, but saying in a low, cold voice as he passes, “No one will ever find your body.”

A chill runs down my spine at his words, because I know he means it, and more importantly, I know he’s right.

No one would find my body if Minho had anything to say about it, and I knew better than anyone that I’d better fix this fuck up, and quickly, if I didn’t want him, or her, to hate me forever.

I stand there, considering, and when I hear the ding of the elevator being called, I turn, holding out my hand toward him.

He eyes me with a blank expression.

I motion toward the keys.

“Think Chan-hyung will mind me borrowing his car for another few hours?”

Minho stares at me, then tosses me the keys, which I catch easily in the palm of my hand.

“Fix it.” He reiterates slowly, and then steps into the elevator and disappears as well.

I clench the keys in my hand and breathe out hard through my nose.

That’s entirely what I intended on doing.

One way or another.

I unlock the car once more and slide into the driver’s seat this time, and as it roars to life beneath me, and I speed out of the parking garage, I can’t help but think back to that morning, when it had all gone to shit, and only because I was a fucking coward.

I had fucked up, and hurt her in the process, and all for what? Because I was too caught up in my head with the logistics, with the rules, with the fear.

I’d ruined it all, self sabotaged, because I didn’t want her to feel obligated.

But she’d said it all on her own-I hadn’t forced her into anything, deep down, I knew that, I did-but then I’d let the fear take over, the what ifs, and I hadn’t said it back.

Fuck.

I wanted to-god had I wanted to-but something had held me back, something that haunted me, in everything I did, no matter what it was.

The terrifying realization that if I crossed that line, any line, all my hard work to be different, to be better, would go to waste, that I’d be no better than any other alpha who took what they wanted, just took and took and took, consequences be damned.

I wouldn’t do that to her, not if I could help it.

But I also couldn’t explain that, so instead, I’d shut down, and I’d pushed her away.

And now I’d fucked it all up, and I didn’t know how to fix it.

“I love you.” She had said, breathless and beautiful and entirely too goddamn perfect for this world.

I stared at her, still breathing hard, still a little foggy from the high, feeling myself still inside her, slick and warm and beating, and instead of saying anything-because holy shit, had she really just said that?-I stayed silent, trying to compute.

The words were there, on the tip of my tongue, pulsing like a hot brand, needing to escape, and then, I had stopped myself.

Because she was staring down at me like I put the stars in the sky, her eyes large and dark, and suddenly, in that moment, I didn’t know how much of this was her, and how much was me, the smell of smoke burning my nostrils and my throat with every inhale I took.

I watched a slight blush replace the flush on her cheeks, and then she ducked her head, and I saw it in that moment, the shame, the embarrassment, and everything inside of me ached, cried out, begging me to say it back.

And I wanted to, fuck, I’d wanted nothing more, because I’d dreamed about her saying those words to me, every night since I met her, since I knew I wanted to say it to her, but I held myself back, and she slid off me, and darted for the safety of the bathroom without another word.

I could taste the regret instantly, like acid, on the back of my tongue.

Fuck.

I took my time getting up, focusing on slowing my breathing, on steadying my heartbeat, on pushing the three little words back-down, down, down-so they wouldn’t escape, and by the time I entered the bathroom, she was no longer blushing, but she kept her eyes downturned from me, cleaning herself up without raising her gaze, cool, detached, focused.

I leaned against the doorway for support, and when she looked up to meet my gaze in the mirror, I forced the words out.

“Listen-”

Listen to what? My poor attempt at excuses? My lame ideology that makes me sound like nothing short of a selfish asshole?

She huffed a laugh under her breath, and I saw it, the hurt in her gaze that she was so desperately trying to hide.

My stomach dropped at the slight betrayal on her face before she schooled her expression.

I’d hurt her, and I knew it.

“It’s fine. Don’t say anything. Just forget it.”

She forces a smile onto her lips, twisting them upward, and I feel a dagger twisting with them, straight into the depths of my chest.

How the hell do I explain something like this to her?

I love you, but I can’t say it back, and it’s only because I don’t want to hurt you. Ironic, right? Because I’ve already clearly fucking done that.

I nod and move past her to wash my hands. Her faint floral scent sticks in my nose, and I suddenly feel like I’m choking.

She turns to leave, and that’s when I say, “I can’t tell you what you want to hear.”

She freezes, hand on the doorknob, and I instantly wince.

Stupid, stupid, stupid. Fucking stupid.

That hadn’t come out how I wanted it to in the slightest. It sounded like rejection, and that was so far from the actual truth that it was laughable.

She doesn’t turn around, but when she speaks, her voice is wavering, like she’s on the verge of tears, and my chest completely caves in.

“What?”

I turn, leaning against the counter, and stare so hard at her back that I feel I could burn holes through her skin-her perfect, warm skin, rising and falling with her breaths.

“You know what I mean.”

She doesn’t reply, and I see her fingers tremble on the knob.

Why am I still talking? Why?

I don’t know, but I can’t seem to stop.

“Why’d you say it?”

Did I do this? Did HE do this? Did we force you into something you weren’t ready for? How can I be sure?

She turns now, brow furrowed in open confusion, like she can’t believe why I’d even ask something like that in the first place, and then asks right back, voice hurt, “Why wouldn’t I say it?”

