♡ Hi!!! This is my first time posting any of my work on here!! Hope you guys like it!! ♡ ⋆𐙚 ̊.
⋆𐙚 ̊. 4.9k words
♡ Junseo—
It was one of those lazy evenings at the dorm, the kind where everyone just piled into the living room without a plan. The TV played some random movie in the background, but no one was really paying attention. Geonwoo and Sanghyeon were bickering about something small again, Leo was half-asleep on the armchair, and Anxin kept tossing popcorn at anyone who wasn’t reacting to his jokes.
You were tucked into the corner of the couch, right next to Junseo. His arm rested comfortably around your shoulders, your head leaning against him while you tried not to look too out of place. You’d hung out with the guys enough that it didn’t feel awkward, but still, being this close to your boyfriend with everyone around made you a little stiff.
Junseo noticed immediately. Of course he did.
“You good?” he murmured, leaning down slightly so only you could hear him.
You nodded quickly. “Yeah, of course.”
But your shoulders were tense, and he could tell. With a soft laugh, he tightened his arm around you and gave your side a light squeeze, like he was trying to melt the stiffness out of you. “Relax,” he said quietly, amusement lacing his tone.
Of course, that was the moment Anxin decided to pipe up.
“Hyung,” he said loudly from across the couch, grinning, “your girlfriend looks like she doesn’t even like you.”
The room erupted with laughter, Geonwoo letting out a dramatic “ooooh,” while Sangwon nearly choked on his drink. Junseo gave Anxin a look that could kill.
“Anxin,” he said calmly, “don’t make me bench you for the rest of the week.”
That shut him up… temporarily.
The noise eventually died down, and the movie filled the silence again. You leaned back into Junseo, finally feeling a little more comfortable, lulled by the sound of his breathing. Everything felt easy, until you felt him shift beside you.
You didn’t even have to look up to know what he was thinking.
“Junseo,” you warned under your breath.
“What?” he said, feigning innocence. His eyes, though, were locked on you with that lazy warmth that always made your heart skip. “Can’t a man show his girlfriend a little affection?”
You shot him a look. “Not here. I’m not kissing you in front of the members. Are you crazy?”
He paused, lips curving into a small, playful smile. “Did you really just deny your boyfriend a kiss?”
“Yes,” you said, trying to keep your voice firm, but your grin was giving you away.
The boys, of course, had no concept of personal space or boundaries. Every single one of them had gone suspiciously quiet, pretending to watch the movie while clearly eavesdropping. Sangwon had even lowered the volume a notch, the traitor.
Junseo chuckled under his breath. “They’re not even being subtle.”
“Exactly,” you hissed.
But Junseo wasn’t backing down. His gaze softened, that kind of look that made your stomach flutter despite yourself. “You think I care about them?” he whispered, voice low enough that only you could hear.
Before you could respond, he leaned in anyway. The world seemed to pause for half a second, the laughter, the background noise, the movie, all fading into a hush.
You barely had time to whisper his name before he kissed you, gentle and sure, not even giving the boys’ existence a second thought.
Someone (Anxin) groaned dramatically. “Hyung, we’re literally right here.”
Junseo pulled back just slightly, eyes still on you, that tiny satisfied smile playing at his lips. “And I don't care,” he murmured, ignoring the chorus of teasing sounds from the couch.
You rolled your eyes, but couldn’t help smiling too. “I hate you.”
He laughed softly, pulling you closer again. “You don't ,” he said, pressing a quick kiss to the top of your head.
And even as the boys continued their noisy commentary, you couldn’t deny….. he was right.
♡ Jiahao—
You were in front of the mirror, hair half-done, mascara wand in hand, trying to finish getting ready for a night out with your friends. Music played softly from your phone, and behind you, on the edge of the bed, sat Jiahao, arms crossed, legs sprawled out, watching you like a sulky cat.
“You’re really gonna leave me here?” he asked for maybe the fifth time that evening. His tone was dramatic enough to belong in a K-drama. “All alone. While you go out. To a club. Without me.”
You met his reflection in the mirror, lips twitching. “You make it sound like I’m abandoning you for a year.”
“You basically are,” he muttered, slumping even more. “Do you know how dangerous clubs are? What if some guy talks to you?”
You laughed softly, shaking your head as you reached for your lipstick. “I’ll survive, Hao.”
He frowned, watching as you carefully traced the red onto your lips. “Yeah, but will I survive?”
You ignored him, slipping into your dress and smoothing it out before turning around, and that’s when he froze.
His jaw dropped slightly, eyes widening in exaggerated disbelief. “Oh, absolutely not,” he said, standing up so fast you barely had time to react before he was in front of you. “You can’t go out looking like that without me.”
His hands found your waist almost automatically, fingertips pressing lightly against your skin through the fabric. He wasn’t angry, just flustered, playful, that mix of possessive and lovesick that was so him.
“Jiahao,” you warned, laughing. “It’s just a dress.”
“It’s the dress,” he said, still sulking. “How am I supposed to let you leave like this?”
You reached up, brushing a stray piece of hair from his forehead. “By trusting me?”
He pouted. “No. That’s too hard……Give me a kiss at least before you go.” He said mischievously.
You smiled sweetly… and turned your head at the last second. His lips landed on your cheek instead, and when you pulled back, he just stood there, frozen.
“Hello?” he said, blinking. “Did you just dodge me? Before going out without me?”
You bit back a laugh. “You’re gonna ruin my lipstick.”
He stared, half-offended, half-incredulous. “Who cares about your lipstick? Who do you wanna look pretty for, huh?”
You grinned mischievously. “My other hoes, obviously.”
For a solid three seconds, he just blinked at you, like his brain was buffering. “Excuse me?”
You couldn’t hold back the laughter anymore. “I’m joking oh my god” you said quickly, wrapping your arms around his neck. “You’re the only one I want to look pretty for.”
He gave you that look, the one where he’s still pretending to be mad but his lips are already twitching. “You’re lucky you’re cute,” he mumbled.
Leaning in, you pressed a small, quick kiss to his lips, careful not to smudge your lipstick too much. “Happy now?”
He sighed dramatically, pulling you closer anyway. “Not really….. but I guess you can go….”
As you slipped on your shoes, he watched from the doorframe, arms crossed but smiling now. “Text me when you get there,” he said, voice softer.
“I will,” you promised, waving.
And as you left, you heard him mutter just loud enough for you to catch "She's too pretty for her own good.”
You smiled to yourself. He was damn right.
♡ Leo—
Days off for Leo were rare. When he finally got one, there was only one thing he wanted to do: absolutely nothing, with you.
So there you were, both wrapped up under his blanket, sunlight spilling lazily through the curtains, a random movie humming in the background. You’d been in the same position for hours, Leo sprawled half on top of you, face buried in your chest, one arm slung tightly around your waist while the other rested loosely over your stomach. His leg was hooked over yours, keeping you trapped in the softest, warmest way possible.
Every now and then, you’d feel his slow, even breaths against your skin, and it made you smile. He’d fallen asleep like that clingy, comfortable, and peaceful. You could feel the weight of him pressing into you, grounding you, and your fingers had naturally found their way into his hair, lazily playing with the soft strands.
The room was quiet, until a sudden loud crash came from the TV, making you both jump slightly. Leo stirred, mumbling incoherently, lifting his head just enough to blink at you through half-lidded eyes. His hair was sticking up everywhere, his cheek red from where it had been pressed against you, and his lips parted in the tiniest pout.
You couldn’t help but giggle. “Leo, you look so cute right now.”
He frowned groggily, voice rough with sleep. “I’m not cute.”
You bit your lip, trying not to smile too wide. “But you are,” you whispered, cupping his face between your hands. “My cute baby.”
He squinted at you, cheeks faintly pink, but didn’t pull away. Instead, he leaned into your touch, eyes fluttering as he nuzzled his face deeper into your palms like a sleepy cat. Your heart melted instantly.
“Oh my god,” you whispered dramatically. “I’m getting cuteness aggression.”
And before you could stop yourself, you started peppering kisses all over his face, his cheeks, his forehead, the bridge of his nose, his chin, every spot you could reach, giggling between each one. His skin was warm, soft under your lips, and you could feel him smiling faintly.
Until you stopped just short of his lips.
Leo blinked at you, dazed but clearly aware enough to notice. He tilted his head slightly, voice a little more awake now. “You missed a spot,” he murmured.
You grinned innocently. “Hm? No, I think I got them all.”
He narrowed his eyes, shifting his weight so he was hovering a little over you now, his messy hair falling into his face. “Don’t mess with me right now,” he mumbled, sounding way too serious for someone who’d been asleep five minutes ago.
You laughed softly. “You’re cute when you’re bossy.”
He huffed, leaning in for what he clearly thought would be a well-deserved kiss, but you turned your head at the last second. His lips brushed your cheek instead.
For a second, he just froze there, blinking in disbelief. Then he pulled back slightly, pouting like a child who’d been told no candy before dinner.
“…Did you just dodge me?” he said, voice flat with betrayal.
You bit back a laugh. “Maybe.”
He stared at you for a long moment, then dramatically flopped back down on top of you, muttering into your shoulder. “Hell nah.”
You were laughing too hard to respond.
He lifted his head again, giving you the most unimpressed expression possible. “You are not getting away with that.”
Before you could react, his hand slid up to your cheek, gently but firmly turning your face toward him, and then he kissed you, loud and sure, like he was stamping a claim.
When he pulled back, his lips curved into the faintest smug smile. “There we go.”
You stared at him, half laughing, half in disbelief. “Leo, it was just a joke.”
He held your gaze, suddenly quiet. “Never joke like that again.”
You blinked. The way he said it wasn’t demanding, just soft, honest, sleepy sincerity in his eyes. You smiled, reaching up to smooth his hair again. “Okay,” you said, voice gentler now. “I won’t.”
He sighed contently, settling back onto your chest. “Good,” he mumbled, already drifting back to sleep. “You’re stuck with me anyway.”
You chuckled, brushing your fingers through his messy hair again as the movie played on, the two of you wrapped up in the quiet, lazy kind of love that didn’t need anything else.
♡ Geonwoo—
You’d been buried in textbooks all afternoon, highlighters scattered across your desk, coffee half-finished beside your notes. Finals were close, and you’d sworn to yourself that today would be productive, no distractions, no breaks, no nonsense.
Except, of course, your boyfriend didn’t believe in any of that.
When you heard your apartment door unlock and the soft creak of footsteps, you didn’t even have to look up. “Geonwoo, please tell me you didn’t just let yourself in again.”
“I missed you,” came his easy, unbothered reply. You turned just enough to see him drop onto your bed like he owned the place, sprawling out against your pillows. His tall frame practically swallowed half the mattress, one arm tucked behind his head, the other scrolling idly on his phone.
“You look really pretty with your glasses on,” he said after a moment, tone casual, but you could hear the smirk.
“Geonwoo, shut up. I’m studying.”
“You look even prettier when you’re mad at me.”
You sighed, trying to stay focused. This had been his routine all afternoon , throwing little comments your way, testing how long it would take before you broke. The worst part? He knew exactly what he was doing.
“Are you even comfortable watching me study for hours?” you asked finally, not looking up.
“I’d be more comfortable if you came over here,” he replied immediately.
You ignored him.
He waited. Then, apparently deciding your silence was unacceptable, he got up. You heard the soft creak of your chair as he approached, and before you could protest, you felt him standing behind you, tall enough to make the air shift.
“Baby,” he murmured, leaning down so his voice brushed right against your ear. His hands rested on the desk, one on either side, boxing you in. “Don’t ignore me.”
You didn’t answer, eyes glued to your notebook, even though your heart was definitely not focusing on the definition you were trying to memorize.
“Babyyy,” he repeated, his tone softer, teasing. He leaned down even more, his chin hovering beside your shoulder, his breath warm against your neck. You could feel his smile.
You tried so hard to stay composed, but then you glanced at him, and that was your first mistake. His face was right there, just inches from yours.
He caught your gaze and, of course, leaned in, slowly, deliberately, eyes locked on you as if testing your willpower. His lips were close enough that you could feel the warmth of his breath.
And right when he tilted forward to kiss you, you turned your head.
He froze mid-movement, lips brushing nothing but air.
“…Did you just—” He blinked, his expression shifting between disbelief and offense.
You looked up at him innocently. “Maybe.”
“Are you actually mad at me right now?” he asked, though his voice had softened, equal parts amused and confused.
Before you could respond, he shifted his hands to the armrests of your chair and spun you to face him. Suddenly, you were eye level with his chest, and when you looked up, he was towering over you, his eyes gleaming with mock seriousness.
“You’re annoying,” you said, crossing your arms.
“Okay, but you love me,” he replied instantly.
“Not right now.”
He laughed quietly, leaning closer. “Come on. Give me a kiss, and I’ll stop bothering you.”
You tilted your head, playing along. “If you let me study, then I will.”
Geonwoo arched an eyebrow, pretending to think. “So… a reward system?”
You rolled your eyes, trying to push his arm off your chair, but his hand stayed firm, not forceful, just steady, the way he always was. “Geonwoo.”
He grinned. “Fine,” he said finally, lowering his voice again. “But you’re not getting away with dodging me twice.”
And before you could protest, he leaned down and kissed you…., soft at first, testing, then just a little deeper, long enough that the sound of your heartbeat drowned out everything else.
When he finally pulled away, he was smiling, clearly satisfied. “There. Motivation,” he said simply.
You sighed, pretending to be exasperated. “You’re impossible.”
“Mm, maybe,” he said, already leaning in for another quick kiss before stepping back toward the bed. “But now you’ll study faster so you can come cuddle me.”
You turned back to your books, trying not to smile. And failed completely.
♡ Sangwon—
It was well past eleven when you checked the clock again. The company building was practically silent, every hallway dim except for the one practice room still lit, the one where Sangwon refused to stop moving.
He’d been at it since eight, replaying the same section of choreography over and over, the music echoing against the mirrored walls. You sat curled up on the couch in the corner, watching him push himself far past what any sane person would call “one last run-through.”
His shirt clung to him, his breath coming out in short, uneven bursts. But even exhausted, he still moved with that same precision, that same intensity that made you understand exactly why he’d been chosen as center.
When the song cut out again, you stood up, crossing the room with your water bottle in hand.
“Sangwon,” you called softly. “Baby, you can’t even breathe. Let’s call it a day, okay?”
He bent forward with his hands on his knees, sweat dripping down his temples. “Just… one more time,” he said between breaths.
You rolled your eyes, gently taking the bottle cap off and pressing it into his hand. “Wonie, you’ve done it a hundred times already. You can practice more tomorrow when you’ve actually slept.”
He looked at you then, tired, frustrated, and just a little lost. For a second, you saw the way his shoulders relaxed at your voice. You reached up, brushing his damp hair back and cupping his cheek. “Please,” you said softly. “Let’s go home.”
He hesitated, torn between his perfectionism and your pleading tone. Then, a small smile crept onto his face. “Fine,” he said, straightening up. “But give me a kiss first and we’ll go.”
“HELL NAH,” you said instantly, leaning back. “Sangwon, do you have any idea how sweaty you are?”
He blinked, pretending to be offended. “So you don’t love me when I’m sweaty?”
“Nope.”
He gasped dramatically, clutching his chest like you’d wounded him. “Take that back.”
“Not a chance.”
You didn’t even have time to react before he closed the distance, both of his very sweaty hands cupping your face as he planted a loud, unapologetic kiss right on your lips.
You squealed, shoving at his chest. “You are disgusting, Sangwon.”
He only laughed, that smug little grin spreading across his face as he wiped his forehead with his arm. “I’m your disgusting boyfriend. Shut up.”
“You’re so lucky you’re cute,” you muttered, wiping at your mouth with the back of your hand.
“Cute?” he echoed, tilting his head with mock innocence. “You mean irresistible.”
“Delusional,” you corrected, grabbing his dance bag off the floor.
He slung an arm around your shoulders anyway, ignoring your protests as he steered you toward the door, humming to himself.
“See?” he said as the hallway lights flickered above you. “Now we can leave. And you did give me a kiss.”
You shot him a look, but his grin was so bright, so stupidly satisfied, that you couldn’t even argue. You just sighed, bumping his shoulder lightly. “Next time you’re showering before you touch me, got it?”
“Sure,” he said cheerfully, which, knowing Sangwon, meant absolutely not.
♡ Xinlong—
The night was quiet when he showed up. You hadn’t expected him, he hadn’t even texted, but when you heard the knock on your door and saw his face on the other side, you didn’t hesitate for a second before letting him in.
He looked tired. The kind of tiredness that went deeper than just needing sleep. His hoodie hung loosely off his shoulders, his hair still slightly damp from showering at the company, and even though he smiled when you hugged him, there was a certain heaviness in it.
You wrapped your arms around his waist, cheek pressed against his chest. He was so much taller that he easily tucked your head under his chin, holding you there for a quiet moment. “Long day?” you murmured.
He hummed in response, a sound that was more sigh than word. “I missed you.”
You smiled, tilting your head up to look at him. “I can tell.”
You’d made a small dinner earlier, nothing fancy, just something warm to share. The two of you sat on the floor by the coffee table, your backs resting against the couch as you ate together. The TV was off, your only background noise was the low hum of the city outside.
You told him about your day, how your professors were evil incarnate, how the commute had been awful, how you’d ended up scrolling TikTok for two straight hours instead of doing homework. He listened quietly, eyes soft, a faint smile tugging at his lips as if just hearing you talk was enough to ease his exhaustion.
But you could feel his gaze lingering. The way his eyes flicked from your face to your lips and back again.
When you finally looked up at him, he didn’t even try to hide it.
“What?” you asked, feigning innocence.
“Nothing,” he said, voice low, still watching you. “Just thinking about how much I missed this.”
And before you could answer, he leaned in, slow, certain, his hand reaching up to brush a strand of hair from your face. He was clearly aiming for a kiss.
So naturally, you leaned away.
He froze mid-movement, blinking in surprise. “Okay… what was that?”
You looked at him like you didn’t know what he meant. “What was what?”
“Did you just dodge my kiss?” he asked, narrowing his eyes.
“I just didn’t wanna kiss you right now,” you said, trying not to laugh.
He stared at you, completely scandalized. “Do you—wait. Do you hate me?”
“What?”
“Do you wanna break up with me?” he continued, already spiraling.
You bit your lip, trying to hold back a grin, and nodded just slightly, just to see his reaction.
