veritas vos liberabit // kim junseo

enemies to friends to lovers high school au with a murder mystery + “as far as i’m concerned, that never happened” + wei’s junseo

➳ Characters: high school student!Junseo x high school student!female reader/you

➳ Genre: enemies to friends to implied lovers, dark academia au, boarding school au, murder mystery

➳ Words: 1.8k

➳ Warning: mentions of murder, suicide, cheating (not on the main characters' part), money laundering, bullying

➳ A/N: This story was requested by the lovely @ishuayou for my request event. I hope you enjoy it! ❤️

➳ Masterlist for the request event

➳ WEi taglist: @dat-town, @hyu-won, @littlestartonightsposts, @ishuayou, @squiishymeow, @s00buwu

Non scholae sed vitae discimus

This was the motto of the boarding school you attended which means ‘we do not learn for school, but for life’, and more often than not, it proved to be true. In the treacherous hallways of the school, everyone was on their own. Even if certain students formed cliques, they were short-lived forms of alliance until one or more of them were accused of something scandalous. That’s how you had fallen out with two girls after your father - a politician in your home country - was rumoured to be cheating on your mother. You had ‘cheater’s daughter’ written all over your locker in permanent marker the day after the news had gotten out, and students had given you suspicious glances everywhere you had gone as if you had been the one cheating on someone.

Sadly though, you weren’t the only case of castaway isolation. It seemed as if it was a game by now, the target falling on a different pupil every other day. Since everyone came from a wealthy family, each and every one of you could be a target for something. Your father might have cheated on your mother, but one student’s cousin committed suicide and they started asking him if he was next; one student had a CEO as their father who was accused of money laundering; one student’s sister ended up in jail after breaking into a stranger’s house at midnight, drunk and high, and the list went on and on.

You did learn for life, after all. You learned that there were multiple ways one could humiliate another human being, and that you could never trust someone because they only had you in their favour until your picture perfect facade didn’t waver. Once it did, you were as easily disposable as a piece of trash.

That’s why you were wary to let Junseo in when he had first shown signs that he was different. When you had started attending the same school together, you had firmly told him that he shouldn’t speak to you because your families were rivals, so were you. They had both worked in the fashion industry, always coming in the worldwide sales neck-to-neck, and the Kims tried to uphold a perfect family image just like your family did so. You hated every second you had needed to work with him on an assignment, talk to him during Latin classes or sit beside him during modern literature classes.

However, he had been the one who had tried to clean the permanent marker off your locker that one time, and since you had told him to stay away from you, he had to do it out of the goodness of his heart. He had also been the one who had stood up for you when you had needed to go back home for a funeral, and some girls had accused you of going on a vacation during term time. He had been the one to buy you peppermint tea when you had been on your period and hadn’t been able to leave your room due to your cramps.

Little by little, the boy had managed to break down your walls, and if there was someone you would consider as your friend, it would be Kim Junseo himself.

Timendi causa nescire est

Ignorance is the cause of fear, that’s what Junseo told you when a dead body was found on school grounds, and the school committee presumed that it was due to suicide since it happened after midterms. Since the school was in the highlands, and had its own campus with a nursery, two grocery shops, one post office, a stationery shop and a special affairs office (which was supposed to be the closest thing to a disciplinary office), they never notified the police because the school said that it would handle everything by itself.

Besides, your boarding school was said to be an exemplary one, one of the best ones in the world, why would anyone assume anything other than suicide? The deceased student’s parents would most likely want to sweep the news under the rug anyway because suicide was seen as a sign of weakness, especially among your social circle. No one would dare to question what happened.

No one, but you and Junseo.

It’s because Hamin’s - the deceased student’s - locker was above Junseo’s, and on the day the news of his death came to light, Junseo slipped a piece of paper in front of you in a secluded corner of the school library. It read:

“As far as I’m concerned, that never happened.”

“It was tucked into the bottom of his locker, so when I opened mine, it fell out,” the boy explained, and you furrowed your eyebrows in question upon his words.

“Do you think someone had something on him?”

“Or he had something on someone else, and maybe they cornered him on the rooftop. I rather doubt Hamin would have jumped off himself,” he added contemplatively, and you had to give it to him that he was right. If there was anyone in your whole year who didn’t seem affected by the budding ground of hatred and humiliation that the whole school was about, it would be Hamin himself. He was always so carefree and chatty, and he hadn’t been the target of any bullying (a rare case), so he didn’t seem to have a reason to end his own life.

“Maybe you’re right. Hamin is a kind-hearted student,” you started, then corrected yourself after clearing your throat. “He was a kind-hearted student, but he had a loose mouth. Maybe he saw something that he shouldn’t have or knew too much, and it backfired,” you mused out loud, trying to keep your voice quiet in case there were other students around who could eavesdrop on your conversation. After all, you could never know at this school.

You exchanged a glance with Junseo, and you could immediately tell that he was thinking the same: you needed to investigate it or else, no one would do it. So you went up to check on the rooftop, but they closed down the entrance to the rooftop, so you could only peek above the tapes and fences, trying to see if anything was off about the place. Nothing seemed out of ordinary, but it didn’t mean that that was all that was to it.

So you kept up your suspicions, listening in on conversations that seemed relevant, examining students’ body language when Hamin’s death was brought up, and Junseo even tried matching the handwriting on the piece of paper he found to the ones he saw in the teachers’ office when he helped the English teacher correct some tests. At first, nothing seemed to work out, but then, the rooftop was open to the public again, and you found a lighter with ‘CY’ engraved into it.

Even though smoking was strictly prohibited on school grounds, everyone knew that there were students who smoked, and the teachers probably knew about it too, yet let it slide because you all came from wealthy families, and they were paid to teach you, paid a hefty amount on top of them. So they turned a blind eye to most, if not all, breaches.

“Choi Yoonsung?” You quirked an eyebrow in question, pondering whether there was anyone else with the same initials in your year. “I wouldn’t be surprised if he smoked. His family owns a tobacco company after all,” you noted, and even though you had not seen the said boy smoking, anything could happen here. Even a murder.

“I feel like we’re missing something here. Yoonsung couldn’t just throw Hamin over the edge because of his lighter,” Junseo mused out loud while turning the lighter in his hands as if it could help him put the pieces together. It didn’t, but it lit a spark that turned into a full-blown fire.

A wildfire that couldn’t be contained.

Veritas vitæ magistra

You never really believed in the saying that truth was the teacher of life because there were too many two-faced people in your social circle, too many lies and facades, and you could never know when someone was being genuine or they were merely playing their part in the grand charade of boarding school society.

Well, not until you had to discover the truth behind Hamin’s death yourself. It wasn’t easy, and it took you two almost a month to figure out, but when the truth came to light - all your proof put together into a folder and sent to both Hamin’s parents and the special affairs official -, there was no way to cover up anymore what happened.

What happened was that Yoonsung and Soomin had been going out together, but kept it a secret because Soomin had been forced to date a different boy (and keep it long distance while she was at the boarding school) for her family’s sake. Hamin had walked in on them kissing once but said nothing. Then, he had bumped into them on the rooftop that night, and made a joke about them being a power couple at school. Yoonsung had started threatening the boy while the cigarette was still hanging out of his mouth. When the cigarette’s light had gone out while they had been arguing, Yoonsung had tried to light it up again, but Hamin had tried to hold him back. That’s when the boy had pushed him so forcefully that he had managed to push Hamin over the edge of the rooftop. It had always been too short for someone as tall as Hamin, but it had never caused such a calamity before. However, it had been dark, Yoonsung and Soomin had been frustrated already, and the ground had been slippery because of the day’s rain accumulating on the rooftop and along its rails.

How did you come to the conclusion of all these? You had found the note Soomin had left in Hamin’s locker, identified that it belonged to her based on her handwriting, had found Yoonsung’s lighter on the rooftop, had overheard one of Soomin’s friends talking about the girl’s supposedly fake relationship with a foreigner boy outside of school, had stumbled upon a half-burnt picture of the two of them one day on the rooftop, and many more hints like that. It had not been easy, Yoonsung and Soomin had guarded their secret as if it had been their own child, but the truth always came to light.

Veritas vos liberabit was written over the door of the special affairs office that you walked out of with Junseo by your side, and when you looked at each other, you felt your shoulders drop in ease and your heart beating somewhat lighter. Maybe that’s why you let Junseo reach out to you and pull you towards himself, so you could rest your head on his shoulder while you were walking.

The truth will liberate you all.

A/N: Hope you enjoyed this story of mine! Let me know what you think.

If you want to read more stories of mine, let it be for WEi or for other artists, consider signing up for my taglist here.

Hope you have a lovely day/night! Take care! ❤️

　　　wei masterlist ⟡₊ ⊹

⋆˙⟡ = author's pick !

　　　　daehyeon

nothing yet . . .

　　　　donghan

nothing yet . . .

　　　　yongha

velvet and silk

genre: assassin au. fluff. | wc: 1k.

　　　　yohan

nothing yet . . .

　　　　seokhwa

nothing yet . . .

　　　　junseo

nothing yet . . .

maybe in another life

— pairing : kim junseo x gn!reader x kang seokhwa

— genre : angst

— tw : cheating, slight hint of depression

— word count : 554

masterlist !

only a week has passed ever since you've found out that junseo, your boyfriend of three years, had been seeing someone else behind your back for two months. a deep exhale left your lips as your eyes stared blankly through the window. were you really that bad of a partner? did you not satisfy him enough that he had to look elsewhere? there had to be a reason on why the person you've sworn your life to, has ended up betraying you in the worst way ever.

"still thinking about that idiot?" the voice of your roommate rang through your ears, seemingly snapping you out of your thoughts for a split of a second. you turned around, your eyes meeting the figure of seokhwa, who had been standing by the doorframe and watching you. "he doesn't deserve your tears," the male hummed gently as he sat hinself besides you, his slender fingers reaching out to brush through your hair.

"but what if i did something wrong?" was the only thing you blurted in response as your head turned back to the window. junseo should've told you instead of sneaking behind your back, you thought. all that you were met with was seokhwa's sigh, as he settled himself down to sit besides you. "you did nothing wrong. you're incredible, honest and a fighter. i admire you a lot, you cannot give up that easily."

he remembered the eventful night you've found out, the way you came home soaking wet from the rain, a ruined bouquet of flowers in your hands and your beautiful eyes shining from the tears that had spilled out. he remembered dropping whatever he was doing and rushing to your side, his slender arms snaking their way around your figure. and then he remembered when you told him. it was your third year anniversary with junseo so you went to his home to surprise him, only to find him shamelessly on the couch with a stunning woman you've never seen before.

and junseo remembered it too. the week after the breakup was the toughest time he had ever went through, but he had no one to blame but himself. being stressed due to his job brought him to a state of what seemed like losing a touch with reality for a split moment, seeing as he ended up betraying you, the person whom he had loved the most. he had hated the woman for seducing him, he hated you for finding out — but he mostly hated himself for hurting and losing you. you deserved better, he knew it; and yet he refused to let go. what if he'd try to get a second chance? no, you'd probably think he is crazy and kick him out.

but he wanted you to hear him out, so now he stood outside of your apartment building, hopeful gaze in his eyes. but soon it has vanished once he looked up, seeing you and seokhwa sharing a tender kiss by the window. he knew seokhwa had feelings for you, you two were practically inseperable. but he never acted on his own feelings due to the fact that you were dating junseo. but now he guessed that the other had finally confessed, and that you slipped out of his life forever.

maybe in another life you'll be his.

my daisy special: little flower | kim mingyu

➝ CEO!Mingyu x Reader

➝ fluff // slice of life // marriage!au // est relationship // a little angsty // hurt comfort..?

➝ warning: mentions of pregnancy (it's literally the plot jshdbf), mentions of sex (no smut scenes), soft Mingyu D:

➝ word count: 4.6~k

A/N: hi! it's been some time since i write this couple. ngl i miss them so much and it gets me a little giddy to see them still popping up in my notif haha. anyway! i'm posting this as a celebration for my 3k milestone, i really i wish i could've written more but i'm happy with how this turns out and i hope this suffice hehe thank you for the love you've been giving to my daisy and please enjoy!! do tell me what you think about it🩷

my daisy masterlist

[✾✾✾]

You have a set of problems.

You’re pregnant.

You don’t know how to tell Mingyu and Gyuri. 

And, last but absolutely not least because it’s the one that you think is the biggest of them all:

3. Gyuri just told you she doesn’t want a sibling anymore.

Biting your lip to the point where it almost bleeds, all sorts of feelings run through you as you stare at the three pregnancy tests in front of you. All of them are positive, which didn’t come off as a much of a surprise, if you’re being completely honest.

You noticed the symptoms almost immediately weeks ago, but you didn’t want to jump into conclusions and a part of you wanted to brush them off as something else–everything else. Oh, you threw up? Perhaps you ate something wrong. Oh, you’re lightheaded? You definitely didn’t sleep enough the night before. Oh, your period is late? Happens sometimes when you’re a little too stressed.

You were just delaying taking the test. But, deep down, you knew.

How could you not when you and Mingyu haven’t been using any sort of protection for the past year? It’s not that you’re trying for a kid, but the both of you have decided that whatever happens, happens. You’ve seen a lot of people hoping to conceive and unfortunately not get pregnant even after years have passed.

If you somehow get pregnant without even trying, you’ll just accept that it’s what you’re meant to do. 

Plus, you don’t think the both of you would ever be ready for a kid if you plan to have one–nor the emotional baggage that would come if you decide to try only to find out you’re not pregnant just yet.

So, after a lot of thinking and Gyuri’s 7th birthday last year, the both of you agree to just forego protections since. If you end up getting pregnant, it’ll just be a pleasant surprise. You both would love to be pregnant, and you’d like to think you’re mentally (and financially) prepared enough from that point onwards.

Okay.

First thing first.

“Baby?” Mingyu knocks on the bathroom door, wondering if something’s wrong because you’re way too silent and it’s been a whole ten minutes since you’ve excused yourself to the bathroom. “You okay?”

You blink back the tears at his voice, still staring at the pregnancy tests in front of you. You’re happy, you really are, and you know Mingyu would be elated.

But Gyuri?

It was just last month that she declared she’s not up for the sister life.

“Ma, I don’t think I want siblings anymore.” She said out of nowhere when she was cuddling with you. Mingyu was outside the city for a business trip, so the two of you decided to have a girls’ night; complete with the disney movies, pizzas, ice cream, and everything else that definitely left Gyuri too high on sugar by the end of the night.

“Yeah?” You tried to indulge her, though something inside you dropped at the revelation. Gyuri had always been excited at the prospect of being a sister, and she played the older sister role very well with Junseo, Jennie’s son. What changed? “Why?”

“Junseo is enough.” She shrugged, playing with the material of your pajamas. “Also… I don’t want to lose you.”

You laughed at that, but quickly got concerned when Gyuri seemed to be fairly serious about what she had just said.

“You wouldn’t lose me, Flower.” You reminded her with a kiss and a tight hug. “What made you think so?”

“You’d need to take care of the baby all the time…” she trailed off, and you once again wondered what made Gyuri to be this much attuned to her own feelings when she’s only seven. “Dunno… I just want you and Papa for myself.”

“Oh, my little Lili.” You pulled away at her words, cupped her face and reminded her that you’d never abandon her, siblings or not. She didn’t look convinced, though you couldn’t blame her because you kind of understood where she’s coming from.

Gyuri had been an only child for all her life. It was probably a little lonely, but she received all the love she needed and wanted from every single person around her. When Junseo came around, she was just excited that she finally had a friend, some sort of distant relative, and she readily took the older sister role for him.

But you knew sometimes she found him annoying. They’re kids, could you blame them? But Gyuri was a little too mature for her own good, and she’d just run to you or Mingyu when Junseo annoyed her instead of fighting him like any other child her age would. She wouldn’t even cry out of frustration.

She’d frown, try to tell Junseo off, and if he still didn’t listen, she’d just leave and settle by her parents’ side.

It worried you, if you’re to be completely honest. You and Mingyu had never asked her to suppress her feelings, but Gyuri rarely threw a tantrum and the both of you had been worried that it would eat her inside out at some point.

“Just me, you, and Papa.” She closed the discussion, hugging you tighter and eventually falling asleep on your lap.

“Daisy?” Mingyu tries once again, and even calls your name when you still don't answer. You take a deep breath and straighten your posture. Okay, no use doing a grand announcement to Mingyu. He’d be happy either way and you’d rather tell him immediately. You both have more important things to think about than a surprise: Gyuri’s possible reaction to this.

“Coming,” you finally answer before opening the door.

Mingyu looks concerned, not wasting any second to ask if you’re okay. He’s a little startled when you grasp his hands, holding them tight before asking him not to freak.

“Daisy, you’re scaring me.”

You manage to give him a smile though, because despite the worries, you are happy to know you’re pregnant. There’s a life growing inside you–a baby that is both a mix of you and your husband.

As much as you worry about Gyuri, you’re still giddy at the fact that you’re finally pregnant–that your family is growing. And a part of you is relieved that Gyuri’s reaction is the only thing that seems to be of concern. Everything else is fine. If there’s any problem, they’re not big enough for you to think of them now.

Perhaps seeing Mingyu helps too. Because now you’re biting your lip to stop yourself from grinning too hard. You just knew his reaction would be priceless and you can’t wait to let him know about your current situation.

“Daisy, don’t play with me.” He frowns at the sudden change of your mood, but complies when you pull him into the bathroom. 

He’s a little confused when you keep your silence, and he’s just about to ask again when he notices the sticks in front of the mirror. You feel him freeze for three whole seconds, and you finally grin when he turns to you, as if making sure that it’s what he thinks it is.

You nod even if he’s not saying anything, and it’s him who surprises you because Mingyu tears up and he almost whimpers if not for the fact that you jump to hug him. The whole situation is a little funny, but it’s not appropriate to laugh just yet so you let him have his moment. Years from now when your kids are old enough to understand, you'll definitely bring this up just so you can all tease him together.

He sniffles as he buries his head on your shoulder, which you’re sure is very uncomfortable due to his height. Mingyu doesn’t seem to care though, and he hugs you tighter like you’ll disappear if he doesn’t.

“Gyu?” You finally call him after a while, and he lets you pull away so he can look at you. He’s not crying, but his eyes are glossy and he’s still sniffling as if to hold back his tears. 

You've seen this before. Twice, to be exact. The first time was when he finally proposed properly (whatever that meant) even though he already knew you'd say yes. The second time was on your wedding day, when you finally reached him at the end of the aisle with Gyuri holding your hand.

You smile softly as you search for his face, then you cup his face to pull him down for a gentle kiss. The feel of his breath against your face still makes you fuzzy inside, and when Mingyu presses his lips deeper into yours, a giggle escapes your lips until eventually he joins in, bringing you back in time and to some other universe where you go to the same highschool together, and you're a high-school couple still fresh in love.

“When should we go to the doctor?”

“We can go tomorrow?” You offer, reminding him his parents are in town. “Leave Lili with your mom? And then we can tell her too after.”

“Tomorrow it is.” He squeezes you once more with a happy grin, but only then realizes that you’re holding something back. “You okay?”

“Lili is in the living room with Wonwoo and the others, right?” He nods. “Let’s talk in our room, then.” 

You haven’t been able to tell Mingyu about your talk with Gyuri that day and now seems like the perfect time to do so. He listens to you quietly, and you see the way his face falls as you tell him everything, the way it clicks to him why his daughter seems more reluctant to play with Junseo nowadays.

“I’m happy, Gyu. I really am. But Lili…”

“We’ll talk to her. Let’s think about it after the doctor appointment tomorrow, okay?”

You nod. It’s almost magic the way you relax at his words and his touch. And as you catch Mingyu looking at your stomach with a dazed smile, you let yourself be happy and push your worry to the back of your mind.

[✾✾✾]

Mingyu cries when the doctor does the ultrasound and confirms you’re pregnant.

[✾✾✾]

“What about names?”

You laugh at the big puppy that is your husband. Sometimes you wonder what would Seungkwan do if he ever catches Mingyu like this. For someone that is practically a big pile of mush when it comes to you, Mingyu is unexpectedly very good at keeping it low at work.

You thought he’d crack with Seungkwan eventually. But no. Even when you’re out for a friendly dinner after work, Mingyu would keep the PDA to a minimum. There’s some sort of pride battle going on between the two men that you’d never be able to figure out.

“I think we’d need to find out about the gender first before starting to pick names, Gyu." 

“I mean… we can always just look for unisex names first…” He pouts a little, which urges you to kiss him. So you do exactly that, catching him by surprise though he’s definitely not complaining.

Mingyu hums into the kiss, his palm cupping your face and his thumb caressing the apple of your cheek.

“You’re very excited about this, aren’t you?” You pull away, just enough distance between your lips to talk.

“Mhm.” He drops another peck before entirely pulling away. He pauses before he continues, his palm never leaving your face as some sort of melancholy fills his eyes. “I didn’t… get to do this during… well, Gyuri’s pregnancy process.”

Your lips drop open to say something–anything. But nothing comes out, and you also know that anything you might’ve said regarding that part of his past wouldn’t help. So you decide to talk about what’s to come instead.

“Well, now we get to do this together for the first time.” You grasp the hand that’s on your face to give it a squeeze. “As long as we’re together, right?”

He tears up again, and you hold yourself back from teasing him and instead grin before you pull him into another kiss.

As long as you’re together.

[✾✾✾]

It’s almost a month later that you decide it’s time to let Gyuri know. You’ve told both of your families and your close circles, and while you initially thought you’d tell Gyuri once you start showing, after talking to your mom and Mingyu’s, they both agree that it’d be better to tell her sooner rather than later.

And here you are in her bedroom, sitting beside her as you break the news.

“But… I told you I don’t want a sibling.” She tears up. And as much as you’re ready for this reaction, it still breaks your heart to hear her say this again.

Mingyu drops to his knee to look into her eyes, his palms grabbing her small hands as he carefully chooses his next words.

“Can you tell me why?” Ha asks softly, and when Gyuri sniffles, her lips trembling as she stares back at him, he’s suddenly reminded of those years he had Gyuri all by himself. The time when he insisted that he could do it alone, that he didn’t need anyone’s help, and that Gyuri was his so he’d do everything on his own.

That he owed her that much.

It’s… been quite some time since he spent some time with her, huh? After you come into the picture, it never occurs to him that he might need to spend some alone time with Gyuri. The kid also seems happy with you around, and the last time he had gone out only with Gyuri had probably been… months ago when you went on a business trip.

“You told Mama already, yeah?” he tries one more time, and when she nods, he continues. “I want to hear from you, though. Can you tell me?”

“I don’t… want to share you and Mama.” 

Mingyu nods, then tells her how you’d love her still, that none of you are leaving her behind, that you need her to be with you.

“We will need you more because of this, Lili.” You caress her head. “I will need you to help me. Not only because of your sister or brother. We need you. Mama and Papa always do.”

“But–but you’ll still need to take care of the baby a lot…”

“Flower, we will take care of you both. No favorites, we promise. Please don’t think we’ll stop taking care of you because of the baby, okay?”

Gyuri shakes her head, and this time she drops her gaze to avoid yours as her lips start to tremble again. You share a worried look with Mingyu. You know Gyuri doesn’t want a sibling, and this is actually a problem that a lot of families have, but you still don’t have a clear grasp of how much this actually bothers her.

The both of you watch as Gyuri turns and falls into Mingyu’s embrace then circles her arms around his neck. She’s not sobbing, which is good, but it’s concerning just how upset she seems to be.

“Lili?”

She shakes her head, seemingly done with the conversation.

Mingyu throws you a look, then signs you to leave for a bit because, at the end of the day, Gyuri is still more honest with him than she is with you. Perhaps he can coax her a bit more like this. Just like the old times.

He takes her in his arms and sits on her bed, simply holds her on his lap as he lets her have her moment.

“Flower, will you look at me?”

She’s reluctant, but she pulls away and Mingyu almost regrets asking her to because she looks crestfallen. Is the idea of having a sibling that upsetting?

“It’s been long since it’s just us two, huh?” He says instead, smiling a little. Does she even remember the time when it’s just the two of them? She was three before you came into their lives. “I always share you with Mama now.”

“Papa miss Lili?”

“All the time.” He answers without missing a beat. “But Mama also does, that’s why I don’t mind sharing you with Mama. Do you want me to be selfish and take you for myself instead?”

Gyuri frowns and shakes her head. “No. Lili wants to be with Mama too.”

“You like Mama a lot, huh?”

She nods but doesn’t elaborate.

“Do you think we will stop loving you if you share us with your sibling, Li?”

The words from her lips come out as a mumble. Mingyu doesn’t really get what she’s saying, but he’s satisfied that she’s open to talk now.

“You know, when you were a baby, I didn’t want to share you with Grandma and Grandpa.” He says, thumb rubbing against her cheek. “I was afraid they’d take you away from me.”

“Why would they steal me from you?” She giggles at the prospect of her grandparents taking her away from him.

“I was just afraid I was not a good Papa for you.” Gyuri seems to have a hard time understanding this, tilting her head adorably that earns her a soft kiss on the forehead. “But Grandma and Grandpa just wanted to help. They didn’t want to take you away from me.”

She blinks at him, trying to see where this is going.

“The baby… won’t take us away from you, Lili. I know you’re worried, but I promise we will always, always love you. It’s because of you Mama and Papa are together, you know?”

Her eyes dim at the mention of the baby once again, and he tries to be patient for her sake, caressing her hair as he tells her a thousand reasons why you, him, and the baby need her. That she’s not getting left behind in any way.

“That’s not it.” She starts, her voice small. But her next words are never ones he expected.  “Lili… is not Mama’s baby.”

It takes Mingyu a few seconds to understand what she’s saying, and when he does, he’s cold with the realization that this scenario is also possible.

You were insecure about being a mother figure to Gyuri, afraid that you’re not enough for her. He has never imagined the same kind of insecurity would be present on Gyuri’s end.

She’s… insecure because she’s not your blood and this baby would be?

“Oh, Kim Gyuri…” He hugs her again, the puzzle finally clicking. “You’ll always be Mama’s baby. She loves you a lot. Remember when she took care of you when you were sick a long time ago? She wasn’t your Mama yet but she played with you and took care of you anyway.”

Gyuri probably doesn’t. But Mingyu does. How could he not when it’s probably the start of his relationship with you? 

“Do you want to talk about this with Mama?” He tries softly. “I think she will be able to understand more if you do.”

“Mama won’t be mad?”

He smiles at her worries, shaking his head and assuring her you wouldn’t be mad at all. “She will be sad if you’re upset, though. Do you want Mama to be sad?”

“No…”

“Let’s go?”

She nods and asks him to carry her. When they arrive in the master bedroom, you look up from the bed, looking concerned still.

Gyuri doesn’t say anything, but leans to you and reaches out her arms so you’ll take her instead.

“Hi, baby.” You kiss her head. “How are you feeling?”

