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strawberryya · 4 months

Text

too pure for hell, but fallen nonetheless

pairing: kang taehyun x reader

synopsis: Do you ever find yourself wishing you could escape your problems? Still, allowing the mind to conjure such a scene may unfurl a worse struggle than the present. As you journey through life, be mindful of the choices you make, for they hold the power to summon the winds of fate.

word count: 7.1k

genre/cw: angst, smut, supernatural au, selkie!taehyun, fem!reader, drowning depicted, death mentioned, killing and murder mentioned, suicidal thoughts, being held captive against your will, chasing/hunting depicted (not animals), unprotected sex, enemies to lovers… or well…, general hatred towards the human race, betrayal and lots of mixed feelings, cold exterior Taehyun.

rating: 18+

a/n: I DID IT! I'm not sure what I did, but I certainly did it.

this is my second fic for the wonderful collaboration thrill of the hunt, hosted by @cultofdionysusnet - check out the other exciting and thrilling stories on the official master list here!

network tagging: @svthub @cultofdionysusnet @k-labels @kvanity-main

How does one move on?

It’s an impossible question. Especially when you have just uncovered the biggest betrayal in your life. He had cheated on you. A month before the wedding.

Your boyfriend since forever, your high school sweetheart, your everything - and your best friend.

Your soon-to-be husband and your maid of honor had decided it would be a good time to reveal the years of cheating they had hidden from you today. Because your failed project at work hadn't been enough to ruin your entire week, but now your entire future was in shambles at your feet.

The new park had been planned out to the last detail, your entire team had done their absolute best for half a year and now it was all to be thrown out the window for a new twenty-story building and a parking lot. “Which makes sense, because the world doesn’t have enough of those,” you complained, holding back your tears on the phone as you drove home. Your mom listened halfheartedly.

“Well, sweetie, I know it’s hard, but I think that you should just say ‘okay’ about all this for now. And just focus on the wedding instead! I got these new place cards, and I think they’re absolutely perfect.”

“Mom. I really don’t care about that right now…” you were going to explain, but you let your words stay inside, afraid you might say something you would regret if you didn’t shut your mouth.

“No, no… I can understand that…” she conceded, sounding just a bit hurt that you didn’t want to gush about your upcoming wedding.

“I’ll talk to you later Mom… Tom said he wanted to talk about something tonight, so I’ll just call you tonight or tomorrow.”

Before hanging up she told you to just relax at home with your fiancé, to try and be happy about what life has given you instead of what it takes away… she wanted you to try and look on the bright side of life.

You weren’t sure you would be able to see anything past the clouds that stormed your mind after the horrible meetings you had been suffering through the entire day. But you wanted to think about something else too and promised her to try.

That’s not a promise you were able to keep, however. Walking through the door to find Tom waiting anxiously in the kitchen with your best friend right beside him. Holding his hand, gently, supportively. Your heart stopped when you saw the look on their faces, and you felt your once picture-perfect life cracking at the edges.

When they confessed their love for each other you didn’t cry, you didn’t even ask how, when, or why. You felt so empty as you watched your best friend for ten years wail for you to forgive them and not be mad at her.

“I never wanted to hurt you. But I fell in love! Can’t you be happy for me?”

Her voice was strained from the tears. You thought the tears looked just as forced.

Tom didn’t say anything. He had apologized and told you he wanted to call off the wedding. The wedding was supposed to happen in less than a month. The wedding you had planned together since you were only children.

Your head hurts. You needed them to shut up. To get out of your sight.

Couldn’t they just leave you alone?!

Standing up suddenly, your best friend’s pleas stopped, making your body sigh in relief before you stormed right back out of the house.

You didn’t know where you were going at first. Head and body pounding with anger, confusion, and fear. If you could just find somewhere to think, everything would get better. The car speeding through the streets wasn’t helping you think right now. You needed something that would let you cry the tears that had been held back all day, without a word of comfort in return. Somewhere the salty streams dripping from your face wouldn’t make a difference. Something bigger than all of your problems.

The sea.

You had always been fond of the sea. As a kid, you used to swim fiercely in even the highest of waves. Your parents standing by the shore with worry in their eyes and hands waving you back towards land. There’s no beach like the one in your childhood close to where you live. But not far from the city is a small port, the sea visible for a good stretch before the land overtook it and hid it away from the population walking by.

When you curl up next to the edge of the concrete docks, the salty water ripples calmly in front of you. There weren’t many waves this far into the docks, but further out you could see the white lines appearing and dissolving over and over again. It was hypnotic.

Silently the tears you had held back began running down your cheeks. You held yourself tighter. The slight breeze scented by the sea mist blew gently in your hair, drying the tears as they came.

“Why…” you mourned.

There was nobody around, no one to disturb or comfort you, so your sobs grew louder the more you thought about the reality of what had happened. So many things had gone wrong. Everything was just- so wrong.

You looked over the edge of the concrete land under your body, down at the bottomless waters. What would it feel like to dive in and let your body be engulfed by the dark water? You shook your head at your distorted reflection at the fleeting thought.

It would hurt just as much to leave everything behind as it did to stay.

Nevertheless, the pain of holding on even on a day like this was overwhelming. It made your every muscle shake with frustration. Your sobs mirrored your desperation, your tears dripping down your cheeks, pooling at your jaw, and one by one, joining the sea.

When your blurred gaze met a pair of huge black eyes in the water, you froze up. They were staring at you, watching you cry with their big black eyes that showed no emotion that you could register.

It was a seal, the shadow in the water revealing its large size. It was bigger than the small ones usually seen around these shores, but it was undeniably a seal.

The large seal blinked at you slowly, before turning around to swim away. But instead of simply leaving you to your suffering, it began looking back at you at every other meter it swam as if to check if you were coming along. You thought you might be dreaming because there was no way a seal was trying to get you to come with it into the sea. When you didn’t come with, it stopped, seemingly waiting for you again.

Without really knowing why, you kicked off your shoes and stepped into the water. The freezing waves drenched your clothes, but the cold against your skin didn’t make you go back. You begin to swim, following the seal into the deeper parts of the ocean. Your heart pounded in your chest, the thrill of doing something dangerous filling your entire body with adrenaline. It felt just like it had when you were little, except now no one waited for you at the shoreline.

You wanted to escape everything, and following a seal into the depths of the sea might be a temporary way, but it was all you had right now. The seal dove under the surface, and you held your breath and followed.

It was impossible to see anything in the dark, murky waters, and the current quickly overpowered you. You weren’t even able to fight the large body of water when you felt your body being sucked down and away from everything you had ever known. When the cold and the dark enveloped you, you let go of your breath, the light from above disappearing from your vision as you closed your eyes in resignation.

You couldn’t remember what happened after that. Your mind was a blur, everything in your memory hazy and seen through the murky waters you had believed you had drowned in.

Later, you realized that you must’ve washed up on the long rocky beach before they took you. When the fae had taken you captive.

When you came to, you weren’t cold or wet anymore, but your hair still smelt like the salty water that had enveloped you as you swam after the seal. You weren’t anywhere near the sea anymore, you couldn’t even hear it, but you knew it hadn’t been a dream.

For days, you only saw the four walls of your new prison. The large window showed nothing but the drop of the mountains surrounding the entire castle. In other words, you couldn’t even dream of escaping. Unless you wished to crash through the colorful glass pains and into a sure death. There had been one other girl in the room, but you had barely spoken. Cuddling together during the cold nights to reserve some of your combined heat, you stayed quiet, knowing that your capturers were most likely listening to you at all times. The only words you had exchanged were simple words of comfort.

“I want to go home,” she had whispered one night. You had squeezed her tighter, answering with a hushed, “Me too.”

Even after days in captivity, you had a hard time understanding just what had happened on that day. The guards barely spoke to the two of you but made sure you were well-fed and clean the entire time. It was confusing, being a prisoner, but being taken care of by mystical creatures you had never even believed to be real.

You had been informed that you were the property of the fae realm inhabitants, of something called the Latha court. Everywhere you went in the short trips guards led you through in the castle you could only see what you would describe as impossible sights. Human-looking people with horns, tails, and skin that ranged in all the colors of the rainbow. You had heard stories of mystical beings, but they had only ever been just that - stories. Fairytales…

Humans existed in the castle, but they never even looked at you or your companion. Always too focused on their assignments. Clad in rags with hands cracked and bleeding from the cold.

It did seem as though they were being respected as servants, however. None of them were beaten, and none of them were ever heard complaining. You weren’t sure they were able to, but you chose not to think about that too much. Hoping with everything you had, that your captors were nicer than they had shown until now.

The days all felt the same in that dark room, the stone walls clad in rundown tapestries and flickering candles to fight the long nights didn’t help you or your companion when the horrible truth faced you both: you were either stuck in here forever, soon to be used as servants like the other humans you had seen around, or you would be killed.

It didn’t take long until the answer was clear to both of you. You sometimes overheard the people who passed by your room, but usually, it was nothing more than gossip or friendly chatter. This time, however, their words would haunt you both.

"Do you feel the thrill in the air? The Hunt is upon us!" A raspy voice had declared with joy as two sets of feet seemed to be passing by your door.

"The humans have been preparing for our ceremonial chase, let's hope it's more exciting than last year. I mean, come on, not a single scratch? Boring!"

"Well, we did stick to tradition and spiced things up in the Oidhche region. Those humans got a run for their money!" They both chuckle in unison as they continue down the corridor.

Their words sent chills down your back. Would you soon lose your life in the most gruesome of ways? You tried to not imagine what they had meant by “the Hunt”, but the way they had spoken of you and your cellmate as if you were nothing but prey had frightened you. You would need to escape, soon.

You had made up an escape plan, a plan you had told no one. But you knew your cellmate had her own plans, she had looked way too scared the day you had heard those two fae pass by your room speaking of the expected slaughter.

On the day you were both allowed out of your room to walk the short walk to the washrooms to shower, you knew time was of the essence. It had to happen today.

“Take the chance if it comes,” you whispered to your companion. Her hand closed around yours in response, as they led the both of you out and down the long spiral hallways that seemed to be everything the castle consisted of. You were cold, and your ears pulsed as the two guards showed you the way. They were stronger, and faster. You knew it from the way they weren’t the least bit scared that either of you would make a run for it. That’s why you stood a chance. They had underestimated you, and you would need to use that to your advantage. You were almost at the washrooms you had seen many times before when one of the guards stopped to chat with another fae, giving you just the opportunity the both of you had been looking for. Without a look, you both fled in different directions. the one guard who had been left alone with you was forced to choose who to chase after. Luckily for you, he didn’t seem to choose you this time.

You ran as fast as your legs could carry you, through the corridors that all looked the same, meeting close to nobody in the endless hallways to your luck. In some twisted fate of luck, you managed to rip open a large wooden door, the wind slapping you in the face as you stared out into the open mountain landscape. You needed to continue running if you wanted to live, but looking at where you must go next, you realized that you might die anyway.

It wasn’t much of a choice in the end, your life being taken by the elements at least seemed like the better option compared to the hunt that was going to be in your future no matter what you did if you stayed. You ran down the steep hill, not looking back at the large building a single time, praying to whoever would listen that nobody was following you just yet.

“Taehyun! Did you hear?” Seungkwan said as he sprinted to catch up with his friend. Or well, acquaintance. Taehyun didn’t see any of the people in his court as friends. Allies, perhaps, but not friends.

Taehyun had not heard, but judging by the exhilarated expression on Seungkwan’s face, the news he brought were big.

“Some of the humans ran away, with only three days left until the hunt starts too! And guess what, I heard that one of them was yours!” Seungkwan gossiped, looking intently at Taehyun’s expression to watch for any type of reaction to his words. To his disappointment, Taehyun proved hard to get a reaction from, as usual. Although allied, Taehyun wasn’t much of a fun person to play around with, at least not for his fae friends who loved rousing others for their entertainment. He had learned to keep up his cold facade in front of everyone. No weakness could ever be shown, or he would be exploited. He knew this. It had happened before.

“So? It’s not like there are too few humans in the world, what’s one less?”

The disdain in Taehyun’s words showed a bit more than he had intended to, a nice surprise for Seungkwan. “Well, even if they are rather worthless creatures, they sure are fun to play with…” Seungkwan said and winked at him. “Just remember to behave. We’re not like those savages from Oidhche, you know.”

“Behave? Why would I have to…”

Taehyun’s question was promptly interrupted by a servant hesitantly calling out his name. “Kang Taehyun?”

The servant drew his attention, and Seungkwan left him with more questions than answers, only the sinking feeling that he would have to deal with humans a lot more than he had hoped for this year.

He was correct, it didn’t take long before he had been informed by the servant that he was to leave immediately. His mission: catch the human he had brought in only a few weeks ago.

He was seething.

“Do I have to be the one? Can’t someone who takes pleasure in the damn hunt take her back into custody?”

“She was tricked by you, she's your responsibility. Leave soon, she can’t have gotten far.” Was all the servant responded, his monotone voice sounding more like a machine than a person.

Taehyun had always loathed the way the courts deprived humans of their free will. However, he despised the humans themselves even more. The servant left him as soon as his orders had been fulfilled.

Once she’s caught, I will just have to hunt her again once the ceremony begins. Taehyun thought as he wandered after the escaped human into the wilderness he had been informed that his prey had last been seen. He was tired of it all. The annual hunt, the three courts’ fake politeness, the humans that were brought back beaten and killed, or bitten and kept as nothing but pets.

It all disgusted him.

But in the end, he partook in it, year after year. Having little choice since he had sworn his oath to the Latha court in his youth. It was for protection, which he and his remaining family got. And honestly, it had been a good way to let off some steam. Having an outlet for all that anger was needed, but now…

It hadn’t taken Taehyun long to pick up on your track, seeing as you had no real survival skills and ended up leaving every kind of clue after you as you trudged through the wilderness.

It had only been a couple of hours since you had begun your run, and the sun was starting to set already. You had arrived at the edge of vegetation that wasn't just rocks and low bushes. The new area was filled with tall trees, high cliffs, and the sweet fragrance of pine.

If you weren’t running for your life, this would’ve been a nice hike.

As the daylight faded and the cold air grew stronger, you began to feel uneasy. You weren't adequately prepared for this journey and the thought of making it through the night was worrisome. The possibility of encountering wild animals added to your concerns. To make matters worse, it occurred to you that one of your captors, a fae, might also be stalking you in the darkness.

You continued to wander deeper into the patch of trees, hoping for some shelter from the wind, or some water that could drench the thirst that had begun becoming unbearable.

The warmth from the sun was gone quicker than you had hoped. You were already hungry and thirsty, and you had begun slightly regretting your decision to run. At least they had kept you warmer than you were right now, and you hadn’t had to go hungry or thirsty even once. Maybe you had gotten the wrong idea.

No. They had held you prisoner, and you had heard them speak of humans as if they were nothing but silly playthings one could kill or capture as one pleased.

They weren’t human, they meant you harm, and you needed to remember that.

It was almost dark now, and you were sobbing on a patch of moss. It was dry and scratched your fingers as you held onto it. You were ready to give up. You hadn’t been able to find anything, no water, to shelter, and in the end, you had even twisted your ankle.

You weren’t a “survivor”, you had lived a way too privileged life for this to be normal for you. All those movies and books had strong women who knew how to handle themselves even in situations such as these. Now, you realize that that was an ideal you fell short of right now.

The desperation and regret over how you had ended up in this situation made your body shake violently as you cursed your ex-fiance and best friend. You blamed them. And you couldn’t stop yourself from shouting into the forest at the thought of their betrayal. “IF I EVER GET BACK HOME YOU’RE BOTH DEAD FOR THIS!”

You almost missed the chuckle coming from behind you. But the echo of your voice didn’t hide the sound of another person in the wilderness completely. You froze.

“Who’s there?” You asked weakly, “Are you… here to kill me? To take me back to that castle?”

Not receiving any response added to your frustration. It was a matter of life and death and yet, the person on the other side chose not to respond, but instead, laugh at your misery.

“WHO THE FUCK ARE YOU?”

The voice scoffed, “Does that even matter at this point?”

As a man's voice pierced through the air, you were taken aback by how alluring it sounded. This unsettling realization left you feeling uneasy- you might consider going to therapy if you make it out alive. It's not ideal for one's first reaction to be finding their possible killer's voice attractive.

“I- Uhm, it matters.” You answered, a bit awkwardly.

Taehyun was a bit stunned by your shifting emotions. You were truly human, your aggressiveness and stupidity were both visible in how you spoke to him. He should kill you and have it be over with.

You squint at the shadows beneath the trees. Hoping you will get to see the man who belonged to the voice before your demise. Suddenly, the dim light hanging onto the branches in the woods reveals the man who caught up to you in just a few hours. Your jaw drops in amazement.

He was wearing only a robe, brownish gray and smooth, with specks of dark gray scattered throughout it. Seal skin, you realized and reeled back as you watched the man with eyes as dark as the deepest ocean approached you. The fur flowed with his movements, the part around his décolletage glistening from small pearls of salt and water that seemed to surround him. It was beautiful, the few rays of sun catching on the small drops all around him, making him appear as if he was nothing more than an illusion.

The scowl on his face dragged you back to your reality. He was coming for you, he had to be one of them.

“Wait!” you shouted, which miraculously made him stop in his tracks.

The fur wrapped around him had reminded you of just how you had ended up here, about your last moments in the human realm. “You’re… you’re that same seal, aren’t you?”

“Again, does it matter?” The man answered.

You frowned and swiped the back of your hand against your cheek, wiping away some of the tears that ran cold on your skin. “I told you. It matters.”

Were you irrational and stupid for not running, or were you one of those humans who used their fragility as a weapon? Taehyun couldn’t make up his mind about you just yet. He scanned you up and down, your scratched-up body still on your knees in the dry moss.

“Even if I am, don’t you think you should be running by now? You have been running all day, and yet, now that you see the one who got you here, you don’t even attempt to escape?”

Without thinking, you responded earnestly, “I don’t stand a chance anyhow. Why run?”

He considered this. He knew you were right. You were already a wreck, and it had been less than a full day since you had gone off on your own. "Then why should I bother? You speak true, your fate is sealed. The forces of nature shall ensure that humanity receives their due retribution in due time."

He turned to leave, and you panicked. You didn’t want to be left alone again. Left to die.

“Please, don’t leave me…” you said before you could stop yourself. Tears make your voice thick, sounding more like a plea than anything else.

Taehyun stopped, but he didn’t turn around. Seeing your sorry figure beg him to save your life was something he had seen enough times for an entire lifetime. The ships of people he had willed into the depths of the sea had all begged to live, and not once had he cared enough to save a single person on board. “I don’t care if you die out here.”

You knew that, but you were desperate for comfort and safety. “Hold me.”

Your voice was faint, but he heard you loud and clear.

"What?" he exclaimed, his surprise sounding genuine. He had expected begging, but certainly not a proposition that would require him to spend an entire night next to a human. He spun around to look you in the eyes.

You didn’t hold anything back anymore. You refused to die out here. Any way to survive was a good way, even if you had to agree to things you never wanted to agree to. “Hold me. Don’t go. Hold me close tonight. Let me survive the night, and I’ll go back with you without any fuss and you can hunt me again without having to put in any effort!”

“Without any fuss?”

“I’ll be super obedient.”

