Use Me

Use me

THIS IS 18+ ONLY MINORS DNI FOR HALAZIA'S SAKE (nsfw tags under the cut) (masterlist)

🌌 pairing: nonidol!mingi x afab!reader 🌌 genre: smut, angst, emotions 🌌 summary: You had a routine. Every Friday night, you would meet with your friends to hit the clubs, looking for fun. It was easy, it was emotionless, it was carefree. But what will happen when your usual wingmen are not around, and you only have your shy friend, Song Mingi to keep you company under the neon lights? 🌌 wordcount: 9.7k 🌌 warnings/tags: language, alcohol, intoxication, indications of past bad relationship experiences, not believing in love, emotional suppression, some of them want to use you, some of them want to get used by you... 🌌 taglist: @layzfeelit @honey-lemon-goose here's the drop 🌌 a/n: Hello there! This is my first attempt at smut, so please do be warned. Hope you enjoy, MINORS DNI, nsfw tags and content under the cut. (note: song referenced is BTBT by B.I)

🌌 nsfw tags: sub!mingi, dom!reader, mingi is a pretty princess, pet names, degradation(mingi receiving), cunnilingus, protection IS USED, one night stand energy, mistress, a lot of dirty talk, teasing, denial, overstimulation.

You were the centre of the universe. A modern-day Venus, swaying your delicious hips in time to the music, arms in the air spelling seduction. The earth-shattering bass was resetting your intoxicated heart like a defibrillator. The kaleidoscopic haze was surrounding you and embracing you like the sweetest hit of anaesthesia right before you went under. Nothing existed except you and the gazes that were scanning you, devouring every inch of your body as you made the dance floor your bitch once again.

It was all but a blur, just how you liked it.

The neon was your weekly escape, something of a routine that you had established with a couple of your closest friends: Wooyoung and San. You three were the lives of any party, igniting the atmosphere and not letting the scalding hot flame die out until you said so. And even then, in the hearts of all those lucky enough to witness your miraculous, dizzying passion would linger the burning remains of an unforgettable night.

Over time, your trio had established ground rules and fool-proof strategies for how to get the most out of any night out. From the elaborate preparations, dressing to the elegant elevens but ready to offer just the right amount of sleaze if need be. To the selections of drinks that give just the right buzz without letting you lose your head. To your personal favourite – the complex tango of aiding one another to capture the next beauty and wring their everything dry until they knew nothing except you, Wooyoung or San. All to experience the satisfaction of hearing another heart break the next morning.

This was your idea of love – a hit every Friday night, a fuck with no strings attached. If what drove them wild was for you to call them your beloved - you did not care. Things said in the night died a small death and turned to ghosts in the morning. Remaining in the afterglow. At least you did not have to remember their name. Their bodies also faded from your memory quickly enough. So, you came back, again, and again. In search of a wondrous, lust-filled temporary high.

It was the same tonight. Same club, same throngs of bodies glistening in sweat under the strobe lights, just belonging to different people. The DJ had recognised you, so he changed the set to play a couple more of your favourite songs. His wolfish gaze revealing a lot more than he wanted. Oh, how simple all these people were. And how easy they were to wrap around your finger. If only you had the same drive today. But San’s girlfriend, well now ex-girlfriend, decided that today, of all days of the week, was just right to break up with him, and Wooyoung being his roommate could not leave the blubbering dejected mess alone.

No amount of convincing could coax the two out of hiding in their newly renamed ‘bachelor’ pad. Not wanting to let the two buzzkills completely destroy your energy, you still tugged on your best dress, and strutted in, head held high, hair in captivating locks. There was something truly devilish about you, and you were normally not afraid to use it to your advantage. But there was something different about tonight. Probably because you had to settle for the company of another one of your friends. Someone a lot more demure, for the lack of a better word.

Even though it was a six-foot-tall man with a toned physique and the most attractive hands that you were talking about, you could not help but think of him as a pretty little princess. He was just so untainted, so harmless and prey-like. You could feel his nervousness whenever you approached. His fluttering eyelashes, a quick, shy bite of the lip as he attempted to conjure up a response to whatever you asked. This was Song Mingi. A friend who you had no idea how you made, and why he stuck around still.

He had just appeared one day, an acquaintance you had met through one of those closest to you back in university. Funnily enough, it was the mutual friend that you had ceased to speak to. Mingi was doing a different major, had a different lifestyle, behaved differently, even interpreted things differently, but he had been accepted into the group, nonetheless. Probably because one of your friends had an undeniable thirst for him. Not that he had ever noticed though.

Mingi had always been like that. A gentle creature. A ball of cuteness. If your whole friend group had ever sat together, it was always as though there was one soft, fluffy cloud amidst hurricanes, tornados and thunderstorms. Not a single drop of rain on anyone’s parade. He had the desire to please, and would always volunteer to do errands for others, even if it was so far out of his way it was foolish to do so.

He had stopped once you had explained to him that others were using him. Including your own friends. You had pointed out that he had the power to refuse, and that they were not going to admonish him, as a matter of fact, they would not particularly care. Mingi had taken your words as gospel, and since then, had taken to treating you like his saviour of sorts. Or at least that was how you had initially seen it.

First thing he had done for you after you had merely pointed out the obvious was gotten you your go-to order at the café near campus. How he knew or had found out – you never managed to pry out of him. Then there had been the ‘accidental’ (read: intentional, because Mingi looked like he had been loitering in that corridor for a weirdly long time) run ins during your transits from one lecture hall to another, so that he could walk with you to your class.

The attention had been a bit much at first, but you had grown to accept it as usual ‘Mingi behaviour’. After all, he was the princess, the fluffy cloud, the ray of sunshine. That had to be just how he was. And as such, you had never taken him seriously. A couple of your friends had pointed out that maybe he was trying to make advances, but you shut that down rapidly by reminding them that you had no desire to love, nor could you see anyone wanting to love you.

You had never seen that side of your life be so peachy. It was almost as if you had been born into heartbreak and were nurtured by it. The antithesis to love was where you had comfortably resided for so long, and only stepped out to reach for comrades in misery. That was how you had found your people. Your chaos. These amazing idiots with whom you could share everything, and they would accept you for the idiot that you were. And having someone from the other side, from so-called ‘paradise’, trying to trace your steps and meet you halfway – it felt wrong. It was wrong. It was not what you had written out for yourself in your own blood and conviction after you had seen and felt too much. You made a decision and turned it into an aspect of your identity. Like some people were awfully co-dependent, or mentioned their significant other in every sentence, you were proudly solo. Unaffected by that nonsense.

It was not meant for you, that whole ‘written in the stars’, sappy romance, soulmates bullshit. All of that was mere theory. A concept invented by some people who had no idea how reality worked. Your reality was all about giving into carnal pleasures if you needed to relieve some stress or craved some intimacy. The emotional satisfaction came from being with your crew. Your collection of people who were ride or die. As time had shown, even that could not last forever. At least you still had San and Wooyoung. The two who had you had instantly clicked with.

The two who were currently sitting at home, with San probably watching some guilty pleasure drama and sobbing into a plushie while Wooyoung had likely made his killer dakgaejang for the ultimate comfort. Thereby officially abandoning you and leaving you to your own devices. Well, almost. Tonight had to be the night when you had all agreed to invite Mingi along after a few months of his stagnancy in that department. Your trio wanted to show him how to unwind and have a good time. But now that responsibility fell solely to you, and you could not help but feel a little awkward. No matter how hard you tried, you could not get the man to loosen up. And in turn, he was ruining all plans you had in finding yourself a little fun.

With the glares he inadvertently sent every potential midnight suitor who approached you, Mingi was acting every bit a pouting, jealous boyfriend. This had only gotten worse after he had a couple of drinks. His eyes were only ever following you. Tracing your curves as you grinded against yet another ‘possibility’, trying to see where it could go. But that stare. It would not leave neither your body, nor your consciousness. From your position on the dance floor, you could only barely make out his form, leaning, arms crossed, against a black pillar. But it seemed that no matter what you did, Mingi would still find you. Much like he had done in the past and acted like your loyal puppy. A pesky little sunray.

With no success after a total of five songs, you decided to retire to the side lines and take a breather. Sauntering over to Mingi, you pointed at his hand, and received your drink that he had been keeping safe. A refreshing dilution of whatever the beverage was supposed to be. After taking a greedy sip, you spotted a more secluded seating area in one of the corners of the venue, which had not been reserved nor was occupied, and strode on over before anyone had the same idea as you. You did not need to check if Mingi was behind you. The only answer, ever, was yes.

Crash landing onto one of the couches, nearly spilling what you had left of the liquid nonsense, you gave a little yawn. It was a little too early for you to be getting bored, but without Woo and San to be the two devils on your shoulders and wingman collaborators, you were contemplating calling it a night and just leaving. If Mingi wanted to stay for a little longer he could: he was a big boy who could go clubbing on his own. But to you, the past couple of hours have been a continuous mission failed.

“Hey, if you are feeling tired, we could-”

That choice of pronoun, ‘we’, rubbed you the wrong way. You did not need this ‘we’ right now. You needed another someone, anyone to make that ‘we’ happen.

“Nah, don’t worry about me I just needed to sit down for a second. All that dancing and not taking a break? That’s how you know a person is on something.” You gestured at the dance floor again to emphasise your point.

From a distance, it really did look like an unstoppable, pulsating jelly fish that emanated neon fluorescence. Your natural habitat. Your rhythm. Fuck it. You were going back. You did not want to be in the company of this cutesy dullard. At least not right now. In a few quick moves, Mingi was left standing alone by the couches, as you clicked your heels across to the dance floor, joining the chaos once more.

How breath-taking you looked. Mingi was stunned as your lithe form glided past him, in that little black dress that beautifully hugged your figure. You were royalty under the moonlight. A seductress out on the prowl, unknowingly having laid claim on his soul long before you had ever thought you could. Mingi had never understood how he had fallen so hard for you, but this was an abyss that he would never be able to get out of, as every waking day gave him a new reason to love you.

He had been the only one out of his school to go to the university that he did, and since it was a distance away from the family home, he had to move, live alone, work alone, sit alone. There had been some positive aspects to that lifestyle, like he had all the time in the world to study, but the loneliness began eating away at him, gnawing into his anxieties until it had become almost unbearable. That was when he had reached out to someone he knew had good social networks in the university, and in a matter of weeks had found himself a group to be in. Your group, to be more specific. Everyone had been welcoming, but he had convinced himself that he could not be anything except a burden, and as such he had turned into something reminiscent of a butler. A boy at beck and call, just because he wanted to have friends and thought he had to continuously prove himself worthy. It was exhausting, but once he had started, it was near impossible to stop. People got used to good things far too quickly.

But then, there was you. An angel who had taken him by the hand and led him out of the maze of his own making. The only one who had stepped in. The one who had shown they cared. At first, he just wanted to show you his gratitude and help you out as best as he could in return for your gesture, but the more time he spent with you, the more he found out about you, the more he ended up wanting everything to do with you. Sure, you had presented yourself as being above feelings, he knew that, but he was not bothered by it. It was your comfort that mattered to Mingi. If that meant keeping everyone besides a select few friends at arm’s length, then so be it. At least it was your arm, and you were not refusing his company entirely.

That was how he had ended up being a sort of satellite to your system. A little moon orbiting around you while you and your friends were a galaxy, and order of planets. It was clear that the group was not as impressive as it had been, and that he was still the odd one out, nevertheless, social outings were still being organised, and he could sometimes attend them. His heart had swelled when you, Wooyoung and San had reached out to him with an invite to a night club. And now, even more so that the duo could not make it, albeit for an upsetting reason.

Mingi knew why you went to this club in particular. It had a good crowd, quite a few ‘lookers’, and people did not hesitate to spend their money. You had frequented it enough times for you to be very amiable towards nearly all staff, even recognising that one of the barmen was a new hire and wishing him luck. You were so amazingly attentive, and your ‘focus face’ had not changed at all since Mingi had known you. Forever his first love that never seized to threaten to break out of his chest in a burst of pent-up affection.

Of course, there was another reason why you were here, one that did not sit quite as well with him and was why he was rather sulky and unable to appease you in being more carefree and becoming one with the heavy beat that was roaring over him. And it was that you had your focus trained on others. Studying man after man for their ‘potential’, checking their energy or whatever it was that you could feel through their trousers. You were a dangerous balance of audacious and coquettish, able to physically entice and mentally capture.

But the disgusting, lascivious leers that those you tested the waters with sent you, and them groping your ass, snaking their arms around your waste, or openly palming their groin as they approached you was about to make Mingi go insane. Was this the kind of treatment you suffered through every single Friday night just to satisfy your own needs? Did you have to listen to drunkards call you vile names just for a night of passion? He could not comprehend how anyone could ever deserve it just because they wanted something special.

Fuck it. He could not stand you being attacked in that way anymore. He needed to join you on the dance floor before this could continue. Not for one second could he believe that you were enjoying this. It was dangerous. It was degrading. It was… it was not the you that had been his friend. It was the you that had evoked a different kind of desire within him. An insatiable want for you, and you alone. As he stalked forwards, closer to the centre where you were currently swaying to the more melodic interlude of rhythm and blues as a man clearly double your age was trying to woo you, trying to roam your body with his grimy hands. One look to the left and there was another, a woman who looked to be in her early thirties, unabashedly looking you up and down, likely having undressed you a thousand times in her mind. You were unstoppable, but Mingi desperately wanted to try. So, he silenced his mind’s protests, tuning into a darker hedonism, and swept you away from where you had been dancing and pushing you deeper into the mass, making both of you disappear into its music-enchanted waves.

You were astonished at your friend’s bout of bravery. Raising an eyebrow in suspicion, you studied him as he tried his best to guide you in the dance, however failing to do so without a newbie’s rigidity. A smile crept onto your face as you placed both of your hands on his upper arms, taking note of the well-sculpted muscle concealed by his shirt, and slid them down, nice and slow until you could guide Mingi to rest his own hands right on your waist. Now tonight was getting interesting. Finally. Without as much as a one word exchange you two continued indulging in the trance, and as the song changed, and changed again, time allowed the two of you to completely sink into the addictive feeling.

When my eyes are on you

숨 막힐듯한 전율

Oh, you know you get me loose

Make me go 비틀비틀

It was a push and pull. You wanted to take Mingi to the limit. Since he finally wanted to communicate with your senses, you wanted to show him all that you could do, what this atmosphere could do. The electricity between you and him was undeniable, and as you got more confident in one another’s presence you had fallen into a shared rhythm, taking every breath together, translating every beat into body language.

