#kpop fic
How To Be Perfect Men
Pairing: reader x hoseok (ft. all of bts)
Genre: romance/fluff, slight angst, college au
Summary: Hoseok and his friends come up with a detailed guide on how to ‘get the girl’ based on past experiences. He ends up using the guide to win you over. What neither of you realize, is that you’re more similar than meets the eye.
Word Count: 1144
part 1 / 9
“I need to stop going after senior girls,” Jungkook sighed as he slammed his satchel on the ground next to his bed. The other six boys looked at him with concern in their eyes. Surprisingly, despite the group having been friends since the school year started, they’ve never brought up the topic of girls. “I don’t have enough balls for that.”
Hoseok was the first to turn his full attention to the youngest boy. “What happened?” He watched as Jungkook sunk down into the bed, face first. Jungkook was normally a cheerful personality and it was quite alarming to witness him sulking for the first time.
“Igotallshyandnervous” Mumbling into the pillow, Jungkook hit the side of the bed with his fist.
“Jungkook, move the fucking pillow out of your mouth and say it again.” Jimin said, as he was the most comfortable with Jungkook, seeing as though they’d been friends since high school.
Sighing, Jungkook sat up and looked around, eyes dull and lifeless. “I was going to ask that cute girl who works at the campus coffee shop if she wanted to go grab a bite, but I just started stuttering.”
“What, you haven’t ever asked a girl out before?” Yoongi asked, sarcasm laced his words. He sat on the bed next to Jungkook’s feet.
“You’re one to talk!” Namjoon scoffed. “You’ve asked how many girls out? Oh, just one? Okay.” He sighed.
Taehyung interjected, laughing lightly. “At least they both could be a gentleman to a girl!” He rolled his eyes at the silver haired heartbreaker. “In that case, you have no room to talk.”
“Let’s all calm down and try to help Jungkook with his problem.” Jin put his hands out as if that was helping the situation at all. He managed to keep everyone quiet long enough for Jungkook to sit up completely and begin explaining his predicament.
Jungkook noticed her from across the cafeteria. Before he saw her, he had no interest in getting a coffee. However, after he noticed the pretty brown-haired girl standing behind the register, he had a sudden craving for a latte. Slowly striding over towards the stand, his hands began to shake and sweat.
“Hi, can I get you anything today?” She spoke and Jungkook swears it was the prettiest voice he’d ever heard. She was older than him, that was apparent by the way she looked and her demeanor.
He opened his mouth to speak, but nothing came out. He tried again, but was met once more with silence. All that really came out was his unsteady breathing as the cashier stared, waiting for him to recite his order to her. “Do… Do you happen to sell coffee here?”
For a moment, she couldn’t tell if he was joking or not. She looked at him with an unsure smile, but when he didn’t falter, she frowned. “That’s all we serve here, bud.”
Ah, the iconic ‘bud’ that he’s heard so much about. He didn’t look that young, did he? “Ah, my apologies then.” And it seemed that his legs knew he was giving up before his brain did. Walking away, he kept his head low and mentally cursed at himself for being so awkward yet again. This wasn’t the first time Jungkook has made a fool of himself, believe it or not. Multiple times he had seen a pretty girl going about her day, and then he opened his mouth and made it weird.
“And that’s the story of why I’m going to drop out of college so I never have to see her again.” Jungkook crossed his hands in his lap and avoided eye contact with the rest of the boys. At this point, he figured everyone here has had their fair share of both positive and negative girl experiences. Surely someone could give him some sagely advice.
“I’ll be honest, I don’t know what to tell you, bud.” Namjoon smirked as he laughed loudly at his own jab at the youngest boy.
Jungkook plopped himself back into the bed and groaned. “Guess I’ll die.” He groaned into the pillow once more.
Hoseok stood to place a hand on Jungkook’s shoulder. “Just be confident, Jungkook. Confident, but not cocky. Don’t be so shy when you talk to girls. Rejection isn’t the worst thing that could happen to you, so don’t be scared.”
“If you’re so good at getting girls, Hobi, why don’t you just write a book about it?” Of course Jimin was being sarcastic, but it didn’t sound all that bad in that moment. Jimin scoffed as he leaned back in his seat, paying no mind to the light bulb that had just appeared over Hoseok’s head.