I blow out the breath I’ve been holding, harsh and irritated, more so with myself than her, and her gaze hardens, crossing her arms over her chest as she stares me down. I see the stubborn flickers of anger in her eyes and her alpha start to raise its head.

“Why didn’t you say it?”

Because I’m a coward. Because I’m not positive you really meant it. Because I’m not even sure you want this. Because I’m so terrified of forcing someone into something against their will that I run the opposite direction as soon as someone opens up to me. Because the deep feelings I have for you scare the absolute shit out of me, and if this all turns out to be fake, then I’m not sure I’ll be able to hold myself back from falling to pieces.

But instead of voicing any of the thoughts in my head, I pinch my nose and say, frustration washing into my words, “Don’t make this emotional.”

Stupid, stupid, so fucking stupid.

I see the flash of a fight return to her eyes, and god, I’ve always loved that about her.

“Excuse me?” She grits out between her teeth, anger flaring. “Don’t make this ‘emotional’?”

I physically have to stop myself from grimacing as she throws my callous words back in my face.

“You know what I mean.”

I step around her to leave the bathroom, because that’s one thing I’m good at, running away from anything that even remotely appears emotional, how fucking lucky.

“Pretty sure I don’t. Why don’t you explain it to me?” Her voice rings with barely contained rage, her words shaking.

She follows me, standing in the doorway, eyes flashing defiantly as I try not to look at her and pull on my discarded shorts.

The room is starting to smell like a crisp winter morning, and I’m honestly expecting to see my breath frosting when I next speak.

I’m getting angry now, my chest tight, my skin hot, and when I whirl to face her this time, I can’t stop the words from leaving my lips in a stinging targeted rebuke.

She didn’t get it. And that’s my fault, because I didn’t even try to explain it to her, but still, could she fucking give me some room to breathe for just one goddamn minute?

“Sometimes it’s not that fucking deep, okay, (Y/N)? Sometimes it just is what it is!” I grate out, hands clenching at my sides, my vision swimming with hot, molten rage.

I wanted to hurt her with my words, and by the look on her face, I’d gotten my wish.

She stands there like a statue, staring at me in angry disbelief.

“Me telling you I love you isn’t ‘that fucking deep’?”

I stare at the ceiling. I’m a fucking prick, an asshole of the worst kind.

Finally I meet her glare and say tiredly, “Don’t (Y/N).”

Because I know this isn’t on her, but I’m backed into a corner, and I need a fucking minute, or a night, or something to get my head back on straight.

I can’t do this right now, not with her expression telling me I’ve ruined everything.

“Don’t what?” She retorts, shoving past me to grab her clothes, and I watch helplessly as she tugs on her pants and throws out over her shoulder, “Oh, right, don’t make this emotional because it’s not that fucking deep and I’m just a stupid girl who said a stupid thing and has stupid feelings that you don’t reciprocate.”

She’s wrong, so wrong, but I can’t tell her that.

“(Y/N)-” I try again, and she whirls on me so fast I almost take a step back.

“Don’t.” She seethes, eyes narrowing, lips pressed into a thin line. “Don’t talk to me like I’m a child you’re disappointed with.”

The only one here I’m disappointed with is me, but I don’t say that, instead, I keep my mouth shut and school my expression.

“Fine.”

“Fine.” She spits back in my face, stalking past me and out of the bedroom.

I follow her, and against my better judgement, I catch her wrist before she can walk out the door.

She glares at me, daggers in her eyes, and I don’t blame her one bit.

“Let me go.”

I shake my head, panic suddenly settling into the cavity of my chest as I stare at her.

I can’t let her go, not like this.

I need to explain, I need to just-

“No.”

Her gaze darkens, and the air spikes with frost.

“Changbin. Let. Me. Go.”

She’s not backing down, but neither will I.

I shake my head, harder this time, and match her glare, toe to toe.

“Not until we talk about this like adults.”

She scoffs, her lips pulling into a snarl, and I admit, it sounds stupid, especially coming from me.

“There’s nothing to talk about. You made that incredibly clear.”

Had I? That’s not what I had meant, not in the slightest, but things were twisted in the anger of the moment, and it’s not that I didn’t want to talk about it, just that I didn’t know how to talk about it.

“No, I said I couldn’t tell you what you wanted to hear-”

The phrase hurts falling from my lips again, and I see her visibly wince before she rolls her eyes violently.

“Oh my god.” She huffs a humorless laugh, sharp and stuck in her throat. “Can you please not repeat your obvious rejection over and over? Kinda sucks.”

That’s what I’d been afraid of. That’s not what I was doing. None of this was a rejection of her or her feelings, just a reflection on me, a coward, a gutless fake.

Anger boiled in the pit of my stomach-at her misunderstanding, at my stupidity, at this whole fucking situation.

I feel my expression harden, and my voice is sharp, as I start to say, “I’m not-”

She cuts me off before I can get another word out.

“Oh you’re not? Then what are you doing, Changbin? Hm? Please, enlighten me.”

Her tone is stinging, patronizing, but I can feel her shaking where my fingers are looped around her wrist, giving her away, and it makes me want to kneel and beg for her forgiveness, to take it all back.

But I can’t. So instead, I drop her wrist, and I channel all that guilt into exasperation, into hot anger, and ask bluntly, “Does it change things? Me saying it back?”

Because it shouldn’t.

You shouldn’t need three fucking words to know how I really feel about you.

She stares at me like she’s just been burned, caught off guard by a hot stove.