Xinlong blinked once. Then he straightened up, crossed his arms, and said flatly, “Well, that sucks for you. Because we’re not breaking up.”
You finally burst out laughing, and his expression faltered into confusion. “Wait, what?”
“Relax!” you said, clutching your stomach as you laughed. “It’s a trend! I was just messing with you!”
He squinted at you, still half-suspicious, half-relieved. “A trend?”
You nodded, still giggling.
He shook his head slowly, muttering, “I hate you sometimes…” before leaning forward suddenly and catching your face in his hands. “Try dodging me again, I dare you.”
You squealed, trying to lean back again, but he was faster this time. His lips caught yours in a soft, lingering kiss, warm and just a little needy, the kind that said I missed you too much for this kind of teasing.
When he pulled back, his forehead rested against yours. “You’re—,” he murmured, though the faint smile on his lips betrayed him.
“You love me,” you teased.
He exhaled a quiet laugh, shaking his head. “Yeah,” he admitted softly.
♡ Anxin—
You honestly didn’t know how you got here.
One minute you were chilling on the couch, and the next you were sitting cross-legged on the floor of your boyfriend’s room, clutching a controller and losing for the fifth time in a row.
“Wait, wait—stop hitting me, I’m still figuring out how to—”
“Boom,” Anxin said smugly, not even looking at the screen as his character obliterated yours. “You suck at this.”
You turned your head slowly. “Excuse me?”
He didn’t even blink. “I said you suck.”
You dropped the controller and gawked at him. “You invited me to play!”
He grinned, leaning back on his hands, completely unbothered. “Yeah, I didn’t say I’d go easy on you.”
You let out an exaggerated sigh, pouting as you crossed your arms. “You’re so mean.”
“Aw, don’t pout,” he said in a mock-sweet tone. “You still look cute when you lose.”
That earned him a light smack on the arm, which only made him laugh harder. “You’re enjoying this way too much,” you muttered.
“Of course I am,” he said, flashing that annoying, perfect smile. “Watching my girlfriend rage is my favorite hobby.”
You stared at him for a beat, ready to fight him or walk out, maybe both, when he suddenly leaned closer, his expression shifting. “Hey,” he said, voice softer now.
“What.”
“Kiss me.”
You blinked. “You just told me I suck at your stupid game.”
He shrugged. “Yeah, but you’re cute when you’re mad. I deserve a kiss for putting up with your terrible gameplay.”
You sat there “You deserve—? Anxin the fucking audacity you have”
Before he could finish laughing, you turned your head away dramatically. “Nope. No kiss. Not until you apologize.”
He tilted his head, grinning. “Apologize? For what?”
You gave him a side-eye sharp enough to cut glass. “For being a brat.”
He leaned in closer, his smirk widening. “But that’s like… my whole personality.”
You chuckled, trying to look serious. “Then no kiss for you.”
He blinked, processing that for a second, and then let out the most exaggerated groan. “You’re so unfair,” he whined, dramatically falling back onto the carpet. “This is abuse.”
You burst out laughing, and he turned his head to give you a playful glare. “Fine. I’m sorry,” he muttered.
“Sorry for what?” you asked, raising a brow.
“Sorry for…” He sighed. “For bullying you at video games. Even though it was funny.”
“Good boy,” you said smugly, and leaned forward as if to finally give him the kiss. He leaned up instantly, eyes closing—
And you dodged.
His eyes shot open, pure betrayal written all over his face. “Did you just—?!”
You were already laughing so hard you nearly fell over. “That’s for saying I suck!”
He stared at you for a second before crawling closer, determination in his eyes. “You can’t just dodge me, I'm your boyfriend!? Are you insane?”
You tried to scoot back, still giggling, but he caught your wrist and pulled you toward him. “Anxin—”
“Too late.” He grinned and kissed you quickly, triumphant.
When he pulled back, you were still half-smiling, half-annoyed. “You’re an idiot.”
“Mm,” he hummed, smirk still in place. “And you’re terrible at games. We make a great team.”
You threw a pillow at him, but he just laughed, loud, bright, and so him.
♡ Sanghyeon—
You’d been stirring the pot on the stove for maybe two minutes before you heard the front door open and the familiar sound of sneakers hitting the floor.
“Baby?” his voice came from the hallway, soft but excited.
“In the kitchen!” you called back.
Seconds later, Sanghyeon appeared in the doorway, his hair a little messy, his hoodie slightly rumpled from practice. His tired eyes instantly softened when they landed on you.
“My girlfriend cooking for me?” he said, his grin spreading. “Is this heaven?”
You laughed, shaking your head. “You’re so dramatic.”
“No, seriously,” he said, walking closer. “I must’ve saved a whole country in my past life or something. A pretty girl making me dinner? How lucky am I?”
You rolled your eyes but couldn’t stop smiling. “You’re ridiculous.”
Before you could say anything else, you felt his arms snake around your waist from behind, his chin resting on your shoulder.
He sighed, that long, happy kind of sigh that made your heart melt. “I missed you,” he mumbled, pressing closer.
“Sanghyeon,” you said with a small laugh, “I can’t move if you hold me like that.”
“It’s okay,” he murmured, squeezing you a little tighter. “I can pass you what you need.”
You shook your head, smiling to yourself. He was always clingy, but sometimes he managed to outdo even himself. His warmth pressed against your back, and every few seconds, you could feel his gaze shift from the food to you, soft, admiring, hopelessly lovestruck.
“You’re so pretty,” he said quietly, almost to himself.
You chuckled, stirring the pot again. “You say that every day.”
“Because it’s true every day,” he said without missing a beat.
You felt your cheeks warm. “You’re lucky you’re cute,” you muttered.
“Lucky?” he teased. “You mean blessed.”
Before you could respond, he turned his head slightly, his lips brushing the side of your jaw. You flinched back just a little.
“Hey! Stop, I’m concentrating,” you said, leaning away.
He froze. His hands slipped off your waist as he blinked in confusion.
You bit back a laugh, glancing over your shoulder. “I told you I’m busy.”
He looked devastated. “You’re denying me a kiss?” His voice went soft and wounded, his brows furrowing as he tilted his head like a kicked puppy.
You couldn’t help it, you laughed, turning to face him fully. His pout deepened. “Hey,” he said, stepping closer. “That’s mean. I worked so hard today.”
“Baby, you’ll live,” you teased.
“No, I won’t,” he said dramatically, holding his heart. “I’ll just… fade away from heartbreak.”
You burst out laughing, reaching up to pat his cheek. “Okay, okay. Let me finish cooking, and then you can have all the kisses you want, deal?”
His pout immediately vanished, replaced by a smile so wide it nearly split his face. “Promise?”
“Promise.”
He nodded, satisfied, and then wrapped himself around you again from behind, careful not to get in the way this time. “Fine,” he said, voice muffled against your shoulder. “But I’m holding you until then.”
You sighed, amused. “You really are a handful you know that?”
“Mm,” he hummed, his tone happy and sleepy. “ You love me anyway.”
You felt your heart flutter as you stirred the food again, his steady breathing pressed against your back. “Yeah,” you whispered, smiling to yourself. “I do.”
Hope you guys liked it!!! Also I have no idea how tumblr works please someone give me a tutorial
please don't repost, requests open! | masterlist | sign up for the taglist
perm taglist: @bang-chan-my-man, @themothgraveyard, @remihrtsyou, @stayalittlelonger143, @shellyski3s, @enhacolor
ald1 taglist: @lonelylandofan
wei taglist: (@slytherinshua , i remember you stanning wei, but i could be making that up)
Not to be dramatic... but you were convinced that Kim Junseo was the most perfect guy ever, and you developed a big fat crush on him the moment you met him.
➳ Characters: brainy!Junseo x athlete!female reader/you
➳ Genre: university au, fluff, romance, opposites attract
➳ Words: 4.5k
➳ Warning: mentions of food, drinks, injury, period and period blood, reader overthinks a lot
➳ A/N: This story was very much inspired by 'not to be dramatic' by Zoe Clark.
The first thing that popped into your mind when you saw him walking into the gym hall was that he was so damn pretty.
Which, considering the fact that he was supporting Jihye who was using crutches after her injury, was probably not what you should have thought about, but you just couldn’t help it. He looked like he had just stepped out of a manhwa with his proportions and that face that ancient painters would have made multiple portraits about. He was tall with broad shoulders but his features were soft, his eyes shining gently when he looked at Jihye and he was ready to help her with anything when she got to the bench and was ready to sit down.
Alarmed, it crossed your mind that he might have been her boyfriend (even if you didn’t know whether she had one), and you were horrified that you ever dared to have such thoughts about someone else’s boyfriend.
Then, Jihye dissolved your worry when she introduced the boy to you all.
“Girls, this is my twin brother, Junseo. Junseo, these are the girls on the dance team.”
Oh… so he was her twin brother. The Junseo you had barely heard about and had never even seen at parties because he was the smart one out of the two of them while Jihye was the athletic one. Though seeing the boy’s muscles, you were sure that he was hitting the gym pretty frequently between study sessions because damn…
Junseo caught your eyes in that moment, and you felt like you got caught red-handed even though you knew very well that he couldn’t have read your mind.
Still, you averted your eyes, ashamed of staring at him and his muscles so much.
Get it together, girl!
“Let me know when you finish with practice and I’ll come back,” Junseo turned to his sister after his introduction, and the girl nodded at his words. He seemed gentle and considerate, no hint of malice in his voice and it shocked you because you weren’t even this close to your sibling and you had a sister, not a brother. Your sister was such a drama queen though, but at least dance practices kept you occupied enough to not have to spend too much time with her.
Just like that, he walked away without as much as looking back whereas your heart was going crazy at the brief interaction. Gosh, this was the first time a boy had such an effect on you, and it could only mean one thing: you had a big fat crush on Kim Junseo.
You were usually casual, flirty even, with guys. You weren’t afraid to initiate a conversation at a party, or test the waters because what was there to lose?
However, even just the idea of seeing Junseo again made you feel oddly nervous, and you weren’t sure how to function around him even though most of the time he merely helped Jihye into the gym hall and then picked her up in the parking lot because Jihye left with one of her best friends.
You and Jihye weren’t super close either way. You talked here and there, but when one was a part of a dance team, it was impossible to be best friends with everyone because there were just so many of you. Not to mention the fact that you weren’t on the same course in the same year with anyone from the team, so you didn’t see each other outside of dance practices, except for parties.
On the other hand, on this particular Friday, Junseo was sitting on the bench beside his sister during the last 10 minutes of practice, and you were uncharacteristically edgy. You didn’t have the best day to begin with, and seeing him there just made everything feel ten times more nerve-wrecking. It’s not like you had to prove anything to him, but you still wanted to leave a good impression. Deep down, you knew that it was silly, you were practically strangers, but you couldn’t help feeling this way.
So you were super focused on the choreography, afraid to mess anything up, but it also meant that your usual confidence didn’t shine through the steps. Which just made you feel worse, and you couldn’t help but finish practice with nothing but regrets. Gosh, you just wanted this day to end as soon as possible…
You walked up to the bench to grab your water bottle from your bag, only to realise that Junseo was sitting beside it. You glanced quickly in Jihye’s direction as if you should ask for her permission to talk to her brother, but she was talking to Ryujin, so she didn’t pay much attention to the boy who seemed quite awkward sitting by himself.
“Sorry. Would you mind…?” You asked as you pointed at your bag. He probably didn’t realise that he was literally sitting beside your half-open bag, your water bottle touching his thigh, because he turned on full on apologetic mode once he caught sight of it.
“Oh, I’m so sorry,” he replied, his eyes wide in shock, and he helped put your water bottle back into your bag before he handed it to you and let you take a seat, widening the distance between you two.
“It’s okay,” you just shook your head, trying with a friendly smile, but you weren’t sure that your smile was convincing because he furrowed his eyebrows and asked:
“Are you okay?”
This wasn’t the question that you wanted to hear from him, but you were sure that you didn’t look that appealing with a few locks stuck to your forehead and drops of sweat rolling down your back as you were speaking.
“Yeah, sure,” you blurted out feebly, and tried to take care of the locks sticking to your forehead, but you just felt more pathetic by doing so, so you felt like adding an explanation. “Just didn’t have the best day, that’s all. It was one of those days when nothing worked out, you know.”
Oh my god, why were you oversharing to your crush? This was the first proper conversation you two had, so why were you pouring your heart out to him? Not like you expected him to empathise with you or anything, but still…
Damn those beautiful eyes of his that looked like little galaxies, sucking you into their endless depth. His features literally softened when you admitted that you actually weren’t fine, but instead of feeling happy about it, you were nervous. What if he thought that you were a drama queen, and he would never want to speak to you again?
“I’m sorry to hear that,” he remarked gently, and despite being practically strangers, he said it so convincingly that you wouldn’t have thought that he just said it out of politeness. Or did you just want to believe in it? “It’ll get better, so hwaiting!” He cheered you on as he balled his hands into fists and lifted them up, smiling.
You blinked at him for a few seconds, totally frozen on the spot. Did Kim Junseo try to cheer you up? Were you not dreaming? What was going on?
You were so shocked by his antics that you couldn’t mutter a single word, and the boy might have misunderstood it because he let out a semi-awkward giggle before retreating his hands.
“Thanks. I appreciate it, I just… didn’t think that anyone would notice that I wasn’t doing fine, and that they would try to cheer me up,” you blurted it out in one go, afraid that he would misunderstand you.
Now it was your turn to let out an awkward giggle because what were you doing, trying to explain yourself like that?
You just looked at each other for a few seconds, both your and his cheeks red from embarrassment. Then, you finally remembered that you were there for your water bottle and took a few sips of it. Junseo looked away as if he was trying to give you space, and though you appreciated it, you were also awfully aware of the fact that he was still there.
Feeling like you just had to say something, you broke the silence by offering that any of you could help Jihye into the gym hall and walk her to the parking lot if it was of any assistance. The boy thanked you for the offer, but reasoned that he was on campus either way, studying in the library, so it was no bother.
“What’s your major?” You inquired because you didn’t remember Jihye mentioning what he was actually studying, just that he was super good at it.
“Sociology. Yours?”
“Business management.”
You couldn’t have been more different, it seemed, and yet… the fact that he was studying sociology and with the way he was so perceptive, you weren’t exactly taken aback. Yet, that just made him more attractive in your eyes, and you weren’t sure you could fall for him further, but here you were…
Thankfully, you were saved by Jihye patting him on the shoulder to gain his attention, and as they started conversing, you slowly packed up and left the gym hall, your face scarlet red not just because of the dance practice, but also because of the interaction you had with him.
Junseo was the last person you would have expected to see at Beomgyu’s party. According to Jihye, the boy spent most of his time studying at home, studying in the library or studying at a café.
As usual, you attended the party with the girls from the dance team, and since Jihye didn’t come because of her injury (and because she didn’t want to maneuver around people with her crutches in a crowded place), it didn’t even cross your mind that Junseo, out of all people, would come.
However, there he was in the corner of the kitchen, talking to a boy who was even taller than he was, and once you noticed him, you couldn’t tear your gaze away. It looked like he was trying to give a pep talk to the other guy who looked quite fidgety, and you swore that he ran his hands through his hair like every five seconds. Junseo then patted him on the back and gently shoved him, prompting him to move.
Your eyes followed the person the guy walked towards which just so happened to be a girl you actually knew. Byeol from the Leadership and Management course was kind of well-known in the business department because she had made history for being the only first-year female student who had created a club, a debate club on top of that. You had shared a class with her last year, and though she seemed really cool and determined, sometimes she seemed pretty intimidating, too. No wonder the tall guy was nervous to approach her.
As you averted your eyes back to Junseo, you caught him already staring at you. You had no idea what to do with yourself, so you ended up giving him a little wave with your hand which just made you feel even worse.
For gods’ sake, what were you doing?
“I’ll be right back,” you turned towards Chaeryeong and Remi who were deep in conversation about the latest Kdrama they were watching, so they (thankfully) didn’t notice your awkward little wave.
Then, you made your way towards Junseo who still stood there by himself in the corner, seemingly not knowing what to do with himself. Though from your point of view, he just looked extra precious looking like a lost puppy.
“Hey!”
“Hi!”
“I didn’t expect to see you here,” you noted with a smile, trying to speak over the loud music that was blasting from at least three different speakers on this level.
Junseo scratched the back of his neck sheepishly, and god damnit, you felt like your insides were melting. How could anyone look this pretty and handsome, and be so gentle and attentive as he was? Not to be dramatic, but he was literally like an angel, you could almost see the halo around his head.
“Oh yeah. I just accompanied Hyunsuk because he didn’t want to come alone, but we came because he wanted to talk to Byeol. Byeol is the-”
“Head of the debate club,” you finished his sentence, and he nodded with a smile in return. “Yep, I know. We had a class together last year.”
“Oh right. You’re both business students,” he connected the dots with an airy laugh.
You ended up telling him that you also felt like Byeol was a bit intimidating but she was also pretty nice once you got to know her. It turned out that Hyunsuk actually joined the debate club because of her (because he had a crush on her), but he felt like things had not turned out the way he wanted it to between the two of them, so he was trying to make a move.
It was kind of cute of Junseo to accompany his friend to a party to help him out, but of course, you didn’t phrase yourself like that. Instead, you said that it was nice of him to do so.
After a while, when you got tired of shouting over the music, you decided on continuing the conversation outside on the patio where only Heeseung and Sungchan from the basketball team were around. Junseo (as the gentleman he was) held the door for you and let you go first, so you decided on the opposite corner of the patio where the two athletes were. Not that you were afraid that they would gossip about you and Junseo because they were pretty introverted, but still… You didn’t want them to hear any of your nervous rambling or anything of the sort.
“Y/N…” Junseo called out your name so gently that you felt like you were the main character in a movie and you were about to hear his confession when you knew very well that would not happen. Still, when you turned towards him. your heart was beating against your ribcage so wildly that you thought that it would malfunction in the next second.
What followed was the furthest thing from a confession though…
“Don’t be scared, but…” He started quietly, and despite the fact that he told you not to be scared, your heart was beating erratically for a different reason now. “You have a red stain on the back of your dress. I’m guessing it’s your… you know,” Junseo continued, and though his face was as understanding as ever, you wanted the ground to swallow you up whole instead of seeing his big doe eyes and bittersweet smile as he was telling you that you had most probably leaked through your pad.
Great.
Absolutely fantastic.
