A/N: Not me reposting this because it doesn’t show on the tags—
He was looking so damn good. His hair still dripping, his abs contracting with each of his breaths, in his jogging which suited him perfectly, shaping his crotch deliciously. You bit your lower lip looking at him with precision, letting your imagination go wild, imagining you letting him do whatever he wanted to you, from making you suck him off to pinning against the mattress whilst violently pounding your dripping cunt.
“Stop staring at me.” He said suddenly, tearing you away from your erotic thoughts. You sighed loudly, completely ignoring his comment and preventing yourself from rubbing your legs together due to the arousal that obviously seemed to have reached your panties.
“What are you going to do if I don’t want to, Mark?” You dared him, raising an eyebrow at him, wanting to discreetly provoke him.
“If you want to act like a brat, tell me directly so I can punish you.” He smirked, opening his eyes to look at you again, noticing the obvious way you were rubbing your thighs together to get some form of stimulation.
He tried to keep his amused but serious demeanor, though deep down he only wanted to laugh at the situation. A peaceful evening that took on an erotic twist only because of a simple little bickering about nothing at all. It was kind of ridiculous, but he clearly saw in your playing behavior that you only wanted one thing; him to fuck you. Or rather that he ‘punishes’ you for your 'bratty behavior’.
“Come here.” He said suddenly, his voice sounding with authority. Feeling suddenly shy at his order, you stood up slowly before approaching him, nervously biting your lower lip. “Take off your clothes and sit on my lap.”
You did what he ordered you to do once again and hesitantly removed your pajamas before sitting on his lap. You looked at him innocently, making him groan softly.
“Stop looking at me like that. Fuck you look so pretty.”
He ran a hand over your cheek, stopping under your chin to stroke your lower lip with his thumb. “Would you like to ride me, honey?” He gently asked, drinking into your beauty.
“I noticed how you looked at me since I came back from practice. Isn’t that what you have been silently dreaming of?” He retorted, already knowing you well enough to know he was absolutely right. “Take out my cock and use me, baby.” He finished, placing a chaste kiss on your lips, smiling as you gasped when he grabbed a handful of your ass, squeezing it with his fingers.
You didn’t hesitate a single second to lower his jogging pants, your eyes widening slightly when you realized that he wasn’t wearing any underwear. You gave him a few strokes, catching him lips with yours once again for a long, deep kiss. You were almost all dripping wet, your earlier thoughts being the main cause, though the situation you now found yourself in was also a big part of it as well.
You didn’t waste time before lining up on his dick and gently lowering yourself on it.
Burying your head in the crook of his neck, you began to gently fuck yourself on his cock, Mark’s hands greatly helping your movements. You could feel him stretching you wildly every time you pushed him deeper into yourself, cheering him out with sinful moans.
“You feel so f-fucking good.” You heard Mark whisper in a raspy voice, giving you goosebumps. “You don’t know how much I’ve been waiting for this moment since I left practice.”
He startled, running a hand through your hair, making you sit up and face him. Your dark eyes met, pupils dilated from the sweet pleasure you both were feeling. He kept his focus on you as he hastened to help you pick up the pace, the sound of skin slamming against each other and your moans being the only sources of noise that resonated throughout the room. The atmosphere was palpable, almost suffocating.
It wasn’t long before you both came, miraculously at the same time. You sighed with pleasure as you felt him fill you up, his cum gradually painting your walls. You stood there for several minutes, catching your breath. You felt great, those post-sex cuddles were always the most relaxing.
He wrapped his arms around your waist and buried his head into your neck, inhaling your body odor. Despite you now smelled sex, you always smelled so good. But his action earned him a pat on the shoulder.
“Stop it fool, I smell sex!” You tell him, laughing softly as he only buried his face deeper in the crook of your neck.
“I love this.” You felt him smile against your skin, making you roll your eyes playfully.
“I need to go take a shower.” You said go yourself. He then suddenly stood up, kicking off his jogging, before walking over to your bathroom, holding you tight against him.
“Guess I also have to retake a shower.” He chuckled, as you wrapped your arms around his neck, giving him a lazy smile. “Anyway, thanks for this little quickie, it really helped me to relax.” He concluded before placing a soft kiss on your cheek.
Summary: When you decided to apply for a researcher post in an elusive institute, you already had the feeling that you’ll be getting yourself knee-deep into something out of the ordinary. But desperate needs require desperate measures, and so you embraced the invite, despite all the alarm signals urging you to run away. What you found out was nothing you’d ever expected.
Seven boys.
Seven human deviants granted with abilities tied to the legendary Arcana Cards.
Welcome to Project Dream.
Pairing: Various Dream Members x Reader
Trigger Warnings/Themes: violence, torture, trauma, very slight yandere themes, poly dynamics, suggestive themes, language, psychological, mystery, sci-fi. Romance will take a little bit of a backseat on this one since this is more of a suspense-driven plot, but it will still be threaded in the overall story. The concept of the tarot or Arcana cards will be loosely used throughout the series. Note that I am not a trained doctor so there may be some slips here and there about medical things. Again, this is a work of fiction and I am not implying any likeness between the characterization here of the boys to their real life counterparts. I also reserve the rights to all my work—I do not post anywhere else other than tumblr. Minors DNI.
