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icravebooks · 1 year

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Bangtengers

Ot7x reader

Genre: superhero au, poly rlsp, Marvel Avengers au, comedy is the main genre

Summary: it's just a normal day as a superhero, a normal day of alien invasion, a normal day of close to death experience, a normal day of bickering during fight, a normal day at being manhandled by your seven superhero boyfriends.

Warning: there's mention of past traumas, talk of losses, angst, gore, talk about death and fight, a bit of sexual talks and reference, and absolute silly talks.

Side note: this is kind of an Avengers inspired oneshot that randomly popped up in my brain, there will be refrences to some of the Avengers related descriptions but it's brief so you don't have to a marvel fan. It's just pure out comfort fic for me.

Word count: 4.6k

There's a saying that even in the greatest of calamity there is a blessing hidden. Like one must face the worst of there fears to get back to the world with a renowned soul that breaths fire and knows how to tame the situation which would have been dier for the older self.

The blessing that came from the calamity also knows as the chitauri attack was that the world got their superheroes, who defeated the alien army lead by a mind controlled Loki.

Well it didn't exactly turned out good one would say but yeah..that might have worked to some point. Leave behind the normal consequences and as we all know War always leaves behind destruction, new problems and nightmares. Nightmares that can't be shaken off.

But some nightmares are actually good, like the unknown attack brought to face the potential threat of dealing with other worldly being which lead to the world in accepting their heroes for good.

The bangtengers like how yoongi aka iron man had suggested after some thought, the orginal plan by SHIELD was Avengers but yoongi said that the name should sound interesting something that would leave people saying cool.

Like they say what is kept in the name so everyone else agreed, what matters in actuality is the teams job and that typically shitty line that with great power comes great load of bullshit. So yeah it was pretty much normal superhero stuff.

As normal as a sudden attack by some alien jet..

"Remind me again what were you trying to do?" You can hear the mock in namjoon's tone through your intercom, as you ran full speed towards the purple alien guy and body smashed him. "I was just trying to communicate okay!" Yoongi defended himself as flew from top of you, you would have added in a comment but your mouth was currently busy in chanting a mind control spell on the alien, the familiar crimson light igniting from the tip of your fingers and tracing a wave pattern towards the guys brain which was disgustingly visible through that transparent skin of his, yikes!, It didn't take even a second before he was knocked unconscious with a painful grunt. Well if you got in this mess for yoongi wanting to game some information about aliens, you would rather be of help.

"Well they definitely don't want to talk." An almost panting hoseok ran past you making you look up in the direction he was heading, you raised in silent question to his run opening your mouth to ask him about the obvious rush in his features. Doing quick work of jumping back onto your feets, a sudden blast on the side hoseok just ran from turned your attention to the direction to see a visible struggling 95's duo who were currently trying to take down one of those gaint Hulk sized monster. Speaking of Hulk it's about damn time hoseok did some real work instead of keeping up the act of 'we can handle this without the big guy.'

You raised two of your fingers up in the air as the monster charged in taehyung's direction who visible braced himself for the upcoming damage but before the monster could smash your partner a red sheild of fog surrounded him, the monster looked just as confused as your friend who slowly turned in your direction to look at you with realisation, you just winked back before the fog surrounding the monster grew thicker and he started to choke, his hands came automatically to his throat strangling his own self before he vanished into thin air. "Where to this time?" Jimin's laugh following those words turned your attention to him to see him fighting against one of the kinds you just knocked unconscious, a smirk appeared on your face on realising what jimin was talking about.

when ever you teleported one of the opponents it was either an isolated island or a desert or antartica, once you had tried teleporting one of the attackers to some other planet but it had kinda backfired and like wisely you had found yourself unconscious with a headache that you could feel for three days straight. After that incident you mostly tried to play safe, the guys had been super worried about you after that one incident, so you had no choice on trying to expand the range of your power.

Your thought about saying wonderland but before you could even word out a single syllable your heart missed a beat , the ground trembled beneath your legs a visible vibration radiating from the ground making your blood run dry, the sudden shift in the wind made you look up to see a large spaceship almost the size of the SHEILD helli carrier roaring high in the sky. Honestly you were partially glad that you had already taken care of the civilians and that this area was already declared a war zone. But just because you were superheroes didn't mean you didn't value your life or the life of your friends, the thought of any of them getting hurt was not something you could afford, they were the family you as an orphan had the chance to have and you wouldn't let some shitty alien ruin it.

"you deserve a pat on the shoulder with a chair for this yoongi." The obvious irritation in jimin's voice made you want to laugh bitterly but you couldn't agree more with him, he was right, genius or not yoongi was a dumbass bitch. And someone needs to do something about that lab of his, "i swear tintan the moment I get home I am going to blow up that genius lab of yours." You finally let go of the little amount of patience you had developed in the last three years, rage wasn't something you wanted to get used to but right now the adrenaline rush felt all to familiar. The crinkling sound of glasses cracking and the view of all the windows of the building in front of you shattering had jimin and taehyung exchanging quick glances before they walked towards you, well jimin did walk taehyung used his speed ability and within the blink of an eye he was infront of you and within next blink he was hugging you trying to distract you from the situation. All the members knew that you had traumas, traumas of losing your family right in front of your eyes and the simplest idea of anyone dying was enough to let you be blinded by rage.

"Guys incoming from three o'clock." Jungkook's voice brought you back from being drowned by the enchanting trance of taehyung's hold, you pulled away slightly giving a quick nod to taehyung to let him know that you were okay, taehyung didn't seemed to trust your answer but he still reluctantly let you go before you both turned in the direction jungkook had just pointed out to you all as he came swinging from behind one the tall buildings, Spiderman webbed swing his way to where you three currently were.

"I will handle that." Namjoon's voice sounded almost out of breathe and you were already signalling to them that you will go help him,

"if you guys don't kill me after this, how about we go to that shawarma joint--"

"No! And whose to say you will make it out of here alive??" The obvious frustration in hoseok voice had you cackling as you ran past him this time, purposely bumping your shoulder in his who was currently standing infront of the pile of three unconscious or dead bodies, you could see the way he was about to rip of your head before he realised it was you not one of the guys messing with him.

You blew him a quick flying kiss distracting him enough that he didn't notice the crimson smoke typing around his feet like a rope before his legs were rugged from beneath him and with a girly scream hoseok was gone. You didn't stayed back to watch him turn into the big guy but knowing Hulk it would be three seconds before he would be jumping to your side and just at the count of the familiar shaking of the ground with the loud thud and the Hulk scream.

"Woah now who let pea brain sized green ass out?" Jin voice was followed by the sudden lifting of you from the ground, the transition was too fast for your brain to have proper time to react, you blinked looking at the ground becoming foreign to your figure as you were currently being held in the arms of none other than the lightning man of your group, "i warned you about this jin." You grumbled while you narrowed your eyes at him who winked at you totally unaffected, "I am just helping you." You knew there was a silent, 'but you must return the favour next time.' in that statement, that was enough for making you roll your eyes. The familiar crackling of thunder filling the already noisy environment as he leaned in and stole a quick kiss, his lips sealing your while you were trying to grumble out a protest.

"Fare trade." He whispered mischievously pulling away as you looked into that familiar black eyes of his, the look in them reminding you of Loki, they weren't blood related but the way you could see the traces of being siblings briefly in their action made you heart sink, "if you could put side that flirting not that there's any rush but we are in a bit of a pickel down here." The sarcasm in namjoon''s voice was so

Thick it made you internally cringe, you looked down to see him glaring right back at you both, the parental look in his eyes making you let out a sheepish grin before you saw that they were being cornered by aliens that were heading in there direction from every corner.

"Jin a thunder strike would be really kind of you." You commented turning your eyes from the crowd to the man infront of you, "as the lady wishes." The overly drawled words had you wanting to roll your eyes but you were grateful for the thunder nevertheless that fell down in circles a few inches away from namjoon, who jumped back in order to avoid the lighting knowing exactly well that it was on purpose hence the death glare in namjoon's direction was acceptable.

"Opps?" There's wasn't even a single ounce of guilt in Jin's tone as he lowered you both to the ground and the moment your feet touched the ground you were snatched from the between the men in a rush of wind, you were about to curse taehyung for the sudden counter but your words died down on your tounge when he came to a stop before jungkook who was currently trying to web an alien to the statue of some recognised public figure.

"20° angle jimin." Taehyung shouted as you both turned to see jimin struggling against a shit load of aliens, "fuck you yoongi." You hissed raising your hands in the air and letting the energy flow through you, "after this mission babygirl." Yoongi's unaffected remark only added to your words had your pissed mood doing a hundred and the energy flow just seemed even more powerful, you lifted your hands in the air and the aliens advancing in on you guys all froze in there spot. Jimin turned to you for signal and you didn't take even a second before nodding your head.

"I would recommend earplugs but I don't think we have that.." jimin trailed off just as taehyung speeded around handing everyone earplugs, since you were trying to hold back a whole shit load of aliens taehyung helped you with the earplug making sure to ask you if they were secure enough and once you nodded clearly not able to hear a single word he said, taehyung gave jimin a thumbs up who turned his back to you guys, you saw how his shoulders stiffened and you wanted to move forward and comfort him but you were currently holding back the aliens so that was kinda hard.

You waited for jimin to do his work, taehyung's warm hand around your waist kept you anchored to the awake world as you watched jimin with anticipated breathe, just like that you felt the pressure of the fight from the aliens that you were holding back reducing drastically, you eyes bouncing off from jimin's back to watch as the alien fought against their own people, the horror of them killing their own kind making you want to tremble and shut your eyes tight but you couldn't do that, you couldn't even look away as they pierced each other's body with their blade swords.

It was straight out bone chilling but you couldn't stop thinking about jimin, you knew what effect using his power to do this had on him but almost always he had to use them, it wasn't always sunshine to be a superhero.

The moment you saw jimin dropping to his knees you let the hold on the aliens go and rushed your way to jimin, "fuck yoongi for this." Jimin mumbled jokingly as you lowered yourself next to him, he sent you a half smile trying to hide the wobbling of his bottom lip, you smiled gently at him reaching forward and lacing your fingers with his trembling one's, "thanks for the offer jimin but y/n already booked me for the day." Both you and jimin rolled your eyes hearing yoongi's reply as you leaned in and placed a quick kiss on jimin's cheek.

"Umm guys there's more coming." Jungkook sounded so confused saying that and partially frustrated, you had to hold back a groan at the information as you helped jimin up, "ugh give me a fucking moment to breath." You heard taehyung growl through the intercom as you watched him speed past you both to help jungkook with the alien that was currently pinning him down, you could hear the distance sound of thunder in some distance from you probably a few buildings away and the familiar sound of yoongi's suit.

"Okay guys enough playing around let's get this shit done." You heard namjoon bark out as you sent a limping alien crushing straight into the hardware store. "Yoongi any free clearing for proper battle nearby?" Namjoon questioned as he appeared from behind the alley of one of the bookstores signalling you all to follow him.

"Two stores and a left." Yoongi's answer was brief as you all navigated your way to the clearing, it was weird that a bunch of superhero were walking the streets like a kid exploring his new neighbourhood. "Has anyone seen Hulk?" It didn't even take a second before the all too familiar shout filled the air turning all of your attention to the spaceship which was tilting oddly, you saw a few black dots falling from the ship knowing exactly well what they were.

"When did he even get there?" You questioned know one in particular, you were quite amused to see Hulk doing his work so well, and it wasn't just you who found it amusing because you could hear the thoughtful hum of the others who had also stopped walking and were right now looking at the spaceship being taken down single-handedly by hoseok.

"I am bringing party." Yoongi's urgent voice had all of you exchanging glances before everyone ran to where yoongi had asked you all to be, and true to his words yoongi was heading you way with a whole swarm of small alien jets chasing after him and on narrowing your eyes you saw that there was a crowd of them running your way too, "just what did you tell them yoongles." Jin's comment was really showing his curiousity, "atleast not that i am looking forward to banging their wives." Yoongi's comment had you all scoffing as everyone braced themselves for the fight.

"Bang it vengers!" Jungkook shouted from behind as he shoot his web on a near by tree and moved forward to strike at the aliens, "it was supposed to be assemble." You heard Jin complain as you all charged at the crowd, taking down as many as you could. "Remind me again to never let yoongi watch Bollywood movies." You commented as you kicked one of the aliens before sending them flying with a quick flick of your wrist, "hey! It was not the movie."

"Oh please you watch Krish and suddenly you wanna see if you could talk to aliens."

"Now that makes sense to me." Namjoon chimed in as his shield came flying to cut an alien throught that was advancing in on you from the side, you gave a quick nod before moving forward and letting your fingers lift up as the Hulk sized monster got raised in the air, "so is the shawarma plan still on?" Yoongi questioned as he flew down to stand beside you, blasting an alien advancing in on you, "what do you mean by still?, I never agreed to it in the first place." You calmly retorted side eyeing him before turning to deal with the Hulk alien who was struggling against your restrain of crimson fog, poor soul.

You heard the blasting of Yoongi's energy blasters, before the very usual series of wae's he uses to make you give in to his requests, "i don't see one good reason for you rejecting this offer." Yoongi challenged as he turned his whole attention towards you, the mask of his suit flying open to show that obvious pout on his lips, you rolled your eyes fighting away a smile. Scoffing you twirled your index finger in a circle the alien going full circles along with the direction of your fingers, "please I could give seven good reasons." You challenged back with a smug stare, risking a glance over you shoulder at the men behind you.

"Hey!"

"I don't see why I am being dragged in this!"

"What do you mean by I it should be we tae!"

"I didn't speak last time!"

"And I didn't even eat!"

You laughed at the way all the complains came flying your way while you guys combated against your opponents, yoongi knocking two of the aliens and blasting a hole through one of them, jin flying around striking thunderbolt and choking one of the Hulk sized alien, jimin taking down three of the aliens one knocked down with a punch to his gut while a knife was still slitting his throat open, the glint in his eyes was of pure menace, it was moments like this you could see the damage he got as an assassin. The other was still holding onto the blade that was pierced right at the top of his heart another was next to him with his dead eyes staring at you directly, his mouth agape as blood spilled from it.

"You know it's moments like this.." taehyung trailed off with a heavy breathless grunt snatching your attention away from jimin to taehyung who was currently visible just like a blur of monotoned blue and gray going around in zig zag followed by the fall of alien who he passed. You shook your head with a smile turning your attention back towards the aliens advancing towards you, you held your grounds against them going into hand to hand combat with one of them as you advanced towards them and striked him with your silver dagger that you always carried around.

"I rethink if I should have taken farming serious instead." Taehyung completed his statement while you kicked the alien in his shin turning a good 360 on your left heel and bringing your another feet to collide with the jaw of another of the alien on your side, you chuckled hearing taehyung's statement, "sounds fair to me." Namjoon chimed in agreement to taehyung's previous comment while you watched him fight one of the aliens, the whole Team was trying to take down the mess as quick as you could.

"Farming in the day coming home by evening and then spending the rest of my day with y/n and our kids." The dreamy tone of taehyung's voice made you laugh out in disbelief while you heard the other guys mutter out their agreements, "I don't get what I am doing in this 'regrets of my life' preach of yours." You snorted wipping your the blade of your dagger clean of the green blood with the khaki shirt of the alien.

"Come on love, you know what you are doing there." Taehyung smugly retorted back followed by the strong breeze of wind when he passed from beside you not forgetting to place a quick peak to your right cheek, you didn't fight back the smile instead restarting to bite the inside of your cheek, "you met me because of this whole SHEILD thing tae." You reasoned with him sighing exhausted with the whole fight thing.

"Oh don't be ridiculous, I would have met the love of my life one way or the other."

The series of ohhs from the guys had you rolling your eyes while you tore apart a few aliens with the flick of your fingers, "and I thought jimin was the best with words." You heard jungkook tease from behind you, turning around you came in face to face with him well a masked him, "wanna fly?" The suggestion sounded pleasing consider just how exhausted this whole fighting was making you feel, "you don't basically fly." That earned you a grunt but before jungkook retort or do something a loud thud sounded from inches behind you making you close your eyes and purse you lip as you waited for the next move.

"Dolls mine." You had to stop a surprised yelp when Hulk growled behind you, eyes shooting open to see Spiderman backing away with his hands raised in surrender, you turned around giving out a sheepish smile to Hulk while you did a timid way at a very pissed hoseok aka Hulk, you could hear an alien advancing on Hulk from the side but he didn't even move his eyes away from you as he punched the alien square in the face. You held back a hiss at the thud of the alien falling, "you tricked me." He grumbled advancing in on you as he started to get smaller in size the spandex material of his suit shrinking to get to hoseok's size.

"It's tripped not tricked." You corrected grinning innocently at hoseok who rolled his eyes pulling you in for a kiss, his lips crashing with yours while his arms circled around your waist, the sound of screams and bones drowned away with the feeling of hoseok's warmth around you, you were partially glad that hoseok was still in control of Hulk or let's just say it takes a lot more convincing and sweet talking to get Hulk to relax, not that he has ever tried to hurt you.

"Can you guys do this later, I have an assignment due tomorrow for goodness sake." Jungkook's complain came in from beside you both making you pull away from hoseok with a slight pant, eyes still fixed on his while your faces were inches apart, "you should be thankful you are so cute." Hoseok rasped giving you a pat on the small of your back before he pulled away turning to jungkook with a scowl adoring his features.

"We are almost done I guess." Jin spoke as he came down to stand beside you both, "shawarma--" "no yoongi we ain't going." You didn't miss a bit to disagree as pushed the boys away seeing namjoon struggling against a squad of aliens, his shield was thrown on a five feet distance from him while the aliens were holding him down, "give me one damn--"

"One, the last time we went there you tried to buy the shawarma place."

A red wave of energy sent the aliens flying away from namjoon and his shield was brought closer to him by another wave of red.

"Yes but-"

"Two Jin caused an almost short circuit."

"That was by mistake!"

"Happened none the less. Third namjoon broke a whole set of their new cutlery."

Namjoon sent you a sheepish smile before throwing his sheild at one of the alien coming from infront of him.

"That why I tried to buy the-"

"Four jimin feel down the chair thrice and later broke the chair blaming it was defaulted."

"It was defaulted!"

"Five taehyung went inside the diners kitchen which was a staff only area."

"I needed a spoon"

You huffed breathless as you took down another of the alien, just how many of those were in that wrecked ship.

"Six Hoseok left a Hulk sized whole in the diners wall."

"It was the other guy not me!"

"Seven jungkook tried to web the wall."

"I was trying to help!" Jungkook reasoned sounding whiny as you scoffed turning the neck of the alien that you had in chokehold on, the crack sound of bone followed by the spill of blood of his mouth signalled the death of him as you let him go, "yeah like I wouldn't have noticed the difference, i went to the restroom for like five minutes and you guys did a whole show in there." You scolded them walking to where they all were fighting the last of the remnants.

"Anyone wants anymore reasons?" You directed your question at yoongi as you kicked one of the alien advancing from behind him, "i would rather stay quite." Yoongi grunted throwing you a quick glance before he turned away punching an alien with all his might, or the suits might.

"Can we be quick i have an assignment on theoro dynamics to complete."

"Me too."

"What a coincidence!"

"We are literally in the same year, doing the same course, in the same uni kook."

"Oh excuse for being an optimistic on this shitty ocassion"

"Your are excused." You threw back no missing a beat as you threw one of the alien in his direction using your power while he moved out the way letting the alien strike against the concrete wall.

"Guys can't you be quick, i don't want to stay up late finishing that assignment." You whined dodging another extraterrestrial with a shield of your energy way in front of you.

"Who allowed the kids to tag along for this mission in the first place?" Namjoon sounded really curious and partially parent like with that tone but all you felt was annoyance.

"They would have sneaked in the jet even if we left them at h--"

"Jin.."

"What I am trying to say is that they are sneaky as fuck so--"

"I told you not to again"

"Okay fuck it, i told them about the mission." Jin shouted from behind you somewhere making you snicker as you heard the guys bickering over it, "i can't do this anymore." Jimin announced followed by taehyung piping in, "there not much I and yoongi will take care of this you guys can go back to base." Namjoon suggested giving jimin a quick glance who nodded his head.

You looked at the guys who started to leave one by one while the duo who agreed on staying back dealt with the last of your enemies, "i can sta--" you didn't get to complete the sentence when jimin came forward sweeping you off your feets and into his arms before he placed you on his shoulder.

"Hey this isn't fair." You protested squirming as he secured you with a hand on your waist, you could see hoseok and jungkook snickering looking at you.

"You ain't staying back angel."

"Nice ass sweetheart."

"Fuck you hoseok."

"Gladly."

"Aww not without me."

"Urghh you guys are insufferable."

"No we are bangtengers."

"Your humor sucks Jin."

"Not as good as you suck us off."

"I hate you guys."

"We love you princess."

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sweethartlullaby · 2 years

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loving you was always a losing game

word count: 7.7k warnings: a little bit of swearing genre: angst and...attempted action you can imagine whoever you would like sweethartlullaby ꕤ masterlist

“Let’s start from the beginning.”

The woman leaned forwards and placed her notepad on her steady knee, a contrast to his, bouncing and erratic.

“What was your relationship with her?”

He stayed silent for a moment. He knew this wasn’t a good idea; he didn’t want to talk about any of this at all.

Small steps, that’s how everyone heals.

That would be what she would say.

“Uh,” He released a sigh and he felt even more nervous now that he could hear himself.

“We were childhood friends.” Surprisingly, he didn’t stutter throughout the whole sentence, which he had been struggling with for quite a while.

“Do you remember how you met her?” The man leaned into his seat a little, feeling the cushion slightly wrap a little tighter around him.

“Yeah, the playground in our neighbourhood. She fell and I was the only kid there.” He wanted to chuckle a little at how innocent those times were; before growing up, and before the choices that led to the chaos.

“So naturally, I had to help her.”

“How old were you when this happened?” The lady asked and he chewed on his bottom lip as he thought about it.

“I don’t know; maybe about seven years old?”

“How did you maintain such a strong relationship with her after all those years?” His throat squeezed itself as he realized they were nearing the topic he dreaded the most.

“I’m not sure. I guess time just flew by with her.” He chuckled nervously.

“Would you say that you enjoyed your time with her?” He paused and let the word sink in. The past tense is used to indicate things that already happened and were no longer happening. His enjoyment of time with her was no longer valid.

“Y-Yeah, I guess I’d say that.” He blew air out through his lips and felt his cheeks warm. It had been almost a month now, and he still hadn’t the courage to speak about it.

That dreadful day.

“Are you alright, would you like-”

“Could I be excused for a moment?” He cut the woman off and she nodded before he practically lunged off the chair and bolted out the door.

Before he could turn the corner, he tripped and his hand fell upon the wall next to him, in time to save himself from planting his face on the ground.

The air was thinning around him and it felt as if his airways were all knotted up. He couldn’t even say her name let alone think of her face. Every time he closed his eyes, the same image of her appeared.

The same sad image he was cursed with since that day.

He clutched at his chest before he collapsed onto his knees, feeling weak. He stayed there for a while as he fought back tears.

Once he felt as if he could breathe a little better, he stood and returned to the woman’s office before taking his seat.

“Apologies,”

He had been wearing a mask for so long, what would be different this time?

“I can continue.”

“What about tonight?”

“Can’t I’m working again.” You groaned through the phone and he could only chuckle.

“The diner isn’t treating you well, I assume?”

“No, the tips are horrible. It’s like if you’re going to stare at my ass while I’m talking to you at least pay me well.” He laughed again, shaking his head in disbelief.

“Anyways, I’ve got to go now. My bus is here.”

“Right, see you later.”

“See ya!” You hung up without another word and he was left staring at his ceiling, the warmth from his phone radiating on his stomach. He thought of what to do for a while and after about thirty minutes of tossing in bed, he finally pulled himself up before rummaging his closet for clothes he had not used yet.

He hadn’t eaten out in a while and he figured it would be nice to eat something besides his usual cup of instant noodles. Just as he slipped on a t-shirt, his little device began beeping.

A guttural groan escaped his throat as he took it and inspected the code written on the screen.

“Viper, last seen at Centennial Mall. It’s now or never superstar.”

The man sighed before he changed into his latex suit, slipping into the hidden identity that he hid even from you.

By day, a journalist with a rich but simple life, power through pen and paper, your best friend. By night, a millionaire superhero in the same apartment that is too large for himself, and strength through kicks and punches, still your best friend.

You just didn’t know it.

He sent news that he received the code and immediately got ready. His suit wasn’t difficult to get into and years in this field had gotten him used to it.

“Evening, Oblivion.”

“Will the wind let my cape fly behind me tonight?” He asked the woman in his earpiece and then jumped out of his window before blipping to the next rooftop.

“You don’t have a cape sir.”

“We should work on that. If I’m going to be a superhero, I have to look the part, you know?” He blipped onto another rooftop and peered down at the streets. It was close to 11 and the lack of cars proved that everyone was already asleep.

“With all this talking, Viper will be gone by the time you arrive.”

“Are you suggesting I take the cab?” The man asked as he ran before jumping onto the next building.

“If you would like sir.”

“Yeah, yeah.” He joked before running full speed to the mall.

Viper had been his target for almost a year now. Every time he almost caught her, she slipped right through his fingers. It was impossible to hold his grasp on her. The bounty on her head was large, with the FBI and her other enemies going after her. If he managed to catch her, it was game over.

He didn’t even realize he had arrived until the woman in his ear spoke.

“Thanks, sweetheart.” He loved teasing her, even though he knew she was taken.

“My girlfriend will come for you, sir.”

“I’ll be waiting with open arms.”

“Viper is in the parking lot building.”

“Building?” He groaned. That would mean scouting several levels of cars just to find his target. It would also mean an appointment at his massage parlour tomorrow.

“She’s on the third level.”

Never mind.

He blipped onto the level and searched the area. Less than ten cars around, spotting Viper should be a piece of cake.

He took a step forward and felt the tug of a string on his shoe. Immediately, the lights shut off and he was left in the darkness.

“Talk to me, honey. What’s going on?” He called out, backing into the space behind him. And when his foot stepped on nothing, he realized he was falling.

“Shit.”

His power to blip did not mean he was not afraid. The wind blowing against his back as he focused on trying to not end up flat as a pancake on the concrete wasn’t helping. His heart was racing and his brain scattered. To blip, he needed to concentrate. Although he was used to it, certain circumstances required a little push.

A scream erupted from his throat as he squeezed his eyes shut, bracing for impact. But then he felt the familiar whoosh, and he was back with his feet on the ground. Flooded with relief, he fell onto his knees and sighed loudly. He was alive, he made it in time.

He looked up once his heart rate had slowed and he saw her.

“Give me a second.” He panted, his knees still shaking as he rose up.

“Viper?” He called out. She didn’t answer and maintained the pose of holding her gun pointed at him.

“The name is Oblivion.” He said with a wink before he blipped behind her and tackled her onto her knees. To his surprise, she didn’t make a sound. But before he could pin her down, she threw one of her green spheres onto the ground, causing it to shatter immediately. A thick, green liquid began to spill out and he felt its burn as soon as it seeped under the soles of his shoes.

He winced as he stumbled a few steps back. The lights above him blinked and once he was sure there was nothing but grey concrete below him, he looked up. She had been waiting with a gun pointed at him from across her venom, aimed directly at the centre of his forehead. Yet as afraid as he was, the fact that she hadn’t pulled the trigger meant something.

It meant she wasn’t supposed to.

He would talk, but the risk of scaring her into accidentally shooting him was too high. So he thought about what he should do. She was staring at him wordlessly, almost expectantly. He didn’t even realize she had cuffed him.

He could blip behind her again. However, she would probably expect it by now and was holding a blade behind her. Going against someone with weapons and guns meant that his mentality had to be stronger than hers. A physical fight would only drain him so he had to figure out what she was missing, then only could he defeat her.

His eyes searched her body slowly, and when his gaze returned to her face, he noticed the pin in her hair. He felt that he had seen it somewhere before. However, he knew he couldn’t waste time thinking of where he saw it. He just knew he could use it.

The man drew in a deep breath and blipped beside her, and just as he expected, she turned around instead. So by the time she turned to face him, he was where he had planned to go all along, which was behind her.

Viper’s guard was down and this was the best opportunity he had to catch her. He took the pin from her hair and unlocked the metal binding his wrists before he tackled her again. This time with his foot placed on her back. Using the same handcuffs she had used on him, he brought her wrists together behind her and linked them.

“Damn,” He sighed out while bringing himself back to an upright position.

“Was that not the coolest thing I have ever done?” He yelled out excitedly. He could almost hear the disappointment from his earpiece.

“And this is why,” He bent down and picked Viper up.

“You don’t mess with someone who-”

Before he could finish, he heard a familiar shatter. But this time, he felt his lungs fared the pain. The blinking light above him showed the smoke that surrounded him and just like the burn he felt through his shoes, his airway was on fire.

He didn’t hesitate before running, even though he had no idea where he was headed. His feet skidded to a stop when he could see the street beneath him. While he caught his breath, he noticed the smoke fading away.

She had escaped.

Again.

“Sir, are you alright?” He fell onto the ground and coughed.

“Sir?” He couldn’t breathe, let alone answer.

“We are sending backup right away sir.” The man could only lie on his back and frown to himself. He never realized how he was taking inhaling for granted.

The soldiers came and they brought back samples of the venom left on the ground. Surprisingly, even though it burned, it was simply liquid on the concrete. There were no signs of it making a hole. He left the scene with lungs that barely escaped death and a body full of aches.

He had just reached home when he heard his phone ring. He saw the caller ID and felt his heart ease a little.

“Finally, what were you doing?” You groaned through the phone.

“That was a quick shift.”

“No, it wasn’t. That was a whole two hours since we last spoke.” You said.

“Oh,” He paused as he thought about it. Had it really been that long? It felt like thirty minutes. He unzipped his suit and grimaced as he felt it peel off with the layer of sweat stuck on his body.

“Do you want to watch a movie?”

“Uh,” He was still disgusted by how much he smelled.

“I’m outside.” You suddenly said but he wasn’t fully listening. When he finally understood what you meant, the panic shot up into his brain and he realized he had less than ten seconds to give a reply.

“Uh,”

“I can hear you inside.”

“I’m-”

“You know I know your passcode right?”

“No! Wait!” He was scrambling to get the suit off but it was much harder today for some reason.

“I’m coming in!” You almost yelled and he could hear your voice from outside his apartment.

“Stop! I’m naked!” He blurted out because while the both of you were best friends, he knew you would avoid looking at his bare ass at all costs.

You stayed silent and he took this opportunity to quickly pull away from his suit, dump it into his laundry basket and grabbed a set of clothes to put on before he finally opened the door for you.

Upon the swing of the door, he saw your face of disgust. He grinned nevertheless and bowed as you entered his home.

“Tea or coffee, madam?”

“A shower for you.” You pinched your nose and waved the air around dramatically to which he rolled his eyes.

“Alright, I just got home from a workout and you decided to barge into my place. What was I supposed to do?” You didn’t answer and instead plopped onto his sofa and then turned the television on.

“Give me five minutes.”

“You better shower properly in those five minutes.” He imitated your voice and before you could run to him and smack him, he had bolted into the bathroom.

“Is someone getting a little sleepy?” His eyes were struggling to stay open and were fluttering every few seconds so you wouldn’t catch him asleep.

“Dumbass.” You sighed before you leaned your head onto his shoulder. He shifted to get both of you comfortable. The movie was still playing on his television but the sounds were starting to drown out. He was obviously no longer paying attention and his only goal was to stay awake long enough to see the credits.

Well, a goal that was getting harder to attain by the second.

You were quiet too. Only the ending music was playing and he was ready to press that power button and call it a night. You could even sleep on his bed as he slept on the couch, just like usual.

He was seconds away from completely falling asleep when he heard your voice.

“Sleep well, superstar.”

“Would you like to stop there for today?” The woman asked.

“Uh,” He paused and looked at the lines on his palms.

“We could circle back the next time we meet, would that work?” He finally looked up and nodded. He hadn’t even said a lot yet but his heart felt heavy, and he knew he was no longer in the mood to talk.

“See you tomorrow.” The woman smiled and he left after returning it. On good days, he would run back home, envisioning rooftops as lily pads he merely touched. But today was different; just like the several weeks before.

Today, he felt like being a normal human.

So he took the train, although he could definitely afford the cab. He stopped by a small diner and got some takeout when he knew he could just as easily spend his money in the restaurant less than a block away.

