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yessa-vie · 4 months

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12.02 || PIRATE KINGDOM || C.S. SMAU

→ SS NUMBER. 02.

→ WORD COUNT. 7,508.

→ IMPORTANT. kinda proof read, a bit of angst (i think?), mainly Wooyoung (and a bit of Jongho) interactions with the reader, but from this point on there'll be a lot more interactions with each of them in their given time. as showed prior, San, Seonghwa and Mingi are in a relationship, which will be explored a bit from this point on. a lot of angts from San's pov.

⇦ || 12.01 (📝) || pk || masterlist || ⇨

It was around five in the afternoon when you entered the KQ Entertainment building. Yejin and Jiwoon had filled you in the company, you knew they were a small to medium sized company, you knew they probably would be under staffed, so when you were asked to wait for them to verify that you were allowed in, it was no surprise to you, but it was a surprise when they put you in a waiting room with coffee and baked goods. You smiled knowing it was probably because of who you were, yet you weren’t complaining as you made coffee and ate a bit of the food seating on the couch waiting for the employ to be back.

The place was rather crowded as you noticed a few people come and go, but what you didn’t expected was to hear a small discussion on the other side, making sure to tell Yejin to never discuss a few things in there so people couldn’t hear classify information. Although you couldn’t really understand what was the discussion about, you could hear the small loud words that would come from one of them from time to time.

“Why didn’t you tell me she was gonna be here?”

“I also only just found out as Wooyoung said it, why you so worked up about? You her fan? You want an autograph or a picture?”

The food suddenly felt heavy on your stomach and the coffee turned cold on your hand. There was no way they were talking about you, was it?

“One of the most amazing actress and gorgeous woman in Korea will be around my boyfriend and you don’t want me to worry?”

“That’s what this is about?” A small pause and you could hear a growl from the other side, probably from the girl. “Inna, you are the one I want, why you worried about her?”

“She’s (l/n) (y/n), wouldn’t you worry if I was gonna be in the same space as, I don’t know… Cha Eunwoo?”

The silence along with the confirmation that it was you they were talking about, made your head hurt. You knew Dongmin was handsome, you knew a lot of people would die to have just a bit of his attention, yet you thought that was an unfortunate comparison, specially if the guy was as beautiful as his voice. You shook your head taking those thoughts away; you already had a lot on your plate, mainly after the events of last night as you noticed that Juyeon had still not contacted you. Should you contact him? Should you wait a little more?

“You don’t need to worry about her, she’ll probably not even be close to me, she has a friend on the dancing team, so she’ll probably stick to her and, Wooyoung will sure manipulate all her attention to him, so I’m sure I’m in the clear.” You heard mumblings you couldn’t decipher before start to listening to kissing. You would definitely tell Yejin to stay away from these rooms specifically. “C’mon, the car is probably already waiting for you.”

“Are we still up for tonight?“ A small pause before you heard whining. “Just a little bit, please? I miss my boyfriend…“

The voices were now far as you heard the door open and close. You bit your lip and closed your eyes resting your head on the back of the couch. You didn’t even know who these two were and yet, here you were feeling guilty for something it wasn’t your fault. She had a valid point, if Juyeon were close to a girl you’d consider prettier than you; of course you wouldn’t like it. Juyeon. God, why would you think about him right now? He wasn’t even yours, probably wouldn’t be, especially not after last night.

The vibration of your phone took your mind out of it for a second, until you saw his name pop up with a text notification. You felt butterflies as you were sure your ears were red as you opened the notification quick to answer it.

“So this is the feeling of being betrayed for a man,” Yejin’s voice was loud as you noticed the door to the room you were in, was fully open with Wooyoung and Jongho at the door as Yejin was standing in front of you. “You are lucky I’m in the middle of practice or I’d make you tell me everything that happened after I left!”

“What’s she talking about?!”

Both of you eyed Wooyoung as he approached you two by the couch, Jongho still watching by the door.

“I’ll tell you after your practice!” How emphasized the ‘after’ made him sulk before coming to hug you, making you quickly wrap your arms around his neck pulling him close. It was weird how quick you and Wooyoung had gotten close, how comfortable you two were with each other. “Now let’s go before the people that work with you all come after me for keeping you three away.”

“Don’t worry, we are on a break, we still have like five minutes before we head back for another run on the choreo,” Jongho said with a shy smile on his lips that you mirrored. Although you two had been chatting a lot online, face-to-face was different and you knew that a lot, expected even. “Nice to finally meet you face to face, (y/n).”

He lowered his body and you did the same extending your hand for him to shake it.

“Good God, it doesn’t even look like you two have been talking almost everyday for almost a month!” Wooyoung said loudly wrapping his hand around your wrist pulling you close to him, his fingers quickly entangled with yours. You smile remembering how Wooyoung was a clingy person, not that you would complain, it was probably one of the reasons you two got close. “Let me introduce you to everyone, but don’t pay much attention to them, you are here to see me after all.”

“Excuse you?”

Yejin said loudly as the door to the practice room opened making everyone look your direction. You lowered your head feeling your ears burn as Yejin and Wooyoung were bickering with each other. A hand extended your way and you were met with Jongho’s adorable gaze, making you quickly take his hand as he swayed you around the practice room. At first he introduced you to his dance team and choreographer, once you reached the girls that were dancing, Yejin had joined and you two along the other three girls got into a conversation that no one could take either away from, at least not until you heard the voice that was part of the discussion you had eavesdropped a while ago.

Your face quick to find the man responsible for the voice, meeting a guy with dark hair, small cat like eyes and a sharp jaw, he was built, but slim, like Hyunjin and Juyeon, probably the same height as Hyunjin, you saw a dimple as you saw him smile towards one of the dancers. You saw them talking and heard your name, turning to face Wooyoung who had an annoyed face since you haven’t left the girls so he could introduce you to his members.

With that you missed one of the dancers point a finger towards you, making San’s eyes find your figure among the female dancers, his eyes found you holding hands with Yejin, meeting her gaze on him, making San’s eyes find any place to look that wasn’t on your direction. You were beautiful, he knew that, he had seen dramas you were in, the vlogs you did, had watched the dance covers, hell he even stalked you on twitter, more now since his friends were constantly talking about you.

It was still surreal to him to have you here, after all you were famous, more famous then any of his friends and ATEEZ itself, and you were here, in his dance studio practice room, saying hello to all of his friends as Wooyoung introduced you to each of them. The little fight he had with his girlfriend still fresh on his mind as he noticed you and Wooyoung getting closer to where he was. He meant what he said, you weren’t Inna and he would never cheat on his girlfriend, it didn’t matter with whom, it was a principle of his, but he also couldn’t deny on how breath taking you were.

The truth was, Wooyoung hadn’t shut up about you since that night he went to the Stray Kids dorm to watch the groups that were gonna participate on Road to Kingdom and, in all honesty, none of the other members cared that much about it. Wooyoung was the most social of the members, it was easy to fall in love with him, but they all thought you would be to them, just like Changbin and the rest of the Stray Kids were, the only link between you and them being Wooyoung, but you had a different idea, adding Jongho to the story, then Seonghwa and Hongjoong, and they all had the best things to say to you.

What surprised him the most was how Seonghwa later told San how you had reached out, asking if it was ok to follow them and mention them while teasing Wooyoung, how you thanked him and Hongjoong later, but you haven’t actually stopped talking to them after. Wooyoung kept being the only one who had your phone number; yet, you talked to all the other three through DM’s since you followed them. That wasn’t something San expected, not from someone like you, already established and known in the industry, he didn’t expected how humble you were, how careful and thoughtful and, although he expected you to be beautiful, as he saw you in here in front of him, he knew that you were even more beautiful then from his phone or tv screen.

“Nice to meet you San, I hope it’s ok I’m here-”

“You seriously need validation from all of us?”

San watched the interaction between you and Wooyoung and smiled as he noticed you both rolling your eyes before you push him slightly, making him open his mouth in disbelief before latching into you, making you hide behind San. Although you never touched him, he was hyper aware of your body behind his, his eyes shot up meeting the other members and Yejin’s eyes on you three, but her eyes were more focused on him and he lowered his head, why was he being like that? He knew he was horrible with meeting celebrities, it was something the others often teased him about it, but it had never been this bad.

He finally felt like he could breath as he heard yours and Wooyoung’s laugh as you started to run away from him who was quick to catch you and fill you up with tickles until you were crying on the floor. You didn’t know how they managed to make you comfortable to that extend, if you were honest, you blamed Wooyoung, as a way to protect yourself, you managed to pull him from the hem of his shirt, making his fall by your side as you started to tickle him as well. The both of you only stopping when Yejin and Jongho approached you two, the latter helping you to stand up as you still felt your legs failing you a little.

“I’m sorry,” you were quick to say as you bowed to everyone in the room. You knew this would happen sooner or later, after all you and Wooyoung were in the same space, the memory of the time at the dorms still fresh on your mind as you felt Wooyoung hug your waist pulling you close and leaving a small kiss on your temple as you hugged his waist. “Where should I stay while you all practice?”

“You can stay on the corner, (y/n),” Hongjoong’s voice startled you since you didn’t really expected any of them to answer. “You can stay over there and tell us what you think about the whole thing, what you think?”

He was in front of you, asking if you wanted to see and hear an unreleased song and performance, how could you say no? Your head was quick to nod, but before you could take a step, you got a glimpse of the other members. What if they didn’t want you there?

“Are you sure? You guys don’t have to-”

“If hyung said you can, then you can, don’t worry about it, now go! Shoo!”

You hit Wooyoung as Yejin and another dancer lead you to the place where you could see everything but not disturb anyone. Your friend had never gone into details about the dancing and music that Ateez did, although you did a little digging and started to listen to their songs since she started to work with them, mainly after meeting Wooyoung. They were good, the type of music you liked it, their vocals were incredible, you haven’t seen them dancing as much, with Road to Kingdom, a new tv series and the other works you have, watch MV’s stayed far behind on your list, but you knew they were great, you still remember their MAMA performance from the year before.

The first music was slow, or so it appeared, but as the song progressed you got your eyes glued on them. They truly were something else and incredible dancers. Even if it was practice you saw they gave their all and that meant something. Since Yejin didn’t participate as a backup dancer for this song she stayed seated beside you, pointing all the members that were singing at the moment so you could get familiar with them.

“They are incredible though,” your eyes never left their performance, your ears ringing to the sound of the music as you wanted to hear it again and again. “What song is that?”

“Inception,” Wooyoung said breathless as he seated in front of you, some of the others not far behind, while others stayed to check a few things that went wrong. “What you think?”

“It’s incredible!“ You said smiling as you noticed Jongho seating beside you, Yeosang seated between the other two and for a second you were starstrucked by his beauty. He was definitely one of the most handsome men you’ve ever seen. “I’m sorry,” you said quickly as you noticed you were staring once his ear turned red, “I wasn’t really expecting to be in here or meet you guys like this, sorry Yeosang.”

Your voice was small trying your best not to make hum uncomfortable, noticing the other guys giggle while eyeing the second member you had been staring since you arrived. You were quick to add to your list how Yunho had been eyeing your best friend from time to time, noticing how oblivious she was being, which made you smile before looking at the other around you. Mingi and Seonghwa were both staring at you, Mingi still couldn’t understand you were there, you could easily tell, which made you giggle and laugh once Yunho hit him in the ribs.

“We should be saying sorry,” Seonghwa was quick to add before eyeing the other boys, landing you a careful smile. “We didn’t know for sure if you were coming, we thought you and Wooyoung were joking, so when someone came saying you were-”

“It’s ok Seonghwa,” you smiled widely as you looked at each of them. “I know Wooyoung said it’s fine, but if any of you are uncomfortable, I can leave and wait you all outside.”

“Nonsense!” It was Hongjoong’s voice that made all of you startle a little as he took Seonghwa side, while San stayed between Mingi and Seonghwa, right behind Wooyoung. “You can stay here, we don’t mind, truly! Do you have any insights on the performance?”

You smile shyly ignoring the redness on your ears that was quickly reaching your face as you were hyper aware of all their eyes on you. It was true, Wooyoung had mentioned to them that you were coming, but he had joked about that before just to see their reactions, so once he said it the day before, neither truly believed him. Seeing you there with them was truly something none of them could picture happening, it didn’t matter that you were talking constantly with two of them, or that one of your best friends was one of their backup dancers.

You couldn’t deny you sort of understood their shock by the fact you were there. You also kind of understood were they were coming from with that. The girls had sat you down a while ago after a few things you’d noticed during practicing with The Boyz, how the treatment happened, how different it was, while you were an MC for both Music Bank and for Inkgayo, you had seen a few things, how different groups were treated, but you ever really thought much about it and you hated yourself right now as you remembered how groups from not so big or known companies would react when you talked to them.

The weight on your chest felt heavier then ever and you couldn’t find yourself meeting eyes with any of them, but you still could see them shifting on their weight. Your silence being interpreted as of dislike probably, even though you said the performance had been incredible.

“Can you guys teach me the dance?” They all were startled by your comment and you finally raised your eyes meeting the most known one out of the eight of them. “Also, could I film it a cover once it’s released and I’m done with Road to Kingdom?”

“Yes!” Wooyound said way to fast and you saw your eyes avert to Hongjoong. You could see the engines twisting in his head. “Can some of us dance with you like you did for the Hellevator video?”

“We have to go throught the companies and they both agree, but yeah, we can do that.”

Your smile met with Wooyoung and you giggled as he looked like a child at Christmas in your eyes. San’s hands quickly steadied him in place and you chuckled as you looked at Hongjoong who also had a small smile on his lips.

“Any members in particular?”

“The dance team, no?”

“So, me, Yeosangie and Yunho!” Wooyoung’s voice was loud as he pointed to every member with starts in his eyes, making you all laugh. “But you should also watch the other song, then you can choose which one.”

“What’s the name of the other song?”

“THANXX,” Yeonsag was the one to answer and it took you a moment to put the voice and the face together and you saw as all the other seven and Yejin laughed at your reaction as Yeosang’s ears turned bright red. “I’d like for you to make Inception, thought.”

His eyes dind’t meet yours as you frown, Wooyoung giggled bringing your attention to him.

“He choreographed his part of the song.”

Your eyes averted quick to Yeosang who now had his neck red while his cheeks were slightly tinted. You took a moment observing him before eyeing the other seven members and finish with Yejin who winked at you.

“I’ll do Inception if I can do your part with you, Yeosang!”

His eyes turned up and you could see the brightest smile on his lips and couldn’t help but smile yourself.

“Guys, c’mon! Let’s do the other song before we can correct some points!”

The choreographer called the boys and Yejin who quickly got up as you curled yourself a bit more, feeling a bit weird being seated while everyone else was standing and getting ready for the song to start. While your eyes wandered through every single person in the room, the Ateez guys kept eyeing you from time to time, trying to catch any glimpse of reaction you gave them regarding the dance. Wooyoung constantly smiling whenever your eyes met, while the other guys kept blushing and turning away whenever your eyes met.

Once it was all done, both the group and Yejin eyed you with a small smile, but unlike the last time, the choreographer stopped them to correct what was wrong, so you took your phone from your bag checking if anyone had contacted you. A part from a few texts from Jiwoon regarding the next Road to Kingdom performance and the audition you had to go on tuesday, nothing was out of the ordinary, the girls and the boys groups were pretty quiet, so you checked the texts that you’ve been avoiding and expecting at the same time.

You could here some of the counting and the beat of their feet on the ground of the practice room. The music from time to time appearing at specific parts, some monitoring here and there, Yejin doing a run through of the dance with the other dancers, it was like no one really would come to you, so you chilled to answered Juyeon’s texts, already feeling the smile and the butterflies in your stomach, the memories of last night still fresh, his hand still lingered on your skin that was exposed thanks to the dress.

“Which one you liked more?” You were startled by Jognho seated next to you, once you didn’t answer, his focus turned to you with a small smile. “Sorry, I should have-”

“No, no! It’s fine,” you locked your phone, turning it facing the floor as you moved a little bringing your legs up to your chest, observing everyone. “They are slightly different, but I prefer Inception, but both are good nonetheless.”

Once his gummy smile appeared, you couldn’t help but smile back at him. Jongho was a literal bear, scary on the outside but the warmest person on the inside, he just needed a while to open up. You understood and respected that. Which was why your eyes slightly widened as he extended his hand to yours after he got up.

“C’mon, I can teach you a bit of the dance while we wait for the corrections to finish.”

You giggled as you took your back off your shoulder, letting it lay on the floor. Jongho twirling you in place until you were facing the mirror, him right beside you as you both smile and you nodded already waiting for the steps. It didn’t take long for Wooyoung come around with Yunho and Yeosang, the latter quick to teach you his part of the choreography.