She shrugs, but she leans on your shoulder and lets you caress her hair. Mingyu sends you a look. Apparently, whatever talk they had hasn’t really resulted in anything, not that you expect her to change her mind just like that. Still, Mingyu mouths something about asking Gyuri, so you do.

“You wanna tell me something?” She hesitates, so you do it first. “Can I share something with Lili, then?”

At her nod, you take a deep breath before you start.

“I’m afraid Lili won't like me anymore because of the baby.”

“What? No… Lili always like Mama.” She frowns. “Lili just… Baby…”

Mingyu sits on the bed next to you, encouraging Gyuri to continue as he tells her it’s okay. You look at him in question, but he doesn’t give you any answer. Perhaps the talk did result in something, after all.

“Mama won’t be mad, I promise.” He adds, making you even more confused. “Do you want me to tell Mama instead?”

She nods, burying her face on your shoulder to hide.

You urge Mingyu to talk, hugging Gyuri closer to reassure her that you’re not going to be mad at all.

“She said she’s not… your baby. But the baby will be.”

Huh.

What?

You need a moment to take that, Gyuri–what?

“Lili, what makes you think you’re not my baby?” You ask sadly, wondering if it’s okay to pull her away from your embrace. “I choose to love you, baby. And I will need you to help me take care of me now, not only the baby. Having this baby means I will need you around me more often, you know?”

You and Mingyu spend about another thirty minutes reassuring Gyuri nonstop, thirty long minutes that is luckily not spent calming her tears down. You don’t even know if that’s what you’re supposed to do; should you be giving her space instead?

But that’s always the thing about parenting, isn’t it? Sometimes you make the wrong choice and Gyuri gets the end of it, and sometimes you think you’ve pushed her too much only for Gyuri to actually get the message and fix her mistakes.

“And, you know, I think baby told me that they’re already very excited to see you.” You try another approach. “When this baby is born, you would need to teach them how to play and to draw and to use the bubble bath. Mama and Papa are too old for that.”

This seems to get her attention, and she asks if she can ask them to play with her big barbie house that Junseo seems to hate with all his heart.

“Anything you want, Flower. This baby is going to be your sibling, you can ask each other to play everything if you want, would you do that?”

“Hmm… Is it a brother or a sister?”

You share a smile with Mingyu at last. She’s no longer declining the idea, at least.

“We don’t know yet. Do you have a preference?”

“As long as they’re not annoying like Junseo.”

That you can’t be sure of, but you laugh with her to ease her mind. For all its worth, you’re actually a little touched that Gyuri cares that much about being your flesh and blood. It’s going to be different, your love for her and your love for the baby growing inside you. But you don’t think it would have anything to do with one of them being your own blood.

No.

It’s true. You choose to love Gyuri. She’s not your biological child, and you practically fell in love with her from the first time you saw her by herself in SVT Inc.’s building. But it’s not as easy as people believe it to be to keep on loving her. You have to constantly think about the line you need to keep as someone who’s not her mom, but you definitely care for her and love her too much to be just another person in her life.

Gyuri also depends on you a lot, sometimes even foregoing her father just so she can bask in your comfort. And after the whole fighting episode that ended up with Mingyu proposing to you, she’s even more clingy after it’s clear that she’s allowed to call you her Mama.

“So there’s… a baby… inside you?” She asks after a while, looking at you with wonder.

You take her hand with a smile and place her palm on your stomach. Obviously, none of you can feel anything just yet, but you tell her you’ll be able to in a few months and you'd like it if she’ll be there for it.

“You will have a lot of big sister things to do.” You tell her seriously. Gyuri likes having responsibilities (it’s definitely the perfectionism and hard-working tendency from her father), and if there’s any way where you can make her feel that she’s needed, you’re ready to let Gyuri do whatever she chooses to do. “Decorate the baby’s room, buy new toys, hmm… What more do you think we need to do, Gyu?”

Mingyu grins as you ask him this, and he pretends to think also before throwing the question to his daughter instead.

“What else, Li?”

She takes her time to think, which melts your heart to the point of nonexistence because you didn’t expect her to take things this seriously. And when she finally knows what to say, you almost tear up because you didn’t expect her to say that at all.

“Buy Mama a lot of food?” She offers, a frown on her face. “Eunji says her mom eats a lot when pregnant, is that true?”

“Oh, my baby.” You hug her hard and melt against her body. Gyuri is going to turn eight this year, and whilst she’s almost too big for you to hold now, sometimes it feels like she’s just the small girl you met five years ago. Has it really been five years since you’ve met her and Mingyu? “That is true, alright. And I think some people eat sooooo much ice cream during their pregnancy, will you eat them with me?”

Gyuri giggles at your exaggeration, though of course she happily nods at the prospect of too much dessert.

“I will make a list!” She suddenly jumps in excitement, wiggling on your lap. “So many toys to buy. Can I sleep with the baby? When will the baby come? What do they like?”

You tear up at the change of attitude, so it’s Mingyu who answers even if he wants to tease you about it.

“In nine months. And they will like whatever you get them. But don’t buy too much just yet, okay?”

“That’s so long!” She gasps.

“Yeah, but that means we’ll be all prepared, right?” He grins at her, one arm going around you while his other hand ruffles Gyuri’s hair. “You need to practice to be a big sister, too! Will you be able to do it?”

Gyuri nods vigorously, promising that she will be the bestest sister ever. “And I will help you too, Ma. You will call Lili everytime you need help?”

At this point, you’re already crying as you nod. Gyuri panics a little, tries her best to wipe your tears when Mingyu assures her that you’re crying because you’re happy.

“Do you want to see a picture of the baby? You can’t see them clearly, though.”

Surprisingly, Gyuri shakes her head. But before you can worry yet again, she beams and says she wants everything to be a surprise. “But tell me when you find out if it’s a boy or a girl?”

“You can come with us to the doctor when we find out, Flower.”

She squeals in excitement, the previous stand on wanting to be a big sister seems to have returned. Gyuri starts to ramble about the amusement parks and all her favorite places that she wants to visit with the baby, and you finally share a relieved smile with Mingyu.

He leans forward to peck your lips, whispering that he’s excited for another beginning for your family. The smile on his face is the most beautiful you’ve ever seen. With his heart full, he hugs you both tighter into his chest and simply laughs when Gyuri whines, asking him to let go.

[✾✾✾]

©wonwoonlight – all rights reserved. I don't allow any translations or reposting of my works.

A/N: thank you again for 3k!! see you on mwty special <3

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ghosting — kim taerae

there is absolutely nothing y/n can do to go back, all he has is the ghostly memories of his first love.

tags :: kim taerae x m!reader , fluff start angst end , simply reader's inner most thoughts , mentions of homophobia , but they still love(d) each other , just super depressing , readers family are assholes , except his brother , horribly depressing ending , spoiler alert: one of them dies

lee y/n's life is a horribly written story.

tragedy after tragedy, that's it. whenever a good thing was about to happen, the opportunity easily slipped out of hands and seemed to explode into pieces.

he could just never win.

while it's true, y/n did try to improve his life, it seems that he and bad luck were destined to be together. he hates how every time something amazing happens, something else would always ruin it.

there was practically nothing that could save him from this constant loop of suffering.

then kim taerae came into everything.

y/n and taerae weren't complete opposites, but their life situations definitely were. compared to y/n's unsupportive, work oriented parents, taerae had supportive parents who made time for him, y/n could only wish for such things.

he seemed to have come out of the blue, but y/n couldn't have been more grateful. where could he even begin with taerae? he's so pretty, sweet, well spoken, lovely, he was like an angel, y/n feels as if he can picture a halo above his head whenever he speaks.

in all honesty, anyone would fall in love with him, but y/n fell hard, so hard that he probably could have bruised his knees. it appeared obvious to everyone that the two had a thing, even to y/n's younger brother, junseo.

"my brother likes you" he told taerae once, and the older simply chuckled, shaking his head. he already had a hunch of what y/n was feeling, his feelings already reciprocated.

"does he now?" taerae questions, watching as the young boy giggles in excitement. his hands are placed behind his back, as he patiently waits for the little boys answer.

"yeah! he always talks about you!" junseo says. "he says your super pretty, and have pretty eyes, and have a pretty voice and that he thinks your super amazing and—"

"what are you two talking about?" y/n comes out of nowhere, handing junseo the ice cream he wanted. the younger lee smiles and quickly started devouring his treat, taerae chuckling at how cute he was.

"junseo was talking about how like me, apparently" taerae says way too honestly.

y/n choked on his ice cream, looking over at the older, who was now dying of laughter. he felt his face heat up despite how he was eating ice cream at that very moment.

what an awkward confession huh?

you can't begin to even figure out how nervous y/n was to meet taerae's parents. he was so nervous in fact that he was biting the inside of his cheeks, but taerae would reassure him that he was fine.

"what if your parents don't like me?"

"y/n, why would they not like you? i told them about you and they already like you, no worries".

taerae was not wrong.

at first, y/n thought his parents hated him, due to how silent they were, but then mrs. kim squealed and ran up to give him a hug. "ah! he's so cute, taerae! you weren't wrong!"

he felt the woman pinch his cheeks, stretching them out. "honey! look at taerae's boyfriend! i told you he was gonna be cute!"

"he truly is adorable!"

y/n listens to his partners parents shower him with compliments and fiddle with his face. he looked over at taerae behind him, who gave a thumbs up, mouthing a "told you so".

y/n found himself so in love, even with how against queer relationships his parents were, that didn't stop him, he was happier with taerae than he ever was with his parents, he found himself and junseo spending more time at taerae's house than their own home, his parents were much more supportive than their own.

everything was fine.

"what do you wanna do after graduation?" taerae asked, looking up at his boyfriend, who was playing with his hair, his hands then moved to his face, squishing his cheeks.

"hm.." y/n thought for a moment, cupping taerae's face as he giggles at how cute he looked. "i don't know, you said you wanna major in music, right?"

"yeah right".

y/n thought again, smiling. "i'll probably major in art".

"oh! i remember you told me! you never showed me that painting you made of me though.."

"someday love, someday" y/n responds, and taerae laughs at the pet name, he hates how flustered it makes him.

everything was good. finally, lee y/n's life had taken a turn for the better. he had an insanely loving boyfriend, was able to take care of his younger brother and maintain his studies, plus, taerae's parents were supportive, and didn't find his presence annoying at all.

but, of course, the key word in that sentence is was, because the lee would unfortunately find all of that crashing down in the span of one night. just one night.

"your seriously gonna go? it's late" y/n can vividly remember telling taerae that, but the older just shook his head and waved his hand dismissively.

"it'll be fine, y/n, it isn't that far" taerae reassured him, that familiar smile coming to his face, with his dimples on full display. "seriously, babe i'm gonna be fine".

taerae looked at his partners empty wrist, his mind suddenly going to something he forgot to mention to his boyfriend. "oh, before that, i have something to give you".

he rummaged through his pocket and pulled out a bracelet he made for y/n, handing it to him. the lee freezes, not knowing how he could have responded to such a gift.

"taerae—"

"i spent a lot of time making it for you, see? it has moon charms, and your initials on it! junseo helped me too".

y/n let taerae put it on his wrist, not being able to focus clearly, he really couldn't focus, whenever this memory came back to him, he always remembered how there looked to be a universe in them.

"i hope you like it".

"i love it" he whispers, genuinely. he felt as if he was going to collapse, is that a taerae thing? having y/n think he was about to die? how ironic.

"anyway" taerae cleared his throat. "i should go now, it's late" he said, smiling once again at his partner.

"i'll see you tomorrow?" he said, and y/n curses at himself for saying that, for jinxing himself. why would he say that? he hates himself.

"yeah, i'll call you" taerae replied. he brought y/n's hand closer and placed a kissed his knuckles, causing for y/n's cheeks to heat up.

if present day y/n could talk to his past self, he would have convinced himself to continue talking, to stall, to be stubborn and hardheaded so that he could convince taerae to stay longer.

"you shouldn't have let him go lee y/n"

no matter how much y/n's thoughts tried to convince him that something was gonna go wrong, he couldn't listen, or rather, he didn't listen. what kind of an idiot is he?

of course there wouldn't be a happy ending, of course taerae didn't call him later, of course nothing went his way.

when would lee y/n's life ever be a good one? when would his story ever have a happy ending? what did he do so wrong in his past life that warranted for him to receive such a punishment?

he was right, so there is absolutely nothing that could stop his constant loop of suffering, no matter how hard he tries to change it, bad luck would always find a way to catch up to him.

taerae didn't deserve this, he should've been with someone else, someone who wouldn't have him end up with such fate. y/n could never get that thought off his mind, how he had practically ruined taerae's life.

he should've been wiser, he should've thought before he let taerae slip from his grasp so easily.

if he could go back, he would try to prevent such an event from happening, he'd rather be the one to suffer, not taerae, he didn't do anything wrong, yet he was the one who had to suffer.

as always, everything ended in tragedy, another thing to mess up something consistent.

lee y/n's life is a horribly written story.

and that horribly written story had an unfortunate ending.

AUTHORS NOTE — sooooo how's everyones day going so far? mine is going fine ^^

⏳Ageless⏳ A Namjoon Series {Chapter 1}

Author's Note: This is part 1 of a possible series, depending on how well it does. It's based on the movie "Age of Adaline" which, if you have not seen it, I recommend it, not because the whole fanfic is that exact thing word per word, but because it's a really good movie! Of course, any criticism and feedback are welcome, don't be shy in leaving those!

Pairing: Namjoon x reader (Female Pronouns) Fandom: BTS Warnings: Ageless Namjoon; slight themes of war. Genre: Fluff, angst Word Count: 2k

Songs that helped me: • "Kujikesou ni Naru Watashi wo Sasaete Kudasai" Your lie in April OST • "Friend A" Your lie in April OST • "Watashitachi wa Sou Yatte Ikite Iku Jinshu na no" Your lie in April OST • "Truth and Lies Piano Solo" Your lie in April OST Next Chapter

On August 8th, 1953, after the Korean War ended in a settlement a young man was biking from Yeoncheon down to his hometown back in Seoul, his birthname is Kim Namjoon. He had been fighting for his country since the age of 19 and now, three years later after its beginning, it came to an end. As he was biking, something strange happened, it started to snow in the summer. Namjoon, unable to understand the anomaly in front of him, looked up to see if his eyes were deceiving him. Unable to see the rather large branch in front of him, Namjoon lost his balance making him turn his wheel to the left side, where a rather large ditch was located. Kim Namjoon hit his head, limbs, and arms as he made his way down the ditch, his bike landing near his right hand when he hit the ground. As his body succumbed to hyperthermia, the 22-year-old began to think of his short life and closed his eyes as he, without knowing, died. After several minutes, something that most people would consider a miracle happened. Lightning struck the bicycle that touched Namjoon’s fingers. Namjoon’s body received 1,200 volts of electricity, making him take his first breath. Kim Namjoon will now be the first human to experience an anomaly called “The Adaline Effect” discovered in 2307 by Salvador Paskowitz. Kim Namjoon, from this moment forward, will not be able to age.

Most people start to show signs of aging at the age of 30, when gray hairs, wrinkles, and more start to show. This did not go unnoticed by the young man. As his fellow army buddies started to show signs of aging, Kim Namjoon did not even get wrinkles, while his friends had arthritis, joint pains, receding hairlines, and a lot more signs of aging. He attributed his ageless self to good genes and his diet, however, by 1978, at the age of 47, it was hard to disguise what was obvious to him and his parents; he was not able to age. Kim Namjoon, concerned for his parents, decided to stay, and fake putting gray hair so he could spend time with his parents as he knew, their lives were coming to an end. In 1988, after losing both his parents, Kim Namjoon approached a young man named Kim Seokjin, who helped him create a fake identity, this will help him move permanently to the United States as it was a more enormous country and easier to escape. Every decade, Kim Namjoon changes his name and moves, deciding to live a boring, mundane life, unnoticed by those around him who are not paying attention. Kim Namjoon, now in the year 2025, lives in New York, with the current alias, Jung Junseo.

As Namjoon stares out the restaurant window, with a glass of wine, he wonders if there is any hope for him. Namjoon currently, has learned 5 languages and is currently working on his 6th, he works at a bookstore, binding books, however, he feels completely and utterly alone. He has heard rumors from Seokjin, the only one aware of his secret, that his army friends had all lived fulfilling lives, and left this world with their partners, leaving their children behind as their legacy. He looks around the small restaurant and smiles softly as the waitress serves him another glass of wine while he waits for his food. He shifts his gaze and looks towards the door as a woman enters the restaurant. He feels his world stop as he looked at her. She was wearing a black dress; it hugged her body gently giving her an elegant glow. It was an off-shoulder dress, her heels accentuated her legs, and her nails looked freshly manicured. Namjoon, for the first time in 72 years was intrigued enough to break the promise he made himself to keep living a mundane and boring life. As the woman made her way towards the table behind him, he couldn’t help but notice that it was a table for one. He waited for the waitress to leave as he slowly stood up and looked down at his wine glass. He contemplated whether he should approach this woman or not. He slowly looked over his shoulder only to find her staring, then, he pretended to wipe his pants with the clothed napkin. He sat down clearing his throat and undoing his tie gently. He heard the soft clicking of heels coming towards him and stopping next to him. The soft piano that was being played live echoed through the restaurant, it gave her a softer more elegant energy. Kim Namjoon lost himself in the moment as he just stared at the woman and blinked before standing slowly, towering over her. After what felt like a few minutes of comfortable silence, the woman spoke saying

“Hi… I’m Y/N. I just- I couldn’t help but notice that you’re here alone and… I’m here alone too so… Do you wanna… eat with me?”

The woman, whose name Namjoon learned is Y/N, spoke in a soft, almost shy voice. Unable to find his words, Namjoon nodded and pulled the chair for her signaling her to sit, which she did thanking him in a soft voice. After he sat down, he cleared his throat and spoke

“I’m Namj- Junseo…! Junseo…” He chuckled wiping his hands gently on his pants. He blinked a few moments then said “May I ask… Why is such a pretty girl eating at such a fancy restaurant alone?” She smiled blushing looking down, gently pushing her hair behind her ear

“My date just texted me saying that he doesn’t want to see me anymore” he shook his head gently and flagged a waitress asking her if he could have another glass of wine. After the wine was served to Y/N, Namjoon, said

“It’s his loss, sweetheart. Don’t let him ruin your night.” She smiled touching the glass gently saying

“Well, I guess I could thank him because if it wasn’t for him, I don’t think I would have the courage to approach such a handsome man like yourself”

Namjoon smiled at, what he considered now, his date. She was stunned after seeing his smile and couldn’t help but gape at him. His smile was wide, showing dimples that accentuated his cute smile even more, and framed his face like a painting worth billions. She smiled softly and said,

“You have a beautiful smile, Junseo” He licked his lips and smiled softly holding the glass of wine near his lips, and looked at her with a questioned look. She giggled and continued by saying

“Really! I mean it, your smile is beautiful. If you keep smiling at me, I’d feel…” she stopped herself and shook her head grabbing the menu, signaling him that some things are better not said at the moment. He touched his nose gently and smiled while looking down, then he looked up at her. Her face was lightly covered with a soft makeup look, and her cheeks blushed gently, making his cheeks heat up as he started to notice how he was staring a little too much.

After the pair had dinner, Namjoon offered to walk her home, to which she reluctantly complied saying “I’m trusting that you’re not some psychopath” to which Namjoon laughed. The silence between them was comfortable, and soft, as the loud city was beginning to echo out of their ears. To Namjoon, her presence sounded like a soft piano playing in the background, to her, his presence sounded like a soft violin, anybody else walking beside them could tell, that they were in harmony with each other. Namjoon continued walking and stopped once she called out

“Junseo?”, hearing her voice made him turn around and look at her with curious eyes. She smiled gently and signaled at the building beside them, telling him

“This is my building”. Namjoon nodded and made his way toward her, telling her

“You should walk in, I wanna make sure there are no weirdos following you”. She chuckled and looked at him thanking him. Namjoon looked at her hand, it looked soft, his own hand twitched softly but then he closed it into a fist telling himself that it’s better if they just never spoke again. He doesn’t want to hurt someone. Not like when he did when his parents pointed out how he wasn’t aging, not when he told the woman waiting for him to come back from the war that it was over. He wasn’t going to do this again. As she approached him to kiss his cheek, he backed away and smiled gently apologizing. Her smile flattened and she said

“Oh no… Do you have someone? A partner?... I should have known…”

“No! No... It’s not that… I just… I’m moving away soon… and I don’t wanna hurt you if you’re looking for a relationship with me.”

She smiled at this and lifted her chin looking at him directly in his eyes. She spoke

“Tell you what. If we find each other again, ask me out, and take me out on a date. Let’s leave it to fate, right?”

He smiled at this and looked down putting his hands in his pockets. Fate, huh? He looked up at her and got close to her. “Leaving things to fate?”

“Yeah, you don’t believe in it?”

He felt his smile widen then a smirk creep in as he looked at her lips. He sighed gently and licked his own. He nodded closing his eyes and opening them to look into hers. “To fate then,” he said as he backed away slowly. He lifted his chin towards the building telling her “Go in, I wanna make sure you’re in safe” She smiled and nodded.

When he saw her walking into the building, he couldn’t help but blush and smile at what just happened. He stood there, processing everything. Namjoon, for the first time in 72 years, was having his heartbeat faster, his hands sweating from nervousness, and his cheeks reddened. He felt like a teenager again. As he began to walk out, he heard someone yelling out “Junseo!” He looked up at the building and saw a window opened with Y/N’s figure coming out. He smiled gently looking up, the moonlight and streetlight illuminating their figures. She waved at him and said “Goodnight!” He nodded and whispered to himself “Goodnight, Y/N…”

Arriving home, Namjoon called out for his dog, Moni, which quickly ran towards him. He smiled and hugged him then quickly let him down when he noticed that his dog was becoming uncomfortable. He looked at his apartment and looked at his letters, which all contained bills. He grabbed his phone and decided to phone up Seokjin, which quickly picked up.

“Hyung! Are you stopping by soon?” Seokjin asked, which Namjoon sighed and responded with

“Don’t call me Hyung, I’ve told you…”

“It’s weird not calling you that since you’re older than me…” Namjoon looked out his window and sighed responding with a soft “…yeah”

Seokjin spoke gently saying “Hyung… When we see each other, I need to tell you something”

“Did something happen?” Namjoon asked worried, to which Seokjin chuckled and said

“No… Just… I’ll tell you about it later.”

Namjoon looked down at his phone and sighed gently feeling tears in his eyes. He met Seokjin when he was 23; he was a broke college student, who was doing fake ids to get by. Namjoon talked him out of doing his business, which, Seokjin did, with the condition that if Namjoon ever needed anything he would ask him, and so, only Seokjin knew his secret about being unable to age. Seokjin followed Namjoon to the United States, and would hang out with him from time to time, Seokjin got used to saying “This is my friend from college” to “This is my younger cousin” and now, when asked what Namjoon is to him, Seokjin happily responds with “This is my grandson”. Something which breaks Namjoon’s heart. Namjoon is fearing the worse as Seokjin is now 60. He sighed and looked at his bedside table, grabbing a photo album he had. He opened the page and looked at how he has grown from a young child to a teenager, to finally an adult. His final picture being one from the day before his deployment. He was beside his mother and father in one picture, and in the next, he was next to his ex-fiancé, Suyeon.

He remembers that day like it was yesterday, the day he called off the engagement and broke up his relationship with Suyeon. He had asked her to take a walk with him, which she happily did. As they walked near the Han River at night, where he had also proposed. He turned to look at her saying

“I can’t do this anymore, Suyeon… I don’t wanna marry you.” Holding back his shaky breath. Suyeon shook her head and said

“Baby… You’re just saying that because of that thing that soldiers get after the war, right? PTSD? You don’t mean that, right?” There was a long moment of silence, he looked into her eyes, which had developed crow’s feet, her fair skin was beginning to show fine lines, and the roots of her hair had very few gray hairs as she was beginning to dye her hair to hide them. It had been 8 years since the accident, and a now 30-year-old Suyeon was standing in front of him.

“Suyeon… I just… Don’t think this is gonna work… Trust me when I say that I don’t wan-“

“If you don’t want to, then don’t, Namjoon!” She got close to him, grabbing his cheeks, almost begging him to look at her, but he couldn’t. He couldn’t look at the girl that he had been in love with since high school cry because of him.

“Namjoon… Please… Please tell me that it’s just PTSD and you wanna marry me…” Suyeon said with a shaky breath, tears falling from her eyes. As he grabbed her hands and gripped them softly, he looked up at her with a tear falling.

“I’m sorry, Suyeon… It’s over.” He whispered as he slowly let go of her hands. He wiped her tears gently with his thumb and said, “You’ll be happy without me, trust me.”

She shook her head and said, “Can’t I get an explanation, at least?”

He sighed and shook his head, closing his eyes and preparing himself for the vile words that will come out of his mouth “I just… Don’t love you anymore. I can’t be with… you anymore. I don’t feel anything when I see you. It was fun when we were teenagers, but now, I feel nothing. You’re nothing…” A slap was heard, and its sound echoed throughout the river, the sound of crickets and the river flowing were the background of what was happening to them, Suyeon’s hard breathing was soft, but in Namjoon’s ears, it sounded loud. She pushed him as hard as she could and screamed

“Go to hell, Kim Namjoon!” then ran away.

Namjoon touched the picture gently and sighed. Seokjin told him, after finding out about Suyeon, that she lived to be 82 and had one boy and three girls, that her husband was someone she worked with and that they lived without any problems or complications. They were truly in love. He closed the album once he felt Moni touch his leg, he smiled looking down at the dog and picking him up, and putting him down on the bed. He took off his suit and tie, deciding to sleep with just his underwear and to put his clothes in the hamper once he woke up. He looked at Moni and whispered

“You’re gonna love the lake house, Moni. It’s relaxing, and there are not a lot of neighbors. I doubt anyone will notice us” Moni wagged his tail and laid down.

Namjoon fell asleep thinking of his past and how things wholly changed because of his decisions. He often wonders, would he still be normal if he took a different route? Had he taken the bus home, would he still be normal? Should he have told Suyeon? Is it okay to start another relationship? Y/N radiated something in Namjoon he hadn’t felt before, he hadn’t opened his heart completely, not to Suyeon, but with Y/N, it felt different. He doesn’t know what it is, but he wants to explore this feeling before he leaves, and he hopes that fate grants him the opportunity to at least explore it before it’s gone completely.

Cool with you

Pairing: Kim Junseo x reader; Summary: Cupid was sick of doing it's job, how come everyone gets to be happy. Everyone but him. It would take an angel to make him believe, he too, was destined to find his perfect soul. A/N: This is clearly very inspired by newjeans latest mv, with the concept of cupid (or eros) falling in love with psyche. Obviously this is gonna be a little different but that's the base. I hope you enjoy it!!