He watched some TV, avoiding the channels that brought back memories of her and the news too. He didn’t want to feel obligated to save the city tonight. He just wanted some serenity from the noise in his head all day. He didn’t mind the therapy but if he was frank, he did it because he thought he could get prescribed medication.

His boss told him to take a break and while he had been enjoying some of it, he never felt at ease. It was as if something was constantly waiting to pounce on his back and rob him of something he loved again.

The company therapist was great, and while she understood his job and the risks that came with it, never once did she make him feel like he was in the wrong. His ‘sweetheart’ kept checking up on him, and he kept reassuring her that he was fine. A laugh here and there was a simple white lie. He wouldn’t be able to stand the pity from anyone. He was like that, strong enough to tackle his enemies and fake his happiness; but too weak to admit when he is in pain.

Logical, slightly egoistic, and broken.

When nothing interesting came up, he finally closed his eyes and allowed his head to fall back before he let out a sigh.

It’s another night of loud silence for him.

“Do you think they envy us?”

“Who?” He asked while he lay next to you.

“Ancestors, gods, whoever is watching us from above.” You answered.

“Probably some shit about how we are wasting time looking at pretty skies when we can be working.”

“Or screaming at us about how we might have left the oven on at home.” He chuckled then sat up, stretching his back and yawning. You were right, it was a beautiful sky tonight. The sun had just set, as pink and red raced around the sky, swirling around the clouds and making the last few moments of daylight memorable, as always.

He noticed the ziplock of cookies peeking out from your bag and reached out for it. “Hey, you didn’t bring these out just now.”

“Uh,”

“And they’re my favourite too.” He immediately unzipped it and took one into his mouth. Your eyes widened and your mouth hung open as if you wanted to say something.

“What, they taste great.” He raised an eyebrow and took another.

But before he could take a bite, you had ripped the bag from him and grabbed the cookie from between his fingers.

“But-”

“I was saving them for my snack on the way home.” You were clutching onto the bag tightly and the sight made him slightly feel bad.

“Sorry, I’ll get you some more at the bakery later.” He dusted his hands off and then patted your head before standing to clean up. You were quiet for a while, and he realized you were looking at him, almost expectantly.

“Everything alright?”

“Y-Yeah, what…” You narrowed your eyes at him a little.

“How are you feeling?” You asked.

“I’m fine, I just feel a bit bad for taking your cookie.” He replied while motioning for you to get up from the picnic blanket.

“O-Oh, it’s fine.”

You helped him clean up and he carried the empty basket and blanket to your bike for you.

“You’ll get home safe?”

“Always.” You smiled at him. He patted your head again before you rode off, waving just as you turned the corner.

He walked home, took a shower, brushed, and then tucked himself beneath the sheets. And the entire time, he couldn’t erase the sight of your pretty smile.

On your pretty face.

“Are you ready?” He cleared his throat but it didn’t take away the lump that had formed there so he just nodded.

“We can stop anytime, remember that.”

Another nod.

“Yeah, I’ll wait out front.” You hung up as soon as he finished the sentence. His heart was hammering within the confines of his ribcage and he felt as if he was going to explode any minute from now.

Today was the day he was going to confess. It had been about two months of deliberation since that picnic. Since that day he started seeing you as more than just a best friend. In his heart, he knew that he had somehow always felt that way but he was always too afraid to admit it.

But you had been awfully nice to him lately, unusually charming and he felt that maybe it was the right time to confess. He had been preparing what to say for a week now and he even prepared plans for when you would reject him, although he would hope that would not be the case.

He didn’t want to mess it up. You had been his best friend for years now and he didn’t want to lose you. He couldn’t.

You emerged from the lobby of your apartment and his hand immediately struck up into a wave. You waved back, a little awkwardly.

“Hey.”

“Hi.”

“You ready?” For a moment he thought you meant his confession.

“For the greatest movie of all time?” He chuckled.

“It’s not the greatest, nothing beats Kung Fu Panda.” You joked back.

“Right, right.”

You looped your arm around him and both of you began to walk to the cinema. His free hand kept playing with the loose thread of his jacket to distract himself from the urge to blurt out the words of his confession.

I think I really like you.

No, too boring. You never shared what a perfect confession was like to you but he always noticed that you leaned toward intimate confessions. Whenever you watched romance movies together, your eyes would gleam and you would squeal when they confessed in their own private space, a moment for the two characters only.

“What’s going on in that little brain of yours?” You piped up, making him realize he had been silent in the midst of his thoughts.

“Uh,” He was about to answer when he felt it.

It’s an indescribable feeling but familiar nonetheless.

Batman had the bat signal. Spider-man had his tingle.

His was…hairs standing on their ends and the sudden urge to blip. It made him feel anxious and on edge as if he should be ready at any time. It was as if the nerves at the tip of his fingers were coming to life. He could suddenly sense everything; the soft wind against his cheeks, the giggle of a girl from inside the restaurant a block away.

It only happened when he knew danger was close.

And he had been right about it, every time.

“Hey, you alright?” Your voice brought his focus back for a moment.

“Uh,” His eyes shifted to the pathway you were on and he realized you two were the only ones on it.

“What is it?” You asked him but your voice seemed muffled to him.

“We should get out of here.” He wasn’t one to panic when it came to danger. That wouldn’t make him a great superhero, would it? But with you here, he knew he had more to think of than himself.

“But-”

“I’ll bring us back to my place and then I’ll drive you home okay?” You opened your mouth to say something but he was already dragging your arm back to his place. His heart was racing in his chest but he knew he had to get both of you out of there. It didn’t seem safe, no matter how he looked at it.

His intuition had never let him down; it wouldn’t this time either.

“Wait!” You suddenly wrenched your arm from his hold, which made him stop and immediately turn to you.

“What’s wrong?”

“What’s wrong?” You repeated, raising your voice a little. “Why won’t you tell me what’s going on?”

He chewed down on his lip. Now that his confession of love was the least of his worries, he had another to think about. He never wanted to tell you about his little superhero job because…he thought you would look at him differently. He always felt that if you knew, you would want to help, and helping a superhero that has many enemies, no matter how good your intentions were, was never a good idea. “I can’t.”

“Then I’m going home.”

“No!” He reached for your arm and pulled you towards him before he held you by the shoulders.

“It’s not safe.”

“How would you know that?”

Sometimes, he felt like you knew, despite his efforts to hide his secret identity. He could tell by the way you looked at him when he made up excuses for not being able to meet you. Like that time when he told you he would be late for your friend’s party and despite the disappointment, curiosity sparkled in your eyes. This was another one of those times, where he felt you were practically begging him to just admit it already.

But he knew he couldn’t.

Perhaps one day, when his enemies had gone and he could go back to being a normal human with a normal job, the best friend that he had been showing you this whole time.

“Please, just come with me. I can’t explain it to you. You won’t-”

The man felt a pinch on his thigh and for a second, he thought you were doing it out of spite. But then he looked down and he noticed the syringe punctured into his skin.

“What-”

His eyelids were falling and he could feel his head begin to be drowsy. He called for your name but even his own voice was drowning away. He fell onto the floor, his breathing heavy. Before his eyes could fully close, he saw you, kneeling in front of him.

Then he noticed the pin.

And it was the same one Viper wore.

His head was hurting when he woke up. He had not remembered how he got here, why his wrists were tied and why his spine was painfully bracing against the metal chair he was bound to. He could only remember the sight of the needle pricked into his thigh.

His eyelids slowly lifted themselves up and the bright light above him made him grimace. This was why he always kept his curtains closed before he slept. He first heard the drum of his heart and then a deafening tune before it all fell into silence.

Then he remembered your face right before he passed out.

You seemed apologetic and he felt foolish. Especially with the image of the pin engrained in his mind, it was impossible to think of anything else.

He thought of the possibility of both of you having the same pin. But he knew better than to try tricking himself. You were Viper, the woman he had been trying to catch this whole time. And not only that, but you hid it from him while knowing his identity all along.

He didn’t know what to feel.

Betrayed? Angry?

His hands had balled up into fists and he suddenly felt as if it was too difficult to breathe. The room was closing in on him and he felt his airway tighten.

He needed to get out of the ties holding him down but the more he resisted, the more he felt the urge to escape. He wanted to scream in frustration. That night, you went to visit him right after his mission as if the both of you had not just fought for your lives against each other. You smiled and laughed and sat in his home. His best friend had been lying to him this whole time.

It felt as if a war had erupted within himself. On the one hand, he wanted to be angry. He knew damn well he deserved to be. How long had you been lying to him? But every time he felt the surge of emotion, he could not rid himself of the thought of…you.

How did it feel to know who he was and still maintain a friendship with your supposed biggest enemy? How long did you feel alone? Were you ever afraid? Did you ever hold back?

As much as he hated the idea of being so vulnerable in front of Viper, he would never regret doing so in front of you. And now…

Now, those two people were one.

His head snapped up as soon as he heard the door click and hiss open. A few people in lab coats walked in and behind all of them, you in the familiar suit. Now that you were standing in front of him, he wondered how he didn’t recognize you the first time.

“Greetings Oblivion.”

His eyes shifted to the doctor in front of him, a female with rectangle glasses that rested on the bridge of her nose. She peered down at him and he swore she had slits for irises.

“Thank you for being so compliant.” She continued and it made him want to spit at her. “We do apologize for any incoming inconveniences but we hope you understand this is better than any treatment other prisoners have received.”

He figured that they needed something about him but ever since the fight with Viper, he was always too afraid to ponder what it was they planned on taking.

“You see, I have always been amazed by not only your agility, but your stamina, and your abilities. I have never seen anything like it.” The doctor took a step forwards, tilting his chin up with a finger. He expected to see some humanity in her eyes as a sign that they would be merciful.

He found none.

“I have always found beauty in science.” The doctor leaned back and circled around the metallic reclining chair he was bound to. “I have created masterpieces that are the result of my life’s work.” She stopped and he felt her lean close into his ear.

“Viper was one of my best works.” He looked at you and realized your eyes were trained on your feet while you leaned on the wall behind you. The belt you wore was adorned with spheres of venom and he could see the green handle of your knife peeking from your boot.

It took him a moment to understand what the doctor just said. You were experimented on, to create the superhero you are now. How long ago was this? You two had known each other since you were children. When did this happen?

“And now,” The doctor was in front of him again and she blocked his view of you. “We are going to do the same to you.”

His back straightened with fear and he could feel the rattle of his bones inside of him. It’s never easy to get something perfect, and if Viper was perfection, he was far from it. He swallowed, feeling sick at the thought of the torture they would put him through, the torture that you endured.

How did he not see this coming?

He should have been more careful. He should have doubted everything. He should have come clean about himself to you; because maybe you would have protected him instead. Why was he so pathetic?

“Viper, would you be a dear and prepare him? Everyone else, follow me.” The doctor left with all her little disciples and he realized how real this was.

He was going to die in the hands of a sick scientist who had no regard for his life.

You walked towards him but he couldn’t even see clearly. He was dizzy with anxiety, and as if he had been pushed underwater, everything around him sounded muffled.

Even your voice, which should be as clear as day. It should bring him back to earth and ground him.

Like it always had.

But instead, his heart was racing and his fingers were going numb from clenching his fists too hard. He was going to die and for some reason, he couldn’t blip out of the chair. They had placed a collar around his neck and left him defenseless.

He shouldn’t be surprised, most prisoners were.

His vision was beginning to blur with tears. He didn’t want to cry, not in front of you. But he couldn’t help it. Why wasn’t he powerful enough to escape this place? Why did he feel so helpless? Why did it have to be you to betray him? Why did it have to be someone he was so afraid of losing, someone he actually loved?

He felt tears fall and he wanted to sob harder. He never found shame in crying. But he always felt confident in that when he was in his own bedroom, alone and tired, silent and grieving. His stomach churned at the thought of death, of the pain and the torture.

His eyes squeezed out tears that felt cool on his warm cheeks. Short breaths left his mouth as he tried to think. If he wanted to escape this, he had to be quick. He had to be swifter than ever, stronger than ever.

And most importantly, he would also have to say goodbye forever.

“...the door on your left.” He could hear your voice again and when he looked down, he realized now that you were cutting the ties off his wrists.

“What-” He looked up at you, who too had tears streaking down your face but not once did you stop slicing at the thick rope to wipe them.

“Have you not been listening?” You demanded and looked up, meeting his eyes. Everything paused and he suddenly didn’t want to leave. He wanted to wipe your cheeks, and he wanted to hug you. Within a few moments, he realized he could never hate you, no matter what you did.

“Why are you helping me?” He asked, almost whimpering.

“Because…” You breathed then broke out a sob. “Because you don’t deserve this.” One of his hands was free now, but he felt no urgency to set himself free. Why were you crying?

“I’m going to cut you free and you’re going to blip through the wall on your right before going through the door on your left. It’s the exit.” He watched you gulp and continue cutting through the rope around his wrist and ankles before unlocking the collar.

“I can’t leave you.”

“Yes, you can.”

“No, I can’t leave-”

“You have to, okay?” You almost yelled…and you never yell.

“But…we’re friends and I-”

“The only reason you care so much,” You rose from your crouched position, “is because of that spell I put on you.”

“Spell?”

“That cookie, damn it!” He remembered it instantly. That day with the picnic, when he started looking at you a little differently. That night, he spent hours in bed trying to understand why he had never noticed you that way before.

“You want to protect me because of a cookie laced with a love potion.” You whimpered and fell to your knees. He was stuck in his chair. He should run, he should blip away. He should leave you here, left to die for releasing him.

But you were wrong.

No amount of potion could make him feel this much for you. He always had something for you but he had always been afraid of it. It didn’t seem right and it didn’t make sense. The cookie did nothing but make him fearless to admit it. He felt brave for feeling what he felt, and for being able to say out loud how much he cared for you.

So he knelt beside you and took your face into his hands before kissing the top of your forehead.

“Please run.” You begged in a whisper.

“I’ve always loved you. No potion or betrayal will change that.” He murmured against your skin and then drew back before looking into your eyes.

“Let’s get out of here together, okay?” He asked softly and he could sense the hesitation in you. It took you a few seconds before you nodded.

He took your hand and pressed a kiss to it as a promise to get out of here. But as soon as you two rose onto your feet, the doors burst open and the doctor walked in, with armed guards at her side this time.

“Viper,” He immediately pushed you behind him. The name sounded as cold as ice out of the woman’s lips.

“I’m disappointed.” She tutted. He noticed the shift of energy in the room. His head was beginning to clear and he felt jittery but this time with adrenaline.

“I’ll give you one more chance. Join me and you’ll have my forgiveness, or…” Her eyes shifted to him and his grip on her hand became stronger.

“Die with him and be forgotten.” You didn’t answer and for a moment, he thought you had changed your mind. But instead and without warning, he felt your knife whoosh beside his ear as it flung itself onto the doctor’s shoulder. The scream that left her throat sounded more like a shriek as she collapsed onto the floor.

He knew this was it.

He immediately blipped behind the guards and cracked each of their necks with no hesitation, feeling no remorse as their bodies slumped onto the ground. The other doctors had run out for their own lives, which was honestly the smarter choice. You stood at the same place, panting and face flushed with sweat and tears.

“Let’s go.” He grabbed your hand and pulled you towards the exit. You stumbled after him and he realized he had to keep a tighter grip on you. You two were so close, it was now or never.

“You will never get away with this!” The doctor screamed but he ignored her as he stepped over bodies whose blood was now on his hands.

“I can’t blip with more than one person, we have to go through a way different from the one you told me about.” He explained as he picked up a gun from one of the guards and checked the number of bullets.

“I know the way.” You breathed out and he passed you a gun before he nodded. As urgent as the situation was, he couldn’t help but marvel at how things had ended. Both of you, working together as the parts of yourselves you tried hiding from each other.

“We have to be quick.” He pressed and you nodded.

And then he heard the ringing.

He didn’t even realize the shot had been fired. His eyes dropped to his body and found…

Nothing.

He looked at you and realized you were shooting at the doctor, bullets plunging into her flesh with every pull of your trigger. Her body jerked multiple times before she finally fell onto the previously pristine floor, now stained with a pool of her blood.

Everything felt slow and his ears were still ringing from the initial gunshot. But then he felt your fingers close around his and drag him towards the exit.

So he ran.

He ran as fast as he could and only began to feel the burn of his lungs when the both of you had left the building. When you two stopped at an alleyway to catch your breaths, he finally felt like he was breathing.

No collar restraining him and no ties around his wrists and ankles.

“I-” He was at a loss of words. He knew he should be grateful but jumping from joy seemed like the last thing he should be doing now.

Especially when he noticed the growing spot of blood on the side of your abdomen.

“Hey, you-” You slid down the wall and hissed while your fingers pressed down on your stomach.

“Hey, hey, hey.” He rushed to your side, placing his own hand above yours.

“Get out of here.”

“No.” Why were you two having this conversation again?

“I said, get out of here.” You croaked and he wasn’t sure if it was the fact that you were losing blood or because you were on the verge of tears.

“Please,” Your hand held onto his cheek and he felt his heart hammering in his chest.

“No, no, no, no, no…stay with me.” He kept repeating. He could carry you. He could blip again and again until he reached a hospital. He could find someone to help.

“Save yourself. Please save yourself.” You whispered and he wanted to slap a hand across your mouth. He didn’t like the words that left it. He didn’t like anything about this at all. He could feel his fingers trembling as he tore fabric from his shirt and wrapped it around your waist before carrying you.

You opened your mouth to say something but he quickly shushed you and started to run. There was no use in crying beside your dying body. Every second he wasted was another second he would regret.

He could save you.

He knew he could.

There was hope.

He needed you to believe in it too.

But he could also feel you fading away. Your eyes were slowly closing and your body was getting heavier in his arms.

The closest hospital was miles away and at this time, no cabs were around.

He wanted to swear and scream into the void of the night but instead, he pushed his legs to carry both of you.

Faster, Oblivion, she’s dying.

“Stay with me, okay? We are almost there.” You coughed and blood spilt out from your lips. He looked down for a split second and realized how pale you looked. His legs were beginning to give up on him. He wanted to give up. He wanted to stop and breathe and cry and beg for your life.

But he needed to keep running, he needed to keep pushing.

He could see the bright light of the hospital from where he was standing now and some sort of relief flooded his veins. But before he could take another step, he felt your hand push against his chest.

“We’re almost there okay? Stay with me please.” He pleaded and with some strength, you shook your head.

“I need to tell you something.”

“Tell me when you’re better.”

“I…I never want…wanted to hurt you.” You gasped and he could see the small tears slide out of your eye.

“Y-You’re the…”

“Let’s get you to a doctor first, okay?”

“The best part of my l-life.” The blood on your lips had slightly dried and the trail on your chin could be wiped off with one swipe. But the light in your eyes was dying, and your breaths were short and he could feel you struggling.

“D-Don’t ever…for-forget th-that.” You stuttered in the most demanding voice you could muster.

He felt that whatever torture they would have put him through in that laboratory would not compare to how painful this was. To watch his best friend die in his arms, to notice the bits of you he was losing with each second.

He shook his head as he choked on a sob.

“Tell me you love me when…when you’re awake and better.” He pushed his legs forward, forcing himself to head toward the hospital.

“Not now, not like this.” He whispered and used whatever strength he had left to run to the lights.

He immediately burst through the doors and yelled for a doctor. Out of breath and on the verge of passing out, he held onto your hand as they rushed you into surgery. When he was no longer allowed inside, he watched them wheel your body in.

He was never that religious but that night, he prayed and begged the gods like never before. He was desperate. He expected you to keep his promise, to tell him you loved him. And tomorrow, when you woke up, he would bring your favourite drink. The both of you would hold each other and cry. You would talk about what you dreamt about during surgery and you would whisper how you wanted to eat normal food again so the nurses couldn’t hear.

He would kiss you everywhere, and he would never hold back how he felt again. He would love you unconditionally and he would willingly leave his secret identity if it meant eternity with you.

He prayed and cried and begged the heavens for you to return.

He bit the inside of his cheek and twisted the tissue in his hand.

He didn’t like talking about that night, nor did he like talking about you anymore. Even the mention of your name sent shivers down his spine. He would get nightmares of you dying in his arms, blood everywhere. He would jerk awake every time you appeared, even if it was a beautiful memory.

He couldn’t stand it.

Every memory of you sent a stab through his heart. It had been months, and he still avoided every little thing of you as much as possible.

Maybe if he was quicker.

If he was stronger.

If he was enough-

“What happened after that?” He knew the woman was trying to get him to say it. But every time he opened his mouth, he felt the knot in his throat.

Silence carried on for the rest of his life. He barely spoke at work anymore, when he used to tell the funniest jokes and wildest stories. Most times, the only noise present in his house was from the TV.

He felt empty.

When he smiled, he thought he didn’t deserve to do so and it would fade away. He was tired yet unable to sleep. It was an exhausting cycle he didn’t know how to get rid of. The thing about sadness for him was the comfort he found in it. It was easier to beat himself up over that night and blame himself than face his fears and talk about you. And he knew how you would react to that too.

He supposed that was why he was here, in this office, spilling his deepest secrets to this woman who might care more than he thought. So he swallowed as a dry chuckle left his lips before he braced himself to admit the sad fact he had been afraid of this entire time.

“She didn’t come back.”

a/n: it has been soooo long, too long honestly. but thank you so much for all your support while i have been gone! i will be a little slow with updates but i just wanted to put this one out here. i hope you enjoyed and if you did, a like or repost would be appreciated! thank you again and i will see you all soon!! p.s. jack in the box is a big bop album and viper was inspired by valorant!

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yoongsisbae · 1 year

Text

Stories by Member

JJK

Not a Creature was Stirring You wake up Christmas Eve night not to find Santa, but to find a man cold and shivering on your front porch. Clothes tattered, cuts on his body, out in the snow. You find out he’s not as helpless as he appears. Kind of cute, kind of scary, very buff Jungkook Fantasy AU. Spring Day Still with You [Sequel to Not a Creature was Stirring] You ran away from the cold, Jungkook ran with you, warming each other’s hearts. But within the cycle of life, there is death, and as spring blooms, the blood still lays soaked in the dirt. You ran and they chased. Hybrid!Jungkook.

Banana Milk It’s Jungkook’s Birthday, will he get his birthday wish?

The Fantasy You and your boyfriend try out a new form of role play, but it just keeps going wrong…

I Didn’t Mean It, I Still Love You Yoongi made a mistake, will you forgive him? Or is it too late?

Ddak-ji SLAP Jungkook, Seokjin, and you decide to play a game…and then you fu-

Campfire Burning A steamy fic inspired by a certain vlive.

Seven Days a Week Every day, Jungkook shows you his devotion, deeper than the ocean. Seven different scenarios, seven days a week. idol!jungkook x noona!reader

Go Home, You're Drunk! - 75% “Who…are…you…” “Your worst nightmare, sweetheart.” “Really? Because you look like you belong in a boyband.” whacky and dark & for all the girlies who love an unhinged yandere character

The Snap - 70% The only surviving member of BTS, it takes Jungkook five years to find happiness again. And then life snapped back. What is Jungkook going to do now?

KTH

Christmas with a Vampire There once was a time when holidays were warm and special, Taehyung remembers. To you, even in his coldness, Taehyung is all you need for Christmas. Cyber-punk futuristic AU with a self-hating vampire Tae.

BTS Song Fic (Blue and Grey) Sad song. Sad story. Sad author. Happy reader?

V is for Villain 1 / 2 / 3 - 90% What does it mean to be a villain? What does it really mean to be a vigilante? A vanquisher of evil or a victor for the good? Stories praise the fall of devils, cheer at the marvels of the virtuous, and forget the victorious tell a version conveniently veiling their own atrocities. Evilness was once the brightest star in heaven. And goodness, well, morality can so often be contentious. This time, there is the hero with the strength of a hundred men, there is the villain that can vanish his vulnerabilities in a very instant, and then there’s you. Superclumsysuperhero!RMverse AU.

PJM

Christmas Mass Every Sunday, like clockwork, as designed and ordained, you sit quietly. Pray. Christmas mass comes, tonight your congregation dresses beautifully, like ornaments placed in a row right in front of God. Your priest, stands at the head like an angel atop the tree, commanding and pious and hauntingly handsome. Red. You’re a good faithful girl. You were taught to be, punished to be. You pray for respite, for something more than the condemnation this cold and icy town bestows upon you. Sinners. The coldness permeates your bones, you’re always scared. Tainted. Terrified of sin, terrified by your thoughts for your priest. Sacrilegious. This Christmas prayers are answered by no God. Demon AU. Dark smut.

You Asked for Help, He Asked Your Name You ran away from your responsibilities, but they caught you and tried to lay claim to your body. If your life was never going to be yours anyways, you decided might as well give it away and make a deal. fairyprince!Jimin

KNJ

Your Friendly Neighborhood Superhero, RM Best friends 2 Lovers. Idiots 2 Lovers. Lovers 2 Enemies? This is a different kind of superhero story ;) Christmas Lights Out! Agust D vs RM Super Hero Christmas Special! You visit your hometown during the holidays. You and your childhood friend Joon reminisce and you learn more about your smooth tech talker business partner Yoongi. Can he win you over once and for all? Set in Super Clumsy Super Hero RM universe. Extended Scene: The Mind Reader, The Telekinetic and The Closet just silly and raunchy and ridiculous, dirty thoughts...it goes there. V is for Villain 1 / 2 / 3 - 90% What does it mean to be a villain? What does it really mean to be a vigilante? A vanquisher of evil, or a victor for the good? Stories praise the fall of devils, cheer at the marvels of the virtuous, and forget the victorious tell a version conveniently veiling their own atrocities. Evilness was once the brightest star in heaven. And goodness, well, morality can so often be contentious. This time, there is the hero with the strength of a hundred men, there is the villain that can vanish his vulnerabilities in a very instant, and then there’s you.

I Appreciate Your Apology A Christmas party has you on thin ice with your favorite dom. Daddy Joon appreciates your apology, but does he accept it? daddydom!Joon smut, PWP, filth, aka Joon edging you until you see sleighbells.

Cold Feet You don’t want to get married anymore, what does Namjoon want?

JHS

Day Dream The days are hotter, the nights are hotter too. You sleep, restless. Tired, you sleep more, you sleep and you dream and you meet the dream walker and things somehow become even steamier. Sandman!Hoseok Dream Analysis / Alternate Ending

Disco Winter Ball You and your friend Hoseok are best friend buddies going on a date to the annual disco winter ball. But it’s not a date date, okay? You and Hoseok just love music and you love dancing and Hoseok loves watching you dance. Wait not love, not in that way! A friendly love. Just friends. Just two friends who drink a little too much eggnog. HOAL couple holiday special

I Thought You Were Mine? Drunk arguing leads to drunk fuc–

MYG

The Woman with the Black Cat on Her Shoulder Fearful, they buried them, stomped them into the dirt. Underneath their boot, scared men were unaware the seeds of hope had planted by their own volition. From the dirt and grime, grew flowers, blooms so tall, eclipsing their hatred. You were strong and unwilling to be cut down any more. Shapeshiftercat!yoongi.

Yoongi is a Rock That’s it. That’s the plot. Yoongi is a rock. Audio Ver. by the talented @voice-over-ff

I Didn’t Mean It, I Still Love You Yoongi made a mistake, will you forgive him? Or is it too late?

Christmas Lights Out! Agust D vs RM Super Hero Christmas Special! You visit your hometown during the holidays. You and your childhood friend Joon reminisce and you learn more about your smooth tech talker business partner Yoongi. Can he win you over once and for all? Set in Super Clumsy Super Hero RM universe.

King of Corruption [Sequel to Christmas Mass] The organ player takes his time with you, holding you and caressing your body while you sleep, until you can’t discern your dreams from your reality. A king and a sleeping beauty, his name leaves your lips like a prayer, prostated at his feet in blind reverence…the perfect position for him to corrupt and defile you. Demon AU. Dark smut.

KSJ

The Flower Bridge You couldn’t, you didn’t want to, not anymore, the pain was too much, you wanted it to end, so you visited the bridge. Standing at the highest point, the wind stung, but your problems were bigger, your pain was stronger than the whipping air and your anguish deeper than the water below. Tethered in the center, connecting the place you came from and the place you were going, you found another type of bridge and he found you. Ghost!Seokjin.

Meet Cute, Time Loop A story where Seokjin loves you before you love him before he loves you.

Ddak-ji SLAP Jungkook, Seokjin, and you decide to play a game…and then you fu-

Seokjin’s Ho Ho Ho Your boyfriend surprises you with a Christmas dinner on the beach, things get a little steamy, candy canes get sucked, peppermint liquor might be involved, there is definitely some questionable Santa Costume attire, and lots of jolly lovin’! HOAL couple holiday special.

Christmas Lights Out! Agust D vs RM Super Hero Christmas Special! Extended Scene: The Mind Reader, The Telekinetic and The Closet just silly and raunchy and ridiculous, dirty thoughts...it goes there.

Gangnam Girlfriend: Korea’s #1 Celebrity Dating Show with your Host, International Super Star, Jin Welcome to Gangnam Girlfriend! Where Korea’s top eligible singles fight for a chance at love! You're supposed to be playing the dating game right? Not sneaking off in the middle of the night with the show’s host to watch the stars and talk about all your lost love connections, cuddling under a blanket. And even if the choice is clear, Kim Seokjin can't date you, the reason you joined is because you wanted a public relationship, and Jin could neverrr. Even though he wants to finally settle down! But Hybe wouldn't let him join as a contestant so he took the next best thing instead, our story's beloved host, yet now he's regretting his decision as he watches the girl he is starting to fall for fall for someone else, oh no! Meet the Cast / Epi1 - 85%

OT7

SERIES

Bon Voyage: Into the Sea [Fantasy AU] A storm capsized your boat and looks like you were the only survivor. Somehow you made it to shore, but where? Stranded, you suddenly find out you are not alone, and now you’re stuck in the middle of a centuries old conflict between 7 monsters. Member Imagines /Ch1 / Ch2 / Ch3 / Ch4 / Ch5 / Ch6 / Ch7 - 5% / ?

Handshakes of a Lifetime [Soulmate AU] …the meeting room is getting closer and closer, basking you and those around you in warm light, and you think about all the internet comments people write about this kind of moment, “she must have saved a country in her past life to experience this.” Playlist / Ch1 / Drabble - JJK / Ch2 / Ch3 / X-mas - JHS / Ch4 / X-mas - KSJ / Ch5 / Ch6 / Ch7 / Ch8 / Ch9 / Ch10 - 10% / ?

Caught! House of Cards [Yandere AU] You needed money. The pandemic offered little options. So you joined a website to make some quick and easy cash. Men paying to look at you, harmless fun, right? It was a decision you didn’t think too much about, you just wanted an income again. Little did you know how dangerous the members of House of Cards were. You weren’t prepared for the consequences of your actions. Watch out! Houses built with cards come tumbling down… Profiles / Ch1 / Ch2 / Ch3 / Ch4 / Xmas Drabble - KTH / Ch5 - 90% / ?

Run Run Run [Zombie Apocalypse AU Slow Burn] A zombie apocalypse breaks out and you’re stuck on a plane with none other than…BTS! Oh, you thought because you were an Army that would help you survive? Girl think again. Member Poll / Seoul Flow / Yangyang Living / Seoul Town Road / Hwarang Freestyle / Seoul Close / Samsung State of Mind - 5% / The Big Hit Break In! - TBA / ?

T H E T A K E O V E R [BTS Apocalypse / Dystopian AU Thriller] The recruits of Bangtan Academy were trained to be super soldiers, to be the strongest, fastest, most cunning fighters in the world. Now they are being put to the test! You were at the bottom of your class, but you noticed the cracks in the system first, what are you going to do? Run or try to save the world Prequel / Ch1 / Ch2 / Ch3 - 78% / ?

DRABBLES

BTS (as kisses) / BTS (as holidays) / BTS (as drinks)

BTS Cheering You Up While Studying Korean

MASTERLISTS

Naughty Girl Christmas BTS X-MAS Masterlist

Spring Fling Fantasy Stories that Bloom Masterlist

BTS Supers RM Verse Masterlist (coming soon…)

Original Masterlist

#bts masterlist #bts imagines #bts smut #bts fanfic #bts fantasy au #bts hybrid au #bts yandere #bts soulmate au #ot7 x reader #bts angst #bts fluff #jungkook x reader #taehyung x reader #yoongi x reader #jimin x reader #namjoon x reader #hoseok x reader #seokjin x reader

2K notes · View notes

spookyserenades · 6 months

Text

Trouvaille - Chapter Eleven

Pairing(s); BTS OT7 x Reader

Genre/Themes; Hybrid!AU, themes of the supernatural and the occult, religious themes, violence, hurt/comfort, horror, romance

Rated; 18+ for swearing, violence/gore, future sexual themes. Reader discretion is advised.