“Humans lie,” he said, pain now visible in his stormy eyes.

“I won’t survive if I lie.”

“No. You won’t.”

With that he sat down against the large rock beside you, his big doe eyes catching the last of the sun’s rays as he watched you come closer and crawl over to him and huddle close against his warm body. The fur that wrapped around him kept him warm in even the harshest of conditions.

You didn’t question anything, already trying your best to live up to the promise you had made. No fuss. Just survival.

Taehyun had never expected that he would wake up next to a human clinging to him like this. Let alone one that was supposed to be captured or killed by him. Instead, he watches you as you sleep, the morning sun lighting up your features.

Your body is soft, your limbs all wrapped around him as if he was someone you loved, instead of someone you should be afraid of. It made his heart beat faster, heat creeping up his face as he caught himself pushing a lock of hair behind your ear. He hated you, he hated you as much as all other humans. Just because you were one of the prettiest humans he had seen up close, he couldn’t just abandon that hatred. He quickly pulled his hand away from you and pushed you off of him. You have gotten enough sleep. He needed you both to get back to the court before the hunt.

“Let’s go,” he ordered the moment your eyes opened, a hand quickly shielding your eyes from the sharp sun that shone down through the foliage.

“What?” you asked with a hoarse voice. “Is it time for work already, baby?”

Taehyun knew you hadn’t meant him. But he couldn’t help the way his heart ached when you called him by the endearment.

Humans, always playing tricks on each other. They don’t care about anyone but themselves, and they have the guts to pretend that they feel affection towards one another through names like those.

He hated them.

And you…?

You were in a lot of pain, but you didn’t whine as much as you would have liked to as you tried to keep your promise. And your captor didn’t complain about your slow hike back through the forest more than a couple of times. Neither of you were saying much at all if you were being honest. It wasn’t until after a few hours that you had to speak up about how thirsty and hungry you were, that Taehyun did anything but look back at you to make sure you were following him closely enough. He came close to you, stormy eyes looking down at you with disdain.

“Once you humans get something, you always want more. I spared your life, so why can't you just come with me quietly?"

"I'm sorry, but I don't think I'll make it back without your help." You protested.

He watched you as he considered if he should simply leave you to die, it was always an option. But with so little time until the hunt, he would have to put even more energy into finding a new human that could participate in the games. You just needed some water, he could use some too if he was honest. And he was always honest if nothing else.

“Come on,” Taehyun said and turned around. Kneeling on the ground with his back towards you. You stood in shock, watching the back of his body as he waited for you.

“You don’t mean…” you hesitated to finish your question, what if he would kill you for even suggesting something as absurd as him carrying you, his prey, on his back?

“I don’t have all day. If you would rather walk yourself, that’s fine by me, but you better keep up.”

You carefully let your body rest against him as he rose from the ground. His body was much stronger than it might’ve looked under the thick fur that hung over his toned limbs. You felt the cold of a blade at his side, your skirt having slipped up just enough for your leg to be bare against the soft fur. It made you remember once again that he could change his mind and kill you at any moment. But he hadn’t, and you couldn’t help but be thankful for that.

He carried you for miles, over the rocky mountain ranges, and through patches of higher vegetation. The entire time your core was being pressed against his hard back. You held back your thoughts the best you could, but having your hands wrapped around his strong shoulders made it hard not to think about how long it had been since you had last felt the relief of an orgasm.

Taehyun himself had tried his very best to ignore the tiny sounds you made whenever he adjusted your position on his back. It wasn’t often he had been in a position where he heard that kind of sound coming from a woman, much less a human woman. The way it made blood rush to parts of his body he didn’t want it to, made him irrationally angry.

Before you could make up your mind on how to handle the sensation you heard the faint sound of water. Salt filled the air, but you couldn’t see the ocean anywhere.

“Are we there soon?” you asked hopefully.

“Yes,” Taehyun answered without further explanation.

Soon you could see what you had only heard, a large ocean, but no shore in sight. You two now stood on a cliff that dropped straight down to the angry sea below.

“You don’t intend to throw me off into the ocean, right?” you said as a joke, but when you got no answer, you began to get a bit worried.

He wasn't throwing you to your death this time though. “The stream over there has fresh water. You can do what you need to do there,” he said while dropping you down on your hurt foot, making you wince in pain. Reminding him yet again of how you had huffed right beside his ear for hours.

You made your way over to the wide stream, watching as it flowed from the high mountains down the barren landscape only to disappear off the side of the cliff you stood on. The freshwater from the mountaintops joined the vast sea with a rumble of thunder that echoed up the rocky walls.

In the cold but clear water, you drank until you had quenched your thirst, and began washing up. You had gotten both sweaty and dirty from running yesterday and sleeping on the ground last night. As you pulled off piece by piece of your clothing to wash every inch of your skin in the chilly water, you felt his gaze on you.

He had tried not to look, but it was hard to look away from your sensual body. The way your back curved, your legs that you oh so carefully washed clean, and when you turned a bit he could see the curve of your chest. Nipples hard from the cold, hands smoothing down the curves of your body as you got rid of any signs of your struggles from the previous day and night.

Taehyun couldn’t take his eyes off of you, his prey, basking in the sunlight, stripped down to almost nothing. If this was another trick of yours, you had succeeded, he thought bitterly. He pressed on his hardness, but it only grew as you threw on only your shirt and began walking back towards where your hunter sat. You had quickly tried to wash everything else you owned and thought that if the sun couldn’t keep you warm enough, maybe your captor could help you yet again.

Your intentions might have been less than pure, but you never actually thought the man who had seemed so indifferent to you would ever give you the pleasure you craved by now. However, you immediately spot what he’s trying to hide when you come close enough to see his tense stance. It was big. Hard, and hard to hide.

It honestly turns you on even more. You have been high on adrenaline for hours, then cuddled to sleep by one of the most ripped men you have ever seen in real life. Edged by his back, and then aroused by his gaze on your naked body. His erection was just proof that he felt the same way you did.

It might be a bad idea to sleep with your enemy, but-

Why not release some steam before you have to figure out a new way of getting out of this situation?

Taehyun seemed oblivious to your plans, too focused on the way you stood, half-naked, watching him carefully from only a couple of meters away. He couldn’t meet your eyes, but he could feel them seeing through his fur coat, noticing every involuntary twitch of his body.

When you had made up your mind you didn’t give yourself a chance to change your mind.

You went straight up to the man where he stood, wrapping your arms around his neck, pressing your soft body against his hardness. “Tell me if you don’t want me,” you stated before kissing his lips softly.

He returned it with fierceness. The passion of his tongue pressing into your mouth made your core ache for his touch. It didn’t matter who either of you were. It didn’t matter how you had gotten here. When he laid you down on the sun-warm grass and kissed down your body all you could think about was the pleasure he would give you.

When his tongue flicked over your hard nipples your back arched into his touch. You were a needy mess when his fingers pushed their way inside of you. Your first orgasm washed over you as you moaned into the open sky above and his hand pressed against all the parts you needed him to touch. This only seemed to spur on the fire in your hunter’s actions even more.

Caressing, more gentle than you had thought any fae capable of, and kisses, laden with the attraction you both held for one another made your mind fog up.

When you begged him to put it in, he obeyed. Giving you exactly what you asked for. You had never felt so full, and you wished that your ex could cry about how he would never be able to fill you up this good. You meet Taehyun’s thrusts with your hips each time, grinding up against him, chasing your high yet again. His moans echoed in your mind. They sounded like the most beautiful siren melody, and you were already a lost soul in the deep waters that belonged to the man who had you screaming for more even as you knew what awaited the two of you in your future.

He came on your stomach, your legs quivering as your core clenched around nothing once his length left you empty. The last thing you thought before giving in to the tiredness was that you had finally found your ticket out of this place.

Not even as he fucked you had he taken his fur off. It had to mean something.

Your eyes open but your body stays completely still. The sun was setting once again, the sun shone down on your hunter's sharp features. He held you safely in his arms, and you couldn't ignore the fact that he was truly enchanting. Your hand smoothed over the fur that was loosely wrapped around his body. You had no idea what it could mean to him, but perhaps you had been right when you recognized the pattern of the fur.

Maybe, this man was that same seal. And maybe, this fur was the only way he could shift between the two.

You remembered what you had promised. But did he truly expect you to stick to your promise even as he was bringing you back to the people who had held you captive as a prisoner for weeks? He couldn’t be that naive.

He was still asleep when you ripped the fur from his body. Leaving him bare, so gorgeous you almost regretted betraying his trust in this way as it meant you would certainly never see or feel his touch on you again. It was too late now though. You held his fur in your hand, grabbing the knife that had been attached to the garment. Taehyun woke from your movements and the knowledge that what he cared for most had been taken from him.

“Give that back,” he warned, eyes watching the knife pressed to his fur with caution. You could hear thunder in the distance.

“Send me home, and you can have it back.” You tried to steel yourself for what he would say or do in response to your actions.

It was a threat, and he had messed up by even giving you the chance to make the situation disadvantageous for him.

“I shouldn’t have expected you to be any different in the end. Always lying, always taking everything.” He thought about his own family, his parents, brothers, sisters, and cousins. All were killed by humans, hunters, and collectors. They always betrayed nature, and they were all liars who should never be trusted.

You had just proven years of hatred and suspicion true with your betrayal.

“Hand it over.”

“Not unless you promise to get me home!”

“I thought you knew that you wouldn’t survive if you chose to lie to me.”

He sounded hurt under the anger. Surprisingly, it pained you. Had you grown affectionate of the man you had been hunted, led astray, and were supposed to hate after a few gentle actions of affection from him?

You couldn’t think about it. Not now. You needed to get home.

“Send me home! I don’t want to do it, but I can’t die here!”

Taehyun’s gaze didn’t leave your grip on his fur. You didn’t know the power you held over him by holding that in your hands. If you truly destroyed it, he would be dead within a day. But telling you would only give you more power. How did you figure it out? Had his stern facade been broken down by a mere human woman?

He growled out his next words. Hating every second you were still in his sight. “Fine. give it to me, and you will go back.”

You knew it was dumb to trust him, but if his previous actions and the myth about fae not being able to lie was his true self, he would keep his promise no matter what. You lowered the knife, holding out the coat.

Your chest heaved with adrenaline. You didn’t know if you could bear meeting his dark eyes after what you had done. But it would all be worth it once you got home. Right?

Taehyun reached for his fur, snatching it out of your hand. His gaze was finally able to look at you once it was back in his possession. You looked apologetic, it disgusted him. You didn’t deserve to beg for his forgiveness, even through your eyes.

When he took a step closer, your grip around the blade you still held tightened. Would he kill you instead?

The clouds above your head draw nearer, thunder coming closer with every second that passes. You could barely hear him over the sounds of the waves below the cliff you stood on, breaking against the mountainside. You stepped back as he stepped towards you, his dark eyes keeping your attention locked on him. You didn’t even register how far he had pushed you until he put his hand on your chest, worried he might feel how hard your heartbeat was from his intimidating stare.

“I never want to see you again.” his voice barely above a whisper. With a gentle push, his hand left your skin, and your feet were no longer on solid ground. You fell down the cliffside.

Did he just push you to your death? You didn’t even scream. You simply accepted what had happened as you fell. At least, you had tried to get back home. Your body cracked through the surface of the water. But it didn’t hurt as much as you had imagined falling to your death would.

When the darkness enveloped you once again, you were convinced this was the end of your depressing life. But, if he was anything, Taehyun was honest. He would keep his promise no matter what. You found yourself resurfacing from the water onto the same shoreline you had left just a little while ago. Struggling for breath, you managed to crawl back to the safety of the land, coughing up water and feeling your lungs ache more than the rest of your body.

You had made it back from the place no one was to return from. Thanks to him.

Reblogging and commenting is highly appreciated!! Hearing what you thought is what makes writing and being here overall so much fun! Ty and ily 💕

#thrill of the hunt #kwritersworldnet #taehyun smut #txt smut #taehyun angst #teahyun x reader #txt imagine #kang taehyun #tubatu #tomorrow x together #fae taehyun #tomorrow x together taehyun #fae txt #tomorrow x together smut #tomorrow x together angst #tomorrow x together kang taehyun

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cheeseceli · 25 days

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Sweet night

Pairing: Taehyun × Gn!reader

Genre: fluff, short drabble

Summary: you fall in love as easily as you fall asleep (or even easier)

Warnings: none

A/n: this is like super short but I thought it was cute, so here it is!!

You were surprised by how soft Taehyun's touch was.

Of course, you've always pictured him as a gentleman and you were right when it came to that. He was always kind and loving towards you. However, this was a whole new level.

The difference from right now to his usual touch was the fact that he was asleep. His eyes closed and his mind lost in a dream that made him smile a bit for hours now, but he was still touching you. With his arms around your waist and his face close to your neck. You've never felt safer.

He had no idea, but he was touching you with the ultimate care. His cuddle was strong enough to make you feel protected from all the danger in the world, but also soft enough to make you feel comforted. It felt warm and cozy. It felt exactly what love should feel like.

And in that moment you realised he'd probably never know, but he loved you better than anyone else even when he wasn't conscious. And in that moment you didn't realise just yet, but he was only smiling because he was dreaming of you.

Masterlist | you'll probably like: even after all

Reblogs and feedback are always appreciated!

Dividers by @enchanthings

Taglist: @yuyubeans

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horangslay · 6 days

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I LOVE when Taehyun & Beomgyu pass the slay (sing one after another)

#txt #tubatu #tomorrow x together #txt beomgyu #tomorrow x together beomgyu #choi beomgyu #beomgyu #txt taehyun #tomorrow x together taehyun #kang taehyun #those two together is such a crazy vocal combination im obsessed #FIN posts

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cafeseoulmate · 1 year

Text

Kang Taehyun’s Hot Boy Summer Destiny

time, mystical time cutting me open, then healing me fine. were there clues i didn't see?

featuring: child of athena!taehyun x child of apollo!gn!reader

genre: fluff, angst, pjo / greek mythology / demigod au, childhood best friends to lovers, idiots to lovers au, soulmate au, slowburn, mutual pining

wc: 14k

warnings and other notes: cursing, blood, injuries, graphic mentions of murder, alcohol consumption, charmspeak, insecurities, cliche upon cliche upon cliche, reader is a psychic

You had a dream—or a vision, what have you—that you gave your childhood best friend, Kang Taehyun the son of Athena, an elaborate hot boy summer makeover in a span of two months and had him meet his soulmate at the Summer’s End bonfire. It came to you just last week, the same night you dreamt about the quest you sent your half-sibling Hueningkai in the other day and how exactly you will slay the minotaur terrorizing the camp borders right now—which is why you can confirm, as a child of Apollo, that it was a very much prophetic and bound to happen soon.

“Apparently, I gave you a wardrobe update, a haircut, and introduced you to some Aphrodite and Hermes kids under the half moon—watch out!” You continue to explain as you lure the bull-headed monster further away from the camp gate, dragging Taehyun by the arm and picking up speed when the beast swings its ax exactly as you remember in your dreams. “So what do you think?”

You then aim your crossbow at the minotaur’s ankles as Taehyun instructed you earlier, shooting it with a specialized poisoned arrow. As expected, it takes a moment before the poison takes effect for a beast as large as the minotaur, effectively paralyzing it anyway right as you reach the clearing in the woods and giving you and Taehyun time to charge towards it this time.

“I think you’re properly crazy!” Taehyun belatedly yells back at you, heading straight for the minotaur’s horns while you set your crossbow aside on your shoulder in exchange for your sword. When the two of you near the minotaur’s laying on its side, your best friend swiftly releases one of the specialized net traps Yeonjun made, one that magically adjusts to the minotaur’s size and strength as it traps the beast in place. “I’m not letting you give me a makeover!”

You groan in annoyance even when you already expected this as his answer, kicking the minotaur to lay on its back and stabbing it down right in its torso while Taehyun digs his boot on its neck, slicing one of its horns off.

Up close, the yells and growls that the minotaur releases into the peaceful air is enough to burst a human’s eardrums off. Instinctively, you protect yours and Taehyun’s ears by manipulating the soundwaves and shutting up the minotaur.

“Not even if you’ll meet your soulmate at the end of it?” You ask as you hold the minotaur down by your sword when it starts to flail around the net trap, moving only with half its strength with the poison quickly spreading in its veins. You feel a slight sting on one of your arms but decide to quickly ignore it as you busy yourself with the monster's frantic movements. “I literally just mentioned that I saw them from behind at the end of the dream—red string and all—and you’re not even just a little bit curious?”

Taehyun briefly pauses, the blood on the minotaur’s horn in his hands dripping down his elbows as he looks at you incredulously, before definitively shaking his head. “The future’s still subject to change, even in your dreams, remember?” He counters matter-of-factly, stabbing the horn straight into its heart and effectively killing it once and for all. “You could still dream about something different later on.”

You roll your eyes, removing your sword from the minotaur’s torso right before it fades into dust right in front of you. “The vision should happen in two months, I’m not going to dream of anything new about it at this point.” You counter, jogging over to Taehyun’s side as he gathers the net trap back in its pouch. Once he’s done, the two of you get your bearings and walk back to the direction of camp. “And before you argue and use my dream journals against me again, I re-checked them all as soon as I wrote this vision down so I can confirm that I have no other unrealized visions that says anything else about what’s destined for you this summer."

“Whatever. I can meet my soulmate fine even without a hot boy makeover, thanks.” He chuckles in amusement in front of your oddly determined expression, wiping the blood off of his sword with a cloth from his bag. “A haircut would be nice, though.”

You bump your shoulder harshly against his as you also wipe your sword, returning it to the sheath on your hips and making a mental note that you'll clean everything thoroughly tomorrow. He retaliates quickly and you give him a glare. “You’re mocking me.”

“I’m not, my hair really is getting longer. It’s annoying.”

“Why settle for just one if I can give you a full makeover, then, genius? It’s not like I won’t ask for your input at all or make you do something you don’t want to do.” You pull your best puppy dog eyes despite the blood drying off in your hands this time, looking up at Taehyun with wide eyes and pursed lips. “Plus, I objectively do better makeovers than half the Aphrodite kids! The muses are literally my godmothers!”

It’s not hard to miss the small smile that briefly breaks out on Taehyun’s usually stoic face even as the two of you trek through the forest this late in the afternoon, the sunlight filtering in through the towering trunks of trees illuminating his face just as you spot the tiniest hint that you’ve broken into his tough facade successfully once more.

“Beomgyu’s gonna get you for that comment at the next Capture the Flag.”

“Only if you tell him which I know you won’t because you’ll be teaming with our cabin again in the next game.” You scoff, waving your hand dismissively. “So, what’s it going to be, Tyun?”

Taehyun shakes his head. “Still a no for the whole makeover but a maybe on the haircut.”

“Are you serious?”

“Tell me this, then: what does my soulmate look like, oh great Seer?” He smirks teasingly.

You huff in exasperation, kicking a branch that happens to be in your way as the camp gate comes into view. “I already told you, I only saw them from the back. I woke up before they could even turn around.”

“Yeah, so what do they look like from the back?”

“They were in bronze armor and had sheaths for a sword and daggers on their side.” You recall, jogging over to the camp gate and into safety. Taehyun follows close. “It could literally be anyone in camp.”

