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FRIENDS!? Chapter 21

🔳🔳🔳🔳🔳🔳🔳🔳🔳🔳🔳🔳🔳🔳🔳🔳

Series ML

Pairing: poly!ateez × f!reader (An ATEEZ Office AU)

Genre: Mature, Angst, Yandere

Warning: mention of memories (nothing much just go with the flow).

W.C: 3k Network: @k-vanity

[Reblogs and Reviews are always appreciated. Thank you for reading and have a nice day ahead. Please always take care of yourself everyone.]

Hello, Can we be friends please?

Yeosang was sitting on the chair by the window pane and you stood just a few feet away from him, leaning against the desk and both of you staring at the wide view of the city.

"Just ask already, y/n." He didn't take his eyes off from the view, earlier he slid the windows open to let the room filled with fresh air instead of the air conditioner. He hummed a tune and you already know the melody, a little smile appeared on your face. He used to sing this song back in the school days when you both used to spend time at the rooftop.

"Yeosang..." you began, keeping your eyes on him, admiring his beauty. The same young and fresh look on his features, you didn't fight the urge to pat his soft brown hairs when he looked at you. "How are you? What happened?"

"What do you mean?"

"Yeo...I have seen you keeping quiet these days and ignoring me every time I met your eyes. Please tell me what is going on." You asked him softly.

He averted his gaze back to his front and closed his eyes in your touch, "nothing. I'm just tired."

"Please tell me the truth. I know already that you are hiding a lot of secrets from me. And I won't pressure you to tell me everything but at least if you are having any problem, do let me know. I'm sure I can be of some help." You said.

He locked his lips, thinking the reply to give you. His thoughts are all filled with you and you are the only reason for his disturbed state then how come he let you know about this. How do you be able to help him.

"Trust me, it's nothing, y/n."

You shook your head, "I can't. If it was someone else I would have trusted them but I know you. You are always so clingy to me. Gossiping with me and you stay in my cabin the whole time then how can I think of your sudden change in behavior normal?"

Your words straight away hit his heart. You care for him. Thinking about him and that's why, you are now standing beside him in his cabin. Your touch to which he was leaning on, he missed your presence so much. Was he too selfish for what he had done to you in the past?

"Doll..."

This name. He only calls you with this sweetness and this particular nickname whenever he is alone with you and honestly, you love this a lot. Why not? The pretty boy with the low voice and a sweet name calling out for you. It's feels really different.

"Will you ever forgive for what I have done?" He asked and turned his head to meet your gaze. Standing up in the way, taking your hands in his, caressing them softly when he placed a kiss on your knuckles, meeting your gaze.

you smiled at his gestures, "and what have you done?" tilting your head to the side, you blinked, "and the answer is already known by you. you yourself is in doubt whether I will forgive or not. so you think that I may not forget you as well."

"it's complicated, y/n...I know what I did was wrong."

"if my forgiveness can resolve everything and if it's what keeping you away from me. then I forgive you, Yeosang. I really do. I don't want to hear what you did but I'll forgive you everytime." you said slowly.

he hugged you in a quick move, resting his head against on your shoulder, closing his eyes and inhaling your sweet scent, his lips murmuring a quiet apology. the moment was too intimate and soft at the same time, you patted his back, not knowing exactly why he was behaving like that.

"i'm sorry, y/n. trust me, I wont harm you ever again. a single scratch on you and i'll rip apart everyone. " you felt his tears against your skin, it did surprise you a little.

"Yeosang, don't cry. hey...no one is going to harm me."

"But I did, y/n. I hurt you." he pulled his head back from your shoulder to meet your eyes, his glistening gaze meeting your forgiving orbs, cupping your face, "I was selfish. you know...I scared you. I wanted you to myself but I scared you away from me more."

what is he saying?

he continued, "I wanted you to be only mine. you should have only accepted me in your life. I couldn't stand the fact that Yunho was the one who proposed you and it angered me so much. please, y/n...I hurt you so much. there's nothing I can do to make changes in the past."

"but yeo, we can change the future. let's forget it. I really don't want to remember the past. I want to live my future with all of you. with you. you realize your fault so there's nothing to worry about."

"are you sure, doll."

"yes. it's because I love you. the trust I am keeping on you because of this so please protect it with yours."

he pressed his lips on yours, both of you closing your eyes, embracing the moment and a relief in both the hearts that the resolution and the ache is fading away, you need to be in a solace and he is ready to offer it, "I promise I'll protect you, my doll."

pressing a longing kiss on your temple, he again pulled you in his embrace, "I love you so much, y/n."

>>>><<<<

The afternoon sun was radiant, painting the city in hues of gold and amber, casting long, gentle shadows on the pavement. The warmth of the sunlight filtered through the trees lining the street, dappling the ground beneath your feet in a soft, dancing pattern. The air felt fresh and lively, as if the city itself was basking in the glow of the perfect afternoon. It wasn't too hot, just the right amount of warmth that felt comforting against your skin.

the surprise did get revealed. it was a date. a casual one. he pointed out that he wants to stroll around the city with you, hands in hands and lost in the moment with both of you conversing about every thing your heart yearn for. Wooyoung is not a place of comfort or a lover, he is a friend who can be anything for you. 

the moment your eyes met, he signalled you to stand in your position and he jogged across the street to buy an ice-cream for you. he knows how to give love and whenever you extend your arms to him, like a child he runs to you and both of you love the intimacy even if its just two of you cuddling inside the comforter and staring at the city view.

what must have happened?

you wish everyday that the past should not affect your present with them. the moments shared among you all is such a confounding one for you. it's just you want to pause the moment how it is this time. you glanced at him. was he bad? were you hurt by him? or any of them? 

if remembering the past will make you apart then you will try to not think about it. you should never recall all those forgotten memories. you will just believe that those are just nightmares and to be safe from them, you will run to one of them and close your eyes because you are safe with them.

no past can haunt you ever.

Wooyoung and  you strolled down a quiet street in the heart of the city. The towering buildings around you reflected the sunlight in a brilliant display, their windows shimmering like tiny mirrors. People passed by, some in a rush to get somewhere, others leisurely enjoying their day just like you both. The street was alive with the hum of life, but it wasn't overwhelming. It felt like the city was awake, but at ease, in no rush to hurry the day along.

just the way you wanted to be alone with Wooyoung.

Wooyoung walked close beside you, his hands casually tucked into the pockets of his light denim jacket. His face was soft in the sunlight, his features relaxed in a way that felt different from when you usually saw him under the lights of the office building. His eyes sparkled with a playful warmth, and his smile came easily, like he was savoring every bit of this quiet moment.

his eyes were admiring the way you were enjoying your ice-cream.

"It's such a perfect day for this," he said, turning to glance at you with that familiar grin, his voice light and easy.

you smiled back at him, taking in the scene around you. "Yeah, it's like the city's decided to take a break for once. Everything feels so... calm."

but y/n...soon it's going to be a chaos.

He laughed softly, the sound bright and contagious. "That's rare, isn't it? Especially here." He looked around, taking in the busy streets that somehow felt a little quieter under the soft afternoon light. "I think it's because the sun makes everything seem softer for you."

you chuckled at him, holding his hand again after throwing the tissue when you finished it and wiped the lips and fingers.

you continued to walk, the sound of your shoes gently tapping against the sidewalk blending with the ambient noises of the city. Every now and then, he'd point something out — a small flower peeking through a crack in the pavement, a street artist painting on a large canvas near the side of the road, or the vibrant colors of a mural on the side of a café wall. Wooyoung had a way of noticing things, even the smallest details, and pointing them out with a childlike wonder that made me see the city in a new light.

At one point, you passed a small group of kids playing with a soccer ball in the middle of the street, their laughter ringing out as they ran around, their cheeks flushed from the fun. Wooyoung paused, watching them for a moment, a soft smile tugging at his lips. "That was me as a kid," he said with a chuckle. "Always running around, causing chaos. I miss being able to just run like that without a care in the world. you used to watch me during breaks and after the departure from school and everyday you used to tell me that one day i would get myself in trouble."

I laughed. "You still cause chaos, just in a different way now."

He gasped in mock offense, placing a hand dramatically over his heart. "I'm deeply wounded. I'm a model of calm and responsibility. a perfect boyfriend you deserve."

I raised an eyebrow, trying and failing to hide my smile. "Sure you are. I still wonder how I accepted you back then."

"it's because we loved each other."

you nodded, "so why did you love me?" you stare at him, his hold tightens when you asked him. he looked around every where just to not meet your eyes but in the end he gave into your presence. his longing gaze met with your anticipating eyes. his thought quickly flashed him the scenes how you used to look at him in the same way back then. just the latter parts ae the ones he wants to erase from all the memories, moreover from yours.

"because you were the one with purity and innocent." he said.

"and about you. you must have been the same because I always loved you around. to spend time with you and feeling like the one whom i need when everyone will misunderstand me but he will stand there by my side, holding my hands and guide me out of the chaos."

"y/n, I have always said that I will do anything for you. and I mean it...just say what you want I'll bring it to you. just love me always like I do." he turned you to face him, holding your shoulders and peering down at you. the street was leading to alley way and beyond that will be the highway where his bike is.  "i love you, y/n. please stay with me."

you grabbed the collar of his denim jacket, same as yours. you both were twinning the denim outfits. you smiled and brought his face closer to yours, "I'm not leaving you anytime. you are stuck with me."

his thumb brushed over your lips, "and I would love that."

"kiss me, Woo."

after a second of staring, he gave in to you, pressing down on your lips and holding your neck and lower back to pull you closer. the kiss felt like the first one you both shared. 

parting from you, he rested his forehead on you, "I want us to be like this forever."

"me too."

as if the moment really did pause for few seconds when you cupped his cheek and plants a kiss on his nose, "you enjoy to show me to others all the time because people might be staring at us." you smiled at him.

He burst into soft chuckles, the sound filling the space between you, making everything around feel a little lighter, a little more carefree. "Okay, maybe not all the time. But in moments like this," he glanced at you, his expression softening, "I try to."

you continued walking, moving past busy cafés where people sat outside sipping iced lattes and chatting animatedly. The air was filled with the scent of fresh coffee, mingling with the faint aroma of street food from a nearby vendor. you could hear the clatter of plates and the murmur of conversations, but none of it felt intrusive. It was just background noise, part of the city's rhythm.

As you approached a small square, a street musician caught Wooyoung's attention. He slowed down, his gaze fixed on the man playing a soft, melancholic melody on his guitar. The sound floated through the air, wrapping around you like a gentle embrace. Wooyoung stopped completely, his expression turning thoughtful, almost reverent.

"Music changes everything, doesn't it?" he said quietly, almost to himself. "It makes moments feel more alive."

you nodded, watching the way he seemed to immerse himself in the sound. "It's like it adds a layer of meaning to everything. Even something as simple as walking through the city."

He smiled faintly, his eyes distant for a moment as if he was somewhere else, lost in the music. "That's why I love it so much. It connects people, even strangers, in ways nothing else can. Sometimes I feel like I can say more with music than I ever could with words."

There was a pause, and you could feel the weight of his words hanging in the air. Wooyoung wasn't always so openly reflective, but in these quieter moments, when the world slowed down, he let himself be vulnerable, thoughtful.

"I get that," you said softly, not wanting to break the spell of the moment. "Music has a way of reaching places in you that you didn't even know were there."

He looked at you then, his gaze soft but intense, like he was seeing something deeper. "Yeah," he said quietly, "you get it."

We stood there for a while, listening to the musician's song as it filled the square. The city moved on around you, people coming and going, cars passing by in the distance, but in that small space, it felt like we were the only two people in the world.

Eventually, Wooyoung smiled and nudged you with his elbow. "Come on, let's keep walking. I want to see where this afternoon takes us. I want to click more pictures of yours."

oh! how you forgot the fact for a while. the moment you both stepped outside the office building. his camera's shutter didn't shut down.

you continued through the city, your steps unhurried, wandering down side streets and through small parks. As you walked, the conversation flowed easily between both. you talked about everything and nothing — childhood memories, favorite foods, random dreams you had the night before. The sun was beginning to tilt in the sky, casting long, golden shadows as it moved toward the horizon, but it still felt like the day was stretching out infinitely before us.

At one point, you came across a narrow, winding street that led to a small park hidden between a cluster of tall buildings. The trees were tall and full, their branches swaying gently in the breeze, casting dappled shadows on the grassy ground. Wooyoung spotted a wooden bench beneath a large oak tree and gestured toward it with a grin. "Let's sit for a bit. My legs need a break."

you made your way to the bench and sat down, the wood creaking slightly beneath us. Wooyoung stretched his arms out along the back of the bench, tilting his head up to gaze at the canopy of leaves above you. The sunlight filtered through the branches, casting soft golden beams across his face.

"This is perfect," he said with a contented sigh, closing his eyes for a moment as he leaned back. "I could stay here forever."

you smiled, glancing around at the peaceful surroundings. "It does feel like our own little world here."

He turned his head to look at you, his expression thoughtful again. "You know, I don't get to do this often. Just... sit, relax, and be. It's always go, go, go. And when I do get time off, it's never this peaceful."

you looked at him, sensing the weight of what he wasn't saying. "Does it ever feel like too much?"

He paused for a moment, thinking. "Sometimes. But I love what I do, you know?  But there are moments, like today, where I realize how much I miss just being able to exist without thinking about what comes next."

His words hung in the air, filled with a quiet honesty that made your chest tighten. "I'm glad we're here today, then," I said softly. "It's nice to just... be."

He smiled, his gaze warm and appreciative. "Yeah. It's really nice. Being with you makes it even better."

your heart swelled at his words, the sincerity in his voice making the moment feel even more special. you sat there in comfortable silence for a while, the world moving on around you both, but everything felt slower, more intentional. The sunlight continued to filter through the leaves, casting golden patterns on the ground, and the soft rustling of the breeze in the trees was the only sound besides our quiet breathing.

Eventually, Wooyoung leaned forward, resting his elbows on his knees and turning his head to look at you again. "You know what I love about days like this?"

"What?" I asked, curious.

"That there's no pressure," he said simply. " We can just talk, laugh, walk, and it's enough. and to stay with you."

you smiled and nodded, feeling the same. "It's the little things, isn't it? The quiet moments."

"Exactly," he said with a soft smile. "It's the quiet moments that make the noise worth it."

but y/n, the time is ticking...

As the sun dipped lower in the sky, casting an orange-pink glow over the city, you stood up and continued your walk. The city was still alive, still buzzing with energy, but in that golden hour, it felt like it belonged to just the two of you. Hand in hand, you wandered through the streets, no destination in mind, just enjoying the rhythm of the afternoon that felt like it could last forever.

—————————————————————————

Taglist :

@mymoodwriting @justhere4kpop @vvshere @anyamaris @yeoobin @wooyoungmybelovedhusband @brrrkdslek-personal @icchyi @jwnghyuns @piratequeen-queenofgames @luhwaine @ilove-taeyong @dinonuguaegi @endeav0rsb1tch @loveforred @hwanring @sanwifesstuff @kiwiisnthereoops @kiwiraccoon @sousydive @aliona124754 @tunaasan @iykyunho @jennifermakmur

(open! dm me/ send ask/reply here)

i needed to write my thoughts in here or i would go crazy. i started this at 5am and it like 9am here. thank u sm for this omg

the essence of youth is summers with you

genre: poly!surfers!ateez x fem!reader, childhood best friend!san, sort of college!au, slice of life and coming of age, slow burn, fluff, angst

length: 38.7k

c/w: surfer!ateez (deserves a warning), explicit profanity, hella angst, mentions of alcohol, themes of sexuality and homophobia, arguments, implied toxicity (not the boys), miscommunication, kissing, m x m interactions

synopsis: when you move away from your hometown at the age of six, you discover that summer in namhae takes the form of a skinny, dimpled boy who loves the sea and holding hands– choi san. but as the summers go past and he goes to seoul for college, bringing back new friends each year, you start to develop feelings that run deeper than just friendship. will your summers of youth become ones of love and dreams, or will they end in pain and heartbreak?

a/n: i owe the biggest thank you to yumi @sorryimananti-romantic for making this fic possible and for all the support she's given me in the last three months. this fic has quickly become one that i hold dearly in my heart because of how healing it has been to write, so i hope this is also healing to read ♡

it’s the first day of summer when you move to namhae.

the houses and trees flicker past and eventually peter out into vaster fields, mudflats and stretches of beach as your father drives through the countryside from yeosu to namhae. you idly wonder if summer in namhae will be like what it is back in your hometown.

it isn’t very comfortable wedged between your parents in the middle seat of the mini-truck, especially when some of the roads become unpaved as you arrive closer to the village. but you’re wearing your cute, yellow sundress with bumble bees across the front pocket, which is your big-girl dress, so you can deal with the bumpiness a little longer without complaining. the truck sounds like it’s going to give out as it groans and sputters to a stop in front of what will be your new home.

tentatively, you hop out and look around. it’s a quaint beach house that rests along a modest coastal embankment. when you walk closer to the edge of the port, you see that there’s a stretch of sand that leads to the ocean, and a little further down the coast is another beach house– your new neighbours.

the rattle of your truck must have alerted them to your arrival, because they come out with warm smiles and even warmer greetings. they exchange handshakes and hugs with your parents, then the attention falls to you. there’s a boy who peers out from behind his mother’s legs as she compliments your dress, his round eyes brimming with curiosity at the sight of a potential playmate other than his sister. you cling onto the side of your mother’s dress and the adults share a laugh.

the boy’s mother gently nudges him forward. “go on, sweetie. say hi.”

with another nod of encouragement, the boy shuffles closer to you with an impish grin. you realise he’s shorter than you are. “hi, i’m san. i’m six years old and i like the sea!”

the grip you have on your mother’s dress loosens a little as you mumble shyly in return, “i’m y/n. i’m six and i like the sea too.”

his smile grows impossibly wider, and his eyes and remaining reservations disappear at your words. reaching out, he grabs your hand in a physical declaration of friendship. your other hand falls away from your mother’s dress.

“we’re going to go play at the beach,” he announces, because you’re his friend now and friends play together.

on your first day of summer in namhae, you find that summer takes the form of a skinny, dimpled boy who loves the sea and holding hands.

“sannie!” you skid across the wooden floorboards of his living room in your sock-clad feet, startling his father who is sitting on the couch with a newspaper.

he peers at you from above his glasses with the smile that stays consistently warm, be it from him or his son. he chuckles, “hello, sweetheart, here to play with san again?”

you bow slightly in greeting and nod before you whiz off once more in the direction of san’s room. summer vacation has only just started and you and san have already spent seven summers together, but there are crabs to chase and waves to splash and sandcastles to build so there’s not a day to be wasted.

“choi san!” you holler again, thundering up to his door. you’re about to yank it open when san opens it from the opposite side, excitement already plastered across his face as he starts to yell your name too.

the moment he appears, you hurtle into his chest for a hug that ends up knocking you both off-balance. he stumbles backwards with you in his arms and rebounds off the edge of his bed, sending you both sprawling onto the floor in a fit of laughter. you’ve become familiar with the way his bedroom floor feels from these exact moments, and you’ve also become familiar with the way san’s arms feel around you from being wrapped up in his tight cuddles. you may love the sea, but you love being with san just a little more.

“do you have your bucket?” you ask, still tangled together on the floor in a mess of limbs and untamed hair.

san props himself up on an elbow and reaches behind you to reveal a large, plastic bucket. it’s purple with a white handle and it matches yours; blue with a white handle and still lying on its side from when you dropped it in favour of hugging san.

you sweep up your bucket with a cheeky grin, “race you to the beach!” using san’s chest as leverage to stand up, then pushing him onto his back again by his shoulders for good measure, you take off for the door.

“that’s cheating!” he yells after you.

you sprint with glee back through the living room, barely managing to brake in time to avoid running headfirst into his mother. you greet and farewell her in a single breath before you’re off again, forgoing your sandals when you hear the thundering of san’s footsteps and a warbled bye mum! bye dad! catching up behind you.

the pavement is hot under the bare soles of your feet but soon enough you leap off the sidewalk, bucket clattering in your hand, and the ground turns cool and soft as you run across the sinking sand. san jumps after you with a battlecry of his own and you scream when you feel him right on your tail. he catches up as you near the waves and with a final burst of energy, he grabs your hand and tugs you along with him.

your grip on your bucket is lost once more when you yelp and focus on keeping up instead– san’s only got an inch on you now but why is he so much faster than you? the wet sand starts to grow colder, salty water splashing everywhere the further you sprint. neither of you slow down– not that you could with san dragging you along right into the thick of the crashing waves as he whoops.

you dread the day san will actually be tall enough to pick you up and toss you into the water, but for now, you give him the satisfaction of pretending. you wait for him to bend down a little, then you kick the water right into his face. he splutters indignantly and blinks the sting away until he can see the wide smirk on your face. his tongue pokes his cheek as he gives you a scandalised smile, before he cocks his head and sniggers, “your turn.”

you take that as your cue to run. san dips his bucket into the water, scooping it up full to the brim, then starts chasing you with faux anger that makes you shriek in delight. you yell breathless apologies over your shoulder in between giggles but they all fall upon deaf ears as he continues streaking after you, bucket held high like a madman with an axe.

you end up slowing down because it’s hard to run through water, and you’re met with the icy downpour of water over your head. san laughs triumphantly when you look at him with the ferocity of a soaked kitten. you eye his bucket and weigh up the odds of snatching it out of his hands versus dunking him headfirst underwater through sheer force. realistically, you have no chances of doing either. plus, san knows you too well.

“use your own bucket, you loser,” he banters as he hides his. and yet, he walks back to retrieve your bucket for you before it’s swept out by the waves.

“are you cold?” san asks whilst passing it to you.

there’s vigour and liveliness thrumming through your every vein. “no,” you answer, “‘m not cold.” never with you.

he nods, “let me know if you do get cold, okay? i’ll grab you a jacket or something.”

“my house is literally next to yours. i can get one if i need to,” you chuckle.

“i know, but it’s the principle of it. just shut up and let me have my chivalrous moment.” san sits with the characteristic huffiness of a teenager who thinks he’s all grown up now that he’s in high school. but it’s not very convincing when he immediately starts to shovel sand into his bucket with the enthusiasm of a puppy.

“okay, thank you, sannie. i’ll let you know if i so much as shiver,” you dotingly appease him.

he nods diligently, then pats the sand next to him for you to sit down too. you join him in filling up the buckets with sand so that you two can make your thirty second attempt to build a five-tiered sandcastle pyramid. so far, you’ve only ever gotten to the third layer before it starts to crumble apart.

“what’s wrong?” you ask when san stops packing the sand into his bucket.

you realise he’s distracted by something in the distance and you follow his line of sight to find a lone surfer riding a wave in the horizon. san watches as the man’s body becomes an extension of the ocean– a dancing duet with the rolling waves as he stands steadily on his board with powerful elegance. when the board glides towards the shore, the man spreads his arms like an eagle’s wings and lets himself fall backwards into the sway of the water.

san is suddenly filled with yearning to learn of the sea’s choreography. he declares, “i want to become a surfer.”

“what happened to becoming a dancer?” you raise an eyebrow. because if there’s one thing that san loves just as much as the sea, then it’s dancing.

“becoming a dancer is still my dream. i meant surfing as an interest,” he breathes out. “just look at him. he looks so…free.”

you can see it in the way san’s eyes follow the surfer’s movements and sparkle with wonder– the moment he falls utterly and hopelessly in love. “then try it,” you encourage, “what’s stopping you?”

san tears his gaze away from the ocean to look at you instead. the same, loving gaze stays on his face. “nothing,” he proclaims with a growing smile. “absolutely nothing.”

san has all the summers in the world to surf. and you’ll be there with him for every single one.

you watch as san fixes his surfboard to the top of his black jeep– the last of his luggage to be loaded.

“i don’t get why you’re taking that with you. there’s probably nowhere to even surf in seoul.” you know you sound like a snobby six-year-old and not the eighteen-year-old that you are, but you don’t really care right now. not when san is leaving and you won’t be able to attend college together like you thought you would be.

tugging on the straps once more to check that they’re secure, he chuckles, “doesn’t hurt to take it just in case.” when he sees the forlorn look on your face he adds, “i’ll be back every summer, yeah?”

“it won’t be the same. who am i going to hang out with every day?” you grumble.

san laughs endearingly, “it’s only until i graduate.”

“or you find a job or a girlfriend and then you’ll stay in seoul forever.” you cross your arms defiantly as san steps closer and reaches out to ruffle your hair. where you had stopped growing at fifteen, san is still growing and he now towers almost half a head over you.

“just four years–no job, no girlfriend–and then i’ll be back. i promise.” he opens his arms a little, “now, do i get my goodbye hug or do i need to tickle it out of you instead?”

you huff before uncrossing your arms and sinking into his warm embrace. he folds you into his chest as your arms wrap around his waist. closing your eyes, you memorise the feeling of his back muscles flexing under your hands while he gently rocks you side to side. you soak in his body heat that swaddles your entire being in safety and home. you breathe him in one last time when you bury your face in the crook of his neck, nuzzling the steady pulse that beats there.

“i’ll miss you,” you whisper, because you don’t trust your voice not to crack if you speak any louder.

san presses a soft kiss against your hairline and admits, “i’ll miss you more.”

you bite back the urge to respond with ‘then stay’, cherishing the moment for a little longer instead, before you step away so that he can say his goodbyes to his family. he hugs them one by one; his father, his sister, haneul, and lastly, his mother. she’s discreetly wiping at her tears and you have to look away so that you don’t start crying too. because if you start crying, everything will become blurry, and you can’t afford that when this is the last time you’ll see san until next summer.

you all gather around the driver’s window that’s rolled down to the very bottom when san is finally seated. seeing him buckle his seatbelt ready to leave overwhelms you with a sense of finality and your eyes well up before you can blink the hotness away. san stretches a hand out to thumb away your tears and makes a sad noise, “don’t cry, please? we can call whenever you want.”

you sniffle, “call me when you arrive?”

he nods with that dimpled smile you are already starting to miss. and then just like that, your best friend is gone. you stand outside his house for a stretch of time, even after the outline of his jeep has long since disappeared into the distance. it may be the last week of summer, but it feels like it’s the middle of winter today.

san’s eyes flick upwards to look in the rearview mirror, even though he hasn’t been able to see your reflection the last three times he’s looked. he had tried to appear as collected as he could to avoid making it any harder for you, but now he regrets not holding your hand a little longer; a little tighter. and if san tears up a little as he starts the four-hour drive up to seoul, then that’s between him, the car, and the playlist you made just for him.

you absentmindedly tug on a crease in your bed sheets as you laze on your bed, phone on speaker so you don’t have to hold it. “what was that?” you pull your device closer to your ear. “are you going somewhere?”

there it is again– the beeping sound of a car in reverse. the warning signal stops as san answers vaguely, “home.”

you jolt up into a sitting position, a growing sense of excitement making its way across your face as you dare to ask, “home?”

“yeah, home,” san confirms, and you can hear the smile in his voice this time. “i told you i’d see you soon, didn’t i?”

“i didn’t think you meant in five literal minutes,” you almost trip over your own feet in your hurry to slip some shoes on. “oh my god, is that why you said you couldn’t facetime me?”

you can hear his answer this time– not the scratchy voice that comes from your speaker, no– the smooth deepness of san’s voice close by. and there he is. after almost a year of freezing days, absent dimples and longing calls, choi san is finally back in namhae for the summer.

in quick succession, you notice three things. one, san has returned from seoul with triple the number of surfboards that he left with, strapped to the top of his black jeep. two, said man is now almost a whole head taller than you as he watches you with a smirk and disconnects your call. and three, he’s not alone.

if you think that san is tall, then the two guys that hop out of the jeep after him are even taller. one of them runs a veiny hand through his dark brown locks, which fall back down to softly frame his face. the other turns in your direction after closing his door and you realise you’ve seen him before– both of them, actually.

on top of your spontaneous calls with san, you facetime him every friday afternoon after your own classes have finished. he’s usually in one of the university’s dance studios because, as a dance major at kq university, the studio is basically his second home. san mentions his friends every now and then and they’ll appear behind him to say hello to you or you’ll be able to hear them in the background of the call.

quite frankly, the crusty quality of san’s front camera hardly does them justice because wow. they’re hot. and tall. they’re not letting you forget that fact when the three of them step away from the jeep and closer to where you and san’s family are waiting to welcome them.

san greets his parents with a hug before he gestures to his friends one by one, “yunho, mingi. the friends i was telling you about.”

yunho and mingi thank san’s parents for letting them stay the summer and apologise in advance for the inconvenience. but from the way they’re immediately told that their extended stay is more than welcome and that hopefully the drive down from seoul wasn’t too tiring, you know san’s parents have already adopted the two well-mannered boys as their own sons.

“hey, pipsqueak,” san sidles up to your side whilst his parents fuss over his friends.

you look at him, appalled by the sudden nickname, and even more so as you swat his hand away when he playfully ruffles your hair to tease, “looks like you’ve been busy doing everything but growing.”

“on second thoughts, maybe i don’t really miss you.”

san laughs, the tinkle of the sound like the crisp smell of the ocean during sunrise. he pulls you into him and that’s all it takes for you to melt in his embrace. despite your earlier quip, you’ve missed san terribly. it finally feels like namhae now that his familiar arms are around you again.

the rumble of san’s chest is soothing as he says, “well, i miss you. it’s good to be back home.”

you pull back a little to look up at him and god, he’s gotten so much taller. “it’s good to have you back home, choi san.”

the sound of approaching footsteps breaks your hug apart and you give the two boys a friendly smile as san roughly introduces your names, “but you all already know that, considering you guys basically see each other every week.”

“on top of the fact that san doesn’t shut up about you,” mingi jokes.

san punches him in the arm and mingi amends himself with a laugh, “namhae! he doesn’t shut up about namhae!”

yunho snorts, then offers you a small hug as he properly introduces himself. he leaves enough space between your bodies for the holy spirit to boogie when his arms encircle you, and you honestly find his courtesy extremely endearing.

“are you two also dance majors?” you ask.

“yeah, so we share some classes together,” yunho explains. “mingi and san are in the department of dance performance though, whereas i’m in choreo, so they have all their classes together and i only share the core ones with them.”

“good thing, too,” mingi joins the conversation and rests an arm around the other’s shoulder. “i’ve known him since high school and i was honestly starting to get a little sick of his face.”

he earns himself a jab to the side and he keels over with a dramatic groan. both san and yunho ignore him in favour of stepping back towards the jeep to unload their surfboards. you eye the boards with curiosity, recognising the white deck with the yellow and blue tail to be san’s. the design is simple, but san had used his own money to purchase it as his first transition board after the beginner-level mini malibu his parents had gifted him, so it’s his baby.

“are these all yours?” you question as san rests the tail of his board on the ground.

he shakes his head with a flustered laugh, “the guys brought theirs along too.”

mingi reaches for his board after yunho takes his and your jaw drops to the ground. “you all surf? wait, so you can surf in seoul?!”

“no, you were right. you can’t,” san chortles in embarrassment. “but there are a couple of indoor surfing places that we can go to.”

mingi hikes his surfboard against his hip, “doesn’t beat the real thing, though.”

“nope, which is exactly why we’re crashing. sorry, by the way–we probably should’ve asked you whether we could come,” yunho scratches the back of his neck.

you frown, “of course you can. it’s not like i’m the town head of namhae or anything.”

“but they know we spend our summers together,” san lightly bumps you with the side of his hip.

“oh,” you can feel heat creeping across your cheeks, so you force it away by jumping on the opportunity to tease, “you know what? mingi was right. you don’t shut up about me, do you.”

mingi hollers at the ammunition you have just given him for future use and even yunho slaps his hand over his mouth to hide his smile. it’s amusing to see san flustering so easily now that there’s a new dynamic of friendship between you and the other two boys, and san resorts to giving both of his friends’ asses a good-natured kick in the direction of the beach.

as they lumber off with their boards sniggering, san effortlessly hoists his own board up and sideways and beckons, “let’s go.”

“you know i can’t surf, san.”

he flicks your nose fondly with his free hand, “not to surf, silly. let’s go get our buckets.”

your eyes widen and you stand on your tiptoes with excitement, “buckets?”

“of course,” san waggles his eyebrows up and down with his dual dimples. “we’ve got some serious sandcastle-building to show off.”

half an hour later, all three surfboards are tossed to one side in the wet sand as you share the buckets for an intense showdown between the ‘namhae ninjas’ and the ‘highschool homies’. san had shot down your suggestion to alliterate your team name with the word ‘neighbours’, claiming it was an insult to the bestfriendshipness between you two, but hadn’t been able to come up with a much better alternative himself.

san holds his breath as you upturn another moulded bucket of sand onto the third tier of your sandcastle pyramid. with little surprise, the foundation starts to crumble and triggers a chain reaction that topples it all over. as always, some things just don’t change, even over time.

mingi laughs at your sandy ruins with an awful lot of audacity for someone who had watched yunho build most of their sandcastle, only to then add a little stick at the very top as a finishing touch. he grabs his phone from where he had left it on the safety of his discarded towel and holds up the front camera to take a photo of you all.

where there used to be two sandcastles between two friends, there are now two sandcastles between four. mingi snaps the photo, eternalising the moment. some things do change over time, and sometimes, change is just the beginning of a new chapter.

“which one do you think looks better?”

your mother takes a step back to scrutinise yunho’s pick. “this one,” she points, “the other colour palette clashes too much.”

san nods solemnly in agreement and mingi squints at his own choice from beside. with the seriousness of their expressions, one would think that they’re discussing investment properties. in reality, you’re watching your trio of friends and your mother earnestly matching and colour-coordinating the floral prints of your father’s flowy farming pants to their button-up shirts.

noticing the dubious frown on mingi’s face, your mother nonchalantly skims her fingertips over the pants he’s holding. “this is one of my favourites because it has little leaves on it,” she remarks, before dropping her voice to a whisper so that only mingi can hear her next words. “it matches your shirt. i think you’ll look the best in it.”

he immediately perks up and you can’t help but compare him to a sunflower that thrives the most under a loving hand. it’s incredibly cute and you can also tell that your mother feels the same, if not obvious from the way she has been giving him extra hugs and compliments all summer.

you rejoin the boys after you have all changed into your pants. it takes a lot of self control not to laugh when you see how seriously they are taking their get-up; rubber boots hiked up to their knees over their floral pants, and their straw hats secured snugly with the chin straps. even as disinterested as your father originally was when the trio had first arrived at the beginning of summer, he now lingers behind the sliding glass doors to watch you and san attempt to teach the tall boys how to plant rice seedlings in the paddy field.

yunho grabs a small, prepared bed of seedlings and turns to look at you cheekily. “want to be a rice friend and show me how to plant these?”

you level him with a stare that makes him chuckle and apologise, “sorry, i won’t say that a-grain.”

he looks awfully pleased with himself, so you turn on your heels in pretence to ditch him for mingi instead. you let out an involuntary yelp when yunho prevents your escape by quite literally manhandling you back next to him. he dares to up his charm by using his wide, sparkling eyes on you as he thrusts the seedlings into your hands, like a child waiting for you to open a bag of snacks– how could anybody say no?

you talk him through your demonstration, separating a small cluster of seedlings from the seedbed before transplanting it into the field. once he seems confident, you let him take over. it’s mesmerising to watch yunho’s hands as he deftly carries out each step– the way his long and slender fingers move with coordination and grace. despite it being his first time, he works skillfully like someone with years of experience. you’ve come to realise that yunho’s good at doing things that involve physicality, like dancing, surfing, and now farming.

“how did you start surfing?” you wonder.

yunho stills momentarily, before he separates another cluster of seedlings and runs his fingers through its green shoots. “i actually started surfing because mingi wanted to try,” his voice is fond. “it’s been four or five years now.”

“that’s really sweet of you.”

he ducks his head bashfully, then asks, “what about you? how come you don’t surf?”

“san roped me into his first few lessons, but i never got the hang of it so i stopped,” you reveal. “i prefer watching, anyway.”

“maybe you just didn’t have a good teacher. i could teach you one day?”

you don’t doubt that he would make a good teacher, but you would most definitely be a terrible student. the shirt and board shorts that leave very little to imagination when he’s soaked, and the water that drips from the ends of his hair down his jawline and neck are distracting enough as they are from a distance.

you chuckle, “you’re going to need a lot longer than just a few days to turn me into a surfer. you guys leave this weekend, don’t you?”

“that’s true,” he hums. “but there’s always next summer…if you’d like that?”

at his words, you suddenly don’t know where to look. the rosiness that starts to colour your cheeks makes a small part of you hope that there is an underlying hint of flirting in his question. before you can answer though, you’re interrupted by san peering over your shoulder to look at yunho’s progress. “of course you’re good at this too.”

you crane your neck to look around san, where you find mingi squatting and planting seedlings in the rows that are within arm’s reach.

“how’s he going?”

san glances back, “he’s, uh–well. he’s trying.”

“my hardest!” mingi yells across the field.

with a laugh, you stand up and slowly make your way towards him, leaving san and yunho to lay down the rules to see who can plant the most seedlings in the next half an hour. because apparently, everything needs to be a competition between them.

the seedlings that mingi has planted don’t look that bad, honestly. they’re a little lopsided, the spacing and height of each seedling a little inconsistent, but for his first time it really isn’t all too bad. you tell him such and squat down beside him. “here, let me show you.”

you gently remove one of the seedlings from the watery mud whilst talking, “they may just be plants, but they’re like people, too. if you treat them with love and care, you can see the same reflected in them.” you neaten the sides of the hole as you add, “you know, it’s kind of like how yunho loves and cares for you.”

having spent all summer with the pair, you notice all the times yunho subtly perks his head up to locate where the other boy is. all the times yunho brings him into conversation or back into the little huddle you’re all standing in. all the times yunho will wait for mingi to say what he wants or thinks before saying the same thing himself.

your fingers ease the seedling into the hole, then you fill it with soil and pat it down firmly to give the shoot the support it needs. “yunho told me he started surfing because you wanted to.”

at your words, mingi nods with a wistful smile; completely different from his characteristic cheerfulness. even the brightest of stars have moments where their twinkle dulls. “i was going through a rough time at home and i wanted something to distract myself…give myself a reason to get out of the house, even if just for a few hours,” he reveals. “sometimes, yunho and i skipped our morning classes and he would take me on long trips to the beach just so that we could surf.”

“i’m glad you had him to help you through that.”

“yeah, he’s helped me a lot,” mingi agrees. “he still does. sannie too.” as he talks, mingi attempts to plant another seedling the way you have shown him, and this time, it stands tall and proud amongst the other shoots beside the one you have planted.

“how are things at home now?” you ask.

he shrugs aloofly, an indirect answer that tells you everything you need to know. his gaze settles on the other half of your little summer quartet, who are now in heated debate over the winner of the planting competition. “both of them knew that i didn’t want to go back to my hometown over summer. that’s why san asked if we wanted to come here with him. thanks for letting us stay this summer, y/n. it’s meant a lot to me.”

your heart breaks a little at his words and you nudge him playfully, “stop treating me like i’m the head of namhae. there’ll always be a place here for the both of you.”

he lets out a laugh, a glimpse of his usual self. “we just know how much summers mean to you and san.”

“and meanings can always change for the better,” you counter with a smile.

mingi feels warm from the very inside. for a moment, only you and him exist in this bubble of comfort as you simply gaze at each other. and it doesn’t go unnoticed. yunho stretches his back with a satisfied exhale at san’s admittance of defeat before glancing at the two of you looking nice and cosy in the exact same corner of the paddy field you were working on half an hour ago.

“have you two just been sitting there this whole time?” yunho narrows his eyes as his words draw san’s attention.

“no?” you flimsily say, at the same time mingi confidently declares, “yes.”

the man beside you is back to his usual antics as he giddily fans the fire by gloating, “what are you going to do about it?”

yunho and san glance at each other and you start rising to your feet at the foreboding of danger. they nod.

that’s all the warning you get before they lunge in your direction. as dorky and harmless as the two of them look in their styled outfit of farming pants and straw hats, they are anything but that as yunho and san take frighteningly large steps through the rice paddy with their long legs. and just as your luck would have it, yunho is the one who is closest to you out of the two predators. you hardly think that it’s a fair chase between the tallest and the shortest.

“yun, we can talk this out like adults,” you try to distract him.

whilst you’re struggling for your life to pull your boots out of the squelching mud as fast as you can, yunho easily moves towards you with a devilish grin. you see his outstretched hands, covered in mud, and you decide right there and then that you’re not above begging.

“don’t come any closer! please, i’m sorry! i’m–” your pleads are cut off when he grabs you by the waist and hauls you over his shoulder.

for a brief second, you almost slip right over him face-first into the mud from the momentum and your life flashes before your eyes. but then yunho’s arms flex as he steadily grips your thighs and readjusts your weight, and you resign your fate to his shoulder and his pretty– but grubby– hands.

you twist your head to the side when a husky screech alerts you to victim number two and you find mingi at the mercy of san’s headlock. he rapidly taps the latter’s forearm, yelling mercy as you all burst out into laughter. very soon, the field turns into a playground of childish liveliness as all intentions of farming are tossed to the wind.

mingi was right in saying that summers mean a lot to you and san. but as you all chase and run away from one another around the muddy field, smearing loving handprints of dirt over each other’s faces and clothes, sounds of happiness loud enough that your parents can hear it from back inside the house, summer takes on a new meaning in the shape of you four.

in hindsight, it makes a lot of sense now why san’s parents had knocked on your door earlier this morning, entrusting you with the spare key to their house and waving goodbye as they drove away in their rented campervan. they had let you know that they would be going on a road trip along the coast this summer so that san and his friends could have the house to themselves.

you hadn’t thought much of it– just excitedly counted down the hours until the reunion of your little quartet. yunho had been texting you updates as he, san and mingi finally made the four-hour trip down to namhae now that they were on summer vacation. one of the last texts you had received had been a picture of mingi in the backseat, head lolling and mouth open in deep slumber, with the caption, ‘gonna need to wake sleeping beauty up soon XD we’ll be there in about twenty’.

this time, you had opted to wait for their arrival by sitting on the embankment outside your houses. your legs had dangled off the ledge as you looked out towards the beach, and at the telltale noise of their arrival, you had excitedly hopped up to your feet, only to be met with a sight that had your steps halting in fluster. and oh, this is why san’s parents had decided to yield the house. because this time, not only have the number of surfboards doubled, but so have the number of cars and boys that are suddenly in front of you.

as san turns off the ignition to his jeep, you’re dazedly swept up into a sandwich of hugs between yunho and mingi as they greet you eagerly. it’s good to see them again in the flesh instead of their measly five-inch-tall selves over facetime, and you’d be a little overwhelmed by their height on either side of you– having forgotten just how tall they really are– if your attention isn’t distracted by the opening doors of the banged-up ute behind san’s jeep.

either seoul has water that’s doped with something, or birds of a feather flock together, because each of the three boys that step out are equally as good-looking. you’d be lying if your heart didn’t skip a beat at the sight of them. you’re a simple girl with hormones weak for eye candy, after all.

yunho slings an arm around you and walks you a little closer as the new faces turn to look at you with friendly smiles. “this is y/n,” yunho introduces. “and these are our friends, jongho and yeosang.”

you notice that he skips over one of the boys, who starts to open his mouth in complaint, but then yunho continues on, “and this short one is hongjoong. we keep him as our mascot.”

hongjoong gives the taller his middle finger with practised ease and counters, “and we keep you as our tall circus freak.”

the way everyone snickers, yunho and hongjoong included, tells you that this is just about as average an interaction can be. after the boys properly greet themselves and pleasantries are exchanged with you, they decide to unload all their luggage so that they can rest for the afternoon. you walk over to the open boot of the black jeep, reaching for the last duffel and hoisting it into your hands.

before you can so much as take two steps, there’s a hand carefully taking the bag from yours. when you tilt your head up, it’s san’s kind eyes that are gazing back at you. “here, let me do it,” he casually tells you and then he walks towards the open doors of his house.

left with the outline of his back, you have a clear view of his shoulders flexing under his white shirt and you wonder when he started to fill out his clothes with muscle. you become conscious of the way you’re subtly ogling at your best friend, so you shake your head and walk over to the back of the ute instead where there are still a few bags left in the open bed.

there’s a small duffel that looks relatively light. as you drag it closer, you quickly realise it’s heavier than it looks. “what the hell is in this? weights?” you mutter to yourself.

there’s a giggle beside you, “sorry, that’s probably yeosang’s bag. he brings his supplements with him everywhere.”

it’s jongho this time, with his gummy smile and crescent eyes, who takes the bag handles out of your hands. he extends a brown paper bag out to you instead. “we can trade. this is much lighter.”

he easily picks up the bag of supplements and then reaches for a second bag to sling over his shoulder. for the amount of adorableness he exudes from his smile and laugh, the strength that he seems to have is on the complete opposite end of the spectrum. as he walks away, there’s the crunch of approaching footsteps and you see that it’s the short boy, hongjoong. he’s only short relative to his friends, because when he comes to stand beside you he’s still easily taller than you.

“maybe you could help me hold this, too.” he’s holding his closed fist out, making it impossible to discern what’s in his hands.

“what is it?” you ask as you open your hand, palm upturned for him to drop whatever he is holding into yours.

except he simply uncurls his fingers and intertwines them with yours, shit-eating grin plastered all over his face. a laugh erupts from your throat, only growing in volume when yeosang appears and interrupts by stepping between the two of you, forcing his friend to let go of your hand.

as yeosang grabs the last suitcase and closes the tailgate, he deadpans to the other, “san’s going to chop your hand off when he sees,” then he slings his free arm around hongjoong and ushers the both of you back into the house.

“it’s okay, i wouldn’t let san do that to you,” you reassure.

hongjoong smirks triumphantly at yeosang, only for you to wipe the expression off his face when you finish, “because that’d be animal abuse.”

“it’s been five minutes and you’ve already picked your side,” he laments dramatically, before nodding. “i see how you play. i like you.”

“it’s a shame i don’t,” you quip back immediately.

“fuck, did i just get rejected?”

yeosang shoves his friend through the doorway, “stop digging yourself a deeper hole.”

you all laugh as you shut the front door behind you to stop the cold of the air conditioner that san has turned on from escaping. you’re definitely starting to see the appeal hongjoong’s friends have in teasing him.

you take the bag of snacks still in your hand to the kitchen and you set it on the counter where san is drinking a glass of water. he’s watching the rest of the boys play ‘scissors, paper, rock’ over room allocations now that all their luggage has been piled up in the living room. he raises an arm and you easily slot yourself into his side and slide an arm around his waist. relaxing into the touch of his hand slowly rubbing up and down your arm, you also watch as the boys grow increasingly rowdy with each emerging winner.

you’ve had the fleeting thought before, but now that you’re seeing all the boys together, you realise just how attractive they all well and truly are. even san, you’re slowly starting to notice, does not lack in the face or body department.

“do you guys have a rule where you have to be attractive to be friends or something?” you ask, only half-jokingly. even though you had directed the question at san, it’s not him who answers you.

“aww, stop. you think we’re attractive?” of course hongjoong would be the one to overhear.

immediately, the feistiness in you appears. “yeah, and i’m wondering why they made an exception for you.”

he takes on the jest easily, “god, you’re obsessed with me.”

“you’re right, i’m a little crazy for dogs,” you shoot back, and you can feel the shake of san’s chuckles from next to you.

“good thing i’d bark for you, then.”

“what the fuck, guys?” mingi interrupts, “get a room.”

at that, san steps forward protectively and shoos his friends away, “hurry up and put your bags in the rooms so we can go surfing.”

yunho and yeosang take their bags towards the small guest room down the hall, whilst the remaining three head for san’s room. you turn to san incredulously, “you’re fitting four people in your room?”

he shakes his head, “of course not. i’m going to sleep in haneul’s room. she’s on a trip with her friends for most of the summer.”

“she can stay at mine when she comes back. until you guys have to go back to seoul,” you suggest.

“oh, that’s right. your parents are in yeosu now, aren’t they?”

you nod. you had told san a couple of weeks ago that your parents had moved back to your grandparent’s house for the meantime. they’re not sure how long they will be staying in your hometown for, but considering the deteriorating health of your grandparents and the fact that you are independent enough to take care of yourself, it’ll likely be for a while.

san doesn’t tell you, but that’s part of the reason why he has brought so many of his friends back this summer. he knows that you’re silently struggling to adjust– even if his parents take care of you like their own daughter– so he hopes that he and his friends can fill in some of the silence, even if just for the summer. he wishes it didn’t just have to be summer.

“do you need to change into something else before we go?” he asks you.

you look down at the t-shirt and shorts that you’re wearing. you don’t mind getting them wet, but you can’t say the same about your underclothes. “yeah, i’ll quickly go and change first.”

he nods and watches as you head towards the door to toe on your sandals. when you pull the door open, he gently calls after you, “it’s good to see you again, pipsqueak. i’ve missed you.”

you smile, “i’ve missed you more.”

even after the door closes behind you, san’s smile stays on his face. “i’ve missed you the most.”

no matter how many times you experience the thrill of getting tossed into the ocean, you still cannot fathom the fact that the once short, skinny boy who used to pretend to pick you up is now tall and strong enough to actually do it.