The white noise in your head was disrupted by the sound of a gentle, hesitant voice. Blinking, you tore your eyes away from the window and turned to see the worried face of your best friend peering at you from around your bedroom door. You didn’t have any idea how long she’s been standing there, but she smiled at you understandingly as you finally gave her your attention. You returned the gesture as you ever so slightly shifted the angle of your bandaged shoulder so you could look at her better.
"Hi. Yes. What’s up?”
She finally let herself inside of your room and settled on the edge of your bed. She still looked a little bit hesitant, but you just know she’s been trying her hardest not to fuss over you too much. Mijeong glanced at you before unconsciously trying to fix the edges of the blanket that you had thrown over yourself.
“I got a call from one of our family doctors. I got you an appointment with one of our therapists. He can help you with your shoulder injury. He is one of the best in the country.”
That made you smile. In the past two weeks that Cypher has released you after your accident, the girl had never really left your side. You can still remember the look of worry in her face when you first got back, though you have to say… you’re even more thankful for her for giving you your space to recover. Mijeong is like your guardian angel and your soul sister in one… you knew she is aware that something’s been weighing you down, but she has also never asked questions to respect your privacy and silence. For you, that was more of what you needed at the moment to sort things out on your own.
“You didn’t have to. But thank you, Jeongie. My shoulder’s feeling better, but sure, I’ll come if that will make you worry less,” you replied lightheartedly as you gently bumped your good arm against her. Your teasing made her slightly frown before a pout tugged at her lower lip.
“Yah. Don’t try to lie to me. It must still hurt. And I’m really really worried.”
Well… she is not exactly wrong. While you have been recovering, you also noticed that you’ve been healing at a slower pace than normal. Your guess was because your injury was caused by something out of this world so your body was struggling harder to fix itself.
“Can’t you… just quit? You’ve paid all of your father’s debts, haven’t you?”
Mijeong’s soft voice broke through your thoughts again before you could even offer your comforting words to her. Glancing up, you can’t help the flash of guilt that made your heart clench as you saw the look in her face. She sounded so hesitant that you just know she’s been holding herself back in asking that question for so long. This time, the smile you’ve been trying so hard to keep dropped a little. You knew she was waiting for an answer, but you also couldn’t bring yourself to feed her an outright lie. She gave you one look before giving a soft sigh.
“You did. But you’re still not leaving, aren’t you? Something else is making you stay…”
You tried to swallow the lump in your throat and avoided her gaze. You can’t deny it. The past few quiet days that you’ve had have left you standing before a fork in the road. If there was any other time that you could decide to pursue or drop this, you knew in yourself that the best time would be now. You started to throw yourself headfirst into this rabbit hole not knowing any better, but everything that has been revealed to you so far has also given you the free pass to stop if you wanted to. You can choose to go on with your life and live with the bliss of ignorance if you so choose. After all, you didn’t need to save anyone. Not your father. Not the boys. Let alone the world.
But what if it wasn’t even the world that needed saving? What if it’s people like Mijeong who does?
Your eyes found your best friend’s face now as your fingers reached out for her hand. You don’t have any comforting words to say to her, but you knew deep in your heart that she is one of those you’ll be willing to fight fire if you needed to. If Cypher turns the world upside down, it is going to be people like her who would also suffer. Maybe you can’t turn the tables, but can you really live with the idea of not having tried at least?
“I’m sorry…” you managed to say now through the tightness of your throat. You couldn’t offer anything else other than that, something she knew even with just a look as she studied you.
“Are you hurting too much though? Can I help?”
You shook your head and tried to give her your most convincing look. “I’m okay… I can live with it. I’m sorry if I can't… share anything with you.”
“It kills me, but I understand. I just want to let you know though, if you need me for anything, I’m here. You are my dearest friend.”
Your heart clenched at her words. You probably looked pained and unsure because Mijeong intertwined your fingers together to give you comfort. You answered by giving her a brief smile and tapping her nose.
“I need you to be safe. That’s all you need to be right now.”
She gave a playful scoff. It’s obvious that she was still on edge about everything, but she was also trying her best to lighten up the mood for your sake.
“Says the one who is currently in bed rest right now. For your information, I have been doing a swimmingly good job chasing your suitors away. Well, except for today. This one’s really persistent.”
The smile you had froze on your lips at what she said.
“What do you mean?”
Mijeong shot you a slightly guilty look in reply before clearing her throat.
“Well… Some visitors have been trying to see you in the past few days. They said they’re from your work. I turned them all down because I knew you needed to be alone…”
Oh my god…
Kun and Ten.
“They… And they’re here now…?”
“Well, one of them. That’s why I came. I wanted to ask if you wanted to talk because he really doesn’t want to leave.”
You leaned over and gave your best friend a quick hug with your good arm.