Yoongi added to Jimin’s joke, “How To Be Perfect Men by Jung Hoseok. Sounds like a best-seller to me.” The group laughed lightly and soon died down as they all looked around at each other.
“How many of us have actually had a serious relationship?” Hoseok looked around the group as everyone exchanged short glances before they hung their heads low. Hoseok got up and retrieved a notebook out of Jungkook’s discarded satchel. Grabbing a pen as well, he scribbled out “Math 110” and instead replaced it with the title Yoongi suggested.
“Let’s get to work.” Hoseok smiled at everyone knowingly. “What are some things that we can do so we can ‘get the girl’ so to speak?”
Jin raised his hand, even though he knew he didn’t need to, and started. “Pay for the first date. There’s nothing worse than expecting her to pay! What kind of a guy does that?”
“Be a gentleman?” Jungkook said inquisitively.
“Well, obviously, genius,” Jimin scoffed. “That is the name of this whole guide thing, or whatever this is.” Jimin waved his hand in Jungkook’s direction.
Taehyung interjected next, ignoring the argument between Jimin and Jungkook. “Hold the door open for her, compliment her, buy her things that she wants, text her cute long messages, and always be sure to call her throughout the day to make sure she’s doing okay.”
“Wait,” Hoseok started, turning his full attention to Taehyung. “We are talking about the early stages… That could freak her out, you know.”
Taehyung scratched the back of his neck, looking towards the ground. “Oh,” he smiled lightly. “I guess that would explain a lot.”
Jungkook interrupted. “Why don’t we use our experiences to help us, rather than making general statements every guy should know?”
Hoseok didn’t think that was a bad idea at all. In fact, it would help them all. They could recognize their problems and benefit from past mistakes. The group watched as Hoseok’s hand got to work. When he was finished, he tossed the notebook on the coffee table they were surrounding.
How To Be Perfect Men
- Advice for the shy and young: Be confident. But not cocky.
“Taehyung, you’re up next.”
Summary: Everyone warned you that your high school sweetheart, Jae, was trouble, but you ignored them. You became trouble itself, but it was for love - that’s what you told yourself, anyway. Jae became corrupt and practically ran you into the arms of another man. You’d fallen in love with rival gang member Park Jimin, and Jae had plans to get revenge.
Pairing: Jimin x Reader (Gang AU)
Genre: angst/some fluff
Part 13/???
|Part 1| |Part 2| |Part 3| |Part 4| |Part 5| |Part 6| |Part 7| |Part 8| |Part 9| |Part 10| |Part 11|Part 12
1152 words
WARNING: mentions of suicide
Hoseok was weary on how to suggest his newfound plan to you and Jimin. “I know how to get you and Y/N off of Namjoon’s radar.” Jimin immediately turned his head to face Hoseok. He was all ears for anything at this point.
“What is it?”
“You do what I did, make Namjoon think you’re dead!” Hoseok felt like a genius, he couldn’t believe that he was the first person to think of this plan.
Jimin’s first instinct was to decline and think of a different plan. In Hoseok’s case, he lost everything. Contact to family, contact to friends, and his own identity. It didn’t sound like a good idea to him, but he’d consider anything if he could be with you. “How is that going to work? You barely pulled it off.”
Hoseok pondered this for a minute. Jimin did have a good point and it was more unlikely to succeed due to the fact there would be two people’s deaths to fake.
“Romeo and Juliet.”
“What?”
“Romeo and Juliet! You know, Juliet “dies” and Romeo can’t live without her because he loves her so much? Too bad she wasn’t really dead…”
“So how do you presume we kill off Y/N in the first place? Only Namjoon is after her. How else would she be killed if it isn’t by his own hands?”
A thought occurred to you as you saw Jungkook kicking the ground and looking at the ceiling.
“Jungkook, would you be willing to go back to Namjoon and lie to him?”
“What do you mean, Y/N?”
“I mean, so you’re not in trouble AND it helps us. Tell Namjoon you killed me! That will explain why you left and will instill more trust in you with him.”
“I don’t know about this, you guys…” Jungkook sighed, and avoided eye contact with all parties. “This doesn’t sound like the safest thing.”
It wasn’t a safe plan in the slightest, but it was all they’d come up with so far. They couldn’t run from Namjoon forever. “Jungkook, we will make sure that nothing happens to you.” Hoseok said, placing his hand on the younger’s shoulder.