A dance floor made for two

달이 부르는 선율

Oh, it's only me and you

Make me go 비틀비틀

This ray of sunshine called Song Mingi was glinting in a much more tantalising manner than usual. All that following you around did appear to do some good at least – he could match you well. Almost frighteningly well. His movements were smooth, and he was very light on his feet. And most importantly, he was fully immersed in being your dance partner, to the extent that a club had the space for and considered as paired dancing. At some point during the song, his gentle grasp on your hips had become more needy, and he transferred it to your hips, while still keeping time to the song. As he pushed you closer to him, you could feel heat rolling off his body, and spot a single bead of sweat making its way down the side of his face.

Without thinking about it much you moved to swipe it away, which made Mingi stiffen and falter. He responded to your touch, leaning his head in which you took to be a sign that at least you would have a good night in the club. He was not going to go anywhere and was at your mercy. Very loyal. And all over you. You did have to admit, that once he had dropped the observation game and acted, he was turning out to be a lot more of an exciting person to have around. On top of that, you were getting your fill of more personalised attention, with an enviable man as your companion.

Again, the song changed to a slowed rhythm and blues piece, and both of you took it as a sign to get even closer. Your arms were now draped over his shoulders and loosely crossed behind his neck, and your lower bodies were mere centimetres apart. The previous energetic sequence was all gone, replaced instead with an unmistakeable burning. As your orbs met his in a near-showdown fashion, you could see Mingi’s irrefutable change in demeanour. How did you not consider this man before? This other Mingi? It was like you were meeting somebody for the first time. Somebody who you would not mind making your body.

Your breath was becoming his breath as he inched closer and closer to you, so tentative as though he was asking permission for every tiny movement. He halted right when your noses were touching, and so dangerously close you could almost taste him.

Mingi was going into overdrive. His everything, you, were right within reach, and yet your soul was nowhere to be felt. You were a succubus, tempting him by the way you were toying with his hair, so carelessly, like you did not know what you were doing to him. Tempting him by the kittenish expression you wore, your half-lidded eyes hinting at a future that he had only dreamt of with you. His sinful fantasies about you had all awakened; episodes that he had drafted in solitude wanting to be re-enacted. How he yearned for your touch. For him to be able to melt into you and give himself up. Be only yours. Forever. So, you did not ever have to do what you had been doing all this time before tonight. He let out a shaky breath, affected by the lust that was already clouding his vision. Voice low, and a little hoarse, Mingi momentarily shut his eyes and whispered right against your cheek:

“Use me.”

You tried to step back a little, surprised at Mingi’s sudden proposition. But he would not let go, instead pressing you flush against his frame. You could now feel that he was not kidding, his blooming arousal greeting you through the layers of fabric. Because you had not responded to him, nor showed any signs of being interested, the notes of roughness in his tone disappeared entirely, leaving behind something closer to a whimper:

“Y/N… please. Use me. You… you don’t need anybody else. Can just use me.”

In awe, you were staring at Mingi. Now this was something you had never predicted for this Friday night. In your musings, you had bet that by now, you would have been in your own bed, watching a music show and drifting off to sleep. Not about to make a decision that could change the course of your life while in a not so lucid state of mind.

“Then tell me, darling, how do you want me to use you?” you asked back, hearing a sharp and shallow gasp from Mingi. He was unwinding right in your hands, and you had barely done anything.

“I’d rather show you, Y/N, if you will let me.” He mumbled, beginning to trace your jawline with soft, feathery kisses.

“And I’d rather bend you to my will.” The retort sent a shiver down his spine, and he ceased to pepper you with the manifestation of his desirous state. “After you take me to your place.”

“Yes ma’am.”

“I could get used to this. Lead the way, darling. Your place.”

With one arm wrapped around your waist, tracing abstract patterns on your dress, and the other being used as a wedge to part the tightly knit bodies, Mingi immediately answered to your request. He had not changed his positioning as he flagged down a taxi, and continued holding onto you, although now it was your hand in his, for the duration of the drive to his home. Whilst the tiny droplets of possessiveness masked most of Mingi’s disposition, there was an endearing aspect to it. In some ways, Mingi was like a little kid who had just discovered something extraordinary and was ready to tie himself to it to ensure that it did not disappear. Even with his present actions unveiling nothing but an unprecedented lust and unbreakable certitude, Mingi still had remnants of his day-time self clinging onto him. Which was the first thing you focused on ripping way once he had finished fumbling with the keys to his front door.

You were tightly bound in each other’s arms. The air was thick with anticipation while Mingi closed the door with his foot and haphazardly threw off his shoes. You followed suit, and upon having done so, observed your ‘human offering’. You could see that he was not sure in how to proceed, having stopped midway through the entryway corridor, but the grip he had was on the contrary, more possessive. If he wanted to be used so badly, then he would not mind if you ruined him.

A harsh pull of the shirt collar and a stifled mention of your name later, your red-tinted lips locked in with his in a perfect harmony. In that moment, he was like your oasis, a discovery of a paradise after eons of suffering, a salve to your numerous wounds. The kiss swiftly transformed from the first phase of introductory exploration, luxuriating in the delectable tension, to a faster and more fervent collision of sexual ardour.

He was so malleable in your hands, giving into your control and honouring it with the unholy groans that were building up in his throat. To think that you had such an effect on someone and so quickly! It sparked a stronger desire to make him unravel and proudly share with you just how good, how satiated you made him feel. You wanted to hear him submit to you and follow your laws.

As you toyed with the hem of his trousers, pulling at the belt and letting your noticeably colder fingers glide against his skin, you elicited a growl from Mingi, who broke away from your lips to trail kisses down your neck and stopped right at the base, nuzzling into it and masking his responsive eagerness.

“Bed… room…” his demand came across more as a suggestion due to his feeble tone, but you felt nice, for now, and obliged, and let him take the lead in your tango across the living space and through the half-open door straight across from where you had been.

You were illuminated only by the moon and the streetlights that shone through the window, leaving you standing in an ethereal glow. Shadows that fell across Mingi’s face as he pulled away from you, his breathing ragged, only amplified the near-animalistic want etched onto him, another mark of his submission to you. He did not dare make a single move, again, standing in wait. An obedient boy, letting you turn his back to the bed, pushing him down until he was sat on its edge. You straddled him, your dress riding up to reveal the panties of a lacy lingerie set, and languidly grinded against him a couple of times to drive up his desire. He stifled a moan by biting his swollen bottom lip in an attempt to hide his craving for you, but that bashfulness was not on your agenda.

Motivated by his shallow pants, you slid your hands with fingers spread far apart under his white, now crumpled shirt, sliding them lazily up his torso, feeling for every ripple, every response to you. You stopped at his chest, paying particular attention to his nipples as you stimulated them, repeatedly making circular motions with your index fingers and pinching them until you saw Mingi tilt his head back a little and make haste to adjust his hold on you, moving to your voluptuous ass. Pushing himself against you he tried to chase his own high, giving into the first gifts bestowed upon him in the form of your caresses. But not so fast, you were not going to let him have so much fun so early on. Not when he had pledged to listen to you. To let him be your toy for the night. With a devilish smirk, you abruptly stopped, making Mingi’s eyes shoot wide open, and dart across your features. The nervousness did little to make you merciful, for instead you found you took pleasure in taking away what others enjoyed. He was confused, unable to read your expression. Just as he was opening his mouth, still decorated with your sweet saliva, you used his lowered guard against him and toppled him backwards. You took him by the wrists and pressed them by his head, right into the disturbed sheets. He looked so pretty under you. Pretty little princess. Those doe eyes, searching for an answer from you. A command. Anything.

“Did you not say I could use you, hm, darling? And now what do you think you are doing?” you purred, hovering over him.

Mingi let out a desperate hum and tried to buck up his hips against you. You knew that he could overpower you at any moment. And that made your present power of him that much sweeter. You held your ground and ignored the heat rising in your core. When he denied you a response, you removed your hold from one of his wrists, instead taking his chin and gripping it to make him see only you through his daze.

“I will repeat, what the fuck do you think you are doing, huh?” you were centimetres away, hissing the question right into his ear before softly exhaling, leaving a few kisses and cautiously biting the lobe. Mingi’s chest rose and fell sharply as he took in the sensation.

“I… I want you. I want you so bad, Y/N. Please.” He begged, letting his free hand rise to try hooking the strap of your dress, but before he could slide it down your shoulder, you switched your position again, now no longer holding him down, but tearing his shirt apart to feast your eyes.

“And where did your obedience go, darling? Do you think you deserve what you want?” you applied pressure on his clothed member, mocking how you could so easily ride him.

“I… sorry, Y/N, I cannot think, I-”

“Shut up. You said to use you. Who the fuck do you think you are?”

“Yours, Y/N I am yours-”

“That is mistress to you, you little bitch.” You snapped, back to peering into his clouded orbs. On instinct, you moved to give his throat some ‘affection’, applying light pressure on either side as you continued: “Pretending to be so innocent, whoring yourself out to me. I bet this is what you do on the daily, batting your eyelashes looking all pretty and in a matter of minutes becoming a lascivious little slut.”

“Y/N-” he yelped, but you were not having that kind of disrespect, so you tightened your rip and moved one hand behind you to fish for his belt.

“It’s mistress, darling.” You uttered, an ominous darkness dripping from your words. Mingi shuddered as he felt you masterfully removing the pesky accessory, discarding it with one throw.

“Okay, m-mistress, ah fuck…” he moaned as you let go of his throat and fully exposed his throbbing member, taking it in one hand and rubbing its tip with a thumb. He desperately wanted to see how you unwounded him, but you remained sat right on his pelvis, hiding your act with your body.

“Is this what you want, darling? Me pleasuring you? Me taking you apart with my touch?”

“Ah- yes! Yes, mistress!”

“What a good boy, see it was not so hard to learn. Now tell me how far do you want to go.” You broke your act just a little, to check if Mingi was still on board. You had no idea of his experience, nor of his boundaries, so it was a matter of respect.

“All… all the way… Y/N, sorry, mistress.”

“Good. Then I expect you to follow my every command. Do I make myself clear?”

“Yes.”

“Good little fuck toy.” You praised, sliding your hand down his dick, spreading his precum down the length and giving him one pump, only to fully remove yourself from his body and sit on your knees by his side. You traced his abdomen as you pondered out loud, amused at his dedication – he was not moving a single inch, wrapped up in your presence.

“I have been far too generous, don’t you think? Giving you all the pleasure, whilst you are making a mess and not thanking me for all I have done. Filthy.”

“Thank you. Thank you so much, mistress.”

“For what?”

“For treating me so well. For making me feel so good-”

“Oh, you eager little slut, such a pleaser. Sweet talking your way into getting some more. How greedy!” you laughed, crawling closer to his head and running your fingers through his locks. “I will need a lot more than that to forgive you for being so demanding.”

“Anything.” He answered airily.

“Then make me come with that mouth of yours. Show me what your tongue can really do.”

“Yes, please, mistress.”

“Tsk-tsk, how cute. Then on your knees, darling right there. In front of the bed. So I can see just how delightful you look worshipping my cunt.”

In a matter of seconds, he was making his way off the bed, and simultaneously discarding the rest of his clothing that you had unbuttoned. Stark naked, he dropped to the ground, just as you had commanded him to. The moon illuminated him once more. A lustful little angel.

You took your time in removing your dress, feigning a lack of want. As if you were doing Mingi a favour by being here, and by letting him eat you out. You wanted to make it a point that your orgasm was his highest reward, and that he better get used to it quickly if he wanted to be used by you. Mingi gaped at you as you were left in your bra and panties, the article now leaving barely anything to the imagination. On all fours, you crawled towards him, every bit a dangerous wildcat ready to pounce. Before taking a comfortable seat for your pleasure, you cupped his chin once more and pulled him into a sultry kiss, tilting your head to seek entrance with your tongue.

Mingi gripped the sheets and tried to rise to pull you closer into him, but upon seeing the too positive response, you sat right back, and slid your legs down into position. You rested your weight on one arm, while the other absent-mindedly played with Mingi’s hair as he placed his hands on your thighs, and began to take your panties off. For a couple of seconds, you played along, sitting up slightly so that the material could escape from under you, but just as he thought he had it all in his power, you stopped him by yanking him to attention by the hair.

“Now, not so fast, did I say I wanted to see what your hands could do?”

“No, mistress.”

“Exactly. Use your mouth, pretty boy.” He obliged, even going so far as to put his hands behind his back. He took the material between his teeth, and worked at it, little by little, downwards, until it appeared as though he was bowing to you, right at your feet. In one final move, Mingi tugged them off you, and rose up once more, an entertaining look of pride on his features.

You committed each step of this intimate sequence to memory and continued watching the show that he was putting on for you. The throw of the panties away from him with a move of the head, his gaze trailing down your body, his kitten-like nudges to your thighs, pleading you to spread them further apart. Not wanting to wait any longer, you did as much, and wriggled yourself forwards a tiny bit more.

As he kissed your clit and ran his hot tongue between your already soaked folds, you realised just how riled up you were. He would do anything for you, and that turned you on unbelievably. You tightened your jaw and shut your mouth to suppress any sound as you let your head fall back a little, your hair streaming down behind you in a waterfall. He was lapping up your nectar like a parched man, not leaving a single bit behind. With a flick, he switched his attention back to your aroused bud, and began to circle it with his tongue, occasionally pursing his lips to give the sensitive blossom intemperate sucks.

It was challenging to hold back any more of your sinful moans as he returned to your wet hole, penetrating it with his tongue and twisting in an unrepeatable motion. You felt your core begin to tighten, as a high was alerting you of its imminence. You tugged gently at Mingi’s soft hair and praised him for being such a good little boy, such a good darling, for fucking you so good with his tongue.

His delighted hums sent a vibration against your dripping cunt, and you groaned in pleasure, only making Mingi pick up his pace. His tongue was moving in and out, gliding against your folds and playing with your clit. As he buried his face in your pussy, wanting nothing more than to drown in your juices, your climax was fast approaching. As your breaths turned shallower by the second, and you pressed Mingi’s head right against you, he took the signal and gave your clit one final lick and curled his tongue upwards, right inside your hole. He was beckoning you, begging you to cum for him.

“Ah fuck, Mingi I-” his name slipped out of your mouth as you gave into the awaited orgasm, shuddering at the unforgettable feeling. He reacted to your exclamation with unexpected vigour, kissing your sex and hastily drinking in your release. This further stimulated you as you let go of him and leaned back onto your elbows, to not fully collapse.

Taking deep breaths in, you composed yourself and returned from your high. You glanced at Mingi, whose lips were glistening with your wetness. He dared to give you a shy smile after noticing your observation, like he was awaiting more praise for his hard work.

