╰─➤ please help me
  come get me
behind her, she can hear it say

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"posture, for the fifty-fifth time," mark barked as he wandered around the boy sitting down to a made-up tea party. he was alone, obviously, and they were merely practicing etiquette for parties and galas. donghyuck wasn't designed for the lush life though, and he could've sworn this was what menopause felt like with the cramps in his back.

"i am—"

"you're hunching, sweetheart. look at your shoulders; push them back."

"you know, i think it's this seat," the blonde proceeded to continue with excuses. the sun was glaring in through the massive window taking up the entirety of the far wall. the room itself was supposed to be for music, as there was a piano in the corner and space for guests. however, jeno didn't use it for such purposes and mostly left it desolate. "look, the wood is as hard as my life."

"would you just can it for like, five minutes? i'm lenient, and even my patience is running thin."

"ugh," hyuck groaned and faced ahead as he should've been, watching the countryside beyond and it's stunning, golden blanket of grass. mark probed the male's arms a few times, and smacked him with a fan when he felt like it would make him listen. they had only gotten through the basics of tea and afternoon settings, even after a whole two hours cooped up in here.

"look, just copy me," the ravenette sighed and sat in the seat opposite, the sun then dispersing around him from the glass and creating an ethereal halo. "my back is straight and it makes me seem confident and tall," he explained. it was true as well, he physically exuded 'class' even when it was known he had come from the scum of society. "jeno may pretend we're pretty little faces in gatherings and whatnot for the sake of keeping up appearances, but that's just it — we are the appearance. if we slouch and burp and kick up fusses, then it projects badly on him. y'want that?"

"i want my ass to stop itching and yet it's illegal to breathe right now—"

"lee donghyuck, you're insufferable!"

the blonde flinched, looking down to the empty teacup in front of him and jutting his lower lip out into a pout. he knew he was being a pain, that wasn't what he wanted...but the same phrase 'i didn't choose this either' came to mind a lot as well. it wasn't like he woke up in that chamber, tied to the bed and blindfolded, with the intent of being there. this was entirely forced upon him.

"hyuck," mark sighed. "i'm losing you, aren't i? do we need to stop for a while?"

"it's not that..." the adult sighed and leaned back to scratch his neck. "i don't think this is me. i'll never be good enough for missions or parties."

"that's not true."

"isn't it? i mean, chenle broke my nose and still manages to beat me up every lesson. jisung taught me acting once and laughed at me, so i haven't gone back yet...and jaemin hasn't even started with my education."

"these are all talents we need to sharpen and enhance. don't be so negative about it just because they're not natural to you."

"what about jeno and renjun? i can tell they worry about me with all the whispering and the 'looks' they send each other. am i a nuisance yet?"

"hyuck," the older groaned and placed his hands palms-up on the table to offer some contact. "nobody thinks that. you're just sensitive and hormonal right now for obvious reasons. your heat will end soon, the pill is settling, and the emotions you've got after sleeping with people for the first time and in general as well as a new life are all taxing you big time."

"i hate it."

"mhm, i understand that. but it will all pass...because you're strong, okay? you've got this, baby."

these guys will definitely kill me one day with this behaviour, the omega thought wistfully as he chewed into his lower lip. he'd never been referred to with pet names much, having had no one who gave him that sort of chance or attention. acting like this and receiving this glamorous affection...it made him wish he had boyfriends before. practice. once he realised he was probably pulling an odd face while in thought, he chuckled nervously to eliminate it and tilted his head. "w-we should keep going, i guess. i still don't understand the posture thing, i can't feel where i'm going wrong."

"okay, okay," the older rolled his eyes playfully and allowed their hands to fall apart. "let's try something else to finish up. got the fan we gave you?"

"yup. here," he held the closed item up.

"good. we have these specially crafted to match our personalities and abilities, you see. mine has the gladiolus flower — which represents loyalty — across it and is made with metal lining for attacks. i'm a con-artist, so this suits me. yours is basic now, but we can upgrade it with time. never lose it."

"yes sir," hyuck giggled lightly and took a terrible shot at opening it with a swing. it needed practice, to say the least.

"call me 'sir' again and i won't be able to contain myself. careful, darling."

i forgot these guys were like that...

>>>>>

"how did the mission go?" renjun hummed softly as he and jaemin walked with linked arms through the window-lined hallways. "with honesty. anything interesting that jeno doesn't need to hear? surely your recklessness played some sort of role."

"you have so little faith in me," the blonde scoffed, yet he had that impish smile streaking over his cheeks that would've suggested his lover had hit the target. "we've been home three days. why ask now?"

