╰─➤ baby tell me one more beatiful lie,
one touch and i ignite

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donghyuck's back was as straight as a pole as he stood opposite renjun and, in turn, the others behind him in the small enough ballroom. apparently it never got used by anyone other than themselves for practice and had been built out of custom for a lot of cover mafia bases that acted as ostentatious homes. jeno never invited gangs to this place where his dolls were protected.

having just sat through table etiquette, which was apparently very important for the reception, they were moving onto couples dances. hyuck had to admit this was the fun part of mark's lessons.

"you'll be dancing with me," the other omega stated and put his clipboard down on a table to the side they'd used for the etiquette test. supposedly he'd done well enough, although he was a bit unruly for a doll and too outspoken.

"i've never seen you dance," donghyuck hummed, shifting his weight from the front of his feet to the back over and over, nervous and perpetually moving.

"he's good," mark complimented him, although it sounded suspiciously like a warning when in this situation. the omega cleared his throat and stood a little straighter as renjun wandered towards him in slow, careful movements.

once face to face, the sheer smell of cherry and vanilla radiating off the boy was enough to make donghyuck blink away the hypnotic effect, and he was taken by the hand. "what dances do you know?" renjun enquired, bringing him to the centre of the room and stopping to stretch out his arms.

"i think...most of them?" he glanced at mark who gave him a thumbs up for encouragement. it didn't do much for nerves, but the dorky way he looked like a sideline dad during his kid's first match made hyuck stifle a giggle.

"then, i'll test two dances," he hummed, walking around the boy with long, slow strides and finally deciding where he wished to settle, which was right in front of him. "first, a waltz. they're a fun, silly time some hosts like to encourage, and they break the ice between partners who don't know each other. although," he wore a look of doubt, "we don't really dance with strangers. as you're aware, nobody's permitted to touch us outside of a plan."

donghyuck nodded once, aware of these rules. "and the second dance?"

"contemporary, i think. something useful, eye-catching, distracting." the emphasis made it clear what it would need to be used for. hyuck rolled out his shoulders and started to dance on the balls of his feet, releasing some nervous energy.

"cool, cool cool," he muttered. renjun motioned for someone to start some music, and mark obliged, knowing what his student was used to. immediately a slow tune started to permeate the typical silence of the ballroom and renjun took both of donghyuck's hands to place over his waist.

"it is easier to forget anyone else is here," the dark-haired boy recommended, possibly accepting defeat already but also possibly curious to see these skills donghyuck had acquired. "are you ready?"

the blonde smiled tightly and relaxed into the embrace as renjun wrapped his arms around his shoulders. "i suppose this is where i ask silly questions," hyuck whispered, keeping his attention solely on the boy's eyes which were dark and endless. "like what the name of your cat is."

this did elicit a small chuckle from renjun, who followed donghyuck's flawless counting. one, two, three, one, two, three. they side stepped and spoke lowly, keeping the music at the back of their mind.

"if you had a cat," the elder of the two asked softly, "what would you name it?"

"that's tough. it depends on what they look like, but something like lord fluffles sounds good."

"you're awful," renjun cringed and shook his head as he was spun carefully and returned into hyuck's waiting arms. "how about something cuter. like bonbon or something."

"yeah, if you don't want to come up with cool nicknames! think about it," donghyuck turned renjun around gently and danced against his back, their hands entwined over the ravenette's shoulder and their faces close over those hands. "if you can't find the cat, you can call 'my lord!'."

"you're such a..." renjun seemed lost for the word, turning back to face him and resting his cheek against the other's shoulder. "you're one of those idiots that names their pets after games and stuff, aren't you? like calling a dog 'knife' or some shit."

"great, now i can't use that one," hyuck snickered against the boy's cheek and it made renjun blush. he faltered, missing a step and nearly tripping had the hands on his hips not been so secure. "see, i'm better than you at this."

"don't get cocky. you simply surprised me is all."

