[ silence ] sender lays a finger over their lips, telling receiver to stay quiet
"don't tell me to—" shush was, of course, going to be the last word of that sentence, but considering the pointed look he received with his mouth opening alone, he could take the hint that it was actually time to shut the hell up. his brows furrowed as he looked at ares, settling back against the wall that the other man had pushed him against, wondering why the hell they were playing freeze in the middle of the hallway of their own home.
then came the quiet footsteps.
seunggi's brows furrowed even more, confused as to who was in their home and why and why they would just help themselves in—— so, yeah, it became pretty clear pretty fast why ares was so on edge so suddenly. it was also safe to say that seunggi was about ten steps behind, but he was trying very hard to catch up as quickly as he could.
he could hear the thought behind each footstep, each one hitting the floor with intention, clearly looking for another sign of life. for what reason, he wasn't sure, but they'd been through enough that he could only assume it was malicious.
his hand fell to squeeze at one of ares', tugging gently in the hopes of getting his attention. 'what do you want to do?' he mouthed, his eyes scanning ares' face in concern. they were much more capable than most, so their possibilities were a little bit endless, but it all came down to what ares wanted to do. 'i trust you — tell me.'
[ CHEF ]: deciding to stay in for the evening, the sender and receiver decide to make dinner together in the comfort of their own home. (talex)
you know what — it probably took tae a few long moments to actually realize what was happening. like. he was too busy editing away on his laptop to notice what was going on across from him. sure, it smelt great and there were lots of sounds — but something felt off. or sounded off, rather. tae had no real idea how long alex had been messing around with the jar, but it was long enough that he was grunting about it. grunting and apparently on his way to the sink, for whatever reason — tae hoped he wasn’t about to bash the jar in quiet anger, or something.
if alex wouldn’t have had to pass tae to get to the sink, he wouldn’t have bothered. or maybe he would have — maybe tae would have said something, at the very least. but seeing as the other man was actively walking past him? his arm shot out to snag the jar as he straightened up in his seat, brows furrowing ever so slightly as he brought the stupid little thing closer to himself. “what’s the deal—“ was muttered with not so much as a glance to the jar. no, tae was more interested in looking at alex as the telltale pop sounded out and signaled that the jar was, indeed, open. and then he was tossing the lid (dirty side up, he wasn’t a monster) onto the counter and holding the jar out for alex. “d’you want me to do anything else? m’done with this.” with his video, that is.
ares shouldn’t have agreed to this — he knew it was going to be tense. but things weren’t fully okay between them yet (at least from ares’ perspective) and he needed to keep working on it. he had to put forth effort at every opportunity to make sure things didn’t crash and burn like that ever again. and honestly? he didn’t want seunggi around his father after learning what he did. so. yeah. maybe ares didn’t want to go and he knew he shouldn’t … but he did, and he was doing his best, trust — he was. in both his every day life and this family dinner. really, it came down to a simplified routine. he was working more routinely with his therapist, for one — a small thing, but necessary. he didn’t go anywhere without security, even if it felt silly. it was just something he needed to accept, is all. and with that came small changes, like no longer driving himself or making quick stops for boba — hana would grab it, even if sometimes ares insisted he could be in and out. which! he was ahead of himself with that, too. no amount of insisting mattered, his security would never be swayed. he knew the day would come where he’d try and weasel out of it and they weren’t supposed to budge.
even if he wished someone would have budged with this. somehow.
but they didn’t and now ares was here, hiding away in the bathroom with the small hope of no one coming to look for him just once. a hope that was squashed in less than a minute when the door swung open. not that he could be upset upon seeing seunggi’s face in the mirror — those words did end up making him frown, though. just a little. his eyes dropped towards the counter, eyes flickering over the way his hands curled around the counter’s edge as he turned the last hour or two over in his mind again and again.