Every day it was the same old routine. Following your next "victim" making them have great luck in finding a partner. Obviously cupid can only do so much, he brings people together but if you need couples therapy, it's not his problem.

It's rare when his arrows become nothing more than a future story for someone to tell their kids, but it could very much happen. If you don't cherish the love you get don't expect it to last forever.

And that's part of the reason why Junseo no longer finds joy in his daily quests. He won't lie the first few times it was as magical to him as it was to the parties involved. But after seeing it go perfectly fine just for someone to ruin it, it was frustrating to say the least.

He'd give anything to be in their spots, he wishes he could experience the so called "love at first sight", he wishes he'd go to sleep thinking about the one he loves and nothing else. All of this caused a sort of indifference towards all humans, how could a species be so self entitled, bragging about how much they evolved when they can't even listen to someone else's heart. Selfish pieces of flesh.

There he was, witnessing yet another breakup before his eyes. It was so common he thought he was getting used to it. But he can never get used to the feeling of disappointment and the hole it leaves on his chest.

It was clearly time to go pick another human in hopes they would be a little kinder than most. That's when he saw you sitting at a coffee shop, enjoying your sweet morning tea. A slight change for once, usually the prefered beverage is bitter black coffee, very reflective of some personalities. You were accompanied with a friend chatting about silly little things, another dissimilarity. Normally most people gossip or complain about every little thing. You intrigued him so he was for sure going to be your shadow for a while.

Once you were done with your errands for the day you decided to go home, taking a very curious boy with you. He knew this went beyond his obligations but you were mesmerizing, absolutely breathtaking. He had only heard of people like you in books and movies that previous patients spoke about. He never thought those were inspired by real people, but there you were proving him wrong.

Your nights consist of the same pattern of events, prepare dinner, shower, skin care and a nice movie to fall asleep to. Simple is the best. And Junseo couldn't agree more, he sat near the sink admiring every inch of your beauty, the way you were singing your lungs out while toning your face. He couldn't help but smile.

He was having more fun with you than he ever did by playing matchmaker.

Thankfully you couldn't see him or hear him but these are the times he wished he wasn't invisible. He wants to join you on this little karaoke session while the pasta cooks, hold your hand to spin you around, kiss you all over till your giggles bring him to a stop.

The timer went off signaling it was time to dig in. You carefully transferred the tiny pot onto the unused stove top, preventing it from cooking it longer than planned. As you were platting your food, he looks amused, pleased. It's capellini, also known as angel hair pasta. He couldn't lie, this was starting to sound a lot like destiny. Which is another nickname most mortals have for him.

You made him believe in things that weren't real, that's how special you had become.

Cuddling with your pillows you made yourself comfortable, anxiously waiting to watch "letters to juliet". Meanwhile loverboy, quite literally, sat at the end of your bed watching your every move. Somehow you look better than when he first saw you but that was never a factor he cared about. Your energy was enough to convince him you were worth his time. One smile on your face to put another on his.

Mid movie your eyes had quit on you, succumbing to the tiredness. Slowly, as if you could wake up due to his action, he made his way to the side of the bed, wanting to be as close to you as possible.

Your breaths were soft and gentle, just like your heart, just like every part of your being.

He wanted you to know, even if you actually had no way of communicating with him, that from now on, you're stuck with him.

"I want to devote myself to you, in hopes one day our souls may actually find a way to exist as one. So here lies my promise next you, taking my place so no one else will."

something soft and romantic with junseo? I am honestly in my junseo feels right now and I just love him 🥺💕

Kim Junseo, the man we're all soft and whipped for 🥺 I hope you enjoy what I wrote for him - Mia

It was just you and him in that moment doing nothing and it didn't matter because the both of you were together and that was enough. Junseo turned his head slightly to observe you, something he often did while you were in your own little world.

"Hey", he softly calls out, breaking the comforting silence which was enveloping you both. You didn't look up from your book but instead hummed as a response which let him know you were listening to him. "When did you realize you were falling in love with me?"

His question made you look up at him curiously, wondering why he suddenly asked a question like this out of the blue. You slowly closed your book, marking the page you were on and laying it in your lap as you pondered upon his words, furrowing.

"Honestly...", you began to choose your words carefully, forming sentences in your mind that would make sense, "I never realized I was falling in love with you", you smile at him apologetically. Piquing his interest, he sits straight and you copy his movements, facing him. "I'm intrigued... care to elaborate?"

"Well... you know how you get lost? You don't realise it immediately?" you began to explain, earning a nod from him. "You keep going forward, not realising at first then later you start to get confused and then it comes to a point when it hits you that you are lost and you have no idea how?" you continue, moving to sit next to him. "It was the same for me."

"At first, it never occurred to me that I was falling in love with you. Maybe I thought of it as getting used to you? Feeling attached to you and your presence? I was confused with my feelings and couldn't exactly put a finger on it why and the possible reasons behind it. Then it just hit me... out of nowhere. I still remember when it happened, I was in trouble... caught up in the rain and my car had broken down. You were the first person who came to my mind and somehow I got a hold of you and let you know." Junseo mirrors the smile on your face, shifting closer to you, enraptured with the memory you were sharing out loud for the first time.

"You didn't hesitate at all", you continue with a far off smile, unaware with how much endearment your significant other was looking at you. "The moment I saw you in the rain, concern for me etched across your face and how you dropped everything to make sure I was okay, it was that moment when the bells in my head start to ring... and all the answers I was looking for behind my unfamiliar thoughts and feelings were infront of me." Your voice had lowered, a certain fondness behind it when you finally met his gaze.

"That I was in love with you."

treasure oc kids

these are the kids i will be writing about when it comes to dad!treasure :)

choi hyunsuk

choi minhyun

choi doyeon

choi hyunjoon

park jihoon

park junseo

park myah

kanemoto yoshinori

kanemoto etsuko

kanemoto aeri

kanemoto hanae

kim junkyu

kim wonyoung

kim jae

kim moonseo

takata mashiho

takata ayana

takata akihito

yoon jaehyuk

yoon jaeseok

yoon jaehyung

yoon dayeon

hamada asahi

hamada daiki

hamada kaiyo

bang yedam

bang hana

kim doyoung

kim taeyang

kim saebyeol

watanabe haruto

watanabe amaya

watanabe hideki

park jeongwoo

park seojin

park aeseo

park hyewon

so junghwan

so daehan & so mina (identical twins)

run for your life

The Maze Runner meets WEi (featuring other kpop groups).

➳ Characters: Runner!Junseo x female!reader/you

➳ Genre: the maze runner au, action, mystery, dystopian

➳ Words: 19.4k (oh lord...)

➳ Warning: mentions of injuries, blood, mechanical-animal beings, a virus, famine, death, being tested on, emotional manipulation, weapons (let me know if I’ve missed something)

➳ A/N: This story is a ‘The Maze Runner’ AU. If you haven’t read the book or watched the movie, you can still read the story, I’ll explain the details. However, to those who have read or watched it, I just want to say that this story is neither 100% like the first movie, nor the first book of the series. It’s a mixture of both, plus I’ve changed details and switched up the timelines. 

Also, no one in this story is equivalent to the characters in the books/movies!

➳ Dedicated to: @dat-town​​! Dear, I wish I could tell you how much you mean to me, but words would fail to deliver my feelings. Nevertheless, I truly, truly thank you for staying by my side and supporting me through thick and thin this year (as every other year). I love you, and I only wish the best for you! May 2023 be an easier year on you! I’ll try my best to make your days better and easier in whatever way I can. Here’s to many more memories (including memories shared over fangirling) in 2023 as well! 💕

One moment, it felt like you were drowning and the next, you were coming up for air, but there was no water around you.

After coughing up some more water and regaining consciousness, you looked around and almost fell when you tried to get up. The ground was moving beneath you. When your eyes got used to the dim lights in this box, you realised why: it was probably an elevator and considering the movement, it seemed to go upwards. But to where?

You had no idea.

Why?

You had no idea either.

Who you were?

That, too, was a damn good question.

When the realisation hit you that you didn’t remember anything - your name, your family or why you had felt like drowning and why you were going up -, you almost fainted. However, the Box you were in just halted at that moment and the shock of light filling up the Box jolted you awake.

When the brightness diminished, you took in what was above you, and the surprise from the other side was mirroring yours. the Box seemed to arrive a few feet down from the ground, making you have to look up at the others who had probably opened its top.

“It’s a girl,” someone said in a bewildered tone, and when you looked up at the shoulder-length haired boy, you almost scoffed.

“Yeah, well, surprise, I’m a girl,” you noted, lacing your arms in front of your chest when you realised that from all of the faces that looked back at you in shock, there wasn’t a single feminine one.

“A feisty one, on top of that,” someone else remarked and a low chuckle ran through the group of boys around you. You might not have had any idea why you were here, but the one thing that got to your mind was that it was so typical of boys to react this way.

Then, a sudden jolt of panic ran through you - because maybe it was their fault that you were here, they were the ones who had gotten you here, they had merely expected a boy -, but you tried to mask it by raising your voice and acting all confident.

“I don’t know who you all are, but let me go. Now!” “We wish we could,” the boy who was the closest to you said with a sigh, then looked above his shoulder. “We’re all trapped here.”

“What? Don’t manipulate me into thinking that you’re my saviour or something, so that you can do something to me, I’m-” You were about to go on with your monologue when the earlier boy cut you off. Instead of appearing frustrated or angry at you for such accusations, he was patient and resigned. As if he hadn’t been surprised by your words in the slightest.

“Look, we’ve all been there. We’ve all arrived in the Box one day, we’ve all forgotten who we are, how we got here and what our name is. We know how that feels and since we can only rely on each other, we won’t do anything to you. You’re a part of the Glade now.”

“The Glade?” You blinked in confusion, looking from one boy to another. A few of them exchanged glances before the earlier guy - was he their leader? - reached his hand out to you to help you out of the Box. You eyed him for a few seconds, hesitant whether you should trust them or not but he had just said that they had all been in your shoes and how could they have known that you didn’t remember anything if they hadn’t been like you once?

That thought finally prompted you to take his hand and hold onto it while you were crawling out. You arrived on solid ground and green grass, and looking around, it did seem like some kind of a farm with animals, barns made of wood, tall trees hovering above you, vegetables growing, handmade bunk beds and the remains of an ashy fireplace. Everything seemed pretty normal, except the giant walls on all sides.

“What are those walls?” You blurted out immediately, pretty suspicious of their purpose.

The leader-like guy didn’t answer at first. Instead, he turned to two other boys - namely Yohan and Donghan -, asking them to bring the supplies out of the Box. Then, he turned to you, introducing himself as Daehyeon and promising that he would tell you everything and show you around the so-called Glade, but before you could go on your little tour, Donghan exclaimed:

“We’ve got a note.”

“A note?” Daehyeon squinted his eyes, stepping back towards the Box. Confused, you followed his lead, joining the boys lining up around the Box. “What does it say?”

“She’s the last one. EVER,” Donghan read it out loud before turning the paper towards the audience to prove that he wasn’t lying. That just meant that you had more eyes on you than already even though all you wanted was to disappear.

“The last newbie? What does it mean?”

“I don’t know, Seokhwa. It’s not like we know a lot of things,” Daehyeon sighed in response, but even his calm demeanour was shaken up a bit by the note. Not to mention yours.

“Why am I here? Why am I the last one? What the hell is going on? Who the hell put me here?” You shrieked, desperation finding its way into your heart. Your head was filled with more and more questions, making it ache with the longing for answers - any answer would suffice at this point. You felt your heartbeat fasten, chest rising fervently, and there was a sudden loud ringing in your ears. Your hands immediately flew to your ears to cup them, but the ringing didn’t stop. Was it the ringing of machines? Why did it seem so familiar? And why did it sound so… Dangerous?

The ringing just got louder and louder despite your attempts to cup your ears. Faces and voices were getting blurry around you, making it seem like you were drowning. Drowning made you think back to how you had ended up here, flashbacks of being in a tube and drowning in water coming back, the same kind of suffocating feeling coming back even stronger.

Unbeknownst to you, you fell to your knees, and at the next moment, you completely lost consciousness.

When you opened your eyes again, you were in an unfamiliar room.

This fact might have made you alerted, but having no recollection of what had happened before you had come out of that box-like thing and possibly blacked out, you were merely surprised to find a decent level of cleanness around you. It wasn't something that you imagined after seeing a farm-like place before.

"Oh, hey," a gentle voice called from your left, and as you looked up, you saw another unfamiliar boy. He had boyishly short, somewhat messy blonde hair and he held a bowl in his hands.

"Where am I?" You asked immediately, looking around once more, trying to take in the shelves of bottles, drawings of odd plants, books and different bottled herbs. It looked somewhat like an...

"The infirmary. That's where we treat the sick at the Glade. In your case, you're probably not sick, just a little startled," he explained with an empathic smile, and put the bowl on the ground. He reached out and you immediately flinched, though he only grabbed the cloth from your temple which you hadn't even felt before. With ease, he squeezed the water out of it, put it into the basket, squeezed it a bit lighter this time and reached it out to you. He probably took notice of your weariness, so he waited for you to take the cloth from him instead of putting it on himself.

"Okay," you croaked out, still in disbelief over what had happened and what was going on. "Can you tell me more about this Glade? I've only just gotten here, and someone already told me that everyone gets here the same way and then there was the note too..." You tried to gather all your recollections from before, though you couldn't even tell just how much time had passed since the Box.

"Ooooh the note," someone cooed from behind the messy blonde guy, and actually there were two of them. The one who spoke up wore a playful grin and had sleek ashgrey hair while the one beside him rolled his eyes and put two bottles with some liquid on a nearby table. The latter had vividly red hair - like a strawberry's. Though you had no idea how you would even remember what strawberries looked like if you didn't even remember your name.

"You're scaring the poor girl," the messy blonde haired boy grumbled, and the ashgrey one as if woken from a daze, took a salute and introduced himself immediately.

"Hi! My name is Keeho. I'm a Medjack at the Glade, and trust me, if you need someone to treat your wounds or someone you can come to for the latest gossip, I'm your guy," he said with a wink, earning yet another eye-roll from the strawberry-haired one who also introduced himself - he was Taeyang. The third guy was Jiung, and just like Keeho had told you, they were all Medjacks at the Glade.

"What is the Glade, and how are you the Medjacks?" You asked through furrowed eyebrows, and as if sharing a super interesting story, Keeho plopped himself down on a chair beside the bed, and the other two followed his example.

"Okaaay, so please, don't freak out, but the Glade is where we are, and we assume we're all trapped here. We don't know why or who put us here, but periodically, the Box which we call the Box, I know, very creative," Keeho sent an amused smile in your direction at this part. "So it comes up, and a new boy comes with it. Plus, there’s always stuff in the Box that's useful. Some food, blankets, medicine... We don't know how they know what we want, but it always comes with a new Glader. Well, usually, it's a boy, but you're the only girl so far, and you only had the note on you and those two bottles with you in the Box," he pointed at the two bottles with the liquid inside that Taeyang had previously put on the shelf.

"I have no idea what they are for," you told them immediately as if they were about to accuse you, but Keeho merely shrugged his shoulders.

"It's okay. No one remembers their life from before coming here, so we didn't have high hopes regarding the origin of the bottles. Though they have WCKD on them, so we know it's from the ones who sent us here, not you."

"How do you know that? Who is WCKD?"

"We don't know who they are," Jiung justified this time. "It's just that WCKD is written all over the Glade. On the stuff they send us, on the Box, on the walls of The Maze... everywhere," he added patiently, but you were just more confused than before, so the three of them took turns to explain some more, filling in some information before you could even ask about it.

So this was what they knew: around three years ago, Daehyeon had arrived here with some stuff from the Box, but otherwise, he had needed to build this place from the ground, building beds, tending to the animals, trying to decipher what the walls were for. Then, supposedly every month (they didn't have anything to track time, it was because the packages from the Box had months on them), a boy came in the Box without absolutely no idea about their past, and then the Box went down and didn't come up until next month. They had built this place (barns, beds, the infirmary, weapons and so on), traditions (gathering around the fireplace whenever a newbie came), systems to make it work (different jobs assigned to everyone such as the Medjacks themselves, the Runners who went into the Maze every morning and came back every evening, the Cooks, the Gardeners, the Mapmakers, the Slicers, the Baggers and the Builders), but there was a question on everyone's mind: why were they there?

"Haven't you tried to escape?" You inquired though the look on all the boys' faces was identical: bitterness, resentment and a bit of hope, too.

"We've tried climbing into the Box and going down with it but it wouldn't budge with someone in it. We've tried climbing over the walls, the Runners are trying to map out The Maze, but it's no use. The Runners are saying that the Maze leads nowhere or you need something to open them up, but they don’t know what that could be," Taeyang concluded with a resigned sigh, and even though you hadn't spent too much time here, you felt that the whole situation was pretty crazy. Just who would put these boys here to make them survive on their own without leaving any clues as to how to escape?

"Who were the guys from earlier? The one who helped me out of the Box seemed like a leader of some sort," you couldn't help but muse out loud. You had no idea if you were right or wrong, or why it actually mattered in the grand scheme of things, but truth to be told, if you were stuck here, you would better get to know them, right?

"Yeah, the guy who helped you out was Daehyeon. He's the one who had come to the Glade first. There were the Runners there too, Junseo, Yongha and Seokhwa. Oh and some Builders, probably Yohan and Donghan. Because Daehyeon is also a part of the Builders and they kind of go everywhere together. I think I saw Taeyong and Kun too, they are the Cooks... Don't remember anyone else, we were only notified of your arrival when you collapsed," Jiung explained, listing everyone he could remember (some names actually did ring a bell) and at the mention of your arrival, your stomach churned with worry.

"How do you all know your names?"

"Oh, it comes back after a while. It might take you some days or weeks, but it'll come back. We had a guy named Frying Pan too who didn't remember his name, so we just named him based on his job, but he... he didn't make it," Keeho gulped at the mention of the said boy, and you could only imagine how many ways would there be for people to die here if they didn't die of losing all hope first.

"Yeah, the thing is... There's this creature in the Maze and-" Taeyang was about to get into something after exchanging a glance with his friends (you guessed they were friends), but there was someone calling for help nearby, and all the boys got to their feet. They left in no time, leaving you alone at the infirmary, but you felt like you needed this time to process everything that had happened.

However, one surprise followed another and once the boys were back, they were accompanied by three other boys, two of them holding the third by his arm. They were familiar, but you couldn't match the name to the face until they started talking. They must have been the Runners based on what you heard, but it seemed that this situation was new even to the Medjacks.

"What happened? He looks like-" Keeho started frantically, his whole face full of horror. The previous playfulness was long gone, and it was replaced by deep worry, something that didn't settle well with you.

"Seokhwa was stung," the boy whom you remembered as Yongha - the shoulder-length, raven-haired boy - said while panting heavily. He had some sort of a vest on him that held knives if you saw correctly, but otherwise, he was in a sleeveless shirt. Same went for the boy beside him - Junseo - and the so-called Seokhwa who had to be tied down with full force while he was biting the air and his head was turning in different directions in such a short span of time, yourows while trying to put the were worried that he would break his neck. His veins were eerily visible, they were vivid purple and basically popping off, but it wasn't what scared you the most. It was the huge, pulsating purple mark on his chest that you could see once his shirt was lifted.

"He was stung in broad daylight?" Taeyang furrowed his eyebrows while trying to put the ties around Seokhwa's wrists.

"Yeah. We don't understand either. We were running alongside him when a Griever showed up and stung him, then just left. It didn't even look our way," Junseo shook his head, pearls of sweat sliding down his cheeks - probably from running in the Maze and then doing so until the infirmary.

The Runners were at a loss of words and so were the Medjacks. You were no exception, but you were confused and horrified at the same time, so many questions swimming in your head.

"What do we do?" Yongha looked from Junseo to the Medjacks, but none of them seemed to have a good enough answer to bring up.

"We'll look over him, but someone needs to call Daehyeon," Keeho concluded after some time, and despite not knowing anything and being the newest one at the Glade, you felt this sudden spark of determination in you to be helpful.

"I'll call him," you announced after silence had settled on you all, and this was the first time the Runners seemed to take notice of you.

"But you don't even know where to look for him," Yongha muttered quite apologetically, but it's not look like you took it to heart. He was right after all, but still. You couldn't just sit there without doing anything when all these boys were worrying about Seokhwa whose grunts became stronger and stronger as time went by.

"I want to be of help."

Another heavy silence took over all of you, and you saw that Keeho was about to open his mouth, but Junseo was faster.

"Alright. She can come with me. We'll call for Daehyeon," the Runner announced, and you bolted to your feet immediately, throwing the wet cloth to the bed before joining Junseo. Then, you ran out of the infirmary together to look for their leader. Or well, your leader now, too.

“Can you keep up?” Junseo inquired while jogging towards the other end of the Glade, and he turned back for only a short span of time - when you nodded to him -, and then kept going. It felt nice and refreshing to run. You had no idea how much time you had spent without moving around before coming here, but ever since you got here, you were on bed rest, so your legs loved the little exercise. Besides, Junseo didn’t seem that fast.

You had no idea where you were going (you knew that it would be like this when you had volunteered), but once you got closer to the three boys you first saw when the Box had stopped with you in it, you caught sight of Daehyeon, too. They were all in sleeveless shirts, tools hanging from a leather toolkit attached to their pants and they had protective gloves on, proving to you that they knew what they were doing, and they had gotten used to how things were at the Glade.

Yohan and Donghan were pretty tall and Daehyeon was the shortest one out of the three, but he had a certain confident aura around him that made you think that it wouldn’t be sensible to comment on his height. When you got closer to their trio, you could catch some words from the argument between Yohan and Donghan, Daehyeon being a mere witness to it all.

“I’ve told you it’s not right this way. We need to angle it differently. Like this…”

“Yohan… This is exactly what I’ve told you before!”

“You’ve had dozens of suggestions, how could I remember all of them?” Yohan huffed, pouting like a hurt child. He kicked into the grass with his feet, sending glares at the piece of wood by his legs while Donghan was trying to put two slats together a bit further from him.

Daehyeon was looking over the scene with a resigned sigh, but as he caught sight of the two of you jogging up to them, he furrowed his eyebrows in question.

“We need you. Seokhwa was stung today, he’s currently at the infirmary,” Junseo let him know once you halted, and Yohan stopped sulking while Donghan looked up from arranging the wooden pieces. All of them seemed confused and worried at the same time, but instead of interrogating Junseo on the spot (or asking why you were there in the first place), Daehyeon joined you two to head back to the infirmary.

If anything, it seemed that Seokhwa was in a worse condition than before. He was panting, drops of sweat forming on his forehead while his eyeballs were taking on a different colour - a mixture of burgundy and purple, quite a scary combination to be honest. He was grunting as if he wanted to escape, but thankfully, he was tied to the bed pretty neatly. You were glad though that all of the Medjacks were looking over him because he did seem pretty violent.

“How could it happen in broad daylight?” Daehyeon inquired from the boys around him after having a look at the struggling boy. His face didn’t give away his anxiety - if he felt any -, but you noticed the slight tremble of his lips, and it was clear proof that this was new even to him - the one who had been here the longest.

No one dared to answer the leader’s question because probably no one had any idea why this was happening. Yongha shook his head fervently, Keeho sealed his lips tight while pondering and Taeyang was looking over the struggling boy instead of looking at Daehyeon. Jiung was the only one who seemed willing to think it over but even he stayed quiet.

Junseo looked at you for a few seconds, examining you as if he had seen you for the first time. You looked back at him, keeping eye-contact because what else could you do? You had no recollection of your past life, no idea why you were the last one ever and still no clue about a lot of things at the Glade.

The Runner, on the other hand, voiced out your worst fear without batting an eye:

“It seems like there's something wrong today. First, they send a girl instead of a boy and a note that she's the last one ever, then Seokhwa gets stung in broad daylight. All of these have never happened before, and if she's really the last one ever and that there will be no more Box visits, maybe they're connected. Maybe something is about to change.”

Coming from someone like him - someone who had seen his friend get stung in broad daylight -, it sounded like a verdict. Concerning your arrival, even more so. You wished so badly that you could help them, but you didn’t even remember your damn name.

“It seems like the Changing has started already,” Daehyeon pointed out, but when he caught your confused expression, he explained further. “The Changing happens after someone gets stung. They start mumbling odd things, become animalistic and slowly lose their minds. They attack people, even kill them if not caught in time, and there's no cure. We have to make them leave. By force most of the time.”

The way he said it so calmly, so solemnly made you wonder just how many times it had happened before that they had needed to make someone leave by force. You had no idea what it meant specifically, but you saved this question for a different day. If you lived to see another day, that is.

Beside you, Keeho was staring at the shelf of medicine - including some creams in little mismatched bowls, leaves of herbs, some fresh cloths and the two bottles that had been with you in the Box alongside many other liquids. He tilted his head in contemplation as he was looking at the array, but he didn’t speak up immediately, only a couple of minutes later:

“What about the two bottles?”

“What?” Yongha furrowed his eyebrows, clearly confused. Seeing the general confusion on everyone’s face, the Medjack pointed at the said bottles. 

“They’ve never come with anyone before, and they came today. With her. Another first.”

If anything, the mood got even gloomier. With Seokhwa’s whimpering in the back, it was no surprise that everyone was on the edge, avoiding eye-contact and sighing out of frustration. You even caught sight of Junseo’s shaky hands while he was running a hand through his maple locks. Everyone looked so down, so defeated, and it hurt for you to see them in such a condition despite not knowing them long enough. Deep down, you still felt that they were good people (maybe it was a hunch based on your past life?).

“Wait…” Jiung held his hands up in the air as if he was racking his brain to remember something and he wanted everyone to stay where they were. Turns out, you were right. “We haven’t gotten these exact bottles before, I’m sure, because they are blue. However, back when I was the only Medjack, Chan caught something, and we didn’t know what, but we got a bottle in the Box, and Chan accidentally drank it. The next day, he recovered. So I think… maybe these two bottles are actually medicine.”

“He accidentally drank it?” Keeho asked, dumbfounded, and it was almost amusing how he didn’t seem to get the other Medjack’s point. Almost.

“Do you think these might be for one of us?” Yongha guessed tentatively, averting his eyes from the boy tied to the bed to Jiung. The latter nodded quietly, but searched for Daehyeon’s eyes, you could see that. The leader seemed deeply worried, creases deepening on his forehead, and the tension was tangible in the air. You could literally feel your heart beat in your throat.

“Try one of the bottles on him,” Daehyeon concluded solemnly, but Yongha protested immediately.

“What? You could kill him! You don’t even know what’s in it!”

“We would have to kill him when he starts Changing, so with this, we might have a chance,” the leader reasoned, and if it hadn’t been obvious by now, now you would have been even more sure that there was no cure for the Changing, only death.