You had never ever been happier before.
“Oh my gosh, no…” You whimpered frantically, mentally calculating with every possible way to just evaporate right then and there. You closed your eyes for a few seconds, too embarrassed to face anyone, much less the boy you were having a big fat crush on. This couldn’t be happening right when you were about to have a lovely conversation with him on this lovely patio under the dim lights.
The thought that others might have seen it too (or worse: will continue to see it) made you open your eyes instantly, but then again, you wore a light dress with nothing to cover up your bum because it was late April and there was no need for extra layers.
“Here…” Junseo’s voice brought you back to reality, and as if he read your mind, he shrugged off his flannel shirt, revealing a simple white tee underneath, and held the shirt out for you.
You blinked down at the piece of clothing, feeling like you could burst into tears any moment because bless him and his caring soul for being so willing to help you out even though most boys would probably freak out over seeing period blood on a girl’s dress. Then again, he had a twin sister, so he was probably used to the period talk at home.
“You sure?”
“Yes, absolutely,” he nodded fervently, and there was a smile in the corner of his lips when he added. “Hey, it’s okay. It’s nothing to be embarrassed about.”
Why did Kim Junseo have to be the best boy on Earth?
“Thank you so so much. This is literally a lifesaver!” You exclaimed gratefully as he handed over his shirt and you used it to cover up your embarrassing little spot. Or maybe it wasn’t even little, it crossed your mind, but you hoped that it wasn’t too bad. You had to get home somehow because you were 100% sure that you wouldn’t stay any longer after such an accident even though you wanted nothing more than to talk with Junseo.
“You girls deal with the tough stuff, I’m just glad if I could help out at times like this,” he shrugged casually as if he did this every single day, and you swore you could kiss him right and there. If you weren’t so horrified about the actual circumstances of your conversation, that is…
“Thank you, really. I’ll give it back to you as soon as I can, but I think it might be best if I went home now,” you announced, awkwardly gesturing towards your back body even though you knew that he would get what you meant.
You were about to bid your goodbye when he asked:
“Do you want me to give you a ride? I’ve parked just right around the corner.”
Oh. My. Gosh. This guy just couldn’t get any more perfect. After handling the situation so well, he was willing to give you a lift? Seriously, what did you do in your past life to deserve him?
“Are you sure? Don’t you need to wait for Hyunsuk?”
“I think he’ll be fine,” he replied, boasting a boyish smile. Under different circumstances, that smile would have made you feel all giddy and warm, but this time, it just reminded you of another thing you would miss out on because you had to cut the night short due to your messy period.
After making sure that it was 100% okay with Junseo to give you a ride back home, you followed him to his car and got in (he held the door for you, of course). You were usually fidgety when you were nervous, but you were so aware of wearing his flannel shirt in his own car’s seat on your period that you dared not to move at all. Why did today have to be the day your emergency pad wasn’t enough because you bled through it, so now you had to leave the party that just got interesting because Junseo was there?
At least, Junseo still didn’t seem weirded out by the whole situation. In fact, he started talking about how he had saved up for this car and when he had learned how to drive, and soon enough, your nerves settled, and you were ready to engage in the conversation instead of worrying about your stain.
Yet again, you realised just how sweet and precious Junseo was, and even though you had met him because of Jihye, you hadn’t talked about her up until this point when Junseo remarked that he had gotten his driving license just in time to help Jihye out. Instead of admitting if it had inconvenienced him to drive her everywhere, he remarked how devastated Jihye had been when she had learned that it would take her 2-3 months to recover and even more to regain her full strength and mobility to go back to dancing like before. That’s why she insisted on attending dance practices, so that she wouldn’t miss out on the routines during her recovery. He talked about his sister in such a caring way, you were sure that he was a great brother even though he spent a lot of time studying.
Time flew by in his company, and by the time he dropped you off in front of your house, you almost forgot about the whole fiasco with your dress. Almost.
“Can we exchange numbers? So that I could let you know when I can give your shirt back. Washed and dried, of course,” you promised earnestly, actually not making an excuse to get his number, but you could get it either way which was just crazy.
The boy didn’t even protest, so you exchanged contacts, and after thanking him a couple more times, you wished each other good night. Despite the fact that you could have imagined walking back to your front door with his shirt on, with his number in your phone after being dropped off by him under very different circumstances, he managed to turn this night around, and you would forever be grateful for him for that.
After you gave Junseo’s shirt back as promised, you weren’t sure when you would see him again because technically, it wasn’t guaranteed that you would be in the same place again.
However, he continued to drop by occasionally to see the last few minutes of the dance practices before picking up his sister, and you even managed to bump into him in the library a few times as exam season rolled by. He was always eager to hear about your days, and after a while, you developed the habit of getting late night snacks from the 24/7 convenience store on campus together when you needed a bit of a pick-me-up during study sessions. Nothing was planned, nothing was re-arranged, but you couldn’t deny that you were spending way more time studying on campus this semester than you ever did before.
If anything, your feelings for him just grew stronger and stronger as days went by, but how could you have not fallen for him when he was such a green flag? He was kind, caring, perceptive, and he had that adorable shy laugh that you wished to remember forever, tucked into your memory as one of your favourite sounds.
He was also very pretty, like a real-life prince, and you had to force yourself not to stare at him too much when the sun was shining on his features while studying or the way his muscles were on display while he was driving. He insisted on driving you back when you finished studying late at night, and you just couldn’t say no to him.
However, when you submitted your last assignment for the semester, you knew that it also meant that you wouldn’t need to come to campus every day because of summer break, only for dance practices. You kind of dreaded this day because it would mean not having your study sessions together with Junseo, something that you had grown fond of over the last few weeks. Not to mention the fact that Jihye could now walk without crutches, so she didn’t need her brother’s assistance.
That night, when you packed up your stuff and headed outside of the library together, you were uncharacteristically quiet. You submitted your assignment around 6pm, so it wasn’t even dark, but you stalled in front of the building, not knowing whether he would offer to drive you back or not, and you were too embarrassed to bring up the question.
Instead, you found yourself asking:
“Do you want to grab dinner together? You know, to celebrate my last assignment for the semester,” you suggested casually, and the smile he gave you in return turned your legs into jelly.
“Sure. What do you have in mind?”
Truthfully, you had nothing in mind, you just wanted to spend more time with him, but you suggested a place anyway. While waiting for your orders, you inquired if Junseo had any plans for summer, and he said that he had a summer class that would involve working on a research project. The project would also help him prepare for his final thesis next year, so he didn’t mind spending more time doing it. When he asked about your side, you shared that you had a dance bootcamp lined up and a competition later on, so you were preparing for that.
Your answers made it very clear that you would not see each other during summer, but you tried not to show that you were affected by it. However, that also meant that you were rambling on and on, afraid to put an end to this conversation, to say goodbye to him for the next few weeks. You knew very well that you were being dramatic, but you just couldn’t help it.
After dinner, Junseo offered to give you a ride back home, but the closer you got, the more disheartened you were. When he stopped in front of your house, you looked ahead of yourself for a few seconds before turning towards him.
“I guess it’s time to say goodbye then. Good luck for your summer class, Junseo!”
You put on a friendly, cheery smile when inside you felt like crawling a hole for yourself and not getting out of it until the first week of the next semester rolled by.
Junseo looked at you, perplexed, as if you said something confusing.
“W-wait, you don’t want to see me during summer?”
Now it was your turn to be confused. What was he talking about?
“What do you mean?” You asked, furrowing your eyebrows in question. Of course you wanted to see him, but you weren’t going to. Right?
“Just because Jihye doesn’t use her crutches anymore, I can still come by your dance practices. I’ll be on campus either way,” he broke it down to you, and you felt like facepalming yourself because why had you not thought about it before? “But if you’re uncomfortable with me there, I don’t-”
“No! I would love for you to come. Anytime, really. Please, come by!” You cut him off instantly.
Junseo gave you a coy little giggle hearing your eager words, but the damage had already been done, so you had to bear the consequences of your actions. He still had the chance to back away if he found your antics annoying or awkward or-
“Besides, I would love to take you out on a date someday if you wouldn’t mind.”
Wait, what?
You almost got whiplash when you decided to turn towards him in a swift motion because you weren’t sure that you had heard it right. Did Kim Junseo just ask you out? Did your crush just ask you out? Oh my gosh, it was really happening. You weren’t dreaming!
“No! I wouldn’t mind. Not at all. I would love to. I would be more than happy, actually,” you blurted out in one go, and you saw the boy’s shoulders drop in relief.
Now it was your turn to let out a chuckle because gosh… you were majorly overreacting, weren’t you?
He didn’t seem to mind though, so that was good.
You were all good.
It would be just fine.
More than fine, actually.
A/N: Hope you enjoyed this story of mine. Let me know what you think. I'm always happy to hear your feedback. 😊
Header taken from the 'FAKE LOVE' MV by WEi.
If you want to read more stories of mine, let it be for ALD1/WEi or for other artists, consider signing up for my taglist here.
Pairing: Kim Junseo x reader;
Summary: Cupid was sick of doing it's job, how come everyone gets to be happy. Everyone but him. It would take an angel to make him believe, he too, was destined to find his perfect soul.
A/N: This is clearly very inspired by newjeans latest mv, with the concept of cupid (or eros) falling in love with psyche. Obviously this is gonna be a little different but that's the base. I hope you enjoy it!!
Every day it was the same old routine. Following your next "victim" making them have great luck in finding a partner. Obviously cupid can only do so much, he brings people together but if you need couples therapy, it's not his problem.
It's rare when his arrows become nothing more than a future story for someone to tell their kids, but it could very much happen. If you don't cherish the love you get don't expect it to last forever.
And that's part of the reason why Junseo no longer finds joy in his daily quests. He won't lie the first few times it was as magical to him as it was to the parties involved. But after seeing it go perfectly fine just for someone to ruin it, it was frustrating to say the least.
He'd give anything to be in their spots, he wishes he could experience the so called "love at first sight", he wishes he'd go to sleep thinking about the one he loves and nothing else. All of this caused a sort of indifference towards all humans, how could a species be so self entitled, bragging about how much they evolved when they can't even listen to someone else's heart. Selfish pieces of flesh.
There he was, witnessing yet another breakup before his eyes. It was so common he thought he was getting used to it. But he can never get used to the feeling of disappointment and the hole it leaves on his chest.
It was clearly time to go pick another human in hopes they would be a little kinder than most. That's when he saw you sitting at a coffee shop, enjoying your sweet morning tea. A slight change for once, usually the prefered beverage is bitter black coffee, very reflective of some personalities. You were accompanied with a friend chatting about silly little things, another dissimilarity. Normally most people gossip or complain about every little thing. You intrigued him so he was for sure going to be your shadow for a while.
Once you were done with your errands for the day you decided to go home, taking a very curious boy with you. He knew this went beyond his obligations but you were mesmerizing, absolutely breathtaking. He had only heard of people like you in books and movies that previous patients spoke about. He never thought those were inspired by real people, but there you were proving him wrong.
Your nights consist of the same pattern of events, prepare dinner, shower, skin care and a nice movie to fall asleep to. Simple is the best. And Junseo couldn't agree more, he sat near the sink admiring every inch of your beauty, the way you were singing your lungs out while toning your face. He couldn't help but smile.
He was having more fun with you than he ever did by playing matchmaker.
Thankfully you couldn't see him or hear him but these are the times he wished he wasn't invisible. He wants to join you on this little karaoke session while the pasta cooks, hold your hand to spin you around, kiss you all over till your giggles bring him to a stop.
The timer went off signaling it was time to dig in. You carefully transferred the tiny pot onto the unused stove top, preventing it from cooking it longer than planned. As you were platting your food, he looks amused, pleased. It's capellini, also known as angel hair pasta. He couldn't lie, this was starting to sound a lot like destiny. Which is another nickname most mortals have for him.
You made him believe in things that weren't real, that's how special you had become.
Cuddling with your pillows you made yourself comfortable, anxiously waiting to watch "letters to juliet". Meanwhile loverboy, quite literally, sat at the end of your bed watching your every move. Somehow you look better than when he first saw you but that was never a factor he cared about. Your energy was enough to convince him you were worth his time. One smile on your face to put another on his.
Mid movie your eyes had quit on you, succumbing to the tiredness. Slowly, as if you could wake up due to his action, he made his way to the side of the bed, wanting to be as close to you as possible.
Your breaths were soft and gentle, just like your heart, just like every part of your being.
He wanted you to know, even if you actually had no way of communicating with him, that from now on, you're stuck with him.
"I want to devote myself to you, in hopes one day our souls may actually find a way to exist as one. So here lies my promise next you, taking my place so no one else will."
something soft and romantic with junseo? I am honestly in my junseo feels right now and I just love him 🥺💕
Kim Junseo, the man we're all soft and whipped for 🥺 I hope you enjoy what I wrote for him - Mia
It was just you and him in that moment doing nothing and it didn't matter because the both of you were together and that was enough. Junseo turned his head slightly to observe you, something he often did while you were in your own little world.
"Hey", he softly calls out, breaking the comforting silence which was enveloping you both. You didn't look up from your book but instead hummed as a response which let him know you were listening to him. "When did you realize you were falling in love with me?"
His question made you look up at him curiously, wondering why he suddenly asked a question like this out of the blue. You slowly closed your book, marking the page you were on and laying it in your lap as you pondered upon his words, furrowing.
"Honestly...", you began to choose your words carefully, forming sentences in your mind that would make sense, "I never realized I was falling in love with you", you smile at him apologetically. Piquing his interest, he sits straight and you copy his movements, facing him. "I'm intrigued... care to elaborate?"
"Well... you know how you get lost? You don't realise it immediately?" you began to explain, earning a nod from him. "You keep going forward, not realising at first then later you start to get confused and then it comes to a point when it hits you that you are lost and you have no idea how?" you continue, moving to sit next to him. "It was the same for me."
"At first, it never occurred to me that I was falling in love with you. Maybe I thought of it as getting used to you? Feeling attached to you and your presence? I was confused with my feelings and couldn't exactly put a finger on it why and the possible reasons behind it. Then it just hit me... out of nowhere. I still remember when it happened, I was in trouble... caught up in the rain and my car had broken down. You were the first person who came to my mind and somehow I got a hold of you and let you know." Junseo mirrors the smile on your face, shifting closer to you, enraptured with the memory you were sharing out loud for the first time.
"You didn't hesitate at all", you continue with a far off smile, unaware with how much endearment your significant other was looking at you. "The moment I saw you in the rain, concern for me etched across your face and how you dropped everything to make sure I was okay, it was that moment when the bells in my head start to ring... and all the answers I was looking for behind my unfamiliar thoughts and feelings were infront of me." Your voice had lowered, a certain fondness behind it when you finally met his gaze.
boyfriend!Junseo x female!reader/you
Kim Junseo was the perfect boyfriend you could have asked for. Too bad you couldn’t like him back the way you wanted to.
(But maybe one day, you’ll be able to.)
✒ run for your life ♦
Runner!Junseo x reader/you
The Maze Runner meets WEi (featuring other kpop groups).
✒ running out of time 🌪
time traveller!Junseo x female!reader/you
Junseo thought that he would never have trouble running out of time due to his special ability, but he couldn’t turn back time when he needed it the most.
✒ veritas vos liberabit 🌪
high school student!Junseo x high school student!female reader/you
enemies to friends to lovers high school au with a murder mystery + “as far as i’m concerned, that never happened” [request event story]
✒ not to be dramatic ☀
brainy!Junseo x athlete!female reader/you
Not to be dramatic… but you were convinced that Kim Junseo was the most perfect guy ever, and you developed a big fat crush on him the moment you met him.
This was the motto of the boarding school you attended which means ‘we do not learn for school, but for life’, and more often than not, it proved to be true. In the treacherous hallways of the school, everyone was on their own. Even if certain students formed cliques, they were short-lived forms of alliance until one or more of them were accused of something scandalous. That’s how you had fallen out with two girls after your father - a politician in your home country - was rumoured to be cheating on your mother. You had ‘cheater’s daughter’ written all over your locker in permanent marker the day after the news had gotten out, and students had given you suspicious glances everywhere you had gone as if you had been the one cheating on someone.
Sadly though, you weren’t the only case of castaway isolation. It seemed as if it was a game by now, the target falling on a different pupil every other day. Since everyone came from a wealthy family, each and every one of you could be a target for something. Your father might have cheated on your mother, but one student’s cousin committed suicide and they started asking him if he was next; one student had a CEO as their father who was accused of money laundering; one student’s sister ended up in jail after breaking into a stranger’s house at midnight, drunk and high, and the list went on and on.
You did learn for life, after all. You learned that there were multiple ways one could humiliate another human being, and that you could never trust someone because they only had you in their favour until your picture perfect facade didn’t waver. Once it did, you were as easily disposable as a piece of trash.
That’s why you were wary to let Junseo in when he had first shown signs that he was different. When you had started attending the same school together, you had firmly told him that he shouldn’t speak to you because your families were rivals, so were you. They had both worked in the fashion industry, always coming in the worldwide sales neck-to-neck, and the Kims tried to uphold a perfect family image just like your family did so. You hated every second you had needed to work with him on an assignment, talk to him during Latin classes or sit beside him during modern literature classes.
However, he had been the one who had tried to clean the permanent marker off your locker that one time, and since you had told him to stay away from you, he had to do it out of the goodness of his heart. He had also been the one who had stood up for you when you had needed to go back home for a funeral, and some girls had accused you of going on a vacation during term time. He had been the one to buy you peppermint tea when you had been on your period and hadn’t been able to leave your room due to your cramps.
Little by little, the boy had managed to break down your walls, and if there was someone you would consider as your friend, it would be Kim Junseo himself.
Timendi causa nescire est
Ignorance is the cause of fear, that’s what Junseo told you when a dead body was found on school grounds, and the school committee presumed that it was due to suicide since it happened after midterms. Since the school was in the highlands, and had its own campus with a nursery, two grocery shops, one post office, a stationery shop and a special affairs office (which was supposed to be the closest thing to a disciplinary office), they never notified the police because the school said that it would handle everything by itself.
Besides, your boarding school was said to be an exemplary one, one of the best ones in the world, why would anyone assume anything other than suicide? The deceased student’s parents would most likely want to sweep the news under the rug anyway because suicide was seen as a sign of weakness, especially among your social circle. No one would dare to question what happened.
No one, but you and Junseo.