"you've been hanging out of jeno a lot, obviously. besides, mark tends to wave off these questions and say 'nothing terrible happened'. he's busy with hyuck, too."

"fair. although you'll be devastated to hear that nothing really went down other than a bit of a game." the taller paused their movements and guided his partner to stand by the windows with him. "you obviously know the 'no sex' rule."

"fuck's sake, nana. did you?"

"like...like once."

"and? reason?"

"well," he rubbed his chin and recalled the affairs of the mission, "i was pretending to be a whore, wasn't i? that asshole's wife liked the look of me, so..."

"ew. an alpha woman, yeah?" renjun stared out at the hills rolling over the landscape and picked at his nails absentmindedly. "they're so high and mighty."

"i had to keep up appearances, and mark is pretending he doesn't know. jeno doesn't have to hear about it, anyway. as far as he's concerned, everything went completely according to plan."

the smaller elicited a small sound of agreement and subtly glanced at the boy from the corner of his eye. he really did care about jaemin, even if he didn't always show it. the idea that he, or any other member of the harem, could sleep with anyone else always made his heart ache. it was a foreign emotion he hadn't yet come to terms with, purely because he'd tried to sever his feelings back before this life. "don't make light of it...the sex, i mean."

"obviously. you think i enjoy being manhandled and used by others? i'm not actually a slut, remember. this group we have going is because of that."

"still..." the ravenette yawned and leaned back against the windowsill to view the empty walls to the side. "anyway, let's drop that now. i was just curious."

"oh?" nana cooed, reaching his hands over and squeezing at the other's sides playfully, "worried i was hurt? wondering what we were up to? curious to know how jeno handled the guys?"

"shut it."

>>>>>

"ji?" jeno hummed as he threw his legs over the side of the large bed and pulled on a pair of loose-fitting tracksuit bottoms. now behind him, bundled in white sheets which barely covered him as he stared out the window from the mattress, was the youngest of his boyfriends. "you're distracted again."

"m'not," the purplette murmured softly and tilted his head back to let the rays of sun envelop his face. those incredible brown eyes of his shone to take on the colour of tea without milk...translucent when illuminated. "i don't know how you expect me to move now."

the older was weary that he had a meeting in an hour, but much preferred the company of the harem. his upper half was exposed, and the leader couldn't be bothered to change that right now. he too needed to recharge, and so he edged back to sit against the headboard beside the other who was still laying down.

both gazed out towards the window, and jisung yawned innocently as he shifted a bit for jeno to pull him into his side protectively. their fingers intertwined over the younger's tummy which had a white sheet sliding off it and exposing the abs underneath.

"you know," the bluette uttered while his thumb glided over the ridges of the boy's stomach, "i have another away mission coming i need to handle."

"let me guess," the taller groaned, "i'm supposed to break the news to those of us staying again? who's turn it is now, hm?"

"yours, silly," jeno scoffed and nuzzled in lick along his neck and kiss it.

"what, really? you always tell me 'some other time, ji. this one isn't for you'," the teenager battled, although he'd changed his line of vision from the great outdoors to his alpha now. "you don't trust me enough."

"that's not true."

"but it is. you think because i'm younger, i can't handle myself or the rest of the world. the others do too. mark flat-out won't use weapons on me...insists that we use hands and feet."

"you're just...not like us. remember that mark was a drug dealer before he was an assassin. and jaemin was trained by my big brother, and all the other horrible pasts that the others endured to be hardened into stone. you had a different experience."

"a traumatising one!"

"ji, calm down. emotions are nice and all, but they need to be controlled. another aspect of you i find quite difficult."

"but jaemin is a massive drama queen! he doesn't get left behind!"

jeno sighed airily, rolling out his shoulders subtly to relax against the headboard. "you're a good fighter, jisung. i don't doubt your abilities, and you've severed a lot of the morals and humanity in you that i asked you to. but i worry about you a bit more than the others sometimes..."

"i can kill people. i've killed people before. what more do you want from me?"

"i want you to be safe."

the younger gritted his teeth and turned away again, disappointed that this conversation had led this way for the hundredth time. it was as though he had no control over it, even when he was prepared. the mafia leader didn't want him to feel down though, and there was no right approach when explaining to the boy that as the youngest, he held a different sort of torch in his harem. he was their baby flame, and jeno adored him.

"this mission i want you to come on, it's only for two days i think. your acting is the best alongside nana's, and he came on the last one with me. i need you to play the femme fatale type for me, ji."

"you sure you trust me enough?" the taller teased and scrunched up his adorable little nose distastefully. "who's the gang?"