“What a good little slut my pretty boy is. Making mistress really happy.” It was hard to keep your voice steady, but you tried your best, seeing as you had to maintain dominance.

“And I am so happy too mistress. Thank you… can I ask something?” he inquired, as you rose onto your knees again and unclasped your bra, making him lose track of his thoughts for a moment.

“Go on ahead.” You enjoyed when men scrutinised your so hungrily. How your shapely breasts managed to make them forgive and forget anything you wanted them to. As you watched Mingi swallow some spit, eyes trained on your chest, you began to knead them for full effect, “you were saying?”

“Oh… I… I liked when… when you called me by my name… mistress…” he forced out, rising up onto his feet as you motioned for him to do so with your index finger. Now this was problematic. You never liked using your temporary lovers’ names during sex, as you felt it to be a little too personal. Yes, there had been times when it slipped, but Mingi had been the only one to take notice and express his liking of the fact.

“Well, one time’s enough baby boy. You need to work harder for me, you hear me?” you turned the game around, evading the possibility of him asking you to stop with the pet names and degradation. After what looked to be a flash of disappointment, Mingi returned to his obedient state and mumbled a low ‘yes mistress’.

You commanded that he lied down, just as he had before, his member now completely in the air and almost unbearably hard. You moved to sit right before it, your legs spread and straddling his thighs, pussy just within reach. But not just yet. You had a little more you wanted to do; you wanted to return the favour – you were just that nice.

Mingi was in a state of pure bliss as you spat on his cock and rubbed the viscous liquid over it. It was only a matter of moments before you heard him emit a low, husky moan. He cursed at the feeling, eyes rolling back a little as he gave into you, again. It was almost more pleasurable watching him plead for you to go faster than satisfying yourself. How his cheeks flushed a deeper shade of pink when you played with his tip. How he shivered when you decided to give his dick a blow of cold air, making Mingi’s mind go into a frenzy. He wanted you to take him whole, bucking up his hips as he noticed you moving closer, but that only made him receive a slap on his abused member, and a sharp command:

“Princess. I make the rules here. And if for one second you think that I am going to let your whored out dick touch my lips, I will not hesitate to punish you until you can’t walk.” You threatened, and continued pumping rhythmically as you heard a series of melodic whines in response.

He was so easy to read. Spread on the palm of your hand, a simple, innocent Song Mingi. So, you knew exactly when to cut his pleasure short, abruptly recoiling and removing your legs to be positioned to his right. You observed his pulsing cock as Mingi cried out in frustration, moaning for you to continue, just a little bit longer.

“Silence, darling. I am bored again, and I think you will like what I am planning.” You explained, twisting at the waist to reach for your handbag that you had thrown in the direction of the side table in the corner.

Upon fishing out a condom and unrolling it on Mingi’s member, you thanked your lucky stars that it was the right size. The friction made him tense up again, and you chuckled. So sensitive. So malleable. All yours to use for the night.

“Are you ready, darling?” you threw the question out in a manner similar to that of asking about someone’s day. Like this really meant nothing to you. Even though your core was pleading for you to hurry up.

“Yes, mistre- ah!” he could not finish his answer as you directed his cock right outside your entrance, and eased it in.

As you took Mingi’s whole length, you put your hands on his abdomen, and peered over, glazed over from the sensation of him filling you up, against your walls in all the right places. You needed a moment to get used to it, as the impossibly ideal match left you on the verge of sanity. The heat of your pussy, and its clenching as you wiggled a little to get your positioning just right was making Mingi see stars, detuning from any reason or logic that he may have had left. Now, there was only you and him. Bound by the night.

You commenced your ritual. The sensual rise and fall of your body as you engulfed him more and more with every move. His whimper as you rocked forwards to glide over his length made you groan in response, and you leaned in to kiss him, still managing to taste your own climax on those soft lips. Before you could move away, he cupped your face and pulled you in closer, nearly making you lose balance – you had to move up and push into his chest.

He gazed right into your eyes. It felt like a fire, burning through you. You were comfortable with lust, and had seen it many times before, but there was something deeper, something more lethal behind Mingi’s carnality. But in your present disorientation, you dismissed it as a building thrill to accompany the knot that was steadily growing within you. It was impossible to look away as he powered through the numbing gratification and kept you level with him. The way he looked to be committing you to memory, your every freckle and blemish forming constellations in his universe, was almost frightening.

As your pussy began to pulsate with more frequency around his member, Mingi clenched his jaw and let out a low growl. Unable to stay at the same pace any longer, but still having to remain in his place, he began to toy with your breasts, just as you had done while undressing him, flicking the sensitive nubs until you dug your nails into his skin, feeling the stimulation totally collapsing on you.

“Y/N… please… please mistress… can I… can I please fuck you harder. I want to make you feel so good. As best as I can…” he pleaded, his wish being granted almost instantly as you guided him back to your hips.

Just as you had done while moving a little way up before, he rocked you in the same direction, his length almost completely escaping you, only to be sheathed back again. As he got more comfortable with you in his grasp, he picked up his speed, the gentleness being replaced by steady pounds. He rolled his body up against you, joining you in the race to a long-awaited high. Your moans were becoming uncontrollable as you struggled to stay on top of him, which led him to flip you over and take his position on the bed. You were too hazy to protest as he kissed your neck, your cheeks your nose, your lips, and intertwined his fingers with yours as he quickened his pace even more.

The sound of your juices being pumped again and again was making you and him lose your minds, feral from the sexual delight. You could not care less that he was now groaning out your name with every stroke, and that his face was showing nothing but adoration. You were using him, after all, he had to fit to your demands. And how he was now having his way with you was making you go mad with lust. Your cunt could not take this perfection much longer, and you could feel it cramp around Mingi’s dick, signifying your unravelling.

“Ah… shit… darling… I… I am about to...”

It was challenging to find the words, let alone form them into a coherent sentence as you cried out and came undone once more. You wrapped your arms around Mingi’s broad shoulders, bringing him to you as you muted your yelps with his kiss. He continued pumping into you until he, too, began to falter, and soon enough was moaning right into you. Both of you collapsed into one another, your sweaty bodies becoming one in the moonlight as he relished in the feeling of your ecstasy warming his cock.

Using the last of the strength he had left, Mingi pushed himself off you and rolled over onto his back. Breathing heavy, you focused on the settling silence of the room. As your eyes had fully adjusted to the semi-dim illumination, you could finally take your surroundings in, and when your inhalation and exhalation returned to a reasonable pace, you could make out the noises of traffic coming from outside. Barely there, but a reminder that you were not on cloud nine.

It was time to clean up. You were quick to regain your senses, thanks what could be considered as training, while the same could not be said about Mingi. He was practically motionless, only the beating of his heart and breathing giving away that he was a living, but totally spent man. You removed the condom, tying it in a knot and throwing it in a bin you spotted in the corner.

It was fairly easy to find the bathroom, with its entrance being right outside. As you dolled yourself up again, which was pretty much just wiping away some mascara and eyeliner that had decided to stain your cheeks, you wondered whether Mingi was already asleep, or if he was going to meet you in the shower. Not wanting to wait, you took the liberty of stepping in and dousing yourself in the cooling water, careful not to ruin your hair more than it had already been tousled by passion.

No change. You unceremoniously dried yourself using the closest available towel, throwing it into the laundry basket under the sink. Mingi was definitely asleep. Or just so exhausted that he could not function. You chuckled to yourself, your ego swelling – a common occurrence on a Friday night for you. But a little seedling of suspicion had risen within you as you turned of the light and stalked back to the room. The intimate eye contact, the kiss to ride out the climax, the hand holding. This was a little… personal. Much like his reaction to you calling out his name. You were using him, you repeated to yourself. He just offered himself to you. A loyal friend, right? Helping another in need, apologising for cockblocking you for nearly the entire evening. What the fuck were you even saying? There was something off about this. You could not place a finger on it. But Mingi, poor Mingi, answered all your doubts in one go.

As you stood by the bed, about to lie back down to let yourself drift into a peaceful rest before exiting the scene in the morning, he stirred. You chose to not make any further motions to join him. You glanced at his form, now curled up and reaching towards the side where you had been. This pretty little angel. Who had fallen for the night to satisfy your sin. Just as you were about to step towards the window to take in the scenery, Mingi mumbled out the one thing you were terrified of.

“I love you… Y/N…”

Your heart stopped, and you froze in place.

You knew he was irrational. You knew he was fucked out and on the verge of slumber. Hell, you heard others say this to you before in a post-coital bliss. But something about how those three little words fell out of Mingi’s bruised lips tore at you, and how he said your name was a direct shot through the heart. By barely doing anything, just giving into his nature, his mind’s calling, Mingi made it clear that this really was a truth that he had harbouring for so long, and that only at his most vulnerable, while with you, could he reveal it.

In those couple of seconds that it took to utter the sacred confession, he had unlocked his world, one that revolved around you. If the past did not exist, and this was all a movie, the audience could almost believe that this was all domestic. That in a matter of seconds you would be crawling back into bed, to someone with whom you were sharing your life, to fall asleep in his embrace.

And not to be scrambling for your belongings that had been strewn around on the floor, careful not to alert your ‘not so much a friend anymore’. You felt panic rise in your throat as you let out a couple of shaky breaths.

“I love you”

Was it that easy for him to say?

“I.”

“Love.”

“You.”

Why were you so affected by it? Why was this the first time that these words, in that order, did matter?

You sent one apologetic glance over your shoulder as you tip-toed out of the bedroom, sex still heavy in the air. Your high heels were still in your hands as you crept out of Mingi’s apartment, out of fear that he could awaken at any moment, and you would not be able to stay indifferent enough to brush his pleas away.

Would he say your name in the morning?

Would he miss you when he realised you were gone?

Shit. You were in deep trouble.

You pulled down your dress a little, flipped one of the straps that decided it was not the time to look neat, and shoved the tights that you had not had the time nor the courage to stay and put on into your handbag. There was no chance you were going to stay in that same space as him. The adoration was borderline suffocating. It was so pure. So… honest. It made you sick to your stomach, and you were not sure if it was from disgust or from butterflies.

This was supposed to be just like any other Friday. A satiation of basic human instincts. A moment that was meant to be erased and the space filled by somebody else. But you had committed a fatal error. And you were sure of it. You had foolishly chosen Mingi: the one person who could not comprehend, nor have ‘no strings’ with you. In fact, all strings that he had ever been bound by led only to you.

In retrospect, it was obvious. All the years you had known him, he was always on your team. That silly boy. In university, he had brought you medicine when you were sick. Followed you and your ‘gang’ of troublemakers around almost like a groupie would follow a rock band. Stayed up with you in the campus library just to keep you company as you crunched out some report.

And now, even when life had thrown peers around different cities and countries and your friend group had whittled down to a tight-knit squad, he was still there. Loyal to you. Satisfied even if it was just you rejecting him repeatedly, selecting man after man, sometimes right in front of him, to bring home for the damned Friday night. All because at least before that moment, he could spend some time with you.

What were you thinking, falling for the trap of accepting a lover’s self-sacrifice?

A true libertine, you had chosen the primrose path of dalliance to tread. It was only a matter of time before you had to pay for it in full, for there was nothing in the world that could fix Song Mingi’s heart of gold if it were to break.

You stumbled outside of his apartment building, finally remembering to tug on the heels as your bare feet hit the biting cold concrete. It was barely three in the morning. Much earlier than you had ever left a one-night-stand’s place before. But this was different. In every way it was really fucking different. You hobbled away, cursing yourself over and over as you fished out your nearly dead mobile phone out of your bag, searching for the number of the only one you could call when the apocalypse was upon you.

He picked up after the third ring, just as you were passing under a streetlight. The roads were completely deserted, the residential district wrapped up in a cosy blanket until the morning. Somnolent trees lining pathways and sidewalks were barely rocking, and the only sounds that filled the air were the rumbles of distant traffic.

“Yeah? Y/N? What happened? You normally don’t call-”

“Wooyoung. I fucked up. Really badly. I really, really, badly fucked up.” You felt tears beginning to well up and sting you, threatening to spill over at any moment. Your friend was so concerned about you, launching to try and comfort you. It made you think back to those damn words that had imprinted themselves in your mind. Replaying again and again.

“Wait, wait, what happened, hold on? Are you okay? Are you safe? Where are you? San and I are coming to get you right now-”

“I slept with Mingi.” You cut him off. You were no longer walking; your legs were barely supporting you anyways.

“WHAT?” silence on the line as you heard shuffling and hushed, indecipherable whispers. “So, by that do you mean like, uh… heavy petting and foreplay or-”

“Since when does SLEEPING WITH SOMEONE mean THIRD BASE in our vocabulary, Woo?” you yelled, though without much conviction – you sounded too choked up.

“Fair point… well was it worth it at least?” you were not surprised that Wooyoung would inquire after that even when you were on the verge of melting down right on him.

“Oh, for fucks sake, YES, yes it was good. Very good in fact. More than good.”

“Then hey, at least that’s a positive. Then why are you so distressed? I know he has eyes for you but you know, so do like seventy percent of the guys at work.”

“He said he loved me.” You forced out, attempting to regain some nonchalance.

“No way.” Wooyoung muttered under his breath.

“Yes way.

“Fu-u-uck… Okay Y/N where are you this needs some wine and a good game plan.” You heard the rattling of keys and rapid footsteps. You tried to imagine the layout of your friend’s pad. Anything to get you away from what you had just done.

“I am… you know what let me send you my live location.” You could not bring yourself to take a single step back, even though you had seen a street sign. Going back would mean getting closer to him.

“Cool, stay put,” Wooyoung ended your conversation, but before hanging up you could hear him shouting at San to ‘stop sulking over that bitch there is a real catastrophe happening out there’.

No better words to describe it.

You used Mingi.

While Mingi loved you.