“Thank you, Mijeong. But it’s fine. I think it’s about time for me to talk to them again. I kind of left them hanging.”
The girl gave a soft sigh before she drew back so she could stare at you at an arm’s length.
“Fine. He’s downstairs. If you need anything, I’ll be in my room, okay?”
You shot your friend a smile and gave her a quick kiss on the cheek before swinging your legs over to the side of the bed. You made sure to pull on the closest cardigan you could reach to cover your arms and quickly breezed out of your room to head into the living room.
You found him standing next to the window, his back on you as he stared at some random photos of you and Mijeong resting above the fireplace. He did turn at the sound of your approaching footsteps, but it was you who was soon stopping dead on your tracks when he finally fully faced you.
“…Winwin?”
******* “How are you doing?”
You carefully placed back the cup of tea you’ve been using as a distraction back to its coaster, your gaze looking at anything except for the boy in front of you. After the initial shock of finding out that it was him who was visiting, it didn’t take long for an undeniable and overwhelming sense of guilt to sink in to you. Honestly, you haven’t really thought much about reaching out to him in the past few messy weeks that you’ve had, which makes everything all the more worse now that he is personally here trying to check on you. Sure, you and Sicheng have never really gotten past a few dates, but it wasn’t like you weren’t interested in him—a message that, unfortunately, your flakiness must have sent him.
“I’m doing so much better. I had to take a few weeks off because of something that happened at work.”
“Were you… hurt?”
You hesitated before giving a slight nod.
“Yes. But I’m recovering now.”
“That's… that’s good to hear.”
None of you really said anything for a while after he trailed off. Winwin looked relieved, but now that he seemed to have gotten his agenda off his chest, he looked a little bit unsure of what else to say. Another flash of guilt went through you as you studied him silently. After a brief moment, you sighed and decided to finally address the elephant in the room.
“Winwin, I’m really sorry… I shouldn’t have flaked out on you like that. I know we only went out a few times, but I also left you hanging for a bit there. I really didn’t mean to.”
He gave you a slight smile as his shoulders slumped a little. He seemed to have already expected your words, but there was still a look of subtle disappointment in him as you addressed it.
“I mean, I wasn’t really in a position to actually expect anything… but I was also concerned when things just seemed to have stopped. And then I heard that you got into a work accident so I got worried even more.”
You held back the wince that almost took over you. It seemed like guilt was set on chewing your ass today. How can he be so kind… after what you haven’t done?
“Winwin…”
“It’s fine. I understand. Please don’t look so guilty. I really just wanted to check on you,” he said, managing a small laugh. You stared at him and finally reached out for his hand. He didn’t move away and simply let you rest your fingers on top of his.
“Don’t get me wrong. I really like you…” you started carefully.
“But… you can’t really focus on a relationship right now…” he added, finishing what you couldn’t say. You looked at him, pained, but he only smiled.
“I got it. I guess I just needed to hear it straight from you.”
“Can we… Can we still be friends, at least?”
Your question finally made him move his hand that you have been holding. His fingers intertwined with yours to give them a comforting squeeze.
“Of course.”
For the first time since he came, you were able to finally smile genuinely at him. You felt disappointed in yourself, but you also didn’t want to string him along. With how kind he has been to you, Sicheng deserves more than what you can offer at the moment.
“So, since we are friends… I can expect you to always be honest with me, right?”
His question made you frown a little but you nodded anyway.
“Yes. Always.”
“Good. So tell me, is your accident somehow connected to the experiments of Project Dream?”
In a split second, you found yourself freezing in his hold. You looked at him, shell-shocked and speechless, and he stared back at you unwaveringly. You didn’t need him to speak to realize what was happening.
He knows.
“I know you went around some of my files…”
Your heart fell to the pit of your stomach.
“I… Since when…?”
“Since after that date when you spent the night over. When we had dinner. I have a keystroke system that lets me see the action history in my computers,” he said with a soft amused smile.
“Winwin, I’m so sorry, I didn’t mean t—”
“Don’t apologize. It’s not like you really snooped around without my permission. I did show you what I was doing willingly at first. To be honest, I didn’t really think too much about it, until I heard about your work accident.”
You held your breath, waiting for him to speak more.
“That’s when… I decided to take a look at the files myself and I sort of pieced things together.”
“What were you able to see exactly?”
“Just the same ones that you already probably know about too. Technically, I have access to all the files as long as they are housed within Cypher’s database—it’s just that I haven’t really had a reason to actually do that before this. I’ve read everything that was being fed into the information system of Project Dream, some of which were from you.”
You didn’t really know how to react to that. Before you could say anything, you felt a gentle tug at your hand again. You met Winwin’s concerned gaze.
“Are you in trouble?”
You kept silent. He didn’t push through that question, having gotten the answer he needs. However, he was soon asking a new one that you couldn’t entirely escape from.
“Is someone else in trouble then?”
You faltered. You shouldn’t be pulling anyone else in this mess—hell, you even owe Kun and Ten for looping them in on this. Now Winwin is here and you’re sure where the conversation is already headed if you don’t do something.