“Are you seriously asking me that right now?”

“Of course I am!” I blurt out, openly frustrated, growling beneath my breath as I try to control the sudden wave of furious exasperation, clenching my hands at my side. ““Because I don’t fucking get it, (Y/N), if it does, because why?”

I shouldn’t have to say it for you to understand.

Hurt flashes across her gaze at my raised voice, my scathing question, and she takes a small step toward me, her body visibly trembling.

When she speaks, her voice is small, resigned, tired.

“It changes things, because right now, I don’t know where I stand.”

I stare at her, unblinking, because I don’t really know how to take what I’m hearing.

She doesn’t know where she stands without me saying it back to her? Everything I’ve done to show her, everything I’m still doing to show her, and she refuses to get it, won’t think I’m serious, until I repeat back what she admitted to me? Why does it matter? That’s fucking ridiculous.

“Where you stand?” I repeat her words back to her in disbelief, hoping she’ll hear how stupid they sound. “You stand where you always have! Why does that have to change?”

With me. You stand with me, you always have, and you always will. Because I can’t live without you.

She heaves a sigh and reaches for the doorknob.

“Whatever. This is clearly not working. I’m leaving. Just forget about it.”

Without thinking, my fingers find their place back on her wrist.

“Let go of my fucking wrist, Changbin.”

Her voice is icy, her tone deadly.

I don’t back down.

Two can play at this game, baby girl.

“You wanna know why it matters?” She hisses at me after another moment of silence, stepping forward, her chest brushing my own, as we both heave angry, impassioned breaths.

Her eyes flash as she meets my gaze.

“It matters, because right now, what we’re doing here?” She motions to me, and her fingers brush my chest, and I try not to wish it back to the way it was, to the way she touched me before, before all the shit hit the fan and I’d fucked up everything. “Could mean absolutely nothing more than an easy lay-not a single fucking thing.”

She thought that? She really thought so little of me? That I’d jerk her around for months, fake a relationship, just for an easy lay? Just to get my dick wet?

Fuck, the anger was inescapable now.

I felt my lip curve into the start of a humorless smirk, the sneer flashing across my teeth.

I lean into her space, so close our lips are almost brushing, because she’s hurt me, and now I want to hurt her.

I hold her gaze, making sure she’s listening, and drop my tone into a growl.

My smoke overtakes her floral frost easily, choking out the air around us.

“And you think if someone tells you what you want to hear, that that changes things? You’re a goddamn fool if you think that changes anything.”

Hurt flashes beneath the anger on her face, and we stare each other down for another charged moment of silence, before she turns away and leaves without another word, slamming the door behind her.

I watch her go, and I don’t call her back.

*****

I pull up to the frat house, the party still going at high volume, and head inside, shoving past the guy at the door who tries to stop me without a word. I glance around at the milling college students, looking for anyone who looks out of place, and head toward the kitchen.

As I reach the doorway, I hear a guy’s voice from inside say angrily, “That bitch’ll pay if she ever shows her face around here again.”

I smile dangerously to myself and crack my knuckles.

Bingo.

I step into the dimly lit kitchen and the three guys lounging against the counters beside the sink immediately look up at me.

The one in the middle, the tallest one, the one currently holding a bag of frozen peas over the knuckles of one hand, stares me down with a glare.

“Who the hell are you?”

“I could ask you the same question.” I reply back easily, not really looking at them, as I walk along the opposite side of the island, running my fingers along the dozens of different types of alcohol they have available for the party selection.

The guy snorts. “Last I checked, you’re in my house, buddy.”

“Well.” I skirt around the island and the guy beside the knuckle kid looks nervous at my approach.

I almost grin.

Good, he should be.

“Last I checked-” I continue, voice low and cool, advancing measuredly, taking my time, like a predator stalking prey. “You put your hands on my girl.”

Recognition flashes across the middle guy’s face, and anger burns his eyes at my words.

“Who the fuck-”

I don’t wait for him to finish.

I leap forward and tackle him back against the counter, lifting him up and holding him by his throat, his feet dangling, as he struggles in my grasp.

The bottle of beer he had been holding is knocked onto the floor, shattering at our feet.

“Isn’t that right?” I ask again, tone calm and casual, as I hold the struggling frat boy up above my head, cocking my brow at him as the hint of a smile comes to my lips.

I glance at his lackeys, seemingly frozen as they watch me hold their leader like he weighs nothing.

I’m just now noticing the one guy has a black ring around his eye, and the other’s nose looks more than a little crooked, his nostrils still oozing slowly congealing blood.

I turn back to the leader with a smirk.

“Although, it looks to me like she’s the one who kicked your asses.”

He growls, writhing in my grip, and chokes out, “Get your hands off me, you asshole!”

One of the goonies gets the courage to move, taking a step toward me, but as soon as his fingers touch my skin, I’m turning on him, pulling leader man with me, leveling him with a deadly glare that instantly has him freezing in place.

“I wouldn’t if I were you.”

He steps back.

“You pricks!” The guy in my hold struggles again, kicking his feet against the cabinets with a hollow sort of sound. “Get him! Do something!”

“And you-” I shove the kid back against the edge of the sink, as he chokes and coughs for breath as my fingers tighten imperceptibly. I let out a long, calming breath through my nose, considering. “-you’re going to get exactly what you deserve.”

The kid yelps as I drag him out the open back door and into the backyard of the frat house.