“Exactly, so why bother dolling me up if they’re probably just someone we’ve been camping with since we were kids?”

“They could be a new person in camp for all we know.” You retort swiftly with a hopeful smirk. ��Or a visiting Hunter! You know I dreamt that they’re coming this summer.”

“Whatever, they’re still people we meet everyday.” Taehyun shrugs before gesturing to the direction of the Big House. “I’ll report to Chiron. You should get that gash checked at the infirmary.”

“What gash?” You ask dumbly, to which Taehyun rolls his eyes before taking your hand in his and showing you a gash running down the outer side of your arm. “Oh. Well, shit.“

“The minotaur probably clawed you while you held it down.” Taehyun tsks softly, examining it for a bit longer before gently releasing your hand and smacking your forehead. “Stupid. For a child of Apollo, you should be more aware of your body when you get hurt.”

You hold the spot where he just smacked you, furrowing your brows. “Ya!”

“I’ll see you at dinner! Don’t make detours and get that checked out with Soobin!”

You groan in exasperation, digging your boot deep in the soil as you watch Taehyun’s retreating figure disappear in the dirt path. Once he’s gone, only then do you begrudgingly turn around and head to the infirmary with a sigh, focusing your remaining energy in the meantime to at least disinfect the wound with your own vitakinesis.

You had a dream—or a vision, what have you—that you gave Taehyun an elaborate hot boy summer makeover in two months and had him meet his soulmate, red string connecting their wrists and all, at the Summer’s End bonfire. As his best friend of 13 years who’s also secretly pined over him for at least a decade of that time, you know that it’ll take all the brains and brawn at camp combined to convince him to follow his destiny at the end of summer.

It’s no easy feat but Apollo and your mentor, the Oracle of Delphi, is not raising a quitter of a demigod.

♡

Taehyun’s hair is growing longer as he’s mentioned and you’ve expected, bangs sticking closer to his eyes when you spar and your view of the back of his head when you try to surprise him from behind seemingly shaggier. The natural blonde roots of his hair are also starting to grow back as the dyed purple ends he did at the start of Spring are fading into a dull gray, signaling the change of the seasons along with the increasingly hotter weather.

You already know that he won’t give in that easily when it comes to buying him new clothes and forcing him to socialize at camp functions. Taehyun’s stubbornness and logic are, from your point of view, his worst features when you know you’re about to lose your case to him. But, after letting your friends in on your agenda last week (and both Hueningkai and Beomgyu laughing in your face before you pushed the two in the lake) and consulting with the Oracle of Delphi yesterday, you’re hopeful that you’ll get him to agree to the rest of the makeover by virtue of either peer pressure or another vision of his future this summer—whichever works on him first.

For now, you focus on the clippers you borrowed from one of your siblings in your hand, leaning forward in your own seat as you work through the section above his right ear. In front of you, your best friend calmly skims through his copy of Neil Gaiman’s Stardust, occasionally glancing at you through the bathroom mirror.

As cabin counselor, you’ve cut your siblings’ hair far more times than you’ve actually done much more important leadership duties such as turning off the lights exactly at midnight or constantly reminding people to clean up after their respective areas. As the one who’s been insisting that you predicted this specific situation, you’ve also dreamt of giving your best friend a smooth haircut, noting in your dream journal about how this part of the overall vision was relatively quick but you still managed to remember Taehyun’s smile when you woke up.

Regardless, a looming feeling of dread stirs at the pit of your stomach and you unconsciously hold your breath as you snip at the hair right above his ear.

“Relax.” Taehyun suddenly mumbles, head still hanging at the angle you instructed him to but his eyes moving over to your direction. “You being nervous makes me nervous.”

“I’m not nervous.”

“You’re not even breathing right now.” He points out sharply before moving to another page, careful not to move his shoulders too much as he dusts off chopped hair from the previous page in the process. “Breathe.”

You ponder on whether you should tell him that you’re worried, partly about the fact that you’ve never cut his hair yourself before but mostly because this is exactly how the dream played out in your head so far and, for some reason, fulfilling your own personal future is often daunting. Regardless of how long you’ve been having visions and fulfilling some of them yourself, you still worry that something unexpected will happen. In this case, the last thing you want to do is to accidentally nick your best friend’s ear.

There’s also the fact that you’re doing all of this to lead him to the path of his soulmate in the end and as much as it pains you to not be that person for him, it also worries you being the one to have to lead things until they meet. You want to put your best friend’s happiness first and that includes making sure that everything goes according to destiny.

“You won’t hurt me.” He adds softly almost as if reading your mind, pausing briefly as he reads one more paragraph in his book. “Anyway, you brought this to yourself because you kept insisting about your dream.”

You roll your eyes, the worry quickly dissipating when he chuckles right next to your own ear. “I’m not worried about that, not anymore at least.” You reply with a soft exhale, moving your chair behind Taehyun as you finally move on to the back of his head. “And I’ll make sure I see my vision of you fulfilled at the end of this summer no matter what.”

Taehyun hums in thought, shoulders tensing slightly when you place your hand over it. You snicker in response, knowing full well that it’s because he’s ticklish, before continuing your work.

“So, how did you exactly see my hot boy makeover in your dream?”

You unconsciously furrow your brows as you work, carefully dusting away the hair that sticks to the nape of Taehyun’s neck when it builds up and holding the clippers in your other hand away when he flinches in response. “What do you mean?”

“Last time, you just said everything you generally have to do but how did you actually see it in your dream?”

You take a moment to gather your thoughts and recall the dream itself and how you wrote it down in your journal, filling in the silence with the faint buzzing of the clippers as you even out everything nicely. “Well, it started out exactly with this very moment: me cutting your hair and doing an awesome job. Then, when you stood up and admired my work in the mirror, you let me drag you to a bunch of flea markets that were right outside the cabin for some reason.” You narrate slowly, occasionally pausing between words as you bit your lip in concentration while simultaneously thinking about how you’re going to proceed with telling him the rest. “The more we moved between stalls, the more trees turned into the buildings at the Lincoln Center until we reached the end of it all where the campers were all partying by a bonfire in front of the Met.”

Taehyun chuckles, most likely as he tries imagining your dream for himself. Pausing again, you also laugh at how silly it all sounds being spoken out loud.

You continue after you’ve gathered your thoughts once more. “You talked to some Hermes kids and Aphrodite kids until it turned into night—with the half moon out as I mentioned before—and you got so tired that you excused yourself to the buffet.” At that, you finish the back section of his hair, moving your chair to Taehyun’s left side. “I watched you talk to your soulmate from the sidelines after that. They came into the scene right as you grabbed a drink, mentioning something about the bonfire and showing the red string around their wrist. I woke up right after and wrote everything as I remembered it.”

You sigh in relief under your breath after your mini speech, mostly at the fact that you were successful in not accidentally letting slip some details the entire time. Though it makes you feel guilty not sharing everything to Taehyun sometimes, you particularly omit the parts you think he doesn’t have to know—the way his dream version’s smile made your dream version’s heart skip a beat, the way his dream version held your dream version’s hand through the flea market, the dread of knowing that he was going to meet his soulmate that you were unconsciously feeling the entire dream, and the way your dream version actually ran away from the scene before you woke up.

Besides, if Taehyun knew about these things, the teasing would never end.

He has a soulmate and it’s not you, you remind yourself again internally for good measure, Stop having weird thoughts, Y/N.

“So you just concluded after that this will all happen over the summer?” Taehyun asks after a moment, darting his eyes over to his left this time as you continue working.

“Sometimes, I get that instinct of important details I have to know when I dream, like my subconscious telling me that I have to know this and that while interacting with the people in my dreams.” You shrug, bending down to the level of his left ear this time. “At that time, my subconscious kept telling me that time was passing as we moved places then your soulmate confirmed it towards the end when we reached bonfire.”

“Did you tell the Oracle about this?”

“Oh, right!” Your gasp, suddenly remembering what you’re supposed to also tell him today. When he looks up briefly and steals another glance of you, you quickly return his gaze with a knowing smirk. “I almost forgot to tell you but I visited them yesterday to consult about my vision. I was hoping I’d get a second opinion from them because, knowing you, you won’t easily agree to letting me give you a makeover unless something important comes up.”

Taehyun seems unfazed despite your best impression at being menacing, shrugging as he follows along your train of thought. “Okay, and?”

“And I asked them about my vision about you and if they’ve seen other things lately. Guess what?” When Taehyun doesn’t ask the question back, you roll your eyes and continue, “They also saw a flea market and Lincoln Center in one of their visions about you and me! Apparently, they saw both places in a vision about Chiron’s next quest for us!”

In that moment, Taehyun’s calm and composed disposition immediately does a 180 as his mouth forms an ‘o’ shape and his hands unconsciously move to close his book in shock. “Oh...”

“So...” You drag out, just as you finish working on the left side of his head. Untying the top section of his head, you then switch your clippers for scissors and a comb before moving in front of Taehyun with a proud grin on your face. Dread, on the other hand, dawns on him in an instant. “I guess prepare your money because we’re going shopping in Manhattan after our next mission!”

Taehyun groans, sinking deeper in his seat while you bend down and comb down his hair. “Oh, you’ve got to be kidding me...”

“You can come with me to my next visit to the Oracle if you want to confirm it all but they’ll probably just get annoyed by you asking the same questions I did yesterday.” You chuckle, tapping his shoulder as a signal for him to sit properly. “So I guess the only thing left for me to do is to get you to come to at least one party this summer and everything should be good.”

He glares at you from behind his bangs. “You always have to have the last laugh, huh?”

“Well, I am the one with the prophetic visions in this friendship.” You shrug with a laugh, gathering some of his bangs in between your fingers and carefully trimming the ends. “Anyway, I’ve thought it all over and tried recalling my vision as much as I can and we won’t actually be buying a whole new wardrobe. At the very least, there’s this shirt I have to buy for you because you were wearing a flannel I couldn’t recognize towards the end.”

“Is it at least my style?” It’s his turn to frown and pout which you giggle at as you work in front of his face.

“Very much, yeah.” You nod confidently, cutting another inch off of his bangs before ruffling his hair. “Trust me, Tyun, I got you always. Also, I’m done with your hair.”

You stand up and move to the side, setting your tools away in their proper bathroom basket while Taehyun shakes off all the hair on his clothes and move forward to the mirror.

“Do you want me to dye your hair too?” You ask, crossing your arms and leaning your whole body by the marble sink. “I think either Beomgyu or Yeonjun have leftover purple dye in their cabins.”

“Did you foresee it in the future?” He asks with a defeated sigh, inspecting his bangs and the back of his head meticulously.

You shake your head. “No but I’d be happy to dye your hair for you if you want. It’s the least I could do after trapping you into your own worst nightmare.”

Taehyun shakes off more chopped hair from his head and his shirt, stepping aside the pool of purple hair littering the very center of the bathroom. “It’s not that it’s a nightmare for me, it’s just—you know how I feel about destiny and soulmates.” He sighs, moving to the side to change into the extra camp shirt he brought with him. “I’d rather just make my own way without thinking about it too much and meet whoever’s out there for me when I do meet them.”

“And I promised you before, we’ll move along this whole thing at your own pace—or when things present themselves.” You assure, quickly looking away when he takes his shirt off in front of you with a nervous gulp. “Like you said, the future’s still subject to change, and like what my dad always says, the visions are often just guidelines into the future.”

“But does fate really think I need a makeover right now?” Taehyun asks more to himself than to you, his voice muffled only at the start as he pulls his shirt over his head. “I mean, besides the haircut, I don’t think I need a whole new look right now. I’m perfectly fine.”

In the meantime, you busy yourself with crossing the bathroom without peeking at Taehyun and grabbing a broom and a dustpan in the cleaning cabinet, sweeping off the hairs on the tiled floor while keeping your head down.

“Maybe it’s not going to be about having a brand new Taehyun—like visual-wise,” You suggest, only glancing up at him momentarily when he tells you he’s finished changing before moving the hairs you’ve gathered to the trash can. You make sure that your tone is sincere, mainly thinking about how, in the time since you’ve known him, Taehyun really is a person of work and routines and not much of relaxation and doing little things for himself. “maybe it’s just about trying new things this summer. Who knows, you might discover that you actually enjoy shopping in Manhattan flea markets the most after this or that you can finally tell that one kid from the Aphrodite cabin—Haneul, was it?—that you’re not interested in her advances.”

There’s a pause that momentarily hangs in the air as Taehyun combs his hair down absentmindedly by the sink, dirty shirt in his other hand. “Did you rehearse that beforehand?” He says with a teasing smile, one that you easily catch over the mirror and immediately recognize as the same that you dreamt of.

Witnessing it in person pushes heat on your neck and up to your face, your chest feeling light when he chuckles at the way you frown at him. “The one time I'm actually being sincere to you and you ask me if I rehearsed it beforehand.”

“You never know with children of Apoll—ow!” You smack him in the chest in a heartbeat, his hands swiftly moving up in front of you before you could deliver a second blow. “I was kidding!”

You roll your eyes, fighting back a grin when you pretend to hit Taehyun again and he instinctively holds his arms up in defense. “Gods, you children of Athena are so annoying. Do you want me to dye your hair or not?”

“Not right now but definitely the next time we’re both free.” He grins. “Thank you for the haircut, by the way. Hyuka's right, you should start charging people for this.”

You unconsciously annoy yourself with the way your heart starts speeding up as you take a proper look at your work on his hair. Get a grip, he’s just complimenting your work, he always does that when he needs to. “Oh, I will be collecting my fees in our next sparring demo at the arena.” You retort, hand reaching up harmlessly this time as you fix his bangs. "Gods, you better sweep your soulmate off their feet when you meet at the end of the summer with how well I did your hair."

He briefly freezes under your touch before visibly relaxing his shoulders as you ruffle more fallen hair off of his scalp, following you carefully with his eyes the whole time. “Y-Yeah, I got it. Well, future Taehyun does.”

In the back of your mind, a small feeling of dread starts seeping into your thoughts—the exact same dread you felt in your dreams that anticipates the arrival of the stranger that is Taehyun’s soulmate. But at the same time, your heart skips a beat as you glance up at him again.

Gods, you are fucked.

♡

When Chiron inevitably gives you and Taehyun your next mission a week later, you find out that the quest you’re embarking on has to do with retrieving a demigod and one of Persephone’s pearl that has somehow ended up in a nearby flea market.

You retrieve the demigod Kazuha first, explaining everything to her over the course of three days before killing the harpies that have been stalking her by disguising themselves as potential sponsors for her ballet school. Given the hassle of commuting back and forth to Long Island, however, you let her tag along with you and Taehyun on the second part of your quest right after—even helping you narrow down the possible flea markets when you let her in on the information Chiron gave you about the pearl’s previous whereabouts.

(Taehyun initially insisted that he can just call Yeonjun to pick up Kazuha but you insisted otherwise, citing that you don’t want to bother Yeonjun and that Kazuha is a natural with your extra bow and arrow. While partly you have a feeling that Kazuha is one of your half-siblings, there’s also the way she held onto your sword when you let her borrow it that gives you a strange feeling about something that you’re not sure of yet.)

So what was originally two people scouring the Greenwich Village flea markets becomes three as Kazuha links her left arm with your right and asks you all sorts of questions about camp. To your left, Taehyun is loosely holding your other hand as he often does in big crowds of people, eyes examining your surroundings carefully.

Taehyun's hands are cold despite the humid weather but you don't pay much mind, not when your own hand is warmer than normal as a child of Apollo and balancing everything out.

“Oh we should buy this!” You exclaim as you see yet another pair of earrings that catches your eye, Kazuha immediately agreeing with a nod and a grin as you inspect the vintage sunflower-shaped accessory. “It’s so cute!”

Taehyun rolls his eyes from behind you, letting you drag him along by the hand anyway as he carries a paper bag of all of your combined purchases in his other hand. “Ya, I know I said we can stroll around but we really need to find the missing pearl and get home before sundown.”

You ignore his words, turning around with a smile and hovering the earrings next to your face. “What do you think?”

“Beautiful. But you have so many sunflowers at home already.” Taehyun calmly points out, glancing over your shoulder as he tries to inspect the merchant’s items but to no avail. You hope he misses the way your knees almost physically buckle in front of him. “I’m actually starting to think that your dad is also symbolized by the sunflower.”

“But I don’t have sunflower earrings yet!” You retort before turning to Kazuha. “What about you, Kazuha? What do you think?”

“I think yellow brings out your complexion pretty well! It's wonderful!” She flashes a thumbs up of approval before lowering her voice for her next words. “And I think it’s pretty fitting for a child of Apollo!"

“Thanks, Kazuha!”

Taehyun squints his eyes at Kazuha, shaking his head in disapproval. “Don’t entertain them too much, it’ll get in their head.”

“Jerk.” You scoff, removing your hand from Taehyun’s to elbow him to which he only smirks at you before you face the merchant again. “How much for this, ma’am?”

The old woman leans over the table to inspect the earrings, pushing her eyeglasses higher up her nose before smiling warmly in recognition. “For you, I can give it away for six dollars.” She answers, voice simultaneously hoarse and small. “Great choice, child, it would look very lovely on you.”

You smile at her, before glaring up at Taehyun playfully. “See, a compliment isn't so bad every once in a while.” You scold him before taking out your wallet from your slingbag and handing the old woman your six dollars. “You have really lovely items, by the way, ma'am.”

“My, thank you!” The old woman smiles before moving to the clothes rack on the side of her table. “Feel free to look around, my dear. I’m sure your sister and boyfriend can also find something that they like around here.”

You almost choke on your own spit and Taehyun, though seemingly unfazed, coughs awkwardly before moving to the clothes rack. Then, on your other side just witnessing it all, Kazuha giggles behind her hand.

“Oh no, ma’am you must be mistaken. We’re not—“ You shake your head wildly as you put the earrings on and take a step away from Taehyun, heat rising up your face uncomfortably despite the scorching hot afternoon sun beating down on your backs. “He’s not—he’s not my boyfriend.”

In the meantime, Taehyun busies himself with combing through the clothes on sale, eyes abnormally wide in what you’ve come to know as his go-to flustered expression before pulling out a green plaid flannel. “How about this, Y/N?” He asks, trying to keep his voice monotonous even when he knows full well that you can decipher his embarrassed feelings through his voice. “About that thing you mentioned last time?”

“What thing?” You and Kazuha ask at the same time.

“The thing.” Taehyun repeats with more emphasis this time, waving a green plaid flannel in front of you before showing you another hanger with a blue flannel. “This too.”

You open your mouth to speak but no words come out, Kazuha ending up speaking on your (and, unknowingly, your vision) behalf. “Um, I don’t know what the thing is but I like the green one.” She says, pointing innocently at the exact same flannel you’re belatedly registering as the one from your vision. “But the blue one is cute too.”

Taehyun nods in thought, ultimately returning the blue flannel and folding the green plaid one over his arm. “Kazuha, you can look at this too if you want.” He suggests, beckoning her over to his side. “Y/N, I thought you wanted to shop for more clothes.”

Kazuha’s expression brightens and she’s quick to jog over to Taehyun, relaxing immediately at Taehyun’s first gesture of hospitality towards her. “Oh, right! Sure!”

You, on the other hand, remain at the very front of the stall, watching the two interact on the sides until it hits you, the same sense of deja vu you always get when parts of your vision unfold in reality.