Soon enough, all eight boys came to teach you each part of the dances whenever they were singing, – at your request – which brought a few laughs and provactions within each other while the backup dancers were going through the corrections. You could see Yejin observing you with the Ateez boys, the smile she sent to you once she saw how fun you were having. She had said they were pretty humbled and laid back people, you knew Wooyoung was like that, you knew Jongho had gone through a few companies before joining KQEnt, but you had no idea what exactly to expect of all the others.

A happy surprise is the least you could say.

You could see why Wooyoung and Changbin were friends. You could also see the similarities between the groups regarding each of the boys, which was probably one of the things that helped you feel so comfortable around them so easily, besides the obvious fact that Wooyoung was there and teased you at every opportunity he had. The only three that could control him being Seonghwa, Hongjoong and San – when he wasn’t an accomplice of the chaos Wooyoung would bring when you weren’t the target.

Thankfully, for now, all the other seven protected you from Wooyoung antics, but if your relationship with them turned to how it was with the Skids, you knew that would end soon, specially as you watched their own interactions. The more time you spent there you understood why Yejin was so happy to be there, why she kept herself to not miss and come on time to all practices, even though all you girls could tell how exhausted she was, but you would never tell Wooyoung that, Yejin wouldn’t like it, and you knew that she was thinking about the short MV she was gonna do with them along with THANXX.

So, you kept quiet, eyes wandering from Yejin to all the eight member that were already a bit more loose around you, not close to how Jongho and Wooyoung were, but it was enough for now, for the first time you met them. Your phone long forgotten under your bag as your eyes took in all the things that they agreed to show you, including Yejin’s part on the short MV, which would be about their lore, as Jongho quickly explained to you, since Wooyoung would probably spoil you the whole lore if he could – Hongjoong words.

“Shit,” Yejin said looking at her phone, making you and Wooyoung stop on your tracks and observe her. “Boo just texted me asking to get a few things, you guys mind?”

“You staying with Boo this time?”

Yejin nodded, Wooyoung kept quiet listening to you two. Both of you had told him a bit of the whole story, but he still wasn’t familiar with their current situation. The names and faces still a little foggy on his mind, making him taking notes on rewatching your vlogs to learn more about you and the girls.

“My cousin is traveling for like two weeks and said we could stay at her place, also because she needed someone to watch over her dog, and Boo had already extended her welcoming and asked if she could move with me.”

“So, the house hunting is going bad, I see.”

You three laughed a little before you zooned off a little. The conversation on Hyunjin’s birthday coming back to your mind. You didn’t want to leave the boys, but you also didn’t want to leave the girls. Juyeon’s words from the night before coming like a flash in your mind, along with Moonbin’s from when you found out you had to find a new place. The idea of having a whole place for yourself terrified you a little, yet it looked like everything was lining up for that to happen.

The, sort of, sleepless night before still presence on the eye bags hidden by the makeup you were wearing. The places that both Jiwoon and Jihyun sent you to look into, none appeasing to your taste. Your mind always wandering to have a small big place, if that even made sense. You hated being alone for a long period of time, you hated that if you needed you couldn’t just walk a few steps and find the girls or the boys, so you needed a place that could have you and a few more rooms if they ever wanted to visit and stay over.

It needed to be small, because it would be only you living there, but it needed to be big so your friends could come and stay over, being for fun, to party or just to chill. The thought of a huge empty house annoyed you. You liked your space, but you hated to be alone. Your eyes landed on Wooyoung, finding his already observing you as he smiled and pulled you into a hug with his arms on your shoulder, as you wrapped your around his waist resting you head on his shoulder.

Yejin still focused on her phone, checking what they need with Boyoung.

“Would you visit me when I get a place?”

You voice was small, only for Wooyoung to hear and you heard him hum in response and pulling you closer as a hard wind blew on your direction, making you hide your face on his chest.

“I meant what I said, you chose you to be my friend and you accept, no return police.”

You laughed against his chest hearing his laughed as you felt his chest move.

“Brat.”

“Needs to be one to know one,” he winked at you as you eyed him just to roll your eyes before resting your head back against his chest, thanking whoever could hear on how empty the place you three were, was empty. “Is everything ok?”

Wooyoung’s voice a little louder, catching Yejin’s attention, who just nodded and smile.

“I was just seeing what we needed and the best place to get it, you sure you don’t mind Wooyoung?”

“Not at all, I’m all yours until you are sick of me!”

“What about the no return police?” You chuckled and he rolled his eyes pushing you away from him, making you two laugh as he held in, trying to keep his though attitude. “C’mon baby girl, let’s go buy a few things, I’ll even get you and the guys something as a thank you gift for today.”

“Do I really need to share with them? I’m the one still in the presence of you annoying ass.”

“My pretty annoying ass will tell them I brough food for you to deliver and they can do whatever if you arrive empty handed.”

He sighs but a smile was quick to find his lips as you pulled him in to a hug, your arm going around his waist as his went around your shoulder. Yejin still focusing mainly on her phone, allowing Wooyoung to start with his questions towards the possibility of you liking Juyeon, or anyone in general.

“Did Eric set you up on a blind date after all?”

You just rolled your eyes, although he could see a smile on your lips, making him giggle a little observing your expressions.

“I don’t do blind dates, plus, if I ever am to date, it’ll most certainly a person that I know prior, not meeting for the first time on a blind date.”

He laughed as you put your index finger went to your mouth and he knew you were simulating vomiting, even though you were wearing a mask. Which was something you three have been thankful for, so the few people you met had a hard time recognizing the three of you, mainly you.

“C’mon (y/n) you can’t be so stiff!” You lowered your head shaking it slightly as he continued. “Look, I know a few people that may be interested, why not give it a shot?”

“They are friends with you, that’s concerning enough.”

You said laughing and Wooyoung just hummed in response.

“I didn’t see you having a problem with the members, Changbin, Yeonjun or the guys from The Boyz!” He noticed how you stiffened a little under his arm as he said, ‘The Boyz’ and he was thankful for the mask to hide his smirk. “There’s no way you have a heart of ice! You’ve been in the industry for so long, you can’t tell me no one has caught your attention until now!”

“It’s not that no one in the industry caught my attention, it’s just that they usually go too hard and try to turn whatever we have into something we had agreed it wouldn’t become that,” you couldn’t tell him the truth yet, how the first guy you allowed yourself to get involved after your breakup almost assaulted you, how he was from the industry, how it was a blind date, how he had waited until you turned eighteen to come to you and show his interest, to court you, to make you feel loved only to break you all over again. “I know that dating someone inside the industry is easier for us, I also know that not everyone is an asshole, but… I don’t know,” his eyes were studying everything you face gave out. He noticed you were hiding something, especially once Yejin stayed a little back, he could see her going to your other side. “I guess, no one has caught my eye and proved that they want me for me, that they deserve me.”

“Would you give them a chance if they proved that to you?”

You thought for a second, but you knew the answer to be yes, but the truth was that your brain made a picture of Juyeon appear in your head, his actions of the night before still lingered in your mind, the constant thought that he openly flirted with you while he still had eyes on someone that was at the party, yet you couldn’t fully blame you, you had your considerable amount of fault at that. If you were the girl he had eyes on, would you allow yourself to be with him?

“Yes,” you sigh before looking to your feet feeling Yejin taking your right side. You knew she was paying attention to the conversation for quite a while, “if I don’t friendzone them first.” You three laughed but you and Yejin knew it to be true, you had a feeling Wooyoung did too, considering the subtle conversations that Dongmin had been brought up the day you two met. “Let’s just say is simpler said than done, if I’m honest.”

“Wouldn’t expect anything less from you,” he pulled you in more into the hug, a small kiss on your head, even though it was through the mask, he made sure that the sound would be audible, making you giggle. “Hak told me a bit of how everything went yesterday, the performance a bit of the party,” he could see your face, but he was sure you were smiling behind your mask, “was it good? I know it was the first time you did something like that as a dancer.”

“It was incredible!” You started excited, Yejin and Wooyoung smiling at how much you looked like a child at Christmas. “Everyone was so nice, the guys were so thoughtful! Juyeon even made sure I ate and drank water, always appearing by my side with a fan and a water bottle, the crew were incredible from makeup to camera and all,“ you laughed as you remembered how Juyeon would constantly poke your side during the flag dance, or how you would imitate each other, “it really was a nice experience.”

“Juyeon certainly was a ‘nice experience’, for sure.”

You hit her calf with your feet which didn’t go unnoticed by Wooyoung who exchanged a quick glance with Yejin, knowing it was his queue to bring him up to the conversation.

“Juyeon? He’s a nice guy, good looking, tall, polite, I can see it…”

Your hip found his and he giggled as you kept eyeing the ground.

“He is, I’m happy to be friends with him, to be honest.”

“Already friendzoned the guy? C’mon (y/n)!”

“Don’t be an idiot, Woo!” He decided not to tease you about the use of the nickname, he had more pressing matters at hand. “We are just friends, for fucks sake!”

“Friends that flirt at any given opportunity, even at a balcony in the middle of a party.”

You were quick to hit Yejin that just laughed dodging away from you, Wooyoung quick to held you in place. Making you eye him like he just committed treason.

“So, you and Juyeon?”

“Oh shut up!” You eyed Yejin who was having the time of her life, then turning to Wooyoung who eyed you expectantly, making you sigh knowing there was no way out of this one. “I have eyes, ok? Plus we got along pretty well these past weeks and maybe we have been flirting a lot and constantly, but still, he has eyes on someone, so it’s definitely nothing!”

“What makes you think it isn’t you?”

You stopped on your tracks. You knew Wooyoung knew a bit of it, but maybe not a lot, he also had never seen you interact with Juyeon. You tried to ignore Yejin’s little giggles under her mask as you shook your head.

“If it was me, he would have done something by now, which he didn’t, so-”

“You sure you just weren’t oblivious?”

“I hate you,” you said lowly making the other two laugh loudly as the memory of the night before hit you back again. “Even if it was me, his group will grow a lot with this MNET survival show, I have a lot of possible projects ahead, he has a lot to prove if he really is interested.”

Although you said that more to yourself, as way to point out the possible things that could come in between the possible relationship between you two, you fail to notice how Wooyoung noted all those things, exchanging a knowing look with Yejin before using his thumb to caress your arm.

“Well, either way I’d like to know if you have interest in someone, as your new best friend I need and deserve to know everything!”

“You’ll have to fight a few people for that spot, just so you know.”

“Give me the names and I will!”

His answer to Yejin was loud enough to make the whole market you three had just entered eyed you three at the entrance, making him hide himself behind you, making you laugh as you felt his arms wrap around your waist, his face buried deep in your hair.

San gave a small chuckle as he saw the unfolding of the twitter conversation on his phone. If he was honest, he had fun this afternoon with you amongst them. He found it amusing how well you and Wooyoung got along and so quickly, how you two would bicker at everything, but be the first ones to defend each other. He loved how sensitive you were, once you saw some having difficulty with the choreography, you had gotten up and danced with them, or marked the time of the steps.

If San could be completely honest, he did not expect anything that unfolded the afternoon to have happen. He couldn’t wrap his head completely on the fact that you danced, ate, sang, and spent time with them as just another person. More times than one he was caught starying at you by the others and Yejin, the latter being the times he was most bothered, mainly when he saw her raise her eyebrows with a small smirk. Was it bad that he was staring at you?

You were beautiful, talented, humble, funny, a celebrity and you were there, what was so bad about that? Why did he felt wrong to be staring at you if you weren’t the one talking at the moment? His smile grew a little bit more once he remembered a specific moment that the dance team were busy, so you called him to help with a choreography, also asking if he could teach you some of the Inception moves, which he happily obliged as he felt both Wooyoung and Yejin’s eyes on him whenever they could.

“What got you all smiley?”

Inna’s voice got him back to reality as he put his phone back into his pocket. Her eyes locked on him with a suspicious look. He just waved off as he extended one of his arms around the back of the couch so he could wrap it around her once she sat down next to him, handing him a can of beer, making him eye her confused.

“Inna, you know I don’t drink nor can drink with the new comeback…”

“Just this one Sannie! For me!” He shook his head with a small smile as he saw her pout turn into a smile as he grabbed the can of beer, drinking a sip and feeling the bitterness in his mouth. “This is our night, stop thinking about work!” She tapped him on the tight startling him a little once her hand stayed put on his tight. He could feel the heat elevating on his body, drinking more of the beer trying to suppress the heat that was growing below his waist. “Now, tell me what got you all smiley!”

San swallowed hard as he saw her eyes on him and her hand squeeze his tight a little.

“Nothing much, just remembering something that happened this afternoon,” almost immediately her hand left his tight as she crossed her arms in front of her. She had an annoyed look as San adjust himself on the couch to turn his full attention to her, knowing he had upset her in some way. “I know you said not to talk about work, but you asked and-”

“Was (y/n) there the whole aftenoon? Was she as incredible as everyone says she is?”

It took a second for San to understand that the problem wasn’t the work itself, it was because you were gonna be there for their work in the afternoon. Even if it had been just three hours, it didn’t matter for Inna and San sigh before eyeing his girlfriend that now looked upset.

“Inna, she was there, she stayed there for like three hours, Wooyoung and Yejin stayed with her, on occasion we would all seat down and talk, mostly to get her feedback on the comeback-”

“She got to see the comeback?” Now Inna was pissed and San knew he had fucked up. “Did you like having her eyes on you? Is she prettier than me?” As he opened his mouth, she raised her index finger holding him from talking. “I don’t wanna know-”

“Inna, baby, I’m here with you, not her. I’m looking at you, not her,“ he let the can of beer on the nightstand as his hands tried to untie her arms, once she moved away, his arms wrapped around her should, pulling her closer to him, speaking lowly on her ear. “It doesn’t matter who she is, it’s you that I want. It will always be you that I’ll want, ok?”

San lips kissed her lower ear and he noticed she moved her legs on top of the bed and smiled slightly, kissing more down her throat, pulling her closer and closer to him, allowing her to feel the bulge on his pants that she helped create, smiling as he noticed the hitch on her breath and her arms loosen up a little.

“You are mine, you understand?” He hummed against her neck, missing her smile as she moved her hand back to his hair. “Besides, she has Eunwoo, why would she look at you, I was definitely being an idiot.” He stopped for a second at hearing her words making her eye him with a small smile. “Oh Sannie, you know you are no match for Eunwoo, don’t be upset about that!”

He forced a smile looking at the ground as he heard Inna’s small laugh and felt her push him until his back was against the back rest of the couch and jumped on top of him, bringing him back and instinctively put his hands on her hips as she went to kiss him.

Although he kissed her back, San’s mind was spiraling. He knew you being you, had a lot of guys at your feet, hell if Wooyoung was telling the truth – which he knows he was – you had at least two guys doing everything to be with you. Cha Eunwoo and Lee Juyeon. Both guys that he knew had more than attention from women, women he had crushes on. He knew Inna had a crush on Eunwoo, which just made his head hurt a little as the growing bulge on his pants started to annoy him a little.

He always liked to kiss Inna, but his mind kept going back to what she said. San knew he wasn’t the bulkiest guy, possibly not the most handsome one, but would Inna ever leave him if it comes to her choosing between Eunwoo, Juyeon or him? He didn’t know anymore and that made him mad, as he dig his fingers on Inna’s waist, making her gasp against his lips, but it only made him angrier.

Would he ever be enough? Was he enough now? Would anyone ever look at him like you look at Eunwoo? He knew he could look at anyone he liked or loved like Eunwoo looked at you, but could someone ever look at him like that when so many handsome idols existed? Would someone like you ever look at him like he carried the stars for you, because he knows he would, you wouldn’t need to ask.

With the pressure that Inna made on top of him, he grunted and opened his eyes, meeting with the girls sly smile as her nails dig into the back of his neck. He had Inna, she was looking at him like that right now, even behind the lust she carried and that was enough for him, so he latched up on her again, bringing a small chuckled from her as San started to kiss her neck next.

“Are you sure?”

His voice was husky and he heard a small giggle from her lips before she pull his face up.

“Bedroom, now.”

12.02: 8Makes1AmazingTeam.

pirate kingdom || choi san || smau

It all starts when you and your friends are kicked out of your shared apartment, causing you to ask your childhood best friend (and idol) for help, which leads you to live with him and the other members of his kpop group. From there on, you completely enter the world of kpop, creating the best friendships you could ask for, and, as if working with kdramas wasn't enough, your life ends up becoming the best example of one with each passing moment. and your best friends are the main spectators and commentators of all the drama that has surrounded your life since it all began.

⇦ || 12.01 (📝) || pk || masterlist || ⇨

taglist: open || @baribaaari @grown-in-neverland @randomthingsthatiwillpost @so-nyeon-dan

comment to be added to the taglist ❣

12 notes · View notes

yessa-vie · 5 months

Text

12.01 || PIRATE KINGDOM || C.S. SMAU

→ SS NUMBER. 06.

→ WORD COUNT. 13,357.

→ IMPORTANT. normalization of drinking, a lot of pining, Juyeon and y/n are idiots, a lot of teasing from friends, a bit of grinning, mentions of puking.