“you cheater!” you screech when you feel san’s arms snake around your waist from behind, lifting you up off your feet. “you said you’d give me a ten-second head start!”

his gleeful laugh rings in your ears as he ignores your flailing limbs and teases, “i did! your little legs are just too slow.”

you start to feel the coolness of waves splashing your ankles and toes the further san carries you out away from shore and your grip on his forearm tightens in anticipation. with a slight swing, he lets go of your waist and tosses you into the water. the next thing you know when you regain your balance and wipe the water from your face is the sound of san’s yelp as he disappears underwater. jongho grins from above, having leapt onto the older’s back, who in turn has crumpled under the unsuspecting weight.

san emerges with a hulk-like roar absolutely soaked to the bone, his black t-shirt clinging to his torso. the clear outlines of his chest and broad shoulders set off an unfamiliar skip in your heart yet again, and san lifting the hem of his shirt to wipe his face– revealing his abs in all of their wonder– does the complete opposite of calming you down.

you're fucked. there's no way you're attracted to san like that. in the form of petty revenge, said man brings his hands down to slap the surface of the water, splashing it right in your face and jongho’s and…yeah, that flutter of butterflies is gone.

san is caught right in the middle of the crossfire as you and jongho splash him, drowning his figure in torrential rain. the sounds of his choked laughter draw the attention of everyone else too, who have no idea why san is the target but are more than willing to join in. but with the plethora of water being splashed and the chaos of hands coming from every possible direction, the three of you end up drowning under the attacks.

hongjoong quickly loses motivation when his arms grow tired from doggy-paddling the water and yunho and yeosang’s attempts also slow down. they snicker at the aftermath– your trio absolutely drenched– and then rapidly skitter away before any of you decide to retaliate in vengeance.

at their cowardice, san bites the bait and goes hollering after them, leaving you with the youngest of your group of friends. jongho beckons towards the shore with his head and you’re momentarily distracted by his wet bangs falling over his forehead and eyebrows.

“up for more surfing?” he grins at you. and if there’s one thing you’ve learnt over the summer, it’s that you would kill for jongho if he asked you with his gummy smile.

jongho is a surprisingly good surfer. as the only one in the group who grew up in seoul with limited exposure to the beach, you can hardly tell that he’s a relative beginner in comparison to the rest of the boys unless you were a surfer yourself.

once they had become their close-knit group and they realised that most of them had a shared love for surfing, they had colloquially formed their own little surfer’s club, knighting jongho as their honorary member. he learnt to surf in indoor centres, during the occasional beach road trips they would make and through the experienced guidance of his friends.

of all six surfboards they had brought to namhae, jongho’s softboard is the one that is the most ideal for you to learn with. true to his words, yunho had attempted to teach you how to surf but on his own board– a shortboard great for experienced surfers to catch steep and aggressive waves, but terribly hard for a beginner to control. jongho had offered his board and so under his and yunho’s careful hands, you had spent your summer practising on the beach before slowly transitioning into the water.

which is where you find yourself now, on your stomach as you slowly paddle out. jongho stands close by and waist-deep in the shallow waters of the spot that he has led you to where the waves are few and calm. just a couple of metres away, yeosang idly straddles his longboard as he watches in support.

“you remember how to push through the waves?” jongho checks and you nod, gripping the rails of the surfboard and straightening your arms to lift your torso upwards.

“yeah, hang on,” he says, moving closer. jongho rests his hand gently on the small of your back to steady your body and you have to focus on what he’s telling you instead of the feeling of his warm hand. he taps the sides of the board a few inches in front of where your grip currently is.

“hold it here, otherwise your centre of gravity is too far back,” he explains as you shift your hands forward. “the board might end up tipping backwards when you go through the wave.”

you retry the movement with the new positioning and jongho nods in satisfaction, removing his hand and stepping back again.

“there’s a wave coming in we could try,” yeosang suggests.

the slight swell of a forming wave starts to appear in the horizon. it doesn’t increase much in size the closer it gets, but as it reaches its peak height, the top breaks and turns into a whitewater wave. yeosang is out a little further and so he demonstrates how to push through first, lifting his torso above the break as his surfboard cuts through the wave.

“okay, ready? hold steady, steady,” jongho encourages, helping you time the movement, “and push up!”

you follow his call and straighten your arms to lift your upper body out of the wave’s trajectory, guiding the nose of your surfboard through at the same time that jongho dives under the wave. although your face still gets splashed with some water and your board trembles slightly in your grasp, you make it through the wave without tipping over.

“i did it!” you yell, shakily sliding yourself further up your board so that you can straddle it.

“you did it!” the boys respond excitedly.

jongho jumps up and down beside your board, prompting yeosang to slide into the water to join your side. you laugh brightly at the sense of achievement and at the sight of the two boys bobbing around you in a merry-go-round of exuberance.

“just a little more practice and you’ll be taking on the monster swells in no time,” yeosang declares. you know he’s exaggerating, but it makes pride bloom in your chest regardless.

somebody calls out your names and you all turn to look. it’s san standing near the waters, gesturing behind him as he yells, “we’re going to walk to the mart to get some ice cream. do you guys want to come?”

“yes!” you shout back, “wait for me!”

ungraciously tumbling off your surfboard in a hurry so that you can pull it back to shore, the boys chuckle at your eagerness. jongho grabs his board from out of your grasp so that he can carry it instead and the boys all trail behind you as you bound past san towards the pile of your belongings on the sand. while you sift through the heap for your sandals, your other hand subconsciously peels your clinging shirt away from your body. you feel the presence of someone coming up behind you and assuming it’s san, you straighten your back with a phone in your hand.

“san, you left your ph–” you start, except it’s yeosang, who bends down to pick up his towel and drapes it around you. it’s warm from the hours it’s spent in the sun and you can’t help the pleasant shiver that runs through your body. yeosang tugs it snugly over your shoulders and then takes the phone from your hand.

“here,” he tosses it to its owner, who falls into step behind you.

san nods his head in thanks and rummages under a towel where your sandals have been hiding before placing your shoes by your feet. “the ground’s pretty hot,” he says as he offers you his forearm to steady yourself with, patiently waiting for you to do up the buckles around your ankle.

“wait, i forgot my wallet,” you tell him once jongho and yeosang rejoin you after putting their surfboards away.

“don’t worry about it,” san reassures, “hongjoong’s buying.”

your ears perk up and he laughs because he knows exactly what you’re thinking. “yes, y/n. bleed him dry and order whatever you want."

"even a double–no, even a triple scoop?" you exclaim scandalously.

san's eyes drip adoration, "yes, even a triple scoop."

you run ahead with a cheer, blabbering jongho’s ear off about how if you get three different flavours and he also gets three different flavours, then you guys get to share six flavours, before yeosang joins in with excited chatter about how you guys can make it nine flavours if he does the same. you catch up with the rest of your friends and somehow, like a devilish cult, you all start to chant, “bleed hongjoong dry! bleed hongjoong dry!”

the oldest jokes that he only offered to pay for yours, not everybody’s, so mingi starts to tell you what he wants so that you can order in his stead, setting off a chain reaction as everyone else places their orders through you. they surround you, happy jostles and raucous snickers as you disappear in the middle of the group.

from behind, as san watches you grow closer and closer with his friends each summer, he can’t help but feel like he’s going to burst from affection and pride. he knows it will be a while until your parents move back to namhae, as is the same for himself until he graduates. but between his group of six– which will hopefully become the full eight next summer– and the group chat that you all made within hours of meeting each other, san is confident that you’ll never feel alone.

“if only wooyoung was here, then we’d have someone to grill the meat properly,” yeosang muses as he watches jongho flip and examine the packaging of the beef. “he’s the best cook out of us.”

“trust him to be a good cook, too,” you comment.

when you had first met yeosang, jongho and hongjoong, they had told you that there were two other friends who weren’t able to make it to namhae with the rest of them this summer. one of them was wooyoung, who naturally became part of the group after attending the same dance club as yunho, mingi and san. wooyoung had then been paired up with jongho during an inter-department project between the department of film & multimedia and the department of drama, growing close to the younger and by extension, to hongjoong, a senior in jongho’s drama society.

their other friend was seonghwa, they had told you; the oldest in their group and also in the year above like hongjoong. however, seonghwa attends a completely different university along with yeosang, the both of them undertaking a degree in education at seoul national university. they share some senior classes together, as yeosang had transferred from a law degree and had some of the credit prerequisites to jump ahead. and since yeosang is a close family friend of wooyoung’s, the three of them gradually became well-acquainted with each other.

it’s a running joke that you don’t need to remember how everybody knows each other– you just need to know that wooyoung is the common factor between them all, the person who decided that all of his friends should be friends with each other. so not only is wooyoung a social butterfly, seemingly charming and witty with good looks– should the boys’ track record stay true– but apparently he’s a good cook too. some people really just have it all.

“what else do we need?” jongho asks, haphazardly placing a few packets of the meat into the shopping cart he’s pushing.

“mingi said it would be good to make smores at the end of the night,” you answer.

last summer, during the final week that mingi, yunho and san were in namhae, you had all decided to have a barbeque feast and then spend the rest of the night huddled around a small campfire on the shores of the beach. it had been one of your favourite memories, simply basking in the peaceful buzz of summer and slowing your lives down just for one night to do nothing. you had suggested turning it into a tradition, and now that the final week of this summer has arrived, you’re all at one of the few grocery stores in namhae to stock up on food, snacks and drinks for the night.

“let’s see if they have marshmallows, then,” jongho makes a move to walk away.

hongjoong suddenly interrupts the conversation, appearing with an empty trolley in front of him. “get in,” he tells you.

yeosang helpfully points out, “that sounds like something a man with a tinted white van would say,” at the same time you question, “are we even allowed to do that?”

he beams, “i like to think that until somebody tells us we’re not allowed to do something, we are allowed to do it.”

“i can think of fifteen different reasons right now why that’s terrible life advice.”

the man simply nudges your side with the end of his trolley and you half-heartedly frown, “i’m really hoping this seonghwa friend is more responsible than you are, seeing as he’s older.”

“i hate to break it to you, but seonghwa’s worse,” jongho grimaces. “maturity ages backwards in this group, unfortunately.”

at jongho’s words, you turn to look for yunho, hoping that as the next oldest down the line he can talk some sense into hongjoong. only you’re met with the sight of the overgrown man pushing his own shopping cart with a very cramped but happy mingi sitting inside.

you sense defeat when hongjoong nudges you once more. “i can’t believe i’m doing this,” you mutter to yourself as he holds it steady for you to climb into. after all, you think, what’s life without breaking a few rules?

except nothing prepares you for the absolute madness that unfolds the moment your bottom touches the cold, metal gridding of the trolley. hongjoong quite literally revs the handlebar with engine sound effects, before charging through the aisle at full speed in an apparent race against yunho and his passenger princess. you hold on to for dear life, thinking that this will be over once you reach the end of the aisle. but both racers show no signs of stopping, instead drifting with sharp cornering into the next aisle as you screech. half of you is terrified, but the other half of you is starting to seek the thrill.

“faster, joong! faster!” you goad when you can see san standing at the end of the frozen section, waving an imaginary chequered flag.

both carts rattle past him in a close match, and as opposed as you were to the idea at first, you argue passionately against the honorary referee and the rival team over who won first place. even jongho and yeosang pick a side and claim that their eyes– from three aisles over– are as trustworthy as VAR playback.

it’s no surprise when the ruckus you’re all making gets a store manager sent your way. but by some saving grace, most likely the begrudging understanding that everyone has done this exact thing at one point or another growing up, the store does not kick you out. they let you finish shopping for the supplies you need, but not without the glares of the retail workers following you and your friends regardless of which aisle you try to duck and disappear behind.

with hushed giggles and not-so-subtle elbows in each other’s sides, your group hurriedly pays and places the multitude of plastic bags back into the trolley. san and jongho take one of the trolleys each and you all walk back to the cars to load the shopping. you would think that a scolding would deter any further misbehaviour, but when you all see the relatively empty parking lot, there’s only shared smiles of deviousness and glints of mischief.

if anyone were to look at the parking lot outside the grocery store that tuesday morning, they would see a group of seven friends, clad in an eyesore disarray of sweatpants, shorts, pajama tops and slippers, pushing each other around in shopping carts like bumper cars with shrieks of joy, circling around the dusty jeep and banged-up ute that has become an enabler of their connection and happiness.

you may all be doing the very things that your older selves will look back on with exasperated smiles and disapproving head shakes in ten years. but in the moment, you are unafraid; uncaring of what others think, because you have your friends by your side. and this, you think to yourself, is the essence of youth and summer.

you wish you were older. because being older means that you’ll have graduated, and being graduated means that you won’t have to fucking study for your fucking exams. you let out a groan and drop your head onto the table, making an audible thump when your forehead misses the thick textbooks and scattered notes, and hits the solid surface instead.

“hey, you need those brain cells,” someone gently chides. haneul stands at the doorway to your bedroom, watching your misery with a fond smile.

“can’t lose what i don’t have,” you mumble back.

“take a break,” she suggests. “do you want me to get you something from the bakery?”

haneul laughs when your head immediately turns to look at her, your left cheek pressed against the table by the cheeky smile that adorns your face. she chuckles again, “got it. i’ll be back.”

you absent-mindedly listen as the lock of your front door clicks shut and then let out a deep sigh at the silence that follows. it’s been a few hours since you first sat down and started studying but it feels like you’ve been reading the same sentence over and over again with no progress. pressing your forehead into the table again, you groan in frustration.

your ringtone goes off and your hand blindly fumbles around for your phone, sliding what you’re relatively sure is the answer button. “yeah?” you say into the receiver.

“someone’s a little grumpy today,” a teasing voice sounds.

“hwa?” you sit up instantly, looking at your phone properly.

it is him, not only blessing you with the deep richness of his voice but also the visual of him in a black tank top as he looks amusedly at the facetime you have answered. “are you still studying?” he asks.

you deflate a little, reminded of why you’ve been creating a crater in your table with your head for the past ten minutes. “mhm,” you hum affirmatively. “except nothing’s going into my brain anymore.”

“sounds like you need a break.”

“that’s exactly what haneul said,” you grumble, although you’re not entirely sure why you’re so opposed to their suggestions to stop studying.

“because we’re right,” he quirks his eyebrow. “what’s haneul doing at yours, anyway?”

“taking advantage of my netflix while i slave away to pass my exams. but she’s forgiven since she’s buying me snacks.”

“then take a break until she gets back and you finish eating. it’ll only be an hour, tops,” seonghwa convinces. “i’ll even set an alarm to let us know when time is up and i’ll keep you company when you study.”

you sag a little into your chair, shoulders relieving of their tension as you concede, which makes him smile sympathetically, “just a few more weeks to go until summer and then you’ll be free.”

“are you taking up summer school again?” you ask.

after san had added you and all the boys into a combined group chat, you had made friends with the two that you didn’t get to meet. you discovered seonghwa hadn’t been able to make the trip to namhae last year because he had chosen to take summer school instead. he had wanted to complete some of his degree requirements earlier in hopes of working part-time during his final year to gain practical experience. wooyoung, on the other hand, had had a portfolio due for his film class that required the majority of his summer if he wanted to complete it in time.

seonghwa grimaces at the memory, “no, not this time. it was a mistake, honestly. i burnt out so fast the first semester back that i didn’t even end up applying for any jobs.” he points a stern finger at you and warns, “don’t ever think about doing summer school.”

“trust me,” you laugh, “i have no intentions of ever doing that.”

you appreciate his advice regardless, because as immature as the other boys had made him out to be, seonghwa really does look out for all of you as the oldest of the group. and more often than not, you find yourself gravitating towards him when you need comfort or reassurance. “does that mean i’ll finally get to meet you?”

seonghwa nods, “woo as well.”

the screen of your phone suddenly splits to make room for an additional video as somebody joins the call. you hear his voice before his video even buffers. speak of the devil.

“oi! why are you all calling without me?” wooyoung complains.

contrary to the roll of your eyes, a smile makes its way across your face as you respond, “we’re literally calling from the group chat. no one’s leaving you out of anything.”

and as if his appearance is some sort of talisman, more of the boys start to join the call one by one. even hongjoong’s profile picture appears, camera off and on mute, wanting to feel included even if he’s in the middle of class. yunho and mingi pop up from behind wooyoung, so you’re guessing they’re busy practising in the studio. you wonder where san is.

someone asks you a question about how your exams are going, but you’re momentarily distracted by the buzzing notification of a text. “hang on,” you mumble, “let me just…reply to this.”

it’s one of your classmates, johnny, asking whether you’re home right now. you had accidentally slept through one of the review lectures earlier in the week and he had offered to give you a copy of his notes. from his text message, it appears he’s close by and able to drop them off now. you reply an affirmative and then click back into the video call, asking, “sorry, what were you saying?”

the drone of shared chatter about exams and the upcoming break fills the silence of your bedroom, like the fluttering breeze of a pleasant spring day. if they were not already so closely correlated to the warm, golden rays and salty spray of the summer ocean, your friends would be spring– the season of fresh air, blooming flowers and thriving vitality.

“someone looks happier. who are you talking to?” haneul emerges in your bedroom having come back from the bakery, holding a pastry box.

you didn’t even realise you were subconsciously smiling. “i’m facetiming the boys.”

she smirks, eyes glinting with mischief as she waggles her eyebrows suggestively and drags out her words, “i see. so who is it that you like? or is it all of them?”

“quit it!” you pretend to shove her. “want to say hi?” you turn the screen of your phone in her direction and there’s a chorus of obedient hi haneul’s as you turn up the volume.

she waves and peers at wooyoung’s video. “where’s the baby brat?”

from somewhere within the call, san yells out indignantly, “stop calling me that!” there’s a slight rustle as he walks closer to take the phone out of wooyoung’s grasp and when you peer to have a look, you can see that he’s sweaty and red-faced from finishing up a routine.

“you still respond to it, so,” haneul shrugs.

she disregards her brother’s continued complaints to drop the box onto your table along with a neatly-stapled stack of handwritten notes. “i bumped into johnny outside and he said this was for you,” she explains as you take it gratefully.

at the mention of a boy’s name, wooyoung shoves his nose towards his front camera. he rapidly asks, “who’s johnny? is he haneul’s boyfriend or what? why’s he giving you something?”

even hongjoong flicks a message into the group chat to ask, ‘who tf is jonny’.

you hold up the paper to show the boys and laugh, “he’s my classmate, guys. and he gave me notes because i missed the lecture.”

wooyoung frowns at your answer, clearly dissatisfied as he complains, “why is he giving you notes. and–what the fuck? did he hand write them? what a pretentious prick.”

you ignore him in favour of opening the pastry box to see what else haneul brought back for you. “how did you know i love these?” you exclaim.

she gives you that same, mischievous look from earlier and as she starts to exit your bedroom to leave you to your call and sweet treat, she vaguely answers, “how do you think?”

from over your phone, the others start to ask what you’ve got in the box, allowing a certain boy to easily slip unnoticed into the background. but it doesn’t take a detective to work out how– or perhaps you should say, who– told haneul about your recent cravings.

because if there’s one person who knows you the best, one person who takes notice of even the littlest of things, then it would be him.

hongjoong lightly slaps your thigh in retaliation as your laughter jostles his head that’s resting on your stomach, which only serves to make you laugh even harder. he lifts his head to grumble, “stop encouraging him, y/n. he’s going to think he’s actually funny or something.”

with a shaky exhale, you wipe a stray tear away, because you don’t think you’ve ever laughed this hard in your entire life. now that you see their whole group dynamic in action with the complete eight of them, it’s like watching a live sitcom.

wooyoung looks at him with a smug expression…then proceeds to yank the older’s sock right off his foot before throwing it into oblivion. hongjoong jolts up and dives for him and they immediately tussle about on the floor of san’s living room. amidst all of the commotion, san sneakily goes for seonghwa’s socks and you’re glad that you had peeled yours off the moment you had walked through the front door because suddenly everyone’s socks are a target.

the successful harvests that are tossed away are immediately snatched up by mingi, who hurls them under the table, behind the couch and on top of the television. you think you can see one dangling off the lights too, but you’re not about to snitch. jongho joins the corner you have taken refuge in and yeosang follows soon after, content to stay far away from the havoc that has quickly turned into wrestling. unfortunately, wooyoung is unable to let the three of you watch the world burn peacefully. he yells at the boys, who choose this to be the time to actually listen to him for once, and you’re all left scrabbling in different directions when they dive for you three.

it’s only the first day of summer and the second hour of officially meeting the boys as their full group of eight, but you can already tell that the next few months are going to be filled with absolute chaos and mayhem. and so the summer that marks san’s third visit back to namhae passes by quickly as you and the eight boys fall into an easy routine. hours turn into days, days turn into weeks, and weeks turn into months. summer revolves around each other and there is never a moment spent apart.

you join the boys at dawn every day, clad in only a pair of shorts, a tank top and a light cardigan to shoulder because there’s still a slight nip of the early morning before the sun appears. you watch contentedly as they dance with the ocean on their surfboards– a duet of paddling out into the deeper waters and catching the breaks of the swells back towards shore.

the more you watch them surf, the more you start to realise just how much san has improved. you still recall the day san had fallen in love with the way the surfer used his own body and surfboard as an extension of the ocean, and you still have early memories of san’s lanky limbs flailing as he lost his balance over and over again, trying to replicate the same gracefulness. now, san is not just a dancer– he is the choreographer; the one who controls the ocean under his board.

as the early morning wears on, the serene crash of waves and intermittent squawk of the soaring seagulls are gradually interspersed with the boys’ rings of joy as they become more interested in pushing each other off their boards and splashing each other, rather than surfing itself. the strongest trio easily overpower everyone else and you shake your head fondly when the others don’t learn their lesson regardless of how many times they are suplexed underwater.

when the sun starts to wake up, they join you on the sandy shores, surfboards placed in a rough row so that you can all share them like seats. you lean against whoever is sitting beside you and watch the sunrise until your stomachs start to growl for attention.

greasy takeaway is always the foolproof solution. you share hearty burgers that are too tall to bite into and salty fries that are slathered in dipping sauce, sprawled out on the cool floorboards at san’s or yours, soaking in the refreshing coldness of the air conditioner on high without a care in the world for the electricity bill that is racking up.

afternoons are for the second round of the meal; bingsoo from the cafe, pastries from the nearby bakery or cheap ice cream from the mart. and after all the food, the best way to digest before you go out again at dusk to catch some of the waves is to take a nap.

the giant puppy pile of tangled limbs and human pillows is arguably your favourite part of the day. even if the ends of jongho’s hair tickles your nose and your arm goes a little numb from the way san hugs it and your neck feels cramped from resting on seonghwa’s shoulder, you wouldn’t have it any other way.

sometimes, when you’re all feeling rejuvenated, you’ll clamber into their three cars or happily pack yourselves into two and drive down the coast to one of the other beaches. the drive there is music blasting and scratchy singing at the top of your lungs with the windows rolled down, your flyaway hairs caressing the cheeks of the boys beside you. it’s rest stops to fill up on drinks and dessert– any excuse for more ice cream and a chance to make hongjoong’s wallet cry.

the trip back, on the other hand, is quiet, the designated drivers pressing softly on the pedals and turning with care so as not to jostle the sleeping passengers. you’re all exhausted and passed out against one another, faces pressed against a shoulder or the crown of someone’s head. slow music plays lowly in the background as the streetlights start to turn on like a warm greeting to welcome your group home.

and just as yeosang had once said, wooyoung is a good cook. dinner time becomes a bonding activity– as if every second of summer isn’t already a bonding moment– where you all experiment with different and increasingly complicated recipes. it usually ends up with him and seonghwa actually doing the cooking whilst everyone else eats the ingredients and tries not to accidentally stab someone with the knives, and dinner doesn’t usually actually become dinner until eight or nine o’clock.

but it doesn’t really matter when, half the time, the post-meal conversations turn into a slumber party after time slips away. if you retire early, you’ll sometimes be joined by haneul in your bedroom, who has stayed in namhae this summer. she’ll spill her workplace tea and you’ll gossip about your college peers late until the stars have long started to twinkle in the sky.

there are no scheduled bedtimes, no proper mealtimes, no time limits to complete things nor niggling guilt not to complete things– there is no formal routine. but when spontaneity and carefreeness become the everyday occurrence, that becomes the routine.

and as with any sort of routine comes the familiarity. familiarity finds itself in the way san sing-songs wake up, sleepyhead whenever you accidentally sleep in, and instead of shying under the covers at the sight of him in your bedroom, you whine for five more minutes. familiarity finds itself in the way yunho’s hands hover around the small of your back whenever you’re all walking to the mart for snacks and in the way wooyoung immediately reaches for the flavours he knows you like.

familiarity finds itself in the way you and hongjoong will bare puppy teeth at each other one moment then naturally use the other as a human pillow the next. it’s in the way jongho hides you when san tries to throw you into the water; the way mingi tucks your head into his shoulder when he spins you around in a hug; when seonghwa reminds you to reapply sunscreen whilst dotting the lotion along your cheeks and when yeosang quietly drapes you in his jackets after you get out of the water.

but the thing with familiarity, though, is that it’s easy for it to overshadow other things. rather than realising that there is a shift in dynamic or a change in heart, other growing feelings can be mistaken for familiarity instead. and you don’t understand this until you least expect it.

your hands fumble to catch the bottle of sunscreen that yunho has thrown in your direction before it ends up landing on yeosang’s face. he’s taking a nap on the towel next to you, disputing against everyone else’s remarks that he should take the opportunity to surf considering you’ve all made the two-hour trip to dadaepo beach.

you adjust the small umbrella that he brought along so that it covers his upper body, then uncap the bottle and lather the sunscreen over your arms and legs. it’s when you get to your back that you realise you won’t be able to reach all of your skin. san or seonghwa are usually around to help if you decide to forgo a cropped shirt over your bikini top, but they’re already running far along the shore and you can’t be troubled to yell out for one of them.

you’re starting to wonder whether you can get away with not applying sunscreen on your back if you just make sure you lie on it the whole time when hongjoong spots your plight in the form of a blank stare and squeezed lotion in the palm of your hand.

“your short arms can’t reach your back, can they?”

you imitate his laughter with an exaggerated tone, “who was it that needed my help yesterday putting sunscreen on his back?”

“maybe i just didn’t want you to feel too bad about yourself,” he shrugs and walks over to swipe the glob of sunscreen out of your hands. you roll your eyes, knowing fully well he’s incapable of taking care of you without pretending to cover it up with an insult.

“stop squirming,” he chides. the contrasting cold of the lotion and warmth of his hand sends a shiver down your spine and you try not to dwell on his gentle rubs for too long. he’s meticulous in making sure he doesn’t miss a spot, but he’s also careful and deliberate with his touch around the knotted strings of your top so that you don’t feel uncomfortable. hongjoong and the word ‘uncomfortable’ could never be in the same sentence though. but he doesn’t need to know that.

“there,” he pats your back twice like a mechanic would with the hood of a fucking car to signal that he’s finished his job and then callously walks away.

you decide to let him off the hook and settle down on your stomach to rest your eyes for a bit. yeosang knows what he’s doing, because the combined warmth of the sand beneath your towel and from the overhead rays makes you drowsy almost immediately.

you’re flicking your salt-crusted hair out of your face when a voice interrupts, “hi, i’m sorry to bother you.”

lifting your head up to look, you’re met with the sight of a girl around your age, timidly fiddling with the popsocket on her phone. you sit up and give her a polite smile, “that’s okay. can i help you?”

“um, i was just hoping to ask if he has a girlfriend?”

the boys are all scattered along the length of the beach, save for yeosang next to you, so you’re not entirely sure who the girl is referring to until you follow her finger. she’s pointing in the direction of hongjoong, who’s joined some of the others along the shore.

“the short one?” you clarify, smile fading a little as you shrug, “i’m not too sure, sorry.”

the girl shakes her head, “oh, no. i meant the boy on his left.”

choi san. you now fight to keep the smile on your face friendly when you reply, “not that i know of.”

the girl thanks you excitedly, walking off back to her group of friends who immediately huddle around her to hear your answer. you look away.

you don’t realise you’re staring at san until he turns in the distance and makes eye contact with you. his entire face lights up, eyes disappearing and shadowed dimples revealing themselves under the gleaming sun. wooyoung takes the opportunity whilst san is distracted to swing a handful of limp seaweed straight into san’s face and a laugh escapes you before you can hold it in. your best friend looks more betrayed by your laughter than by wooyoung’s antics.

the younger turns to look at you with pride and when he sees that you’re laughing, he blows you an exaggerated kiss and sends it flying in your direction with a teasing flurry of his hand. yunho charges in from out of absolutely nowhere and pretends to tackle the kiss mid-air, throwing the imaginary show of affection into the sand where hongjoong immediately joins in and stomps on it with his foot, before sending you a flying kiss of his own instead.

chaos ensues and both hongjoong and yunho run for their lives as wooyoung chases them with his deadly seaweed whip. he quickly realises that the taller of the two will be impossible to catch, so he locks in on the easier target and hongjoong screeches in fear.

you can’t help but shake your head adoringly as you continue to watch, eyes landing on san once more when the cat and mouse go tearing past him in a whirlwind of sand. san holds your gaze with a fond smile of his own and you have to remind yourself that it’s normal for the boys to have suitors.

you’re not dating san. you’re not dating hongjoong. you’re not dating any of the boys, and they’re certainly not yours. so then, why does it feel like they are? but most of all, why does your heart feel equally bitter at the thought of someone asking about any of the boys…not just your best friend?

the sight of the tube of aloe vera gel in the fridge– likely placed there by seonghwa– is a welcome sight. you had diligently reapplied sunscreen to your body with the boys’ constant reminders to reapply but you had carelessly forgotten about your face. you’re paying the price of your mistake now and the red skin across the apples of your cheeks and forehead is tight with a constant, dull throb.

grabbing the tube, you walk into the bathroom where hongjoong is currently blow-drying his hair, having callen dibs on the shower after the beach trip.

“hey, lil’ tomato,” he jests before he gets a good look at your face. “woah, that looks worse than it was an hour ago.”

you hum as you peer closer into the mirror, “this is probably the worst sunburn i’ve ever gotten before.”

hongjoong ruffles the back of his hair one last time under the dryer before unplugging it and setting it on the rack. he slips the tube of ointment out of your hands and then turns you by the shoulders to face him. that’s how you find yourself between hongjoong’s front and the porcelain sink, the edge of the countertop digging slightly into your lower back as you watch him squeeze a generous amount of aloe vera onto the tip of his finger.

he murmurs, “hold still.” with a light touch, he tilts your chin up so that he can see the angry skin of your face. the stark contrast between the characteristic roughness of his edges and the tenderness with which he applies the soothing gel on your face right now has you itching to tease him.

“admit it. you like taking care of me, don’t you.”

he rolls his eyes, “and you like being taken care of, don’t you. like when you needed your notes handwritten by johnny.”

ever since that one incident, the boys have never let you hear the end of it. they may not realise it themselves either, but really, they’re just trying to keep low tabs on this…classmate. even if the way they go about it reflects the emotional maturity of somebody half their actual age.

“i admit it’s nice to be taken care of. what about you, huh?” you challenge, poking his side testingly. “you like taking care of me, don’t you?”

you giggle when he squirms and you try it again to elicit another response, until he suddenly grabs your hand by the wrist.

“and so what if i do?” his words come out easily, but unlike the usual cockiness and flirtatiousness that he jokes around with, his tone is low and serious.

you don’t respond because you don’t know what to respond; you’re suddenly walking in uncharted territory– both in regards to his feelings and your own.

when his fingertips brush the area of your cheeks just below your under-eyes, you can’t help the instinctive flutter of your lashes. his eyes stare into yours and you swallow, noticing the way his gaze flickers down to follow the movement. there’s hunger in his pupils and longing in your chest. you don’t move away when he moves closer in.

your eyelids flutter closed once again, except this time in anticipation. his hands still cup your cheek and hold your wrist and when he brings his face down towards yours, you can feel the warmth of his body surrounding and intoxicating you. but as his nose starts to nudge the softness of your cheeks, hongjoong pulls away.

“sorry, i–this was a mistake. i shouldn’t be doing this,” he stutters. and just like that, the moment shatters.

“th–that’s okay,” you awkwardly smile. “this never happened.”

he nods without looking at you, “this never happened.”

you’re glad your face is sunburnt because you’re certain your face would be glowing from the embarrassment and shame you are overwhelmed with. hongjoong turns around before you can say anything else and leaves the bathroom, closing the door behind him and leaving you alone.

quickly, you lock the door and then stand there stunned into a stupor. because his…whatever the fuck that was, has given you startling clarity that he is right. you shouldn’t be doing this. you shouldn’t be kissing him when you want san and your six other friends equally as much.

and most of all, it was foolish of you to assume that he actually wanted something more than friendship. if hongjoong, the most flirtatious of them all, doesn’t have any romantic interest in you– or at the very least enough to want to pursue something more– then what makes you think you have a chance with any of the boys? what makes you think that any of them– much less all of them– would want you in the same way that you have now realised you want them?

in a way, your heart feels more at ease now. knowing that your feelings for the boys will be unfruitful one way or another, it’s much easier to ignore the now obvious lurch in your heart whenever they pull you into an easy hug or tell you that you look pretty. it’s easier to repress the longing you have for them when they help you put on sunscreen or surround your house with mischief and laughter.

you can’t tell whether hongjoong is actively avoiding you or whether he is conveniently busy with the other boys, but you suppose time apart right now is good for the both of you. after all, time is supposed to heal everything. and so even as the end of summer approaches and the much anticipated night of the barbeque and campfire tradition arrives, you keep your distance from hongjoong and he keeps his. simply two friends coexisting within the larger group of friends; nothing more, nothing less.

you’re all sitting on a patchwork of picnic blankets and beach towels spread around the small fire that san has constructed, now experienced from having made one three years in a row. haneul shares the towel with you on one side and yunho on your other.

dinner had been greasy meat grilled by wooyoung’s skilled hands paired with cheap alcohol that made you all wince when it went down. it had been finished off with skewered marshmallows– the most vital part of the night, as mingi had fervently reminded everyone.

someone had then suggested a round of ‘truth or dare’, which most definitely did not stop at one round. the flushed cheeks and tipsy slurs not only made the dares increasingly bizarre, but it made everyone daring enough to actually do them. as the night had continued on, the outlandish dares slowly trickled off and more of you picked to answer truth questions. with the mellowing ambience of the campfire and the clearing buzz of alcohol in your systems, it was only a matter of time before the night fizzled into calm.

“mingi,” haneul directs her question at the taller, “ if you were to date one of us excluding me, who would it be?”

his eyes dart from her to you and then to every single one of his friends. “i’d date you all,” he shrugs. “but if i had to pick one person, then probably yunho, since he’s been there for me from day one.”

yunho knocks shoulders with him appreciatively whilst joking, “your parents would love to hear that answer.”

you spot san and wooyoung cringing at the thought and you’re reminded of snippets of a conversation about surfing as a distraction and escape from home.

moving the game on, mingi asks seonghwa when he picks truth, “if you had to pick between love and friendship, which one would it be?”

seonghwa hums for a while, watching the dancing lick of flames. “i think it depends on the situation, because in the end, they’re not that much different from each other. in love there is friendship, and in friendship there is love. it’s impossible to say that one is more important than the other.”

there’s a collective boo as he skirts around the question, but you all understand where he’s coming from. it still doesn’t stop san from retorting, “the whole point is to pick one.”

seonghwa chuckles and downs half a shot to appease the other of his apparent half answer, then tosses the same question at him. “what about you, then?”

much to his disappointment, san actually has an answer.

“i would probably choose love. i think you’re right in saying you can’t separate love and friendship, but the thing that sets a romantic relationship apart is being in love,” he muses. “it’s hard to find friends you love, but it’s even harder to find a friend you fall in love with, so i would probably hold onto that no matter what.”

a few of you subconsciously nod along, words resonating with yourselves. haneul nudges you curiously, “what do you think?”

you relax into her side as you slowly formulate a cohesive answer from your thoughts. “i think i would choose love, too. i’ll admit it’s a much more difficult relationship than friendship and it often requires sacrifices to be made…it can even mean having to let go of somebody completely.”

hongjoong glances at you, guilt pricking at his chest.

“but at the same time,” you continue, “when you love somebody that much, sacrifice becomes something you want to give and are willing to offer to the other person, and you develop a depth of understanding, connection and intimacy strong enough to overcome anything that isn’t always possible with friendship.”

“you and san are both such gross romantics,” haneul pretends to gag.

“yeah, shoot us for it,” you poke her in the side. “wooyoung, truth or dare?”

“since everyone’s picking truth…truth.”

“who’s someone you’re sorry towards or thankful for?”

he whines indignantly, “why are we suddenly getting so personal,” but proceeds to think about his answer seriously. “if i’m honest, i’m sorry towards everyone. i know there are times i fall short as a friend and make mistakes, but you all always forgive me and embrace my imperfections so graciously. sometimes it makes me wonder if i even deserve you guys.”

there are immediate noises of protest and wooyoung smiles, waving away their words of objection because he knows that he’s wrong. it’s just that knowing doesn’t always stop him from feeling a certain way. “and of course, what i’m sorry for goes hand in hand with what i’m thankful for. but i’m also especially thankful for y/n,” he reveals.

your body reacts instantly to his unexpected answer, blood rushing towards your cheeks and ears as he looks at you appreciatively.

“i haven’t known you for as long as most of the other boys, but i’ve seen how happy and vibrant they are whenever they return to seoul or whenever they talk about you. and i can definitely see why, now. you make them happy–you make us happy.”

mingi clears his throat, jumping in to add to the younger’s answer, “when i’m here in namhae with you, with everybody, it feels like home.”

a home that he’s never really had until yunho, san, you, and the rest of the boys came along.

“so thank you for giving me a home here,” mingi looks at you earnestly.

if he were sitting closer, you would reach over and squeeze his hand reassuringly. instead, you tell him, “no matter how many years go by, you’ll always have a home here.”

“and the rest of us?” yunho jokes, lightly slapping your knee where your legs have slowly made their way into his lap over the night.

“you all have a home here,” you amend. because namhae is not the same without san, and namhae is not the same without the rest of your friends, either.

you continue asking each other questions, even after midnight has long ticked past and haneul has retired back to the beach house for some sleep. nobody wants the night to end, because despite already having been attached to each other’s hips all summer, the time you are spending now around the campfire is different. life slows down and the nine of you are the only ones to exist along with the stars and the ocean waves.

“you know what we should do?” wooyoung pipes up when you are all quietly watching the fire. he grins, “we should do that thing where we shout at the ocean.”

“just…straight up scream?” hongjoong frowns.

a smile starts to spread across san’s face as he understands wooyoung’s vision. “no, like our dreams. regrets. confessions,” san elaborates, making a move to stand and brushing the sand off his shorts.

seonghwa questions, “are we really doing this?” and yet he stands up as well.

“when will we ever get a chance to do this again?”

one by one, you all get up on your feet and wander down the beach closer towards the water. it’s silent, save for the crash of waves, while you eye each other and wait for somebody to start it off.

yunho clears his throat, then yells his next words from the very depths of his chest, “i want to become a famous choreographer!”

there are shared giggles at the striking contrast in volume after hours of low, heartfelt conversation, but it’s enough to fill the rest of you with courage and desire to do the same.

“i want my parents to accept that i won’t be a lawyer like they wanted me to be!” yeosang calls out.

mingi takes a huge breath with his entire body, “i hope i’ll win the lottery one day!”

you all break out into laughter, happiness and vigour running high through your veins. it definitely feels a little silly and a little childish, but is that not the charm of living in the prime years of your youth and spending it with your friends?

reservations now completely thrown to the wind, the boys holler and yell both serious and unserious aspirations with their entire soul, cupping the sides of their mouths with their hands to carry their voices further out across the waters. you watch them with deep affection and tenderness and your eyes suddenly start to well up with the intensity of your emotions.

thank you for showing me what love feels like. you can continue to love them as friends, and that is already more than you could ever ask for.

taking a deep inhale of the chill of emerging dawn and blinking away the blur in your eyes, you join the boys and yell your heart out to the ocean. your screams blend together into a symphony of dreams and hopes; the swell of the chorus and the pinnacle of the movie.

and even though you’re all half-delirious from the lack of sleep, hair ruffled and mismatched pajamas wrinkled, it feels like anything and everything is possible in this moment. from here on, it’s the nine of you against the world and whatever it may bring.

you’ve known johnny since you started attending namhae’s provincial college. being from a relatively small cohort and the same degree no less, you share most of your classes together. there’ll be a few times throughout the month that you’ll find yourselves sitting in the seat beside each other and maybe once a semester that you’ll complete a group task together.

he’s easy enough to get along with, conversation sprinkled with terrible jokes and random puns that remind you of yunho’s silly humour. you know for a fact as well that they’re the same height too, which sort of makes you wonder whether being tall has something to do with the way their funny bone develops, considering mingi’s humour is just as questionable.

you and johnny aren’t exactly distant enough to only be classified as classmates, but you’re not exactly close either. so it’s a surprise when, after summer ends and it marks a new semester, johnny asks you out on a coffee date on the weekend. (except the more you think about it afterwards, the more your seemingly random interactions make sense. why he asks for your number even after the group project is over. why he offers to drop off handwritten notes for you. why he sometimes favours sitting with you as opposed to with his own friends.)

initially, you tell him that you’re not interested, any potential awkwardness dissipating the moment he dramatically wails that he’s been rejected, much like hongjoong had when you had first met him. but then a week later, johnny coolly slaps an envelope onto the surface of your lecture table and struts off without looking back. when you open it, you realise it’s a three-page handwritten essay detailing his pros and cons in an attempt to try and win you over.

it reminds you of wooyoung, when he had made a whole presentation on his laptop complete with photographic and videographic evidence to try and convince you that he was the best dancer out of himself, san, yunho and mingi. like your friend, johnny’s efforts are honestly a little too hilarious and a little too endearing to reject for a second time, and it’s not like johnny has done anything to suggest that he’s a creep or murderer. so you let him take you out on the date.

he chooses to go to the small, quaint cafe that’s about a fifteen-minute walk from campus. coincidentally, it’s the one that you and san used to frequent before he moved away to seoul. johnny tells you to try the chocolate hazelnut dacquoise slices, which you do even though you know you prefer the strawberry ones more. the sweet mouthful makes you think of san, always offering you the first bite of his chocolate dacquoise in hopes of converting you to the flavour.

johnny pays for your dessert and drink and you two end up sitting in the cafe long after your plates have been cleared and mugs emptied to their bottoms. it turns out he likes spending time at the beach just as much as you do and he tells you of his summer trip to the maldives for his casual modelling gig. you’re not entirely surprised to learn of his part-time endeavours, considering you’ve never seen him dressed in anything less than loafers, chino shorts and a neatly-pressed button-up shirt. plus, johnny is objectively very attractive with his strong brows, chiselled jawline and dark locks of hair.

he offers to walk you home after your date, shrugging off his white button-up and passing it to you when you exit the cafe. it’s still warm enough in the afternoon to not need the extra layer, but you’re reminded of yeosang’s quiet yet perceptive gestures and it makes you smile nonetheless.

the weekend leads to a second date, followed by more time spent together. he finds reasons to see you throughout the weeks– the sun’s out which means you two should take a walk along the beach; he fell asleep during yesterday’s lecture which means you two should study at the cafe; he has a basketball match on the weekend which means you two should practise shooting hoops together.

and when you’re not physically spending time together, johnny likes to facetime you just so that he can ‘see your pretty face’. the frequency with which he compliments you randomly throughout the call is almost on par with seonghwa, who always sweetly observes when you're wearing a new lip tint or different hairstyle.

johnny’s laugh, be it in person or over video call, never fails to make you laugh with him. it’s boisterous when he doubles over with laughter and his eyes disappear when he chuckles. you can’t help but see jongho’s own adorable giggles in him.

after several months of courting advances, johnny asks to make it official. you say yes, because you have fallen for him.

and so, like the dwindling campfire that had marked the end of summer, you snuff out the remains of the fire in your heart that has been burning for san, hongjoong and the six other boys, leaving the last of the embers to their fate. left alone, they will slowly die out, completely extinguishing the flames and leaving only ashen remnants behind…or the sparks will continue to fight unnoticed; until they rekindle and turn into an uncontainable inferno.

“with all due disrespect, his parents don’t fucking deserve to be parents,” wooyoung spits out.

yunho tucks the blotchy aftermath of mingi’s heartbreak a little tighter into the crook of his own neck, other hand softly tousling the ends of the younger’s hair. the boys have only just managed to settle mingi into one of the beds in their shared dorm rooms after he had shown up at the dance studio barely holding it together by his last thread.

“i don’t think any of us had high hopes for them, considering the things he’s told us about them over the last few years,” seonghwa sighs as he pulls the blanket over mingi’s shoulders.

“but for them to just fucking disown him like that? do they even realise how much it took for him to come clean about us?”

san gently pulls wooyoung away from the bed, lest he wake up the boy in question, and massages his clenched fist open. yeosang sidles up to the pair, “do you think we could go down to namhae a few days earlier this summer?”

“that actually might be possible,” san chews on his bottom lip and takes out his phone to text his parents. “it’ll be a nice surprise for y/n, too.”

“she’s in for a few surprises,” jongho comments before nudging the boy next to him. “hopefully you didn’t scare her off after what you did.”

hongjoong scratches the nape of his neck at the jab, “yeah, i hope i didn’t fuck things up for all of us.”

“you still haven’t talked it out with her?” san looks up from his phone.

hongjoong grimaces, “no, but how could i? she said to pretend that it didn’t happen.”

“and you just took her word for it? god, that’s literally the universal response anyone would automatically give in a situation that’s utterly and mortifyingly embarrassing,” wooyoung throws his arms up into the air. “i wouldn’t be surprised if she says no to us after all.”

“look, i’ll talk to her when we see her again. the semester’s nearly over, anyway.”

san nods, “my parents are fine with us going down a weekend earlier. and i agree with hongjoong on this one–it’s probably something they should talk about in person, not over the phone. let’s just hope we haven’t missed our timing with this.”

there’s only a few more weeks left until summer, minus one week now that they have decided to make the trip down to namhae earlier for mingi’s sake. and regardless of what your answer will be to the question that they’ll ask you– be it yes or no– it still won’t change the fact that everything will be okay once they get to namhae. because everything is okay as long as you are by their side.

there’s a man standing by your side, and it’s not one of them.

it’s strange to see you holding hands with someone that they don’t know. of course, it’s inevitable that you would have your own friends in namhae and from college, and of course it’s inevitable that you would have friends of both genders. but the way you have your fingers interlocked with his looks anything but platonic.

the boys are familiar with the way their own hands feel with yours nestled in theirs; from when you squeeze yourself between two of them and happily swing your intertwined hands back and forth; when a large wave threatens to topple you over and you instinctively reach for them for support; when you’re curled up against them and absentmindedly fiddling with their fingers whilst watching a cheesy summer romcom. but right now, their own hands feel unfamiliar– oddly empty and unable to make up its mind as to whether it wants to relax or tighten into a fist, even more so when you make eye contact with them standing outside san’s house and freeze.

you haven’t told the boys about johnny yet, only that you had news you wanted to tell them in person once they came for the summer. but now that they are here, standing right in front of you and your boyfriend, you suddenly feel a prick of guilt that you hadn’t given them a heads up of some kind.

you slip your hand out of johnny’s grasp under the guise of tidying your hair. if johnny notices, he doesn’t comment on it. instead, he asks, “you know them?” and settles his arm heavily over your shoulders. the action probably looks as territorial as it feels.

“yeah, they’re my closest friends,” you answer louder than you need to, because you feel like you have to defend them– or yourself. “san’s from namhae, too, and the others are from different provinces. they go to college together in seoul.”

“oh,” your boyfriend makes a noise, “it’s them.”

hongjoong feels awfully smug at that comment, because it means that you’ve talked about them before. he feels even more pleased when you slightly step out from under the man’s arm. but then your next words have his expression darkening again.