8 makes 1 Team

No matter how different, without one of us there is no 8 makes 1 Team

Synopsis : In which 8 boys build a friendship despise of their differences with the help of a psychiatrist

Pairing : psychiatrist! Reader x Ateez (for now )

Themes : angst , mental struggles, fears , Disorders etc

Warnings : this chapter includes mentions of , angst , eating disorder , suicide , mentions of sadistic behavior , a little crying, inappropriate laughing, death , swearing , please tell me if I forgot something , and I’m not romanticizing disorders in anyway and this is pure fiction meaning this doesn’t represent Ateez in any type of way

And I would like to apologize and just like to explain that after I post the chapters of you guys getting to meet the patients (Ateez ) there will be back stories as to why they are where they are and etc , besides I do my research before writing about these disorders and other things

Word count : 1,1k

MEETING YEOSANG

𝗣𝗮𝘁𝗶𝗲𝗻𝘁 𝗻𝘂𝗺𝗯𝗲𝗿 𝟬𝟴𝟵𝟭

𝙉𝙖𝙢𝙚 : 𝙆𝙖𝙣𝙜 𝙔𝙚𝙤𝙨𝙖𝙣𝙜

𝗕𝗶𝗿𝘁𝗵𝗱𝗮𝘁𝗲 : 𝗝𝘂𝗻𝗲 𝟭𝟱, 𝟭𝟵𝟵𝟵

𝗛𝗲𝗶𝗴𝗵𝘁 : 𝟭,𝟳𝟯𝗺

𝗗𝗶𝘀𝗼𝗿𝗱𝗲𝗿𝘀 : 𝗔𝗻𝗼𝗿𝗲𝘅𝗶𝗮 𝗻𝗲𝗿𝘃𝗼𝘀𝗮 𝗱𝗶𝘀𝗼𝗿𝗱𝗲𝗿 , 𝗦𝗮𝗱𝗶𝘀𝘁𝗶𝗰 𝗽𝗲𝗿𝘀𝗼𝗻𝗮𝗹𝗶𝘁𝘆 𝗱𝗶𝘀𝗼𝗿𝗱𝗲𝗿 , misophonia

𝘋𝘪𝘴𝘤𝘭𝘢𝘪𝘮𝘦𝘳: 𝘛𝘩𝘪𝘴 𝘱𝘢𝘵𝘪𝘦𝘯𝘵 𝘯𝘦𝘦𝘥𝘴 𝘢 𝘭𝘰𝘵 𝘰𝘧 𝘢𝘵𝘵𝘦𝘯𝘵𝘪𝘰𝘯, 𝘪𝘯𝘴𝘶𝘭𝘵𝘴 𝘱𝘦𝘰𝘱𝘭𝘦 𝘪𝘯 𝘰𝘳𝘥𝘦𝘳 𝘵𝘰 𝘧𝘦𝘦𝘭 𝘨𝘰𝘰𝘥 , 𝘯𝘦𝘦𝘥𝘴 𝘢𝘴𝘴𝘪𝘴𝘵𝘢𝘯𝘤𝘦 𝘸𝘩𝘦𝘯 𝘦𝘢𝘵𝘪𝘯𝘨 , avoid having them in a room with loud chewing sounds

She walked down the hall and entered the break room where other physiatrists sat having their breaks eating or chatting

She just sat down quietly minding her business and ate her croissant as she reviewed her next patients file so she could have a clue on how to deal with him later on

" Oh gosh , she has that bully as a patient ”

" The Kang Yeosang ?! "

" That boy is such a nightmare "

Her colleges started to rant about the young boy

" wasn't he the one that caused three people to jump from the rooftop last year ? "

" Yeah also this year 2 more took their lives because he encouraged them to "

Some of them gasped as others just avoided talking about Yeosang

" How can a 16 year old be that cruel ? "

The one woman said as she shook her head

“ He even threatened to do an acid attack last month on one of the kids because he chewed loudly ”

“ I would understand since he has misophonia ”

“ That doesn’t give that bully the right just because he is sensitive to chewing sounds ”

" Why do you guys talk about these children like that have you even thought about helping them to get better instead of gossiping about them ? "

Y/n looked fed up as everyone went silent

" Your just this calm because you haven't met him yet , he's horrible so be careful "

Everyone packed their bags and left her there alone until she decided to also leave and go towards the boys room that had a red sticker on it but that didn't mean anything to her so she just walked in seeing a black mullet haired boy that laid down swinging his legs in the air

" Not another incompetent freak to irritate me today , wait who are you ? "

" Your new physiatrist , may I know your name ? Just so I can get more comfortable talking to you if that- "

" But I don't want you to get comfortable with me , who gave you the damn permission to walk in here and demand things from me "

She chuckled and approached the boy

" So your not going to tell me your name? "

" Are you deaf ? I told you I don't want you ass-kisser to get comfortable with me "

" Do you think it's nice to call someone you just meet names ? Is it that entertaining? "

He started laughing and sat up

" They deserve it , you guys deserve to suffer and I'm all in for it to see your painful faces "

" And this reminds me of that dumb girl Soojin that jumped from the rooftop killing herself just because I called her a imbecile and told her the truth she already knew anyways "

" And what was this so called truth ? "

" That her parents don't love her and she would never get out of here , parents that are tired of their children just abandon them here "

" And do you think it was ok to do so ? Don't you know that the littlest things could push the other person to their edge or worse just like what happened to the girl ? "

" She just jumped it's not like I pushed her "

He scoffed and plopped down onto his bed

" What are you still doing here anyways? aren't you going to bawl your eyes out like the others and run out of here ? "

Y/n chuckled as she adjusted her coat

" If your going to be scared of your patients than what's the logic of working here ? "

" You've got a point , why are you working here anyway ? Don't you get tired of working for these dunce ass kids that won't get better any time sooner or better to say they won't ever ? "

" I guess you don't know why we are here than"

She chuckled and eyed the boy who suddenly sat up and looked at her confused

" If your that smart of an ass explain "

" The goal of a physiatrist is to help patients recover their functional wellbeing and to return to a healthy and functional life so until they don't reach that goal they won't leave "

" Good to know that I won't get out of here "

" And why do you think so ? "

The boy huffed sadly and closed his eyes

" I have no one waiting for me outside these depressive walls that I have to call home "

She noticed tears and a smile across his face when he suddenly started laughing

" I guess I was born to suffer all alone , how does it feel to be a loved child ? "

" I'm an orphan , they died in a attack that occurred at the supermarket a long time ago "

" Imagine going to buy something to eat and end up getting killed how pathetic"

the boy bursted out laughed loudly as he looked the elder straight in the eyes but weirdly stopped after seeing how unfazed she was about him laughing to something that probably was causing her pain but none of that was shown

" Are you finished ? was it amusing ?"

" A-A little bit , but why are you not crying or scolding me for laughing about your tragedy?"

" Because I know you couldn't help it , and I grew past the stage of getting hurt over these little things my patients do , your not the first one that did this "

She rubbed her knees and looked at the boy who just sat there looking at her

" It felt good but looking at you doesn't make it funny anymore and I don't know why "

He huffed and threw the blanket away from his body

" Do they treat you well here ? "

" No , I hate it here and than they say their here to help me get better "

" And what do you mean by that ? "

" Tha-ats none of your business "

" Listen if you feel comfortable with telling me something I'm all ears but when you don't I will just respect your choice ok ? "

" Stop acting nice it disgusts me "

The boy cursed under his breath looking away

" Well that's just how I am , I would be a hypocrite if I treated you just like they do "

She chuckled and stood up but started smiling softly after the boy spoke up

" It's Yeosang by the way "

" I see someone decided to tell me their name "

" You better appreciate it now leave "

Y/n nodded and went out smiling softly

Getting to know patient 0891 successful

EXTRA CREDIT

PAIRING — hongjoong x reader x san

GENRE — smut, threesome, fem!reader, dom!hongjoong, dom!san, sub!reader, college au, professor!hongsan

WARNINGS — smut, threesome, unprotected sex, oral (m receiving), dirty talk/degradation, fingering, overstimulation, public sex

WORD COUNT — 1.5k

SUMMARY — oh the things you’ll do to avoid flunking your classes. but to be honest, being at the mercy of your two professors has more benefits than just a passing grade.

Keep reading

8 Makes 1 Team

No matter how different , without one of us there’s no 8 makes 1 Team

Synopsis : In which 8 boys build a friendship despise of their differences with the help of a psychiatrist

Pairing : psychiatrist! Reader x Ateez (for now )

Themes : angst , mental struggles, fears , Disorders etc

Warnings : this chapter includes mentions of Threatening, Schizophrenia, Violent behavior, tears , mentions of skinning , please tell me if I forgot something , and I’m not romanticizing Disorders in anyway and this is pure fiction meaning this doesn’t represent Ateez in any way

Word count : 1k?

MEETING HONGJOONG

𝗣𝗮𝘁𝗶𝗲𝗻𝘁 𝗻𝘂𝗺𝗯𝗲𝗿 𝟬𝟮𝟱𝟲

𝙉𝙖𝙢𝙚 : 𝙆𝙞𝙢 𝙃𝙤𝙣𝙜𝙟𝙤𝙤𝙣𝙜

𝗕𝗶𝗿𝘁𝗵𝗱𝗮𝘁𝗲 : 𝗡𝗼𝘃𝗲𝗺𝗯𝗲𝗿 𝟳, 𝟭𝟵𝟵𝟴

𝗛𝗲𝗶𝗴𝗵𝘁: 𝟭,𝟳𝟮𝗺

𝗗𝗶𝘀𝗼𝗿𝗱𝗲𝗿𝘀 : 𝗦𝗰𝗵𝗶𝘇𝗼𝗽𝗵𝗿𝗲𝗻𝗶𝗮 , 𝗘𝘅𝗰𝗼𝗿𝗶𝗮𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻 𝗱𝗶𝘀𝗼𝗿𝗱𝗲𝗿

𝘋𝘪𝘴𝘤𝘭𝘢𝘪𝘮𝘦𝘳: 𝘈𝘭𝘸𝘢𝘺𝘴 𝘩𝘢𝘷𝘦 𝘢 𝘣𝘢𝘯𝘥𝘢𝘨𝘦 𝘧𝘰𝘳 𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘴 𝘱𝘢𝘵𝘪𝘦𝘯𝘵𝘴 𝘪𝘯𝘫𝘶𝘳𝘺 𝘥𝘰𝘦 𝘵𝘰 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘴𝘬𝘪𝘯 𝘱𝘪𝘤𝘬𝘪𝘯𝘨 , 𝘤𝘢𝘳𝘦𝘧𝘶𝘭 𝘸𝘪𝘵𝘩 𝘢𝘯𝘴𝘸𝘦𝘳𝘴 𝘵𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘤𝘢𝘯 𝘵𝘳𝘪𝘨𝘨𝘦𝘳 𝘩𝘪𝘮 , 𝘤𝘢𝘯 𝘨𝘦𝘵 𝘦𝘹𝘵𝘳𝘦𝘮𝘦𝘭𝘺 𝘢𝘨𝘨𝘳𝘦𝘴𝘴𝘪𝘷𝘦 𝘸𝘩𝘪𝘭𝘦 𝘵𝘢𝘭𝘬𝘪𝘯𝘨

She read her patients file walking down the hall , where guards stood at least at each door for safety with pepper sprays and a taser

Y/n just got transferred to Koreas biggest and kind of dangerous psychiatric a week ago because of a job offer , and here she was walking to her first patient of the day

It was quiet as she approached the cell door with the Number 0256 and a yellow sticker on it indicating that it needed to be careful around the patient

She waited for the guard to open the door and walked in seeing a black haired boy laying on the bed covered up till his stomach in green pajamas that had cute dogs on it

He looked peaceful yet she couldn't get fooled by the scene , she knew better than to just fall for the image the patient was giving

Some patients deceived doctors or guards to escape their room

With soft steps being heard he got alarmed and shot his head up and backed up against the wall that was connected together with his bed

The look he gave made her heart ache , it screamed fear even when she tried sitting on the chair she brought as he started distancing himself

" If you come closer I-I'll smash your skull ! "

He shouted at her with furiously and repeatedly hitting his head as if something was telling him to do anything bad against his will

" I mean no harm , I'm actually here to get to know you and help but I want to know your name first so I can talk easily with you "

" Liar ! Y-Your just like everyone else , I don't need your help and I don't want it ! "

He yelled once again , but she didn't flinch or anything that showed signs of being scared

" Listen im the opposite of everyone else here that has been treated you like your not a normal person like everybody else "

Y/n saw him picking at his skin harshly which started bleeding and leaving some cuts

" Make it stop ! Please stop stop ! "

"If you want me to help can I touch you then? "

She extended her hands slowly waiting for him to allow her to clean and bandage his cuts

" Help me p-please make them stop hurting me "

" Can I really help or are you not sure ? "

" Please help me I’m loosing so much blood ! "

“ Dont worry it just a little ”

She grabbed his arm softly before cleaning the cuts with alcohol after giving the boy a warning making him scream in pain and whimper

" Can you tell me your name now ? "

" it's H-H-Hongjoong and thank you "

" No need to thank me , and you have a really nice name do you know what it means ? "

He shook his head and wiped his tears as he looked dumbfounded

" Hong means wide and Joong center "

" What's that supposed to mean "

Hongjoong pulled his hands away when she finished bandaging it up and yelled standing up on his bed

" Your special Hongjoong , your name means to be the center of the wide world "

" But their going to hurt me ! "

" Nobody is going to hurt you as long as I'm here Hongjoong and I'll make sure of it ok ? that's why I'm here for you "

She smiled softly looking as he wandered his eyes around confused

" What d-does y-your name mean ? "

" You know I actually never knew what my name meant before but I promise the next time I visit you I'll tell you what it means ok ? "

" You will just leave like everyone else here or worse hit me if I don't listen "

His voice changed to a monotonous one as he stared at her with a blank face

" They hit you ? What did you do against it ? "

He suddenly teared up again and covered himself under his blankets and started shaking

" I said no touching and the guard hit me on the cheek two times "

" Hongjoong it's ok to say no and let me tell you something , some people just don't understand what no means which is bad "

She softly uncovered his face

" Repeat with me , it is ok to say no "

" It is ok to say no "

He wiped his tears and kept chanting the words over and over again , until her watch started blinking playing star 1117 instrumental version catching his attention

" Looks like our time is over Joongie "

" No ! don't leave me their going to get me please don't leave me here  alone "

He started screaming and hitting his head

" Hongjoong it's alright I'll come back ok ? Now let's tuck you in you must be tired "

She waited for him to lay down and tucked him in softly following with her caressing his soft hair for him to relax

" Promise you'll be back ? "

" I promise you I'll be back "

Mission get to know Patient 0256 done

blacklist }} p.sh (masterlist)

❥ summary: because when you fuck with park seonghwa, you get blacklist

❥ pairing: park seonghwa x reader

❥ status: complete

❥ genre: badboy!seonghwa, fuckboy!seonghwa, enemies2lovers, social media, very slow-burn romance?, fluff i guess?, etc.