⇦ || pk || masterlist || 12.02 (📝) || ⇨

You genuinely didn’t expect for Juyeon to have bought you coffee on that day. You didn’t even expect him to have bought you coffee every single day since you two bumped into each other during practice, and yet, here you were, making your way to the guys dressing room before heading back to the dancers area to get ready for the run through that was going to happen in a few hours, along with hair and makeup you would have to go through.

Everything was new to you; at the same time everything was the same. You knew the people on that building, your work as an MC wasn’t too long ago for you to forget the ways around the building, not forgetting to answer back to every person that talked to you, especially the staff from MNET itself that had always been nice to you. Yejin decided to stay back, she had met with a few other people from the dance industry, so you were on your own as you knock on their door, smiling widely as you saw Juhakyeon open the door for you and your mind quickly reminded you of the previous conversation with Wooyoung.

How many more people knew them and you?, that was the question that was coming and going from your mind for a few days now, even more since you woke up to Wooyoung’s texts right after Hyunjin’s alarm woke up the entire sleeping part of the dorm. You needed to have a serious conversation with him about it once you got back.

“I was told to come here, but-”

“And you were told correctly,” Sangyeon was quickly by Hak’s side as they both pulled you into their room before you could have the slightest thought of leaving. “When did you arrive?”

“Not long,” you chuckled and were quick to meet with New’s smile and hug, followed by a few tickles on your side. “Chanhee, if you keep with that work, you’ll lose your position as my favorite in The Boyz…”

All the guys laughed loudly, and you were soon to meet with the others that started to gather around you, all but one, that made you hold your tongue not to ask. Yejin had made enough comments for you to rethink most of the things you said and did regarding Juyeon. The truth was, you were having fun with him, he was easy to talk to, fun to be around, it was like it was just you two and how well you got each other, and that has been enough for you to want him around for a good amount of time.

Not that the other guys from The Boyz weren’t, you had gotten extremely close with Q, New, Younghoon, Hyunjae, Sunwoo and Eric, the latter being the second most that you talked to after Juyeon. You had noticed the exchanging looks between all of them, especially when you and Juyeon were close together, but that didn’t seem to bother him, or if it did, he didn’t let it show, so you did that as well. It wasn’t like you were oblivious to how beautiful Juyeon was, you knew that the second you and the others started to watch them at the Skids dorm that night, but once you saw him face to face, it took you a while to get used to.

There was a reason why Juyeon, Hyunjae and Younghoon were called the Bermuda line, they were definitely the few ones that took you a while longer to feel comfortable and to not make it look like a complete teenage fangirl, luckily, they helped a lot and you saw them controlling themselves to not do the same to you, which relaxed you a little bit. But Juyeon was still an enigma to you of sorts.

Before you could think much an arm appeared in front of you with a hot cup of coffee, a hand slightly on your back and Juyeon’s cologne found its way to your nostrils and you held yourself not to close your eyes that were wide open from the surprise before turning to him, finding two crescent moons with a wide smile towards you.

“I thought you said you wouldn’t get me coffee.”

You giggled as you took the coffee in one hand and hugged his waist with the other, your head going against him chest and you could’ve sworn you heard his accelerated heartbeat, but you couldn’t be sure. You saw his ears turn slightly red before he lowered his head.

“I was joking, but I was scared that you would actually take it seriously,” his hand scratched the back of his neck and your eyes averted to his muscles for a second before focusing on his face that was still eyeing the floor, “Minho was actually the one that said if I wanted to get you coffee I should and that you weren’t mad, that I would actually surprise you with it, so I took the shot I guess…”

Your eyes widened a little.

Minho also knew them.

Juyeon and Minho were talking about you.

You felt butterflies in your stomach and felt the tingle on your cheeks, trying to hide it behind the rim of the cup, feeling completely aware of his eyes now on you, as yours were on the floor. Why would they talk about you? What would they talk about you? Why Minho never said a word about knowing Juyeon while he heard you vent to Hyunjin this morning?

“Does everyone know everyone in this industry?”

You said low, but you both chuckled at your question, and he nodded.

“We’ve been friends since debute, he’s actually one of my closest friends if I may say,” you almost choked on your coffee and the smirk on Minho’s face from breakfast came back full force into your mind. “You ok? Did I-”

“I’m fine!” Your voice was quick, and you notice some of the members hide a smile or a laugh, but Juyeon’s eyes were still full of concern. “I’m fine, I just… He never said you guys were friends, I mean… I knew that Felix and Han were close with Eric and Sunwoo, earlier I found out Hak and Wooyoung from Ateez also know each other, so like… It still shocks me how so many people I know also know each other.”

“Yeah, it’s crazy, but I promise I didn’t say anything bad about you to Minho, and neither did he,” his smile was still present, and you could feel your full face turning red, so you nodded before drinking a bit more of your coffee. “You have the schedules?”

“Yes!” Your eyes averted to the place he pointed, where Jacob and Kevin were scanning and you decided to join them, fully aware of Juyeon behind you as you seated beside Kevin who gave you a tight hug and Jacob took your hand kissing the back of it, both of them smiling at you. “So, you guys excited?”

You felt the space beside you sink, but you felt Juyeon behind you, surprised a little by the sight of Eric beside you, his head resting on your shoulder as you kissed the crown of his head.

“Took you long enough,” his voice was tired, and you knew they all haven’t slept much with the whole prep for the comeback. “Where is the coffee from? Can I have some?”

“No idea, and no you can’t, Juyeon got it for me, and I think I slept like only two hours today, I need this.” You laughed as you turned the cup again feeling the warmth of the coffee fill you up and awake your brain. God you were thankful for Minho and Juyeon at that moment. “Also, when are you guys getting ready for the stage?”

“Probably while Pentagon is at their training session,” Q’s voice made you shot your eyes up, finding him already smiling at you as he squatted on the other side of the table looking at the sheet of paper for the performance order. “New was right, you look dead.”

“You two are no longer my favorites!”

They all laughed as they gathered closer to the couch and table you and the others were.

“They haven’t been your favorites since Juyeon started to take you out of practice to eat,” it was Sunwoo who said it loud and clear, and you held your gaze to not meet his that was already on you. “No need to pretend, you say it yourself on your twitter he was now your favorite!”

“True, but still…” Your mind then remembered of the comments that picture brought, and you eyed all of them concerned a little. “You guys all know I like all of you right? This is just a joke, right?”

They all laughed loudly before you felt a hand on your left shoulder finding Younghoon looking at you with joyful eyes.

“We are just messing with you, (y/n), don’t worry about it!”

His hand patted your hair, you rested your head on Kevin’s shoulder before taking the last drop of the coffee that Juyeon had gotten you.

“Is Zombie (y/n) a nice zombie or a mad zombie?”

You chuckled with him, Jacob and Eric as he spoke it in english, something they decided they were gonna do it with you so your english got better and you possibly have better work opportunities as you had told them a few days back.

“Depends on who’s asking.”

Your eyes quickly averted to Eric that raised his hands up as if pretending innocence and you quickly jumped on him, hugging him tightly making everyone laugh as you two almost fell out of the couch. A knock on the door made all of you exchange glances and one of the staff members to open it up coming back with a few bags of sandwiches and you all knew what those meant, so it got you excited.

“There’s one for (y/n) as well…” At Sangyeon’s words, you suddenly froze, it had been a while since people sent in their names and phones numbers to you from those sandwiches, and you didn’t really expect to happen here. You were supposed to be just a dancer. “How did they know you are here?”

“That’s the million-dollar question…”

Your laugh was week and they all noticed, but it was Jacob’s comment that made you take this the fun way that you were previously.

“Could be from the skids or your friends, no? They know you are here with us.”

You shook your head slightly as you noticed them all opening the sandwich bag and their comments as to whom got numbers and who didn’t and which ones they got.

You knew they were popular, but you didn’t expect for them to get so many numbers, and not only from idols, but also from the dancers that were gonna be on the show that you knew about thanks to Yejin.

“Bermuda line strikes again!”

You heard someone say, probably Sunwoo and your eyes shot back finding Hyunjae waving four papers, Younghoon with six and Juyeon with eight papers waving at the others. You laughed along with the others, aware of all their eyes as you noticed Juyeon discard the eight pieces of paper before starting to eat.

“Too good for those?”

“I don’t know, and I don’t care…”

He answered New’s question, and you heard all the boys tease him.

“Why? You have someone that we don’t know?” You felt the whole room go silent and you suddenly regretted asking, especially as you felt Juyeon’s eyes stop on you while he whipped some of the residue of the corner of his mouth. “Maybe one of them can catch your eye and you are running away for what? So, I get it if you have someone-”

“I have my eyes on someone actually,” he cut you off and you felt your stomach drop. You didn’t know what made you ask that, you two had gotten close, but your relationship with him was different than the one with Eric, Sunwoo and Hyunjae, maybe you had crossed a line. “She doesn’t know it yet though, but I don’t want to lead people on, not until I tell her about it and have her rejecting me at least.”

“She’d have to be crazy to reject you,” you voice came before your brain could stop your mouth from opening; you felt all eyes were on you both, but you didn’t actually care for once. You didn’t want someone that you cared about to deprive themselves of falling in love or do whatever made them happy, and all these boys had become people that you care about, even if some more than others. “Also, you could always ask for help for others to know what she thinks of you,” you giggled opening your bag of sandwich, aware of all the exchange of glances between the eleven members, “so tell me who she is, maybe I can help?”

You eyed Juyeon before opening your sandwich already ignoring all the papers you got, mainly after you saw Hyunjin, Hari and Yejin’s name in there.

“Someone is as popular as the Bermuda line apparently.”

You then lifted your head meeting Hak’s smirk as he pointed to the mount of papers beside you.

“It’s just my friends playing a prank, don’t get too excited, Hak!”

Before you noticed, Eric got the numbers and ran away from you, Kevin’s hands quickly on your waist stopping you from going after Eric who was already reading the names on each paper. You smiled victorious as all the names so far had been of your friends. Hari had started that when you became an MC, the girls and some of the guys quickly joined in for the laugh of it.

“Wooyoung from Ateez?” Eric’s eyes went towards Hak that laughed loudly followed by you, getting weird eyes from everyone. “What’s so funny?”

“Binnie probably told him about it, we are friends, he already has my number though,” you laughed loudly as you saw Eric rolled his eyes. “You know, there are no new names in there, it’s literally just my-”

“Minchan from VERIVERY!” He cut your sentence and everyone went silent, all the sudden you felt a pit on your stomach, was he being serious? “Hyojin and Wyatt from ONF!” Eric was smiling and laughing, some of the others were too, some were just eyeing you and you were still processing everything. “All the guys from Golden Child and some of the kids from TOO and one that I cannot read it though,” as he finished, your mouth was open wide and you were still processing the amount of numbers you had received. “So, who you gonna call?”

“No one?” Your voice was quick, making all the boys eyed you curious. “I’m sure there’s been a mistake or something.”

“I don’t think so though,” Hyunjae was the one that commented, making your eyes averted to him, noticing how the guys that were behind you were eyeing you curious. “Some of them found out that you were dancing with us, some we told because we were excited, others saw on twitter, others heard from someone else, but there’s no denying you are attractive (y/n) and since you are here as a dancer and not necessarily you, the famous actress, they probably felt confident to send it to you…”

“Unless…” You heard Jacob’s words as you felt his eyes studying you; a small smile on his lips and you just eyed your sandwich, trying your best to not look anywhere else, especially not at your left as you felt his eyes burning over your skull. “No shit, you do like someone!”

“No, I don’t!”

Although your answer was quick, it was what it needed for the boys to gather closer, smile on their faces as they got closer, Eric quick by your side.

“So, you lied to me and you have a boyfriend.”

“Is it Cha Eunwoo?”

You scolded Eric and turned to look at New who was eyeing you with a spark of joy from the gossip. There was a reason you, him and Q were constantly talking, you three liked to gossip about life in general, with that thought you just rolled your eyes before putting the sandwich down and held your head with both hands.

“But Han said you two weren’t a thing?!”

“Oh God, you and Eric being friends with the Skids are some of my worst nightmares right now, Sunwoo!” You said loudly as you eyed them. “Me and Eunwoo are just friends! I do not have a boyfriend; I didn’t lie when I said that!”

“So, you have a crush on someone?”

Yonghoon’s voice was soft behind you, making you stop on your tracks.

Did you?

The conversations with the girls came back to your head, all the conversations you had with Hyunjin about the practice with the guys and how one person constantly was part of it and how you became so eager to see him more and more every single day. And that person was in that room with you, currently behind you.

But he had eyes on someone, he just told you that himself. If you told them yes, they would want to know who it was and wouldn’t stop until they found out, if you said no, they knew you’d be lying your ass off and maybe try to get the truth out of you. The best was to ignore the question.

As if your prayers have been heard, Yejin appeared at the door of their room, her eyes were curious for a second as she saw how quiet it was, becoming concern as her eyes landed on you.

“Yejin! What’s up?”

It was Sangyeon that asked, implying for her to come inside, she just shook her head looking at you before eyeing the rest of the boys with an apologetic smile.

“They are asking for the dancers, so I came to get (y/n),” some of the boys groaned as you nodded and got up from the couch, saying a quick and general goodbye before interlacing your arm with Yejin as you two went back to the corridor. “What happened?”

Her whispered was more like a shy breath and you probably wouldn’t have heard it if our senses weren’t so heightened at that moment, but before you could answer, you heard Juyeon’s voice calling you and you turned, meeting his eyes and a shy smile caring your sandwich bag and handing it to you.

“You should eat, the performance is later, but the sooner you eat the less likely you get sick or something.”

“Oh, thanks Ju-yeon,” you wished none of them realized how you took a little longer to finish his name, as you got used to calling him only Ju whenever you two were alone together, thanks to all the attention you two always brought upon yourselves. His smile got brighter, the crescent moons were present and you couldn’t hold back your own smile. “Don’t you forget to finish eating; you need your strength.”

He nodded and you both eyed each other for a moment, nothing passing by Yejin’s watchful look, and honestly, you were thankful, because you would need her help figuring it out if you really started to develop a crush on Juyeon.

“As to what happened in the room, the guys-”

“It’s fine!” You voiced quickly getting a questioning eye from Yejin as Juyeon nodded shyly. “I’m sorry if I pushed you earlier, you don’t need to tell me who you have eyes on, I just want to help, but I get it if you don’t want to tell me.”

Juyeon stood there staring at you, you noticed his eyes going all over your face, lading or your lips, making you conscious to lick them and at that, his eyes found yours one more time before he sighs and nodded with a sly smile.

“I promise I’ll tell you, I just-”

“Take your time, it’s fine, really!” You both smiled and you lifted the sandwich bag. “Thank you by the way, see you at the last rehearsal?”

“Promise I won’t bump into you this time.”

“No problem, because if you do, I’m sure you’ll be able to catch me.”

You tried not to notice Yejin beside you, but Juyeon smirk soon caught all your attention before he nodded.

“I’ll always catch you, if you need me to.”

He then turned back heading towards the waiting room he and the others were as you spin on your heels taking Yejin by the arm and having quick steps the furthest away from Juyeon and his ridiculous smirk that’s being on replay in your head over and over again.

You were fucked.

Yejin kept quiet as you guided them further and further away from the waiting rooms.

“Ok, we are far enough, care to explain what that was?”

Yejin held you in place and yet you didn’t meet her eyes, the previous encounter still lingered in your head.

“I don’t know what you mean, Jinx…”

“I don’t know what you mean, Jinx,” she mocked you before rolling her eyes and make you look at her. “That was the most I saw you flirt in ages! And not joke flirt, actual flirt!”

“Stop, that was not-”

“Now I get what New said about when you two flirt on twitter and face to face,” you rolled your eyes at her knowing smile before you both look around to make sure no one would listen to you two. “Gotta say, I prefer the face to face flirt interaction!”

“Good for you, because that’s all it’s gonna be,” you chuckled before taking her hand to go back to where the dancers were, you knew she didn’t mean it what she said to get you out of the room, yet you wanted to pretend to be normal just for a little bit, that was what was supposed to be. “When it’s our time to make up and such?”

“How can you think about that right now? And what do you mean that was all it was gonna be?”

She stopped on her tracks, making you do the same and eye her before looking around and getting close to her.

“Because he has eyes on someone, so even if we do flirt, it’s pointless, because of course he wouldn’t be interested in me when he’s like that…”

Yejin opened her mouth to say something before closing and shaking her head closing her eyes as well, making you give her a confused look.

“How you know he has eyes on someone?”

“Because he told me?” Her eyes shot open, and you quickly explained what had happened before she arrived at their waiting room, making her slightly giddy from time to time, before you shut her up, to finish with your part. “Like, I know Eric wasn’t lying because after he put the papers on the table and I manage to see the names, but still, it was weird.”

“Because you have a crush on Juyeon.”