The way Kazuha held your sword last night, her passing comment about wanting to learn how to work with daggers, and the way Taehyun also visibly warms up to her in real-time when she suggests a second and a third shirt for Taehyun to buy for himself.

“Holy shit.” You mumble to yourself, coincidentally spotting a familiar ocean blue pearl in a pile of brooches that the old woman brings out when you look away from the two at the same time.

Taehyun looks over his shoulder to you in concern, following your gaze to the brooches. “Y/N.”

You meet his gaze, eyes widening as you quickly pick up the pearl brooch and show it to the merchant. “Excuse me, ma’am, how much for this brooch?”

“Oh, that’s something a neighbor just gave me to sell away this morning. A dollar would do, darling.”

You sigh in relief, handing out an additional dollar to the old woman before thanking her then joining Kazuha and Taehyun near the clothes racks.

“Okay, I got it. Easy enough...weirdly.” You declare, showing Taehyun and Kazuha the brooch in your hand then quickly averting your gaze to the clothes in racks and boxes around you. Seeing the two up close, the total weight of your realization slowly starts uncomfortably settling on your chest, making you cough awkwardly. “What else do they have?”

Taehyun, meanwhile, takes the brooch and leans close to pin it on your sling bag, patting it down on your chest. You unconsciously hold your breath the whole time.

“Let’s keep it here for now so we don’t accidentally crush it on the ride home.” He whispers low, glancing up at you before quickly leaning away.

You nod meekly, belatedly exhaling as your eyes follow Taehyun’s figure when he turns around and pays for the clothes he’s picked up—including the green plaid flannel you’ll see him wear at the bonfire.

“Y/N, do you like wearing silk scarves?” Kazuha asks from your opposite side, showing you a whole band of patterned silk scarves. “They’re pretty trendy this summer!”

You nod again absentmindedly, fighting the urge to blurt out what you’ve just realized about Kazuha and Taehyun right now as she shows you a bunch of silk scarves you can try.

You try looking for the red strings for the rest of that flea trip market and the subsequent subway ride back to Camp, discreetly inspecting Taehyun when he slots his hand back into yours when you move on to other stalls and making sure that you lead Kazuha to the right subway by hand when you go home. Though you don’t have the ability to do so, it was worth the try anyway in your head, anything to further confirm your suspicions.

Taehyun definitely noticed, though, but chose not to speak on it until after dinner when you’ve introduced Kazuha to Yeonjun who’ll be her temporary cabin counselor.

“There’s no string, not one I can see anyway.” He states on the walk to your cabin, holding his arms up to show you his bare wrists.

You frown when he takes your hand back in his after, both in frustration and the uncomfortable feeling of being hyper-aware of how his thumb rubs the back of your hand. “Maybe you won’t see it until later? You tell me, I'm pretty sure you've read all about it before."

“There aren't much books on it actually. Anyway, didn't you dream of it for Soobin before?" He points out, referring to last summer when you helped the child of Poseidon actualize a vision you had of him befriending one of Hades’ children. In that particular vision, you also dreamt of a red string but your subconscious instincts (also confirmed by the Oracle in your later session together) only told you that the future anticipates it to be platonic. "Did he say anything about it?"

“I didn’t think they’d date, I just predicted they’d be good friends because my subconscious told me so. The Oracle also didn’t see it coming either, you know.” You clarify. “And, no, Soobin hasn't mentioned anything about seeing the string on himself. He did mention that there are older Aphrodite campers who can see them but they’ve all left camp before we even came in. No one in camp right now has the gift.”

"Then maybe it's just a metaphor for connection in your dream. Simple as that." Taehyun shrugs.

"Still a connection and clearly pointing towards something important." You insist, finally reaching your cabin and getting bombarded by the sounds of Sunwoo’s electric guitar and what you can identify as Soyeon making up a tune on the spot. “Who knows, the red string in my vision may actually be platonic or romantic like what happened with Soobin!”

“You’ve known me for 13 years. What do you think?”

You stop on the marble steps leading up to the entrance, instinctively raising your hand up to the door and manipulating the sound waves escaping the walls to form a bubble around the cabin. The house mutes up from the outside in an instant. “I just told you what I think?”

Taehyun rolls his eyes, gesturing to himself then to you. “I mean what do you think about us? Suppose we have a red string to each other, what does it mean to you?”

Your entire body tenses up, eyes looking up to inspect every inch of your best friend’s face for any signs of breaking out into a laugh and revealing that he’s messing with you.

Taehyun furrows his brows in thought, anticipating your answer with bated breath and a seemingly erratic heartbeat that reaches your ears when you unconsciously focus on it.

You gulp, the sound seemingly louder in your now quieter surroundings. When you focus in on the sounds around you once more, you also hear your heartbeat uncomfortably pounding in your eardrums at the sudden tension.

“You’re my best friend, my first friend here and the longest one I've been with, actually.” It takes all remaining strength in you to answer, coughing awkwardly in the silence. “We grew up together, went to school together until the 12th grade, and spend the holidays alternating with your dad and my mom. We train together on weekdays, and we go on quests together all the time because we always insist to Chiron and Mr. D. that we’re a package deal. Not to mention, we've already gotten ourselves stuck in the Lotus Casino for a whole six months before. I think that's already pretty epic enough in itself."

“If we were tied together,” You add, hesitantly hammering in the final nail in the coffin. “I think it’s just platonic like all of our other connections with other people. If we’re anything else, something would've happened long ago."

Taehyun takes an abnormally long moment to reply, his expression morphing into something undecipherable before he lets out the breath he's been holding. It makes you frown and you ponder on asking him if you said something wrong until he beats you to it.

“Exactly my point." He coughs awkwardly before taking a step back. "Like us, it could be friendship for all we know in the end. Soobin's was just a whole different case."

Your heart sinks somehow, as if you were expecting him to say something different in the back or your head. “Then we’ll never know until next month.”

Taehyun hums with a nod, the loud music coming from your cabin gradually returning as you dispel the sound bubble you made around it.

You want to ask his question back to him, the words at the tip of your tongue and hoping he’ll actually say something completely different from you until they dissipate as Taehyun pats your head goodnight, a strange smile on his lips. “I’ll be off, then. Sweet dreams, stupid.”

“Night, genius.” You greet back instead, the feeling of dread you’ve been holding back for weeks now momentarily slipping up as your voice shakes towards the end.

You don’t end up sleeping at all that night, all sorts of thoughts—from anxiety you’ve been feeling as your summer unfolds similarly to your vision to the possibilities that Kazuha could be one of your siblings and Taehyun’s soulmate—keeping you up with your siblings’ loud music until the next day. So instead, you reread all of your recent dream journals entries with your live journal, correlating each event and detail with each other: the time Taehyun had you cut his hair, your quest of finding Kazuha, all of Kazuha’s comments that could possibly be clues, the flea market trip today, and Beomgyu’s brief mention of a beach party co-hosted with the Hermes cabin and the Dionysus cabin before you embarked on your latest quest.

Taehyun’s hot boy summer was unfolding in real-time with some contingencies your vision didn’t warn you about beforehand. On the one hand, you’re glad that it’s happening generally as planned at least, with only the beach party and the bonfire left to fulfill. But on the other, you feel somewhat conflicted and overwhelmed—anxious of seeing the rest of the plan through, conflicted about having an inkling of who your best friend’s prospective soulmate might be before the bonfire, and resentful that, for some reason, you suddenly and selfishly don’t want it to be anyone else but you.

(Soobin ends up having to fight an internal battle of not to laugh in front of your face when you report for a volunteer shift at the infirmary the next day, dismissing you quickly and letting you sleep in one of the cots.

“This better be a life-changing realization if you have eyebags this bad.” The older boy sighs with concern as he brings you an extra blanket from their supply closet. “What is it this time?”

“It’s nothing.” You grumble, draping the blanket over your legs as you lay down before lifting it over your head.

“Are you sure?”

“Go tend to your patients, Soobin. Someone’s gonna come in in 10 minutes with a concussion.”)

♡

The Saturday of the beach party, Kazuha is coincidentally claimed as a child of Aphrodite in the middle of the beginner's archery class that you teach. Though the strong gust of wind brought by the doves that welcome Kazuha as one of Beomgyu's half-siblings eases your worry about her discovering her godly parent and the possible difficulties that may happen if she ends up as your half-sibling, it is an inconvenience to your class and a tell-tale sign that Beomgyu and the Dionysus cabin counselor, Hyunjae, will bring in more ambrosia and alcohol for reckless campers to consume.

Forcing Taehyun to socialize with the Aphrodite and Hermes cabin kids suddenly seems like the worst idea, your suspicion immediately proving itself true when you arrive at the beach later in the evening and scour just how many people are already drunk by 8 PM.

"Drinks?" Taehyun asks you after you've congratulated Kazuha on her claiming, gesturing over to a group crowding around what seems to be coolers of beer and soju and a table of snacks and ambrosia. You've bleached and re-dyed his roots in his cabin over the course of the week, his hair looking as bright as it did in the Spring, and he's allowed you to style him tonight in a crisp white printed shirt you ordered for him online, a cropped leather jacket, and jeans. "If you're making me talk to a bunch of Aphrodite and Hermes kids, I'd probably need two bottles of beer first."

You look up at him as the two of you walk to the drinks, actively avoiding his hand reaching for yours when you feel your knuckles bump against his.

"I mean, do you still want to, looking around?" You chuckle nervously, instinctively ducking along with Taehyun when a beach ball gets tossed in your direction. You then quickly pick the ball up and toss it back to Chaewon who thanks you appreciatively. "Everyone definitely sounds and smells like they're pretty buzzed already."

On your right, a bunch of Hephaestus kids and Zeus kids have started an impromptu fire show around the bonfire then to your left, a good half of the Poseidon kids, Ares kids, and your own siblings are all knee-deep in the water and having an intense game of water dodgeball. Then somewhere behind you, some of the Aphrodite kids, Hermes kids, and Dionysus kids have started big circles of the camp staple truth or dare, dragging anyone who comes near while also occasionally playing music on the speakers provided by the Hermes cabin.

Making a whole turn as you walk, Taehyun ends up shaking his head with a laugh. "Maybe not intentionally right now." He answers belatedly, stopping in front of the coolers and picking up two beer bottles for you. In the meantime, you pick up some chips and ambrosia for yourselves. "I'll need to be at least a bit buzzed myself before I let any of the Hermes kid drag me to a conga line

You laugh but nod in agreement, snatching the beer bottles from his hands and opening them simultaneously using both of the caps. You then hand one to Taehyun and take a big gulp of your own. "Okay, so where do you want to go for now?"

The two of you move away from the coolers, scanning the area as you walk and snack on your loot.

"Yeonjun's probably getting pissed drunk with Wooyoung, Haknyeon, and Changbin by now and Beomgyu's definitely making sure that none of the Aphrodite kids end up in places where they don't want to be in tomorrow morning." You start before taking another swig of your beer, the beverage warming slightly in your hands as you harness the sun’s energy through the half-moon. “Personally, I don’t want to be taking care of three more guys later when you’re all drunk and talkative so I’d really like to avoid any 98 liner tonight.”

“I don’t get too talkative.” Taehyun frowns, sipping his beer slower and hissing at the cold temperature running down his throat.

You roll your eyes, thoughts immediately going through all the times he’s jumped on the big rock formations further down the beach and pretended he was Socrates while blackout drunk. “That’s why you don’t remember things when you drink, genius.”

Taehyun sighs, opening a bag of potato chips whil he drinks. "Whatever. Anyway, we just saw Soobin with his siblings so he's not drinking tonight but I'm not really in the mood to get in the water.”

You nod in agreement, immediately moving away when the water climbs closer in the sand. "That leaves us with Hyuka, wherever he is right now." You point out, snatching a handful of chips from Taehyun’s bag. “Come to think about it, I haven’t seen him since lunch.”

"Me too. Where could he even be?" Taehyun squints his eyes under the dim lighting of the fairy lights haphazardly set up around the beach, turning his head on both sides as you walk past the fire show that has now quieted down with the kids preparing DIY fireworks on the spot. "He's not with Soobin or Hiyyih. I doubt he’d be with Yeonjun and Beomgyu at a party too unless he’s drinking tonight.”

The two of you walk further down the beach, examining every face and group you pass by, occasionally making small talk with the other campers, and making sure that your respective siblings are still drinking safely and responsibly. Some of the Demeter kids hand you more food and drinks while some Hermes kids invite you to do shots and drinking games with them as the night progresses further and you momentarily forget about looking for your half-sibling, feeling light-headed from all the beer mixed in with ambrosia while Taehyun gradually loosens up as well right next to you the more freely he converses with the other campers.

You take more and more notice of the Aphrodite and Hermes kids approaching Taehyun much like in your vision, complimenting his outfit with flushed cheeks and cheeky grins in real-time before running away to gossip among themselves. Though you realize early that you’re feeling quite tipsy already, the amount of people that crowd you for Taehyun every now and then effectively keeps you awake with a strange feeling bubbling up in your chest.

“Do you think it’s weird that Eric just called my outfit nice after I pushed him off the climbing wall on Wednesday?” Taehyun hums at one point, glancing over his shoulder as the said son of Ares joins his friends at a new big circle in the sand.

It's almost an hour later when you've scoured the whole beach for Hueningkai but to no avail, finding it weird even in your light-headed state that your half-brother is not at the very center of all the festivities.

In the meantime, you shake your head, dragging Taehyun to your opposite side when you see another child of Aphrodite, Haneul, try and approach you two. Glaring her down until she backs off, you then muster up an answer for Taehyun, “It’s not weird. He probably thought it’s nice to see you out of your polos and sweatshirts for once. You’re overthinking it.”

“I like my polos and sweatshirts. I mean…I’m glad you reminded me that I own a leather jacket but I like my other clothes.” Tipsy Taehyun pouts at you with his eyes blown wide and his cheeks flushed, linking his arms with yours as well which you don’t mind as much now compared to earlier in the evening when you were sober.

After probably three or four bottles of beer and a gods-awful lot of shots, the drunk Taehyun you know was slowly coming out with the long but slow sentences and the darting eyes. “You know, I was wearing a yellow sweatshirt when we first met.” He adds belatedly, finding interest in the sand.

You nod, slowing down in your walk as the breeze picks up and smacks your drunkenness in your face. When Taehyun stumbles slightly in the sand, you’re slower in pushing him back on his feet as the two of you stand near a smaller bonfire made by one of the Hephaestus kids.

“Yeah, you let me borrow it when I arrived in the dead of Winter without a jacket then you gave it to me a week after when I couldn’t sleep well at the Hermes cabin. We didn’t know I had limited thermal manipulation that time.” You try your best recalling, finding it now a good time to sober up a bit as he tries talking your ear off. “Ya, you literally saw me wear it with my sunflower earrings when we had workshop together on Thursday.”

“Right, right! Soobin and Hyuka complimented you after breakfast too.” Taehyun grins and chuckles, nodding along. “I remember because I was there and I was proud they complimented something of mine without knowing!”

“Right, Hyuka. We haven’t seen him all night.” You frown, taking your last sip of your fourth bottle before disposing it in one of the trash cans set up near the bonfire. “We should look for him soon.”

“Wait!” Taehyun suddenly exclaims when you walk ahead towards the more secluded area of the beach. When you turn around, you then see him shrugging off his leather jacket and passing it to you. “It’s cold!”

You raise a brow and nod. “Yeah, so wear your jacket, genius.”

Taehyun stubbornly shakes his head, pushing the leather jacket to you. “No, I mean it’s cold so you wear my jacket!”

You conclude that Taehyun is more intoxicated than usual at this point with the way he’s just casually forgetting who your godly parent is. The thought makes the more rational side of your brain, currently pushed away in the deeper recesses of your mind for tonight, emerge back further and laugh.

“Oh, we’ll have to get you water soon. You’re literally forgetting who your best friend is.” You tsk softly, taking the leather jacket and wrapping it around him again. Your fingers end up grazing his exposed collarbones in the process, hotter than normal after a few drinks. “I’m hoping you still know how to put on a jacket, at least, given you just removed it a second ago?”

If Taehyun was taken aback by how hot your hands suddenly are, he doesn’t visibly show it on his face. “Why are your hands so hot all of a sudden?”

“A family thing, I guess. I learned it after you gave me your sweatshirt.” You shrug teasingly, already feeling yourself sober up the more Taehyun uncharacteristically keeps his head in the clouds with the final sip of his beer bottle. “If you remember, you also called me a portable furnace when that snow storm hit in the 3rd grade then avoided me like the plague when that heat wave came the summer after.”

“I would never do that.” Taehyun frowns as he discards his own beer bottle in the trash can, almost missing it by a literal hair and hiding his embarrassment by taking your hand in his. “Well, not the me right now, at least. I guess kid Taehyun had more sass."

You chuckle lightly. Your rational side, wanting to come back to your full senses, wants to take your hand back immediately but the remnants of the alcohol in your system holds you back from actually saying it. "You're still pretty sassy most days. Family trait too, I'm guessing."

“I wish my hands could also heat up like that, though, especially on colder nights like these.” He sighs to himself as he pushes his arms through the sleeves of his leather jacket again and rubs his hands for extra warmth. “But then I won’t be able to hold your hand whenever I want to since we’d just burn each other.”

You almost choke on your own spit, coughing as Taehyun obliviously leads the two of you to walk around the beach again. “E-Excuse me?”

“I like holding your hand.” He squeezes your hand once for emphasizing before shrugging, as if it was the most casual declaration in the world right now. “Anyway, let’s go around and look for Hyuka once then if he's really not here, let's just join the Hephaestus kids by the smaller bonfires.”

Dumbfounded, you just let him led you down the sand path of the beach with your hands swinging gently between the two of you, almost missing the way tipsy Taehyun smiles to himself after glancing down at your hands.

Eventually, you find your aforementioned younger half-sibling with Beomgyu, Kazuha, and the Aphrodite kids in a rockier and more secluded part of the beach of all places, right at the center of a truth or dare circle.

"Hey, you guys came!" He exclaims giddily, running over to you with a peculiar skip in his steps before wrapping his arms on both yours and Taehyun's shoulders. "My other other other favorite sibling and the guy who's been stealing them away from me!"

"I wouldn't say stealing your sibling away. I just needed help with my hair." Taehyun rolls his eyes as he helps you pry Hueningkai's bigger frame away from the both of you. "I didn't think you'd be drinking tonight."

"Me too, actually! But I got apple juice to go with everything so it's been pretty fun!"

"How many bottles have you had even?" You ask at the same time, more sober now that you’ve walked the entire stretch of the beach. "Gods, you stink! Did you come in straight from sparring?"

"I made it to three bottles today!" Hueningkai proudly slurs his words in answer, taking both yours and Taehyun's free hands and dragging you to the circle. "And I was dared to bring in two more people so I guess that's you guys!"

You glance over at Taehyun, raising your brows in question to which he answers non-verbally by shrugging.

"Come, come!" Hueningkai tugs you closer before you could protest, sitting you down next to Beomgyu while Taehyun is dragged over to Kazuha and Yuna. "Sieun, you’re next! Truth or dare?”