It’s because Hamin’s - the deceased student’s - locker was above Junseo’s, and on the day the news of his death came to light, Junseo slipped a piece of paper in front of you in a secluded corner of the school library. It read:
“As far as I’m concerned, that never happened.”
“It was tucked into the bottom of his locker, so when I opened mine, it fell out,” the boy explained, and you furrowed your eyebrows in question upon his words.
“Do you think someone had something on him?”
“Or he had something on someone else, and maybe they cornered him on the rooftop. I rather doubt Hamin would have jumped off himself,” he added contemplatively, and you had to give it to him that he was right. If there was anyone in your whole year who didn’t seem affected by the budding ground of hatred and humiliation that the whole school was about, it would be Hamin himself. He was always so carefree and chatty, and he hadn’t been the target of any bullying (a rare case), so he didn’t seem to have a reason to end his own life.
“Maybe you’re right. Hamin is a kind-hearted student,” you started, then corrected yourself after clearing your throat. “He was a kind-hearted student, but he had a loose mouth. Maybe he saw something that he shouldn’t have or knew too much, and it backfired,” you mused out loud, trying to keep your voice quiet in case there were other students around who could eavesdrop on your conversation. After all, you could never know at this school.
You exchanged a glance with Junseo, and you could immediately tell that he was thinking the same: you needed to investigate it or else, no one would do it. So you went up to check on the rooftop, but they closed down the entrance to the rooftop, so you could only peek above the tapes and fences, trying to see if anything was off about the place. Nothing seemed out of ordinary, but it didn’t mean that that was all that was to it.
So you kept up your suspicions, listening in on conversations that seemed relevant, examining students’ body language when Hamin’s death was brought up, and Junseo even tried matching the handwriting on the piece of paper he found to the ones he saw in the teachers’ office when he helped the English teacher correct some tests. At first, nothing seemed to work out, but then, the rooftop was open to the public again, and you found a lighter with ‘CY’ engraved into it.
Even though smoking was strictly prohibited on school grounds, everyone knew that there were students who smoked, and the teachers probably knew about it too, yet let it slide because you all came from wealthy families, and they were paid to teach you, paid a hefty amount on top of them. So they turned a blind eye to most, if not all, breaches.
“Choi Yoonsung?” You quirked an eyebrow in question, pondering whether there was anyone else with the same initials in your year. “I wouldn’t be surprised if he smoked. His family owns a tobacco company after all,” you noted, and even though you had not seen the said boy smoking, anything could happen here. Even a murder.
“I feel like we’re missing something here. Yoonsung couldn’t just throw Hamin over the edge because of his lighter,” Junseo mused out loud while turning the lighter in his hands as if it could help him put the pieces together. It didn’t, but it lit a spark that turned into a full-blown fire.
A wildfire that couldn’t be contained.
Veritas vitæ magistra
You never really believed in the saying that truth was the teacher of life because there were too many two-faced people in your social circle, too many lies and facades, and you could never know when someone was being genuine or they were merely playing their part in the grand charade of boarding school society.
Well, not until you had to discover the truth behind Hamin’s death yourself. It wasn’t easy, and it took you two almost a month to figure out, but when the truth came to light - all your proof put together into a folder and sent to both Hamin’s parents and the special affairs official -, there was no way to cover up anymore what happened.
What happened was that Yoonsung and Soomin had been going out together, but kept it a secret because Soomin had been forced to date a different boy (and keep it long distance while she was at the boarding school) for her family’s sake. Hamin had walked in on them kissing once but said nothing. Then, he had bumped into them on the rooftop that night, and made a joke about them being a power couple at school. Yoonsung had started threatening the boy while the cigarette was still hanging out of his mouth. When the cigarette’s light had gone out while they had been arguing, Yoonsung had tried to light it up again, but Hamin had tried to hold him back. That’s when the boy had pushed him so forcefully that he had managed to push Hamin over the edge of the rooftop. It had always been too short for someone as tall as Hamin, but it had never caused such a calamity before. However, it had been dark, Yoonsung and Soomin had been frustrated already, and the ground had been slippery because of the day’s rain accumulating on the rooftop and along its rails.
How did you come to the conclusion of all these? You had found the note Soomin had left in Hamin’s locker, identified that it belonged to her based on her handwriting, had found Yoonsung’s lighter on the rooftop, had overheard one of Soomin’s friends talking about the girl’s supposedly fake relationship with a foreigner boy outside of school, had stumbled upon a half-burnt picture of the two of them one day on the rooftop, and many more hints like that. It had not been easy, Yoonsung and Soomin had guarded their secret as if it had been their own child, but the truth always came to light.
Veritas vos liberabit was written over the door of the special affairs office that you walked out of with Junseo by your side, and when you looked at each other, you felt your shoulders drop in ease and your heart beating somewhat lighter. Maybe that’s why you let Junseo reach out to you and pull you towards himself, so you could rest your head on his shoulder while you were walking.
The truth will liberate you all.
A/N: Hope you enjoyed this story of mine! Let me know what you think.
If you want to read more stories of mine, let it be for WEi or for other artists, consider signing up for my taglist here.
The Maze Runner meets WEi (featuring other kpop groups).
➳ Characters: Runner!Junseo x female!reader/you
➳ Genre: the maze runner au, action, mystery, dystopian
➳ Words: 19.4k (oh lord...)
➳ Warning: mentions of injuries, blood, mechanical-animal beings, a virus, famine, death, being tested on, emotional manipulation, weapons (let me know if I’ve missed something)
➳ A/N: This story is a ‘The Maze Runner’ AU. If you haven’t read the book or watched the movie, you can still read the story, I’ll explain the details. However, to those who have read or watched it, I just want to say that this story is neither 100% like the first movie, nor the first book of the series. It’s a mixture of both, plus I’ve changed details and switched up the timelines.
Also, no one in this story is equivalent to the characters in the books/movies!
➳ Dedicated to: @dat-town! Dear, I wish I could tell you how much you mean to me, but words would fail to deliver my feelings. Nevertheless, I truly, truly thank you for staying by my side and supporting me through thick and thin this year (as every other year). I love you, and I only wish the best for you! May 2023 be an easier year on you! I’ll try my best to make your days better and easier in whatever way I can. Here’s to many more memories (including memories shared over fangirling) in 2023 as well! 💕
One moment, it felt like you were drowning and the next, you were coming up for air, but there was no water around you.
After coughing up some more water and regaining consciousness, you looked around and almost fell when you tried to get up. The ground was moving beneath you. When your eyes got used to the dim lights in this box, you realised why: it was probably an elevator and considering the movement, it seemed to go upwards. But to where?
You had no idea.
Why?
You had no idea either.
Who you were?
That, too, was a damn good question.
When the realisation hit you that you didn’t remember anything - your name, your family or why you had felt like drowning and why you were going up -, you almost fainted. However, the Box you were in just halted at that moment and the shock of light filling up the Box jolted you awake.
When the brightness diminished, you took in what was above you, and the surprise from the other side was mirroring yours. the Box seemed to arrive a few feet down from the ground, making you have to look up at the others who had probably opened its top.
“It’s a girl,” someone said in a bewildered tone, and when you looked up at the shoulder-length haired boy, you almost scoffed.
“Yeah, well, surprise, I’m a girl,” you noted, lacing your arms in front of your chest when you realised that from all of the faces that looked back at you in shock, there wasn’t a single feminine one.
“A feisty one, on top of that,” someone else remarked and a low chuckle ran through the group of boys around you. You might not have had any idea why you were here, but the one thing that got to your mind was that it was so typical of boys to react this way.
Then, a sudden jolt of panic ran through you - because maybe it was their fault that you were here, they were the ones who had gotten you here, they had merely expected a boy -, but you tried to mask it by raising your voice and acting all confident.
“I don’t know who you all are, but let me go. Now!”
“We wish we could,” the boy who was the closest to you said with a sigh, then looked above his shoulder. “We’re all trapped here.”
“What? Don’t manipulate me into thinking that you’re my saviour or something, so that you can do something to me, I’m-” You were about to go on with your monologue when the earlier boy cut you off. Instead of appearing frustrated or angry at you for such accusations, he was patient and resigned. As if he hadn’t been surprised by your words in the slightest.
“Look, we’ve all been there. We’ve all arrived in the Box one day, we’ve all forgotten who we are, how we got here and what our name is. We know how that feels and since we can only rely on each other, we won’t do anything to you. You’re a part of the Glade now.”
“The Glade?” You blinked in confusion, looking from one boy to another. A few of them exchanged glances before the earlier guy - was he their leader? - reached his hand out to you to help you out of the Box. You eyed him for a few seconds, hesitant whether you should trust them or not but he had just said that they had all been in your shoes and how could they have known that you didn’t remember anything if they hadn’t been like you once?
That thought finally prompted you to take his hand and hold onto it while you were crawling out. You arrived on solid ground and green grass, and looking around, it did seem like some kind of a farm with animals, barns made of wood, tall trees hovering above you, vegetables growing, handmade bunk beds and the remains of an ashy fireplace. Everything seemed pretty normal, except the giant walls on all sides.
“What are those walls?” You blurted out immediately, pretty suspicious of their purpose.
The leader-like guy didn’t answer at first. Instead, he turned to two other boys - namely Yohan and Donghan -, asking them to bring the supplies out of the Box. Then, he turned to you, introducing himself as Daehyeon and promising that he would tell you everything and show you around the so-called Glade, but before you could go on your little tour, Donghan exclaimed:
“We’ve got a note.”
“A note?” Daehyeon squinted his eyes, stepping back towards the Box. Confused, you followed his lead, joining the boys lining up around the Box. “What does it say?”
“She’s the last one. EVER,” Donghan read it out loud before turning the paper towards the audience to prove that he wasn’t lying. That just meant that you had more eyes on you than already even though all you wanted was to disappear.
“The last newbie? What does it mean?”
“I don’t know, Seokhwa. It’s not like we know a lot of things,” Daehyeon sighed in response, but even his calm demeanour was shaken up a bit by the note. Not to mention yours.
“Why am I here? Why am I the last one? What the hell is going on? Who the hell put me here?” You shrieked, desperation finding its way into your heart. Your head was filled with more and more questions, making it ache with the longing for answers - any answer would suffice at this point. You felt your heartbeat fasten, chest rising fervently, and there was a sudden loud ringing in your ears. Your hands immediately flew to your ears to cup them, but the ringing didn’t stop. Was it the ringing of machines? Why did it seem so familiar? And why did it sound so… Dangerous?
The ringing just got louder and louder despite your attempts to cup your ears. Faces and voices were getting blurry around you, making it seem like you were drowning. Drowning made you think back to how you had ended up here, flashbacks of being in a tube and drowning in water coming back, the same kind of suffocating feeling coming back even stronger.
Unbeknownst to you, you fell to your knees, and at the next moment, you completely lost consciousness.
When you opened your eyes again, you were in an unfamiliar room.
This fact might have made you alerted, but having no recollection of what had happened before you had come out of that box-like thing and possibly blacked out, you were merely surprised to find a decent level of cleanness around you. It wasn't something that you imagined after seeing a farm-like place before.
"Oh, hey," a gentle voice called from your left, and as you looked up, you saw another unfamiliar boy. He had boyishly short, somewhat messy blonde hair and he held a bowl in his hands.
"Where am I?" You asked immediately, looking around once more, trying to take in the shelves of bottles, drawings of odd plants, books and different bottled herbs. It looked somewhat like an...
"The infirmary. That's where we treat the sick at the Glade. In your case, you're probably not sick, just a little startled," he explained with an empathic smile, and put the bowl on the ground. He reached out and you immediately flinched, though he only grabbed the cloth from your temple which you hadn't even felt before. With ease, he squeezed the water out of it, put it into the basket, squeezed it a bit lighter this time and reached it out to you. He probably took notice of your weariness, so he waited for you to take the cloth from him instead of putting it on himself.
"Okay," you croaked out, still in disbelief over what had happened and what was going on. "Can you tell me more about this Glade? I've only just gotten here, and someone already told me that everyone gets here the same way and then there was the note too..." You tried to gather all your recollections from before, though you couldn't even tell just how much time had passed since the Box.
"Ooooh the note," someone cooed from behind the messy blonde guy, and actually there were two of them. The one who spoke up wore a playful grin and had sleek ashgrey hair while the one beside him rolled his eyes and put two bottles with some liquid on a nearby table. The latter had vividly red hair - like a strawberry's. Though you had no idea how you would even remember what strawberries looked like if you didn't even remember your name.
"You're scaring the poor girl," the messy blonde haired boy grumbled, and the ashgrey one as if woken from a daze, took a salute and introduced himself immediately.
"Hi! My name is Keeho. I'm a Medjack at the Glade, and trust me, if you need someone to treat your wounds or someone you can come to for the latest gossip, I'm your guy," he said with a wink, earning yet another eye-roll from the strawberry-haired one who also introduced himself - he was Taeyang. The third guy was Jiung, and just like Keeho had told you, they were all Medjacks at the Glade.
"What is the Glade, and how are you the Medjacks?" You asked through furrowed eyebrows, and as if sharing a super interesting story, Keeho plopped himself down on a chair beside the bed, and the other two followed his example.
"Okaaay, so please, don't freak out, but the Glade is where we are, and we assume we're all trapped here. We don't know why or who put us here, but periodically, the Box which we call the Box, I know, very creative," Keeho sent an amused smile in your direction at this part. "So it comes up, and a new boy comes with it. Plus, there’s always stuff in the Box that's useful. Some food, blankets, medicine... We don't know how they know what we want, but it always comes with a new Glader. Well, usually, it's a boy, but you're the only girl so far, and you only had the note on you and those two bottles with you in the Box," he pointed at the two bottles with the liquid inside that Taeyang had previously put on the shelf.
"I have no idea what they are for," you told them immediately as if they were about to accuse you, but Keeho merely shrugged his shoulders.
"It's okay. No one remembers their life from before coming here, so we didn't have high hopes regarding the origin of the bottles. Though they have WCKD on them, so we know it's from the ones who sent us here, not you."
"How do you know that? Who is WCKD?"
"We don't know who they are," Jiung justified this time. "It's just that WCKD is written all over the Glade. On the stuff they send us, on the Box, on the walls of The Maze... everywhere," he added patiently, but you were just more confused than before, so the three of them took turns to explain some more, filling in some information before you could even ask about it.
So this was what they knew: around three years ago, Daehyeon had arrived here with some stuff from the Box, but otherwise, he had needed to build this place from the ground, building beds, tending to the animals, trying to decipher what the walls were for. Then, supposedly every month (they didn't have anything to track time, it was because the packages from the Box had months on them), a boy came in the Box without absolutely no idea about their past, and then the Box went down and didn't come up until next month. They had built this place (barns, beds, the infirmary, weapons and so on), traditions (gathering around the fireplace whenever a newbie came), systems to make it work (different jobs assigned to everyone such as the Medjacks themselves, the Runners who went into the Maze every morning and came back every evening, the Cooks, the Gardeners, the Mapmakers, the Slicers, the Baggers and the Builders), but there was a question on everyone's mind: why were they there?
"Haven't you tried to escape?" You inquired though the look on all the boys' faces was identical: bitterness, resentment and a bit of hope, too.
"We've tried climbing into the Box and going down with it but it wouldn't budge with someone in it. We've tried climbing over the walls, the Runners are trying to map out The Maze, but it's no use. The Runners are saying that the Maze leads nowhere or you need something to open them up, but they don’t know what that could be," Taeyang concluded with a resigned sigh, and even though you hadn't spent too much time here, you felt that the whole situation was pretty crazy. Just who would put these boys here to make them survive on their own without leaving any clues as to how to escape?
"Who were the guys from earlier? The one who helped me out of the Box seemed like a leader of some sort," you couldn't help but muse out loud. You had no idea if you were right or wrong, or why it actually mattered in the grand scheme of things, but truth to be told, if you were stuck here, you would better get to know them, right?
"Yeah, the guy who helped you out was Daehyeon. He's the one who had come to the Glade first. There were the Runners there too, Junseo, Yongha and Seokhwa. Oh and some Builders, probably Yohan and Donghan. Because Daehyeon is also a part of the Builders and they kind of go everywhere together. I think I saw Taeyong and Kun too, they are the Cooks... Don't remember anyone else, we were only notified of your arrival when you collapsed," Jiung explained, listing everyone he could remember (some names actually did ring a bell) and at the mention of your arrival, your stomach churned with worry.
"How do you all know your names?"
"Oh, it comes back after a while. It might take you some days or weeks, but it'll come back. We had a guy named Frying Pan too who didn't remember his name, so we just named him based on his job, but he... he didn't make it," Keeho gulped at the mention of the said boy, and you could only imagine how many ways would there be for people to die here if they didn't die of losing all hope first.
"Yeah, the thing is... There's this creature in the Maze and-" Taeyang was about to get into something after exchanging a glance with his friends (you guessed they were friends), but there was someone calling for help nearby, and all the boys got to their feet. They left in no time, leaving you alone at the infirmary, but you felt like you needed this time to process everything that had happened.
However, one surprise followed another and once the boys were back, they were accompanied by three other boys, two of them holding the third by his arm. They were familiar, but you couldn't match the name to the face until they started talking. They must have been the Runners based on what you heard, but it seemed that this situation was new even to the Medjacks.
"What happened? He looks like-" Keeho started frantically, his whole face full of horror. The previous playfulness was long gone, and it was replaced by deep worry, something that didn't settle well with you.
"Seokhwa was stung," the boy whom you remembered as Yongha - the shoulder-length, raven-haired boy - said while panting heavily. He had some sort of a vest on him that held knives if you saw correctly, but otherwise, he was in a sleeveless shirt. Same went for the boy beside him - Junseo - and the so-called Seokhwa who had to be tied down with full force while he was biting the air and his head was turning in different directions in such a short span of time, yourows while trying to put the were worried that he would break his neck. His veins were eerily visible, they were vivid purple and basically popping off, but it wasn't what scared you the most. It was the huge, pulsating purple mark on his chest that you could see once his shirt was lifted.
"He was stung in broad daylight?" Taeyang furrowed his eyebrows while trying to put the ties around Seokhwa's wrists.
"Yeah. We don't understand either. We were running alongside him when a Griever showed up and stung him, then just left. It didn't even look our way," Junseo shook his head, pearls of sweat sliding down his cheeks - probably from running in the Maze and then doing so until the infirmary.