“i was going to officially introduce him to you guys on your first day…i just wasn’t expecting it to be today,” you gently place your hand on johnny’s forearm. “this is johnny, my boyfriend.”

immediately, the boys recognise his name– how could they forget, when the name has never once left their subconscious since the moment he was mentioned. a fleeting thought enters hongjoong’s mind. if he had not pulled away that night– if he had kissed you instead of being a coward– would it be him standing by your side as your boyfriend right now?

and hongjoong is not alone in his thoughts. wooyoung’s teeth grit together as he wonders how different things may have turned out if only the older or he himself had been bolder with their feelings. if only any of them had plucked up the courage to make the first move. because you dating any of them would automatically put their heart infinitely more at ease than the literal fucking stranger who is standing by your side.

you’re about to tell your boyfriend the names of the eight boys in front of you when he raises an eyebrow at you, “you didn’t tell me your friends were all guys.” his tone isn’t accusatory, per se, but it’s definitely not cordial, either. this side of johnny is completely new to you.

seeing the flustered look on your face irks wooyoung in every way possible so he interrupts, “and why does it matter to you?”

johnny levels him with a look for several seconds before smiling placatingly. “you’ll understand when you get a girlfriend,” he dismisses.

immediately, there’s a palpable spike in tension. “sorry?” wooyoung scoffs.

san sets a firm hand on the back of wooyoung’s neck and you lowly murmur your boyfriend’s name– respectively scruffing the two men. you didn’t know what to expect introducing your friends and boyfriend to each other. but the start of what looks like it has the potential to turn into a fight was definitely not on the list.

in a lame attempt to change the topic, you comment, “you guys are here early this year.”

there’s a beat of silence that’s a split second longer than you deem comfortable and yunho clears his throat, “yeah…things ended up this way.”

the vague comment and pointed look in your boyfriend’s direction tells you that there’s more to it than they are letting you onto right now. you make a mental note to talk to them once johnny leaves…if he ends up leaving. but the heavy weight that is still draped around your shoulder shows no intention of removing itself.

even though your instinct is to run up to the boys and receive all the hugs you have missed, and their instinct is to pull you away from the unfamiliar man and back into the intimacy of their group, the arm around you is a stark reminder to everyone that you’re not single anymore– that there are now boundaries to respect. instead, your friends are left to shuffle awkwardly on the spot with wavering gazes as if they have caught you doing something they weren’t supposed to see.

“do you have classes today?” san dares to ask.

“not today. we were just…out,” you reply. on a date, it goes unsaid.

“well, we’re headed for the beach,” san hates the fact that he even has to ask his next sentence, “do you want to join us?”

looking at johnny, you hate the fact that your immediate answer isn’t to say yes. he glances at you and then answers on your behalf, “we’ll join. it’ll be nice for us to get to know each other, since it seems like we’ll be seeing each other often this summer.”

“not if you don’t show up,” wooyoung mutters under his breath, but he’s not really trying to be quiet about his disdain.

you fake a smile and push your boyfriend towards the entrance to your house. “we’ll get changed and then meet you guys down at the beach.” you don’t wait for an answer before shoving the front door open and shut again in quick succession behind you.

“wait here,” you tell johnny, “i’ll get you a spare pair of shorts,” then you disappear into your bedroom and let out a deep exhale, closing your eyes to clear your head.

you had spent the last few years embracing the changes in your relationship with san. every summer marked a change in your friendship group– a new chapter each year as you rewrote the group dynamics with additional people to love and be loved by.

this summer, like the others, also marks a change and beginning of a new chapter, but now you’re realising that not all chapters in a story will always be happy. instead, some chapters will mark the beginning of the complication.

it feels like an unusual mix between deja vu and an out-of-body experience as san straps the leash of his surfboard around his ankle. his gaze follows your form and he watches silently when you’re picked by the waist and tossed into the ocean. it looks all too familiar– except instead of him being the one who brings the laughter out of your squeals, it’s that annoyingly tall and irritatingly jacked dude that is your boyfriend.

san can’t help the sigh that escapes his lips as he peels his eyes away. if johnny makes you happy, then objectively, san wants nothing more for you. but he cannot help but feel that you are undeserving of anything less than the entire world; something he and his boys are willing to give to you. but life is all about timing and it seems like they’ve missed theirs.

he’s distracted by the sight of you and johnny in his peripheral vision, even as he paddles out into the deeper waters with yunho. the taller is uncharacteristically quiet, his eyes repeatedly flickering back and forth between you and mingi. mingi needed this trip more than any of them combined, but there’s an uneasy feeling in the pit of yunho’s stomach that’s telling him the appearance of your boyfriend is only just the beginning of a rocky summer.

regardless of their combined years of surfing experience, both yunho and san seem to continuously lose their balance on their boards today. and despite the saltiness of the sea water that flows into san’s mouth each time he falls– no longer the graceful choreographer of the sea– there’s a bitter taste on his tongue that he cannot get rid of no matter how many bottles of water he drinks over the rest of the day.

it follows him even when the sweet fragrance of fresh pastries and syrupy drinks permeates the air the moment he walks into the bakery you so adore after your group walks from the beach. san pulls the glass door open for you, wind chime tinkling softly overhead, and he has to resist the urge to let go of the door handle when your boyfriend also walks through without so much as a word or glance of gratitude.

before san walks up to the counter, he instinctively turns around to check your order before he adds it to his own like he has always done. “strawberry dacquoise and grapefruit ade?”

you’re about to nod when johnny steps into place beside you and asserts, “she likes the chocolate ones.”

san keeps his voice as even as he can and refutes, “no, y/n prefers the strawberry ones. i would know, considering we’ve been going to this cafe together since we were twelve.” he emphasises the last word, clearly telling the other that he is the one who has known you since you were young and therefore knows you the best out of anyone, boyfriend be damned.

not backing down, johnny turns to ask, “is that true, babe?”

you swallow uncomfortably, mouth suddenly dry. “i like both,” you evade.

but your lack of denial says more than enough and johnny’s frown deepens almost immediately. at his expression, you rush to amend, “i know you like the chocolate ones more. it makes me happy sharing them with you.”

“you should’ve told me,” johnny fusses. but opposed to disappointment at not having known your preference for strawberry, he seems more displeased at having discovered this fact through your male friend.

san notices how apologetic you start to feel and he absolutely despises how unfamiliar it looks on your face. if this is the type of boyfriend that he is giving you up to, then san is not prepared to let go of you at all.

“or maybe you should’ve noticed,” he shrugs nonchalantly in your boyfriend’s direction before smiling tenderly at you. “i’ll order your food. go find a seat with seong–”

johnny’s voice is heated when he interjects, “no, you won’t. i’ll pay for my girlfriend’s food.”

you’ve never heard him talk with this tone before, much less seen him act this way, but his words suddenly strike you with clarity and reasoning. with a relationship comes adherence to mutual boundaries and expectations, and although san is used to doting on you, the reality now is that johnny currently fulfills that role as your boyfriend.

“it’s alright, san. thank you,” you give your friend a soft smile. “johnny’s got it for me.”

san nods, defeated. your boyfriend gently nudges you in the direction of the tables, “go sit down. i’ll bring our order over when it’s ready.”

on edge, you walk to where some of the boys are already seated and slide in beside seonghwa, who has been watching the entire exchange silently. “y/n,” he starts.

you plaster on a smile, “it’s okay.”

seonghwa studies you carefully for a moment, then appears to make up his mind about something and returns your smile. except anybody can see that it doesn’t reach his eyes. “do you want to swap seats with me? that way you and johnny can sit on the same side.”

grateful for his thoughtfulness, you change seats and sit on his left just as wooyoung joins the table with an iced americano in his hand. he sets it down to drag a spare chair beside him, offhandedly commenting, “why are you even dating him? i don’t get what you see in him.”

he hisses when seonghwa kicks his shin from under the table, shaking his head, and you just give the younger a tight-lipped smile in response. you’re distracted by the buzz of your phone in your pocket. a quick glance downwards tells you that it’s a text from san.

sorry for putting you between your bf and i

you look up in surprise and find that he’s already gazing at you from where he’s waiting at the counter. his eyebrows knit together in apology and you shake your head, mouthing that it’s okay. san has always been the bigger person in any situation– with you, with friends and family, and even with people he doesn’t necessarily see eye to eye with.

your phone buzzes again, twice in succession, but this time the notifications aren’t from him. it’s johnny.

what’s his problem, god wants to get into your pants or sth

your boyfriend continues to tap away at his phone, expression marred with poorly concealed irritation. but he doesn’t seem to be referring to your texting exchange with san– you don’t think he’s even noticed. instead, he’s still hooked on the ordering incident.

slipping the phone back into your pocket and pretending you have not noticed the messages yet, you simply wait for johnny to grab the tray with your pastries and drinks before he slides into the chair next to you. and for the first time since dating, you find yourself comparing your boyfriend not to san, but against him.

it feels like you have spent the last two months treading carefully on eggshells. there are days you spend with both johnny and the boys and it becomes clear to everyone pretty quickly that they’re not warming up to each other. despite your best efforts to bring them closer, there is unmistakable tension that underlies every interaction that they have and don’t have with one another.

then there are the days you spend with just your boyfriend. he doesn’t mention your friends and neither do you, but you notice the way his gaze flickers to your phone whenever it lights up with a notification. like a mutual taboo, he simply continues the conversation after a pause and you don’t point it out.

and then there are the rarer days that you spend with just the eight of your friends, like today– the ones that feel like the old summers that you have started to yearn. and yet, even with the familiar essence of the past, you start to notice them. the subtle differences.

it’s not obvious at first. the casual displays of affection that have extended beyond habitual touches and have just become who they are are still there. but there’s something about the attentiveness with which seonghwa dusts the powdered sugar off of yeosang’s cheeks when he’s eating. or in the naturalness with which wooyoung moulds himself into san’s side when they sit on the couch. something in the way mingi’s entire body relaxes whenever yunho gently thumbs the nape of his neck, and in the softening of hongjoong’s eyes when jongho speaks up in conversation.

maybe it’s because you find yourself no longer a part of their shared love, regardless of how platonic it may be between you and the boys. ultimately, it’s easier to notice things when you’re watching on as what feels like an outsider. and it makes sense that the dynamics of your friendship would change, considering how deeply embedded physical affection is within your group and the fact that you now have a boyfriend, but there’s something more to their interactions– you’re sure of it. you just can’t put your finger on what exactly.

it’s that thought that reminds you of yunho’s words when he and the rest of your friends had turned up a week before the start of summer. “what did you mean about things having ended up this way when you guys came down to namhae early?” you suddenly ask, eyes looking away from the television screen where the round of their game has just ended. “and wasn’t there something else you guys had wanted to tell me about?”

clearly not having expected your questions, yunho blinks as he formulates a response, “yeah, there is. just–maybe talk to mingi first. you’ll probably want to hear it directly from him.”

and hongjoong needs to talk to you first, too, yunho thinks to himself. except, he wonders whether there is even a point to it anymore.

your heart sinks at yunho’s words because you have a feeling it has to do with mingi’s parents. and his parents are never good news. right at that moment, mingi emerges through the doorway after his shower, a towel draped over his shoulders as he uses its ends to roughly dry his hair. he stops in his tracks when he notices you and yunho staring at him.

“i know i’m hot but you don’t have to make it that obvious,” he jokes.

you snort and shake your head, getting up to your feet and walking over to him as yunho watches knowingly. “come sit outside with me for a bit?” you ask mingi.

he agrees, pulling the towel off and tossing it onto the back of a chair to dry. you catch a whiff of san’s shampoo when he moves, the fragrance of cedarwood and bergamot that all the boys end up being scented with each summer filling your nose.

the two of you sit on the embankment just outside san’s house, legs dangling off the edge of the port. you can just barely toe the start of the sand but mingi easily shuffles his feet in it, drawing lazy patterns in your company. after a few minutes of peaceful silence, he nudges you gently albeit playfully, “did you want to ask me something?”

you chuckle at having been exposed and nudge him back in response. he never budges, torso bigger and more muscular than you can move, but it doesn’t stop you from trying and him from laughing endearingly.

“i asked yunho why you guys came down earlier this summer and he said to ask you,” you peer at him, treading carefully with your next words, “is everything okay?”

he takes a breath, exhaling long and slow. “i came out to my parents,” he reveals. “told them i’m bi and…they didn’t take it well.”

mingi doesn’t need to elaborate for you to understand that his parents didn’t just ‘not take it well’. you can only imagine the hell that broke loose. “oh, mingi,” you sigh, eyebrows knitting together with hurt.

“i also told them that i’m dati–”

the sound of the door opening and the call of your name stops mingi from finishing his sentence. it’s yunho with a ringing phone in his hand. “you might want to take this call,” he alerts you.

frowning, you make a stand to reach for your phone, asking, “who is it?”

he glances down awkwardly at the screen that is still on. “your boyfriend.”

you’re just about to slide the answer button when the call disconnects and you see that including the one that has just ended, you have four missed calls.

“oh, shit,” you can’t help the curse that slips out of your mouth. four missed calls is never a good sign from anybody, much less your boyfriend, who has also sent you several texts asking where you are.

seeing the darkening of your expression, yunho misses the girl whose biggest worry was the number of ice cream scoops to scam hongjoong out of. he misses the girl whose smile was brighter than the reflected sun on san’s surfboard. most of all, yunho misses the girl he has fallen in love with.

“y/n, i’m going to be honest with you,” he hesitates slightly. “i don’t think he’s the right one for you.”

you know that yunho’s looking out for you and his heart is in the right place, but it’s not what you want to– or need to hear right now. and perhaps, there’s an inkling of you that already knows. still, you try to keep your voice even when you reply, “i’d know if he’s not.”

you turn to mingi next and shoot him an apologetic look, “i’m sorry but i should probably call him back. we’ll talk later, yeah?”

mingi doesn’t know when later will be and neither do you. but he simply nods and lets you go, watching dejectedly as your form disappears back into your house at the same time san steps out of his. he had been carefully observing from the window the moment yunho had walked out with your incessantly ringing phone in his hand.

“guess he takes priority over us now,” mingi sighs.

san looks at him bittersweetly, “that’s what happens when you find somebody you love. like johnny is her priority, you are my priority and yunho’s. in fact, you’re the priority of five other people as well.” despite the fact that he is shorter, san still reaches up to flick mingi’s nose affectionately as he fondly states, “aren’t you lucky.”

mingi scrunches his nose in retaliation and san diverts the topic, “now come on, are you going to just stand back and let yunho win the game again?”

the younger grins, light returning to his eyes as he cheekily suggests, “you distract him while i cheat?”

“i’m right here,” yunho protests, but he’s shaking his head dotingly. together, he and mingi make their way back into the house, hands finding each other as they pass through the threshold.

san lingers behind and stares at the closed door of your house. for the longest time, you have been one of san’s priorities, if not the priority. over the last few years, the number of his priorities have steadily grown and you now share the top of the list in his heart with seven other boys. your happiness is san’s priority, as is the happiness of the others.

but what happens when interests start to conflict and your boyfriend– and by association, you– becomes a reason for unhappiness amongst the people he cares so dearly for? what happens if there comes a day where he must choose between his priorities and push somebody down the list, or worse…completely out of his heart?

you’re just as troubled when, half an hour after his missed calls and your subsequent response asking to meet up, you and johnny aimlessly wander the streets of the neighbourhood. the air is tense and despite the cry of cicadas, the silence from the lack of conversation is the only sound that you can hear. you can tell that he’s displeased by the fact that you had been with your friends, but you’re not exactly happy with him right now either.

you know an argument’s brewing– one that has been long coming, perhaps since the start of summer. you could have chosen to take the night to cool down, but it will eventually boil over one day, be it him or yourself. better to address it now than wait until it’s too late, and perhaps you can salvage it before it does boil over.

“why did you call me so many times?”

johnny knows you’re not only asking about tonight, and definitely not only about his phone calls. and yet, your tone is not accusatory, only genuinely curious and open to understanding his reasoning and emotions. solely because he feels guilt starting to prick his insides at your question does he make an attempt to reign in his childish jealousy that has reared its head so many times in the last two months.

“i didn’t know where you were,” he halfheartedly answers. “i thought something had happened.”

you both know it’s a lie– a pretty bad one at that. you had texted him just mere hours ago telling him that you would be at san’s. at his excuse, you raise an eyebrow.

“i don’t like the way they look at you,” johnny finally admits, partially showing his true colours. “especially san.”

you had guessed just as much and you can see why he might feel that way, but you want him to see where you’re coming from, too. “we grew up together, johnny. we’re each other’s best friend and he doesn’t like me like that.”

warm breath ghosting over your lips and then disappearing just as fast flits across your memory. “none of them do,” you emphasise. “and i’ve been transparent about hanging out with them when you’re not there, haven’t i? i literally texted you a few hours ago.”

he hesitates, “i was busy playing basketball with my friends. i missed your text and then you didn’t reply or answer my calls…” the way his voice drops off the more he talks is a good indicator that he knows the patheticness of his justification.

“and i was busy with my friends, too,” you reason. “you’re not glued to your phone, and neither am i.”

you continue when he stays silent, “you’re my boyfriend and i understand that it can make you feel uneasy when i hang out with so many guys, but you have to understand that they’re my friends, and my closest ones too. i would appreciate it if you give me more space when i’m with them, but i’ll also try to make sure i’m reachable on my phone so you have a piece of mind.”

you look at him and search his eyes for any indicators that he has more to say. from the way his jaw clenches subtly, you know that he’s disgruntled at best. but to your surprise he does not protest, instead nodding and walking you back to your house. you can’t tell whether the silence this time is slightly better or just as suffocating.

when you reach your front door, the lights are still on in the neighbouring house and you can hear the muted ruckus of laughter. as you unlock your door and pull it open, your boyfriend surprises you once more by calling out, “i love you.”

you learn a lot about a person simply from the things that they say, and sometimes–

“i know,” you reply gently, before shutting the door.

–you learn even more about a person simply from the things that they don’t say.

it’s two weeks after your conversation with johnny when he runs into some of the boys at one of the beachside cafes without your presence.

with autumn just around the corner, you’re spending the day transitioning the rice seedlings, now almost at the height of your thighs, from the wet paddies to the drier fields since your parents aren’t in namhae to do it. only mingi, yunho and jongho are helping you out; you had discovered the hard way last summer that letting all eight of them help you was, in fact, counterproductive when there were more plants being trampled on than safely moved.

and so while the four of you are working in the rice paddy, the remaining boys sit on the cafe terrace that overlooks the beach about a ten-minute drive from your and san’s houses. a hush suddenly falls over their conversation, elbows inconspicuously nudging one another and shoulders tensing when they spot your boyfriend making his way towards the cafe with a small group of his own friends.

a smirk graces johnny’s lips when his gaze falls upon the five of your friends, ignoring the courteous nod of acknowledgement that seonghwa attempts to make on their behalf and instead walking closer onto the cafe’s terrace. it’s not clearly audible, but it’s definitely direct enough for the boys to make out the words when johnny walks past and mutters, “fuckin’ pussies.”

wooyoung immediately reacts. “what the fuck did you just say?” he growls threateningly as seonghwa squeezes his thigh in anticipation of him standing up.

johnny pauses to look at them with faux innocence, “i wasn’t talking to you guys, but i guess if you’re offended–”

it’s hongjoong who rises to his feet first, chair screeching as it slides out from under his knees along the wooden deck. “you say one more fucking word,” he starts, eyes thunderous and fists turning white at his sides.

“and you’ll what,” johnny sneers, “run to my girlfriend crying? ask her to have a little talk with me?”

at the mention of you, both san and wooyoung join hongjoong on their feet. “watch what you say,” san looks at him dangerously. “don’t bring y/n into this.”

the commotion is starting to attract the attention of the staff and other customers in the cafe. seonghwa slowly stands, preparing to step in before it can escalate into something physical as yeosang grips the seat of his chair.

johnny steps closer and scoffs, “that’s bullshit. you guys can’t even take care of your own feelings so you have to hide behind my girlfriend like a bunch of pathetic losers. it makes no fucking sense for her to ask me to leave her alone when she’s with you guys.”

“and i bet it’s never fucking crossed your mind that maybe it’s an issue with something you’re doing–not us,” wooyoung reciprocates with his own bold step closer.

he’s suddenly jerked forward when johnny fists the front of his shirt and instantly everyone moves in towards the two. seonghwa wedges his arms against their chests to prevent wooyoung from getting dragged further forward, though the younger is fiercely standing his ground, teeth bared and eyes murderous. save for yeosang, who comes to stand protectively behind him, the remaining two boys are swept up into the beginnings of a scuffle as johnny’s friends step in as well.

“look at you, all riled up,” johnny goads, ignoring the hands that are trying to keep him subdued. “and she tells me that you don’t all want to fuck her?”

seonghwa inhales sharply as he attempts to overpower both wooyoung and hongjoong, who is now extremely determined to connect his fist with your boyfriend’s face. but to many of their infuriation, the fist doesn’t get a chance to hit its well-deserved target when there’s a firm shout over the commotion.

the cafe manager harshly warns, “we’re going to have to ask you all to leave the premises, otherwise we’re going to call the police.”

“wooyoung! hongjoong!” seonghwa hisses. “it’s not worth the trouble. stop!”

there are a few tense seconds of heaving chests and grinding jaws before johnny lets wooyoung go with a shove and hongjoong begrudgingly and slowly lowers his raised fist.

“you bitches got lucky this time,” johnny glowers. he beckons to his friends with a jerk of his head, still glaring at wooyoung, then kicks a chair out of his way as he leaves the cafe. in the wake of the confrontation, seonghwa turns to look at the manager and creases his eyebrows in apology, bowing multiple times to the other employees and customers too.

the manager nods wryly, “you and your friends are still going to have to leave.”

“we understand,” seonghwa replies, beginning to usher hongjoong and wooyoung towards the exit. “we’re truly sorry.”

as the five of them walk out, his eyes dart around anxiously in case your boyfriend and his friends are still lingering around. muscles taut and on edge, seonghwa makes a decision as the oldest. “let’s go home,” he declares, “we can wait there.”

they pile into the jeep wordlessly and san turns on the ignition, pulling out of the small car park and heading back to his. they’re only a few minutes away when wooyoung breaks the silence, “so who’s gonna tell y/n that her boyfriend’s a fucking asshole and that she needs to break up with his sorry ass?” he fumes. “because if no one’s going to do it, then i’m going to tell her the moment we get home.”

“wooyoung,” seonghwa starts.

“no, don’t wooyoung me,” he snaps. “he’s a fucking pretentious dickhead and she needs to know that. i don’t even care if we don’t ever get to talk about that other thing with her anymore. all i care is that he never gets to show his face in front of her ever again.”

seonghwa rubs his temples in frustration. he argues, “look, i agree with you and i’m not saying we shouldn’t tell y/n. but we need to put our feelings aside and think about this rationally, otherwise we could end up hurting her.”

“i think she’s going to get hurt regardless of how we approach it,” hongjoong snarks as the other levels him with a look.

“the campfire night is only a few days away,” yeosang points out. “maybe we should wait until that’s over…you know how excited she and mingi get about it each year.”

hongjoong protests, “and wait for her to bring johnny along on the day? sorry, but not even seonghwa is going to be able to stop me from sucker-punching him to the ground.”

“surely she’s not going to bring him. it’s a day just for us,” yeosang frowns.

san feels their questioning gazes settling on him and he glances in the rearview mirror to confirm his hunch. “i don’t know, probably not?” he answers whilst shrugging, turning into the small street that leads to your house. “but honestly? i think we should wait until after that day to talk to her. i don’t see the point in ruining it for any more of us.”

seonghwa agrees and adds on, “and only one of us should have the conversation with her. san, you’re probably the best person out of us.”

san hums in agreement, slowly braking the car to a stop before he turns in his seat to look at the rest of them. “i’ll find a time to talk to her and in the meantime,” he looks at wooyoung and hongjoong gently, knowing how frustrated they must be feeling, “we wait.”

there’s only a few more days until the campfire– they only need to hold out for a little longer until then. what could possibly go wrong?

“are you sure it’s a good idea to leave hongjoong and y/n to get the snacks together?”

seonghwa tenderly thumbs yeosang’s lips from out of his teeth, where he has been biting the corner of his lips in worry, and answers, “he’s hopeless at buying all the other things and she knows what snacks we like the best.” seonghwa knows hongjoong’s way of being confrontational is stark and direct, but he also has faith in the other that he won’t prematurely bring up your boyfriend and risk hurting you with the conversation.

you make your way down the snack aisles of the grocery store with hongjoong and it feels both familiar and foreign. there are no shopping cart races or invisible finish flags this time– only the two of you and the baskets in his hands as he carries whatever you pluck off the shelves. it’s been a while since you’ve had time alone with hongjoong; not since the incident last summer.

looking down at the shopping baskets, you put another packet of banana crisps in before commenting, “let’s get some sweet things and then that should be enough for the ten of us.”

hongjoong cocks his head, “haneul’s coming?”

“...no,” you look at him carefully, “johnny is.”

“johnny? you’re joking.”

you frown at the sudden coldness in his tone, “he’s my boyfriend, hongjoong.” johnny had been strangely adamant about going today and you had also noticed he seemed to be irritated about something. so quite frankly, you weren’t about to tell him no.

“and he’s also an asshole, you know that? why are you even dating him?”

you know your boyfriend and your friends still aren’t on amicable terms, but you’re honestly getting tired of feeling like you have to justify yourself and your dating life. and considering you have just had a talk with johnny to try and make things better for everyone, you can’t help but feel like you are being pushed into a corner yet again.

“asshole or not, at least he’s honest about his feelings for me,” you retort pointedly.

“oh?” hongjoong scoffs in disbelief, “is that what this is about?”

you challenge him with a glare, “what do you think i’m implying?”

“so i’m the bad guy now? i thought you liked me. since when did you stoop so low as to throw yourself at any guy who makes a move on you?”

your jaw drops. “you know what? what the fuck is your problem?” you shove his chest in anger. “let’s not forget that you were the one who tried to kiss me first and you were the one who also stopped. yeah, i did like you, but at least i’m willing to admit it.”

you step in closer, breathing heavy as you continue heatedly, “what about you? what the fuck have you done that makes you think you have any right to say that my decisions are wrong.”

hongjoong grits his teeth, “you’re making a mistake dating him.”

“yeah, you would know something about mistakes,” you throw back sarcastically. “but then again, you were probably happy to pretend it never happened and forget about it.”

“don’t fucking put words into my mouth,” he warns.

“it seems to be the only way i can get you to talk about us. you have no issues giving me shit about my relationship with my boyfriend, but when it comes to our relationship it’s radio silence for a year.”

hongjoong at least has the decency to look guilty when he declares, “i was going to talk to you about it face to face.”

“whatever, hongjoong. it’s too late,” you brush him off.

you snatch the baskets out his hands and walk away, no longer concerned over what snacks the boys will have for the campfire later tonight. you just want to get away from hongjoong, so you do exactly that. you leave him alone in the aisle to stare at the view of your back walking further away from him. life is all about timing and hongjoong has long missed his.

hours later, mingi scans the room from where he’s perched on a stool at the kitchen island in your house. everyone is either lounging around, preparing the meat and cutlery or setting up the grill and table outside– everyone except for one.

“where’s hongjoong?” he asks nobody in particular. he doesn’t think he’s seen the other since they’ve all come back from the grocery store.

“he’s resting in my room,” san answers. “said he wasn’t feeling too well but he’ll join us later.”

you roll your eyes at the knives you’re counting out, opting to keep your mouth shut. what san doesn’t say either, though, is that he knows something is off– hongjoong was completely fine this morning and you were definitely in higher spirits.

there’s an abrupt knock at your front door and you put the cutlery down, saying, “i’ll get it.” you know it’s probably johnny so you don’t bother squinting through the peephole before pulling the door open and blinking, “you look nice today.”

your boyfriend has styled his hair so that it slicks back from his forehead, parted down the right side of his scalp. he’s dressed in his usual smart casual fit but has chosen to pair it with accessories to accentuate his collarbones and wrists. he shrugs, “wanted to look good.”

you lead him to the open kitchen and immediately, you notice the shift in the air. a few of the boys give a tight-lipped smile in acknowledgement, but the expressions on wooyoung and san, and even yeosang and seonghwa go blank or two shades darker. hongjoong’s uncharacteristic cold feet suddenly makes a lot of sense to san now.

“you invited johnny?” san’s question is eerily monotone. a blunt knife may not be able to cut through rope, but with continuous abrasion and chafing, even the thickest of ropes will eventually sever.

your voice is not entirely friendly when you reply, “yes, san. i invited my boyfriend.”

“and why the fuck did you do that?”

san’s swearing has you reeling in surprise, but it’s quickly replaced by pent-up stress and anger that has been lingering for weeks and exacerbated by your argument with hongjoong mere hours ago. your entire body starts to heat up when san continues to criticise, “we’ve put up with him for long enough, don’t you think? it’s one thing for you to date him of all people, but it’s another thing to bring him to this.”

you laugh bitingly, no longer concerned about trying to deal with this maturely. all you can think about is how san is hurting you and how you want to hurt him back too. “so you can bring whoever the fuck you want each year, but i can’t bring my own boyfriend?” you retort.

the silence is deafening. nobody moves as they try to process the words that have just been thrown at them. yunho’s eyes are wide with confusion more than hurt at how quickly this argument has escalated, and he slowly raises his arms out in front of him, “okay, i think we all need to–”

“whoever the fuck–are we just ‘whoever’ to you?” wooyoung harshly interrupts. “we’ve been trying to look out for you and this is what we fucking get in return?”

you know that you won’t be able to take your words back after you say them, but they slip out anyway as you counter, “i didn’t ask any of you to look out for me.”

yunho’s arms fall limply to his sides and seonghwa looks away. wooyoung’s words are resigned and stony when he stares at you dead in the eye and says, “you know, y/n. we needed this trip this summer…more than anything. but thanks for ruining it for all of us.” then he brushes past your shoulder and slams the front door on his way out.

one by one, the boys follow him out of your house– first yeosang, then seonghwa, neither of them able to look you in the eye. when yunho and jongho hesitantly walk past you as well, they give you a small, apologetic wince. 

mingi still stands in the room. he has been quiet throughout the entire argument but his eyes tell a story of a million words. he’s filled with hurt and sorrow if not obvious by the wetness that starts to well in his eyes. “i guess you were just saying it when you told me i have a home here with you in namhae,” he chokes out.

your own eyes grow hot as you shake your head, “mingi, that’s not–”

but he leaves before you can say anything else. turning back towards the interior of your house– now looking far too spacious and vast without one of your friends occupying every available surface– you are left alone with just san and johnny. the heat of the fight is quickly slipping away, instead rushing all towards your eyes, and you call out san’s name. what for, you don’t know, but your cry is timid and desperate.

as much as it pains san to make a decision, mingi needs him– his boys need him, and they are his priority now. right there and then, san discovers for himself his final answer when it comes to choosing between love and friendship. he walks out of your house, turning his back on you.

you jolt awake feeling disorientated. your head feels clouded, eyes blurry from swelling and you’re still in the clothes from last night that you don’t recall falling asleep in. reaching for your phone, you wonder whether it has already ticked past noon for you to have woken up on your own, except you find that its dead. you roll over with a groan and plug your phone into its charger, then haul yourself upwards.

you rinse the stale taste out of your mouth before walking out to the living room and immediately, you’re hit with the memories and intense emotions of last night. there are packets of raw meat still unopened and bottles of soju still littering the table that you hadn’t tidied up. in the aftermath of the argument, you had told johnny to give you some space and to go home. you had then gone straight to your bedroom, covering yourself with the blankets in an attempt to hide yourself from the world and cried out your sorrows until you exhausted yourself to sleep.

you let out a long and heavy sigh, soul still exhausted to the very core, so you turn back towards your bedroom. you’ll clean everything up when you’re feeling a little more confident to face the consequences of last night. sitting on the edge of your bed, you reach for your phone. there are a few texts from johnny that you scroll past when something else catches your eye.

it’s a text from jongho, timestamped for 1:17 am. you and the boys rarely have a reason to message each other individually, preferring to use the group chat since there are no secrets shared. although, you suppose, none of you will be using the group chat for a while…

you tap on jongho’s notification. instantly, your heart drops all the way to the bottom of your stomach and past it. you think your heart is down in the fucking ground, because–

hey, wasn’t sure if you’d want to know or not but i think we’re going back to seoul in the morning

the numbers in the corner of your phone tell you that it’s already eleven thirty, and that’s when you hear it– the noise that had woken you up earlier. the distinct slam of a car boot closing shut. you jolt up to your feet, panic coursing through your veins as blood rushes to your ears and drowns out all rational thoughts. you forgo any shoes and throw your front door open to run outside, uncaring of the grit that digs painfully into the soles of your feet.

a brief flash of relief flickers across jongho’s face at your appearance but you miss it in your frenzy to make sense of what you are seeing. all three of their cars are parked in a line, their surfboards already strapped and secured to the car hoods or in the bed of the ute. the last of their luggage and duffel bags are being loaded and san is locking his front door.

every summer, the boys wait until the last possible second to leave, to the point where you have to forcibly push them towards their cars with fond laughter. it’s only thursday today and summer doesn’t end for another three days, and yet–

“you guys are leaving?” you ask apprehensively.

nobody answers you immediately. the only sound that punctuates the silence is the forceful slam of a door as wooyoung enters the car. hongjoong accidentally makes eye contact with you and his eyes narrow before he opens the door to his ute and also disappears.

jongho clears his throat awkwardly, “yeah, we’re heading back early.”

“oh…” you’re at a loss for words, unsure of how to react to this situation. “drive safe.”

like a parallel of last night, the boys enter their respective cars one by one, jongho giving you a subtle wave. guilt stifles you for the things you have said to the boys and you’re also consumed by hurt from the things they have said to you. but you know for certain that you cannot just let this friendship fall through the cracks like this.

as san makes his way to his jeep, which is parked at the front of the line as the lead driver, you watch carefully for any sign that things are still salvageable for your friendship. a smile, a glance, a nod– anything. but he simply pulls his jeep door open like you are invisible.

you hesitantly ask him, “i’ll see you next summer?”

san is expressionless but he may as well be glaring at you when he replies, “don’t count on it,” and for the second time of your life, he turns his back on you.

as san buckles his seatbelt in, trying his goddamn hardest to pretend he doesn’t see the tears now beginning to fall from your eyes, he tells himself that you’ve made your decision and he’s made his. he has chosen his priorities and will give you up, and yet, still he hopes that one day you’ll realise you deserve better and break up with johnny. san hopes that you’ll come across somebody more than better, even if it cannot be him.

before yunho also gets into the jeep, he pauses in front of you. he fists the sides of his pants to stop himself from reaching out to wipe your tears away. instead, he consoles, “i think we all just need a little bit of time, yeah?”

you nod numbly at his words. you’re forced to take several steps back out of the way after yunho also shuts his door closed and the engines hum to life in succession. unable to do anything, you can only watch helplessly as san’s jeep starts to pull away and the other two cars also follow.

“they’re finally leaving, huh.”

there’s only one person who would have amusement laced into those words. refusing to turn around in your state, you exhale shakily, “not now, johnny.”

“you honestly need better friends. everyone has a stick up their ass in that group,” he comments.

“i said not now,” you warn again, blinking the rest of your tears away when you feel anger creeping up in its stead.

“i should’ve just punched them when i had the chance to.”

you whip around to face him and yell, absolutely appalled, “johnny!”

“what?” he scowls. “they were the ones who started it.”

you grow deathly still. “started what?” you interrogate, and when he doesn’t let up, you step in closer. “johnny?”

“look, i ran into some of them the other day. that little fucker–wooyoung? he was basically asking to be punched. he’s lucky i let him off the hook,” he sneers.

you’ve known wooyoung longer than you have known johnny and you honestly find your boyfriend’s recount hard to believe. yes, wooyoung is hot-headed and rash, but he never reacts unless he has been provoked. or in other cases, his loved ones have been provoked.

“don’t you fucking dare call my friends fuckers,” you growl. is this who your boyfriend truly is? is this the person who your friends have been able to see through all this time?

“are you fucking serious right now?” johnny spits in your face, “you’re defending them? you always take their fucking side even though i’m your boyfriend.”

you spit right back, “and you know what? that was my biggest mistake. i should have never made you my boyfriend.”

johnny’s expression drops entirely. “are you breaking up with me right now?”

“yes, i am.” you confirm. “we’re over.”

you turn on your heel and for once, you are glad that he has shown up at your house, because it means you are a mere ten feet away from shutting your now-ex out of your life. you fumble with the door, vision rapidly blurring, then walk through and close it behind you. slowly, you lean back against the door. with nothing grounding you anymore, the tears escape your eyes once more and you don’t bother trying to hold back your cries.

all too fast, everything has come to a full circle of hurt. johnny turned his back on your friends, your friends turned their backs on you, and you have now turned your back on johnny. your chest shudders and heaves at the realisation, wondering where it all went wrong.

you want to seek out one of the boys for comfort– seonghwa or san– but you only end up dropping to your hands and knees, head dizzy from how hard you begin to sob, when you realise that that’s no longer an option. you all need time apart, both yourself and the boys. you know. but it’s much easier for them because they are going back to seoul together as their group of eight. they still have each other to lean on for comfort, whereas you are left behind to nurse your own wounds by yourself.

in the quiet of your house with the end of summer approaching in namhae, for the first time since meeting san, you are truly alone. it no longer feels like the nine of you against the world and whatever it may bring. instead, it’s you against the world…and the eight of them.

haneul takes all but one look at you before she’s making herself comfortable on your couch, tugging a cushion into her lap and patting the space beside her with a commanding air of authority. her expression tells you that there’s no room for argument, so you sink into the couch next to her.

the bewilderment must be obvious on your face when she asks you to spill what happened with san, because she simply reveals, “san messaged the family chat when he arrived back in seoul. and we all know he would give up surfing before voluntarily leaving namhae early.”

you slouch in on yourself, “we fought.”

as surprising as it is to hear, since she’s never seen you and san argue before, haneul had an inkling that that was the case after her little brother’s vague reasons. she probes, “about what?”

you tell her about everything. how you started dating johnny, how the boys came early for the summer and how you tried to get them on friendly terms. how your friends were constantly telling you to break up with him and how your boyfriend was always unhappy about you spending time with them. you tell her about the near-kiss with hongjoong last summer and the confrontation you had with him this summer. the argument you had with all the boys and the break up with johnny. everything.

haneul’s quiet for a while as she tries to piece together your story and her own thoughts. “did they ever tell you why they were so against you dating him?” she finally questions.

you shake your head and she asks, “then did you try talking to them about it?”

you slowly shake your head again, slightly ashamed by your own answer. you had been so focused on finding fault in the different ways the boys could have expressed their disapproval regarding your boyfriend that you didn’t think of the multiple opportunities you had to work out why those opinions existed in the first place.

“what do you think of it all, then? obviously, you would have broken up with johnny for a reason–or did the criticism from the boys just become too much?

fiddling with the hem of your shirt, you look down at your lap. “he was a decent guy…up until summer and the boys came over. that’s when he started acting differently and,” you pause, trying to find a nicer phrase before giving up and settling on, “became an asshole.”

she nods, waiting as you elaborate, “he became more overbearing and possessive, especially when i was hanging out with them when he wasn’t present. and he was just always so pissed. he was dead serious about getting into a physical fight with wooyoung. and we both know that none of the boys would ever start a fight for no reason, much less a fistfight, so johnny had to be the instigator.”

the way that you are solely picking out the faults of your ex does not go unnoticed by haneul. “y/n,” she stares at you seriously. “are you upset about your break up, or your argument with the boys?”

her question stuns you because it’s quite obviously both, but she stops your reflexive response with the instruction, “think about it before you answer me.”

you close your mouth and look at your lap again to actually process your own thoughts and feelings. what are you thinking and feeling? johnny…you had sort of known already that he would not be a constant in your life for much longer. from the moment you had started comparing him against the other boys, it was already the beginning of the end.

but san and the others? they are and have been the sun to your solar system for years; your providers of vitality, warmth and summer who you cannot live without. there’s a constant, gravitational pull that keeps you all together, except the balance has now been thrown off entirely. you realise what the answer was all along and you quietly admit, “the argument.”

she places a hand over yours, comfortingly stroking your knuckles as she sympathises, “i think so too.”

promptly, you feel your eyes pricking with the sting of tears and in a moment of fragile vulnerability, you plead to haneul in a shaky voice, “what am i going to do without them?”

“come here,” she whispers.

she pulls you into her, your body immediately going slack in her embrace. you cling onto her like a lifeline, afraid that you are going to drown in your cries of anguish. you don’t know how long you stay buried in her chest grieving for the friendships you have lost, but your neck and back are sore with stiffness by the time you calm down. still, she doesn’t let go of you– not until you make the first move to pull away.

haneul continues to stroke your hair, soft shushing noises as she rocks you back and forth with her. when your shuddering breaths have resided and steadied out, she breaks the silence softly, “y/n, i think there’s more to your heartache and regret than just feeling like you’ve lost your closest friends.”

your throat is scratchy when you mumble, “what do you mean?”

“i can’t tell you because that’s something that you’re going to have to work out for yourself. but after you figure out your own feelings, talk to them. communication is the first step to solving any problem, and i think you’ve realised just how much miscommunication could have been avoided leading up to the argument.”

you know she’s right, but your chest shrivels up on itself in fear. “what if they don’t answer my messages or calls? what if they really don’t come back next summer?” what if they hate me forever?

haneul rests her cheek on the crown of her head, “if they take a step back, then why don’t you take two steps forward?”

her words slowly sink in and when they do, you inch out of her embrace. haneul cannot help the smile that adorns her own face in tandem with the one that starts to peek out along your lips. your face is still red and blotchy but there is now a ray of emerging hope as your voice trails off, “you mean…”

“yes, y/n,” haneul nods. you feel goosebumps spreading across your body when she affirms your thoughts.

“go to seoul and talk to them.”

summer passes and autumn comes. the days grow shorter as the nights become longer and the weeks blur into a haze of monochrome darkness. the leaves and flowers fall off the trees, nature gradually stagnating and waning into nonexistence, much like the groupchat you share with the boys that has remained untouched since summer.

in a feverish state of resolution the very same day you had cried in haneul’s arms, you had booked an express bus trip that would take you directly from namhae to seoul. yet, despite telling yourself every weekend that you’ll make the trip, the ticket remains unused. whenever you see your last message to san– a meek question asking if he had arrived back in seoul fine– that continues to stay unread, your courage crumples and you reschedule the date for the following weekend.

the cycle repeats itself well into autumn. that is, until he breaks it.

you’ve spent the last few days thinking about this very moment. there are only a few minutes left until midnight, which will mark the end of jongho’s birthday. you’re unable to count the number of times you have opened his chat, typed out a message, then exited without actually sending it.

currently, the text cursor in jongho’s chat blinks back at you like your own indecisiveness wavering back and forth between messaging him and not. the minute ticks over once more– it’s now or never. you let your thumbs skim across the surface of your phone before you can contemplate any further. it’s a simple message; only reading two lines.

happy birthday jongho how have you been?

really, you mean ‘how have you all been?’ because you cannot care about one of them without also caring about the others.

you lock the screen and toss your phone to the side, pretending you don’t care whether he replies or not, as if your phone is capable of sensing anxiousness and will sabotage his incoming messages– that is, if any come at all. but jongho’s last messages to you had been the ones alerting you that he and the boys would be leaving namhae prematurely. surely an indicator that this friendship isn’t entirely lost.

the lecture slides on your laptop may as well be written in a foreign language as you restlessly eye your phone, wondering if he has seen your messages. you know it will be fruitless to continue studying, so you steel yourself for disappointment and reach for your phone. to your surprise, there’s a reply waiting for you.

thanks y/n, i’ve been good

it’s simple and only five words, but that in itself speaks volumes to your relationship. your heart skips a beat when the messages in his chat shift upwards once more as a new text comes in like an afterthought.

i miss you

really, jongho means ‘we all miss you’ because you can be angry at someone, feel hurt by them, yet still love them all the same.

his confession stuns you frozen, your fingers hovering in place over your keyboard. it fills you with longing for more and hope for what may come, but also fear for what could happen. jongho has taken a small step to meet you halfway and you are absolutely terrified of messing things up once more. with your heart pounding in your chest, you carefully type out your next message, send it and then hold your breath.

can we call?

your fingers repetitively trace the rim of your phone case back and forth as you wait for a reply. there’s a rising swell of panic that continues to grow when nothing comes and you even exit and reopen the app. what you don’t know is that jongho almost trips onto his face in his hurry to untangle his legs from out of his blanket so that he can lock himself in the bathroom to call you without waking the others.

the phone nearly falls out of your grasp when the screen suddenly lights up not with a message but a call. you let it ring for a few seconds to gather your own composure before sliding the button to nervously answer, “hello?”

“hello?” comes jongho’s reply.

your voices overlap as you both simultaneously talk, “can you hear me–” “hi–yes, can you hear me?”

“yeah, i can hear you too, hi,” you breathe out, face breaking out into a smile.

the exchange has jongho letting out a giggle and the sound immediately releases all the tension that has built up in your body. your eyes start to mist over as you let out your own bashful laughter, because it is so much more than just missing the sound of jongho’s happiness. you’re reminded of crashing waves and windswept fringes; heavy surfboards and helping hands– the summer days when everything was happier and simpler. how did everything end up the way it has?

“thank you for replying to my message, jongho,” your voice is unsteady.

he must hear the way your throat threatens to close in on itself, because his voice is warm-hearted when he tells you, “no, thank you for reaching out first.” and as much as he finds it difficult to express himself, his next words spill out easily. “sorry i didn’t do it first…it must have been hard for you all this time.”

and just like that, so comes the first of many owed apologies. it doesn’t matter that you have to be awake in five hours to make it to your first lecture, nor that you don’t have a perfected script for all the things you want to apologise for. and it doesn’t matter that jongho is starting to feel cold sitting on the bathroom floor, nor that he can’t hold you like he wants to do. what does matter is that you’re both talking again.

as the night grows older, the conversation eventually flows away from raw confessions of your hearts to familiar topics of your mundane lives. it feels like the normal phone calls you used to have with the boys, except this time it’s only with jongho.

“what about you? have you been busy?”

you nod, even though he can’t see you over the call, “i’m trying to keep up with classes but it’s hard with all the assignments due soon.”

“yeah, i have another huge film project and it’s taking up all of my time, too,” he exhales, then tentatively asks, “what about…how’re things with johnny?”

it’s strangely exciting to clarify, “we actually broke up a few months ago.”

you can hear jongho’s sharp inhale even from over the phone. the conspiratorial tone of his voice painfully reminds you of wooyoung’s nosiness as jongho asks, “please tell me you broke up with him and not the other way round.”

“yes, i broke up with him,” you chuckle. “he talked shit about you guys the moment you all left, so i dumped him.”

“he deserved it,” he gleefully states.

“only i get to mess with my friends…literally.”

the joke is at the expense of yourself, but it feels uplifting to be able to start laughing about it now that you have started making amends, even if it is only with one person so far. knowing you have somebody on your side makes all the difference in the world.

“it’s actually sort of funny you say that,” jongho muses over the phone. “remember that truth or dare question? the one about choosing between love and friendship?”

you hum in affirmation, “san and i picked love.”

“and look at you, picking us over johnny,” he teases.

huffily, you banter, “picked you guys even though you all left me.”

there’s the tinkle of laughter from over the receiver, but it’s cut short by a faint knock. you hear jongho murmuring to somebody before his voice becomes audible again, “hey, sorry, i need to go now. someone needs to use the bathroom.”

you resist the urge to ask why he’s even there in the first place, but you just tell him that it’s okay, considering how late the time is anyway.

“i’ll talk to you tomorrow?”

“yeah, tomorrow,” you affirm. the wide smile on your face makes your cheeks ache as you grip the phone to your ear and wait for him to hang up. you hear the sound of rustling as he stands up and turns the doorknob, then there’s a voice in the background asking, “is that y/n?”

but before you can try to discern who the voice belongs to, the call ends. you don’t let the slight disappointment dampen your spirits though and you fall back to lie on top of your bed. jongho’s last words to you have made you feel like a giddy teenager– tomorrow feels too far away.

but his words before his last words also make you feel like a teenager. only it’s not giddiness but the uncertainty and confusion that comes with adolescence as you try to navigate and understand your own feelings about something. in the face of the situation, had you truly chosen friendship over love contrary to your own expectations?

it makes sense at first to think that’s what has happened, but you’re suddenly reminded of haneul’s words– that there is more to your heartache and regret than just feeling like you have lost your closest friends, and that you need to figure out your own feelings before talking to the boys. if you have stood by your own values and chosen love over friendship, then that means…the heartbreak that you feel is grief not for lost friendship, but loss of your first loves– because you are in love with all of them.

that spark of feelings that had remained for the boys had never become fully extinguished. when you agreed to date johnny, perhaps it was only because he had reminded you of them and you had mistaken the flutters in your stomach for romantic attraction to him. and so, left unattended, that very spark has now flourished into a wildfire that can no longer be controlled, neither can it be contained– it’s time for you to talk to them.

you pick up your phone again and send out a message, this time with no hesitation. it reads, ‘i need your help’.

and the reply is immediate.

anything you need

it’s the first day of winter when you arrive in seoul.

you get off the express bus at the terminal with both hands empty and only the bag on your back; you don’t plan on staying for long so you didn’t bring much with you. immediately, your breath fogs up in the frigid air and you nestle more snugly into the warmth of your coat. there’s a reasonable crowd of people at the terminal, so you crane your neck in search of jongho’s familiar tuft of brown hair, who had offered to pick you up knowing that this was your first time travelling up to seoul.

the last text he had sent told you that he had arrived and was waiting for you at terminal six. as you make your way closer, eyes squinting to discern whether you are seeing things correctly, you think you’re able to make out jongho’s side profile leaning against a brick wall.

except, he’s not alone. your footsteps start to falter because seonghwa is also there. ironically, he’s the one who spots you from afar. he pushes himself away from the wall and turns his body towards you as jongho questions whether he has spotted you.

ever since the night he had overheard the younger on a phone call with you, seonghwa has been aching to make things right with you again. he had been afraid that you would want nothing to do with them anymore and that you would slip away from their fingers just like that. but here you are in seoul, just a mere distance away from him.

seonghwa’s eyes start to water and your expression crumples almost immediately with his when he opens his arms with an offer of an embrace. his feet rush to close the distance when you throw yourself into his chest, the cashmere of his coat rubbing softly against your cheek.