Jungkook took a deep breath and nodded. “Okay, I’ll do it.”
Over the course of the rest of the night, the four of you brainstormed how exactly this was going to go down. You decided that Jungkook was going to tell Namjoon that he shot you in the head, and that Jimin couldn’t stand to live without you and shortly killed himself thereafter.
Jungkook left the house early the next morning so he would get to the headquarters at a decent time. He recited the story to himself on the way there so that he’d have no problem telling it to Namjoon.
He pulled up outside the warehouse and took a deep breath before opening his car door. The walk up to the door seemed long, mainly because his nerves were out of control. What if Namjoon didn’t believe him?
Namjoon opened the door before Jungkook had the chance to knock. “Where the hell have you been? I’ve been calling you for days. Get in here.” He shut the door behind Jungkook. “Why do you look so antsy?”
“I have good news, sir. Very good news.” Jungkook held his hands together in front of him in an attempt to contain the nerves.
“Tell me.”
“They’re both dead.”
Namjoon knew who he wanted Jungkook to be referring to, but he had to be safe. “Specify. Who is ‘they’?”
Jungkook’s throat was dry and it felt like he had a lump in his throat. He could bribe old men to give him guns for a discount for days, but the second he tried to lie, it was game over. “You know, they…” Jungkook started, trying his hardest to keep his eyes locked on Namjoon. “Jimin and the girl.”
Namjoon was weary. He couldn’t tell if he was being serious. “How’d they die, give me the joy of telling me in detail how they died. Did you kill them? You might be up for a raise if that’s the case.”
“Yes, sir.” Jungkook was definitely sweating. His hands were moist and he couldn’t help but stutter as he spoke. “I killed Y/N, the girl, first. I shot her.”
“No way. She was your first kill, yes?” Namjoon led Jungkook into the kitchen and sat him down. He took a seat in front of him. Crossing his leg over the other and intertwining his fingers with each other. “Go on.”
“I showed up where they were staying, it was really easy to find actually. Some shithole in the city. I told them I wanted to help them and they believed me.” This whole lying thing wasn’t so hard anymore, Jungkook said to himself. “I shot her when Jimin was asleep. I told him that you broke in and that I tried to stop you. He believed me.”
Namjoon chuckled. “You told him that? You really are a good liar. Continue.” He raised an eyebrow as he listened intently to the rest of Jungkook’s story.
Jungkook paused, realizing that he’s changed parts of the story. He may have ruined everything. May have. “He.. he said he couldn’t live without her. Jimin killed himself. He took a bunch of pills. I… I didn’t want him to do that, I wanted you to be the one to kill him. Wouldn’t that have been great?”
“Yeah, great. Listen, here’s what’s going to happen, okay? Listen closely, Jungkook.” Namjoon uncrossed his legs and pulled a pistol from his belt, loading and cocking the hammer. “You’re going to tell me the truth. Tell me why you’re here, and then you’re going to admit that they aren’t really dead. We both know that, right? As much as I’d just love for them to be dead, that isn’t what happened, is it?” Namjoon shook his head, answering his own question before Jungkook had the chance. “So now, you’re going to tell me where they really are, and we’re gonna head over there. Sound good?”
Jungkook was paralyzed with fear. He was shocked, to say the least, that Namjoon had seen right through his lie.
“I…I don’t know what you’re talking about. I told you…they’re dead.”
Namjoon chuckled, pointing the gun at Jungkook. “You’re a good kid, you know that? I had high hopes for you. But that’s not going to happen if you’re not cooperating.”
Jungkook shuddered, but managed to keep his cool. Jimin was his best friend, and he didn’t want anything to happen to him. He was always there to help Jungkook out through his bad thoughts. Jimin was like a big brother to him, and he wouldn’t sell him out for the world. Taking a deep breath and with tears welling up in his eyes, Jungkook smiled at Namjoon.
“I don’t know what you’re talking about.”
And with that, there was a loud bang.
CLOSER
“getting closer, i’ll win you over”
Mark does everything in his power to find his soulmate, but all that could be taken away when an unlikely enemy from his past returns to ruin it.
genre; AU (superpowers), fluff, angst,
pairing: mark x reader x jaebum
word count: 1286
part 4/???