Though you end up witnessing Yuna getting dared to do 10 consecutive soju shots, an elephant spin, and then a whole somersault, Taehyun reciting the multiplication table backwards and revealing the campers he’s not very fond of, and Jeongin revealing the names of all the people and nymphs he’s ever had a crush on, this circle of campers is relative tamer than the others you almost got dragged to previously. It’s a rowdy bunch with too many bottles of ambrosia and soju swiped from the main party (courtesy of Beomgyu) but you find yourself easily tipsy again and laughing along to your friends’ antics, leaning your half of your body weight on Beomgyu next to you and even picking dare twice to entertain yourself and everyone else.

(The first time, you ended up getting in a competition with Hueningkai and Yunjin on who can raise their body temperature the highest then on your second dare, Kazuha dared you to mute Beomgyu until his next turn.)

“Oi, Beomgyu, truth or dare?" Sunghoon asked once the said child of Aphrodite’s phone pointed towards its owner five rounds later.

You then manipulate the soundwaves in the air with a snap, allowing Beomgyu to immediately and excitedly blurt out, “Dare!”

While everyone comes up with a new dare for him, Beomgyu then shoves you away from him playfully because of how you muted his voice out for 15 minutes, making you laugh.

“Dude, that was awful! I wanted to yell when Sunghoon jumped in the water!” He exclaims to you, making you and Ryujin on your opposite side laugh. “Then when Kazuha prank called Eunchae and Taehyun did all those ambrosia shots!”

You shrug teasingly, raising your hands up in defeat. “Well, it was nice for us being slightly quieter for 30 minutes!”

“Ya, come here, you little—!”

“Okay, we dare you to use charmspeak on anyone in the circle!” Sunghoon interjects with an excited yell, eyes then landing on you. “How about on Y/N?”

Your eyes widen as your mind quickly goes blank with all eyes on you. From the corner of your eye, you see the same indecipherable expression on Taehyun’s face and his body visibly tenses up despite the soju bottle in his hand.

At the same time, Beomgyu’s hazy eyes brighten up in an instant before turnjng to you with a menacing smirk. “Oh, revenge is coming early for you!”

“It’s just for a minute, though!” Hueningkai points out. “Just make Y/N do something small. Nothing too weird or dangerous please, they have two siblings here!”

“Wait, let me think of something!” Beomgyu raises his right hand in front of him with a chuckle while his left raises his soju bottle on his lips again. “It should still be interesting since this is my opportunity at revenge!”

You glance at Taehyun again from the corner of your eye, almost flinching in the sand when you meet his eyes, then at Kazuha two people away from him with wide eyes and mouth forming an ‘o’ shape curiously. When you focus on Kazuha and Yunjin, you can faintly hear her ask about charmspeak as an ability of Aphrodite’s children.

Gulping down another sip of soju, you suddenly find yourself shrugging and agreeing to the dare. “Fuck it, okay, sure. Give me your best shot, lover boy.”

“Okay, okay. Geez.” Beomgyu rolls his eyes, irises turning pink right after. “You’ve always been curious about my charmspeak, huh?”

Without even thinking about it, your mouth suddenly blurts out, “Yeah, sure.”

Your circle of friends gasp in surprise, having never really seen you entertain requests like this before, and you also gasp at the very recesses of your thoughts, belatedly realizing what is going on with you.

Beomgyu smirks and clasps his hands together in content. “What should we have you do? What do you want to do, love?”

A force settles itself on your shoulders, moving your muscles around like a puppet. This time, you shrug and gesture over to Beomgyu in a daze. “Whatever you want me to do, it’s fine.”

“Y/N, truth or dare? I think another dare would be good for you this round, don’t you think?”

“Ya, Beomgyu, careful there.” Jeongin warns, to which he earns a shushing gesture from said child of Aphrodite.

“I choose dare.” You answer back monotonously despite your efforts to fight back whatever force is making you answer before you could even comprehend anything, worry settling in the back of your head as a mischievous glint crosses Beomgyu’s now blood red eyes.

“I dare you to kiss the prettiest person in the circle!” Beomgyu declares, glancing around. “If you can’t decide for yourself right now, you can pick me or Kazuha or Sunghoon.”

Beomgyu’s name somehow pushes itself to the front of your mind and the tip of your tongue, pushing Taehyun’s name of all people. “I choose—“

“Beomgyu, that’s enough.”

Taehyun’s low and commanding voice is enough to snap you out of your trance, blinking twice and turning your head towards him, and disrupt Beomgyu’s concentration, much to everyone’s chagrin. His stoic expression remains the same but if you focus on the fainter sounds around you, you can clearly hear him gritting his teeth and huffing.

Next to you, Beomgyu raises his hands up in surrender, a small hint of a knowing smirk on his face. “Okay, okay, calm down. I was going to stop there, actually.” He replies with a light-hearted chuckle, eyes going back to their natural brown. “Should we move on? Taehyun, truth or dare?”

Instead of answering, however, Taehyun stands up and storms off, leaving his soju bottle in the sand and walking to the direction of the path back to the cabins.

“Tyun—“ You try standing up and going after him, only for Beomgyu to hold you back down by your elbow. “Gyu, let go of me!”

“Are you crazy? There’s literal steam going off of his ears right now, I’m not letting you go after him.” Beomgyu retorts calmly, tightening his grip on your elbow when you flail around. “Let him cool down for a bit.”

“I swear to the gods, Choi Beomgyu—“

This time, it’s Hueningkai who interjects, “Dude, no, he’s right. Let’s leave Taehyun alone for now, I don’t want you getting thrown off a tree or something.”

“But—“

Beomgyu shakes his head. “No, nope, no buts. I think that also checks out for our game tonight.” He interjects, standing up and dusting the sand off of his pants. “Come on, guys, let’s clean up and head back too.”

You groan, standing up last and helping everyone clear out the mess. “I don’t even know why he’s so upset.” You mumble to Hueningkai after, heading back to the more crowded area of the beach to discard your empty bags of chips and soju bottles. “It was just a game.”

It takes your half-brother a moment to ponder on your question, opening his mouth multiple times only to close it quietly. When he does answer, he says, “E-Eh, well, it’ll probably go away by morning.” Shrugging, Hueningkai then offers to walk you and Yunjin back to the cabin after finding Hiyyih by another bonfire. “Taehyun was probably just upset by charmspeak, child of Athena and everything. Don’t worry about it.”

♡

It did not go away by morning, not even in the weeks that followed. Though Taehyun was civil with you—continuing to spar with you on weekdays, accompanying you even on smaller solo quests, and even partnering up with you during one of your assigned strawberry picking days—it was the kind of civil you’ve associated over the years as him being cross with you.

For one, he’s suddenly quieter than usual and only speaks to you when it is absolutely necessary, which in Taehyun talk would only be when he has to ask a direct question about your work or if he has to clarify something. He doesn’t even ask you anymore if you got hurt during sparring sessions or what time you finish your beginner’s archery classes, the longest he’s spoken to you in the past three weeks being the time when he asked you and your fellow cabin counselors the details about the arrival of Artemis’ hunters to camp.

Though Beomgyu’s apologized to you and to him multiple times, you’re also quick to catch onto Taehyun tensing up whenever the three of you are within five feet of each other before ultimately moving away. He’s mostly hung out with Hueningkai and Yeonjun in the meantime and you’d often find the three standing together even when they’re not teammates for an activity, leaving you to resort to drilling your half-brother with questions about Taehyun at the end of the day.

(But even Hueningkai is no good help most times because he’s decided that he’d rather keep some things between him and his friend rather than open up to you, his literal sibling. You also had to find out from Yeonjun that it was Hueningkai himself who proposed that they talk via text messaging when they’re together, knowing that you can focus on sounds well.)

But most importantly, Taehyun, whether he’s doing it intentionally or not, has been harsher on you than everyone else during team games. As you’ve observed before in all the other times when he’s held grudges on you or other campers, it’s his way of letting off steam: being more critical of you during brainstorming sessions, yelling at you a little louder in the field, and pointing out all of your mistakes with a harder expression on his face after. Though it was nice that he’s at least not giving you the cold shoulder, there have been times in the past few days that you’ve wanted to just tear his head off or stab him with a poisoned arrow in annoyance because you knew him well enough to know that he doesn’t fully mean what he’s saying and that he’s just projecting.

And you desperately want to apologize for whatever it is that you did at the party, as evidenced by the growing number of paragraphs on your phone’s Notes app and the amount of times you’ve tried cornerning him at the forge, but you just can’t seem to find the right time—not when Taehyun’s always buried in work, talking in secret with Hueningkai and Yeonjun, or nitpicking at everything and making it an argument between the two of you. As much as it hurts knowing he’ll meet someone new soon, it hurts even more knowing that he’ll meet this new person while being extremely upset with you and won’t let you apologize.

Gods, you think that you really are fucked.

By the afternoon before the Summer’s End bonfire, a celebration at the canoe lake for departing campers, you find yourself terrorizing Soobin at the infirmary instead of helping out with last minute preparations on the bonfire.

Initially, you were going to the big house and consult with the Oracle of Delphi until they kick you out, then you’d stick with the Hunters of Artemis for the rest of the night when the Oracle pushes you to go to the bonfire. However, Mr. D. has closed the big house earlier than you anticipated, pushing you in the direction of the infirmary at its closing time and catching Soobin packing away his things for the day.

“Have you ever thought about making a cure for any kind of broken heart?” You ask with a sigh as you help fold blankets and fluff pillows. “I mean, I get that most demigods and heroes would rather follow their loved ones to the underworld but don’t you think it’s also good to have a back-up option, especially for us people in the waking world?”

"Just go up to him, make sure he’s alone, and say sorry like you’ve always done in all the other times you’ve fought.” Soobin shrugs three cots away from you as he makes an inventory of the infirmary’s medical supplies. “I get that he’s a bit intimidating when he’s mad and that you’ll probably need to apologize at least five times but he’s still your best friend. Besides, this isn’t your biggest fight with him, as far as I’m concerned.”

“It’s not just that.” You whine dramatically, plopping down on the cot in front of you. “It’s also because I—well, first, I’m not exactly sure what I’m apologizing for. For complying with Beomgyu for a dare? Willingly getting charmspoken? He’s upset and he’s valid for that but I just can’t seem to wrap my mind around his point of view that time.”

“Maybe he was upset on your behalf. While it was a drunken joke for everyone else, it probably wasn’t for him. He’s still a child of Athena and you know how his mom feels about Beomgyu’s mom sometimes.” Soobin suggests. “And you know he’s very protective of you. That and the fact that charmspeaking is done differently with Aphrodite and Athena kids probably agitated him.”

“I mean, still, I was fine and nothing really happened, anyway.” You point out before scratching your head and waving your hand dismissively. “Whatever, there’s also the thing with tonight. I might just ruin it for him if I corner him for a bit just to say sorry. Soobin, he’s literally meeting his soulmate tonight and my instincts told me it’s the romantic kind of soulmate.”

“Yeah, so? Before this soulmate person, you’re Tyun’s best friend. I don’t think five minutes of apologizing is going to change anything for the rest of destiny.” Soobin retorts expertly and you immediately regret coming to your most level-headed friend in your time of actual stress and dramatics. “I think you’d even make his night if you try and make amends right before he meets this person, whoever they are.”

You pout and Soobin rolls his eyes, finishing up his inventory before walking over to you. He sits right next to you on the cot, sighing as he does so.

“I didn’t see me apologizing to him in my vision.”

“You also didn’t predict that you’d be getting into this specific situation in the first place.” Soobin retorts sassily. “Isn’t it your dad who said that your vision are just general guidelines? This isn’t the future you saw back then, it’s your present now and it’s demanding you clear things up with Taehyun as soon as possible.”

You rest your chin on your knees, whining dramatically. “But Soobin!”

“You’re literally just making up excuses. Take it from me that if you don’t do what you have to do as soon as possible, you’ll regret it when you have to wait for a long time for your next shot.”

“That’s easy for you to say, you got the girl in the end.” You grumble.

Soobin raises a brow at this. "So it’s about being in love with Taehyun now?”

Your eyes widen and your hands immediately find themselves smacking Soobin’s arm. “Ya, I never said that!”

Soobin, however, is unflinching as he maintains his stance calmly. “You don’t have to say it. Yeonjun and I watched you two grow up too, you know.” He states matter-of-factly. “If you really love him as a best friend first and foremost, you’d still go up there even with all of your excuses and conflicted feelings about tonight. I promise you, destiny protects certain events to make sure that they happen so just go up there freely and talk to him, it’s fine.

“Besides, you’ve been putting this up for three weeks now, shouldn’t it be time that you do something about it? Knowing Taehyun and how Athena’s kids hold grudges, it’s probably just as hard on him as it is on you too.” He concludes, standing up and dragging you with him on your feet easily. “He needs you there, Y/N. Don’t keep him waiting for too long.”

“Will you make that cure for broken heart when he breaks mine right after?”

Soobin rolls his eyes but proceeds to drag you out of the infirmary anyway. “We’ll just have to see.”

♡

Taehyun is wearing the green plaid flannel from the flea market over a cream-coloured hoodie and jeans, purple hair styled neatly and a silver earring on one ear. When you spot him as you arrive at the campfire, he stands by the drinks table with a glass of ambrosia and his brows furrowed in thought. Kazuha stands in front of him in full armour and sheaths on her hips, most likely from the games with the Hunters of Artemis that you organized this afternoon, and showing something on her phone.

The dread you’ve been harboring the whole summer rises up your throat along with the full weight of the last part of your vision happening in real-time. Instead of running away like in your vision, however, Soobin just holds you in place before letting go and disappearing into the party when Taehyun spots you over Kazuha’s shoulders.

“Y/N!” He calls for you, eyes wide in what you’re surprised to find as worry. Walking past Kazuha, he sets down his glass and takes another tentative step forward to you. “Wait, it’s not—”

“Can I talk to you?” You interject, gulping down your nervousness. You’re nervous about what you’re going to say to him but, most importantly, you worry about the fact that you didn’t see this part in your vision. “Alone, if that’s okay.”

Taehyun immediately nods, almost as if he was expecting you to ask, and jogs the rest of the distance to you. “Let’s go somewhere quieter.” He says, extending his hand to take yours before quickly retracting it and walking past you. “Come on.”

You follow him away from the bonfire quietly, stopping a few meters from the canoe lake and away from the path campers usually take.

“Look, Taehyun—”

“Y/N, I swear—”

You both back away from each other in surprise, Taehyun coughing awkwardly while you immediately avert your gaze in embarrassment.

“You first.” Taehyun eventually suggests with another cough, hands digging deep in his flannel’s pockets from the cold breeze that blows past.

“No, it’s okay, you can go first.” You insist awkwardly, finding interest in the soil under your boots as you avoid his gaze.

“Y/N.” He calls for you sternly, taking a step forward and making you look up at him. “We won’t get anywhere if we just keep tossing the conversation to each other. Just go ahead.”

There’s a long pause between the two of you as you try and stare him down, but to no avail. Sighing, you then give in and speak first. “I wanted to apologize for the thing with Beomgyu last time. I didn’t mean to upset you by playing along with the dare and letting him charmspeak me.”

“Oh that. No, it’s—”

“I’m really sorry for not apologizing sooner too.” You continue to ramble on, zoning out in your own words that you fail to notice how Taehyun’s eyes have softened from your words. “At first, I thought I’d give you time to cool off while I thought about what happened but then I let it drag on for so long because I didn’t know how to approach you when you were actively avoiding me and everything. I should’ve just went for it instead, like I’ve always done, but a lot of things were holding me back—”

“Y/N—“

“—like you’re always tense when I try approaching, especially when Beomgyu’s around, and you gave me a different position for Capture the Flag two weeks ago. I just knew from those things that you’re more upset than usual and that I should be extra careful with what I say to you—”

“Y/N—”

“—then, there’s also the fact that you’re meeting your soulmate and I kept using it as an excuse to myself that if I talk to you before, during, or even after tonight and mess up, I can’t forgive myself for making you angrier or, worse, ruining your night. Then, there’s also the fact that I—”

“Kazuha’s not my soulmate.”

You close your mouth immediately, at the same time as your eyes widen in surprise. Taehyun takes the opportunity to step closer to you.

“But, you were there, exactly like my vision...”

Taehyun shakes his head. “She was showing me her soulmate while explaining how she can see the red strings.” He clarifies matter-of-factly, gradually picking up speed in his speaking once more. Half of the weight on your chest and shoulders leave, only to quickly return when he continues speaking, “Then, she told me something else. Well, confirmed something for me, really.”

You gulp, feeling your mouth dry up as you ask, “W-What is it?”

Taehyun takes a moment to respond, filling in the silence by finally taking your hands in his. "It’s you, Y/N.” He sighs in relief, catching your eyes with his sincere ones. He smiles softly at you. “It’s always been you.”

When you don’t speak or react beyond wide eyes and a slacked jaw, he continues. “Since I gave you that sweatshirt when you first came to camp and the 3rd grade when you made sure I wasn’t cold by practicing your thermal manipulation on me. Since we were first allowed to head classes on our own and you made sure that I ate and rested between sessions because that was also the summer when we were so understaffed because older campers were going on quests. Then when we got stuck at the Lotus Casino and I didn’t want to tell you what made me snap out of it but I can tell you now that it was my mom getting in my head and telling me to save you.” He releases a long exhale, his normally confident and composed demeanor slouching up to what you couldn’t believe as nervousness. “I wasn’t really upset with you or Beomgyu that night and I really am sorry for how I’ve been acting. I was just angry with myself for not doing anything then—and for not doing anything about my feelings until now, even—and that made me even angrier with myself that I couldn’t bring myself to just talk to you. I was just really embarrassed.

“Kazuha’s not my soulmate, she just happened to be confirming it for me when you arrived. She actually approached me in the first place because she worried about us, mainly you and the red string she’s been seeing around us this whole time. But whatever, red string or not, I’ll only ever be in love with you in this lifetime and the next. It’s you, Y/N, and it’ll only ever be you for me.”

Taehyun’s breathless at the end of his mini speech and you’re effectively caught off-guard, hands unconsciously warming up in his.

“Y-You...you’re in love with me?” You repeat incredulously, feeling your heart pound in your eardrums. When you try and loosen your hands from Taehyun’s grip, worrying that you won’t be able to control your body heat as your emotions rise, he only resists.

“If that’s okay.” He purses his lips worriedly. “Look, we’ve talked about it last time. It could be platonic if you want. Like you’ve said—”

“That was before I knew you were in love with me! I was thinking Kazuha was your soulmate that time!” You interject quickly. “I...I just thought that I love you too much and that I wanted you to be happy before anything else.

“Listen, when I dreamt my vision of you earlier this summer and saw someone else with you in the end, I just thought that was it, it was over for me. How can I compete with someone you were destined with? I’m just your best friend who’s stupid enough to wait until I thought I was about to lose you to do something.”

“Don’t say that.”

You sniffle lightly as you speak, not expecting yourself to break this easily with all the overwhelming emotions coming to you all at once. Taking a deep breath, you then continue, “So I just pushed my feelings aside tried pushing you to your destiny because that’s what the Oracle told me to do, that regardless of whether I want the future or not I have to deliver it. I wanted you to be happy first even when I wasn’t and I wanted you to meet your soulmate so I had to say all of those things but I really, really love you, Tyun—as more than a friend, if it wasn’t clear to you already.”