“i think …” ares fought to keep his emotions in check and not spilling out all over the place, his tone falling quiet to hopefully keep his voice steady. “i think something is wrong. with me. lately. i don’t know —” it was a genuine statement and something he’s been trying to figure out. and the way he’s felt since being here? it wasn’t helping. listening to seunggi’s father? the things that have been said to ares — fine, whatever. but the things being said to seunggi? he’s never felt so angry, he’s never wanted to actually hurt someone like he wanted to hurt daeseong. the way the older man acted, plus knowing how seunggi has been treated in the past? the way he’s been hit and only god knows what else? and no one did anything — they just sat. why was ares the only one seemingly okay with challenging, however slight, the things being thrown around? maybe he shouldn’t, though — maybe even just something as simple as ares having asked seunggi’s father why he said something was enough to rock the boat. and here seunggi was apologizing for him. ares felt hot with rage and it kind of … it scared him. he didn’t understand any of it, he didn’t like it — he couldn’t make sense of a single thing. but he knew one thing — it didn’t feel right.
“why does he treat you like that?” with that ares let his gaze lift again to hopefully find the other man’s. “seunggi —“ seunggi deserved so much more and it hurt ares deep in his heart to know his own family was like this. ares felt like he could cry, honestly. he felt like he wanted to smack the old man upside the head. he felt like he wanted to wrap seunggi in his favorite blanket and cuddle up for the rest of the night — he felt like he needed to go on a run. there was a lot happening inside his head, so really? he didn’t feel right.
ares was minding his own business, as one does in a house full of near strangers, and was on his way to the gym set up. like — he was fully ready to get a workout in, headphones and water bottle and all.
so imagine his absolute surprise when he went from quietly humming, eyes on his phone as he set up the perfect spotify queue, to suddenly being yoinked off his feet into a completely different direction. if not for the clips that would probably surface of his yelp, he’d deny it — he probably still would, actually. between not hearing anyone coming to being dragged off? it was startling!
all of which quickly (and i do mean quickly) wore off when a tilt of his head had him laying eyes on seunggi. “what are you d—“ ares downright giggled — of course he did! within mere seconds his plans went from getting a good workout in to being closed into a closet. a closet. and where he might’ve asked another question? considering ares didn’t even get to finish his first? he didn’t think he’d have time for a second. not when he was too busy blindly dropping his phone onto a shelf (or hoping it landed on a shelf, at least) as he returned the kiss that came his way. was it risky? yeah, kind of — not nearly as risky as it would have been a few weeks ago. but surely the entire house and half the world knew what was going on by now, right? and if they didn’t? they would once this aired! ares never thought to check the closest for cameras, and he was so bad at turning his mic off. but maybe seunggi already checked for cameras and maybe seunggi would think to mute the mic?
but frankly?
ares didn’t care who saw what or heard what so long as he got to tug the other close and kiss him until he felt dizzy with it. and if the other man so much as thought about pulling away? for anything? “wait wait wait—“ it was mumbled and rushed and said with a tilt of a laugh as ares damn near clashed against seunggi in search of more.
you know, for all of the times seunggi wanted to be sure that they both had turned of their mics and for how carefully he acted in front of the camera, it might be surprising that seunggi was the one so obviously tugging ares into a closet to do god knows what. but, from his perspective, he felt like a bottle that was about to pop! he'd been so well-behaved and polite for both their company and for the viewers at home, that he felt they both deserved to have an actual moment to themselves. no cameras, no mics — yes, seunggi took care to turn ares' off, too— just the two of them and seunggi's grabby little hands.
he let out a huff of a laugh as his arms made his way around ares' shoulders, the fingers of one hand gliding easily into his hair to tug as they kissed again. and yeah, maybe he went pushing ares along until the other man's back was hitting the wall with a quiet thud, but you wouldn't be able to prove it! "mm—" he hummed out, a soft gasp slipping free before he tugged at ares' bottom lip. "you taste good—" his opposite hand went gliding down ares' torso, just to let out another huff of a laugh. "y'gonna let me taste more? or do i have to ask nicely, since you were busy?"
this was not going to be good — there was no way anything good could come out of this. like, yeah, objectively a lot of great things were happening. but — ares knew he wasn’t going to be able to control himself. even just letting his hands fall to seunggi’s hips was risky! how long would it take before he was searching for more? and more? and more? how much space were they working with, here? not a lot… but ares didn’t think they needed too much elbow room —
“do i?” such a statement had his lips curling up into a grin even as his head tilted for another kiss. as of recently? they couldn’t so freely take what they wanted like this and ares wanted to get his fill, sue him. “i do like when you ask—“ okay — yeah. ares was teetering on the line in dangerous territory right now. between his hands slipping under seunggi’s shirt and the scenarios his mind was oh so quickly filling with? they might be stuck in this closet all day. “i like it even more when you ask nicely on your knees." despite what such words might allude to ares was tugging the other man in for a kiss, eager to keep him close and damn near swallow him whole.