-ADMIN TERI
Mark was at a loss for words, this felt like a true miracle. He had brought his soulmate, you, to him from across the world, and it turns out that you aren’t that different from him. You’re powerful, literally and figuratively. He couldn’t get enough.
“Soulmate?” You asked, backing up slightly. “Don’t get me wrong, I really like you, but… Soulmate?” Mark was a good guy, but he seemed awful sure that you were his soulmate.
“Look, you know about my telekinesis, so you might as well know about this too.” He took a deep breath. He hoped it wouldn’t change the way you felt about him. He opened his mouth to speak - nothing. He said nothing. Mark took a deep breath and tried to speak again, but he just couldn’t seem to get the words out. “I just, have really strong feelings for you is all. Just a wild guess, heh.”
So, he lied. But it was for the best, he didn’t want to scare you off by calling you his soulmate after knowing you for less than 72 hours. It was better this way. He wanted to fall in love with you for real, Mark wanted the feelings to be true. He wanted to experience the exact moment he fell in love with you.
You smiled, you knew that Mark was already aware of how you felt about him. You held your hand out for Mark to grab. “Follow me,” You led him to the locked door off the kitchen.
It was a room encased completely in metal. It was where you were going to practice with the pyrokinesis. It was a power that skipped a generation in your family, you got it from your grandmother. She had a room just like this in her old home, it was where she would teach you to control the heat and it was the only place you were allowed to use it.
After closing the door, you flipped a switch, turning on vents so that the room didn’t get too hot. “Watch,” You instructed.
You closed your eyes, not thinking about how Mark was watching you. You never did well using the fire around anyone else, unless it was your grandmother. Mark was different though, he actually had a power. He wasn’t going to judge you.
You took a deep breath and focused hard. As you did so, the room then became enflamed. You opened your eyes to observe the work you’d done. It had been a while since you’d use the fire. You had it mostly under control, it had been months since the last time you used it. However, in certain situations, you couldn’t help the heat your body produced.
“Whoa,” Mark looked around the room, not the slightest bit freaked out - only amazed. He looked over everything at least three times. You really were perfect, he thought to himself. It was downright amazing. “No one told you not to use your powers? This had to take years of practice.”
“What do you mean?” You tilted your head slightly, putting out half the fires around the room just by thinking about it. “Just my grandma, but she taught me to control them rather than conceal it.”
“No institution?”
You shook your head instead of answering, hoping Mark would elaborate further.
“You’re lucky,” He half chuckled, thinking about how awful it was here when he was at the institution. “It was kind of like torture, I won’t lie. Not trying to be dramatic, but fuck, it was pretty damn bad. That’s where I met Jaebum.” Mark immediately shut his mouth, his eyes widening at the secret he just told, one which wasn’t his to tell. Despite how much Jaebum had screwed him over, he still couldn’t bring himself to deliberately hurt Jaebum.
“Jaebum’s like us too?” You looked at the ground, the rest of the fires then going out. “He didn’t tell me anything..”
“No-” Mark didn’t know how to fix this. “His brother. His brother can, uh, read minds. Jaebum was just there a lot. That’s how I know him.” He had to find a way to change the subject. Get it off Jaebum, he was the last person Mark wanted you to think about. “Come here,”
Mark had noticed a door to a balcony, and he grabbed your hand, slowly interlocking his fingers with yours. He walked you outside, standing right in front of you. He moved his other hand just slightly, the leaves around the both of you slowly levitating to twirl around you.
You moved your head to look at every individual leaf. “Mark, this is beautiful…” You then looked down to see that his hand was still locked in yours.
You stepped in closer, touching Mark’s shoulder. You leaned in until your lips were barely touching. “I don’t know what it is between us, but I think you feel it too. Am I right?” And he did, Mark felt it too. He might have even felt it more than you did. He broke the space between you two, connecting your lips.
“Does that answer your question?”
Over the next few weeks, you started hanging out with Mark more and more. There was no label as to what you were to each other, so you figured it out on your own.
All you knew was that you were important to each other. You got to know Mark better and that’s all you could really ask for. He was a good person, and he was nice to you.
You’d met the remainder of Mark’s friends, most of them had a unique power just as Mark did. You’d learned that they’d all went to the same institution as kids, however, every time Jaebum would come up, Mark would change the subject.
You needed answers from Jaebum himself, since no one else was giving them to you.