His goonies don’t follow.

I drop him and he stumbles at my feet, landing hard in the grass as I loom over him, a wicked smile on my face.

“Would hate to get that nice kitchen dirty with your blood, hm? It’ll be easier clean up for your friends out here.”

He scrabbles away from me like a crab, and the sight is almost pathetic enough to make me laugh. Almost.

Instead, I lean down, grab him by the collar of his expensive looking dress shirt, and set him back on his feet in front of me.

I note the ripped skin on his hand, and my smile curves dangerously.

“Stand up when I’m talking to you, kid.”

And then, I reel back, and punch him directly in the face.

He crumples onto the grass, blood gushing from his nose and mouth, and I wipe my hand off on my hoodie before turning to head back to the house.

The goonies move out of my way immediately, terror in their eyes, and then rush behind my back to help their fallen leader.

I shake out my fist as I walk back to where I’d left the car. It felt nice to punch something again, felt even better to punch a punk ass kid like that who had it coming.

I bite back a grin, shift the car into gear, and leave the frat party behind.

******

When I get back to my apartment, Hyunjin is curled up in the middle of my bed, watching some sort of drama on the screen of my laptop, a bundle of blankets curled around him.

I should shower, but I’m suddenly exhausted, and without a word, I climb into the bed next to the omega, looping my arms around his waist and burying my nose in the skin of his throat.

Hyunjin squirms as my cold hands find the warmth of his belly, and then he glances at me sidelong, a disapproving look on his sharp features.

“You look terrible.”

“Thanks.” I mumble, not looking at him.

He pauses his movie and sits up, ignoring my grumbles as he disturbs the comfortable position I’d found, and reaches out to trace a gentle finger beneath my eyes.

“You haven’t been sleeping.”

I shrug, picking at a loose string on the comforter that lays over his body.

He sighs, and the scent of lemons fills my nose, making my body relax, because Hyunjin has always had that effect on me. He’s always been a safe space, someone I can talk to, when no one else will listen.

I open my mouth, then shut it again, deciding what to say.

Finally, I say, “I fucked up.”

He doesn’t say anything, just continues to stare until I sigh and roll on my back, staring at the ceiling. I don’t look at him as I continue.

“With (Y/N).”

He props his chin in his hand and his gaze softens slightly.

I go on.

“She told me she loved me, and I didn’t say it back.”

Hyunjin breathes for a moment, the rise and fall of his chest keeping my gaze and mind centered, and then he asks gently, “Because of the rule?”

I nod. “Because of the rule.”

He sighs again, and leans his head onto my shoulder. I bury my nose in his hair, he smells like shampoo and gel and lemonade, and close my eyes for a brief moment while he thinks.

Finally, he breaks the silence with, “Do you remember when you said it back to me the first time?”

His question catches me off guard, but I do, I do remember, just like it was yesterday.

I nod.

He smiles, I feel it against the skin of my neck, and then he cocks his head, meeting my gaze from his position against my shoulder somewhat cheekily.

“Okay, so why’d you break the rule with me?”

I scoff, ignoring his question as I shrug and frantically scramble for an explanation.

“That was different! We’d known each other a long time before, and you said it a lot of times before that, and I knew you couldn’t be swayed by fucking biology at that point and I just-” I shrug again, somewhat helplessly, and trail off, rubbing at the back of my neck awkwardly.

Hyunjin sits up and pins me down with his stare, his dark eyes serious.

“But it’s not different. And you know it.” I did know it, just like I knew I fucked up.

I sigh heavily and admit, “I know. You’re right.”

He smiles, sympathetically this time, and leans over to place his soft, long fingers over my own.

“Let her have some time, some space. But then you have to make it right.”

I nod, knowing he’s right, and he snuggles back up against me, under the blankets, and resumes his drama.

I fall asleep with the smell of lemons in my nose.

****

I’m not necessarily surprised when she shows up at my door the next day, but I’d thought that she still needed space, and I would have to be the one to first approach, getting to my knees and offering an apology.

It was the least she deserved.

But here she was, coming into my room and sitting down beside my bed like she belonged there.

And she did. I’d always known it.

I glanced quickly at her and then back to my manga, like I was scared to scare her off by looking too long, and we sat in silence for several moments, me flipping pages, her staring at the floor beneath her sneakers.

Finally, she asked quietly, “What happened to your hand?”

I flicked my gaze down to the knuckles of my hand, bruising from yesterday’s encounter, and shrugged casually.

I’d actually forgotten about them till she brought it up.

“Just some stupid frat boys.” I repeated her words from that night, hoping she’d get the hidden meaning there, as I turned back to reading my comic.

I wasn’t disappointed.

I saw her tuck back a satisfied smile, and my chest warms.

I drop the manga to the bed with a sigh, and she looks at me from the corner of her eye in slight surprise, but doesn’t move from her curled position by the bed.

Now or never.

“Look, I know I should apologize-”

Wow. Great start.

She interrupts me before I can say anything else, already shaking her head.

“You don’t need to apologize.”

I feel self hatred rear its ugly head in my gut and when I speak, my voice is clipped, angry.

“Yes I fucking do.”

I owe you so much more than that.

She startles me by pushing determinedly up to her knees and leaning over me on the bed, her elbows digging into the mattress beside me.

The fire is back in her eyes as she smiles ruefully down at me.