“Don’t worry about it—”
“I want to help.”
Your gaze snapped back to his. He had such a set look in him, one that told you he already had his mind set on this before he even asked. You slightly shook your head at him.
“Why? It will only get you in trouble.”
For a while Winwin looked like he was struggling to find the answer to that question himself. You knew that look in him. It was the same one you also have every time you’re about to make a life or death decision.
“I don’t know. Probably the same reason you are doing this. I’ve worked for Cypher long enough to know that the Institute is dealing with shady things, but I didn’t think they’d go this far. I’ve read enough to assume that a lot of people might get hurt if they get their way around this,” he stopped, throwing you a glance. “You already were.”
You didn’t give any reply to that. He took that silence to drive home his point by leaning towards you again.
“Look, I can’t force you to trust me. But if you need me, I just want you to know that I’m willing to help. I can… you know… do things. I can be valuable.”
You threw him a helpless glance.
“You might be disappointed, but it’s not like we’re pulling off anything James Bond-esque here.”
“Well, maybe now you can. With a hacker,” he answered confidently.
You paused. The implication of his words were moving slowly in your head, but then it clicked and you slightly widened his eyes at him. Winwin understood the look and slightly raised his brows at you.
"So? What’s my first assignment?”
******* “Let me see your shoulder. Now.”
You gaped at the boy in front of you before glancing at the one standing beside him with a look of help. Kun, for once, seemed to take Ten’s side and simply gave you a shrug. You groaned, a frown gathering at your forehead as you hesitantly started taking off your lab coat.
“What? You want me to take off my top?”
“You’ll do it or do you want me to undress you myself?”
“Kun, please stop him. He’s acting like a mom.”
“Maybe he should, since you’ve been acting like a child.”
Well that shut you up pretty fast. When you were dragged out of your will into the infirmary the moment you stepped into your office, you already knew something like this was going to happen. Swallowing back your words, you finally decided to undo the first few buttons of your top before pulling the sleeve covering your injured arm slightly. Ten immediately ducked over it and undid your bandages while Kun silently watched behind him. You sighed as you saw the former wince slightly at the sight of your wound. The harsh glare of ward lights made your injury look even worse than usual, but you would admit, it’s still not a pretty sight.
“It’s really not that bad…” you mumbled as you tried to pluck a loose thread from your skirt. Both Kun and Ten shot you a look that immediately made you shut up again.
“It’s healing, so that’s good. She’s lucky that it’s mostly a flesh wound. Her motor skills won’t be affected since there were no tendons or ligaments affected,” Ten said, mostly to himself. He started rummaging around his tray of tools to disinfect the wound again. “I’ll have you take another x-ray again just to be sure though that everything is healing as they should.”
"Can you still remember what happened with Haechan? What exactly was it that attacked you?” It was Kun who asked this time. You turned your head away slightly in an effort to hide your expression. This is the first time you three have been together again, and you know it’s about time you will be asked to answer the questions you’ve tried to ignore for weeks.
“Yes. I went to the Institute as soon as I saw your message and found Renjun and the rest. Haechan was… I think he simply lost control. We were sucked back into that bodiless dimension—almost the same as the one back at the arena, but he was controlling everything there like it was his own world. It wasn’t just illusions. He was manipulating everything there, from the temperature down to the very matter making up that place. I got injured when I tried to pull away the woman he wanted to hurt.”
Both boys silently listened to your words. After a while, you heard Kun sigh in disappointment.
"I’m sorry. I shouldn’t have sent you that message. I didn’t know things would turn out this way. I could have done something, but I felt like Cypher was already keeping a target on my back and I didn’t want to risk them kicking me out. I… wasn’t sure if you would come back so I had to fake it, or else the boys would be left with no one from the inside.”
The weight of his words made you wince. You looked at both men now, guilt evident in your expression.
“I’m sorry… I shouldn’t have left you two hanging. It’s just that, I was going through something, too. That was very selfish of me, I know.”
Kun and Ten exchanged glances. From the looks alone, you could tell that they’ve already gone through this conversation a couple of times between them. Ten was the one who answered as he finally finished changing your bandages.
“That’s fine. You don’t have to tell us what you don’t want. But don’t try to carry everything yourself too, okay? Well, at least for me, I’m the one who volunteered to help. So yeah, let’s all finish this together.”
That made you smile. Ten gave you a wink that lifted just a little bit of the weight from your chest.
“Do you have any news on the boys though? I tried logging into the report database while I was recovering, but I haven’t seen any updates.”
At that, it was like the air in the room suddenly shifted again. Ten shot Kun a glance before the latter shifted his eyes a bit. The silent exchange made you stop. The past few weeks went by in a blur that you’ve barely even had the energy to dig deeper for any updates. A chill crept into your spine now as you waited for the two to give you an answer.
“Kun…? Ten…?”
The former winced at the sound of his name. You tried to wait patiently for his answer despite your heart picking up in your chest.