“i’m sorry, hwa” you murmur.

“i know,” he whispers, stroking the back of your head, “me too.”

jongho silently watches with a small smile and allows you both to have your moment of reconciliation with each other. as you breathe in the comfortingly familiar scent of seonghwa’s cologne, you gesture for the other to come closer so that you can pull him into a group hug. and here, surrounded by both of them, despite there being several other things you want to say– poems of apologies and ballads of confessions– for now, this is more than enough.

seonghwa is the first to pull away suddenly as if he has been electrocuted. “hang on, are you and johnny still…” he trails off.

despite the snort of amusement that leaves you, you’re touched by his thoughtfulness to maintain respectful boundaries. “don’t worry, we broke up,” you reassure him, then you jokingly turn to jongho with an incredulous look. “you told him i was coming up to seoul, but didn’t tell him that johnny’s my ex now?”

he rolls his eyes good-naturedly, “that wasn’t in my place to reveal. plus, seonghwa was the one who looked over my shoulder and saw your text asking for my help.”

said man pretends to walk away innocently. you and jongho laugh, trailing after him towards the carpark as you ask, “what was he doing in your dorm anyway?”

“he crashed for the night. our dorm’s close to his workplace.”

when you reach their parked car, seonghwa tugs the passenger door open, but instead of hopping in he gestures for you to go first. you indulge in his chivalry with a chuckle, even more so when he places a hand along the top of the door frame in case you bump into it.

“thanks, hwa,” you say sweetly, shuffling in further when he scoots in after you and leaves jongho alone to sit at the front of the car.

“great, not even ten minutes of making up with each other and i’ve already become the third wheel,” jongho grumbles as he turns the ignition on.

despite the huffiness in his voice, jongho’s heart sings with happiness to see you and seonghwa already getting along like normal. he is willing to be the third wheel– even the ninth wheel– if it means that you and his boys can shine together every day. but for that to happen, it all rests on how the next hour unfolds.

“ready to go?” jongho asks, eyeing you from the rearview mirror.

are you? are you ready to talk to all of the boys at the same time? seonghwa gives your hand a gentle squeeze, and jongho nods at you reassuringly from the front; you’re not going into this alone anymore. you nod, “i’m ready.”

the drive takes less than thirty minutes and before you know it, you’re standing right outside the door to jongho’s shared dorm with wooyoung and hongjoong. jongho swipes and unlocks the door with his access card, however makes no move to push the door open. the fact that neither of the boys say anything to rush you spurs you on with enough determination to enter the dorm. the volume of their chatter increases immediately without the barrier of the door, and you take slow, hesitant steps along the short hallway towards the direction of the sound.

you appreciate when jongho takes the lead to subtly show you where to go but it still feels like you are intruding– which, you technically are, considering two out of three people who live here don’t know that you’re in the dorm right now. rounding the corner of the hallway, you discover that it leads straight to the living room where all of the boys currently are. so it’s fucking awkward when the sight of you emerging completely kills the conversation and a collective hush settles over the room.

you have to fight everything within you not to turn on your heel and just flee, because nothing has prepared you for their initial reaction. you hate the fact that you cannot tell whether the shocked expressions on yunho and yeosang’s faces are ones of delight or displeasure. you hate the way that wooyoung and hongjoong’s bodies tense and become guarded, ready to tell you to leave their dorm. but more than anything, you hate the way that san and mingi cannot even look at you.

“holy shit,” yunho whispers.

that’s enough to set off the others and hongjoong angrily questions, “what the fuck is she doing here?”

wooyoung looks at jongho, “is this why you told everyone to come over?”

you defend, “i was the one who asked jongho for help.”

“i wasn’t talking to you–”

you cut wooyoung off, contrary to your next words, “can you just shut the fuck up for once? i’m not here to start another fight. just–hear me out, please. i’ll leave as soon as i say what i need to.”

he glares at you and everybody holds their breath as they steel themselves for another full-blown argument. but wooyoung does as you ask and folds his arms angrily. nobody speaks, waiting for you to talk as you finally put your bag down and sit a safe distance away.

you close your eyes and take a breath to compose yourself. you refuse to let yourself cry this time. you’ve done plenty of that in the last few months and you have finally come to terms with your own feelings. “i…i’m sorry,” you start.

somebody scoffs, but you ignore it and let the words from your heart take over. “i’m sorry for being such an asshole over the summer–for letting my ex get in between us and for ignoring all the times you told me he wasn’t a good guy. i shouldn’t have assumed that you were all okay with me bringing him along whenever we hung out and i should have asked before inviting him to the campfire. that was something special for us and it was selfish of me to do that.

“in particular, i’m sorry for how that night went down. i know it doesn’t excuse what i did, but i had an argument with hongjoong earlier that day and i was feeling strung tight. i wish i had handled the situation better when i felt confronted about bringing johnny along, and i acknowledge that the words i said can’t be taken back, even if i didn’t mean them.”

nobody needs reminding of the words that you are referring to, because it has sat just as heavily in their hearts as it has your own. the sight of mingi ducking his head down even further has your heart clenching painfully.

even if he isn’t looking, you apologise to him directly, “mingi, i’m sorry we never got to finish our talk. i know that you were going through a hard time and that that trip was meant to be something healing for you–for all of you. namhae was meant to be an escape, but it probably didn’t feel that way…because of me. i mean it when i say you’ll always have a home in namhae and i hope that one day, you’ll be able to trust me on that. in fact, i hope that you all know that namhae is not the same without either one of you boys.”

you hesitate, because not even jongho knows about what you’re going to say next. you avert your gaze to focus on the carpet just in front of you so that you don’t have to see their expressions. “it’s taken this fight–almost losing all of you–and breaking up with my ex to realise just how stupid and blind i am to my own feelings. i always thought i would be happy with just being friends…but you are all so, so much more to me than just friends and ‘whoever’. i think i’m in love with all of you and i know it’s unconventional, but…i guess love has no limits.

“but i’m also going to be honest. i’m still hurt by the things some of you said or did. it hurt that some of you criticised my decisions without thinking about how that might have made me feel. and i know it wasn’t your intention to, but i felt like i was being backed into a corner multiple times when you kept repeating the same things over and over again about my ex without any real constructiveness to your words.

“i don’t expect you to apologise right now, nor accept my apology, and i don’t expect any of you to respond to my confession. i want you all to have enough time to work out your own feelings…if you want to. if you find it in your heart to forgive me and if you want to apologise, pursue friendship again or…maybe something more, then come to namhae and tell me in person.”

there’s half a year left until summer, and as much as things can change in six months, you also hope that this gives you and the boys time to work out what you all truly want from one another– be it friendship or love. nobody moves or says anything, trying to process everything you have said so you decide to leave them to it, having done your part. you make a move to stand and sling your bag onto your back.

“you’re leaving already? where are you going?” yeosang abruptly asks, standing as well.

“back to namhae,” you explain. “i booked a return ticket for the same day.”

san frowns and for the first time since you arrived, he looks at you. “you came all the way here…just to talk to us for half an hour?”

you give him a bittersweet smile, “that’s how important this is to me–how important you all are to me.”

he looks away, unable to hold your gaze. you turn to jongho to ask if he is still happy to drop you back off at the terminal, who nods and begins to pull on his puffer jacket.

“wait,” yeosang calls out. he skitters off down the corridor, socked feet pattering against the floor as he grabs something from his bedroom and hurries back in front of you. “here.”

he has a thick scarf that he holds out for you to take, but as you start to reach for it, he changes his mind. you hold your breath as yeosang carefully reaches over your head to drape the scarf around you. with tender hands, he wraps it around your neck before securing it with a knot. he continues to fiddle with the ends of the scarf and you’re starting to wonder why he is hesitating when he looks at you shyly and mumbles something under his breath. before you can make a noise of confusion, he darts off once again back into his room. seonghwa cannot help but smile fondly, because even if he is unable to hear what the other said either, he knows what yeosang means purely by his actions.

you’re accompanied out of the door by jongho minutes later, carrying a plastic bag of snacks and drinks from their dorm that seonghwa has rushed to put together for you to have on your way back. when you’re in the car, you also find a pair of black gloves in the pocket of your coat. you have no idea who put it there, but the sentiment of one of the boys trying to ensure you are not cold is enough to fill your entire body with warmth.

you may have arrived in seoul with both hands empty and only the bag on your back, but you leave seoul with their quiet acts of apologies and forgiveness on your hands, neck, and in the plastic bag sitting on your lap as your bus pulls away back to namhae.

a lot can change in six months, but a lot can also stay the same. it all balances on the peak of the fulcrum, waiting to teeter either way as summer arrives.

you’ve kept in touch with jongho and seonghwa, so you haven’t been left in the dark anxiously wondering whether they will be returning to namhae or not. but even with their arrival, the uncertainty remains as to which way the scale has– or will tip.

so you don’t walk out to greet them when you hear the resounding slam of shutting doors and the low hum of exchanged conversation, because you don't know whether the other boys want to see you or not. plus, there’s something embarrassing about seeing them for the first time after apologising, much less confessing to them without any certainty as to their feelings, and much much less to eight people at once. you’re doing a pretty good job at hiding and pretending you are completely oblivious to their arrival in namhae.

that is, until mingi knocks on your door. mingi feels like he’s fourteen again, knocking on yunho’s door and crossing his fingers hoping to god that it’s his friend who opens it and not his parents, because mingi feels embarrassed asking them every day if yunho can come out to play. this time, though, mingi’s nervous because it’s you and he’s nervous because six months is a long time where feelings can change. he hopes that yours are still the same.

you’re greeted by a shock of platinum white hair when you open your door and you realise it’s mingi with freshly bleached hair. it looks good– a little too good– and you have to force yourself to peel your eyes away. except your eyes travel down involuntarily to the contrasting black of his tank top, which is at least two sizes too large and dips down dangerously to reveal the shadows of his chest. you’re down bad, and it’s only been ten seconds since you’ve laid eyes on him since seoul.

mingi is looking at you amusedly when you finally lock eyes with him and he seems to stand a little straighter with confidence. he beckons with a gentle tilt of his head, “come surf with us?”

the casualness of his invite throws you off and you wonder if you’ve somehow missed the memo that he’s forgiven you. “you’re all okay with me coming?” you blink confusedly.

“the others can speak for themselves,” he puts it plainly, but then smiles, “i want you to come, though. it’s not the same without you. plus,” his voice mellows out earnestly, “someone’s gotta welcome me home, don’t you think?”

home. home is where the heart is, and for mingi, regardless of the arguments and fights, his heart will always be with the boys and you. because in anger, hurt and love, there is always forgiveness, and mingi has forgiven you.

shyly, you return his smile, “i’ll go get changed, then?”

“is that an invite inside?” mingi leans against the doorframe with faux coyness that manages to make the rounds of your cheeks heat up. you shove him back lightly with a laugh, trying to ignore the firmness of his chest under your touch.

he grins boyishly, utterly pleased with himself, but steps back so you can close the door. “take your time,” he reassures. “i’ll wait for you.”

and he does, just so that you don’t have to walk alone to join the rest of the group. even after you have thrown on a swimsuit and slathered yourself with sunscreen as best as you can, mingi is still outside and yunho has also joined him– you know because you can hear them talking as you search for your house keys in the hallway.

“what if it’s too late?” yunho asks.

“you don’t know that, not until you try,” mingi replies. “here, a kiss for good luck.”

you have no idea what the context for this conversation is, but it suddenly strikes you that apart from mingi, you’ve never discussed sexual orientation with the boys. you may have asked them to consider you romantically, but you can’t say for sure if they even like girls. from what you know, none of them have dated before, and now you’re suddenly wondering whether any of the boys are dating within the group. mingi and yunho are certainly a possibility.

but regardless, you realise this is probably not something you should be discovering by overhearing a conversation, so you deliberately drop your keys to alert them of your presence and wait a couple more seconds before you open your front door.

for the second time of the day, you’re absolutely floored. yunho has dyed his hair an ash grey and it falls over his forehead and down the nape of his neck in messy locks. there must have been a fucking enticing buy-one-get-one-free deal, because he’s also wearing a black tank top much like mingi’s, except his is form-fitting and putting every damned muscle of his upper body on glorified display.

not that you’re complaining. but it’s also very distracting when you’re trying to focus on what mingi is saying as you all make your way down the beach towards the shore, their surfboards hiked against their hips.

“you guys go ahead, i think jongho’s calling for me,” mingi suddenly announces before darting off.

you’re left alone with yunho, and from the back of jongho’s head who most definitely doesn’t even know you three have joined the group, mingi’s plan to slip away has succeeded.

“um,” yunho hesitantly starts, “do you want to try paddling out on my board? i’ll stay close.”

the last time you had attempted anything on his shortboard, you had flipped over and swallowed several mouthfuls of salt water. although you’re not particularly keen on repeating the experience, some things don’t need to be spelt out– the reason for his offer. only one foot is needed to push a bicycle into motion, but two feet are needed to keep it in motion. so you nod and let him drag his surfboard towards the shallow waters for you.

as you trail beside him, seonghwa and jongho greet you enthusiastically on their own boards out in the horizon. yeosang waves too from further down the shore and you lose some of the tension in your shoulders when you know that the intention behind his scarf was not misinterpreted. only san and wooyoung do not directly acknowledge your presence, but unbeknownst to you, the younger is carefully observing your interactions with the others.

“here,” yunho says, garnering your attention.

he holds the surfboard steady in the water, waiting for you to lie on top. his hands stay even after you gingerly shift and balance your weight onto your front. with his guidance, you slowly paddle out past the rush of whitewater waves. yunho is barely waist-deep in the water so he easily manoeuvres you and the board as you try to recall the familiar motion of paddling against incoming swells. but both of you know that you’re not really trying to paddle and he’s not really watching for mistakes.

eventually, you languidly let the waters caress your body as you still, letting the slight waves gently rock your surfboard. one of yunho’s arms have shifted over your back to support the opposite side of the surfboard and your body tingles whenever his forearm brushes over you. his other hand rests near your own, your fingers grazing together whenever the board dances over a swell.

it is within the serenity and solitude of the ocean, and the warmth and proximity of each other’s presence that the conversation happens. yunho apologises and you forgive. it occurs as simply as that, because actions speak louder than words and you have already shared a library of novels with your bodies.

from afar, wooyoung’s internal debate continues to teeter on its fulcrum as he watches the moment you share with yunho. wooyoung may be fast to talk, but he is also keen to observe. he sees the glow of relief and happiness returning to the faces of the boys. what he said to you summers ago still stands true– you make the boys happy and it’s obvious they make you happy too. and all wooyoung has ever wanted is to protect the smile of his loved ones, including you.

the radiance of the smile you give when yunho pretends to flip your surfboard over reminds wooyoung of his failure to do just that. in his blindness for the others, he had sacrificed your smile. the scale teeters over the fulcrum and he follows the momentum of his heart to wade out into the waters where you two still are, his apology ready to spill out.

and so you discover that a lot can change in six months, but a lot can also change in one day. with each relationship that stitches back together, rips now reinforced and sturdier than before, namhae almost feels the same again– summer almost feels the same again. you may still have the two hardest conversations left to be resolved, but if more time is what they need, then you are willing to wait for san and–

yunho and wooyoung scramble to steady your surfboard before you actually tip over when you suddenly move to kneel, head whipping around to confirm your fears. you hadn’t initially noticed as the boys had been scattered, intermittently ducking back into the house, but your heart sinks as you count the number of heads again. you’re unable to fight off the dread in your voice when you dare to ask, “where’s hongjoong?”

yunho’s eyes don’t meet yours and wooyoung’s mouth thins out tightly before he cautiously answers you, “he didn’t come.”

san likes to think that he’s patient. ever since he was young, his father had made sure to raise him to wait. wait for elders to eat before picking up his own chopsticks; wait for others to walk through the door before he enters; wait for others to choose their preference before he picks his. and san likes to think that he has diligently applied this principle to his relationships too. wait to understand someone before criticising; wait for his own anger to subside before talking; wait to reflect on his own wrongs before expecting an apology.

but right now, san is impatient. he catches glimpses of the sweet messages you send jongho and seonghwa and the joyous cackles you share with wooyoung when you prank yeosang. he notices the way yunho and mingi are attached to your hips, and san wants all of that and more. he wants to tell you he’s forgiven you and that he’s sorry too; he wants to cup your cheeks and thumb away the phantom tears he caused; he wants to love you.

but his body is acting as if it’s an entirely separate entity from his heart. he’s unable to approach you, even as he watches everyone else do what he wants to and it frustrates him to no end. and it’s as if the gods themselves also became impatient with his pathetic attempts– or lack thereof– because they drop the perfect opportunity right in front of him.

a quick look at his phone tells san that he’s been tossing on the couch for the last two hours. sleep fails to take over, so he hauls himself up and pads softly towards the kitchen to pour himself a glass of water. he stares out of the window above the sink, where he can just see the stretch of beach towards the right. the moon shines brightly tonight and the rays decorate the sand and sea foam with dreamy tranquillity.

there’s a quiet rustle above the stillness of the night. when san turns around, his heart immediately clenches at the sight. you’re sleepily rubbing the bleariness out of your eye as you shuffle your way into the kitchen. there’s a stray tuft of hair that san wants to reach out and smooth down for you, but he opts to grip his glass of water tighter.

you startle, not having expected someone to be awake and most definitely not san. you had stayed over late into the night watching a movie marathon with the boys, and despite your protests, they had convinced you to crash in haneul’s room. tension doesn’t exist between you and the boys anymore, only awkwardness with san and…avoidance with hongjoong.

“couldn’t sleep?” you murmur, voice unguarded and still thick with sleep.

san shakes his head, “you?”

“got thirsty,” you explain, grabbing a glass from under the counter.

he hums at your answer and then it grows silent again. it’s only after you drowsily blink at him that he realises why you’re not making a move to get water– he’s still standing in front of the sink. san starts to step out of the way but thinks better of it. reaching out to grab your glass, he fills it up with water and then returns it to you.

“thanks, sannie.”

it doesn’t register in your head that the nickname has slipped out. for him, though, it echoes and ricochets in the very caverns of his ribcage. hesitantly, he mutters, “you’re welcome, pipsqueak.”

it tugs a smile out of your lips. “haven’t heard that in a while,” you muse. “kind of miss it.”

and i miss you. san is impatient, and he finally decides that he cannot take it anymore. “i’m sorry, y/n,” he whispers. “i know how badly i hurt you.”

the haze in your eyes immediately fades away at his words and he takes it as a good sign to continue. “i’ll be honest. i hated that the person next to you as your boyfriend wasn’t one of us–wasn’t me, because it didn’t look like he was making you happy at all. and that day you were out working in the field? some of us actually ran into johnny.”

you acknowledge sadly, “seonghwa told me what happened. i’m sorry he was like that.”

“that’s not on you to apologise,” san refutes. “i was the one who asked the boys to keep it from you until we could properly talk after the campfire night, but along with everything that had led up to that point, all my frustrations accumulated without even realising it.”

“i guess that makes the two of us, then. there were arguments you and i both weren’t aware of, and we ended up being the last straw for each other,” you chuckle wryly.

his voice wavers, “i’m meant to be the one person who is always there for you, but i made it feel like you were pitted against the eight of us instead and i’m so sorry for doing that. it should never have been me against you, nor us boys against you. it should have been all nine of us against the problem.”

you can’t help but take the opportunity to tease lightly, “are you calling my ex the problem?”

“exactly that,” he deadpans. “we all did.”

you nod, “thank you for trying to let me know, even when i didn’t listen.”

“no, i’m sorry we didn’t explain ourselves more clearly–or earlier.”

“but you have now, and i understand,” you reassure.

he nods gratefully before hesitating, “there’s something else behind all this that i can’t tell you yet, not without the others here. but when things are…okay with hongjoong again, that’s when we’ll tell you.”

something about his promise tells you that it has to do with the other part of the conversation everyone has been skirting around so far– your confession. faint memories of the interactions observed between the boys last summer and the brief exchange you overheard between yunho and mingi flicker across your mind.

perhaps you should steel yourself for rejection. you don’t dwell on it, though. this may have been the first time your friendship with san had been so close to shattering, but you know that it will take more than the entire universe to completely break you apart; you still trust him– because before it was the nine of you, it was you and san against the world.

“then are we okay now?” you ask, needing the confirmation.

“yeah,” he smiles breathlessly, “more than okay.”

the caverns of san’s dimples– the ones you love so much– shyly peek out to greet you in the faint glow of the moonlight coming in from the window. he reaches out silently and you understand immediately. you intertwine your fingers together.

san wants to ask you to go to bed with him. not to do anything sexual, but to simply hold you against his chest; trace the curve of your nose; wake up to your sleepy smile in the morning. but he can’t, not yet. not until you’ve worked things out with hongjoong, and not until you’ve had a talk together– all nine of you.

he settles for tugging you in the direction of haneul’s bedroom, hand never letting go of yours as he softly ushers, “let me tuck you back into bed.”

and so fifteen years after your first day of summer in namhae, you find that summer still takes the form of a sweet, dimpled boy who loves the sea and holding hands.

your instinctive reaction is to shut the door in hongjoong’s face.

when seonghwa had texted you asking you to open your front door, you had been expecting said man for obvious reasons. so when you pull the door open and see kim fucking hongjoong at your doorstep in fucking namhae instead, of course you slam the door shut. because why the fuck is he here?

“oh shit,” you curse, when it registers in your brain.

hongjoong is here and you’ve just shut the door in his face. if you had even an ounce of collectedness in you, you would realise that the boys’ initial and very much candid reaction of shock to seeing you randomly show up at their dorm in seoul is suddenly very relatable. you yank the door open again.

“sure, why don’t you just go ahead and punch me in the fucking face too,” hongjoong scowls.

immediately, you furrow your eyebrows, “well, if you’re offering…”

“oh, fuck off,” he raises his middle finger at you.

you raise both middle fingers in retaliation, “yeah, back into my house that you’re standing in front of.”

“for god’s sake–kim hongjoong!” seonghwa hisses in exasperation, head poking out of san’s door as he eavesdrops to make sure this exact thing doesn’t happen. “you’re here to apologise!”

hongjoong appears rightfully berated, then he looks at anything but you as he huffs, “can i come in?”

“depends,” you cross your arms defiantly. “are you going to try and kick me out?”

despite the prickliness of the conversation, it almost feels right in a sense. as if there’s no real heat behind your words and you two are back to the easy banter you used to have– before your near-kiss with him. this time, though, seonghwa hisses your name in frustration.

“geez! okay!” you fluster as you step back and open the door wider, letting hongjoong in and away from the prying ears of the older.

you sit tentatively on your couch and he mirrors you, scratching the back of his neck as he perches himself on the edge. it’s awkward and tense when it becomes apparent to the both of you that you’re alone. “i didn’t think you would come,” you break the silence.

he hums softly, “me neither.”

you don’t know how to respond so you don’t, allowing the quiet to settle over your living room once more. eventually, hongjong opens his mouth quietly, “i was–am ashamed of myself.”

you’ve been there before– on the other side of the conversation as the one doing the apologising. you know how difficult it is to be honest about your own emotions, particularly the negative ones, so you wait patiently for him to find the right words.

“i’ve been ashamed ever since the night i tried to kiss you. i was a coward and i did nothing to change it. i only ended up hurting you and i’ve regretted it every single day. i think about why i didn’t talk to you afterwards, why i said those things about you and your ex…why i didn’t just kiss you.”

you can’t help but inhale sharply at his confession, because that can only mean one thing.

hongjoong gathers the courage to look at you as he admits, “i did like you. i still do. but i was an idiot and thought that i was doing the best thing for everybody. i shouldn’t have made that choice for you nor tried to have a say in your love life. i was jealous and i know now how toxic i was being, which is why i was so stubborn about not coming to namhae because i didn’t think my apology would be good enough. so i’m sorry for all the things i said and did, but i’m also sorry that it took me this long to talk to you.”

he looks so uncharacteristically unsure of himself as he timidly asks, “will you forgive me?”

there’s not a moment of hesitation before you’re closing the gap between the two of you on the couch so that you can wrap your arms around him. and in a rare display of vulnerability, he tucks his face into the crook of your neck. you comfort, “i forgive you. there are a lot of things i’m ashamed of doing too. but we all make mistakes and that’s what helps us to grow.”

“you still like me?” he mumbles into your neck.

you laugh at the ticklish feeling, “very much so, hongjoong.” because in forgiveness there is love, and you have years of owed love to show the boys.

only when your sides become cramped and your necks become stiff do you finally pull away from each other. as you make eye contact with him though, you’re suddenly reminded of his confession. you know that you will need to have another talk with hongjoong about it, and you still don’t know where the other boys stand in terms of pursuing something romantic with you, but that will be for later. right now, you are content and at peace– the nine of you against the world once more.

“let’s go find the rest of the boys?” you ask.

he grins, holding a hand out to pull you up with him as he answers, “let’s go.”

just as hongjoong puts on his shoes by the doorway, he distractedly questions, “why are these here?”

you frown and follow his line of sight, settling on the top of the cabinet in your hallway where a pair of gloves sit– the ones you had discovered in your coat on your way back to namhae. “you know who they belong to?”

“yeah,” he nods, absentmindedly touching them before walking out the door. “i bought them last year, but they were too big so i gave them to san.”

it was san who hid them in your coat.

you numbly follow his steps outside where the boys have gathered in waiting and are sitting side by side on the embankment, facing the ocean. they are simply living in the moment, basking in the golden rays of sunlight and the warm touch of the person by their side– an arm around a waist; a head on a shoulder. you almost don’t want to disturb them, but you know the seven of them are not complete. not without hongjoong, and not without you.

and as your gaze meets san who smiles at the both of you, his chest swelling with relief, pride and love, you realise that san had bared his heart out to you long before you even knew.

once you fall back into routine with them, it starts to become obvious. the way the boys naturally gravitate towards one another with doting gazes and lingering touches; the casual use of a pet name or flirtatious joke; the shifts in dynamic you had noticed before that seem to extend beyond friendship. it starts to make sense when you realise that that’s exactly the reason– no longer are their relationships purely based on platonic love, but romantic love.

it’s why yunho knocks his forehead against mingi’s just to see him smile, and why san pretends to grumble when wooyoung kisses his cheeks, only to give the younger a proper kiss mere seconds later. it’s why jongho never lets yeosang carry his own surfboard even if he’s just as strong, and it’s why seonghwa and hongjoong like to disappear into the shower together.

but the longer you mull over these interactions for, the more you realise that they don’t seem to be simply ‘paired off’. you notice how jongho refuses to be cuddled but will nestle against seonghwa when he’s tired, and how yunho and yeosang seek out each other’s company before bedtime. you notice how wooyoung squeezes hongjoong’s ass underwater to make him yelp, and how san and mingi are content to just sit together on their surfboards on the sand.

rather than a question of who is with who, it becomes a question of who isn’t with who, and this time, you also find yourself mixed into the equation. but it confuses you whenever they treat you the same and you find yourself holding back despite your feelings, because it’s much harder to tell what kind of love they’re giving you when you yourself yearn for the intimate type.

san notices the change in your demeanour, as small as it may be, and decides it’s time for the talk. so here the nine of you sit on the beach that stretches in front of your houses. the sand is still warm from the sun even as it starts to dip towards the horizon of the sea. yeosang’s jacket lays over your bare legs and a slight breeze tugs delicately at your clothes.

“okay, so who’s telling her?” yunho elbows wooyoung as soon as the words leave the latter’s lips.

“what? how else are we meant to start the conversation?” wooyoung complains before mocking, “the reason i have gathered you all here today–”

rolling your eyes, you cut to the chase, “are you all dating each other?”

wooyoung chokes on his own words and everybody else looks at you with wide eyes.

“how’d you know?” yeosang startles.

seonghwa agrees, “i didn’t think we were that obvious,” but when you simply raise an eyebrow in response, he’s quick to amend, “okay, maybe we were.”

san eyes the others to see if anyone wants to step in and lead the conversation, but when nobody does, he speaks up to explain, “we’ve been dating each other for just over a year now–so before last summer. it took a bit of time to work everything out, establish boundaries and communicate what we wanted from one another, but we’re happy like this.”

“once our relationship had settled down a little, that’s when i came out to my parents,” mingi adds, “which didn’t go down well. we wanted to tell you last summer too, but…other things happened and it all fell through before we could talk about it.”

yeosang meekly scratches the back of his neck as he says, “it’s long overdue, but we’re telling you now.”

the chuckle that comes out of you is light and carefree. “i’m happy for you guys,” you affirm sincerely. “i don’t think there’s anybody else who is more perfect for you guys than each other.”

you truly do. you’re thankful that they have one another and you finally understand how hard it must’ve been for san during your argument to pick a side. his boys were and are his priority and you cannot fault him for putting them first. but then you’re reminded of hongjoong and his confession. are the others aware of his feelings?

said man has the audacity to frown at you in confusion. “why does it sound like you’re just wishing us well?”

“am i not allowed to do that as your friend?” you mirror his expression.

“god,” hongjoong exhales. “do you think we’re telling you this just to reject you?”

“of all people to say that–rub it in my face, why don’t you,” you grumble.

he starts to grasp the situation as he looks at the rest of the boys, “wait, did nobody fucking confess to her apart from me?”

the explosion of responses to his question is immediate.

“you confessed–” “–i thought we agreed to confess together–” “–trust you to cut in line! that’s not fair!”

your eyes dart wildly from side to side, unsure of who to focus on as they all start to passionately talk over one another. at one point, someone tries to chuck a handful of sand in hongjoong’s direction, but it scatters innocuously before it can even get close.

“hold the fuck up,” you yell over the commotion. “confess what?”

“how did you figure out that we’re in a polyamorous relationship but not that the feelings extend to you as well?” yeosang judges you.

“i didn’t want to project my own feelings and misconstrue anything. plus, none of you have actually mentioned liking or dating girls before, so i just…”

“assumed we didn’t have feelings for you,” seonghwa concludes as you laugh awkwardly.

wooyoung deadpans, “we may have wanted to punch your ex in the face for his shitty-ass personality because we were your friends, but we were also jealous as fuck.”

“all of you?” you ask in disbelief.

“all of us. some of us were just better at hiding it,” mingi looks pointedly at the boy sitting on his left.

“you’re one to talk about hiding your feelings,” hongjoong counters before turning to you to expose, “mingi wouldn’t shut up about you after he met you.”

mingi immediately shoves him backwards into the sand.

“look,” jongho cuts in, “what we’re trying to say is that we’ve all liked you for a while now, and if you still feel the same way about us, then we’d like to take our relationship with you to the next step.”

how many times have you wanted this moment– for all of them to return your confession. but now that it’s actually becoming a reality, it’s honestly a little daunting. “you’re all serious about this?”

a lot will change over the next year. most of you will join hongjoong and seonghwa as postgraduates and start full-time work. san will move back to namhae, but whether the others will follow or stay in seoul is unknown. there are a lot of uncertainties regarding the future and the relationship will only work if everyone is serious about making it work.

yunho answers on everyone’s behalf, “we’re very serious.”

you take a moment to look at all of them one by one, only to find the same promise within their gazes– that even if things become difficult, they want to face it with you by their side.

it feels right when san is the one to officially ask the question, “y/n, will you be our girlfriend?”

like san once said, it’s hard to find friends you love, but it’s even harder to find a friend you fall in love with, and you’ve been blessed with not only one, but eight of these people. between friendship and love, you already know from experience what you will decide– so you make your choice.

“i forgot, are hongjoong and wooyoung coming down this weekend?” san pokes his head in through the doorway.

you eye him from the mirror, face void of expression to reply, “don’t count on it.”

san’s pout is immediate and you laugh, shuffling over to console your boyfriend from where you had been getting ready in your shared bathroom. he grumbles, “you’re never going to let me hear the end of that, are you?” but he can’t hide the way his lips pull upwards the moment you press a chaste kiss against his cheek in apology.

“hongjoong said that there were a couple of delays with filming, so he and wooyoung can’t step away just yet. but they’ll come back next saturday if they can wrap things up by then.”

as you talk, san takes the halter straps out of your grasp so that he can help secure your top around your neck. “it’s so hard to align everyone’s schedules together. i miss the long holiday breaks we got in college,” you absently complain, body relaxing under the ministrations of san’s hands as he gently squeezes the nape of your neck.

“me too, love,” another voice joins the conversation. seonghwa walks up to tenderly ruffle san’s hair and nuzzles your temple with his nose. “but we have to work hard to pay off this house and to spoil you with whatever you want.”

seonghwa has grown out his hair and has kept it long since, and you love running your fingers through his silken waves before he goes to work every morning. he always looks so soft and cosy with his round glasses and fluffy sweaters that you know his school kids adore just as much as you do. but right now, his face bare of makeup and hair pulled back into a messy updo, wearing nothing but a pair of board shorts to show off his upper build, he looks the complete opposite of what you’re used to seeing and you feel your stomach doing flips in response.

you lean into both of their touches as you giggle, “we could have bought a smaller house. nobody sleeps in their own bedroom anyway.”

“well can you really blame us for being madly in love,” seonghwa grins, stealing a kiss from you that only serves to elicit more giggling.

“that’s true. your beds are always warmer than mine,” you agree.

“exactly. now come on, are you ready to go?”

the three of you walk downstairs to the living room, where the rest of the boys are waiting around in various mismatches of shirts, tank tops or only shorts. after two weeks of attempting to keep everybody’s clothes separate once you’d all moved in together, they had simply given up and made their wardrobes communal.

as you drop a spare bottle of sunscreen into your tote bag, a pair of arms snake themselves around your waist. you turn around, sweet smile ready to greet whoever it is. your jaw drops, “wooyoung?”

his eyes sparkle with mischief, even more so when your eyes grow even wider at the sight of hongjoong perched on the edge of the couch in the background and you exclaim, “hongjoong? i thought you two weren’t coming until next week?”

wooyoung takes the opportunity of your dazed compliance to pull you into a bone-crushing hug. “we caught up with the schedule,” he exclaims happily. “you should’ve seen hongjoong though. director kim made sure to work us hard.”

you playfully wriggle yourself out of the vice-like hug you’re in to bound over to the older, who automatically opens his arms to welcome you. you slot easily between his legs and his hands rub the sides of your back fondly as he looks up to ask, “did you miss me?”

forgoing an answer, you lean down to kiss him. wooyoung immediately complains, “why didn’t i get a kiss?” so san pulls him in for one to appease him. you’d never be able to leave the house otherwise, because then everyone would start demanding your kisses. and considering that it has been a few long months since you last had quality time with all eight of them at the same time, there would be too many wanted kisses to count.

one thing you had all agreed on prior to buying a house in namhae was to ensure it had a beach front, just like your and san’s old home. so it doesn’t take long to carry your surfboards– save for you; the boys like it when you use theirs– and towels down to the shore.

you close your eyes, inhaling the familiar scent of salt and subtle feeling of ocean spray on your skin. it’s a bittersweet emotion, knowing that it’s already the last day of summer, but only today have the nine of you been able to align your schedules this year. it makes you appreciate these fleeting moments of rest though, and you learn to find rest in each other too.

some of the boys start slipping off their tops, dropping them onto the sand to keep them dry as they surf. you’ve found that the greatest perk of dating them is that you’re allowed to openly and unashamedly ogle at them. the rigid shadows of their muscles reveal the discipline and hard work they put into maintaining their bodies despite their busy jobs.

san had also been monitoring his protein intake leading up to his recent dance showcase, so it’s very hard to look at the expanse of his broad chest and prominent dip of abs down his hips without feeling a rush of heat in your lower stomach. if the boys know that you offer to help them reapply sunscreen just to get a little handsy with them, then nobody says anything. (they offer to help you reapply your sunscreen as well.)

you’re content to just lie down on your towel and watch the boys, yeosang in his usual place by your side as he presses lazy kisses to your shoulder and traces the names of his lovers onto the skin of your stomach. mingi starts dragging his surfboard into the water, but when wooyoung attempts to push him in instead– and fails miserably– all thoughts of surfing are quickly forgotten. it becomes an absolute shitshow when hongjoong gets mistaken for the culprit and mingi picks him up. 

“it wasn’t me!” the older shrieks, but mingi has no ears for reasoning and prepares to drop him into the water. unwilling to go down by himself, hongjoong grips mingi’s neck at the last second and successfully drags him underwater with his weight. as wooyoung runs away absolutely delighted by the outcome, his trajectory unfortunately runs into jongho, who cuts off his cackles with a giggle, a simple shove sideways and a resultant splash.

not even bystanders can catch a break, and seonghwa screams for mercy as san and yunho suddenly grab his arms and legs. they sway him from side to side before letting him go with the momentum of the last swing to fling him into the ocean. everyone erupts into a united clamour of glee at the dunking of the eldest and you find yourself shaking your head at their unchanging antics.

you don’t think you can ever get tired of watching their radiant smiles of happiness and shared touches of sun-kissed skin, nor can you ever get tired of hearing their tinkling chimes of laughter and rowdy shouts of mischief. you may all grow older and there may not be as much time or luxury to simply bask in the joys of summer any longer; these golden hours that you are living in right now may forever remain as your sole memories when you reflect back on the essence of your youth.

on this day– the last day of summer in namhae– you find that summer takes the form of shared ice cream with sticky kisses, long showers with warm touches, and hushed pillow talk with synchronous heartbeats. but it doesn’t matter to you, not anymore.

the seasons will change and the years will pass, but so long as you are with your boys, every day will be summer.

I just released the latest part of the yunho drabble series with the final part soon so you may wanna reread the series up until the recent part before then🤭

Also basically all my writings are here continued under the cut. Read, leave a heart, send an ask maybe?🥹

thenewblackcanvas recents

April (oops)

don’t shut me out(dont shut your legs) (Apr 4th) ♡

↳ pt 6 nsfw yunho drabble (finally)

January

tourist fireworks (Jan 10th) ♡

↳ yunho new year’s drabble

private new year (Jan 10th) ♡

↳ bang chan new year’s drabble

it’s been a good year (Jan 1st)♡

↳ woosan new years drabble

2022 • Done ♡

November

poly masterlist (Nov 15th) ♡

↳ masterlist for my polyamorous posts

imagine someone found your sex tape (Nov 9th)♡

↳ woosan drabble (2am thought)

♡s

Keep reading

Out of my drafts, what should I post after the yunho drabble series finale?

Woof | atz (18+)

ateez (ot8) x reader; yunho and mingi x reader nsfw mentioned 18+ only, minors dni Themes: pet play, dark magic, kidnapping

“Good pup.” the words rasped in your ear made you whimper, pushing your ass back further. The man behind you tightened his grip on your hip roughly.

The other man smiled wider as his fingers tightened around the pretty, red collar. “I do love a pup that likes to be used. Obedient ones are the most fun. Don’t forget that.” his words confused you briefly. You were already being so obedient, letting these two practically strangers use you how they wanted. Kneeling, sucking them off, begging; you did everything with no question. You didn't exactly mull it over though as thoughts were barely able to stay in your mind as the taller man hiked your hips up, lifting your knees completely off the bed as he plowed into you faster. The high he was chasing must've been intoxicating as he lost all semblance of control.

You gasped and screamed and moaned. The man next to you lets go of the collar to grab your hair. He pushed your head down, turning it to the side so he could look at you for a moment before sloppily kissing you.

As embarrassing as it was, being handled so roughly, being called an animal, and the feeling of this stranger releasing into you brought you over the edge. Hard. You barely felt him bring your knees back to the bed before everything started to shift and darken. You’d never cum that hard but everything felt off-kilter now. You heard them say one last thing.

“Good pup.” 

~

Everything comes into view slowly.

Your lids feel heavy but you manage to keep them open. As you start to make out what's in front of you, your heart starts to race. It is fairly dark with some light illuminating what is in front of you. Metal bars?

You look past them seeing where some of the light is coming from. It looks like a piece of fabric thrown in front. You move your heavy body forward. You can’t fully feel your whole body yet but you manage to rest your head on the bars in front of you. A rough breath you let out at the exertion moves the cloth confirming it is fabric.

But as you realize this, you freeze as you hear voices.

“I think I saw the blanket move.”

“Pretty sure it’s the air con.”

Someone chuckles. “No I think our new pup is up.”

You hear them getting closer before the fabric is lifted away. Your eyes struggle against the brightness for a moment. It’s clear now though that you are in some kind of cage, looking left and right at all the metallic bars surrounding you. You finally look up beyond them to see three large men standing over you.

You cower back. They're all looking at you with amused faces. The one holding the blanket smiles down at you but it makes you shiver. The two next to him crouch down looking more curious in their amusement. 

“She’s so cute! But is she really a good choice? Yunho and Mingi got her pretty quick.”

At the names, you remember the two men you let use you. They were with you before you lost consciousness. You couldn’t help the fear and anger that rose in you at this. You growled lowly before stopping, surprised at the sound you made.

“Aww she’s angry.” The oreo hair one laughed.

“I don’t think someone quite realizes what has happened yet.” The one standing says. He walks toward the steps sat in the back of the room calling up to others.

You hear multiple pairs of feet descending the stairs. Five more men come toward your prison. You can’t see all of them well at first but you coward again, moving back to the far wall. 

One man comes forward, with you finally able to see his taunting face. It’s Yunho, the tall man from before. You begin to yell at him, making a fuss. They all start to laugh, some of them cooing at you in between. It’s only then that you hear yourself.

The explicatives you think you're yelling aren’t coming out that way. You’re barking. And not a cheap ‘bark bark’ imitation, real and true barking. The other man, Mingi, comes forward holding a large mirror in front of your small cell. 

What looks back at you is a small dog. Yorkshire terrier type looking scared in the reflection.

The sight shocks you more than anything you’ve ever experienced. You’re still not fully aware of your body yet but you can feel yourself shaking with warmth forming under you.

Another man next to the first one frowns. “Aww poor thing, she pissed herself.”

You can’t even proccess what he said as your mind is spinning. You’re whimpering and shaking, not sure how any of this is happening. It hardly processes as he opens what you now know to be a dog crate, lifting you out. He’d taken the blanket from the other man, now holding you in his arms. “Shhh darling. It’s alright.”

“Jesus, seonghwa she’s covered in piss. Don’t hold her.”

“It only happened because you didn’t ease her into it like we planned, Joong. Why did you take the blanket off?”

“Sannie saw the blanket move and Wooyoung was a second away from getting up anyway. I figured she was up so I wanted to rip the bandaid off.”

Seonghwa scoffed.

“We should probably introduce ourselves then.”

“I’m San.” said man bends over, scratching your head. 

The man beside him goes next. “I’m Wooyoung.”

“Hongjoong.” “Jongho” “Yeosang!” 

“Seonghwa.” the gentle man holding you says. You look up, seeing his tender smile and kind eyes puts you slightly at ease yet confuses you. 

“And you already know us, huh?” Yunho laughs as he and Mingi reach out to pet you.

You snap at them, almost biting Mingi and growling. He pulls away, slightly offended but Yunho just chuckles. “You’ll be alright. There’s no way out of this anyway.”

Seonghwa calms you, turning you away from the two before speaking again. “Now that she’s awake we need to finish setting up.”

Hongjoong nods. “San, Wooyoung, clean up the crate. Jongho, Yeosang, go set up the room. Yunho and Mingi go run her a bath.”

They all split following the man’s orders. You simply listen at the conversation between the two remaining men before it drowns out. You think about how this happened. Simply relaxing at the park, you were interrupted by a little dog. You thought it was weird how excited and loud the dog was barking at you but that’s when Yunho made his way over. He just picked her up and kept her in one arm extending the other to you. Something felt off in the way the dog looked at you and barked like it was trying to tell you something but excitable dogs aren’t cause for alarm since it wasn’t aggressive. You really should have taken it as a warning sign, a red flag, but how could you have known?

After a little bit, Seonghwa takes you into the bathroom where your original captors are. Yunho’s sleeves are pulled up as he stands from beside the tub. Mingi finishes adding the soap, putting a washcloth on the side.

“I’ve got it from here.” Seonghwa says dismissing the other two. They nod and leave.

He gently sets you down on the conter, letting the soiled blanket drop. With soft hands he takes take something from around your neck. After a few heavy blinks, you realize the man doesn’t look so giant anymore. The feeling of something cold under you makes you look down. You gasp noticing legs. Your legs. Finally, you're back to yourself.

You look to Seonghwa as he smiles sweetly, putting something down. It was the collar. You recognize it as the same one you wore during your time with Yunho and Mingi. Though much smaller.

“Wha-”

“Sit there. I’ll grab a towel then help you in.”

You can only blink, still in disbelief as he speaks like something extraordinary didn’t just happen. They really are the culprits of this weird magic. As you look back over to the little red collar it finally dawns on you. The collar. The one that was sitting on the counter. The one that was on the dog in the park. It was reason you were small and furry less than a minute ago.

Sliding down from the counter onto unsteady legs, you look to Seonghwa who was staring at you now with the towel in hand. Your brain freezes for a moment as he simply looks on before all of your thoughts scream,

‘run’

‘Run’

‘RUN’

Summoning all your energy, you fling open the bathroom door. Running through the halls you spot a door with frosted glass above it. ‘It must be the front door!’ you tell yourself. You run frantically, practically slamming yourself into it. 

As your hands fumble with the locks you hear something and turn to see the others sat around the room staring at you. They look almost bored, though Wooyoung is snickering with his gaze lower. Suddenly you're aware of the fact that you are still nude.

As the big lock above the knob finally gives, you toss the thought aside. Surely you’ll get one of those blankets they give victims when you are resuced.

You see the outside and, still not hearing anyone chase you, throw yourself out the door. Running onto the porch and down the steps. Two feet from the front house one of your larger strides seems to fail you. You go forward, flipping before landing. 

It takes a second after being disoriented to get your mind back but before you can run again you're being lifted off the ground. You wiggle and writhe starting to yell as loud as you can before hearing it. You’re yowling.

‘No, no not again’ The sound is loud and desperate and obviously not of a human, one of a neglected pet. 

Yeosang picks you up, holding you tucked under his arm. “Sorry puppy.” He sounds exasperated but sincere, it doesn't stop you from wiggling in his hold though.

Once the door closes again you deflate at your attempt gone so wrong. He passes you off to another though you don’t see who as you’re too downhearted to bother looking. It isn’t until you’re back in the bathroom that the man talks. 

“You still smell. You’re lucky you’re so cute or we would leave you like this and put you back in the crate.” It’s Yunho. At the sound of his voice, you start to squirm again. 

“Hey hey hey!” He sits you on the counter and taps your nose. A strange feeling spreads from where he tapped through your body, making your body weak and your little legs collapse. You growl angrily.

He just laughs and stands straight again to add hot water to the cooling bath. As you sit there unsure of what to do, Seonghwa comes back in. He flicks his hand, not sparing you a glace, turning you back. His eyes don’t seem to want to meet yours, which gives you a strange pang in your chest.

Yunho beckons you to the tub. He helps you in, waiting until you're seated to grab the washcloth. It should bother you that he’s going to wash you or that the door to the bathroom is open with them coming in and out but your brain is starting to float now. Not quite there enough to fully accept what is happening to you, in a state or shock over the real magic being exhibited, and starting to fade to protect your sanity.

Your wandering eyes land on the collar. You try to figure out how you were wrong, you were so sure it was the collar. It made so much sense.

Yunho follows your gaze and catches on to your train of thought. “Awww, you really thought you had figured it out huh? That’s why little puppies should stick to being cute, they don’t need their dumb brains.”

“The collar isn’t what made you this way” Seonghwa joins. He hands Mingi a large towel for you. “It strengthens the magic but you’re attached to us now, pup. If you go further than 10 feet from us, it kicks in the protect you.”

You want to scoff but you can’t bring yourself to. You watch as he leaves the room without another word, this time closing the door.

The feel of Yunho’s hands become apparent, so you will yourself to think about anything else. You can’t stop thinking about the collar. Your mind floats back to the excitable dog at your first meeting.