The Runners were at a loss of words and so were the Medjacks. You were no exception, but you were confused and horrified at the same time, so many questions swimming in your head.
"What do we do?" Yongha looked from Junseo to the Medjacks, but none of them seemed to have a good enough answer to bring up.
"We'll look over him, but someone needs to call Daehyeon," Keeho concluded after some time, and despite not knowing anything and being the newest one at the Glade, you felt this sudden spark of determination in you to be helpful.
"I'll call him," you announced after silence had settled on you all, and this was the first time the Runners seemed to take notice of you.
"But you don't even know where to look for him," Yongha muttered quite apologetically, but it's not look like you took it to heart. He was right after all, but still. You couldn't just sit there without doing anything when all these boys were worrying about Seokhwa whose grunts became stronger and stronger as time went by.
"I want to be of help."
Another heavy silence took over all of you, and you saw that Keeho was about to open his mouth, but Junseo was faster.
"Alright. She can come with me. We'll call for Daehyeon," the Runner announced, and you bolted to your feet immediately, throwing the wet cloth to the bed before joining Junseo. Then, you ran out of the infirmary together to look for their leader. Or well, your leader now, too.
“Can you keep up?” Junseo inquired while jogging towards the other end of the Glade, and he turned back for only a short span of time - when you nodded to him -, and then kept going. It felt nice and refreshing to run. You had no idea how much time you had spent without moving around before coming here, but ever since you got here, you were on bed rest, so your legs loved the little exercise. Besides, Junseo didn’t seem that fast.
You had no idea where you were going (you knew that it would be like this when you had volunteered), but once you got closer to the three boys you first saw when the Box had stopped with you in it, you caught sight of Daehyeon, too. They were all in sleeveless shirts, tools hanging from a leather toolkit attached to their pants and they had protective gloves on, proving to you that they knew what they were doing, and they had gotten used to how things were at the Glade.
Yohan and Donghan were pretty tall and Daehyeon was the shortest one out of the three, but he had a certain confident aura around him that made you think that it wouldn’t be sensible to comment on his height. When you got closer to their trio, you could catch some words from the argument between Yohan and Donghan, Daehyeon being a mere witness to it all.
“I’ve told you it’s not right this way. We need to angle it differently. Like this…”
“Yohan… This is exactly what I’ve told you before!”
“You’ve had dozens of suggestions, how could I remember all of them?” Yohan huffed, pouting like a hurt child. He kicked into the grass with his feet, sending glares at the piece of wood by his legs while Donghan was trying to put two slats together a bit further from him.
Daehyeon was looking over the scene with a resigned sigh, but as he caught sight of the two of you jogging up to them, he furrowed his eyebrows in question.
“We need you. Seokhwa was stung today, he’s currently at the infirmary,” Junseo let him know once you halted, and Yohan stopped sulking while Donghan looked up from arranging the wooden pieces. All of them seemed confused and worried at the same time, but instead of interrogating Junseo on the spot (or asking why you were there in the first place), Daehyeon joined you two to head back to the infirmary.
If anything, it seemed that Seokhwa was in a worse condition than before. He was panting, drops of sweat forming on his forehead while his eyeballs were taking on a different colour - a mixture of burgundy and purple, quite a scary combination to be honest. He was grunting as if he wanted to escape, but thankfully, he was tied to the bed pretty neatly. You were glad though that all of the Medjacks were looking over him because he did seem pretty violent.
“How could it happen in broad daylight?” Daehyeon inquired from the boys around him after having a look at the struggling boy. His face didn’t give away his anxiety - if he felt any -, but you noticed the slight tremble of his lips, and it was clear proof that this was new even to him - the one who had been here the longest.
No one dared to answer the leader’s question because probably no one had any idea why this was happening. Yongha shook his head fervently, Keeho sealed his lips tight while pondering and Taeyang was looking over the struggling boy instead of looking at Daehyeon. Jiung was the only one who seemed willing to think it over but even he stayed quiet.
Junseo looked at you for a few seconds, examining you as if he had seen you for the first time. You looked back at him, keeping eye-contact because what else could you do? You had no recollection of your past life, no idea why you were the last one ever and still no clue about a lot of things at the Glade.
The Runner, on the other hand, voiced out your worst fear without batting an eye:
“It seems like there's something wrong today. First, they send a girl instead of a boy and a note that she's the last one ever, then Seokhwa gets stung in broad daylight. All of these have never happened before, and if she's really the last one ever and that there will be no more Box visits, maybe they're connected. Maybe something is about to change.”
Coming from someone like him - someone who had seen his friend get stung in broad daylight -, it sounded like a verdict. Concerning your arrival, even more so. You wished so badly that you could help them, but you didn’t even remember your damn name.
“It seems like the Changing has started already,” Daehyeon pointed out, but when he caught your confused expression, he explained further. “The Changing happens after someone gets stung. They start mumbling odd things, become animalistic and slowly lose their minds. They attack people, even kill them if not caught in time, and there's no cure. We have to make them leave. By force most of the time.”
The way he said it so calmly, so solemnly made you wonder just how many times it had happened before that they had needed to make someone leave by force. You had no idea what it meant specifically, but you saved this question for a different day. If you lived to see another day, that is.
Beside you, Keeho was staring at the shelf of medicine - including some creams in little mismatched bowls, leaves of herbs, some fresh cloths and the two bottles that had been with you in the Box alongside many other liquids. He tilted his head in contemplation as he was looking at the array, but he didn’t speak up immediately, only a couple of minutes later:
“What about the two bottles?”
“What?” Yongha furrowed his eyebrows, clearly confused. Seeing the general confusion on everyone’s face, the Medjack pointed at the said bottles.
“They’ve never come with anyone before, and they came today. With her. Another first.”
If anything, the mood got even gloomier. With Seokhwa’s whimpering in the back, it was no surprise that everyone was on the edge, avoiding eye-contact and sighing out of frustration. You even caught sight of Junseo’s shaky hands while he was running a hand through his maple locks. Everyone looked so down, so defeated, and it hurt for you to see them in such a condition despite not knowing them long enough. Deep down, you still felt that they were good people (maybe it was a hunch based on your past life?).
“Wait…” Jiung held his hands up in the air as if he was racking his brain to remember something and he wanted everyone to stay where they were. Turns out, you were right. “We haven’t gotten these exact bottles before, I’m sure, because they are blue. However, back when I was the only Medjack, Chan caught something, and we didn’t know what, but we got a bottle in the Box, and Chan accidentally drank it. The next day, he recovered. So I think… maybe these two bottles are actually medicine.”
“He accidentally drank it?” Keeho asked, dumbfounded, and it was almost amusing how he didn’t seem to get the other Medjack’s point. Almost.
“Do you think these might be for one of us?” Yongha guessed tentatively, averting his eyes from the boy tied to the bed to Jiung. The latter nodded quietly, but searched for Daehyeon’s eyes, you could see that. The leader seemed deeply worried, creases deepening on his forehead, and the tension was tangible in the air. You could literally feel your heart beat in your throat.
“Try one of the bottles on him,” Daehyeon concluded solemnly, but Yongha protested immediately.
“What? You could kill him! You don’t even know what’s in it!”
“We would have to kill him when he starts Changing, so with this, we might have a chance,” the leader reasoned, and if it hadn’t been obvious by now, now you would have been even more sure that there was no cure for the Changing, only death.
After his reasoning, no one objected, but the Medjacks still went over the decision with Daehyeon before injecting the content of one of the bottles into the boy’s body. Soon enough, he went from almost ripping his ties off to leaning back into the bed, his stillness pretty concerning compared to his previous state. His eyes were still a dark, vivid burgundy colour and his wound was still pulsating, but at least he didn’t want to attack anyone. For now, at least.
“We’ll look over him. You should go and get some rest,” Jiung turned to the two Runners, and despite Junseo’s initial claim to stay, Daehyeon steered the both of them out of the infirmary while he asked if he could speak with you in person. You nodded, following all the boys with one last glance at the now almost sleeping Seokhwa and his mysterious colours.
After what you had just seen and experienced in the last couple of hours, you were glad that Daehyon took the time to fill in the information that you needed. They didn’t know why they were there, they only knew that someone got to the Glade through the Box every month with supplies and sometimes medicine. Inside the Box and on some of the supplies, there were four letters: WCKD. What they meant, no one knew. There had been a boy named Jihoon who had babbled something about “wicked is good”, but no one knew why and whether it was actually related to WCKD, it was just a guess.
There was the Maze surrounding the Glade - there was no other exit, they had already tried everything from going to the top of the tallest tree to going back into the Box -, and every morning after the walls opened, the Runners went into the Maze to try and map out how it looked like, to see if there was a pattern to it. They kept track of it with maps and stored them in the Mapmaker bungalow. Usually, they got back on time before the walls closed, but sometimes, they didn't. When they didn’t…
Well, they didn’t return.
“No one had ever spent a night out there in the Maze and survived?” You furrowed your eyebrows, trying to put the pieces together. Daehyeon nodded, albeit a bit solemn.
“No one. The Grievers always come, and even if the Gladers manage to walk to the opening walls in the morning, they’ve already been stung,” he reasoned, adding that the only time anyone saw a Griever was when someone had managed to run away from them before the walls would close. The Grievers always came, and the walls always closed at night, so the Gladers put two and two together quickly: if they didn’t want to be stung, they shouldn’t spend the night out in the Maze. Based on the witnesses’ description though, the Grievers looked like gruesome creatures somewhere between robots and spiders.
Daehyeon reassured you that the Glade was a safe place in general. Everyone had their own job to do, they had their little traditions and they lived well together. Some newbies didn’t make it past the first few days because of the conditions they lived in and some who had been there for months or years committed suicide after losing all hope that they might be able to find a way out of the Glade, but otherwise, it wasn’t that bad of a place. They had each other to rely on and arguments were scarce.
With that being said, he took it upon himself to introduce you to the other Gladers who were doing their respective duties. Just as Daehyeon and the Medjacks had explained to you, every Glader had a job and they formed little groups with 2-4 people. Some of them had a Keeper as well - the leader of their little group - some didn’t, it wasn’t a rule set in stone. You had already met the Medjacks - Jiung, Taeyang and Keeho (their Keeper) - who took care of the sick and wounded and who made weird tasting teas, the Builders - Donghan, Yohan and Daehyeon (their Keeper) who built, re-built or fixed things in the Glade -, the Runners - Junseo, Seokhwa and Yongha - who went out into the Maze to map it out. However, there were the Slicers too who took care of the nasty part of raising an animal - Mingyu, Vernon, Seungcheol -, the Cooks - Taeyong, Kun, Ten - who made the meals for every Glader, the Gardeners - Sunoo, Jungwon, Heeseung - who tended to the flowers and grew vegetables and the Baggers - Bang Chan, Changbin, Minho - who helped bag the deceased and buried them and the Mapmakers - Yeonjun, Taehyun and Soobin - who helped put together the Map of the Maze directed by the Runners.
By the end of your trip around the Glade, your head was full of names and faces and positions, and it was all very confusing, so you were glad when you could take a breather by the fireplace at night. Usually, when a newbie arrived, the boys held a little competitive fight to welcome the new one into the team, but you were a girl, and no one dared to bring that up. The tension was already palpable with Seokhwa’s condition - he was still unconscious and merely lying still in his bed at the infirmary -, so no one really felt like celebrating a new arrival, including yourself.
Only after the boys started passing around some weird-looking drink did the tension ease a bit, but still, you were confused, scared and felt like the odd one out. It wasn’t that the boys gossiped about you behind your back, it was the uncertainty in their stares and the way they didn’t dare to approach you because of the conditions you had brought with yourself.
So you took it upon yourself to walk away from the group of boys by the campfire, needing some time alone to process everything. Your feet found their way back to the giant walls of the Maze, but this time, the doors had already been closed, keeping the Grievers away from your home. Or well… Well, it was your home now, it seemed, no matter who put you here or why you were here or what WCKD meant or anything. This was all you had now.
As you stepped closer to the walls though, you noticed letters carved into them. As you got even closer and the torch’s light in your hand shone upon the surface, you realised that the letters made up names - names of the boys residing here and ones you had not yet heard of. The latter ones were crossed out, and you wondered whether it was because they were no longer here. You couldn’t find another reason, but you didn’t have much time to dwell on it though because soon enough, someone stepped beside you, startling you.
“Oh, sorry,” the boy said apologetically upon seeing how your left hand flew to your chest while you shone the torch’s light on Junseo’s face.
“It’s okay,” you mumbled, still a bit shaken up because no matter how hard you tried to trust these boys, you couldn’t shake off this uncomfortable feeling that they blamed you for everything that had gone wrong earlier that day - from the note to Seokhwa’s condition.
No wonder you didn’t even find the will in you to break the silence, and Junseo didn’t seem to want to speak up either which was a surprise since he had come up to you himself. Given the light that lit up his face, you could see his features better - from the elegant arch of his brow to the defined muscles clearly seen under his long-sleeved shirt. He had such pretty features, and even the plain shirt and the messy condition of his hair didn’t fade over his beauty. There was something innocent and pure about the way he looked at you, it was nothing like the look he had given you when you had been confronted with the facts at the infirmary.
“Do you…” He started hesitantly, his voice barely above a whisper. He had a silky yet firm voice, and you couldn’t quite put your finger on it, but it reminded you of something.
You raised an eyebrow, signalling that you were listening to him, but something in his face changed and he pressed his lips into a thin line.
“Nevermind.” He shook his head as if giving up on something, and you didn’t know what it was - the frustration bubbling up inside of you throughout the whole day and finally bursting or the kind of hurt in his eyes that you had a feeling that you caused yet you didn’t know the reason for -, but you couldn’t stand the tension lingering in the air.
“I know I’m different. I know there’s been no other girl here before, and I came here with the bottles and the note, and Seokhwa got stung after that, but I can tell you that if I knew anything, even if it means that I knew that I have something to do with this mess, I would come forward and tell you all about it. Until then, I would appreciate it if you didn’t look at me like I was the one who stung your friend because I’m telling the truth. I don’t even remember my name, okay? I would be the happiest if I remembered it.”
Or anything else, you bit it back before you could pour all your anger onto him. You saw worry flash across his eyes when you raised your voice, but it wasn’t until you started walking away that he put down the mask that had been shielding his true motif.
“It’s not about that. I know that it has nothing to do with you,” he called after you as you were walking away. Hearing his words, you stopped in your tracks and took a sharp turn. Instead of being touched, you were suspicious. Curious.
“What do you mean by that?”
Junseo looked at you, then down at his boots, his Adam’s apple bulging while he was contemplating whether or not to justify his words. You could see him struggle within himself, but you had no idea why. Not until he told you himself.
“I…” He started, then sucked in a deep breath before continuing. “The truth is, I remember you,” he admitted as he looked up at you for the briefest moment. You felt like the ground had opened up beneath you, your lips parting in awe. Just… how? Why? Since when?
“But the guys said that no one remembers their life from before coming here,” you mumbled, your voice giving away your confusion.
“Well, we don’t remember it fully, but some of us have very brief memories. Minho remembers a siren-like sound, Keeho says that he sees a control panel about his physical measurements and I… well, I remember your face,” he admitted, and the force with which he said it told you that he was being honest and serious. Maybe he had been bottling it up ever since he had seen you. “I’ve thought that I’ve only been dreaming, that maybe you’re not real, so when you showed up, I didn’t know what to do. I don’t even remember what we were… just that I know you, and that you’re a good person.”
Now the flashback of Junseo keeping that long eye-contact with you at the infirmary told a different story. Maybe he had been curious whether you remembered him as well or maybe he had been afraid that you didn’t. Because despite the other’s brief memories, he remembered a person and then, that person showed up.
“I…”
“I know it sounds crazy, and I’m sorry to bring it up. Today must have already been hard on you-” Junseo explained before you could do so yourself, and the genuine agony in his voice moved something in you. You might have had your guard up ever since you had arrived here, and you saw more suspicion around you than you shouldn’t have, but his words brought about a huge change in your arrival.
He knew you. He knew the person you had been before the Glade. He deemed you a good person.
You were one of them.
“I’m sorry. I don’t remember you,” you croaked out, your heart heavy with the confession that had already left your lips, just in a different context. You didn’t remember anything including him, but gosh, you wished you could have. He could have been anyone… a sibling, an acquaintance, a friend or even…
You blushed at the thought, and after exchanging another glance with a boy, you tried not to concentrate on the fact that you could have been lovers. Instead, you tried to change the subject.
“So what’s in that drink the boys are passing around? It seemed pretty odd,” you admitted with a little smile, and oh boy, it did shift the atmosphere completely. Junseo let out a loose laugh, and the sound of it - the delicateness of it - warmed your heart.
“No one knows. It’s Mingyu’s secret recipe, but it’s pretty strong, that’s for sure,” the boy replied in a lighter tone, and afterwards, you tried not to send him odd glances or anything, but it was difficult not to concentrate on him and his mellow lips and his warm brown eyes when he was oh so keen on helping you with your place in one of their wooden houses, dusting off your bed as if you couldn’t do so yourself and wishing you goodnight as if he had no idea that you would lay awake, hoping that you could remember anything about your life, but maybe, most importantly, about him.
Sleep didn’t come to you easily, and even when it did, you weren’t sure whether you were dreaming or remembering snippets of your old life. It was confusing, and when you woke up, it felt like you hadn’t slept for more than a couple of minutes, but the darkness was already starting to dissolve, so you believed that it was sometime dawn.
Not feeling like you could go back to sleep, you decided to go out of the wooden house that you shared with the Gladers who had come before you - Jungwon, Taehyun and Minho -, hoping not to wake them up. Daehyeon told you that they were filling up the houses in order of the arrival of the boys - or in your case, the only girl - and building more if it was necessary. There were still two beds left unoccupied in your house, but if the note was right, and you were the last one, no one would take them.
Gulping at the thought, you were welcomed by a light breeze when you stepped outside, and you took in a few, grateful breaths. You walked around the place peacefully and since everyone was asleep, your little stroll wasn’t interrupted by anyone until…
“Hey! Are you up already?” Junseo’s (by now familiar) silky voice was the first that you heard that morning, and you immediately turned towards him as if you were drawn to him. You were pretty twisted on how you should act around him - not only because of his confession from the day before, but also because of the scene in your dreams. Could you really have known each other before? That well?
“Yeah. I couldn’t really sleep,” you admitted, biting down on your lower lip as you were trying to shush away the remains of your dream.