You invited Jaebum over to your apartment. You confronted him head on. “Do you have a power?” You started, biting your bottom lip, afraid you’d overstepped a line. “I know about Mark and the rest of them. I’m like them. I need to know about you. I’m so curious.”
Jaebum smirked softly, and took a deep breath. “I do.” He stepped closer to you, and for some reason, you didn’t mind one bit. You liked being around Jaebum. You may have just realized this, but you enjoyed Jaebum’s presence almost as much as Mark’s. Maybe even more. “I read minds. And I can see that you’re thinking of me right now.”
Damn, how did he know? You thought to yourself. You stopped, however, when you realized that he could still read your mind, you cleared your head. Tried, at least.
“And I can tell that you’re thinking about what it would be like to kiss me. Right now.” Jaebum had inched closer as he spoke, and he was only centimeters from your face. “Am I getting it right?”
You nodded, every thought you had about Mark previously being completely wiped out.
“Stop me if I’m getting it wrong, okay?” He leaned forward, his forehead touching yours before his lips touched yours. His lips were soft, you thought to yourself.
He slipped his tongue into your mouth smoothly, placing one hand on your hip and the other to the side of your neck, cradling your head as he did so. He kept kissing you and you kept kissing him back, although you weren’t completely sure why. Jaebum was just so inviting and you were dying to know more, to feel more.
“I think I love you. Do you love me?”
You nodded.
“Do you love Mark?”
You shook your head. Jaebum smiled; he got exactly what he wanted.
- Fandom(s):ATEEZ
- AU:Treasure Hunters
- Genre:Action, Fantasy, Sci-Fi
- Relationship: Everyone x Everyone, Established Hongjoong x Yunho
- Language:English
- Status:Ongoing
- Chapter WC: 3,050 words
- Warnings: Character Death, Stabbing, Fighting, Blood, Aliens, War, Funerals, Kidnapping, Attempted Kidnapping, Mentions of Child Abuse / Child Work, Explosions, Murder Attempt, Robbery, Homeless/Runaway Character, Torture, Mentions of Slavery more will be added.
- Chapter Warnings: No warnings apply
- Summary:
San wished he could make someone else responsible for the pain they were experiencing, but he had no one else to blame but himself.
<< Previous Chapter|Masterlist|Next Chapter >>
Tagged:@angel0taiyo
“Explain yourself,” Yunho ordered.
His hand had gone white from how tightly he was holding the sword. San was surprised to spot the slightest tremor to it, which would have probably gone unnoticed to anyone else but him. Yunho cared about him, and the knowledge hurt him as much as everything else did at that moment. He wished he could make someone else responsible for the pain they were experiencing, but he had no one else to blame but himself.
“The planet I come from is incredibly poor, and it doesn’t belong to any government that could help us out,” San explained, although he knew that the conditions in which he had grown were not an excuse for his actions. “Others like me are artificially created, and then we undergo special training to turn us into the best fighters and hunters, so that we can complete special missions for money.”
“With special you mean…” Hongjoong spoke from behind Yunho. His hands were holding Yunho’s arm tightly, but he had stopped trying to move past him.
“Yes,” San let out a bitter laugh. “I murder for a living.”
“But why-” Hongjoong seemed to consider his words, not even certain of what he wanted to know anymore. He felt dizzy with the newly acquired knowledge, and he couldn’t fully finish processing that San, their San, would actually do something like that.
San had helped the crew so much since the beginning. He had supported Mingi many times when he had been insecure. He had protected the ship without hesitation when Yeosang had tried to sneak in. He had saved Honjoong’s life during the battle with the slave ship, when he could have easily left him for death if that were his mission. Why had San left him alive? So many weeks had passed already, so why was he only coming clean now?
“Why me?” Hongjoong chose to ask instead, because he wasn’t sure if he was ready to hear the reason behind San leaving him alive.
“I don’t…” San bit his lip. Of course he knew, or at the very least, he had an idea of why his own family wanted his head.
His research showed him that Emperor Kim and Prince Yijoong were power-thirsty. Emperor Kim was constantly leading battles to conquer other planets and expand his territory even though he was vastly incapable of taking care of what he already had. Prince Yijoong was simply jealous, of his older brother who had achieved so much, and of his younger brother who was heading towards the same route.