“What happened to them?” You ask cautiously. “The other person?”

For minute they’re quiet before asking “Our other pup?”

You nod slowly.

Yunho smirks not answering so Mingi speaks instead. “Remember what I said about obedient pups? Well disobedient ones are trouble…an inconvenience. They don’t get to be taken care of.”

“As a puppy or a human.” Yunho adds ominously.

Letting the words sink in, you start to tremble. Sniffling can be heard as they work to rinse your back.

The taller man sighs, placing a large hand on the side of your face to hold it carefully. “Just…be good.”

It’s all he can give in the form of comfort. He looks uncomfortable yet genuine before returning to rinsing you off.  

You latch onto these words. Along with Seonghwa’s softness and them having yet to hurt you or seeming like they want to are the things your frazzled brain clings to for some form of comfort. 

Just be good.

Just be good.

★% ! Pearl ] 𝟢1. Water Droplets

Synopsis: Like a fish out of water you've found yourself in a new environment. Your hands grasp for something to hold as you wash up at the shore. Trying to breathe with your lungs being filled with sea water. Your shell is opened by the most mysterious of their kind.

Pairings: Pirate!Ateez x Siren!Reader

Genre: Fluff, Angst, Smut (Maybe)

Chapter Warnings: Fear, Displacement, Hint at Violence

Word Count: 2.5k

Trigger Warnings: Contains assault, profanity, trauma, fear, etc.

Author's Note: This is a female reader, I'm really sorry to any of my non-female readers. I will be creating works in the future with male/nonbinary readers.

Masterlist ─ Chapter 2.

The ocean was vast, so much of it yet to be seen. In those spots, you were born. Spending your childhood swimming with fish and admiring the corals. Vibrant and playful, minutes turned to hours as you watched the relationship between fish and plant. Although they're of different worlds they have a connection that benefits both of them. Often this led you to wonder if the same was true for humans and your kind.

Sadly, this would take a lot of healing for your kind. You didn't understand, not when you were that young. The sudden disappearance of town members. Your parents were strict with you, always warning you to stay far from the shore or to quickly get away if you stop a boat. You didn't connect the dots, how could you? But now you understand. It's been years since you placed your feet in your hometown. Leaving was a painful memory.

You rarely dwell on that now though. Currently, you reside in a house in the mountains with a lovely couple and their children. You easily fit in with them. Considering them your parents and siblings. They took you in as one of theirs. They're friends of your parents, but they're not one of you.

Up in the mountains, you have no big bodies of water to swim around in. There was a beautiful view of the ocean though, no longer able to return there created a longing that filled your heart. Things around this town above the water remind you of the time when you were surrounded by sea life.

It was boring being holed up in the house, but you had found ways to entertain yourself. You had become especially skilled in jewelry making, and you also had some former knowledge due to your people being known for talented craftsmanship. In your culture, it was normal to give someone you hold dear to you a piece of jewelry. When you had to go out into town for a trip to the market you would get the necessary items while your sister and brother wander to the shoreline. Once at home, they would display their haul of shells, pearls, beads, sea glass, and much more. Not knowing what to do with these you started making pieces of jewelry with them. More and more people started decorating their plain outfits with necklaces, bracelets, anklets, rings, and headpieces.

This town was now your home, the people of it your family. It was a small community, and you were a crucial member of it. Making sure to help anyone if needed and treat people with respect and kindness.

Soon you had melted the frozen hearts of the elderly citizens. They felt wary of your sudden appearance in their society. But you had proven yourself to be non-lethal and caring on the other hand. Now you're everyone's younger sister.

It was an ordinary day, like all the others. Except for the fact that it had started getting colder. It was always blistering hot, and everyone wore light clothing. It had only stormed when you had just moved. You were constantly overwhelmed with the new language, clothing, people, well everything. Only when you had become comfortable did the harsh weather leave. But now people had stocked up on wood and thick material. You were out getting some bread from the bakery. This bread was delicious, and it always satisfied your family. And you were also close with the owner, an old kind man. In exchange for a little money, you were short on, you made him and his wife matching necklaces. They had significant meaning to each other, and they were the perfect gifts.

Since then, you've been especially close. Him even allowing you inside his kitchen to help you prepare a dessert for your mother. He was like your father, almost everything but his appearance was similar to him.

After leaving the bakery with the bread you have been craving, you reached the treacherous steps to your home. They wound around the hill to get to the doorstep. Luckily the pathway was secluded and had many shrubs and bushes. It was tiring and it drained you to have to go up all those stairs. But you love your home and would do anything for it.

The skies darken, and the clouds rolled overhead. This caused you to rush home. It would start raining soon. Everyone in town wasn't used to storms, they hated them. The thunder scared livestock and animals. The rain washed away valuables. And the temperature always being too cold to go out and sell. But living in the ocean, you had dealt with many storms. The outcome of these resulted in many shipwrecks and mysterious items sinking.

So even though you were rushing home you also stopped to take in the scenery. Waves of nostalgia flow over you as the rain slowly get heavier and heavier. As the droplets graced your face your gills start to appear, as well as your webbed fingers and flared ears. The scales on your body were shimmery. By the time you reached your porch, it was obvious you were otherworldly.

Before your family used to be afraid of this form. But as they slowly saw your walls rust down, you were just a little kid. Your eyes contained the childlike glee in them as you found out what a music box was.

So, when you showed up at your front door, looking very whimsical. No one bat an eye; they had grown to love this side of you. They knew that after you had come to live with them you have no more ties to your culture. There was no one there to help you continue to practice your culture. They tried their best to hold traditions, and holidays that you normally would under the water. It warmed your heart, how dedicated they were to making you feel comfortable and safe with them.

Quickly you placed the bag containing bread on the table. Rushing around the house you put your coat, shoes, bag, sweater, and jewelry down.

Turning the corner, you almost run into your father. He's adorning your hand-crafted delights. He has a smile on his face as your eyes lock onto each other.

Both of you exchange a silent conversation and you part ways. Heading to your room. It's the most isolated one, everyone agreed you deserved it. The door was worn, bearing scratch marks on the inside. Rather than a bed you slept in a hammock. It was just easier to sleep in it than on a firm mattress.

At your desk, there were about eight unfinished pieces, each one uniquely different than the last. You liked to think that each piece had its special personality that suited the person it was with. Although you had yet to meet people in the village that would be a match for your unfinished pieces. They continue to lay in the corner, awaiting their soulmates. As you were, simply waiting for your soulmate as well. These unfinished works and you had quite a lot in common. You are both incomplete, and uncertain of what it is that your heart aches and longs for. Both were made up from the depths of the sea, plucked out by the hands of humans. Although, this created a beautiful situation.

To your people, there is someone out there, destined to find you, love you, and care for you. Due to not traveling a bunch of them had never met their soulmates. The whole idea of this kept your mind spinning at night. The part that intrigued you the most was when you would meet them. Your parents couldn't put the emotions into words. Often saying 'you'll know' frustrated you but, could it truly be like that? How could you know? What if you end up meeting them but don't know it? What if they walk away?

Thoughts plague your mind as the drowsiness of being up all morning washes over you. As you settle in your hammock you look up through the glass ceiling to admire the stars. They comfort you, being there with you through everything. Never judging nor leaving.

Slowly your eyes close and you've drifted away. But on this particular night, it was different, you had no dream. Usually, you would have either a dream or a nightmare. But it was blank, just darkness till you awoke. And that was the start of an abnormal day.

Your eyes open attempting to adjust to the brightness. Getting up and hearing a few pops come from your joints. Drawing closer to the window you can hear the crashing of waves. Looking out you can see a large ship in the distance. It has three letters adorning the sail, "ATZ" racking your brain you come up with nothing. Who could this be? With that, you got dressed for the day. The clouds were dark grey, so there was a large chance of rain. Meaning you had to take a large scarf with you, in case. Although it's not like there were many townsfolk outside right now.

Going out to visit the sea. You had been planning this trip for a while. And this whole situation was the perfect chance to do so. Underneath your large jacket was thin clothing and your pearls, it was easier this way, it'd be too much trouble to have to take off heavy layers.

You took your secret path, it led to a secluded area of the beach. Then you could sit and wallow, only leaving you and the breeze. Taking off your shirt you were left in thin pants, and you folded them up to your knees. You lay on your stomach, pressing your chest down into the sand. You were just watching and reminiscing about what once was. Thinking back to all memories you had in this very ocean. As the waves drew back and returned there was a shimmer that caught your attention. As it got closer it looked as if the sea was gifting you this shell. It landed right in front of you, the cold waves petting your collarbones. Picking it up and inspecting it you were content. Placing this shell in the pocket of your coat. After a few minutes, you get up and stretch out your limbs. As you're doing this you hear a gasp come from behind you. You become frozen, looking down at your front, your chest, and stomach are littered with multi-colored scales. Making sure to only turn your head, you see a man around your age. He's staring at your bare back, eyes burning into your back. He has pink hair, and his lips are a beautiful shade of maroon. As your eyes catch your breath hitches, it feels like you can't pull away, even with your distance you feel like you're right beside him. Before he can get any closer you quickly slip the shirt over you and coat tightly around your shoulders and run away.

Drowning out his shouts you run as fast as you can. Not even turning to see if he's behind you. But you don't hear any footsteps, so you decide that he isn't. After getting in your house, you rush to your room. Fitting your hammock, you lay down and try to calm your racing heart. There were so many questions that you had. But the most important one for you was, "how had this man found out about this area?" You were sure that no one in town knew about this. Although you had never seen this man in your life. And it was a small village.

Inhaling and exhaling slowly helped to calm yourself. Then you remember the shell you had found. Fishing it out of your pocket you held it close to your face.

It looked very delicate but also durable. This was now your inspiration, getting up and sitting at your desk you find one of your unfinished pieces and get to work. This was taking all night, but you had a vision. You gathered the beads and wire, twisting, turning, bending, and burning.

You had carved your initials into the shell before looking at the finished work. This necklace was eye-catching and charming. Now, the only issue was finding out who would be right for this necklace. Everyone in this town already had at least three gifts from you. And it just didn't call out to any of them. Sighing, you get up and feel your back aching from the posture you were in for the past hour. The moon had already come up to greet you. Freeing yourself of your clothing, you settle for more comfortable garments.

Once again laying in your hammock, you are struck with an unknown emotion. Butterflies wander around your stomach and your chest feels tight. But it's nothing bad.

Excited, you feel excited for tomorrow, but you're clueless as to why you feel this way. Or what you feel this way for. Nonetheless, you drift off to sleep. You do have a dream tonight. The pink-haired man makes an appearance.

Both of you meet each other at the beach. But this time he runs towards you and pulls you in for a hug before kissing your cheek. You smile and you two start speaking, almost as if you've known him since the dawn of time. Not feeling out of place, it feels like you're right at home. But after the sun sets, he gets up, he must leave you. A pull in your heart causes your gut to drop. The smile you once had is gone.

Sitting there, you are left alone. What a funny turn of events, this time it's him that running from you. Eyes watching his back, his figure gets smaller and smaller, then you're no longer able to make him out in the night. Just as you get up the dream fades away. When you sit up a warmness fills your cheeks. You had just encountered. this man, yet you had intimate dreams of him.

Placing your hands on your cheeks, you try to cool them.

After docking themselves here the one thing that caught the Captain's eye was the extravagant jewels everyone was wearing. They had stopped to stock up on supplies and rest for a bit. After all, being at sea constantly was tiring. But at the few open shops, none of them were selling jewelry. He had asked a local about it. Getting a mysterious response. He went searching in hopes to find this woman who would assign him a unique work, that she had taken the time to handcraft.

After three days he was getting frustrated. Going off your appearance only was hard. Everyone in this town had looked a little like that. But one day he had seen someone with your description. It was getting late, and only the lanterns at each block were illuminating the streets. She had a basket with her. The contents being unknown to him. So, as he walked up and introduced himself you were quiet. Limiting your sentences, being on guard. He had relayed what the townsfolk had told him about your art pieces and you. He watched as you were hesitant to do something. He saw you dig through the basket and pull out a necklace. It was perfect. Pulling out his satchel of coins he tries to pay you. But you shake your head. Denying his money.

Stepping closer to him you place the necklace over his head. Looking him over once more you are completely sure that this is his. He watches your face, a smile graces your lips, and it reaches your eyes as well. He once again attempts to pay you. But you step back, creating a good distance between you two. You turn away from him and slowly begin to leave. Before you run off to who knows where he sees you stop in your tracks and turn to face him. He swears no one has ever been so beautiful under streetlamps. The light caught your features, it framed your face. It seemed as if your eyes softened.

"I don't do this for money, it belongs to you. It always belonged to you." As your figure slips away into the darkness, his smile widens. He's left there in the streets grinning like a drunken fool.

CHAPTER ONE … the stranger in the woods

pairing : ateez x f!reader (eventual poly relationship)

genre : atla au, slow burn, comedy, angst, fluff

word count : 2.6k

warnings : language, mentions of being attacked by fire benders

note : tag list has been moved to the end of chapter! feedback is appreciated!

you found a stranger in the woods during a storm, not yet knowing that it seemingly change your life.

IT WAS RAINING THE DAY YOU CAME ACROSS THE STRANGER. the storm had been raging on for what felt like hours now, and you were surprised to see that the large gusts of winds and rain hadn’t blown you away yet. 

but the storm was the least of your worries as you found the stranger, heavily injured and now thanks to the rain, covered in mud and leaves. he looked like he was on the verge of death and you noticed the burn marks here and there on his body. you felt your hands throb underneath their bandages as you remember how it felt to be burned by fire – or firebenders.

was he attacked by firebenders? was what ran through your head as you picked him up, throwing his arm over your shoulder as you hurried as fast as you could back to your grandmother’s house. 

your grandmother was surprised when you busted through the door with the stranger, and she immediately had you lay him down in order to patch his wounds up. you hadn’t noticed it when you picked him up, now that you were out of the storm, you took in his vibrant blue arrow tattoos that covered his body. 

was he an airbender? you had only heard stories of how the airbenders would gain those tattoos after mastering their element. you figured only older air nomads had those arrow tattoos, but you’re glad to see your assumption proven wrong. you also couldn’t help but notice how beautiful the stranger was. 

he was probably the most beautiful man you had ever seen in your life. not even the village’s most handsome could match against this stranger. 

“he should be fine now, thankfully his injuries weren’t too bad,” your grandmother says and you let out a sigh you hadn’t known to have been holding. after that, your grandmother scolded you to go change your clothes, not fully noticing how you were still soaked to the bone. your mind is only concerned about the stranger. 

“do you think he was attacked by firebenders?” you asked your grandmother after you had changed your clothes. the older woman is silent for a moment as she stirs the soup she had been previously making before you stormed inside the door. 

“his injuries sure do seem like that’s what happened,” she replies, but you can sense the dread that takes over her body. she really didn’t want that to be the case. recently, you had overheard several of the men in the village talk about how the fire nation has been seen all over the earth kingdom. 

everyone felt tense about it, and rightfully so. the fire nation was a powerful nation with their military and obviously also thanks to their bending powers. fire. some would consider fire to be the most powerful element, but others would argue and say it was the most destructive. 

you would have to agree with fire being the most destructive element. only because you’ve only seen people use it for destruction. 

“i heard some men in the village say they’re worried about the fire nation. some travelers are talking about how they are planning to start a war with the other nations,” you say as you fumble with one of her many nick-nacks that sat on the table. 

it all felt weird and something uneasy sat in your stomach at how this was all going. your eyes drifted over to the stranger who laid peacefully in bed. 

“i’m not sure, dear, many things happen in this world without reason or explanation and sometimes we just have to accept those things. if the fire nation starts a war, the other nations can only do what they can to either stop it or fight back.”

her words settled on your mind for the rest of the night, even as you ate and went to bed. the stranger was still unconscious and the storm still savagely raged on. you remember your grandmother mumbling about how the spirits must be upset about something for the storm to be this harsh. 

WHEN YOU WAKE UP THE NEXT MORNING, you find the stranger trying his best to make it to the door. you let out a gasp at the sight of him limping towards the door. 

“hey, you can’t go out! you’re still injured!” you say doing your best to stop him from leaving. the stranger, despite his injuries, is surprisingly much stronger than he seems. he easily blows a gust of air at you, knocking you down as he reaches for and opens the door. you let out a huff as you move and manage to grab his ankle, stopping him from moving. 

“let go! i have to go find moni!” he hisses out trying to pry your hand away from his leg. 

“no! you’re still injured! you need to rest before you hurt yourself even more,” you bite back before pulling on the stranger’s ankle and making him stumble back. 

the stranger falls back, landing on your body and you both let out a groan and you hear footsteps coming from somewhere else in the house, that you can only assume it's your grandmother.

“what on earth are you two doing?” she asks, coming into the room and is surprised to see the stranger collapsed on top of you. 

“he was trying to leave, granny! i was just… ugh, trying to stop him. hey, will you… please get off me! you’re kind of heavy,” you say and you feel the stranger shift before he manages to roll off of you and you are quick to stand up. 

“i need to leave! i have to go find moni before those fire bastards find him!” the stranger says and it only confirms the fact that he was attacked by firebenders. 

“boy, you are in no shape to be looking for your friend. you need to rest,” your grandmother says as she helps him up and makes him sit back on the bed. “if it makes you feel better, my granddaughter will go search for him.”

you look at your grandmother in shock. surprised that she would volunteer for you to search for this stranger’s friend. 

“that’s very kind of you, but i would rather look for him. i know he’s probably very scared right now especially thanks to the storm that was going on last night,” the stranger says as he once more stands up. he lets out a small grunt as he stands, but tries his best to hide it. 

“then let her go with you. my granddaughter is very familiar with these woods and will help you find your friend faster,” she says and the stranger looks from her to you before down at the floor. its obvious he’s considering it, thinking it over before he lets out a small sigh. its clear your grandmother will not let him go out by himself, adamant on you going with this stranger. 

“fine, if you are insistenting then i guess i could use the help,” he says and your grandmother smiles at him before she turns to pack your bag for you to take. 

“yeosang,” the stranger says as he watches your grandmother pack the bag. you look at the man with a confused look. “my name… it's yeosang,” he finishes.

“oh, i’m y/n,” you tell him with a little smile. 

“SO… WHAT DOES YOUR FRIEND LOOK LIKE?”

“large, fury,” he answers as the two of you walk through the forest together. the aftermath of the storm is something you haven’t seen before. trees uprooted and threw across the forest, branches broken here and there, and it really looked like a tornado had swept through the area. 

“well, then he should be pretty easy to find then. there’s a cave not too far from here, maybe he went there to hide,” you suggested after the two of you basically climbed over a large log before continuing on the dirt path that had been basically man-made over the years of people using this route to travel between the different villages in the earth kingdom. 

“that’s probably a good place to check,” he says before he allows you to lead him to the cave that’s nearby. the cave is usually a place known to the villagers, especially the kids who are hiding there from their parents when they are going through their “runaway” phase. 

“it should be close,” you tell yeosang as and sure enough the two of you come across the cave. yeosang quicken up his pace as he rushed into the cave, calling out to his friend as he entered it.

“moni! moni, are you here? moni!” his voice echoes throughout the cave as you follow close behind him. you were shocked when you seen a large bison hiding out inside the cave, but this didn’t seem like any regular bison. the arrow design on its fur let you know this was a flying bison and more than likely yeosang’s “friend” he was looking for.

“moni!” yeosang said with a sigh of relief as he ran up to the bison and hugged him. the bison lets out a small roar before he lazily licks yeosang who you notice smiles up at the bison before he’s turning to you, his smile somewhat disappearing, but still remaining on his face. “thank you for helping me find moni,” he tells you and you feel a heat rush over your face as you as you can notice the rather gentle smile overtake yeosang’s face. 

“um, it's no problem! but… you still need to rest though, you’re in no place to be trying to leave or fly anywhere,” you tell him, still concerned over his well being. 

you can tell yeosang is conflicted about what you are telling him. you can see the conflict of everything going through his mind and you wonder if there’s something else he’s worried about. something different than finding his flying bison. 

did it have something to do with the firebenders attacking him? was he separated from someone else and wanting to go find them?

“how long will it take until i can leave?” he asks, bringing you out of your thoughts. 

“three days at the most,” you answer him. 

“then i’ll stay and rest, then on the third day i’ll leave. i… have someone that i need to find,” he says, proving your theory that he was probably wanting to go look for someone. 

“okay,” you tell him before you and him are making your way back to your grandmother’s house. yeosang is kind enough to allow you to ride on the back of moni. 

THE NEXT THREE DAYS, you spend making sure yeosang doesn’t push himself while also helping take care of moni. the giant bison seemingly takes a quick interest in you as you feed him different types of vegetables that you and your grandmother grew in her small garden, plus whatever you had bought at the market in the village. 

you have also started taking a liking to yeosang, he’s become a nice addition to the house that only kept you and your grandmother. the airbender would often share things with you about his people, telling you stories that date back to centuries ago. 

you’ve noticed that your village has also taken a liking to yeosang, the village children entranced by his cool persona. often begging him to show them some of his airbending, which he does but not without a few playful complaints thrown in. 

“where are you going to go once you heal?” you ask him on the his last night. the two of you are laying in a field near your grandmother’s. moni is not too far away as well, rolling around peacefully in the field. 

you refuse to look at yeosang, instead keeping your eyes on the stars above you. word has been spreading that the fire nation is starting to close in on the earth kingdom with rumors about them already killing most of the air nomads. 

“i’m not sure, i just know i need to find my friend,” he says and you can hear the concern in his voice at the thought of perhaps not finding his friend. 

“your friend… he’s really precious to you isn’t he?” you ask, feeling your heart race for some unknown reason, or rather one you refuse to acknowledge. 

“he is, that’s why i need to find him before the fire nation does,” yeosang says with a sudden spark of determination. “do you have anyone precious to you?” he then asks, catching you off guard.

“my grandmother is precious to me,” you tell him, but you know that’s not what he means. 

“is there anyone else?” yes, you want to tell him, but you don’t think you have the heart to talk about him. yeosang turns his head briefly to look at you as he notices your quietness. he’s greeted with the sight of your glossy eyes as you continue to look up at the stars. “i’m sorry… you don’t– i shouldn’t have asked.”

“it’s okay, i lost him because i wasn’t brave enough and i think i’ll probably regret it for the rest of my life,” you confess with a heavy heart as you wipe your tears away. the two of you bask in the silence between each other for a few more hours, before yeosang is helping you onto moni and is taking you back to your grandmother’s.

it feels odd to see yeosang off. you want him to stay, but you know he needs to find his friend. the two of you are standing in front of each other, you shuffle from foot to foot as your eyes look from anywhere but at the airbender in front of you. his wounds have healed nicely and you’re happy to see that he’s gotten his strength back. 

“um… thank you, y/n, for finding me and helping me,” yeosang says as he looks at you with a soft smile. the two of you have definitely warmed up to each other over the past three days, but you still feel like he’s a stranger to you. you kind of don’t want him to leave so soon, you want to get the chance to know him better.

before you can say anything, your grandmother is coming out of the house, a bag in her hands before she’s basically shoving the bag into your own. 

“g-granny? what are you doing?” you ask, taken off guard by her actions. 

“my dear, you’re going to join yeosang on his journey. he’ll need someone to look after him and moni,” she says with a smile and you miss the blush that overtakes yeosang’s face.

“go with… yeosang? but granny, what about you? i need to stay and help you out,” you say, you would love to go with yeosang, this could be your chance to leave your village, but… what about your granny? you need to be here for her and help her out around the house.

“my y/n, you don’t need to worry about me. i feel that yeosang might need you more during his journey,” she tells you and you turn to look at yeosang who is already looking at you. 

“i don’t think your grandmother is going to let me leave without you,” he starts and you feel kind of bad. like your grandmother has literally pressured him into making him take you along with him. “but i don’t mind. moni seems to have really taken a liking to you, and it would be nice to have some company,” he adds with a smile making you smile as well.

“well, then i guess i can’t argue with you and granny. so… should we be off then?” you ask and yeosang nods. you bid goodbye to your granny before yeosang is helping you on top of moni. the two of you take off as you finally ask yeosang who you are looking for. 

“his name is hongjoong, and he’s… he’s the avatar,” he confessed to you.

tag list : @invuwrld @frankenstein852 @watamotee33 @kawennote09 @mixling-blog @hwal0v3r @marahleiwhen @harry-the-pottypus @rdiamond2727 @sanniesbum @marvelahsobx @voidcupidz @khjcoo @mysticfire0435 @exfolitae @kangskims @cvpitvno

networks : @cultofdionysusnet

bold means unable to tag!

just want yeosang to use that deep voice of his as he makes love to witch yn 🤪

[ DEEP LOVE 18+ ] —— yeosang and you spend some time while wooyoung is away.

pairing : dragon!yeosang x witch!f!reader (background poly ateez) genre : dragon au, fantasy / medieval, smut warnings : language, unprotected sex, monster cock!yeosang, pet name (princess)

“how long will wooyoung be gone?” yeosang ask, his body bending over yours as his voice basically caresses your ear. his bare chest presses into your bare back as he bends you over the table you had been attempting to clean since breakfast was over.

“till around noon,” you say as a moan rips through your throat as you feel yeosang’s fingers touching your clit before running through your slowly dripping wet folds.

the black haired dragon hums as his other hand gropes your breast, tweaking your nipple. you let out a breathy moan as you make a sad attempt at arching your back. yeosang presses a loving kiss your scarred shoulder before he trails his kisses up your shoulder, neck, and jaw before he kisses your cheek.

“you gonna let me fuck you then? fuck you right here on this table and leave you full of cum for wooyoung to come home and see?”

you let out a moan at the image of your red haired mate walking through the front door to be greeted with your cum-filled pussy. how wooyoung would probably eat you out before fucking your pussy as yeosang either fucks your mouth or wooyoung.

“a-ah! please fuck me, yeo,” you beg as you rub your ass against his hard cock. the length alone sliding against your ass is enough to make you shiver in excitement.

yeosang let’s out a chuckle, “such a needy princess, aren’t you?” he teases before lining his cock up with your entrance and then slowly pushing inside.

“o-oh, f-fuck! sangie, yeosang! hmm,” you whine out feeling the fullness of yeosang’s cock inside you. the dragon pins you down to the table as his holds your hips in a tight grip. he waits a moment before he begins thrusting into you at a pounding pace that has the whole table shaking.

the small cottage is filled with the sounds of your moans and his grunts and words as he calling you his “dirty princess” and asks “are you going to hold my cum until woo gets home?” “you going to let him eat it out of you while i fuck him?”

“y-yes! yes, yeo— fuck, yeosang! please fill me up! please cum in me, your cock just feels so good,” you cry out feel his cock stretching out your tight walls as you desperately try to clench around him. “fuck so big,” you add as you feel your eyes start to roll in the back of your head as you grow closer to climax.

“fuck, princess, are you growing closer to coming? you gonna come?” he asks, his breath ghosting over the shell of your ear and you clench as how deep his voice is in the moment. you can tell he’s probably also growing closer with how his hips stutter and rhythm getting thrown off a little bit.

“yeo, can i come? will you come with me?” you ask as you feel his hand making contact with your clit once more as he vigorously makes tight circles on your bud.

“o-of course you can, y/n, let go whenever you want,” he says as he kisses his mate mark that rest next to wooyoung’s. you remember how wooyoung was a little grumpy about yeosang marking you right next his own, but hopefully got over it.

you do finally come when you feel yeosang bite down on his mark. you let out a loud moan as you clench hard around the dragon’s cock as he finally comes as well.

you let out a small groan as yeosang rests on top of you for a few moments before you start to worry about the two much access weight on the wooden table. “yeo…” you mumble catching his attention as he sits up. you can’t help the series of whines that leave your lips as your mate pulls out of you.

yeosang let’s out a laugh before he’s turning you over on your back and adjusting you further on the table. “make sure you look pretty for wooyoung. you know how much he loves eating this pussy, princess.”

“especially since it’s filled with sangie’s cum,” a new voice says and you looked through fuck-dazed eyes as wooyoung appears next to yeosang. you can’t help but clench at the sight of the two dragons looming over you and you know you are all in for whatever is about to happen the rest of the day.

tag list (bold means unable to tag) : @frankenstein852 @watamotee33 @kawennote09 @mixling-blog @hwal0v3r @marahleiwhen @harry-the-pottypus @rdiamond2727 @sanniesbum @marvelahsobx @voidcupidz @khjcoo @mysticfire0435 @exfolitae @kangskims @cvpitvno @lzvxndxr @dementedaly

honorable tag : bestie @songmingisthighs (your request is in the works right now 😭)

FIRST LOVE … one - shot (18+)

pairing : dragon!wooyoung x witch!f!reader

genre : dragon au, fantasy / medieval, hurt / comfort, smut (pwp)

word count : 4.6k

warnings : language, slight blood, negative thoughts about oneself, cheating accusations, miscommunication, mentions of dragon hunting, nightmares, allusion to possible ptsd

smut warnings : unprotected sex, concept of mates / mating, monster cock!wooyoung, virgins!woo & yn, love making, marking / biting

requested by : bestie @songmingisthighs

wooyoung has been acting strange lately and after avoiding you one too many times, and you finally break down and question what is really going on with him.

WOOYOUNG HAD BEEN ACTING STRANGE LATELY. which at first you hadn’t thought anything about, maybe it was some dragon thing you weren’t aware of. however, it started to get concerning when he began avoiding you more and more each day.

it began with simple and quick responses which slowly turned into just one word answers. then he started detaching himself from you, you go to hold his hand and he would rip it away. like your skin was burning his and it made you feel awful. when he would go out to either hunt or visit the nearby town, he would be gone for longer than usual. then he just stopped speaking to you and even avoided sleeping in your shared bed.

you remember waking up to find him sleeping in the extra room you had at the cottage, the room that you converted into a bedroom when you first met him. it had been years since he slept there and finding him there alone instead of with you made your heart twist and it honestly made you want to throw up.

was this his way of telling you he didn’t love you anymore. that he was tired of you and was wanting to leave. but if he wanted to leave then why didn’t he? why did he keep coming back? did he pity you or something.

“wooyoung,” you decided to confront him one day. the red haired dragon was outside tending to your shared garden — it was his day to tend to it, when you approached him. he says nothing so you decide to continue, “what’s been going on with you lately? you’ve been distancing yourself from me. you won’t even speak to me, let alone look at me. did i… did i do something wrong?”

again, you are met with silence as his back remains facing you. you can feel the tears begin to form and you have to take a quick breath in order to not cry.

“do you want to leave?” you finally ask, feeling your heart break as you do so. it’s only when you ask that does wooyoung stop picking herbs and turn to look at you. his face is void of emotions, which is extremely unusual coming from him, as he looks at you. “if you do… then please just go. i don’t want to keep you here if you don’t want to be,” you add before turning away and heading back into the cottage just as the tears start to fall.

the rest of the day went by with you working on making different medicines and potions, completely ignoring wooyoung. not that he probably noticed anyway since he had been doing the same to you for weeks now. when nightfall came, you continued to stay inside your workroom, still not having the energy to see wooyoung.

when you do eventually come out hours later, you find a plate of food sitting on your small dining table. you feel like crying again due to how even if wooyoung is unhappy here, he still took the time to make your dinner as well.

you know that sooner or later you will have to let him go, and you slowly realized that when you sat by yourself eating a cold dinner while the man you love was asleep in the bedroom down the hall.

THAT REALIZATION CAME SOONER than you thought when you woke up the next morning being alone. you woke up feeling like something was off and once you surveyed the cottage, it was only then that you noticed wooyoung was gone.

he really left, you think as take in the neatly made bed of the room he had been staying in. did he even sleep in last night or did he leave once you finally went to bed? you didn’t want to cry anymore, but the knowledge of finally being alone again overwhelmed you as you fell to your knees and sobbed.

you thought that maybe wooyoung would be different. that he would stay and that you wouldn’t have to bare being alone anymore after the years you had suffered being alone. but no. wooyoung left just like chaewon and your teacher and even your mother.

but you don’t blame wooyoung for leaving. you can’t find it in yourself to hate him because you love him so much. you remained on the floor until the tears finally stopped and then you stood up and started your day.

you hate how easily you found it to fall back in a rhythm of doing everything by yourself, even after it’s been several days since wooyoung left. how your body and mind are just use to doing things by yourself. you can’t help but fall back in the lonely feeling you felt several years ago.

the feeling swallows you whole as you go about your day and even when you have to take the journey to the nearby village to get some more herbs and supplies. even when the villagers greet you, you can’t escape the loneliness and the fact that they will all still have someone at home waiting for them while you will return back to an empty cottage.

after you get your herbs and are making your way back to your cottage when you pass by the village healer’s shop. you find yourself coming to a halt when you watch the door to the shop open and out steps a familiar head of red hair. you’re shocked to see wooyoung as you would have figured he would be long gone by now. especially since it’s been several days, almost a whole week, since he left the cottage.

is this where he went? is this where’s he’s been? so many questions are swarming through your head as you as you watch wooyoung speak to the healer. he looks different somehow, like his whole aura and energy has changed. and most importantly of all… wooyoung was finally smiling.

you felt bitter and maybe a little jealous at seeing him interact with the healer. why was he visiting this healer when you were right there with him this whole time. if he was sick, why didn’t he come to you about it? why did he distance himself and basically shun you away from him?

something then hits you that makes you want to cry and tear your heart out. what if he wasn’t sick and was seeing the healer for another reason? what if… what if the healer was making wooyoung happy when you couldn’t anymore.

you feel the herbs slipping out of your hands and onto the ground, but you don’t bother to pick them up. you don’t have the energy to pick them up as all you had can do is turn and runaway from the sight of wooyoung and the healer and back into the forest.

tears blur your vision as you run through the forest, unsure if you’re even going in the right direction. you don’t care anymore. you don’t care if you make it back to the cottage, you just want to run. run far away in hopes that you’ll never have to see any other human, witch, dragon, or any other mythical creature again. you want to be alone for the rest of your miserably sad life.

alone.

because that’s all you deserve.

you suddenly trip over some up-grown tree roots and falling fast to the ground. your hands and knees slid across the ground the tree roots, scraping them as you fell while the air was knocked out of you. once you manage to sit up, you remain on the forest floor for several moments. you don’t have the energy anymore after knowing that wooyoung has potentially found someone else to make him happy. to make him smile and to receive his love.

what did you do wrong? you question yourself as you look up at the sky. maybe should accept the fact that witches and dragons are never meant to be together. because no matter how hard you tried to convince yourself that dragons and witches could never get along, you wanted to prove yourself wrong. you want to prove all the other witches wrong in that a witch and dragon could love each other.

“y/— are — /n— y/n!”

you don’t hear the familiar voice calling for you. nor do you hear the leaves crunching and heavy footsteps as the person searches for you.

“y/n! please, say something! where are you?” you turn to see wooyoung standing a good distance away from you. he’s out of breath as he stares at you before he makes his way towards you.

“y/n?” his voice is soft, softer than what you had heard in the last few weeks, as he drops to his knees in front of you. “what are doing out here in the middle of the forest?”

is that all he has to say after weeks of shutting you out? why is he suddenly caring about you after leaving for a week? why?

he tries to touch you, but you shove his hands away as you feel the tears build up once more.

“what—

“how dare you try to act that you care about me all of a sudden! how dare you act like you hadn’t ignored and pushed me away for weeks before leaving in the middle of the night! how dare you leave me alone, jung wooyoung! i hate you so much!” you sob as you hit his chest weakly.

wooyoung doesn’t say anything at first as he opts to pull you into his arms. you try to fight him at first, but eventually you give up and finally accept that you are in his arms again.

“i’m sorry for acting the why i did and for leaving. i know i shouldn’t have but i was scared and confused. will you come with me, so i can explain everything?” he asks as he pulls you away gently from him to look at your glassy eyes.

YOU’RE SURPRISED WHEN WOOYOUNG turns into his dragon form and heads for the direction of the southern mountains. you want to question the dragon, but you realize you better wait until you land. you knew the southern mountains were filled with all sorts of magical creatures.

you also knew about the dragon oracle that resided in the mountain, having heard many tales about how she had killed many dragon hunters and took in clanless dragons.

your eyes filtered down to wooyoung when you thought of clanless dragons. you knew wooyoung was one which is mainly why he had been living with you since you met him. you remember how scared and wounded he was when you found him on the verge of death near your cottage. how he tried to fight you off and refused your help before you basically dragged him inside your cottage with all your strength.

you remember him telling you how his clan had been burned to the ground by dragon hunters. he wasn’t sure if his family had even made it out, that his mother pushed him to run as a far away as he could. you know wooyoung still has nightmares about what happened to his clan, even years later. you always feel awful when he wakes up sobbing in the middle of the night, all you can do is hold him and comfort him.

hopefully the healer will be able to comfort him from now on like you use to.

you look up from wooyoung to see the southern mountains coming into view. you keep having to remind yourself how faster it is to travel by dragon and how easily they cross lands within such a short amount of time compared to humans.

when wooyoung lands, you make quick work to slide off of him and you notice the small house not too far from where he landed. where did he take you?

“wooyoung, where are we?” you ask turning to see the red haired dragon back in his human form as he makes his way towards you.

“this is… this is where the southern mountains’ dragon oracle lives,” wooyoung starts, “this is where i was this past week,” he adds on as he takes a few steps in front of you in order to lead you towards the home of the dragon oracle.

“why?” you ask as you follow wooyoung up the seemingly earth-made steps. you stumble a little on one step and wooyoung is quick to turn and catch you, pulling you to his chest, your faces only centimeters apart.

your mind flashes back to seeing wooyoung in the village with the healer, and you move away from him and you let out an awkward cough. “thank you…” you mumble before going in front of him.

“her name is seolhyun,” wooyoung tells you once you stand in front of the oracle’s door. he goes to knock, but before he can the door suddenly swings open and there stands the dragon oracle.

she’s older than both you and wooyoung, but is beautiful nonetheless. she looks between you and wooyoung for a moment before they settle on you.

“it’s been many moons since i seen an umbra witch, may your clan rest in peace now,” she says to you as she slightly bows her head and you return it, for reasons you’re unsure of.

“oracle seolhyun, i’m sorry to bother you but—

seolhyun puts a hand up, stopping wooyoung from speaking any further. she looks at you with a small smile as she steps aside as if welcome you into her home.

“umbran witch, please enter, but the dragon must remain out here,” she says and wooyoung looks like he wants to object, but he changes his mind.

you turn to look at wooyoung with a worry glance and he gives you a small smile, “it’s okay, i’ll be right here when you come out.” you hesitate for a moment, not completely sure if you fully trust wooyoung. what’s stopping him from leaving you here while he goes back to the village to that healer.

you don’t say anything as you turn back to the oracle and enter into her house while wooyoung remains outside.

THE INSIDE OF THE ORACLE’S HOUSE is dark with it being illuminated by many candles scattered around the rooms. you notice that heavy fabric curtains drape over the windows, blocking out any and all natural light.

“come, umbra witch,” the older dragon says guiding you through her home where she sits you down in a chair. “do you want some tea?”

“um, sure, please,” you say feeling a little odd at how this all seems.

“your dragon brought you here for a reason,” she begins from behind you as she makes tea for the two of you. “he came five days ago questioning about himself and his inner dragon,” she adds and you remain quiet. “i told him that his inner dragon spirit was yearning for his mate. that it was was starting to reject his human side and confuse his emotions,” she says and you jump at how the tea kettle suddenly goes off, startling you.

she places two cups on the table between you both, one for you and one for her. “you said his inner dragon was yearning for… his mate? what does that mean?”

“dragons like several other species have mates that they are destined to be with for the rest of their life. some dragons are even blessed with more than one mate, our ancestors seeing this as blessing equaling for good things to come or happen,” she explains the concept of mates to you before she takes a sip of her tea.

“so… wooyoung needs to be with… his mate then?” you ask trying to wrap your head around all the information she just dumped on you.

“his first one. wooyoung is destined to have eight mates, but only when the time is right will he meet the other ones,” she tells you.

“his first one?” you echo and she nods.

“when dragons are near their mates, but haven’t done the mating ritual yet their inner dragon become restless and wants to mate with them immediately even if the dragon doesn’t know that’s what’s happening,” she further explains and it suddenly clicks why wooyoung had been acting the way he had been.

it was his inner dragon that was making him act like this. you want to let out a sigh of relief, but your thoughts stop you as you think of wooyoung and the healer. is the healer… his mate? did he bring you hear to let you know that you weren’t his mate and that’s why he’s leaving you.

“do not overthink things dear umbra witch,” seolhyun says snapping you out of your thoughts. “not everything is what it seems, i suggest you speak with your dragon to solve your heartache.”

“who’s wooyoung’s mate?” you ask without thinking and you cringe at how desperate you sound.

the oracle lets out a small chuckle before speaking, “that is not something for me to answer. now go and speak with your dragon, he is waiting for you.”

you and the oracle bid each other goodbye before you are leaving her home. when you step outside you notice the sun has gone down and wooyoung is still where you left him. at the sound of you exiting the house, wooyoung snaps his head towards you and stand up with expecting eyes.

“what did she tell you?” he asks as he walks towards you but refrains from touching you.

“please take me home,” you tell him, wanting the time to think about what the dragon oracle told you. you also wanted time to think about what you wanted to say to wooyoung once return to your cottage.

WHEN YOU RETURN BACK TO THE COTTAGE, wooyoung follows you inside the familiar home which now has an air of uncertainty and coldness to it.

you know he’s waiting for you to speak as he hovers behind you, but you don’t know if you’re ready to speak to him yet. you don’t know if you’re fully ready to accept whether wooyoung might perhaps leave forever after this conversation. you want to prolong it as much as you can, no matter how selfish that may seem.

“y/n…” wooyoung says finally breaking the silence between you two.

“why didn’t you tell me you were going to see the oracle?” you ask, turning to look at him. you were trying hard not to cry. you didn’t want to cry in front of him. “i thought… i thought you— you had actually left,” you add and you notice the dragon licks his lips before he bites his lower one.

you deny how attractive he looks doing that simple action, but you push those thoughts to the back of your mind.

“i don’t know why i didn’t tell you. it was like my mind and body were acting on there own and i didn’t want to worry you more than i already had. it’s not an excuse and i’m sorry for how i acted, i just… i just needed answers,” he explains as you watch his eyes brim with tears and you feel your heart clench at the sight.

“who’s your mate?” you ask suddenly and he looks at you a little surprised and caught off guard by the question.

“isn’t it obvious?” he says looking at you with a lopsided smile as the tears run down his golden cheeks. you hate how beautiful he looks even when crying.

his response is probably what makes you finally cry, as you think about the healer from the village. wooyoung takes a step forward but you take one back away from him.

“please, just go wooyoung, go to that dumb healer and leave me by myself,” you say as you turn away from him as the tears continue to stream down your face.

“healer? what healer?” his voice is full of surprise as he looks at you with wide eyes.

“the healer from the village! your mate!” you shout and you’re surprised by how wooyoung grabs your shoulders and forces you to look at him.

“y/n, my sweet love, that healer is not my mate. you are, you are my mate. the one i am destined to be with forever,” he says looking at you with full seriousness.

“t-then why were you visiting the healer earlier today?” you question him and wooyoung looks a little shocked before a pink color dusts his cheeks.

“because… i-i was trying to make sure that i took the necessary precautions for when we mated,” he confesses and now it’s your turn to feel embarrassed when you get what he means by ‘mated.’ “i wanted to make sure i didn’t hurt you,” he adds on as he lets your shoulders go, but remains close to you.

“woo…” you say trailing off as you cup his face to have him look at you this time. “i’m sorry for assuming the worst,” you tell him and he lets out a small laugh.

“no,” he says shaking his head, “i’m sorry for making you doubt me, but please now that i will always remain loyal to you,” he says as he takes one of your hands and places a gently kiss on your palm.

WOOYOUNG HOVERS OVER YOU, the both of you naked and full vulnerable to each other as you lock eyes. your chest is covered in many love bites and your legs are shaking in anticipation for the two of you to finally become one.

“let me know if you start to feel any sort of pain, okay?” he says and you nod but wooyoung encourages you to use your voice.

“yes, wooyoung, i’ll let you know,” you tell me and he smiles before leaning down to you. wooyoung sits up a little in order to grab the oil he had gotten from the healer, an oil that it is meant to help makes things easier.

he’s about to pout some in his hand when you stop him, and he looks at you with concerned eyes. “let me do it,” you tell him, taking the bottle of oil from his hands before pouring some in your open palm. taking in the sight of his hard cock, you can’t help but feel the excitement and nervousness that courses through your veins.

wooyoung let’s out a long and loud moan as you begin to slowly stroke him. he tilts his head back and you take the moment to admire how his golden skin glistens with sweat and is covered in love bites. he looks beautiful like this and you can’t help but admire him a little longer as you stroke him.

“a-ah, y/n!” he says as he bucks his hips up before he’s reaching for the bottle of oil. he pours some the best he can while you continue to stroke him, covering his fingers in the oil before he’s tossing it to the side. his own hand comes down to cup your pussy before he’s easily sliding in two fingers making you let out a loud moan as the feeling of his fingers.

“fuck, you’re pussy feels so tight, can’t wait to fuck it, love,” he tells you making a heat come over your skin as he fingers you and forces you to listen to the wet sounds that come from your lower half. “it even sounds just a cute as your moans,” he adds with a large grin before he’s leaning over to kiss you.

“w-wooyoung, please, please fuck me,” you say once he pulls away from your lips and he smiles before slowly pulling out his fingers while you give his cock one last stroke.

“lay down, love,” he says and you find yourself in a the same position you were in a few minutes ago. his fingers knead at the flesh of your thighs as he spreads them and he smiles at the sight of your glistening pussy that is covers in both your own juices and the oil.

you feel your legs shake in excitement as he positions his cock at your entrance before slowly pushing in. your arms come up to wrap around his shoulders as moans continue to leave your lips and a large gasp leaves your lips once he bottoms out.

your legs wrap around his waist while his fingers dig into your hips that you know will leave bruises, but you feel too euphoric to care. wooyoung’s cock sits nicely inside you, allowing you to adjust to his size before he moves. you become impatient as you move your hips a little. wooyoung let’s out a small chuckle as he kisses the side of your head before he begins moving his hips in slow strokes before he begins to pick his pace up.

“f-fuck! fuck— wooyoung!” you moan out as you rake your nails down his back as he moves your legs over his shoulders.

“fuck— y/n, i love you so much, gonna let me mate me. gonna let me mark you and come— ngh, inside you?” he voice is strained a little as he continues to drill his hips into yours.

“y-yes! please woo! you make me feel so good, i love you, too!” you cry out before wooyoung is pressing a sloppy kiss to your lips when he pulls away you witness the line of spit connecting your lips before wooyoung is trailing open mouth kisses down your jaw and to your shoulder.

you clench around his cock when you realize what he is about to. the red haired dragon lets out an open mouth moan as he licks a strip up your neck before kissing a spot on your shoulder. you let out a cry once he bites your shoulder, breaking through the skin slightly before he’s pulling away and licking at the bite mark.

you feel your eyes roll into the back of your head as you are overcome with a sudden feeling in the pit of your stomach. “w-wooyoung, i feel— i feel strange,” you tell him.

“want me to stop?” he asks as he slows his pace down a little bit.

“n-no, keep going,” you tell him and he complies as he picks his speed back up and you can’t help but clench down one his cock once again. it’s only then that the feeling seems to snap and your whole body shakes. wooyoung does a few more good thrust before he’s stilling inside of you. sheathing his cock as far as he can before you can feel his come shooting inside your pussy. it’s a weird feeling, you think as wooyoung moves your legs and you once again wrap them lazily around his waist to keep him close to you.

wooyoung is out of breath as he collapses on top of you and you let out a small huff at his sudden weight. you kiss his temple as you rub his in a soothing motion as you feel him kiss the area around his mark.

“my pretty, pretty mate, you look so beautiful. can’t wait to spend the rest of my days with you,” he says with a slight slur to his words.

“you’re my pretty mate too, youngie,” you tell him with a smile as you hold him impossibly close to you.

wooyoung sits up, hands on either side of your head as he looks you with suddenly serious eyes.

“i meant it when i said i love you,” he says as he leans down rest his forehead against yours. “i will always be here and protect you, no matter what happens when we meet our other mates. you will always be my priority, don’t ever forget that, please.”

his words shock you and you wonder where they suddenly came from, “okay. i love you too wooyoung. forever and always.”