After his reasoning, no one objected, but the Medjacks still went over the decision with Daehyeon before injecting the content of one of the bottles into the boy’s body. Soon enough, he went from almost ripping his ties off to leaning back into the bed, his stillness pretty concerning compared to his previous state. His eyes were still a dark, vivid burgundy colour and his wound was still pulsating, but at least he didn’t want to attack anyone. For now, at least.

“We’ll look over him. You should go and get some rest,” Jiung turned to the two Runners, and despite Junseo’s initial claim to stay, Daehyeon steered the both of them out of the infirmary while he asked if he could speak with you in person. You nodded, following all the boys with one last glance at the now almost sleeping Seokhwa and his mysterious colours.

After what you had just seen and experienced in the last couple of hours, you were glad that Daehyon took the time to fill in the information that you needed. They didn’t know why they were there, they only knew that someone got to the Glade through the Box every month with supplies and sometimes medicine. Inside the Box and on some of the supplies, there were four letters: WCKD. What they meant, no one knew. There had been a boy named Jihoon who had babbled something about “wicked is good”, but no one knew why and whether it was actually related to WCKD, it was just a guess.

There was the Maze surrounding the Glade - there was no other exit, they had already tried everything from going to the top of the tallest tree to going back into the Box -, and every morning after the walls opened, the Runners went into the Maze to try and map out how it looked like, to see if there was a pattern to it. They kept track of it with maps and stored them in the Mapmaker bungalow. Usually, they got back on time before the walls closed, but sometimes, they didn't. When they didn’t…

Well, they didn’t return.

“No one had ever spent a night out there in the Maze and survived?” You furrowed your eyebrows, trying to put the pieces together. Daehyeon nodded, albeit a bit solemn.

“No one. The Grievers always come, and even if the Gladers manage to walk to the opening walls in the morning, they’ve already been stung,” he reasoned, adding that the only time anyone saw a Griever was when someone had managed to run away from them before the walls would close. The Grievers always came, and the walls always closed at night, so the Gladers put two and two together quickly: if they didn’t want to be stung, they shouldn’t spend the night out in the Maze. Based on the witnesses’ description though, the Grievers looked like gruesome creatures somewhere between robots and spiders.

Daehyeon reassured you that the Glade was a safe place in general. Everyone had their own job to do, they had their little traditions and they lived well together. Some newbies didn’t make it past the first few days because of the conditions they lived in and some who had been there for months or years committed suicide after losing all hope that they might be able to find a way out of the Glade, but otherwise, it wasn’t that bad of a place. They had each other to rely on and arguments were scarce.

With that being said, he took it upon himself to introduce you to the other Gladers who were doing their respective duties. Just as Daehyeon and the Medjacks had explained to you, every Glader had a job and they formed little groups with 2-4 people. Some of them had a Keeper as well - the leader of their little group - some didn’t, it wasn’t a rule set in stone. You had already met the Medjacks - Jiung, Taeyang and Keeho (their Keeper) - who took care of the sick and wounded and who made weird tasting teas, the Builders - Donghan, Yohan and Daehyeon (their Keeper) who built, re-built or fixed things in the Glade -, the Runners - Junseo, Seokhwa and Yongha - who went out into the Maze to map it out. However, there were the Slicers too who took care of the nasty part of raising an animal - Mingyu, Vernon, Seungcheol -, the Cooks - Taeyong, Kun, Ten - who made the meals for every Glader, the Gardeners - Sunoo, Jungwon, Heeseung - who tended to the flowers and grew vegetables and the Baggers - Bang Chan, Changbin, Minho - who helped bag the deceased and buried them and the Mapmakers - Yeonjun, Taehyun and Soobin - who helped put together the Map of the Maze directed by the Runners.

By the end of your trip around the Glade, your head was full of names and faces and positions, and it was all very confusing, so you were glad when you could take a breather by the fireplace at night. Usually, when a newbie arrived, the boys held a little competitive fight to welcome the new one into the team, but you were a girl, and no one dared to bring that up. The tension was already palpable with Seokhwa’s condition - he was still unconscious and merely lying still in his bed at the infirmary -, so no one really felt like celebrating a new arrival, including yourself.

Only after the boys started passing around some weird-looking drink did the tension ease a bit, but still, you were confused, scared and felt like the odd one out. It wasn’t that the boys gossiped about you behind your back, it was the uncertainty in their stares and the way they didn’t dare to approach you because of the conditions you had brought with yourself.

So you took it upon yourself to walk away from the group of boys by the campfire, needing some time alone to process everything. Your feet found their way back to the giant walls of the Maze, but this time, the doors had already been closed, keeping the Grievers away from your home. Or well… Well, it was your home now, it seemed, no matter who put you here or why you were here or what WCKD meant or anything. This was all you had now.

As you stepped closer to the walls though, you noticed letters carved into them. As you got even closer and the torch’s light in your hand shone upon the surface, you realised that the letters made up names - names of the boys residing here and ones you had not yet heard of. The latter ones were crossed out, and you wondered whether it was because they were no longer here. You couldn’t find another reason, but you didn’t have much time to dwell on it though because soon enough, someone stepped beside you, startling you.

“Oh, sorry,” the boy said apologetically upon seeing how your left hand flew to your chest while you shone the torch’s light on Junseo’s face.

“It’s okay,” you mumbled, still a bit shaken up because no matter how hard you tried to trust these boys, you couldn’t shake off this uncomfortable feeling that they blamed you for everything that had gone wrong earlier that day - from the note to Seokhwa’s condition.

No wonder you didn’t even find the will in you to break the silence, and Junseo didn’t seem to want to speak up either which was a surprise since he had come up to you himself. Given the light that lit up his face, you could see his features better - from the elegant arch of his brow to the defined muscles clearly seen under his long-sleeved shirt. He had such pretty features, and even the plain shirt and the messy condition of his hair didn’t fade over his beauty. There was something innocent and pure about the way he looked at you, it was nothing like the look he had given you when you had been confronted with the facts at the infirmary.

“Do you…” He started hesitantly, his voice barely above a whisper. He had a silky yet firm voice, and you couldn’t quite put your finger on it, but it reminded you of something.

You raised an eyebrow, signalling that you were listening to him, but something in his face changed and he pressed his lips into a thin line.

“Nevermind.” He shook his head as if giving up on something, and you didn’t know what it was - the frustration bubbling up inside of you throughout the whole day and finally bursting or the kind of hurt in his eyes that you had a feeling that you caused yet you didn’t know the reason for -, but you couldn’t stand the tension lingering in the air.

“I know I’m different. I know there’s been no other girl here before, and I came here with the bottles and the note, and Seokhwa got stung after that, but I can tell you that if I knew anything, even if it means that I knew that I have something to do with this mess, I would come forward and tell you all about it. Until then, I would appreciate it if you didn’t look at me like I was the one who stung your friend because I’m telling the truth. I don’t even remember my name, okay? I would be the happiest if I remembered it.”

Or anything else, you bit it back before you could pour all your anger onto him. You saw worry flash across his eyes when you raised your voice, but it wasn’t until you started walking away that he put down the mask that had been shielding his true motif.

“It’s not about that. I know that it has nothing to do with you,” he called after you as you were walking away. Hearing his words, you stopped in your tracks and took a sharp turn. Instead of being touched, you were suspicious. Curious.

“What do you mean by that?”

Junseo looked at you, then down at his boots, his Adam’s apple bulging while he was contemplating whether or not to justify his words. You could see him struggle within himself, but you had no idea why. Not until he told you himself.

“I…” He started, then sucked in a deep breath before continuing. “The truth is, I remember you,” he admitted as he looked up at you for the briefest moment. You felt like the ground had opened up beneath you, your lips parting in awe. Just… how? Why? Since when?

“But the guys said that no one remembers their life from before coming here,” you mumbled, your voice giving away your confusion.

“Well, we don’t remember it fully, but some of us have very brief memories. Minho remembers a siren-like sound, Keeho says that he sees a control panel about his physical measurements and I… well, I remember your face,” he admitted, and the force with which he said it told you that he was being honest and serious. Maybe he had been bottling it up ever since he had seen you. “I’ve thought that I’ve only been dreaming, that maybe you’re not real, so when you showed up, I didn’t know what to do. I don’t even remember what we were… just that I know you, and that you’re a good person.”

Now the flashback of Junseo keeping that long eye-contact with you at the infirmary told a different story. Maybe he had been curious whether you remembered him as well or maybe he had been afraid that you didn’t. Because despite the other’s brief memories, he remembered a person and then, that person showed up.

“I…”

“I know it sounds crazy, and I’m sorry to bring it up. Today must have already been hard on you-” Junseo explained before you could do so yourself, and the genuine agony in his voice moved something in you. You might have had your guard up ever since you had arrived here, and you saw more suspicion around you than you shouldn’t have, but his words brought about a huge change in your arrival.

He knew you. He knew the person you had been before the Glade. He deemed you a good person.

You were one of them.

“I’m sorry. I don’t remember you,” you croaked out, your heart heavy with the confession that had already left your lips, just in a different context. You didn’t remember anything including him, but gosh, you wished you could have. He could have been anyone… a sibling, an acquaintance, a friend or even…

You blushed at the thought, and after exchanging another glance with a boy, you tried not to concentrate on the fact that you could have been lovers. Instead, you tried to change the subject.

“So what’s in that drink the boys are passing around? It seemed pretty odd,” you admitted with a little smile, and oh boy, it did shift the atmosphere completely. Junseo let out a loose laugh, and the sound of it - the delicateness of it - warmed your heart.

“No one knows. It’s Mingyu’s secret recipe, but it’s pretty strong, that’s for sure,” the boy replied in a lighter tone, and afterwards, you tried not to send him odd glances or anything, but it was difficult not to concentrate on him and his mellow lips and his warm brown eyes when he was oh so keen on helping you with your place in one of their wooden houses, dusting off your bed as if you couldn’t do so yourself and wishing you goodnight as if he had no idea that you would lay awake, hoping that you could remember anything about your life, but maybe, most importantly, about him.

Sleep didn’t come to you easily, and even when it did, you weren’t sure whether you were dreaming or remembering snippets of your old life. It was confusing, and when you woke up, it felt like you hadn’t slept for more than a couple of minutes, but the darkness was already starting to dissolve, so you believed that it was sometime dawn.

Not feeling like you could go back to sleep, you decided to go out of the wooden house that you shared with the Gladers who had come before you - Jungwon, Taehyun and Minho -, hoping not to wake them up. Daehyeon told you that they were filling up the houses in order of the arrival of the boys - or in your case, the only girl - and building more if it was necessary. There were still two beds left unoccupied in your house, but if the note was right, and you were the last one, no one would take them.

Gulping at the thought, you were welcomed by a light breeze when you stepped outside, and you took in a few, grateful breaths. You walked around the place peacefully and since everyone was asleep, your little stroll wasn’t interrupted by anyone until…

“Hey! Are you up already?” Junseo’s (by now familiar) silky voice was the first that you heard that morning, and you immediately turned towards him as if you were drawn to him. You were pretty twisted on how you should act around him - not only because of his confession from the day before, but also because of the scene in your dreams. Could you really have known each other before? That well?

“Yeah. I couldn’t really sleep,” you admitted, biting down on your lower lip as you were trying to shush away the remains of your dream.

Junseo looked like he was born here - there was no sign of fatigue in his features, he looked clean and collected. You had also been introduced to their shower booth where you could clean yourself with some water and Jiung’s special herb-infused soap, so you had been able to clean yourself as well the previous night, but since you hadn’t asked for a change of clothes, you had changed back into your clothes from the day before. Not like  anyone had said a thing about it. You weren’t sure that they had multiple clothes lying around here.

“Is it because of what I’ve told you?” He inquired, worried, his warm brown eyes turning into precious little jewels. If eyes were really windows to the soul, Junseo’s soul was pure, selfless and ever so considerate. You really didn’t know how not to waver under his gentle gaze.

“Not exactly, but it was connected to it.”

“You really don’t have to feel burdened. As I’ve said, I don’t even remember what we were, just-” The boy tried to clear the tension in the air, appearing ever so apologetic, but you couldn’t take his puppy eyes longer, you just blurted out in one go:

“I think we were a couple because I saw us kissing in my dream.”

If tension was tangible in the air before, now it would be filled with clouds of gooey awkwardness - the kind that sticks to everything, and it’s so overwhelming, but you just can’t escape it.

Junseo was literally frozen in place, his eyes twice their previous size, his lips - oh those lips - parted in surprise. Even his ears started turning red, and you didn’t know why, but this - the habit of his ears turning red when he felt nervous - felt familiar. It was like a distant feeling - you couldn’t quite put your finger on it, but it was there like a shadow hovering over the two of you.

“So we really knew each other,” was what Junseo concluded, and you didn’t know whether he was too embarrassed to specify the part about you two kissing or he was trying to save you both from further embarrassment, but he averted the topic to your duties at the Glade.

So you told him that Daehyeon hadn’t assigned you to any particular group for now - he said that you can try out the different ones and then decide on what you prefer or where you are needed. However, remembering how you kept up with him the day before, you inquired what were the rules of becoming a Runner. Junseo was taken aback upon hearing your question, but explained nevertheless that Runners were selected at the Gathering, votes collected by all of the Gladers including the Runners themselves, and they were usually fast for obvious reasons, precise to get back on time and strong to deal with any Griever that might come their way. Yet, no one could become a Runner in their first month if that’s what you were asking.

“Don’t you need a Runner though now that Seokhwa is still unconscious?”

“It’s too dangerous, especially with Seokhwa being unconscious,” he objected immediately, his voice solemn, but you could see worry flash across his warm brown orbs. You felt like you were being reprimanded even though his gaze was still as gentle as ever, it was just that his voice hardened. “We don’t know when another Griever might come out in broad daylight.”

“So why are you still going out today? Can’t it wait? Or is it because of the Maps?” You quirked an eyebrow, feeling equally uneasy about him entering the Maze after yesterday. You recalled Keeho telling you that the Runners memorised the different parts of the Maze, so that they could map it out in hopes of finding a way out.

“It’s not because of the Maps. We’ve already covered every part of it,” Junseo admitted, and only when he pressed his lips into a thin line did you realise that he wasn’t supposed to tell you this. Now that you were at the topic though, he explained to you that it wasn’t supposed to be known that the Maps were finished because if the others knew, they would lose all hope that there was no way out. Or they needed to look at it from a different point of view. All Junseo and the other Runners knew was that there were 8 sections in the Maze and they were open one by one during different periods, meaning that there was always a certain section open with the others closed and the order was always the same.

The Runners were going back into the Maze in hopes of finding something - anything - new, a clue maybe, something they hadn’t seen before and to make the others believe that they still hadn’t figured out the structure of the Maze - to keep their hope alive.

“Why are you going back today then? You’ve just said that it’s too dangerous.”

“I have to. I’m a Runner,” Junseo answered within a heartbeat, and the sad little smile he gave you in return was no solace to your worried heart. You had a bad feeling about this, especially with Seokhwa’s condition and the note.

You were about to open your mouth when Yongha appeared - albeit a bit tired - by your side, and asked what you two were talking about. Junseo reassured his friend that it was about nothing that he should worry about, and you almost scoffed. So it was too dangerous for you to enter the Maze but not for him when his friend had just been stung? You didn’t like it, not even a bit.

However, you didn’t have a say in this, and with the walls opening, you couldn’t even hold them back as they picked up some knives from the toolbar attached to their hips.

“Take care!” You wished nevertheless before the boys could start their day in the Maze, worryful creases dotting your forehead. Junseo nodded, letting his lips curl upwards a bit while Yongha looked from you to his friend, then back at you.

“Did I miss something?”

“Come on, let’s go!” Junseo patted the other Runner’s shoulder, and you watched them disappear into the mysterious, grand Maze.

You couldn’t shake off the uncomfortable feeling of something bad happening even throughout the day, but you tried your best to concentrate on other things. After your breakfast, you seeked out Daehyeon, asking him what you could help with, and he advised you to start at the Medjacks because you knew them already, and they might need a helping hand after some Gladers had taken the previous night too far.

So you visited the infirmary, helping with some odd-coloured drinks that they were making to ease the hangover from Mingyu’s drink and distributing it to the Gladers who came by. Yohan also came by during the day, having bruised himself while doing some woodwork. Of course, the piece of wood went straight into his skin because he was wearing a sleeveless shirt again.

“Don’t you have long-sleeved shirts?” You asked from the boy while Taeyang was fetching him up, and even though you knew that you weren’t helping, for the laughs that you earned from the boys at the infirmary - except Yohan’s -, it was worth it.

“Well, we didn’t have a girl here before to ask that question.”

“Is it too distracting?” Keeho snickered, directing an amused wink at you, but you just rolled your eyes. Thankfully, the boys weren’t too hung up on this question either since Yohan was busy whimpering, Taeyang had a bruise to take care of, Jiung was passing the antiseptic to him and Keeho was looking over the other Gladers who came by.

Whenever you weren’t helping out the boys, you couldn’t help but glance in Seokhwa’s direction. Even though Junseo had mentioned that he had a feeling you didn’t have anything to do with the Runner’s condition, you hated being the one who seemed to trigger this butterfly effect. If you hadn’t arrived in the Box yesterday, there would have been no note, no serums, no random Grievers during daylight. At least, that’s how it made sense to you, but you didn’t know what to think anymore. You were utterly, helplessly confused.

Nevertheless, to your greatest surprise, later in the afternoon, Seokhwa did open his eyes and sit up from his bed, surprising everyone in the room. His hands were still tied down, but it didn’t look like he was trying to run away. In fact, he began to sob.

The Medjacks immediately rushed to his side, asking about his condition, and when Jiung lifted the boy’s shirt, the bruise of his sting was fading away, its size reduced drastically from the previous day. Despite this, his face displayed a gruesome reaction, one that was far from happy.

“What is it? Why are you crying? I know you’re happy to see me… But it’s scary,” Keeho tried to joke around, but even he failed to mask his anxiety. When even people like Keeho were nervous, the situation was likely to be disastrous.

“We… We are parts of an experiment. We are being tested by an organisation. The control panel that you’ve seen in your memories with your physical measurements…” Seokhwa turned to Keeho who gulped upon the information. You remembered how Junseo had said the same about the Medjack’s faint memory, and you were beginning to wonder how it could go on. “I’ve seen it, Keeho. I remember it. I saw you coming here before I did.”

There was stillness in the room for a few, eternal seconds. You could feel your heartbeat pick up its pace, thoughts racing in your head. Now the assumption that you were trapped and used by someone wasn’t an assumption anymore, it was a fact. You were used. You were being tested on. All of you, and it seemed that before each of you had gotten here, you had seen each other go. You had a feeling that it could indicate that you hadn’t found a way out before being forced into the Glade, a way to go against the ones who were testing on you and escape being tested on.

“But…” Jiung started hesitantly, shaking his head in an attempt to collect his thoughts. Seokhwa was still like a statue, his expression mirroring someone’s who was about to face his inevitable, unfortunate destiny. “Why do they want to test us? What are the tests? The Grievers?”

All eyes were on Seokhwa who seemed like someone who had missed out on sleep a few days in a row instead of sleeping through the whole afternoon the previous day and half of the day today. He grimaced as if it hurt for him to remember.

“Everything is a test down here, us against each other, us building our own houses, us making our own food and yes, us mapping out the Maze and trying to avoid the Grievers. But it’s no better out there, the world is in chaos,” the boy continued, his eyes glassy. The teardrops that were rolling down his cheeks were like little pearls washing along the sand of a coast.

You shivered, thinking of all the boys whose names had been crossed out on the walls of the Maze - all of the boys who had not seen the light at the end of the tunnel or who had died trying to survive -, thinking of Daehyeon who had been here the longest and tried to take care of these boys like his family, thinking of Junseo who had possibly meant a lot to you before coming here and from whom you might have been separated even while being at this organisation - all for the sake of this fucking test.

All four of you were rendered speechless by what the boy had said, but Taeyang found enough will in himself to ask about the why - why was the world in chaos. How could being here - being tested on, being at risk because of the Grievers and awaiting whatever misery was about to come since you were the last one - be better than being out there? Whatever out there meant at this point.

Seokhwa answered, but it wasn’t the kind of answer you were expecting - not the one about sun flares and a virus that was spreading through the world. It was airborne on top of that, quickly infecting hundreds of thousands of people, and there seemed to be no cure. At least not for now. That’s why they were there - because they were immune, because this organisation that wanted to stop the virus was testing on young people who were immune to it.

Seokhwa was stuttering and trying to put the pieces of what he was saying together, but he didn’t remember all the details and his memories from the lab they - you - were kept in were still pretty unclear. One thing was for sure though: you were all kept there for a reason, and there was a way out. Plus, you were all much more valuable than you would have thought so.

Either way, you all needed time to digest the information you had just received, but you called for Daehyeon to hear what the boy remembered, so that he could decide what he would like to do with all the newfound information - and what he wanted all of you to take away from it. After all, this was on all of you, and now more than ever, you could only rely on each other.

Daehyeon decided that it would be sensible to wait for the two Runners to come back from the Maze before having another Gathering (as in the times the Gladers were gathered together to discuss important matters such as this one). Remembering how the boys had gone out in the morning and how bittersweet it had felt, you couldn’t help but be on edge throughout the rest of the day, fearing the worst. After all, what was the guarantee that they wouldn’t be attacked by a Griever in broad daylight after what had happened to Seokhwa? You could have seen with your own two eyes that they had gone into the Maze preparing for a fight with all those weapons they had on themselves (plus Daehyeon had told you the day before that they left weapons scattered around the different sections in the Maze in case they would run out of them, and the Grievers hadn’t yet seemed to mind them), but still… You were worried about Junseo.

This worry wasn’t a newfound feeling because ever since you had come here, you had been worrying over everything. However, since the boy’s confession and your dream from the previous night, you couldn’t help but feel that this worry wasn’t just common worry; the boy must have meant a lot to you, and you must have spent a lot of time together prior to this whole chaos. It was like knowing that you must have had a family and feeling homesick: even though you couldn’t remember them, your feelings were justified by the facts, now more than ever.

On the other hand, you couldn’t dare to bring it up to Seokhwa - whether he remembered the two of you and what you were - before coming here, so you couldn’t help but nibble on your lower lip while waiting for a word from the others regarding Junseo and Yongha’s arrival back at the Glade. You couldn’t stop yourself from glancing in the direction of the open wall of the Maze, and someone caught onto it.

“Don’t worry. They’ll make it back alive,” Jiung said with a reassuring smile as his eyes followed the direction you were looking at.

“And what if they won’t?”

“Well…” The Medjack scratched the back of his neck, a bit sheepish. “We have one more bottle of this possible cure, but let’s hope we won’t need to use it,” he reasoned, and despite it not being a huge consolidation, at least it was something. You could possibly save another person, but just one. What if something happened to both of them?

You returned to the herb shelf with Jiung, helping him with some kind of a cream that he was currently making to ease muscle pain. He said that he didn’t know how he got the knowledge to mix the right ingredients, he just did, and whenever the Box arrived with a medical supply, he tried to mimic what was inside, and sometimes that led to good results. You followed his lead while he was talking about his time at the Glade, and you could almost forget about the two Runners still out there - until they actually arrived at the infirmary with bruises and blood spots dotting their skin and clothes.

“What happened to you?” You immediately scurried to Junseo’s side, looking at his wounded self, and he gave you a weak albeit genuine smile. You were so glad to see him that you felt your heart drop, but it seemed like he had been through something serious in the Maze which didn’t ease your worry.

Neither did his next words.

“We’ve eliminated a Griever,” he responded as he held up something that looked like a tube. Everyone craned their necks to look at what it was, but all you could understand was that it had a red number displayed in the middle of it and it had cables by its end and some glue-like stuff sticking onto its surface.

“Where did you find this?” Taeyang raised an eyebrow in question, and Yongha and Junseo exchanged a glance.

“It was inside a Griever,” Yongha explained, and Keeho almost gagged upon the information while Jiung was more interested in the details of the device. Everyone forgot for a moment that the two were injured, and Yongha needed to ask for some antiseptic to divert the attention from the device to the two boys.

“You can help me fetch up your boyfriend,” Keeho grabbed your arm, flashing a knowing smile at you, and before you could protest, you had already found yourself beside Junseo who was strictly asked to sit on one of the beds and avoid moving. When he caught sight of Seokhwa’s open - yet distanced - eyes though, he inquired about the boy’s condition, and Keeho yet again told him not to move, so that he could work his magic.

You helped the Medjack with the things he asked for while explaining to Junseo what you had found out from Seokhwa. Even though he was deeply concerned about the boy’s emotional state, at least the Medjack could reassure him that the serum must have worked because he was doing fine physically - apart from being a bit drowsy. You then went on to explain that there would be a Gathering to discuss what Seokhwa’s words could indicate and what you were supposed to do now.

Fetching the boys up took some time because they had quite a lot of bruises, so while they were being taken care of, the two Runners explained that a Griever had indeed come out in broad daylight, yet they had managed to squash it with some rocks, and it’s probably because they had almost destroyed this device that the Griever had managed to stop. They assumed that this device was the heart of a Griever, and if it could be switched off or severely damaged, the Griever would stop.

“It’s not even the weirdest thing though. Although now we know that the Grievers are controlled and sent out purposefully these days in broad daylight. It’s that the same section was open today as yesterday,” Yongha pointed out while Taeyang was taking care of a bruise above his eyebrows, making the boy hiss in pain when the Medjack put on the antiseptic.

You already knew that there was a pattern to the Maze, and that pattern had been the same ever since the Runners had started mapping it out. The same sections opened up day after day without fail, but now, Yongha’s words indicated that the pattern was disrupted. Another first.

“The device started beeping more fervently when we went into a certain direction, but we had to come back before the walls would close, so we couldn’t see where it was. We might need to go back tomorrow though,” Junseo added ominously, and despite still worrying about him like crazy, you knew that he would still go back tomorrow to check up on it. His loyalty to these boys and his dutifulness was admirable yet deeply concerning when it came to the state of your heart.

As if he could sense your discomfort, he looked up at you - directly into your eyes - while you were putting a plaster on his chin, and reached for your hands to squeeze it gently. Before you could process what was going on, he had already let go of your hand, but the ghost of his touch on your skin was still searing. 

At this moment, Daehyeon walked into the infirmary, the creases on his forehead deep. He asked briefly about the boys’ state (you assumed that they had met when the Runners had come back from the Maze), and inquired whether Seokhwa was in a state to tell the Gladers about his memories. When the boys gave him the green light, all of you walked to a wooden building that you hadn’t yet been to, but remembered from Daehyeon’s little tour that he mentioned that they reserved it for special gatherings. Just like today.

You were under the impression that the boys would get into arguments when they heard what Seokhwa suddenly remembered and what the two Runners had gone through. Since you had already heard from both sides, you sat there quietly, examining the others’ reactions while trying to remember their names.

On the other hand, the boys were too shocked to get into fights or shout over each other. Instead, they were trying to make sense of the whole thing just like you had done so back at the infirmary.