“Yeah– wait!” Yejin’s mouth open wide, her eyes were glowing like two supernovas, she started to go around and jump and giggle while you followed her trying to keep her quiet. “Yejin, I’m serious! I just told you he has eyes on someone! Are you just happy because you girls were proven right?”

“And because of how big of an idiot you are, but yes!”

“We should go, they are probably already starting with our team’s hair and makeup.”

“Can I send this to our chat thought?” You rolled your eyes but smiled nodding. “Everyone is gonna freak!”

You laughed as you saw her type away as you took the sandwich out of the bag and the plastic to eat. The papers were thrown inside the bag and you eyed them for a second before shaking your head and bite the sandwich. Just like Juyeon, you wouldn’t feel comfortable texting one of those number if you weren’t completely open to actually get to know them. At that thought, your mind wander to whom would be the girl he liked?, what she looked like?, how they met?, her hair color?, how close they were?, were they friends?, was it a distant crush? You had so many questions and you felt an ache in your stomach and you knew it wasn’t because of the time since you had last eaten.

It was the first time in the past two years that you have felt like that, and obviously it had to be for a guy that wouldn’t look at you like that, that you ended up befriending and having the funniest way to get close to him, to feel comfortable with him. Of course he had a crush, of course the girl would have a crush on him too, not only because of his looks, but also because of his personality. Juyeon was one of the sweetest and funniest guys without even trying, you’d have to be mad to not like him in any way.

You were so focused on your own thoughts that you haven’t even realized that your phone had not buzzed even though Yejin’s fingers and giggles could tell that she was telling everything to the girls, what you didn’t know was how they had created a group with a few people just to talk about it. Even though you weren’t aware of it, Juyeon was aware, more than aware as Eric, Sunwoo and Hak told him that you had a crush, and it was him.

He was aware of the flirt comments you two gave each other, but he was also aware that you gave them to the others as well, so that was probably just your way. They tried to tell him that Yejin was the one telling them this, yet, he couldn’t believe it, maybe she was saying that because of the interaction she had witnessed between you two, maybe she was right, maybe she wasn’t, but he wasn’t going to make a move on you, not yet at least.

At this point he was a coward, because you two had gotten along so well and he had heard how annoyed you’d get whenever someone would say you and one of your friends were together just because you got along. He didn’t mind the guys saying those things, he felt his heart flutter every time it happened, but even if you never said anything against it, he knew you didn’t like it, yet, his heart couldn’t stop reminding him that whenever they did that about you two, you wouldn’t say a thing against it, you would just brush it off, but did that meant that you didn’t mind being connected to him in some way?

You were thankful that you manage to get ready with Yejin and the other girls, mainly because you could update each other without the fear of someone overhearing the conversation, also, the girls made sure to get you some good clothing options for that night. If you were honest, you knew you wanted to dress well, but something in you wanted to spice up a little for that night and, although you didn’t want to acknowledge it, didn’t mean the girls wouldn’t, but luckily they kept the teasing to a minimal, mainly when you realized that you have been crushing on Juyeon for quite some time now, even if had gotten worse since you two started to have one on one sort of dates during rehearsals.

Neither you nor they got into the fact that he had eyes on someone, the main focus was on the fact you finally had a crush, even if – in your mind – wasn’t reciprocated. You weren’t gonna lie, you missed the butterflies and the good anxiety with the idea of seeing someone that you were crushing on. You had attractive guys bringing those reactions, but it wasn’t the same. Juyeon had caught your eye from the first time you saw him in an MV, although you didn’t know who he was, he had caught your eyes with his face, dance and voice, once you met him, it just appeared natural to be drawn to him, once you first started to talk, you should’ve know you were starting to develop a crush, but you were rusty and an idiot.

You were even more of an idiot whenever you remembered he had eyes on someone and that you were, once again, crushing on someone that would not become anything more than a friend. Except that this time, you weren’t the one putting the boundaries like it was with Eunwoo, it was destiny or whatever you wanted to call it and you hated it. Why you had to have a crush on one of them? Why couldn’t it be one of the dancers or such?

“Stop overthinking,” you heard Yejin say before stopping the car and turning it off, you two have arrived to TBZ dorm. “Don’t give me that look, I know you!”

“But Yejin, c’mon, why it had to be now? Why it had to be him?”

“How about we forget about that for tonight, bun?” Her hand went for your shoulders shaking it off a little and you gave her a sly smile, receiving a smirk in response. “You look hot, you don’t have to work tomorrow, you are among friends, let loose, drink for me and you, I promise I’ll take care of you,” she giggled as you shook your head, she knew you never let loose without them, it was too risky. “Also, the Skids are all here if I’m not mistaken, so I’m sure they’ll take care of you too if needed.”

“All of them?” You currently remembered the waiting room situation and how they all appeared to be friends and how Minho was a close friend to Juyeon. “You sure?”

“Yeah, Hyunjin texted us wanting to know when you arriving and all the Skids said the same, that they miss you and such, I swear those guys have a problem with separation anxiety!”

You laughed loudly because you knew it to be true, but you also missed them a lot that day. You all got used to have the other close, so you understood, but you also knew that they hated to go some places by themselves.

“We should go then,” you giggle as you pushed your dress down a little bit more down your tights before exiting the car with Yejin. You both give your names at the entrance and the security allows both to go up the elevator to the rooftop where the party of the guys was happening. “How do I look?”

“He’d be nuts if he doesn’t notice you.”

“That’s not what I meant though,” you lowered your head trying to hide the redness, but only made Yejin giggle and pull you to face her, “but thank you.”

Both your laughs erupted as the elevator doors open and you both were greeted with the heavy music and all the dancers that were with you two, along with some members here and there from the other groups, with some other idols as well, but curiously enough, the place wasn’t as packed as you expected.

“Fucking finally!” Jisung was quick to pass his arm around your shoulder as his other hand held a can of beer. “I thought you girls weren’t coming anymore!”

“You really think I’ll dress like this to stay home?”

“Have to agree, Angel,” Felix’s deep voice caught your attention and you found Eric and Sunwoo not far behind, “that would be a waste of the worst kind.”

You hugged all four boys and so did Yejin before she went to grab both of you something to drink. Your eyes wander the place finding a few of the Skids, some other idols you have met before but never paid much attention besides professional, some of The Boyz and finally finding Felix’s smart eyes on you.

“Where’s Hyunjin? He was annoying me to come quick and yet he’s nowhere to be found!”

“I think I saw him and Younghoon not long ago,” Eric’s voice was muffled but you still manage to understand what he said. “I think they were close to the balcony though.”

You nodded and made your way towards the balcony trying you best to not having your eyes wander around the place looking for a specific pair of eyes, hopefully, on you. Yejin found you mid-way, giving you a cup full of alcohol – as you realized as you pulled the cup closer to take a good sip – before interlacing your arms as you two kept going towards the balcony.

The closer you got to the balcony, more packed it looked like the place was and no sign of Hyunjin anywhere, but before you could curse again, both you and Yejin heard your name being called before your best friend appeared in front of you accompanied by Younghoon that said hello to the both of you before Hyunjin got closer to you.

“Come, we are at a place less packed and got food and drinks,” you could see his smile and smell the alcohol he had already consumed, but you knew he still wasn’t drunk enough. “I texted Lix and Ji, they’ll probably be here soon as well.”

Yejin was already on her way while talking to Younghoon, while you felt Hyunjin’s arm over your shoulder leading you towards the place he had said, you quickly took a few more sips of your drink as your left hand met his waist. You didn’t know what Yejin had put on your cup, but you could already feel a little lightheaded, but not enough to meet with the two dark orbs that had their focus on you as you reached your destination.

He was handsome, beautiful and that outfit should have been illegal for him to wear it, yet you couldn’t really take your eyes off him, barely realizing he was doing the exact same thing to you, eyeing you from above the rim of his can of beer. It looked like everything was in slow motion from both sides, neither could take the eyes out of each other as Hyunjin guided you all the way up, with Minho pulling you to his side, staying between you and Juyeon, only then, your eyes went down, while his kept on your face, noticing how red your eyes were and how your cheeks had a bit of pink to them, making him smile at that.

“Took you two long enough!” He hugged you closer before drinking a bit more of his beer before pointing to your cup. “What’s that?”

“Ask Jinx, I have no idea what she put in here, but it tastes good though…”

You took another sip of the drink before Minho took it from you to have a taste before turning to Yejin asking if she could do one for him as well, soon enough Yejin was away and you were alone in a small space with Hyunjin, Minho, Younghoon and Juyeon.

“So, this is what took you girls so long?” Minho eyed you top to bottom, making you fully aware of his stare and your clothes. Even though Minho was your bias, you two had become close friends, he had complemented you and eyed you like that before, but thanks to the alcohol, this time felt different and you could feel your cheeks burn a little as he made you twirl until you ended on his other side, Juyeon a few centimeters away. “It was worth it; don’t you guys think?” You heard humming from Younghoon and a small ‘yeah’ from Hyunjin, and you knew Minho had a plan the moment his eyes and smirk landed on Juyeon. “Cat got your tongue, Juyeon? Or should I say-”

“It was worth it!” His voice was quick, way too quick, getting your attention almost instantly, making you lose the exchange of glances and smirks between the other three as Juyeon’s eyes wander between you and the can of beer in his hand. If the lighting had been a bit better for you, you would see how red his ears were. “I’m sure you can get any guy you like tonight.”

“Well, I was actually thinking of just hang out with you guys and have fun, wasn’t really planning on leaving with anyone tonight.” Your voice was low before you drink a bit more of your drink, fully aware of the four pair of eyes on you. “Besides, I know most people here and most don’t really catch my attention for me to risk it…”

“And who did?”

If you could, at that second, you would kill your best friend, not missing the wide smile he gave you, although the murder eyes you gave him.

“Who did what?”

Saved by Yejin for the second time that day, but this time she was accompanied by Jisung, Felix, Eric and Sunwoo, each with cups that looked really similar to the one you were almost done.

“Oh, jus-”

“Nothing,” you cut Minho who eyed you with a raised eyebrow before lowering his head nodding. “How many did you do?”

“One for each of you, also a few more for these four,” her hand quickly took your almost empty cup before putting a new full one on your hand, the rest of the liquid quickly taken by Jisung before he put the now empty cup, on a walking tray as you all gathered around, you and Juyeon way closer than before. “So, what were you guys talking about?”

“I think I’m gonna go get some air and see the balcony.”

“I’ll go with you,” you held your tongue to say no, but you could already feel his callous hands on the small of your back, his thumb caressing your bare skin slightly. “I could also use some air and I still haven’t seen what they did to the balcony.”

His explanation was for literally no one, as you could barely hear it considering everything and the others knew that was a horrible lie to stay closer to you, mainly thanks to Hyunjin’s question as to whom had caught your attention. He wouldn’t lie, anyone would be lucky to have your attention, but he wanted to be one of those people, if not the person that caught your attention.

The lingering look you gave him when you first saw him appeared in his head as you both made your way to the balcony, both fully aware of all the glances you both received as you made your way through the sea of people. Most of them parting ways to allow you both to pass, Juyeon’s hand burning on your lower back and the warm of his body to your right only making it worse, especially once those were mixed the alcohol Yejin had made for you.

Luckly or not, the balcony was mostly empty, blame it the weather or whoever planned that. The muffled noise reminded them of the party going on inside, yet both your attentions appeared to be on each other as you leaned on the glass, cup still half full, his not so different from yours. You two remained silent, listening to the noise of the city outshining the noise of the party, and that’s when you realized how happy you were with your current situation as you barely noticed a wide smile appear on your lips.

“If I knew bringing you outside would have made you so happy, I would’ve done it sooner,” you both giggled and you pushed him slightly with your right arm, but it barely made effect, instead he got closer as he leaned in the glass, eyes ahead like yours. “Care to share what got you so smiley?”

“Alcohol?” You lifted you glass with a smile, receiving a nod from Juyeon who did the same to his. “I don’t know, I just… I think I just now realized that, even my life being pretty chaotic right now, I think I’ve never been happier, if I’m honest.”

“That’s a good thing then, no?”

“I guess,” you lowered your head with a smile, taking another sip of your drink, aware of Juyeon’s eyes, but never meeting his gaze. “I just feel like there’s something missing, yet when I think about it, I can’t see what it is…” You left a heavy sigh before looking to the moon above you. “Is it not having a place of my own? Like, should I get my own place? Should I get my own car? Should I allow myself to d-” you stop mid-sentence and hoped Juyeon wouldn’t notice, if he did, wouldn’t ask.

“Why don’t you get your own place and car?”

You sigh thanking whomever you could before turning to look at him, his eyes were to the city and you could see a small smile on his lips as you took your time to answer as your eyes wandered his profile.

“I don’t know really, never felt the need until now.” Your answer was true, yet it felt wrong in a way. You knew the girls needed a place to stay and you didn’t mind covering most of the rent, you didn’t mind helping Soyeon and the girls of getting a car to get around the city or to have spontaneous rendezvous around Seoul and the country in general, you didn’t mind any of that because you liked the company, you loved to spend time with them. “I think I just got used to how things are or were…”

“I don’t know what I’d do if I had to live alone after all this time with the guys,” you couldn’t hold your reaction, getting a small chuckle from Juyeon who turned on his heals, back to the glass and he faced the party inside before his eyes turn to you. “It’s ok to be scared, I would if I had to leave them, but I still wouldn’t want to drop an opportunity for it. They’ll understand, I’m sure of it, and it’s always good to have a place of your own, your own little world, per say.”

His smile was sly, and you couldn’t really focus on anything, his words hit you like a rock, his smile only making it harder for you to focus, yet, all you wanted was to hug him and say thank you, yet all you did was stare at him, in silence. At that, his eyes met yours and his smile vanishes, concern filling his eyes.

“Thank you,” your voice was fast and weak, so he wouldn’t misunderstand. “I mean, I think I’m just scare of doing everything alone since I always had people around me to help, maybe that’s why I’m a procrastinating on getting a place and a car of my own… God Moonbin will have a full day once I tell him this.”

“Moonbin? From ASTRO?”

“Yeah,” you giggled remembering one of the last conversations you had prior to Road to Kingdom rehearsals. “I’m sure he’ll want to be there for when I finally buy my own car and will sure want to throw a housewarming party once I have my place.”

“Well, I’ll help with the party, at least the carrying things part, not about the organizing, Kevin is the one that’s good at that.” His laugh made you smile widely as you also turned on your heels to face the party inside, the smile still present as you manage to see a few of your friends inside having fun. “We won’t leave you; you know?”

You lowered your head, remembering Minho saying the exact same thing to you not long ago.

“Minho has a big mouth sometimes.”

“Only when he cares,” you both giggled and Juyeon took a step forward before turning his body to you, his face mere centimeters of your own, your eyes never leaving his chest though that was the thing you wanted the most. “We both mean it, no one is gonna leave you, you are already part of us, I also heard about that little late practice that happened at your company before the rehearsals.”

You shook your head bringing a small laugh to Juyeon’s lips, finally raising your head and finding his crescent eyes looking down at you.

Too close.

“I don’t know how that came around, but it was fun, I guarantee that,” you maintained the smile, seeing as his eyes went down to your lips before going back up to your eyes. “This industry scares me a little,” you confess it for the first time and you notice how taken a back he was, which was one of the reasons you never said anything. “Don’t get me wrong, I’m glad that I manage to be living and doing what I love, but still…”

“I get it,” husky, that’s how his voice was; you didn’t stop the eye contact, realizing how close he got to you. “It sucks but I understand your point. Completely.” He lowered his head, his lips brushing slightly against the crown of your head. “Is that why you always kept your distance from every celebrity?”

“That’s the fame I have among you people?”

His laugh made you giggle, but you understood his point, you had heard it before, and it was true. Until you worked with ASTRO you barely had any contact with idols in the industry, although you had worked with a few and always exchanged greetings, you always tried to keep your distance, the idea of a dating scandal scaring you more than anything, especially with an idol, even if you had your share of scandals – some being true – with other actors in the industry, but it was always clear to all parts that it wouldn’t go further, although some have tried.

“There’s a reason why a lot of idols want your number and attention, and it’s not just because you are an amazing actress and a gorgeous woman.”

The air was stuck in your throat, and you knew he meant it his words as you felt one of his hands go to your waist, a light pressure just to let you know they were there, but he didn’t dare to move once his fingers were settled on your dress and bare skin.

“So, you think I’m pretty?”

“I said gorgeous, not pretty, but yes, you are pretty too.”

You two smile shyly at each other, his eyes never leaving your face even when your eyes met the small space between your two bodies.

“Guess you are not bad yourself.”

“Are you saying I look pretty?”

“I’m saying you look handsome and gorgeous tonight.”

You smile receiving a smirk as a response.

“Just tonight? Shame…” Before you could say anything, you felt a bit more pressure of his fingers around your waist and you knew he notice how you breathed in at that. “At least I have the most gorgeous girl of the party close to me tonight.”

“Where is she? I’d like to meet her, I’m sure she has a lot of eyes around her if she really is as gorgeous as you say.”