[ captured ] while receiver waits for sender to arrive, sender is shoved into receiver's view, captured by the enemy (:side_move: ag au9)
ares knew things had been going too smoothly — the fact that he was the one having that thought alone said it all. it took a lot for him to not see the positive side, you know? but it had been quietly eating at him day by day. things were too quiet, too easy — he was starting to get a little comfortable, even? not totally, but enough so that he wasn’t looking over his shoulder every couple minutes. but when they had managed to get so far so fast without so much as a run in? they were bound to get a little comfortable. right?
again — not too comfortable. but maybe ares didn’t always put his cloak up? maybe they started staying in each place a tad longer. just a day or two longer, even, nothing insane. a day or two was all that was needed sometimes, though, huh? one day they were buying bread and cheese before hunkering down for the night and the next? ares was waiting for seunggi at the predetermined location, crouched down and out of the way as he checked his bag one last time. if they left something it wasn’t the end of the world, but it was kind of a pain to rebuy certain —-
the bag slipped from his hands as he stood, only needing to take in the sight of such a commotion for a mere second before he was on the move. how could he be worried about the contents of his bag when seunggi was being dragged towards his captor’s horses? if they got him on a horse ares didn’t know what he’d do — it could take ages to track them down and it may only take them a fraction of that time to kill seunggi.
ares couldn’t risk it. he wouldn’t risk it. it didn’t matter which house they belonged to, it didn’t matter if he knew these men personally — they were trying to take seunggi.
easier to do when it was four on one. less easy when it was two to two, hopefully? plus ares liked to think he was pretty good with a sword — better with a dagger. of which was pulled from his belt and with one quick, smooth throw it was getting lodged in one of the four bad guy’s necks. that wasn’t something he had ever thought would bring him a moment of relief, but here and now? knowing it was more like three on two? yeah — he was relieved.
he’d be more relieved if he could get seunggi freed, but he’d take the little wins when they came.
sender kisses receiver in the shadows, knowing full well what it would cost them if they were caught. (ag5 🫣)
ares was minding his own business, as one does in a house full of near strangers, and was on his way to the gym set up. like — he was fully ready to get a workout in, headphones and water bottle and all.
so imagine his absolute surprise when he went from quietly humming, eyes on his phone as he set up the perfect spotify queue, to suddenly being yoinked off his feet into a completely different direction. if not for the clips that would probably surface of his yelp, he’d deny it — he probably still would, actually. between not hearing anyone coming to being dragged off? it was startling!
all of which quickly (and i do mean quickly) wore off when a tilt of his head had him laying eyes on seunggi. “what are you d—“ ares downright giggled — of course he did! within mere seconds his plans went from getting a good workout in to being closed into a closet. a closet. and where he might’ve asked another question? considering ares didn’t even get to finish his first? he didn’t think he’d have time for a second. not when he was too busy blindly dropping his phone onto a shelf (or hoping it landed on a shelf, at least) as he returned the kiss that came his way. was it risky? yeah, kind of — not nearly as risky as it would have been a few weeks ago. but surely the entire house and half the world knew what was going on by now, right? and if they didn’t? they would once this aired! ares never thought to check the closest for cameras, and he was so bad at turning his mic off. but maybe seunggi already checked for cameras and maybe seunggi would think to mute the mic?
but frankly?
ares didn’t care who saw what or heard what so long as he got to tug the other close and kiss him until he felt dizzy with it. and if the other man so much as thought about pulling away? for anything? “wait wait wait—“ it was mumbled and rushed and said with a tilt of a laugh as ares damn near clashed against seunggi in search of more.
chest . place your head on my muse’s chest . (side eye. jax)
jisung loved to cuddle, what could he say? especially on a saturday morning after just waking. he didn’t have work looming over his head and that made it even better. the sun didn’t seem to be shining yet, but that was fine — it meant he had even more time to enjoy the peace and quiet (no offense, tae).