"uhuh? let me guess," the blonde drawled teasingly and tapped the pulse on his neck, "one sniff of this and your knees were jelly."

renjun didn't bother gracing that with an answer and instead shook off his surprise from the misstep and resigned his composure. "next dance."

"denial, denial." donghyuck tsked, but he seemed pleased that the waltzing had gone well on his part. "alright, so you want me to sexy dance?"

"any eye-catching dance, really," the ravenette explained and took more steps back to give him space. "think of it this way; the victim watching you would have to be distracted enough for something to be slipped into his drink while still in his hand. that's harder than it sounds."

"got it," the boy agreed quickly and thought through what he knew from mark. technically, they had done this before but he'd been far too awkward at the time to take it seriously. all he knew that was eye-catching was the infamous fan dance the dolls performed as a group during special ceremonies...like an alliance party or something. but could he work with that?

possibly.

"mark," he called, grabbing the eldest's attention and edging closer to him a few steps. "got a fan?"

"i'm not testing the fan dance," renjun interjected.

"i know, i know," hyuck eyed him knowingly and turned back to mark. "well, do you?"

"i always have a fan," the boy sighed and unclipped one from what hyuck presumed was his belt hidden under his shirt. "but this one's..."

"hey, you never let us touch your fan," chenle scoffed. "if you give it to him for one stupid demonstration. i'm calling favouritism." they all had their own unique fans, of course, but mark's in particular was the first and most difficult to handle.

the young adult glanced to jeno questioningly, for this had been a gift from his leader. jeno, although a little vexed that mark was asking at all as he had promised not to wave the thing around willy-nilly, seldom disputed with him and trusted his judgement. "it's not my fan, darling. but if he cuts himself, that's on you."

mark faltered and looked back at renjun and hyuck. "is a fan super necessary?"

"i don't know any another kinds of 'eye-catching' dances," donghyuck air quoted and looked a bit insistent. "what? does it have a grenade attached?" he paused. "wait...actually?"

"well, no," renjun responded instead and tilted his head. "but we're not usually in the business of borrowing each other's fans. they're hand crafted, you see, to suit our needs and styles."

"he could use mine," jisung volunteered.

"uh huh? and kill us instead of himself? so clever, baby, proud of you," chenle pinched his cheek mockingly. the late-teen promptly deflated and shook him off.

"look, a fan is a fan. i just need one to inspire my dance or else i'll be very confused. i haven't been taught much contemporary yet." the practice fans were probably in storage with the other props and tools he learnt with.

"i could fail you on those grounds," the other omega narrowed his eyes. "if you only know slow dances and the fan dance, then we're going to have issues at the party."

"would you lay off?! give me a damn fan and make that call after," he snipped and nearly squealed when exactly what he'd asked for was tossed through the air and landed in his hands above his head where he'd protected himself. "alright, i thought this was supposed to explode or something?" he lowered the black, wooden object and turned it over with intrigue. what would happen if he opened it?

"just get on with it. i'm inclined to take this subject as a loss," renjun hummed, but backed up a lot and patiently waited for his examinee to begin. hyuck eyed mark across the hall, who seemed stressed watching the closed fan in his hands. "hey, put on the fun track," the blonde smiled. "the one i like."

"for a fan dance?"

"it's a contemporary fan dance. ain't seen nothing like this before," he chuckled and prepared his first position. internally he had a concept of what he wanted this to look like, but practically he'd never tried it before. mark made dancing look easy, but without instructions hyuck was feeling a bit overwhelmed.

the music started, and it was the kind of song one would listen to in the back of a car on a late night drive. the image of city lights scored across hyuck's mind's eye and he slowly but surely slid his foot forward, like in the original fan dance. first, he lifted the closed, special object in his hand above his head, choosing to play with the footwork more than the iconic arm movements they'd have been expecting. really, the fan was there to ground him — a familiar weight against his palm that marked his symmetry, balance and grace.