“I’m sure she has, I saw many people eye her on the way here, call me a bit selfish for keeping her all to myself, but I just wanted some alone time with her.”

The silence was heavy, and you could swear he could hear your heartbeat. He was looking so fucking beautiful, his perfume was the one thing you could sense making you slightly dizzy, his hand on your waist didn’t help at all, his lips were plump and so kissable and GOD you wanted to kiss him and mess up his perfect slicked back hair.

“Mother fucker you come back here!”

Juyeon quickly took a step back and you lowered your head, your bare back screaming at the loss of the warm of his hand on your waist as you felt the cold of the glass. God, what could have you done if Sunwoo and Eric didn’t show up? You quickly eyed your cup drinking a bit more as you saw Juyeon’s back turn to you to get in between Sunwoo and Eric, the rest of your group not too far behind entering the balcony with loud laughs as you were quick on your feet to meet with Yejin, taking her hand and taking her to the bathroom. You needed to breath, to talk, to think… What happened wasn’t supposed to have happen. Juyeon was your friend and that’s all that was going to be, so why couldn’t you stop thinking about kissing him? How could you look at him for the rest of the night? You cursed Yejin for whatever mix she did for the drinks already feeling slightly drunk as you two entered the bathroom, quickly checking if you two were alone. You needed to avoid Juyeon for the rest of the night, that was your only thought as you told Yejin what had happened at the balcony.

The boys have been keeping you company ever since Yejin left the party thanks to her schedule at KQEnt the next day, your mind on occasion reminding you how you had agreed to meet with Wooyoung to finally get to know the other members of Ateez, and honestly, after tonight, you needed a bit of a laugh and have some fun time with people you didn’t know and – hopefully – wouldn’t know anything about what was happening, but you knew Wooyoung well enough to know at least a bit, he would have told the other guys.

You twirled around yourself as you felt Hyunjin’s hand on your waist and the other steadying you as you the whole room spiraled around you. Minho was quick to find you two at the dance floor, murmuring something to Hyunjin that just nodded smiling at you.

“I’ll be back soon, ok?”

You just nodded and extended your arm as you saw Younghoon and Eric approach you on the dance floor. Neither group ever leaving you along, mainly the skids, but as the night went on, TBZ also started to loosen up even more and dance along with you, unsurprisingly, after you and Changmin had a dance off a little after the whole thing at the balcony.

As that reminder came of what had happened early on the night, you found yourself searching for a specific boy, one that you couldn’t find anywhere since you came out of the bathroom with Yejin after everything. Apparently, you both were avoiding each other, and were also pretty good at that.

“I can get him if you want,” Younghoon’s voice on your right ear startled you a little before eyeing him confused. “You are not being as discreet as you think, and he hasn’t been either,” you lowered your head but never stopped dancing. Younghoon’s arms went for your waist as you both kept dancing, his voice was a little loud on your ear, making you squirm a little, but not backing away from him. “I don’t know what happened at the balcony, but I know something happened, you two can act like nothing happened or take chance and see what goes down.”

“Shouldn’t you be helping him getting with the girl he’s been crushing on?”

“What you think I’m trying to do?” Younghoon got back a little and even at the dim light you could see his smile and you shook your head. “Whether you two want to believe it or not, we want to help both of you, we have your backs.”

“So you are using me to cause jealous?”

“Something like that…” He let the phrase wander in your mind, holding yourself not to look around and find him with some other girl, cursing in your mind once you couldn’t find him again, but that didn’t ease your mind at all. “He’s not the type to get jealous, if I’m being honest, he’s the least jealous and possessive of all of us, but I wouldn’t push his buttons, unless you know how and which ones to do it.”

With that, Younghoon let go of you with a small wink, but kept dance close, looking at you and around you two from time to time. You tried your best to not raise your head and search for Juyeon, happy when you couldn’t find him, yet, that sentiment lasting a mere second, as he could actually finally be with the girl he’s been crushing on.

Jacob quickly found you at some point, giving his drink to share, saying he was way too drunk already, but couldn’t say no when someone approached him with that. You giggled and took the cup, sharing it with him as you both kept dancing. The alcohol you ingested throughout the night making you head even fuzzier once you started to share the drink Jacob handed you, yet you didn’t want to leave.

That was the most fun you’ve had in years and that’s saying something considering the few but memorable parties you’ve been and had been able to let go. You were finally feeling like a nineteen-year-old and that was making you loosen up even more. This was different than all the other times you were invited to a celebrity party, mostly because you were surrounded by your friends, people you trusted, so you could actually loosen up and be yourself, have fun the way you were supposed to in your early twenties.

As Jacob handed the last bit of his drink to you, you felt hands rooming around your waist as you tipped your head back to finish with the drink, handing the cup back to Jacob with a smile, the hand still lingering on your waist, so you went to entangled it, but once your fingers didn’t meet with any rings, you were suddenly shocked. All the boys where in your line of vision, so it was only logical to assume it was Hyunjin, but there were no rings, so maybe Minho?

In the millisecond that your brain short-circuits, the hand pulled you a bit closer and you felt the heat of the person behind you, the buttons of his shirt making contact to the bare skin of your back. He was tall, his hand was firm, but it was only once his cologne clouded your mind was that you realized Juyeon was the one behind you. At that, you let your body relax and you felt his breathing against your back, thankfully, not seeing the redness of your cheeks for having him like this.

“I’m sorry that I scared you,” his voice was low on your ear, and you questioned how you managed to hear him so clearly, but once his lips touched the outline of your ear, you could fell the air leave your longs to never return. “Is it ok?”

You knew what he was asking, but before you could respond, you felt pairs of eyes on you, meeting with Younghoon’s eyes above the hem of his cup, you could swear you could see the smirk he was hiding with that cup and the memory of the conversation came to your mind. Jealousy. You sigh and nod slowly, eyes fixed on Younghoon who raised his eyebrows at you before lowering his cup finally allowing you to see the cocky grin he had, making you scoff taking your head back, meeting with Juyeon’s shoulders.

If you turned your head to your left and tilted a little bit further, you could kiss his neck, but that would be too much for you, his cologne was already clouding your judgment enough along with all the alcohol you ingested that night, so you just rested your head there while keep moving your hips to the sound of the music, trying to ignore how much you could feel his body against yours.

Younghoon wanted the girl that Juyeon had eyes on to be jealous and talk to him. There wasn’t much you could do, it wasn’t something you wanted to see, as you realized each time the thought crossed your mind, yet Juyeon was your friend, you should help him with that, it was the least you could do since you couldn’t really tell him how much he had started to affect you since the moment you two met.

Were in love? Definitely not, but you were definitely intrigued as to how much Juyeon had managed to get under your walls. Considering the time they were up, cracks were sure to had appeared, but you never thought someone would actually dare to enter, or maybe you willingly gave him the map to enter the walls of your heart? Considering how well you two got along, all the nice and fun times you’ve spent together with the practiced, the performance earlier that day… You realized he counted on you as a friend, it was ironic to say the least. You never opened up to someone like that, not even to Dongmin regardless of all the flirting and touchy touchy you two had been, you’ve never gave in to that.

The thought of dating someone on the media always scared you, you wanted someone normal, that didn’t know anything about this life, yet no one seemed to have actually understood, seeing mainly the glamour of it, or what they could win by being with you. Dongmin had been a breath of fresh air and that terrified you, even more once you realized how big he was getting at acting, he was charming, handsome, good at everything, you two had gotten along so well, yet you tried your best to tuck that blooming feeling away, especially after that one time you two almost kissed after a drunk hangout.

You wanted to push him away after that, you weren’t ready for a relationship, especially not one with an idol, not one with someone that was from the same world as you, but he saw what you were doing and came after you, that was when the rumors started, that was the first time you had been called for a meeting regarding a possible dating scandal, a dating scandal that could become true because the both of you realized you had catch feelings. After that meeting, seeing the reaction of some people regarding that, brought you the memories of you and your ex, that was when you reinforced your walls, talked down with Dongmin and decided to draw the line and remain friends.

And yet, here you were dancing with the guy that had caught your attention after Dongmin, that managed to get through the cracks of your walls, the guy whose body you were more than aware of how close it was to yours, how tight his hand was around your waist as the other was on the side of your thigh. Here you were raising your left hand to his neck, the tip of your fingers going to the back of his neck scratching it slightly and you smiled at yourself as you noticed how his breathing had changed and how something else was poking behind you, making you move your hips a bit more, both his hands firmly holding your hips in place, making you feel the bulge on your ass, waking you up to the reality at hand.

Before you could step away from him, he used his hands to turn you to face him, caging you in front of him with his arms around your waist. Your eyes focused on his chest and neck, fully aware of the bulge that you could still feel thanks to how close he held you. As his Adam’s apple bopped, you knew he was about to ask you something, probably as to why you had done it, why you grinded yourself against him like that knowing he had eyes on someone. What would you respond? Your selfish side had won this time? That you realized you had a crush on him? That you wanted to kiss him since you two were at the balcony?

“I’m sorry,” once he said nothing you finally raised your head meeting with his confused eyes and parted lips, lips you wanted to kiss so badly at that point. You cleared your throat and spoke a little louder towards his ear as the music that was now playing had a more constant beat, making it harder for him to hear you. “I’m sorry, I shouldn’t have done it, but Younghoon said-”

“What you talking about? Why you apologizing?” After a second, he raised his eyes, his lips on a thin line as he closed his eyes lowering his head. His forehead mere millimeters of your own. “Forget whatever Younghoon said, please, and stop apologizing.”

“I should-”

“Run away from me again?” His voice was husky on your ear, tightening the grip on your waist and you lowered your head, hearing and feeling him sigh against you. “Why you avoiding me?”

“I’m not, I just have to go-”

“Ok.”

You felt his grip light and you were quick on your feet to turn around. You needed air; you needed a place away from the chaos, your mind needed to think, so you ran to the balcony, the damn balcony. Yet, once the doors were open and the cool air hit your bare skin and filed your lungs you felt like it was gonna be ok. You closed the doors behind you, a few people looked your way, so you took the left, hiding yourself a little in between the vases with plants. You didn’t want to talk to anyone, you just wanted to breath and control yourself.

You had been selfish, unconsidered, naïve. You could blame the alcohol, but deep down you knew that you did that because you wanted. The alcohol gave you courage to do it? Definitely, but you still shouldn’t have done, not knowing that he had eyes on someone and that someone was at the party. You probably screwed everything up. Cursing the girls and yourself in your mind as you closed your eyes, the cool of the wall helping to calm you as well as the sound of the city.

“Had fun?”

It wasn’t the fact that he came after you, but actually how close to you he was, that made you startle and jump away from him, making him smile apologetic as you shook your head, back into the position you were before, a bit further away from Juyeon, as it was the original idea, to stay away from him enough that you could think with your head.

“Yeah…” you said shyly and he nodded as his back was now against the same space yours were a few seconds ago, the warm of his body hitting your right side as if it was burning. Why was he here and not inside? “I’m not avoiding you; you know?”

“If that’s what you say, I believe you.”

His eyes didn’t meet yours as they wandered across his profile. He was a beautiful person, inside and out. The thought of your selfish acts hitting you back again intensely. You knew the person he had a crush was at the party thanks to the other guys, mainly Younghoon, but you haven’t seen him react to it beside the twitter post you saw a bit after the whole balcony thing at the beginning of the party.

“Are they here?” His head snapped in your direction as if you had said the most absurd thing in the world. You lowered your head before looking to the buildings in front of you, the memory of the other time both of you were at that balcony came rushing in your mind. “The one you have eyes on. Are they here?”

Although from his silent you could have already guessed the answer, was the change in his posture that made you hyper aware of the whole situation. He wasn’t sure if he wanted to tell you or not. You tried to pretend that didn’t hurt you, after all you considered him a friend and so did he, but maybe you did step over that invisible boundary of friendship while you two were grinning against each other on the dance floor. You nodded closing your eyes, but the sudden movement of Juyeon being in front of you made you jump slightly.

“Well, she…” his voice was weak, but it didn’t crack, it was more like a whisper and you saw as his feet took small steps getting closer to you. “She is here, yes.”

He wasn’t in front of you, but also was not by your side, which meant that the passage you may have between his body and the wall was clear for you to flee. Why you’d flee? You didn’t know, you just needed to stay away from him, face heating up by the second. At the same second you turned your body, his arm was covering the passage, as his hand stabilized how his body leaned in towards the wall, his eyes not leaving your figure. The truth was, that you were trapped, yet you couldn’t understand why he had done that, except he wanted to confront you about it, making you lower your head ashamed.

“Who is she?” You tried to not sound ashamed or upset, luckily, it worked and you just turned to the other side, hanging your arms above the glass divider like you’d done it earlier. The warmth of his body getting closer to you by the second and as you chose to look at your hands playing with each other. “Maybe I can help fix it…”

“Fix what?”

“What I did wrong,” your voice almost cracked and you thanked that it didn’t. That was why you always friend zoned the people you met and found interested, because when you didn’t, you realized they could never like you. The voices of some of the critics immediately popping in your head, you were never gonna be enough, so why even bother to try? You felt his body close to yours before seeing his arms caging you from behind. Why it had to be him? Why now? “I’m good as a wing woman, I promise, just tell me how she looks like and I’ll fix it, you can even wait here, I can bring her here and-”

“Her hair is black and loose,” you felt his warm breath on your neck and you shivered a little. He’s caging you, of course you would be able to feel his breath, why was that affecting you so much? All you wanted was for Eric and Sunwoo to appear again and save you for this situation again, “she’s wearing boot heals, which was a wise choice since she knew she probably wouldn’t be able to seat,” his chuckled made a wave of electric shock goes through your spine.

“Well, that narrows it down, most girls here are in heels,” you said with a sigh and felt the warmth vanish, making you turn away. He wasn’t caging you anymore, but he wasn’t as far as you thought he would be. You crossed your arms in front of you, your bare back pressing on the cool of the metal and the glass as you eyed him cleaning your throat. “What else?”

“She’s wearing a black dress which is almost backless,” you held yourself not to react to that as you saw him smirk a little looking down to both your feet as you realized they were almost touching. “She doesn’t like makeup, so hers is very light, you can see mostly her lipstick that makes her lips pop more,” you swallowed air as he raised his eyes after every word, his eyes wandering around your face before landing on your lips, making you conscious of them, liking it quickly. “She also pretty much ignored me the whole night, we talked very little, she spent most time with her friends while I watched her from afar, since every time I got close, she ran away from me.”

He was playing with you, he had to be, there was no other explanation to what had just come out of his mouth. In the end, Younghoon was right; you were just supposed to be used for jealous, he was down bad for whoever she was. You felt your heart ache as you sigh. You knew he wouldn’t tell you anything else, and if she was ignoring him and, considering what happened on the dance floor a while back, you knew you weren’t the most qualify to go after her and get them both to talk.

You are being used as a tool for a jealous reaction didn’t really work as well as they expected. The girls’ voices were far in your head as your memories from some moments of the party came to place. How all the boys reacted whenever you two were close, especially inside and around the dance floor, all the comments they would do, mainly the ones coming from Minho and Younghoon, it was a way to get someone jealous, to catch someone’s attention. Hell, even Hyunjin’s reactions had been confusing, you still couldn’t tell if he wanted you to invest in Juyeon or not, but it wasn’t his fault, only the girls knew about your crush on him thanks to Yejin babbling about it to them earlier after the episode on the changing room at MNET.

“Well, if the fact she’s been ignoring you is bothering you so much, why don’t you do something about it? It would mean more coming from you than anyone approaching her and doing your job for you.”

Your saying came almost bitter, but you couldn’t really read Juyeon’s expression. It was like he was pondering your words, but at the same time, he looked like he zoomed out.

“In all honesty…” From the moment your eyes met, neither of you could part them away, you noticed how he got closer to you, felt the sleeves of his shirt brush against your naked arms as he caged you again, but this time in front of you. “There’s a lot that I want to do regarding her and the situation.”

“Why don’t you then?”

“She’s been givin’ me too many mixed signals, I don’t know exactly if she wants this as much as I do.”

You didn’t know if you were breathing or not, all you could notice was how Juyeon was looking at you, how his eyes would shine to the city lights, how his lips were slightly parted, how close he was to you. You needed to focus, he was your friend and wanted help with his crush. It didn’t matter how much you wanted to kiss him, your lips weren’t the ones he wanted, yet, here he was, focusing his eyes on them from time to time.

“Have you thought about the idea that maybe… You are the one that’s giving her the mixed signals?” His eyes never left yours, a small smirk creped on his lips as he sigh, making you understand that maybe he understood what you were saying, after all, he was giving you multiple and mixed signals all night. “Try to be more direct now, that might help to get her to understand that you want it.”

He nodded his head, but his eyes were clouded, drunk on your own face, going from your eyes to your mouth, sometimes even lower, but never too far from your lips, making you conscious of them, making your tongue wet them from time to time. Neither knew how much time had passes since your last statement, but his voice was hoarse as he started to talk.