Word Count; 20k

Trouvaille Masterlist

Trouvaille playlist

Updates on the 7th of each month

Hi my dear friends! I hope you are all happy and healthy. Welcome to the newest chapter of Trouvaille! In this chapter, there's angst, fluff, and a return to a bit of spiciness (warning you now!) Things will be picking up after this update, and I'm super excited to explore more of this story with you all. As always, I love hearing all of your feedback, answering your questions, and in general screaming about the boys with you. Please enjoy this chapter, and let me know what you think!

Previous Chapter // Next Chapter

“Oh, perfect,” Y/N sighed, feeling Yoongi cringe at the sound of the slider slamming shut, shaking the walls a bit. Poking her head back outside, she caught Seokjin’s attention as he was handing out Smarties to a gaggle of young boys in superhero costumes. “Honey, do you mind staying out here for a bit? I have a fight to de-escalate.”

The jaguar hybrid nodded solemnly, pity rounding out the corners of his sunset stare. Yoongi, adjusting the stiff collar of his dress shirt, made a move to follow Y/N to the parlor, but she stopped him with a light hand on his bicep.

“Can you stay with Seokjin? Just in case he gets overwhelmed, and I think it’s best if I try to feel out the vibe myself, for now,” Y/N asked, Yoongi melting over her pleading tone. “Besides, you should show off your costume. Looks good on you.”

With that, Yoongi cocked a brow, tongue flicking out to wet his lips, slinking back to the open front door.

“You say that about all of my outfits, sweetheart,” Yoongi called over his shoulder with a smirk, taking her former spot on the porch steps beside Seokjin.

Comforted by the fact that Yoongi didn’t seem as distressed as she originally read on his expression, she placed the pointed witch hat she was wearing on the staircase before heading towards the parlor. She didn’t think the hat was appropriate considering the situation.

The citrusy, pine scent of copal incense filled the house thickly, a stick of it burning in pretty much each room for Samhain, but at the moment it was turning her stomach rather than clearing her head. The shouting had stopped since Jeongguk had stormed out, and Y/N couldn’t even begin to fathom where he thought he was going. Further, as she hurried down the hall into the spookily decorated parlor, Y/N’s concern for Hoseok overwhelmed everything else. Between his uneasiness around Namjoon, and the fact that he was never one to let a snide remark or what have you provoke him into an actual fight, she was worried about him.

As she entered the room, the first thing she noticed was Namjoon by one of the windows, his back to her and his forehead in his palm, ears turned backwards. Scanning the room, littered with candy wrappers and Halloween party favors, she located Hoseok, who was sitting in the leather recliner, quite pale and quite still, like he saw a ghost.

“What’s the problem this time?” Y/N cut to the chase, sweeping up cellophane from salted caramels on the coffee table, surprisingly maintaining a calm demeanor. At least the fight didn’t escalate to physical violence. “Are you two alright?”

No one spoke, and the corny tune of “Monster Mash” from outside filled up the silence comically. Hoseok– still in his pirate costume– appeared like a fox hybrid statue on the recliner, and blinked at Y/N, the color slowly returning to his face as she approached him. Her hand outstretched, she reached to push some of his wavy mahogany hair out of his face, his forehead a tad clammy as her fingertips brushed it.

“Joonie, what happened? Weren’t you guys just watching Scream? What’s with the yelling?” Y/N chose to question Namjoon, considering Hoseok was still locked in some kind of trance. Maybe he had too many caramels and was feeling sick.

Namjoon turned, tail literally between his legs, and guilt all over his handsome face once he met Y/N’s eyes. Adjusting the neckline of his cable knit gray sweater, he cleared his throat uncomfortably.

“Uh, truthfully… I don’t know what started it. Jeongguk took offense to something that was said, and things kind of spiraled out of control from there,” Namjoon offered up, his voice gritty and strained.

She could only thank the sky that Taehyung was up in his room, editing photos on her laptop she had loaned him, and Jimin was out back with Vista. It was comforting that those two weren’t involved, considering Taehyung had just begun to come around to some of the other hybrids, and Jimin tended to hold grudges over even petty arguments for days.

“Okay, well… I mean, Jeongguk makes rude remarks constantly. It must have been something personal to warrant him barrelling outside,” Y/N pressed, though immediately regretted it once the guilt on Namjoon’s face became even more cloaked in the shadow of it.

“I–” Namjoon began, taking a step towards Y/N and Hoseok, warily gazing at the latter as he was abruptly cut off.

“Namjoon wasn’t a part of it. He was trying to calm Jeongguk down and break it up,” Hoseok interrupted loudly, as if he just remembered he had a body his spirit was inhabiting, and a voice, too.

Taken aback, both Y/N and Namjoon exchanged looks of bewilderment, the wolf hybrid’s shoulders relaxing downwards several inches when Hoseok cleared his name. It was shocking that Hoseok actually came to Namjoon’s defense, despite his issue with wolf hybrids and the fact that he implicated himself as the instigator.

“Hoseok?” Y/N urged gently, watching him squirm in his seat as he finally made eye contact with her. “What happened?”

Hoseok coughed uncomfortably into his fist, his ears drooping to the sides, his free hand tugging at the red sash tied around his waist. He looked like he’d rather stand in front of a moving vehicle than fess up, but Y/N couldn’t go about repairing damage until she knew what had unfolded in her absence.

“I really didn’t mean to set him off like that. Things were pretty normal, then he and Namjoon started talking about ghosts and shit. You know I don’t really believe in all that crap, so I was just joking around but I guess I hit a nerve,” Hoseok’s throat was sort of scratchy sounding, hauling himself off of the recliner and pushing a hand through his hair. “Sorry. I didn’t want to ruin Halloween for you…”

“Oh, don’t worry about that, Hoseok. It’s still early in the evening, and I think it’s salvageable,” Y/N shook her head, knowing that Hoseok certainly didn’t have malicious intentions, and he clearly felt badly about causing a ruckus. “I’ll go find him, try to get him back into the house. Why don’t you two go out front with Seokjin and Yoongi? I’m sure the kids will love your costume, Hoseok, and our house has been popular this year. Those two could probably use a couple of extra hands, anyways.”

“You’re not mad?” Hoseok ignored her suggestion, speaking incredulously, missing the look of dude just go with it Namjoon was sending him several feet away.

Again, Y/N shook her head. Fights would happen from time to time, there was no way of getting around it, and considering there was no physical violence involved, there wasn’t a reason for her to be angry with Hoseok.

“No, honey. I’m going to talk to him though, and hopefully you two can work things out once he cools down,” Y/N put a hand on Hoseok’s shoulder blade, urging him towards the hall to the foyer with Namjoon hot on their heels. The sooner she found Jeongguk, the better, and she hoped that he wasn’t taking his frustrations out on Jimin in the backyard. “It’s a beautiful night, it’ll be nice for you two to get some air. I’ll come find you after I check in on Jeongguk.”

“Be careful, Y/N. Don’t let him talk to you abrasively, even if he’s upset,” Namjoon stopped her by grabbing her shoulder firmly once Hoseok hurried outside to sit beside Seokjin, the wolf hybrid’s expression serious and concerned.

“Don’t worry too much, Joonie. I’m sure everything will be okay,” Y/N soothed, Namjoon cocking an eyebrow as skepticism washed over him. It looked like he desperately wanted to follow her to the back yard, but he reluctantly went out on the porch to lean over the railing next to Yoongi, who was handing out lollipops to a set of twins.

Before she traipsed back through the house to head into the backyard, Y/N snapped a picture of the four hybrids on the porch with her phone with a tiny smile, all of them blissfully unaware that she had a secret folder in her camera roll containing candids of each of them. As she made her way through the kitchen, she giggled at the picture of Yoongi she had taken while he was cursing at a sheet pan of burnt vegetables he had forgotten to pull out of the oven.

With a sigh, she left her phone on the kitchen island and shrugged on her denim jacket hanging by the slider, pushing the cracked-open door and letting the chill autumn air shroud her. Recently, Jimin and Taehyung had helped her replace all of the outdoor lighting, so the backyard was illuminated and less haunted looking. In the distance, she could hear the thumping sound of Vista’s hoofs as Jimin took her around some of the lengthy trails around their property.

It wasn’t very difficult to find Jeongguk. All she had to do was follow her nose, the slightly sweet scent of burning tobacco cutting through the crispness of the night time air. He was over on the covered wooden swing under one of the willow trees positioned outside of the large window in the parlor. His eyes were squeezed shut with a hand massaging his temples, the lit cherry bright orange and making his features glow as a cigarette hung out of his mouth. Y/N knew that he was aware of her approaching, but he made no movement to indicate so.

Silently, she sat beside the elk hybrid, the swing swaying slightly with her weight, Jeongguk continuing not to acknowledge her presence even when she hummed as her spine hit the padded backrest. As she gazed up at the stars in the sky, she tried her best not to curl into Jeongguk’s warmth inches away. Minutes ticked away, and Jeongguk was still ignoring her, tattooed middle and forefinger prodding away at his right temple.

“Can I have a drag?” Y/N broke the ice, palms settling over her bare thighs to warm them up. Perhaps the short, twilight colored dress she had worn for her witch costume wasn’t the most season-appropriate choice.

Wordlessly, and to her great surprise considering she was prepared for him to tell her to piss off, Jeongguk passed the cigarette over, eyes snapping open and looking down through his eyelashes to study the side of her face. Gratefully, Y/N took the cigarette, fingertips lightly brushing his, carefully bringing it to her lips and taking an indulgent drag. The Marlboro reds Jeongguk smoked were harsh, the tobacco tasted strong and fiery hot, and it had her lightly coughing as the smoke burned her lungs. Immediately, Jeongguk snatched the burning cigarette away with a grunt.

“That was a bad idea. Seokjin is going to come out here and smack me around,” Jeongguk muttered, using his left hand to thump on Y/N’s back as she coughed into her fist. “Yoongi I can take. But the jaguar? Definitely stronger than he looks…”

“I’m f-fine, oof, Jeongguk, don’t hit so hard, you’re gon-na knock a rib out of place,” Y/N wheezed, leaning away from his harsh strikes. “You should try some of my m-menthols. Those reds are nasty.”

Jeongguk halted his pounding on her back, leaning his elbows forward on his knees and cradling his head in his hands, as if he had a blinding migraine. Concerned, Y/N mirrored his action, eyeing how his antlers had darkened over the past few weeks in the absence of his velvet.

“Are you going to tell me what happened?” Y/N murmured gently, wondering why he seemed to be in so much pain. Did he drink too much of the alcoholic Butterbeer she had made earlier that evening?

“Does it even matter to you?” Jeongguk shot back, a bit of bite to his smoky voice. His response made Y/N grit her teeth– she thought him and her were past this.

“Of course it does. How could you think it doesn’t matter to me?” Y/N curled her hands into fists, staring daggers into the side of Jeongguk’s skull.

“I don’t know. You and the fox are so close, I’m assuming you’ve taken his side and came out here to call me an asshole,” Jeongguk turned his head to meet Y/N’s eyes, the onyx shade of his pupils intimidating and darkened with contempt. “He can pretty much say whatever he wants, he’s your favorite.”

“What the fuck are you even talking about, Jeongguk? I care about all of you just the same. I don’t take sides, I don’t have favorites, and I want to fix whatever the problem is. You know, I’m finding it odd that I’m having to resolve conflict between two grown men,” Y/N ranted, feeling like she was just about fed up. Seriously, they were all older than her, shouldn’t they be able to hash out their own arguments?

There was a brief moment where they both stared at each other with intensity, anger written across both of their faces, and Y/N wasn’t sure who was going to break first. A muscle in Jeongguk’s jaw pulsed in agitation, momentarily breaking eye contact to stub out his cigarette on the bottom of his combat boots.

“You don’t have favorites? Yeah, I’m sure,” Jeongguk muttered, mostly to himself. This, however, angered Y/N even more, but before she could open her mouth to deny the accusation once again, he continued. “You know what? I don’t even care. You didn’t even need to come out here, I wasn’t going to run away.”

“Where is this ‘favorites’ thing coming from? Is that what your argument with Hoseok was about? He claimed it was a fight over paranormal subject matter,” Y/N tried her best to compose herself, though she felt that she was seconds away from throttling the elk hybrid and Hoseok.

“What do you think?” Jeongguk rolled his eyes, leaning back on the swing, his annoyance seeming to deflate second by second. He could probably smell how pissed Y/N was becoming. “Like I said, I don’t care. I just told him to shut the fuck up about… whatever, I told him to shut up, and he wouldn’t, so I came out here before my head could split.”

“Hoseok likes to make jokes, he probably didn’t mean anything by what he said, but I’ll still run it by him later that I’m not cool with him spreading around the idea that I favor one of you over another. Okay?” Y/N took a few seconds to collect her thoughts before responding to an increasingly uncomfortable looking Jeongguk. Clearly, she wasn’t ever going to know exactly what Hoseok had said, judging by both of them skirting around the issue.

Jeongguk went back to ignoring her, now massaging the area above his eyebrow piercing, his lips pursed and eyes fluttering shut once more. Shuddering with a sudden icy breeze that rolled by, Y/N wondered why she could still feel electricity in the air even though their heated exchange had ended.

“You mentioned that you had a headache, want me to get you some Advil?” Y/N leaned closer to Jeongguk, close enough to smell the earthiness of his black leather jacket, the muskiness of his oaky body wash, and the smoke that constantly clung to him. The masculine scent was enough to have her head going a bit fuzzy, embarrassingly enough to admit.

Jeongguk grunted, one of his ears flickering rapidly, his posture becoming stiffer as Y/N inched into his proximity closer than ever.

“I’m fine, Y/N. Go back inside, it’s too cold out here for you to be wearing that little dress,” Jeongguk gave her a once-over as he spoke, his voice rough and scratchy.

“I’m not cold! Let me get you that Advil, you look like you’re really in pain, sweets,” Y/N attempted to cover up her blushing when he made the comment about her dress by making a move to get off of the swing, but a hand grasped her wrist before she could get too far.

With the force of the hand tugging on her wrist, Y/N was forced backwards, ass landing back on the swing harshly and the wind knocked out of her lungs as she found herself nestled up to Jeongguk’s side– pretty much the closest she had ever been to him. Floored, she stared up at Jeongguk with owlishly wide eyes, her line of sight landing on the lip ring sucked into his mouth and his slightly crooked cupid’s bow.

“What did you just call me? ‘Sweets’?” Jeongguk’s voice was abruptly saccharine, and Y/N was spellbound, finally letting herself curl into the warmth of his body and melt. “Have I ever been sweet to you?”

This question had her head spinning. The way he was speaking to her, in a lilting, almost cooing way, was entirely new to Y/N and out of character for Jeongguk. Truthfully, the term of endearment fell out of her mouth so naturally she didn’t even register she had done it in the first place, but Jeongguk certainly did. Still blinking at him like a three week old kitten, Jeongguk arched an eyebrow expectantly.

“Yes,” Y/N squeaked, honestly forgetting the question he had asked her mere seconds ago, too busy drowning in the darkness of his irises.

“Yes, what?” Jeongguk prodded, cocking his head slightly as he lazily draped his arm across the swing’s backrest behind her. Stunned, Y/N used all of her might to will her mental facilities into functioning properly again. “Yes, you think I’m sweet?”

“Y-yes, I do. In your own way, you can be s-sweet,” Y/N stuttered, heart beginning to race in her chest. How did they get there? The push-and-pull between them was mind-bending, confusing, exhilarating. She had to look away from him in order to screw her head back on straight.

“Hmm? Like when?” With her heart in her throat, Y/N sat dumbstruck as she realized he still had her wrist in his grip, disinterestedly sweeping his eyes over her fingertips and knuckles. “Tell me.”

“Uh… when you helped with the cleansings and banishing. That night when I collapsed, and you took care of m-me. Telling me how to handle the situation between Joonie and Tae,” Y/N listed off the top of her head miraculously, though she had dozens of instances where Jeongguk had revealed his softer side to her.

Jeongguk paused, finding her eyes again, like he was trying to identify the colors of her soul, slowly releasing the silver ring hugging his lower lip from his mouth. Y/N’s gaze was fixed on the action, and like a woman possessed, all she could think about was how the silver ring would feel against her own lips.

The silence was absolutely maddening. Blood was rushing in her ears, and she had a sickly suspicion that he could read her mind about wanting to kiss him. Attempting to pull away a few centimeters in order to not act on her rampant fantasies, Y/N’s breath got stuck in her throat when Jeongguk’s grip on her wrist tightened bruisingly. Hissing, she arched into him, her free hand flailing out to grip the collar of his jacket.

“Jeongguk, you’re hurting me,” Y/N whispered, watching with awe as his eyes rounded out in alarm and he loosened his hold immediately. “What’s going on with you tonight?”

“Stop worrying about me, please,” Jeongguk looked a bit pained as he vocalized his hoarse plea, the arm he had over the swing backrest landing heavily across her shoulders. “Need you to come here.”

For a heart-stopping moment, she really thought he was going to kiss her, using his arm wrapped around her to haul her into his chest, Y/N using the hand gripping his jacket to brace herself by pressing her palm over his heart. Taking her wrist, he hooked it around the nape of his neck, his other hand flat over her lower back, his head dropped as he buried his face into the base of her throat. The hasty, bold action had her gasping, her fingertips sliding through the longer silken hairs at the nape of his neck. It had been weeks since any of the hybrids scented her, Jimin being the last, and honestly it had slipped her mind that it was a ritual that had to be repeated periodically. The last of Jimin’s mark on her wrist had long since vanished, and the thought of having a fresh one from Jeongguk had her head swimming.

“Mmm… you’re sweeter, I think,” the elk hybrid spoke over a breath, and Y/N was completely overwhelmed with all things Jeongguk. His scent, his voice and words, the way she felt protected encased in the solid muscles of his chest and arms. “Don’t you? Sweetness?”

Hardly able to formulate a coherent thought, she barely heard a word of what he was mouthing into her neck. No wonder he was so quick to become agitated with Hoseok’s joking around, he had a splitting headache, and was being so forward– he needed to scent her again.

Taking the opportunity to be as close to him as possible due to the circumstance, Y/N all but crawled into Jeongguk’s lap, swinging a thigh over one of his to straddle it, the hand in his hair carding through the strands more boldly. Grunting gutturally with the press of her weight over him, Jeongguk’s hand moved dangerously low on her hip, making her skin flash with white-hot heat.

“Fuck, what are you…” Jeongguk groaned, nudging her earlobe with the tip of his nose, his free hand reaching up to grip her chin tightly and move it to the side. With her neck craned, delicate skin of her throat exposed to his penetrating gaze and the brisk night air, a reedy sigh escaped from her parted lips.

“Bite already,” Y/N egged him on, becoming impatient. She had missed this, the intimate closeness to her boys, and she needed his teeth in her neck more than she needed her next inhale.

Jeongguk did not reply to her petition, though she swore she felt a slight puff of air against her sensitive skin as he snickered through his nose. Hold tightening on her, his lips descended, the chilly temperature of the silver ring through his lip making her shiver with delight.

Quaking on top of him, her eyes slid closed as Jeongguk dragged his tongue up from her collarbone to just below her ear, the smooth, rounded sensation of the barbell threaded through his tongue distantly familiar to her. Y/N was able to hold back the whimper that was threatening to tear from the back of her throat, though she could not choke it back when he sunk his teeth into the paper-thin skin of her neck, just below her left ear. The pain of his blunt, though somehow still razor-sharp incisors wasn’t as intense as she remembered it to be the first time, and if anything, it had her collapsing more of her weight onto his sturdy chest.

She was plunged into the hazy euphoria at light speed, and as soon as his teeth were cutting into her flesh, Y/N could only grip his hair in her fist like it was her only anchor to reality. Breathing heavily, she winced as he pulled his teeth from the puncture wounds, repeating what he had done the first time he scented her; with a lave of his tongue, he pursed his lips, sealing them over the mark and sucking.

Boneless, Y/N’s chest was heaving into Jeongguk’s as he bruised the skin around the puncture wounds, the sting of his teeth piercing her flesh completely absent once the brush of his tongue cauterized the site. His frame sagged with relief as he cleaned up his mess, droplets of her blood sluggishly rolling down her neck and pooling in the dips of her collar bones. Delirious and wickedly full of a strange, intimate emotion, Y/N snaked her arms around Jeongguk’s neck, hugging him desperately for the very first time.

As he came to, Y/N fully expected Jeongguk to pry her off of him, and she relished in the remaining seconds she had to hold him. However, to her immense surprise, Jeongguk clasped his forearms together behind her lower back, his nose still tucked into the crook of her neck as he embraced her back. She didn’t know if in her post-scenting foggy haze that she was hallucinating the way he actually held her, but she was too wired with emotion to unpack that thought at all. Slumped against the elk hybrid, she weakly continued to stroke his silky chestnut locks with her fingertips, nuzzling into his sharp collar bones indulgently.

After a few minutes, her thoughts coming to her more fluidly as the high slipped away, Y/N was beginning to dread pulling away from Jeongguk’s warmth. He was the only thing blocking the teeth-chattering chill, and even then, she felt goosebumps blooming up the bare skin of her calves and thighs. As if sensing this, one of Jeongguk’s roughened palms trailed down to the skin of her outer thigh, covering the cool flesh with his wide hand, a grumble coming from the back of his throat. Once the heat of his palm nearly burned Y/N’s thigh, she stiffened immediately in his arms, pulling away a few breaths to get a look at his face.

“Go inside, now. Put something warmer on before you hand out more candy,” Jeongguk finally used his grip around her hip to push her up and off of him, and astonishingly, she managed not to topple over and melt into the Earth’s core.

“Come with me?” Y/N extended her hand out to Jeongguk, not willing to part with him just yet.

With a soft chuckle, Jeongguk shifted his weight, standing on his own and paying no heed to her outstretched hand. Pouting, she followed his long strides across the backyard, still somewhat reeling from the interaction, the Halloween music from the front porch starting to ring in her ears as they got closer to the house. Studying the back of Jeongguk’s head as they walked towards the patio, she noticed him slow his pace so she could catch up, his chin tilting down as he looked at her.

“Stop pouting,” Jeongguk smirked, making Y/N’s annoyance with him return. Scoffing at him, she turned her nose up into the air, ditching him and storming away petulantly.

“Sheesh. You really don’t like not getting your own way, huh?” Jeongguk matched her pace with ease, taking her off guard for the umpteenth time that night by grasping her hand in his, thumb pinching all of her fingers together tightly as he continued on his way. “Bratty.”

“I’m the brat?” Y/N squawked, squeezing Jeongguk’s fingers as hard as she could, though secretly delighted he was actually holding her hand. A giant step forward, in her opinion. “That’s a crock. You’re one of the brattiest men I’ve ever met.”

Jeongguk barked out a wild laugh, throwing his head back with abandon, and Y/N had never seen him look so mirthful. Heart hammering around in her chest again, she composed her face into nonchalance, tugging the elk hybrid into the house.

“Yeah? I thought you said I was sweet? Did you lie to me?” Jeongguk teased, his expression becoming thoughtful as Y/N dropped his hand to shut the slider door, sighing in content as the heat in the house wrapped her up like a blanket.

Choosing to ignore him, Y/N rolled her eyes, moving to the island to pour herself a glass of red wine Yoongi had cracked open earlier in the night. Jeongguk was back to his normal, teasing self, and she had run out of wit to keep up with it for much longer that night.

“Wouldn’t you be able to tell if I was lying to you?” Y/N countered after a long sip of Cabernet, narrowing her eyes at the elk hybrid hanging up his jacket on the hatstand by the door. He was wearing a black Deftones tee-shirt under the jacket, which had her making a noise in the back of her throat– she liked them, too. “Alright, I have to go rescue Seokjin. Hoseok is probably driving him up a tree.”

However, as she went to exit the kitchen, her path was blocked by his figure, tattooed arms crossed over his chest. What now?

“Go change first. If you wanna rescue Seokjin, put him out of his misery watching you shiver in a skimpy dress in fifty degree weather and throw some sweats on,” Jeongguk drawled, making heat crawl up her throat and bloom across her cheeks.

“Okay,” replied obediently, with no room for questioning the tone of authority in his voice. Not to mention, she couldn’t believe she hadn’t noticed Seokjin’s fretting over the course of the night– he did typically try and bundle her up even when the temperature was in the mid-sixties.

Again, before she could get too far into the foyer, his raspy voice called out her name. Looking over her shoulder, she scowled, waiting for him to tell her to shingle the roof while she was at it.

“Send the wolf in when you go back out. I want to finish Scream, and I don’t want another spat happening if I watch it without him,” Jeongguk sent a wink her way, slouching off towards the dimly lit parlor with a smug look on his face. Bastard.

Muttering, Y/N woodenly found her way to her bedroom, rustling around in her drawers for a thick pair of leggings and her specific Halloween sweater with cute skeletons on it, she rid herself of the skimpy dress (sadly, it looked fantastic on her), and begrudgingly pulled on the warmer clothes, even going as far as tugging woolen socks up over her leggings to her knees. She looked a little ridiculous, but there was no way she was going out there and risking Jeongguk dragging her by her ear back inside, or making Seokjin worry about her.

Ruffling her hair in the mirror, she heard the slider from the kitchen being firmly shut and locked up, the heavy sound of steel-toed boots clacking against the marble floors. Jimin had finally come in from his evening ride.

Before she could scramble out to greet him, he had already whisked himself away into his bedroom, and then the sound of his shower tap noisily turned on. Old house, old rickety plumbing… even with the refurbished bathrooms, the pipes in the wall carried water everywhere with audible whooshing and clanking. Jimin typically took long showers after being out with Vista most days, he hated tracking dirt around the house, and his muddy boots were placed neatly on the giant shoe rack by the front door she had to order on Amazon recently.

The front door was shut, but she could still hear Yoongi’s gruff voice through the thick wood, which made her smile. Reaching for the doorknob, she paused, her phone vibrating in her leggings pocket.

Tae: Y/N, can I borrow your laptop until the morning ? I have a few more pictures to edit, I’m sorry

Y/N: Don’t be sorry!! Keep it as long as you need, Tae. As long as I can see the results!

Tae: Okay :) thx

She was definitely thinking of getting Taehyung a laptop for his birthday in December or perhaps for Christmas. It was that or getting some kind of desktop setup in the office next to Jimin’s bedroom, so anyone who needed to use a computer would have access to it. It all depended on whether or not she could rely on the money that would soon be coming in once they began boarding horses in the upcoming weeks.

Much warmer now in her new outfit, Y/N re-joined Seokjin, Yoongi, Hoseok and Namjoon on the porch, and she resumed her seat on the top step beside the jaguar hybrid. Seokjin certainly seemed relieved by both her return, but also by the way his mouth curved upwards in satisfaction and his eyes roamed over her attire, pleased that she had changed into something toastier. She took the plastic cauldron that was recently refilled with Hershey bars off of his lap, adjusting his crooked devil horn headband again with a click of her tongue.

“Joonie, Jeongguk wants to keep watching Scream with you, told me to send you back in,” Y/N tilted her head up to seek out the wolf hybrid’s eyes, finding him staring at her neck with slightly narrowed eyes. Whoops, maybe she should have worn a turtleneck.

“Everythings…?” Hoseok appeared, guiltily, around Yoongi’s shoulder, a lollipop rounding out one of his cheeks. “Alright?”

“Mm-hmm. You and I have something to talk about later, though. Nothing bad, don’t worry,” Y/N assured with her hands up, as soon as Hoseok’s russet ears drooped in response.

“I’ll go in, then,” Namjoon interrupted, not realizing that there was a young girl dressed as a little red riding hood gawking at him with cartoonishly large eyes. She pointed at him excitedly, tugging on her mother’s shirtsleeve to get her to notice Namjoon.

Ears perking up, he tilted his head at the girl, his eyebrows raised as he figured out who she was dressed as. Namjoon gave her a sweet, albeit wolfish, smile complete with pointed incisors and waved slightly, the girl squealing in delight and waving back. With blush dusting his cheeks, Namjoon retreated back into the house.

Shortly after Namjoon’s departure, Yoongi went inside, as well. He announced he was going to start on dinner; even though all he had to do was stick pizza from Sal’s into the oven on sheet pans and dress the salads, but Y/N knew he was probably itching to get some alone time. Hoseok, too, started lamenting about the biting wind, and after fifteen minutes of handing out candy with Y/N and Seokjin, he, too, went inside to see what Jimin was up to.

“So everything was worked out with Jeongguk? What is it that you have to talk to Hoseok about, did he really say something horrible?” Seokjin asked curiously, when there was a short reprieve of little ones barreling up their front walkway.

“Ah, nothing horrible. He was just making jokes about how I have ‘favorites’ amongst you all, which just isn’t true… I don’t want him to give anyone else the wrong idea. I imagine Tae wouldn’t have liked those jokes, either,” Y/N admitted, the sensation of Seokjin’s sleek tail periodically flicking her on the lower back familiar and endearing.

“I wouldn’t have liked it, as well,” Seokjin grumbled, his thick lower lip jutting out into a pout. “Not all of his jokes always land, that’s something he needs to learn.”

“All in due time, Seokjin… there was no physical violence, and it was easily resolved, so that’s all I can hope for,” Y/N sighed, tiredly leaning her cheek on Seokjin’s shoulder.

Purring, Seokjin hooked his arm through her’s, tucking his hand into his jacket pocket to secure their arms together. His bright eyes flashed, tiny giggles coming from the front of the property, indicating that they were about to get a few more visitors.

A Frankenstein, Red Power Ranger, and a girl dressed as a witch came skipping up their walkway, with great baskets already stuffed with various candies. Of course, all eyes landed on Seokjin first, with his vibrant orange eyes that shone in the darkness, his elegant, rounded black ears, and the length of his tail that curled to and fro behind him. It was moot to mention how gorgeous Seokjin was, additionally– he had many bashful kids, mothers, and even fathers alike gawking at his beautiful face the entire night.

Seokjin, however, was either used to people ogling at him, or perhaps he was painfully oblivious, so with a closed-lipped smile, he used his free hand to pass out chocolate bars once the kids chorused ‘trick or treat!’. Y/N found that not only were children enamored with Seokjin, but he seemed to adore them as well. He tossed the chocolate bars in the air, the kids having to catch them with delight. The witch, who’s attention was on Y/N clinging to Seokjin, seemed inquisitive, unlike her brothers who were happily catching candy in the air.

“I like your costume! That’s an awesome hat,” Y/N spoke up, the girl looking from her to Seokjin as if they were mythical beings that appeared before her.

“Are you married?” The girl ignored the compliments Y/N doled out, obviously referring to her and Seokjin, pressed up so close to each other it was like they were morphing into a singular body.

Y/N was at a loss for words. She knew kids could be incredibly forward and bold, but this question had her mouth drying up. Did she look old enough to be married? Further, did it make sense for her to be with a man as heart-stoppingly beautiful and kind as Seokjin? The simple, innocent inquiry rocked her world.

“Uh–”

“Yes, we are,” Seokjin grinned like the cat who ate the canary, his tail winding around Y/N’s waist as he snuggled into her. Blood draining from her face, she side-eyed Seokjin with utter shock, not even noticing that the young girl was giggling like mad. “For two months already!”

“I wanna marry a pretty hybrid like you, too!” The girl exclaimed, cupping her hands to make what Y/N assumed to be a mimic for hybrid ears on top of her head.

Once recovering from the fact that Seokjin had told the girl that they were a married couple, it dawned on her that he had used his adoption date as the day they “tied the knot”. The sentiment was certainly not lost on her, stomach filling up with butterflies.

“Like me? Really?” Seokjin put a finger to his lips, theatrically acting out deep contemplations, eyes cast up to the stars and all. “Don’t you think my wife is prettier?”

With that, Y/N coughed on a bit of spit that unfortunately found its way into her windpipe. While the girl was nodding in agreement, her mother was calling her name out on the street, and she went to follow her brothers up the walkway– but not before saying goodbye to her new friends.