“After what happened, all the boys were shipped into another place. Nobody knows where. I just came in one morning and was told that they will be gone for an indefinite amount of time. I wasn’t given any context on why they were moved but they’ve been gone until yesterday when I was finally given the heads-up that they will return to Cypher.”
You didn’t know which part of what he said you wanted to pick apart first. You voiced out the most pressing thing gnawing at you though.
“Have you checked if they are okay?”
“I was given the order to keep away from them until I’m given permission,” Ten answered the question. “I was given their medical records during the time they disappeared, but I’m not dumb to take whatever’s written on them as true until I see them myself. Renjun’s the only one I’m allowed to check later.”
“Oh my god…”
“Have you gotten any leads while you were gone?”
You gave Kun a quick look before shifting your eyes away. You did indeed. A couple of leads in fact. You pulled your blazer over you again as a feeble excuse to gather yourself before offering a reply.
“I did. I talked to Dr. Lee and she told me what she’s planning to do with the boys,” you paused for a second, and you could almost physically feel the tension that suddenly charged the air. You can’t stomach voicing out the next part of your story, but you braced yourself anyway.
“She’s going to weaponize them. Use their abilities for warfare. She’s been putting them under distressing tests so that she can finally see the extent of what they could do. She’s been using Renjun’s ability to erase the boys’ memories too so they wouldn’t psychologically break.”
“What the actual fuck…?”
You swallowed and pushed yourself to continue.
“The thing is, I know that’s just the tip of the iceberg. I think studying the boys’ powers was the main goal of Project Dream, but it was already the second phase. There was also Project Irregular which started it all. Right now, we really can’t know for sure what her actual plan is until we unlock what the pioneer study was about.”
“But how do we do that?”
You gave both a look before offering an answer. “I got some help.”
Kun and Ten looked utterly confused.
“I got someone to try and hack the locked files. Remember the boy I was going out with? It was a long story but he… kinda found out what was happening and said he wanted to help. He’s the head programmer of Cypher.”
“You—you’re saying you told your boyfriend? How can you even be sure that he’s really here to help?” Kun asked with a deep frown. You sighed as you tried to wave him off.
“There is no way I can be sure, but I trust him, okay? And he’s not my boyfriend.”
Ten looked on the fence of the reveal at first too, but he seems to be more open than the other boy at least.
“She’s right. We can’t know for sure. Besides, it’s not like we have any other way around our dead end other than him. Now that I think about it though, I can’t believe Dr. Lee even gave you a hint. Why would she even do that?”
Your jaw locked and tightened at his question. That’s one question that you have admittedly been turning again and again in your head, too. The woman is the personification of smart and cunning… There is no way she told you that on a whim, nor do you believe for a single minute that she fully trusts you. In fact, it is the opposite. She knows you are up to something, and she’s exactly using that fact for her own plans. She wanted you to play at the palm of her hand… Which is a shame for her.
…Because play, you will.
“She’s using me… to get to them,” you said now in a low voice. You felt Kun and Ten’s confused gazes rest on you. There was a determined look in your eyes now, one that’s the perfect opposite of the woman’s icy stare.
“She doesn’t trust me at all, that’s why she told me. She wants me to play her game.”
“And I’m going to give her exactly what she wants.”
******* “You know you’ll hurt your legs if you stand there for a minute longer, right?”
Your hands stilled in the middle of fiddling the hospital curtain in front of you. It was late at night at the infirmary and you deliberately tried to stay behind to catch up with work so you’ll have an excuse to stay longer than your shift. The room you are standing now is dark, but Ten made sure to leave you his keycard before he left. You didn’t know what’s gotten into you, but all of a sudden, you felt so hesitant to actually face the boy on the other side. Before you could even change your mind, you finally forced yourself to part the curtains and step inside the quarters.
Renjun smiled at you from his hospital bed, the yellow glow of the lamp beside him giving his skin an unnatural glow. The rest of him was bathed with shadows though and you had to step closer for your view of him to properly focus. You have just settled on the seat closest to his bed when your eyes fully caught sight of his face. He seemed to have noticed the expression because he gave you a slightly cheekier smile before you could even find your words. He looked tired and his cheeks seemed more hollowed than usual, but what really grabbed your attention was his close-cropped hair. Gone were his blonde highlights that used to perfectly frame his face. Instead, his dark locks barely grazed his forehead and the sides of his face.
“Renjun… Your hair…”
“Do you like it?” he asked, his voice sounding thin than usual. It was as if he hadn’t used it for a long time. “I was kinda not into at first, too, but it has sort of grown on me by now.”
You wanted to give him a proper answer, but a malicious thought has started gnawing at you the moment that you saw it. You could tell that he was also following the same line of logic, though he tried to keep the air as light as he could in his state despite the meaningful look you gave him.
“Why did you cut it…?” was your simple question. Renjun’s face fell a little as his hand unconsciously reached out to feel for the back of his head. Your heart fell constricted in your chest. When you asked Ten to let you meet him tonight, you were expecting the worst. Your look of relief upon seeing him uninjured was short-lived as you waited for his answer. It took him a while, but he finally gave a sigh and tried to give you a small smile.