“Guess I’ll be more direct now, then.”

Before anything else could be said, Seungmin appeared on the corner of your eye, making you quickly focus on him, whose eyes were going from you to Juyeon and back to you, a sly smile on his lips. The redness on your face didn’t fade as you noticed how Juyeon made no effort to stand away from you, not moving a single muscle that were the ones on his neck to also face Seungmin.

“Sorry, Hyunjin asked—Actually, don’t worry about it, I’ll leave…”

Hearing Hyunjin’s name awoken you from your trance state, making you stand tall on your two feet, finally making Juyeon stand away from you – but not as far as you couldn’t feel his left arm close to you as you turned to Seungmin.

“What happened?”

“It’s nothing (y/n), really.”

“Seungmin, what happened?” You had been with them long enough to almost never use their name, so whenever you did – recently –, it straddled them enough for them to think if they did something wrong. “Why Hyunjin asked for you to get me?”

“It’s Jeongin.”

Before he could finish you started to walk towards Seungmin, but not before looking back at Juyeon who had a small smile on his lips as his hands were on his pockets, his eyes on your body before meeting your eyes. A small nod was enough for you to understand that it was ok and that the conversation you two were having was done. You shot him a smile in return and turned to Seungmin who took your hand guiding you through the sea of people inside towards a small door that connected the space everyone was to where the people working at the party stayed.

He led you into another small door on your right, finding Hyunjin trying to make Jeongin drink a little bit of water, although he was fighting the older one to get out of the chair and room, stopping the second his fox eyes landed on you. A smile spread on his lips, his arms to the air as his eyes vanished into two crescent moons.

“NOONA! YOU HERE! She’s here hyung!” He then turned to Hyunjin who nodded with a smile. “What you doing here noona?”

“See if the bathroom is clear, we need to do a few things, I’ll make him drink water,” you were quick to face Seungmin who nodded at your instructions, quickly eyeing Jeongin and Hyunjin, “let Jinnie know if there’s no one in the bathroom and we’ll meet there, ok?”

The second youngest nodded as he got out of the room, closing the door behind him as you walked towards the other two, Jeongin still refusing to drink the water, making you realize how much he had to drink, this was probably the first party he’s been unsupervised, which would explain how badly drunk he got.

“Found him not long ago losing his balance before losing a step to get somewhere, so I brought him here so he could sober at least a little bit.”

“Where are the others?”

“Chan and Minho couldn’t find him, so we all started to search for him, Ji and Lix are pretty drunk themselves, so it was a bust and Changbin was already looking on the hall and talking to security to see if he went home when I found him near the bar.”

“You guys let the recently legal drinking adult maknae unsupervised at a party?”

“I��ve drink before noona, I’m fine, I promise! Please tell the hyungs I’m fine, they’ll listen to you.”

His eyes were shinning under the fluorecent lights of the small room, and you smiled at yourself. You knew they had a soft spot for you, Jeongin and Felix, yet Hyunjin was right, he couldn’t get out without sobering up at least a little.

“How about you drink some water while I talk to them, hun? Sounds good?”

Jeongin nodded and turned to grab the bottle Hyunjin had been trying to make him drink for the last few minutes, making the other one scoff as he eyed you.

“Sorry, but he didn’t want me to call neither of the older ones, so you were my last hope.”

“Don’t worry about it, Seungmin came at just the right moment!”

You gave out a nervous giggle as you and Hyunjin get up and went closer to the door.

“What happened? Did someone hurt you?”

You laughed a little louder this time as you shook your head, feeling your full-face burn at the memory of what had just happened with Juyeon.

“I was with Juyeon when Seungmin found me,” Hyunjin’s face lit up and you quickly shook your head, making him eye you confused. “We weren’t doing anything, he has… Has eyes on someone though.”

“I know.”

“You know?”

Hyunjin nodded and his phone lit up with a notification from Seungmin saying the bathroom was clear and you two could bring Jeongin in. You quickly got Jeongin up with the help of Hyunjin, he appeared to have sobered up a little, but once he started to mumble he was feeling sick, you and Hyunjin were quick to reach the bathroom making Seungmin guarding the door as Jeongin had his face in the toilet puking away all the alcohol and food he had since he arrived.

Your best friend kept eyeing you until you sighed and told him everything that had happened after he promised to keep it quiet, but you knew that tomorrow morning that would be the topic of conversation during breakfast. As you told him everything, from the first balcony situation until the moment Seungmin found you, Hyunjin was holding his expressions the best he could, although from time to time it got out of hand, and you’d slap him or put your hand in front of his mouth.

As on queue, the moment you finish, Jeongin got out of the stall heading towards you two who quickly led him to the sink where you made him wash his mouth as you watered his face and neck trying to sober him up a little bit.

“Will you tell-”

“Shut it!”

You said quickly making Hyunjin laugh as you both finished taking care of Jeongin as the bathroom door burst it open with Chan heading your way looking at Jeongin before calling all of you out, saying the car was waiting downstairs already. The boys all went to say their goodbyes as Chan and Jeongin went away, but thankfully, the maknae refused to go anywhere without you, so you asked them to extend the greeting to you three as you headed to the elevator with a drunk Jeongin hang up on you under the watchful eyes of Chan.

“Don’t worry boss, it wasn’t your fault, he deserves to let go and have fun in places like this.”

You noticed how Chan smiled at the nick name you used with him and nodded. As you entered their lives, you tried your best to get the weight that all of them felt off their shoulders and reinforce some other things that you know they need to hear more. You knew Chan would feel responsible for Jeongin, but you also knew that this was the best situation for Jeongin to live his best life as a young adult, to get his ass drunk and have his first horrible hang over.

Jeongin was behind you, as you used the wall of the elevator to help you hold him in place, you exchanged smiles with Chan as you felt the younger one hid his face on the crock of your neck as you felt his hands around you. That was the clingiest you’ve ever seen Jeongin be, but you didn’t mind one bit, except when he refused the others help leaning completely on you that was also far from being sober and strong enough to carry him.

As the three of you waited for the others to return, your mind went to what happened that night and all you wanted was to vanish at that point. Your mind questioning your friendship with Juyeon, his actions, how you felt about him, the power he had over you with barely doing anything. It was like you were a teenager again and you loved and hated that feeling.

12.01: catching fire.

pirate kingdom || choi san || smau

⇦ || pk || masterlist || 12.02 (📝) || ⇨

taglist: open || @baribaaari @grown-in-neverland @randomthingsthatiwillpost @so-nyeon-dan

comment to be added to the taglist ❣

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yessa-vie · 5 months

Text

12 || PIRATE KINGDOM || C.S. SMAU

→ SS NUMBER. 24.

→ IMPORTANT. a lot of cursing and interactions between y/n and juyeon and wooyoung. i also decided to do two written bonus regarding both tbz apresentation on rtk and the first time y/n meets with the ateez boys face to face.

⇦ || pk || masterlist || 12.01 (📝) || ⇨

12: denial stage.

pirate kingdom || choi san || smau

⇦ || pk || masterlist || 12.01 (📝) || ⇨

taglist: open || @baribaaari @grown-in-neverland @randomthingsthatiwillpost @so-nyeon-dan

comment to be added to the taglist ❣

15 notes · View notes

yessa-vie · 6 months

Text

06.01 || PIRATE KINGDOM || C.S. SMAU

→ SS NUMBER. 02.

→ WORD COUNT. 10,214.

→ IMPORTANT. pure domestic fluff and platonic relationship. stray kids are the most adorable humans in the world. kinda prof read, focus is to show the dynamics between the reader and the Skids.

⇦ || pk || masterlist || ⇨

Today was the day and it surprised you how easily you woke up considering how late you and Hyunjin had slept. You were the first to wish him a happy birthday, then the boys started to knock on his room to wish him one as well, but you two only actually went to sleep at almost four in the morning. Although your night hadn’t been the easiest since you were scared of missing the clock to make breakfast, you felt alive when you felt the vibration of your phone, quickly taking Hyunjin’s and dismissing his own alarm as you crawled yourself out of bed to go get ready.

You took a quick and quiet shower, putting your clothes on and trying not to make sudden moves that could potentially be a problem to your plan. Although Hyunjin has always being a heavy sleeper and extremely hard to wake up, nothing was impossible, and you were a firm believer of “Murphy’s Law” to go on with just luck. Your phone quickly met your back pocket as you opened the door to the room, eyes focused on your childhood best friend sleeping peacefully in his bed and you smiled before closing the door with a tiny “click” before heading towards the kitchen.

You thanked the boys in your mind as you started to gather everything you would need to make the perfect breakfast, not only for the birthday boy, but also to the other members who had accepted you and have been taking care of you ever since the day you moved in. Since you’ve been living with them for almost a month, you manage to get your way around, quickly finding Chan’s favorite coffee, Changbin’s protein and all the tea Hyunjin liked to drink from time to time. You also manage to get Jeongin to bring to their dorm the coffee that Minho usually drinks, and make him leave a post-it behind telling him to go to the others dorm to eat breakfast.

After a while you manage to get when each of them would wake up and go to sleep, with some exceptions here and there, so it wasn’t a surprise when you heard some sounds coming from Chan’s room and you were quick to start making his coffee, also organizing everything for him to eat, like making pancakes, heating up some of Felix’s baking’s that you convinced him to give it to you in exchange for some anime watching while you played with his hair, which was a fair trade in your vision.

The laugh was stuck in your throat from the way Chan eyed you being awake and with a small breakfast table set for him in front of you, who were cutting some pieces of fruit for each of them. He was mid way of putting his shirt, but that was something you were already used to, especially after finding him in the kitchen shirtless putting some coffee for everyone the morning after the day you arrive to their dorm. As he stayed in his place you pointed to one of the chairs in front of you before going back into cutting the mangos.

“Why you awake?”

“Couldn’t sleep,” it was a white lie and you both knew, but since you didn’t look tired Chan just nodded and took the coffee mug starting to walk to go your way, but you stopped him midway. “Don’t you dare get out of this house without having a few bites of the pancakes, taking the fruit salad and tell me if I did the coffee the way you liked, Christopher!”

After that, his eyes grew a little bigger and you both kept staring at each other.

“You never call me Christopher.”

“That’s me letting you know you have to do what I say, I don’t care if you are three years older than me, you understand?”

He chuckled slightly putting the coffee mug on the table before going towards you and hugging you, leaving a small kiss on the top of you head before going for the seat in front, putting some of the pancakes on a plate and observing you focusing on doing all the things that were all over the place at the kitchen, which was when he finally noticed what you were doing and couldn’t help but smile and having his heart warm a bit at everything he noticed.

The pancakes you knew Chan, Han, Hyunjin, Jeongin and Felix loved. Felix baking goods that everyone loved it. Three different coffee jars, each with a post-it: “Chan’s favorite”; “Minho’s favorite”; “Regular”. You quickly went to one of the mixers and he noticed Changbin’s protein jar right beside it as you put a bit of bananas and blueberries, turning the shake color into a slightly pink color that got darker as you added a bit more blueberries.

When you opened the refrigerator door, he saw nine cups with post-it’s and saw each one of your names in them before you quickly close it and go back to the shake adding a few ice cubes to it before running to the pan that had a few more pancakes being made before grabbing a honey jar and putting in front of Chan, who eyed you with sparkly eyes as you poured a bit on top of his pancakes before heading back to the protein shake and, as on cue, Changbin came through the corridor of the rooms towards you with the same expressions that Chan knew he had from the sly smile you had on your lips.

Changbin quickly came and gave a small kiss on your left temple as he went for his mixer and protein jar, stopping in his place as he saw them all being already out and used. Chan laughed loudly as you petted Changbin’s back and went towards the mixer turning it off and putting a bit of it on a cup and handing him to try. His eyes averted from you to Chan, then the cup and finished on Chan who lifted his coffee cup before drinking a bit more.

“Just tell me if it’s good, because if it’s not I’ll have to do take it all out, clean it and do it all over again,” you pouted as Changbin smiled as Chan noticed his ears turned slightly red as he turned the cup drinking the protein shake, taking a loud laugh from the oldest that noticed how his eyes opened up slightly before putting the dirt cup of shake on the counter. “So?”

“I don’t know what you did, but you need to teach me, that’s so good, what the fuck?”

The three of you smile and the two guys exchanged looks as they saw you jump slightly in happiness as you filled one of the cups Changbin always took with him to the gym with the shake and handing it to him.

“Now seat and eat a bit, I cut a few fruits for you, but if you want, there’s pancakes and some of Lix baking, I’m just about to put the bacon, but I didn’t think you’d like it yet, but I can do it a bit with eggs if you want-”

Changbin’s arms around you made you stop quickly before he whispered a shy “thank you” in your ear before joining Chan in one of the chairs in front of you that turned back into focus, although both could see how red your ears and face were.

“How long has she being awake?”

“No idea Bin,” Chan said under his breath, turning the rest of the coffee on his mug before going for the jar that had his favorite coffee. “When I came out she was already here.”

“She caught you mid way leaving?”

“Midway of putting my shirt,” he pointed to the shirt on the back rest, folded and waiting to be used by the oldest, “and she didn’t let me leave before eating some breakfast.”

“And those post-its?”

“So you guys don’t get confused,” both heard your voice a though the frying of the bacon, “also, there’re some smoothies for each of you in the fridge, so you guys can take whenever you want, mine is only half up, but if you wanna try it, be my guest!”

You smiled from above your shoulder to them and managed to catch them both smiling and you with sparks in their eyes before they heard the door opening with Minho and Seungmin entering the guys’ dorm. Your smile widen as they came towards you with shocked looks. You quickly cover the bacon and lowered the fire so it wouldn’t burn until you explained what was for each of them.

Both the other ones only smiled behind their drinks as they observed the new arrivals looking through everything you had done, laughing loudly as you handed Minho a coffee cup and a pancake plate, while handing Seungmin a few slices of fruits and putting fresh done orange juice in front of him with the “Regular” coffee jar in front of them to chose, as you put “Minho’s favorite” in front of him and poured a bit more of “Chan’s favorite” on the oldest cup that kept eyeing you with sparkly eyes.

“Is good to let people take care of you from time to time, don’t forget that Christopher”

All the other three laughed loudly, while you just smirked as Chan lowered his head hiding how red he was. He knew you were right. All of them knew. He was always so busy taking care of the Stray Kids as a group and people, that he constantly forgot about himself and God he was enjoying having you around. All of them did. You were taking care of them, helping control the boys, always reminding him to eat and drink and scolding him whenever you caught him sleeping on the couch instead of his bed.

But the actual shock came from Seungmin taking a few of his fruits and putting in front of you making you eye him curious, but he didn’t back down until you took the fruit pieces, making you blush slightly and notice how your stomach welcomed the pieces of fruit as the smoothie was already leaving your stomach empty. All the four observed you going one place to the other putting the newly fried bacon with the eggs on a big plate and putting in front of the four of them, giving Chan and Bin a knowing smile before starting to make some more for the other guys.

As Chan was leaving, it was like on sync, Jisung, Felix and Jeongin entered the space you five were, but on contrary to the others, they were considerably louder. Felix being the first one to run towards you and hug you tightly spinning you around. Jisung not too far behind, came and hugged you from behind making a sandwich of you between the two of them, getting laughs of the others, before Chan telling them to keep it low since Hyunjin was still asleep and you didn’t want to wake him up yet. You smiled at him thankfully before turning to focus on the eggs and bacon, quick met with Minho by your side taking the pan and smiling at you before giving you a quick and shy kiss on the top of your head, making you redder than you already were.

Jeongin shyly came to your side as you cut a few more fruits for you and Seungmin, since he shared all his fruits with you, a full “I eat one and you eat one, or no one eats”, so you complied. Your smiled widened as you felt Jeongin’s head on your shoulder as he stole a few pieces of the freshly cut fruits, getting scolded for Seungmin and Changbin, making you laugh as he giggled and lifted his head from your shoulder, making you turn yours to touch his, quickly receiving a little laugh from all the others.

“Guys, I need to talk to (y/n), can I trust you guys not to destroy what she did for a few?”

You and Chan laughed as the others complained at Chan’s remark. He quickly put his shirt on as you approached him, realizing he was about to leave to the studio.

“Was it good?”

You bit your lip not wanting to meet Chan’s eyes, but his small chuckle made you eye him, finding him already looking with the most adorable look towards you before hugging you tightly.

“It was wonderful, baby girl” his lips met your forehead as he let you go a bit, his eyes focused on yours. “I know it’s Jinnie’s birthday, but please don’t forget to take care of yourself, ok?”

“You think he’ll like it?”

“Of course he is! But you also didn’t need to do all of this for us you know?”

“How could I not, Chan?” You pouted like a spoiled kid as you crossed your arms. “You guys have been taking such good care of me, this is the least I could do! I just used Jinnie’s birthday as an excuse, I wanted to do this for a long time, I just couldn’t because you guys don’t let me lift a finger in here!”