“Bye-bye!” She waved and grinned, and as Seokjin waved back, he pressed a loud, firm kiss to the apple of Y/N’s cheek, concluding his great act.

Hand flying to the flaming flesh Seokjin’s lips pressed his stamp of affection over, she gaped at the jaguar hybrid as he waved at the children merrily, his eyes squeezed shut and offering up a toothy smile. Reeling, she waited until the voices of the children floated off down the street until she began breathing again, nudging Seokjin with her shoulder.

“Huh? What, are we out of candy?” Seokjin asked innocently, though there was a hint of mischief in the quirked corners of his mouth. Melting instantly, Y/N nudged Seokjin again, now feeling quite shy.

“No, we’re good with candy still, husband,” Y/N couldn’t help but poke fun back, since Seokjin was typically so easy to fluster. This time, he seemed somewhat unfazed, his squeaky laughter tickling her ears like she just told a hilarious joke. “You’ve been spending too much time with Hoseok. Teasing me like that.”

“Sorry, I couldn’t resist. She was adorable, and you’re cute when you’re caught off guard,” Seokjin shrugged, his tail tightening around her waist securely.

“Seokjinnie, stop embarrassing me! I feel like my blood is coming to a boil,” Y/N huffed, using a free hand to fan the heat across her cheeks.

“I know, I can feel how flushed you are from where I’m sitting,” the jaguar hybrid used the back of his hand to gently check the temperature of her cheek, just over the spot he had kissed not five minutes prior. What in the world was coming over him? “So cute!”

“Wow. You’re turning out to be quite the charmer, aren’t you?” Y/N murmured, so discombobulated and dazzled that she forgot all about the task at hand– tending to the trick-or-treaters, six of which were shuffling up the walkway oohing and ahhing at the decor scattered about the front yard and decked about the porch.

“I think the amount of kids will start to thin out soon, since it’s getting later in the night. Kids have bedtimes, especially on school nights, right?” Seokjin went back to normal conversation, as if he didn’t flirt with her like a seasoned Casanova.

“Eh? Oh, yeah, it is… and it’s almost dinner time, too,” Y/N snapped back to reality, watching Seokjin do his little tossing game with the kids crowding around the porch. “You’re good with kids, Seokjin. They love you.”

At last, she managed to make Seokjin blush, his ears fluttering and pointed incisors biting down on his pillowy lower lip. For the following forty-five minutes, they passed out candy to some older children who had later bedtimes, until Yoongi poked his head outside to announce that the food was all heated up, her arm still linked with Seokjin the entire time. As they got up to go inside, finally separating, Y/N noticed that Seokjin had refilled the plastic cauldron with more candy and left it on the porch step for remaining visitors.

October seemingly came and went, and frosty, gray November was settling over the city of Boston and the town her and her hybrids lived in. Leaves on the trees had almost completely fallen off every tree in the front and back yard, which Y/N had a blast (for once) raking up with the help of some of her housemates. After a little over two months of adopting all of her hybrids, everyone settled into a normal, functional routine. While it could certainly be hectic– between keeping track of basketball games, track meets, the odd photography expo, transporting everyone where they needed to be, and juggling her job, household duties, and renovations on top of all of that– it was lovely to have companionship and fulfilling purpose.

Mid-November one morning, when Y/N woke up to the grass outside crystalized with sparkling frost and darkened skies; she dressed as warmly as she could, relishing in the day off from work. All she had on the agenda that day was baking and cooking with Yoongi, and in the afternoon, helping Jimin out with the arrivals of two horses that were ready to be boarded for the upcoming winter.

The hallway into the foyer was noticeably brisk, and Y/N cursed as she turned up the thermostat by her bedroom door. Cringing, the loud hum of the heating system broke the quiet ambiance of the morning, and she resumed her shuffle down the hallway with her arms wrapped around her sweater-clad middle.

Orange light spilled out into the hallway from Namjoon’s open door. He usually kept it open, Y/N wasn’t quite sure why, but it seemed he was up and about already. Y/N figured he would have moved into his trailer full time after his birthday, but her hypothesis was proven wrong, he hadn’t. In fact, the wolf hybrid hadn’t even taken it out of the driveway since September, and really only disappeared into the vehicle a few times a week to retrieve books and bring them back into the house.

Peering into the room, she saw Namjoon sitting at his desk dressed in his rose colored thermal, taking notes from a tattered chess strategy book with the board her mother got him for his birthday neatly set up off to the side. He had yet to take her up on her offer to play with him, Y/N assuming he was trying to absorb every rule and trick he could beforehand.

“Morning, Joon,” Y/N greeted softly, hesitant to break his concentration. Over the past couple of months, she had gathered that he wasn’t exactly receptive to conversation when he was focused on reading. She knew, though, that he was listening and aware that she was in his doorway; his silver ears twitching with every minute movement she made.

At once, he set his fountain pen down, lifting his head from the palm he was resting his forehead in, concentration clearing from his eyes.

“Morning. You have the day off?” Namjoon cleared his throat, voice thick and gravelly as if it was the first time he had spoken that morning– and likely, it was.

“Uh-huh. Tuesdays I have off, remember? What are you up to today? Want to play a match later tonight?” Y/N gestured towards his notes and the pristine board sitting beside him, leaning her hip against the threshold of his door. “We can bring the board out to the parlor, and put it on the table in front of the fireplace. That way we’ll have good lighting!”

“Alright, sure. That sounds nice,” Namjoon allowed himself to smile a little, the gesture indenting dimples into the apples of his cheeks. “I think breakfast is ready, and I heard Jimin asking for you in the kitchen not too long ago.”

That was Namjoon’s code for “get out, I want to keep reading”, though Y/N didn’t mind. The warm, enticing smell of sausage and hash browns had her stomach growling loudly, Namjoon staring pointedly at her stomach. With that, she smirked at the wolf hybrid, leaving him to his note taking and skipping to the parlor, despite the strong desire to bolt immediately into the kitchen.

She stopped short, however, when she noticed the task she wanted to complete had already been taken care of– a tall, roaring fire crackling away in the fireplace. Stoking it with a fire poker was Taehyung, an emerald green flannel covering his back and a black beanie pulled over his wild curls. Taehyung wasn’t typically an early riser, so his presence made her giddy.

“Oh, thanks, Tae! I was just going to do that,” Y/N approached him, using her arm to squeeze him into her side by his waist. Taehyung, like Seokjin and Yoongi, was quite affectionate, so she had grown used to giving out constant hugs and pats throughout the day. “I think it’s going to be a cold winter. I better stock up on firewood.”

“Why don’t you just let me chop it? That’s what I used to do all day, you know,” Taehyung replied with a slight groan, though lowering his head so he could bury his nose into the crown of her head.

She thought it was a little strange, at first, how Taehyung often liked to smell her hair, but she had noticed that Jimin had also exhibited the same behavior, so she wrote it off as just an instinctual hybrid mannerism. In only two months, she had become extremely comfortable with her personal space being explored and invaded.

“But there’s one of our neighbors who sells it by the bundle! That way you don’t have to be out in the cold,” Y/N countered. Truthfully, she felt way too bad to have Taehyung resume a type of labor he had been exploited for in the past, but she didn’t want to come out and exactly tell him that.

“Y/N, you’re being stubborn. It gives me something to do, and you shouldn’t have to pay for wood that you can gather around the back yard for free. Just let me chop the wood,” Taehyung pushed her away by her shoulders, getting down low so he could make level eye contact with her. As always, it was an intense experience, and she quickly looked away before she could drown in the garnet depths of his gaze.

“I know if I say no, you’re still going to do it anyways. As long as you dress warmly, okay?” Y/N relented, using the sleeve of his flannel to drag him to the kitchen for some breakfast.

The kitchen was brightly lit, as always, and the lights starkly contrasted the dark morning, making Y/N’s eyes hurt. Jimin, with his mug of coffee– one with a moose on it, his favorite, Y/N presumed– was sitting at the breakfast nook with a newspaper like an old man. He looked incredibly ready to tackle his day; freshly showered, dressed in his blue jeans, a tee shirt, and his new heavy-duty leather jacket Y/N had ordered him for his long hours outside.

Predictably, Yoongi was cooking, in his pajamas and cheeks still puffy from sleep. Y/N’s coffee was waiting for her on the island, always with the perfect ratio of cream to sugar. It appeared that Yoongi was making a giant vat of scrambled eggs– something that was on a heavy rotation for breakfast lately since Yoongi discovered Anthony Bourdain’s recipe for them.

His hair was getting even longer these days, falling forward into his face and feathering around his neck, and Y/N was harboring a secret desire to try different hairstyles on him, especially when they were watching movies together at night. Yoongi, more than the others, was a big fan of his hair being played with; and usually grabbed her hand to card through the silky locks, and she now had the duty of putting it up before his basketball games.

“I’m starving,” Y/N sighed, now behind Yoongi at the stove, hooking her chin over his shoulder to watch him sprinkle chopped chives into the scrambled eggs. “Smells so good. We’re lucky to have you, Yoongi.”

“Don’t butter me up. You still need to study the circle of fifths later,” Yoongi glanced backwards at her, his “serious teacher” expression on his face. For the past few weeks, his piano lessons have involved a lot more music theory than anything else, and it nearly bored her to tears– no matter how important it was to becoming a better player. The latest lesson, tackling the circle of fifths, she swore was harder than veterinarian school.

“You never let me off the hook, do you, sir?” Y/N saluted him like a soldier, watching his eyes roll back into his skull and his spotted tail whacking the side of her thigh.

“Good morning Y/N!” Seokjin’s happy voice filled the kitchen– apparently, he had been in the pantry the whole time. “Guess what?”

Ditching Yoongi, she joined Seokjin, who was eagerly bouncing on the balls of his feet by the oven, two plaid oven mitts on his hands. He grinned from ear to ear, tail swishing back and forth with excitement. Lately, Seokjin had been doing a little more experimenting in the kitchen, following Youtube tutorials and starting off with simple recipes, mostly side dishes.

“What’s that?” Y/N reached up to his broad chest, dusting off a sprinkle of flour across the black tee shirt he was wearing, curious as to what he had made this time. Whenever he’d make something new, she had to be the first to see and try it. “You know what? Maybe I should sign you and Yoongi up for Masterchef.”

“Don’t do that. We both suck under pressure,” Yoongi immediately responded from the stove, transferring the eggs into a large casserole dish. “They definitely don’t take hybrids as contestants, anyways.”

Seokjin made a feline noise of annoyance, shooting Yoongi a dirty look, before he softened and opened up the oven carefully, Y/N waiting to see what he presented her. Seokjin had only ever made tapas-style dishes, easy to execute, so she was curious to see what he was going to pull from the oven.

“No way! Jin, you made bread?” Y/N’s jaw was hanging loose, the jaguar hybrid taking a perfect boule of sourdough out on a sheet pan. Bread was something she hadn’t even attempted to make yet, and here Seokjin was, with a loaf that looked like it came from a prestigious bakery. “Don’t you need to make some sort of starter a week or so in advance?”

“Yeah, didn’t you notice that jar of sludge over on the coffee bar the past seven days?” Yoongi pointed to a mason jar that looked like a science project sitting by the coffee maker. Truthfully, since Yoongi usually made her coffee for her every morning, she rarely found herself in front of the carafe.

“No…” Y/N mumbled, slightly abashed, Yoongi tutting at her and using a spatula to flip over some hash browns in a cast iron skillet. “I can’t even remember the last time I made my own coffee, to be fair!”

“Hmph. I think I spoil you too much,” Yoongi sighed with a shake of his head, so quietly that Y/N almost missed it.

Her mouth dropped open to deny the accusation, mostly because there was nothing she wanted less than Yoongi to stop giving her princess treatment, but a sturdy grip on her chin turning her head away had thoughts clearing from her mind in an instant. Finding the vibrant flame-colored eyes boring roguishly into her face, she blinked, a chunk of warm bread pushed between her puckered lips, Seokjin lightly squeezing her jaw in his grasp to keep her mouth pried open.

“How is it?” Seokjin cocked his head, thumb and forefinger stroking the hinges of her jaw as if to encourage chewing.

Y/N did so numbly, finding it impossible to look away, while still somehow managing to actually taste the delicious bread he had tossed into her gaping mouth. Under her nose, he had even buttered the chunk of bread while she was preoccupied by Yoongi’s teasing, the rich fattiness of the butter complimenting the full-bodied flavor of the sourdough. It was the best bread she had tasted in years, putting the local bakery in the town square to shame. The fact that it was his first time baking something like that and having it turn out heavenly was frankly unfair.

“Seokjin, it’s fucking delicious,” Y/N announced after a thick swallow, her tastebuds already begging for another slice. With a satisfied purr, Seokjin released her jaw– which she didn’t even realize he was still gripping– his human ears turning pink and the jaguar ones fluttering in delight. “Seriously. I might eat that whole loaf.”

“Jinnie, cut me a slice! Feed me, too!” Hoseok strolled into the room, wearing a red tracksuit and his hair a little sweaty from a likely morning workout.

Y/N did end up having her little chat with Hoseok about the whole “favoritism” thing, which he felt badly about once she was able to have a moment alone with him. During an afternoon of trying out a yoga video on Youtube together, they talked about it at length. While it was awkward and uncomfortable at first, as always she left conversations with Hoseok with a stomach cramping from too much laughter and a certain, fresh outlook on life. Since then, he’d promptly gone back to his normal, clever and upbeat self; and things between him and Jeongguk had been patched up as if nothing had ever occurred.

“Only if you say please,” Seokjin retorted, giving Y/N a little pat on the top of her head as he began to slice a slab of bread for the fox hybrid.

It seemed with each passing day, the extreme shyness that Seokjin had once hid himself behind was melting away, and his personality was turning out to be a lot more teasing and sly than Y/N originally thought. The blossoming of some of his extroverted tendencies had made sense of why Seokjin and Hoseok had formulated a close bond so quickly at the shelter. Hoseok must have sniffed out the underlying troublemaker in the jaguar hybrid.

“Heh. Please,” Hoseok drew out his plea obnoxiously, hungrily watching Seokjin spread a thick smear of butter over the bread, an amused smirk on the fox hybrid’s face.

With that, Seokjin leaned over the island, sticking the sliced bread into Hoseok’s mouth, a squeaky laugh shaking his broad shoulder as Hoseok groaned pleasurably and dramatically.

Hoseok’s next quip was around a mouthful of bread and a generous amount of butter. “Who woulda thought you were so demanding of manners, Jinnie?”

Seokjin sliced up the rest of his sourdough to be toasted with breakfast, a content simper on his face, Y/N finding her way to the breakfast nook in order to escape any more touches from Seokjin that had heat curling in her gut. Under Jimin’s watchful eye, and at times his reproachfulness towards the other hybrids, she knew no one else would try and tease her in his presence. Taehyung, who had been lurking around the coffee bar making himself some kind of iced, sugary concoction, slid into the booth beside her, sandwiching Y/N between him and Jimin.

“Hey, Tae, if you’re going to be outside today for the firewood, do you mind helping Jimin and I out with the horses that’ll be dropped off around noon? It might be better to have another pair of hands. I believe two, maybe three are being brought over,” Y/N sipped her coffee indulgently, letting it heat up her insides.

With the mention of his name and their shared task for that afternoon, Jimin’s ears perked up immediately and he set his newspaper down. Tae gave her a thumbs-up, whipped cream coating his upper lip from his drink, Y/N noting how he looked 100% human with his beanie on, his rounded ears hidden beneath.

“What are horses' names, again, Y/N?” Jimin accepted a plate of breakfast food from Yoongi with a polite nod, the leopard hybrid placing a second one heaped with outrageous portions in front of Y/N. Y/N had an inkling that Yoongi’s love language was making sure she was always well fed.

“Blue, Oliver, and possibly Willow, if her owners can make it today,” Y/N recalled, her eyes to the ceiling to pull the information out of her brain. Though she was once a veterinarian and often treated horses, taking care of so many that lived in her backyard full-time was sort of intimidating. It was lucky that she could heavily rely on Jimin, who was at home almost always, and grew up taking care of horses specifically.

Sneaking a peek at the coyote hybrid beside her, who was the picture of anticipation scanning the backyard through the picture window behind the breakfast nook, she melted in her seat like a pat of butter in a scorching pan. Jimin was a striking combination of delicately beautiful and ruggedly handsome, and quite frankly Y/N found it unjust. To her, it was wrong that someone could be simultaneously runway material and dripping with inherent brawniness.

Additionally, the sort of romantic dreaminess that Jimin often displayed in his actions (unbeknownst to him, Y/N believed) practically made him into a Jane Austen hero that walked off of the weathered pages and into her reality. It was extremely difficult not to fall for the coyote hybrid, and Y/N spent a good chunk of her time trying to grapple with that whenever she hung out with him in the stable. A man who was gentle and caring towards animals was certainly high up on her wishlist for a lover.

“Alright. Everything is all set in the stalls, I put hay in three of the vacant ones this morning just in case,” Jimin grinned at Y/N, as if he could read her mind and see the thirsty thoughts floating around in her skull. Hastily covering up her guilt, she took a scalding swig of her coffee, wincing at the sear in her esophagus.

“Eat up, Y/N. The eggs taste like shit when they’re cold,” Yoongi interrupted her coughing fit, his eyes narrowed from his spot by the sink, Y/N unaware he was even monitoring her. There was an odd look on his face, his fine features shadowy, lips downturned at the corners, and his ears twitching in agitation. Okay?

Obediently, Y/N worked through her comically large plate of breakfast, giggling at Hoseok and Seokjin teasing each other at the island, their jabs at each other filling the kitchen with a little sunshine despite Yoongi’s sudden storminess. She’d have to ask what was up with him later, when they cooked dinner together.

“Oh, she’s beautiful, Mr. Orlov! I’m so glad you could bring her today. We’ll take great care of her,” Y/N stroked Willow, a dapple gray, gently on her strong neck, admiring how soft her coat was. Mr. Orlov was a good friend of her grandfather’s, a Russian immigrant, and was planning on spending the winter in Arizona with his wife.

“I’m sure you will. Your grandfather spoke highly of the young man who will be helping you. A former ranger hybrid, no?” Mr. Orlov asked in his thick accent, walking beside Y/N and his horse with his hands clasped behind his back.

Though it was the forth time she was escorting a horse through her backyard towards the stable, she still found it a bit funny to do so, especially without Jimin. He was busy in the stable already, tending to the two new horses and his own.

“Yes, Jimin worked at the Yellowstone ranch, so he’s very experienced. He even used to train horses! I’m really fortunate to have him, he was able to fix up the old stable in the blink of an eye…” Y/N took the opportunity to gush about Jimin, soothingly patting Willow as she became a little skittish with the sounds of splitting wood off into the distance.

“It is nice to know Willow will be close to home while I am away,” Mr. Orlov’s crystal blue eyes scanned the backyard for the source of the sound growing in volume. “Is that him?”

Taehyung, with his flannel tied around his waist and in a sweat-dampened white tee shirt, was by the little woodshed several yards away from the stable, an ax in hand and a neat pile of firewood beside the block he was chopping on. Mouth drying up at the sight, the sheer strength Taehyung possessed in being able to split a thick chunk of wood in one fell swoop, Y/N shook her head distractedly.

“No, that’s Taehyung, another one of my hybrids,” Y/N gave Taehyung a weak wave when his head whipped up upon hearing his name coming from her lips. He adjusted the beanie on the top of his head, blinking at her stoically, returning to his task. Y/N had the feeling he was aware she was peeved he was only in a tee shirt in fifty degree weather. “Jimin is in the stable.”

“That’s him?” Mr. Orlov pointed towards the chicken coop, where Seokjin was shaking out a bag of feed with the birds pecking around his feet.

“Uh, no, that’s not him either,” Y/N chuckled sheepishly. She wondered if her grandfather had told Mr. Orlov just how many hybrids lived with her. It was the sort of thing that tended to be a bombshell dropping during conversations with curious strangers. “Just through here, let’s bring Willow inside and see how she likes her new digs!”

Mr. Orlov politely waved at Seokjin, who had a chicken tucked under his arm. Due to the colors of the feathers, Y/N could tell it was Sable– her and Jimin had named all of the chickens– the hen that was greediest with the food and often ate more than her share. Chuckling at the bird struggling to free herself from Seokjin’s arms, Y/N slowly led Willow and Mr. Orlov into the stable, which was lit up nicely and immaculately swept clean.

“Ah, gorgeous. You fixed up this place very well, I remember what it looked like last winter,” Mr. Orlov took a look around, Jimin appearing from one of the stalls with a wide grin that made his eyes narrow into slits.

Probably sensing that Y/N was in need of more experienced hands to take over horse duty, he hurried over, hands already extended– one to shake Mr. Orlov’s hand, another to take the reins from Y/N’s clammy fist. Relieved, she took a few steps away from Willow, watching Jimin lead the horse and her owner to a free stall, one next to Vista, Jimin’s own horse. Y/N noticed the ground of the stable was a bit wet, the scent of shampoo slightly perfuming the air from when Jimin had given Vista a bath earlier that afternoon.

She let Jimin handle himself and take over answering any questions Mr. Orlov had about the stable and how they’d care for Willow. Truthfully, she would just be awkwardly standing there while they chatted, and Jimin could definitely handle talking to Mr. Orlov himself, so she gave Vista a soft pat on her nose before heading back outside to see if Seokjin had gotten his arms pecked bloody.

When she left the stable, Seokjin was already gone. It was kind of brisk outside, and since Seokjin was not a fan of chilly weather, she figured he had gone back inside as soon as he fed the chickens to warm up by the fire. Taehyung was still busy chopping wood, and Y/N realized that he had found an old portable CD player and was listening to something as he worked, the old headphones he typically plugged into the turntable attached to the device clipped to the belt loop of his jeans. He still somehow managed to hear her as she walked towards the house, even with the music playing– or perhaps he caught a whiff of her. Either way, he gave her a closed-mouth smile, sweat collecting along where his beanie met his forehead.

Y/N’s phone began to ring in her pocket, making her pause and plop down onto a lounge chair on the patio beside the kitchen door. The caller ID showed a picture of Ben from college, drunk and eating ramen with a fork.

“Hey Ben! What’s up?” Y/N picked at her cuticles, which were unfortunately drying out due to the change in seasons.

“Same old, Roy just took Daisy to the grocery store. She wanted spaghetti for dinner, and we were fresh out.” Ben sounded like he was bustling around his kitchen, pots and pans clanging together. “How’ve you been? Didn’t you say there were some people dropping off horses at your place today?”

“Yeah, three of them got dropped off today. You should see Jimin, he’s so happy,” Y/N felt warm fuzziness envelop her, imagining the radiance of Jimin’s joy in her mind. “I’ve been really good lately. I finally feel like the routines are making sense and flowing.”

“That’s a relief. You were running around like a headless chicken for a few weeks there,” Ben chuckled. “Speaking of chickens. Do you think I could get some eggs from you sometime this week? The last batch was awesome.”

“Of course! We have more eggs than we know what to do with, even with Hoseok boiling so many for his pre-practice snack,” Y/N snuck a peek into the kitchen slider, hoping to see Yoongi in there waiting for her to join him. However, no one seemed to be in the kitchen, which was highly unusual– all of the boys were prone to constant snacking. “Is that why you called? For more eggs?”

Y/N was teasing, but Ben texted her most of the time to catch up. When he’d call her, it was typically because he had something important to say.

“No, actually. I have some news for you,” Ben cleared his throat, tone becoming more serious. “It’s about Hannah. She won her case this afternoon, and someone has already requested to adopt her. She’s out of Cirque Mystique.”

Y/N fell silent, heart pounding quickly in her chest. She hadn’t talked to Seokjin about what she had found out about Hannah yet, wanting to wait and see how her trial went before getting his hopes up that she had been freed from the circus. Now that Hannah was free, Y/N was suddenly stumped on how to bring it up to Seokjin. Since their chat about Hannah and the circus, the jaguar hybrid had not brought up the subject again. Part of Y/N wondered if he thought she forgot about it, since the conversation happened weeks ago– the thought making her heart squeeze.

“Hello? Earth to Y/N, did I cut out?” Ben whistled on the other end of the receiver, Y/N squeaking once she realized she had zoned out with him still on the line.

“No, no, I heard you! That’s really great news, you said someone wants to adopt her?” Y/N recovered, watching Jimin escort Mr. Orlov back to his car in the distance.

“The public defender who represented her, actually. I know the woman, she’s wanted to adopt a hybrid for a while, she’s extremely nice. Actually, she just decided to move to Upstate New York, more clients around there, more nature, et cetera. So her and Hannah will be moving at the end of the month, when the adoption goes through. I guess they really bonded over the course of the trial, Hannah felt safe with her,” Ben explained, Y/N trying her best to process all of this new information. “And I know what you’re thinking. You were probably itching to adopt Hannah for Seokjin, but seven hybrids is already a handful for you, Y/N. This is a good thing.”

Lifting her eyebrows, she considered Ben’s accusation. Honestly, she wasn’t even close to thinking about adopting Hannah– Ben was right, seven hybrids was more than enough to keep her on her toes, an eighth would send her straight over the edge of sanity. Besides, adding another hybrid to the house was a recipe for throwing the carefully constructed balance she had created between her seven boys off kilter.

“Ben, I might be a little off my rocker, but I’m not that crazy. It was difficult enough to get some of my boys to even tolerate one another, I’m not about to disturb the peace now,” Y/N pushed a hand through her hair, wondering if there was a way she could arrange for Seokjin to meet with Hannah before she moved to New York.

“Mm-hm, I’m sure,” Ben replied airly, as if he didn’t buy what she was saying at all. “Apparently, though, Hannah was asking about Seokjin. I told my friend– Sarah, is her name, the one adopting Hannah– that he was with you and he was safe. I think she’d like to see him, and I told Sarah that I’d ask if it was alright to pass on your contact information.”

“God, it’s like you read my mind. That’s totally fine, send over my number and email. I’ll definitely find time for Seokjin and I to meet up with them,” Y/N agreed, growing anxious to tell Seokjin the good news. There was no telling how he’d react, but she was hoping that it would be positive. “Listen Ben, thanks for letting me know. I gotta get going though, I want to break the news to him.”

“Just as well. I have a Zoom meeting with a client in half an hour, enough time for me to finish roasting vegetables for dinner. We have to blend them into the tomato sauce to get Daisy to eat anything green, ironic for a bunny hybrid,” Ben bid Y/N goodbye, hanging up with a curse as it sounded like he may have burned himself on a hot pan. Ben’s cooking skills were never really something to write home about.

Shivering, eyes trailing after Jimin making haste back across the yard to the stable, Y/N took a calming, deep breath as if to steel herself. Strangely enough, she was becoming nervous to talk to Seokjin, which was unnerving and even a little alarming. Gnawing on her lip, she tried to swallow down the anxiety, pulling her sweater closer around her body and finding her way back into the house.

Y/N’s anxiety subsided monumentally as soon as she found Seokjin. He had made himself comfortable in the parlor, arguably the warmest room in the house, wrapped up in a throw blanket with the fireplace alight and his attention on the cooking channel. Without a word, Y/N took a seat beside the jaguar hybrid, his chest rumbling with purrs as she squirmed into a suitable position. In amicable silence, Y/N defrosted next to Seokjin for several moments, humming softly when he peeled back a corner of his blanket to pull it over Y/N, as well.

“You shouldn’t spend so much time outside when the weather is like this. You’ll catch a cold,” Seokjin murmured after a while, eyes focused on Gordon Ramsay demonstrating how to cook the perfect duck entree. He attempted to put off nonchalance, but his eyebrows were knitted and Y/N could tell he was slightly admonishing her.

“For someone born in December, you sure hate the winter, huh, Seokjinnie?” Y/N deflected, naturally scooching closer to his elevated body heat. It was nice that the hybrids were such warm beings, perfect to cuddle up to. “Speaking of, have you found a place you’d be interested in going to eat for your birthday?”

Y/N knew that she was beating around the bush, but her brain was still trying to come up with a way to bring up what she had discovered about Hannah. Luckily, it seemed that the rest of her hybrids were either outside or holed up in their bedrooms doing their own thing. She swore she had heard Yoongi on the piano when she had come inside, a familiar tune he often played but never directly in front of her, but the music had stopped abruptly as soon as she sought out Seokjin.

Grumbling, Seokjin didn’t seem to like her obvious change in subject and disregard for his fretting, but his features softened as he finally cast a look downwards at her. He pulled his phone out from under the blanket, tapping away on the internet browser with determination, before holding the phone out in front of Y/N’s face, his lower lip tucked between his teeth.

“Oh! Ramsay’s Kitchen? As in Gordon Ramsay? There’s one of those in Boston? I suppose I shouldn’t be surprised, he is a household name around here,” Y/N gingerly took Seokjin’s phone from him, flicking through the website’s gallery.

Seokjin didn’t say anything, his cheeks a little pink as he watched Y/N check out the website, his ears dropping down sideways as if she was going to tell him they couldn’t go or something.

“Mmm… the menu looks delicious. Hey, your birthday falls on a Sunday, so we could go to brunch– only if you want! We can go any time, really. It’s entirely up to you, it’s your day, after all,” Y/N passed Seokjin’s phone back to him, the jaguar hybrid pulling his teeth from his lip, blood rushing to the flesh and making his mouth look even more tempting than ever.

“No, brunch is perfect! There’s more to choose from on the menu, for brunch. Are you sure we can go there? You don’t mind driving into the city?” Seokjin’s eyebrows shot up into his hairline, blinking harshly at her like he had sand in his eyes.

“The drive is nothing. It’ll only take us like half an hour to get there, don’t worry about that. Want me to make a reservation? I think it’s probably wise considering Ramsay’s popularity…”

“I can do it,” Seokjin assured, already looking for the page to reserve a table. “Do you think everyone else will come along?”

“Do you want them to?” Y/N cocked her head, speaking cautiously. Perhaps he only wanted to go with her and Hoseok?

“I mean, whoever wants to come can tag along. I don’t mind,” Seokjin mumbled quietly, fingers hesitating on the drop-down menu that asked how many would be in their party.

“Uh, why don’t you just reserve a table for eight, and if anything changes, I’ll give the restaurant a call. Okay?” Y/N made a mental note to convince everyone to join in for brunch, even the ones who tended to be late risers, because as much as Seokjin was trying to appear neutral, she could tell he secretly wanted everyone to be present. Whether or not his reasoning was so he could try more menu items, Y/N didn’t know.

They lapsed back into silence for a bit, Seokjin finishing up the reservation form and the both of them watching Kitchen Nightmares with the occasional shared giggle. The mid-afternoon light was beginning to wane, filling the parlor with blue light, the fireplace offering a dim, homey glow.

“Seokjin, I have some news for you,” Y/N spoke up abruptly during a commercial break, unable to hold information back anymore. Besides, she’d have to get going on dinner in a bit with Yoongi, and she promised the leopard hybrid that they’d bake something for dessert together, too.

Reaching forward, she lowered the volume of the television, twisting her body and curling her legs to the side so she could face Seokjin fully. Able to sense her change in demeanor, serious and full of purpose, Seokjin promptly tore his attention from the TV, a quizzical look on his beautiful face, his nose slightly twitching.

“So, remember a while ago, when we talked about Cirque Mystique, and I said I’d have Ben look around for some information?” Y/N dove in headfirst, deciding that she had been stalling for far too long.

Watching the color drain from Seokjin’s face, he went rather still, even the constant twitch of his ears had paused in their movement. Not wanting him to think she had bad news, she reached for his hands under their shared blanket, the feeling of his crooked fingers slotting against hers boosting her confidence.

“Hannah is fine,” Y/N assured at once, Seokjin’s mouth dropping open and his loose grip on her hands squeezing weakly. “Ben’s public defender friend, Sarah, actually represented Hannah in a negligence case against the circus. Hannah won her case, and she doesn’t have to work in the company anymore.”

“She’s free?” Seokjin breathed, his face still extremely pale and his Adam’s apple bobbing as he swallowed repeatedly, like he was trying to lubricate a dry throat.

“She’s free,” Y/N confirmed, smiling wistfully as tears began to gather along Seokjin’s lower lash line. The sight had her heart absolutely breaking in her chest. “In fact, Sarah has requested to adopt her. She’ll be safe, living in a loving home. Ben said that Sarah and Hannah had bonded over the course of her trial, so I think this was the best possible outcome for Hannah.”