“It was getting on the way…”
He didn’t need to say anything more than that. You were speechless for a moment, and he was kind enough to pull you out of your emotions by reaching out for your hand. He gave it a comforting squeeze and you let it ground you.
“Hey… I’m fine. Don’t worry too much about it.”
There were a ton of things that wanted to spill out of you, but you tried your best to hold them back. Focusing your gaze on him, you tried to see again if he was hurt anywhere, though you knew that whatever it is that he might have gone through could not be seen by the naked eye. It was a hard pill to swallow, and it didn’t make you feel any better that it’s been a long time since you’ve actually been close enough to him to check if he was alright.
“I’m sorry I wasn’t there,” was the first phrase that slipped out of you after the prolonged silence. Your fingers finally wove around his as well, and you silently took notice of how cold his palms felt. Unconsciously, you started running circles there with your thumb to lend him some of your warmth.
“Don’t apologize. It’s not not like anyone could have done anything anyway. Haechan barely snaps, but when he does, there is basically no one who can stop him.”
The mention of the boy’s name made you momentarily pause.
“How is he?”
Renjun’s gaze shifted a little. “He’s okay. He’s trying to recover after what he has accidentally done to you. He’ll bounce back, if that’s what you were worried about. I think he just needs some time.”
You wanted to ask more but you opted in giving a nod instead. You pretty much know Renjun by now. If he wants to tell you something, he’ll give it to you with good reason. The same thing applies when he wants to keep silent about other things.
“And the others? How are they? Ten and Kun said that you were moved somewhere else.”
“If you want to know where they took us, I can’t really answer because I have no idea myself. As far as I know, all of us are still alive. I haven’t really seen the others that much myself because I have been isolated, but I knew the others are just a little worse for wear. I don’t think I need to go into detail about what exactly happened…” he trailed off and glanced at you again. “You already know, don’t you?”
You felt nauseous but pushed the feeling back. At that moment, you didn’t really know what to say next, with so many questions and thoughts swirling in your head. Renjun once again tried to reign you in by tugging at your hand. When you finally glanced back at him, you almost flinched at the look of guilt in his face.
“I’m sorry… All of us are, for everything that has happened so far… We didn’t think it would go this far to be honest. If you want to ask me anything about your father, I’ll try my best to answer to the limits that I could. It’s the least we could do for you.”
His words were your undoing. You didn’t really have a set agenda when you came to him tonight, but you also know, deep inside of you the questions you needed answers to. For some odd reason though, the thousands of things you wanted to ask seemed to have gone out of the window now, all except for one thing. You met Renjun’s gaze, your voice barely heard when you finally spoke up.
“Do you think… he cared about me?”
For a few quick seconds, Renjun’s emotions faltered. He moved his hand slowly and gently tucked a lock of your hair behind your ear.
“He does. A lot. You might find it hard to believe, but he told us a lot of stories about you while we were growing up. Every little thing he found amazing about you, he made sure to share with us,” he smiled and you tried to blink the strange dryness in your eyes. “It made us feel like we really knew you, even from a distance.”
“Why did he leave me then, if he cared?”
Renjun seemed torn on how to answer that. His eyes bounced on your features for a moment before he finally found his voice again.
“Your father… was a very special man, noona. But he was also involved with a lot of things that could hurt the people he loves. I can’t speak for him, but believe me when I say that I knew he loved you so much that he was willing to do everything to keep you safe.”
You were speechless. Another question was on the verge of spilling out of you, but you took your time before finally voicing it out.
“My father also tried his best to protect all of you… So why are you sacrificing everything by giving yourself to Cypher? When will this stop, Renjun?”
That made him pause. Slowly, he pulled away from you, drawing his hand back to himself. It hurt you a little, but you knew it was him trying to draw back to himself for self-preservation.
“We need to find out about Cypher’s plans about Arcana users like us. Right now, we are the only ones who can do that… by staying here.”
“Did you decide on that, or did ‘she’ tell you?”
You saw the quick storm of emotions that passed through his delicate features at your question. He didn’t answer and you took the chance to lean forward to urge him to look at you.
“They’re going to use all of your abilities for evil, Renjun.”
“We know that. She knows that.”
“Then why?”
“Because we know that’s not just it that they want,” he answered, finally looking at you. “We’ve only ever had two choices. To run away and live a life with the Institute hunting us forever, or put a stop to it once and for all. Somebody had to do something and the best way around it is by infiltrating the very place that’s after our heads. You might not understand it, but if you’ve spent the rest of your life trying to being chased, you’re willing to sacrifice things to finally be free.”
“But what is her plan? Look at you. All of you are suffering. Do you even know what she is up to? Is she even doing something to help out?”
Renjun kept quiet at first and simply stared at you. You couldn’t entirely read the emotions shifting under his eyes, but you have a feeling he was contemplating over something. After a moment, he fumbled for something from the pocket of his cardigan. You didn’t exactly know what he pulled out, but you soon felt a cold metallic sensation against your palm as he pressed something against it. You looked down in surprise and opened your hand to see a small silver locket attached on a thin chain resting there. It was round and only slightly larger than a coin, but the warm glow of the night lamp caught the intricate patterns carved on its face.