soon he was closing his eyes, like jisung always told him to do when he couldn't think with the world in his face. his legs were gliding, stepping, lifting and landing against the marbled floors and his shoes broke the rhythm of his thoughts with their clacking. so, while edging the fan down from above to in front of his face, he slid off his shoes and kicked them to the side with one graceful motion before spreading his fingers out and opening the wooden columns connecting the made-weapon and finding it beautiful and red on the inside, with whirling patterns of flowers and vines and...three figures amongst them. was this made before the harem had grown?

he snapped that thought closed and hoped to open it later, carefully fanning the device against his face as he slid one foot before the other and nailed a safe pirouette that had taken him an unimaginable amount of time to perfect with his mentor. he could tell the others were holding their breaths, caught between the anxiety of mark's fan in his untrained hands and the fluidity and elegance of his movements. this was what he had wanted. he just wanted renjun to understand him, and see him for what he was; a very broken and angry boy ready to pry his life back from the cold hands of the world that had taken it from him.

the fan sparkled against the overhead chandelier that looked like it costed more than donghyuck's life if he were to be sold. and there it was he found the metal streaking along the red, the pointed tips to the ends of the wood and the clean polish of it all. if he were to drag this through the air too close to skin, he could've severed arteries.

the discovery made him nervous, and donghyuck tried to put it out of his mind as he continued...but it lingered. one wrong hand movement and he may not have had a hand at all. the song was drawing close to its end and he clung to that knowledge, closing his eyes once more and being placed straight back in that car with those city lights he hadn't seen in a very long time. did they still look how he remembered? was the smell of food and people and gasoline still as prominent on the pavements? he wanted to know. he could nearly touch those memories.

and then he felt arms over his hips, a body between him and the fan, and soon it was carefully pried from his fingers and was led in a dance of his own creation. finally he could open his eyes and found mark guiding him, opening and snapping the fan shut with terrifying precision as he spun hyuck perfectly to each beat, having the wooden weapon near him but only close enough to see it shine before it was brought elsewhere to flutter over them. he made it seem like it had a will of its own.

"is this allowed?" the omega whispered, a small smile inevitably reaching his lips when held like this. he was only too glad to have that thing taken out of his hands.

"surely. partners are more mesmerising, no?" mark grinned and lifted him with one arm, letting the fan spin between his fingers and create swirling patterns for the untrained eye as they too twisted and finally stopped as the music came to a close, hyuck lowering down to the floor and catching a kiss from the very clever beta.

chatter broke out but sounded like white noise as donghyuck carefully handled the fan mark was hesitant to give back to him. "this thing feels like it could cut you just looking at it," he thought aloud, opening it once more to view the beautiful paintwork.

"mhm, i does, doesn't it? actually, i taught myself the fan dance alone when jaemin and jeno were too busy for me back in the day. before anyone else was in the harem..." he took a moment to picture that time and didn't seem to like it as much as one would've expected. "well, i showed it to them when they insisted, and as you can imagine, they really liked it. i taught jaemin too, and they had a fan made for me. a dangerous one. something i could use to defend myself in a reception...my first one, i think. like you."

"then why do the others have one?"

"because we all know the fan dance," he laughed lightly and ruffled the boy's hair. "you'll get one too, eventually. when we work out what area it is you're strongest in. i'm a close range fighter, as you know, so this..." he touched his fingertips against the shining metal breaching the dark wood painted red.

"where did you learn that?" jaemin questioned as he led the rest over. even renjun had been with them, it seemed, discussing how he'd done. "it was pretty cool. teach me!"

"i don't remember it," hyuck admitted apologetically.

"not bad for improv," jeno granted and if anyone knew jeno well, it looked like he was impressed.

"it was certainly...eye-catching," renjun agreed and between him and donghyuck, he gave a small nod of approval, allowing him to take this victory with the others.