And Hongjoong wasn’t like that. Hongjoong didn’t care about power or money, he cared about his people and about life and justice. Hongjoong had learned from his brother that there was more to their position as Princes than simply owning and taking. And even though Taejoong liked fighting a little too much, he had taught Hongjoong well, and now he had learned for himself that there were things far more important than taking revenge. There were people suffering and grieving more than him, and he wanted to help.
“I don’t know for certain,” he said instead, because he didn’t want to continue lying, but he didn’t want to break Hongjoong’s heart even more. “I know there are some political motives behind it, there always are.”
“What do you mean?” Yunho asked, frowning.
“You know it better than me Yunho, you’ve been trying to protect him for so many years,” San looked away when Yunho’s eyes became ice cold. After all, he was one of those things Yunho had always tried his best to shield Hongjoong from. “The people who pay for our services are always power hungry, it’s the only thing they care about.
"The reason they want you dead, Hongjoong, is because that would give them more power.” San muttered. He wanted to answer their questions, but he didn’t want to reveal everything that he knew.
“Who is behind this?” Hongjoong asked, finally. San could see that he was dying to ask, but he would have preferred it a lot more to not be faced by that dreaded question.
“I don’t-”
“You do know,” Yunho interrupted, his tone was aggressive and laced with impatience.
“You don’t want to know,” San shook his head. He didn’t want to say it, he didn’t want to be responsible for breaking Hongjoong’s heart even more.
“Tell me-”
Noise erupted from outside the quarters, drowning Hongjoong’s voice for a moment as they all turned to look at the door, confused at whatever was happening outside. Hongjoong tried to move towards the door, but Yunho stopped him, not wanting him to go any closer to San. He himself couldn’t bring himself to move, afraid that any wrong movement would have Yunho come for his neck. He just hoped it wasn’t the people that wanted Hongjoong’s head.
–
The captain of the ship informed him that they were coming close to the ship, and that they had already made contact with The Crescent. Wooyoung smiled, leaning on the railing and waiting for the ship to come into view. His heart was beating extremely fast. He was excited to finally be meeting them, but also nervous, because he knew he needed to find San as soon as he boarded the ship.
Wooyoung had told them that as soon as he boarded they could simply leave, since Chan would need as many men as possible for the battle on the home planet. He had promised that Hongjoong would be fulfilling his end of the deal, but that they needed to solve other matters before, some that were vital for things to work out. He wasn’t sure himself if things would work seamlessly, but even if they did, there were a lot of things to worry about.
“Approaching destination, prepare for the atmospheres to merge,” the Captain ordered, and Wooyoung made sure to have all of his things ready.
The Crescent was even more beautiful in person than whatever he had built through the dreams he had visited. It was gorgeous, and seemed to glow in the darkness of space with its own soul. To Wooyoung, it felt like home. He had dreamed about it so many times, and he couldn’t believe he was finally there. A couple of crewmembers helped him descend onto The Crescent’s deck with his luggage, and soon enough, Chan’s ship was leaving him behind.
“Who are you?!” Someone yelled behind him, and Wooyoung turned to find quite a few swords pointing at him.
He was completely surrounded by soldiers, which he had already been expecting. Wooyoung put his luggage on the ground and raised his arms, trying to appear peaceful and harmless, but the soldiers were not convinced. He knew they wouldn’t hurt him though, because he had already seen all of this develop in his dreams. He simply needed to be found…
“Wooyoung?” A voice called for him from behind, and he smiled.
He barely had time to turn as he was occupied with an armful of Mingi, who had done his best to run to his encounter. Wooyoung let out a breathy laugh, exhilarated with the fact that he could finally hug the real Mingi. It felt so much more different than dreams. Mingi was tall and firm under his touch, he was warm and he trembled with excitement as much as Wooyoung did.
“Mingi? What are you doing?” More familiar voices.
Wooyoung pulled away from Mingi just enough to allow the others to see him. Jongho, Yeosang and Seonghwa were there, with their mouths wide open like they had just seen some sort of ghost. Wooyoung laughed, and convinced Mingi to let him go just for long enough to greet the others as well. He had been yearning for them, and they had clearly been waiting for him as well.