“Did you never consider that it could be you?” Taehyun frowns, cradling your face gently as you catch your breath. “That I’d feel the same way?”

“I didn’t think you’d choose me that way, at least until now.” You shrug unsurely, voice getting embarrassingly small towards the end. Taehyun shakes his head in disapproval. “Not against people as beautiful as Kazuha, at least...maybe even Zeus kids like Yeji and Chan or—”

“That won’t do, my love.” He tsks softly, wrapping his other arm around your waist and leaning closer until his lips are only an inch away from yours. You look up at him with bated breath, closing your eyes when he connects your lips briefly for a kiss. “Don’t ever think like that again, please.”

It’s sweet and chase but also desperate and yearning, Taehyun gently pulling you as close to him as possible while you raise your arms up to his neck.

“Gods, I thought you didn’t have to worry about things like this. Child of the sun and all.” He chuckles lowly on the crook of your neck, hugging you comfortingly as he moves to littering more kisses down your neck. “But I’ll gladly prove it to you right now and for the rest of time.”

You scoff through a few tears that have slipped down your cheek, patting his back once. “Since when did you get this cheesy, hm?”

“It’s just for you, don’t worry, my love.” He assures, lifting his head up to capture your lips once more.

♡

(bonus)

You had a dream—or a vision, what have you—that you invited your childhood best friend and boyfriend, Kang Taehyun the son of Athena, on a date at the strawberry fields right after a day of patrolling camp borders. You had it all planned out according to what you saw: a nice picnic dinner of yours and Taehyun’s favorite foods that you prepared with Kazuha and Yunjin, a playlist of music you’ve curated for him over the past week (and some from your archives of the past years), your prettiest picnic outfit, candles, your dad’s missing chariot that you may or may not have swiped while he went on vacation to Egypt, and a pair of wings-shaped earrings you’ve been secretly making at the workshops with the help of Yeonjun and Beomgyu.

(Well, the earrings aren’t actually part of the dream but you did see yourself giving him a gift and Taehyun did mention something about wanting to make earrings for himself for some time now so you thought of going just a little off-course and bring it along.)

“Eight PM sharp tonight! Don’t be late, I have a surprise!” You remind Taehyun as you pass by him on the way to the forge, pressing a kiss up to his cheek before reluctantly letting go of his hand when Hueningkai complains about being late to his session with the Hephaestus kids. “Oh, and wear that fitted black shirt you have! I hung it in front of your closet yesterday.”

“Will do, love. Oh, and I also have a surprise.” Taehyun winks with a grin, ruffling your hair with a fond smile. “Unless you saw it in your dream then just pretend that it’s a surprise.”

You have a hunch but not because you saw it in your dream, rather because Taehyun’s not that discreet with going around camp with his guitar and because Yeonjun accidentally let it spill to you that your boyfriend had him order something for you a few weeks ago. Apparently, it was something fresh and yellow that he was planning to preserve and you remember mentioning in passing at a workshop class about how you were interested in flower preservation.

“I don’t know what you’re talking about.” You feign ignorance, making him roll his eyes while you laugh. “I’ll see you tonight, genius.”

“I’ll see you tonight, stupid.”

♡

taglist: @choisuebin @forever-in-the-sky2 @rencarnationofangel @hyukalovie

316 notes · View notes

pinktyuns · 1 year

Text

chapter one - he’s hot!

series : shoegaze sex

genre : roommate!taehyun x beomgyus bsf & lead guitarist of a band!reader

word count : 3512

warnings : cursing, mentions of one piece, so many mentions of avatar the last airbender, beomgyu is very beomgyu, pink tyun!! a mention of kevin de bruyne (?) taehyun is stressed, a ladybird reference (iykyk)

a/n : here is the first chapter!! i am literally just getting started here lol i hope u love her im so excited for whats 2 come!! <3

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“Taehyun, are you even listening to me?” Beomgyu asked, causing Taehyun to look up from his laptop at the clearly annoyed brown haired boy glaring at him from across their shared kitchen table.

“To be honest, I wasn’t,” Taehyun mused, running a hand through his pale pink head, “this calculus is kicking my ass.”

Beomgyu sighed (quite dramatically, Taehyun wanted to add), “I was asking what you would think about someone moving into our spare room, and splitting rent three ways instead of two.”

Taehyun was interested now, the idea of another roommate in his and Beomgyu’s small, 3 bedroom 1 bathroom apartment was not something they had ever thought about. Currently they used the third bedroom as a guest room/storage; it mostly being a guest room for a drunk Jeon Jungkook who would fall asleep and was unable to make it back to his own bed most Friday nights, a tired and stressed from school Yang Jungwon, or Choi Soobin, who was pulling yet another anime marathon with them (Taehyun still didn’t know why Soobin and Beomgyu thought they could catch up on all of One Piece from the beginning, including filler, over one weekend but hey, you couldn’t say they weren’t ambitious).

Taehyun mused, thinking it would be nice to split rent three ways instead of two, but he liked his life with Beomgyu. Beomgyu, although not being the quietest, cleanest roommate, seemed to be a perfect match for Taehyun, and they’ve lived together since freshman year when they were placed in that shitty, drafty dorm together, becoming fast friends and have chosen to live together ever since.

Taehyun wondered how a third person adding to their life would affect his day-to-day activities and habits. A complete stranger coming into their life, who knows if they were clean or messy, if they were loud or quiet, if they were a goddamn serial killer or not.

“Well, who would it be?” Taehyun asked, “Like a random stranger?”

Beomgyu grinned across the table, his eyes lighting up, “No, you know my best friend y/n, right?”

Taehyun nodded slowly, “I’ve never met her, but yeah, you’ve definitely mentioned.”

“Okay so,” Beomgyu started, leaning onto the kitchen table, “she’s transferring universities, something about ours being better for her major or whatever, but she really doesn’t wanna live in the dorms and I definitelysaidshecouldliveherewithuspleasedon’tbemadIloveyou!” Beomgyu clasped his hands together at Taehyun, who was trying to understand his roommates rushed words, “You already told her she could live here?”

Taehyun wasn’t mad, just confused, he’s never met you but heard so much about you and your guys’ high school escapades from Beomgyu, the most memorable being planting trees in the football field simply because a football player had rejected you.

Beomgyu shook his head, fluffy brown hair swishing around him, “I didn’t like, say she could but I definitely didn’t say she couldn’t.”

“Oh my god, you’re hopeless,” Taehyun sighed at his friend, returning his attention to his laptop, sending Beomgyu into a panic, thinking that Taehyun had just ignored his question of you moving into their place even though he knew you were gonna arrive next weekend anyway.

“Wait!!” Beomgyu exclaimed, “before you get all sucked back into your weird hard math, is it cool or not?”

Taehyun sighed, thinking about the situation at hand, thinking about the pictures Beomgyu has of the pair of you from your high school graduation framed in his room; Beomgyu looking younger but with the same eyes, the pair of you beaming at the camera as you held onto each other in your caps and gowns.

Taehyun thought about the film photo Beomgyu has next to the graduation one: you at the beach, the sun setting at your back and a soft smile on your face as you look at the camera, wind blowing your hair around your face, your eyes almost teasing him, they had a playful sparkle in them.

Taehyun always thought you looked soft, it matched Beomgyu’s softness. He remembered when Beomgyu turned 21 and you, stuck in a chemistry lab, couldn’t make it to his birthday. He remembered Beomgyu’s disappointment until a carefully wrapped package arrived at the door, unveiling a gorgeous silver Leica camera with a handwritten note from you to your best friend. You seemed kind, and loving. Soobin had always agreed to that, also growing up with you and Beomgyu. Taehyun knew you often offered Soobin girl advice over the phone, and when he got too in his head you guys would have Studio Ghibli marathons over a Discord call.

Soobin and Beomgyu had always spoken so highly of you, it was almost like you were some urban legend in the apartment. Taehyun wondered if you moving in would really be that bad, and honestly, at that moment, he didn’t think so.

He didn’t lift his pink head up from his laptop, “It’s cool, Beomgyu. I have zero problem with it.”

Beomgyu leapt out of his chair, pumping his fist in the air like goddamned Kevin De Bruyne when he scored a goal for Manchester City, “YES! Oh my god I need to go call y/n right now!”

And just like that, he was gone, running out of the kitchen and into his room with a soft slam of the door, leaving Taehyun with his thoughts and his calculus.

———————————————————————-

“Do you think it’s a good idea?” Taehyun asked Jungwon a week later, as Jungwon sat at Taehyun’s desk as Taehyun himself lay spread out on his made bed, staring up at the ceiling.

Jungwon eyed his best friend, looking away from his laptop, “Is what a good idea?”

Taehyun sighed as he continued to stare at the blank ceiling, “Y/n moving in. I don’t know why but I’m suddenly having doubts about her living here.”

Jungwon cocked his head, dark hair moving, eyes regarding Taehyun, “Are you having doubts because she moves in tomorrow and it’s all you’ve been thinking about?”

Taehyun hummed softly, “Maybe.”

There were a few beats of soft silence, which was a common occurrence between Taehyun and Jungwon’s friendship, both of them being on the quieter side.

The silence and Taehyun’s intense ceiling staring was broken by a soft knock at the door and a deep voice following it, “Hey, it’s me. Beomgyu let me in.”

Taehyun got up at the sound of Kim Namjoon’s voice to open the door to reveal their insanely tall, buff friend. Namjoon was the biggest out of all of them (even if Jungkook insisted he wasn’t) but he was somehow the gentlest, soft spoken and kind, insanely passionate about his Masters in art history.

He was also the oldest, the rest of them constantly going to him for advice or just to rant, he was always there.

“Hey Joon,” Jungwon mused from the desk as Taehyun went back to his bed to brood, “Tyuns having some sort of crisis again.”

Namjoon chucked as Taehyun glared up at the ceiling, “I’m not having a crisis. I’m just unsure.”

Namjoon shrugged his messenger bag off by the desk, sinking onto the beanbag chair next to it, “Unsure about what?”

Taehyun sighed yet again, “Beomgyu’s best friend y/n is moving in to the spare room tomorrow, I’ve never met her, and suddenly I’m wondering if her living here is really a good idea or not.”

“Y/n?” Namjoon repeated your name, sending Taehyun nodding, “Yeah.”

“I’ve met her, like twice,” Namjoon said, causing Taehyun to lift his head off the bed to look at his friend, pink hair following, “She’s really cool, kind of quiet but also like Beomgyu, you can tell. I remember we talked about music.”

“I don’t know if I can handle her being like Beomgyu or not,” Taehyun said softly, meaning no harm to his roommate and close friend.

Still typing away, Jungwon asked, “Why not?”

“It’s just,” Taehyun started, “I feel like Beomgyu and I mesh so perfectly, you know. He’s just so Beomgyu, like he’s loud and out there and everyone loves hin and he’s kinda messy but in an endearing way and the apartment is never quiet with him here and I’m not like that so I think with the two of us it’s just perfect but what if she’s just like him and I can’t handle two fucking Beomgyus.”

Namjoon held a soft hand in the air, “Okay, first, I get it. You’re stressed about the living together thing, and you really like what you have already. Second, I don’t think you’re realizing that even though they can be really alike from being friends for so long, there’s no way y/n’s gonna be exactly like Beomgyu, you know. She’s definitely gonna be different but that brings me to a whole other thing: is it possible you’re stressed about this so much right now because you’re so used to just ever living with Beomgyu, and you’re lowkey afraid of change?”

Taehyun laid back on the bed, thinking about his friends words in silence for what felt like five minutes.

“You killed him,” Jungwon joked from the desk, making Namjoon chuckle softly and Taehyun roll his eyes.

“I think you’re right, probably,” Taehyun said, “I think that over the past years I’ve just gotten so used to just Beomgyu and comfortable with just Beomgyu so the thought of someone else coming in is like daunting almost.”

Namjoon nodded from the beanbag, running a hand through his dark hair, “That’s not even a bad thing, like that’s a totally normal thing. I really think you and y/n will get along, from the two times I met her, she seemed totally cool and way calmer than Beomgyu.”

Jungwon giggled at that, “When I met her she was making fun of Beomgyu and when Soobin started laughing she called him a weeb.”

Taehyun smiled at that, silently grateful for his friends for easing his nerves.

“Thanks guys,” he smiled at them, “I needed that.”

Jungwon smiled back, shrugging his shoulders, “What are friends for?”

Namjoon nodded, agreeing, “I second that. Anyways, Super Smash? I’m still looking for a rematch because Won totally kicked my ass last time.”

Jungwon smirked, closing his laptop, “It’s not my fault you’re slow as hell on the buttons.”

Namjoon rolled his eyes, “Yeah whatever. Tyun, you in?”

The pink haired boy nodded, smiling as his friends continued bickering about the game as they fired up the Switch.

———————————————————————-

“Oh my god, it’s y/n!!!” Beomgyu practically screeched when a soft knock on the door came, sounding through the apartment, sending Beomgyu to his feet sprinting towards it.

Taehyun couldn’t help but smile at his friend's happiness, even though his biceps were sore from cleaning out the spare bedroom. The whole time he and Beomgyu spent cleaning the spare bedroom for you Beomgyu gave him what he called “The 411,” on you.

Taehyun listened quietly as Beomgyu told story after story, but somehow failed to mention exactly what kind of roommate you would be.

Taehyun still sat on the couch pondering this, Avatar the Last Airbender playing softly on the TV in front of him as he heard the door swing open and Beomgyu shriek, “Y/N!!!”

All Taehyun could hear from his designated spot on the couch as loud, joyous laughter, both from Beomgyu and you. Taehyun listened to your laugh as Katara argued with Aang onscreen, deciding he liked the sound of it. It was loud and full of happiness. As he sat on his designated spot on their old couch, listening to Beomgyu bombard you with questions, he couldn't help but yet again wonder how you were going to fit in here, like take the couch for instance. He and Beomgyu both sat on opposite ends of the couch so they could lean on the armrests, what if you wanted to sit where Taehyun did?

As he bore holes from staring into Katara on the TV, Taehyun’s thoughts were interrupted by Beomgyu with a loud, “Taehyun!”

The pink haired boy looked up from the couch to see an insanely happy, beaming Beomgyu, and you, standing right next to him, smiling softly.

He regarded you, dressed in oversized black denim shorts and a flowy white tank top, chunky necklaces adorning your chest and rings over your fingers, Doc Marten sandals covering your feet (Beomgyu definitely rushed you in before you had time to take your shoes off). As he made eye contact with you, the photo of you at the beach in Beomgyu’s room popped into his head. Your eyes, full of life and mischief almost, staring into him, he felt as if he was going to crumble under your gaze. The soft smile on your face grew wider as Taehyun stood up from the couch, seeing how he almost towered over you.

“It’s nice to actually meet you,” you said with a breathless laugh, sticking out a hand for Taehyun to shake, “I’m y/n.”

Taehyun grabbed your hand and shook it, noticing it was warm and you had a pretty firm grip, looking down at you, “That’s weird, you shake hands.”

You shrugged, releasing his hand, “I meet a lot of people, force of habit.”

Taehyun, who Jungwon deemed having a staring problem, continued boring holes into you with his gaze, but you stared right back, that same soft smile and glint in your pretty eyes looking right back at him.

“Your stuff!” Beomgyu exclaimed, breaking the weird moment, “Where is it?”

You smiled at Taehyun again before turning to your best friend, “Most of it’s in the car, Yeonjun and Hueka are coming tomorrow in the van to drop off my vinyl if that’s cool.”

Taehyun noticed that when you asked that question you weren’t really asking Beomgyu, you were asking him. Looking up at him as you asked, making it seem like you knew Beomgyu would say it was okay and you wanted his approval. Taehyun really appreciated that, sending you a small nod.

Beomgyu, though, answered, “Yeah of course! I haven’t seen them in forever!”

You laughed, that same pure, happy sound ringing throughout Taehyuns ears as Beomgyu wrapped his arm around you, pulling you back to the door to go get your stuff from your car.

Once you guys were out of the apartment, the front door still open, Taehyun let out a long sigh he didn’t know he was holding.

It seemed that at this moment he had been worried about nothing, you seemed nice and chiller than Beomgyu, and you actually took his feelings into account. It was just green flags so far.

“Hey,” your voice came from the open door, your head peeking in, “I was wondering if I could get some help carrying some of my shit, Beomgyu’s lowkey weak.”

Taehyun laughed, walking over to you at the door, “He’s probably just gonna complain too.”

You let out a small giggle, looking up at the much taller boy, “Finally someone else who understands.”

You guys walked downstairs together in a comfortable silence, no awkwardness there, Taehyun deciding that maybe you would be a good roommate.

———————————————————————

“Yunjin, you don’t understand my problem!” you whisper-yelled over the phone, “he’s hot!”

“No, I just don’t get how that’s a problem,” Yunjin replied, you could practically see her rolling her eyes.

You let out a loud exhale and flopped onto your bed, breathing in aggressively, the white bed sheets smelling like boy, and much of it wasn’t Beomgyu, you knew what he smelled like even after months of not seeing each other. It had to be Taehyun. The whole apartment was just Taehyun. Beomgyu you were used to but those were not Beomgyus earthy Japanese cyprus, jasmine, and spice scented candles that seemed to be suffocating you whichever room you went in. And let’s not forget that the extra room you were taking was RIGHT next to Taehyun’s, who liked to leave his door open, the smell of him flooding into your room as you sorted your boxes. Your mind was reeling, there was no way there was a boy that attractive just living in this house with Beomgyu, no way.

“It’s a problem because he’s my roommate, and I have to see this insanely hot, buff, sweet, pink-haired, cute man every single day now and Beomgyu would probably kick my ass if he knew I thought that about Taehyun!”

Yunin snickered over the phone, “You really think Beomgyu could kick your ass?”

“That’s not the point,” you huffed, “What am I gonna DO?”

“I really don’t think you can DO anything,” she replied, some chatter in the background of the call, “I think you just have to recognize and accept that he’s hot and move on, just live with him.”

You flipped over to stare at the ceiling, boxes all around the floor surrounding you, laying in silence until Yunjin snapped over the phone, “No FUCKING way, Park Sunghoon, absolutely not, you are a goddamn menace to society.”

You could hear Sunghoon’s distinct laugh over the call as Yunjin continued to complain.

You smiled hearing the chatter of your friends over the phone, even though they were only like 20 minutes away now, it was weird talking on the phone and not just meeting at Sunghoons house.

“Listen, y/n,” Yunjin started, apparently done yelling at Sunghoon, “It’s really gonna be okay, just chill out, unpack your shit and get comfortable. It’ll all be okay, promise.”

You exhaled, feeling relief spread through your body at her words, “Thanks, Yunjin. What would I do without you?”

She giggled, “Die, probably.”

You rolled your eyes, “Oh my god, bye. I love you.”

“Love you,” she said sweetly before ending the call, most likely going to bother Sunghoon.

You sighed, sitting up on the bed and looking at the boxes around you, not looking forward to unpacking them.

———————————————————————

Much, much later that night, Taehyun was perched on the couch, Avatar the Last Airbender playing quietly in front of him yet again, and on the other side of the couch was a passed out Beomgyu, softly snoring.

Taehyun barely noticed you walking into the room, you’d been in the kitchen for about five minutes getting water, but he didn’t even see you there.