not that tae was awake. or alex.
not that it mattered to him! he was happy to pull them close, to snuggle in, and to enjoy what he could while he could.
there was something nice about having alex sprawled out on top of him, hair a mess — jisung wondered what he was dreaming of that made his nose crinkle like that. or maybe jisung was bothering him with the way he was playing with his hair? there was something equally as nice about having tae snuggled up into his side. one arm was wrapped around tae’s waist, fingers brushing gently along his hip as the other gently scratched at alex's scalp. every once in a while he took to twirling a strand between his fingers, mind drifting with his own thoughts. jisung wasn't sure how long he was enjoying his quiet time but it must have been a hot minute seeing as his eyes fell closed again. not that he went back to sleep, but — you know. a nice little snooze.
and by the time they finally seemed to stir and their voices were heavy with sleep and filling the air? the sun was finally up and jisung was still exactly where he wanted to be — squished under the younger pair. jisung wasn’t playing with alex’s hair anymore, but he was rubbing at his back just as he was tae’s. and once there was a bit of a loll in the usual good mornings? jisung couldn’t help the way the question just rolled off his tongue. “what’s this from?” it was a soft, innocent question as his hand smoothed over the mark on tae’s hip. he’d be a liar to say he wasn’t curious about most every mark that littered the younger man’s skin, but this was the one that had his attention for the last hour or so. so much so that he had even found himself almost searching for a bump or jagged mark on alex for a moment or two, as if he expected to find one in the same spot — as if that’s how it worked.
tae always knocked out like a light and stayed that way until someone woke him up — unless he was with alex and jisung. it’s just — the bed got so hot and try as he may to keep a little distance between himself and the big guy? somehow that arm always found its way around his waist.
and yeah. fine. maybe tae didn’t mind cuddling them, actually. they were muscly and strong but still kinda soft and smelt good and ? if he was going to be sandwiched and squished and hot he’d definitely pick this scenario.
until tae was waking up earlier than he liked because he was hot, of course. which almost always looked like slightly furrowed brows and soft little huffs as he tried to dislodge himself from the pile, or at the very least get the blanket off, you know?
tae was successful with kicking the blanket off his legs, leaving him in a puddle on jisung as his arm laid lax across alex. he was kind of thinking about scrambling over to the other side, actually — maybe crawl under alex’s other arm? but that was so much work and he was still so sleepy, so tired —- “m’mom, probably — don’t know -“ it was answered without a thought seeing as he was still more focused on the logistics of getting over jisung and alex without kneeing anyone in the dick… or maybe he just closed his eyes again, he was comfortable here. “dom?” without context that might not make any sense, and seeing as it was followed up with a soft yawn? jisung might not be getting any context!
ares’ entire family was here. where is here, exactly? well. a cute little beach (private, of course) in hawaii. seokmin’s entire family was here, too. their friends flew out, and the ones that couldn’t make it even managed to send gifts. everything was set up, the rehearsal ran smoothly, and by now? he’d assume most of these people were snuggled up in bed either on their phones or passed out and ares was quite literally on his way there. the tv had just been turned off and he was grabbing his phone when a muffled thudding had him pausing. he almost missed it as his brain was half asleep and he just thought it was the rain against the roof, or something.
but it happened again, a bit louder this time, and ares found himself drifting off towards the entryway.
by the time ares was there? yeah. no — someone was definitely knocking. he could see their shadow through the window beside the door, and it had his brows furrowing as he quickly checked his phone. did someone text him? was something wrong? did he miss something —
who he saw upon opening the door? that had him even more surprised than the fact that someone was knocking in the first place. “seunggi?” ares — yeah, he was shocked. very shocked. so shocked that he was just standing there, staring, and almost didn’t register that something was being said to him. i’ve been thinking — “what — seunggi—“ ares was reaching a hand out to gently grab whatever he could and maybe tug the other man inside. sure, he was standing under a porch roof and yeah, it wasn’t pouring, or anything — but it was still raining and a little windy! “what are you doing here?!” i’ve been thinking about you all day — what?!
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turnnoffyourmind
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