“But why should we try to find a way out if the world is in chaos already? Aren’t we special, and that’s why they are keeping us here?” Yohan mused out loud, his expression displaying utter confusion.

“They wouldn’t send out Grievers in broad daylight if they wanted to keep us here,” Taehyun from the Mapmakers pointed out, and you had to give it to him that his reasoning sounded justifiable. No wonder the boys called him precise and intelligent, it seemed that he managed to find the connections pretty quickly, though the Maps still gave him a hard time. “And the Maze is always changing, there’s a pattern to it. It can’t be a coincidence, but we don’t know just when we could use it and how.”

“What pattern?” Bang Chan asked, and you realised that probably only the Mapmakers and the Runners knew about this before. You remembered that Junseo had confessed that they had already mapped out the Maze entirely, they just didn’t have the heart to tell the others because they might lose hope if they did tell them that they had been going around the Maze without finding a way out.

It seemed that it was time to let them know because the boys were already losing hope over the recent events.

“The sequence of the numbers of how the 8 sections are moving is always the same. If we put the numbers together, it might be a code of some sort, but the Runners haven’t found anything that they could crack with it,” Yeonjun added to his fellow Mapmaker’s explanation, and as expected, a wave of murmurs went through the group of boys present. You heard snippets of what others around you brought up - if they had known the pattern, why wouldn’t have the Runners told them before or that if the Mapmakers hadn’t found a clue, probably nobody could -, and one was more desperate than the other.

“Well maybe if there are people controlling this whole thing, they just didn’t want to randomly control the sections. It’s easier that way,” Keeho tried to lighten up the mood, but Taeyang smacked him in the chest, silencing him.

Another wave of murmurs. This time, the voices grew louder and louder until Daehyeon clapped his hands to regain everyone’s attention. Not immediately yet quickly enough, the boys followed his lead and shut their mouths. You wondered just what they had lived through and in what situations Daehyeon had shown his leadership skills in order for the boys to respect him so well.

“What we know for sure is that our newbie is the last one ever, that means something,” Daehyeon started, glancing in your direction. By this time, only a few people followed his gaze because so many things had already happened ever since your arrival, you were no spectacle anymore. Though the way the leader explained this, it was obvious that out of all your memories, your name still hadn’t come back to you. Instead, you had that dream with Junseo. 

“She arrived with the note and the bottles, and Seokhwa was stung in broad daylight following that. However, one of the bottles also helped him - it was like a cure. The section of the Maze that was open yesterday didn’t close from the day before either, it’s the same as yesterday which has never happened before either. Yongha and Junseo were almost stung in broad daylight, too. If it keeps going like this, the section might not close down anymore, and more Grievers might come out during the day, and we only have one more bottle of that serum left.”

From the way he said it, it sounded so pessimistic. Even though he was merely stating the facts, all of the events that had happened before were horrendous, and they didn’t forecast a more prosperous future either.

“Yet, Yongha and Junseo managed to eliminate a Griever, and they have this beeping device that could be a clue towards a way out.”

“That’s right,” Yongha followed Daehyeon’s words, nodding to prove his point. “We don’t know what this device does, just that it was inside a Griever. The number on it is the number of the section where we met the Griever, and it also started beeping more and more quickly the closer we got to this section of the Maze that has not opened up before, but we needed to come back before we could look around more closely.”

“So it only opened when you had the device in your hands, right?” Donghan furrowed his eyebrows, trying to put the pieces together just like everyone else. The Runners nodded fervently to his words.

“Yeah, as if it only opens for the Grievers.”

The Griever had to come from somewhere, especially now that you knew that they were at least partially controlled by someone. It also couldn’t be a coincidence that they had only come at night so far, but they had come during the day two days in a row. Since you had arrived. It was as if everything had picked up its pace of events now, and you had been the trigger.

“Maybe that’s where they are coming from, and if they can come in through that place, we might be able to escape the same way,” Daehyeon mused out loud, still puzzled. His explanation did seem doable though, no wonder a lot of boys bobbed their heads around him.

After that, you were too deep in thought to catch who was asking what, but one thing was for sure. When Vernon asked whether Seokhwa remembered how they could get out or if he had a clue, he said he had no idea. Just that the letters you were seeing everywhere - WCKD - had something to do with the organisation that was keeping them there, and that he had a bad feeling about this organisation.

“We need to leave, no matter what,” he ended his explanation, his words almost like a plea. He looked like a completely different person from the day before, but you weren’t surprised. Just how heavily the memories could weigh on him?

The Gathering ended with a plan to send out Junseo, Yongha and a few other boys who volunteered into the Maze the next day to go back to that unknown part of the Maze they had just found thanks to the device. If the 7th section still hadn’t closed like they would expect based on the past two days, they could easily do so. One thing that nobody questioned was at what cost? How many more Gladers needed to get injured or get stung to find a way out? What if it would lead to another dead end? What if the outside world wasn’t better than this one?

However, just like one of the boys said: you either get out or die trying. It seemed that there was no other way.

That night, you could barely sleep. Yet again. Not because you were in direct danger, but because you couldn’t help thinking about Junseo and all the other boys that would go into the Maze with the device that might help them find a way out. You were worried sick that something would happen to them, that another Griever would come out and maybe they wouldn’t be able to eliminate it like last time, but the thing that bothered you the most was that you couldn’t do anything. You knew that you hadn’t been here long enough to know the way around the Glade, let alone the Maze, so when you had asked Daehyeon after the Gathering what you could help with, and he said:

“It’s okay if you don’t go with them. Be careful, try not to do anything dangerous, especially without consulting anyone else, and don’t lose hope. That will be enough.”

You believed him, but still… Your thoughts kept going back to the what ifs, and when you couldn’t fall asleep, you went outside of your shared wooden house to find a few boys sitting around a campfire. When they saw you, they asked if you wanted to join them, and you did. Despite expecting them to be hopeless, they were pretty calm. If anything, they were nostalgic, sharing stories about the time since they had been here; about how surprised everyone had been when Kun had burned some food for the first time, about how a chicken had practically chased after Yohan during one of his first days, about how Minho and Mingyu had drunk fistfighted over the last piece of meat during a bonfire night or the song Yeonjun had been writing, trying to find something to rhyme to everything they grew or bred here.

While listening to them, you had to realise that these boys had actually grown close; they depended on each other just as much as they liked teasing each other. Judged by their voices even when they talked about someone’s messy habits, they loved each other like family, and yet again, you had this pang in your chest that they really, really didn’t deserve to be here. Yet again, you were overcome with this determination to help them and fight alongside them; whatever it took to get out and take down those who put them - and you - here, you were willing to go for it.

Maybe it was because of all those stories or this newfound fire inside your heart, but you managed to sleep a bit, until the two Runners (except Seokhwa who was still resting at the infirmary) and the volunteers started getting ready, making some noise. Before they could go out into the Maze, you jogged up to Junseo to ask him about his state and to remind him to be careful.

“Don’t worry. It’s not a goodbye,” he told you, reassuring, but your heart churned at the mention of the word ‘goodbye’. You wondered just how many goodbyes you could have had prior to knowing each other here, and it pained you to see him again. However, the smile that he gave you was at least enough to give you some boost for the rest of the day, and to believe that there was a hope; that they would find a way out.

That day, you were with the Builders, and the biggest thing about your job wasn’t the tasks themselves but the random bickering session of Yohan and Donghan’s, Donghan’s very impromptu cuddling sessions (with the boys, not you) and Daehyeon’s awkward laughter whenever he caught you staring at the guys teasing each other in front of you. At least, you had some fun that day, and you almost forgot about the whole fiasco the day before. Almost.

It seemed that there was nothing that couldn’t go wrong these days, not with the Box not going down for 3 days already and then the boys from the Maze coming back only to tell you that the Maze had almost trapped them inside. Once they got closer to this new part of the Maze that they hadn’t yet been to, a radar-like device scanned them and then started shutting down the section, so they ran back vigorously, but at least all of them were in one piece, and they were sure that it was the way out because it did have traces of the Grievers, so they might have come from the other side of this new part.

Since it was a bit like a checkmate after the recent events, another Gathering was held after the boys had come back from the Maze. Due to the fact that this newfound part of the Maze could be the key to their way out, today’s findings weren’t that promising, so for now, the plan was the following: gathering as many weapons around the wooden houses as possible in case they needed to fight against a Griever (and everyone had to have at least one kind of weapon on them); Yongha and Junseo going out into the Maze the next day with another handful of volunteers, looking for more signs and everyone having to have at least two others Gladers with them at all times, no one could walk around alone in the Glade.

Since you were with the Builders that day, Daehyeon asked you to be with them for the rest of the day as per the new precautionary measures, so you had dinner by their side, but almost everyone was gathered around the big pot of food Taeyong and Kun had made. It smelled amazing, and you were delighted to have some food again, especially because the two guys were great cooks. The boys were laughing and joking amongst themselves, and you smiled at their antics, your heart a bit lighter seeing their interactions.

However, your good mood couldn’t last long because a horrible scratching sound could be heard that was so loud that you needed to cup your ears to muffle it.

“What the hell is that?” You could see Donghan mouth the words, and you gulped. Yet another first?

The loud sound was followed by another identical one, and this time, it seemed that the boys found its source because they turned their heads towards the West side of the Maze that had suddenly opened. It was then that you realised that the main entrance of the Maze had not yet closed, and soon, three other entrances opened up.

“How come there are four entrances?” You shouted over the loud noise of the fourth wall opening, and Yohan could only stare with wide eyes.

“They have never opened up before. This is not good,” Daehyeon mumbled once the noise suddenly stopped. Within a heartbeat, he raised his voice and ordered everyone to gather the weapons they had already prepared, stick with their small groups and stay calm.

“How can we stay calm? What if the Grievers come out again?” Soobin pleaded, his voice trembling as he was looking around, hoping that his eyes were playing tricks on him. He was so panicked, you almost felt bad for seeing him in this state, but you weren’t sure that you were any better.

In the next moment, Junseo walked up to you, followed by a whining Yongha (“why are you running away? Daehyeon had just told us to stick to our groups”) and a deadpanned Sunoo. The boy looked at you, eyes shining with worry, and put a torch into your hands.

“Stay with Daehyeon and follow his lead,” he told you confidently, tone not reprimanding, but not that gentle either. His eyes told a different story though; they were like little stars - shining dots spotting the darkness of the night sky -, pleading and sparkling and oh so precious.

You nodded, but the words died on your tongue when something mechanical started approaching from the main entrance’s walls, then from the East side, too. First, you only heard that ominous sound. It was similar to the sound scissors make when they are clattering. Then, you could see its silhouette - like an animal but with robot legs, running quickly and something coming out of its mouth - you couldn’t tell whether it was glue or drool.

No one needed to be told what to do when the Grievers approached you - you fought with everything you had. Kun was throwing pots and pans at them, Donghan was using something from his toolkit, the Medjacks were making flammable shots with bottles and threw it at them while you were trying to push the nearest Griever away with a spear. When the spear broke and the Griever marched forward, you tried to reach for the knife in your pocket, but the Griever was faster, and almost got you - if it hadn’t been for Daehyeon reaching for your torch and throwing it onto the Griever, you wouldn’t have been able to get rid of it.

Indeed, the fire caught it off-guard and you could start running away. You remembered Daehyeon asking you if you were okay, if you had been stung, but when you saw Junseo fighting with a Griever, everything almost stopped for a bit. The boy was fighting alone vigorously while Yongha was trying to hold onto Sunoo who had been lifted up from the ground by another Griever, his feet sinking deep into the ground as he was trying to pull the boy back. However, the Griever was stronger, and in a blink of an eye, it got Sunoo and marched towards the Maze.

“Guys, get into the Box or the pantry!” Daehyeon shouted behind you, but all you could see was Sunoo’s body floating in the air and Yongha not being able to hold him down. Your eyes were glued to Junseo still, and despite Donghan pulling on your arms, you couldn’t just leave the boy there.

“Junseo!” You shouted as loud as you could amongst the cacophony of shouts, whimpers and mechanical clattering, and when the boy looked in your direction, you pointed at the Box. He nodded, then turned back to the Griever to pierce through its legs with a knife-like weapon.

You followed the others to the Box, almost falling over when your shoe got caught in a rock, but managed to make it to the Box with Yohan, Donghan and Daehyeon. The Box had pretty heavy bars on its top that you could open and close, and it was built into the ground, so it didn’t stand out. Meaning, that you could hide away from the Grievers because they couldn’t reach into it, and maybe they wouldn’t even notice that there were people there while they were walking over it.

Daehyeon, however, quickly got out of the Box when he led you to safety, and started going around - probably telling the others to find a shelter for themselves. He firmly told you all to stay there, but you couldn’t just stay still when others were fighting for their lives around you. On the other hand, the other two boys’ lives who were with you in the Box were precious as well, so you were in agony.

“Guys, open it!” Keeho drummed on the bars fervently, so you started to open up the top of the Box, but a Griever showed up behind the Medjack.

“Keeho, look back!” You exclaimed frantically, and the boy looked up at the exact moment the Griever opened its gruesome mouth - with too much teeth and drool.

“Jeez, you should have visited a dentist,” Keeho dared to joke around even at a time like this, but obviously, the Griever couldn’t care less, and smacked the boy’s side with one of its mechanical legs.

“Keeho, throw the torch onto it!” Donghan shouted beside you, and the boy didn’t need much convincing. While hissing from the pain of being kicked by the Griever in the side, he threw the torch in his hand onto the Griever, and crouched down to the top of the Box. You quickly opened the top, pulling the boy inside who landed with a loud puff - but in one piece. Then, you closed the top back down.

“Did you get stung?”

“No, but it’s really painful nevertheless. It has a pretty strong leg, not gonna lie. Thank god it wasn’t my face though,” the Medjack snickered, but hissed yet again when he tried to stand up. So he stayed in a fetal pose instead.

You heard shouts and screams, one more heartbreaking and desperate than the other, yet you managed to let two more boys - Yeonjun and Taehyun - in before everything got still and eerily quiet.

“What is happening?” Yohan asked, blinking rapidly - a thing he did when he was extra nervous, apparently. Everyone answered in uncertainty or they just merely shrugged, not knowing more than Yohan himself.

In the next moment, there was a loud thud on the bars above you, and all of you let out a shriek. However, it was only Daehyeon asking to be let in with Jiung and Taeyang by his side. Even though everyone was curious what was going on, the leader didn’t say anything until a few more minutes passed by in complete silence and then, he went out to look for any signs of lingering Grievers.

“They’re gone. You can come out now.”

“Are you sure? Because I would rather stay here than go out again,” Yohan mumbled, and despite the leader’s usual calm demeanour, he wasn’t so calm this time.

“I am not sure, but that’s the best answer I can give you. You can choose to stay there, but I’ll go around to see who’s missing and who might be injured,” he announced sternly before doing as he had said so. You followed his example, and got out of the Box, the Medjacks following you. You inquired if you should help them out with the probable injuries, and they were as glad as they could after being chased by Grievers.

Your remaining group - alongside Yohan as well - decided to help the Medjacks who were getting ready to treat wounds and injuries, but what they weren’t ready was to see Junseo tying himself to a bed at the infirmary. You didn’t need to think too much into what was happening - the boy had been stung, and he was trying to tie himself to not be able to hurt others.

“Taeyang, is the serum still here?” Jiung shouted indignantly, helping to tie Junseo to the bed even though it could be seen that he was trying his best to stay collected and unaffected by the huge purple mark on the Runner’s side.

Everything became blurred afterwards: voices, sentences, faces. All you could see was the veins popping off on Junseo’s arms and the boy’s eyes becoming glassy and unfocused before he was given the serum, and his whole body fell back to the bed, still.

Despite being aware that Seokhwa had needed almost a whole day to regain consciousness after he had been given the serum - could you call it the antidote at this point? -, you couldn’t leave Junseo’s bedside. Not even when the boys were distributing the late breakfast that arrived only by lunchtime because Kun and Ten had been mourning over the loss of Taeyong; not even when the Medjacks offered to stay there in your place.

You only got out when Daehyeon called everyone outside the following morning, informing them of the situation. Sunoo, Jungwon, Taeyong, Seungcheol, Vernon and Soobin had been taken away, Junseo was stung, Bang Chan had sprained his ankle, Seokhwa had probably broken a bone and almost everyone was covered in bruises. Even you realised that when you had nearly fallen over due to that rock, you smashed your knee pretty badly, and it swelled up and caused you to limp a bit. It wasn’t horrible, but it was quite painful.

Not as bad as being taken away or stung, so you had no reason to complain. Still, the Medjacks told you to rest your leg as much as possible, so you did as they had asked, sitting by Junseo’s bedside with your left leg propped up on a random chair. You didn’t even remember when you managed to doze off, but it might have been the previous nights’ lack of sleep or the shock numbing your senses, but you managed to sleep for a bit. Only a bit though because you were awakened by the Medjacks’ concerned questions.

“How do you feel?”

“Can you see and hear us well?”

“Did you also gain back some of your memories?”

You were jolted awake by the last sentence, and thrilled, you looked at Junseo, immediately reaching for his arm.

“Are you okay?” You inquired, your voice coming out hoarse. The boy looked at your hands clutching his arm, then looked up at you, and instead of bewildered, the boy appeared almost touched. He gave you a faint yet gentle smile, one that could thaw the ice around your heart that’s been hardening due to the recent events.

Aware of the Medjacks’ eyes on you, you tried to yank your hand away from the boy’s arm, but he caught it in the last second, and didn’t let go. Embarrassed, you looked away for a moment. Could he remember more memories with you two? Could he know just how close you two had been? Or was he just trying to make sure that you stood by his side after all that he had been (you had been) through?

“Should we leave you alone for a bit?” Jiung broke the silence after clearing his throat, but both of you shook your head.

“It’s alright. You should fetch him up. I’ll call for Daehyeon,” you announced, suddenly feeling all too aware of your face burning up. Despite Junseo’s grip on you, you peeled his fingers off, giving him a small smile as if to reassure him that you wouldn’t go away forever.

While you were searching for Daehyeon, you managed to pacify your crazily beating heart a bit. The thing was that you oh so wished to have some alone time with Junseo in case he remembered something more about you two, but you would have been selfish if you had done so. So many boys had been taken away (probably dead already), so many had been hurt, why would it be your priority to get something personal out of the boy? It could wait, but letting the leader know that the boy was awake couldn’t.

Daehyeon seemed almost relieved to hear that Junseo was conscious and the serum had worked yet again. He briefly asked if you had heard anything from the boy, but you shook your head, telling him that you wanted him to know of the news first. As expected, a lot more boys had gathered around the injured Runner by the time you made your way back to the infirmary, but a lot of them were there to change their bandages anyway. Or just worried. Both reasons were plausible given the circumstances.

Just like in Seokhwa’s case, Junseo hadn’t regained all of his memories either. A lot of the flashbacks he mentioned were scattered - without a beginning and an end, just something that he briefly remembered. He shared Seokhwa’s portrayal of the virus that was taking over the world, though he had more memories trying to survive in the excruciating heat - with you. At this point, everyone looked at you to see your reaction, but you prompted the boy to continue (especially after Keeho blurted out that no one was really surprised by this, you two were “waaaay too obvious” in his words).

“And you two,” he mentioned as he pointed at Donghan and Yohan. “You are brothers.”

Donghan’s jaw literally dropped while Yohan’s eyes grew twice their size. They then looked at each other as if they had seen each other for the first time, both in awe and in disgust. Now that was newfound information.

“Well, I guess it makes sense why you two are always bickering,” Taehyun shrugged, pretty amused.

After moving on from the facts - that you and Junseo were a couple while Donghan and Yohan were brothers -, Junseo also shared that he also had fractions of their time at the laboratory where they were being tested on. Being in tubes full of water, having to withstand mind games, doing painful physical tests.. And then he had awakened in the Maze just like everyone else.

“I also remember someone saying that we are the key to this virus. We might be immune, that’s why they are keeping us here.”

“What? We are immune, so they keep us here and send Grievers out into the Maze at nights and now even during the day and open up all of the entrances of the Maze? What kind of bullshit is that?” Changbin huffed, his voice almost flaring. Bang Chan tried to put a calming hand over his friend’s shoulders, but the boy shrugged it off.

“You know what I think? This whole organisation is full of psychos and they all want to kill us, they’ve just been trying to tell us that there might be a way out. Or since we can’t even fight against the Grievers as last night proved to us, they think we are disposable now, so they don’t care whether we survive or not.”

“Alright, calm down, Changbin!” Minho hissed at his fellow Bagger, but Changbin couldn’t be contained. He started shouting and spitting words that he probably didn’t think through, but nobody could blame him because what he was saying was partly true. It just didn’t make sense with the amount of and kind of information you had.

“Maybe he’s right, and they’ve sent out the Grievers at night to warn us that we shouldn’t try to get out,” Mingyu reasoned, quieter than usual, but you caught sight of a few others nodding to his words.

“What about the sequence of the Maze’s sections then? It doesn’t mean anything?” You found yourself saying, desperate to try to hold onto any kind of hope that was left in this situation. Changbin looked like he could kill you with his stare, but despite his indignation, it wasn’t him who went up against your words. It was Ten.

“Maybe it doesn’t, we’re just trying to make sense of it.”

After that, the whole conversation at the infirmary became a mess. Gladers tried to shout over each other, and each side had fair enough points to either stay or to try to find a way out. Yongha mentioned that maybe they were all supposed to leave the Maze together, that’s why they couldn’t get through that new section last time while Taehyun pointed out the fact that there had to be an end to this because you were the last one ever according to the note you had come with. Kun reasoned that the Grievers had come out only after the Runners and the volunteers had found that new section while Mingyu was of the opinion that the Maze was a way to keep themselves out of the real world - if Junseo and Seokhwa were saying the truth, the real world would be pretty chaotic, too. Plus, if you were all immune, maybe it would be sensible to actually keep you here.

On the other hand, Seokhwa said that these people at the lab kept them there against their will, even killing his parents to get him, and if Mingyu had seen what they had gone through even prior to the Maze, he would have understood his stance. To that, Changbin became even more aggressive and suggested getting stung, so that he could see what this whole “trying to get out of this mess to end up in another mess” was about. The boys even started to push each other, physically going against each other, and it wasn’t until Daehyeon shut everyone up and told them to come to another Gathering later that afternoon when everyone could calm down a bit, so that they could vote on it - whether to stay or leave, and what to do or prepare for in either scenario - that the boys stopped fighting.

After the announcement, everyone went their own ways, and you only stayed by Junseo’s side because he had asked you to.

“Look, I don’t want you to feel burdened by the memories that I can remember now. That’s why I’m not telling you all about them, but if you wanted to, I could tell you what I remember about us. It’s up to you,” he offered gently, and it was surprising to you how composed he was despite what he had gone through in a mere span of a day. It was so touching that he even took your preference into consideration at a time like this, you almost felt like tearing up.

“No matter what happened in the past, I worry about you right now, so please, rest up. We can talk about it a bit later,” you told him tenderly, and he nodded. Maybe he didn’t even expect a different kind of answer based on your shared moments, maybe he was actually glad that you let him rest or maybe it was because of something else.

Nevertheless, you let him rest, and helped out at the infirmary until Keeho firmly told you to get some food because he had seen that you hadn’t lined up for the late breakfast either. So you did as he said, wondering just how different this day might turn out depending on what the Gladers would vote on.

The Gathering was no less tense than that scene at the infirmary a few hours prior, but at least the idea of a consensus was there, so everyone could vote for what they wanted. Kun, Ten, Changbin, Mingyu and almost Yohan too voted for staying (in the end, Donghan convinced him, and since their sudden brotherly reveal, they seemed to take each other more seriously), but the others were for leaving. Since Daehyeon didn’t want anyone to feel burdened by the vote, what it all came down to was that the rest of the boys - the three Runners, the three Medjacks, the three Builders, Bang Chan, Minho, Yeonjun, Taehyun and Heeseung - and you were going to prepare to leave while the rest could stay. Obviously, it wasn’t that easy to not make it seem like you were abandoning the rest, but Daehyeon didn’t want to force anyone to leave, so this was what they could all agree on while respecting each other’s choice.

Since it was early afternoon when the Gathering was held, everyone went out to gather weapons and any stuff that they might feel useful to go into the Maze. The Maze still hadn’t closed since the night before, and Taehyun’s theory was that since the entrances hadn’t closed, more Grievers might come out during that night. A lot of Gladers agreed with it because it seemed reasonable despite nothing really making sense anymore.

So the plan was to go out before it got dark, but it wasn’t that easy to leave because everyone was exhausted, some were still bruised, and despite your ankle getting better, you also couldn’t run that fast. However, the determination inside all of you was uniform, so everyone stuck to the other, and you didn’t let anyone fall behind. Whether it was one of the Runners checking on the others or Daehyeon asking everyone if they were alright, you looked out for the other.

Despite the fact that it was your first time in the Maze, you didn’t try to take it in because it would take too much time. However, it was really just like a Maze with some tendrils running down the side of the concrete that were built to form devious roads. The number of the section that you ran through was painted on the walls several times as you passed corner after corner. The four letters that you had seen at the Glade too - WCKD - were written on some of the walls here, too, adding more proof to your theory that this WCKD was behind all of this, they were the ones who kept you there and built this Maze.

Your knee was burning as you were running, but you couldn’t care less: you wanted to escape. You needed to escape. You were in this together, and you knew that the boys who had been in the Glade longer than you had must have suffered a lot more, so you sucked it up, and kept your chin up high while following the others.

The Runners motioned you all to lean into a wall while they were looking into an alley. When Junseo looked back at the group of Gladers, he let out a long sigh. Yongha glanced at him, then at Daehyeon.

“It’s a Griever,” Yongha let everyone know why they looked so agitated. “It’s no surprise, but we need to be careful. There’s a rail-less bridge between this side of the Maze and the new section that opens up if we get close to it with the device we’ve got, so be careful of the edge,” he explained to you all, and you noted that Junseo had the said device in his hands. It was in good hands, you knew it.

“If we stick together, do you think we can push the Griever close to the edge, so that it would fall? Or is there something underneath that bridge?” Yeonjun mused out loud, and this time, it was Junseo who answered.

“We don’t know if there’s something underneath, but it doesn’t look like it. So yeah, it’s actually a good idea to try to push it towards the edge.”

“If it doesn’t work, can we throw this flammable liquid onto it that we’ve been experimenting on with Chan?” Minho inquired as if it had been the most natural thing to do in their free time - testing out flammable liquids -, but you knew that he was serious because Minho was said to be rarely joking.

“Sure. Anything that works,” Yongha left it at that because it seemed that fire was also something that managed to scare them off or slow them down, but it’s not like Yongha had more experience with Grievers. The one they had killed, they had killed it with rocks and tendrils.