“I don’t. But you might… She told me to give you this. She says it will give you all the answers that we need.”
You shot him a confused look before bringing your gaze back at the locket. You have no idea what he was talking about, but it also didn’t seem like he was giving anything more. You turned the pendant once in your palm now before finally picking it up to open its face. There was no picture inside of it, but when you angled it better against the light, your gaze finally caught the sentence inside of it, engraved in script.
“In memories there is love. In memories, there is power.”
******* You rushed to your bedroom and went straight to your dresser after turning on all the lights. Your drive from work was all but a blur as you tried to wrap your head about everything that has happened. So many questions and thoughts were fighting to swim to the surface and take over you, but you tried your best to focus on what only is necessary at the moment, because you have a hunch that you were at the precipice of uncovering something big.
You don’t have any idea why that unknown woman decided to give the locket to you, but you are sure she is trying to tell you something that even the boys probably don’t even know how to decipher. Why she chose you and what exactly her message was were two questions you didn’t have any answers yet, but you’re convinced that the clue you need is just hiding in plain sight. It was the locket, for sure… but the phrase engraved on it made zero sense to you no matter how hard you thought it over. It took you almost three passed red lights for something to finally click in your head.
It was not the phrase in the pendant that was the clue… but the pattern on its face.
You quickly pulled your backpack now from the corner of your closet. The last time you touched it was when you went to Rosewood, after which you stashed it away from your sight in an effort to forget about it. You desperately tried to rummage on it now, however, your breath held back until you finally found what you were looking for in its inside compartment. Quickly, you pulled out the picture frame and went over to the side of your bed where you opened your study lamp for extra illumination.
You took in a shallow intake of breath as you clutched the photo in your hands and held it out into the light. It was the framed image of you that you found in your father’s desk, the one of you as a child with half of the frame and the image of your face burnt off. The rest of the frame retained its original pattern though, the ornate bronze woven with a design that looked similar to the complex beauty of snowflakes under a microscope. Swirls and spikes spread out like a sunburst from its center…
Similar to the etched pattern on the locket.
You pulled the said jewelry now from your pocket and put the two close together just to be sure. There is no mistaking it… The gilded frame looked much more complex because of the interweaving designs, but there is no doubt that the separate patterns were the same as the one in the woman’s pendant. Your eyes moved all over the photo now, trying to decipher what it must be that you should look at.
In memories there is love. In memories, there is power.
What does that mean? Other than your childhood photo, there is nothing else out of place that gives away anything that you need. What was she trying to tell you? Randomly, you tried to turn the frame on its back, your gaze now going over the hardwood backing to quickly check it.
That was when you found yourself stopping again at the sight of something on the lower left of the frame. It was small and surrounded by a border that separated it from the otherwise spare backing of the photo, but it caused your eyes to go round soon enough when you brought it closer to the light.
Again, it was the same pattern that was engraved on the locket you received… the one that looked like a cross between a sunburst and a snowflake.
You tried your best to control your breathing now as you took it in. The logo was resting on the corner, right at the part you would lift if you wanted to open the back of the frame. You didn’t exactly know why, but something told you to do just that, your shaky fingers undoing the clasps sealing the photo inside. Carefully, you lifted the edges, opening the frame slowly so as not to cause any damage.
The photo of you didn’t budge as you did, but you noticed how the white of the back of its printed image has already yellowed. At its bottom, written in the same script you found in the locket was your name, birthday, and the same message engraved on the pendant. Your throat felt tight as you took those details in. What you found next, however, was something you’ve never expected. When you turned the back of the frame, your eyes zoned in on something else—a small black memory card taped against the wood.
You didn’t know where you got the sense to do your next sequence of steps but the next thing you know, you’ve plucked the card from its hiding place and grabbed your laptop. You felt lightheaded as you inserted it on the slot, but you forced yourself not to blink as you waited for something to happen. After a long pause, a small window finally opened on your screen with a slight ding.
You took in a shallow gasp of breath. It looked like a login portal, but there was only one entry space there asking for what seemed like a password. At this point, your heart had started picking up its pace in your chest too, but you tried your best to focus by keying in the first thing that popped to mind—your father’s name.
Entry Denied.
You tried again, now using his birthday. The same error message showed up in sickly green font on the screen once more.
You were at a loss for leads, so then you started trying other combinations with the hopes of finding the right passcode. Your name. Your mother’s. All your birthdays. From there, you moved on to random words. Winter. Snow. Sunburst. Pendant. Locket. Arcana. You even tried typing the phrase engraved on the pendant only to be met by the same error again and again.
You were on the verge of frustration when your gaze landed on the upturned childhood photo of yours still stuck on the frame. You took in every single detail there that wasn’t burned off. Your animal pajamas… your favorite book in your hands….
You stopped.
The book in your hands.