“I really think Zuko’s character arc was one of the best arcs in cinematic history,” your soft voice came from behind Taehyun, his head whipping around to see you leaning on the wall connecting the kitchen and the living room, glass of water in your hand, a huge gray hoodie that definitely was not yours adoring your frame, legs in black and white checkered pajama pants.

The light of the television lit up your face perfectly, frames dancing over your soft smile, Taehyun ignoring his stomach flipping and nodding, “It definitely was.”

You breathed a soft laugh, nodding your head towards your sleeping best friend, “I’m guessing this is normal, yeah?”

Taehyun turned his head to look at Beomgyu, mouth slightly open, head hung over his shoulder, brown hair messily framing his face, “Yeah, he’ll wake up at like two-ish and go start gaming with Soobin or Jungkook.”

You smiled softly, the pair of you smiling at the sleeping boy while listening to Sokka complain onscreen.

“Is it cool if I join you?” you asked suddenly, “Avatar’s my favorite and I kinda wanna just chill.”

Taehyun nodded without a second thought, making you smile and breathe out a soft, “Be right back.”

Taehyun watched as you padded down the hall towards Beomgyus room, going in there just to return with a blanket and a pillow, coming back and lifting his sleeping head up softly to place the pillow underneath, draping the blanket over him.

Taehyuns earlier inner turmoil over where you would sit on the couch was over nothing apparently, because you casually sat down in the middle of the two, one arm leaning on Beomgyu as he slept.

You were close to him, Taehyun released, running a hand through his pink hair as both of you watched the TV in silence. You were close enough to where he could smell your shampoo, he knew you had showered earlier. You smelled crisp and sweet, a little like poppies and pear, and rhubarb. You were close enough where you guys weren’t touching but he could feel your warmth.

He heard a loud sigh, one that was definitely from Beomgyu and not you, to look over and see Beomgyu nuzzling into your shoulder under his blanket, your hand going up to scratch his head.

You and Taehyun made eye contact and shared the smallest smile over the sleeping boy, you letting out a small giggle, both of you turning your attention back to the TV.

It was nice and comforting sitting in silence with you, Taehyun thought, even though the only thing clogging his senses was the sweet smell of you.

The pair of you (plus a passed out snoring Beomgyu) sat on the couch in the moonlight watching your show in silence, Taehyun deciding that maybe you moving in wasn’t gonna be so bad.

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earthfleurs · 1 year

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grey haired tyun <3

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doyouknowbtsswag · 1 month

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Never The Bride Always The Bridesmaid |Yeonjun|

I have been friends with Yeonjun since elementary school. We did everything together and were basically inseparable. Everyone laughed as we grew older joking that we were so close that we'd get married one day. I grew feelings for him and it only grew into high school. That's when everything went downhill. Where I fucked myself over by introducing Yeonjun to one of my best friends who transferred schools. I didn't think about the possible consequences I would later face. My friends, Hana and Yeonjun grew close quickly. Which caused a rift between both Hana and Yeonjun's friendship with me. Every time I asked Yeonjun if he wanted to hang out he always responded saying Hana asked him to hang out. Our text messages were only one-word responses on his end and when we hung out he always had to leave early. I felt like I was thrown away like a banana peel. At school, Hana laughed at every cheesy joke Yeonjun told her. My spot next to Yeonjun's with our friends turned into her spot. I watched their obvious flirting for weeks as they grew from getting closer and secretly holding their hands to just not bothering to hide it at all. One day Yeonjun and Hana seemed giddy.

"We have to tell you guys something" Yeonjun smiled looking at us happily.

"We are officially dating!" Hana said a bit too loud out of excitement. I could feel my heart cracking at that sentence.

"Congrats" I gave off a fake smile glancing at Yeonjun hoping he'd fall for the smile but he wasn't looking my way. His gaze was on her, his eyes filled with admiration.

That whole lunch period I pretended to be okay. I got backstabbed by someone whom I thought I could trust. I told Hana before she transferred I liked him she even listened to me talk about him in middle school. I felt angry at myself for not telling him sooner. As school went by pretending was getting exhausting. I closed myself off and put the walls up that Yeonjun knocked down back up. Once we graduated most of us went to different colleges but of course, Hana and Yeonjun decided to go to the same college. I blocked them out focusing on my studies. My other friends went to other schools so I was left alone. Once I got my bachelor's degree I quickly went to find a job to busy myself from going insane. It worked finally but it didn't last long. I got a text from Yeonjun the last one I got was two years ago asking for the notes he missed. The message read to meet him at a restaurant mentioning our other friends were going to be there next week. I debated on whether to go or not getting a gut feeling not to. I checked my calendar for some reason hoping I would be busy but I was free. I hesitantly responded letting him know I was going.

I looked at myself in the mirror after sending the text. I cleaned myself up more than I did in high school. I lost weight but that was because of my workout routine to get the body shape I wanted. I started to actually care about how I dressed and looked. Bad hair day? Baseball hat with simple clothes. Style my clothes that'll match with a trendy outfit. Simply going to the store? Flare leggings with a cute sweater. I also started to use hygiene products. In high school I was the typical student who accidentally turned stuff in late, either falling asleep or close to it, and not getting the greatest grades.

I sighed and put my phone on the charger lying on my bed in my oversized shirt and shorts while staring at the ceiling. My mind raced trying to figure out what could possibly be so important that he wanted a reunion at a fancy restaurant. The last time I checked he wasn’t one for making such luxury plans for something so simple. I closed my eyes ready to sleep before I heard my phone ping. I looked at my phone annoyed by the sudden noise. I turned my phone over and saw I got a text message from Soobin asking if I got the invite.

“Yeah, why?” I texted.

“When he meant friends I just wanted to know” He replied which made me raise an eyebrow.

“I’m pretty sure he meant Kai, Taehyun, and Beomgyu too”

“Just making sure I’m not going in blindly lol”

“I’m going to bed” I replied setting my phone down and turning the notifications off not realizing he sent good night. I slowly fell asleep to the sound of a faint patter of rain falling on my window.

I kept myself busy trying not to get distracted by the upcoming event. It felt impossible but I made sure to keep track of everything. The work wasn’t the best that I was doing but it was still up to expectations. When the day came I stared at my makeup wondering if it was even worth the trouble and uneasiness to go. It was finally my day off but I’m stressing over something that I’m not even sure about. I sighed and started doing my makeup trying harder than usual to make it perfect. I set the makeup on and got up to look through my closet for the soft pink dress I was planning on wearing. I found it and carefully stepped into the dress doing my best to zip it up from the back which I’m 99% sure I got. I walked over to the big mirror looking at myself. The soft pink eyeshadow matched my dress and my hair curled as perfectly as I could do. I smiled a little at the way my outfit turned out. I checked the time and noticed it was time to go. I walked to the door putting black heels on and grabbing my bag that held my keys. I stepped out the door locking it behind me and unlocking my car at the same time. I walked over to my car and got in.

“I have a bad feeling about this,” I said to myself before driving to the restaurant.

The parking lot was packed with only one spot left. I sighed in relief and pulled in the spot. It was a bit tight but it would have to do. I got out of the car and started walking to the building before bumping into someone.

“I’m so sorry-“

“Y/n?”

“Soobin?” I looked up at him and saw his blond hair. “Woah you dyed your hair?”

“Yeah wanted to try something new” He smiled. “What do you think?”

“I like it” I smiled back. “It looks nice on you”

“So how have you been?” He asked as we both walked to the door.

“I’ve been fine”

“That’s good” He looked over. “You look nice today”

My heart skipped a bit and I had butterflies for just a second but it’s probably because no one’s complimented me in a while.

“Thank you look nice too,” I said my face slightly red. “Wait your zipper”

“Huh?”

“Your dress isn’t zipped up all the way”

“Of course it is” I groaned and reached back to zip it clearly struggling.

“Do you mind if I finish zipping it?…”

“Yes please” I sighed.

He nodded as he gently moved my hair away from the zipper and moved the zipper up. Once he was finished he fixed my hair.

“There you go”

“Thanks”

“Don’t mention it” He held the door open for me.

I walked inside amazed by the sight. I spotted Yeonjun and told the waitress that I was with that group. She nodded and led Soobin and me to the table. I took a closer look and saw Hana and Yeonjun holding hands under the table. That uneasiness multiplied. I walked up and waved.

“Hey guys” I smiled as everyone greeted me back as I sat down. “It’s been a while”

“It has” Kai smiled. “We should have hung out more”

“Agreed” Beomgyu nodded.

We all talked about what we did after high school and college. Taehyun ended up being a martial arts instructor and did a magician for little kids as a side gig. Kai took his love for music seriously and is an official musician vocally and with instruments. Beomgyu decided to take his silly nature and become a comedian. Soobin became a chef and worked for fancy restaurants like these and even traveled around one year. Finally, Yeonjun is now a dance instructor along with doing a few competitions every once in a while. I was amazed by all the hard work they put in to do what they wanted since high school.

We brought up old stories from when we all hung out and had some laughs. As the night ended Yeonjun and Hana looked at each other giving a slight nod and smile. Yeonjun clears his throat.

“So the reason why I decided to have this meet-up is because we have something special to say”

“We’re getting married!” Hana said loudly showing off the shiny ring. My heart dropped that awful feeling slamming into my mind. Everyone smiled and clapped their hands congratulating the two. I quickly snapped out of it and congratulated them holding back tears and giving the fakest smile I could muster up.

“Thank you guys for being there for us” Yeonjun smiled.

“Hey, Y/n?” Hana looked at me.

“Yeah?”

“I want you to be my maid of honor” She smiled.

“I would love to,” I said taken aback.

“This is so exciting!”

“Yeah it is” I grabbed my things “Well it’s getting pretty late, I should probably get going”

“Yeah I’m gonna head out soon too” I heard Beomgyu say.

“Well I’ll send out some more information see you guys then”

I nodded and walked away from the table waving goodbye. I quickly went to the car and threw my stuff in the passenger seat. I started the car and backed out of the parking spot. As I drove I finally let myself cry. I knew I shouldn’t have gone but I still did, even with the bad feeling. I pulled into the driveway and got out of the car with my things. I walked to the house and unlocked the door. I closed and locked the door behind me as I threw my shoes off. I walked to my room and gently threw my bag on my chair.

I changed into my pajamas not bothering to throw my dress in the hamper. I walked to the bathroom and saw that mascara was running down my face. I sighed and wiped it away. I looked down at my toothbrush and put toothpaste on it. I refused to look in the mirror too scared that I would cry even more. Once I was done getting ready for bed I walked straight to my room and laid down. Today was a shitty day.

A few months passed and I finally got an invitation to the wedding. It had a photo of the two smiling in the middle of the card and writing on the back. I threw the card on the table already knowing the dates and time. March 28th, 2024. I already got notice of it when I forced myself to go shop for bridesmaid dresses with Hana and her friends. I sighed and made myself some coffee before I had to go to work.

I kept track of each day counting down the days until my misery happens again. I sighed taking deep breaths as I drove to where the wedding would take place. I was already dolled up in my maid-of-honor dress. When I made it I walked to the room Hana would be in. I took a few more deep breaths before walking in to act excited.

“I really appreciate you coming and I’m so happy you can be a part of this” She held my hand excitedly in her gorgeous white wedding dress.

“I’m honored” I smiled as she hugged me.

“I’m nervous”

“Don’t be Yeonjun is a wonderful person” I squeezed her hand.

“I know but what if he doesn’t want this anymore”

“Then he’s missing out,” I said. “Don’t worry about it everything will go fine.”

“Thank you,” She said as music played.

“I think it’s time to go,” I said as she nodded.

I helped her get out of the cramped room and to where she needed to be. I walked to my position as well. I looked over and saw Soobin next to me. I’m not surprised Yeonjun picked him as his best man.

“Ready?” Soobin said holding his arm out for me to take.

“Yeah,” I said linking our arms together.

We both started walking in a straight line down the aisle. I looked forward and saw Yeonjun there waiting but not for me. Soobin and I unlocked our arms and went to the side so we could both go to our assigned spots. The music changed as Hana walked down the aisle with her father. I noticed someone was recording so I made sure to keep my emotions to myself. Yeonjun was tearing up at the sight of her and when she finally made it both of them had big smiles on their faces and tearing up. The vows felt like hours but when Hana started her vows it sounded like something I’ve heard before.

“Hana! Give that back” I yelled as she started reading a page of my diary out loud laughing.

“Dear Diary, Yeonjun made my heart feel like it was going to explode!-“ Hana laughed running around my room.

“Here’s a good one!” Hana said turning the page. “When me and Yeonjun get married I’m gonna be the happiest girl in the world! I’ll make sure to say it to him too! But not now!”

“Give it back!”

“One more one more” She laughed and jumped on my bed. “Oh? This is recently”

I groaned and sat next to her on my bed.

“When I’m with him I feel like everything and everyone don’t exist and only focus on him. He’s my favorite person in the whole world” She said while laughing.

I snatched my diary back frowning and blushing at the same time.

“I can’t wait to see you two get married!”

“Yeonjun when we first met I thought my heart was going to explode. I should say how happy I am to be with you more than the whole world. When I’m with you it feels like everything and everyone else doesn’t exist. You are my favorite person in the world and I can’t help but be happy about what will come next”

Those sentences sounded familiar but it was futile. Before I knew it Yeonjun was already kissing her. We all clapped as they did so in a way to congratulate the couple. It didn’t take long till people were ready to go to the after-party.

I carpooled with one of Hana’s friends to the after-party to make it easier for me. Everyone was chatting as I looked out the window my breath showing up on the window because of the cold. Once we made it everyone I was riding with eagerly got out of the car as I dragged myself out of it. I walked inside and saw people already on the dance floor. I went to the table I was assigned and placed my stuff down. I looked up and saw an employee with a bunch of champagne glasses on a tray.

“Champagne?” She asked.

“Yes please,” I said as she handed me a drink.

As the night went on I got some more drinks and Kai dragged me to the dance floor somehow. After a while, a clanking of a knife and coming into contact with a glass was heard. Everyone went quiet as the DJ handed the Microphone over to Yeonjun.

“I want to thank my friends and family for your support throughout our relationship. I would especially like to thank Y/n who introduced me to the beautiful woman I can call my wife.” Yeonjun started giving a small speech but I stopped listening and zoned out after hearing him thank me for something I didn’t want to happen.

The bright colorful lights started up again and the music started playing again which snapped me back to reality. I took another class of champagne and quickly drank it before rushing outside to get fresh air and have the small hope to not cry. Once I made it outside I sat on the steps shivering from the cold. I could feel tears streaming down my face.

"It's pretty cold out here," a voice said behind me I looked behind me and saw a tall blonde giving me a slight smile.

"What are you doing out here?" I quickly asked wiping my tears as he sat next to me.

"I could ask you the same. Especially when it's freezing out"

Soobin took his coat off and putting it on my shoulders and buttoned one of the buttons. I looked at him as if he was crazy.

"What about you?" I asked concerned.

"I'll be fine" He chuckled.

"...are you sure?" I asked hesitantly feeling guilty.

"I wouldn't have given it to you if I wasn't" He looked at me and smiled.

I just nodded and looked up at the night sky. The stars littered the sky brightly making it a beautiful sight to see.

"In all seriousness why are you out here?" Soobin cut the brief silence.

"It's not important anymore," I said my eyes still trained on the sky. I could see Soobin's concerned face from the corner of my eye. I sighed looking down. "I feel guilty"

"About what?"

"Hating this whole thing I fell in love with my best friend for years I imagined my future with him but he fell in love with my friend. I hate that he's married and happy with her and I hate her for betraying me. God, I sound like a fucking asshole." I looked up chuckling bitterly tears falling down my face"I should be happy for them but I can’t help it." I looked down in my lap shaking my head at my sentences.

"It's funny"

"What do you mean funny?"

"Your jealous of her and I'm jealous of him" He looks up at the sky.

"What do you mean?" I looked at him curiously.

"He has someone I've liked since I met her wrapped around his finger" I tilted my head confused.

"Let me guess Hana?" I asked as he shook his head no chuckling a bit.

"She's really something. She has beautiful E/c eyes that I get lost in every time we talk. Her voice is like a melody and her smile lightens the room for me at least. She always helps others even if she needs help herself. She's just perfect in every way and I wish she'd see me. I wish she noticed how many times I gave small hints. Either way" Soobin looked at me. "She deserves the world."

"Who is this girl?" I asked.

"It's you. The girl is you Y/n" He says softly his eyes genuine and full of admiration and love.

"Soobin..." She said her voice quiet as she stared at him in shock.

"I thought you should know so I don't make the mistake of not telling you..." He looks back up embarrassed to look back.

"You really think of me that way?"

"Every single word"

"But why didn't you say anything till now?"

"I didn't want to ruin your chance to be happy with Yeonjun..."

"But still-"

"I care about you a lot and I didn't want you to carry the burden of my feelings with you. I wanted you to see them rather than me telling you."

"That's...very kind of you," I said.

"I try" He looks over giving a slight smile. "I know the feelings aren't mutual but I just wanted to get it off my chest and try and make you feel a bit better about yourself. I could tell you were upset and less confident in yourself."

"I- thinking back you always offered to carry my books every day or if I needed a ride home holy shit I was so clueless" My eyes widened as he let out a small laugh.

"I was hoping you would get the hints but it didn't work" He scratched the back of his neck. "Sorry, I'm throwing this on you now honestly I shouldn't have done that now but-"

"Stop it's okay" I gave him a soft smile. "I appreciate it and I'm glad you told me"

"Do with that information as you will" He stretched his arms getting up. "I'll give you some-"

"Stay" I grabbed his wrist unconsciously my heart beating. "I could use some company"

"Are you sure? I thought you needed some space maybe"

“I’m sure,” I said as he sat back down.

There was a nice silence as the wind blew past us. I looked at him fully admiring him. His blonde hair fell perfectly on his head. He fit blonde hair perfectly compared to his original hair color. His eyes sparkled in the night sky and his red cheeks and nose from the cold didn't affect his appearance at all. He turned his head and looked at me.

"What?" He smiled.

"Nothing!" I said quickly my face turning red.

"Okay then," He said knowing I was lying.

"Hey," I looked at him. "Do you wanna try?"

"Try what?" He asked having an idea of what I'm saying.

"Being together, I know I'm moving on quickly but I think it's time for me to let go of Yeonjun and move on..." My face was red and my heart was pounding. “I’ve held on to this hope for years but it’s time to let go”

Soobin looked taken aback but composed himself, his cheeks red as well. I could see the excitement in his eyes.

"Yeah," He smiled wildly. "I would"

“I'm freezing and I can tell you are too" He got up off the ground and helped me up. Our fingers intertwined and fit perfectly. We walked hand in hand inside both of us having a big smile on our faces. Today started off shitty but became one of the happiest things that happened to me in a while.

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soobpricity · 28 days

Text

this love - kang taehyun

final letter ; kiss me

synopsis: what happens when soccer player!kang taehyun, who isn’t focused on school but is smart enough to pass, sees yn walk in the hallways nearly everyday after homecoming. taehyun’s new hallway crush begins to grow into something bigger, but what happens when he has to make a choice between yn or continuing to fail school ? will taehyun be able to focus on sports, classes, and trying to win yn over ?