Soon enough, silence fell over your little group because probably all of you felt the weight of what was about to come. You either managed to escape or not; you either managed to stay alive or died trying. There was no turning back from here, and from what Seokhwa and Junseo had said before, you knew that the outside world wouldn’t be a piece of cake. Yet, here, you couldn’t stay. It was no way to live: being tested on, made to suffer, used as lab rats.

“I want you guys to know that-”

“We have a girl with us, Daehyeon,” Keeho cut their leader off with a teasing little smile, but instead of frustration taking hold of the boy, Daehyeon actually let his lips curl upwards.

“True enough. So boys and our newbie,” he corrected himself as he glanced in your direction. “I’m proud of you for getting here, and I want you to know that whatever will happen after this, you can count on me. We can count on each other. We’ll get out of here as a team just like we’ve managed to survive together until now. This is the least we can do for the ones who have lost their lives to these tests including the one last night. We owe them and ourselves the chance to leave this hellhole.”

“I’ve never thought you would call it a hellhole one day, but I’m rather proud,” Donghan mentioned playfully, and all of you eased up a bit.

“Let’s get out of this hellhole then!” Taeyang announced and you all echoed before getting off to start running again. Before you did so though, you caught Junseo’s stare, and you nodded, signalling that you were ready to follow him.

When Junseo and Yongha bolted off, the rest of the group quickly followed. Indeed, from what you could see, there was a Griever going in circles on the bridge that Yongha had mentioned, and when it caught sight of your little group, it got ready to attack. So did you.

All of you had your spears and knives and other weapons, and that’s how you tried to push the Griever towards the edge or cut off its parts. It was difficult, the Griever was much stronger than you had remembered from last night, but with the help of everyone, you managed to push it over the edge.

“Well, that wasn’t so bad, was it?” Yohan mentioned as drops of sweat were rolling down his pinkish cheeks, but the moment he finished his sentence, another two Grievers emerged from the utter darkness the last one had fallen into.

“Guys, stick together!” Daehyeon exclaimed, but it got caught in the air when another two Grievers emerged from the other side of the bridge. There was no way you could stick together against four Grievers, so you immediately joined a few boys who were pushing a Griever from the other side before it could get to one of them. In the intensity of the fights and the way it wasn’t a coordinated attack on your part due to the large number of Grievers, Heeseung was taken away by one of the newly emerged monsters, and you had no time to mourn his loss, even a scream got caught in your throat.

“The device!” Keeho hollered beside you, and you looked to where he was looking - the device rolling towards the edge of the bridge. Before you could react in any way, Keeho immediately jumped after the object, leaving you, Jiung and Taeyang behind to fight with the Griever.

You pushed with all your might, and amidst the grunts and screams and mechanical clattering, you barely registered when the wall at the end of the bridge was lifted when Keeho got close to it. He exclaimed that it opened, then ran towards the circular end of this newfound section.

When you and the two Medjacks managed to push a Griever over the edge, Jiung asked you to go with Keeho and watch his back. There was no time to counterattack him, so you did what he had asked you, and jogged to Keeho. When you two got close to this circular thing, it started beeping, then a red panel showed up with numbers scattered over the screen.

“There are 8 numbers. We probably have to put together a code,” Keeho said hastily, and as if lighting hit you, you shouted over to the remaining guys:

“What’s the sequence of the sections?”

“What?”

“The sequence of the 8 sections in the Maze. The Runners said there’s a pattern. 8 sections, 8 numbers,” you explained as briefly as possible, trying to catch your breath before you managed to get Taehyun’s attention. It was either the Mapmakers - Taehyun and Yeonjun - or the three Runners - Junseo, Yongha, Seokhwa - who could answer that, so when Taehyun started saying the numbers, Keeho immediately started typing it in.

“Seven… One… Five… Two… Six…” Taehyun grunted as a Griever got close to him and pinned him to the ground. Taehyun tried to push it off while Yeonjun and Seokhwa were trying to push it off from the side, but it wouldn’t budge. In the next moment, however, something caught aflame, and the Griever towering over the Mapmaker caught on fire. This way, Taehyun could slide off from beneath it, but before he could continue with the numbers, a Griever fell from above, straight onto Minho who had thrown the bottled liquid onto the previous Griever.

“Guys, the code!” Keeho reminded them frantically, and it was Junseo who continued with the last 3 digits: 483.

For a brief second, you thought that you had been wrong. It wasn’t the code because nothing happened. You had your heart in your throat while someone screamed desperately behind you. When you looked over your shoulder, you saw Seokhwa flying in the air in the hold of a Griever. The guys around it tried to hold onto the Runner, but it was too late: other Grievers came into view, and the boys were pushed backwards, away from their friend.

“It worked!” Keeho shrieked beside you, and in a numb state, you looked back at the screen that turned from red to green and read: COMPLETE.

As soon as you saw the screen, the walls of the section behind you started going down, so the Gladers ran towards you as fast as they could. You pulled on them as they reached for you - for safety - and watched as the Grievers got squashed by the closing walls. Then, darkness.

“Not to be that person, but does anyone have a lighter?” Donghan broke the silence that fell over you. You felt like you were on the verge of crying and throwing up. What? That was it? You didn’t even manage to escape.

But then a door opened a few steps away from your group and light shone into the room you were trapped in. Suspicious, the boys waited until Daehyeon made his way to the door and looked out. He looked left and right, and when he stepped outside, lights turned on in the corridor as well.

“There’s nobody here,” he noted as he looked back at all of you. Slowly, everyone made their way out of the room, and when your eyes got used to the bright light, the first thing you wanted to see was a familiar pair of chocolate-brown eyes. You panicked when you looked around, and Junseo was nowhere to be found, and you felt like sliding to the floor crying.

However, Junseo stepped over the threshold in the next second, and you immediately ran to him even though you had no idea if you were actually outside of the Maze or not, if you had more tests or not. He was there, alive and bruised, but he was there. You crushed him into a brief yet tight hug before letting go of him and looking into his eyes, deeply.

“I’m so relieved,” you breathed out, your voice giving way to your desperation.

Junseo smiled at you with his bruised lips, and reached for your hands to hold it before you ran after the others who started walking down the corridor. It wasn’t so long before you caught up to them, but it seemed that no one else was in the corridor because all you could hear were footsteps. As you looked around and looked at the guys, you realised that apart from Heeseung and Seokhwa, you hadn’t lost any more Gladers while trying to escape, meaning that 13 of you were left. You couldn’t bear to lose anyone else though. It was already too much.

You couldn’t help but look back a few times while you were walking and everyone seemed to be doing the same. You were alert, and for a good reason: there was no indication that it might be the last of your trials. However, it was definitely the last of your steps when you arrived at a door that read ‘Exit’ above it.

“Seriously?” Yongha huffed, not believing in the simplicity of it.

“What if it’s a trap?” Yohan inquired, indignant. You had to give it to him that it seemed oddly suspicious after everything that had happened. You couldn’t help the cold shiver running down your spine at the thought of this being yet another test, yet another chance of getting hurt or worse… dying in the hands of this cruel experiment.

“Well, I would definitely not love to go back there,” Donghan pointed behind him, and everyone knew what he meant by that.

There was a moment of hesitation in Daehyeon’s move when he reached for the doorknob, but he eventually did. Only to reveal an even more surprising scene on the other side of it: shattered glass, blood spots on the walls, men and women in lab coats dying lifelessly on the ground, remains of gunpowder and panels being broken. This was definitely the lab Seokhwa and Junseo had been talking about, and when you caught sight of bloody bodies on operating tables behind glass mirrors, you felt Junseo squeeze your hand.

You looked away, feeling like you could throw up any minute, not just because of the bodies on the floor and in the lab rooms, but because of what you could see for yourself: charts about you and the boys, brain signals, camera views of the Glade (so they were actually watching your every step), statics, measurements, charts… It was sickening how detailed they were, and what they were about.

As you were walking around trying to make sense of everything, a video started playing on one of the huge panels. A woman in a blindingly white coat who claimed to be the director of the Operations of the World Catastrophe Killzone Department congratulated you on finishing the Maze Trials.

“What the hell?” Keeho exclaimed, but the video seemed automatic instead of a video call because it continued without any care.

“I can assure you,” the woman continued, her voice void of any emotion. “That everything that has happened, everything we’ve done to you was all done for a reason. You won’t remember, but the Sun has scorched our world. Billions of lives lost to fire, famine and what we call The Flare. A deadly virus that attacks the brain.”

As she was speaking, there were videos of the blazing sun, of fires in big cities, people - presumably dead - on top of each other in piles, then images of people becoming animalistic and violent. If it was the Flare, then it must have been similar to the Changing after the Gladers got stung because those people looked eerily similar to the Seokhwa you had seen on the first day.

You glanced in Junseo’s direction who must have remembered some of the details, but he was already looking at you. You felt the first teardrop roll down your cheeks before you looked back at the screen.

“It was unpredictable and incurable. Or so we thought. In time, a new generation emerged that could survive the virus. Suddenly, there was a reason to hope for a cure, but finding it was not that easy. Young people had to be tested inside harsh environments where their reactions and brain activity could be studied. They had to be sacrificed for a greater cause, to understand what makes them different. What makes you different.”

Seokhwa and Junseo had been right. You were different. You might have been immune to this Flare, and that’s why you were tested. That’s why the tests were there. No matter how insane and unbelievable it seemed, it was the truth.

The woman continued to talk about how important you were to society, and how others disagreed with their methods, but what was most disturbing about it was what went behind her. People started shooting the ones in lab coats, there was glass and blood everywhere, sparkles of electricity and objects falling. Then, the woman also raised a gun, but not at anyone behind her, but at herself.

“Remember one thing: WCKD is good,” she said as WCKD was written on the screen before she pulled the trigger.

You couldn’t bear to look at her, you looked away. You unconsciously also squeezed Junseo’s hand in the meantime, and he pulled you closer, letting you rest your head in the croak of his neck. It was all too much. The Maze itself, the scene around you and the video, too…

In the next moment, doors opened somewhere close and people in masks and bulletproof vests marched in. One of the men from their group walked towards you all and asked if you were alright, promising that they would get you to safety, that they would get you out of here.

“Wicked isn’t good. We don’t stand with them,” he responded curtly, and in all honesty, you wanted to believe him. You wanted to believe them, but you had no idea what to believe anymore.

So you let the men escort you out and into a helicopter, and you let them take you to somewhere else. As the helicopter took off, you could have a better view of the place you had just left, and that’s when it all became clear: the whole Glade and the Maze was built inside this laboratory, it was really this WCKD’s creation, and you - you all were a part of it.

Because you might be the key.

You might be the cure.

A/N: Okay, so I’ve gotten a bit carried away, but can you blame me? This story needed to be long, so that I could add my own twists and scenes to the original storyline. *-*

Also, as the header suggests, this story was inspired by the ‘Spray’ MV and promotions. I know that era was more like a boxer concept, but when I saw the maps and bars in the MV, I just couldn’t not think of The Maze Runner, especially when Donghan lights that emergency light at the end (in the movie, they do light one as they are leaving the Glade).

Plus, fun fact that the first scene that came to my mind was the one when y/n asks Yohan if they don’t have any long-sleeved shirts because well... we’ve seen a lot of arms during the promotions. 😂

If anyone needs a recap of the jobs assigned to the boys:

Builders: Daehyeon (Keeper + first in command/leader), Donghan, Yohan

Runners: Junseo (Keeper), Seokhwa, Yongha

Slicers: Mingyu (Keeper), Vernon, Seungcheol

Cooks: Taeyong (Keeper), Kun, Ten

Gardeners: Sunoo, Jungwon, Heeseung

Map-makers: Taehyun (Keeper), Yeonjun, Soobin

Baggers: Bang chan (Keeper), Minho, Changbin

Medjacks: Keeho, Taeyang, Jiung

The 13 of them who survived until the end: y/n, Daehyeon, Donghan, Yohan, Junseo, Yongha, Taehyun, Yeonjun, Bang Chan, Minho, Keeho, Taeyang, Jiung

It was intentional that those who died during the story or stayed at the Glade didn’t have a lot of scenes (except Seokhwa), yet due to the au, I couldn’t let everyone live. I’m sorry if your bias didn’t make it to the end. 🥺

Anyways, hope you’ve enjoyed the story nevertheless! Thank you so much for reading it! ❤️

If you’re interested in more of my stories, consider signing up for my taglist here!

the best part of math | kim junseo

summary: in which junseo falls so hard for his new math tutor and turns into a smol bean everytime they talk

⁚⋰ kim junseo x reader (gender neutral)

✎ … word count: 0-1k

✎ … genre: fluff

✎ … style: bullet point

( this is my first fic on tumblr so!! please bear with me haha but yikes this is bad lmao )

everyone knew junseo was the school's ✨ prince ✨

he broke other's hearts* but not by playing with their emotions

just by rejecting them when they confess

but honestly, junseo, our bby boy, has never fallen in love (´-﹏-`；)

not even a crush

taewoo would always make him go on blind dates

but it never went well :/

most of the time his blind date would stare at him, ask him personal questions

yknow,, a blind date

but he's never felt anything for the people he's seen :(

but one day!!!!

y/n!!!

you volunteer to be a tutor for those in need

aka for people who suck at math

you're somehow a genius

pretend you are

and junseo never pays attention in math* he's a bad bitch you can't stop him 😎😎

jk jk, he just doesn't understand and ends up dozing off* the day u volunteer, junseo, as usual is nearly asleep on his desk

but suddenly!!! he hears his name being called by the teacher

junseo who just woke up : oh no what did i do now Σ(°ロ°) Σ(°ロ°)

a few seconds later he finally realizes that names were being called out for people who're gonna get tutored

he knew he has bad math grades but,, he just,, deflates when he hears he needs to do moRE studying

our boi studies a lot!!!! he just :(( doesn't get it

so at the end of the class, the teacher introduces you to junseo

"idk if you already know each other since you've been in the same class for a few months now but, y/n this is who you will be tutoring, junseo."

the boy felt like he was gonna be angry at you >:c

he knew he sucked!!! but he wanted to figure out himself like the dependant man he is!!!

but* when jun's eyes finally meet yours

he can't help but turn into a puddle <3

your face!!! it was so pretty!! all your features made him go soft!!!!

"hello!"

",, h-hell-- hello."

he internally scolded himself for stuttering

but cut him some slack!!

he's never felt this way before* junseo is just,, a little confused（ΟΔΟ；；）

you on the other hand

u were just tryna look as cool as possible in front of one of the school's most popular!!!! kids!!!! (ﾟДﾟ;)

when you found out junseo was gonne be your student you were shook™

you!! y/n was gonna spend time w the kim junseo to teach him how to add and substract?? that's crazy sis 😔

you both agreed to meet up on thursday at the library after lunch bc that's when it's least busiest

but you were so nervous you just gobbled the mcfucking lasagna there was for lunch in one go

and nyoom-ed to the book filled room

idk y you were surprised when you didn't see junseo there tho

you literally took five minutes to eat soooo...

to keep yourself busy, you did other hw you had to do* so u didn't notice junseo coming in 15 minutes later

you looked so absorbed in your history assignment.. you were too cute to him uwu* ( ˘͈ ᵕ ˘͈♡)

but when you jumped after jun tapped your shoulder to get your attention!!!!

junseo's tummy was swarming!!

swA_RMI_NG I TELL YOu

with butterflies!!!!!

while junseo was thinking about how adorable you are you kept scolding yourself for looking like an idiot :((

"so,, what should we start with?"

"idk? numbers?"

junseo internally screamed at himself bc he realized how d u m b that sounded

but then! you laughed!!

so jun just thought he should keep being a dummy around you all the time :")

bc now that he's heard it, he'll do anything to make you laugh again 💞🤧

the two of you spent the hour going around the basics to see what junseo understood

tbh you were kinda :(( sad :( the study session was already over* time seemed to fly so fast when you're w junseo 😔😔

that same night, you couldn't stop thinking about him

how the shapes of his eyes were so attractive, his blinding smile his--

everything basically

now you understood y so many classmates of yours fall under his spell

like a magic

part two one day? idk lol ✨ thanks for reading!! tell others to stan 1the9 bc they deserve 😤😤💞💖

and?? i wanted to write more but i had to erase some parts i added for it to fit :/ is it bc i wrote this on mobile? since when did tumblr have this limit 😩

ִֶָ⁠ — masterlist ‹3

≀ jang daehyeon ꣹

—

≀ kim donghan ꣹

—

≀ yoo yongha ꣹

—

≀ kim yohan ꣹

—

≀ kang seokhwa ꣹

— maybe in another life [ junseo x reader x seokhwa ]

≀ kim junseo ꣹

— maybe in another life [ junseo x reader x seokhwa ]

do not repost or translate any of my work.