“forever and always, my first love,” he says before kissing you and you spend the rest of the night in each other’s arms, basking in the warmth and love of each other.

honorary tag : @sanjoongie

network : @cultofdionysusnet

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Dragon Oracle

🐉Submission for @thelargefrye Starseed Jam event! 🐉Pairing: Choi Jongho x Reader (f) x Jeong Yunho 🐉Genre: enemies to lovers au, poly!ot8, fantasy au 🐉Word Count: 15,916 (yeah this bitch is wordy but it's an entire saga in one sitting, so sit back and enjoy the show) 🐉Warnings:  fighting with swords, blood, death, penetrative sex with no barrier, overstim, mentions of mxm, dom!reader x sub!jongho, scratching/marking, dom!yunho x sub!reader, big cock! yunho, hair pulling, finger sucking, clit stimulation, degradation kink, choking, future fucks with San and seonghwa {separately dear God why did I write it like that no} and mingi (cunninlingus) , mentions of mate bond-testing sex with yeosang? 🐉Rated: 18+ MDNI, smut, angst, romance

🐉Summary: Dragon from the window au~ What if yn was born as a dragon oracle instead? (please read smalls headcanons and fics before you read mine, you will not regret it! especially mean hongjoong a la ugly dragon!)

🐉Dedication: @mejuii & @downtoamagicalland, my lovely beta’s. And to smalls: this is my love letter to the wonderful world you have created. Know that I will always be a fan of your work, your writing and this world 🥰

🐉🐉🐉

"Fraud."

"You're not even a true dragon!"

"Filthy oracle."

Your kind had fallen out of favor centuries ago. When the clans fought the witches, using their dark magic and assassins, they practically wiped the oracle's out. For you, the oracle's were now used for the desperate, for the weak, but never truly taken seriously by any of the high ranking dragons, including the prince. Especially considering that any oracle could not turn into a dragon. It was said that it was a curse on the oracles for failing the dragon clans all those eons ago…

You were from a long line of dragon oracles who could trace themselves back to the wars. The problem with that lie in that everyone was living a lie. Most of the way that the current oracles conjured their ‘visions’ was with a lot of smoke and mirrors, cheap tricks that fascinated the hatchlings and elderly but the sharp-eyed dragons of the clan never fell for it. You knew you were about to be hauled off to the council to vote if you were to remain in the clan if you attempted to fool one of the dragons who could see right through the cheap tricks. Finding one of them at your door was hardly a good omen.

Lucky for you, you kept out of their way, no matter how handsome some of the higher ranking dragons were. The prince certainly was haughty, noble and beautiful but some of his mates were also akin to sparkly jewels. That was until the day you learned that one of them was your mate as well.

You were residing in a hammock, swinging around in the incense-filled room that you shared with your hatchling brood, your ‘sacred sisters’, when your eyes clouded over. You began to scream in fear and fell from your hammock. One of your sister’s ran for the eldest oracle, guessing that she would be the best to help you in your current state. 

While you were left in the arms of one of your other sisters, you saw something that didn’t quite make sense to you at first. You saw a man who was dressed like a dragon hunter and he brandished a weapon that made you feel like you just had received a punch to the gut. There was no doubt that that sword was made from your mother’s great silver talon. 

You received a quick flash of your mother’s final moments, tragic and harsh, being lashed down to the earth by strong nets and to never fly again. Your mother had mated with your father, from that long line of oracles, much to the chagrin of her family. She had a true form which you always envied. That’s why it hurt you even more when you had lost her to dragon hunters. She always seemed to be the one true dragon who accepted you. 

But that was not all you were privy to. You watched as the dragon hunter approached one of the prince’s mates. You saw the brown hair and knew it was Jongho. He struggled in his human form, a delicate but strong family of chains wrapping around him, prominently around his shoulders. 

“Release me!” Jongho demanded with a bellow, never ceasing to fight his confines.

The dragon hunter chuckled. “Why would I do that when I have the clear advantage here? I’ll simply drag you back to our camp and we will harvest your dragon parts when we force you back into your more appealing form.”

Your heart dropped. Was this a vision of the future or was this happening in real time? You decided you didn’t care once the vision adjusted one more time.

You were shown a domestic scene full of love and adoration. You were holding Jongho and he was allowing you to card your hands through his hair. “You’re mine,” Jongho growled below you.

“Of course,” You murmured, placing a gentle kiss on the top of his head.

“But I have to share you,” Jongho said in a voice that had a slight whine to it.

“If I’m mate to one, I'm going to be mate to the rest of them, Jongho,” You told him in a calm voice.

“I just wanted something that was solely mine, for once…” Jongho admitted.

“You share the other’s fine,” You couldn't help but laugh under your breath.

“Yes, but I thought…” Jongho allowed himself a moment to pout. He was softer with you. You couldn't put your finger on it, but something had allowed him to open up and be vulnerable with you. “...I thought perhaps you would be my mate, and only mine. I didn’t think I would have to share.”

You rubbed your cheek into the crown of his hair. “Well for now, at least, it’s just you and me. It will take some convincing for the others.”

Your eyes slowly became unclouded and you were able to see the wrinkled face of the eldest dragon oracle within the clan. Awe was clearly written all over her face. “A true oracle. Finally!” she shouted.

Your sisters had all gathered around you and gasped as the elder spoke. “Surely you kid.”

The granny cupped your face with her withered hands and smiled happily, tears brimming in her eyes. “My grandmother was a true oracle. They killed her in fear that she would ruin the rest of our lives. But I saw her eyes turn cloudy only an hour before she predicted her death. They say that our eyes go cloudy because we gave up our dragon form for the ability to see. The clouds are our spirit selves flying the skies of the future.”

Your sisters murmured amongst themselves but you gently pushed yourself up from the ground, remembering your vision. “I must find Jongho!”

One of your sister’s screwed up her nose. “Why? That warrior will only spit on you if you talk to him.”

“He’s in danger!” You shouted, feeling sick to your stomach with fear.

The elder oracle pointed to the door. “If anyone would know of his whereabouts, it would be his other mates. You cannot approach Hongjoong or Seonghwa easily, but the other warriors will know where he patrols. Go, child, follow your vision!”

Based on your vision, you knew you would be fighting if you were going to help Jongho, so you quickly grabbed your sword that sat uselessly in its sheath by your bed. If you were good for anything, it was your sword fighting abilities. Your father trained you, first to protect your mother and later to protect yourself. You didn't have a dragon form to rely on, so you had to hone your human one.

You ran to the training grounds where most of the warriors honed their skills. There you found Yeosang with chain sickle. He was currently wrapping the chain around his arm and hand gripping the sickle part hard enough to make his muscles bulge. "Is Jongho out on patrol?" You demanded.

Yeosang stared you, looking you up and down, clearly unimpressed you were talking to him. "Aren't you from the oracle family? Why would you need to know where Jongho is?"

"Yeosang, please. I am a part of this clan. Set aside our differences and tell me where Jongho is. I might not have enough time to get to him!"

Yeosang gives you a look full of judgment. "He's gone to the forest east of here, patrolling all the way to the mountains. He could be anywhere."

You placed a hand on Yeosang's arm. "Thank you."

And that's when you saw clouds again, obscuring your vision and showing you a glimpse into the future.

"Do you…do you think you could forgive me?" Yeosang's eyes filled with sorrow as he looked at your bandaged arm.

"You just saw a human, you weren't thinking. Being in that much pain must have made your instincts as a dragon flare. I'm sure if--" your breath caught in your throat. There it was again. That guilt branded into your skull: you would never understand truly being a dragon.

"I'll take you out," Yeosang rushed out his words. "When you're better. I'll take you for a flight. Everyone from our clan should know how the wind feels on their face when they fly."

You couldn't help but feel emotional. "You don't have to do that," You declined softly.

Yeosang pushed your chin up so that you would meet his eyes. "You're my mate. I want to share that with you."

Your eyes unclouded and Yeosang looked at you with round eyes. "What was that?"

You smiled awkwardly. "Oracle stuff."

"Wha-?" Before Yeosang could make you explain yourself, you were gone. 

You ran to the stables. The horses were there for farming and tilling the fields that helped feed the livestock that the clan ate. But this wouldn't have been the first time you hopped onto the back of one of the docile geldings. You were desperate to feel something of your dragon origins, so horses had been your bridge to that.

So you galloped through the eastern forest, weaving amongst the animal trails, eyes peeled for Jongho’s dragon form. You cursed under your breath, sure that you were going to arrive too little too late.

You bursted into a clearing and saw two small bodies in the distance. Could that be them? You urged your horse forward, whispering to him of the sweet sugar you would feed him later if he rode like the wind to get you to Jongho’s side. The horse tore through the tall grass and you confirmed it was Jongho struggling in his bonds before the dragon hunter who had killed your mother when you were young.

You let out a yell full of rage and fury and halted the horse, jumping to the ground. Your sword came free of its sheath and soon it was clanging against the hunters. 

"Oh, dragon, is this human a friend of yours?" The hunter said through gritted teeth.

You bared yours at him in retaliation. "I'm your worst nightmare. A dragon who fights like a human."

You could tell the hunter had truly only used his strength against his opponents; he had no finesse. He barely was able to block any of your strikes and half of his were easy to dodge. He wasn't a fighter, he was a hunter. Bullying was in his nature, winning a sword fight was not.

With one final guttural yell, you pulled back your sword and plunged it into the gap of his neck and shoulder of his boiled leather armor. The man died with a quiet, bloody gurgle and then it was done.

You wiped the blade on his corpse and turned to check on Jongho. But first, you went to a knee. That last thing you wanted was to insult Jongho. "How can I help you?"

"Did you…did you just save my life? How?" Jongho said in disbelief.

"I saw you being captured in a premonition." 

Jongho blinked at you. "And so you came to save me?"

"I…" You eyed the ground. "I had to. That hunter killed my mother. He was going to kill you."

"But I've never even acknowledged your existence. In fact, I'm pretty sure I've called your family a pale shadow of a dragon."

You grimaced in mental pain. "You are a part of my clan. You are the prince's mate. You are--" my mate.

"Quickly, help me get out of these chains. They're binding me to human form!" Jongho urged you.

You moved to stand behind him and found the clasp and it fell to the ground. Jongho rolled his neck and shoulders in relief. "Can you…should you transform?" You wondered, unsure if he would take insult.

Jongho turned and shook his head. "I don't think I should." He changed the subject immediately, "You fight like a feral creature!"

"The hunter was a--oh the sword!" You remembered how you identified the hunter in the first place.

You pulled the sword from underneath the dragon hunter and brandished it. The silver hue of an immortal creature turned rainbow tinged in the light. You could feel the connection to the sword; you could say with everything that made you you, that this sword had been carved from your mother’s talon. 

"You should name it Rosa's Bane," Jongho suggested.

"You knew of my mother?" You frowned heavily.

"Of course I do. They tell us all her story so that we know what happens to bad little dragons." Jongho’s gaze dropped in shame.

"It's okay," You say softly, "I'm aware of what they say."

"But!" Jongho’s booted feet touched yours as he halted in front of you, teeth snapping shut. "You're a real oracle! And you saved my life."

"All I ask in return is for you to be kinder to the oracle family," You asked in a hushed tone. "I'll leave you be then."

Before you could turn and head back to the gelding, Jongho's hand went to your bicep. "Wait. I owe you an apology. You clearly aren't only about yourself and your tricks. There's more to you than meets the eye."

You let a small smile of hope pull the corner of your lips. "Apology accepted."

After saving Jongho, the elders of the clan held a council. You recounted your experience honestly. Hongjoong sat at his place--on a throne made from melted stone that could only be heated by dragon's fire--looking bored, head in hand. Your elder collaborated with your state, your urgency to save Jongho. Even Yeosang came before the council, his deep voice echoing against the old lava tunnels of the mountain. He confirmed your clouded vision state. And when Jongho took the center of the natural auditorium, passionately speaking of how you saved him and avenged your mother, and therefore were a hero of the clan, well, no one could deny that things were about to change.

Suddenly, you had your own rooms. They were filled with silk pillows and luscious smelling incense. You were given lost treasures of the clan that were put away in an old horde cave, for dragon's never disregarded their treasures, simply rotated through their favorites. An old copper bowl filled with embers for scrying. A large book and stand to record your visions. Even old toe bones of the first oracle dragon, said to speak the truth of your soul. 

You were declared oracle of the dragon clan and had an official standing. You were on equal terms as Seonghwa, the right hand of Hongjoong himself. Hongjoong would have nothing to do with you, or so it seemed as if you never saw the prince. But Seonghwa, on the other hand, you saw a lot of. 

Part of your official duties, especially as oracle, was to be privy to the decision making of the clan. Where the next patrol should be, when they should celebrate a new brood of hatchlings being brought into this world, the list went on. Seonghwa begrudgingly worked with you. You could tell he was unsure of you. He didn’t trust you, but clearly you had saved Jongho, so you got points for that.

“Seonghwa?” You dared to grab his attention as he was working on the details of the next feast.

“Yes?” He said in his clipped but coldly polite tone that he always took on when addressing you.

“What’s this map over here?” The edges of your vision were getting blurry and you were starting to learn that you were closer to a clue of a true seeing.

Seonghwa’s eyes flitted to what you were pointing to on the table. “That? Just Hongjoong planning on visiting a settlement. It’s nothing to worry about. The plans are all set.”

Your hand trembled as you moved to reach for it. Seonghwa was back to focusing on his writing, quill feather moving diligently. “Something about this map feels weird.”

Seonghwa scoffed. “Are you going to pretend you know something about it, Oracle?”

“Seonghwa, I’m serious!” You raised your voice at him.

Seonghwa’s eyes snapped up to watch you as you finally snatched up the map but no vision occurred. He let out a mocking laugh. “Looks like you can only see visions when it’s convenient for you, hmm?”

You narrowed your eyes at him and that’s when he gave up his writing and stood up. “You may be a bit of a warrior in your own right, but you forget your place. I am a dragon. I will put you down if need be.”

You threw up your hands in frustration. “Because God forbid I actually help someone. Do you know how close Jongho was to--”

Seonghwa’s long legs took him close to you but you side stepped him before he could touch you. You didn’t want what happened with Yeosang to happen right now. Even if it would prove to Seonghwa that you were a true oracle first hand, you didn’t want the knowledge that Seonghwa was also your mate. Not right now, at least. Seonghwa regarded you with suspicion but did not attempt again to grab you. “You're dismissed, Oracle. Sleep well.”

“Gladly,” You replied to him curtly and left the room posthaste.

You sped walk to your quarters and slammed the door for good measure. You also took your meal within your room as well. You were tired of having to fight for your spot. All you wanted to do was help the clan, but you couldn’t if both Seonghwa and Hongjoong were against you. You felt like your seeing abilities were a curse at this point.

Sometime in the evening, when the sun had been laid to rest and the moon watched over the world, there was a knock on your door. “Go away, Seonghwa!” You shouted, throwing a shoe at your door, “I don’t want to hear about how useless I am.”

“Oracle?” A different voice came through the wood of the door. “It’s Jongho.”

You rushed to your door, feeling chagrined. “Jongho, I’m so sorry!’

Jongho was sporting a slight frown. “Is Seonghwa causing you trouble? I could talk to him for you.”

You shook your head. “No. That’s my battle to fight. Don’t worry about it.” Your eyes took in the mysterious robe that Jongho had on. “How are you? I don’t think I’ve seen you since I rescued you.”

Jongho’s turned his head left then right, eyes searching the hallway before saying “Do you think I could come in?”

“Sure, sure,” You opened your door and let Jongho come into your room.

He took a few steps, head swinging to take in the different objects you had. “Have you had any visions…since that day?”

You shook your head and closed the door. “Either there is nothing important enough to see or it was a fluke,” You laughed bitterly.

Jongho spun around. “Don’t say that!”

You cocked your head in curiosity. “What’s wrong?”

Jongho grasped his robe near his collarbones with two hands. “You can’t say that your visions have been a fluke.”

You took a step closer to Jongho. “Because?”

“Because…” Jongho took a deep breath and looked you in the eyes honestly. “Because you saw we were mates, didn’t you?”

You gasped. “How did you…?” 

“Oracle, I feel things for you that I have only felt for my other mates,” Jongho said in a hushed tone, his eyes dilating. “I burn for you.” 

“I--Jongho--” You started to step backwards. You knew in theory Jongho was yours but nothing could have prepared you for this.

For every step you took backwards, Jongho took a step forwards. “I took the device that attempted to seal me to human form from that fateful day. I took it and made it into something as a memento; the day I met my mate.”

You shook your head, unable to find the words to tell him to stop. “You shouldn’t--does anyone else--?”

“Do you want to see it?” Jongho looked at you through his eyelashes flirtatiously. 

You swallowed but couldn't find any moisture in your mouth. “Do I want to see it?”

Without another word, Jongho dropped his robe. He wasn’t wearing a stitch of clothing underneath it, but he did have something adorning his body. The same chains that bound him to human form were now made to frame his chest, falling along his shoulders and encircling his neck. You felt like your heartbeat was caught in your throat, like you had swallowed a hummingbird and it was looking to escape. 

“Oh, Jongho…” You said in awe of the picture he cut in the warmth of your candlelight.

“I have been trying to find the right moment to tell the others but I cannot hold back any longer. You saved my body and now I want to pay you back with that body. I must mate with you. I need to be inside of you,” Jongho begged, his eyes looking desperate.

“They will only hate me more!” You protested, “Don’t put me in that position, Jongho.”

Jongho shook his head. “I will not let them.” He placed a hand on the door that stood at your back, trapping you against it. “You protected me once, let me protect you now.”

Your last shred of protesting was cast aside then. So used to the cold attitude the majority of dragonkind treated you with, you caved under the need to be loved. You pressed your body and your lips to Jongho and he moaned into your mouth. "I'll take this offering of your body," You said in between eating up those plush lips of his.

"Please take me," Jongho whined again.

It was your turn to push while Jongho receded. Soon, the back of his legs hit the lounge you had in case your visions came on while looking into the embers or tossed the toe bones. He sat down heavily and you pulled up your diaphanous skirts to straddle Jongho’s leg.

Your forefinger traced Jongho’s collarbones and then both your hands raked your nails down his chest, pulling at his tight and sensitive nipples. Jongho let out a guttural grunt and you licked your lips in anticipation. 

"What's this, Jongho?" You reached in between your body and his and found his cock standing to attention. It twitched in your hands and Jongho whimpered.

"It's yours, it's all yours," Jongho babbled.

"Mine?" You asked, interest coating your voice, "Don't you share this with others? Perhaps they might protest, hmmm?"

Jongho shook his head, his cheeks jiggling at his alacrity. "Yours, yours, yours, for tonight, my body is yours."

You started to pump his cock in your hand. Jongho’s eyes rolled into the back of his head and the back of his head hit the back of the lounge. "Please, your touch is so good. Feels so good." Jongho takes a moment to swallow and breathe out and he sounded like he was drowning in lust. "D-don't make me come in your hand. Mercy, please."

You languidly pumped his cock. "Are you truly asking for mercy?"

"No," Jongho admitted quickly and squeezed his eyes shut in embarrassment. "I want you to ruin me for everyone else."

You leaned down to whisper into Jongho’s ear. "I could have you bent over on my bed, tongue in your ass and hand wrapped around your dick, making you fall apart for me but that is not mating, is it, my pet?"

When you pulled back, Jongho looked up at you with shiny, bright brown eyes. "No."

"Then," You brought his cock to your entrance and rubbed it against your leaking hole, "Let's join and become one, hmmm?"

Your own skin was feverishly hot, feeling the need for Jongho as much as he had for you. It wasn't until you pushed down on him that you felt some sort of relief. 

Jongho’s hands flew to your hips, holding you there. "Wait, wait, I've wanted this for too long, let me--let me drink it in."

You lasted all of two seconds staying still before you clenched around him and he let out a strangled moan. "Please?"

"You forget your place," You said in a guttural tone as you began to weave your hips in a figure eight shape. "You said you were mine for the taking, remember?"

You turned Jongho’s face harshly and began to suck and lick up his neck. After each successful mark, you whispered "Mine" eliciting a shiver each time from Jongho.

When you finally get to his jawline you decided it was time to reward Jongho with a kiss to his lips. "Such a good pet, letting me take what I want from you, hmm?" You tugged at his bottom lip briefly with your teeth and he groaned for you again.

"I'm yours," Jongho whispered.

"Not until I take wholly what is mine," You growled.

You began a relentless pace, bouncing on Jongho’s cock. His whines were back, desperate and needy. "We will only be mated once you have come inside of me, Jongho. Need you to release your seed and then the deed is done."

You watched almost predatorily as the Adam's apple in Jongho’s throat bobbed up and down. "You--you first!" He said with a warbled shout.

You hooked a finger through Jongho's chained necklace and pulled him closer to you. "Was that an order?"

Jongho flinched at the sound of your dangerous purr. "No…"

“Then you will come. Now,” You commanded.

Jongho held you down on his cock and spurted inside of you, his noises of satisfaction and neediness filling the air. You slowed down your pace to simply winding your hips as Jongho came down from his high but you didn’t stop. His fingernails dug into your ass soon, however. 

“Too much,” He said through gritted teeth.

“Too much?” You smiled, “Didn’t you say you needed to be inside of me? Didn’t you want me to come too?”

Jongho nodded but whimpered at the overstimulation of his cock. The urge to pull yourself off of him and kiss and lick his cock surged through you; to have another dragon in your thrall touched a side of you that you didn’t know had the potential to develop but you suppressed it. You needed to seal the deal. You knew it in your bones that this was a joint mission.

So you pushed Jongho’s hair out of his face and kissed his nose, his cheeks, even his eyelids until his whines of overstimulation became groans of a second climax. “You can do it for me, pet, you can endure it so that I can come for you, right? You’re doing so well for me, letting me take care of you like this, hmm? You trust me right?”

Jongho’s eyes were vulnerable and it was as if he was removing all of his layers to you and only you. “I trust you with my life.”

“Then let’s go again, shall we?” You nuzzled your nose against his and he nodded. 

You began to build your pleasure back up, brick by brick, thrust by thrust, until you were tingling again. Jongho was practically dripping out of you, and with your own slick adding to his cum, your room was filled with wet, lewd noises. 

Jongho was pussy-drunk again, however. His arms were lax at his side, his mouth open and drooling a bit, the only part of him truly moving was his pelvis muscles tensing for your bounce. “You’re so warm and wet,” He whimpered.

“You enjoy being inside of me that much, my pet?” You asked.

“I love your pussy,” Jongho moaned, his tongue coming out to lick at the drool from the side of his mouth.

“Then make this pussy come, Jongho,” You whispered sensually.

Jongho’s eyebrows furrowed cutely as he attempted to focus enough to aid you in coming. He pressed his lips together and fucked up into your pussy as you brought your hips downwards. When he started to hit that spongy part inside of you that was making you see stars, you knew you were getting close.

“Oh Jongho, just like that, hnnnnnn,” You started to whine as your climax got closer and closer and finally it bursted through you like a wave hitting a cliff. You dug your teeth into the meat of Jongho’s neck and dug your nails into his sides as you came hard.

Jongho was like a puddle below you, completely relaxed and satisfied in finally making you come. "My mate," he pouted.

You plopped down on the side of the lounge that was empty and Jongho laid with his arms wrapped around your waist and his head resting on your chest, the rest of his body in-between your legs. You carded you hands through his hair tenderly and Jongho's voice rumbled into your chest, "You're mine."

Tears came unbidden to your eyes. This was the scene, this was how you knew Jongho was your mate!

“Of course,” You murmured, placing a gentle kiss on the top of his head.

“But I have to share you,” Jongho said in a voice that had a slight whine to it.

“If I’m mate to one, I'm going to be mate to the rest of them, Jongho,” You told him in a calm voice.

“I just wanted something that was solely mine, for once…” Jongho admitted.

“You share with the other’s just fine,” You couldn't help but laugh under your breath.

“Yes, but I thought…” Jongho allowed himself a moment to pout. He was softer with you. You had to assume that saving him had allowed him to open up and be vulnerable with you. “...I thought perhaps you would be just my mate, and only mine. I didn’t think I would have to share.”

You rubbed your cheek into the crown of his hair. “Well, for now at least, it’s just you and me. It will take some convincing for the others.”

"Do you know for sure about the others?" Jongho wondered.

"I'll be honest, only Yeosang. I had a vision with him before I saved you."

Jongho rubbed his face further against your cheek and it brought out a low moan from you. Jongho smiled mischievously. "If I sucked your breasts through this dress would you be mad at me?"

"We need to sleep, greedy guts," You admonished him.

"Can I…can I sleep here? With you?" Jongho asked.

"Do you really want to be caught sneaking out of my rooms at dawn?" You chuckled.

"I want to sleep with my mate," Jongho admitted. 

"Alright, you can sleep here, but you cannot hide behind my skirts if someone catches you."

"Can I sneak under your skirts and show them how to take care of you before they get to have you themselves?"

"Jongho!" 

After the successful mating with Jongho, things seemed to get somewhat easier. With the possibility of you being a mate to the prince, the hushed conversations about you stopped, at least in public. Jongho must have spoken to the others on your behalf because Seonghwa was begrudgingly a little less cold to you. Yeosang began to take walks with you through the training yards to the stables. You thought perhaps he would be the next to succumb to the mating pull but it was someone else you did not expect.

You were frustrated with your abilities. The bad position you were in now with Seonghwa on top of things only pushed you to try the tools of the old oracles.

San accompanied you while you went on an outing to retrieve morning glories, the flower that your elder had said your predecessor had used. San carried the wicker basket as you two meandered the trails. You were pretty sure Jongho strong-armed San, perhaps literally, into joining you. 

"So Jongho sounds like he's hopelessly in love with you," San said in a voice that sounded both mocking and mean.

So you threw the same attitude back at him. "Sounds to me like you're a tad bit jealous."

That stopped San in his tracks and he lagged behind for a bit and then caught up with you. "I'm not jealous. I'm just saying, you've fooled him well," San insisted.

"If you think I've fooled Jongho, then I'm not sure you know your own mate, San," You scoffed.

San was silent for a time, seemingly chewing on your words. You found a group of morning glories and began to cut them from the vines they were growing on. Then he deigned to speak. "I'm only here as a witness, so when you speak of how you didn't get the right flower and that's why you didn't have your vision, I can confirm to the rest of my mates that you are indeed a fake."

You swept up your basket without another word and made the long trek back to the castle. San accompanied you every bit of the way, albeit more silent and focused on your reaction. It wasn't until you arrived back in front of your rooms that he spewed his final toxic words. 

"I hope for Jongho’s sake that your talents are true. Or do you need for me to fuck you too to prove it?" San threw a verbal dagger your way.

So you drew a real one. You let the flat of the blade play along the side of his neck. "You may have found me complacent and quiet when I had no standing in this clan but I am second only to Hongjoong and Seonghwa. You may be their mate but I am the left hand of the prince. You would do well to remember that." You pushed San towards the opposing wall and rushed into your rooms. 

You carefully prepared the embers in the bronze bowl and consumed the morning glories by quickly folding them on top of your tongue. The green bitterness danced across your taste buds so you quickly looked down into the embers.

The body behind you was surely larger than your own. You could feel how both of his hands encompassed your waist. His thrusts inside of you brought a choked cry to your mouth. "Yu--"

One of those hands left your waist and wound itself in your hair. The hand tugged and guided you to arch your back. "Don't say my name, whore." 

"But--" You still cannot manage to get a word out because how wonderful it felt to have a dick continue to hit the end of you.

"FUCK!" He roared and yanked your hair so hard that the back of your head was resting against his shoulder and chest. "Can't you just let me enjoy this? He hissed into your ear.

You attempted to press your lips together but still moans fell from them. You simply could not contain yourself. "Please," You whimpered and then groaned loudly.

"I frankly don't give a damn if you come," he snapped from behind you. "But I cannot be known as the only one who cannot pleasure you."

Long fingers were unceremoniously shoved into your mouth and still your tongue lathed at them. You moaned around them, knowing full well they'd be leaving your mouth soon. His fingers, wet with your saliva, found your clit and began to rub it harshly, well wedded with the snap of his hips against your ass.

You felt your climax build within you, the double sensations driving you mad with desire. "Yunho, Yunho please," You begged for the final time.

Yunho used his other hand and gently squeezed your throat. "Let's see if I can't make you have a vision, hmmm?"

You moved over to the book and stand you were gifted to document your visions. You read over your words and quickly begin to rip out the pages. But what else were you to believe? You could feel the pain and love you had been feeling in that moment. You knew, without a doubt, that Yunho was one of your mates. And that was not good.

San may be distrustful but at least he'd look at you and speak to you. Yunho… you had barely exchanged a word with. Hongjoong had no choice but to take on your council but you had yet to speak to him one on one. But Yunho would not spare you a glance. You thought he was simply ignoring you completely until you came across him and Seonghwa speaking to each other before your morning meeting with the prince the next day.

"They simply adapted," Yunho insisted to Seonghwa. "They've learned better tricks and deceived us like they always have."

"I don't know, Yunho," Seonghwa said, rubbing the back of his neck with one hand. "The air felt like it was full of energy. Even though she didn't have a vision, I had Yeosang take another fly around the area of the settlement and they found hunters. Whatever she's doing… it's saving lives. I don't think she's the sniveling worm you call her to be!"

"I know what she did with Jongho," Yunho said with a disparaging tone, "He was bespelled by her cunt. I doubt it's that good."

"Perhaps we can speak of this in a place that doesn't have ears on the walls?" Seonghwa suggested, tight-lipped and hesitant. 

Yunho nodded curtly and then put his hand against the wall, trapping Seonghwa between his body and the wall. "Don't let the thoughts of what we shared last night drive you too insane during your meeting," Yunho smirked and tilted his head.

Seonghwa smiled back, accepting a chaste kiss against the lips as an apology. "Nor you while doing your patrols."

They parted and you realized you better start moving or Yunho was about to witness you eavesdropping on him and Seonghwa. When Yunho passed you around the corner, his face was a mask of disacknowledgement; you might as well have been a ghost to him. 

"Ah, Oracle, good morning," Seonghwa greeted you, a nervous shake to his eyes apparent.

You walked past him and entered the room in which Hongjoong heard your opinions and news about his kingdom. Seonghwa coughed at the awkwardness of you ignoring his greeting. “I was wondering if you might look over this list of names of hatchlings, perhaps?”

“And why would a sniveling worm do that?” You bite with your words.

Seonghwa’s shoulders fell forward in defeat. “So you did overhear us. You have to excuse Yunho, he’s simply--”

“--an ass,” you finished Seonghwa’s sentence, “He’s being an ass, Seonghwa.”

Seonghwa recovered his haughty expression. “That’s my mate that you’re calling an ass.”

You made eye contact with Seonghwa, who was full of all his dragon pride right now. “Yes, mine too.”

Seonghwa blinked profusely for a moment until your words sunk in. “Did the flowers work? Did you have a vision?”

“Would you even believe me if I said yes?” You couldn't help but let a bitter tone coat your tongue.

“That’s three of us now,” Seonghwa sounded contemplative. “Please, Oracle, look over this list. If you could tell us if we need to help any of these hatchlings before one of them gets sick…”

The hatchlings had done nothing wrong, they were innocent in simply being born of this world. They might grow up to become full adults and dragons, and look down upon you, but for now, they were innocent. You couldn't condemn them for their future, certainly. “I’ll look, Seonghwa. But not because you asked.”

A small smile twitched across Seonghwa’s face but then it was smoothed out and he was all business and pomp. “Here,” He offered the piece of scroll to you.

You took the paper and nothing set you off immediately. Your fingertip followed the line of names, the theme of flora being apparent with this brood. It wasn’t until your finger landed on the final name. Eunjoo. You felt a jolt of electricity run up your arm upon touching her name. 

“Seonghwa,” You called over to him softly.

Seonghwa came to your side, accidentally bumping your hip in the process and pushed you into a full vision. Your eyes went cloudy and then you collapsed against Seonghwa unexpectedly.

Seonghwa’s hand was over your mouth. His eyes were wide with fear of being caught. But that didn’t stop his dick from moving in and out of you. Your leg curled around his waist, urging him forward, meanwhile…“Where did those two go?” Hongjoong cursed out loud in the meeting room.

The two of you were in a random room adjacent from the meeting room, unable to keep your hands off each other now that the bond thrummed between you two. Seonghwa’s hips worked desperately between your legs, the horror of Hongjoong catching you two turning him on. You made worried noises against his palm but he shook his head at you, strands of hair falling into his face.

It was like you two were teenagers, hormone-driven and unable to stop yourselves. Your hands dug into the nape of his neck, needing something to tug as your climax threatened to spill over. 

“I will rake them over hot coals when I find them,” Hongjoong promised and then his heeled boots announced that he was gone.

“Seonghwa!” You whispered in urgency when he removed his hand from your mouth.

Seonghwa began to babble back. “Come, just come, love, please, I don’t think I can hold off any--”

You let out a sweet cry and clenched down on Seonghwa and then he was gone too, coming deep inside of you. The both of you were panting, exchanging air and kissing as you both came down from your highs.

“We can’t do that again,” You said with a sneaky smile.

“We’re definitely doing that again,” Seonghwa confirmed, a conspiratory smirk on his face as well.

Hongjoong was peering down at you when you woke up. Seonghwa had laid you on the floor while you passed out from the vision.

“Does she always faint?” Hongjoong cocked his head at you, a cold curiosity more than anything, like you were a bug he didn’t understand.

“I believe it was because she induced a vision last night. This one came from touching me. Hongjoong,” Seonghwa looked unsure, “I saw her eyes cloud over. It’s just like the scrolls--”

“Get her up,” Hongjoong snapped his fingers, interrupting Seonghwa’s thoughts. “We have work to do.”

Seonghwa knelt beside you but you held up your hands. “Please, one vision of you was enough.”

“I--” He looked pained at not being able to help you up.

You sighed heavily. “You know, don’t you.”

Seonghwa wouldn’t meet your gaze now. “I can…feel the bond…amongst other things…”

You groaned. “Great. Just do me a favor. Don’t tell Hongjoong. I don’t need to give him another reason to be against me.”

The meeting was…interesting. Seonghwa kept sending you sneaky little looks and Hongjoong was picking up that something was going on but he clearly didn’t know what, nor would his pride allow him to ask. 

Your feelings about Eunjoo had been correct. She had been somewhat of a runt of the group, and had hidden in the hatchling room under a mountain of blankets. She had consumed something she should not have and Mingi was beyond worried for the small dragon. You came to visit the little one, curious as to if your ‘feelings’ had been any help.

Mingi cradled the toddler dragon in his arms, feeding her a solution of herbs to aid her in her recovery. Your heart clenched at the paleness of the small child’s face but Mingi beamed up at you when you came to visit. 

“Thank you,” He said softly, “Because you caught onto her malady early, the healers say she will make a full recovery.”

Tears built up at the corner of your eyes. “I’m glad,” You said with a strained tone.

“I will whisper to her of the oracle that helped save her life,” Mingi promised, “She will know who to thank when she’s older.”

Then the tears began to pour. To have a new generation of dragons not look down upon you or your family meant more to you than you than perhaps Mingi understood. Or perhaps he understood perfectly well because his eyes were kind as he said it.

“Mingi…”

“Do you want to hold her? Skin against skin is the best for her right now, so she knows that someone is here supporting her while she is fighting the sickness.” Mingi’s eyes were solidly on yours, hanging off your next decision. 

You nodded wordlessly and Mingi deposited the infant in your arms. You cradled her and she frowned in her sleep. Mingi continued to dip his finger in the solution and let the baby suck it from his finger. The domestic scene was doing something to you, waking up a side of you that you had put to bed a long time ago. You had convinced yourself that you weren’t going to bring another child into this world that had to endure the cruelty of being dirt amongst the clan, but perhaps, if the tide was changing…

“You’re good with her,” Mingi interrupted your thoughts, smiling at you again, his eyes disappearing into crescent moons. “It bodes well for--”

“What are you doing?”

Yunho’s quiet but angry voice cut through the air, making both you and Mingi jump. “Yunho, she saved Eunjoo!” Mingi protested.

“She probably poisoned her in order for it to seem like she saved her,” Yunho accused you.

You wordlessly gave Eunjoo back to Mingi and stood up. “I may be a lot of things, Yunho, but to accuse me of harming the hatchlings is going too far.” Your heart was both hurting and beating erratically. 

Yunho used every inch of his height difference against you. “I am going to expose you for the fraud you truly are,” Yunho vowed, dark eyes looking down his nose at you.

You couldn't help but grin maniacally back up at him. “And when you’re wrong? What will you do then?”

Yunho’s eyes burned with a pure hatred for you. Clearly coming across you with Mingi and the hatchlings had triggered something inside of him. “That day will never come,” Yunho spat.

“Oh, what’s this, are you an oracle too?” You smirked.

Yunho narrowed his eyes, spun on his heel and was out just as quickly as he was in. 

You had been regularly sleeping with Jongho, relieving the tension you both felt through your bond. The two of you were worried about the others. Mingi, Yeosang and Seonghwa were won over but San, Hongjoong and Yunho were still staunch in their separation that they would not be included. From what Jongho told you, it was affecting their bonds with each other as well. So when San showed up at your door, almost a deja vu of when he helped you get flowers, you were both surprised and not. It had Jongho written all over it again.

San was leaning against the door frame when you opened your door, looking up at you, head lowered and an inquiring eyebrow lifted up. "Good morning, Oracle."

"And to what do I owe this favor, oh esteemed mate of my mate?" You said dryly.

"Jongho still doesn't shut up about you saving him in human form. He also said that you only go to the training grounds when the other warriors aren't practicing. He thought that perhaps if you went along with me that the clan might accept you training among them," San said, cheek perched to the side in unsureness. 

Your throat was tight with emotion. Jongho was going above and beyond as a mate, or so you felt, and it was really making your heart burst with love for the dragon. "Jongho is very kind," You opted with.

"Well, I have better things to do, but apparently, if I don't do this, I'm not getting any from him so here we are," San threw his hands up in the air and began to walk down the hall.

The other dragon warriors were wary when you entered the training grounds with San. They eyed him cautiously but spat on the ground as you passed. The muttering and grumbling that trash was now on the grounds were low but still audible. Some warriors put their weapons away and actually left. You tried really hard to not let it hurt your newly healed heart. San, with his ever watchful eye always looking for your reactions, remained silent, as was his way.

It became easier as the days passed. Soon, the other warriors either avoided coming to the grounds when you were there or grew used to your presence. San was the only one who truly became more and more sour as time passed. He attacked with a fervor that most would leave for an actual enemy and you were really starting to think that he might think you are one.

Still, you benefitted from practicing with San. Your father was well into his silver years, so he couldn't practice with you and so you had been limited to the dummies on the grounds. Being able to pit muscle against muscle, technique with experience really stretched your abilities to the max. And even though San's attitude was worse with each day, your spirits rose. Perhaps if San would acknowledge your skills, the other warriors might change their mind, maybe even Yunho--

San interrupted your thoughts by giving you quite a nasty cut on your arm as you were distracted. You saw his mouth move, probably giving some kind of mocking excuse for his bad manners. It was the training grounds, not a battlefield where there was no holding back. Your vision became red. 

With a wild yell, you charged at San with your sword raised. San's eyes widened in surprise but still muscle memory kicked in and he blocked, but his muscles strained a bit to do so. You tried a large undercut sweep but San managed to jump backwards, curving his body to avoid the sword.

"Oracle," San chuckled nervously, "I'd almost swear you--" He yelped as he raised his broader blade to halt another swing of your sword.

When the overhanded strike was stopped with San's high block, sweat started to bead his hairline. You tried for more technique, faking a strike and instead thrusting forward. San had to avoid your blade, barely redirecting your blade with his. "Seriously, you're going to--" He grunted with effort to parry another thrust, the shing of the sword as the tip pinged echoing in both your ears.

That's when you decided you needed to disarm San. You prepared another swing in which both of your blades had to dance in a circle together, and then with a sharp twist of your wrist, San's blade was sliding across the straw-strewn stones.

San held his hands up in defeat. "I almost might be impressed with th--" He made a loud oof as you kicked him square in the chest.

You were on top of San as soon as he hit the ground, your body straddling his body as you brought your personal dagger to his throat. This time you didn't use the flat of the blade but the edge that you always kept razor-sharp. It pricked his skin and a small line of blood trailed down his glowing skin. 

"Do you yield?" You growled.

"Does any dragon ever yield? Yielding is death!" San denied, sounding quite strained.

You brought the tip of the dagger under San's chin. "I've had enough of your shit attitude, San. Either you yield to me or I stop coming to these practices and Jongho starts withholding himself from you again."

San looked bewildered. "You would do that?" he said in a higher pitched voice.

You laughed mirthlessly. "That's the least I would do, warrior."

San hooked both of his legs around yours and threw his weight so that he could flip the situation. Now he was on top of you, your dagger knocked out of your hands. He may have the upper hand in the fight but he had revealed something that he should have kept hidden. 

You smiled slowly in cockiness. "Did you get turned on by my prowess?"

"That's nothing," San denied immediately. You noticed a small pout that had never graced his lips before when he spoke to you. He was all sharp looks and this held such a curve to his mouth it almost looked kissable. "Adrenaline can make a man hard, that's all." 

"Hard for a woman that you hate?" You said lowly, "That must hurt your warrior pride."

"I'm not--" 

You took the moment to flip again, legs clamped on either of San's slim waist. 

With an indignant shout, San flipped you again just as fast. "If you don't stop interrupting me, I am going to wrap my hands around that pretty neck of yours and test your ability to hold your breath."

You cocked your head in question. "No, I don't think that's how that would work."

"Don't think--" San began to get flustered and stumble over his words, "What's that supposed to mean?!"

You pushed San's shoulder gently and he allowed you to lead him to his back. "There's no one here, San, didn’t you notice?"

San didn't look around but instead kept his eyes solidly on you. "I noticed."

"You know, instead of me keeping Jongho away from you, you could have him, but I could have you too."

San scoffed, but his eyes kept leaving and meeting yours. "Ludacris. Why would I do that?"

You sat fully back on San's pelvis, allowing your plush ass to really sit down on San's still rock hard cock. San whimpered, biting down hard on his lip but let the flesh go slowly. When you took a moment to grind, winding your hips. San's hands find your hips, swallowing down his low moans at the stimulation. 

"Perhaps that's why, San," You provoked him.

"Why are you so hot when you're this angry? I know you don't have a dragon form but your rage is red-hot like one," San said in pure confusion.

"I could take you on the training grounds right now and you wouldn't say no, would you?" You hummed, finger following a path along his breastplate.

San's adam's apple was moving up and down as he clearly attempted to find moisture in his mouth. "You…you would do that?"

"Only if…” You considered for a moment, if it was worth having a vision while San, who hated you, was watching over you. It had convinced all the others. And if you were being honest with yourself, it didn’t feel right to sleep with San without confirming first that he was indeed your mate.

“Only if…?” San prompted you for you to continue your sentence. 

“Do you know what happens if I touch you?” You asked softly.

“You fuck me?” San answered, head empty except for thoughts of sex, clearly.

You snorted. “There’s no going back with my visions, San.”

San’s face grew hard and sharp, similar to the San that was desperate for you to be a fake oracle. “I don’t believe in your stupid visions.”

You let out a sigh. “Here goes nothing then.” 

You cupped his face and then your eyes went cloudy and you collapsed against San’s chest.

"Are you sure you really want to be there?" You said in a condescending tone.

San whined between your legs, tongue out flat, and head worrying back and forth in response. 

"You sure, little flame? I'm not feeling the enthusiasm from you." You squeezed his head with your thighs. 

With a growl, San gripped both of your thighs tightly, went on his knees, and drove your back into the headrest of your bed. His arms strained as he held you aloft, tongue deep into your cunt. You could feel your walls parting for his eager tongue.

"Gonna make me come? Gonna show me how a good little flame makes his Mistress come?" You crooned.

San tongue-fucked you to completion, making your toes curl and screamed his name. When he was done, your back scraped against the headboard as he let you go but remained kneeling in front of you. 

"I hate you so much," he cursed, using the back of his hand to wipe your wetness from his face.

You chuckled lowly. "Hate me so much you'd eat me up like I'm your last dinner, huh?"

San's eyes were dark but he rolled his eyes and groaned in frustration. He grabbed your face with both hands and made out with you. "I love you so fucking much, I can hate you a little bit," San whined.

You felt the love through your bond, so you knew San was being playful. "Well then, I hate you so much, I'm going to give you the suck of your life."

San's eyes became hooded. "I hate your mouth on me."

"I hate you too, little flame."

"Oracle?"

When you came to, San's hand was on your head, supporting it against his chest. "Did you…" he almost choked on his words.

"I'm--" You swallowed down a moan, your sex feeling swollen from your vision. "San."

"Fuck me?" San said in a whiney voice.

You lifted your head. "Are you admitting that you believe in my visions?"

San grinned, part bashful, part cocky. "Will that get my cock inside of you?"

You rolled your eyes and sat back up. "I'm gonna fuck the brat out of you."

"I get that a lot."

One night, when you dared to have a secret rendezvous with Seonghwa after a meeting gone late and Hongjoong dismissed you both, you woke up with a feeling of dread in your stomach. You left Seonghwa lying like a starfish on the table and moved to the nearest balcony. You thought perhaps you needed fresh air. Even still, you could not shake the heavy feeling that something was wrong. And then the vision hit you.

“Ah!” A man with red hair who you had never seen before yelled as a whip with a cruel metal cap tore a strip from his back.

“Just give it up already! We know you’re a dragon. Transform!” 

“I don’t…know what…you’re talking about!” Insisted the redhead through clenched teeth.

Another man, one without the whip, slapped the redhead being tortured. “We’ve been watching you for days! Where is your clan?”

The dragon being tortured spat on the floor. “On their way to turn you into bones they’ll have to pick out their teeth.”

The whip hit once, twice, three times and the dragon’s back tightened in pain. “I like it! Hit me more!”

The man with the whip hesitated. “Is he crazy?”

The other man slapped the accused dragon several times more, until blood fell from the dragon’s mouth. “No, he’s just trying to throw us off. Leave him here to mull in his thoughts.”

The two torturer's left the basement and you saw a sign that said “the red belly of the beast”. 

You came back too, hanging a little too precariously from the balcony. Lucky for you, because you threw up any food you had in your stomach. Fighting you could endure, but that level of torture was inhumane! It had to be hunters again but you didn’t recognize the dragon who was being tortured. Then why would you be shown this image? Unless…

“Father, this is Wooyoung.” You tugged forward Wooyoung to finally meet your father. He was actually the first dragon you were introducing to your family. You were growing to love and adore Jongho and Yeosang and Seonghwa, but Wooyoung was different. He didn’t have any relation to the clan so you knew it would be less scarring to introduce him to your father first.

“Wooyoung, huh?” Your father peered up at Wooyoung, rocking in his chair by the fire.

Wooyoung looked a bit embarrassed but smiled nonetheless. “Your daughter, she saved me.”

Your father grinned fiercely, pride clearly written across his face. “I taught her all I knew. She fights for her mother’s honor.”

“Father, I fight for our family,” You insisted, feeling emotional.

“You fight for your life,” Your father said gruffly, breaking eye contact with you and bringing a finger to his eyes to wipe away the happy tears.

Wooyoung, in his typical fashion, began to animatedly retell the story of when you saved him. Your father hung on every word, laughing and gasping in all the right places. And when Wooyoung finished his story, your father grabbed Wooyoung’s hand and then yours and brought them together.

“Your mother… she would have loved him like a son, Spitfire.”

You began to cry and hug your father while Wooyoung started to joke about the nickname Spitfire, doing his best to make you feel better. Wooyoung was your comfort when you needed it the most. He loved you unconditionally and he was yours, solely. 

“Oh my god,” You attempted to collect yourself. You didn’t have time to cry or worry. Wooyoung was your mate and you needed to go save him.

You ran to your rooms for Rosa’s Bane, then to the stables, whispered an apology to the sleepy horses and you were racing out of the compound. When you had saved Jongho, you had only gotten there in the nick of time. You weren’t sure how much time you had with Wooyoung but you had a bad feeling that it was too late to stop those scars on his back. 

The moon was high and left your path clear. You had no idea where this tavern was but you had spent enough time with your mates to know how to follow your bond. You and Yeosang often played a game together, where you took turns fleeing and hiding and finding each other through the bond--involved some quiet masturbation and passionate sex upon finding each other--however, it had taught you how to find your mates no matter what.

It was difficult on the back of a horse, however, and more so with someone you had not truly bonded with. It was becoming hard to separate your pull from Jongho, Yeosang, Seonghwa and San from Wooyoung. You doubled back several times and grew frustrated at your progress. The only thing that drove you was that the longer you took to find Wooyoung, the more scars he would have on his back.

Just when you thought that perhaps this was impossible and maybe you should have grabbed one of your dragon mates, your bond pulled hard and it made you gasp with how much fear and pain was coursing through you. You knew without a doubt where Wooyoung was so you raced in the direction that was filled with hopelessness.

The swing of the sign of the tavern almost mocked you as you approached it. The noises spilling from the door were merry and bright and it only made your rage burn brighter that these hunters were taking delight in their evening when your mate was suffering below in the basement.