Your eyes slipped into the locket next to it. And then it clicked.
The snow pattern. And the book you were holding. With bated breath, you typed the only thing that is currently making sense for you on the screen.
The Snow Queen.
You watched with a mixture of numbness and surprise as the welcome portal finally dissolved in the screen. Instead, it was replaced with a new one, a window that has a single folder in it. You moved your cursor over it now, your heart drumming painfully against your chest as you double-clicked it.
A new panel opened up on the side at your command, a long document that, upon closer inspection, looked like a scanned version of a physical page from a book. You slightly squinted at it to try and make out the words there, but before you could even fully focus, some of the names there already caught your attention. It felt like all the wind was knocked out of you when you finally realized what you were looking at.
Typed in neat rows were the names of Mark, Jisung, and Renjun together with others that you weren’t familiar with. All had one similarity…
The Arcana labels tagged under their identification.
You felt cold. Your eyes moved upwards, right at the very top of the page, and silently read the bigger print there. The Italian words stared back at you, confirming your hunch.
La Famiglia Arcana.
The Arcana Family.
…Could you be staring at the database of all the Arcana users in existence?
You had to try your best to keep your attention from reeling then. Your eyes glazed over the rest of the page as you scrolled numbly until you caught one phrase that made you stop. The words echoed in your head as you started reading the random paragraph.
“…And the third classification of Arcana users—the most elusive ones—as their abilities go beyond physical manifestations or psychic control. Their gifts stand on the fence, for they are not soldiers, not are they defenders. What they have is so much more, for they have influence over assets only they can unlock.”
“Their fellow Arcana users.”
The words jumbled in your head, both making sense and drawing more questions at the same time. Your eyes moved downwards, and that’s when you really felt your mental walls start to close on you.
Written after the block of text you just read was something that fully rendered you numb. Your father’s name burned from the screen straight into your mind’s eye, the label underneath it echoing in your head like screams.
Arcana Master 20.
The Judgement.
******* Winwin paced across the length of darkened room as he tried to press the call button again for the dozenth time that evening. In front of him, his computer threw its harsh glare on what it could reach, panels after panels open on its screen. He had been working non-stop trying to crack something and he’d finally stumbled upon a significant piece of information. Now, if only she would pick up the phone. Hearing the line drop again, he cursed softly under his breath and finally decided to leave a message instead. He would have preferred to say this in a call, but it’s not like he really has much choice at the moment.
“Hey. This is Winwin. I’ve been trying to call. I think I found something,” he said urgently as he bent over his monitor again. “I finally hacked the locked files of Project Irregular. It was on a different database so it took a while. Listen, I have no idea if this is important, but I think I got the names of the subjects of the research,” he said as he squinted at the screen. The codes he were running had only loaded half of the file he had managed to snitch for now, but he can already see a name there.
“I think these are aliases, but there seems to be only two of them. The first one is Patient 20, The Judgement. There is another one but I’m still waiting for it to load. Oh, there it is—”
"It says Patient 21. The World.”
*******
A/N: Chapter 10 is out! There’s a lot of dialogues going on here but please bear with me since the reveals are rolling out little by little. Thank you so much to those who have left sweet messages, replies, and reblogs for Arcane. <3
SUMMARY. wherein mark lee finds you drunk for the first time and promises to himself that he should make sure that you never get wasted ever again.
PAIRING. mark lee x female! reader. GENRE. college! au, humor, fluff, suggestive, drunken mistakes that would probably make you cry in real life. WARNINGS. swearing, alcohol consumption, mature content (sexual & explicit jokes about fingers and — u get the gist) please read at your own discretion. WORD COUNT.1.6k.
REQUESTED BY. anon. hello to the person who requested this! hope you like this vv short piece of nothing but head empty mark ur so cool i like u. TAGLIST.@blossom-rea@nctdom @melonadeski @sweetjaemss@wooyoung-a@byunfirstlady
NOTE. put a finger down if you’re down bad for mark lee. thank u to my alcoholic friends and that one facebook post for inspiring me couldn’t have done this without u.
YOU WERE NEVER ONE TO SUCCUMB TO THE WORLDLY TEMPTATIONS OF ALCOHOL. Mark Lee knew this well. You’ve always complained when one of your friends would splash their intestines onto someone else’s carpeted apartment, you’ve always hated the entire morning you’d lose thanks to your mind-splitting hangovers and/or having to clean up after everyone else’s mess, and you’ve always dreaded watching your friends making a fool out of themselves while under the influence. This did not mean that you never drank, however.
Whenever you had to drink so that you didn’t ruin the mood— such as tonight, when the students from your department decided to celebrate the end of midterms— you controlled your pace and knew your limits very well. Never has Mark seen you tipsy before, much less drunk.
Which is why he was absolutely shocked when he walked in the bar and saw you giggling all over the table with Lee Taeyong. He took a moment to wipe his glasses with his shirt before blinking and making sure he wasn’t seeing things.
He wasn’t. That was you, absolutely wasted that people from ten feet away can immediately tell.