Finally Mated

Wolf! Suho x Reader

Commissioned by: @skittlez-area512

Warning: Smut

Word Count: 5.5k

A/N: This is a prequel to the mini Mated Series. Read Part One / Part Two

"It has been happening to all the men in the Kim family for centuries. Once it happens, you need to learn major self control. This life is not easy. You must never speak of it to anyone, except those you meet who will become your brothers. This is important Junmyeon, not a word, to anyone." His father could not stress that enough, he was not to speak to anyone about it, ever. The secret was to be kept within the family, and his new family. Junmyeon felt as though he was backed into a wall with how vague his father was. As much as he tried to pry, his father was a steel vault, only ever letting out what he wanted to, when he wanted to, constantly leaving Junmyeon with a million questions. “Please please please" Junmyeon begged at the dinner table, his 16th birthday approaching in just a few days. "Just tell me the big reveal. It's close enough." “Jun" his mother chuckled. “it’s a few more days. I’m sure you’ll be okay. Now eat your food." “Ma, I really won’t be okay. I’m going to go crazy if I don’t find out now. Please, dad" he whined, one more time. His father sighed. “Okay fine.” “Really?” Junmyeon asked excitedly. “No. Wait a few more days. I’ll tell you at midnight when your birthday begins. You know, it’s going to be a full moon that night" his father says, glancing over at his worried mother. Junmyeon looks over to his mother and immediately notices the slight worried look on her face. She notices Junmyeon looking at her and tries to hide her worried expression with a smile as best as she could but Junmyeon could see it in her eyes. She was terrified. That night, Junmyeon laid in his bed, his fingers intertwined with each other as he tried to figure out what his mother could be so worried about. He wasn’t entirely worried about his 16th birthday, although his mother's face had him feeling rather uneasy about it. He tiredly got out of his bed, walking down the hall to the stairs to go get a glass of water from the kitchen. Half way down the stairs, he heard his parents whispering. It was almost 2am, he couldn’t understand why on earth they would still be up this late. “Yongha, a lot of these boys don’t make it through the transition. Just think of his brother.” His mother cried. “Junmyeon is not Junseo. He’s much stronger, he’ll make it through, Taeyeon. Please have faith. I didn’t know Junseo would transition early, no one did. It’s not common. Had I been around and been there to help him maybe he would have survived.” His father sighed. Junmyeon couldn’t move as he listened to his parents' conversation. He had a brother? Why had no one told him about this? He stood there contemplating whether or not to confront his parents about this enormous lie they kept from him for almost 16 years. Did he pretend he heard nothing? He felt so absolutely conflicted on what he should do. After a few seconds of listening to his mother whimper, he couldn’t take the not knowing. Junmyeon stomped down the stairs, making sure they knew he was coming. “Junmyeon.. what are you still doing awake?” his mother asks, wiping away her tears. “Who is Junseo?” he asks, his tone harsh. “W-what?” she stutters. “I heard you. I heard you say I had a brother and he didn’t survive the transition, so what the hell is going on?” he snaps. “Jun..” his father begins. “Don’t. You’re going to explain everything. I’m sick of all the lies. Tell me" His father sighs as he motions him to the kitchen table. They all sit down, no one saying a word. “Junseo was our first born. He died on his 16th birthday, a few months before we found out your mom was pregnant with you.” His father sighs. “I can’t believe you never told me I had a brother" Junmyeon gasps, feeling like his entire life was a lie. “You said the transition killed him. What transition?” His father sighed. “The men in our family.. are wolves.” He says, Junmyeon looks at this father with the most confused and unconvinced face. “Wolves? Like werewolves? Are you kidding me? This is the biggest load of shit I’ve ever heard" Junmyeon yells, frustrated that his parents seem to take him for an idiot. “Jun..” his mother begins. “Don’t. I’ll show him.” His father says, “Yongha, you can’t..” she says. “I’ll be fine. Junmyeon, come with me.” His father tells him, standing up and walking out the back door. Junmyeon skeptically followed his father into their large backyard. His father moved towards the edge of the forest line, they happen to live in the country, no neighbors around for miles. “Stand back” his father warns, stripping himself of his clothes. Junmyeon stares at his father who stands before him in his boxers, his fist clenched as his body vibrates. He can’t help but roll his eyes, turning to  walk away, thinking it’s a load of shit. Before Junmyeon is able to get back into the house, he hears the sounds of bones snapping and loud growling sounds coming from behind him. Junmyeon spins around, and instead of seeing his father, he stands there face to face with a very large grey wolf. Junmyeon can’t move, he feels trapped as he stares this beast in its eyes. “W-what..” he gasps, as his mother wraps her arms around him. "Don't be afraid baby." She whispers, her words comforting him. "D-dad?" He stutters. His mother let's go of him, allowing him to walk up to his father, or the giant grey wolf standing before him. He hesitantly reaches out, placing his hand on his coarse fur. His father lowers his head, showing him it's okay and he won't hurt him. Now that he knew what was going to happen on his 16th birthday, he didn't really want it anymore. "Does it have to happen?" Junmyeon asks his father who was now back in his human form. "It does. It's both a blessing and a curse for our family." His father answers. "What if.. what if something happens to me? I'm not ready to die." Junmyeon whispers. "The moment you feel not like yourself, you tell me. I'll be with you every step of the way." His father smiles. "Now go get some sleep."   ** On Junmyeon's 16th birthday he woke up feeling strange. His body felt exhausted, his muscles, even his bones were sore. His throat was dry and his eyes burned. "Dad!" He yelled, still in bed. "Junmyeon?" His father asks, rushing into the room, his mother right behind him. "I don't feel good." He groans, sweat trickling down his skin. "It's starting." His father says. "Taeyeon, get the towels, ice water and meet us out back." His father demands, scooping Junmyeon in his arms to bring him to the backyard. "Dad.. I can't l." He yells, before his world goes dark. The next few hours, which to Junmyeon felt like days, he was in and out ubt of consciousness. All he could remember was pain. Bones snapping. Screaming in agony. The sound of skin tearing. His mother was crying. His father told him to hold on. When he awoke, his parents sat by his side, both with tears streaming down their faces. "Mom? Dad?" He croaks, his voice hoarse. "Jun?" His dad says, looking shocked. "My baby!" His mother cries, holding him tightly. "You did it, son. You made it through. It'll now get easier as time goes on." His dad says. "I'm proud of you my boy." And his father was right. It got easier and easier after every time he shifted. ** When he turned 21, he learned he was the alpha of his own pack, but he had to find the ones meant to be with him in his pack, and he had no idea how he was supposed to do that. It wasn't until he had run into a former close friend from high school, Minseok that he realized every wolf had a very distinct smell to them. "Are you?" He asked Minseok, raising his eyebrow in an attempt to be discreet. "Am I what?" Minseok asked, confused. "A wolf?" Junmyeon whispered. "How do you know?" Minseok asks, shocked. "Me too." Junmyeon laughs. "I feel like you're supposed to be with me." "I think so too." After that the rest came easily. The last one to join the pack, was the youngest, Sehun. He was going to University and surprisingly was one of the closer ones to Suho. His pack was finally completed after a year or so and now they could do what they wanted. Until, mates began rolling in. First was Chanyeol, and the Minseok and Yixing. ** The most recent person to meet their mate was Sehun and Junmyeon could tell exactly how head over heels he was for this girl. So much so, he had been planning to bring her over to meet everyone today. Junmyeon wouldn't admit it to anyone that he was jealous that some of his brothers had found their mates first. He had sort of expected to be one of the first, since he was the alpha but apparently that didn't matter. Junmyeon groaned as he crawled out of his bed. He could hear the chatter coming from downstairs, along with Baekhyun's squeals, so he assumed that Sehun's mate was here. It was only polite for him to introduce himself. He slipped on a shirt before shuffling his feet down the stairs. "And this is our leader, Junmyeon." A voice says. Junmyeon looks up as he walks into the living room, his eyes go from Sehun to you. You. You stood there with your plump lips, smooth skin, beautiful eyes and hair. You were perfect. You smelled delectable. Junmyeon could feel his cock harden as a faint growl erupted from his chest. He could faintly hear people talking in the background, but honestly he felt lost in your eyes. Lost in picturing a life together with you. Who were you? "Gemini mate." He heard Yixing say. So you had two mates. Who was the.. no. No. Not Sehun. He couldn't do that to him. Junmyeon tore his eyes from your intense gaze, only to find hurt and betrayal flooding into Sehun's eyes. "I didn't.. I don't.." Junmyeon stuttered. He didn't know what he could possibly say to make any of this okay. Nothing would help. It's not like he planned this, sometimes things happen, and it just so happens that you are Junmyeon's soulmate as well as Sehun. "I think we should talk." Junmyeon says, looking at Sehun and you. Sehun nods his head, storming out the back door. Junmyeon walks up to you, motioning for you to go first. He almost grazed your arm with his hand and he could feel the electricity even by just being that close to you. It was a feeling like no other, something that he already craved more of. "I think.." Junmyeon paused. "I think she and I should spend some time talking. This is all very sudden and new. We should try to figure some things out as soon as possible rather than later." "I agree." You say. He hadn't expected you to agree so quickly but maybe you were feeling as desperate as he was. "But I need to talk to Sehun for a minute first." You finish. "That's fine. I'll wait over there." Junmyeon says, walking away from you. He stood there watching you try to sooth Sehun. Your hand on his bicep made him slightly jealous. It was an unfamiliar feeling to him and he didn't like it. He felt a sense of relief when Sehun turned away from you, storming into the house and slamming the door. You walked towards Junmyeon with a sad look on your face. All he wanted to do was make you smile. "Are you okay?" Junmyeon asks you, turning to walk beside you into the forest. "Yeah..  it's just a lot to take in is all. He'll adjust to it, hopefully." You say, shrugging your shoulders. "Well, he doesn't really have a choice, if he wants to keep an amazing girl like you." Junmyeon whispers. "I'm not amazing." You chuckle. "You don't know me." You smile. That was true, he didn't but he was going too. Over the next few months, Junmyeon would find out all there was to know about you. All your likes and dislikes, your favorite things, the different expressions your face held when you felt different emotions. He loved you fiercely and showed it, but you loved him partially and it showed. Much to your surprise, Junmyeon noticed the lack of effort you put in with him compared to Sehun. He saw how different the way you acted with both of them was. If anyone would ask, they would a thousand percent know how much you loved Sehun, but with Junmyeon it was questionable. He just knew something bad was coming as you and Sehun drifted further away from him. He could hear you whispering at night about a plan but he never listened long enough to hear it. It hurt his heart far too much. On Sunday night he heard you yell that you and Sehun were going to take a walk in the woods, just them. There was no invite for Junmyeon, just a brief goodbye before they lovingly took off, hand intertwined, without a care for him. Junmyeon knew he probably shouldn't follow you, but he did anyway. He wanted to know what you were up to. As he kept his distance from you two, he began to recognize where you were going with Sehun. The witches. There was only one reason you would want to visit them. You were going to sever the connection between you and him. "Excellent, you're here. Which means you've made your final decision." The older witch says. You nod your head while your hand squeezes Sehun's. "A lock of his hair?" She questions. You reach into your pocket and pull out a small tuft of hair, his hair and hand it to the witch. "The tie will be broken immediately after I do this. Are you sure?" She asks. "Definitely." You breathe. "Elle.." Junmyeon starts, stepping out of the trees. "How could you?" "Jun.. I.." you stutter, your eyes wide. "I'm sorry. I love you, I do but it's not the same. It's not as deep or as passionate as with Sehun. I just can't do it anymore." You whisper. "Fine." He growls. "Do it." He said to the witch. "Do it!" "Junmyeon.." Sehun begins. "Don't." He snaps. "You are no longer my brother. And you, Elle, fuck you." Junmyeon snaps before clutching his chest and collapsing to the forest floor. ** Hours later Junmyeon awakens, still laying on the forest floor, with what feels like a small hole in his heart. He had always thought losing the connection of your mate was supposed to be agonizing, and unbearable, making you want to die. But it was bearable. He could breathe, got up with ease. What was happening? As he staggered through the woods in the opposite direction he was supposed too and accidently stumbled upon a beautiful waterfall. With an even more beautiful woman standing on a rock, back facing the water while you looked at him. His heart pounded so hard he thought it was going to burst through his chest any second. Everything about you was magnificent and his cock yearned for you. His hands ached to touch your body, his lips needed to be on you. And by the looks of how you were looking at him, you felt the same. Without a second thought, Junmyeon began walking towards you, his eyes staying right on you, not like he could look away even if he wanted. You were the most beautiful creature he had ever laid his eyes on. And then it clicked. You must be why his connection with Elle hadn't been as strong. She wasn't the one he was truly supposed to be with, if she was he wouldn't feel like he does right now. He would feel more heartache and desire for death than lust. "Hi." He says as he approaches you. "Hi mate." You giggle. Your laugh is infectious. "You are.. wow." He says, mesmerized by you. "Thank you." You smile, stepping down to face him. "So are you." Junmyeon sniffs the air, he can smell you soaking pussy without trying and it was driving him crazy. "You smell..phenomenal." "The only way you'll find out is by trying it" you smirk. You weren't wrong. From the moment you set your eyes on him, you wanted his cock buried so deep inside your pussy. You wanted to hear the sound of him moaning as he fucked you. Junmyeon stood in the middle of the forest, leaning against a large rock, staring at you. You slowly walk towards him until there's only a small space in between you. "You want me." He says. You nod your head. "I do." You whisper. "That's all I need." He growls, his lips crashing onto yours. Junmyeon's hands immediately wrap around your waist, pulling your body closer to his. You can feel the heat radiating from his body, the heavy need he has for you. Junmyeon breaks the kiss, moving his lips down your neck before making his way to your ear lobe, sucking for a second. You feel his hot breath against your neck as he whispers into your ear. "I can smell your dripping pussy." He growls. You can hear the low growl coming from his chest as he spins you around, your ass flush against his already semi hard cock. "You smell.." he pauses, slipping his hand in the wait of your skirt. "Delicious." He finishes, his forefinger moving in between your lips, gently grazing your clit. You throw your head back against his hard chest as he draws circles on your clit, causing your knees to feel like they might buckle. As your orgasm fastly approaches, Junmyeon reaches his other hand under your shirt, pulling it up along with your bra, exposing your breast. He takes two fingers and begins rolling your already perky nipple, making your body shudder in pleasure. "I think… I'm going to.. cum." You cry out. "That's it baby." He groans, his finger moving faster. Seconds later your knees buckle as your orgasm washes through your body. You can feel Junmyeon raging hard on pressing against your backside, almost instantly making you feel horny again.   He takes his finger from inside your pants, placing it inside his mouth to suck the cum off. "Mhmm" he groans. With a moan, you turn around to face him, dropping to your knees with your hands at the waist of his shorts, slowly pulling them down over his cock before allowing it to spring free. You began to drool ever so slightly at the sight of us thick cock. You wrap your hand around it, giving him a few pumps before you lean your head forward, kitten licking his tip, spreading the precum around before taking in as much of him as you could. Junmyeon throws his head back as you continue to pull him from your mouth before shoving it further down your throat. "Fuck." He hisses, reaching down to grab your arms and pull you up. His face is stone cold as he turns you around, bending you over the large rock causing your skirt to hike up over the curve of your ass. Junmyeon brings his hand back before swatting your ass a few times, making you jump. "Oh my god." He moans as he lines his cock into your entrance. He takes his time pushing himself in, stretching you out. Before he moves anymore, he let's you settle before proceeding to fuck you, hard. Junmyeon grips your hips, his fingertips digging into your skin as he rams his cock in and out of you. "Shit." You cry out, trying to hold on as he pounds you. "You feel so fucking good baby." He grunts. Junmyeon takes one hand from your hip to move to your head, grabbing a clump of hair before pulling your head back, sending shivers down your entire body. "Your tight pussy is gonna make me cum." He breathes. "I'm gonna pull out." "Cum.. in my pussy." You huff, needing to feel him fill you up, desperately wanting to have his cum drip from your pussy and down your leg when you walk back to the house. "Are you sure?" He asks, unable to hold on for much longer. "Yes, cum in my pussy." You cry out again. Junmyeon's grip on your hair and hip tighten as he releases himself into you, coating your walls with his cum. Releasing your hair, Junmyeon whispers a few apologies for pulling it too hard, but you assure him you enjoyed it far too much to complain at all. "Are you sure?" He chuckles, pulling himself out of you. "Absolutely." You smile, adjusting your skirt and your hair. Trying to make it look you hadn't just been fucked senseless, but there was no use. You were a mess. You could barely keep the tears in your eyes as you and Junmyeon laughed about your childhoods and how strangely similar they had been. He had never felt like this before, not even with Elle. He had just met you but instantly knew this is what it was supposed to feel like to have a mate. "Y/N?" You both hear from a distance. "Y/N?" You hear again. "Shit." You scramble, mumbling some kind of apology and telling him you'd make it up to him. "You don't even have my number.." he trailed off, once he had seen you disappear. Junmyeon wondered who had called to you and startled you so badly that you took off in an instant. Maybe your father? Or maybe it was your brother? He knew he would find out eventually. As he wandered back to the house, his mind briefly thought of Elle and Sehun, and he genuinely wished them nothing but the best, now. Had they not done what they did, he never would have found his one true mate. "Dude, where have you been!?" Minseok asked, running towards Junmyeon who was almost at the house. "Gather everyone. Family meeting." Junmyeon says, walking passed Minseok and into the house to wait. Once everyone sat down, he began to speak, until someone had asked where Sehun was. "Sehunno longer belongs to this pack." Junmyeon says straight out. He did his best to calm the yelling and questions so he could further explain. "He and Elle secretly went to have their mate ties with me severed. Left me in the woods once it was complete." He says. "That's all there is to say about the situation, no one brings it up again." He murmurs, leaving the group of confused boys in the living room while he goes to his room. That night he happily dreamt about you. When he woke in the morning he wished he could just wrap his arms around you and never let you go. And he planned on it. That day he went back into the forest, back to the waterfall and waited. ** A few hours later, he's startled awake by the sound of footsteps coming closer. "Hey you." You smile, walking up to Junmyeon and crawling into his lap. "Hey." He smiles, nuzzling his face into your neck, inhaling as much of you as he could. What happened yesterday completely slipped his mind, all he could concentrate on was the fact that you were now back in his arms and he felt like he could breathe again. "So about yesterday.." you pause. "Mhm." He responds. "That was my boyfriend who was yelling for me.." you whisper. He had not been expecting that. Junmyeon pulls his head from your neck, giving you a confused look. "You have a boyfriend?" He asked, thinking back to him ramming his cock in your pussy, and you not once mentioning that. But in reality, it didn't matter anymore. Once true mates found each other, nothing was supposed to come in between the connection. "Had a boyfriend. I ended it last night." You tell him with a smile. "How did he take it?" Junmyeon asks, pretending not to care. "He knew about my mate. I was honest with him from the very beginning. He was okay with it. He wished us the best and moved on." You smiled at him. Something about that did not sit right with Junmyeon. What kind of man just accepts it, regardless of mate status? "How long were you together?" Junmyeon questions. "Over a year." You answer. "But it was never a serious thing." Something definitely wasn't right. "But now I have you, forever." You whisper, pressing yourself into him more. "Not here." Junmyeon chuckles. "Come see your new home." "My new home?" You ask, looking shocked. "Well you're moving in, aren't you?" He asks. "I've only known you for not even two days." You protest with a laugh. "True, but we're going to be together no matter what, there is no one else. It's you and me baby." Junmyeon smiles. "Move in and you can meet the guys." "You know what? Okay!" You laugh. "Yeah?" He smiles. "Yeah." You answer, placing your lips on his. Junmyeon excitedly stood up, bringing you with him before throwing you over his shoulder and running as fast as he could towards the house. He couldn't wait for everyone to meet you.   "Guys!" He yells, walking through the kitchen door with you still over his shoulder. "This is Y/N." He says, placing you on the ground, facing everyone. Everyone comes to say hi to you, and much to Junmyeon's relief, you didn't seem to be connected to anyone else besides him, and for that he was very thankful. Once all the introductions had finished, he picked you up once again, and took you upstairs to his room, which was now also your room. "We can go get your stuff if you want?" He asks. "I need to tell my parents I'm leaving." You pout. "Come with me and then we can pack?" You ask. "Deal." He smiles as you grab his hand and pull him back downstairs and out the door. Junmyeon couldn't believe how lucky he got with you. ** Over the next 5 months, the two of you were inseparable as expected. Almost every night Junmyeon took you on a date and when that was done, took you home and fcuked you hard, like he always should. You swore you would never get tired of that man, and you wouldn't. "Wear something special tonight." Junmyeon tells you, as the two of you lay in his bed at 3 o'clock in the afternoon. "Mhmm.. what's the occasion?" You ask, rolling onto your back, which made your breast fall out from your oversized tank top. "It's a surprise." Junmyeon groans, scooting himself down before cupping your exposed breast and wrapping his lips around your nipple to suck. "Oh." You smile with a moan as he sucks for a few more seconds. "Baby." He smirks after letting your nipple go with a pop."I can smell your pussy from here." He groans. "All for you babe." You smile. Junmyeon sits up before he rips the blankets from you, and spreads your legs open for you. You clumsily pull your shirt up, giving him free access to whatever he wanted. Junmyeon spreads your lips open with two fingers, licking your soaked pussy with the flat of his tongue. You try to hold it in but you can't, you let out a loud gasp as your eyes roll back into your head while Junmyeon continues to lick long strokes up your pussy, teasing you. "Please. I need more." You whine, bucking your hips in an attempt to meet his tongue for more. "Greedy baby." Junmyeon chuckles, diving back in but this time wrapping his lips around your clit to suck while inserting three fingers into your pussy. You back arches as he continues to hit the right spot with every suck, and with every pump. "Cock.. cock.." you cry. "I need you cock." You moan. Junmyeon has no hesitation to stop what he's doing. He sits up, pulling his hard cock from the inside of his sweat pants before pushing himself into you without waiting. You both let out a loud moan as his cock stretches you out, filling you up completely. "Fuck me." You cry. Junmyeon chuckles as he slowly pulls his cock out of you before ramming back inside you, repeatedly. Your hands grip the bed sheets tightly as he grips your ankles to fuck you senseless. "Clit." You cry out, your orgasm almost there, but just needing a little extra help. Junmyeon reaches his fingers in between your lips again, rubbing your clit as he pounds you. "Fuck your pussy feels so good." He grunts. "You gonna cum all over my cock baby?" He moans, watching you squirm beneath him. "Yes.. Oh God yes.." you scream, your legs begin to shake as you cum, hard. Your body twitchs while your eyes roll back. Junmyeon keeps relentlessly fucking you, desperately chasing his own release. "Fuck." He yells, spilling himself inside you, slowing down his thrusts while he pours every last bit into your pussy. Junmyeon lays on top of you for a moment, catching his breath when a frantic knock is placed on the door. "Jun.." he can hear Minseok. "Sorry to bother you, but it's urgent. There's been an intruder seen on the grounds. You need to come on perimeter since there's no one else here." "Okay, I'll be out in a minute." Junmyeon calls Minseok, pulling himself out of you. "Sorry baby." He whispers. "All good my love. I'll just be here, getting ready." You smile. "I love you." You whisper, placing a small kiss on his lips. "Always and forever." He says before getting up to get dressed and head out. Junmyeon walks out his front door, going to meet with Minseok at the edge of the forest, thinking about how lucky he is to have you, before he turns himself into a wolf, and heads out to protect you and the house. ** Five hours, and no one found later, Junmyeon arrives back at the house. Minseok had told him he was heading out for the night and to have fun on his date with you. Oh did he plan on it. Junmyeon walked into the kitchen, smiling as he opened the drawer that contained something very special. A ring. Not just any ring, no. The one that was passed down from generations to generations in your family. He had been lucky enough to receive it as a gift from your grandma. He tucked it back in its special spot, waiting to put it in his pocket until before the two of you left. As he walked up the stairs, he heard the shower running and he couldn't believe you were only showering now. It had been hours since he left. "Baby, why are you not.." paused, looking around the room. The dress you had planned on wearing was still laid out on the bed, along with the jewelry and shoes you had decided to go with it. He looked towards the bathroom, where steam filled the small room, even with the door open. "Babe?" He called out, praying you'd be in there. But you weren't. Instead there was a puddle of blood, along with writing on the wall, in what looked like was the blood. 'Mates are sinners' it read. Junmyeon felt like he couldn't breathe. Not you. You were his true love, his everything and now you were gone. Vanished without a trace. But he will find you. He storms out of the room and down the stairs, phasing into his wolf from the second he gets outside. He could faintly smell the odor of someone unrecognizable. He followed the scent for an hour, until he couldn't pick it up again. In the middle of the forest, he collapsed onto the leaves, muttering what he saw on the wall. 'Mates are sinners.' He whispered. "I don't get it." "That's the saying of the Mated serial killer. He hunts and kills our supernatural kind mates. According to him, it goes against everything." A man says from behind Junmyeon. "Who are you?" He asks. "Do Kyungsoo, Vampire SSF." He says. "Supernatural Special Forces." He says, clearing it up. "I've been after this fucker for a long time." "I think he took my mate." Junmyeon admits, looking Kyungsoo in the eyes while his are bloodshot, and filling with tears. "Our luck she's still alive, and you're going to help me put this fucker away." Kyungsoo smiles. Junmyeon stands up, shaking Kyungsoo's hand and agreeing. He would go to the ends of the earth to find you. The hunt is on.

Stay To Play

Word count; 3,243

Fandom; The Boyz, DKB & A.C.E.

Pairing; Reader X Yang Heechan, Reader X Kim Sunwoo & Reader X Lee Donghun.

Characters; Lee Donghun, Kim Sehyoon, Park Junhee Kim Sunwoo, Lee Sangyeon, Bae Jacob, Kim Younghoon, Lee Hyunjae, Lee Juyeon, Moon Kevin, Choi Chanhee, Ji Changmin, Ju Haknyeon, Hur Hyunjun, Son Youngjae, Yang Heechan & Hwang Junseo.

Mentions of Kim Byeongkwan.

Kang Yuchan & the rest of DKB in later Chapters

Warning; Angst, Jealousy, Oral (Receiving) and Mastabating.

Notes; Chapter 2/10 Earlier Chapters Found here

Written for @lidongsa

Taglist; @ilovechanhee

In the second you was wrapped in Sunwoo’s arms you had thought something was blossoming between you. But the mocks of his hyungs and Eric once walking into that room pushed you further apart then ever.

Haknyeon’s & Hyunjun’s birthday celebrations had him glued to some female company he had brought, making your heart sting. Hyunjae and Kevin full of apologies at your broken face taking the two loved up in your glance. They had thought they was playing Cupid, yet had set you up for nothing but heartache despite how much you tried to hide your distraught.

You had started spending less time with the guys and more so with Donghun, he had been a strong source of comfort. Going out his way to offer your mind on other things. Movies with him and Yuchan was often a fun evening, Cae often joining you, much to Youngjae’s annoyance.

“He’s so jealous,” Cae said tossing her phone into the bag on a coffee date while you was awaiting Donghun’s company. “What of Donghun?” You scoffed sipping your latte. “No it’s because Sehyoon’s coming with him, he’s jealous of him,” she said rolling her eyes. “Well can you blame him you made it so obvious you have the hots for that man,” you sniggered shaking your head. “Shame he’s into Byeongkwan instead,” you teased taking satisfaction of her sulking.

“What you two gassing about?” Donghun said arriving as Cae blushed a slight shade of pink as Sehyoon sat beside her. “The usual,” You said smirking almost threatening to spill the beans on Cae’s earlier sulk. “Her awful taste in men,” Cae responded smirking in your view as you rolled your eyes. “Still hungover that boy,” Sehyoon said as the waiter brought over the drinks. “She’s only ever interested in the boys,” Donghun sniggered earning a swift kick to his ankle. “Just because you guys are a few years older then them don’t make you men,” you smirked taking a swig on the liquid you was now hugging onto. “Why don’t you just find another boy to dig yourself into,” Sehyoon said taking his Americano from the tray. Your eyes widened towards him as he puts his spare hand up in defence. “Ok man then,” he said to Cae’s sniggling. “What you laughing about Youngjae’s merely a pup,” you growled out watching her face blush red. “He’s only a few months younger then yours,” she hit back as you rolled your eyes in her direction. “I’m sure we can find you a friend or two,” Sehyoon said smiling refreshed after his Americano fix. “I have plenty of friends I’ll be ok,” you added as Donghun threw the conversation into a different topic.

You squeezed your phone in your palm, the alert that Sunwoo had messaged you in view as your heart thundered. It had been the first time he had spoke to you since the balcony incident.

Sunwoo @9.43pm; Hi I hope your well, sorry I’ve not been friendly recently, it’s me not you I swear.

Your eyes rolled along the message, was he seriously doing the it’s him not you speech? You bit your lips to hide your tears escaping, as your thought swarm of that night. He did beg you to make him stop, is that because he knew he was nothing but a fuck boy? You had slowly begun to hate him yet he gave you the warnings himself.

Sunwoo @9.59pm; Please don’t over think this like I know you are. I’ve been a dick I shouldn’t have ignored you I’ve been a sucky friend. Anyway it’s my birthday party next weekend it’ll be nice to see you.

You threw the phone to the other sofa, leaving it without a reply as you sat there with your blanket for comfort as you sat wallowing in your self pitty.

“I think your stupid for going,” Donghun said as you puckered your lips in his view. “He’s my friend why wouldn’t I go?” You scoffed in his direction as he sat on your sofa, throwing popcorn in to his mouth from the movie you him and Junhee had been watching. “I think we can both confirm you took that further then friendship, that your no longly friends anymore,” Donghun scoffed as Junhee scolded him.

“Hyung don’t be mean it sounds like that kid was just weak at a time when he thought he was stronger,” Junhee added before taking his soft eyes to yours. “Sometimes friends with benefits isn’t a good thing, sounds like he cares for you as a person and doesn’t want to risk your friendship any more then he already has,” Junhee said standing off the couch. “This is why you hang with the older ones,” Donghun teased as you rolled your eyes. “Are you offering your services Donghun?” You teased as his face scrunched up in disgust. “Yuk I like my woman a little more matured,” he teased as you throw the pillow beside you for him to catch and smirk in your view. “Look ignore sulky here and go have fun, find that friendship back,” Junhee said patting your shoulder. “Right let’s leave the girl to some peace we got things to do,” Junhee said to your friend who rolled his eye standing up. “Don’t be stupid, ok well that’s a dumb statement because we know you are,” he winked brushing a kiss on your cheek as you swatted him on his way out.

You was standing outside Sunwoo’s apartment he shared with Kevin, the balcony in your view when you looked up that had a pang of confusing emotions attack you.

“You just standing here to look pretty?” Cae asked startling you from behind with Youngjae looking you up and down in your comfortable jeans. “Why the,” , “leave her alone Youngjae,” Cae cut him off scoffing in his direction. “Sehyoon said hi by the way,” you hit back letting Youngjae’s eyes roll as he made his way to the apartment entrance. “Really?” Cae scoffed arms folded in your direction. “What I was just saying he missed your coffee dates,” you said innocently earning a growl to emit from the younger’s throat.

When you entered the apartment Kevin swung his arms around you tightly. “You came i didn’t think you would,” he whispered, as his thumb rolled on your shoulder in a friendly strength of support. “We’re friends after all right?” You smiled in his direction. “Suchan,” you heard Chanhee squeal in excitement at your presence. “Hi Chanhee,” you smiled as he also pressed a supporting hug around you as your eyes took to the balcony that this time wasn’t hidden by the curtains. “Hi little Lee,” Hyunjae said smiling passing you a shot of suspicious liquid. “It feels like you’ve been avoiding us these days, we’ve missed your company,” he said hugging you as the other two had.

“Well I’m here now so let’s get these shots down,” you chuckled throwing yours to the back of your throat letting it burn. “You came,” you heard from that deep voice that always made you shiver from the sound, as your face turned to face Sunwoo pleased to see you. “Why wouldn’t I? were friends are we not?” You said your eyes searching for clues in his. His smile slightly thin as he breathed in deeply. “Always,” he said as a pair of hands wrapped around his shoulder pulling him closer into them.

Your eyes found the slightly smaller male next to him, his beautiful eyes memorising you. “Is this the girl?” He said watching Sunwoo blush, “No this is just a friend,” he said rolling his eyes refusing to glance back at you as your heart fell. “I’m Lee Suchan,” you smiled holding your hand to him to avoid the painful attack to your guts when it took Sunwoo in. “I’m Heechan, Yang Heechan,” he smiled brushing a kiss to your hand that saw Sunwoo’s eyes widen in the corner of yours. “So how do you know our crazy kid?” He asked tilting his head at you. “Befriend one of these lot and your stuck in there crazy gang,” you chuckle. “Sunwoo’s fault I take it?” He chuckled as Sunwoo rolled his eyes. “Youngjae, he dates my friend Cae,” you explained brushing your eyes in there view as Youngjae was swamped by his tall friend, his hands wrapped around his girlfriends waist.

“Oh,” he smiles as Sunwoo looks between you to face the girl that just walked through the door to greet him. Your eyes flashing to Heechan before you could witness the clear intimate moment between them both. “So how do you know Sunwoo?” You ask. “School, he’s the year below me,” he smiles looking his friends way as you nod refusing to follow his eye line. “Plus my friend Junseo use to be in the same class then Youngjae,” he add smiling as he wraps his arm around your shoulder as he walked you towards said friend.

“See you met Our Suchan,” Youngjae says clasping his hands with Heechan in some sort of man club. “Yes Sunwoo introduced us,” you smiled in Youngjae’s direction to reassure his concerned expression upon his face. “She’s actually lying I forced the introduction, can’t let Sunwoo have all the fun with the ladies now can we, birthday or not,” he said winking your way. “You know your no different,” Junseo snorted taking the shot in his grasp as Heechan rolled his eyes. “No Sunwoo’s a love them and leave them type, I’m a love them and play for a while kind,” he said placing the loose strand behind your ear, making your heart pound that you was sure was also heating your face.

“Right we need more drinks and more music, this is suppose to be a party,” Heechan added ending the conversation. “I am so on it,” Youngjae said walking towards the stereo. “Sunwoo or Kevin’s going to kill you,” you said Heechan’s way. “Sunwoo wouldn’t dare, I’m fiery when I can be,” Heechan said wiggling his eyebrows earning your chuckle.

The music blared through the apartment that you could feel it through your soul. Heechan pulled you to the make shift dance floor that Youngjae had helped create by shooing Younghoon and Hyunjun out the way. Your eyes washed over Sunwoo who seemed to drunkly tug his companion into his bedroom. Your heart searing from the pain at the view, your own moment replaced.

“You ok Sweetie?” Heechan asked stroking a finger under your chin to face him. You nodded plastering a fake smile as you let his hands slip round your waist to pull you in closer. “You ok me doing this right?” He asks softly as he brushed a thumb along your cheek bone earning a silent nod. His smile becomes mischievous as he grinds his pelvis against you earning a slight moan to escape. The glint in his eyes tells you he caught the sound as he twirls you so your back is against his chest, his hands gripping on to your thighs as he pushes himself against your ass. “Your peaches are good for bumping and grinding Against,” he whispered into your ear that earns goosebump’s floating your skin. You remove his hand as you twist to face him noticing the sweat from the heat of the room roll down his neck. You place your palms hands down on his chest as you drop yourself to the floor. Hands sliding down his stomach towards his thighs as you slide your self back up, winking in his direction as you twirl from the dance floor making your way to the bathroom.

It doesn’t take long just like you expected for him to follow you, he growls as you hoister yourself on the sink display. “You trying to kill me here?” He says with his humour but also lust tethering in his eyes. “If Sunwoo knew I wanted his friend he wouldn’t be best pleased,” Heechan says more for his own reasoning then yours. “Then he doesn’t need to know,” you pout biting your lip seductively that he pounces on you.

His tongue is roughly invading you as it clashes alongside teeth against you desperate and needy. Hands cupping your ass, he brings your pelvis into his rolled one against you. His hands take to the buttons of your jeans, as you lift your ass to help him remove them and your pants from you. “I’m so hungry,” he says licking his tongue along your lower lip.

He drops to the floor his hands resting on your thighs opening to his mouth watering desperate lips. Pressing soft kisses upon your thighs, he flatters his tongue to lick up against your clit, sucking it intensely that has you moan instantly.

He does this several more times before his fingers intrudes, rubbing alongside the inner walls as you squeeze around him. “You taste so nice,” Heechan coo’s before his tongue swirls around your sensitive bud. His fingers reach a reasonable pace that is burning your core deliciously. Tongue working against your sensitive bud between flicks, flattened strokes and deep suctions that he has you whimpering.

His lips release the second the bathroom door knocks as Changmin starts making threats to kick down to relieve his own needs. With a suck of his fingers covered in your slick he stands up holding your pants to pass to you.

“We should finish this later,” he winks snapping your mobile on the side in his hand as he dials to let his own phone ring. Smiling he hangs the call up and passes it to you once your dressed. Pressing his lips to yours he slide’s his tongue back in before releasing you, leaving you panting and yet also needy.