Junseo looked like he was born here - there was no sign of fatigue in his features, he looked clean and collected. You had also been introduced to their shower booth where you could clean yourself with some water and Jiung’s special herb-infused soap, so you had been able to clean yourself as well the previous night, but since you hadn’t asked for a change of clothes, you had changed back into your clothes from the day before. Not like anyone had said a thing about it. You weren’t sure that they had multiple clothes lying around here.
“Is it because of what I’ve told you?” He inquired, worried, his warm brown eyes turning into precious little jewels. If eyes were really windows to the soul, Junseo’s soul was pure, selfless and ever so considerate. You really didn’t know how not to waver under his gentle gaze.
“Not exactly, but it was connected to it.”
“You really don’t have to feel burdened. As I’ve said, I don’t even remember what we were, just-” The boy tried to clear the tension in the air, appearing ever so apologetic, but you couldn’t take his puppy eyes longer, you just blurted out in one go:
“I think we were a couple because I saw us kissing in my dream.”
If tension was tangible in the air before, now it would be filled with clouds of gooey awkwardness - the kind that sticks to everything, and it’s so overwhelming, but you just can’t escape it.
Junseo was literally frozen in place, his eyes twice their previous size, his lips - oh those lips - parted in surprise. Even his ears started turning red, and you didn’t know why, but this - the habit of his ears turning red when he felt nervous - felt familiar. It was like a distant feeling - you couldn’t quite put your finger on it, but it was there like a shadow hovering over the two of you.
“So we really knew each other,” was what Junseo concluded, and you didn’t know whether he was too embarrassed to specify the part about you two kissing or he was trying to save you both from further embarrassment, but he averted the topic to your duties at the Glade.
So you told him that Daehyeon hadn’t assigned you to any particular group for now - he said that you can try out the different ones and then decide on what you prefer or where you are needed. However, remembering how you kept up with him the day before, you inquired what were the rules of becoming a Runner. Junseo was taken aback upon hearing your question, but explained nevertheless that Runners were selected at the Gathering, votes collected by all of the Gladers including the Runners themselves, and they were usually fast for obvious reasons, precise to get back on time and strong to deal with any Griever that might come their way. Yet, no one could become a Runner in their first month if that’s what you were asking.
“Don’t you need a Runner though now that Seokhwa is still unconscious?”
“It’s too dangerous, especially with Seokhwa being unconscious,” he objected immediately, his voice solemn, but you could see worry flash across his warm brown orbs. You felt like you were being reprimanded even though his gaze was still as gentle as ever, it was just that his voice hardened. “We don’t know when another Griever might come out in broad daylight.”
“So why are you still going out today? Can’t it wait? Or is it because of the Maps?” You quirked an eyebrow, feeling equally uneasy about him entering the Maze after yesterday. You recalled Keeho telling you that the Runners memorised the different parts of the Maze, so that they could map it out in hopes of finding a way out.
“It’s not because of the Maps. We’ve already covered every part of it,” Junseo admitted, and only when he pressed his lips into a thin line did you realise that he wasn’t supposed to tell you this. Now that you were at the topic though, he explained to you that it wasn’t supposed to be known that the Maps were finished because if the others knew, they would lose all hope that there was no way out. Or they needed to look at it from a different point of view. All Junseo and the other Runners knew was that there were 8 sections in the Maze and they were open one by one during different periods, meaning that there was always a certain section open with the others closed and the order was always the same.
The Runners were going back into the Maze in hopes of finding something - anything - new, a clue maybe, something they hadn’t seen before and to make the others believe that they still hadn’t figured out the structure of the Maze - to keep their hope alive.
“Why are you going back today then? You’ve just said that it’s too dangerous.”
“I have to. I’m a Runner,” Junseo answered within a heartbeat, and the sad little smile he gave you in return was no solace to your worried heart. You had a bad feeling about this, especially with Seokhwa’s condition and the note.
You were about to open your mouth when Yongha appeared - albeit a bit tired - by your side, and asked what you two were talking about. Junseo reassured his friend that it was about nothing that he should worry about, and you almost scoffed. So it was too dangerous for you to enter the Maze but not for him when his friend had just been stung? You didn’t like it, not even a bit.
However, you didn’t have a say in this, and with the walls opening, you couldn’t even hold them back as they picked up some knives from the toolbar attached to their hips.
“Take care!” You wished nevertheless before the boys could start their day in the Maze, worryful creases dotting your forehead. Junseo nodded, letting his lips curl upwards a bit while Yongha looked from you to his friend, then back at you.
“Did I miss something?”
“Come on, let’s go!” Junseo patted the other Runner’s shoulder, and you watched them disappear into the mysterious, grand Maze.
You couldn’t shake off the uncomfortable feeling of something bad happening even throughout the day, but you tried your best to concentrate on other things. After your breakfast, you seeked out Daehyeon, asking him what you could help with, and he advised you to start at the Medjacks because you knew them already, and they might need a helping hand after some Gladers had taken the previous night too far.
So you visited the infirmary, helping with some odd-coloured drinks that they were making to ease the hangover from Mingyu’s drink and distributing it to the Gladers who came by. Yohan also came by during the day, having bruised himself while doing some woodwork. Of course, the piece of wood went straight into his skin because he was wearing a sleeveless shirt again.
“Don’t you have long-sleeved shirts?” You asked from the boy while Taeyang was fetching him up, and even though you knew that you weren’t helping, for the laughs that you earned from the boys at the infirmary - except Yohan’s -, it was worth it.
“Well, we didn’t have a girl here before to ask that question.”
“Is it too distracting?” Keeho snickered, directing an amused wink at you, but you just rolled your eyes. Thankfully, the boys weren’t too hung up on this question either since Yohan was busy whimpering, Taeyang had a bruise to take care of, Jiung was passing the antiseptic to him and Keeho was looking over the other Gladers who came by.
Whenever you weren’t helping out the boys, you couldn’t help but glance in Seokhwa’s direction. Even though Junseo had mentioned that he had a feeling you didn’t have anything to do with the Runner’s condition, you hated being the one who seemed to trigger this butterfly effect. If you hadn’t arrived in the Box yesterday, there would have been no note, no serums, no random Grievers during daylight. At least, that’s how it made sense to you, but you didn’t know what to think anymore. You were utterly, helplessly confused.
Nevertheless, to your greatest surprise, later in the afternoon, Seokhwa did open his eyes and sit up from his bed, surprising everyone in the room. His hands were still tied down, but it didn’t look like he was trying to run away. In fact, he began to sob.
The Medjacks immediately rushed to his side, asking about his condition, and when Jiung lifted the boy’s shirt, the bruise of his sting was fading away, its size reduced drastically from the previous day. Despite this, his face displayed a gruesome reaction, one that was far from happy.
“What is it? Why are you crying? I know you’re happy to see me… But it’s scary,” Keeho tried to joke around, but even he failed to mask his anxiety. When even people like Keeho were nervous, the situation was likely to be disastrous.
“We… We are parts of an experiment. We are being tested by an organisation. The control panel that you’ve seen in your memories with your physical measurements…” Seokhwa turned to Keeho who gulped upon the information. You remembered how Junseo had said the same about the Medjack’s faint memory, and you were beginning to wonder how it could go on. “I’ve seen it, Keeho. I remember it. I saw you coming here before I did.”
There was stillness in the room for a few, eternal seconds. You could feel your heartbeat pick up its pace, thoughts racing in your head. Now the assumption that you were trapped and used by someone wasn’t an assumption anymore, it was a fact. You were used. You were being tested on. All of you, and it seemed that before each of you had gotten here, you had seen each other go. You had a feeling that it could indicate that you hadn’t found a way out before being forced into the Glade, a way to go against the ones who were testing on you and escape being tested on.
“But…” Jiung started hesitantly, shaking his head in an attempt to collect his thoughts. Seokhwa was still like a statue, his expression mirroring someone’s who was about to face his inevitable, unfortunate destiny. “Why do they want to test us? What are the tests? The Grievers?”
All eyes were on Seokhwa who seemed like someone who had missed out on sleep a few days in a row instead of sleeping through the whole afternoon the previous day and half of the day today. He grimaced as if it hurt for him to remember.
“Everything is a test down here, us against each other, us building our own houses, us making our own food and yes, us mapping out the Maze and trying to avoid the Grievers. But it’s no better out there, the world is in chaos,” the boy continued, his eyes glassy. The teardrops that were rolling down his cheeks were like little pearls washing along the sand of a coast.
You shivered, thinking of all the boys whose names had been crossed out on the walls of the Maze - all of the boys who had not seen the light at the end of the tunnel or who had died trying to survive -, thinking of Daehyeon who had been here the longest and tried to take care of these boys like his family, thinking of Junseo who had possibly meant a lot to you before coming here and from whom you might have been separated even while being at this organisation - all for the sake of this fucking test.
All four of you were rendered speechless by what the boy had said, but Taeyang found enough will in himself to ask about the why - why was the world in chaos. How could being here - being tested on, being at risk because of the Grievers and awaiting whatever misery was about to come since you were the last one - be better than being out there? Whatever out there meant at this point.
Seokhwa answered, but it wasn’t the kind of answer you were expecting - not the one about sun flares and a virus that was spreading through the world. It was airborne on top of that, quickly infecting hundreds of thousands of people, and there seemed to be no cure. At least not for now. That’s why they were there - because they were immune, because this organisation that wanted to stop the virus was testing on young people who were immune to it.
Seokhwa was stuttering and trying to put the pieces of what he was saying together, but he didn’t remember all the details and his memories from the lab they - you - were kept in were still pretty unclear. One thing was for sure though: you were all kept there for a reason, and there was a way out. Plus, you were all much more valuable than you would have thought so.
Either way, you all needed time to digest the information you had just received, but you called for Daehyeon to hear what the boy remembered, so that he could decide what he would like to do with all the newfound information - and what he wanted all of you to take away from it. After all, this was on all of you, and now more than ever, you could only rely on each other.
Daehyeon decided that it would be sensible to wait for the two Runners to come back from the Maze before having another Gathering (as in the times the Gladers were gathered together to discuss important matters such as this one). Remembering how the boys had gone out in the morning and how bittersweet it had felt, you couldn’t help but be on edge throughout the rest of the day, fearing the worst. After all, what was the guarantee that they wouldn’t be attacked by a Griever in broad daylight after what had happened to Seokhwa? You could have seen with your own two eyes that they had gone into the Maze preparing for a fight with all those weapons they had on themselves (plus Daehyeon had told you the day before that they left weapons scattered around the different sections in the Maze in case they would run out of them, and the Grievers hadn’t yet seemed to mind them), but still… You were worried about Junseo.
This worry wasn’t a newfound feeling because ever since you had come here, you had been worrying over everything. However, since the boy’s confession and your dream from the previous night, you couldn’t help but feel that this worry wasn’t just common worry; the boy must have meant a lot to you, and you must have spent a lot of time together prior to this whole chaos. It was like knowing that you must have had a family and feeling homesick: even though you couldn’t remember them, your feelings were justified by the facts, now more than ever.
On the other hand, you couldn’t dare to bring it up to Seokhwa - whether he remembered the two of you and what you were - before coming here, so you couldn’t help but nibble on your lower lip while waiting for a word from the others regarding Junseo and Yongha’s arrival back at the Glade. You couldn’t stop yourself from glancing in the direction of the open wall of the Maze, and someone caught onto it.
“Don’t worry. They’ll make it back alive,” Jiung said with a reassuring smile as his eyes followed the direction you were looking at.
“And what if they won’t?”
“Well…” The Medjack scratched the back of his neck, a bit sheepish. “We have one more bottle of this possible cure, but let’s hope we won’t need to use it,” he reasoned, and despite it not being a huge consolidation, at least it was something. You could possibly save another person, but just one. What if something happened to both of them?
You returned to the herb shelf with Jiung, helping him with some kind of a cream that he was currently making to ease muscle pain. He said that he didn’t know how he got the knowledge to mix the right ingredients, he just did, and whenever the Box arrived with a medical supply, he tried to mimic what was inside, and sometimes that led to good results. You followed his lead while he was talking about his time at the Glade, and you could almost forget about the two Runners still out there - until they actually arrived at the infirmary with bruises and blood spots dotting their skin and clothes.
“What happened to you?” You immediately scurried to Junseo’s side, looking at his wounded self, and he gave you a weak albeit genuine smile. You were so glad to see him that you felt your heart drop, but it seemed like he had been through something serious in the Maze which didn’t ease your worry.
Neither did his next words.
“We’ve eliminated a Griever,” he responded as he held up something that looked like a tube. Everyone craned their necks to look at what it was, but all you could understand was that it had a red number displayed in the middle of it and it had cables by its end and some glue-like stuff sticking onto its surface.
“Where did you find this?” Taeyang raised an eyebrow in question, and Yongha and Junseo exchanged a glance.
“It was inside a Griever,” Yongha explained, and Keeho almost gagged upon the information while Jiung was more interested in the details of the device. Everyone forgot for a moment that the two were injured, and Yongha needed to ask for some antiseptic to divert the attention from the device to the two boys.
“You can help me fetch up your boyfriend,” Keeho grabbed your arm, flashing a knowing smile at you, and before you could protest, you had already found yourself beside Junseo who was strictly asked to sit on one of the beds and avoid moving. When he caught sight of Seokhwa’s open - yet distanced - eyes though, he inquired about the boy’s condition, and Keeho yet again told him not to move, so that he could work his magic.
You helped the Medjack with the things he asked for while explaining to Junseo what you had found out from Seokhwa. Even though he was deeply concerned about the boy’s emotional state, at least the Medjack could reassure him that the serum must have worked because he was doing fine physically - apart from being a bit drowsy. You then went on to explain that there would be a Gathering to discuss what Seokhwa’s words could indicate and what you were supposed to do now.
Fetching the boys up took some time because they had quite a lot of bruises, so while they were being taken care of, the two Runners explained that a Griever had indeed come out in broad daylight, yet they had managed to squash it with some rocks, and it’s probably because they had almost destroyed this device that the Griever had managed to stop. They assumed that this device was the heart of a Griever, and if it could be switched off or severely damaged, the Griever would stop.
“It’s not even the weirdest thing though. Although now we know that the Grievers are controlled and sent out purposefully these days in broad daylight. It’s that the same section was open today as yesterday,” Yongha pointed out while Taeyang was taking care of a bruise above his eyebrows, making the boy hiss in pain when the Medjack put on the antiseptic.
You already knew that there was a pattern to the Maze, and that pattern had been the same ever since the Runners had started mapping it out. The same sections opened up day after day without fail, but now, Yongha’s words indicated that the pattern was disrupted. Another first.
“The device started beeping more fervently when we went into a certain direction, but we had to come back before the walls would close, so we couldn’t see where it was. We might need to go back tomorrow though,” Junseo added ominously, and despite still worrying about him like crazy, you knew that he would still go back tomorrow to check up on it. His loyalty to these boys and his dutifulness was admirable yet deeply concerning when it came to the state of your heart.
As if he could sense your discomfort, he looked up at you - directly into your eyes - while you were putting a plaster on his chin, and reached for your hands to squeeze it gently. Before you could process what was going on, he had already let go of your hand, but the ghost of his touch on your skin was still searing.
At this moment, Daehyeon walked into the infirmary, the creases on his forehead deep. He asked briefly about the boys’ state (you assumed that they had met when the Runners had come back from the Maze), and inquired whether Seokhwa was in a state to tell the Gladers about his memories. When the boys gave him the green light, all of you walked to a wooden building that you hadn’t yet been to, but remembered from Daehyeon’s little tour that he mentioned that they reserved it for special gatherings. Just like today.
You were under the impression that the boys would get into arguments when they heard what Seokhwa suddenly remembered and what the two Runners had gone through. Since you had already heard from both sides, you sat there quietly, examining the others’ reactions while trying to remember their names.
On the other hand, the boys were too shocked to get into fights or shout over each other. Instead, they were trying to make sense of the whole thing just like you had done so back at the infirmary.
“But why should we try to find a way out if the world is in chaos already? Aren’t we special, and that’s why they are keeping us here?” Yohan mused out loud, his expression displaying utter confusion.
“They wouldn’t send out Grievers in broad daylight if they wanted to keep us here,” Taehyun from the Mapmakers pointed out, and you had to give it to him that his reasoning sounded justifiable. No wonder the boys called him precise and intelligent, it seemed that he managed to find the connections pretty quickly, though the Maps still gave him a hard time. “And the Maze is always changing, there’s a pattern to it. It can’t be a coincidence, but we don’t know just when we could use it and how.”
“What pattern?” Bang Chan asked, and you realised that probably only the Mapmakers and the Runners knew about this before. You remembered that Junseo had confessed that they had already mapped out the Maze entirely, they just didn’t have the heart to tell the others because they might lose hope if they did tell them that they had been going around the Maze without finding a way out.
It seemed that it was time to let them know because the boys were already losing hope over the recent events.
“The sequence of the numbers of how the 8 sections are moving is always the same. If we put the numbers together, it might be a code of some sort, but the Runners haven’t found anything that they could crack with it,” Yeonjun added to his fellow Mapmaker’s explanation, and as expected, a wave of murmurs went through the group of boys present. You heard snippets of what others around you brought up - if they had known the pattern, why wouldn’t have the Runners told them before or that if the Mapmakers hadn’t found a clue, probably nobody could -, and one was more desperate than the other.
“Well maybe if there are people controlling this whole thing, they just didn’t want to randomly control the sections. It’s easier that way,” Keeho tried to lighten up the mood, but Taeyang smacked him in the chest, silencing him.
Another wave of murmurs. This time, the voices grew louder and louder until Daehyeon clapped his hands to regain everyone’s attention. Not immediately yet quickly enough, the boys followed his lead and shut their mouths. You wondered just what they had lived through and in what situations Daehyeon had shown his leadership skills in order for the boys to respect him so well.
“What we know for sure is that our newbie is the last one ever, that means something,” Daehyeon started, glancing in your direction. By this time, only a few people followed his gaze because so many things had already happened ever since your arrival, you were no spectacle anymore. Though the way the leader explained this, it was obvious that out of all your memories, your name still hadn’t come back to you. Instead, you had that dream with Junseo.