❥ word count: 56k

˚₊· ͟͟͞͞➳❥ Chapter One

˚₊· ͟͟͞͞➳❥ Chapter Two

˚₊· ͟͟͞͞➳❥ Chapter Three

˚₊· ͟͟͞͞➳❥ Chapter Four

˚₊· ͟͟͞͞➳❥ Chapter Five

˚₊· ͟͟͞͞➳❥ Chapter Six

˚₊· ͟͟͞͞➳❥ Chapter Seven

˚₊· ͟͟͞͞➳❥ Chapter Eight

˚₊· ͟͟͞͞➳❥ Chapter Nine (final)

| in love and lore | eight |

pairing: ateez x fem reader

genre: fantasy/daemon/soulmate au

warnings: some cursing, mentions of death and violence

summary: the daemon king and his seven black generals. names and faces of these eight had changed over the years as each new king was crowned, but their reputation as the most powerful daemons always remained the same. upon hearing the rumors one of the seven led the charge of the nearby battle, you should have stayed close to the encampment. you should have never wandered out on your own. but you did, and your life would never be the same again. good or bad, you would just have to wait to find out.

“There’s no need to be afraid, angel.” His words were a breath against the side of your neck. “You’ve done so much for us, let your king now return the favor.”

wordcount: 14.5k

| seven | eight | nine |

a/n: ahhh, it's finally here and so much longer than i originally planned. when i first started this chapter, i planned on it covering the entirety of their travels back to the daemons' kingdom, but here we are, and you'll come to see that journey will be for the next chapter and we're still outside maehwa by the end of it. oops. but i am super happy with how this came out. don't really know how it did or what possessed me, but it did and it's here. so i hope you all enjoy. :)

also, taglists will be moving to reblogs as i think you guys are so awesome and cool, a singular post can't contain you all so those will be following here in a few moments after this posts.

~

"May I sit with you?"

You glanced up from the pen and paper in hand at the voice that spoke above you, though it was done out of habit than to see who it was. You already that piece of information, having felt his gaze on you for the past half hour.

You had done all you could to avoid Hongjoong and his generals over the past few days, but any success you had found hadn't been on your part, but their own attempt in giving you the space you desperately craved. While you had woke up early and spent the past hour curled up next to the barrier to watch the sunrise by yourself, you had been well aware of Yeosang's nearby presence and wondered if he would ever make a move.

You met his eyes briefly before turning back down to the paper before you, simply shrugging your shoulders instead of bothering to verbally answer his question. You didn't quite have it in your heart to refuse him, but you did hope the defensive stance your body had taken at his presence would have been enough to deter him. It didn't, not that you had really expected it to, and he simply took your silent response as an excuse to set down on the ground next to you. Not quite close enough to be touching, but close enough for you shift your stance a bit before busying yourself with the paper you had been doodling on in an attempt to clear your mind. It had worked well enough up to this point, but his new proximity to you caused your anxiety to spike once more.

He had to have wanted something. While your attempts at completely avoiding them had been futile, none of them had approached you in the manner Yeosang now did. Any interactions with them had been brief and awkward. There was much they wanted to say. Either to apologize or convince you in some manner, but they held their tongues, fully knowing you didn't want to talk about it at this point.

The constant guard from before had been dropped from that night, and though you had more time to yourself than you had ever had since they had brought you here, you found little relief in the matter. Not with the barrier you had run across that first night remaining up and present. They had claimed it was simply an added precaution to keep you safe after the incident at the masquerade, but you weren't an idiot. You knew they had simply exchanged one guard for another. The thought of running had crossed your mind more than once since that first night, though not in the way they were worried of. Part of you did want to run and escape this fate that had been placed on you, but you knew it wasn't something you could or would succeed in. And even if you did, where would you go? You had nowhere to go or anyone to run to. But the fleeting thoughts you had made of it must have slipped over in their minds as well, and the barrier was the needed precaution they had taken to keep it from happening.

Honjoong had claimed they could only read the thoughts you outwardly projected, and only then when you were within a certain proximity of them, but without any other explanation of the process, you struggled to understand what exactly he had meant by it or how you could control it yourself. Based on your past experiences, you were certain things had slipped through, but without knowing which thoughts had or hadn't, it was impossible to tell just how much they had gleaned from you in the meantime. And with the way you struggled to control the panic that took root in your stomach each time you saw one of them, you had the sinking suspicion they knew more than they let on. The glances they sent to each other when they thought you weren't looking was all the evidence you needed of that fact.

"Hongjoong has informed us that the treaty talks have come to a conclusion."

You tensed at the mention of him, shifting your position against the barrier you had been using as a backrest. And though your eyes stayed focused on the sketch in your lap, you caught the way Yeosang's body extended past the barrier out of the corner of your eye, a fact that had your grip tightening its grip on the pencil in hand.

You hadn't seen Hongjoong since that night.

Wanting nothing more than to be alone, you had strayed near the edge of the camp long into the night, contemplating over everything he had told you. You had run through everything he had said over and over, and yet, you still struggled to make sense of it all to this day. No matter which way you wrapped your head around it, parts of it would still not make sense. You couldn't have been his mate. Not when you weren't a daemon. Not when you were someone who should have never been born. And then, if it was true, and you truly were his mate, then he shouldn't have been fine with the fact as much as he seemed to, not with the giant gap between statuses. Not when he was a king.

As much as you knew you should, you had yet to divulge the information to Soomin or Hyunwoo. You were well aware telling them could perhaps give you some much needed advice or reassurance, but the courage always left you the moment you opened your mouth. You didn't know how they would react or whether or not they would hate you for it. And you could already hear the teasing statements Hyunwoo would make from it, only serving to fuel the flustered state the knowledge left you in already.

The two of them had taken the occupancy of a nearby tent after the masquerade, Jongho's statement of them being brought back with you proving true when he had allowed you a brief visit before your talk with Hongjoong. It was there that you had returned to that night once your tears had finally dried up, unable to go back to your own tent at the prospect of being forced to see him again. Neither one of them had been asleep when you had slipped inside and had been quietly conversing on the edge of one of the cots when you had appeared.

Your sudden presence had surprised them, as well as the state you were in, but they hadn't tried to press for anything more than whether or not you were safe for the time being. They were curious as to what had happened and the meaning behind their behavior, that much was obvious, but you hadn't had the courage to tell them. So when Hyunwoo offered up his bed instead of pressing you further, you had nodded your appreciation and curled up inside it without another word.

But as much as you had wanted to hide inside that tent forever, it was impossible. Despite never telling them where you had gone off to, Mingi had still been waiting for you outside the tent when you had woken up the following afternoon, chatting idly with Hyunwoo. Though he had made no mention of anything that had occurred the night before or why you had retreated into your siblings' tent, you had felt the concern he extended towards you all the same, and it had been impossible for him to completely hide the care that had laced his tone each time he had spoken.

You had never been entirely comfortable with any of them before, but this... This threw away any sort of progress you had made towards it since you had met them. You didn't know where you stood with them anymore - not that you really had before - let alone how to act around them now. The revelation of your newfound relation to them hung heavy in the air each time you were forced to interact, leaving you feeling more vulnerable than ever. It was impossible to look them in the eye, let alone stop the blush that came creeping up the back of your neck whenever they referred to you by those damned nicknames of theirs. Each use of 'angel' or 'pretty' only now served as a sharp reminder of how you were now stuck here with them, sealed to a fate you had no control over.

You had been right when you had told Seonghwa how harsh reality could be at times that night so long ago, and though you had hated how clueless you had been before, you almost wished you could have your ignorance back, almost preferring the anxiety it had brought over the anxiety the truth brought with it.

"We'll remain here for a few more days to ensure everything is properly instated, but preparations for the journey back to Taeyang have already begun." If he noticed your discomfort, he didn't show it, continuing on with his previous train of thought as he gazed upwards at the city's walls. "If you wish, I can escort you back to the city and help you gather anything you might wish to take with you."

"How generous of you," you murmured, "allowing me the time to grab a few comforts of home before stealing me away."

Up to this point, no one had explicitly mentioned what was to happen now, and if Hongjoong had been going to, you had left before he got around to it. You weren't completely clueless, however, and were able to read between the lines. If Hongjoong really had told you the truth, and you really were their mate, and they really intended to act upon this fact, you knew you wouldn't be staying here. You knew you would be left with no choice but to go down south with them, and the casual mentions the others had made of this had all but secured this fact for you. And yet, despite fully aware of what was coming, it did little to lessen the blow upon finally hearing it.

"Would you prefer to stay here with the humans, then, and continue the life you had led before? A life where you were overworked, insulted, and hated?"

"No," your body tensed, "but that doesn't mean I wish to go with you either."

"Then where do you wish to go? What is it that you wish to do if it's neither staying here and continuing the life you had before nor a new one with us?"

"I don't know," you shrugged, "somewhere..."

"Somewhere you could open up your own shop? A place where you could do whatever you wanted on your own terms and no one else's?" he answered for you, the corner of his lip tilting up. "We could give you that you know? Perhaps not in the exact way you always imagined, but we could give you anything you needed to grow and brew whatever it was you desired."

His words were a reference to a time that now felt like a different lifetime altogether, a time where you had been clueless to his true identity and in awe of the attention and kindness he had extended your way. A time where you had thought him nothing more than a concerned human who had truly seen you for who you were and not for the blood running through your veins.

Upon first discovering he was a daemon, you had originally thought it had been nothing more than an act. Something to get you to drop your guard and pin the murder of Hak Seongmin on you. But now that you knew exactly what was going on, the weight of his actions hit in a different way. And the implication he had made when he had mentioned what it was he yearned for if things had been different hit you hard in this moment.

You had thought his wish had been odd at the time. The idea that someone like him could never settle down and find someone to marry had seemed impossible with his attractive features and suave personality, but now you understood. For the majority of his life, he had been told a mate and family was something he would never have. That he had been born with the sole purpose of serving and protecting his king. And yet, everything had changed when Hongjoong had been crowned and the bond between them had snapped in place. Unlike you, the life he had craved was now at the tip of fingers.

"Was anything you said that day true?"

With all motivation to draw thrown out the window, you dropped the pencil you had been fiddling with into your lap and exchanged it for a loose strand at the edge of your sleeve.

"I know how it might seem from your view, but let me assure you everything I told you that day was true." His gaze was trained on you, but you refused to meet it. "The only thing I hid from you that day was the fact I wasn't human."

"And what if," you found it hard to speak, afraid of the answer to the question that had been burning in your head for days now, "what if I wasn't your mate? Would you have treated me with the same kindness you had shown me that day? Or would you have turned the other way like everyone else and simply let me die?"

Ever since you had gotten over your shock and come to accept everything Hongjoong had told you was very well true, the question had haunted your thoughts. What if you hadn't been their mate? What would have happened then? Would they have treated you with the same kindness they had shown you by your deeds as the Black Angel and the people you had saved, or would they have killed you where you stood when Seonghwa had revealed your identity? Was the only reason they were kind to you and treated you like everyone else simply because you were their mate and nothing more? And if things had been different, would you even still be alive?

Yeosang was silent for a moment, brows furrowing as he mulled over his answer to your question. Each moment that ticked by only serving to further fuel your insecurities, telling you what you had known all along. That things would have been different.

"You're right on the account that things would have been different, but not in the way you're assuming."

This time you did look up at him, eyes narrowing at the way his reply ended up being a response to your thoughts and not the question you had verbally asked him.

"Sorry." He had the decency to look ashamed for a moment, fingers digging into the ground beside him as he frowned. "It's just, without any proper training, you're akin to an open book. The heightened emotions from the past few days has made your thoughts and emotions overflow to the rest of us whether you mean them to or not, and sadly, we have very little means to block them out."

His apology felt sincere, but it didn't stop you from pulling your legs in closer, feeling more embarrassed than you had before now that you knew just how much they must have gathered from you. The pitiful looks they had sent you the past few days now worse than before.

"It won't always be this way though. We can teach you to control them, if you'd let us. Though you would probably excel the most with Mingi. Out of us all, he's always been the best at maintaining his thoughts."

"You said things would have been different," you replied, returning the conversation back to the question Yeosang had avoided earlier. "Different how?"

"Well, you did save Seonghwa's and the others' lives, so we would have happily followed through with our promise to repay you for your deeds and ensured your safety through the war's end. After that, well, it's a bit hard to say what Hongjoong would decide, but I imagine he would have extended an invitation for you to come back to Taeyang with us and hired you as a healer based on your natural talent and daemon ability."

"Forgive me when I say I have a hard time believing that." He might have said he had yet to lie to you, but that didn't mean he hadn't hidden things from you before, and you had a hard time believing he wasn't hiding something now when his claims of truth seemed so far-fetched. Perhaps they would have extended an offer your way, but you doubted you would have been given a choice in the matter, and would have only landed yourself in a similar position to the one you had before with the humans. Only this time with daemons calling you names instead of the humans. "And even if you are telling the truth, and you would have kept me alive to the end, would you have still done it if I had no healing capabilities? Or would it have just been a way for you to get a hold of my blood and use me as the humans have?"

"I understand how it might all appear from your view and I'll be the first of us to admit your worries do not come completely unwarranted. The daemons have not always been kind to those without a pure lineage and hundreds, if not thousands, of people have suffered and died under this obsession they've had. For it was the daemons who hunted down and killed the half-daemons when the war began and not the humans. And it would be easy to blame that occurrence and any similar one on the former king and his growing paranoia, but it was from centuries of prejudice that carried those acts to fruition and nothing I say or do will ever make up for it."

"You hunted them down?" It was hard to keep your voice level at the wave of disgust that coursed through you. You had known the daemons often killed your kind for no other reason than their hatred for your existence, but hearing how they had actively been hunted down for something they had no control over was something else altogether. "Why?"

"Hongjoong's father was not a nice man, and he craved power more than anything else. And the more time went by, the more his lust for it increased, and with it, came paranoia. He was afraid of anything and everything that could challenge him for it, including Hongjoong who he kept under a strict watch. He knew Hongjoong had the power to overthrow him, just as his father had overthrown his grandfather, so he did everything he could to ensure that would never come to pass." Yeosang's body had become tense as he spoke, his previous relaxed state hardening. "So, when the war began and he heard the humans had decided to gather up as many half-daemons as they could for the war efforts, the order to hunt and exterminate any and all half-daemons was given. It's the reason why the war hit the borders so hard in the beginning; the daemon troops under orders to burn them all to the ground, no matter whose side they were on."

"And you wonder why I was thankful to have been born among the humans," you retorted, voice full of bitterness.

"Things are changing though. Hongjoong is not the man his father was. When he heard what his father was doing, he recruited us to do everything we could to save as many of his people as he could, but there was only so much we could do before it was too late. There were only so many people we could save."

"And why's that? Why did he care? Why did any of you care?"

"Now that is a question that requires a long and rather complicated answer, one that I am unable to fully answer myself, but I will do my best to explain to you what I can." His head tilted, black eyes catching yours, and for the first time since he had appeared you didn't look away. "Has anyone explained to you or mentioned what my ability is?"

You shook your head, wondering what that had to do with the topic you were just discussing, but you knew better than to question him on it. After all, you did hold some curiosity to what his and the others' daemon abilities were.