Seokjin began to process what she had revealed to him, periodically clutching Y/N’s hands in small pulses as his wide eyes flitted from each of hers, as if to detect any deceit. His mouth opened and closed like a fish out of water, apparently at a loss for any kind of response, but Y/N let him take his time to sort out his emotions as she clung to his hands for dear life.

“So… she’s going to be adopted,” Seokjin spoke barely above a whisper, releasing one of Y/N’s hands to use the inside of his wrist to dab away at his watery lash line. “That’s good. She’s not hurt?”

“No, she’s not hurt. Ben said she only sustained minor injuries, but those have definitely healed up by now,” Y/N was trying not to read too much into Seokjin’s reaction to the news– Hannah seemed to mean a whole lot more to Seokjin than Y/N had originally thought. An itchy, uncomfortable sensation began to bloom in her gut. Was it selfish to be jealous of Hannah? Probably, but it was near impossible to squash it down.

Regaining his sense of self, Seokjin clumsily lurched forward, the blanket around them falling around their waists as he crushed Y/N in a fierce hug. His entire body crooked over her, and his wide shoulders did a good job of caging her in and shielding her from the world. Hands trapped between their chests pressed flush together, Y/N could only wind her fingertips into the fabric of Seokjin’s black tee shirt, breathing stuttered as Seokjin clutched her and shoved his face into her neck. The fabric making up the collar of her sweater was growing a bit damp, and Y/N realized Seokjin had allowed tears to fall freely down his cheeks, soaking into her top.

“Shh, it’s alright,” Y/N whispered, able to free one of her hands so she could smooth her palm down the back of Seokjin’s wavy head of raven hair. Shoulders slightly shaking, Seokjin pressed closer to her, almost forcing Y/N into his lap. “She’s going to be alright. Would you like to see her? Sarah said that Hannah was wondering about you, once she found out you were here with me.”

Pulling himself together slightly, Seokjin nodded into the crook of her neck, sniffling a little as Y/N’s previous jealousy melted away into concern for the jaguar hybrid. Still raking her fingers through his hair, she accidentally grazed the shell of his rounded, silky ear, a choked noise coming from Seokjin as he shuddered at the swift contact, his body becoming totally slack against her. Muttering a whoops, sorry, Y/N held onto Seokjin for a few more moments, her cheeks burning, before carefully maneuvering him off of her so she could assess his expression.

“Oh, Seokjin… I didn’t mean to make you cry, honey,” Y/N’s throat was growing thick, the image of tears tracking down Seokjin’s face nearly unbearable to witness. Reaching up, she used her thumbs to tenderly brush away stray tears, Seokjin leaning into the touch and offering a weak smile. “I told Ben to give Sarah my information. As soon as she reaches out to me, we can make a plan. There’s one more thing…”

Seokjin shook his head, in order to encourage Y/N to continue talking even while he was overcome with emotion, trying his hardest to compose himself, his hands coming up to rub at his biceps self-consciously.

“So, apparently Sarah is planning on moving to Upstate New York with Hannah, as soon as the adoption is finalized. Of course, we can visit whenever you’d like, but I just thought you should know that, as well,” Y/N now found it hard to look Seokjin dead in the eyes, her fingers fiddling with a stray thread poking out of the throw blanket tossed haphazardly across her lap.

“New York? She… Hannah always wanted to live there,” Seokjin croaked, though a warmhearted beam began to grow on his face. Again, the itchy feeling in her gut returned, and Y/N felt overwhelming guilt flood through her.

“She’ll love it there, I’m sure!” Y/N cheered, desperately hoping he couldn’t smell the emotions that were eating her alive only inches away from him. Shit, she was in deeper than she thought. “C-can… can I ask? How long have you known Hannah?”

Seokjin froze, scanning her face quietly, his friendly expression still in place but the barest hint of caution glazing over the set of his mouth. Immediately regretting her question, wishing she could stuff the words back into her trap and swallow them whole, Y/N began to wave her hands and chuckle everything off.

“Jesus. Sorry, none of my business–”

“I’ve known her for about six, almost seven years. It’s okay, you can ask,” Seokjin gave Y/N a gentle pat on the back of her hand, likely noticing her picking at the loose blanket thread nervously. “She was brought into the company a couple of years after me. I had several friends in the company, but Hannah I felt closer to than anyone else.”

Digesting this, Y/N began to imagine what Hannah might have looked like, and how she acted. For Seokjin to speak so highly of her– and care so deeply for her wellbeing– she must have been an incredible person.

“Ah, you might think this is ‘corny’, like when we watch those romance dramas with Hoseok and Jimin, but, um,” Seokjin made goofy air-quotes, his teeth coming down to chew on his lower lip once more. “But you know how those dramas often have a particular trope? Well, Hannah– I guess you could say– she was my ‘first love’.”

Then, Y/N’s ears began to ring loudly. Staring at the jaguar hybrid like he had just told her he planted a bomb in their basement, she took a split second to recover, once again chuckling like an idiot. The concept of one’s ‘first love’, as cheesy as it could be in dramas and novels, was nothing to laugh about, however. Often, the ‘first love’ stuck around in someone’s heart until the day they died.

“F-first love?” Y/N squeaked, and it dawned on her that she, herself, never experienced such a thing, so there was no way she could put herself in Seokjin’s shoes. “Are you still…?”

“In love? God, no,” Seokjin caught on to the unsaid, ever the perceptive one. “We realized early on we were better as friends, rather than lovers. She’s just a dear friend to me, now.”

Expecting to be placated upon hearing those words, Y/N’s brain was still chanting ‘she was my first love’ in Seokjin’s voice over and over in a loop like the creepy robed dudes in Eyes Wide Shut. All she could do was plaster a hopefully convincing impartial expression on her face, wishing another hybrid would bumble into the parlor and save her from her self-imposed humiliation.

“Oh! Um, well, it’ll be really nice to see her, huh? Sarah will probably contact me any day now, so we’ll set everything up, honey,” Y/N cleared her throat, praying her words didn’t come out like she was spitting them through her teeth.

Y/N was engulfed in another organ-crushing hug, Seokjin thanking her profusely for finding out about Hannah for him, and swearing that he’ll have to bake some bread for Ben and his family to thank him as well. Nuzzling into his eucalyptus scented chest, Y/N concentrated on getting over herself; it wasn’t fair that she was letting her growing feelings for Seokjin get in the way of his relationship between him and his longtime friend– and former lover, she mentally added, bitterly so. She was only soothed by the gentle purring vibrating from Seokjin, the heavy weight of his tail wrapping around her hips.

When she broke free after several moments, the tip of Seokjin’s nose pink, he announced that he wanted to clean up and take a shower before dinner, but Y/N suspected he was a touch embarrassed for crying in front of her. As he stood, he doubled back, planting a kiss on her forehead swiftly before scurrying out of the room like he was on fire. Reeling, Y/N sat statue still for the length of three commercials, attempting to unpack everything she had just experienced, until she broke free from Seokjin’s spell and switched off the television.

“Yoongi? Angel, where are you?” Y/N had been milling around the house for thirty minutes trying to find her leopard hybrid so they could start on the dough for the cookies they were planning to make.

She elected to freshen up after her conversation with Seokjin and showered, changing into some leisure wear. Y/N had already checked up on Namjoon, who was busy reading– she encouraged him to set up the chessboard in the parlor for later, but he claimed he wanted to finish reading the next few chapters of his book club selection, so she didn’t push him.

Meanwhile, Hoseok had left her a sticky note on the fridge that he had gone for a run around the neighborhood, something that wasn’t unusual for him, Taehyung and Jimin were still outside, and she didn’t typically bother Jeongguk unless she was absolutely desperate to talk to him. That left only Yoongi available for her to pester, if she could find the slippery little bastard.

“Angellll?” Y/N poked her head into the music room, to see if he had fallen asleep on the leather loveseat in front of the record player again. Alas, he was nowhere to be seen, and he had left all of the candles in the room lit and unoccupied. Frowning, she had run out of places to look for him– all of his usual spots were void of his presence. There was one last place to check; his bedroom.

Y/N hadn’t gone into Yoongi’s bedroom since she adopted him, but he had chosen one of the tower rooms, so she pivoted and started down the hall with a pout. Yoongi was never one to ignore her, and would always appear whenever she’d call his name, so she was a little peeved.

“Hey, Yoongi, are you in there? I thought you and I were going to bake together,” Y/N couldn’t keep the whine out of her voice, and she didn’t even feel ashamed about it. “Yoongi, I can hear you grumbling. Let me in?”

She could picture the eye roll he was giving her from behind the wooden door to his room, but the muffled sound of sock-clad feet padding to the door had her grinning in victory. Gotcha.

As the door opened, Y/N was smacked in the face with the cologne-scented candle Yoongi liked to burn in his room, and she got a wider-than-usual visual of the bedroom than she would whenever she’d drop off his clean laundry at the door. Yoongi, dressed in sweatpants and a long-sleeved white tee shirt, wordlessly stepped aside so she could enter his room.

“Are you avoiding me or something? I feel like I haven’t seen you all day, angel!” Y/N pouted, taking a seat on his desk chair with her arms crossed. His room was quite neat, but there was sheet music strewn about on his desk, handwritten notes scrawled across the pages.

“No, I’m not avoiding you,” Yoongi similarly crossed his arms, leisurely sitting down on the foot of his bed across from her. “I practiced in the driveway for a little while with Foxy, came up here to shower, and then I planned out the next few piano lessons for you. Besides, weren’t you a little preoccupied with Seokjin?”

Taken aback at Yoongi’s flat, disinterested tone, Y/N blinked at him with shock. Yoongi never spoke to her with such a tone, and it certainly caught her off guard.

“Okay, what’s up with you? Did I say or do something to offend?” Y/N demanded, recalling how he had been grouchy during breakfast as well. “Wait, do you need to scent? Is that it?”

“No, I’m fine, Y/N,” Yoongi responded quietly, looking out his window distractedly, like he couldn’t meet her eyes. His long hair was messy, like he was running his hands through it all day, and his tail was flicking back and forth on the bed behind him in an agitated manner. “Nothing’s wrong. How’s Seokjin?”

“He’s alright, why so curious all of a sudden?”

Silence. The awkward tension was entirely new between them, and it set Y/N on edge. She decided to try again.

“There was something he asked me to find out about his past, I was just updating him on the news,” Y/N didn’t think she should divulge much more than that to keep Seokjin’s privacy, but she also didn’t want to ponder on the thought of Seokjin and Hannah’s reunion for much longer.

“The past, huh?” Yoongi muttered cryptically, heaving himself off of the bed and moving so he could stand by his window overlooking the front yard, a scowl on his face.

Y/N really only had a few clues about Yoongi’s past; he hadn’t really brought it up too many times. What he did bring up was working at the bar in Boston, with vague details, but that was all. Yoongi didn’t even know that Y/N had found out about his mother’s death via his report sheet on the hybrid database, and she wasn’t bringing that up at all until he did.

So, Y/N didn’t really understand why Yoongi was being so weird. Was he hoping she was going to pry into his past? He hadn’t shown interest in discussing it before, so Y/N had no reason to fish around for information and risk opening old wounds for him.

“Yeah, the past. Seokjin had me find out about a friend of his from the circus he was a part of. I’m sure if you ask him about it, he’ll tell you,” Y/N spoke slowly, waiting for the tension to break and for him to make some kind of wisecrack.

“Do you remember everything from your past?” Yoongi voiced his question to the window, rather than Y/N herself, so close to the glass his breath fogged it up.

Y/N thought that was an odd question. Everything?

“I mean, I remember specific memories, if that’s what you mean, but I don’t remember every single thing that has ever happened to me,” Y/N felt like she was trying to answer some kind of riddle, and no answer would end up being correct.

“Ugh,” Yoongi grunted, clearly not hearing what he wanted to. “Okay, let me rephrase. Has there ever been a time where you’ve forgotten something or someone completely from the past, like it was erased from your mind?”

“Is this a riddle, Yoongi?” Y/N blurted, bewildered. His ears flattened against his skull, back still turned to her. “I mean, say that something like that has happened to me. How would I even know? If it was like it was erased from my mind, how would I even remember the person or the event at all?”

She felt like she was talking in circles, and she wished that Yoongi would just tell her what all of this was about. He might have been a mind reader, but she certainly wasn’t.

“Nevermind, Y/N, it doesn’t matter. Come on, let’s get started on dinner,” Yoongi sighed, his shoulders drooping as he briskly left the room and Y/N sitting at his desk in confusion.

“Joonie, I’m rustier than I thought,” Y/N complained, sitting across from the wolf hybrid as he kicked her ass for the second time during their chess match. He smirked, and she wanted to reach across the table and wipe that grin off of his face with her thumb. “Besides, you cheated. You read like five books on strategy. Not fair.”

“Don’t be a sore loser, Y/N, darling,” Hoseok called over his shoulder, curled up on the sofa in front of the TV. While his head was turned, Y/N gave him the finger, watching the fox hybrid snort with glee at the bitter gesture.

“Honestly, Y/N, I really wasn’t even using any of the strategies, I think you might just be terrible at chess,” Namjoon leaned back in his seat, amusement all over his handsome face.

She squawked in offense, pelting a pawn at his broad chest, the wooden piece hitting one of his pecs and unceremoniously clattering to the floor. Namjoon simply raised an eyebrow at her, as if to challenge her to try that again, before plucking the piece off of the floor with his elegant– and apparently, talented, fingers.

It was a Friday, and it was one of the afternoons that was free of any events at the rec center. Y/N was blowing her entire paycheck from Judy’s on gas and groceries alone, but the added $3,000 she was getting monthly from boarding the horses was nicely supplementing her income. She spent the morning with Jimin, helping him give the horses baths, took a walk with Taehyung around the neighborhood to take some pictures for his clubs, and was now getting kicked in the ass by Namjoon on the chessboard. All the while, Jeongguk, Hoseok, and Seokjin were going through Quentin Tarantino’s entire filmography– currently on Kill Bill.

“Christ, the blood is so fake looking. Did they even fucking try?” Jeongguk pointed out from his spot on the recliner, between a mouthful of popcorn Seokjin had brought out for them all.

“Gratuitous violence, obvious fake blood. That’s Tarantino for you,” Y/N stood stiffly from her seat, waving an imaginary white flag. “You win, Joonie, I give up for today. Loan me one of those strategy books, why don’t you, so I can stop embarrassing myself?”

Before Namjoon could reply, Jeongguk had more commentary to offer, scoffing at the TV.

“Tarantino. I heard he’s a fucking douche canoe,” Jeongguk stuffed more popcorn into his mouth, and Y/N had never seen him look less intimidating in her life.

Seokjin audibly winced at Jeongguk’s word choices, glaring at him disapprovingly. Y/N, however, had to choke down her laughter in the palm of her hand.

“Sure he is, but he makes great movies,” Y/N agreed, making her way to the back of the sofa, soothingly giving Hoseok a light scalp scratch. Violence corny or not, the fox hybrid wasn’t a huge fan of blood and guts.

Unfortunately for the hybrids in the parlor, Namjoon joining the others by sitting on the floor by Seokjin’s feet, Y/N had to part with them. It was about time for her weekly piano lesson, and for once, she wasn’t eager for it.

Since that previous Tuesday, Yoongi had been acting strangely around her. He wasn’t nearly as clingy as he always was, and his replies to all of her questions and comments were clipped and quite short. Honestly, it depressed her quite a bit, and she spent hours at night staring at her ceiling combing through her memories to find something that might have caused his change in demeanor.

Trudging up the stairs slowly, Y/N paused halfway up, listening to the sweet melody of the song Yoongi was currently playing on the piano. It had become her absolute favorite tune that he played, and she had a hypothesis that Yoongi might have composed it himself. Sensing her approach from the stairs, the song was cut off halfway, disappointment flooding though Y/N. She wondered why he never played it right in front of her.

“Hi, Yoongi,” Y/N slipped into the room, promptly perching herself beside him on the piano bench. Her heart ached looking at him, purplish circles under his usually vibrant hazel eyes, as if he hadn’t been getting enough sleep. “What are we doing today?”

“I figured we could attempt something more difficult. ‘Someone Like You’, Adele,” Yoongi tapped on the sheet music he had printed out, missing the spark of excitement that lit up Y/N’s face. Usually, they’d do short tunes, nothing that one would hear on the radio. She must be improving, in his opinion.

Not making his usual small talk, Yoongi dove into teaching her patiently, all business. Y/N jolted whenever his foot would press over hers on the sustain pedal, so embarrassingly starved for his touch it was humiliating. She didn’t know how to get back to how they were prior to that week, but she felt like she needed it more than she needed to breathe.

They made it up to the chorus by the time an hour had passed, and that was typically how long Yoongi would teach her before Y/N’s wrists would get sore. Massaging them, Y/N bit her lip, watching Yoongi scrawl a note where they left off in the score, his hair hanging in his face and curtaining it from her.

“Yoongi, what’s that song you always play when you’re alone?” Y/N tried to get him to stay with her longer, to open up, anything. She wasn’t sure if it was the right topic to bring up, but again, she was desperate.

Yoongi stilled, pushing hair behind his ears and finally looking her in the eye. When he could smell the melancholy coming off of her in suffocating waves, his features softened, and he felt like he could tell her anything that she wanted to know.

“It’s just something I play mindlessly,” Yoongi dismissed, tongue peaking out to moisten his lips. “I wrote it a long time ago.”

“I thought that you might have written it,” Y/N brightened up a little, suddenly very impressed with Yoongi’s talent. “It’s beautiful, I love it. Why don’t you ever play it for me?”

Yoongi went pink, shockingly, and diverted his eyes at once. Y/N wasn’t having it anymore.

“Yoongi, can you tell me what’s wrong? You’ve been distant all week, and if it was something I said or did, I want to make amends,” Y/N begged, her voice fraying at the end– she felt like she was going to have a nervous breakdown at that point. “I really miss you.”

Her final utterance was soft, broken, and small. Yoongi’s head immediately whipped up, smelling the salinity of tears gathering in the corner of Y/N’s eyes, and he suddenly felt like the world’s biggest prick.

“Come here, I miss you too, sweetheart,” Yoongi broke down, pulling Y/N in for a hug by her waist, gently wrapping his arms around her middle as she swallowed down her tears. “I’m sorry, don’t cry, please, don’t cry because of me. I’m an asshole.”

“No you’re not,” Y/N sniffed into his chest, soothed by the scent of his spiced vanilla shampoo. She hadn’t been close enough to smell that comforting scent in days, but it felt like a lifetime. “You’re just stubborn. Is this about Tuesday? Your questions about me forgetting things from the past?”

“You can just forget about it, sweetheart, really. I’m sorry for being moody, it’s just…” Yoongi trailed off, looking conflicted and pained.

“I’m not going to forget it, it’s clearly bothering you. Say your piece,” Y/N pulled away from Yoongi, staring at him expectantly. She wasn’t letting him out of her sight until whatever was on his mind was hashed out.

Yoongi slouched on the bench running both hands through his hair and appearing to sort out his thoughts, perhaps figuring out where to begin.

“Y/N, you went to school in Boston, right?” Yoongi spoke after several excruciating seconds, not waiting for her response but charging on, “I was born in Boston. Unlike most hybrids, I was born naturally, not created in a lab. My mom and I worked under the table at that bar I mentioned, The Black Lodge, remember?”

“I remember,” Y/N confirmed, having no ever-loving clue where he was going with this.

“So, you never went to that bar? Think back, do you ever remember walking by it, hearing about it from someone?” Yoongi pressed, even though Y/N was almost positive she had no knowledge of that bar prior to adopting Yoongi. “It was near Chinatown. By that basketball court you mentioned you used to pass by on your way to school.”

“No, I’m sorry Yoongi… I don’t remember ever going to a bar called The Black Lodge.”

Yoongi sighed, pinching the bridge of his nose delicately and nodding to himself.

“I might not have gone to that bar, but honestly, Yoongi, since I’ve adopted you, I couldn’t help but feel this sense of familiarity with you. It’s the strangest thing. Have we… Have we met before? Is that what you meant the other day, about forgetting someone you’ve met before?”

Yoongi glanced at her out of the corner of his eye, hope sparkling there. Was it true? They have met prior to that day at the shelter? Why couldn’t Y/N remember it?

“Maybe,” Yoongi straightened up, apparently wanting her to piece everything together herself. Y/N was trying, despairingly so, not believing she could ever meet Yoongi and forget him in a hurry.

“Maybe? Yoongi, be serious, have we met before? Why can’t you just tell me?” Y/N gave up her memory combing in favor of accusing Yoongi, her temper getting the best of her.

Yoongi stood, groaning in frustration. He strode across the room, shutting the French doors to the music room, effectively making their conversation private. For good measure, the leopard hybrid pressed down on the pin that locked them inside, to prevent interruptions. The hair on the back of Y/N’s neck stood on end, not expecting Yoongi to act that way.

“The Black Lodge, it was a fucked up place. I don’t really know exactly what was wrong with it, if it was cursed, some kind of fucking portal like those losers on paranormal shows you and Jeongguk watch talk about, or if it was built on a magical tectonic plate that made it the fucked up place that it was,” Yoongi collapsed onto the leather loveseat, head tipped back as he ranted.

“What do you mean?” Y/N furrowed her eyebrows, completely lost. Any sort of paranormal subject matter was something that didn’t typically interest Yoongi. He tolerated talking about it, but he wasn’t one to bring it up.

“What I mean, sweetheart, is that you were there. One year ago, you were in The Black Lodge, on a Friday night, by yourself. But you can’t remember, because everyone who comes into the bar forgets it as soon as they leave,” Yoongi finally revealed, his voice tired and resigned. “Me, being the fucked up exception, of course.”

A pin could drop, and it would sound like a gunshot. Y/N, who had been standing by the piano, began to feel dizzy from this confession, so she woodenly walked to the loveseat and dropped down heavily beside Yoongi. His spotted ears perked up with her movement, but he seemed to give her a few moments to process.

“How is that possible? It can’t be, there’s no way… there’s no way…” Y/N babbled, Yoongi using a hand to rub slow circles on her back. “I met you a year ago? How could I? How could I possibly forget you?”

“Everyone forgets The Black Lodge, except for those who actually work there, for some reason. Patrons forget, and they usually never come back. You were not exempt from that, no matter how much I wanted to believe you would be,” Yoongi murmured, and Y/N realized that he had been holding on to all of this information for months, probably waiting to see if she would ever recover the memory.

“Did we talk at all? Yoongi, I swear, I would have remembered if we did. This doesn’t make any sense,” Y/N started to feel delirious, staring at Yoongi imploringly.

Yoongi’s hand on her back became motionless, resting over a shoulder blade. Though he definitely looked relieved to finally be sharing all of this with her, Y/N could tell there were things that he was holding back. Reeling too much to pry, she waited for him to speak again.

“Yes, we talked. After I played piano for a bit, you approached me. I made you drinks, and we talked for a while.”

Expelling a breath she had been holding, Y/N took a look, a good look at Yoongi, soaking in every feature, every strand of hair on his head, the twitch of an ear, the shape of his jaw. That ever-present emotion, the sense of familiarity, returned tenfold, and suddenly she couldn’t deny that Yoongi was telling the truth.

“So you must have recognized me at the shelter? You should have said something, Yoongi,” Y/N said mournfully, feeling bad that he had been holding onto this for so long, waiting for her to remember him. It formed a sour pit in her stomach.

“I didn’t really know how to. I could tell the day you came in, you had no idea who I was,” Yoongi replied gently, still looking like he was holding onto a key bit of information. “You know, when you came in, I thought you recognized me, even though I was shifted. I thought you came back the next morning to adopt me, but then you adopted the other six as well…”

Y/N’s heart started to race, the conversation taking a more intimate, meaningful turn, and it had her head spinning.

“I couldn’t leave you all there,” Y/N breathed, Yoongi nodding along with her response.

“I know that. I also know you’re not totally well-versed in hybrid behavior, let alone for hybrids like all of us, but there’s something I should tell you. We’re not, by nature, entirely fond of having to share the human who adopts us. That’s why you’ve had a hard time with some of them, like Namjoon and Jeongguk. Myself, well, I wish I could say it didn’t bother me like it did them, but I’d be lying to you.”

“What?” Y/N, like she was shocked by a live wire, felt her stomach doing somersaults, the room becoming insufferably hot around her. “S-share me? I–”

“We’ve all made peace with it, of course,” Yoongi cut her off, not wanting to give her the wrong idea. “We’re all happy here, I think, with you. I just thought that telling you that would give you some perspective on the jealousy that will probably worsen over time.”

“Yoongi, I don’t even know what to say…”

“Y/N, I know how you feel,” Yoongi interrupted once more, his expression serious as his hand shifted from her shoulder blade to her upper arm. “About us, all of us. For now, I think I’m the only one who knows, but you can’t hide it from them forever.”

With this statement, Y/N actually flinched off of the loveseat, shooting across the room to gawk at Yoongi with astonishment.

“What are you talking about? The fact that I care about all of you? I think we’ve established that,” Y/N attempted to throw Yoongi off, just in case he was getting at what she thought he was. No way. Was she about to get rejected, her romantic feelings snuffed out like a flame?

“Call it that, sure, Y/N. Take your time to process your feelings, and we’ll talk about it then,” Yoongi sighed, standing and moving towards the door, apparently trying to end the conversation and move on with their evening. Not on Y/N’s watch.

“Oh, no way, Yoongi, you can’t just say something like that and expect me to drop it,” Y/N gripped his wrist, blood rushing in her ears as he looked down at her through his lashes. “Besides, there’s something you’re not telling me. The whole thing about us meeting at The Black Lodge and everything, it doesn’t add up.”

“How so?” Yoongi lifted a brow at the change of subject, eyes on her hand encircling his wrist.

“Well, if what you say is true, and everyone who patrons that bar forgets about it and never comes back, you’ve must have met thousands of people over the years. What about me was so memorable?” Y/N challenged, shock settling over Yoongi’s face, almost comically so.

“Are you serious?”

“Deadly. What, did I spill my drink on you?”

“No, I told you, we talked. I made you a drink, some kind of gin martini. You left, and you never came back,” Yoongi explained, his never-ending patience seemingly beginning to wear thin.

“What did we talk about?” Y/N began to pry, secretly pleased that she had distracted him enough to not press the whole ‘I know how you feel’ situation.

“I don’t know, Y/N, your classes? The weather, piano? Normal stuff.”

“So talking about university classes, the shitty weather, and music left enough of an impression on you to recognize me after a year?”

“What exactly do you want me to say, sweetheart? I can’t help that I remember that night and you don’t!” Yoongi exclaimed, his voice raising a tad as annoyance washed over him.

“I want you to tell me what you’re keeping from me.”

They glared at each other, the only sound in the room from the metronome ticking away on the piano that Yoongi had forgotten to switch off. Shaking her grip from his wrist, Yoongi pushed back some of his hair again, sucking his teeth.

“Fine. You asked for my number,” Yoongi admitted, watching Y/N’s expression carefully.

“Okay, yeah, that sounds like me. Again, something that probably happened to you all the time, I mean look at you,” Y/N was unconvinced this was the bombshell, Yoongi making a noise of exasperation. “I’m just going to assume you let me down gently, I was tipsy, and I said something embarrassing. Trying to pry this out of you is like pulling teeth, and I should get going on dinner.”

With that, Y/N unlocked the door to the music room, marching out into the hallway in embarrassment and making it halfway to the stairs before a grasp on her elbow yanked her back, Y/N’s world turning upside-down as Yoongi easily slung her over his shoulders in a fireman’s carry. Too stunned to make a noise, she limply felt Yoongi carry her into his bedroom, kicking his door shut behind them and setting her down on her feet, his eyes flashing with anger.

“Will you just listen to me for a second?” Yoongi hissed, clamping his wiry hand over her mouth before she could cuss him out. This was her first spat with Yoongi, and it had her blood positively boiling. Shouldn’t this have been a tender moment, finding out that she really had known Yoongi all along?

“You came into the bar, torn up over a shitty exam result. I noticed you sitting at the bar while I finished up my set, but when I got up, you were heading my way. You complimented my playing and whatnot, and complained that the drink the bartender made you wasn’t stiff enough,” Yoongi articulated each word with precision, as if he was reliving the memory mentally. “I offered to make one for you. Like I said, we talked about your classes, the weather, music, and as the night went on, more personal things. You told me about your house, your friends, your family. I liked talking to you, so I sat beside you and we continued our conversation.”

Under his palm, Y/N’s cheeks were burning up, and she knew that Yoongi could feel it. She was hooked on every word, and she was convinced there was nothing in this world that existed other than Yoongi.

“After a while, you asked me to show you where the bathroom was, and that you were thinking about heading out. I waited for you outside of the bathroom to say goodbye– I didn’t really want to, because I knew I’d never see you again, but I figured I’d have to suck it up– and you walked right up to me, pushed me against a wall–”

Y/N yelped from beneath Yoongi’s palm, ice-cold dread flooding through her. Oh no, she threw herself at him. He was right, she was better off not knowing. He pressed on, ignoring the noise she made.

“You pushed me against the wall, dug a pen out of your purse, and demanded that I write my number down on your forearm. That, I promise you, hasn’t happened before. I’ve gotten numbers, but I never handed mine out– what’s the point, if they don’t remember you?”

When Yoongi was satisfied Y/N wouldn’t start hollering at him, he dropped his palm, tracing a pointer finger down the length of Y/N’s forearm, goosebumps following in its wake. Heart still pounding, Y/N found that she was sufficiently shut up.

“For the first time, I had hope that someone would remember me, outside of coworkers. Hope that you’d walk out of that fucking bar, go home, pick up the phone, and call. Remember. As I was writing my number down, you grabbed my hand, led me down the hall towards the kitchens for ‘one more drink’. I think we did a couple of shots of gin, but the possibility of you calling me the next day was fucking with my head too much to really focus on what the fuck we were drinking.”

“Yoongi,” Y/N whispered, overwhelmed and on the verge of passing out, honestly devastated she couldn’t remember this evening with Yoong.

“Before you left, I walked you to the door. You were talking about how you wanted to take me to this concert the following Friday, making all these future plans. I just… never met anyone like you. I didn’t want you to leave, but I wanted you to leave just to see if you’d come back.”

“And I never did,” Y/N finished for him, hating the way Yoongi looked so regretful. “You waited, didn’t you?”

“Yeah, I waited. I knew it wasn’t your fault, it was the fucking curse or whatever on the bar, but I waited. Each day that passed I grew less and less hopeful, until I realized you likely walked out of that bar and wondered why the hell you had a strange number on your arm.”

“Yoongi, I’m sorry,” Y/N sniffed, overcome with emotion. “I’m so sorry.”

“It isn’t your fault, it’s the bar, and whatever is wrong with it,” Yoongi shook his head, guiding Y/N to lean against his wall for support, her knees shaky and unsteady. “In the end, I got to see you again, after all.”

“I must have really liked talking to you, huh? Just like now. And you must have made me one hell of a drink to push you against a wall and demand for your number,” Y/N tried to lighten the mood, now angry with herself that she had backed Yoongi into a corner.

“Yeah, I really liked talking to you too. I really liked you.”

An odd look crossed over Yoongi’s face as soon as those words left his mouth, absently reaching down to tuck hair behind Y/N’s ear. Heart galloping in her chest at the gravity, the meaning of what he just said, Y/N wanted to reach out and touch him, but was completely frozen. Yoongi’s lips dropped open to say something, but no sound came out.

“What is it?” Y/N murmured, noting how close they were standing.

“There’s something else I haven’t told you,” Yoongi’s gaze was intense, penetrating, and pleading. “I don’t know how you’ll react, though.”

“I’m sure there’s nothing that can shock me now, angel…” Y/N had motion in her limbs again, hand on Yoongi’s cheek to tilt his face back to her, his eyes searching and unsure.

He leaned his cheek into her touch before pulling her hand away, still holding it and watching her every reaction. His tail, which was anxiously swishing behind him, began to curl around her leg, and Y/N stood transfixed as Yoongi pressed a featherlight kiss to the inside of her wrist, her palm, and finally the pad of her index finger.

“That night, before you left. Before I said goodbye,” Yoongi whispered against her hand, maintaining their eye contact. “You asked me to kiss you, and I did.”

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#bts fanfiction #bts fanfic #bts ot7 x reader #hybrid au #bts ot7 x y/n #bts hybrid au #bts fic #bts au #bts hybrid x reader #bts hybrid fanfic #namjoon fanfic #seokjin fanfic #yoongi fanfic #hoseok fanfic #jimin fanfic #taehyung fanfic #jungkook fanfic

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kawaikisses · 5 months

Text

m.list ; Reading list.