“But you are-“

“I’m not a guest! I’m living here with you guys! At least y’all let me help with the supermarket, but still, I just wanted to treat my boys”

The words came out before you could realize, it was the silence as Chan’s gave a sly smile that made you realize what you just said. You were quickly found involved by Chan’s arms, feeling his chest against you followed by a large amount of voices and a lot of bodies around you that you quickly realized to be the other kids and you couldn’t help but smile widely as your arms involved Chan’s waist.

In such a short amount of time, they had become your new family. You now understood why Hyunjin always told you not to worry, that he was never alone, that the other boys always took care of him, you saw it everyday, you felt it towards you, they treated you as one of them, even though you literally forced yourself into their lives.

You knew them before all of this, of course you did. You participated through the whole process, the practices, the survival show, the crying calls from Hyunjin with his secret phone, the escapes you two would do, the time you’d appear at their first dorm and you two would hang out late at night just so he could breathe a little. When Chan first caught you two, he didn’t know you were you, but he knew that you helped Hyunjin through it and he believed when your best friend said you weren’t his girlfriend, but his best and oldest friend. Since then, you started to understand the appeal that Chan carried with him.

Since then, whenever you encountered Chan you started to say “hello” to him, which was cute how he looked whenever that happened, but since it was only at random places, he didn’t realized the reason, but seeing you do it with others, he just thought you were a good person. He didn’t know you had seen him several times but was too terrified to talk to him, after all he was one of the most known trainees. You had talked to the GOT7 members when you were MC from time to time, you heard BamBam say the most amazing things about Chan, but it was only after that day that you knew how of a good soul he was.

After that day you paid more attention to Hyunjin and the Skids. Now you understood why some STAY’s said they were soulmates, why they were always meant to get together and create this whole group and grow the way they did. You were proud of your best friend, you were proud of his best friends, even though they probably had no idea that you existed nor knew who they were, but you knew everything, you just kept quiet.

You noticed how Minho would take care of all the others, he wasn’t cold as everyone wanted him to look, and all you could think about was all the times he sacrificed himself to them – just like Chan – just to see a smile at the others faces. You noticed how Changbin would always protect them from whoever, you noticed how he would eyed people that were around them and got in between this person and whoever they were talking about the members, the pure mean face with the heart of gold. You noticed how Jisung and Hyunjin’s relationship grew and became tighter and, in all honesty, you understood both sides, the both had a lot of feelings stuck inside, yet they always leaned towards each other for better or worse, so seeing them become beat friends warmed your heart the most, because you knew they also brought the best out of each other, always bringing the best of compliments about the other asked or not.

Felix, God he was an angel, but you still had your doubts, there was no way a person was that pure and cute, and yet, here you were, calling him a “sunshine” and “angel” to Hyunjin whenever he came up during your late nights conversations, all the time you saw how the guys smiled because of Felix or when you saw him smile you thanked he was one of them, taking care of all of them silently. Seungmin was always the hardest for you to figure and yet, just like Minho, his exterior was nothing compared to what was inside, how sensitive we was to everything and everyone around them, how, with very few and gentle movements or phrases, he managed to change the atmosphere and help whoever he wanted to help. You still remembered the time Hyunjin called you crying his eyes out, but you couldn’t go to him because you were working and you heard Seungmin, he didn’t say a word, just stayed there with Hyunjin until he calmed down, ‘till this day you were grateful for him, even more after living with him these past few weeks.

Last, but definitely not least, the baby, Jeongin. Hyunjin never spoke a lot about the youngest, but you knew how deeply he cared for him, during the survival show, you understood why, you understood the charm, you understood how not only your Jinnie, but everyone seemed to care about Jeongin. He was like Felix, a pure soul but with a bit of Minho and Seungmin within, bringing his menace and quirkiness out, which only made him bring more eyes to him. It was during the survival show you realized how and why Jeongin was so important to Hyunjin, he always loved to care for others, he always was there for you regardless and Jeongin is one of those people that are naturally clumsy and all you want is to cuddle them and never let anything bad happen. The fact he always kept a smile and felt bad for his young age hurt you the most, you understood that a lot, you saw that in you and you knew Hyunjin did too. He couldn’t protect you from everything, but you knew he would do his best to do that for Jeongin and you knew, the youngest would do the same for the older ones.

They were all a family, they were each others found family.

You had seen some STAY’s commenting on how Chan had lost parts of himself during his trainee days, how every single one of the guys brought back this piece he lost, and, in all honesty, you could see that for all of them. They all completed each other in a way, didn’t matter how badly they would disagree or fight, they loved each other, and that’s what family is like. You knew each of them would die and kill for each other in their own way and you just felt grateful to have experience that feeling, even if indirectly by living with them.

As you felt them all back away, you noticed you had cried in Chan’s shirt, feeling him holding you tightly for a little longer until feeling your own arms let go of him. His hands cupped your face and you felt his thumbs brush the few tears that had fallen lastly, smiling at you fondly before giving you another kiss on your forehead.

“Thank you again baby girl, see you later tonight, take care, ok?” You nodded quickly with a sly smile that he mimicked. “Call me if you need anything, ok?” You opened your mouth but he was quicker. “I mean it! Anything, ok?”

You sigh and nodded in defeat as you felt another pair of arms hold your waist, meeting Changbin’s fragrance in your nostrils and a smile came back to your face as your arms met his in front of you.

“Thank you pretty, see you later,” his lips quickly found your cheek and your smile grew. “I’m taking the shake, I’ll get the smoothie after I come back and shower, ok?”

“It’s yours Binnie, just don’t forget it, I don’t think it will be good if you take it tomorrow though.”

“Noted!”

Both boys smile and let go of you heading to the door as you went back into the kitchen. Minho and Jeongin were already putting everything inside the sink to wash, Seungmin was getting the tray they used to bring you breakfast in bed the week before when you had your period and you smiled at the memory. Jisung was finishing putting everything on the plates and Felix was already separating the things you may need for after lunch to make Hyunjin’s birthday cake.

You surprised all of them by giving each a small kiss on the cheeks as a thank you. Even though physical touch was your own love language, you knew that Chan, Changbin, Jisung and Felix were the most comfortable with that, except for Hyunjin that was already used to it and always expected, quickly knowing when something was off by how you avoided or asked for the physical touch. Although you knew Minho, Seungmin and Jeongin weren’t the most comfortable with skinshipping in any way or form, you knew they didn’t mind and missed it whenever you didn’t do the same with them as you did with the others, surprisingly way more than the ones that did enjoy the skinship.

The realization came one day when you all were watching a movie at the Minho and maknae line’s dorm and Hyunjin was literally laid between your legs as you brushed your fingers slightly through his hair and you found Jeongin staring at the two of you with a sad face, so you made him seat beside you, one hand on Hyunjin’s head and the other making smooth movements on the middle end of his hair and a bit on his neck. It was only when the movie stopped you realized how you three were. The boys teased Jeongin a lot once they saw it, but all you did was kept stroking his hair and he quickly let that go and enjoyed. Since then, they always fight about who would be the two ones that you would stroke their hair. The only thing that never changed was the fact that Hyunjin was always gonna be laid between your legs, that was the one thing he did not accept to change.

You knew how jealous Hyunjin could get, so you would always watch a drama in his bed after that and would play with his hair while watching the movie or episode, on occasion, some of the boys would come over and watch over with you two, but they knew that at that moment, Hyunjin had your undivided attention, so they would just be happy with being close to you. Felix was the one that “broke” that rule by doing the same thing you did to them with you, while you were doing it to Hyunjin, him being the only one that would do that when you were watching dramas in Jinnie’s room.

When you watched together, usually the boys would exchange between each other who would play with your hair, most of the time were Chan, Minho, Changbin or Felix. With everything closing thanks to covid, the nine of you were staying in the dorms most, only leaving if necessary, even Chan had brought his producing stuffs to the dorms and would work on it instead of leaving to the company. You had gotten used to that and you just kept thinking about when the three months limit hit and you’d have to leave. You knew none of you wanted to think of that, but you couldn’t stop yourself from questioning that when situations like the ones of that day happened.

The same way you had adopted them, they adopted you.

It was a different dynamics then with the ASTRO guys, it was the type of dynamics you had mostly with Moonbin and Dongmin, and like with them, you didn’t want to give that up.

After the final kiss, which was on Seungmin’s cheek, you joined him and Jisung organize the tray with a shy smile. You had told them what you wanted to do for Hyunjin, how you wanted that day to be just the two of you like it had been for years before you two turned into teenagers and starting your careers the way you two did, they understood that. So now, Felix would start with organizing the things necessary for the birthday cake you two would make after lunch, when Hyunjin went to the company to make a VLIVE, Chan and Minho would stay at the company to monitor him and letting you know when and where he is so you all could be prepare.

While you would stay in Hyunjin’s room with him for the rest of morning, the boys would organize the kitchen and – since you had already ordered your best friends favorite foods – they would put everything for you two to eat lunch once it arrives. In the meantime, they would also make a fort blanket, mainly Changbin, Jisung and Seungmin, with the occasional help of Felix, Minho and Jeongin. And once Hyunjin left for the company the six of you that stayed would organize the 3RACHA+Hyunjin dorm for a little party between you nine with a homemade cake from you and Felix.

You smile widely as you saw the tray ready in front of you, hugging both Seungmin and Jisung before heading to where you hid your second present of the day, since you had given Hyunjin a personalize sketch book at midnight for his birthday and pretended that was the present you were going to give, even though you both knew you had more up your sleeve. Neither of you only gave each other one present when you spend the midnight birthday together. That has been the rule since you two were six and it would remain until the end of your days.

Your second present would be hidden under the tray. You knew how Hyunjin had decided to definitely focus on his drawing hobby, so you bought him the most complete object an artist can have, with the biggest amount of pencils, erasers, and – since he told you he wanted to try watercolor – a set of paints and brushes to try it out. It was an expensive gift, you knew that, he knew that, you also knew he would probably scold you for it, but you didn’t really cared, it was worth it, he deserved it.

The boys helped you with the tray and entering Hyunjin’s room. It was just like you left it, a little dark from the curtains, the space was clear for you to walk around and not face planted the floor and he was sleeping peacefully. Minho put a small stall near the door so you could put the tray and the present and closed the door behind him, leaving you alone with Hyunjin. You thought for a second about what to do, so you thought the best course of action was to wake him up by jumping in the bed, consequently on him.

“What the fu-” his eyes found your face berried in his chest as your legs were crossed on top of him and your arms held his neck. “The fuck you doing? What time is it?”

“Good morning to you too birthday boy!”

“Morning as in, lunch is ready or we just slept three hours? Because I’m honestly feeling the latter more”

“So I guess I should take the tray of breakfast I made for you back into the kitchen and let the boys eat it,” you walked your way to the door, the tray slightly hidden, but still visible in a way, which was what made the boy lift his upper body and hold his weight on his elbows, eyes focus on the tray hidden away. “So, should I?”

When you finally took the tray in your hands, doing your best to hide the present underneath it, you saw him raise his eyebrows and a sly smile appear on his face.

“You did that for me?”

His eyes were sparkling and you knew yours were no different. He seated himself in a proper position as you headed towards the bed.

“It’s your birthday after all, I needed to treat my best friend!” You chuckled and gave him a small kiss on his forehead as he took the tray and put on his lap, quickly noticing the present underneath it and eyeing you for help. “I’ll hold, you pull.”

You were lucky the tray was huge to hide the present, but you also knew Hyunjin had an idea of what it was as he saw the size and the noises of some of the pencils. All he did was eye you in awe before ripping the paper open, making the present visible to both. You were more than thankful for the girls to help out with the gifts, especially Jihyun for this one, she manage to track down a place and got it on the one day they would be open, even with her schedule full. You own her a lot, not only for paying for it, but also to keep it hidden for the long she did, and bless Chan for being so kind and take the present at the company here and hide it from Hyunjin.

It was all worth it once you saw his eyes shine, you knew that he was about to cry, once he pulled you closer you felt the tear on your neck as you hugged him back.

“Happy birthday princeling” you pulled him closer turning your head slightly and your lips found his right temple. “I love you Hyunjinnie.”

You both stayed like that for a while, the tray forgotten at the end of the bed as he pulled you to sit on his lap, face still berried on your neck. Neither of you remember exactly the last time you had spent such a long time together, but it was definitely before you two were fourteen. High School was difficult for the both of you, while you were trying to sell yourself as an actress, not only a child actress, he was starting as a trainee and trying to make his name while Chan asked him to join in his little boy project that would turn out to be Stray Kids. Since then, neither of you had the biggest time to spend together.

If you two were honest, you both spent more time together at SOPA then at any other place, and yet, neither of you could stay close for long, being from different departments didn’t really help, it got easier once you started taking some lessons at the dance department, but still, it wasn’t enough, it wasn’t the same and you both knew neither could afford a possible rumor about you two, not only because he was dating someone and she was jealous of the relationship between you two, but also because you were a known face and famous people in Korea don’t date, at least not in the public eye. Being in your late teens and linked with a boy, could bring you trouble, you both knew, so text messages and late night calls were the best option for the both of you, and facetime whenever you two were learning a new routine – him specially – and you two would help each other out, even not being at the same place for that to happen.

That was the real test to your friendship and yet here you two were.

Roommates for the time being. Spending the most of time together since forever. The friendship didn’t change, it matured yes, but never changed. The love you two had for each other remained. He knew the real you and you knew the real him, no one could take that away from neither of you. That was what mattered in the end.

Once you two stopped crying, you went to grab your laptop as he started to eat the breakfast, you giggled as you saw him make him traded marked face while eating. You loved it, it was one of his charms, one of his quirks, that was one of the ways you knew he liked the food he was eating and that was enough for you. As your laptop was starting, you took your phone to tweet on your official twitter page about Hyunjin’s birthday – as previously checked with your company and his – before closing it and turning to open the drama so you two could maybe finally finish it.

As you paused the drama, your phone lit up with a few notifications, including Hyunjin’s secret account commenting on your official post, alongside the other guys’ comments. The two of you exchanged looks laughing loudly before he pushed the tray away a little and reaching the wall behind the bed, pulling you close to him as you pressed play so the drama would continue. Your phone lit a few more times and you saw Seungmin’s name and you knew the fort was probably almost done. They said they would keep you updated, but never bother you for real.

It was your and Hyunjin’s day, everything else could wait.

It didn’t matter how many times you thanked the boys; it would never be enough in your vision. You gotten used to their presence the more the hours passed. You were currently at the others dorm, Changbin, Jeongin, Jisung and Seungmin were taking down the fort and organizing the space for the “surprise” party for Hyunjin, while you and Felix were doing the cake for the celebration.

At this point, both of you were covered in flower and cake mix, among other things you used to embellish the cake, which would definitely make you take a good shower before Hyunjin, Chan and Minho arrive back at the dorms. Whatever it was you had to do, was easy with them, especially Felix, it was weird how in sync you two were, how you three were. Felix and Hyunjin were exactly like Jisung and Minho, soulmates.

You decided to take a break for a glass of water and decided to stop and observe Felix a bit more. It had become a habit of yours to observe the boys, to see how different and yet similar they were. The quirks each had, what they liked, how they treated each other. You liked to observe people because that had always told you more about who someone was than their own words, or of someone else. When you saw a smirk on Felix’s lips you knew you had been staring for quite some time, making you feel your ears burn a little while drinking more of the water in the glass, while the freckled boy went closer to you with a smile.

“Why you like to observe us so much?”

You chocked on your water and eyed him in surprise.

“Guess I wasn’t as secretive as I thought” you cough a little and put the glass inside the sink, eyes everywhere but Felix. “Since when you know? Everyone noticed?”

“Seungmin and Minho noticed first, since it’s something they do themselves a lot,” you both chuckled and you nod, “that was when me and Jeongin started to notice as well, so probably everyone knows by now, but I can’t be sure.”

“It’s fine, I should’ve known” although you giggled, Felix eyes were still on you with a shy concern. “When you observe someone, you see who they truly are, what they try to hide, no one can play a character for long without breaking at the least expected hour.”

“You were scared that we were someone else behind the cameras?”

“You know how innocent Hyunjin can be, but-” it was how his eyes shone with understanding and concern that showed you he understood. “Thank you” you said after a while and the aussie pulled you into a hug. “Thank you for taking care of him when I can’t.”

“Thank you for taking care of him when we can’t,” he whispered back into your ear and you hugged his waist tighter as you felt his face towards the crock of your neck. The two of you stayed like that for a while, until the cake started to smell and the two of you notice. “If it’s smelling like that, I can only imagine the taste though.”

Both your laughs mixed between each other as you parted from the hug. You watched as Felix went to the oven to look at how the cake had grown. A shy smile was still in your lips when Jisung, Seungmin and Jeongin entered the dorm.

“Where’s Binnie?”