"I can create illusions, making those around me see, feel, and hear whatever it is that I wish them to. Take this butterfly for example." A hint of a smile reappeared on his face as he reached his hand out for the insect, allowing it to take rest on his finer. "It's not real; simply an image I'm projecting inside each of our heads at the moment." To prove his point, he raised his opposite hand to swipe at the bug. To your surprise, his fingers ran through it as though it was only air, causing the image to ripple for a few seconds. "Believe it or not, it took years of training for me to pull off tricks like this one. Tasks such as changing my appearance or disappearing from view entirely took little more than innate talent, but mimicking another living being to where it was believable was something much harder altogether."

The butterfly's wings extended, taking off from Yeosang's hand to make the short trek over to your knee. You eyed it closely, in utter disbelief to discover it wasn't real. That it was nothing more than an illusion the man next to you had created for you to see. Everything about it felt real, down to the way its wings fluttered in the breeze to the way its feet tickled your skin as it moved along the back of your left hand.

"It's the same guard ability your father had."

"You knew my father?" Your lips twisted, teeth pulling at the bottom corner of your lip, unsure of just how this revelation made you feel. On one hand, you had no desire to learn about the man who had destroyed your family when he had killed your mother, especially not that you now knew just what sort of man he had served, but another part of you was curious. Curious to know if he really did match the rumors or if perhaps there might have been a chance there was some truth behind Soomin's hazy memories of the man.

Yeosang nooded. "When the new members of the guard pop up, the current members devote quite a bit of time training them up and teaching them how best to utilize their abilities. Since I shared the ability of you father, we spent quite a bit of time together in my youth and we were quite close before he was sent to Maehwa." He paused for a second, and you could feel the way his eyes had traveled back to you. "Did you knew your brother looks just like him? So much so, it took me by surprise the first time I saw him, and for a second, I thought it might have actually been him until I saw his eyes." The butterfly on your hand vanished then, causing your eyes to lock on his for a split second. "But I see now that you were the one to inherit them instead."

You struggled to control the way your stomach twisted at his words and were quick to divert your eyes. The light expression on his face showed he hadn't meant anything negative by them, but that didn't stop the wave of insecurities that hit you as he commented on the one feature you had spent years wishing you could change and the reason behind them.

"You're a lot like him, you know?" Yeosang's voice softened and a hand was placed on top of your shoulder. "A little stubborn, maybe, but incredibly selfless and kind. Someone who could see beyond the status of daemon and human. He would have absolutely adored you."

"Just like he adored my mother?" you rebuked his statement, pulling back far enough to cause his hand to drop.

"It's not that simple."

"What do you mean? He killed her, didn't he? What more is there to tell"

"It's... complicated." You were quick to see the way Yeosang had tensed up again, dropping his gaze back to his lap. "And though I played a small role in an attempt to stop the events that occurred that night, it's not my story to tell. If you wish to hear what happened, you would need to speak with Hongjoong. It's his story to tell."

"No, you can't leave it at that." You shook your head, forcing him to meet your eyes. You weren't going to play that game again. You weren't going to let them keep their secrets from you and brush off your questions. "He was my father and it was my mother, so I think I have a right to know. So, tell me, did he kill her?"

"I'm sorry, angel, truly, but I shouldn't be the one to explain that night to you. Trust me when I say you need to hear it from Hongjoong. After everything he went through to get here, he deserves to be the one to tell you." And despite the way his words frustrated you, you could see the desperation in them, as though he truly believed it would be best if you heard it from Hongjoong. "But something you should know is that your father was a good man. He knew I wasn't fully daemon, and yet, he never once treated me differently for it. And it was him who helped me gain the courage to finally tell the others."

You couldn't stop the sharp inhale his words brought, eyes widening as you process what he had just said and wiping away any remaining thoughts you had about the conversation before for the time being. He had mentioned it so casually, that you had almost missed it, caught up in figuring out what it was he had hinted about.

Yeosang wasn't fully daemon.

Yeosang, one of the Seven, and one of the highest ranking daemons in this part of the world, wasn't even fully daemon.

"My father was full-blooded, but my mother was a half-daemon like yourself. Because of that, it's not something anyone would be able to know unless they tested my blood for it, but still enough to where many daemons would shun me if they knew. So, when my horns and eyes turned black on my thirteenth birthday, I was shocked to say the least. The thought of being a member of the Black Guard had never once crossed my mind due to my lineage, so I was certain a mistake had been made. Why would the maetha choose me? Someone the daemons considered impure? And I was terrified. I knew what it was like in the capital and what they thought of those like me, and I was terrified of what they would do to me if anyone found out." He shifted, pulling his right leg in towards him and wrapped his arms loosely around it. "So, when I discovered I had inherited the guards' illusion ability, I used it to hide the new color my features had taken and prevented myself from being sent away."

You struggled to wrap your head around what he had just revealed to you, barely hearing the words that followed as your brain was too busy repeating the fact Yeosang wasn't fully daemon. More daemon than you were and with enough of their blood running through him to easily pass as one, but none of that changed the fact he was just like you in some ways. Someone who didn't quite fit into the status quo of the world.

"But they found you?" You straightened up, taking in his figure next to you in a whole new light.

"No," he shook his head, "in the end, I went to them on my own accord."

"Why?"

"Out of spite and a broken heart," he huffed, but a hint of a smile once again appeared and the slope of his shoulders relaxed. "There was a girl in my village that I fell in love with when I was around sixteen, making me more motivated than ever to continue keeping my identity hidden. For if I did, I would be able to stay there and live the normal unassuming life I craved. But, you see, she had only ever been stringing me along. She thought I was sweet, but could never see beyond the fact I wasn't fully daemon and thought I was someone beneath her. She craved a life outside that little village, so when someone else came along that she thought could fulfill her needs, she broke things off with me in the cruelest of ways. At the time, it nearly broke me, and I couldn't stand to be there any longer, so I left to fulfill the destiny that I had denied for so long. Any concerns I had previously had before didn't worry me anymore. If I ended up dead because of it, then so be it. I didn't care anymore."

"I'm sorry." It was you who reached out for him this time, resting your hand on top of his as a wave of empathy rolled through you. You may have never had your heart broken before, but you understood exactly what it was like to experience a rejected and turned away based on something you had no control over.

"I'm not," he shook his head, smile widening as he looked at the hand on top of his own. "If I had stayed where I was, I would have been miserable. At the time, I didn't understand why I was chosen, and perhaps a small part of me still wonders why the maetha chose me of all people, but ever since you showed up in the picture, I think I've finally begun to understand."

"I wish I could say the same." You retracted your hand, pulling it back around your legs as his words brought you back to the reality that surrounded you, reminding you just who it was you had been comforting. "No matter which way I run through things in my head, it just doesn't make any sense. A little over a month ago I was just another half-daemon trying to survive in this crazy world, and now I'm being told I'm the mate of the daemon king and his seven generals. It's just a lot in a small amount of time, and I'm having a hard time processing it all."

You stuck your chin against the top of your knees, looking up once more at the walls that had been your home for the past twenty years. There had been a time when you had yearned to leave them behind, but not like this. Not when your path only led you to another prison. A different city, but with the same walls that had tormented you as a child.

"My whole life I've been seen by nothing more than my status as a half-daemon. It's dictated my entire life, telling me what I can and can't do because of it. And not once has anyone ever taken the time to see what lies beyond it. To see me, the real me. Not the half-daemon y/n. Not the Black Angel with the magical blood. And not your stupid mate. Just me. Just y/n. And lately," you took a deep breath, shaking in the exhale, "I've been wondering if she's even still there."

You hadn't meant to tell him any of that, but the words had fallen out before you could stop them, fueled by his earlier revelation and you could feel his gaze on you as you finished, heavy with unspoken sympathy.

"You mentioned you were here to escort me back to the city, right?" You spoke up before he had a chance to reply, not wanting to hear what his response might have been. "I don't like it, but if I'm left with no choice in the matter, then I do wish to take you up on that offer. I don't have much, but there are a few items I would rather not part with."

"Of course."

If he wanted to push you further on the matter and prod your brain for what exactly you had meant by any of your earlier thoughts, he didn't. Instead, he followed your lead and pushed himself back up to his feet, stretching out the muscles in his back. When the action caused his shirt to lift and reveal the toned surface beneath, you immediately turned your gaze unable to stop the heat that rose up inside you.

What the hell was wrong with you?

It wasn't like you hadn't ever seen a shirtless man before, let alone other more intimate areas. So, maybe, it wasn't in that specific context before, but rather in the numerous injuries you had healed in your lifetime, but never once had you felt that rush through you before and you only hoped it hadn't leaked through the bond. The last thing you needed was for them to realize a part of you was physically attracted to them and use that to their advantage. You didn't think you could survive if they did.

"Just give me a second to get the barrier down." If Yeosang noticed, he did a hell of a job hiding it, rolling out his shoulders once more before turning to the barrier behind you.

"This was you?"

He shook his head. "No, the barriers are all San's doing."

"It's his daemon ability?" you asked, head tilting as your hand brushed against the invisible wall.

It seemed so obvious now that you knew, the feel of it beneath your skin strangely familiar to the daemon you had danced with so many nights ago. The energy in which it thrummed feeling distinctly of him, and the only explanation you had for the strange phenomena was the bond that now tied you to him-

- Maybe that was also the explanation for the way you had reacted to him earlier and the reason your heart was still beating just a smidge too fast. Yes, that had to be it. Why else would you have felt that way?

"How does he maintain it? It's been up for days." And you would know, having snuck off more than once the past few days for no other purpose than to see if it was still there or not.

"Barriers of this scale and complexity require the use of his blood to create and maintain, but if you're still curious about it, you should ask him. He could explain it all better than I would be able to and says he would be more than happy to give you a demonstration as well."

"He says?" You looked back at Yeosang as your hand dropped back down to your side. "You're talking with him right now? How?"

"Through the bond," he replied. "It ultimately stems from Hongjoong's ability to speak with us at any distance, though the bond limits the rest of us to a certain distance. With a little training, though, not only can you learn to control those thoughts, but you can also learn to direct them to certain individuals instead of everyone within distance."

"Is that all it does? Just sort of like everyone's mind together?"

"No, it affects each of us in different ways, and some more than others."

With the barrier now down, Yeosang motioned for you to follow him. You paused for a second, tentatively reaching out with your hand and half-expecting him to by lying to you. But your hand wasn't stopped this time and merely slipped through the air. Whatever barrier had held you back the past few days was finally down.

"Take Seonghwa for example. His ability only allows him to teleport to places within a certain radius around him, but the bond gave him the ability to also teleport directly to anyone else he's attached to, no matter the distance," he continued, guiding you in the direction of the city's gate. "That's why it was so devastating when it was him who had been injured in Binna. If it had been any of the rest of us, Seonghwa could have gotten them back to the rest of us, but it just had to be him. And by the time we realized just how severe it was, he had already lost too much blood. If he had tried to teleport to one of us, he likely would have died. Our only chance of saving him was keeping him there on the off chance you would show up. And you did." He looked back at you, gaze softening. "I know things have been rough for you since that night and things might have happened in ways they shouldn't have, but if you only knew what it had been like for us. To not only have Seonghwa alive and safe, but to have finally found you. It was... overwhelming to say the least. Enough so, that even Mingi lost his grip on his mind for a moment."

"And now that you've found me," your arms wrapped around your body, finding it hard to control the shiver his words elicited, "what do you plan on doing with me?"

It had been a question that had plagued you since your emotions had finally settled down and you had regained a grip on your mind once more. In your initial panic, you had left Hongjoong as quickly as you could, needing time and space to process the overload of information he had just dumped on you. And it was only once you had calmed down that you realized the amount of question you had for him now that you were thinking logically once more. He had claimed you were their mate, but he had never gotten around to stating what it was they intended to do with you because of it. Did they plan on accepting you and forcing you to play the dutiful mate? Or did they plan on rejecting you for something as trivial as your mixed blood?

Hongjoong's words and actions from that night had all but confirmed acceptance, and the others' only then served to reaffirm this thought. But you felt no relief from it, instead you wished the opposite would have been true. It might have hurt to have been rejected, knowing full well it had only been because of your lineage, but it wasn't anything you hadn't been through before. It wasn't anything you couldn't have handled.

It would have hurt, yes. You may have faced enough rejection over your lifetime to have become used to it, but that didn't mean it still wouldn't have stung in some ways. But it would have made sense. He was the daemon king and you were just a halfbreed. Just a mutt. Your father might have been someone of a higher class, but you weren't. And you never would be.

That was why you were so confused as to why each of them seemed so intent on accepting it. How each of them thought it was normal for someone of their status to be with someone of yours just didn't make any sense. Not when you were someone history had dictated would never belong in their world, and just because they seemed fine with it didn't mean the others would. You hadn't been around many daemons in your life, but you knew the reaction it would pull. You knew they would never accept you as one of them. Because you weren't. The sooner they came to realize this small fact, the better.

"Well, you are our mate," Yeosang replied, and you were unable to control the shiver his words brought this time. "We were hoping you would accept it. Accept us."

"And what if I don't? What if I say I don't want any of this? That I don't want any of you?" It was hard to speak, throat tightening on you as the inevitable hit you once more. "Would you accept my refusal and let me be?"

Your answer was in the silence which followed your question. The length it took him to come up with a suitable reply all but telling you what you had already known to be true. That there was no way out of this. It didn't matter what you wanted. It didn't matter what you thought. They had decided your fate when they had bonded you to them. The only choice you had in the matter was whether to try and fight it or just give in and accept it.

"Is that what you want?" Yeosang did his best to keep his response level, but you heard the way his voice still wobbled, hinting at the emotions that wavered treacherously beneath his carefully calculated expression.

"I don't know," you sighed, "but it would be nice to be given a choice. To have time to process everything and come to my own conclusion without you all butting in and deciding it for me."

"And if we had, would you have accepted us then?"

This time it was your silence that answered his question. The uncertainty of the situation making you pause for a second as he turned the table towards you. If things had been different, and it hadn't been forced on you in the manner it had, you honestly didn't know how you would have responded, but you had an inkling it would have been similar to how it was now. While you harbored strong frustrations towards each of them for taking your choice away from you, that wasn't why you were so hesitant over it all. That wasn't why you were so terrified at the prospect of being their mate.

If you were able to put your insecurities and frustrations aside, you thought things might have been different. There was no mistaking the physical attraction you felt towards each of them, the earlier incident evidence of that, nor the inward pull that had you yearning to get in close and stop avoiding them. Whether this was because of the bond that Hongjoong had put in place, the fact you were mates, or something else, you weren't sure. After all, you had felt some sort of connection to Seonghwa before the bond had taken hold, left in of the man before you.