He turns on his heel towards the door opening to Changmin’s confused face seeing you both emerge together. “She needed to talk,” Heechan said rolling his eyes as you rubbed them, more from sweat then actual tears. “You ok?” Changmin asked pressing his hand on your shoulder. “Just well … yeah I’m fine,” you said smiling his way softly. “Good because I need the room, I’m too old for the wetting pants lark,” he said pushing you both out the bathroom.

You continued to the party, Sunwoo emerging not long after seeing his companion out as he slurred his speech hugging on to Heechan. Your frustration oddly worked up between Heechan’s often glances and the voice of Sunwoo’s that would often make its way towards you.

Heechan encouraged Sunwoo to go to the balcony to get some air, his eyes washing over yours as a slight smirk on his face came across momentarily. Your face a blushed shade of red as you downed a shot Haknyeon passed you.

“You ok?” Jacob asked beside you, “yeah I think,” you scoffed, your words suddenly sounding slurred. “Heechan isn’t the answer to your Sunwoo problems you know,” he added as you blinked in his view. “Your just end up even more confused,” he said smiling before making his way to Sangyeon.

Your eyes brushed upon Sunwoo who was vomiting on the balcony, Heechan trying to position him to minimise the coverage patting his back as he let his alcohol re-emerge. Jacob was right getting caught up between those two friends wasn’t the answer to the hole Sunwoo had left within you.

You slide from the party making your way down the street to the convenience store, your fingers dialling Donghun’s number.

“What’s up?” he says cooing down the phone. “It better be good me and Byeongkwan’s watching a really good part,”, “can you come collect me,” you cut him off tears escaping your eyes. “Ping me your address I’m on my way,” he says sharply hanging up instantly after hearing the Rustle of the car keys through the phone.

The warmth and famility of his car was like your comfort blanket as you slid in. His comfort smile in your way as you held your tears into the silence that he was ready to give you to let you get space. When he pulled up towards your apartment he turned to you, concern written on his face. “Do you want to talk?” He asked softly as you shook your head letting a tear escape. “Do you want me to come up?“ he asked as you nod. He turned the engine off getting out to open your car door offering you his hand.

Taking the keys from your palm he opens the apartment. “You hungry?” He asks as you sniffle a shake of your head. “Well you need something to soak the alcohol up so I’ll make you something regardless, go wash up,” he smiles as he goes to your kitchen cupboards.

One view of yourself has the tears pour from you as you buckle to the floor. The alcohol messing your thoughts up, the hurt from Sunwoo and the confusion from Heechan crashing through you. Your emotional outburst slowed when your phone beeped.

New sexy friend @10.34pm; How come you escaped the party without saying goodbye? And with another man I’m hurt 😞. Only joking I hope your safe, though was lovely to meet you.

You rubbed your eyes softly laughing at how he had entered himself in your phone.

You @10.39pm; Sorry can’t handle too much vomit 🤣 that’s just my friend.

You stood to face the mirror, your eyes red and puffy as you found your night clothes to another message.

New sexy friend @10.45pm; A friend who lets you eat them out like a juicy …… well you know what I mean😉?

Your hands pressed along your lips lightly chuckling to his words.

You @10.49pm; Only you like watermelons 🍉 😉.

New Sexy Friend @10.52pm; Next time we’re experiment on the eggplants 🍆 😉🤣. You have to be careful not to choke tho 😉.

Heechan was rather a kinky dirty soul and there was a part of you that was enjoying it.

You @10.55pm; next time?

You bit on your lip at your expression in the mirror, your cheeks a shade of pink.

New Sexy Friend @10.59pm; Like I said I stay to play every time 😉. You need sleep, we’re play soon I promise. Night sweetheart xx.

His words reached your core, your nub reminding you of the needy throb he left you with. Your hands finding there way to finish what he couldn’t.

You let your pj bottoms slip to the floor as your fingers found your folds, brushing against your nub as you closed your eyes to the feeling. Your mind remembering how his fingers felt curving against your sweet spot, the way his bangs stuck to his forehead as he let his mouth attack you.

Your fingers swirls against your sensitive bud as Sunwoo comes to your mind. The way his fingers slammed into your body. His words, the way his whisper against your neck melted you. You felt your orgasm close in as you remembered how his member felt in you. The way that it felt for him filling you with his essence.

Your fingers attacking as your high tethered, you could hear the faint voice calling your name as it undid the knot holding you back. It pushed you into your orgasm, your body convulsing as your nub becomes extra sensitive from your comedown. Your name getting louder as you pant through your afterglow as you realised the voice that pushed you over the edge was your friend Donghun, Guilt attacking your already confused mind.

Previous Chapter. Next Chapter

Masterlist

(I don’t know who made this gif, please contact me so I can give you credit!)

αγάπη

co written and edited by @iama

Words :: 4,1k

Pairing :: idol!/soulmate!Jimin x soulmate!reader

Warnings :: swearing, culture crash, hinting to smut, Jimin is kinda an ass in this chapter not gonna lie.

a/n :: I know this chapter has taken forever to be posted, but I really struggled with finishing this chapter. It never felt right nor was it fun to write. Luckily the lovely and kind @iama offered help. She is basically the only reason why I was able to finish this chapter. Show her lots of love, because don't think I would even have continued this story without her💕

Thank you for giving me motivation again.

Chapter 3

You were wrong. 

He was way more nervous than you.

He was so nervous in fact, that his hands started to shake as soon as you had turned around to face him instead of looking at him through the mirror that hanged at the elevator wall. You could see the sweat starting to form at his hairline and his neck as soon as you got eye contact with him. He looked like he was about to do a job interview with the devil. 

” are you okay?”

He didn't express his answer with words, only a quick nod with his head. His gaze switched between his feet and your eyes. He didn't dare to hold his gaze on you for too long though, only for a few seconds before it fell to the ground again.  

The ding of the elevator door brought him more confidence. The doors started too slowly close. You were too afraid to step out or do anything about the closing doors, scared that the sudden move would scare him even more. But you didn't need to do anything anyway, before the doors would get a chance to close, he stepped forward and put his foot in between the sliding doors, making the elevator doors open.

You noticed how closer he was to you now. So close that you could see all the small imperfections on his face. The small blackheads decorating his nose, the slight redness on his ears, the pimple that was starting to form at the center of his forehead, and the small and almost invisible black hairs on his upper lip and chin.  He was still the most beautiful person you had ever seen, no one else could compare, not even Mrs. Kim. 

He put his right hand up to drag it through his hair once, the sweat at his hairline being dragged back into his hair. You could see him having an internal debate, he was trying to say something, you could tell by the way his mouth would slightly open before closing again. 

” come, I made food for you.” 

His accent was heavy, but he pronounced every word with such precision that you had no problem understanding what he was trying to say. 

He said come once more and made hand gestures to follow him out into the hallway instead of just standing in the middle of the elevator. He started walking backward to make sure that you followed him completely out. He didn't take his eyes off you anymore, almost like you would suddenly disappear if he did. 

” sure, yeah, I am not that hungry though so I hope you haven't put too much effort into this.”  

He shakes his head up and down, it made you unsure if he had truly understood the whole sentence you had said. You had to remind yourself to speak clearly, simple, and slow from now on. Junseo’s words on your mind. You had to make Jimin comfortable and make him feel good about his language skills. You didn't want him to feel bad about himself or make him think that you don't appreciate his time and effort in learning a new language for you. 

You had zooned out for a moment, letting your thoughts go back to your and Junseo’s conversation in the airport lounge. You haven't even seen Jimin’s attempt to take your hand in his. You had only seen his begging eyes filled to the brim with hope. He let out a small whine, only then did you see his right hand only a few centimeters away from your left hand. 

You know what he is trying to do.  

He already has the connection with you. And you know that the distance between you two is killing him at the moment. But you also know that as soon as you touch him the link will start to form for you too. And you didn't know if you were ready to feel Jimin’s emotions, heartbeat, and distance. And maybe that was selfish of you, as he was only standing a few centimeters away from you with tears threatening to spill from the corners of his eyes. But you weren't ready for that commitment yet. You wanted a little more freedom exploring your new hometown without having your heart explode in pain due to the distance you would put between you and him. And you wanted to see him with clear eyes before the soulmate bond made you completely blind. You wanted to fall in love without the bond.

” please.” 

Jimin’s desperate voice brought you back from your thoughts. You met his eyes once again. He had let his tears fall. Straining his cheeks and neck. The foundation he was wearing washed away with the continuous flow of tears. The sweat on his body was not helping him either. He looked like a mess, a beautiful mess, but still a mess.

You saw that his patience was running out. His eyes went from sad and desperate to aggressive in a matter of seconds. He must have thought that enough was enough, as he started to close the small distance between you. You tried to take a big step back but was met with the closed elevator door blocking your path. The metal door slightly shook when your back met with it.  

He was breathing hard, his whole-body damp with sweat. The thin white clothing he was wearing was sticking to his skin making you able to see his trained stomach and arms. On his rib was a tattoo that stood out against the rest of his olive skin. You couldn't tell what was written, but you saw that the tattoo was made up of big bold letters. You wondered what meaning it had to him.

He started walking towards you, only letting a few centimeters be between you. He placed his right arm beside your head on the door. You could see his fist tightening from the corner of your eye. 

He looks completely out of it. And even though you haven't known him for long, you could still tell that this wasn't him. This is the bond playing with his mind.

“Jimin, just relax I am going to touch you soon, just give me more time.” 

He tilted his head back, his neck on full display for you his Adam’s apple moved as he swallowed, he then took a deep breath in and out. 

” say my name again.” he said with lust dripping from his voice.  

Both of you had only gotten your letters four days ago, this reaction shouldn't be happening unless you had gone well over a week without each other after receiving your letters. You wondered if it was an option to call Junseo and tell him Jimin had gone crazy, but you know he wouldn't be here in time to save you from Jimin’s touch. 

” Jimin, just take a step back and-.” 

He didn’t let you finish though. He let his head fall to your shoulder with his nose turned towards your neck. He let out a long moan. His hands made its way around your waist, squeezing your flesh.

You felt the bond start immediately. The first thing you could feel was his heartbeat inside you beating slow and steady. Then the utterly content feeling of being in his arms hit you with such an overwhelming strength that when his emotion came, you didn't know how to handle it. You instantly felt your knees give out and sweat starting to form at your back. His hands were the only thing keeping you standing at this point.  

” hush jagiya.” he whispered into your neck.

His emotions we're overwhelming you. You could feel the love, happiness, admiration, craving, and excitement. You didn't know it was possible to feel so many emotions at the same time before now. 

You didn't understand how it was possible to live with this connection nor did you understand how men could live their whole lives while feeling someone else inside them. It had to be torturing to live like this without the other person beside you. You started to understand Jimin’s reaction to you standing in front of him. You feel the desperate need to be close to him, but you know the feeling isn't coming from you. It was coming from him. 

“ You are thinking (y/n). Stop thinking, only me now.”

You could feel his lust strong and heavy through the bond. It came in waves, the next one always stronger than the one before. He was pressing his hips into your stomach. You could feel his hard erection grinding into you. It came to a point where you didn't know if it was your lust or his lust you were feeling.  

” Jimin I need you to back off. We can go inside and talk about this, you don't want to have sex only a couple of minutes after meeting me, I promise. It’s only the bond getting to your head.”  

He shakes his head a little, not leaving the warmth of your neck.

” No, don't want not touch you.” 

He was struggling more to put together his sentences now that the lust had taken over his mind.  

Okay, let's try a different approach (y/n). You can be mad and tell him off later.  

” I am hungry, let's eat together Jimin.” 

It seemed to work because you could slowly feel the lust start to fade. It was replaced with confusion then realization. 

You were left with completely soaked underwear as the only reminder to what happened only a second before.  

Jimin slowly lifted his head from your shoulder, brushing his jawline and chin against your cheek in the process of doing so. 

His hands remained on your body. Feeling every single curve, squeezing, and pulling.

He looked like a mess. Dried tears, sweat, and heavy breathing. Still you thought it wasn't possible to find someone cuter than him after he started to smile from ear to ear. 

” I made food for you.” 

You could feel the pride through the bond. He was proud of himself and it made your heart warm. You couldn't help the smile that made its way on your face. 

” yeah I know, let's eat Jimin. I am really excited to see what you have made.” 

He nodded happily, the smile never leaving his face. Then he took a small step back, his hands slowly leaving your waist and hips alone. But just a second after his hands left you, his right hand made its way into your left. He struggled a little with making you understand that he wanted your fingers to be intertwined, but we’re more than happy once you finally understood what he was trying to do.

” come, come, come.” He said while he was tugging on your hand.  

You followed him through the hallway. You didn't realize before now, but you were already in his apartment. The elevator had taken you straight into his home. The painting of him and six other men on the wall was enough confirmation on that. 

You tried to take in as much as possible while he was dragging you deeper into his home. This was the place you would be spending all your time for the next weeks. So, you tried your best to make a map in your head of where everything was placed and where all the different rooms were as he dragged you through every corner of his home. He had even made sure to show you all the different drawers and all of its content in every single room. You tried your best not to laugh as he showed you where his underwear and socks were located, but it was hard not to. He likely felt the embarrassment and awkwardness through the bond, because he became red and flustered only a few seconds later. It made you a little sad, seeing him so proud of his neatly folded boxers only to become embarrassed because of your embarrassment. 

Was this a cultural thing for Koreans. Show your soulmate how tidy and clean you are?  

The living room was undoubtedly the room that impressed you the most. The huge windows made up the whole wall for both this and the next floor. The view of Seoul was impossible to ignore, even though you were standing far away from the windows. 

Beautiful white stairs were on both sides of the living room, leading up to the second floor. The second floor considered of only a few paintings and sculptures with 4 different doors leading to bedrooms and bathrooms. 

The kitchen and living room were made into one room, giving the already huge room an even more open feeling. There were small details placed everywhere, it made you wonder if he has hired someone to design his home or if he did it himself. 

The kitchen was modern but still gave you a warm feeling. There were several different plants placed throughout the kitchen, it looked like some of them were herbs, but you could be wrong. You could only really tell after smelling them. 

There was a huge dining table behind you decorated with many beautiful plates filled with all different kinds of food that you have never seen before. The smell of all the different dishes was filling the room with the smell of different spices you didn't know what was. It was exotic and exciting. 

” Namjoon-Hyung and Jin-Hyung help me make food.”  

You have to admit, he was extremely cute when he tried to put his sentences together. All that focus on such a cute little face.  

” that’s very nice of them Jimin.” 

He let your hand go only to put his hands around your waist to push the two of you towards the table filled with all the goods. 

Then you saw it. On small pink cards were the names and descriptions of each and every dish written in English. He picked up one of them and said the name in Korean before using the pink card as a script to describe to you what everything was. 

He really had planned everything.  

It has been a few hours since you first arrived at Jimin’s apartment. He had made you taste each and every dish he had prepared and tried his best to explain what they all were. He also held a small chopsticks course for you to try to make it easier for you to pick up the food. However, not everything was easy to pick up with chopsticks, so everything you couldn't manage to get with your chopsticks we're fed to you by Jimin. 

Jimin seems like a nice guy, the only problem is the fact that he touched you without permission. You tried not to let the feeling of betrayal and annoyance get through the bond, but it was awkward just sitting with him and pretending nothing had happened. He had no idea that he did something wrong either. You would have felt it through the bond. Or maybe he was an extremely good actor and a master of keeping his feelings to himself. It made sense; he has been able to practice for many years. You were the newbie to this. 

You didn't know how you could explain to him that what he did was wrong, with the little words he knew in English. It would only lead to confusion. And you didn't want to have another person translate this awkward but unfair situation either. This was between you and him, and you will have a conversation with him about it, just not right now or anytime soon.

He looked happy though, really happy. You could also feel it through the bond. He was happy, but you felt another feeling too. You couldn't pinpoint it, but it felt like a fear of disappointment. But then again it could be your feeling. You didn't understand how to separate your feeling and his feelings yet. Right now, it just felt like one. It was distracting, not to know your own feelings anymore. The only thing you could focus on was trying to separate them from each other.

Jimin didn't seem to mind you spacing out all the time. The only thing he cared about was that his body was touching yours at all times. He had brought you around the apartment to show you all the different rooms, never letting go of your hand. There were three bedrooms, four bathrooms, a dance/ gym, a huge kitchen and living room area, and a mini-cinema room. The mini cinema was perhaps your favorite room and probably where you would spend most of your time. It was simple and cute. Not anything fancy or luxurious, just a projector and a small couch with lots of blankets and pillows. 

Nothing in his insanely big apartment was overwhelmingly luxurious. Everything in his home had a purpose and nothing was screaming ’rich guy with too much money that doesn't know what the hell to use it on’. It made you a lot more comfortable, knowing that he wasn't one to show off.

You had gotten into a little argument about the sleeping arrangement after he explained that his room was also your room now. You had tried to explain to him that you wanted one of the guest rooms for the time being, but he didn't seem to understand what was wrong about his room. You hadn't searched for any information about Korean soulmate culture before coming here, even though that would have been good information to have right now. 

You gave yourself a mental note to make some research on what was normal here.

You already knew that there would likely be some culture crashes here and there. Especially when it came to soulmate culture. Your country had lots of laws protecting the woman's right under the process of newly matched soulmates. And in your culture, it was normal for the woman not wanting to be touched the first day or even week. It was also completely normal for the woman to sleep in a different room the first few weeks as it's kinda awkward to sleep beside someone you don't know, even if they were your soulmate. 

You guessed Korea's soulmate culture was much more straight forward. He forcefully touched you even though you practically begged him not to. And he is expecting you to sleep beside him tonight. It was hard not to be mad, but then again this was presumably just another culture crash. And you knew you and Jimin would face a lot of problems connected to cultural differences. 

This would be a learning process for both of you. You knew that. You would just have to talk, listen, and agree to disagree with a lot of things. That's the only way this would work.  

He just had to learn better English first. So that both of you knew what you were agreeing to disagree on. Or maybe you just had to learn Korean.

The night arrived faster than you wanted it too. You and Jimin had been spending almost the whole day on the big couch in the living room, talking about the past, present, and future. A lot of Google translate we're involved but also a lot of hand gestures and weird sounds. The both of you were able to communicate on a basic level but still have deep and meaningful conversations. It made you relieved and hopeful for the future.

It was only when he suggested the both of you to go to bed to sleep that you started to lose a little of that hope you had previously gotten.

” No.”

That stupid little shithead.

”Lisen, it only for a couple of weeks, until we get to know each other better. Besides, it's not like I am going to sleep in a different house. I am literally on the other side of that wall!”

He just shakes his head continuously while you talked. He was leaning on the side of the doorframe to his room. His arms were folded making his muscles pop and his brows furrowed harshly on his forehead. He did not look pleased with your request.

” No.”

You didn't get what the problem was. You would get to see each other in the morning. You had gotten the impression that Koreans were practically the most respectful people on the earth. Mrs. Kim was a walking example of that. Jet here he was, acting like the biggest drama queen in the universe

” Just give me one night to myself Jimin. Please, I am too tired to fight about this now. I have literally been on a plane for a whole day. Don't do this to me.”

His posture didn't change one bit. Arms still folded and brows still pulled tight together.

” I say no.”

He unfolds his arms so that he could point towards the king-sized bed in his room. His whole arm we're flexing. You feel his frustration growing larger by the seconds.

” This is your bed.”

Then he used the same finger to point to the bed in the room you had tried to sneak into only a few minutes before.

” That is for friend. Not soulmate.”

He was stubborn as hell. You weren't necessarily known for being the most patient woman, but you thanked God for giving you enough of it to not start screaming on the guy standing in front of you.

” Jimin, please just-.”

He didn't give you more time to try to convince him. One of his hands went around you back and the other around the bend of your knees. Everything had happened so fast that you didn't even realize what was happening before he was placing you carefully down on his bed. The soft bed sank a little by your weight.

He didn't say anything, just turned around and walked straight into his closet. Seconds later he appeared with a baggy white shirt and a pair of boxers. Then he sat down on the edge of the bed and gave you the two items. He looked more relaxed now that you were laying on his bed. His eyes were kind, and his arms were no longer flexing with the frustration he previously had.

” You change to this, is more comfortable.”

two people can play the game you are playing Jimin. Don't think otherwise.

” No.”

You instantly felt the confusion through the bond, but it was quickly replaced with frustration. His mouth opened and it looked like he was ready to scold you. But it never came. He closes his mouth again and looked down on his feet nodding a few times.

” Okay.”

He stood up and walked to the other side of the bed. His side of the bed. Then turned off the lights. You could hear him taking off his skirt and pants, but the room was too dark to see him actually doing it. Then you felt the covers being lifted before his wight we're evenly placed along the bed.

He was going to sleep without another word. Letting you lay on top of the covers in your not so comfortable jumpsuit.

Maybe you should have just done what he asked. Because there was no way you would be able to fall asleep in your jumpsuit. You would just have to wait until you were certain that the man beside you were fast asleep before changing. You didn't want him to know that you did as he told you to.

One thing was for sure. You were not going to sleep without knowing more about Korean Soulmate culture. So you took your phone out of your pocket ready to search every corner of the internet for information.

After many hours of researching on Korean soulmate etiquette, you fell asleep determined that night that you would confront Jimin tomorrow.

Through thick and thin

Pairing: Kim Junseo x reader.

Summary: Everything you needed was right infront of you but you were too blind to see.

Content warning: angst (a little sad but comforting moment), open ending(?)

Author note: This has been sitting in my drafts for a while now but I’m finally posting. I actually like how this came out and I hope you like it too!

Life wasn’t easy lately and even though you try your best to pull through every obstacle you can’t lie about how tiring and draining it is. It’s like every time things seem to get better they actually get worse and somehow you have to find strength to not crumble and let all your problems take over you.

In situations like this you tend to isolate yourself, wanting to deal with your hardships on your own. Which you believe it works for you most times but when it’s too much you want a shoulder to cry on, even if you don’t have the guts to ask for help. Luckly for you, you already found someone who knows you better than you know yourself. As soon as he realises your mood changes, either in person or by text, he always knows what to do. He knows you don’t like talking about it and that you don’t want him to carry your burdens, even though he wants to. He wants to help you more than anything in the world, be there for you in every moment, good or bad. 

Best friends are a relief to have, but when feelings start to get complicated it becomes stressful. Junseo wants to be honest and let you know how he feels but he knows you have too much on your plate, so he always holds it in. He planned on confessing a few weeks back but he couldn’t bring himself to actually do it. You were completly unaware such feelings existed since everything was blurry and you’ve been living in auto pilot pretty much. So unaware that you didn’t have time to process the fact that such feelings were mutual. The amount of times you call him a week is almost like you guys are already a thing, you rely on him for everything, studying, keeping you company, when something breaks, when you can’t sleep and most of all when you can’t hold the pain anymore.

Today was just another boring, dreadful day, both of you met at his house so you could study for your next exam. But none of you were actually focused on your work. He was wondering how you were doing since he’s been worried sick and you were in your head asking yourself if taking time to study was actually going to help you. A few minutes passed and both of you grew tired of such a suffocating environment making you close your notebooks at the same time.He spoke first.

Junseo: So how have you been doing? You haven’t called in a while I’m surprised ahah.

Y/N: Very funny ahah I’ve been doing fine I guess, I can’t really focus on anything but what’s new.

He knew this small talk wasn’t going to go anywhere so he decided to adress the elephant in the room, the timing wasn’t right but he couldn’t wait any longer.

Junseo: Can I tell you something?

Y/N: If you’re asking it has to be serious ahah go ahead.

Junseo: So you know that time I prepared a picnic for us in your backyard, or the time I bought us tickets to see your favourite artist or even a week ago when we pulled an all nighter cause you couldn’t sleep??

Y/N: Of course I do how could I forget it, you’re the bestest of friends.

Junseo: That’s what you think of me? 

Y/N: What do you mean? 

Junseo: I think of you as my best friend too but lately I can’t lie I feel more than that. Every time you call me even if it’s because you’re sad part of me is happy you chose me. When we part ways after a full day together it hurts that I can’t just kiss you like I truly desire. I know I’m probably being selfish by telling you this now since you have so much going on but I can’t hide it anymore. 

After hearing such words you were in shock, how could you not register how you felt torwards him all this time, you’ve been so busy trying to prepare for the next bad thing, when you had someone that loved you more than you knew willing to ease every pain you had. He felt selfish for telling you this now but you felt selfish for not recognizing him and his efforts.

He was looking down to his hands waiting for some kind of reaction from you, he though he screwed up, that you were uncomfortable and wanted to leave. While his mind was racing yours was slowing down, the only thing that truly mattered in this moment was how patient, considerate, helpful and loving he’s been to you. You really don’t know what you would do without him.

After what felt like days to junseo, you decided to grab both his hands in a reassuring action before you explained how you felt.

Y/N: I don’t think you’re being selfish, you actually did more good than you know. You made me stop and listen to my heart for once, my brain has been so loud it drowned everything else. I’m so sorry I have been stressed every time i come to you lately you don’t have to carry my problems for me and the last thing I want is for you to worry about me. 

He was staring straight into your eyes, listening carefully to everything that came out of your mouth. The look of expectance and hope he carried in his beautiful eyes almost made you trip on your words.

Y/N: I like you too I was just too busy about everything that was going on that I forgot to check on my feelings and my relationships in general. I’m sorry if I ever made you feel ignored or not loved I promise from now on I’ll repay you for everything you’ve done for me.

He sighed of relief after getting confirmation on how you felt, it made him much more at ease and his hands were no longer tense like when you grabbed them. It took him a few moments to say something since he was processing everything you said.

Junseo: I don’t want you to ever think you hurt me in some way because you didn’t, I held off on telling you this for so long because part of me was scared  but it was my decision. And of course I’m going to worry about you, the all nighters we pull together are very easy because od the ones I pull on my own and I don’t want you to ever feel guilty about it. I like and I wouldn’t change it because as much as it ruins my sleep schedule, the knowing I’m here for you and that you feel calmer when you sit next to me on exam day, the seeing you smile when i bring you your favourite snack all of that makes up for not so good things.

At this point you were both teary eyed, not believing that this was all that needed to happen for you both to be able to relax for a long time now, no more weight on your shoulders or nervousness when meeting together. Things were falling in it’s place along with all the fears and wories you both carried.

You broke down faster than he did because even though he told you othing was your fault it still felt like it was to you, and it’s not like you blame him because you have been out of it for the past couple of weeks.

He got up to kneel on the side of your chair, finding your hands and pulling them in his direction intencionally making your entire body turn to face him. The silence wasn’t awkward, it was conforting almost like you were both bonding through it. You decided to kneel down as well infront of him, wanting to be at eye level with him. You noticed he had some tears streaming down his smooth cheeks, you put your now free hands on his face to clean the tears but also caress him and show him you’re here for him like all the times he was here for you.