Updated. Jan 22, 2024.

Note : I read k-pop idols x reader/ orginal female character fics, so this list is organized keeping that in mind, I do not personally have any issues with other genders, this is just my preference. Thankyou. If you hate unnecessarily, sincerely, no fucks will be given.

(everything is organized by alphabetical order)

↬𝐁𝐘 𝐆𝐄𝐍𝐑𝐄.

angst .

fluff .

smut .

↬𝐁𝐘 𝐀𝐔’𝐒.

artist au .

arranged marriage au .

assassin au .

baker au .

bartender au .

BDSM au .

best friend’s brother au .

best friends to lovers au .

best friend’s sister au .

boyfriend au .

camboy au .

camgirl au .

camp counselor au .

CEO au .

chef au .

childhood friends to lovers au .

club au .

college au .

coworker au .

crime au .

dad au .

doctor au .

dancer au .

detective au .

divorce au .

enemies to lovers au .

established relationship au .

exes to lovers au .

fantasy au .

farm au .

father au .

friends to benefits au .

friends to lovers au .

fuckboy au .

fuckgirl au .

forbidden au .

gamer au .

god au .

hitman au .

horror au .

husband au .

hybrid au .

idiots to lovers au .

idol au .

king au .

lawyer au .

mafia au .

magic au .

medical au .

musician au .

neighbours au .

noona au .

one night stand au .

photographer au .

pirates au .

professor au .

prince au .

rich au .

road trip au .

roommate au .

royalty au .

second chance au .

secret relationship au .

sex worker au .

single parent au .

social media au .

songwriter au .

soulmate au .

spy au .

superhero au .

supernatural au .

tattoo artist au .

teacher au .

unrequited love au .

vampire au .

werewolf au .

wife au .

↬𝐁𝐘 𝐌𝐄𝐌𝐁𝐄𝐑𝐒.

kim namjoon .

kim seokjin .

min yoongi .

jung hoseok .

park jimin .

kim taehyung .

jeon jungkook .

ot7 .

↬𝐁𝐘 𝐓𝐘𝐏𝐄.

drama .

hurt/comfort .

magic .

mutual pining .

mystery .

romance .

slow burn .

thriller .

age play .

crack .

Note : please let me know if any of the links are not working. Thankyou.

Note : since Tumblr only allows 100 links per page, so this list will be continued in another page, which is linked down below.

↬masterlist continued .

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gimmethatagustd · 4 months

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The 100 Drabble Challenge is brought to you by the exceptional mind of my bestie Hali @sailoryooons who thought this could be a fun way for us to expand our writing in 2024. Every week, we'll write drabbles from a list of 100 tropes. Let’s be real, though, we all know I’ll probably turn at least some of them into oneshots rather than true drabbles because I’m insane. I hope you all enjoy the stories we create!

Taglist: If you want to be tagged in ONLY the Drabble Challenge, you need to submit this taglist Google form. If you want to be tagged in ALL my fics (including the Challenge), you need to submit this taglist Google form. Your email will not be collected for either.

Updated April 1, 2024

Sweet Dreams | Established Relationship | Dom/Sub | Kinks | Smut

Seokjin loves when you paint your nails pink.

Morals On Sundays | FWB | Angst | Fluff | Smut

You’re still in love with your ex-boyfriend. Yoongi offers some help to get over him.

Jai is currently working on these.

↳ Come back later!

Definitely Today, Satan | Neighbors AU | Smut | Bad Humor

After having a strange dream about your hot neighbor, you realize it might be time to finally make your move. Dreams are a sign from the universe, right?

Gang Shit | Kidfic | Single Parent/DILF | Fluff | Humor

Your daughter’s classmate has a really hot dad. Apparently, you’re his arch-nemesis.

Technicolor | Dystopian | Strangers to Lovers | Smut

Love is one hell of a drug. Bottled and sold on the black market, it isn't for the faint-hearted. You're not really interested in trying it until you meet Jimin.

Working as a counselor at a summer camp for kids isn’t the most exciting job, but hanging out with Taehyung makes it worth it.

New Flame | A/B/O | Strangers to Lovers | Smut

Flame is a dating app designed for omegas and alphas to find heat and rut partners. You're skeptical of using the app, not anticipating that you might find someone who is more than just a new flame.

Oxygen | Mafia | Established Relationship | Smut | Angst

If you get caught, you'll both die. Jungkook wants to be yours anyway.

The cute librarian at Yoongi's local library hosts an adult-only book club. As a fanfiction smut writer himself, Yoongi is intrigued.

It takes an impromptu trip to buy condoms for Jungkook to finally confess his feelings to Taehyung.

Bad Boy, Good Lips | Jihope | Superheroes & Villains | College AU | Smut

Hoseok is a superhero’s sidekick. Jimin is a villain. They make it work.

To secure his rightful place as next in line to the throne, Jimin must marry the neighboring kingdom’s youngest heir, Jungkook. Jimin is prepared for his kingdom’s invasive marriage traditions, including the need to prove that the marriage has been consummated. Unfortunately, Jungkook is not.

The Wind Speaks | Vmin | Mermaid/Siren | Yandere

Something’s living under the dock at the Kim family’s beach house.

Disclaimer: All my writing is fictional and for entertainment purposes only. None of these characters are meant to actually represent the real people mentioned in the stories. It’s #NotThatDeepYall.

All rights reserved © @gimmethatagustd - Do not copy, repost, modify, or translate any of my writing. Do not use my writing for any AI purposes whatsoever. Do not use my fics for anything aside from reading them and commenting on them tbh. My fics will only be posted on this Tumblr and on AO3 (gimmethatagustd & daddytaehyungie). Request an AO3 account here.

#100 drabble challenge #masterlist #jai writes #gimmethatagustd

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aajjks · 10 months

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Dark Knight feeling, Die or Kill (m)

A collaboration based on fictional iconic superhero characters, with the bts members; with a twist of obsession and desire, you won’t be able to escape, no matter how much you try, who’s going to save you from them? hint: no one.

written by: @justanotherstarlightmonger

member: seokjin

character: silver surfer

synopsis: Kim Seokjin, the silver surfer, finds his heart of titanium swaying for the first time in millennia, for Reed Richard's prodigy apprentice, who unfortunately calls the planet his master wants to devour, home. Caught between a life long oath to an intergalactic planet devouring fog and the all encompassing obsession the surfer developed with OC, Seokjin will fight tooth and nail to have it all.

release date: [TBD]

written by: @bighitfics

member: yoongi/suga

character: captain america

synopsis. “You’ve been asleep captain yoongi, for almost 22 years” yet I wasn’t surprised by the revelation not one bit just disappointed and perhaps a tad bit disheartened.

The only thing that came into my mind at the moment was her.

My Y/n.

The one thing in my life that kept me going.

The one stability that I had.

The girl who believed in me when the world stranded me.

The girl I’d fight hell just to hold in my arms.

I close my eyes and all I could hear was her sweet voice sobbing and begging me to return back.

Then the crash happened and the rest is history.

The defeat and acceptance of never seeing her again for the sake of others still fresh in my memory.

Where’s she now? Still living in illsan? Does she know that I’m here….that I’ve been found? Would she be waiting like she promised?

“You’re gonna be okay?” the guy asked while I looked around the city that had so sense of familiarity still trying to find some sort of relevance to ease my mind but it was utterly useless because everything was foreign as though I’ve been transported to a different planet.

“Yeah I just…I had a date.” I answer him.

release date: [TBD]

written by: @bahbah-bee

member: hoseok/jhope

character: Batman/Bruce Wayne.

synopsis. Billionaires don’t develop attachments. Superheroes don’t make deals with villains. This was something ingrained in Mr. Hoseok through experience. Gotham didn’t need to know the truth about Batman, and in return all the dealings of the underworld were taken care of. It didn’t matter if people got hurt, as long as justice was served. At least, that was until he met you.

release date: [TBD]

written by: @ratherbefangirling

member: namjoon/RM.

character: black widow

synopsis. Namjoon was stolen from his birth parents by the agency. Since then he's learned many different things, lived many different lives, felt many different things. Black Monster. The best of the best. That's what everyone knows him as. Is it too much to ask that someone knows his name. Is it too much for the extraordinary to ask for the ordinary. It might be, but black monster always gets his way no matter what.

release date: [TBD]

written by: @pynkgothicka

member: jimin

character: scarlet witch

synopsis. Jimin has kept up your fantasy-esque life up for all you can remember. So why is that idyllic life showing cracks all of a sudden?

release date: [TBD]

written by: @bebejungkook

member: taehyung/V

character: Angel (x-men)

synopsis. To everyone in the city, Kim Taehyung is a mutant and the heir to the Kim fortune, helping keep the city safe and secure. But to you, he is your guardian Angel, saving you from harm and gifting you with wisdom. You go to him for guidance and comfort, how could he say no to his sweet and innocent little dove? His heart beats for you only and he would do anything to protect and keep you safe, after all he is your guardian angel.

release date: [TBD]

wrïtten by: @aajjks

mëmbër: jungkook

chàracter: Spïder-Mân

synöpsïs. He wöuldn’t lêt you cräwl äwäy from him, you bëlongêd to him.

fïc téäsër: xx

rëlëäsë dätë: [TBD]

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hamsterclaw · 5 months

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Fic Library: OT7/poly

The OT7/poly Bangtan stories that keep me wanting more. Please show these authors some love for their amazing writing!

Void OT7 x reader, space AU by @btssavedmylifeblr. None of my writing friends have been spared from my raving about this series. A unique premise, superstellar writing and every chapter so far has been gold.

Heaven said no by @eserethriddle is a cracky, hilarious ongoing soulmate AU series with a perfectly characterised Bangtan.

Versus by @minisugakoobies features reader x Yoongi x Hoseok set in a supervillains/superheroes AU with a sexy Namjoon and supercomputer Jin. Fun, cracky and entertaining.

Joyride by @minisugakoobies is another fun romp with hotter than hell mechanics Jungkook and Taehyung who show reader what a real ride is after a date with spoiled little rich boy Jimin goes wrong.

All wound up (harder) by @minisugakoobies, who is surely the MVP of my poly/OT7 library features reader x Jimin x Seokjin and is funny, amazing and filthy -- all the best things.

Fall in deeper by @whatifyoulivelikethat has the perfect setup with sex worker reader, music producer Yoongi and hapless, 'caught in the headlights' photographer/video editor Jungkook and is searingly hot.

Lost my head by @floralseokjin features reader in an established relationship with Yoongi and an unforgettable appearance by ex Seokjin and is hot and funny and everything smut should be.

#fic rec: OT7 #fic rec: BTS poly #fic recs list #bts fic #bts smut

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olderthannetfic · 26 days

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Haha. Yeah, a lot of these are from similar parts of fandom, so if you don't hang out there, they'd sound very unfamiliar.

Here's a quick attempt at a breakdown. Some of these have multiple media types.

Anime/Manga:

Bakugou Katsuki/Midoriya Izuku - BNHA

Aizawa Shouta | Eraserhead/Yamada Hizashi | Present Mic - BNHA

Bakugou Katsuki/Kirishima Eijirou - BNHA

Bakugou Katsuki & Midoriya Izuku - BNHA

Aizawa Shouta | Eraserhead & Midoriya Izuku - BNHA

Midoriya Izuku/Todoroki Shouto - BNHA

Dabi | Todoroki Touya/Takami Keigo | Hawks - BNHA

Bakugou Katsuki/Todoroki Shouto - BNHA

Dazai Osamu/Nakahara Chuuya - Bungou Stray Dogs

Akutagawa Ryuunosuke/Nakajima Atsushi - Bungou Stray Dogs

Miya Atsumu/Sakusa Kiyoomi - Haikyuu!!

Akaashi Keiji/Bokuto Koutarou - Haikyuu!!

Mikage Reo/Nagi Seishirou - Blue Lock

Getou Suguru/Gojo Satoru - Jujutsu Kaisen

Uchiha Sasuke/Uzumaki Naruto - Naruto

Roronoa Zoro/Sanji - One Piece

Mitsui Hisashi/Miyagi Ryota - Slam Dunk

Other Animation:

Craig Tucker/Tweek Tweak - South Park

Kyle Broflovski/Stan Marsh - South Park

Adrien Agreste | Chat Noir/Marinette Dupain-Cheng | Ladybug - Miraculous Ladybug

Amity Blight/Luz Noceda - The Owl House

Donatello & Leonardo & Michelangelo & Raphael - Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles

Books:

Sirius Black/Remus Lupin - HP

Draco Malfoy/Harry Potter - HP

Regulus Black/James Potter - HP

Hermione Granger/Draco Malfoy - HP

James Potter/Lily Evans Potter - HP

Hermione Granger/Ron Weasley - HP

Harry Potter/Ginny Weasley - HP

Harry Potter/Tom Riddle | Voldemort - HP

Annabeth Chase/Percy Jackson - Percy Jackson

Neil Josten/Andrew Minyard - All For The Game - Nora Sakavic

Jesper Fahey/Wylan Van Eck - Six of Crows Series - Leigh Bardugo

Kim Dokja/Yoo Joonghyuk - Omniscient Reader - Sing-Shong

BL/Danmei:

Huā Chéng/Xiè Lián (Tiān Guān Cì Fú) - Heaven Official's Blessing

Lán Zhàn | Lán Wàngjī/Wèi Yīng | Wèi Wúxiàn - MDZS/The Untamed

Porchay Pichaya Kittisawat/Kim Khimhant Theerapanyakun - KinnPorsche

Pete Phongsakorn Saengtham/Vegas Kornwit Theerapanyakun - KinnPorsche

RPF:

k-pop:

Jeon Jungkook/Kim Taehyung | V - BTS

Jeon Jungkook/Park Jimin - BTS

Min Yoongi | Suga/Park Jimin - BTS

Kim Namjoon | RM/Kim Seokjin | Jin - BTS

Han Jisung | Han/Lee Minho | Lee Know - Stray Kids

Bang Chan/Lee Felix (Stray Kids) - Stray Kids

Choi Soobin/Choi Yeonjun - TXT

other music:

Harry Styles/Louis Tomlinson - 1D

minecraft streamers:

Wilbur Soot & TommyInnit

Wilbur Soot & Technoblade & TommyInnit & Phil Watson | Philza

Clay | Dream/GeorgeNotFound (Video Blogging RPF)

Technoblade & TommyInnit (Video Blogging RPF)

Toby Smith | Tubbo & TommyInnit

Technoblade & Phil Watson | Philza

Video games:

John "Soap" MacTavish/Simon "Ghost" Riley - CoD

Simon "Ghost" Riley/Reader - CoD

Sans/Sans (Undertale) - Undertale

Astarion/Tav (Baldur's Gate) - Baldur's Gate 3

Alhaitham/Kaveh (Genshin Impact) - Genshin Impact

Tartaglia | Childe/Zhongli (Genshin Impact) - Genshin Impact

Cyno/Tighnari (Genshin Impact) - Genshin Impact

Blade/Dan Heng (Honkai: Star Rail) - Honkai: Star Rail

Link/Zelda (Legend of Zelda) - Legend of Zelda

Akechi Goro/Persona 5 Protagonist - Persona 5

Kamishiro Rui/Tenma Tsukasa - Project SEKAI COLORFUL STAGE!

Western superheroes:

Dick Grayson & Jason Todd - Batman

Tim Drake & Jason Todd - Batman

Jason Todd & Bruce Wayne - Batman

James "Bucky" Barnes/Steve Rogers - MCU

Peter Parker & Tony Stark - MCU

Steve Rogers/Tony Stark - MCU

James "Bucky" Barnes/Reader - MCU

Miguel O'Hara/Reader - Spiderverse movies

Western live action:

Evan "Buck" Buckley/Eddie Diaz (9-1-1 TV) - 9-1-1

Aziraphale/Crowley (Good Omens) - Good Omens

Aziraphale & Crowley (Good Omens) - Good Omens

Will Graham/Hannibal Lecter - Hannibal

Nicholas "Nick" Nelson/Charles "Charlie" Spring - Heartstopper

Daemon Targaryen/Rhaenyra Targaryen - House of the Dragon

Aemond "One-Eye" Targaryen/Lucerys Velaryon (Son of Rhaenyra) - House of the Dragon

Lucy Carlyle/Anthony Lockwood - Lockwood & Co.

Merlin/Arthur Pendragon (Merlin) - Merlin

Blackbeard | Edward Teach/Stede Bonnet - Our Flag Means Death

Blackbeard | Edward Teach/Israel Hands - Our Flag Means Death

Alex Claremont-Diaz/Henry Fox-Mountchristen-Windsor - Red, White & Royal Blue

Dream of the Endless | Morpheus/Hob Gadling - The Sandman

Sherlock Holmes/John Watson - Sherlock

Castiel/Dean Winchester - Supernatural

Dean Winchester/Sam Winchester - Supernatural

Dean Winchester & Sam Winchester - Supernatural

Rey/Ben Solo | Kylo Ren - Star Wars

Obi-Wan Kenobi/Anakin Skywalker - Star Wars

Steve Harrington/Eddie Munson - Stranger Things

Robin Buckley/Nancy Wheeler - Stranger Things

Will Byers/Mike Wheeler - Stranger Things

Robin Buckley & Steve Harrington - Stranger Things

Olivia Benson/Elliot Stabler - Law & Order: SVU

Derek Hale/Stiles Stilinski - Teen Wolf

Ellie & Joel (The Last of Us) - The Last of Us

Tim Bradford/Lucy Chen - The Rookie

Wednesday Addams/Enid Sinclair - Wednesday

Geralt z Rivii | Geralt of Rivia/Jaskier | Dandelion - The Witcher

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whitefoxgirl · 10 months

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🦊Culture Shock🐰 A Jungkook Series Episode 2: Superheroes

Summary: Jungkook starts a podcast with his best friend who is a foreigner to discuss different topics they were shocked culturally about.

Author's Note: Hello my beautiful readers! I am thankful that this got so much love!~ As I mentioned, requests are open because I'm feeling uninspired! I wanna finish the Namjoon series with a BANG! And writing for others might get the wheels rolling~

Author's Note PS: If you'd like to be tagged, interact with this. I am tagging people who reblog, but if you wish to be tagged comment or simply reblog and I will add you :)

Pairing: Jungkook x BFF!Reader (not dating, just two best friends) Fandom: BTS Warnings: Brief mentions of suicide, cringy, full of crack moments. Genre: Fluff, crack, angst Word Count: 2.1k

Taglist: @7ndipity; @yoongimentita7; @ancoraesisto; @lovemeforeternity 🡸 Previous episode Next Episode➔

[PODCAST INTRO/THEME]

🦊: Hey guys welcome to "Culture Shock". They said... we wouldn't make it past the first episode and yet we're back. Jungkook: With Episode 둘! 🦊: Dos!~ Jungkook: Deux!~ 🦊: に!~ Jungkook: *long pause* 🦊: He's squinting his eyes. Jungkook: *chuckles* Together: TWO! Jungkook: OH MY GOD!~ Jinx! You owe me a soda. 🦊:*giggles* Jungkook: Do it after the podcast, we need to do this. 🦊: It's been crazy~ Jungkook: Fucking... INSANE!~ 🦊: I knew we were gonna get some love from the podcast because of you but- Jungkook: I told you people would like our dynamic!~ 🦊: Yeah, but you know ARMY loves to protect you. Jungkook: *chuckles* She says as if she hasn't been a fan since day one. 🦊: Oh my god, please, don't expose me. Jungkook: I would just like to say... Having a podcast with you is fun. 🦊: 레알?~ Jungkook: Yeah! I really like listening back to our podcast, which is something that I do with your voice messages sometimes, especially when I'm on tour. 🦊: *groans* Oh my god!~ Saying stuff like that will s- Jungkook: NO! Platonic! Platonic! 🦊: *in between giggles* stupid~ Jungkook: I don't think you guys understand. Y/N makes me feel like... at peace. But at the same time, I feel like I wanna bully them. 🦊: Oh my god!~ 🦊: It's giving siblings. Jungkook: Well!~ Someone said that in the comments. 🦊: *gasps* Really?! Jungkook: *chuckles* Yeah, that we give siblings vibe. 🦊: I saw someone say that they liked that you have a friend that's this close to you. Jungkook: Whaaaa~ 🦊: *deadpan/trying not to laugh* I'm his only friend. He's a loner. Jungkook: That's cannon though! 🦊: That's not cannon~ Miguel is LITERALLY on his way here because you're disrupting the cannon!~ Jungkook: *laughs* 🦊: *long pause* Actually!~ Keep disrupting it. I wanna see him~ Jungkook: *groans* We saw "Across the Spider-Verse" three times IN A WEEK just because of Y/N! 🦊: Miguel being a bilingual KING?! I don't know who would mi- Jungkook: His physic looks like Seokjin-hyung! 🦊: Yeah, Miguel has broad shoulders like Seokjin-oppa~ Jungkook: Yeah, all that's left is his butt. 🦊: But Jin is NOT Miguel. Jungkook: Oh, hell no! He's not Miguel! 🦊: Jin is very saggitarus. Jungkook: *snickers then laughs* WHAT?! 🦊: Yeah, my brother's a saggy-titty too and he acts JUST like Seokjin-oppa. Jungkook: 오? 레알? 🦊: Yeah, my dad's a saggy too. Jungkook: You're surrounded by fire *chuckles* 🦊: You're my only earth friend. Jungkook: Namjoon's also earth too. 🦊: I forgot that you two are basically twins. Jungkook: *chuckles* 🦊: That's why you heard the bells?! Jungkook: Maybe!~

🦊: Before we introduce the topic though, I would just like to say that I'm kinda glad that the podcast is not a video podcast, but I'm kinda sad about that too. Jungkook: Why?~ 🦊: Because I feel like it would be fun for us to dress up in every episode!~ Jungkook: *snickers* Like in Frenemies?! 🦊: Yeah!~ I mean, they were toxic as fuck but it was very entertaining to see their sibling vibe and their dressing up. Jungkook: Yeah, they had matching fits too. 🦊: Yeah!~ Jungkook: What would we dress up as though? 🦊: Well, it would be according to the topic. Jungkook: *gasps* That would be dooooooope! 🦊: RIGHT?! Jungkook: But we can't do that. We have to protect your privacy. 🦊: Yeah... Jungkook: And masks muffle up the sound. 🦊: For sure.

Jungkook: Today's topic, is one that I picked after watching "Across the Spider-Verse" for the MILLIONTH time. 🦊: *laughs* Jungkook: And it is!~ Sup- 🦊: SUPERHEROES!!! Jungkook: *long pause* *smiles* You're fucking annoying. 🦊: *laughs* Jungkook: *in between laughter* Like today they texted me if I changed my phone. 🦊: DUDE! Oh my god, it's becau- Jungkook: Leave my ph- 🦊: No~ Guys! *gets closer to the mic* *whispers* His phone is held together by DUCKTAPE right now. Jungkook: It's industry grade too. 🦊: You need to change it! What if you electrocute yourself? Jungkook: Who even thinks that?! *chuckles* 🦊 I'm just worried! How come you're a millionaire and you don't have quality of life. 🦊: Like, guys. His sock, RIGHT NOW, has holes. Jungkook: They WORK!~ 🦊: Okay!~ Stay broke~ Jungkook: *giggles* Okay!~

🦊: Okay but *laughs* let's get into it. Jungkook: So, my biggest culture shock is different countries liking different superheroes. 🦊: Oh!~ Jungkook: I was SUPER shocked. 🦊: That's a very good observation too, explain~ Jungkook: So, I don't know if you know b- 🦊: What? Jungkook: *chuckles* But!~ *tries to not laugh* Different counties like different superheroes. 🦊: Yeah? Jungkook: Like Korea is obsessed with Iron Man. 🦊: Can you confirm that? Jungkook: IIIIIIIII can confirm. I love Iron Man and I know like 85% of Koreans love Iron Man. 🦊: He has a bunch of Iron Man figures. Jungkook: I have to hide them because Bam is very hyper. 🦊: He knocks them down? Jungkook: Yeah. 🦊: That's cute~ But like, Iron Man is VERY popular in Korea. Jungkook: Yeah, I don't know anyone who likes superheroes and DOESN'T like Iron Man. 🦊: Is it because of the comics though, like? I don't get i- Jungkook: No, no, I think it's because of- Well, at least for ME it's because of Robert Downey Jr. He was soooo- 🦊: He was so good.~ Jungkook: Such good casting!~ 🦊: Didja know that the line "I'm Iron Man" in the end of the movie was improvised? Jungkook: Yeah, I knew. I'm a huge RDJ dick rider. 🦊: *scoffs then laughs* Are you aLLOWED to say that?! Jungkook: *deadpan/trying not to laugh* I own Hybe AND BigHit. 🦊: *smirks* The fact is BigHit and Hybe couldn't have- Together: -done it witHOUT ME!

*both laugh*

🦊: So, that's very interesting, since Korean culture WANTS to be what Iron Man is, you know? Jungkook: Yeah, like... We wanna be rich, known, charismatic- 🦊: But like, who doesn't, you know? Jungkook: Yeah, exactly. But it's like... Korean people strive for success. It's so big from the moment we're born. If you're not successful you're a failure here, even if you're happy. 🦊: Fucking sad... Jungkook: Yeah... That's why a lot of teenagers in school commit... uuuuhhhh... You know... 🦊: Unalive themselves Jungkook: Yeah, they unalive themselves because there's the pressure of not only the parents but also your neighbors, your community, your society, it- 🦊: It feels like if you fail, you're letting the whole country down. Jungkook: Exactly... 🦊: Is that why you were so rough on yourself when you made mistakes when you were younger? Jungkook: *long pause* *hisses thinking* *sighs* Yeah... Yeah, for sure. I did feel from time to time that me failing meant that I was failing my country. Jungkook: But more than my country, I was failing my hyungs. 🦊: Awww, that's cute~ Jungkook: *chuckles* Yeah, I felt like I was failing them and ARMY more than my country. I cared more about them and ARMY because those were my priorities back then. 🦊: Yeah... Jungkook: I think that's why I got attached to Iron Man so quickly becau- 🦊: He just had everything held together. Jungkook: Yeah, and even if he failed, he never really FAILED, because he learned from his mistakes. 🦊: Which is something that you're taking with you now. 🦊: You're not as cynical as you were before. Jungkook: Thank god I'm not *chuckles* 🦊: Legit~ I think if I had met you back then, I would have dated you. Jungkook: *groans in disgust* Ew!~ *in between laughs* why?~ 🦊: I like fi- *in between laughter* fixing things Jungkook: *gasps* *laughs* OH MY GOD! Is that why you lik- 🦊: No no~ He doesn't need fixing. He's perfect the way he is. Jungkook: *groans* Oh my god, you're such a simp~ 🦊: Getting back to it though. I didn't really notice it that much, but now that you mention it, it- Jungkook: It's impossible not to see, right? 🦊: Yeah, a lot of Korean artists have openly expressed their love for Iron Man. Jungkook: Exactly. My ratio is... 1 out of 2 idols likes Iron Man. 🦊: REALLY?! Jungkook: Yeah!~ I know A LOT of idols that just LOVE Iron Man. 🦊: Huh... Interesting... I hadn't really thought about that before.

Jungkook: What's a popular superhero on the Western side? 🦊: *hums thinking* 🦊: Spiderman, for sure! Jungkook: Really? Why? I didn't think *in between chuckles* that he was that popular. 🦊: Well... Okay, there's a lot of reasons. But I think the main one is that ANYONE can be Spiderman. Jungkook: *gasps softly* That's true. 🦊: Like... Not anyone can be Iron Man. Jungkook: Nooooo 🦊: You need to be a billionaire first, to become Iron Man. 🦊: But with Spiderman, anyone can be under the mask. Even um... What's his name? Jungkook: Stan Lee? 🦊: Yeah! He even said, "We didn't intend his suit to cover him completely, but by doing that, we designed him in a way that anyone can be Spiderman". Jungkook: OOOOOOOOOOOH!! Jungkook: And it's even more amplified by the fact that he- Together: He's completely average in everything. 🦊: Exactly. Jungkook: He's not mega smart like Tony. 🦊: Nope. Jungkook: Like he's smart, but he had to- 🦊: Make a huge effort, yeah. He's just an average kid. Jungkook: Yeah, and even with Peter Parker, his photography is so average that he works for a newspaper 🦊: Exactly. He basically paparazzi's himself Jungkook: *chuckles* Exactly! 🦊: And I would just like to add, that he's also the most flexible too. Jungkook: What do you mean? 🦊: Like I said, anyone can be Spiderman, but when it comes to Peter Parker, he's so average that anything can happen. Jungkook: Right. 🦊: Like... His life could be amazing or absolute trash. Jungkook: Oh! That's true! Jungkook: Is Spiderman your favorite in Marvel? 🦊: Oh yeah, for sure. Jungkook: Why? 🦊: Well... Now that Miles Morales exiiiiiists!~ Jungkook: *groans playfully* 🦊: He's a Newyorican!~ His mom is Puerto Rican, and his dad is African American from New York. Jungkook: Love it *chuckles* 🦊: The fact that he was created because of Donald Glover is everything. Jungkook: *gasps then laughs* I saw that! I saw that! 🦊: He just represents a lot of gente Latina. Jungkook: Is he the only Latinx Spiderman? 🦊: Uh.... You know what? Te la debo. Because Miguel is Mexican-Irish, but, without spoiling Miguel's origin story, he's not a true Spiderman. He didn't- Jungkook: *laughs* HE DIDN'T GO THROUGH THE FIRST CANON EVENT! 🦊: Nope!~ He wasn't even bit!~ Jungkook: *sighs in relief* Crazy how his logic works. 🦊: For sure.

Jungkook: What about DC? Together: Batman! 🦊: Batman is everything. Jungkook: Forever. 🦊: I wanna see Robert Pattinson's Batman with Cameron Monaghan's Joker. Jungkook: Oh, for sure! I wasn't sure about the "Gotham" Series when you made me watch it because I dislike people dying and coming back and the cycle repeating itself. 🦊: Oh, I hated that too! Jungkook: But that JOKER! 🦊: *moans playfully* 🦊: He channeled Heath Ledger and Mark Hamill Jungkook: It was amazing. I was so sad they couldn't actually put that label on him. 🦊: Crazy...

Jungkook: *smacks lips* I'm gonna listen to this tonight. 🦊: *laughs* Jungkook: Just us ranting about Marvel heroes 🦊: Iconic Jungkook: I wanna say thank you to everyone who liked the podcast. 🦊: Thank you so much. Jungkook: We did this for fun, so I was glad that everyone else is having fun with us. 🦊: I actually have a topic for us for the next topic! Jungkook: Really? What is it? 🦊: "@lovemeforeternity" requested us to talk about a few things, but the one that I know will be an awesome conversation is!~ 🦊: FOOD! 음식! COMIDA!!!! Jungkook: Oh my god! We have sTORIES! 🦊: We do!~ We do!~ Jungkook: We should invite Jimin for that one. 🦊: *gasps* SHOULD WE?!?! Jungkook: Comment below if you guys would like that to happen! 🦊: Again, guys, thank you so much for the love that you have been giving us!~ Jungkook: Remember to comment and tell us what you would like us to talk about and THANK YOU FOR NOT DOXXING AND BULLYING Y/N!~ 🦊: You should say the Spanish outro and I'll do the Korean one. Jungkook: OH! Uh.... *inhales and giggles* Okay okay!~ Jungkook: Hasta... La próxima, mi gente!~ 🦊: *in between laughs* 안녕히 게세요!~

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justimajin · 10 months

Text

Winter Splashes

Genre: Pure Fluff (with like a drop of angst)

↳ Writer Reader x Painter Taehyung AU

Words: 14k

Summary: Being a writer is a difficult job - you have daunting deadlines to meet, new characters to develop and constantly seek out bundles of inspiration. However, this profession also demands that you go with the flow, a simple phrase that morphs into a much bigger business issue when your book sales are on the verge of disappearing. It doesn't help that you're thrown a major curve-ball, one that leaves you asking a very ominous question:

✒ How are you supposed to write about romance?

The large brown table has a mountain of colours spewed on it, ranging from hard-covered to soft-covered, light laughs to deep wails, a short stack of words with sharp statements to a long flow of words that could have imaginations whisked away. The bound pages each have different illustrations depicted, their sheer volume only seeming to be endless when another array of them starts to form right below the table. Among all this, two words are engraved with a swirl into each of them and it’s a name that never fails to raise a hearty smile.