You still remembered the strange pit that had formed in your stomach when you he had drank of your blood. Of all the times you had proffered your blood to heal another, it had never felt like such an intimate act as it had that night. At the time you had just assumed it was your nerves, terrified of the man in front of you, but what if it had been something more?

And though you didn't know them, not yet, at least, the attentiveness and kindness each of them had shown you during your time with them had been nice. You would never admit it out loud, but you had enjoyed that time with them more than you ever had with the humans. Having plenty of time to rest and recharge, being treated as a normal person, it was more than anyone had ever given you before. Never in your life had anyone ever treated you in such a way before. To have looked beyond your slit eyes or the lack of horns on your head and treated you kindly. It would have been the best week in your life if it hadn't been for the fact your life had hung in the balance.

And yet, there had been a reason they had chosen to look past what others had been unable to. They hadn't seen you as either daemon or human, but they hadn't seen you for who you truly were either. No, they had simply seen you as their mate and then treated you accordingly. And that singular fact hurt more than it would have if the opposite had been true. If they had simply treated you as the halfbreed you were.

"I'm aware that all of this is probably normal for you, that finding out your someone's mate is a more joyous occasion, but nothing about this is normal for me. It's foreign, confusing, and more than a little overwhelming. Having and finding your mate might simply be a way of life for you, but it's not the way I grew up where who we ended up with was a choice rather than something decided by fate. And though it might be a bit different for you than most daemons, Hongjoong has known about me my entire life and has had two decades to think things over and make a decision. And I didn't get any of that. I had it forced upon me before I even knew what was happening, so forgive me, pleasse," you took a deep breath, hands clenching at your sides and causing the nails to dig into your skin, "if I seem to have some reservations about it all."

"Which are perfectly valid, however hard they might be to here." As you neared the city's entrance, Yeosang reached out to you, pulling you to a stop next to him so that he had your full attention. "And though it may be wrong of me to ask this of you after everything that's happened, could you at least give us a try? Things may have started off badly, but is there nothing we can do to redeem ourselves? If it's time you need, we can give you that. All we ask, all I ask, is that you give us another chance before throwing it all away. Please, angel, I'm begging you."

The desperation in his voice caught you off guard. The way his eyes pleaded with you in that moment made your stomach twist and you were unable to hold his gaze for more than a few seconds as the feeling of vulnerability hit you once more. Here was one of the Seven, one of the most powerful beings in your world, all but begging for your forgiveness for the wrong he had done you.

You didn't know what scared you the most in that moment. The raw emotion buried within his words, the way he was looking at you as though you were the only thing that mattered, or the fact it was working.

You didn't want it too, still hurt and bitter about what they had done to you, but goddammit, he was right. As someone who had grown up helping others, you had grown up believing that everyone deserved a second chance at life, no matter what they had done. It was why you had been so willing to save the injured daemons. It was why you had been willing to save Seonghwa. Because who were you to decide whether or not they died? People made mistakes all the time and these mistakes were bound to hurt others, especially the ones closest to them. So, who were you to deny them that second chance when they seemed more than willing to change? When they were all but begging for you to let them redeem themselves?

"You said you can give me more time," you spoke slowly, trying to keep your own emotions under control. "What exactly do you mean by that?"

Yeosang straightened up, the grip in which he held you with tightening at the hopeful prospect your response elicited. "In whatever way you needed. We would ask that you still come with us to ensure your own safety and wellbeing, but we won't rush you into anything that you're not comfortable with. We can do things on your time if that's what you so wish."

"My time," you echoed his words, letting the implication of them hit. It wasn't ideal. Not since you had been forced into this whole ordeal to begin with, but it did offer you some small comfort knowing that the way things could and would proceed from here on out could be done at a pace and way you were comfortable with. "And all of you would be okay with that?"

"Of course. Anything you may need or want, we'll do. All you have to do is ask."

None of it truly changed what would happen, and you were fully aware that despite how you felt, you would still be going with them. It all just boiled down to whether you would go willingly or by force.

And yet, there was still some relief in knowing you now had time. You may have very well been in the same position you were before, having no real say in whether you got to stay or go, but there was some ease of mind knowing you could do things on your time, that you had some time to sort through your thoughts and feelings and not be forced into anything else you weren't comfortable with. There was peace in knowing you had some of the power in your hands, in knowing you still had some control over how exactly your fate would play out. It wasn't much, but it was more than you had before.

"Okay," you took another breath, doing your best to stop the blush that was creeping up the back of your neck at his words. You knew he didn't mean they would do absolutely anything for you, not if it meant losing you, but it still made your stomach flop. "I'll think about it."

~

Do you need something?

You jumped at the voice that rang out in your head, breaking the inner monologue you had been mulling over for the past twenty minutes in your attempt to decide whether it was a good time to approach him or not. Looking up, you saw Hongjoong had stopped sparring for the moment to talk with a daemon soldier, but his gaze had turned in your direction, brow raised as he awaited your response.

Can we talk?

To your surprise, he nodded. You hadn't known what exactly you were doing when it came to talking to him through the bond, but it seemed as though whatever you had done had worked and gotten through to him.

You had little time to celebrate your accomplishment, quickly noting the way he grabbed a nearby towel and wrapped up his conversation with the lesser daemon before making his way over. After talking with Yeosang the day before, you had spent the majority of that day and night thinking over everything he had said and what it had meant for you. And the more you pondered over it, the more you came to realize what your next step would have to be. Talking with Yeosang could only do so much. If you truly wanted to hash out what was to happen with you now and set the boundaries you wished to set, you were left with no choice but to speak with all of them. But first, you needed to clear a few things up with Hongjoong.

It had taken you nearly an hour to gather the courage to go through with it once you realized it was the next reasonable step for you to take, and then another once you had narrowed down his location in the camp. When you had seen what he was up to, you very nearly retreated then and there, especially since Wooyoung, San, and Jongho had also been there. This wasn't the first time you had found them here, often catching sight of one or two out in the fields on your way to some corner of the camp. And though you often diverted your eyes and hurried along, that hadn't stopped you from sneaking a few peaks as you did, especially today.

You had retreated to a nearby tree, doing your best to shroud your body in shadows as you attempted to wait him out before fully giving up. And though your eyes had done their best to focus on the sketchbook in hand, it hadn't stopped them from peaking over the cover every so often. You had told yourself it was to check and see if Hongjoong was free yet, but the excuse never covered the way your eyes lingered for a few extra seconds before returning to your lap.

You knew they were skilled, but it was still something else seeing them in action. Even if they weren't using their full potential against each other, it was still clear to you why none of them had ever been stopped before. Your eyes had struggled to keep up with their movements, not just from the speed in which they moved, but the way their muscles had rippled, eliciting a very similar feeling to the one with Yeosang before.

"C'mon, why don't we go somewhere a little more private?"

You jumped once more at his approach, quickly shutting the sketchbook in your lap and hoping he didn't take notice of the fact it was him who you had been drawing. Only once it was safely tucked away did you take the hand he extended towards you and allowed him to help pull you to your feet.

You struggled to get a read on him, taking quick note of the distance he had put between the two of you since the last time you had talked. He was guarded, more so than he had been the last time, and you were quickly reminded of the way things had ended between you. Of the last words you had said to him. And though they had been the truth, you still began to regret them in that moment, fully aware of the way they had cut him and how you would have never dared to say it if it hadn't been for your own heightened emotions.

"I'm sorry if anything I said or did that night hurt you," you started once he had led you back to the place where it had begun between you. "It's just, everything happened so fast and nothing you said or did could have prepared me for what you said and I panicked."

"You have no reason to apologize. You were right in what you had said. I never should have bonded you to us then. Not without your consent, and in doing so, I had hurt you." He leaned against the table that took up the center of the room, looking everywhere but at you. "It was just so overwhelming finally seeing you after all that time that I didn't think. I was terrified of losing you, and after everything I had been through to finally get to this point, I acted on impulse to make sure I never would. It might not feel this way from your view, but I did it for you. Everything I did was for you. To ensure your safety. To ensure your happiness. And yet, I've already failed."

You sunk down on the edge of the bed, the effect his words had on you making you unstable. The intimacy in his tone making you all the more uncomfortable, even more so since it was coming from him. Even with all the time you had spent processing everything, to not only be in his presence, but at the end of his concern, was still so strange. You weren't used to this type of attention, this care and concern they all seemed to shower onto you, and it only added to the insecurities that had plagued you since he had revealed you were their mate.

"What you did wasn't right, and I'm still struggling with my frustrations towards you all for it, but after talking with Yeosang and thinking over some things myself, I think I might be willing to give this all a chance, but," you raised your hand before he had a chance to respond, "I still need to clarify a few things with you and the others first. And then, if I'm comfortable with the answers you give me, maybe we can work something out. Or at least make me more willing to go with you."

"Of course. Please, ask away."

He did his best to contain the reaction your response gave, but you still felt a shiver of excitement roll through you in that instance. And though you didn't know exactly how you knew it, you were fully aware that emotion hadn't been your own, but the man's next to you. His emotions momentarily leaking into you through the bond that linked you.

"In a minute." You shook your head. "Not only do I think that it would be best if everyone was present for them so I can hear from you altogether, but there's still something I need to discuss with you before we can move on to that."

"Your father," Hongjoong answered for you. "Yes, Yeosang said you would probably come asking about it."

"I need to know what happened. If he was innocent, and someone else is to blame for my mother's death," your breath shook, the thought of finally discovering what had gone down that night was nearly overwhelming, "I think I deserve to know."

"I'll tell you, but," he lifted a finger to stop the rebuttal that began to claw its way out of your throat at but, "it won't be easy to hear. And I don't doubt you'll wish to be alone once the story has been told in full. If you wish to talk to us about making things work, I doubt you'll feel much like talking once we're done here."

You took a deep breath, the ominous message behind his words making you shiver. Yeosang had said things were more complicated than they seemed from the surface, but both had hinted at the truth being hard to hear. And why was that? Because they had allowed the thought of your father actually being a good man to bloom? And to hear he had still snapped and killed your mother would only serve to make it worse for you than it had been before?

"Then I guess you'll just have to wait." You set your face and nodded your confirmation. Hard to hear or not, this was something you still needed to know. Especially if the rest of them had also played a role in it all.

"My father was not a kind man, and he did many terrible things during his reign as king. He craved the power his position held and did everything he could to gain more, no matter the cost. He loathed the fact that I was stronger than him, that I could take everything away from him if I so wished, so he did everything in his power to ensure I kept my place beneath him." His words mirrored a similar sentiment Yeosang had held towards the the former king and you were quick to notice how they elicited a similar response from him. "And as time went on and the daemons became less happy with his rule, his paranoia became increasingly worse and only served to add to the cruelty he showed them. It was clear that someone needed to put a stop to it, and that I was one of the only daemons who was able to stop him, but I didn't know how. I was stronger, but he knew my weaknesses and played them to his strengths. He knew how close I was with my own guard and had no shame in exploiting it. He may have been no match for me, but my guard was not and they were the ones who suffered whenever I stepped out of line."

"He hurt them?"

It was just as much a statement for yourself to process just exactly he was hinting at as it was a question to him, absolutely appalled. When Yeosang had mentioned the previous king had been cruel, you had expected a cruelty akin to the rumors you had grown up hearing about daemons as a whole. You hadn't expected to hear of a man who was so jealous of his own son and the power he held, that he actively hurt others to make sure he did exactly what he wanted him to.

"My father took great pride in the ability he obtained from my grandfather, the one that allowed him to take control of another person's body so long as some of his blood had entered their system. For reasons we never did quite understand, it did not work against me, nor was I able to use it against him, so all I could do was stand and watch as he made them enact his cruelty on them, themselves." Hongjoong shuddered, and despite everything he had done to you, it didn't stop the wave of sympathy that filled you in that moment. "They always insisted it was fine. That it wasn't my fault, but how was it not? If I so much as questioned anything he did or showed the slightest ounce of disobedience, they were the ones who suffered for it."

"But they were right." You stood up from your seat on the bed, cautiously approaching him and placing your hand against the one he had braced against the table behind him. "It wasn't your fault. That blame lies on your father. Not you. And no matter what he might have said to convince you otherwise, he's wrong."

"Thank you." He seemed surprised by your presence, but he didn't push you away. Instead, he only leaned further into you, shifting his body closer towards yours. "That means a lot coming from you, even if I don't quite believe or deserve it. But, you didn't come to me to hear about my past, but what happened to your father." He paused for a second, taking a deep breath before continuing. "You see, your father may have been one of the king's guards, but he hated the man he had become. He refused to stand by and allow the cruelty to continue, so one day he approached me when my father was out of town. He told me what he had been thinking and proposed a plan to assassinate my father. It was a good plan if done perfectly, one where no one would end of being killed, but before we could follow through with it, it fell through. Despite the precautions we had put in place, my father still somehow received word of something going on. And I swear, if it wasn't for your father or Seoyun, all of us would have probably died that night."

You shook at the wave of fear that coursed through you in that moment, tightening your hold on his hand as you blinked back the tears his sorrow caused. The pain and anguish that filled him was nearly overwhelming, and it was only a fraction of what he had felt that night.

"Angel, I'm so sorry." His frown increased when he looked up to see the tears that lined your eyes, suddenly aware that he had slipped and allowed his emotions to flow over into you. "I didn't-"

"It's okay." You shook your head, giving his hand a reassuring squeeze to tell him it was fine. "I don't mind. I mean, can I really complain after the hell I've probably caused you to go through because I can't control mine yet? You don't have to worry about keeping them locked away, at least not for my sake."

He nodded, though you still felt the emotions pull back from you in the moments that followed. "Seoyun was able to settle his rage before anything got too out of hand, and to ensure something like this never happened again, he sent Minsu away to the humans. And for the next fifteen years, I didn't dare step another foot out of line; at least not until you suddenly appeared in my life."

"This Seoyun you mentioned, who is she?"

"A... childhood friend and someone who's saved our lives more times than I can count. You see, she's one of the daemons who have seemed to slip through the cracks of the spell and was born with a unique ability. Without her ability to influence others' emotions, we never would have been able to quell my father's rage when he got worked up."

You nodded, wondering why he had paused in mentioning his relation to this woman and if it meant what you thought it meant. You didn't care. Really you didn't. You knew Hongjoong was your mate, but that didn't mean that you wanted him in that way. At least not yet. And if he had past relations with other women, you didn't care.