“She arrived with the note and the bottles, and Seokhwa was stung in broad daylight following that. However, one of the bottles also helped him - it was like a cure. The section of the Maze that was open yesterday didn’t close from the day before either, it’s the same as yesterday which has never happened before either. Yongha and Junseo were almost stung in broad daylight, too. If it keeps going like this, the section might not close down anymore, and more Grievers might come out during the day, and we only have one more bottle of that serum left.”
From the way he said it, it sounded so pessimistic. Even though he was merely stating the facts, all of the events that had happened before were horrendous, and they didn’t forecast a more prosperous future either.
“Yet, Yongha and Junseo managed to eliminate a Griever, and they have this beeping device that could be a clue towards a way out.”
“That’s right,” Yongha followed Daehyeon’s words, nodding to prove his point. “We don’t know what this device does, just that it was inside a Griever. The number on it is the number of the section where we met the Griever, and it also started beeping more and more quickly the closer we got to this section of the Maze that has not opened up before, but we needed to come back before we could look around more closely.”
“So it only opened when you had the device in your hands, right?” Donghan furrowed his eyebrows, trying to put the pieces together just like everyone else. The Runners nodded fervently to his words.
“Yeah, as if it only opens for the Grievers.”
The Griever had to come from somewhere, especially now that you knew that they were at least partially controlled by someone. It also couldn’t be a coincidence that they had only come at night so far, but they had come during the day two days in a row. Since you had arrived. It was as if everything had picked up its pace of events now, and you had been the trigger.
“Maybe that’s where they are coming from, and if they can come in through that place, we might be able to escape the same way,” Daehyeon mused out loud, still puzzled. His explanation did seem doable though, no wonder a lot of boys bobbed their heads around him.
After that, you were too deep in thought to catch who was asking what, but one thing was for sure. When Vernon asked whether Seokhwa remembered how they could get out or if he had a clue, he said he had no idea. Just that the letters you were seeing everywhere - WCKD - had something to do with the organisation that was keeping them there, and that he had a bad feeling about this organisation.
“We need to leave, no matter what,” he ended his explanation, his words almost like a plea. He looked like a completely different person from the day before, but you weren’t surprised. Just how heavily the memories could weigh on him?
The Gathering ended with a plan to send out Junseo, Yongha and a few other boys who volunteered into the Maze the next day to go back to that unknown part of the Maze they had just found thanks to the device. If the 7th section still hadn’t closed like they would expect based on the past two days, they could easily do so. One thing that nobody questioned was at what cost? How many more Gladers needed to get injured or get stung to find a way out? What if it would lead to another dead end? What if the outside world wasn’t better than this one?
However, just like one of the boys said: you either get out or die trying. It seemed that there was no other way.
That night, you could barely sleep. Yet again. Not because you were in direct danger, but because you couldn’t help thinking about Junseo and all the other boys that would go into the Maze with the device that might help them find a way out. You were worried sick that something would happen to them, that another Griever would come out and maybe they wouldn’t be able to eliminate it like last time, but the thing that bothered you the most was that you couldn’t do anything. You knew that you hadn’t been here long enough to know the way around the Glade, let alone the Maze, so when you had asked Daehyeon after the Gathering what you could help with, and he said:
“It’s okay if you don’t go with them. Be careful, try not to do anything dangerous, especially without consulting anyone else, and don’t lose hope. That will be enough.”
You believed him, but still… Your thoughts kept going back to the what ifs, and when you couldn’t fall asleep, you went outside of your shared wooden house to find a few boys sitting around a campfire. When they saw you, they asked if you wanted to join them, and you did. Despite expecting them to be hopeless, they were pretty calm. If anything, they were nostalgic, sharing stories about the time since they had been here; about how surprised everyone had been when Kun had burned some food for the first time, about how a chicken had practically chased after Yohan during one of his first days, about how Minho and Mingyu had drunk fistfighted over the last piece of meat during a bonfire night or the song Yeonjun had been writing, trying to find something to rhyme to everything they grew or bred here.
While listening to them, you had to realise that these boys had actually grown close; they depended on each other just as much as they liked teasing each other. Judged by their voices even when they talked about someone’s messy habits, they loved each other like family, and yet again, you had this pang in your chest that they really, really didn’t deserve to be here. Yet again, you were overcome with this determination to help them and fight alongside them; whatever it took to get out and take down those who put them - and you - here, you were willing to go for it.
Maybe it was because of all those stories or this newfound fire inside your heart, but you managed to sleep a bit, until the two Runners (except Seokhwa who was still resting at the infirmary) and the volunteers started getting ready, making some noise. Before they could go out into the Maze, you jogged up to Junseo to ask him about his state and to remind him to be careful.
“Don’t worry. It’s not a goodbye,” he told you, reassuring, but your heart churned at the mention of the word ‘goodbye’. You wondered just how many goodbyes you could have had prior to knowing each other here, and it pained you to see him again. However, the smile that he gave you was at least enough to give you some boost for the rest of the day, and to believe that there was a hope; that they would find a way out.
That day, you were with the Builders, and the biggest thing about your job wasn’t the tasks themselves but the random bickering session of Yohan and Donghan’s, Donghan’s very impromptu cuddling sessions (with the boys, not you) and Daehyeon’s awkward laughter whenever he caught you staring at the guys teasing each other in front of you. At least, you had some fun that day, and you almost forgot about the whole fiasco the day before. Almost.
It seemed that there was nothing that couldn’t go wrong these days, not with the Box not going down for 3 days already and then the boys from the Maze coming back only to tell you that the Maze had almost trapped them inside. Once they got closer to this new part of the Maze that they hadn’t yet been to, a radar-like device scanned them and then started shutting down the section, so they ran back vigorously, but at least all of them were in one piece, and they were sure that it was the way out because it did have traces of the Grievers, so they might have come from the other side of this new part.
Since it was a bit like a checkmate after the recent events, another Gathering was held after the boys had come back from the Maze. Due to the fact that this newfound part of the Maze could be the key to their way out, today’s findings weren’t that promising, so for now, the plan was the following: gathering as many weapons around the wooden houses as possible in case they needed to fight against a Griever (and everyone had to have at least one kind of weapon on them); Yongha and Junseo going out into the Maze the next day with another handful of volunteers, looking for more signs and everyone having to have at least two others Gladers with them at all times, no one could walk around alone in the Glade.
Since you were with the Builders that day, Daehyeon asked you to be with them for the rest of the day as per the new precautionary measures, so you had dinner by their side, but almost everyone was gathered around the big pot of food Taeyong and Kun had made. It smelled amazing, and you were delighted to have some food again, especially because the two guys were great cooks. The boys were laughing and joking amongst themselves, and you smiled at their antics, your heart a bit lighter seeing their interactions.
However, your good mood couldn’t last long because a horrible scratching sound could be heard that was so loud that you needed to cup your ears to muffle it.
“What the hell is that?” You could see Donghan mouth the words, and you gulped. Yet another first?
The loud sound was followed by another identical one, and this time, it seemed that the boys found its source because they turned their heads towards the West side of the Maze that had suddenly opened. It was then that you realised that the main entrance of the Maze had not yet closed, and soon, three other entrances opened up.
“How come there are four entrances?” You shouted over the loud noise of the fourth wall opening, and Yohan could only stare with wide eyes.
“They have never opened up before. This is not good,” Daehyeon mumbled once the noise suddenly stopped. Within a heartbeat, he raised his voice and ordered everyone to gather the weapons they had already prepared, stick with their small groups and stay calm.
“How can we stay calm? What if the Grievers come out again?” Soobin pleaded, his voice trembling as he was looking around, hoping that his eyes were playing tricks on him. He was so panicked, you almost felt bad for seeing him in this state, but you weren’t sure that you were any better.
In the next moment, Junseo walked up to you, followed by a whining Yongha (“why are you running away? Daehyeon had just told us to stick to our groups”) and a deadpanned Sunoo. The boy looked at you, eyes shining with worry, and put a torch into your hands.
“Stay with Daehyeon and follow his lead,” he told you confidently, tone not reprimanding, but not that gentle either. His eyes told a different story though; they were like little stars - shining dots spotting the darkness of the night sky -, pleading and sparkling and oh so precious.
You nodded, but the words died on your tongue when something mechanical started approaching from the main entrance’s walls, then from the East side, too. First, you only heard that ominous sound. It was similar to the sound scissors make when they are clattering. Then, you could see its silhouette - like an animal but with robot legs, running quickly and something coming out of its mouth - you couldn’t tell whether it was glue or drool.
No one needed to be told what to do when the Grievers approached you - you fought with everything you had. Kun was throwing pots and pans at them, Donghan was using something from his toolkit, the Medjacks were making flammable shots with bottles and threw it at them while you were trying to push the nearest Griever away with a spear. When the spear broke and the Griever marched forward, you tried to reach for the knife in your pocket, but the Griever was faster, and almost got you - if it hadn’t been for Daehyeon reaching for your torch and throwing it onto the Griever, you wouldn’t have been able to get rid of it.
Indeed, the fire caught it off-guard and you could start running away. You remembered Daehyeon asking you if you were okay, if you had been stung, but when you saw Junseo fighting with a Griever, everything almost stopped for a bit. The boy was fighting alone vigorously while Yongha was trying to hold onto Sunoo who had been lifted up from the ground by another Griever, his feet sinking deep into the ground as he was trying to pull the boy back. However, the Griever was stronger, and in a blink of an eye, it got Sunoo and marched towards the Maze.
“Guys, get into the Box or the pantry!” Daehyeon shouted behind you, but all you could see was Sunoo’s body floating in the air and Yongha not being able to hold him down. Your eyes were glued to Junseo still, and despite Donghan pulling on your arms, you couldn’t just leave the boy there.
“Junseo!” You shouted as loud as you could amongst the cacophony of shouts, whimpers and mechanical clattering, and when the boy looked in your direction, you pointed at the Box. He nodded, then turned back to the Griever to pierce through its legs with a knife-like weapon.
You followed the others to the Box, almost falling over when your shoe got caught in a rock, but managed to make it to the Box with Yohan, Donghan and Daehyeon. The Box had pretty heavy bars on its top that you could open and close, and it was built into the ground, so it didn’t stand out. Meaning, that you could hide away from the Grievers because they couldn’t reach into it, and maybe they wouldn’t even notice that there were people there while they were walking over it.
Daehyeon, however, quickly got out of the Box when he led you to safety, and started going around - probably telling the others to find a shelter for themselves. He firmly told you all to stay there, but you couldn’t just stay still when others were fighting for their lives around you. On the other hand, the other two boys’ lives who were with you in the Box were precious as well, so you were in agony.
“Guys, open it!” Keeho drummed on the bars fervently, so you started to open up the top of the Box, but a Griever showed up behind the Medjack.
“Keeho, look back!” You exclaimed frantically, and the boy looked up at the exact moment the Griever opened its gruesome mouth - with too much teeth and drool.
“Jeez, you should have visited a dentist,” Keeho dared to joke around even at a time like this, but obviously, the Griever couldn’t care less, and smacked the boy’s side with one of its mechanical legs.
“Keeho, throw the torch onto it!” Donghan shouted beside you, and the boy didn’t need much convincing. While hissing from the pain of being kicked by the Griever in the side, he threw the torch in his hand onto the Griever, and crouched down to the top of the Box. You quickly opened the top, pulling the boy inside who landed with a loud puff - but in one piece. Then, you closed the top back down.
“Did you get stung?”
“No, but it’s really painful nevertheless. It has a pretty strong leg, not gonna lie. Thank god it wasn’t my face though,” the Medjack snickered, but hissed yet again when he tried to stand up. So he stayed in a fetal pose instead.
You heard shouts and screams, one more heartbreaking and desperate than the other, yet you managed to let two more boys - Yeonjun and Taehyun - in before everything got still and eerily quiet.
“What is happening?” Yohan asked, blinking rapidly - a thing he did when he was extra nervous, apparently. Everyone answered in uncertainty or they just merely shrugged, not knowing more than Yohan himself.
In the next moment, there was a loud thud on the bars above you, and all of you let out a shriek. However, it was only Daehyeon asking to be let in with Jiung and Taeyang by his side. Even though everyone was curious what was going on, the leader didn’t say anything until a few more minutes passed by in complete silence and then, he went out to look for any signs of lingering Grievers.
“They’re gone. You can come out now.”
“Are you sure? Because I would rather stay here than go out again,” Yohan mumbled, and despite the leader’s usual calm demeanour, he wasn’t so calm this time.
“I am not sure, but that’s the best answer I can give you. You can choose to stay there, but I’ll go around to see who’s missing and who might be injured,” he announced sternly before doing as he had said so. You followed his example, and got out of the Box, the Medjacks following you. You inquired if you should help them out with the probable injuries, and they were as glad as they could after being chased by Grievers.
Your remaining group - alongside Yohan as well - decided to help the Medjacks who were getting ready to treat wounds and injuries, but what they weren’t ready was to see Junseo tying himself to a bed at the infirmary. You didn’t need to think too much into what was happening - the boy had been stung, and he was trying to tie himself to not be able to hurt others.
“Taeyang, is the serum still here?” Jiung shouted indignantly, helping to tie Junseo to the bed even though it could be seen that he was trying his best to stay collected and unaffected by the huge purple mark on the Runner’s side.
Everything became blurred afterwards: voices, sentences, faces. All you could see was the veins popping off on Junseo’s arms and the boy’s eyes becoming glassy and unfocused before he was given the serum, and his whole body fell back to the bed, still.
Despite being aware that Seokhwa had needed almost a whole day to regain consciousness after he had been given the serum - could you call it the antidote at this point? -, you couldn’t leave Junseo’s bedside. Not even when the boys were distributing the late breakfast that arrived only by lunchtime because Kun and Ten had been mourning over the loss of Taeyong; not even when the Medjacks offered to stay there in your place.
You only got out when Daehyeon called everyone outside the following morning, informing them of the situation. Sunoo, Jungwon, Taeyong, Seungcheol, Vernon and Soobin had been taken away, Junseo was stung, Bang Chan had sprained his ankle, Seokhwa had probably broken a bone and almost everyone was covered in bruises. Even you realised that when you had nearly fallen over due to that rock, you smashed your knee pretty badly, and it swelled up and caused you to limp a bit. It wasn’t horrible, but it was quite painful.
Not as bad as being taken away or stung, so you had no reason to complain. Still, the Medjacks told you to rest your leg as much as possible, so you did as they had asked, sitting by Junseo’s bedside with your left leg propped up on a random chair. You didn’t even remember when you managed to doze off, but it might have been the previous nights’ lack of sleep or the shock numbing your senses, but you managed to sleep for a bit. Only a bit though because you were awakened by the Medjacks’ concerned questions.
“How do you feel?”
“Can you see and hear us well?”
“Did you also gain back some of your memories?”
You were jolted awake by the last sentence, and thrilled, you looked at Junseo, immediately reaching for his arm.
“Are you okay?” You inquired, your voice coming out hoarse. The boy looked at your hands clutching his arm, then looked up at you, and instead of bewildered, the boy appeared almost touched. He gave you a faint yet gentle smile, one that could thaw the ice around your heart that’s been hardening due to the recent events.
Aware of the Medjacks’ eyes on you, you tried to yank your hand away from the boy’s arm, but he caught it in the last second, and didn’t let go. Embarrassed, you looked away for a moment. Could he remember more memories with you two? Could he know just how close you two had been? Or was he just trying to make sure that you stood by his side after all that he had been (you had been) through?
“Should we leave you alone for a bit?” Jiung broke the silence after clearing his throat, but both of you shook your head.
“It’s alright. You should fetch him up. I’ll call for Daehyeon,” you announced, suddenly feeling all too aware of your face burning up. Despite Junseo’s grip on you, you peeled his fingers off, giving him a small smile as if to reassure him that you wouldn’t go away forever.
While you were searching for Daehyeon, you managed to pacify your crazily beating heart a bit. The thing was that you oh so wished to have some alone time with Junseo in case he remembered something more about you two, but you would have been selfish if you had done so. So many boys had been taken away (probably dead already), so many had been hurt, why would it be your priority to get something personal out of the boy? It could wait, but letting the leader know that the boy was awake couldn’t.
Daehyeon seemed almost relieved to hear that Junseo was conscious and the serum had worked yet again. He briefly asked if you had heard anything from the boy, but you shook your head, telling him that you wanted him to know of the news first. As expected, a lot more boys had gathered around the injured Runner by the time you made your way back to the infirmary, but a lot of them were there to change their bandages anyway. Or just worried. Both reasons were plausible given the circumstances.
Just like in Seokhwa’s case, Junseo hadn’t regained all of his memories either. A lot of the flashbacks he mentioned were scattered - without a beginning and an end, just something that he briefly remembered. He shared Seokhwa’s portrayal of the virus that was taking over the world, though he had more memories trying to survive in the excruciating heat - with you. At this point, everyone looked at you to see your reaction, but you prompted the boy to continue (especially after Keeho blurted out that no one was really surprised by this, you two were “waaaay too obvious” in his words).
“And you two,” he mentioned as he pointed at Donghan and Yohan. “You are brothers.”
Donghan’s jaw literally dropped while Yohan’s eyes grew twice their size. They then looked at each other as if they had seen each other for the first time, both in awe and in disgust. Now that was newfound information.
“Well, I guess it makes sense why you two are always bickering,” Taehyun shrugged, pretty amused.
After moving on from the facts - that you and Junseo were a couple while Donghan and Yohan were brothers -, Junseo also shared that he also had fractions of their time at the laboratory where they were being tested on. Being in tubes full of water, having to withstand mind games, doing painful physical tests.. And then he had awakened in the Maze just like everyone else.
“I also remember someone saying that we are the key to this virus. We might be immune, that’s why they are keeping us here.”
“What? We are immune, so they keep us here and send Grievers out into the Maze at nights and now even during the day and open up all of the entrances of the Maze? What kind of bullshit is that?” Changbin huffed, his voice almost flaring. Bang Chan tried to put a calming hand over his friend’s shoulders, but the boy shrugged it off.
“You know what I think? This whole organisation is full of psychos and they all want to kill us, they’ve just been trying to tell us that there might be a way out. Or since we can’t even fight against the Grievers as last night proved to us, they think we are disposable now, so they don’t care whether we survive or not.”
“Alright, calm down, Changbin!” Minho hissed at his fellow Bagger, but Changbin couldn’t be contained. He started shouting and spitting words that he probably didn’t think through, but nobody could blame him because what he was saying was partly true. It just didn’t make sense with the amount of and kind of information you had.