It’s the most beautiful thing I’ve ever seen.

“No, I’m serious. You don’t need to apologize.”

I stare at her in open confusion, my brow furrowing, and she gives a little laugh, reaching up to smooth the wrinkle from my brow with her pointer finger.

God, I’d missed her skin.

“Don’t look so worried.” She says, forcing lightness into her tone. “I’m not gonna hold this against you forever.”

My lips pull thin into a grimace, and I feel myself scowl.

“You should.” It’s the least I deserve.

She shakes her head, and I get a whiff of sweet floral, my gut clenching.

“You were right though.” She admits a little ruefully, lips curving. “You don’t have to say it. It doesn’t change anything.”

No, that’s not right. I hadn’t been right, she had been.

And it was time to let her know that.

I push myself up on my elbow, opening my mouth, but she beats me to the punch.

She suddenly looks nervous, wringing her hands and avoiding my gaze.

“Look. I get it.” She manages to look at me now, her expression softening. “Why you have a rule about not saying it back.”

That fucking sneak.

I growl beneath my breath. “Dammit, Hyunjin. I’m gonna fucking murder him.”

She laughs, and honest to god, it’s the most beautiful sound I’ve ever heard.

And then she meets my gaze, and all the breath leaves my lungs in one fell swoop.

“No, it makes sense. And while I totally get it, I do, I also don’t think you should worry about forcing me into doing anything or saying something against my will just because of some stupid pheromones.”

She holds my eye, and I can’t breathe.

Her breath quivers on the intake, and her chest rises and falls rapidly in quick succession.

“Because I’m already pretty hopelessly fucking in love with you as it is, and I don’t think any amount of biology is gonna change that.”

I stare at her, my mind blank, and then I laugh.

It feels so fucking good, I can’t seem to stop, even though she’s staring at me like I’m crazy.

I say the first thing that comes to mind.

“So you meant it then.”

She shoots me a less than fiery glare and balls her hands into tiny fists, crossing her arms over her chest in an attempt to look cross, but I think she’s probably the cutest thing I’ve ever seen.

“Of course I fucking meant it! Why do you think I got so pissed off when I thought you were rejecting me?”

Thought you were rejecting me.

Ah. She gets it now.

I smile teasingly. “But I told you I wasn’t.”

And I never would. I never will. Because I’ve never wanted anything more than I want you. Please believe me.

She throws up her hands in an adorable show of exasperation.

“Yeah, okay! I get that now, but I was a little too devastated to consider it in the moment!”

I don’t wait another second. I tug her down on top of me, and she lets out a little squeak of surprise as she topples forward into my arms, her nose going into the skin of my throat.

She’s warm and she smells like a flower patch after an early frost, and god, I think I’ve never felt this good.

I place my fingers gently on her cheekbones, and tug her back, just enough so I can see her eyes, the long dark lashes brushing her cheeks as she stares up at me.

God, she’s beautiful.

And then, I explain. Like I should’ve the first time.

“I’m sorry that I made you think any of that. I’m sorry that I hurt you by being a stupid asshole. I’m sorry that you ever thought I didn’t feel the same exact way about you that you feel about me.” His lips curve up into the start of a smirk. “And I’m also sorry that you didn’t get to watch me kick those frat boys’ asses to hell and back, but I’m not sorry I did it.”

She laughs, the sound thick, like she’s holding back tears, and swipes at her eyes with her hand.

“I’m also sorry I didn’t get to see that.”

I’m honestly sorry I didn’t get to see her kick their asses too.

Another time.

She buries her nose back in the skin of my throat, comfortingly close to my scent gland, and I feel a contented rumble building in my chest at the feel of her warm body against mine, my arms full of her, the air thickening with wisteria and the flickering flames of a campfire.

I take in a deep breath, bury my nose in her hair, and admit softly, “Also. I had a rule. But I think it’s about time I start living a little less by the rulebook, and a little bit more by the trust you all seem to have in me, however misguided.”

I can feel the way she smiles against my skin, matching my own as I bite it back behind my teeth as she pulls back to look at me once more.

I arch a brow at her.

“I’m sorry I didn’t say it back. But I can say it now, if you want?”

And I want to, because suddenly, Hyunjin is right, and it’s not different at all.

She shakes her head, laughing slightly.

“It’s not gonna change anything important.”

And she’s right, it won’t. Not my feelings for her, or our relationship, or the comfort that comes from having her in my arms.

But she’s important, and that’s enough for me.

So I put my finger under her chin and raise her gaze to mine, and I let my fingertips carefully, slowly, trace the outline of her perfect, full lips, then gently draw over the bruising that trickles over her jaw, and I marvel, once again, at how lucky I am.

“I know.” I let my eyes meet her own, and she’s staring at me so openly, nothing to hide, everything on display. “But what if I want to?”

And I do.

She lets out a breath and then breathes out, eyes never leaving my own, “Okay.”

I lean in and let my lips brush her cheek, so she can feel my words on her skin, inside of her, feel their truth and sincerity.

And then I toss everything aside-all the fear and the expectations and the rules-and I say it because I mean it.

“I love you too.”

She gives me a sly, sidelong glance, and the corners of her lips perk.

“My alpha pheromones didn’t make you say that, did they?”

I growl teasingly and tackle her back into my arms, keeping her in place as I tickle her mercilessly and she giggles, making weak attempts to escape.