"a minor group. nothing hugely dangerous yet, but they have a hacker i need you to kill since he's the brains behind it. he attempted to take down a firewall protecting my passwords, and there's a vault downstairs with—"

"—our new hallucinogen," the purplette chuckled dryly. "an easy mission for me then? jeno, i want to do more..."

"you're the only one coming. i'm relying on you as the only other skilled fighter with me, since the rest of the base have mediocre strength."

jisung hummed in agreement, even when it was abundantly clear that he was still upset about this. every once in a while, he would get a real job to do, and he always put one hundred percent in if he was given the opportunity.

"hmm, how about this," the shorter gushed and twisted onto his side so he was fully facing his lover. "for the next heavy mission we have to do, i'll bring you along as vice captain. you can boss the other dolls present around, and show me that you're able for it."

"jaemin, mark or renjun are always the vice captains. i have no experience."

"and that's what this exercise will be for. up for it?"

a chance to actually do something with my training? obviously i'm in, he thought with a slight eye-roll. he could tell this was his master's way of trying to make him happy and include him...and he appreciated the effort. "yeah, sounds like a plan."

jeno smiled fondly and ruffled the male's hair, recalling that meeting he had to get ready for and eliciting a long sigh before starting to get off the bed again.

"going already?" jisung whined. "just skip it."

"you know i can't do that. if i just randomly skipped meetings, then we'd either be a lower ranked gang or a collapsing one. simple as."

"you don't have fifteen minutes more?"

"ji, as much as i'd love to spend the rest of the day with—" he turned back to face him whilst picking a top off the floor, and had to visibly bite into his lower lip when he found the cheeky boy slowly sliding the sheets off again and tilting his head with that look. "park jisung, cut that out."

"hm? cut what out? it's fine if you're busy, i'll go and find lele...or maybe hyuck. or mark could ruin me if i suggest it enough—"

"you little snake," the older grumbled and trailed back over out of bitterness. "i just spent an hour railing you, and you're already asking for it again? i don't remember raising a slut."

"well, i do. last i checked, this room has been christened for its purposes in every square inch." the tall teen pushed his index finger into his mouth and opened it to play with his tongue. "so," he managed even with the interruption between his lips, "what will it be, master?"

obviously the youngest member knew every button in existence throughout jeno's biological makeup, for he was able to press all the right ones to have him crawling back over the sheets and forcefully grabbing his legs to pin them up against his chest. jisung gasped, cool air hitting his exposed entrance and teasing his hardening buds.

he was already well prepared from the sex only minutes prior and the white, salty fluid dripping still from his hole. jeno wasted absolutely no time before slamming inside him without allowing a warning, and roughly pounding. the taller cried out in both a loud and pitchy voice, hands flailing around him to grip the pillows, or the sheets, or something to keep him grounded.

"m-master—agh," he whined and threw his head back with eyes starting to cross as he closed them, "s-slow down~"

"not happening, doll. you really know how to infuriate me, don't you?"

how else would i get my way? jisung was still able to think as he focused on the thrusts angling straight at his prostate. maybe it was better sometimes that they weren't aware of his slimy, bratty nature.

>>>>>

"ugh, there's a fucking crick in my neck," donghyuck groaned and mark followed him down the halls with a faint smile.

"you did well though. tea manners are pretty important, since it's a decent coverup for a gang meeting or whatever. jeno gets invited to those and parties quite a bit, so these skills are going to come in handy."

"but why do we have to sit beside him and pretend we have no personalities? that's so shit."

"the more well-trained the boy or girl is, the more attractive to other mafias they are. jeno obviously isn't in that industry, and doesn't intend to use us like that...but typically the harems are for selling or prostitution. our leader could easily get a deal with some ugly bastard by saying 'if you sign the deal, you can fuck renjun'. it's very common."

"and why doesn't he use us like that?"

"because we're not mistresses, hyuck. we're boyfriends. would you let some girl or omega boy sleep with your alpha just because it could benefit you? imagining you had a boyfriend in the outside world, that is."

"obviously not. i get the point."

"boys," another voice entered the conversation, and from ahead they spotted renjun, adorned in one of his hanfus, walking towards them briskly. the material never did seem to cling to him at all, sort of billowing off his shoulders.

"hey," donghyuck waved briefly before that very hand was locked in an iron grip. then, without ceremony, he was dragged down the halls again. "i'll take that as a 'hi'?"

"i need help," the chinese adult hissed.

"with what?" mark picked up his pace to keep up. he and the youngest shared an odd look, but said nothing more.

"i...i'm struggling to read the scene i'm on. you two are the only ones who help me."