“yn this is so ridiculous.” beomgyu stated, pacing around in your room with you. a slick black tuxedo showed off his more sharper side, the side of beomgyu that would make just about anyone swoon. “you can’t just let him get away with the shit he pulled.

“i’m not letting him get away with anything beomgyu… i’m just making sure he’s serious about all of this.. and maybe i just need to make sure that if he isn’t serious then i won’t feel attached.”

“and you’re doing that by giving him the favor of spending an important night with him ?” beomgyu sighed, he knew that you just wanted to spend the night with taehyun. it was the thing that you were looking forward to throughout the past few months ever since taehyun had promposed, beomgyu knew that. he listened to you ramble on about how much taehyun cared for you and how magical you imagined the night would go. “are you denying the truth or are you lying to me ?”

you turned your head, as beomgyu took a seat next to you. you avoided making eye contact with him.

“i still like him.. beomgyu.. i just..- i know he didn’t have a choice. he did what he thought was good for me, and even if it wasn’t the right thing.. he still put me over his own self. y’know… it’s the thought that has me so stuck up on him. but i don’t want to let him win me over so easily, i want to hate him, but i can’t..” you admit, feeling a bit embarrassed from your confession to beomgyu. which he only put an arm around your shoulder, pulling you in a bit.

“have you talked to sunghoon since y’know.. that day..?” beomgyu hesitantly asked as you pulled away a bit to make eye contact with the boy who sat in front of you.

“no.. i’ve been trying to talk to him but he’s been avoiding me. sunghoon’s a cool person and all, but i don’t think i ever saw him in that way.. y’know ?” you questioned, “even when i wasn’t with taehyun, i think.. i just always saw sunghoon as a friend.”

“don’t feel bad just because you didn’t have the same feelings, yn. that’s probably why sunghoon didn’t tell you, he probably knew that you’d feel so guilty over not liking him back. in fact, im surprised that you didn’t end up with him out of guilt.” beomgyu advised, a tiny smile reappearing on your face. you pulled beomgyu into a tight, warm hug.

“thank you so much, beomgyu.. for like- everything. you’re always looking out for me. and even though you don’t really like taehyun, you’re supporting my feelings.. and you always have.” you can’t help but feel your heart warm up from looking back at just how much beomgyu has been supporting you no matter what. everyone knew beomgyu as a silly guy who took nothing serious, but others knew beomgyu took him as this serious person who always showed empathy to those he loved. however, you knew the real beomgyu, the beomgyu who would give anyone the cold shoulder if they gave you the wrong look. the real beomgyu that constantly gave you a shoulder to cry on and would make you laugh the tears away. beomgyu wasn’t just funny or only sympathetic, beomgyu was a passionate person who cared about his loved ones, he wanted to see them laugh while also being sure to be the supportive person that he always wished to be. and he never failed at making you comfortable, you always felt like you could rant to him, and you always knew that you could tell him a terrible dad joke and he would still give you an impressive laugh which would only prove to be contagious as you would start a fit of laughter.

beomgyu was.. beomgyu. a kind hearted boy who was there for all the people he loved. if you were sure that you wanted to be with taehyun, then he was okay with it.

“that’s what i’m here for ! just, don’t replace me..” beomgyu mumbled into your shoulder. a small huff coming from your mouth as you suddenly pull away from the hug, catching beomgyu completely off guard.

“ha ! as if you’re replaceable !! you’re a one of a kind beomgyu !!” you jokingly argue, seeing beomgyu’s lips grow into a huge grin. just as the two of you were about to get into another rage of laughter, you phone rang, seeing the bolded letters read ‘taehyun 🚫’. you took a look at beomgyu then back at your phone.

“answer it !” beomgyu exclaimed, picking up your phone and handing it to you as you panicked to swipe the green phone button.

“hello..?” taehyun answered the phone wondering why there was no noise coming from your end. he fumbled with the buttons on his tuxedo, being sure to look his nicest for you.

“oh. hi !” you say a bit too aggressively even though you didn’t mean to come off aggressive. you nervously begin to bite at your lip, before stopping due to receiving a cold stare from beomgyu.

“yn.. i’m outside for whenever you’re ready..” taehyun mumbled into the phone, taking out a bouquet from the backseat of his car. he messed around with the petals ensuring that the bouquet looked as lively as it could.

beomgyu gave you one last look, “if you don’t think you can spend the rest of the night with taehyun. just give us as call.. and we’ll be by your side,” you grinned, thanking beomgyu for his kind actions and for offering his shoulder for support. beomgyu had proven himself to be your biggest supporter ever. you give him one final hug before hurrying outside, spotting taehyun. his eyes widened as he took a singular look at you. his heart pounding, his anxiety piling onto him as he took a minute to catch a breath, trying to find words to tell you.

“yn.. you look.. really really pretty..” taehyun complimented, sticking out a bouquet filled with different colored hydrangeas. a tiny smile on his face, he pointed to the pink hydrangeas, “pink hydrangeas are the most romantic flowers… umm.. they also resemble a beating heart..” taehyun mumbled the last part, his own heart beating at a rapid pace. he couldn’t mess this up at all, he had to make you happy no matter what. if you wanted him to spend thousands of dollars on a piece of jewelry then he was willing to go into debt for the rest of his life to make you happy. and taehyun was sure that he’d never regret that decision, especially since it was something that he was doing for you. if you wanted him to truly stay away from you for the rest of your life then he was willing to do so if it was going to make you happy. if there was anything in the world that you wanted or wished to happen, then taehyun was willing to do anything to make it happen.

“thanks..” you sent a tiny and awkward smile towards taehyun’s way. he reached out for your hand, which you hesitantly accepted, on the roof of his car, rested a small box. he opened it, a blue hydrangea peeking its petals out from the box. he picked up the flower from the box, attached to it was a pearly bracelet. taehyun’s placed the corsage onto your wrist. “what does this one mean..” you knew very well what a blue hydrangea meant, but something inside of you wanted to make sure that taehyun was on the same page as you. you needed to know that taehyun didn’t just get a blue hydrangea because he thought it was cute. luckily for you, taehyun did extensive research on hydrangeas, he didn’t stop for the first flower that he found. rather he took time to find a flower that you liked while knowing the meaning behind it.

“so many people agree that blue hydrangeas are really, really pretty.. but personally i’ve said things to you that i don’t mean… things that i regret ever even thinking about saying to you, so.. blue hydrangeas represent regret and apology. i’m sorry for everything i've done to you, sorry for all the pain i’ve caused you.. please be patient with me.” a soft smile appeared on your face, happy to see taehyun pass your test.

“should we just.. forget about everything ?” you asked, so far you were pleased with the way that taehyun was treating you, you were so impressed with everything that taehyun had done for you so far, in all honesty this was just the beginning. you wanted to spend the rest of the night with taehyun, happily. you at least wanted a remarkable prom night, and even though you wanted to hate taehyun, something inside of you just couldn’t bring yourself to truly hate the boy.. that very same thing inside of you told you that taehyun was the only person who could grant you a happy night. “at least for tonight..”

“if it’ll make you happy, we can do anything you’d like.” taehyun grinned, pulling you into a sweetly warm embrace. he grabbed your bouquet, placing it in the backseat of his car, before hurrying over to open the passenger door for you. which you gladly accepted, taking a seat in the passenger’s seat. waiting for him to come over to the driver’s seat, which you didn’t wait long for him to do.

the two of you sat in silence on your way to the venue, not much to say after taehyun had given his apology. you continuously looked at the corsage that taehyun had gifted you, eyes trying to hide just how much you loved it. the smile that you tried to hold back, the one that would give away all just how vulnerable you were to taehyun’s loving actions. everything that he had done so far was telling you exactly just how the night was going to end. how you were going to be back into your romantic dream of a relationship. taehyun noticed the look behind your eyes, a bit of relaxation running through him, his eyes staying on the road, yet a part of him still wanted to turn to look at your flustered state. your focus moved from the corsage to the dark blue sky, attempting to calm your flustered state down. you were nearly worried that taehyun could hear the intense pounding of your heart. it had been such a good minute since you had felt so.. loved.

you caught the passing scenery, beginning to melt into the current warmth that you felt emitting from taehyun and perhaps the nervous yet excited feeling that you felt deep down in your tummy. taehyun put the car in park as soon as he found parking outside the venue. you stepped outside the car, waiting for taehyun patiently as he walked around. hand in hand, the two of you walked towards the entrance of the venue taking out your ticket to show the two teachers who were waiting by the entrance to overlook any kind of people who were sneaking in. as soon as both you and taehyun gave them your names, they nicely welcomed you in, wishing you an amazing night.

“did you eat beforehand ?” taehyun yelled into your ear, attempting to speak over the music. you could barely catch what he was saying, nodding to his question, before asking him the same thing. taehyun just nodded, knowing that he was lying because he just couldn’t bring himself to have a meal, not when he felt so nervous and clammy. this entire time, he had put so much work and effort into your relationship, and all he could wish for was for tonight to go his way.

both you and taehyun spent sometime dancing with each other, quietly. the two of you were too afraid to say anything, afraid to break the oddly calm tension between you two. however, just as you left the dance floor.

you caught sunghoon’s presence, watching as he tried to pass by you and hoping to not grab your attention. however that seemed to fail as you grabbed a hold of his wrist, taehyun watching intently, feeling worried. had he done something wrong ? were you going to ditch him for sunghoon ? his overthinking began to overwhelm him, keeping his hand in yours. hoping that you wouldn’t call him out for his sweaty palms. it was impossible to not notice the clingy hold that taehyun had on your hand, worried that you’d leave him. you gave his hand a reassuring squeeze, pulling him to your side.

“sunghoon ?”

“oh, yn.” you noticed ning ning by his side as she began to feel quite awkward. after sunghoon had discussed everything out with taehyun, he decided to take ning ning out as his friendly prom date. she didn’t mean to avoid you like sunghoon had suggested, but she did want to avoid any question about who she was going to prom with which eventually meant avoiding you and beomgyu, even taehyun as well. for some odd reason, she felt like she was betraying you by agreeing to sunghoon’s promposal.

“can we talk ?” you asked, giving a look between sunghoon and ning, trying to silently propose to talk alone. however you received a returning look from sunghoon to taehyun. you turned to look a him, holding onto his hand. a affirmative smile and a gentle shoulder squeeze was all it took to get him to stop worrying as much as he was. you followed sunghoon off to a more private area, less people surrounding you than where you were previously at. now you were in some sort of hallway that seemed to lead to the restrooms. two windows on the left wall and a painting hung in between the gap of the two windows. a small table underneath the painting.

“what do you want to talk about ?” sunghoon casually questioned, it nearly seemed as if the two of you had no issues to talk out.

“about me and you.. y’know exactly what i want to talk about ?”

“i do ?” sunghoon sarcastically answered, his eyebrow raised as he moved his foot, nearly playing around like a child.

“yes.. y’know, you liking me.. why are you avoiding me ? i’m sorry that i didn’t like you back, but i really loved you as a friend and i just don’t want us to fall apart due to such trivial issues.”

“well to you it may be trivial, yn. but this shit felt like the world to me. i helped you get through your breakup with taehyun and i know that he and i had this whole conversation about how he quite actually has your heart, but you need to give me some space, i can’t just.. i can’t just get over you so quickly. just trust me, a little more time to myself and i promise, we’ll be back to how we used to be, okay ?” he raised his eyebrows one last time before seeing you nod. “okay, don’t ruin your night because of me, i think taehyun wants to dance one last time with you.” sunghoon turned around and made immense eye contact with taehyun as you tried to see where he was looking at, as soon as you spotted taehyun, you went right into his direction. attempting to push through the crowd to get to taehyun, who ended up doing the same thing, meeting him in the middle of the crowd, tiny smiles created.

the two of you followed the crowd, hearing the supervisors countdown to their announcement on prom king and queen. you held taehyun nearby, even playing with his fingers, awaiting for the announcement to be made. the way that the two of you were together fooled everyone, it seemed as if nothing ever happened and as if nothing could ever happen to split the two of you apart. the body language was the same as to when you and taehyun were still together with only a few differences that only the two of you could notice, the only other difference was the lack of words that the two of you were barely exchanging.

“after counting all the votes, tonight’s prom king is..” your principal leads up to the answer asking for a drum roll before quickly announcing, “kang taehyun !!” you clap for the boy, immediately releasing him from your grasp. as he stood there, taking a minute to process everything. you ushered him up to the stage, before attempting to leave.

“yn.. don’t go just yet.” taehyun winked before proceeding to give back the spotlight to your principal. she gave a tiny smile, knowing that taehyun had worked rather hard for his plan to be fulfilled.

“and it’s only fitting to announce that tonight’s prom queen, is none other than, l/n y/n !!” the principal announced, you stood there stunned, seeing taehyun hold out his hand for you. for the past month he had spent time communicating with his close friends and any acquaintances to vote for you and him as both king and queen. spending time persuading his close friends to tell anyone they knew to vote for you. and to be fair, taehyun was the school’s sweetheart, it was impossible to not do as he kindly asked. you hesitantly took his hand, shyly walking up the stage.

you and taehyun had plastic crowns placed on your heads, a tiny smile on your face, unable to believe everything that was happening. you couldn’t believe that even the principal knew all about taehyun’s plan. slow music began to play, as you knew that the prom king and queen had to dance together, the two of you moved down to the center of the dance floor, placing you hand on taehyun’s shoulder, as he placed his hand on your waist. the two of you gently moved to the rhythm as everyone else followed, getting their loved one or even their closest friend and beginning to slow dance with them.

“i want you for worse or for better, i would wait forever and ever. broke your heart, i’ll put it back together.” taehyun nervously whispered into your ear, his hands caressing yours as he pulled away placing a small grin on his face. a ridiculous amount of butterflies filled your stomach, forgetting that you and taehyun were in the center of the dance floor. ignoring all the people around you, a giggle exiting your mouth as you realized exactly what taehyun was saying.

“are you serious ?” you spoke, a smile decorating your face as you looked into taehyun’s eyes. eyes filled with nothing but love for you, nothing you would refuse to accept.

“you’re really pretty.” taehyun commented, his ears beginning to burn after being caught reusing taylor swift lyrics in order to save his own relationship. he changed the subject, fixing the gem-filled crown that rested atop your head. his hand moved to rest on your waist extending the arm that kept your hand in his, his hand left your waist in order to move your hand onto his shoulder, before returning to your waist. as he began to move his feet to the rhythm.

“you’re so cute.” you broke taehyun’s long rampage of silence, a smirk returning to his face as his confidence was beginning to fade back into his life.

“but you’re even cuter.” taehyun brought his hand up to caress your cheek. a comforting atmosphere finally being resettled between the two of you. your trust running back to you, as you took his hand and gently guided him out of the crowded venue, exiting and catching a cold spring breeze. you saw the cherry blossoms that had petals falling off of the branches, already imagining the romance movie-like scene that would be created. taehyun couldn’t help but chuckle at your rather cutely excited state. running to the trees before finally facing him once again, hand in hand. you looked down before bringing your eyes up to his, taehyun looked ethereal in the moonlight, his features being brought to light by the streetlights. light reflecting off of the concrete road.

“so.. you’ve really made me realize so many of things taehyun. one.. you’ve made me realized that i really can’t live without you, even after everything and trying to see you in such a negative light, i had such a hard time hating you because it was just so impossible. it was hard to even think that someone who has loved me and treated me like no one else has ever cared for me could truly just be in this relationship for the academic benefits. another thing that you taught me is that, love truly blinds people. i think that i was so caught up in my own pain that i never really realized or processed the things that you said to me, that you broke up with me for my own good. looking back at it now, i get it, you just didn’t want to see me in pain, but you shouldn’t be the one to decide what happens to me. i know you were looking out for me, but we could’ve spared both of our feelings if we had better communication to begin with.. i shouldn’t have blamed everything on just you, it was also my fault, for not understanding..”

“yn.. you had every right to be upset, i said things to you that i didn’t mean. those things aren’t the best words to hear from someone who’s supposed to love you. just trust me when i say that i didn’t want to say any of that, trust me when i tell you that you’re the person who i, this is gonna sound really cringy and weird.. but i just, i want to spend my future with you..” taehyun frowns, beginning to fear that maybe he was planning way too ahead into the future than you were ready for. you’d never really thought about anything so far into the future as taehyun had. you’d only thought about enjoying the memories you were creating with taehyun. however, the more that taehyun’s words sunk into your mind, the more you realized that a future with taehyun wouldn’t be so bad. in fact, it seemed quite surreal. you could almost imagine it now, waking up next to taehyun, exchanging homemade packed lunches for each other. spending life with each other even through ups and downs, you were nearly sure that taehyun could never purposely want to hurt you. after all, everything that had happened was because of something out of his control. well not exactly, but you knew that if it wasn’t for that then taehyun would’ve never exchanged such cruel words to you.

your hands gave taehyun’s a small affirmative squeeze, looking at him with a wide smile. beginning to reach up onto your tip toes to reach his mouth. your lips pressing against his as you couldn’t help but let your happiness and excitement get the best of you. it was all just so- romantic. you didn’t care if taehyun’s words were cheesy, all you wanted was to make sure that he stuck by his words and that you would be able to spend the rest of your life with him no matter how many hurdles life would throw at the two of you.

you pressed your ear against taehyun’s warm chest. a happy smile resting on your face, a comfortable silence resting in the atmosphere. taehyun’s hands ran through your hair, soft tiny grin decorating his already handsome face.

you couldn’t be any happier, with taehyun back on your side, you knew that all of this was unbelievable. if someone told you in the beginning of the year that you would end up arm in arm with kang taehyun, you would’ve looked at them oddly. you with the school’s athletic sweetheart ? tutoring the sweet boy and getting to know him ? you would’ve been shocked to hear how on the first day of tutoring you would be absolutely enamored by kang taehyun. his once-hallway crush was now in his arms, as his lover. he couldn’t mess this up, he didn’t plan on doing so either.

“what’s your favorite flower..” taehyun questioned one last time.

“pink hydrangeas, it hasn’t changed. yours ?”

“i have a lot, mistletoes, petunias, primrose, lavender roses.. even red tulips.”

you looked at taehyun, feeling so fulfilled by his innocent confession, pressing one last kiss on his lips.

©️soobpricity

red tulips : believe me. declaration of love

lavender rose : enchantment. love at first sight.

primrose : i can’t live without you

petunias : your presence soothes me

mistletoe : kiss me. affection.

this love taglist : @run2seob @soobadooba @soobnuuy @pockychuwu @crazynyctophilia @rencarnationofangel @esther-kpopstan @mrsyawnzzn @matcha-binz @michinri @hanstarrs @ariam-96 @pinkheadflowers @kittyhyuka @run4gyu @txnwvc

an: this is the last chapter or “letter”…. kinda sad but i had to finish it especially because i felt like i was less dedicated to writing this smau than i was with anti romantic. i just feel like this smau lacked a conflict even though i think it had a stronger conflict. i actually know what im doing for my next smau but i really want to write a good handful of chapters before posting because… i really don’t trust myself to be consistent. i will try to post one shots in between the time that it takes me to finish the smau. hint : it has to do with a poll i did a while ago. ALSO HOW DID YALL LIKE TXT’S COMEBACK ? I LOVE MIRACLE !! also who’s going to see txt !! i’m seeing them both days in rosemont 🤭🤭

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