“No fucking pheromones were used.” I say softly, against the soft skin of her throat, and everything inside of my soars, because I’m confident. It’s true. She loves me.

“No pheromones were used.” She repeats back like a promise, just between the two of us, smiling up at me, and then she leans in and connects our lips, and all the previous rules go out the window.

********************************************************************************

💗 Taglist:

@hosh1kwon

@carolinexkpop@blithevix

@sunabokuto

@wildflower-at-heart@faericals@5sos-wdw@hyuneyeon

@studyingthemind@illicee

@maddmartian

@binnie--baby

@xwinchesterprincessx@ley-lani59

@lady---boner

@rosegaming117@meivida

@sai-kida134

@cutecucumberkimberly

@aroseharder

@spideyweirdo

@coureurs-de-bois9

@unfiltered-starlight@sixswaggy

@shimmeringmoons22

@thatgirlangelb

@beautifulcolorgarden

@runningthroughlifestay@dearalice@patat-boi@stay-berry

@laylasbunbunny

@misxing-you

@sawadabegum

@changbinsrightboob

@maliamaiden@sunnibearr@bkirsted@jamlou512

@latinxmochi@goquokka

@leeknowsw0rldd@yoongihan

@simeonswhore

@rubberduckieyourtheone

@chanlovesme

@janvibutbetter

@starlostjimin /

@vampcharxter

@dadonbabysworld

@cursed-mars-bars@lexiluness@nanaberry6

@yoongisleftearring@seoulsaver

@leeyanyanyaaan@septicrebel

@peppermint-tea-life

@ashcapybara

@thesingingelephant@ksho123

@bangchanwhore

@im-sinking-in-mud@nxahlxl

@peachbokkie@pretty-blkgirl

@bokkierachacha

@richardofyork@neohyxn

@dumplinbokkieracha

@dreamingsmile

329 notes · View notes

wa-wandavision · 3 months

Text

MY SKZ MASTERLIST

˚୨୧⋆｡˚ ⋆ Bang Chan ⋆ ˚｡⋆୨୧˚

Coming Soon

˚୨୧⋆｡˚ ⋆ Lee Know ⋆ ˚｡⋆୨୧˚

Guardian Angel

˚୨୧⋆｡˚ ⋆ Seo Changbin ⋆ ˚｡⋆୨୧˚

Coming Soon

˚୨୧⋆｡˚ ⋆ Hwang Hyunjin ⋆ ˚｡⋆୨୧˚

Insecurities

I love you

˚୨୧⋆｡˚ ⋆ Han Jisung ⋆ ˚｡⋆୨୧˚

Coming Soon

˚୨୧⋆｡˚ ⋆ Lee Felix ⋆ ˚｡⋆୨୧˚

Bad Days

˚୨୧⋆｡˚ ⋆ Kim Seungmin ⋆ ˚｡⋆୨୧˚

Forbidden

˚୨୧⋆｡˚ ⋆ Yang Jeongin ⋆ ˚｡⋆୨୧˚

Solar Eclipse

Drafts!

Kittens, Lee Minho

You bump into a cat dad while dealing with a little situation. Maybe he can help you.

Fan meetings, Han Jisung

your best friend forces you to go to a stray kids fan meeting.

Ongoing Stories!

Solar Eclipse, Yang Jeongin — series

You and Jeongin fall in love all over again

Guardian Angel, Lee Minho — series

God assigns one of his workers, Lee Minho, to watch over you.

Forbidden, Kim Seungmin — series

You travel back to your birth place, but problem is, you have to live with your cousin and the rest of his family

Favourites

Captain save-a-hoe!

Hotel check-ins

Fair and square

Sandcastles

Finding home in your heart

Read Later

Best friend han x reader

Cold as Ice

I like you covered in blood

Perfect

Snitch

Good hair day

Say you want me

Tuesday Chris

Instead of you

Morning texts

Just for a moment

Marooned

Morning Photographs

Sex on the beach

Sweeter

How I see you

On your knees

Pull over

It's so tasty, come and Chase me

B. C

I.N

B.C

H.J

Jisung

Felix

Jinnie

Skz

Channie

Skz

Can I be your favourite

Strange weird and wonderful

No prejudice

Jisung

9 56 pm

actions that speaks

Make you a mommy

Queenmaker

My dear

Bath water

Blackholes

Felix

A modern love story

Movie date

Hyunjin

Minho

Pearl necklace

Chai latte

Muse

Jisung

Magazine photos

Wrong number

By my side

Look up to the stars

Channie

Drunken idiots

Morning sex

Sunsets in Sydneys

Cat in heat

Sick days

Date on ice

Bath water

Birthday suprises

Happy place

Race my heart

Reunions embrace

Love language

Wanting

Go live

Hyunjin

To do what I can do

Shark week

We can't be friends

Your fault

Small moments

when you know, you know

idolstruck

Blueberry muffin

Fairytale

Whispers

The drifter: the sea kind curse

Stray kids royal au

Girl code

Breath

Ice on whisky

Phobia

REQUESTS

╰┈➤ OPEN

#hwang hyunjin x reader #lee yongbok x reader #seo changbin x reader #bang chan x reader #kim seungmin x reader #lee minho x reader #han jisung x reader #yang jeongin x reader #stray kids #skz #skz x reader