“Y/N L/N.”

The man on the other end repeats in the midst of your thoughts, your eyes trailing along with every book he takes out of the cardboard box. His brows are furrowed whenever he leans down, brown locks falling down onto his eyes and flush lips stretched out in wonder. He glances over at you with wide eyes from where you’re seated in the corner, the forecasted dreamy look you hold immediately vanishing into bewilderment. “There’s seriously a lot of them now.”

With a smile, you nod as he places the last batch underneath the table and turns to face you, “All of them did well in the market too.” He picks up a black book with dark purple and red swirls lining the cover, clouds of smoke in the background of a woman who holds a horrific expression, “Even after you created this,” Another book meets his hands, this time with hues of pink, blue and yellow splashed on the surface, a multitude of flowers scattered on the surface, “And then this.”

A chuckle escapes you, springing up from your seat with a cherry grin.

“Well, you know what they say!” You point a cheesy finger at him, placing a powerful hand on your hip like you were some kind of superhero, “The biggest risks will always lead to the best results.”

“Or the worst results.” He pursues his lips, “But you have managed to tackle a lot of genres in your writing, I’ll say that much.”

You stroll closer, eyes dramatically wide and mouth agape, “Was that a….compliment?”

He whips around, appearing offended. “Hey! I’ve given you plenty of compliments before.”

“You said my last book was ridiculous and that I wasn’t allowed to turn the main character into a fish.”

“Because that was ridiculous! Why would you even write something like that?!”

“It’s unique! You know, the good ol’ being interesting enough to read more?” You smirk, leaning towards him with suspicious eyes, “Are you sure you’re an actual editor, Jin?”

Seokjin rolls his eyes, placing the book in his hands down with a sigh, “I’m just saying that maybe you could try writing something simple this time around. Something without all the plot twists and weird revelations.”

You narrow your eyes, not yet ready to budge until he glares at you in exasperation, “Hm, Fair enough. So what’s hot on the market?”

You eagerly eye him, aware of his tendency to keep tabs on what the current status of the highest selling books were.

“There’s been a demand for something else recently.” His voice grows wary and you raise an eyebrow, following after him as he brings over a sealed box you’ve haven’t seen before. He slices through the tape and begins taking out the paper packaging, revealing a new set of books that don’t carry your signature.

“What is this?” You probe, picking one up that has an intricate image of a boy and a girl with glittering golden and silver eyes. “A werewolf story?”

Jin hums, “There’s other ones too.”

The books go flying from the box as you toss them out, taking one quick glance before allowing it to meet the pile you’re forming on the table. There’s covers depicting snow with a vampire, an image of a stethoscope, another of a basketball court, and heck, even one with the premise of two people switching bodies. You stare at Jin perplexed, not grasping onto how these random titles were going to be helpful to you.

He leans back, resting himself on the perch of the table. He smiles like he knows something you don’t ‒ a gesture that has you nearly pestering him for an answer until he finally speaks.

“How do you feel about romance?”

“The genre?” He nods, “I don’t know, I guess it’s nice? It’s cute and all, and that-”

He continues to smile and there’s something about it that’s unintentionally connected to the dots for you.

You’ve made up your mind already, “I can’t.”

“Why?”

“Because it’s romance!” You raise up your hands in exasperation, but Jin just stares at you, not understanding the big deal, “You know, people gushing and giggling over each other for an entire book. Who wants to read something like that??”

“This is coming from someone that wrote about a guy turning into a fish.”

“It was unique!” You chime in again, but Jin simply sighs and slides over the books you had previously yanked out.

“It’s not what the market wants though, Y/N. All of these books went on to become popular just for being in the genre.” He attempts to reason, placing his hands on your shoulders, “I still think you should give it a shot.”

Your lips set into a firm line, gaze drifting over to the atrocious covers that Jin’s lined up on the table.

You suppose it wouldn’t be so bad. After all, you’ve been through writing spurts, endlessly crafting out fantasy words in efforts of making it through the deadlines you’re faced with. You’ve faced the mixture of stress and adrenaline, desperately pushing yourself to keep going even if your tank of fuel is failing on you. You’ve spent the long hours of digging your nose into hours of research, familiarising yourself with something out of your comfort zone just for the sake of making your writing better.

But...romance?

A genre you’ve skimmed over in hopes of creating something else, a genre that you’ve barely given a second glance because…...well…

You research things. You try to improve things. And the best way to improve, is totry…...

Even though you have no clue what you’re getting yourself into.

“I don’t know…” You quietly mumble, fiddling with the bottom of your sweater. “What if it sucks?”

“You’ll never know unless you try.” Jin offers, but it doesn’t take away the unsettling feeling in your stomach from just thinking about it. He simply stares as you grow silent, letting out a sigh.

Reaching over to grab a familiar coat, he tosses it over your head. You immediately react, flabbergasted by the sudden flying article of clothing.

“What was that for?!”

“Come on.” He slides his arms through a brown one with a knowing smile, “You work based on inspiration,” He glances around the dusty office, nearly packed with opened cardboard boxes and books, “and I don’t think you’ll get much from here.”

You grin, slipping on the rough material instantly.

***

The streets are bustling, packed with crowds of people huddled together. They’re surrounded by cream coloured skyscrapers from a far distance, rows of bare oak trees lining the roads. The scent of fresh winter lingers in the air, newly arrived after the scattering of orange and red leaves on the ground.

You fist your hands up, a cheer erupting from your throat. A hand suddenly pushes through, covering your mouth.

“Why are you screaming?” Jin asks in exasperation, staring at you in disbelief when you still continue despite his attempts at halting you.

You pry his hand off, “I haven’t been outside in so long!!” You instantly run off, bumping into some civilians with no care and then giving them a cheeky wink when they glare at you. Jin rushes forward, grabbing onto you again.

He sighs, stuffing his icy hands into his coat pockets, “Y/N, you’re supposed to be a writer, not a hermit.”

“You can’t have both, Jin.” You remind him, “Plus I’ve spent hours working on my deadlines so I’m in need for some fu-Ooh! Look!”

He whirls around to see you dashing over a pile of leaves in the corner, diving headfirst into them before he can stop you. Giggles escape you as Jin can’t help but smile a bit at the display too. However, that’s when he remembers why he even offered to bring you out inside, leaning over to grasp onto your arm.

“Alright, come on Miss. Tree Lover.” He helps you up, quirking an eyebrow at the leaves currently trapped and poking out of your hair. You instantly brush them out, following him around.

“Well?” He says with hopeful eyes as you take in the busy area.

“Well what?”

“Really?” He ponders, leaning closer, “No crazy amounts of inspiration yet?”

“That’s not how it works!” You chide, “It takes more than that, you know? I gotta have a type of feeling.”

“A type of feeling?”

You roll your eyes at his obvious sarcasm, “Yeah, like I see something and the urge to write just‒”

Your eyes spark up at a particular store and before you know it, you’re yanking Jin to come along with you.

“What is it??”

“Look!” You point over to the shop burgeoning with hard bound books. Planting your hands against the window, the glass fogs with the warmth you radiate as you peer inside, seeing countless of titles you recognize.

“Aren’t those…?” Jin whispers from behind you, a huge dreamy smile crossing your lips.

“Yeah.” You glance at the familiar works in front of you, eyes carefully watching people that walk across the selves. A particular group huddled in the corner catches your attention right away, one of them flicking through pages you’ve probably dispensed part of your soul into.

She pauses at one page, eyes starting to focus in and appearing intrigued. Her lips have thinned out, lost in thought even with the group near her talking amongst themselves.

You know that look.

The excitement in your eyes instantly shifts into tenderness, simply content with watching someone hold curiosity in them from your words.

But the perfect mirage cracks.

“Hey guys, check this one out!”

The girl immediately spins around, shuffling over to view the alluring title her friend has pulled out. However, in the midst of this, the familiar hard bound pages are instantly discarded, plopped back onto the shelf without another single glance.

Your smile falls, eyes tingeing with dismay. You can only watch from afar as she swipes through new material, her attention grasped unlike before.

Sight lingering down, you recognize the type of literature she holds. It only contributes more to your sorrow, left hopelessly gazing at the genre you’ve strayed extremely far from.

Jin is silent from behind you, noticing that your immediate cheerfulness has disappeared within seconds. He’s still silent when you turn to him in disappointment, muttering the words he’s been trying to drill in your head since this morning.

“I think….I’ll give it a shot.”

He hums, gesturing for you to leave. “Just try your best, and don’t force yourself.”

You nod, following after him once you’ve managed to tear your vision away from the scene. Although you’ve come down to the resolve he’s wanted, it doesn’t help at all to take away the unsettling feeling in the pit of your stomach.

***

You already have a concept in your hands. Now all you gotta do is write it.

How hard can it be?

Within the span of ten minutes, soft thugs begin to resonate through the room. You lull you head over and over again against the surface of your table, deep exhausted sighs leaving your body.

Did you really say how hard can it be? Did the you of ten minutes ago actually think this was easy?!

Sinking back into your chair, you stare at the blank document with empty eyes. It hasn’t moved an inch in that time frame and neither have you.

Romance ‒ that’s it. Just write a story about two people falling for each other and seal the deal with a pretty looking bow.

But then why are you still stuck staring at the screen?

A groan of defeat leaves your lips and you slump against your desk. A brown-haired individual pokes by your door, raising an eyebrow.

“All good?” Jin asks. You barely move your head, an indecipherable murmur releasing from your throat.

“I see…” He hums at the answer, straightening up and leaning against the frame, “If you’re that stuck, why don’t you do some research about it? You usually like that, right?”

At the sound of the suggestion, your head immediately whips back with a hopeful glint in your eyes. Jin conceals his laughter as you start rapidly typing on your keyboard, taking that as an indication to leave you be as he goes back to editing your recent stories.

Meanwhile, you’re having the time of your life.

Of course! Research! The saving grace in a writer’s world!

You’ve done it countless times before. Whether it was about being knowledgeable in understanding the mechanics of worldbuilding, to figure out the basic meanings of things you’ve previously had no clue about.

However, the aspect you’re not accustomed to is your screen filling up with random articles.

“How to tell if you’ve met your lifetime soulmate?” You narrow your eyes, “Ten ways of getting your crush to like you back…?”

You scroll through, coming across more strange suggestions that give you zero insight for your current situation. Frowning, you wonder if you’re not searching hard enough ‒ until your eyes are left staring at the small advertisement in the corner of the screen.

“Check out the latest kdrama’s here….?” Hovering your mouse over the link, a broad spectrum of shows flood your eyes instantly. There’s a range of story types and titles, but what catches your interest the most is the tagline.

In need for some romance? Heal the woes of your lonely heart here then!

You lean back, staring at the shows. You suppose it won’t hurt to check one of them out, after all, it could give you the details you’ve been searching for.

Making up your mind, you commit the mistake of watching the first episode of a series.

***

Jin rubs his sore eyes, letting out a low yawn. He’s been unpacking more and more boxes from the publisher, carefully organizing them based on genre for the past couple of hours. After that horrendous task, he has decided to go through the latest story you’ve handed over to him, vision glued to his monitor as he highlights and circles places of improvement.

He doesn’t want to take the harsh approach, but it goes without saying that your writing has been a little lacking these days. Usually he lets you do your thing and he does his own as long as you meet the deadlines, but he wonders if you’ve sacrificed the caliber in your writing in exchange.

It isn’t terrible as you would probably take it. It still follows the unique concept trend you’ve focused on for so long. However, there seems to be something missing, something he can’t quite pinpoint even after going through pages and pages.

With a sigh, he squeezes his heavy eyes shut for a moment before narrowing in onto the screen again. But his thought process is snatched away with a loud thud, and he instantly raises his head, wondering if a book has perhaps fallen down.

Surprisingly, nothing’s fallen.

Glancing around, he can only ponder until a boisterous laugh echoes through the walls, closely followed with prolonged wails. He slowly rises from his seat, following the intense sound as the frequency increases.

He comes to a pause in front of your door, knocking softly. “Y/N?”

Instead of words, he greeted to a chain of sobs. Twisting the knob to your office, he pokes his head in.

“Y/N? Are you ok‒”

To his defence, your office looks exactly how he has initially left it. But now it’s completely dark save for the subdued corner in the room, where you lie wrapped around with a blanket. Your eyes are glued to the bright source of light in the room, namely your computer screen, and there’s a bag of popcorn alongside a box of tissues right next to you. Aside from the strange position, your cheeks are completely drenched and there’s a hysterical look to your eyes.

He doesn’t know what to say.

“Uh….”

The sound of his voice catches your attention, eyes widening, “Jin! Oh my god, Jin, it's so sad!”

“What’s sad?”

“This kdrama!” You point to your screen, “It’s so sad! First they were friends, and then they started liking each other, but then they kissed and everything went downhill after this second guy came in!”

Jin crouches down, barely able to make out what's on screen due to the excessive water sticking to it.

“You’re watching a drama?”

You hurriedly nod, “Now the girl is starting to fall for the second guy because of a misunderstanding! How are they going to fix all this?!”

“Y/N…” Jin says in exasperation, “Is this what you’ve been doing for the past couple of hours?”

You pout, hiding the device that clearly displays episode seven.

“N-No........”

Jin pretends not to see it, “Y/N, your next deadline is within two weeks. You really need to start working on this.”

He grabs hold of your arm, pulling you out of the kdrama cocoon you’ve built around yourself. You let out a deep sigh, pressing your hand against your temples.

“You’re right...I need to stop wasting time…” You whisper and Jin hums, swiveling around.

“I have to get back to editing but I’ll come back in an hour once I’m done.” You nod as he turns to leave, slumping back down on your desk with a tired exhale.

He was right. The moment you clicked onto that link, the hours spun by faster than you could count them and you’ve got nothing done at this point.

Prying open your laptop again, you resume back to the blank document.

***

Jin has assumed his words have knocked some sense into you as he makes his way back to your office.

What he doesn’t assume, is to see you sitting on the ledge of the broad window with a book in your hands.

“You’re reading…?” He wonders. Normally he wouldn’t even question it, but his eyes drift over to the blank document once again and something tells him there’s more to the story than he initially thought.

You look up surprised, as if you hadn’t expected his arrival. His eyes stray over to the title of the book in your hands, a groan leaving him.

“Oh god, not this again Y/N!”

“It’s to help me understand!” You try to reason, but Jin is short of a few words when you’re reading a bulky thick book called ‘The Philosophy Behind Romance’.

“How is this supposed to help you?” He points to the book and you defensively curl your arms around it.

“Hear me out for a minute!” You quickly place it in your hands and rapidly flip through the pages. “Romantic love is considered to be a relation higher than the metaphysical and stems from a desire that transcends the physical body.”

Jin frowns, “What does that even mean?”

“I have no idea. But!” You hastily intervene as Jin looks like he’s about to protest, “I think it can help me with creating the story.”

“I don’t think any of this is going to work.”

“What?” He walks over, taking the book out of your hands and straight up discarding it into your trash can. “HEY!”

“You’re starting to run out of fuel.” He states, noticing the way your expression sours. You know he’s right, but won’t admit it. “You need to get away from all this.”

He gestures to the book and the blank document you still have pulled up, reminding you of the ill circumstance you had yet to do something about.

A dreary sigh leaves your lips, brows knitted together, “I’m trying Jin, I really am.” You gesture to the same empty document, “It’s just so hard. I-....I don’t know what to do.”

Jin places a hand on your shoulder, nodding, “You’re out of your comfort zone and you’re having writer’s block. It’s understandable, but I don’t think research is what's going to help you this time.”

You pout at that, but then Jin swivels around and hands your coat to you.

“Why don’t you try going out for a walk? Clear out your mind and come back with some fresh inspiration?”

“That doesn’t sound too bad…” You reminisce. Tugging your arms through the sleeves, Jin smiles and opens the door for you, ushering you towards the stairs that descend down. You wave at him before disappearing, hoping to yourself that you can get something out of this to clear away the clouds brewing over your creative mind.

***

Glittering stars fill up the night sky, a bright crescent moon twinkling and illuminating the empty roads. Save for the sound of awake crickets and the faint honking of cars nearby, the sidewalk you trudge on is completely silent.

It offers a different scenery compared to your cramped office room, something you didn’t realize you would appreciate as much until it dawns on you that you’ve probably spent several hours in the midst of trying to figure out your story instead of actually writing it. After all, you have been posed with a solid issue and as time spins by, you begin to think that it’s more than doing some mere research could possibly resolve.

Tugging the hem of your coat closer to your red nose, your eyes glance around. You attempt to take some of Jin’s advice to heart, pondering if anything nearby can perhaps spark a flame of inspiration that you’ve been desperately lacking.

That’s when you see it.

Your brows furrow and you have to blink your eyes twice for it to make sense. Sheer curiosity traps you as you saunter over, tilting your head to the side and then to the opposite direction until you blink once more.

Strokes of black and blue envelope the delicate white background that peeks through, specks of gray and white blotted carefully where the lines meet. There’s a peculiar circular shape portrayed in the middle of it, messily splattered with a hue of dull yellow. It looks like something you’ve come across before, something that felt familiar, something that‒

Your eyes look up, the same image appearing right above you.

A frown mars your lips and when your vision focuses back on the piece, a head full of blonde hair sticks out from behind it.

You’re almost ready to unleash a scream, not quite expecting movement from the presumed stationary canvas. You hear a soft sound, seemingly sounding like a low mumble, before silence takes over again. Raising an eyebrow, you take a step forward.

It occurs to you that the canvas you had noticed was actually perched up against a wooden bench, and on that bench, is a person that’s sleeping.

You hesitantly peer at them, noticing that the stranger was in fact a man. He appears to be in the middle of a snooze fest, chest lightly rising in the midst of soft snores escaping him. His face is entirely covered with a black beret, strands of blonde hair peeking out.

There’s a list of questions in your mind, starting from why he was randomly lying down on the bench in the middle of the night to the painting that’s positioned next to his head. While the absurd scenarios explaining his situation run through your mind, his arm moves and you experience your second heart attack for the day.

The beret falls down onto his lap as he stretches his arms, a deep yawn passes by his lips. You remain frozen as he does so, having moved a couple inches away once it dawned on you how odd it would probably be if he found out you were staring.

He sleepily blinks his eyes, narrowing them at you. You’re about to explain yourself, but he instead asks you a question.

“What time is it?”

“Uh…” You scramble around for your phone, the screen lighting up, “11:34pm.”

He hums, getting up and dusting off his jeans. Grabbing the fallen beret, he pushes the strands of his blonde hair back into the hat, revealing strong eyebrows underneath. He pulls out an old camera, hanging it around his neck and letting it drop down onto the brown coat he wears.

His feline-like eyes glance at you in wonder, drastically different from his sleeping appearance on the bench. You let out an awkward cough, a light hue of pink spreading over your skin.

After a moment of silence, he speaks up.

“Do you like my painting?” You raise your brows and blink.

“Your painting?” He nods, a soft proud smile looping on his lips. You peer at the artwork in curiosity again. “You made this?”

He hums, observing it with you, “I waited for hours to paint it.”

He points to the sky and the image finally begins to piece together for you. The black and blue embodying the sky, the shimmering stars scattered all over and the radiant moon, painted so brightly in the centre of all of it.

“You waited out here to paint the sky?”

A drawn out sigh escapes him, “Yep. I’m kind of stuck in a rut, you see.” He gestures to the painting again with a somber look in his eyes, “I wanted to paint something different, but I didn’t have any ideas, so I came out here instead to get the experience.”

“Experience?”

He hums, “It’s a lot easier to experience the moment than having to imagine it in your head.”

“R-Right…” You whisper, still staring at his painting like you were stuck in the middle of a daze. You’re alarmed when he suddenly bends down and picks up the canvas with one arm, pivoting around to face you.

“I have to get going now. Spent too much time painting that I didn’t get enough sleep.” He warmly smiles at you, outstretching his hand, “It was nice meeting you.”

You take it confused and he gives you a small nod before leaving. You watch his back disappear, gaze averting to the large canvas tucked underneath his arm.

Spinning around to head back, you dwell on his words more than you would like.

Maybe this whole time your writer’s block was stemming from something else, something you truly didn’t realize was important until now.

Experience.

But how do you experience something that’s supposed to be completely natural? Something you’re utterly clueless about?

Letting out an exhale, it seems like there’s only one person who can give you clear answers.

***

You start off the next morning at a place you would never consider yourself to express interest in.

The art museum.

You recall hearing whispers and murmurs of a new art showcase going on, your curiosity only seeming to drag you there. The sudden spike in motivation causes Jin to question about your early departure, to which you retort that you’re drawing closer to grasping a solid idea for your story.

Heading in, the gallery is completely adorned in pieces of art. There’s various types ‒ paintings, sculptures, graphic design ‒ you name it. You don’t realize you’re standing in awe until a couple behind you urges you to keep moving, an action that strains a sheepish smile across your lips as you hurriedly scurry away.

You constantly glance around, observing each work you come across. One painting captures your attention, hues of pastel pink and mint green mixed together on the overlay of a figure carrying a smaller figure in their hands. Your lips set into a firm line as you draw closer, eyes tracing the outline.

“You won’t understand it better if you keep staring at it like that.”

You whirl around at the sound of the voice, not quite expecting to run right into the person you were searching for. The man smirks, wearing the same brown coat you saw him in last time.

“How would you interpret it then?”

He takes a step closer, narrowing his eyes in a way you did and you scoff at his mimicry.

“I think it’s a painting of a mother and a child. She’s embracing her child and rocking them to sleep.” He points to the outline, “The colors are supposed to represent a sense of joy and relief with having her child in her arms.”

You blink, managing to piece together everything he said perfectly. The figures do appear like a mother and child, and the colors only emphasize the warmth the outline portrays.

“Woah.” You whisper, probably having not realized all that unless someone told you, “How did you figure that out?”

He smiles, “I’m the one who painted it.”

“Oh.” A chuckle escapes him at your embarrassment and you sheepishly smile. Your eyes are drawn to the painting again, but this time you narrow down on the faint signature at the bottom.

“V?” You raise an eyebrow, “Is that your name?”

He softly shakes his head, “That’s just what I use for my art. My actual name is Kim Taehyung.”

You hum and he leans forward, eyes curious.

You automatically shift away, averting your eyes from his strong gaze. “What?”

“This is the part where you introduce yourself.”

“Oh, right.” You outstretch your hand, “Y/N L/N.”

“Nice to meet you, Y/N.” He shakes your hand and swivels around, tilting his head as a means for you to follow him, “Come on, I’ll show you around.”

You nod, hurriedly rushing behind him as he points out several pieces and their artists. You take occasional glances around at other pieces of artwork as well, one with a solemn blue background depicting a mountain catching your eyes instantly.

“That’s really pretty.” You point out, and Taehyung endearingly laughs, glancing at you peculiarly.

“I wonder if I should be flattered that you seem to like all my work.”

“Y-You painted that one too?”

“Yep, this gallery is pretty new so a lot of my work is in here.” He slightly turns his head, enough to see you behind him, “What about you? Got a real keen eye for art?”

“Not really…” You truthfully admit, “I just happened to be walking by and thought I check it out.”

He raises an eyebrow, “Are you sure about that?”

“What do you mean?”

He suddenly pauses, causing you to stop on your heels before you plummet right into him, “Are you sure you’re not stalking me since yesterday?”

Your eyes enlarge, “What?! No, of course not! I just came in here because I heard about the recent showcase and thought...uh...” A deep sigh leaves you from your horrible inability to lie properly, “Thought I might run into you…”

Taehyung pursues his lips, “Now that’s something I’m not sure if I should be creeped out or flattered by.”

“Please don’t be creeped out!” You raise up your hands in defence, opting to tell him the truth, “I’m just stuck in the middle of writing a book and then I saw you yesterday…you were talking about how experiencing something helps you with your art…”

His voice spikes up in awe, “You’re a writer?”

You nod, “Ah, so different cameras but similar lenses…”

“Huh?”

“Nothing, don’t worry about it.” He fully turns to face you, a huge grin on his lips, “I don’t know if I’ll be of much use, but I can help you out if you’d like.”

“Really?” Your eyes spark up, “Thank you so much, I-I can’t believe you would want to help me out…”

“You’ve seen me being stuck in a rut.” He smiles, “I know the feeling.”

You warmly return his smile, tempted to ask him more about his experiences in painting when a woman with a clipboard suddenly approaches the two of you.

She intervenes, “Mr. Kim, the gallery would like to confirm your next showcase.”

His eyes widen, “Ah, yes-” You watch as he shoves his hand into his coat pocket, hurriedly fishing around.

He yanks out a small card, handing it to you, “It has all my contact information on it, shoot me a message whenever you have the chance.”

You quickly take the card before he’s dragged away, sending him a nod in response. He grins, waving you farewell before turning and weaving through the crowds of people viewing the showcase.

Gyrating around, you think it’s best you head back as well, knowing that Jin will be suspicious of the length of your disappearance. As you exit the museum, you glance down, reading the contents of the card.

The background is an array of colours ‒ ranging from blues, greens, reds and even yellows that are splattered in a way that seems to form a tornado. His art name and phone number are in the corner, eerily reminiscent of the way he paints his pieces ‒ drawing you in with the outlays and colours before declaring himself.

The corner of your mouth quirks up.

***

You set out the next morning, the sun beginning to shine brighter as you head closer to your destination.

You find him by the river, an old camera hanging from his neck ‒ just like the first time you had found him by the bench.

A grin makes its way to his lips, his hand waving for you when you begin to draw closer.

“Have difficulty finding it?” He gestures to the river behind you.

You shake your head, keeping a pondering finger to your lips, “Not really, I’ve been here before. I usually go over there to see the book shops.”

You point over to the area you had last visited with Jin, reminiscing about finding your own books there.

Taehyung raises an eyebrow, “You’re a fan of reading other’s books?”

“Of course!” You nervously chuckle, “It’s always great to see what other writers do with their books as well!”

Taehyung stares at you for a moment, his gaze unwavering.

“You went to go see your own books?”

You sigh, squeezing your eyes, “I went to go see my own books.”

Taehyung lets out a low chuckle and you look down, biting your bottom lip.

“I’ll admit, it is a little odd‒”

“Not at all.” He shakes his head, “You found me at my own showcase, didn’t you?”

You blink, “Right…”

He shrugs, “It’s a thing for everyone who creates. You want to see how the public reacts to your art.”

You hum, a tad bit surprised by his straightforwardness. It’s an aspect that no creator would take into consideration first hand, but it’s an integral part of being one.

The public always warrants how art is received, after all.

Taehyung lifts his camera, adjusting his lenses before snapping a picture of the bookstore. You watch in confusion as he examines the picture.

“I’m surprised you like taking photos.” You innocently inquire, “Does it help you paint?”

Taehyung glances at you.

“You know the feeling of trying to stop time?”

Your brows knit together and he softly smiles, “When you take a picture, you capture a moment and stop time for a second. It isn't long, but it’s enough for a photograph.”

You watch as he slips his hand into his coat pocket, showcasing a small array of photographs. Images of the sun setting with mixes of bold orange and solemn blue are shown to you, another with a stream of ducks making ripples within the water. There’s ones of buildings and people too, but all of them are taken in angles that are captivating shots of laughter and shots of despair that could have easily been missed if the photograph had a lapse of time.

It almost reminds you of when you’re attempting to capture a particular scene in your mind as your fingertips glide on your keyboard, drawing in an atmosphere that has the reader’s senses all working.

The corner of Taehyung’s mouth curls, observing the gears in your head turning.

It only takes you a handful of seconds to notice, a bashful smile lining your lips.

“Writing is like that too, not exactly similar⎯” You retract immediately, “But trying to draw in the five senses around you and bringing it out into literature…”

You glance up at Taehyung, curious to see if you were making any sense at this point. He’s no longer facing you at this point. Instead his body is facing the river, eyes fluttering shut.

There’s a spark in your own, and you hurriedly continue.

“Like this river isn’t just the scene,” You point out, “it’s the sun shining down and reflecting on the surface near the moss. It’s the birds crossing alongside the path and the voices of people nearby echoing. It’s the faint breeze in the air and the smell of greenery.”

“It’s peaceful,” Taehyung hums in content, “and calming.”

A soft smile crosses your features, “That’s what writing is like for me, taking inspiration from the real world and capturing it all into words.”

His eyes open and you notice the knowing gaze he holds, as if everything that you’ve tried to explain is second nature to him.

“So what has you stuck?” He inquires.

A deep sigh escapes you, the acknowledgement occurring that he was actually here to help with your current predicament.

“A new genre.” You admit with a grimace, “I’ve written plenty of different ones before, but there were always ones I understood well and I had no problem with creating stories from them.”

You continue, “And even if it was hard, I’ve always been able to figure it out somehow, you know? If I didn’t know about something, I would research it. If I was confused, I look it up-”

You decide to stop yourself, knowing that those outlets hadn’t been much help at this point. “I’m just…really out of my element, and the worst part is that it’s exactly what the market wants right now.”

You cross your arms, a small pout landing on your lips. It’s not like that you haven’t been vocal about your frustrations, but more so that you’re just slumped, unable to conjure anything up onto that document with the slightest clue of where to even begin.

Taehyung ‒ who had been quietly observing you the entire time ‒ puts his camera down and places his finger on his chin.

“Sometimes when I struggle to paint something new, I procrastinate.” You arch up a brow, “Like bad procrastinate. My canvas starts to collect dust.”

A chuckle escapes you and he smiles, “But then I try to think why I’m procrastinating. Do I just not feel like painting? Or is it because of something else…?”

He stares at you intently, like he’s waiting for you to finish his sentence.

You ponder, “I guess…I’m scared in a way? Of not knowing what I’m doing.”

He hums, “When that happens, I like taking out my camera. Going around and taking pictures not only gives me experience, but also lets me experience my surroundings better.” He glances around until his eyes land on you, “Sometimes I can find inspiration. Sometimes I can find interesting individuals.”

Your eyes round and he turns, angling himself back a bit and taking a snapshot of the river. You peer over his shoulder and he moves closer to you so you can view the picture better.

It’s pretty ‒ he was able to get the forecast of the sun over the bank of the river perfectly, alongside the little daisies growing alongside the shore.

“Nice?” He wonders and you nod, face brightening, “Good. Now just don’t ask me to paint it, that’ll be scary for me.”

You laugh and he turns to walk down the bank of the river with a smile.

***

The next time you get an opportunity to meet Taehyung, there’s a whirlwind in the sky.

It’s been a couple of weeks since your first encounter with him at the art gallery, but regrets are thrown all over the place the moment the wind blasts through your hair. The chills run down your spine, pickling at your skin as you squeeze your eyes shut.

Jin tells you not to go, or at most, to re-schedule. But a part of you is incredibly stubborn, frustration running through you when you know you’ll just end up in the same place ‒ staring at that blank document for endless hours.

As you hug your body as much as you can, you strut down the bustling street and glance back and forth.

Taehyung thankfully appears within a couple of seconds, his silhouette emerging from across the street.

Your eyes round.

He wears the same brown coat he always wears, but this time there’s no beret on his head. Instead his blonde locks are pushed back by the wind, his strong brows furrowed and eyes closed as he tries to navigate himself against the vicious breeze.

You’re not sure if it's the cold nipping at your cheeks or the shiver running through you, but the way your cheeks burn is enough to notice.

He glances up, eyes locking with yours. A wide smile stretches up on his lips that nearly makes you falter.

“Y/N.”

His deep voice calls your name, concern crossing his features.

“Have you been waiting long?”

You shake your head, “I-I just got here.”

“That’s good.” He hums, glancing around. “Not exactly my ideal weather, if I do say.”

You laugh, “I’m surprised my ears haven’t managed to fall off yet.”

The corner of his mouth lifts and before you know it, he’s extending his arm forward. You glance at him surprised, but he nudges you and then gestures in the opposite direction.

“Come on.”

You slip your hand in, linking your arms together. Taehyung begins to walk forward, navigating you around the busy marketplace. Surveying around, there’s various stores lined up across the edge of the street, vendors alike having many displays for you to view.

There wasn’t anything in particular for you to buy, but Taehyung had suggested that it would be good for you to come out with him and explore the new area. It makes you wonder if he wanted you to get more experience going out since after all, you spent more of your time writing and being bit of a hermit.