"ugh, now? i wanted to take a shower and volunteer myself for a coma until tomorrow morning," the other omega whined uselessly. "your nails are digging into my wrist."

renjun didn't seem to care and ignored it all. his speed didn't decrease and even mark was a little frustrated at this. it had been a long day with the training...

eventually they made it to the library (which hyuck wasn't even aware they had) and pushed past the doors. his initial thoughts were; 'what would a ruthless mafia need with a library?' but his question was answered without further ado when the shorter boy glanced at him.

"when i first joined, i made a lot of demands. i wanted to learn how to read...so..."

"jeno had a library installed...for you?"

"and jisung. he was bored at the start as well when he wasn't allowed outside."

mark chuckled at this and simply followed closely behind them, not spending a great deal of time in here since he didn't actually read for fun. it was just to help renjun. "the lengths he goes through for us."

"we didn't choose this life," the ravenette reminded him, "he chose it for us. the least he's able to do is cater to our wishes a little."

hyuck had never heard such true words. now that he thought about it, he did miss the small things that freedom brought. reading a book whenever was probably one of them. "so...why were you reading in here? i thought you liked the bedroom with your little chair."

"it's occupied at the moment," he rolled his eyes.

they wandered further inside the empty haven of books and for some reason, there was a home-like feeling present even without other people. some novels were stacked in piles on the floor beside the shelves, and beanbags were shoved in corners as well as tables and chairs for studying. clearly the second oldest member took this sort of thing quite seriously — like he'd always wanted to read. a dream. 

the omega led them to a collection of beanbags and blankets up against the window where the sun produced plenty of natural light. he ended up swiping a pair of glasses off the book perched on the pile, and then took it as well. "sit," he insisted.

"but why?" mark wondered out loud, noting the space and how it probably wouldn't support them. "you can sit, renjunnie. i'll stand."

"ugh, you two annoy me. just sit down before i break your legs and make you."

this was reason enough for the duo to awkwardly make themselves comfortable on the bags, sides together and cheeks a little pink now that they could smell one another's natural scents — not the pheromones, however.

renjun nodded once the easy task had been completed, and he then descended to sit on their laps and pushed his glasses up his nose. "i'm not heavy, so don't even consider making a joke."

"wasn't planning to," the others mumbled simultaneously, and it was almost laughable how strict the aura got when their omega was present. they sort of loved him for it though.

"okay, so what did you not understand?" mark enquired softly, placing his chin on the boy's shoulder and reading over the paragraphs.

"here," he pointed, "this part onwards."

"ah, it's aesthetic writing. you need to broaden your vocabulary for senses, like sight and smell and all that."

"what does this say?"

"scintillate."

"stupid..."

donghyuck listened to their quiet conversation without adding to it, simply admiring their voices in hushed tones and enjoying the way he could detect the peace in the room. he was far too tired for this though, and hoped neither would mind if he caught up on the rest he couldn't seem to find in recent nights. nightmares were plaguing him, and yet he couldn't remember what they were and thus couldn't describe them to anyone.

before he even realised it, his head was leaning severely to the side, and he ended up resting it against mark's shoulder. the vibrations of his vocals through his chest were so soothing, lulling him into that tired mindset once more.

voices faded into the background, and the library blurred into an oceanic view where water submerged everything. a strong arm wrapped around his waist, and with this he was content to fall asleep inside a protective hold.

"this is ridiculous! who needs to go into this much depth to describe a cup of fucking coffee—?"

"shhh, baby. he's asleep," mark whispered, motioning with his head in hyuck's direction in his arms. renjun blinked innocently, fixing his glasses and nodding once he got the gist.

"are you tired too?" he asked quietly, watching the beta blink slowly and subtly lean back further and further until he was laying on the beanbags with donghyuck curled up on one side of his chest.

"mhm. i know you want to read, angel, but give me ten minutes to recharge."

bullshit, you only ever sleep for hours, the younger inwardly smirked. he popped his book down on the floor again and decided to give them their moment of peace. by the time he pulled his hanfu over his arms again properly and lay to the other side of the oldest's chest, both were deep in sleep.

his eyes raked over hyuck's figure as he slept; his perfect and parted lips, lashes that fanned out, button nose pressed into the beta for scent comfort, and small, blonde curls cascading in waves over his forehead. truly perfection if he had ever seen it. it was also quite fortunate that this omega was still in once piece and fully functioning, something renjun only ever wish he could get back.

the youngest's hand moved to bunch at mark's shirt in his sleep, and it was the cutest thing the other had ever seen. so, very gently as not to wake him, he placed his own palm over that lightly balled fist and heated it up.

there were some things in life worth protecting even when the reasons seemed unclear.

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...to be continued