31 notes · View notes

sunnyseungup · 2 years

Text

Hyunjin fic recs

stray kids | Hwang Hyunjin

masterlist

[ updated 230805 ]

Innocent mornings { s } 1,3k @sailorhyunjinz

two types of fireworks { tangled! au, historical! au; a,f } 21,2k @chanluster

when you find a notorious thief wounded within the woods you wondered, you heal him, not realising that the same man will lead you to your destination, and the few feelings you’ll develop along the way.

enough for you series { idol au; a, f } @lotus-dly

You and Hyunjin have been keeping your relationship a secret for awhile. However, when Hyunjin finally decides to come clean to his members about the two of you, you overhear a conversation that you weren’t supposed to, leaving you questioning not only your relationship with Hyunjin but your worth as well.

experienced (series) { f2l; f, s, a } @/ballelino

Dressing Down { f2l, a, s, f } 5,8k @jl-micasea-fics

A shopping trip with the gloriously attractive, delightfully oblivious man you've lusted after since time began? During a particularly lengthy dry spell? Definitely not a recipe for disaster.

hotter than ur ex, better than ur next {emo! hyunjin; f, s } @i4lixie

[ 1 ]

hyunjin was only supposed to be a fleeting moment in your life between lovers, but his fierce attitude and your greed for more of him makes him stay much longer.

[ 2 ]

after a recent encounter with your fuckbuddy, you start to turn back on the one rule you gave him before this relationship even started. you wouldn’t fall in love, and neither would be. too bad you can’t keep your own damn word.

Tulips and Lilac { f, s } 7,3k @drewexe

the fateful party is already in the past, but you and hyunjin have a new game to play; and he's dead set on winning this one, even though he's perhaps already won

the small things { f } @/i4lixie

just in case { office au; f, a, s } 8.6k @the7thcrow

your valentine’s day plans of bad cable and a bottle of wine take an unexpected turn, as when leaving the office you witness a completely different side of your least favourite coworker, hwang hyunjin. perhaps valentine’s day really does hold a little bit of magic.

[8:55 a.m.] hhj { f, a } @/lotus-dly

Pretty please { sub hyunjin; s } 1,9k @ohmysparkle

Tattoo artist!Hyunjin @slytherinbangchan

College Tutor { nerd hyunjin; f, s } @/slytherinbangchan

party cup { idiots to lovers; f } 12,2k @changbeanie

you have one brain cell, and it’s heart-shaped for hwang hyunjin; or alternatively, hwang hyunjin hates parties but likes you.

Supposedly Date Night { insecurities; a, f } 1,7k @seungly

vampire drabble { f, s } @j-onecult

The (almost) Perfect Date { f } 3,5k @hanqu0kka

Due to his busy schedule, you and Hyunjin weren't having enough time to spend together. To change that, Hyunjin planned out the perfect date for you, too bad you were extremely sick and refused to tell him.

#Scream For Me { sub jinnie; s } 3k @sugar-petals

the fwb rules { fwb; s } 4,5k @etherealeeknow

Breakfast in Bed { s } 3,5 k (deleted ?)

forgive { royal au; f, s, a } 4,1k @ncitygirls

#006DB0 | HWANG HYUNJIN. { a, f } 1,3k @hanibalistic

the valentine trials { f2l; a, f } 17,3k ao3link

to be alone { f2l; a, s } 5,7k @straylightdream

She couldn’t sleep at night, and her loneliness always led to her calling the same person to share a bed with her.

[20.30] { greaser au, fwb2l; f, s, a } 4,1k @lettersfromaphrodite

[8.03] { vampire au, medieval, f, s } 4.6k @/lettersfromaphrodite

the study of relationships. { roomates au, f2l; a ,f } 15k @huenjin

college team's volleyball captain and your roommate-cum-best friend, hwang hyunjin argues with you over guys being better than girls in relationships to help you out of one. or in which hyunjin is in love with you for years now and he finally decides that maybe he doesn't want that best friend tag anymore.

inexperienced { f, s } 2,2k @/ballelino

the distance between you and i { f } @wishingyouback

mind your business! { f } 1,2k @rachalixie

the aftermath of the crew finding out about yours and hyunjin’s unintentional secret relationship, complete with domestic fluff at the end.

Flames { fantasy, assassin au, e2l; c } 3,7k @fizzydrink698

You frown. “Is it so hard to believe I find you attractive?”

Hyunjin raises an eyebrow, eyeing you with pure scepticism. “You’ve tried to kill me. Multiple times.”

“I fail to see how one negates the other,” you reply with a shrug.

The differences between us { a, f } @/lotus-dly

warmth { f } 1,8 k @inkybird

boyfriend habits { f } @yyx2

vampire hyunjin { f } @ppiri-bahng

relax with me { f, s } 3,4k @koorminii

It’s your turn to make noises now, it seems, because Hyunjin drags a moan out of you so loud that you’re worried the neighbours have heard. Your cheeks are red for a whole new reason now, and the fact that Hyunjin is yanking at the collar of your dress doesn’t help. You let him, you don’t care, you want to give Hyunjin everything, anything.

scarlet red { f, s } 6,2k @abiaswreck

A young talented artist has caught your attention. Now you want nothing more than for him to be successful. (Non idol au)

this is me trying { a, f } 1,4k

SATURN { a, f, s } @/seospicybin

Realized that Hyunjin’s true love will always be his art, you decided to move on with your life to only cross path with him once more

three in one { s } 4,7k @strayed-quokka

hyunjin finds it depressing to hear that you’ve never had an orgasm. he’s determined to give you three in one night. at least.