Yeosang hesitated a little when Wooyoung stood in front of him with open arms, but once he realized Wooyoung was indeed real, he squeezed the daylights out of him, mumbling incoherences. Jongho’s hug was a lot more gentle, a lot more comforting, and Wooyoung basked in the differences between all of them. And then there was Seonghwa, who stood a little to the side, looking at Wooyoung like he was experiencing a miracle. They didn’t hug, but Seonghwa grabbed Wooyoung’s hand and kissed the back of it, a mix of admiration and gratitude that made Wooyoung blush.
“You’re finally here,” Jongho affirmed. Finally, the eight of them were about to be reunited.
“Yep, all thanks to your good friend Chan,” Wooyoung chuckled, finding himself in Mingi’s arms again.
“You met him?” Yeosang asked, wide eyed.
“I’ve always been a metaphysical step or two ahead of you,” Wooyoung smiled, allowing himself to enjoy the moment he had been waiting for for so long.
“We’ve been waiting for you,” Seonghwa explains. He still looked like he was out of himself, almost shocked to discover that Wooyoung was indeed real, like he had feared he wasn’t.
“And I’ve been looking for you,” Wooyoung took a deep breath, willing his heart to calm down. “For all of you.”
The soldiers around them were making a ruckus, confused at his appearance at the ship. Of course, they all recognized Chan’s name upon being mentioned, but they had never seen Wooyoung before, so they couldn’t begin to understand how he was related to anything. It made him happy, though, because it meant that the others had kept his secret safe, only to themselves. They were running out of time now, though, so Wooyoung squeezed Mingi’s arms and got out of his grasp again.
“I need to find San,” he explained.
“I saw him walk into the Captain’s quarters before,” Seonghwa hummed. “Captain Hongjoong summoned some of the crew for a meeting, but I think only him and First Mate Yunho remain there now.”
“Then we better hurry up.” Wooyoung turned around with no hesitation and began walking towards Hongjoong and Yunho’s quarters, already knowing by heart where they were. The others followed him, compelled by the way he had said those words, even though they clearly had no idea what was happening.
–
“Yunho, please lower your sword,” Hongjoong asked him, feeling anxiety crawl in his stomach as they wasted time in there when something else was happening out on deck.
“No,” Yunho’s demeanor was firm.
San was still kneeling on the floor with his arms raised. He didn’t even feel the strain on his muscles with how much his stomach kept turning with nausea and anxiety. It would’ve been a lot more merciful to be killed than to be subjected to Yunho’s betrayed gaze. He wished Wooyoung was there to intervene for him, to explain things and to convince him. San wanted so badly to be redeemed.
Yunho clicked his tongue, getting antsy about the noises coming from outside. He moved forward to hurt San. He didn’t want to kill him. In fact, he couldn’t kill him, because as much as he felt betrayed he still cared about him. But he needed to render him defenseless so that he couldn’t hurt anyone else. Yunho wasn’t certain how artificial life functioned, and he couldn’t risk the apologetic San in front of them being a lie.
“Stop right there.”
The door opened wide and five men walked in. Yunho stopped mid motion, and the three of them turned towards the door as they heard the gasps of surprise and confusion. Everyone was there. Wooyoung made sure to close the door behind them before he walked towards San and pulled him up until he was standing. He didn’t even wait for San to say anything before enveloping him in a tight hug. San broke down in his arms.
“I did it,” San sobbed, and Wooyoung hugged him tighter.
“You did, and I’m so proud of you,” Wooyoung whispered, turning to look at Hongjoong and Yunho.
Yunho, who was looking at all of them like they had stabbed him in the back and left him to die. He raised his sword higher, pushed Hongjoong to the wall behind them and stood in front of him, ready to give his life protecting him. The tears threatened his eyes but he kept them at bay, because they would only be a nuisance. He felt betrayed and confused, and could no longer distinguish friend from foe.
“What is happening here?” Yeosang demanded, confused and hurt at how Yunho was acting towards them, already ready to step up first. “What the fuck are you doing Yunho?”
“You’re all behind this, aren’t you?!” Yunho barked back. His voice was shaky but he focused on keeping his hand steady. There were so many of them, and the realization that he didn’t actually know anything about any of them had just hit him.
“Behind what?” Seonghwa intervened this time, clearly fed up with how little things make sense.
“I’ll explain,” Wooyoung spoke up, making everyone else go silent.