“Shower, is the cake done already?” Jisung asked as he passed you leaving a small kiss on your temple. Seungmin and Jeongin close behind him, the first getting a tissue and wetting a little before kindly whipping something out of your cheek, making you smile and lay your head on his shoulder as a thank you. “Wow, you guys made two?!”

“Actually it was one but,” you started making your way to the other two in front of the oven, “we ended up making a bit more of the recipe and ended up turning into two cakes, but one is considerably smaller, so we will use it as test to see if it was good and what will taste better,” your hands pointed to the amount of things on the counter making the three pair of eyes spark as your and Felix’s smile grew. “Any ideas?”

You and Felix had already a few things planned to do with the cake, but some of the others’ ideas were actually quite good, specially Jeongin’s, which was the first one you decided to give it a try once the cake was done.

“Noona,” you heard Jeongin’s voice from the counter and turned to him finding his eyes curious towards you. “How is the house hunting?”

“Yah! Jeongin-”

“He’s right Ji,” you said quickly as you felt the others stiffen a little beside you, your eyes going to the youngest of all, who still eyed you. “It’s going… I mean, the girls found a few, but there’s always something wrong with one or whatever, and Jiwoon has sent me a few apartments as well, but I haven’t seen anything yet.”

They all nodded as you got closer to Jeongin pushing your body up to sit on the counter beside him, petting his head slight before play with the end of his hair before eyeing the others. Jisung was the first to come to your other side, his head lingering on your left shoulder.

“Is it too selfish to ask for you to stay?”

“Oh Lix, you know I can’t,” you sigh and he nodded, Seungmin actually came closer and put his hand on top of yours that was on your thigh and started to draw circles there, making you giggle a little, catching everyone’s attention before holding Seungmin’s hand. “Also, think like this, ok? If I have a place for myself, whenever there’s something bad happening here, you guys can go there and crash!”

“That’s actually not a bad idea…”

“Of course it’s not, it’s hers!” Seungmin’s voice was cheerful as he squeezed your left hand eyeing you with a smile. God, you loved his smile, you wish he smiled like that more often. “Also Jisung, it’s not to crash there whenever you are bored, just when something happens!”

“Yah! I know, ok?!”

Jisung’s head lifted quickly at Seungmin’s words, making everyone laugh.

“You can crash there when you are bored too, but just not to frequently, since I don’t know if I’m gonna share on be alone, yet.”

“Or…” Felix started staying between Jeongin and Seungmin, his hand on your right knee. “I mean, it’s your house you can bring whoever you want, so we don’t disturb we need to at least ask you if it’s ok.”

“Felix, you know I’m single, that’s highly unlikely to happen!”

“For now,” Jisung said quickly as he straightened his back looking at you. “I mean, have you seen yourself?” You laughed loudly along with the others, but that didn’t faze Jisung one bit. “I mean, of course you do, you look in the mirror every day, but I mean like, actually seen yourself?!”

“Ji…”

“He has a point, noona!” Jeongin’s voice took everyone by surprise, and he noticed as he lowered his head a little, trying to hide the redness. “You are beautiful, it’s no surprise why so many people have a crush on you.”

“Us included,” Jisung was quickly to add, taking everyone’s attention off Jeongin. “I mean, we know Hyunjin told you about it and showed you the interview” you smiled lowering your head, which was a simple ‘yes’ to the statement Jisung had done. “Also, you have any idea how many idols had asked us for your number since they found out you and Hyunjin were childhood friends?”

“And when the ‘Hellevator’ cover was out, it got even worse” they all laughed and all you wanted was a whole to open on the ground. “But seriously angel,” you raised your head finding Felix’s eyes on you, “we know you are not with Eunwoo, we know you are single, Hyunjin may have hinted a few things here and there, but you shouldn’t deprive yourself of that you know?”

“I’m not depriving myself, I just…”

The words lingered on your tongue.

What exactly was it that kept you from going after love? You had people giving you attention, flirting, asking for you number, even making conversation with the intention to get with you, so what was the problem?

“No one has actually caught your eye?”

Although you and Felix had a great connection, Seungmin could read you way easier then all the other, exception of Hyunjin. Once your eyes met you simply nodded.

“You could say that…”

“But how exactly?”

“I don’t know Ji, it’s just that like, I can see that someone is attractive, but most of the times is like I can’t really see how that person would like me, others we just get along so well that I’m scared of giving it a try and loosing that connection we created, I don’t know…”

It was like your whole life flashed through your eyes.

You had a boyfriend before, you had crushes, flings (in a way), but since you and your boyfriend had broken up two years ago, it was like no one actually made your heart feel like it did, no one made you feel like he did, and that sucked.

“Why did you two break up?”

You sigh, you didn’t know if it was Hyunjin who had told them or if you were so transparent for Seungmin to see through everything.

“He was an introverted, he didn’t really like attention, through all our dating only our closer friends knew about it, but once I did School 2017, it was like all eyes were on me and eventually people found out about us and he couldn’t take it, so we broke up.”

Your voice was flat. You knew what you were signing up for when you decided to follow your dream, but that didn’t mean anyone else was ok with it. You were in love with you ex, you knew he loved you, just not enough; it was like it was never enough.

You were a good actress, but not great. You were a good dancer, but not great. You were good at a lot of things, and yet, it didn’t seem enough.

“Have you…” Jeongin started, but quickly finished once he felt all the guys’ eyes on him, but he swallowed hard before continuing once your eyes laid on him. “Have you ever considered dating an idol?” You smiled sheepishly, but the boys understood it wrong as he started to talk on top of each other. “It’s just a question!”

“Yes” once they heard you, it was like the whole dorm went silent, you could even hear the cake grown if you paid close attention. “Actually, the girls made me start to think about it, I mean, you guys are used to everything, you know everything, so it couldn’t be that hard, right?” They all eyed you and all you did was sigh before your eyes met Jeongin’s. “I mean, I get the appeal, just I don’t know… No one has actually made me think twice about it…”

“No one?”

“Like, at all?”

“C’mon!”

The other three said in a row and you giggled as you shook your head.

“I mean, I have eyes, I can see how good looking you all are, it’s just, I either friendzone someone when get along quickly or I never even try! You guys can be intimidating you know!”

“Yeah, you mentioned in one of your tweets that” you pushed Jeongin making everyone laugh before pushing yourself out of the counter. “We can be your wingmen, noona!”

“God no! I already have seven wingmen and five wingwomen on my ass about this, I don’t need seven more wingmen!” Your feet were quick to get the glass you were taking from earlier and filling with water to not eye the boys behind you. “Besides, why is everyone so interested if I’m dating or not?”

“Just tell us your ideal type, we won’t do anything you don’t want to!”

“We promise!” All four raised their right hand as Jisung completed Felix’s previous phrase and you just laughed. “So, will you tell us?”

“I don’t think I have a type though,” your eyes went for your feet. That was something you had never really thought about it. “I also don’t think I have a physical type…”

“Think about it! You can tell us once you know” Seungmin said clapping his hands and finishing that subject, receiving a thankful smile from you as you put more water in the glass. “How about the cake?”

“Probably thirty minutes or less,” Felix’s feet were quick to stand in front of the oven as you washed your glass, watching all the four go to the oven, bringing a smile to your lips. “I think I’m gonna take a bath in the meantime, is it ok, angel?”

You nodded and felt Felix’s lips on your left cheek as you heard his quick steps on the floor of the dorm. The same moment the others were putting some of the used items in the sink, Changbin entered the guys’ dorm, his nose already high up following the smell of the cake making you laugh as his eyes quickly found you among the other three.

His lips quickly found your right cheek as he started to help the others, your hands already cleaning the dirty dishes as you heard the boys talking. You were so immerse in what you were doing that you only realized Jisung was beside you when you saw his hand take some of the washed items and dry it out. You met with his cute chubby cheeks and bobba eyes, making you smile and lay your head slightly to the side, touching his shoulder slightly.

“You do know you can stay as long as you want, right?”

“You know that I know JYP talked to all of you that activities will take a pause because of the pandemic, I doubt he’ll allow us all to stay here at the same time, he can’t take the risk of loosing his golden boys of the moment.”

You giggled as Jisung rolled his eyes despite nodding.

“We haven’t properly thanked you for breakfast though-”

“Don’t even start!” You cut him quickly splashing a bit of water on him, bringing that cute smiled you loved on his face. “I did that as a thank you for everything you guys have been doing for me, so shush, your ‘debt’ or whatever you wanna call it, it’s paid!”

You both stayed quiet for a while, finishing cleaning the dishes as the others’ voices was loud on discussing how and what to use on the cake, bring small chuckles out of your mouth, that were followed by Jisung.

“Jeongin, you’ll get burn!” Your voice was loud and worried as you step away from the sink and eyed towards the oven, finding the youngest looking way too close to the oven. At your words, all the others eyed him that just took a step back, lowering his head. “Didn’t anyone tell you to never stay too close to a functioning oven?”

You looked at his hands and then cupped his face, meeting with his startled eyes of being forced to look at you, but all you did was sigh let go of his face to look at the cake who was apparently ready, although the timer still had some time left.

“Sorry noona,” he whispered shyly looking at you who just brushed it off and petted his head lightly. “I was about to call you, because it looks like it will fall off…”

“I know, it’s almost ready, but please Innie, be more careful!”

He smiled widely as he heard his nickname out of your mouth, but you had barely realized that. All the other noticed how you started to use nicknames with them, not only on the group chat, but also in person, some you even had a personal way of calling them, like you calling Felix, “angel” or Chan, “boss”. You had noticed, mostly after Hyunjin would point it out for you in any way, or just by how the others would glare, but you always brushed it off, especially once you realized they didn’t really mind it.

After the cake was done and taken out of the oven, didn’t take long for Felix to emerge from the rooms with a wet hair and towel around his neck and shirtless, which was something you had started to get accustomed to. Hyunjin, Chan, Changbin and Jisung were already walking shirtless around the dorms, just the others were still not entirely comfortable and you were constantly vigilantly on yourself to not drool over them or something, even when they made it difficult as of now.

“Hold it,” Changbin’s voice was quick as he went for the hem of his shirt about to lift it, making you laugh and the other complain. “You think you’ll be the only one shirtless here? You either put a shirt on or I’m taking it off!”

“Oh, sorry (y/n),” Felix almost instantly realized the situation and went to apologize to you before starting to turn back to his room. “I’m sorry I forgot, I jus-”

“Don’t worry Lix, I’m used to it already” you said quickly eyeing Changbin and Jisung who smiled at you. “3RACHAJin dorm they are always shirtless, so I don’t really mind anymore, plus, you guys are home, I’m barging in, so make yourselves comfortable!”

You saw the boys all exchanging glances before Felix gave up on going back to his room and stayed in the kitchen with the others, still drying his wet hair. God, why they have to be so handsome and hot?, you think to yourself as you tried to focus on not breaking the cake as you took out of the tray.

If Hyunjin told you about their crush on you, he also probably babbled on how you found them attractive and at the realization of that, a whole opening up under you felt even more tempting by the second. All of them then decided to cut the smaller cake and divide it in between the six of you so each could create however they liked and they would try it out to see which taste better for the final decision on what to do with the cake.

You looked around the room one last time after organizing Hyunjin’s last present.

A blank canvas, a few new brushes and some oil painting, as he had talked to you he wanted to explore oil painting next. The anxiety creeping in your stomach as you heard Jisung’s knock on the door with a quick ‘come in’ coming from your lips, meeting one of your favorite bobba eyed member. Your hand called him towards you before pointing at the bed.

Jisung’s left hand found your lower back and you felt his thumb brush there on top of your clothes, quickly eyeing him and finding his smile big enough to make you squeak on your spot. Everything was perfect, you just had to get the present in perfect position and, from Jisung’s smile, you manage to do that, thankfully.

“You think he’ll like it?”

“If you ask any of us that one more time-”

“But Ji!” He lifted his index finger, but the smile creeping on his lips made you know that he wasn’t mad, but you were also aware of the amount of time you asked them that question on the past three days. “I’m sorry, I just want to make him smile and feel loved and-”

“And you are doing that!” His arms involved your waist as he rested his head on the crock of your neck, both still looking at the last present on the bed you and Hyunjin have been sharing. “You have any idea how happy he is since you moved in?”

“I just… Don’t know…”

“Good thing we know” you felt and heard his giggle, making you mimic him slightly before turning to him, making him take a step further away from you, one of his hands not leaving your waist. “Stop over thinking! Everything is set and ready and beautiful, he’ll love it every single thing, now let’s go, Minho just texted saying they are on the elevator.”

You squeezed his hand going out of the room, turning the lights off and closing the door, all the others were already set hidden somewhere in the living room. The cake was centered with a single candle waiting for the fire, with a small box of matches beside it. The lights were gonna be off, you would be seated on the couch with the cake in hands waiting for Hyunjin and the others.

You would start with the “happy birthday” chant and the boys would progressively join you. You knew he hated loud noises, even more so than you, so you thought this was the best way to give him a surprise. Once you seated and lit the match, Changbin turned the lights off, you were nervous and it only got worse once you heard the voices and steps of the three missing Skids outside the door. You knew Chan and Minho were being particularly loud so the rest of you could hear them.

Hyunjin was the first to enter the apartment and by his face slightly illuminated by the outside light you saw his eyes big in surprise, which only grew as you started to sing “happy birthday” and Minho pushed him, while Chan closed the door, the others quickly joining the chant as you got closer to your best friend, the light of the fire already illuminating his face and you could see the water in his eyes while he smiled slightly, only growing bigger once he noticed the others, making his eyes quickly vanish and you knew he was genuinely happy when that happen.

Once you all stopped singing, he blow the candle and Changbin turned the lights on and you could see the shy tear lines on his face. Chan then took the cake from your hands and Hyunjin quickly hugged you tightly against him and you two stayed like that for a while as the other boys started to organize the cake position and the plates for you all to eat it.

“Thank you princess, truly.”

His voice was muffled by your neck and you felt a few tears against your skin as your hand wandered from his head to his back a few times, until he felt he had thanked you enough for now to separate each other. Once he did, you could see the spark in his eyes before his lips met the top of your head as his arms tighten around your waist before lifting you up and twirling you around before you felt your feet back on the ground.

“Go cut your cake birthday boy, me and Lix made it ourselves and the others help decorate it!”

You giggled at how his face lit up at that as he jumped towards where the others were.

“He wanted to go out to eat,” Minho’s voice was right behind you and you eyed him laughing, “it took him some convincing from me and Chan not to do it, but we couldn’t say anything, so Chan pulled the leader card.”

“Poor Jinnie, he probably felt bad…”

“His face wasn’t the happiest, I guarantee that,” you both laughed as eyeing the other members. “Thank you,” your eyes traveled to Minho’s face, his eyes still on the boys around the cake, “having you here has been fun and I haven’t seen them so happy in a while.”

“Well, you guys did have just finished a tour when I came over.”

“But it’s different, the feeling of being with STAYs, being around ourselves, the idol life and who we are when we are not in front of cameras, it’s different,” you understood what Minho was saying, not to a certain extent, but you could relate a considerable amount. “You won’t lose any of us, you know?”

It took you a moment but then you lowered your head with a shy smile.

“I should really talk with Hyunjin about his big mouth…”

“He didn’t really say anything,” your eyes made Minho chuckled before nodding, “ok, maybe he did say a few things, but I just want you to know that you were already special to us before, now it just makes you part of the family.” Your eyes met and you lowered your head again feeling your cheeks burn as you felt Minho’s arms around you, making you hide your face on his chest. “You are stuck with us unfortunately.”

“Once I have my own place you promise to visit?”

You lifted your face looking at Minho who had a sly smile, before nodding.

“Will you give us a key?” You pretended to think for a second, making him laugh before pointing to Jisung, Felix and Hyunjin. “Think carefully, because those three might as well consider your house theirs!”

“Well, what is mine is Hyunjin’s, so that’s already a problem, but,” Minho’s laugh caught everyone’s attention, even more after you joined him, “but, I guess I’m stuck with you guys so…”

“You most definitely are, princess!”

Hyunjin was soon in front of you with a peace of the cake you and the other did earlier, but as you took the plate, his fingers went to the icing and towards your face, making everyone laugh as you pretended to be shocked quickly doing the same to Hyunjin, putting some icing on his nose and cheek before he pulled you close to a hug.

Thankfully, for Minho’s quick reflex, he took the plate before you either dropped or the cake got stuck in yours or Hyunjin’s clothes. You all went to the living room, Chan bringing the cake and you all sat down eating cake and watching some random program that was on. You were so happy that you honestly didn’t care. These boys had become your family in this short period of time, having them laughing, stuffing their faces in the cake you and the others had made, just enjoying their lives, that was what mattered to you. Your hands quickly met Hyunjin’s head between your legs, as you were on the couch and he was seated on the floor in front of you, making you play with his hair after you finished eating.

That was what happiness had become for you since leaving the apartment you shared with the girls. These small moments with all the Skids in the house, and that were enough.

06.01: happy birthday princeling.

pirate kingdom || choi san || smau

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