You carefully pulled back the cellar door and crept down the stairs, silent but angry. Upon a quick glance, they had left Wooyoung to further stew in his wounds. A fire cast light on Wooyoung’s back and it took all of your self control not to gasp in pure horror. His back was practically shredded. His head was cast downwards and when you tipped his head back to look Wooyoung in the eyes, his face was beaten to almost beyond recognition.

"Wha did you com'er fur?" Wooyoung slurred his words because of his fat lip and more than likely the blood lose, "Come t'see how ter properly beat a dragon?" And through all his pain, Wooyoung smiled with such fierceness that you knew without a doubt: his body may be broken but his spirit was not.

"I've come to save you, brave boy," You cooed.

Wooyoung perked up immediately upon hearing your words. "Save me?"

The dumb hunters, comfortable in their surroundings, left the keys to Wooyoung’s manacles on a table where their torture tools were. You resisted the urge to destroy those tools; your sole mission was to save Wooyoung. Wooyoung collapsed upon you when you released him, and even then, each step for him was beyond painful.

And still Wooyoung asked, "What's a beautiful girl doing in a dump like this?"

You laughed in pain, out of breath to even get him to the stairs. "I see the future. You're my mate. I came to save you."

"That sounds pretty plausible. I knew my face was too pretty to be wasted on death." Wooyoung groaned when he lifted his foot for the first stair.

"Save your breath and help me get your pretty face up the damn stairs," You grunted. 

The cuts on his back made it near impossible for him to walk. It took everything in you to get up those stairs with Wooyoung. And still the hunters continued to make merry in the tavern. You swore on your sword that you would come back with Jongho and he would burn the place to the ground with his dragonflame. 

Wooyoung was in no state to go back to the clan with you. You pushed him up on your horse, his belly along the back of the gelding and you walked away from that tavern, putting one step in front of the other. 

With all the time you spent with Seonghwa and Hongjoong in the meeting room, you had learned quite a few clan secret locations that any dragon could retreat to if the situation arose. There was a cottage built in a mountain. The legends told of how the mountain used to be filled with moving rock, hotter than even dragonflame. The mountain had long lain dormant and the cottage was a refuge for any dragons who required it.

The only healing you knew of was the bare minimum a warrior learns to stay alive until a healer can be summoned. Lucky for you, Wooyoung was a bit of a healer himself. So under his instructions, you fashion a poultice to sit on his wounds. Wooyoung faded in and out of consciousness and you could not afford to abandon him. 

Luckily, you didn't have to leave, your clan found you.

A broad shouldered dragon entered the cottage where you had been humming to Wooyoung, who was in a blessed healing sleep. "San!" You shouted in elation and threw yourself at him.

You started to cry, pulling him as close to you as you could. "Please help me. I can't bring Wooyoung back myself, he'll tear open his wounds. Please help him!"

San pulled back, looking beyond confused. "Who is he?"

During the few painful hours when Wooyoung was conscious, in order for him to focus away from the pain, he told you who he was. Wooyoung, a clanless dragon, brought up amongst witches. It was how he had his knowledge of healing but also of who he was. Wooyoung may be clanless but he was not lesser. 

"You saved someone you didn't even know?" San looked stunned, "You saved another dragon?"

That stunned look never left San's face. He transformed and transported Wooyoung back to the clan. You followed below on the trusty gelding and before you knew it, you were back home with your new mate. But there was much more to answer for.

"Where did you find her?" Hongjoong demanded soullessly. His cheek was smooshed against his palm as if he had better things to do than to listen to why you left.

"No doubt tricking another poor dragon into giving up his cock to her," Yunho said with all offense, lips pursed and refusing to look at you.

"Yunho!" Yeosang scolded his mate.

"Well?" Hongjoong demanded a second time, this time unfolding his legs and stamping his foot impatiently.

"She saved a clanless dragon," San declared. His chin was raised, almost challenging anyone to argue his facts. His fists were clenched at his side.

Jongho came up beside you and his palm slid against yours to hold your hand. "Don't you ever do that again."

"I'm sorry, Jongho," You said, looking at his side profile.

"I think you owe an apology to more than just Jongho," Hongjoong interrupted.

You cleared your throat. "I'm sorry, Your High--"

Hongjoong cut you off. "Not to me, you witless fool, to your other mates!"

Yeosang had his arms crossed over his chest, clearly fighting with trying to not look upset or worried. You met eyes with Seonghwa, who let you see exactly how betrayed he felt. San still stood to your other side, arms quivering with how hard he was shaking. 

"I am sorry for leaving without telling anyone. All I could think about was saving Wooyoung. I won't ever do it again," You said with a rough voice laced with emotion.

"That's right, you won't ever do it again," Hongjoong declared, "Because you will spend every night with one of us, at least."

Mingi's mouth dropped. "But, we don't know--"

"What?" Yunho's quiet rage cut through everything. "Don't tell me you're starting to believe her lies?"

Hongjoong's eyes narrowed down at Yunho. "Do you not believe she is mated with Jongho? I witnessed him barely restrained by Mingi and Yeosang when you stated that she fled because she couldn't keep up with the lies anymore. He would have punched you for such an insult, Yunho. I myself held Seonghwa as he wept, worried that perhaps his inability to tell me of her was what finally drove her from our clan. San abandoned his duty to find her. We are all mates, Yunho. Do not tell me you didn't feel what I felt through their bonds."

Yunho's lips tightened further in anger. "I will not be a part of this."

Hongjoong laughed, a dangerous noise that made everyone in the throne room shudder. "No?"

"Yunho," Yeosang went to the only naysayer in the room. "Stop."

"When you say at least," You said nervously. 

Hongjoong's dark eyes swung back to you. "Why, you have to take care of Wooyoung, do you not? He is your mate after all, didn't you say?"

The next few weeks were a bit of an adjustment. You had spent most of your life living amongst your hatchling sisters, never having a moment to yourself, but they were your family. You had grown spoiled to your singular rooms, your sanctuary away from anyone. Now, not a moment where you were left alone. It wasn't necessarily that you weren't trusted, but to make sure that if you did have another premonition and you did have to rush into action, there would always be a dragon mate with you.

The only one truly upset with this situation was Yunho. 

The first night he found himself in your rooms, he dragged a chair into your room, put the back against the door, and stayed there the entire night. The second instance he watched with emotionless eyes as you tended to Wooyoung, who was healing progressively well.

"Some day I'm getting off my stomach and getting you on your back," Wooyoung said as you straddled his butt and applied more poultice to his back.

"Wooyoung," You scolded him, laughing at both his audacity and the nervousness of setting off Yunho. 

"You've mated with everyone else you've had a premonition with, it's not fair," Wooyoung groaned.

You cleared your throat, well aware that was entirely untrue. 

"No, she hasn't," Yunho's voice rumbled from his spot near the fire.

"I'll excuse your ignorance but she hasn't had a premonition with Mingi, even though it's clear he adores her regardless," Wooyoung replied flatly.

"I'm not talking about Mingi," Yunho corrected the clanless dragon.

Wooyoung turned his head to the side, the back of his hand lying against his cheek. "Sweetheart?"

"How do you know?" You demanded towards Yunho in a gruff voice.

Yunho laughed mirthlessly, tossing his head back like you had just told the funniest joke he had ever heard. "You don't think I feel the bond? Or is it you that cannot feel it because you aren't even a dragon?"

Wooyoung growled underneath you and you caressed the small of his back to calm him. "Wooyoung, don't."

"Even if you can't transform, that doesn't make you less of a dragon than him!" Wooyoung protested.

"I know, my brave boy, but it's not worth fighting Yunho on it. He can't be swayed."

"Maybe it is."

"Wooyoung, what are you saying?" You moved to get off your mate and off the bed.

"Hey Grumpy Scales, you ever think of fucking your anger out on the Oracle?" Wooyoung posed the question like he was asking Yunho if he ever considered eating blueberries for breakfast.

"I wouldn't touch her even if Seonghwa refused me his body. I am not San."

"No, you're certainly not. San has better shoulders and he isn't an idiot. Even he was convinced that being my sweetheart's mate isn't the worst fate. In fact, he's quite enjoying his nights now."

"Wooyoung," You attempted to hush your mate for a second time. 

Yunho stood up, the fire giving him a red aura that was actually less intimidating than the actual face Yunho bore. "San is caught up in the trap. You all are."

" ‘Cept me, or weren't you listening? I believe in her and her powers. I love her. I haven't slipped my cock into her tight, wet heat yet, however. Nor has Mingi. So how do you continue to feed yourself on a lie that's unfounded, Grumpy Scales?"

"Tricked," Yunho shook his head but his face was already less tight than it was before Wooyoung spoke. 

"Mmm, I do love a good trick," Wooyoung chuckled, "You know, if you sat on my hand in the right way, I might be able to--"

"You will not be doing anything in front of me," Yunho snarled. 

"Wooyoung, I would like to not die tonight," You said in a hushed tone.

"Oh, but if you slept with the oracle, wouldn't you be showing everyone that you can fuck her without getting caught in her web? Won't that be interesting to find out that you're the strongest of them all, hmmm?" Wooyoung hummed. "All that wonderful wet pussy just for you, right Grumpy Scales? I bet she quivers for you."

"If you weren't injured, I'd be slapping you right now, Wooyoung, I beg of you, stop!"

"You will not be trapping me," Yunho announced. He was… suddenly very close to the bed.

You carefully turned around. You could not give Yunho your back. It went against your instincts. "Yunho, I trap no one."

"You've trapped Seonghwa," Yunho stared right into your soul with his dark eyes, "You don't think I've felt what Yeosang's felt when he's sliding his cock down your throat? You don't think Seonghwa's told me of being between your thighs, and sighing like he's talking about slipping into Mingi or being fucked by Hongjoong? You don't think I've heard you with Jongho, calling him your pet? How dare you lord over a dragon as if you were more than what you truly are? How dare San submit to you when he knew of your tricks."

Yunho was so close to you that you could feel the puffs of his breath hit the top of your head. "Is he right?"

"Wooyoung is wrong," You stated immediately.

"You're quivering for me right now." Yunho looked down his nose at you, his eyes hooded.

Your entire body was covered in goosebumps. You felt the pull in your bond, the lust spreading through your nerves. Your mate was calling for you to mate with him. Whether it was subconscious or not, Yunho now wanted to fuck you. Or was it Wooyoung? A quick glance showed that Wooyoung had fallen asleep with a smile on his lips.

"I do not want to mate with a dragon who thinks I am worthless," You hissed, holding back your need for Yunho by only a spider thread.

"Perhaps," Yunho licked his lips in what you could only describe as a predatory way, "There's something of you that isn't worthless."

The shame and lust that filled your veins was undeniable. You could slowly feel your resolve crumble beneath Yunho's stare. "That will bond us, Yunho. I know you don't want that."

Yunho chucked his fingers under your chin and you swallowed in response. "I am already bound to you through my mates. I cannot get rid of you, you've proven that with your little fleeing scene. So you will submit to me because you want it and it's the only thing I'll allow between us."

"Yu--" 

Your words were cut off as Yunho moved his fingers to wrap around your throat. "I don't want to hear my name from your mouth one more time. You simply need to nod or shake your head. You are simply a hole for me, oracle."

This was it. This was your chance to decline, to scoff at him and tell him your worth, just like you had done with every single other dragon since you became oracle. The only one you should submit to was Hongjoong. But there was a look in Yunho's eyes that spoke of how much he wanted this. Wooyoung had been right. Yunho wanted to take his frustration out on you and he wanted to benefit from it. He wanted the high ground over you and you were about to concede to him. 

You nodded and Yunho slowly smirked. "That's what I thought."

Yunho stripped you of your clothing until you were stark naked. His clothing remained on. He guided you to your lounge and made you go on your hands and knees there. His nimble fingers found your folds and he chuckled darkly at the discovery that you were drenched. "Surely that's not for me, whore?"

You pressed your lips together, trying to keep within the rules that Yunho laid out. You were certain that if you broke them, he would stop, or worse, leave. You urged your ass back onto Yunho's fingers as your only response. 

"Ridiculous," his disbelief came as a rumble from behind you, "Wet for what? Because I put you in your place? Because you get a new cock inside of you? Or are you just an eager whore all the time?" You whined as his fingers brushed your clit. "Listen to the noises you make, you are an eager whore. I could have you coming over my fingers embarrassingly quickly, I imagine. How anyone else finds you alluring enough to fuck you will be beyond me. Are you wet enough to take me?"

You nodded and Yunho was busy undoing his pants. He rubbed his cockhead against your folds. You hissed as he sank into you. It was a stretch for you, you had to admit, but it was a damn good stretch. Yunho's fingers sank into the flesh of your ass until he bottomed out. 

"Just a fucking hole," He growled and then started to nudge himself inside of you.

The loudest moan imaginable escaped your lips as he moved inside of you. The feeling of being stuffed, the feeling of that large cock moving against your walls, was truly like nothing you had felt. You weren't sure if you should be worried on how clouded your mind was, narrowed down to simply getting fucked by the man that utterly hated you.

Yunho's large body practically loomed behind you. You could feel how both of his hands encompassed your waist. His thrusts inside of you brought a choked cry to your mouth. "Yu--"

One of those hands left your waist and wound itself in your hair. The hand tugged and guided you to arch your back. "Don't say my name, whore." 

"But--" You still cannot manage to get a word out because how wonderful it felt to have a dick continue to hit the end of you.

"FUCK!" He roared and yanked your hair so hard that the back of your head was resting against his shoulder and chest. "Can't you just let me enjoy this?" He hissed into your ear.

You attempted to press your lips together but still moans fell from them. You simply could not contain yourself. "Please," You whimpered and then groaned loudly.

"I frankly don't give a damn if you come," he snapped from behind you. "But I cannot be known as the only one who cannot pleasure you."

Long fingers were unceremoniously shoved into your mouth and still your tongue lathed at them. You moaned around them, knowing full well they'd be leaving your mouth soon. His fingers, wet with your saliva, found your clit and began to rub it harshly, well wedded with the snap of his hips against your ass.

You felt your climax build within you, the double sensations driving you mad with desire. "Yunho, Yunho please," You begged for the final time.

Yunho used his other hand and gently squeezed your throat. "Let's see if I can't make you have a vision, hmmm?"

Your vision dimmed, fuzzy black waves clinging to the edges as Yunho denied you any air. You could feel your climax building and you knew you were about to come undone for Yunho and he had not even shown any signs of being ready to come. Was he going to use you more than once, was he--

"Yunho, I've brought you some food--"

Mingi's eyes grew wide and dropped the tray he had brought. The hatchling caretaker ran into the room and pulled Yunho back, before either of you could finish. Your air came rushing back and you gasped it in.

"What do you think you're doing?" Mingi accused Yunho. Mingi’s large hand came to your back to rub you through your shaking breaths. 

A true vision overtook you, eyes growing cloudy and you slumped forward on the lounge.

Mingi's hands rubbed your overextended stomach. A smile of pure happiness was there before he bent over to kiss your stomach. "It's a male. I just know it."

You laughed quietly. "Mingi, even I don't know if it's a male or female, and I'm the oracle."

"The elders say when a female is craving spicy foods that it is a male," Mingi insisted sincerely.

"Well, they also say when you crave sweets, it's a girl and I…what exactly do you think you're doing?" You demanded.

Mingi had begun to kiss down your belly, moving beyond your line of sight. "Are other parts of you swollen?" His deep low voice rumbled through your skin.

"Ming-mingi!" You stuttered, "I'm--"

"You're big with the hatchling. You can barely get off this bed without help. I can simply take advantage of that, can't I?" Mingi had arrived at his destination, tongue swirling along his lips before he kissed your lower lips.

"Oh fuck, Mingi, that's---hnnnn, that's lovely," You couldn't help but moan.

"You deserve to be rewarded for carrying our hatchling so well, don't you think?"

Your back arched as Mingi's lips sucked down on your clit. "Want--want you Mingi," You admitted softly.

Mingi's head popped back up above your head, a satisfied smile tugging his lips. "The elders say fucking a pregnant female helps with the hatchling arriving later."

You groaned and laughed at the same time. "Was that your intention with your visit today?"

"My intention was to ensure that you are well," Mingi replied, suddenly more solemn. "I want what's best for the mother of our children."

"Oracle?" Mingi sucked in his bottom lip in worry, cradling you in his arms as you presumably collapsed on your lounge.

"I'm here, Mingi," You assured him.

Your eyes sought Yunho's immediately but his back was to you two, near the door. "You take over, Mingi, I'm leaving."

Mingi's serious eyes followed Yunho until he left without a word. Then Mingi's disposition changed. "Did you have a vision of us? I am your mate? What did you see? Is that rude to ask? Should I not know my own fate?"

Your heart clenched with each step that Yunho took away from your rooms but you couldn't help but laugh at Mingi's questions. "A hatchling, Mingi. You kept saying that I was the mother of 'our' children."

Mingi's mouth dropped. "A hatchling? But you cannot carry the eggs, you cannot become a dragon, how--?" Mingi wiped a hand over his face in disbelief, "Truly? A hatchling?"

"I don't know when that occurred, Mingi, that could be years from now--MINGI!"

Mingi lifted you high above him in celebration. You should have realized that the dragon that took care of the hatchlings would be beyond excited to hear that you would be the mother of his children--your mates children? Who…?

"First thing in the morning, I will demand an audience with the elders. They've been bugging Hongjoong about an heir for years, they'll be happy to hear that you will carry our children!"

Mingi put you on your feet but your head was still in the clouds. Hongjoong mating with you? How could you manage such a thing? "Mingi, wait!"

Mingi's large hands encompassed your head in a gentle squeeze. "I will help you. With your vision and my magic tongue, we'll make it happen."

You frowned, not understanding. "Your tongue?" Then it hit you. He wasn't talking about convincing the elders, he was talking about-- "Mingi!"

Mingi's tongue caught between his teeth, looking quite pleased with himself. "Do you doubt me?"

You thought back to your vision and found that you couldn't disagree.

Whether it was your vision, or Mingi's magic tongue, it was declared that a formal event would be held before the court. Hongjoong was going to acknowledge that you were his mate, and mated with the others, before the entire clan. The preparations were made and it was decided that you would perform a Seeing with all that was present. There was no doubt in your mind that Hongjoong was your final mate, so it wasn't the ceremony you were worried about…

"Hey," Jongho met your eyes as you stood across from him before the large doors that would open soon and what seemed like the third beginning of your life was about to start. "I love you," he told you.

You leaned upwards to peck at his pink lips. "I wouldn't have any of this without you, you know that, right?"

Jongho's gummy smile, one of your favorite things about him, stretched across his face. "I can't take credit for your visions. I like how that sounds, though."

"Jongho, please," You whined.

Jongho wrapped his arms around you and squeezed until you squealed. He then peppered your face with kisses, scolding you between breaths. "You didn't say you loved me back!"

"I love you, Jongho," You said quietly.

A horn was sounded and that signified the commencement of the event. 

Jongho escorted you down the hard stone floor and helped you up the stairs but left you to join the rest of your mates. Hongjoong stood from his throne, beautiful and glorious in his power. He threw his arms open wide and began his speech.

"Today we celebrate our beloved oracle. Our clan has been gifted with one who can soar the skies of the future, having given up her second form in order to keep our clan safe. She has proven her abilities beyond reproach; she has saved my mates and her own from death. She has saved outlying clans, hatchlings, and she has even kept my body from danger. She has seen visions of each of her mates and our bonds have only grown stronger with her connection to us."

Hongjoong turned towards you and you locked eyes with him. "Today, we give the final proof for all to acknowledge. Today, our oracle will have a vision of my future, of my heir."

"Hongjoong," You whispered his name, finding your mouth void of any moisture.

A rare, special, and most importantly, genuine smile pulled at the corners of Hongjoong's mouth. "We've a bet, between us, Oracle. I hope you have a gentle vision of me because I wasn't planning on making the heir on this eve."

Were your mates betting on whether you had a vision full of sex with Hongjoong? It took everything in you to not send a glare over your shoulder. Men!

Hongjoong gentle grasped your hand and flipped it over to impart a kiss to your palm. Your eyes went cloudy and you fell into a vision. Hongjoong captured you in his arms, eyes on your face for when you woke up. 

"Youngho, you are a prince, not a demon!" You shouted at the small boy who was cackling ahead of you.

"Come catch me, Mama!" 

Your breath caught in your throat for the love of your son. His blue hair declared him his father's son, if his sassiness didn't prove it to you every day. You tried to love Youngho as fiercely and as strongly as your father had once gifted you with. You were certain that Youngho would not grow up to be the heart-scarred man that Hongjoong was. Your son would be happy upon his throne with his mates, you were determined to ensure he did not have a fate such as yours. 

"Let him be devious," Hongjoong declared beside you, "He has a mind for being tricky and he loves scaring you."

You pursed your lips together. "I carried him for nine months within me, Hongjoong. I will decide on whether he is allowed to get away with everything or not."

Hongjoong smiled, the same one your son sent you after he had burst from a bush and scared your wits from you. "Well, I put him in you. Isn't that enough reason to have a say on his upbringing?" You scoffed and Hongjoong's smile only grew bigger. A low chuckle came deep from his throat. "Perhaps you need a second hatchling to prove to you that it was me?"

"Prince Youngho, if you don't get off that balcony right now, I will tell Dadda that you are not allowed to visit the hatchlings for a week!" You said in a firm voice, still looking towards Hongjoong. "You have your heir, Your Majesty. Besides, didn't we agree that it was Seonghwa's turn to father a child?"

Hongjoong's grin was at full brightness, mischievousness achieved. And then his face blanked to the cold, haughty leader face you had once only known from him. "We'll have nine months before they know it."

This time you laughed, something that lured Youngho back to your side. "Mama, what are you laughing at?"

"Youngho, did you know," You told him, pushing your hands through his hair lovingly, "Your father tells the funniest jokes? He thinks he can hide things from your other fathers."

Youngho frowned heavily, peering up at his father. "Father, Papa says he can smell when you lie. Don't be silly."

Hongjoong threw his head back and laughed, a belly laugh that seemed to be reserved for only his son. "Seonghwa does say that, doesn't he? I'm sorry for being silly, Spitfire."

Your emotions caught in your throat and you excused yourself, allowing Hongjoong a moment with his son.

"Oracle." Yunho approached you as you moved back to your rooms.

"Prince," You nodded curtly, your heart aching to reach out and touch your mate.

"It is my night with you," Yunho said primly.

"It is," You confirmed.

Yunho stepped closer to you, leaning in to speak to your ears only. "Don't get too wet for me, whore."

Your body was covered in goosebumps of shame and lust. Only one thing had changed in the years in which it took to conceive of Youngho, to nurture the young dragon to be capable of a loving prince, and that was that you had loved Yunho. But he still kept you at a heart's distance.

"Welcome back," Hongjoong greeted you as you rose from your vision.

You felt wetness on your cheeks and realized you had been crying. "I'm sorry, Your Majesty. I need a moment to collect myself."

Hongjoong's eyes traveled over every plane of your face. "What did you see?"

"A son," You choked out, "Youngho. He had your hair."

"A son," Hongjoong echoed back, looking both fierce and soft at the same time, somehow. His head snapped to your mates. "She says we will have a son!"

The crowd erupted into cheers. Hongjoong helped you up and raised your joined hands. "The oracle has declared there will be an heir and she will carry him!"

San and Wooyoung hugged in celebration. Yeosang slung an arm around Jongho's waist, both quiet in their happiness. Seonghwa and Mingi pressed their foreheads together, clearly excited for a hatchling. Yunho was not celebrating, however. His eyes were on yours, with a rage that only made lust curl within your stomach. You found that you could not meet his eyes any longer and broke contact. 

"So," Hongjoong said under his breath, "Was it gentle like Yeosang's or rough like Seonghwa's?" He began to lead you back through the hall. It had been agreed on that the nine of you would celebrate privately after the event.

"Gentle, Your Majesty," You admitted. 

Hongjoong smiled in triumph and it almost echoed the smile he had carried from your visions. "I knew it."

"And are you sharing your winnings with me, Your Majesty?" You said mirthlessly.

"Of course," Hongjoong bent his neck, acknowledging certain key members of the clan graciously.

"Of course?" You questioned his easy answer.

"My winnings is time with you and another of my choosing," Hongjoong revealed.

"You betted a damn--" The word threesome, it seemed, couldn't be spit out, "--the first time with me and another?"

"Seemed appropriate, at the time," Hongjoong shrugged.

"Who…" You cleared your throat, "Who did you pick?"

The large doors closed behind you and Hongjoong, a formality more than anything. The others would leave from the door behind the throne and join you in a room prepared for you all. 

Hongjoong let go of your hand and walked with both of his hands held  behind his back as he answered you. "Why, you are mine now, Oracle. And what's yours is mine as well now, it seems."

You made a noise of surprise. "You want Wooyoung? Why?"

"I want to be there, I want to be there to witness your first time with him. I want to be his first as well. I'm a greedy lover, you'll learn soon enough."

You felt like you had just been hit by a book. "Your--"

"--Hongjoong," The leader of your clan corrected you.

"Hongjoong!"

"There, much better." Hongjoong turned suddenly. "It's not going to be very fun if you continue to call me Your Majesty when I'll soon be filling you with my seed."

"Sweetheart!" Wooyoung screeched from the door where everyone was waiting. HIs grin said it all. "Hurry up! We have a bet to settle."

You swore you were going to pull every one of your mates ears in anger at having a damn bet about what kind of vision you were going to have with Hongjoong but the anger melted the minute you entered the room. You felt the overwhelming love and adoration through all your bonds and realized in this moment, you were the most loved you had ever been in your entire life. Perhaps it was worth a little silly moment of frustration.

Still, you couldn't help but scold them a bit. "If I see anyone betting about my visions in the future, I swear I'll make you all rue the day I became your mate!"

CAFÉ ETERNAL SUNSHINE ... bullet - point fic

pairing : poly!ateez x f!reader

genre : cafe au, fluff, established poly relationship

word count : 873

warnings : food, mentions of getting sick from overworking

special tag : @sanjoongie who allowed me to talk about this with her and is mainly inspired by this tiktok [ here ]

you and your eight boyfriends run a cafe together.

four sunshine boyfriends and four grumpy boyfriends with you somewhere in the middle

sunshine boyfriends : hongjoong, yeosang, san, and mingi

grumpy boyfriends : seonghwa, yunho, wooyoung, and jongho

you all run and own a cafe together

you and hongjoong originally started the cafe together before the others just slowly began working there with you both

the cafe as a comedy and tragedy type of aesthetic mixed with some artist vibes with painting down by hongjoong hanging on the walls

the food is very cute and bright and very comedy inspired

while the drinks are more darker and tragedy inspired

you even have a romeo and juliet inspired drink called "true loves poison"

the sunshine boys handle the drinks and the to-go orders

the grumpy boys handle the food and waiting tables

you and wooyoung are in the kitchen making the food and trying not to have a food fight every ten minutes

while all the boys are handsome, yeosang and seonghwa have become kind of like the faces of the cafe

you look on social media and its always you can always find either of the two in at least every single post

some people come to cafe just to see seonghwa and/or yeosang

yeosang is very welcoming and along with the other sunshine boys will have conversations with customers

while seonghwa is more of a "either buy something or get out" type of guy and usually gives off a cold aura to people that try to flirt with him or one of his partners

also– general manager!seonghwa who isn't afraid to kick people out of the cafe he sees them trying to cause a problem

seonghwa is very protective over you and the others

will also immediately rush to the back if he hears wooyoung giggling too loudly because he KNOWS that boy is up to something

eventually the cafe started hosting an open mic night once a month to allow people to come and perform

you and the boys will also perform once in a while

you'll mainly find hongjoong and jongho performing more than you or the others

you originally wanted to do a cat cafe but hongjoong turned it down

san was all for it but you guys got outvoted by the others

so to make up for that, you guys host an special animal adoption day at the cafe every once in a while

probably one of the few times you are seen out of the kitchen as you mostly help with the animals

during these days hongjoong or mingi are usually in the back with wooyoung to help him

the cafe also does special themed drinks and foods inspired by what broadway show is popular at the time

some examples have been six, beetlejuice, heathers, etc.

this are very rare though and very limited time, like maybe a week or two

also do special days that are either comedy discounted or tragedy discounted days

when these days happen you and the others either dress in brightly colored clothes or dark color clothes and the music in the cafe also matches the discount of the day

sometimes the cafe will also stay open into the very early hours of the morning (almost 24/7)

when this happens, you and yunho usually run the cafe by yourself since during this you only serve coffee and biscuits

usually during the late nights you'll get office workers, people who can't sleep, night shift people, or college students looking for a place to study

usually after these shifts, you and yunho crash in bed together for a few hours

hongjoong once tried running the night shift with yunho when you couldn't and hongjoong honestly can't figure out how you do it

"i don't know how you do it, y/n."

like hongjoong, yeosang has also covered yunho's late night shift, and every time he does he says he learns more and more about you each time

you two have been dating for years along with the others and so he thought he knew everything about you

"i think with each night shift, i fall more and more in love with you"

you have a tendency to overwork yourself which has lead to you getting sick a few times

the boys are all the time worried about you and try to get you to take the day off especially after some big event has happened at the cafe

one of the boys – usually san or jongho – also take off so that way you aren't by yourself

speaking of taking off

when either you and wooyoung take off or can't come or something, mingi is always the one to come help in the kitchen

mingi is really great help in the kitchen and usually left to decorate the cakes and such

HOWEVER–

one time both you and wooyoung were gone – you both had went out of town to get new ideas for food, so that left the others to run the kitchen

....

it was a disaster

you and wooyoung left mingi in the kitchen and so mingi brought san into the kitchen to help him

....

next time you both go out of town, you'll just close the cafe until you guys get back

tag list (bold means unable to tag ) : @invuwrld @frankenstein852 @watamotee33 @kawennote09 @mixling-blog @marahleiwhen @kpopnightingale @harry-the-pottypus @rdiamond2727 @sanniesbum @marvelahsobx @khjcoo @mysticfire0435 @exfolitae @kryybebe @dementedaly @simeonswhore @moonm1st @nvmbheart @spooo00oky @frogogh @marsanhwa @kryukyustar @sookacc @seongwin @melomatz @songmingisthighs

network : @cultofdionysusnet

My Everything

Warnings: poly ateez x reader, Wooyoungs a sub, reader is mostly a sub, San is a dom, oral (f receiving), dumbification, 3some, hickeys, breeding kink, might be forgetting more but that's what I have so far.

You hated this. You hated everytime watching as your boyfriend would fight for money. Hated seeing every busted lip and black eye he's gotten. Yet here you were currently wrapping one of his feet as he did the same with his hands. He was always quick to tell you he's doing it for your other boyfriend and you.

He looks down at you as he tightens the wrap around his hand. He grabs your chin and smiles at you. "Don't look so down okay? I promise I'll be fine. I'm always fine." He says smiling at you still.

"I know but I don't want you to get hurt." You tell him.

He sighs. "I know love but I promised you and Wooyoung that I'd do everything in my power to make sure we'd live well off didn't I? And besides I promised you guys I'd save up for rings." He says him bringing your hand up and going over your ring finger.

You knew he was right. You guys wouldn't be making it if it wasn't for San street fighting.

Suddenly the door opens and in walks your other black haired boyfriend. Sunglasses on his head, and in that black and white shirt you had tried convincing him of getting rid of not even a week ago.

"Looks like it's going to be a good night. So many people showed up. A lot of people bet against you so I'm sure we'll be walking away with a lot of money tonight." Wooyoung says coming up to you and San.

You sigh now sitting on the floor. "Well that's good I guess." You say and San nods. He intertwines your fingers together.

Wooyoung comes up beside him and leans his head on his shoulder. "How are you feeling?" He asks San who shrugs.

"Like I do everytime. Nervous, excited, a little scared." San says his other hand intertwining with Wooyoungs.

He looks up at his boyfriend. "You got this. You always got this." He says and San smiles at him.

"Only because of you two." He says and Wooyoung shakes his head.

"We're not the ones training 24/7. You got this San." Wooyoung says and San nods. Wooyoung looks at you and smiles.

You look at your watch that was given to you by San. "What time does he need to be out there?" You ask Wooyoung.

"7:45." He says and your watch reads 7:35. "10 minutes." You say to them. San nods and so does Wooyoung.

"I hate that shirt. You should've thrown it away when I asked you to." You say to Wooyoung. He looks offended.

"Why? I think I look sexy in it." He says to you sitting up. "It does look sexy on you but you need a new one that one looks stretched out." You say to him and he sighs.

"I guess you're right." Wooyoung says realizing he probably did accidentally stretch it out.

You watch as San grabs something from one of his bags nearby. "Here. I heard Y/N asking you to throw it away last week and it does look overstretched." He says handing him a box.

You watch Wooyoung take it and open it and inside is that exact shirt but it doesn't look like it was worn out. "San. You didn't have to." Wooyoung tells his boyfriend.

"But I did." San says smiling at his boyfriend.

You look at San and smile. "That ones going to look even better on you." You tell Wooyoung as he takes that shirt off and puts on the other one quickly.

"I think it's time for you guys to go out there." You tell them when Wooyoung buttons the last one. It showed off his body nicely.

San and Wooyoung nod as they get up and you stand too. "I love you." San says kissing Wooyoung even though he'd be out there right beside him.

"I love you too." Wooyoung says when San pulls away smiling.

San looks at you smiling. "I love you too." He says kissing your lips. His lips are soft and you can't help but want more so you're disappointed when he pulls away.

He looks at you pouting and laughs. "I promise you I'll give you more after." He says his head against yours.

"Okay." You say letting out a breath. You look at Wooyoung who is smiling at you both. "You do look very sexy in it." You tell him and he smirks.

"Are you trying to get me to stay in here and fuck you?" He asks and you laugh. You bring him into a kiss and his lips are just as soft as Sans and you want more from just as much as you wanted more from San. You pull away and smile.

San smiles at yours and Wooyoungs interaction. "Lets go before everyone thinks we forfeit or some shit like that." Wooyoung tells his boyfriend. San laughs. "I wouldn't dream of it." San says he blows you a kiss walking towards the entrance.

"You better not let him get hurt or I'll kill you myself Jung Wooyoung." You tell your boyfriend who just laughs following behind San.

You watch them walk out and you can't help but smile. You pack Sans and Wooyoungs things in their bags hoping you wouldn't miss much because of your messy boyfriends. You pick up Sans phone remembering the night you had met them.

Your friends inviting you to one of Sans street fights. You didn't want to go at first but after your friends were persistent you reluctantly agreed. He was incredible watching.

After the match you had tried finding the bathrooms and got lost and opened a door and you walked into San and Wooyoung making out. Sans hands was on Wooyoungs chin and Wooyoungs hands were in Sans hair as he sat on his lap.

You were not expecting to see the manager of the fighter and the fighter making out. It was Wooyoung who had noticed you first. He smirked at you and grabbed Sans face making him look over at you. Sans eyes got bigger watching you stand in the doorway frozen. He hadn't noticed there was an audience.

"You're pretty." The manager says to you. "I'm Wooyoung, this is San." He says looking at you smirking. San waves shyly at you.

After you unfreeze you immediately get to apologizing. "I'm so sorry. I was just trying to find the bathroom. There's no signs or anything." You explain turning around ready to leave this embarrassing situation.

Suddenly you feel a hand on yours. "Why are you leaving?" Wooyoung says to you pouting. You look back at him.

"Come play with us." Wooyoung says smirk coming to his face again. You look at San who watches wide eyed.

"I don't know about that." You say looking at the ground now.

Wooyoungs hand goes to your chin and makes you look him in the eye. "San doesn't mind. Right?" Wooyoung says looking back at him.

"No. I don't mind." He says and you see his Adams apple bob up and down.

He looks back at you. "Come on pretty." Wooyoung says. "You can say no." San says and you look at him. Wooyoung nods letting you know that's a choice too.

Yet you don't say no. Instead nodding. "That's a yes pretty?" Wooyoung asks you. "Yes." You say and he smiles at you.

"Good choice." He says pulling you into the room. That's how you had met both boys because of Wooyoungs boldness. They had immediately asked you on a date after having sex and you agreed and after many more dates you were currently here.

You look at your watch realizing you've dozed off thinking about your first meeting. Luckily it was 8:00.

You finished the bags and quickly made it out squeezing through the crowd to the front. You watched as the guy throws a punch towards Sans stomach. He replies with one of his own.

The side of Sans lip is bleeding. He has bruises all over his body from the other guy. Sans white beater is now dirty and you can't help but watch as the guy throws a punch towards Sans face. San stumbles back and the guy punches him again. San falls onto the ground with a loud thud as the crowd screams. You're terrified as the guy punches San again in the face.

"San get up!" You yell towards him and he must hear you as the guy goes to his corner because he gets up again, throwing himself in the corner with Wooyoung as Wooyoung pours water on him. You can tell San is exhausted.

"Come on San! You've done this before. You got this! Go out there and kick his ass." Wooyoung says encouraging him.

"I should kick your ass after this." San says and you'd laugh if it wasn't for San being in a lot of pain. He has a new cut on his face.

Wooyoung whispers something to San. San says something back and Wooyoung waves him off to go back in there. You watch as pain flickers across Sans face but he sits up. You can tell he's ready to end this fight because the guy gets up and San gets up with new found confidence.

San walks out the corner and you watch as he steps and spins into the air. Sans form is beautiful as his right leg comes up and swings around. The guy tries blocking but it's too late and San lands a kick straight into his face. The guy fall as San spins out of it. He looks at him tilting his head knowing he's won this and walking around him.

Wooyoung eyes are wide as he comes through the ring a twenty inbetween his lips. He goes through the ropes and to the guy. Yelling in his face along with the crowd "1! 2! 3!" With the guy still out on the ground San sprays water from his mouth into the air in victory as the crowd throws their money into the ring.

You watch as San brings his hands to Wooyoungs face and his head to Wooyoungs as he yells in victory.

You're beyond proud of him as he takes another sip of the water and releases it from his mouth as it comes down like droplets of rain. Wooyoung watches in happiness.

The guys manager helps him up as he walks out of there. The crowd yells for San. A bag of money comes from someone to Wooyoung. San slips through the ring with Wooyoung. They head towards the room. You slip past the crowd in the direction of the room.

You open the door and see Wooyoung opening the bag and pulling out the cash showing it to San. You close the door behind you. "Do you see this Y/N?" San says happily.

You know the adrenaline is pumping through San. "That kick was fucking amazing!" You say going up to him as he picks you up and spins you around.

"No it was so fucking cool! How long have you been practicing that?" Wooyoung says excited about the kick too.

"Like a month." San says happily kissing all over your face.

He moves away and towards the money. "It's so fucking much." San says going through the bag of money.

Wooyoung comes up to you and kissing you. "That's our boyfriend!" Wooyoung says happily and you are just as excited as him.

"I know. I can't believe it sometimes!" You say and he laughs looking at you.

You look at San the smile never leaving his face. "We need to get home and get you cleaned up." You tell him and he nods. "Do you feel it?" You ask him and he shakes his head.

"Nope I think my adrenaline is still pumping." He tells you and you go up to him taking his face in your hands. You look at the cut on the side of his face.

"Luckily it's not too deep." You tell him and you look at the cut on his lip. He wraps his hand around your waist. He goes to kiss you but you put a hand up.

"I love you to death San but I'd rather not taste your blood on my lips." He pouts but nods understanding.

You smile at him and he smiles back. "Let's go home lovebirds. I want to eat and get laid." You roll your eyes smiling at Wooyoung.

"Lets go before he jumps on us and has us having sex here again." San says whispering and pulling away from you reluctantly.

"I heard you and that wasn't on me. You shouldn't have changed in front of me." Wooyoung says grabbing his bag.

San grabs his bag too. "So I can't change my clothes now without you jumping on me?" He says an eyebrow raised as you guys make your way out of the building.

Wooyoung comes beside you and intertwines your fingers together. "Nope." He says and you laugh. San sighs and shakes his head with a smile.

"You look good even without changing and I'd be all over you if it wasn't for the blood and dirt." You say looking at San who smirks.

"Well we definitely need to go home soon now." He says as Wooyoung unlocks the van.

"I call shotgun!" You yell going to the passenger side. San and Wooyoung laugh at you.

"Well you got to get in the back because I'm driving." Wooyoung says laughing. San shakes his head smiling and opens the back of the van climbing inside.

San opens the curtain in the back as Wooyoung gets in and starts the van up. He adjusts the mirror and starts off towards your shared house. You can't help but think to when you found out they were staying in a van but within 2 months of being with you San had managed to save up enough money for a house.

"What are you thinking about?" San says head poking through the curtain.

"Just about when we met and you guys were staying in the van." You say shrugging.

San smiles at you. "That was a fun time wasn't it Woo?" San says to his boyfriend who looks into the mirror for a second at San.

"Yeah. I also remember how many times after your fights we'd fuck in the back." Wooyoung says with a slight smirk.

"Maybe we should do that again sometime." San says hand coming to your face making you look at him.

"We definitely should." Wooyoung says glancing at him again. San looks at Wooyoung for a second who pulls into the house.

As soon as you get into the house and San locks the door you're pressed against it. You're met with Wooyoung who is looking at you. "Going to play nice? Let me fuck you dumb?" He asks you.

You smirk back at him. "Depends. Going to let me play with you?" You ask him back and he nods immediately ready to comply with anything you want.

"Then of course you can." You say smiling at him leading him to the room by his wrist.

As you get in the room you push him against the wall. Your kiss along his throat and he lets out a whine. You pull away from him smirking. "What do you want Woo?" You say hand massaging him through his pants.

"Fuck. Please-Please kiss me." He says letting out a slight whimper as your hand presses down a little more on him.

"Of course I will." You say your lips meeting his. He's desperate in the kiss and you force your tongue in his mouth. He lets out strangled moans as your tongue is exploring inside his mouth. Your hands go to his hair and it meets the sunglasses he was wearing and you throw them onto the ground.

"Starting without me?" San says pressing his body against yours. You pull away from Wooyoung and there's a trail of saliva left between you both.

Sans fingers dig into your hips. "I asked you something." He says voice dark.

"Yes. He was asking so nicely I couldn't help it." You say to San who chuckles.

"Of course you can't help it. You're just as cock hungry as he is." San says flipping you around and forcing you on the side of Wooyoung. "My stupid cock hungry babies." San says his face now cleaned up and there's a scar now on his cheek and the blood on his lip is gone but you can still see the mark.

"Can't think about anything than cock huh?" San says to you and you nod.

His hand goes to Wooyoungs face who has been watching the whole time. "Going to be a good boy and fuck her good for me?" He asks Wooyoung who nods quickly earning a chuckle from San who moves his hand from Wooyoungs face now.

"Do a good job and I'll fuck you pretty boy." San tells him and Wooyoung nods eagerly. San pulls away from you and Wooyoung latches onto you. His mouth going to your throat and sucking it.

Your skin darkens as he leaves hickeys along it. His hands go to your shirt pulling it above you and he immediately latches back onto your body leaving hickies. You moan hand going to his own shirt. His mouth connects to yours once again. You unbutton it and Wooyoung doesn't let you pull from the kiss as you do it instead forcing his tongue deeper into your mouth and you moan against him.

He pulls away letting you catch your breath as he pulls you onto the bed. He makes quick work of your pants throwing it on the ground somewhere. He goes to leaving hickies against your neck again and he unbuttons your bra and you let it slip off of you as he throws that to the ground too.

He immediately takes one of your boobs in his mouth and your hands go to his hair again. You let out moans as Wooyoung pinches and pulls at your other boob. "Please Woo!" You say whining. He switches and takes your other boob in his mouth and sucks against it while toying with your other spit covered boob.

"Fuck Woo- Please." You say and you try pulling him off and guiding you to your pussy knowing how amazing his tongue is against your clit but you get a slap on the thigh.

"Patience baby. Let our Woo have his fun." He says hand rubbing against your thigh that he slapped just seconds ago.

Wooyoung slurps your boob and circles his tongue around it. He pulls away leaving kisses on your stomach and trailing down. He places a kiss against your clothed pussy and you whine wanting more. Wooyoung knows that and takes his time peeling your soaked panties from your core.

Your slick has your panties sticking to you as he pulls it away but Wooyoung just watches with pride filling his chest at how wet you had gotten just from him playing with your nipples.

"Look how wet she is Woo. It's all because of you pretty boy." San says to his boyfriend running a hand through his hair as he throws your soaked panties to the ground. Without much thinking Wooyoung licks your pussy making you moan out.

It's like music to his ears as he immediately shoves his face into your cunt. He licks nonstop causing you to let out moan after moan. Your hands go back to his hair as you roll your hips into his face but Wooyoung brings his hands to your hips stopping you from rolling against his tongue.

You let out moans as Wooyoung works his tongue deep into you and you can't do anything but let him. It seemed to be Wooyoungs favorite thing. He loved hearing the sounds you made as he flicked his tongue towards your clit and as he shoved his tongue into your cunt.

He watched as you got close your high drawing near as he ate you out like a starved man and to Wooyoung he was. He needed to taste your cum against his tongue.

Your moans are getting louder as you draw nearer and he doesn't stop his pace throwing you into an orgasm as your body arched off the bed. You could swear that you saw stars as your eyes rolled back. As you come down Wooyoung is still eating you out and you can't help but whimper from overstimulation and he doesn't seem like he's going to stop but San grabs Wooyoungs hair pulling him off your cunt. Your release and his own spit is dripping from his face and you almost cum again at the sight.

"Don't be greedy." He says to him. Wooyoung whines but nods as San licks from his throat and up all the way to his mouth. He pushes his tongue inside Wooyoungs mouth who whimpers.

San makes out with Wooyoung which is mostly filled with teeth and tongue. You can't help but get worked up again watching as San lifts Wooyoungs head up so he can make out with him better.

San pulls away and looks at you as Wooyoungs eyes are glazed over. "Look at her being so good. Watching us make out and not saying anything like a good girl." San says looking back at Wooyoung who nods and his eyes fall on you again.

"Did so good. Going to fuck her so I can reward you?" San asks and Wooyoung nods biting his lip completely out of it. He takes off his pants and his boxers. He looks at you as San moves away and he kisses your chest once more and intercepts your lips in another kiss and you can't help but moan as you feel him press at your entrance.

He slowly pushes into you making you whine out and lets out a whine of his own as he pushes inch by inch into you.

He bottoms out letting out a breath that he was holding and you whine. He sits there as your cunt squeezes around his cock and he thinks he might cum even before he can fuck you.

"So tight." He mumbles as he slowly fucks into you. His head goes to your neck as you moan and he whimpers out.

You let out moans of Wooyoung as he speeds his thrusts up. "Going to cum." Wooyoung says and he can't help but leave more hickies on your neck making you moan out more.

"Fuck. M-me too Woo." You say and he's at this point losing control and thrusting sloppily into you but you can't care, not when he's breathing heavy into your ear and whispering about how tight you are clenching around him.

Before you know it you're thrown into another orgasm. You go limp against Wooyoung as little black dots cloud your vision.

As you come down once again Wooyoung is still fucking into you chasing his own orgasm and you whimper overstimulated once again but San comes up to you and runs a hand through your hair. "Come on just a little bit longer. Wooyoung was such a good boy doesn't he deserve to cum too." San says and you nod.

"Going to cum. Fuck please let me cum inside you. I'm a good boy I promise. I've been so good havent I? Please let me." He pleads with you.

San runs a hand along Wooyoungs back and he whines. "Going to let him get you pregnant? Want a baby with Woo? He was such a good boy. Don't you want to show him how good he was?" San says and you nod. Those words had you going crazy and you can't help but agree. You were on birth control and Wooyoung felt too good in you to not let him.

"Please Woo." Comes out of your mouth and with your permission Wooyoung cums inside you painting your insides with his cum.

He lets out deep breaths as he tries steadying his breathing. He lays against you for a little bit in a slight daze pulling out of you but feels San behind him lining up. "Did so good fucking our pretty baby. Want your reward now?" San asks his boyfriend who whines and nods desperately. San grabs some of your release and Wooyoungs using it as lube around his cock.

San presses inside Wooyoung who whimpers and San lets out a moan. Wooyoung can't even keep his body up as San starts fucking him. His front half comes against you as he drools over your body. It was such a sight to see as Wooyoung is pretty much fucked out and letting San use him as he wants.

"You can fuck our baby one more time right? Fucking her full as I fuck you full of my cum?" San says to Wooyoung who hears that and finds some kind of energy and pushes inside you but he doesn't have the strength to fuck you as he did earlier. It's mostly San pushing inside him that shoves him inside you. Yet it was still good causing you to let out moans along with San and Wooyoung.

Wooyoung though is pretty much fucked dumb at this point and you were at that point too. "Going to cum inside you." San says to the boy under him and he has no reply letting San do the work for both him and you.

One of Sans sharp thrusts has Wooyoungs eyes rolling back and cumming inside you again and you cum along with him. You think you might pass out but luckily you don't and you watch as San cums inside Wooyoung.