come here { barista yn, e2l; a, s, f } 4,6k @hh0320

cherry chapstick { f2l; f, s } 8,9k @angelwonie

being hopelessly in love with your best friend is bad enough in itself, but when you decide to spontaneously kiss him at a party and he kisses you back — that's when it gets complicated. or maybe it's not complicated at all.

massage { s } 2,2k @sluttywonwoo

( a lack of ) decorum { art teacher!hyune; f } 1,5k @wooahaes

comfy and cozy { whiny!hyunjin; f }

no nut november ( loser 3# ) { s,f } 4,2k @gimmeurtmi

sky prince { f, s } 3,7k @strayngesparkyds

glossy {possessive gf; s } @bitsauur

sleepy { f } @mmingooo

fic-mas: day 12 { f2l; s, f, a ] 3,6k @hardstraykidshours

getting snowed in with your best friend takes an unexpected turn.

7:30PM { sick hyune; f, a } @yrhome

Underneath the tree { f } 0,7k @lino-jagiyaa

christmas didn't feel like it used to this year, so your boyfriend hyunjin came over to spend the day with you, hoping to cheer you up a little.

sick hyune { f } @/hwajin

UNDERTONES { perfume maker/chef, mutual pining; a, s ,f } 13,3k @/cb97percent

He dedicated his life to scents. You dedicated yours to taste. Your paths were bound to cross at some point.

like a magnet { s } 3,7k @/gimmeurtmi

Bubblegum Bitch { neighbours2l; s } 3,5k @j-0ne25

Hyunjin is severely annoyed about all of your packages being delivered to his apartment because you’re too busy getting them yourself. But maybe an honest apology, some freshly baked cookies and mulled wine can ease the tension between your neighbour and you

the art of love { f } @/ppiri-bahng

MANIAC #4: Hwang Hyunjin { Artist Hyune, Psychological, Thriller; a, s } 13,3k @/cb97percent

PRETTY BOY { proposal; f } 0,971k @/bbujiikseu-archived

hyunjin is planning to propose to you. little does he know you’re also planning to propose to him.

indoors picnic { sulky bf; f } @/inniejeonginnie

when your meticulously planned date gets ruined by the rain, it's up to you to cheer your sulky boyfriend up.

It Is Your Birthday Not Mine { s, f } 4,1k @athenathesharkwrites ites

18:08 { f, comfort, c } 0,3k @softiejoon

hyunjin decides it’s a good idea to eat his birthday cake raw

bits of stardusts. { historical, strangers2l; f, a } 16,8k @jeonginks ao3link

00:00 { ex mafia } @/ppiri-bahng

when you are kidnapped hyunjin has no choice but to reveal the version of himself he has spent years trying to escape from

CHARCOAL BLUES IN C MINOR { slow burn, mutual pining; s, a } 23k @cb97percent

Charcoal and straw papers. Piano keys and sheet music. A lighthouse and a speakeasy. Prestige and the lack thereof.

9:40am { f, hungover & dramatic hyune } 0,8k @skzfairyy

Boyfie privileges { f } @jinhyun

cake pop { f } @inniejeonginnie

you graduated college!! and now all your boyfriend wants is to show you how proud he is of you, but things don't go the way he planned

“oh, god.” { s } @/ppiri-bahng

Series

Moonrise { historical au, arranged marriage au, s, f } 12,6k @/healinghyunjin

Seeing your future husband for the first time, you knew immediately, even from afar, that the rumors hadn’t even begun to do him justice.

Moonlight { historical au, arranged marriage au; s, f, } 6,5k

a throne of roses | hwang hyunjin { royal au; f, a } 16,7k @scxrlettwxtches

when the king that conquered your country, hwang hyunjin, arranged a marriage for the two of you, not once did you expect to feel any emotion except hatred and bitterness to blossom between you. will you stand to hate your enemy until the end, or will you realize that the cold-hearted ruler is not as cruel as he seemed?

A crown of thorns 14k

a few years have passed since your tumultuous beginnings with the enemy king, hwang hyunjin, and to everyone’s astonishment, your marriage flourished with an abundance of love. however, this was not yet a happy ever after, and danger still lurks within every corner of your peaceful kingdom.

VESPER @/seospicybin

One dance { s } 6,3k

If it wasn’t because of your support, Hyunjin would have been given up to be a painter. One day, he finally get to sold one of his paintings and he decides to celebrate it by getting himself a lap dance.

Part 1 { s,f } 11,2k

You've been praying every night for someone like Hyunjin to come and when he finally did, you doubt that he would approve your job as a stripper.

Part 2 { s,f } 11,3k

Is this love ? { pack au,+ Felix ; a,s,f }

1. 2. 3.

Dangerous { mafia boss hyune, e2l; f, s, a } 4,1k @minghaoyoudoin

Deal 6k Deadly 9,1k Damaged 9,2k

Darling 4,3k

HOTEL VERMILION { hospitality au, mystery, crime; s } @/cb97percent

Chapter 1 { s } 6,6k

Note: please let me know if the links are not working ! I’ll try to fix them as soon as possible ^^

#hwang hyunjin #hyunjin smut #hyunjin fluff #hyunjin angst #stray kids #stray kids recs

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