You peer over at him, noticing his eyes occasionally flickering and observing all the stalls he went past. It was one thing you had learned about Taehyung quickly, that it didn’t matter where he was or what he was doing, he always had this way of taking in his surroundings carefully, like he was studying every aspect.

That’s when you hear a soft gasp escape him, his hand finding yours as he rushes forward. His feet then come to an abrupt halt and you nearly trip between your own two feet.

Regaining your balance, you peer over his shoulder and notice his eyes are sparkling. Before you have a chance to question any of it, your hand is being tugged again, the bell to the store’s door ringing above you.

Your most straightforward assumption at this point was that the store must have had something to do with painting, but you’re pleasantly surprised to find yourself surrounded with pieces of clay, all decorated with bold and bright colours on various shelves.

Ceramic Art.

You distinctly recall reading about it in a book once, but had never gotten the opportunity to see it up front and close.

A piece captures your eyes immediately, your brows drawing together.

“That’s a unique one.” Taehyung remarks, stepping to stand beside you.

Quirking an eyebrow, the question lingers in your mind.

“I didn’t know you did ceramic art as well.”

Taehyung chuckles, “I actually don’t.” He puts his hands within the pockets of his coat, “It isn’t my area of expertise, but I like seeing different forms of art. Ironically, I find the way of expressing it to be the exact same.”

You blink as Taehyung steps away, taking strides towards other surrounding pieces of art and inspecting them. You’re left staring as he gazes at a pot that’s been shaped similar to a moon, swirls of dark blue and yellow specks decorating the smooth ceramic.

You can’t help the smile that stretches across your lips.

“It looks just like something you would have painted.”

Taehyung frowns, before the corners of his mouth quirk up. “I didn’t even notice, I just thought it looked beautiful.”

“You definitely have a good eye for art.”

“It would appear so.” He lightly laughs, turning around to view more of the art.

A part of you curiously lingers, walking up to him.

You peer over, “Does this mean you see my writing as art too?”

“Of course.” His head snaps back, “Art’s all about expression, doesn’t matter what medium you choose.”

Your face lights up.

“However,” He brings up and your eyes widen, “Every artist is never the same. People always have different stories to tell and that’s completely okay. That’s what makes them all unique.”

A glimmer enters your eyes. After the endless frustrations with your recent book, his words do send you a sense of reassurance. It can sometimes be difficult to have someone else understand why you do things the way you do ‒ even you and Jin have had your fair share of arguments over various disagreements ‒ but it all pinpointed to seeing everything in a different perspective.

You grin, “I can understand that.”

His eyes soften, “I think it also means that some genres can be harder than others, but everyone can bring their unique take on them.”

Brows lifting, your gaze fixates on him. But he spins around, gesturing for you to come over and to observe more art with him.

You walk over with no hesitation.

***

The following time you find Taehyung, fall is still letting her leaves shed and he invites you over to his studio.

A part of you is beaming with excitement ‒ having only ever seen his artistic ways when he was attempting to paint the stars and you had coincidentally stumbled across him that night. But a part of you can’t shake away the jitters, jitters that you don’t want to spend time trying to understand, deciding to just push it all away as you set out for the day.

The wind is gustful, snipping at your nose and cheeks. Hues of warm orange and bright yellow litter the ground and top the trees, the sun hiding behind grey clouds that ever so let droplets of water release.

It’s scenery that grasps you within its clutches, glimmering your eyes with awe and leaving your mouth agape.

And it’s the same scenery that he seeks to capture.

You have the simple pleasure of watching as he draws lines of jade for the trees and splatters on specks of orange and yellow. He scrambles to paint the few individuals that walk past his vision, capturing their essence into carefully placed frames.

His art style lingers between mimicking the surroundings but somehow elevating it as well, drawing in the observer with his interesting use of colour and texture.

You can only seem to watch, lost in it as well.

Time flies from you as he adds the final touches to his piece and you finally notice the way his hands are completely stained, some paint having even made its way to his nose. His brushes have seen the light of day, piled next to him in a canister.

And in the midst of it, he looks upon his painting and grins. He turns to you for the first time since you’ve arrived, breaking the complete silence as he laughs with his deep tone.

“Well, that was a lot of fun.”

You can’t help but burst into laughter as well, completely astounded by the difference in his demeanour. Astounded how easily you saw both a painter in his element and a man in his twenties observing his surroundings within the same split second.

You end up helping him clean each of his used brushes, watching him walk down the street with you as paint still remains on his face and hands.

***

“Someone seems to be doing well for themselves.”

The retort breaks you out of your thoughts, your eyes snapping up.

“Huh?” There’s a book encased within your hands, one of the few titles you had referenced in writing your mystery story.

Jin laughs under his breath. He hasn’t been able to see much of you for a while, only just knowing that you had met a painter by the name of Taehyung and he was all you would talk about these days.

He tucks away a book in his own hands, “You were smiling so much that I assumed everything has been working out. Has Taehyung’s advice been that helpful?”

Your eyes twinkle, spinning around on your heels.

“It has been! He’s so much fun to talk to, and he’s got great insight, Jin.” Your smile widens, “Who knew seeing eye to eye with a painter would be so easy?”

Jin grins, “It’s definitely got you in high spirits, I can tell you that.”

“I need to introduce you to him, Jin. I think you’ll get along great!” You chirp, reaching down to open another box.

“Woah, woah,” Jin draws closer, halting you, “I’ll take care of that, you’ve got some writing to do, remember?”

A giant pout arises on your lips, “But I said I was going to help you.”

“And you will, by writing for your new book.” He points out, “Spending time with Taehyung should have sparked something, no?”

You hum defeatedly, knowing he had a point. You had spent so much of your time with him, it was only hopeful that his words would have incited some creativity to strike you.

Letting out a big sigh, you drag yourself back to your desk and open up your computer, the blank document is showcased once again to your eyes.

***

You want to pound your head against the table.

The good news is that your document is no longer left blank. There’s rough jot notes littered on it, some random junctions from the brainstorming you were doing on ideas for the story. You’re trying to indulge your unique perspective onto the story, concepts for certain scenes stemming from a cool night out in the stars, a riverside and a busy marketplace.

But it isn’t enough.

The bad news is that you, out of all people, know that ideas are just a base. You need to build up a coherent story from it, create characters, create dynamics. And you have none of those at this moment.

It’s like all the surface level information is just complete, not the heart of your story.

You contemplate on how to begin, eyes sweeping over the jot notes listed on your document countless times. You start pulling at anything in your mind, anything that could be linked to writing romance.

A deep exhale leaves your lips, shoulders slumping down. Your hand reaches out for your mouse, closing the document tab before going to the search bar, the urge to delve in and research the topic tempting you.

You know you had tried to take a different approach with this, tried not to linger too much on the various articles, but despite the unique types of experiences you’ve had in the last couple of weeks, there still isn’t an answer to the question in your mind.

How do people even start to fall in love?

You’re in the midst of searching the question, eyes already filtering through various articles ‒ when suddenly there's a flicker in your dim eyes.

Halting your racing fingertips against the keyboard, the mouse in your hands is abandoned.

You shoot up from your desk, yanking the door wide open and running outside.

***

Jin hums a soft tone in the serene silence, opening up a box to unload the books onto the table. He’s been set on organising the newer ones that had just come in, attempting to distract himself before he checks in on you and your progress with your writing.

The door comes bursting open.

The book slips through his fingers and a blood-curdling scream escapes his throat. He spins around, brows furrowed together.

You stand in a starfish stance at the door, eyes wild and breathing heavy.

“What happened?!” Jin questions, holding a frantic hand against his racing heart.

“You‒” You raise a shaking finger at him, still gasping for air. Jin wonders why you even decided to run so fast when he’s literally a couple of doors away. “You have a girlfriend.”

He blinks, sheer unamusement crossing his features, “Seriously? That shouldn’t be news to you!”

“I know!” You raise your hands in defence, “But I have some questions I want to ask you.”

He cranes his head to the side, “You’re going to interview me?”

“Kind of.” Jin doesn’t have time to react when you’re already reaching out for a chair, dragging it closer to him.

He sits down opposite to you with a groan, “At least tell me this is for the book.”

“Hold on.” You settle down, scrutinising him, “Do you love your girlfriend?”

A scoff escapes him, “Of course I do!”

“Good, now how did you fall in love?”

Jin blinks, surprised by the genuine question. You seem interested as well, eyeing him intently.

“We met back in college.” He softly smiles, his complexion tinting pink, “She was close to someone in my friend circle and I thought she was really cute.”

“Was it love at first sight?”

“Sort of.” Jin tilts his head, “She was kind, but I wanted to get to know her before anything so we became friends first.” He explains, “Eventually, I realised I liked her a lot and asked her out.”

You hum and Jin doesn’t even realize you’re writing something down, pen in hand as you scribble onto a piece of paper.

“I can’t believe you wanted to hear about my experience.” He remarks.

“Well, I don’t really understand the romance genre in general.” You mumble, still writing. “And Taehyung said that sometimes experiencing things can help with his art, so I thought talking to someone who has experience would help me.”

Jin quirks a brow, a scrutinising look brewing in his eyes. It catches you off guard when you finally look up, taken aback by him surveying you.

“What?”

He narrows his eyes, “What’s the deal with Taehyung?”

You stare at him wide-eyed. “Deal? What deal?”

“You know what I mean.” Leaning back in his chair, he crosses his arms. The suspicious look in his eyes doesn’t disappear. “Ever since you met him, there's been a lot of ‘Taehyung this’ and ‘Taehyung that’.”

You sigh, his words drawing out a conclusion from you.

“He’s not being distracting, Jin.” You firmly state, much to his surprise. It was always a rare occasion for you to be completely serious. “I’ve learned a lot from him, and he’s truly really fascinating and inspiring to be around.”

A soft smile spreads on your features, recalling all the fond times Taehyung was either teaching you about the way he viewed the world or the places he would take you to explore.

You’re so caught up in your own thoughts that you don’t realize that Jin is still staring at you, the suspicion only increasing further in his eyes.

Jin doesn’t beat around the bush this time.

“Do you like Taehyung?”

You nearly choke, reality bringing you back as the air leaves your lungs in an instant. Glancing up at Jin mortified, you wonder how he drew up that conclusion.

“W-What?! No!” A hue of pink scatters onto your cheeks and Jin quirks his head to the side, like he’s not impressed.

“Really?” He wonders out loud, “Since that museum trip of yours, your head seems to be up in the clouds and as someone knowledgeable in the romance department,” He flutters his fingers like he’s throwing sparkles at you, “I’m starting to think otherwise.”

“That’s crazy!” You retorted in defence, “I can’t like Taehyung!”

“You can’t?” He says playfully, “That’s far from don’t.”

You hurriedly get up, collecting the notes you’ve written. “I-I need to get back to writing.”

The corners of Jin’s lips lift, since this is the first time he hasn’t had to ask you himself to work on your book.

***

He’s just assuming.

You think, hurriedly slipping into your chair. Tapping on your computer, you wait for the pitch black screen to light up.

There was no possible way. Taehyung was simply just helping you with your writer’s slump.

Blinking your eyes a couple of times, you attempt to shake away the lingering thoughts and bring yourself back into focus for this novel.

Only for your eyes to land right on your lit screen, the search you had begun popping in front of your face.

The curiosity is drawn out from you, and before you know it, you begin to scroll.

Majority of them fall within the same bracket of the research you were attempting to do in the beginning process of this book, with links advertising love advice and even counselling. A new link to a kdrama even pops up, something you have to will yourself to ignore.

Until one article crosses your eyes, one that has you more curious than ever.

Having difficulty in finding out if you’ve fallen in love? Find out here!

You frown, hovering over it for a split second. But then you shake your head, reciting to yourself that it was for the sake of writing the novel.

The articles flashes before you, paragraphs of information presented that you proceed to skim through.

“Falling in love is compared with the feeling of euphoria…”

You mumble under your breath, moving past it.

“....There is a semblance of love and trust…”

An idea for a climax ‒ you note ‒ that would tie in nicely with the finale of a romance book.

“...Rifts are commonly experienced…”

You have to create conflict somehow, maybe a difference in opinions.

“Usually the act of falling in love progresses within five steps𑁋“

Your nose crinkles, the corner of your lips twitching.

“There’s steps?” You mutter, body abruptly freezing. Drawing closer to your screen, your eyes slowly drift over the words.

“Stages are reached, each increasing with the notion of being in love. They are known as,”

Attraction.

Curiosity.

Attachment.

Denial.

Acceptance.

It’s a list.

Your genre can follow a list?

Tossingthe thought into the back of your mind, you eagerly continue, curiosity running haywire at this point.

“Attraction is the initial stage, symbolising the origin of interest and can be considered on physical guidelines.”

“Curiosity follows as second, with interest in the person only increasing as time passes by.”

“Attachment signifies the creation of a bond, the mind filled with new thoughts and changes.”

“Denial is the hesitance, acting against any forms of acceptance.”

“Acceptance. Welcoming the thought that you have fallen in love.”

Your mouth twists, each stage sounding more vague and philosophical as the one that came before it. The thought of digging out your ‘The Philosophy Behind Romance’ book from where it was discarded suddenly occurs, until you find yourself re-reading the stages a couple of times over again.

As you lean back into your chair, there’s a glint in your eyes.

Your biggest mistake was assuming you had the willpower to wave off the lingering thoughts, because they come pouring right back in before you can stop them.

If by any chance, he was right𑁋

The stages would have to be followed….

Right?

You cross your arms, skimming through the contents once again.

Attraction.

Did you find Taehyung attractive?

You recall first finding him underneath the glittering moonlight, his sleeping form residing on the bench and his artwork displayed just inches away from him. You can remember him stirring, his feline like eyes holding a strong gaze that almost made you lose your breath.

It’s the same gaze he holds while he’s painting, you pinpoint, a small smile tugging at the corner of your lips.

You abruptly blink, shaking your head.

Curiosity.

To say you didn’t find Taehyung interesting, would have been a huge understatement.

He was different from you, but not in a way that you couldn’t understand. Instead, you found yourself a lot more alike than you had expected, his artistic lens meeting yours.

Attachment.

What even is that?

You can’t help but ponder, thinking at the most you were attached to your writing and books, having an avid imagination since you were young and always finding your footsteps gravitating towards the library. You would find yourself absolutely consumed with the different worlds, eventually leading you towards a career within it.

It was a bond in a way ‒ one that you would always have.

Your lips pursue, a hardened expression taking over.

Was it possible to have the same feeling with another person?

You let out a long sigh, eyes flickering over to the next stage.

Denial.

You freeze.

The hesitance, acting against any forms of acceptance.

The thought snaps into your head unannounced and soon you’re scrambling, attempting to get back to working on your book.

A low chuckle leaves you, tinged with nervousness.

“There’s no possible way…”

***

You stand awkwardly in front of the door, swaying between your two feet.

The home before you is small, looking only to being one-story high and consisting of old granite. There’s an exceptional amount of greenery near it, with a small garden at the side where you can notice subtle cherry tomatoes growing.

There was no telling how you could have best reacted when Taehyung had suddenly messaged you, asking if you would like to come over. You had accepted as always, but you didn’t realize what that exactly entailed until you were standing a mere couple of footsteps away from his door.

Looking down, you groan, wishing Jin had never said anything to you.

The sound of a lock turning has you abruptly on guard, the door yanking open before you can even collect yourself.

And it seems like Taehyung doesn’t give you that opportunity either.

He’s dressed in a casual tee and sweatpants, blonde hair falling to his eyes and a bit ruffled. It’s a stark contrast to constantly seeing him in his brown coat and beret, a casualness that feels too utterly unfamiliar for you.

“Hi.” He says in a low voice, greeting you with a warm smile.

For a moment, you could feel time stopping ‒ one simple thought occurring to you.

He really is beautiful.

Taehyung seems to notice your daze, brows furrowing for a moment.

“Y/N?”

“Uh, hi!” You squeak, probably too many octaves too high.

“Is everything okay?” He ponders and you aggressively shake your head, to which Taehyung stares at you peculiarly for, but ultimately decides to take your word for it.

“Come in.” He steps back in and leaves the door open for you, gesturing to you to follow. You carefully step forward, getting welcomed to the humble abode he calls his home.

The inside is spacious and ornate, the walls being painted with striking colours and light decorations littering the area. The interior seems to match the exterior in a way, appearing rustic but unique at the same time.

It’s cozy. And comforting.

“I apologize for it being messy.” Taehyung states from behind you, quickly picking up a couple of art books on the ground and moving them into a nearby shelf. “My two roommates left to go out of town, and I’ve been here by myself.”

“That’s okay.” You say right away, only to realize that also meant the two of you were alone in here.

He seems to read your mind as well, quickly continuing, “I brought you here for a reason, though I’m not too sure how you’ll take to it.”

You glance at him confused and he walks past you, heading towards one of the doors in the hallway.

Following behind him, he turns to face you. “You saw what my recent art pieces were like at the showcase, but I wanted to do something different for my next pieces. Something more abstract," He explains, eyes lighting up, “and something that’s a bit more fun.”

He opens the door and your mouth falls agape. Because before you is a completely empty room and in the center of it stands a giant blank canvas.

“What…?” You whisper in awe, walking towards it. Taehyung leans against the door frame, a huge grin on his face as he watches you.

You turn, “What is this?”

“I know you’ve been struggling with your novel,” He confesses, “and I thought we could paint this together. Give your creative mind a nice break.”

You’re still in disbelief and he struts up next to you, a playful tone in his voice you’ve never heard before. “Of course, I’ll give you credit for being part of my piece.”

A laugh escapes you, shaking your head at his antics.

Your eyes connect with his.

“Let’s do this.”

***

A wave of light orange splatters diagonally onto the white of the canvas.

You glance at it surprised, the bucket of paint still in your hands.

Taehyung chuckles, amused with your aim. “Not bad, Y/N.”

You smile, putting it down as Taehyung grabs a bright green one, putting all his force into it.

It splatters in the opposite direction, almost creating an ‘X’ shape.

He whistles at the sight and you dash over to the other buckets, kneeling down for another colour. Taehyung had luckily lent you his clothes for the occasion so as to not ruin your own, but as a result the clothes you adorned were a bit bigger in size, hanging off your frame.

You pick up a white in curiosity and Taehyung fondly watches as you quirk your head side to side, ultimately deciding to just go with it.

Chucking the colour against the canvas, the white creates a splatter right in the center. Taehyung hurriedly rushes over to you, a can of smaller paints in his hands with different colours. You chuckle at his eagerness and the way his hands are already stained with colour.

“Keep going,” He encourages, eyes brighter than you have ever seen, “It looks incredible.”

You nod enthusiastically, taking the smaller ones and splattering them across. They come out this time as blots and lines, giving more dimension to the base you and Taehyung first made.

After having used all your energy in attempting to add in more depth with the shapes and colours, Taehyung continues, following your streaks instead of disrupting them. He’s always had an exceptional visual eye, understanding perfectly on where to pick up where you left off, and it’s definitely another one of things you’ve adored about him.

Taehyung’s eyes are wide, a childish glint in them that you’re so happy to have been able to witness. But you don't know that it matches the same glint residing in your own eyes, mischievousness running through every fibre of your body when you pick up a small bucket of blue.

He turns and before he has the chance to say anything to you, a hue of azure blue covers half of his face.

He blinks in shock for a moment, hand coming up to swipe and realize that there was indeed paint on his face. However, his eyes flicker up to connect with yours and all he can see is you grinning from ear to ear.

It doesn’t take long for him to pick up a red that lands all over the front of your shirt and side of your ear.

From there, it’s like a chord’s snapped.

Colours are flying back and forth, from high to low volumes, and in the midst of all this, yours and Taehyung’s voice are running loud, laughs and giggles echoing around the room. As if two children are playing together rather than two adults simply trying to paint.

Taehyung matches your energy so well, attempting to create even more chaos when there’s orange landing directly on your hair after you skillfully managed to get a splatter of purple on his. It’s when the paint shoots out from your hair onto the canvas that an idea occurs to him, his blue covered hand slipping onto yours.

“Wait, Y/N!”

You freeze, staring at him puzzled. He takes your hand, leading you into the front of the canvas before backing away, gazing at you with intent.

The look in his eyes makes you fidget a bit, wishing he would hurriedly tell you what was on his mind.

He raises a hand, halting you in place. “Stay there. Just like that.”

To your surprise, he picks up a large volume of purple, standing right before you.

“Close your eyes, Y/N. Put your hands over them.”

His stance finally alerts you to his intentions, eyes squeezing shut and hands reaching over when you feel a wave of cold paint splash all over you. You wait for a moment as it all drips down, collecting into a pool of purple right below your feet.

Taehyung takes your hand, leading you away from the canvas and next to him as you blink, the piece of art showcasing itself to you.

There’s colours. Everywhere. All appearing between a mixture of random to extremely skillful. All coming from you and Taehyung. And right in the middle of the mix is you.

Your silhouette perfectly lined with a gorgeous shade of purple.

“It’s beautiful.” Taehyung breathes.

You are suddenly very glad there’s paint all over your face, unsure if you would be able to hide the burning expression over your features.

However, the burn abruptly increases, a stinging sensation coming from your face that wells tears.

“Ah.” You wince, rolling into yourself as your hand hovers over your eyes.

“Y/N!” Taehyung’s hands are cupping your face before you can say anything. “Y/N, look at me.”

You obey his instructions, facing him but keeping your eyes squeezed shut. His thumb pads hurriedly brush out the paint that has managed to drip near your eyes.

“Is it gone?” You urgently ask, a tear rolling down your cheek.

“Give me one second.” Taehyung whispers, his hands disappearing for a moment before a cool cloth is pressed against your eyes.

You let out a sigh of relief and the cloth is promptly discarded, your eyes fluttering open.

A part of you wishes you kept them closed.

Taehyung’s face is just inches away from yours, and you can feel the low breaths he lets out.

It’s a fact he seems to realize in that instance himself as well, and there’s a silence that cuts through the air as you continue to stare into each other’s eyes.

Your heart pounds frantically within your chest. After what feels like an eternity, Taehyung moves first, attempting to close the gap but keeping his eyes trained on you. You don’t move for a second, kept frozen beneath his entire presence being so close to you.

It’s when his lips are hovering just above yours, you break the comforting silence.

“W-Where’s your shower?” You look away, grimacing at how broken your voice sounds.

Taehyung doesn’t respond at first, a flash of hurt crossing his features that you don’t see. But it quickly disappears and he clears his throat, separating from you.

“The first door on your left.”

“Thank you.” You quietly say, turning around immediately.

You stalk up to the door, halting when your hand meets the knob. Glancing back at Taehyung, he’s standing with his hands in his pockets, staring at the artwork you’ve just made together with a somber look in his eyes.

Your body stiffens and he glances back in your direction, a small smile on his lips that doesn’t seem to meet his eyes.

Turning to leave, it’s difficult to ignore the way your chest tightens.

***

Your shower was supposed to only be fifteen minutes, but it ends up feeling like a century.

The intent should be to get the copious amounts of paint out of your hair and skin, but as the steam clouds the air and the water drips down from your forehead onto the ground, your head remains planted against the shower wall, eyes squeezed shut.

It doesn’t help that there’s still a faint pool of purple swirling around your feet.

Stepping out of the shower, you open the door and peek outside, only to find your clothes folded on a small chair that’s been positioned right before the bathroom. Sheepishly reaching out, you discard the clothing Taehyung had given you and put your own back on.

You bump into Taehyung within seconds of exiting.

“Y/N.” His eyes meet with yours and you halt your steps. There’s unease brimming in his, but it’s something he doesn’t try to bring up.

“You’re leaving?” He ponders and you shake your head, completely confused on what to even say.

“Taehyung…” You begin, “I‒”

He raises his hand up, “Don’t worry about it. It’s okay.”

It’s hard to not let the guilt show up on your face, but Taehyung leads you to the front door, opening it up for you.

“You helped me with creating a great piece of art.” He says optimistically, “Thank you, Y/N.”

“O-Of course.” You mumble, casting your head down.

Before you can step out, his hand finds your wrist.

“I’m sorry, Y/N.” He whispers, “And I wish you the best of luck with your book. If it’s you, I think it’s sure to come out amazing.”

His words always have a way of giving you a sense of comfort, your frustrations and conflicts with yourself melting away.

But you don’t expect what he says next, “If you ever need anything, anything at all,” The gaze in his eyes leaves you forgetting how to breathe, “I’m always here.”

It’s not until he lets go of you that you remember your intent to leave, slipping away slowly as he closes the door.

***

Jin doesn’t understand why you’re so intent on giving him a heart attack.

The door slams open and you suddenly emerge. But Jin doesn’t have time to retaliate about you freaking him out constantly or that you’ve been out all day and that you need to be making more progress with your book.

Instead, it looks like a piece of your soul’s been crushed.

“Y/N?” He loudly ponders, simply left just staring at you as you hurriedly kick your boots off.

“Jin!” You exclaim, seemingly breathless.

“Did you run here or something?” He asks, a tinge of concern in his words. You simply hand him your coat, heading into your room.

“Where’s my computer?” You question, glancing at him wildly. He’s taken back a bit, but he answers your question.

“There was an electrical issue that needed to be fixed so I temporarily moved it.” He points down the hall, “It’s in the spare room with all the hard copies.”

“Good.” You exhale, dashing over.

“Wait, Y/N‒” He isn’t able to get a word in, the door closing with a loud thud.

There’s a plethora of questions at the tip of his tongue, ranging from why it took you so long to what could have possibly happened, but Jin isn’t able to ponder for long when he suddenly hears the frantic typing of your keyboard.

***

Twenty-four hours.

Jin crosses his arms, standing in front of the room that you have yet to emerge from since the past twenty-four hours. He didn’t say much after you had barged in yesterday and confined yourself inside, simply locking up for the day and leaving some takeout on the table outside in case you got hungry.

And that was all due to the look in your eyes.

It’s a look he’s seen before, on days where you’ve been engrossed in your writing, too occupied with your own racing mind to halt your actions. However, this time he notices a sense of urgency that wasn’t there before.

Which is why when you do finally emerge, he can’t believe what you’re waving in front of his eyes.

“Here you go.” You say, handing him the USB in your hands, “It’s all done, the entire novel.”

“Y/N.” He says astonished, staring at you in pure awe, “How did you manage to write it all?”

You laugh at that and Jin is a little unnerved, wondering how on earth you didn’t look crazy after staying in that one room for so long and just simply typing.

“I think I’ll always be a hermit to some degree.” You toss your coat over your shoulders, reaching down for your shoes.

“Where are you going?” He questions, watching as you finish putting on your boots.

You smile, “I have to go find someone.”

Jin’s eyes widen and without saying another word, you turn to head towards the door.

He scoffs underneath his breath once you leave.

“I knew it.”

***

Taehyung isn’t picking up your calls.

You hurriedly dial the number again on your phone, hearing the familiar ringing over and over until you’re sent to voicemail.

Once the other end beeps, you mumble underneath your breath.

“Taehyung, call me please.”

After leaving the message, you slide your phone into your coat pocket, glancing at the destination you hurried towards.

The home is still there, appearing exactly how you had just left it two days ago.

You frantically knock against the door.

Surely it opens, but to reveal someone else entirely.

“Oh.” You mutter, your expression of relief morphing into awkward surprise. The man standing before you looks equally confused, surveying your face.

“You are…?” He squints, like he’s attempting to place a name to your face.

You answer right away, “I’m Y/N.”

“Y/N?” He repeats, eyes sparkling. “Really? Wow, it’s so nice to finally meet you.”

A nervous laugh escapes you, “And you are…?”

“Oh, sorry.” He sheepishly smiles, reaching out his hand. “My name is Jimin, I’m one of Taehyung’s roommates.”

You nod in recognition, “Are you looking for Taehyung?”

“Yes!” You suddenly exclaim, “Do you know where he is?”

“I just got back in last night.” He says with a grimace, “But Taehyung wasn’t here, the last I heard he was preparing for his next showcase.”

Your eyes widen.

“Thank you, Jimin! I’ll be on my way now!” He waves you goodbye and you spin on your heels, knowing exactly where you needed to be.

***

The art museum looks exactly the same, pieces on for display and spectators walking from room to room, inspecting each one.

However, each exhibit represents a multitude of different artists, none consisting of the one you’re searching for.

“Excuse me.”

You poke a lady that’s wearing a gallery uniform, expectantly looking at her.

“Where is Taehyung’s‒” You bite your tongue, “Sorry, V’s exhibit?”

“Ah, I’m afraid we’re in the midst of clearing up for his next one.” She says with remorse, “There are some of his pieces still left over there if you’d like to view them.”

“I see…” Your shoulders slump in defeat, but you do thank her for helping you out. Heading towards the direction she pointed out, you find the paintings from the last time you had visited the museum.

The corners of your lips curl up. You recall being here, attempting to find the peculiar man after seeing him underneath the starry sky without knowing much about how close you would grow to be.

You come across the same painting, remembering how easily his ability to capture expansive sceneries was. But that’s when you see one of his new pieces, a soft gasp escaping you.

It’s the painting you created together, fully displayed in all its glory.

But it’s not the only one.

There’s a set of three different canvases, all with artworks of you.

One of them is the same painting of the night sky you saw before, but the sky is painted with a deep purple now, the same colour that was outlined with your silhouette. The moon is completely full, stars scattered around that are brighter with a hue of white. You don’t fall to notice that there’s also a bench added at the bottom.

Another one of them is a splatter of photographs, photographs you didn’t even know he took of you. There’s images from the river side, pictures coming from the marketplace, and in all of them he’s managed to capture the spark in your eyes.

The last one has you frozen.

It’s a portrait, but not just a portrait of you.

It’s a portrait of you reading.

The image is uncanny, the light hitting your side profile at a lovely angle, the book in your hands being carefully held, the excitement in your eyes even brighter than the photographs.

Your brows furrow, wondering when Taehyung could have gotten such an image of you. But then you realize he doesn’t ‒ that he’s created the image through himself.

That’s when your eyes have the instant to flicker down, breath hitching once you discover what he’s named all three pieces.

My Muse.

By Kim ‘V’ Taehyung.

Everything stops, and all you’re left being able to do is to simply stare.

“I’m assuming I can’t keep this a surprise anymore.”

You whirl around at the speed of light, recognizing that deep tone from anywhere.

Taehyung stands before you, a soft smile on his lips.

“It’s incredible.” You whisper, “How did you…?”

“I was working on it for a while.” He steps next to you, pointing to the first, “That one was made a few nights after I met you.” He points to the second, “That one was after we had spent time together.” He points to the last, “And that one I made last night, after finishing reading one of your books.”

You stare at the portrait, observing that the book that you’re reading is indeed one of your own.

He read the one where a man turns into a fish.

“You read it?” Disbelief is laced in your voice, mixed with an odd sense of pride.

“Of course, I’ve been wanting to read one of your books since I met you.” He explains, scratching the back of his head. “You saw my art, but I never got a chance to see yours.”

You’re simply at a loss of words. You ‒ the person that had a remark for anything and was able to write countless words at bullet speed, had no more to say.

Taehyung stares at the ground, chewing down on his bottom lip.

“Has your novel writing been going okay?” He blurts, attempting to draw the attention away from his art.

That snaps you out of it. “Uh yeah, I actually finished it.”

“You did?” His head snaps up in astonishment, “Congrats.”

You warmly smile, “Thanks.”

After a moment of silence, he clears his throat, “Listen Y/N, I’m really sorry for not expressing it sooner.” He gestures to his art pieces, “I’m not the best with explaining my feelings, so it's easier for me to integrate it somehow into my‒”

You cut him off mid-sentence, your lips meeting his. The surprise spreads over his face instantaneously, but it doesn’t take Taehyung long to reciprocate, moving his lips against yours.

You separate from him and he blinks, as if caught up in a daze.

“You never asked me what my book was about.” You breathe out.

His brows furrow, “What was it about?”

You grin mischievously, “It’s about a writer and a painter falling in love.”

Taehyung seems to be at a loss for words now, gazing at you in pure surprise.

“Really?” He asks, and you cheerfully nod.

“Yup.” You find his hands, interlacing them with yours.

“I’m really sorry.” Remorse enters your eyes. “Romance has truthfully, never really been my genre.”

Taehyung lets out a low chuckle, shaking his head. “It’s okay. Maybe we can see if that changes.”

There’s a giant smile on your lips that he matches with his own.

Tightening his warm hold on your hand, the pair of you walk away together from the exhibit.

You laugh to yourself.

Maybe romance as a genre wasn’t so bad after all.

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