He carefully passed San onto Mingi, who very quickly wrapped his arms around the shorter male. He fussed over him, whispering some questions simply to make sure that San wasn’t hurt. San simply nodded or shook his head as an answer, too focused on stopping himself from crying. He thought that if he spoke another word, he would fuck everything up.
“San has been keeping a very important secret in order to survive,” Wooyoung explained, taking his time to look everyone in the eyes. “All of you here probably know what it’s like to keep a secret, I know I do.
"He comes from a very unkind planet, his whole life he was trained in the arts of assassination,” he didn’t miss the way they all seemed horrified, or how Mingi hugged San tighter instead of casting him aside. He was with the right people. “He was sent here to kill Hongjoong-”
“I couldn’t do it,” San intervened with a broken voice. “From the moment I met Hongjoong and Yunho I knew I wouldn’t be able to do it.”
“Then why didn’t you-”
“Yunho,” Hongjoong interrupted him, placing a hand on the arm that was handling the sword and slowly lowering it.
“Because he is afraid,” Wooyoung continued. “The same fear you’re feeling right now, he’s felt it this whole time. Despite how angry you are now, you haven’t hurt him because you care… What would have happened before?”
Yunho knows they are right. If San had told them this way before, he wouldn’t have been able to forgive him, he wouldn’t have stopped himself. San had been trying to protect himself as much as Yunho had been trying to protect Hongjoong. He couldn’t blame him for that. He let the sword drop to the floor as Hongjoong wrapped his arms around him, trying to comfort him.
“You’re all I have,” Yunho muttered to Hongjoong, hugging him as well. He felt numb and tired, confused, lost.
“That is not true,” Jongho spoke for the first time.
He had been standing behind everyone, taking the situation in and weighting it in his mind. He wasn’t surprised to find that he didn’t feel anything but sympathy towards San, who had been simply trying to keep himself alive. Weren’t all of them doing that at the end of the day? Even Yunho’s actions at that moment had occurred under that same basis: survival.
“Hongjoong is not all you have,” Jongho repeated, as he noticed the confused looks on everyone but Wooyoung. “In the end, we all reunited like Wooyoung predicted. We are also here, including San, if you’ll have us.”
Yunho nodded, closing his eyes and hiding his face on Hongoong’s collarbone. Jongho didn’t mind, knowing fully well that they all needed some time to process what was happening, but at least now everyone’s feelings were clearly on the table. They could all feel the shift in the tension, like it had suddenly become easier to breathe. Only one of them remained antsy. Hongjoong was staring at Wooyoung, shifting his weight from one foot to another.
“Wooyoung, you know who is behind it…” It wasn’t a question. Hongjoong was very aware of Wooyoung’s nature, and the Somnum had told him before that he was many steps ahead, knowing more than any of them could even fathom.
Wooyoung smiled gently at him, and he looked sorry. That look was more than enough confirmation to Honjoong, who had already known but had hoped it wasn’t true. He could understand why San would keep something like that from him, but not Wooyoung. It just didn’t make sense to him. He would have told any of them if he had known they were in danger.
“I do know who it is,” Wooyoung nodded. “I didn’t figure it out until recently though…”
“But I thought-”
“Yes, I do know many things,” Wooyoung interrupted him, not wanting to be misunderstood even more. “However, I have no control of when they are revealed to me, because feelings may cause me to mess things up.”
Hongjoong blushed slightly, feeling like Wooyoung had seen right through what he had been thinking before. Of course, Wooyoung himself had a mission that he couldn’t ruin, much like he and Yunho did with the treasure. He almost wished he wasn’t part of that mission, but that would mean to never have met the people he’s with now, and ignorance about the reward on his head seems like a good enough price for that. He got lucky.
“I can tell you if you want, Hongjoong.” Wooyoung explained. Hongjoong ignored the alarmed look that San directed at the Somnum, it was obvious the assassin didn’t want him to know. What could be so bad that San wanted to protect him from it? “Better yet, I can show you. But only if you’re ready to learn about it.”
The prince looked at San, who looked incredibly mortified, mouthing with his lips at Hongjoong not to do it. And then he looked at the rest, who were put in danger so many times because of him, who seemed confused and lost just like him. And then he looked at Wooyoung, who was still smiling and waiting for him, and he knew that the right thing was to learn about it, because otherwise Wooyoung wouldn’t be offering him that knowledge.
“I want to know.”