"But, like I said," Hongjoong continued, pulling your thoughts from Seoyun and what might have occurred between the two of them before, "your father was sent to observe the humans and I didn't dare to try anything else until my first vision of you appeared. Even to this day, I can still see it clearly. Of Minsu's face staring down at you as though you were the most precious thing in the world. If the shock of you finally being born wasn't enough, it was knowing you were Minsu's daughter. And unfortunately for all of us, I wasn't able to hide my emotions well enough and it wasn't long before my father found out."

"He killed them, didn't he?"

You had known it was coming, but it did little to lighten the weight of it as the realization sunk in. You had never known either of your parents; at least not long enough for you to count, but knowing the truth still hurt because it changed everything. You had had your suspicions over the years through Soomin, but knowing that he had truly loved her, had truly loved you, sent you reeling.

"We tried to stop him. Once I recieved word he was traveling to Maehwa, Yeosang and I raced after him, but we were too late to save your mother. Fortunately, Minsu had some warning, as you and your siblings were gone by the time my father arrived. And to ensure he didn't spend the next weeks hunting you three down, Yeosang used his ability to fake your deaths."

You were silent, fighting the wave of emotions that soard through you. Hongjoong had been right when he said the truth would be hard to hear, but not in the way you had expected. Hearing your father was actually a monster would have been easy to hear compared to this. Compared to the knowledge his and your mother's deaths were all because of you.

"No," Hongjoong shook his head, hearing the direction your thoughts had taken. The hand under yours slipped out, reaching for your chin and forcing you to look up at him. "It wasn't your fault. If anyone's to blame, it's me. If I had done a better job at hiding it, he never would have found out and your parents would have never died. It's my fault, angel. Not yours. It's my fault for not standing up to my father when I should have. So if you have to put the blame somewhere, put it on me."

It was strange; mourning people you had never even known. Mourning a life that had never been yours and yet, could have if things had only played out a little different. For years, you had kept everything bottled up inside, hiding the pain behind a mask of anger. And now that the anger was gone, there was nothing to stop the sorrow that had built up all those years.

You're a lot like him, you know, Yeosang had said. He would have absolutely adored you.

At the time you had hated those words, hated him for comparing yourself to your father, but now, now they sent a wave of warmth flowing through you.

"I won't lie, part of me wants to, but I can't and I won't." You closed your eyes, understanding now why Hongjoong had warned you about hearing the truth and why Yeosang had insisted it was him you hear it from. "Because it's not true. It's not right. Your father's sins are not your own and he's the only one we have the right to blame here, however hard it may be."

At the time you had hated those words, hated him for comparing yourself to your father, but now, now they sent a wave of warmth and encouragement flowing through you.

"Angel." The word was nothing more than a breath and before you knew what was happening, he had pulled you flush against him and into a tight embrace.

You tensed, fully aware of just who was holding you as though his very life depended on it. But at the soft, mumbling "Thank you," that followed, you allowed yourself to slowly sink into his touch, wrapping your own arms around him. After everything the both of you had gone through to get to this point right here, this was something you both needed.

"I'm sorry, I shouldn't have." Hongjoong was the first to pull back, stepping fully away. "Do you wish to be alone?"

"No," you shook your head, "You may stay if you wish. I... I might have more questions for you in a moment."

"Of course," he nodded, "whatever you need."

He guided you to back to the bed and you sank down along the edge with little resistance, giving your legs some much needed rest before they collapsed on you. He sat down beside you, far enough away that you had enough space to be comfortable, but close enough to know he was there if you were to need anything.

"You came after me, why? You could have just left me and the others to die, but you didn't. Why?"

"Because you were my mate. I would have done anything and everything to keep you safe."

“But I was a halfbreed.”

"Perhaps when I was younger I might have cared. I'm not proud to say that I viewed half-daemons differently then and I could blame it on the way I was raised and the community I grew up in, but I should have known better. I should have known that one's lineage or blood had nothing to do on their character." He took a deep breath, carefully gauging your reaction out of the corner of his eyes. "It was your father who helped to change my view, as well as other members of my guard who had spent their first few years of life differently than I. So, when it came to be known that Yeosang wasn't fully daemon, I realized everything my father had told me was wrong. They weren't a pest or scourge so many daemons liked to claim. They weren't any less than those pure of blood. For how could they, when one of them had helped to save myself and the other guard members from my father's wrath so may times?

"And never once did I ever think negatively of you for your lineage. In fact, I cherished it. Because I knew through you, change might finally come."

"I think," you spoke after a few moments of silence, "I think I'd like to have that talk with you and the others now."

"Are you sure, angel? You don't have to, we can-"

"No, I'm sure." You nodded. "Knowing the truth of what happened to my father might have been difficult to hear and it might be a while before I can fully take in what happened, but there is also great relief in it as well. I'll now mourn for them and the life that could have been, but knowing that my father was innocent has lifted a weight on my shoulders I didn't even know was there. And for the first time in my life, I'm... I'm proud to say he was my father." Tears pricked at your eyes, the weight that was lifted at admitting those words causing another wave of emotions to course through you. "And after everything you've just told me, about him and the others, there are other questions I wish to ask, but feel as though it would be better if everyone was here."

"If that is what you wish, then I will call them."

"Thank you," you replied, doing your best to wipe the last of the tears away and to straighten yourself up before the others arrived.

At no surprise to you, Seonghwa was the first to arrive, teleporting next to you mere seconds after Hongjoong had informed you they were on their way. You had expected him to pull such a move, wanting to beat the others to you, but you still jumped when he suddenly appeared beside you.

Mingi and Yunho were next to arrive, whispering between themselves as they entered the tent. Their words fell away when they saw you sitting in between Hongjoong and Seonghwa on the bed, and they each sent a reassuring smile in your direction alongside their greeting.

San, Wooyoung, and Jongho followed closely after, the dust scattered across their clothes and the hair that clung to the back of their necks and face showing they must have continued sparring throughout your conversation with Hongjoong.

The last to arrive was Yeosang, and his appearance quickly brought back everything Hongjoong had said about him. How he had saved your life when he used his ability to make the former king believe you to already be dead and how he had also used it to save the others from him as well.

Just what had they gone through before? Hongjoong mentioned no specifics when it came to the way his father had punished each of them, but the pain you had felt through Hongjoong was all you needed to know. The suffering they had gone through at his hands was something you could never fully understand, but it didn't stop the burst of sympathy that came through you or the sudden urge you had to comfort them. To tell you how sorry you were for the pain they had endured and how you wished you could have been there to ease it.

But that would have to wait. Now was not the time nor place for it, and if you wanted to get to that place, you would need to secure your footing with them now. You couldn't afford to let yourself get pulled into their lives when you were still wondering just what your place with them was.

"I called you all here because I've done quite a bit of thinking these past few days," you began, eyes trained at the hands fiddling in your lap, "and despite things starting off rather badly, after talking with Yeosang and Hongjoong, I think I might just be willing to give this whole thing a try. To give you all a try, but I do have some final questions for all of you before I make my final decision. The first being what exactly would it look like if I were to accept?"

"I should think it would be obvious," Hongjoong began when the responsibility of the answer fell on him. "You are my mate, and through the bond that now binds us all, you are also theirs. Each of us are in agreement to treat you as such. You'll be taken care of, given anything you may require or desire, and when the proper time comes, you'll become queen."

"And you're all okay with that?" Your voice shook, unable to ignore the fact Hongjoong had just explicitly stated he had full intention of making you his queen when the time came. But you pushed it aside for the moment, choosing to focus on the more important topic at the moment; the one that your fate balanced upon. "This whole sharing a mate thing, I mean. You're all okay with it?"

"It was a bit strange at first, sure," Mingi was the one to respond first, beating Hongjoong. "I don't think any of us were expecting it to happen when Hongjoong was crowned and the bond reached its full strength, but you have to understand the bond between mates is unlike anything else, and many consider it to be the most sacred aspects of the maetha inside us. As someone who had never experienced this feeling until a few years ago, I'll be the first to attest that it's not something you can just easily push aside. And the additional bond that ties us all together only further intensifies those feelings."

"It's not very often mates end up rejecting one another, and there's good reason for it," Yunho continued. "You might not feel it quite as strongly as us due to your human side, but I'm sure even you can feel it to some extent, especially with our other bond. A yearning that starts in the pit of your stomach, growing stronger with each passing moment you spend together and subconsciously pulling you in closer, filling you with a desire that becomes harder and harder to ignore. And then that terrible aching in your chest when you're apart from each other, growing worse the longer you're away. Not enough to kill you, but enough to drive you to near insanity."

"It's why the Black Guard are born without mates." Seonghwa added at your side, and you were quick to note the truth behind Yunho's earlier words. At some point in the conversation, Seonghwa had placed his hand down on the bed behind you and you found yourself slowly leaning back into it, nearly closing the gap between you. "To neglect them of a bond that powerful would be torture and they would never be able to fulfill their roles and put the king before any and everyone else. Hongjoong knew this, so when we discovered what had happened when we each saw the vision of you on your eighteenth birthday, he wasted little time in deciding what would happen and that we would all just share you."

"It might be strange, but we've almost spent a century together at this point. Our entire lives have been spent leaning and trusting on one another. The idea that we would now all share a mate felt more natural than any of us had expected. And as someone who's always yearned to experience a relationship such as this, it was like a dream come true." Jongho's face tinted pink at his confession, and the sincerity in which he looked at you in that moment almost caused you to blush.

It was the very same sincerity that traced each of their features, all but ensuring each of them were speaking the truth. As crazy as it was to you, none of them seemed bothered by the fact they would be sharing you, nor show any trace of jealousy, at least at the moment. Not even Hongjoong, who made no motion to rebuke any of the their statements, caring more about them and their own wellbeing than being upset by the fact he would be sharing his mate with each of them.

"I'll admit you've each put up a pretty convincing argument," you began after a few moments of silence, "but you're all skipping over a rather important piece of information, especially if you're convinced of treating me the way you claim you will. How are the other daemons going to respond to this? This bond between us and your history with my kind might have made it easier for each of you to accept me, but what about the others? What will you do when my presence causes an uproar? Because believe me, it will."

“If anyone were to speak ill of you or attempt to harm you in any way, they’ll be dealt with accordingly-”

"In which case you don't mean murdering them, right?" You quirked a brow over at San, knowing exactly what the hand of justice looked like to the daemons. Hongjoong might have not been his father, but his past actions had shwon he was just as willing to kill for the right reason. "You can't just go around killing anyone and everyone who has wronged me in some way. Not only is that a terrible way to foster a better relationship between daemons and my kind, but it makes me feel terrible," you continued, stopping him or anyone else who tried to rebuke your sentiments. "And besides, if you did, then just about everyone in this world would be dead, including each of you."

"You make a valid point, but," Mingi responded, elbowing San in the side to get him to shut up before he said anything else that might have upset you further, "if anyone dared to threaten your life or safety, none of us can guarantee that we would be able to reign in our wrath the way you might want us to. We're not quite as merciful as you are, angel."

"Not that anyone would ever be able to make it that far though," Wooyoung piped up. "None of us would ever let anything happen to you. Your safety and happiness are our top priority."

"Perhaps there may be times when death is unavoidable, but I hope you would only act on it if my life was actually in danger and there was no other choice. Otherwise, I would prefer not only for you to not kill them, but to let me deal with it on my own. I may not be very capable in a fight, but I can handle a few nasty words thrown my way. I've had my whole life to practice, after all," you sighed, already fully aware of the chaos your presence was going to cause and wondering what the hell you were thinking to consider willingly subjecting yourself to it.

"Which leads me to another important note. If this is going to work, you're going to let me do things my way and on my own time. I'm still beyond frustrated at you all and the way you forced me into this. And though coming to learn your actions might have been done with a pure intent, that doesn't excuse them or change the fact they still hurt me. For weeks I was left confused and terrified for my life. I thought I was going to die, and then you dump this crazy, fucking mess on me, leaving me even more confused and terrified than I was before." You paused for just a moment, catching your breath. "My whole life I've been told I'm nothing and that I'll amount to nothing. I've been called any and all the names for a person of my status and have been rejected because of it more times than I can count. And sure, you learn to ignore it after a while, otherwise you'll drive yourself insane, but that doesn't mean it doesn't still hurt. Each and every insult and rejection slowly chipping away at me." You pulled your knees up to your chest, burying your chin in between them. "And when everyone around you holds that same sentiment towards you, it only takes so long for it to start creeping in. You can only tell yourself it's not true for so long before you start to fall for their lies. Before you start to believe it yourself. So when you tell me something completely different than what I've been led to believe my entire life, it's... hard. And it hurts. It hurts because..."

I know if I wasn’t your mate, none of you would have made a passing glance in my direction. 

You didn't dare voice it out loud, not quite ready to bare yourself that much to them, but at the way Seonghwa's arm tensed behind you, you knew you had just done it again and each one of them had heard the words that had just rang through your head.

"And believe me when I say I don't blame you for it. After all, why would you?" Your words were soft, muffled against your legs as you sunk further into yourself. "I mean, you're the fucking daemon king and his seven generals; the most powerful men in this part of the world. And I'm what? Just someone who was lucky to be born. So why would any of you have ever given me a passing thought if it wasn't for the fate that now ties us altogether?"

"Angel-"

"No," you shook your head, cutting Yunho off. "I didn't tell you any of that to gain your sympathy or pity, so please don't give it to me. It'll only make things worse for me. I only wish for you to understand why I reacted in the way I did. To understand why I hold so many reservations towards it all and why we have to do it my way for things to work. Because if we continue down this road you've started, it's not going to end well for any of us."

“Take any and all the time you need, angel,” Wooyoung responded. “We’ll be here waiting whenever you’re ready.”

“Even if it takes years?”

“We’re daemons, remember, pretty?” Seonghwa doesn’t miss a beat beside you. “Once you start nearing a century, a few years is nothing.”

“And what if it was a century?”

“I’ve waited that long already, what’s another one?” Hongjoong returned. “Especially now that I’ve finally found you.”

“If that’s what you believe, then you’re crazy,” you huffed, but a hint of a smile tugged at your lips. “No one is worth that long of a wait.”

“Then I guess we’re all just crazy,” San hummed from across the room. “Because I, for one, think you are more than worth the wait.”

At the murmur of agreement that traversed the room, you found yourself burying your head in your legs once more. No longer from an attempt to comfort yourself, but from the way their words left a blush to bloom across your face. Never in your life had anyone expressed this sort of sentiment towards you, and you struggled to control the way your stomach flipped at the thought. 

And for the first time since you had met them, you couldn’t help but wonder if maybe this life wouldn’t be too bad. If maybe the fate that had tied you to them wasn’t the end of the world. That maybe, just maybe, a part of you was almost happy to be their mate. 

~

a/n: taglists will now be in a reblog :) thanks for all your love and support