He stays there for a minute or two catching his breath. He pulls out of Wooyoung as Wooyoung lets out a whine. You make grabby hands for San and he lets you hold his hand as Wooyoung lays against your chest.

"I need to get a bath ready for us. We're all sticky and we need to get cleaned baby." He says and you reluctantly let go of him letting him go to the bathroom and turn the water on. He comes back out and grabs clothes from your shared drawers.

Wooyoungs eyes are closed and you wonder if he ended up passing out. San comes back in and he looks at Wooyoung. San grabs Wooyoungs hips. "Come on Woo. You got to get out of her so I can get you guys cleaned up." Wooyoung lets out a whine but he slowly pushes out of you.

"Come here." San says grabbing Wooyoung who had laid back down on your chest. He lifts Wooyoung and puts his arms under him taking him to the bathtub.

Your eyes are barely open and it could've been seconds or minutes but San comes back in and gently lifts you into his arms. He steps into the tub with you and places you down. You're more aware of your surroundings but Wooyoung isn't so you move so San can grab Wooyoung and place him in his lap.

"Did so good." San says washing Wooyoung off who lets San move him however he likes so he can wash him. You lay your head against his shoulder and he smiles at you.

"You did so good too." San says softly. You snuggle into his side some more as he finishes cleaning Wooyoung.

"Know you weren't expecting to get cummed inside." He tells you and you nod as he brings you in front of him so he can wash you off too.

"Woo was telling me a few weeks ago about how he liked the idea of getting you pregnant and so I knew you were on birth control but just in case I went and bought some plan b." San says washing you off and you nod once again.

San washes quickly and gets out of the tub first. He wraps a towel around you placing you on the counter and you lean back as San helps Wooyoung who is still out of it out of the tub. Wooyoung falls into him and luckily San still had his hands on his hips.

You watch as San drys him off. You get off the counter hoping your feet are stable so you can help San with your boyfriend. You don't fall but your legs are a little wobbly. You grab the hoodie San had sitting for him and San lifts Wooyoungs arms so you can place it over him.

You grab the boxers and the sweatpants that San had placed and some way without falling successfully put on him.

"Think you can hold him for a little bit while I get changed fast?" San asks you and you nod. You grab Wooyoung from San and he leans against you and with the little energy you have left hold onto him. San quickly throws his clothes on and takes him from you.

"Thank you Sweetheart." San says to you as he picks up Wooyoung and takes him to the room placing him on the bed.

You had no energy left as you leaned against the counter to keep you up. San comes back in and quickly grabs you noticing your body giving out on you now. "I'm here baby." He says as you fall against him.

"Lets get you changed and I'll order food. How does that sound?" He says and you nod in his arms.

"Good. Do you think you can lean on me while I put your clothes on?" He says and you nod.

He puts your clothes on you and picks you up. "Did so good for me and Woo." He says placing you into the bed upright.

"Here. This is the plan b tilt your head back." He says as he places it in your mouth and grabs the water bottle that he had placed there and you do as he says. You gulp the water and pill down. He places you under the blankets.

"Good girl." He says grabbing his phone from the nightstand. He looks up the phone number for the nearest takeout place and steps out the room.

You turn on your side looking at Wooyoung. He opens his eyes slightly and he's met with you. "How are you feeling?" You ask him and he blinks once again.

"Tired." He says and you nod. You move his hair from his forehead and he grabs you pulling you into the hoodie that was currently covering him.

"I love you." He says placing a hand on your face and you smile at him.

"Love you more Woo." You say back and he smiles.

San walks back into the room. "Good you're awake." San says coming to the bed climbing in behind you.

"Yeah no thanks to you." Wooyoung says and San laughs.

"Sorry about that love." San says and Wooyoung smiles at him tiredly.

"It's okay." Wooyoung says as San reaches over intertwining their fingers.

You flip around looking at San who smiles at you. You look at the marks on his face and you can't help but bring your fingers to them. Barely touching them you run a finger over it. "Why are you staring at me like that?" San asks you and you raise an eyebrow at him.

"Like what?" You reply back hand still on his face.

"Like I'm your everything." San says to you and you smile.

"Because you and Wooyoung are my everything." You tell him and he smiles.

"You and Wooyoung are also my everything." He tells you.

"You and San are also my everything." Wooyoung says sleepily and kisses your shoulder.

"I'm going to marry you both one day. We're going to have a big wedding you know." You and Wooyoung hum in agreement at Sans words.

"Me and Y/N are also going to get married." Wooyoung says to you.

You smile at both boys words knowing you'd love to marry both of them. As San continues talking about your futures together you slowly drift off dreaming about everything he says.

note : just something short and sweet since i haven't posted in a while! hope you enjoy it!

wooyoung was many things. but the main thing is that he was loving. he made sure to show his members how much he loved them. you included.

"give the member you are proud of the most a hug," wooyoung read out loud for all of you to hear. you and the others nodded your head at wooyoung's mission, and you watched as he took a few steps forward.

to you, you thought it would be obvious what member he would pick. definitely either hongjoong or yeosang, maybe san or seonghwa if he was feeling extra spicy. however, you're proved wrong when he walks past all of them and you make eye contact with the dancer.

and then he's stopping in front of you.

you're caught off guard by him, like always, and it shows how unpredictable wooyoung is. you don't say anything as you look at him, letting him guide you so that the cameras catch the both of you. you probably look a little awestruck at your member. thinking that he never really bothered to pay close attention to you.

"the member i'm proud of the most is our y/nnie," he says, eyes never looking away from you as a large grin paints his face, and his hands holding yours tightly. "she always works harder than the rest of us, even when she thinks we don't notice. despite rarely asking for help, i notice that she tries her best to always solve something herself. i want out y/n to know that's not alone. she's capable, beautiful, and talented and i want her to know that she has not only me to lean on, but seven others as well," he finishes and you can't help but feel tears build in your eyes at his words.

"yah! look at you wooyoung, you made her cry!" some of the others shout when they notice how glassy your eyes suddenly got. wooyoung coos at you, his hands coming up to wipe away your tears before he's bringing you into a tight hug. his arms wrapping you protectively as he holds you close to him.

"i love you, y/nnie," he whispers into you ear, "i'm sorry i don't tell you enough, but i'm so proud of you for how far you've come with us."

by this point the other members have decided to join in on the hug, surrounding the two of you.

thankfully, the staff give you all a small minute to recollect yourself and to have your makeup touched up. however, you and wooyoung continue to stand on set, hugging each other despite the others having walked off.

"you've done so well, y/n. i'm so proud," he says one last time before finally stepping away. he uses his thumbs to wipe away any remaining tears before he's leaning down and kissing you.

when he pulls away, its then that hongjoong comes and ushers the two of you off the set and over to the makeup artists. he promptly scolds wooyoung as well for being so reckless, but wooyoung can only smile and send you a wink.

THE WATERFALL … mature one - shot

pairing : dragon!seonghwa x witch!f!reader (background poly dragon ateez)

genre : dragon au, fantasy, smut

word count : 1.9k

warnings : language, mating / concept of mating, unprotected sex, slight breeding kink, pet names (love, little witch, princess), marking

note : just something short while i write a longer piece lol also i miss this au and needed to do something with dragon!hwa. suffer with @sanjoongie everyone

seonghwa takes you to a secret place within the land of the clan and you experience something different with the eldest prince.

"watch your step," seonghwa says as he leads you through the dense forest. you note how warm his hand is around yours and you've come to the conclusion that all dragons are made to feel warm.

"will you tell me where we're going?" you ask softly, once you step over a large tree root and down some rocky sides. you note the sound of water and wonder if there is a river nearby.

"its a surprise," he says turning to look at you with a wide grin, and you hold back wanting to roll your eyes at him.

ever since you had saved seonghwa from the dragon hunters and came back to clan, you and him have grown significantly closer. you notice that this is much to the dismay of some of the other princes; however, to yeosang and mingi they were to delighted to see the two of you together.

"if we take too long, wooyoung might come look for us," you tease and seonghwa hums in reply before speaking.

"then let him come find us. i'm sure he'll enjoy what i have planned," he says, a smirk overtaking his features. you felt your heart skip a beat at his words as you felt a chill run down your spine. "we are close, close your eyes for me."

"how do i know you won't leave me here?" you question and originally it was meant to be a joke; however, you are quick to dismiss it once you notice seonghwa's face fall. "i-i was just–

"i won't leave you, ever. i promise on my life, y/n," he says as he stands facing you as he takes both of your hands in his own. "do you trust me?"

that's the big question. if he had asked you that when you first arrived at the clan, you would have said no, but now? did you trust him?

"i do trust you," you answer, licking your lips as you look him in the eyes.

"then close your eyes, my little witch," he says and you nod before doing as he says as you allow him to guide you through more of the forest. the sounds of water getting louder and louder.

you fell seonghwa move around to behind you, his body pressing flush against your backside and you can't help but a blush run over you due to the closeness. his breath is hot against your ear as his hands settle on your waist.

"okay, open them," he says and you are immediately greeted by the sight of a beautiful waterfall in front of you.

"wow," you say, taking in the sight before you.

"this waterfall is a secret place within the clan. only the head of the clan and his mates know about it," seonghwa explains and you suddenly can't help the cold rush roll over you at his words.

but you and hongjoong aren't mates. the prince still refuses to acknowledge you as his mate's mate and here seonghwa is showing you something that only hongjoong and his mates know of?

"p-prince seonghwa," you say turning around, eyes wide. "are you... are you sure we should be here? what if prince hongjoong–

"don't be scared of hongjoong," he says and you feel flabbergasted by his words. don't be scared of hongjoong? impossible.

seonghwa seems to notice the fear in your eyes, "whether he wants to admit it or not, you are our mate. his mate and he will eventually accept it. if it makes you feel better then just know that i asked if i could bring you here."

"and he said yes?"

"well... not originally, but i can be persuasive when i need to be," he says giving you week and you feel a blush rush to your face again when you realize what he means.

"i still feel like i'm invading in his space," you confess and seonghwa let out a hum at your words before he taking a few steps away from you and towards the water.

"well it can't be helped if you feel that, but since we are here... why don't you help me bath?" he says turning to look at you as he slowly begins to undress himself. "what do you say, princess, come help me?"

the water is cold when you first step into it. you let out a gasp at the coldness before you will yourself to take more steps into it. seonghwa's bare back is facing you after having asked him to turn around until you were in the water. you noticed how hard he was trying to remain still, his fist clenched tightly by his sides.

"i guess i should have warned you about the water, but dragon's don't necessarily feel the cold like humans do," he says as he roles his shoulders.

"its okay, i'm use to it with wooyoung," you tell him before your submerging your whole body and swimming further into the lake. "you can turn around now," you say and seonghwa waste no time in doing so and he spins so fast that you're worried he might give himself whiplash from it.

seonghwa waste no time in undressing and stepping into the water and you have to look away because of how carefree he is in the moment. as much as you would like to have looked at him in his full glory, you weren't mated yet and you couldn't help but feel like a perv if you did look at him.

seonghwa swims over to you and you allow him to pull you in close to him. your bodies flushed against each other and you have to suppress the moan that threatens to escape when your nipples rub against his chest. his other hand runs down your spine before tracing over the curve of your ass before he's lifting your leg to hook around his waist.

"prince seonghwa..." you say trailing off as you two make eye contact.

"call me seonghwa," he says as he rests his forehead against your own and when he moves, his lips just very so slightly brush over yours. "will you let me love you, princess? let me mate with you and fill you up?"

you felt your heart skip a beat at his words, like it was back when you and wooyoung had mated for the first time all over again.

"yes, please," you say and the dragon smiles before he's pressing his lips to yours in a heated kiss. you're quick to wrap your arms around his neck as your other leg came up to rest around his waist as well.

you felt your body stick his own thanks to the water. you couldn't help but moan when seonghwa begins to roll his hips, his cock rubbing between your folds and just barely missing your entrance. seonghwa pulls away from your lips in order his trail his own down your jaw and neck. his tongue pressing against wooyoung's and yeosang's marks before he's trailing down your chest.

"ah, seonghwa!" you cry out as you feel him sheath himself inside of you, filling you up like how wooyoung and yeosang have done so many times before the eldest dragon.

"f-fuck," he moans as you clench around him before he begins to move his hips. the water around the two of you moves in small waves and it reminds you of when wooyoung and you would take baths together back at your cottage. the way too small bathtub just barely being able to fit the two of you as wooyoung's wandering hands make you sit on his cock and by the end of the bath, the water would be cold and half of it would be out of the tub and in the floor.

however, this is different. seonghwa holds you close to him as he rocks his hips and the tip of his cock repeatedly hitting your sweet spot over and over again.

"h-hwa," you moan as you feel your head fall backwards, but seonghwa stops you from fulling submerging your head under the water. he presses his lips to your left shoulder and presses a strong kiss to it before you him nibble at your skin. you run your hands down his back, your nail probably leaving a trail of red lines. you can't help but hope that one of the others will notice and know what you and seonghwa did together.

"can i mark you, princess? make you my mate like yeosangie and wooyoung have?"

"yes, yes, yes! please!" you say when he picks up the speed of his thrust and even the water doesn't seem to pose an issue to his ministrations. you let out a loud cry when you felt seonghwa bite down on your shoulder, his teeth sinking into your skin and marking you as one of his mates.

you feel seonghwa moan into your skin before he's pulling away slightly in order to lick at the wound. you feel a mixture of pleasure and pain coursing through your body. pain from your left shoulder and pleasure from seonghwa continuing to abuse your pussy.

you can't help but feel a mixture of emotions crash over you in waves. not only the pleasure and pain, but over just an overwhelming sense of joy and comfort. joy because of how happy you are to be with seonghwa in this moment, to know that you're relationship has changed and grew so much, but the comfort.

the comfort was what made tears well up in your eyes. knowing that seonghwa finally accepted you as a mate, accepted you as a part of the clan and a part of himself. you couldn't help but let out a small sob rip through you.

"y/n?" seonghwa's voice crashes through your thoughts and he's looking at you with wide, concern eyes. "what's wrong, love? did i hurt you?"

"no," you say with a smile, tears running down your face as you, "i'm just happy," you add on as the eldest dragon prince leans his forehead against your own. "thank you, seonghwa."

"don't thank me. if anything i should be the one thanking you for giving me a chance," he says with a soft smile, you note how his thrust have slowed down a little bit, but not completely stoped. the two of you share another kiss before seonghwa is doing one last thrust into you before you're clenching around him and cumming.

he groans into your lips before he doing several more thrust and then stilling inside of you. his cum painting the inside of your walls white and you can't help but clench even more in an attempt to keep all of him inside of you.

"if you keep clenching around me, princess, i might not be able to pull out," he teases as he trails his lips down your body. he begins to slowly move backwards in the water and the air around you sending goosebumps over your body.

seonghwa grins when he notices and pulls you close to him once you both are out of the water. he sets you done on the ground, back against a large rock that was near the edge of the water before he's hovering over you.

"want to go another round?" he asks, smirk gracing his lips and you can't help but laugh at him. you open your mouth to answer but the sound of someone else stops you.

"hey! what are you two doing? seonghwa, you bastard, you better not be hurting my mate!" wooyoung's voice is loud as he comes crashing through the tree line. seonghwa seems surprised by how wooyoung was able to find you both, but you don't seem phased by it.

"i told you, he would come look for us if we were gone for too long."

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network : @cultofdionysusnet

UNBREAKABLE GLASS, BREAKABLE HEART ... drabble

YOU ARE MY UNIVERSE | CALMING DAYS | SWEET HOME

pairing : san x f!reader (background poly ateez)

genre : non-idol au, hurt / comfort, established relationship

warnings : langauge, being forgotten, some crying

suffer with me tag : @sanjoongie

in the rush of the moment, the boys forget something important on their way to their vacation.

you woke up with an odd feeling in your stomach. why this was happening, you weren't sure. but you opted to push to the side as you got out of bed and made your way to the kitchen.

and then it hit you that the apartment you shared with eight other people – your boyfriends – was silent. there wasn't another soul in sight nor could you hear anyone but your own breathing.

where were they?

then you had a second realization that today you all were suppose to travel to the beach for a small vacation. san had been begging for you all to take a trip together. telling hongjoong and seonghwa that it had been years since they last went on one.

"we need to go on one now that y/n has officially moved in," that was what finally made hongjoong and seonghwa agree. the two eldest thinking it would be a good idea to go on vacation with you.

yet here you were sitting on the couch by yourself, alone. you didn't want to admit it, but was obvious they had forgotten you. you tried to bite back the tears that threatened to spill. it just an accident, you think to yourself, they didn't mean to forget you.

you reach for your phone, wanting to check to see if they messaged you, but only the black screen of your phone stared at you. dead. that explains why your alarm didn't go off this morning.

"oh? who had gummy bears?" seonghwa asks as he brings out the pack of gummy bears that was in their travel snack bag. seonghwa turned to look at his lovers who all looked at him in equal confusion. that is until wooyoung spoke up from the back.

"oh! those of y/nnie's! she loves those gummy bears!"

"isn't y/n in the other car though?" yunho asks from the driver's seat, looking at his lover through the rearview mirror.

"then why is her snack with us and not with the others?" seonghwa asks, seemingly getting more confused by the second.

that's when realization hit san like a truck, a loud gasp leaving his lips causing the other males in the car to look at him.

"we left y/n at home!"

"WHAT!?" yunho is quick to pull off on to the side of the road. him and seonghwa quickly turn to look at both males in the back. only seconds later does the car hongjoong was driving also pull over.

"what's wrong?" hongjoong asks, confused on why yunho pulled over.

"we have to go home!" san begins, "we forgot y/n!" he says, feeling tears start to brim his eyes at realizing how hurt you must be feeling right now.

"what? but wasn't wooyoung suppose to make sure that everyone was up and ready? she was your buddy wooyoung," jongho says causing everyone to look at the male could looked surprised by the information. in other words... he forgot.

"damnit, wooyoung!" hongjoong says, anger seething through him as he glares at his younger boyfriend.

"i'm sorry! i guess i just got distracted by everything else. and besides, you were the one rushing everyone out the door! you should have noticed she was missing too!" wooyoung says back.

"listen," yeosang begins, "we don't have time to be arguing like this. we all obviously can't go back, so why don't half of us keep going to the beach house, while the other half goes back."

"we'll go back," san says, and no one objects.

"try calling her and let her know you are on your way, okay?" hongjoong says and seonghwa nods before they are all getting back in their respective cars.

"i can't believe you forgot your buddy," san says to wooyoung as they are on their way back to the apartment.

"shut up! i already feel bad enough as it is," wooyoung says, another wave of guilt rushing over him.

"stop blaming wooyoung," seonghwa says, phone pressed to his ear as he's trying to call you. "we are all to blame for th– ah! baby, are you okay?" seonghwa cuts himself off when he hears you pick up.

"i'm fine," you say, but seonghwa can tell by your tone that you've been crying. the thought makes his heart break.

"listen, baby, we are on our way back to get you okay? we'll be there in about half an hour," he tells you.

"okay," you sound dejected and it makes his stomach twist. this was suppose to be a fun and memorable vacation. one where he would have taken pictures for the scrapbook you got him. it wasn't suppose to have such a heart-breaking start.

"let me talk to her," san says, leaning over and holding his hand out. seonghwa hands him his phone.

"hey pretty," san says greeting you, "are you okay?"

"y-yeah, i'm fine," he hears you take a deep breath, "happy birthday, sannie."

"thank you, baby. remember you told me last night," he says, not being able to fight the smile that appears on his face.

"i know... i just wanted to tell you again," you say, voice falling quieter near the end. "you guys don't have to come back," you say after a moment, "you shouldn't be wasting time coming back to get me. i'm fine by myself."

"yeah, well, we aren't fine knowing you're by yourself. this vacation is for all of us. you included, got it?"

"got it," you say softly.

"i'll see you when we get back," san says and he hears you hum out a small bye before hanging up. san hands the phone back to seonghwa before he's turning to wooyoung. "you better get on the ground and beg for forgiveness when we pick her up."

san is the first one to enter the apartment when they get back. the other three trailing behind him as they step inside. and san doesn't waste any time calling out for you.

the four of them hear your feet padding across the floor and you emerge around the corner. san can't help the blush that covers his face when he takes in how cutely you're dressed. however, before he could say anything, wooyoung is shoving him aside in order to run up to you. the younger male dropping to his knees, arms wrapping around your legs as begins to semi-fake cry.

"y/nnie, i'm so sorry. i didn't mean to forget my seat buddy. i love you so much, you know that right?" wooyoung says making you smile at him. you nod your head, running a hand through his hair to comfort him. "but in all fairness, its hongjoong's fault one-hundred percent."

"wooyoung!" seonghwa's voice is stern as he stops wooyoung from trying to pass the blame. you then see him look up at you with soft eyes, "we are all to blame, really. i'm sorry, baby."

"i'm sorry too, i know the others all feel just as bad," yunho says making you give them a sad smile in return.

"can i just... can i just have a hug, please?" all four males don't waste anytime in giving you a group hug. after that, san gives you an extra one while yunho takes your bag and the other three begin to head down to the car.

"i'm sorry we left you, y/n. i don't think i'll ever be able to forgive myself," he tells you, hiding his face in your neck.

"but you came back for me, didn't you?" you say, making san lift his head to look at you.

"yeah, we did," he says before kissing you. when he pulled away, san gave you a smile before linking hands with you and walking down to the car where you join the others.

tag list (bold is unable to tag ) : @invuwrld @frankenstein852 @watamotee33 @kawennote09 @mixling-blog @marahleiwhen @kpopnightingale @harry-the-pottypus @rdiamond2727 @sanniesbum @marvelahsobx @khjcoo @mysticfire0435 @exfolitae @kryybebe @dementedaly @simeonswhore @moonm1st @nvmbheart @spooo00oky @frogogh @marsanhwa @kryukyustar @sookacc @seongwin @melomatz @ad0rechuu

YOU ARE MY UNIVERSE … drabble

pairing : seonghwa x f!reader (background poly ateez)

genre : non-idol au, hurt / comfort cause it wouldn’t be a smalls fic without it

warnings : language, feeling a little self conscious in a new relationship, bloody nose, crying

you’re worried seonghwa doesn’t like the gift you made him.

you’re pretty sure seonghwa doesn’t like your present you got him. you say pretty sure because when he opened it, he had a totally different reaction than when he opened one of the other’s gifts.

wide smiles and even a few kisses or hugs if they were in his reach. but for you, he simply looks at it before looking at you with a closed mouth smile and said “thank you” before putting it aside to open hongjoong’s.

his reaction took you off guard but thankfully you managed to hide it until he was fully done with his presents. was your gift really that bad? so bad that he didn’t even want to fully open it.

you knew making a scrapbook was a bad idea, you don’t know why you let your friend tell you otherwise. they probably have a ton of scrapbooks knowing hongjoong, so you making one just meant nothing.

you honestly just want to take the damn thing and runaway. runaway from here and never show your face again. they wouldn’t notice anyways.

once he was done opening gifts, everyone quickly got up and started moving around in order to set up for movie night. of course seonghwa wanted to watch all the star wars movies and so everyone was quick to compile with the birthday boy.

you remained in your seat in fear of being in the way and yeosang was quick to find a seat next to you. his hand resting on your leg and giving it a small squeeze. however, you don’t say anything as your eyes remain on your scrapbook that’s at the bottom of gifts pile.

“does he… does he not like the gift?” you asked yeosang, voice hushed as to not attract anyone else’s attention.

“he does,” is all yeosang says and it doesn’t do a lot to convince you.

honestly you don’t know why you’re beating yourself up over this so much. it’s just a gift. but this is also the first birthday you are celebrating with your new boyfriends, having only just joined the relationship several months ago. you would have been here for yunho’s birthday if you didn’t get sick last minute. so you were worried about getting something seonghwa would like in fear that a bad gift would just make him and the others not want to be with you anymore.

it’s stupid but this is your first relationship and you have no idea what happens.

“honestly, i think he might be tired of scrapbooks,” yeosang says as he stretches a little bit and snapping you out of your thoughts. “hongjoong use to make so many of them. one for each of us, i’m surprised you don’t have one,” he adds and the more he talks, the more self conscious you continue to feel.

did your gift simply just seem like another annoyance to him then? another thing to sit on a bookshelf in their apartment?

sure you might not have as many photos with them as they have with each other. that’s honestly what three years does compared to not even six months. but you had hoped that you could continue to fill it up as you all continued in your relationship.

should you just leave and take your stupid scrapbook with you?

suddenly, you stand up and try to make your way to your bag about to start spouting some excuse on why you need to leave. however, you don’t get far as you trip over something on the floor, falling fast to the floor.

your whole body makes contact with the floor with a hard thud which causes everyone to freeze. you can’t help the embarrassment run through your body as tears well up in your eyes thanks to a mix of embarrassment, pain, and all the other emotions you were feeling before this.

your ears are ringing but you can thankfully hear everyone rushing over to you. yeosang and san being the ones to help you sit up as everyone else hovers around you.

“damnit wooyoung!” you hear hongjoong scold, “i told you not to leave your slippers around, that someone could trip!”

“i’m sorry!” you hear the male say just as seonghwa comes into view, his face full of concern as he reaches out for you.

“fuck, her nose is bleeding, jongho go get some tissues,” seonghwa says as he looks to the youngest before back at you. “are you okay, dove? can you stand up?”

“i- i don’t…” you trail off feeling out of breath as you hold your head in your hands and watch as some blood drips onto the floor. you feel embarrassed for causing such a scene and your tears soon join your blood on the floor.

“oh y/n, why are you crying?” he asks once jongho gives him some tissues and he’s wiping the blood away before holding some to your nose.

“i’m… i’m so sorry for ruining your birthday,” you say, voice sounding sort of comedic if in any other situation.

“you didn’t ruin anything,” hongjoong says as he comes to sit next to you, his hand running up and down your back to calm you down.

“but i got you such a terrible gift and now i got blood on your floor when you all could be watching star wars by now,” you say as more tears pour out and each of the guys feel their hearts clench at how upset you sound about it all.

“that blood is easy to clean up and we’ve seen star wars thousands of times,” seonghwa says as he pulls the tissues away from your nose in order to wipe your tears away. “and your gift isn’t terrible. i was just surprised because no one else has ever given me something so special before aside from joongie. it reminded me of when me and him first started dating and he got me a scrapbook for my birthday too.”

“i could tell seonghwa was trying not to cry,” hongjoong teases as he continues to rub your back.

“i’m sorry my reaction made you think i didn’t like it. i should have shown more appreciation towards you and the gift. i do love it, please don’t think that i hate it,” he says as he cups your face in order to squish your cheeks together cutely. “you’re too pretty to cry, my darling dove. dry your tears,” he says before leaning over to kiss you.

“can someone help me to the bathroom?” you ask quietly, feeling taken aback by seonghwa’s words.

“i’ll help her,” hongjoong says as he helps you stands and walks you to the bathroom, “go ahead and start the movie without us,” he adds.

you take a few minutes to compose yourself. your emotions all swarming around inside your head along with seonghwa words. he liked it? he really liked it? that scrapbook that you were damning only minutes ago, he liked it?

“y/n, are you okay?” hongjoong asks, knocking gently on the door.

“i’m fine,” you say before opening the door and allowing hongjoong to guide you back to the living room where he quickly has you sitting next to seonghwa and wooyoung.

it feels weird sitting here, your usual seat being on the loveseat that you usual share with yeosang or sometimes even by yourself. it’s odd being in hongjoong’s spot next to seonghwa, but the birthday boy happily welcomes you sitting next to him as the first episode of star wars plays, lighting up the otherwise dark living room.

“thank you for the scrapbook, i really do love it and i can’t wait to fill it with memories,” he says taking your hand into his.

“i can’t either, happy birthday seonghwa.”

tag list : @invuwrld @frankenstein852 @watamotee33 @kawennote09 @mixling-blog @marahleiwhen @kpopnightingale @harry-the-pottypus @rdiamond2727 @sanniesbum @marvelahsobx @khjcoo @mysticfire0435 @exfolitae @kryybebe @dementedaly @simonswhore @cvpitvno @kangskims

CALMING DAYS … drabble

pairing : poly!ateez x f!reader

genre : non-idol au, fluff, late birthday, new relationship

warnings : language, yn is sick, mentions of throwing up, not being able to fully sleep, mentions of food

you miss yunho’s birthday because you got sick, but surprisingly you don’t have to nurse yourself back to health alone.

you felt like shit. your whole body was exhausted but no matter how hard you tried, you just couldn’t rest. it was like everytime you closed your eyes, you would just immediately wake up — unfortunately it was always to throw up, but thankfully that stopped a few hours ago.

but of course you had to get sick when something important was happening. i.e yunho’s birthday. you were mad at yourself for getting sick and having to tell your boyfriends — it felt weird calling them that — that you would be unable to make it.

“are you okay?” yeosang’s voice is full of concern as you speak to him over the phone. you honestly had to will yourself to even open your eyes, your energy nonexistent even if it was just to make a phone call.

“i’m just a little sick right now. stomach bug, nothing to worry about,” you tell him as you try not to fall asleep, his voice doing wonders in lulling you back slowly into dreamland.

“i’m sorry you feel bad baby, do you want me to stop by later?”

you don’t have enough energy to answer, only letting out a small hum in response. you really wanted to tell him no, don’t come over but you’re not entirely sure if he got the message or not.

“tell yunho… i said happy birthday and… sorry,” you say still drifting off. you hear yeosang let out a small chuckle and the sound sounds nice to hear and you almost ask him to do it again.

“i will baby, you just rest and i’ll see you later, okay?”

“hmm, okay,” you say before pulling the phone away and hanging up. you toss the phone to the side before rolling over and allowing sleep to welcome you once more.

when you wake up, you’re welcomed to the sight of yunho sitting at the edge of your bed. his hand rest gently against your forehead, feeling your fever you can only assume.

“yunho… what are you doing… here?” you’re a little surprised to see him and despite him touching you, you still wonder if he’s real or not.

“we came to check to on you. your roommate let us in,” he says and his words immediately catch your attention.

“we?” you ask tilting your head as you allow yunho’s hand to trail down to cup your cheek.

“the others felt bad and so we all wanted to come check up on you. wooyoung and seonghwa made some soup for you,” he explains and you feel guilty. today is yunho’s special day and here they all are taking care of you.

“you guys shouldn’t be here,” you say, a small pout on your lips and yunho simply chuckles at you.

“of course we should, you’re apart of this relationship now too, y/n,” yunho says with a smile. “and if you’re worried about this because it’s my birthday, then don’t. because i wanted us to come and check on you and see you.”

you were about to say something when your bedroom door burst open and enters your other seven boyfriends. wooyoung leading the pack with a tray of food in his hands.

“we made you food, y/n! so hurry up and get better,” he says as he comes to set it in front of you.

“woo, be easy, she’s still recovering,” seonghwa scolds as they all carefully gather around your bed. it makes you feel weird to have all their eyes on you and you look to meet yunho’s eyes as he looks at you with soft eyes.

“eat up, jagi, and then you can rest a little more,” san tells you as he pats your leg from above the covers. you nod, but still feel a little nervous at having all their attention on you. thankfully yunho is quick to catch on.

“ah, hey let’s give y/n some space while she eats,” yunho says standing up from your bed and sending you a smile as he ushers the other out of your room and into the living room.

“hey, yunho,” you say catching his attention right before he steps out of your room, “happy birthday.”

“thank you, jagi. let us know if you need anything.”

SWEET HOME … drabble

pairing : yeosang x f!reader (background poly ateez)

genre : non-idol au, fluff, established relationship

warnings : language, nightmares

note : in the same universe as CALMING DAYS and YOU ARE MY UNIVERSE.

yeosang’s worried he when can’t find you in the apartment.

yeosang hates having nightmares. he's pretty sure its the worst way to wake up, and trust him, he's woken up to wooyoung's annoying loud laughter and the fire alarm too many times. but he hates nightmares even more when they involve his lovers.

this nightmare basically knocked the wind out of him because it involved you. you, his precious love, who has gone through so much with him and the others. you, their last addition to their small family and finally moving in with them. he loves you and hates thinking about the idea of you being upset because of him. because him and the other's failed to prove their love to you.

yeosang hated those nightmares that only took his worried and blew them up. seeing dream you cry made him want to cry in real life. so that's why yeosang immediately tries to reach out for you when he wakes up. but the sense of dread runs through him when he realizes that you are not in bed with him.

turning over he sees the spot that you are suppose to be in empty and a sense of panic rushes through him as he thinks back to his nightmare. at the end right before he woke up, you left him, them. you left with tears in your eyes and your bags packed, leaving them forever.

where were you? he thinks as he throws the comforter off of him and head out of your recently shared bedroom – your bedroom still in the redecorating stage. the guest bedroom slash home office being turned into your bedroom. your bedroom in their, now your, apartment.

yeosang felt disheveled all over as he rushed through the apartment checking all the rooms. he even checked your room to see if you were in there, unpacking, but alas it was empty. the boxes and suitcases still there untouched.

then he made it to the kitchen and living room where he found seonghwa in the kitchen. the eldest turned to look at his younger boyfriend with a look of concern when he heard him running through the apartment.

"what's wrong, yeosang?"

"where's y/n?" yeosang ask, feeling his nerves and worry grow by the second.

"y/n?" seonghwa repeats your name like he's confused by it.

"yes, y/n, our girlfriend! where is she?"

"whoa, yeosang calm down," seonghwa says as he rounds the counter in order to comfort yeosang. he sits him down at the dining table before he adds, "y/n will be back. she and yunho went to the store."

"she did? when? why didn't she wake me up?" yeosang feels a rush of emotions come over him and knowing that you just went to store and didn't leave makes him want to cry. his nightmare wasn't becoming a reality and you would be home to him soon.

"silly, she didn't wake you because she went to the store for you," seonghwa says, running a hand through yeosang's bedhead. "now what's wrong? why were you looking for her and storming through the apartment like a madman?"

"i had... fuck, i had a nightmare about y/n leaving us. she told us she could tell we didn't love her and couldn't stay in a place she wasn't welcomed. fuck," yeosang can't stop the tears at remembering how heartbroken you looked, "hwa, i love her so much. when i woke up and she wasn't there next to me... i was afraid that she actually left."

"oh baby," seonghwa says pulling yeosang into his arms and comforting him. "y/n won't leave us because she knows how much we love her. she knows how much you love her. it was just a bad dream, don't think about it anymore, okay?"

right after seonghwa said that, the apartment door opened and your voice rang out softly as you called out yours and yunho's return. yeosang immediately stood up and made his way over towards the door where he sees you struggling a little bit in taking your shoes off, a small white box in your hands. yunho standing behind you with bags in his own hands. seonghwa comes past him and takes the box out of your hands, giving you and yunho quick kisses.

when you finally step into the living room, yunho moving past you with the bags, that's when you notice yeosang standing there looking at you.

"oh, yeosang, hap–

you don't get the chance to finish as yeosang rushes over and presses his lips to your own. the kiss catches you off guard as yeosang holds you close to him and you rests your hands on his shoulders as his wrap your waist. when he pulls away you look at your boyfriend with a surprised look.

"what was that, yeo?" you ask as you cup his face and you watch him melt into your touch.

"i... i love you, that's all," he tells you and you smile at his words.

"i love you too. happy birthday, love," you tell him and that's when yeosang remembers that today was in fact his birthday. that explains why you and yunho went to the store, to get food and cake for his dinner later tonight.

yeosang doesn't say anything, but instead brings you close in order to hug you. "i love you," he whispers again, feeling tears build up again as he holds you close to him. "i love you so much."

"i love you too, yeosang. so, so much," you say back, your hands running down his back.

"i'm so glad you're hear with me and seonghwa and yunho and the others. we all love you so much. thank you for moving in with us," he says and you pull away from the hug, a confused laugh leaving your lips as you look at yeosang.

"what's all this about so suddenly?" you ask but yeosang shakes his head.

"don't worry about it, i'll tell you later. why don't you go help seonghwa and yunho while i go get changed," yeosang says and you smile at your longest boyfriend, pressing one last kiss to his lips before you're shuffling off to the kitchen.

yeosang can't help but smile as he watches yunho tease you, both of you with wide grins as seonghwa wraps his arms around you, a soft smile on his face as well. he can't help but breathe a sigh of relief because he knows that you won't be leaving them anytime soon.

suffer with me tag : @sanjoongie @songmingisthighs

tag list (bold means unable to tag) : @invuwrld @frankenstein852 @watamotee33 @kawennote09 @mixling-blog @marahleiwhen @kpopnightingale @harry-the-pottypus @rdiamond2727 @sanniesbum @marvelahsobx @khjcoo @mysticfire0435 @exfolitae @kryybebe @dementedaly @simeonswhore @moonm1st @nvmbheart @spooo00oky @frogogh @marsanhwa @kryukyustar @sookacc @seongwin @melomatz

BABY DADDIES ... one - shot

pairing : wooyoung x f!reader x san

genre : fluff, parent au, established poly relationship

word count : 1.6k

warnings : language, y/n wears glasses, mentions of being pregnancy

suffering tag : @sanjoongie this isn't your official birthday present that might be late so please except this while i try to get it done

you couldn't imagine a life without your two daughters and their wonderful fathers who have been with you through the ups and downs of your life.

"what's wrong, mimi?" wooyoung's voice is hushed and groggy as you hear him speak to your five year-old daughter. you can hear miyeon reply to him, but you're too far into dreamland to fully understand what she is saying.

you feel the bed move as you assume wooyoung gets up in order to help miyeon with whatever issue was wrong. you can't help the shiver that rolls over your body once he's gone, and you're quick to turn over in order to snuggle closer into san.

san seems to welcome your closeness, as he is quick to wrap his arms around you and hold you close to him. your head resting against his chest as he tucks you into him, his own head resting on yours. his warmth encased you and quickly lulled you back into full dreamland.

you're not sure when wooyoung returns to bed, but you remember hearing him grumble in your ear about how you're a traitor as he wraps his arms around you. you're pretty sure he only called you a traitor because of how you latched onto san to steal his warmth.

"momma!" a high-pitched voice is how you wake up along with the bed shifting and jolting as two small bodies jump on it.

"momma, wake up!" another equally as high voice say. you hear a small chorus of laughter as you open you eyes to see both your daughters, miyeon and jimin looking at you with large smiles.

"papa made breakfast! it's time to get up!" miyeon said as they watched you sit up with a groan. running a hand through your hair as you tried your best to tame your bedhead.

"well, good morning to you both as well," you say with a groggy laugh making them laugh as well.

"appa told us to come wake you up," jimin said as you leaned over to give her and her sister a good morning kiss.

"by jumping into bed?"

"no," a deeper voice says before either girl could answer. you three turn to see san coming into the bedroom, still in his pajamas and glasses perched on his nose. "i told them to come and wake you up nicely," he adds tickling both girls as he comes to his side of the bed.

san is quick to lean over to give you a kiss before he's standing up straight and picking jimin up and swinging her around. the five year-old lets out a high pitched squeal before he's setting her down. miyeon stands on the bed waiting for san to do the same thing and he smiles at her before mimicking what he did to her sister.

"go help papa with setting the table you two," he says and both nod before racing out of the room. once they're gone, san turns to you and gives you a warm smile as he watches you pull your hair away from your face and reaching for your glasses.

"good morning, beautiful," he says once you get out of bed and presses a kiss to your forehead before he's following you out of the bedroom.

"how long have you all been up?" you ask, worried that you might have slept in for too long.

"just an hour, darling," san answers, "woo and i wanted to let you sleep in, but the girls wanted to have pancakes for breakfast."

you let out a small, excited gasp at the sound of pancakes before the smell of them finally filled your nostrils. san laughed as he watched you hurry down the hallway and into the kitchen. your boyfriend couldn't help but smile at how your excitement matched both of your daughters when pancakes are mentioned.

you come into the kitchen to see miyeon and jimin already at the table eating. miyeon doing a small dance in her seat as she eats. wooyoung runs his hand over his daughter's head, laughing before leaning down and kissing her. he places her cup of juice in front of her before doing the same thing to jimin.

"good morning, youngie," you say when he walks back into the kitchen, a smile on your face as you both share a quick kiss.

"morning, love," he says back as he goes back to paying attention to the pancakes. you wrap your arms around wooyoung's waist, cheek against his shoulder blade as you both wait for the food to get done.

"why did mimi get up last night?" you ask after the two of you stood in silence, listening to the twins talking and singing at the table. san had come in after you, sitting with the twins to make sure they didn't make too big of a mess.

"she got up to use the potty and lost her dolly underneath her bed," he says and you let out a small hum.

"you're such an amazing dad," you say and wooyoung can't help but feel his heart skip a beat at your words.

"thank you, love, i wouldn't be here if it wasn't for you," he says back, letting his hand come and rest over your own. he gives your hand a small squeeze. "both you and sannie," he adds turning to look at you with a smile. "your pancakes are ready," he says before handing you your plate of pancakes.

wooyoung laughed as he watched your eyes light up as you did a little dance before walking over to the table to join miyeon, jimin, and san. a few minutes later, wooyoung finally joined you all with his and san's plates.

after breakfast was over, wooyoung sent jimin and miyeon into the living room to play while you three cleaned up.

"here," you begin, stopping wooyoung from standing up, "i'll do the dishes," you add before taking his plate from him. however, before you could get a step in, san took the plates from you. "hey!"

"don't worry about the dishes, babe, i got them," he says before walking over to the sink. you let out a small 'ugh' sound before trailing behind him and standing next to him by the sink.

"no, let me do them," you say, turning the water on and beginning to rinse the syrup off the plates.

"y/n," san says looking at you pointedly, "you've worked hard these past few days. let me do it," he says.

"i'll wash, you dry."

"i'll wash, you dry," he says and you give him a small frown before switching places with him. wooyoung couldn't help but smile at you two continuing to lightly bicker with each other as you wash dishes.

"san, stop! the girls are sleeping," you say, swatting your boyfriend's hands away as he attempts to grab and tickle at your sides. san can't help the hearty laugh that leaves his lips before he's finally grabbing and dragging you closer to him on the couch. he presses a trail of kisses down your neck before blowing a raspberry into your skin. "ugh! san!"

"sorry, couldn't help it," he says before he's trapping you between his legs. you let out a sigh as you relax against him, his hands resting under your shirt on your stomach. his thumb softly rubbing your skin. "i haven't held you like this in a while," he says, voice just as soft as his touch. "i think the last time was when you were pregnant with the girls."

"i think you're right," you say, remembering how san held you like this when you pregnant with miyeon and jimin.

you three were still in your old shared apartment and you were six months pregnant with the girls. you and san had also just gotten into an argument earlier that day, neither one of you speaking to each other for hours. even when the clock hit six o'clock and it was time for what san and wooyoung decided to call their "bonding time" with the girls.

you didn't want to look at san, completely ignoring him despite you resting between his legs and his arms wrapped around you. you ended up not speaking until wooyoung got home an hour later to find you asleep in san's arm.

when you woke up you couldn't even tell wooyoung what you and san got into an argument over.

"you were pretty short-tempered when pregnant," san joked, bring you out of your thoughts.

"yeah..." you say softly, feeling a little guilty for how you would lash out at both of them over the littlest things. you would often feel embarrassed about it afterwards and you were thankful that both your boyfriends were understanding of what you were going through. "i'm sorry about that," you say, fiddling with his fingers.

"hey, don't apologize. i honestly deserved all those times you yelled at me," he said, pressing a kiss to your cheek. "wooyoung definitely did," he added making you laugh as well.

"hey now, don't talk about me while i'm not here to defend myself," wooyoung says as he enters the room. he gives both you and san a kiss before he settling next to you both on the couch. you immediately rest your feet in his lap, smiling when he shoots you a playful glare.

you laugh at his expression before you're opening your arms out for him, and wooyoung immediately moves to squish you between him and san. wooyoung rests his head against your chest, arms going and wrapping around both you and san. the three of you lay in together in a comfortable silence, both their breathing and heartbeats lulling you to sleep.

the last thing you thought before falling asleep was how thankful you were to meet and fall in love with both wooyoung and san. knowing that you would never change this for anything in the world.

tag list : @frankenstein852 @invuwrld @watamotee33 @kawennote09 @mixling-blog @marahleiwhen @kpopnightingale @harry-the-pottypus @pyeonghongrie @sanniesbum @marvelahsobx @khjcoo @mysticfire0435 @exfolitae @dementedaly @simeonswhore @moonm1st @nvmbheart @spooo00oky @frgogh @sookacc @seongwin @burnsmepls @ad0rechuu @tunaasan @northerngalxy @silverpixiedust23 @cheesekimchi @confusedmoonchild777 @mjyungi @innieontop @iweirdthingsblog @s0obinluvr

networks : @cultofdionysusnet @cromernet

CAFE ETERNAL SUNSHINE : HOLLY-DAY ... bullet - point fic

pairing : baker!wooyoung x baker!f!reader (background poly!ateez)

genre : cafe au, established poly relationship, fluff, holiday-ish fic

word count : 870

warnings : y/n wears glasses

suffer tag : @sanjoongie

note : this is more of just a random drabble that came to my head. no thoughts only cute wooyoung

you and wooyoung spend the early morning hours making cakes and as it gets closer to the holidays you realize that this will be your first time spending the holidays together.

you and wooyoung worked like clockwork together in the kitchen

both of you working together and individually on projects for the cafe

after months of working together, you both have been able to establish a route between each other

and mingi whenever he's been sent in to help the two of you

before wooyoung began working at the cafe, you had done all the baking

coming in hours early and staying well after the cafe closed in order to prepare for the next day

so wooyoung being hired was like a saving grace to your sanity

but don't tell him that... it would boost his already too large ego

"are we doing a christmas carol theme for the cafe?"

wooyoung's voice breaks your thoughts as you look up from the cupcakes you were currently decorating

"huh, oh yeah we are"

"what's wrong?"

along with baking, wooyoung was also really good at reading your emotions

it probably didn't help that you were like an open book most of the time

"nothing, i was just thinking"

"about?"

"you and the cafe"

this earned wooyoung's attention as he leaned forward across the metal counter that separated the two of you "oh?"

"yeah, this will our first time celebrating the holidays together. the first time you'll be celebrating with all of us. i'm excited"

"i'm excited too"

"i remember the first time me and hongjoong celebrated the holidays when we first moved in together. it was when that big snow storm happened and the power had went out and so we gathered all the blankets in the apartment and bundled up on the couch together and we just... sat there for a few hours talking before the power came back on and when the tv turned back on, a christmas carol was playing."

"it sounds romantic"

"it was! now every year we always watch the christmas carol and talk about how our year as went and what we want to try for the upcoming year. and i'm excited that you get to do that with us this year."

you've never seen wooyoung have such a heartfelt look on his face before, and the smile he had only warmed your heart

"i'm glad i can spend the holidays with you and the others and take part in your tradition."

you couldn't help but round the metal counter as you and wooyoung engulfed each other in a hug

you felt wooyoung kiss your temple as you melted more into him, the holidays always did manage to make you more emotional

"i'm glad too, woo."

when you step away from wooyoung, you adjusted your glasses before looking at him when his hands come up to gently cup your face

"don't cry, baby. seonghwa will get mad at me again if i make you cry," he teases before squishing your cheeks together and leans in to kiss you

you couldn't help but laugh into the kiss at his words and you feel wooyoung grin into the kiss as well

"sorry," you say when you pull away, "the holidays always make me emotional"

the two of you soon went back to working on the different foods, falling into that comfortable silence and atmosphere that was usually present in the kitchen

it wasn't until a few hours later when the other would come in and see you and wooyoung sitting at one of the tables taking a break

"well look at our star bakers!" san would say as he comes over to you both before him and wooyoung start to talk

hongjoong would follow behind the barista, the two of you making eye contact before he comes up and presses a kiss to your lips

"did you guys finish?"

you nod your head as hongjoong comes behind you, his hands resting on your shoulders before he starts to gently massage them

"good, good. now you can take a break before we open."

"yeah..."

"what's wrong?" he head leans over to look at you, confused look on his face

"nothing, me and wooyoung were talking earlier about how this is his first holiday with us and it just made me think about our first one together."

hongjoong chuckles at the memory

"that's one of my favorite memories."

"hongjoong?"

"yeah?"

"when we get home later... can we watch the christmas carol together? all nine of us?"

"of course, my love."

you couldn't help the smile on your face at his words and you turn around in your chair to look at hongjoong

your lover mimics your smile before he's leaning down to kiss you

"okay lovebirds! we open in fifteen minutes. get your kisses out of the way now and make sure everything is ready!"

you can't help but laugh at seonghwa's words as hongjoong rolls his eyes before giving you one more kiss, and then he's walking towards the grumpy manager before smothering him with kisses as well

you couldn't help laugh at your two eldest boyfriends before letting your eyes travel over to wooyoung who was also watching the scene before him

san had left to go set up the front counter, jongho over there also helping him

"are you ready?" wooyoung asks, his hand engulfing your own

"i'm ready."

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