"thanks," the omega beamed, tucked against mark's side as he answered all sorts of questions about their training. he felt on top of the world yet again and pushed the knowledge of his final exam to the back of his mind, even if only for an hour. it was the one he dreaded the most and had practiced for the most. but if real criminals got involved...he dreaded to think what he was going to do to get out of that situation.

the lunch break had only been a small reprieve. the crushing reality of having to fight so soon was weighing heavily on hyuck's mind, and he couldn't breathe. he'd found himself at a window on the second floor, staring out at the land beyond. countryside surrounded this place for miles, and he couldn't grasp where they were yet, or how long it had taken them to get here from seoul. his own feelings of insignificance and smallness made his heart pound hard against his chest, and he placed his hand over that space, feeling it fight.

"you look like you're about to be sick," jaemin nudged him as he shuffled over to stand by his side, peering out into the world outside. at least when he was alone with one other person he wasn't quite so suffocated by his thoughts.

"yeah? i'm not very good at hiding it then."

"it'll be fine. you've vastly over-performed in all the other areas, and i have no doubt your training in the ring has been just as fruitful."

"sure, against dummies or chenle. i can't fight someone who really wants me dead..."

"don't think of it that way. think of it..." the platinum blonde considered and smiled faintly, "think of it as a means to an end. the men and women you'll be pitted against, potentially, if not renjun, will be rapists and murderers and other sick weirdos. i'm not saying we aren't crazy," he admitted and pressed his fingers against the window distractedly, "cause we've killed people too. but we do this to survive, and for a tradition we've been trained to live up to all our lives. these people you'll see, hyuck..." his voice faltered, "they aren't innocent. they're not just normal criminals."

the omega wanted to respond with something clever. something along the lines of 'and so what if they're insane? a life is a life!' but he couldn't quite get it out, and so he was here, staring out the window. his lip got tugged between his teeth before his mind was forced to travel elsewhere. anywhere but the matter at hand. "if i ran straight out there, and just kept going forward," he hummed, "where would i end up?"

"are you planning to?"

"no."

"alright, then i suppose it's safe to say i'm not entirely sure," jaemin chuckled lightly and their shoulders touched from the movement. "i've always had a car, you see. it's quite hard to find this place, and jeno made sure of that fact."

"am i allowed out yet? on my own?" he glanced at the taller boy and flinched when he saw his expression grow pinched.

"no, lovely...you're not."

"why though—?"

"because you're not. honestly speaking, you might never be allowed to go anywhere on your own under normal circumstances."

donghyuck felt a strange twist in his stomach — the same kind he felt when he'd been told his only options were to stay here or die. and now, thinking back, he wondered if he'd even been killed or just held in detention until he was forced to agree. he didn't like imagining these things, because for once he was happy and strong and beautiful, but it all came with a price.

he was their only, functioning omega.

"be honest with me," he whispered, keeping his gaze straight ahead on one of the gardeners weeding the roses. "if i were to run, he'd find me, wouldn't he? jeno would."

"oh he would. we've invested in you now and you've been quite the pleasant surprise in terms of potential and talent. although you wouldn't want to be anywhere out there anymore." jaemin tried to seem a little lighter once the tone of the conversation grew heavy. "out there, the gangs will find you. one of the dolls. you'll be worth quite a lot now, i imagine. that's why renjun's getting all upset about this reception. you're the easiest target."

"i'm not some child that needs to be left at home. i can make my own decisions."

"oh you'll grow out of that soon," he smiled again, but it was forced. "the dancing, the pills, the sex, killing people...is it really a choice? or have we been conditioned to think it is? i don't know anymore. i was too young to argue...and now i'm a pretty thing in a golden cage."

"you're in love with him—"

"and he's a victim too, isn't he? we've had fingers in our faces all our lives telling us what to be. you want us to be bad? we can be bad. if it'll save us..."

"i...don't want that. i don't want to fight today. i want to go outside."

jaemin didn't answer this time but did give him a small, encouraging look. "we will keep you safe, to the best of our abilities. but the point of no return is long behind you, and now whatever you thought were your own decisions and actions are now accredited to us, as a unit. you know who's got your life on a piece of paper in a drawer, and that's that."