“Maybe he’s right, and they’ve sent out the Grievers at night to warn us that we shouldn’t try to get out,” Mingyu reasoned, quieter than usual, but you caught sight of a few others nodding to his words.
“What about the sequence of the Maze’s sections then? It doesn’t mean anything?” You found yourself saying, desperate to try to hold onto any kind of hope that was left in this situation. Changbin looked like he could kill you with his stare, but despite his indignation, it wasn’t him who went up against your words. It was Ten.
“Maybe it doesn’t, we’re just trying to make sense of it.”
After that, the whole conversation at the infirmary became a mess. Gladers tried to shout over each other, and each side had fair enough points to either stay or to try to find a way out. Yongha mentioned that maybe they were all supposed to leave the Maze together, that’s why they couldn’t get through that new section last time while Taehyun pointed out the fact that there had to be an end to this because you were the last one ever according to the note you had come with. Kun reasoned that the Grievers had come out only after the Runners and the volunteers had found that new section while Mingyu was of the opinion that the Maze was a way to keep themselves out of the real world - if Junseo and Seokhwa were saying the truth, the real world would be pretty chaotic, too. Plus, if you were all immune, maybe it would be sensible to actually keep you here.
On the other hand, Seokhwa said that these people at the lab kept them there against their will, even killing his parents to get him, and if Mingyu had seen what they had gone through even prior to the Maze, he would have understood his stance. To that, Changbin became even more aggressive and suggested getting stung, so that he could see what this whole “trying to get out of this mess to end up in another mess” was about. The boys even started to push each other, physically going against each other, and it wasn’t until Daehyeon shut everyone up and told them to come to another Gathering later that afternoon when everyone could calm down a bit, so that they could vote on it - whether to stay or leave, and what to do or prepare for in either scenario - that the boys stopped fighting.
After the announcement, everyone went their own ways, and you only stayed by Junseo’s side because he had asked you to.
“Look, I don’t want you to feel burdened by the memories that I can remember now. That’s why I’m not telling you all about them, but if you wanted to, I could tell you what I remember about us. It’s up to you,” he offered gently, and it was surprising to you how composed he was despite what he had gone through in a mere span of a day. It was so touching that he even took your preference into consideration at a time like this, you almost felt like tearing up.
“No matter what happened in the past, I worry about you right now, so please, rest up. We can talk about it a bit later,” you told him tenderly, and he nodded. Maybe he didn’t even expect a different kind of answer based on your shared moments, maybe he was actually glad that you let him rest or maybe it was because of something else.
Nevertheless, you let him rest, and helped out at the infirmary until Keeho firmly told you to get some food because he had seen that you hadn’t lined up for the late breakfast either. So you did as he said, wondering just how different this day might turn out depending on what the Gladers would vote on.
The Gathering was no less tense than that scene at the infirmary a few hours prior, but at least the idea of a consensus was there, so everyone could vote for what they wanted. Kun, Ten, Changbin, Mingyu and almost Yohan too voted for staying (in the end, Donghan convinced him, and since their sudden brotherly reveal, they seemed to take each other more seriously), but the others were for leaving. Since Daehyeon didn’t want anyone to feel burdened by the vote, what it all came down to was that the rest of the boys - the three Runners, the three Medjacks, the three Builders, Bang Chan, Minho, Yeonjun, Taehyun and Heeseung - and you were going to prepare to leave while the rest could stay. Obviously, it wasn’t that easy to not make it seem like you were abandoning the rest, but Daehyeon didn’t want to force anyone to leave, so this was what they could all agree on while respecting each other’s choice.
Since it was early afternoon when the Gathering was held, everyone went out to gather weapons and any stuff that they might feel useful to go into the Maze. The Maze still hadn’t closed since the night before, and Taehyun’s theory was that since the entrances hadn’t closed, more Grievers might come out during that night. A lot of Gladers agreed with it because it seemed reasonable despite nothing really making sense anymore.
So the plan was to go out before it got dark, but it wasn’t that easy to leave because everyone was exhausted, some were still bruised, and despite your ankle getting better, you also couldn’t run that fast. However, the determination inside all of you was uniform, so everyone stuck to the other, and you didn’t let anyone fall behind. Whether it was one of the Runners checking on the others or Daehyeon asking everyone if they were alright, you looked out for the other.
Despite the fact that it was your first time in the Maze, you didn’t try to take it in because it would take too much time. However, it was really just like a Maze with some tendrils running down the side of the concrete that were built to form devious roads. The number of the section that you ran through was painted on the walls several times as you passed corner after corner. The four letters that you had seen at the Glade too - WCKD - were written on some of the walls here, too, adding more proof to your theory that this WCKD was behind all of this, they were the ones who kept you there and built this Maze.
Your knee was burning as you were running, but you couldn’t care less: you wanted to escape. You needed to escape. You were in this together, and you knew that the boys who had been in the Glade longer than you had must have suffered a lot more, so you sucked it up, and kept your chin up high while following the others.
The Runners motioned you all to lean into a wall while they were looking into an alley. When Junseo looked back at the group of Gladers, he let out a long sigh. Yongha glanced at him, then at Daehyeon.
“It’s a Griever,” Yongha let everyone know why they looked so agitated. “It’s no surprise, but we need to be careful. There’s a rail-less bridge between this side of the Maze and the new section that opens up if we get close to it with the device we’ve got, so be careful of the edge,” he explained to you all, and you noted that Junseo had the said device in his hands. It was in good hands, you knew it.
“If we stick together, do you think we can push the Griever close to the edge, so that it would fall? Or is there something underneath that bridge?” Yeonjun mused out loud, and this time, it was Junseo who answered.
“We don’t know if there’s something underneath, but it doesn’t look like it. So yeah, it’s actually a good idea to try to push it towards the edge.”
“If it doesn’t work, can we throw this flammable liquid onto it that we’ve been experimenting on with Chan?” Minho inquired as if it had been the most natural thing to do in their free time - testing out flammable liquids -, but you knew that he was serious because Minho was said to be rarely joking.
“Sure. Anything that works,” Yongha left it at that because it seemed that fire was also something that managed to scare them off or slow them down, but it’s not like Yongha had more experience with Grievers. The one they had killed, they had killed it with rocks and tendrils.
Soon enough, silence fell over your little group because probably all of you felt the weight of what was about to come. You either managed to escape or not; you either managed to stay alive or died trying. There was no turning back from here, and from what Seokhwa and Junseo had said before, you knew that the outside world wouldn’t be a piece of cake. Yet, here, you couldn’t stay. It was no way to live: being tested on, made to suffer, used as lab rats.
“I want you guys to know that-”
“We have a girl with us, Daehyeon,” Keeho cut their leader off with a teasing little smile, but instead of frustration taking hold of the boy, Daehyeon actually let his lips curl upwards.
“True enough. So boys and our newbie,” he corrected himself as he glanced in your direction. “I’m proud of you for getting here, and I want you to know that whatever will happen after this, you can count on me. We can count on each other. We’ll get out of here as a team just like we’ve managed to survive together until now. This is the least we can do for the ones who have lost their lives to these tests including the one last night. We owe them and ourselves the chance to leave this hellhole.”
“I’ve never thought you would call it a hellhole one day, but I’m rather proud,” Donghan mentioned playfully, and all of you eased up a bit.
“Let’s get out of this hellhole then!” Taeyang announced and you all echoed before getting off to start running again. Before you did so though, you caught Junseo’s stare, and you nodded, signalling that you were ready to follow him.
When Junseo and Yongha bolted off, the rest of the group quickly followed. Indeed, from what you could see, there was a Griever going in circles on the bridge that Yongha had mentioned, and when it caught sight of your little group, it got ready to attack. So did you.
All of you had your spears and knives and other weapons, and that’s how you tried to push the Griever towards the edge or cut off its parts. It was difficult, the Griever was much stronger than you had remembered from last night, but with the help of everyone, you managed to push it over the edge.
“Well, that wasn’t so bad, was it?” Yohan mentioned as drops of sweat were rolling down his pinkish cheeks, but the moment he finished his sentence, another two Grievers emerged from the utter darkness the last one had fallen into.
“Guys, stick together!” Daehyeon exclaimed, but it got caught in the air when another two Grievers emerged from the other side of the bridge. There was no way you could stick together against four Grievers, so you immediately joined a few boys who were pushing a Griever from the other side before it could get to one of them. In the intensity of the fights and the way it wasn’t a coordinated attack on your part due to the large number of Grievers, Heeseung was taken away by one of the newly emerged monsters, and you had no time to mourn his loss, even a scream got caught in your throat.
“The device!” Keeho hollered beside you, and you looked to where he was looking - the device rolling towards the edge of the bridge. Before you could react in any way, Keeho immediately jumped after the object, leaving you, Jiung and Taeyang behind to fight with the Griever.
You pushed with all your might, and amidst the grunts and screams and mechanical clattering, you barely registered when the wall at the end of the bridge was lifted when Keeho got close to it. He exclaimed that it opened, then ran towards the circular end of this newfound section.
When you and the two Medjacks managed to push a Griever over the edge, Jiung asked you to go with Keeho and watch his back. There was no time to counterattack him, so you did what he had asked you, and jogged to Keeho. When you two got close to this circular thing, it started beeping, then a red panel showed up with numbers scattered over the screen.
“There are 8 numbers. We probably have to put together a code,” Keeho said hastily, and as if lighting hit you, you shouted over to the remaining guys:
“What’s the sequence of the sections?”
“What?”
“The sequence of the 8 sections in the Maze. The Runners said there’s a pattern. 8 sections, 8 numbers,” you explained as briefly as possible, trying to catch your breath before you managed to get Taehyun’s attention. It was either the Mapmakers - Taehyun and Yeonjun - or the three Runners - Junseo, Yongha, Seokhwa - who could answer that, so when Taehyun started saying the numbers, Keeho immediately started typing it in.
“Seven… One… Five… Two… Six…” Taehyun grunted as a Griever got close to him and pinned him to the ground. Taehyun tried to push it off while Yeonjun and Seokhwa were trying to push it off from the side, but it wouldn’t budge. In the next moment, however, something caught aflame, and the Griever towering over the Mapmaker caught on fire. This way, Taehyun could slide off from beneath it, but before he could continue with the numbers, a Griever fell from above, straight onto Minho who had thrown the bottled liquid onto the previous Griever.
“Guys, the code!” Keeho reminded them frantically, and it was Junseo who continued with the last 3 digits: 483.
For a brief second, you thought that you had been wrong. It wasn’t the code because nothing happened. You had your heart in your throat while someone screamed desperately behind you. When you looked over your shoulder, you saw Seokhwa flying in the air in the hold of a Griever. The guys around it tried to hold onto the Runner, but it was too late: other Grievers came into view, and the boys were pushed backwards, away from their friend.
“It worked!” Keeho shrieked beside you, and in a numb state, you looked back at the screen that turned from red to green and read: COMPLETE.
As soon as you saw the screen, the walls of the section behind you started going down, so the Gladers ran towards you as fast as they could. You pulled on them as they reached for you - for safety - and watched as the Grievers got squashed by the closing walls. Then, darkness.
“Not to be that person, but does anyone have a lighter?” Donghan broke the silence that fell over you. You felt like you were on the verge of crying and throwing up. What? That was it? You didn’t even manage to escape.
But then a door opened a few steps away from your group and light shone into the room you were trapped in. Suspicious, the boys waited until Daehyeon made his way to the door and looked out. He looked left and right, and when he stepped outside, lights turned on in the corridor as well.
“There’s nobody here,” he noted as he looked back at all of you. Slowly, everyone made their way out of the room, and when your eyes got used to the bright light, the first thing you wanted to see was a familiar pair of chocolate-brown eyes. You panicked when you looked around, and Junseo was nowhere to be found, and you felt like sliding to the floor crying.
However, Junseo stepped over the threshold in the next second, and you immediately ran to him even though you had no idea if you were actually outside of the Maze or not, if you had more tests or not. He was there, alive and bruised, but he was there. You crushed him into a brief yet tight hug before letting go of him and looking into his eyes, deeply.
“I’m so relieved,” you breathed out, your voice giving way to your desperation.
Junseo smiled at you with his bruised lips, and reached for your hands to hold it before you ran after the others who started walking down the corridor. It wasn’t so long before you caught up to them, but it seemed that no one else was in the corridor because all you could hear were footsteps. As you looked around and looked at the guys, you realised that apart from Heeseung and Seokhwa, you hadn’t lost any more Gladers while trying to escape, meaning that 13 of you were left. You couldn’t bear to lose anyone else though. It was already too much.
You couldn’t help but look back a few times while you were walking and everyone seemed to be doing the same. You were alert, and for a good reason: there was no indication that it might be the last of your trials. However, it was definitely the last of your steps when you arrived at a door that read ‘Exit’ above it.
“Seriously?” Yongha huffed, not believing in the simplicity of it.
“What if it’s a trap?” Yohan inquired, indignant. You had to give it to him that it seemed oddly suspicious after everything that had happened. You couldn’t help the cold shiver running down your spine at the thought of this being yet another test, yet another chance of getting hurt or worse… dying in the hands of this cruel experiment.
“Well, I would definitely not love to go back there,” Donghan pointed behind him, and everyone knew what he meant by that.
There was a moment of hesitation in Daehyeon’s move when he reached for the doorknob, but he eventually did. Only to reveal an even more surprising scene on the other side of it: shattered glass, blood spots on the walls, men and women in lab coats dying lifelessly on the ground, remains of gunpowder and panels being broken. This was definitely the lab Seokhwa and Junseo had been talking about, and when you caught sight of bloody bodies on operating tables behind glass mirrors, you felt Junseo squeeze your hand.
You looked away, feeling like you could throw up any minute, not just because of the bodies on the floor and in the lab rooms, but because of what you could see for yourself: charts about you and the boys, brain signals, camera views of the Glade (so they were actually watching your every step), statics, measurements, charts… It was sickening how detailed they were, and what they were about.
As you were walking around trying to make sense of everything, a video started playing on one of the huge panels. A woman in a blindingly white coat who claimed to be the director of the Operations of the World Catastrophe Killzone Department congratulated you on finishing the Maze Trials.
“What the hell?” Keeho exclaimed, but the video seemed automatic instead of a video call because it continued without any care.
“I can assure you,” the woman continued, her voice void of any emotion. “That everything that has happened, everything we’ve done to you was all done for a reason. You won’t remember, but the Sun has scorched our world. Billions of lives lost to fire, famine and what we call The Flare. A deadly virus that attacks the brain.”
As she was speaking, there were videos of the blazing sun, of fires in big cities, people - presumably dead - on top of each other in piles, then images of people becoming animalistic and violent. If it was the Flare, then it must have been similar to the Changing after the Gladers got stung because those people looked eerily similar to the Seokhwa you had seen on the first day.
You glanced in Junseo’s direction who must have remembered some of the details, but he was already looking at you. You felt the first teardrop roll down your cheeks before you looked back at the screen.
“It was unpredictable and incurable. Or so we thought. In time, a new generation emerged that could survive the virus. Suddenly, there was a reason to hope for a cure, but finding it was not that easy. Young people had to be tested inside harsh environments where their reactions and brain activity could be studied. They had to be sacrificed for a greater cause, to understand what makes them different. What makes you different.”
Seokhwa and Junseo had been right. You were different. You might have been immune to this Flare, and that’s why you were tested. That’s why the tests were there. No matter how insane and unbelievable it seemed, it was the truth.
The woman continued to talk about how important you were to society, and how others disagreed with their methods, but what was most disturbing about it was what went behind her. People started shooting the ones in lab coats, there was glass and blood everywhere, sparkles of electricity and objects falling. Then, the woman also raised a gun, but not at anyone behind her, but at herself.
“Remember one thing: WCKD is good,” she said as WCKD was written on the screen before she pulled the trigger.
You couldn’t bear to look at her, you looked away. You unconsciously also squeezed Junseo’s hand in the meantime, and he pulled you closer, letting you rest your head in the croak of his neck. It was all too much. The Maze itself, the scene around you and the video, too…
In the next moment, doors opened somewhere close and people in masks and bulletproof vests marched in. One of the men from their group walked towards you all and asked if you were alright, promising that they would get you to safety, that they would get you out of here.
“Wicked isn’t good. We don’t stand with them,” he responded curtly, and in all honesty, you wanted to believe him. You wanted to believe them, but you had no idea what to believe anymore.
So you let the men escort you out and into a helicopter, and you let them take you to somewhere else. As the helicopter took off, you could have a better view of the place you had just left, and that’s when it all became clear: the whole Glade and the Maze was built inside this laboratory, it was really this WCKD’s creation, and you - you all were a part of it.
Because you might be the key.
You might be the cure.
A/N: Okay, so I’ve gotten a bit carried away, but can you blame me? This story needed to be long, so that I could add my own twists and scenes to the original storyline. *-*
Also, as the header suggests, this story was inspired by the ‘Spray’ MV and promotions. I know that era was more like a boxer concept, but when I saw the maps and bars in the MV, I just couldn’t not think of The Maze Runner, especially when Donghan lights that emergency light at the end (in the movie, they do light one as they are leaving the Glade).
Plus, fun fact that the first scene that came to my mind was the one when y/n asks Yohan if they don’t have any long-sleeved shirts because well... we’ve seen a lot of arms during the promotions. 😂
If anyone needs a recap of the jobs assigned to the boys:
Builders: Daehyeon (Keeper + first in command/leader), Donghan, Yohan
Runners: Junseo (Keeper), Seokhwa, Yongha
Slicers: Mingyu (Keeper), Vernon, Seungcheol
Cooks: Taeyong (Keeper), Kun, Ten
Gardeners: Sunoo, Jungwon, Heeseung
Map-makers: Taehyun (Keeper), Yeonjun, Soobin
Baggers: Bang chan (Keeper), Minho, Changbin
Medjacks: Keeho, Taeyang, Jiung
The 13 of them who survived until the end: y/n, Daehyeon, Donghan, Yohan, Junseo, Yongha, Taehyun, Yeonjun, Bang Chan, Minho, Keeho, Taeyang, Jiung
It was intentional that those who died during the story or stayed at the Glade didn’t have a lot of scenes (except Seokhwa), yet due to the au, I couldn’t let everyone live. I’m sorry if your bias didn’t make it to the end. 🥺
Anyways, hope you’ve enjoyed the story nevertheless! Thank you so much for reading it! ❤️
If you’re interested in more of my stories, consider signing up for my taglist here!