"and what if i die?"

"now that," the boy crinkled his nose and waved the notion off completely, "is not in the cards for you. i don't think i've ever seen someone want to live so badly before in my life."

"what do you mean?"

"can't you see it from my shoes," he smirked and took hyuck's hands to slowly walk them around and change places. "if you'd really considered taking that way out, you wouldn't have kicked and screamed in the solitary confinement chamber. you wouldn't have demanded to be released, to take pills, to be trained instead of disposed of. your life is as precious to you as it is to jeno, and therefore you both have that in common."

donghyuck let go of the boy's hands and took a step backwards. he wasn't wrong, which was the terrifying thing. but these overwhelming doubts and concerns surfaced every once in awhile and reminded him that this wasn't paradise or a new chance at life. it was simply another pocket life he'd found and was now trapped inside, and his brain wanted to forget that most of the time.

"you're right," he whispered and took a deep breath to steady his heart that had continued to pound relentlessly. "i don't want to die."

"good. now show me that in the ring."

>>>>>

the rules were simple. renjun didn't trust himself to fight donghyuck, and so the doll would have to kill a criminal or two to pass. in theory it should've been easy, but again in practice it didn't quite live up to that. but unlike the dancing that could be improvised and appreciated in different ways, murder was murder and there was no two ways about it.

geared up and getting checked over by chenle, lee donghyuck felt like he was on the verge of fainting. "all good?" the taller boy asked, tightening the straps on his bare arms, clipping the clasp over the top of the zip along his chest to keep it down.

"no. not good. i think i might have my ass handed to me today. i don't think this is something i'm going to win."

"it'll be fine. you know, jisung was the same, supposedly. you've heard the tale."

"he told me that closing my eyes would help."

"no, definitely don't do that. follow what i've taught you. he's a long-range fighter, a sniper at the best of times, and squinting is his specialty. i'm telling you, keep your gaze on the goal."

"chenle...i think i might be sick."

"save it for after you've won."

"i can't do this."

"time to go," the ravenette sighed and briefly took hyuck's pale face in his hands. "just go out there and do what feels right. you're ridiculously talented and jeno will have protective measures in place for you. not only that, i'll be on the sideline if anything goes pear shaped, y'know?"

"okay," the blonde nodded grimly, earning a kiss to his cheek and getting pushed out of the gear rooms and into the impressive, well-hidden arena he always practiced in. but this time he wouldn't have plastic and wooden daggers and a teacher who didn't want to kill him. it would be like the dance earlier, with a fan that threatened to cut his hands, and his legs hoping to reconstruct memories of moves.

he dragged his feet to the centre of the dirt circle and looked up to see the five others sitting in the bleachers. chenle was light on his feet by the side as he'd promised, ready for anything.

renjun's voice rang loud and clear. "there will be three sequences, or waves, to pass." he gave a pause, "and you need to be the last man standing."

"what?! how many guys are we talking?" donghyuck hissed from below them, the lights so bright their faces were simply fractured and blurred.

"you shall see, i guess. best of luck, hyuck. surprise us."

the one who was expecting to be most surprised was in fact the omega himself. his heart dropped to his feet when a loud buzzer went off like at a football match and a door slid open automatically from an exit of the ring donghyuck had never used. he backed up, shielding his eyes against the lights and huffing out a concerned breath.

a barred fence rattled back on wheels as well after the door, and finally two figures emerged in tattered, grey prison uniforms. a man and a woman, and they both seemed desperate and a little pissed.

am i really going to die here? he wondered, naturally keeping alert to them. they edged over slowly and carefully until the three were circling each other cautiously.

hyuck could only hope they didn't have a lot of martial prowess. "h-hey?" he tried.

"don't bother," chenle called, eager to watch them start. "their reward for winning is freedom. empathy won't cut it this time."

of course it didn't. donghyuck never had ideas when he needed them the most.

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...to be continued