Please scroll to the bottom for the poll! I'm working on the newest Hot Maknae, and I think I might have to go back and edit... a lot. As in maybe plot changes... So please tell me what your favorite chapter was in the poll! Brownie points if you tell me why in a comment.

Myungsoo is remarkably patient.

He gives Sungjong a full week to play, a full week to play with Sungyeol, a full week to call Sunggyu “Appa,” a full week to play with his heart.

Sungjong demands more.

Sungjong doesn’t want time. Sungjong has had time. Sungjong has had plenty of time, crying his eyes out on his bed with the door locked and a note telling Hoya-umma that he’s out for a run at three in the morning. Sungjong has had plenty of time, crying into an overly muscled chest as Hoya runs his fingers through Sungjong’s hair as delicately as he can while thinking of killing Myungsoo with those same fingers.

Sungjong has had plenty of time watching Myungsoo play with his heart.

Sungjong is remarkably patient.

But I’m not so innocent anymore.

Sungjong isn’t sure what he wants.

But Umma says he should want something. Hoya says it’s cruel to act this way without a reason, without something he wants from it. And there’s a part of Sungjong that does want something.

There’s a part of Sungjong that wants the old Myungsoo back.

There’s a part of Sungjong that still wants to hear those whispers, no matter how much he has to strain his ears and bite back his laughter. There’s a part of Sungjong that still longs for lemon drops, even when his personal stash is completely full. There’s a part of Sungjong that still wants to hold his hand, even if it’s just his shadow’s.

There’s a part of Sungjong that still cuddles with “Myungsoo,” punching the bear each night –why aren’t you here? –even though teddy bears slip when you punch them –why did you change?

Because everything about Myungsoo, his good points, his bad points, and the points that make him jump around wildly during the middle of video messages is unforgettable.

“Am I still being cruel?” The overly muscled chest is warmer than usual tonight, Sungjong thinks, as the tears stain yet another of Hoya’s shirts. He doesn’t hear Hoya’s ani, because he doesn’t have to. It’s too routine for Hoya to say anything else.

Dongwoo cracks the door open, he usually does after the sobbing subsides to sniffles. “Group hug time?” Sungjong nods, he usually does after having stolen so much couple time from Hoya and Dongwoo.

But even Dongwoo and Hoya combined aren’t as warm as Myungsoo.

You are really a bad bad boy.

“Can we talk?” Myungsoo’s voice is unfairly y. It always is. Sungjong strides past the pleading eyes, the pleading voice, the pleading male that he was –still is –so in love with. He just doesn’t want to admit it.

I hate you, he whispers. And he wishes he believed it.

But he doesn’t.

Myungsoo does.

Myungsoo can believe anything now, now that his world has been shattered and flipped upside down. Part of him thinks he deserves it, just for wanting a creature as pure as Sungjong. Those white wings don’t deserve his blackened touch.

It doesn’t stop him from wanting Sungjong more.

What Myungsoo doesn’t know is those white wings aren’t so pure anymore. Those white wings have been tipped in ash and smoked gray. And Sungjong doesn’t mind. He’ll do anything to forget Myungsoo –forget that he’s in love with Myungsoo.

Myungsoo’s blackened touch –blackened desires, desires to cage Sungjong in his arms until every inch of those pure wings are covered with his soot –it reaches out towards Sungjong. “What’s going on, Jongie?”

Shut up. Stop looking so hurt. Stop looking so gorgeous. Stop looking like the man I fell in love with.

Please just give up.

Sungjong isn’t crying. He’s sniffling. There’s a difference. He’s sniffling while resting on his bed, not crying his eyes out. He’s sniffling while hoping and dreaming that maybe Myungsoo would just give up.

Because it’d be so much easier that way.

Sungjong flips the photo frame down, traces his fingers against the Polaroids still plastered across the wall.

It’d be easier if Myungsoo just gave up, because Sungjong can’t bring himself to.

I hate you, he chants. He does this every night. Maybe he’ll believe it tomorrow. But with each lie, his white wings become a little grayer. Maybe tomorrow, he’ll have blackened enough to deserve Myungsoo’s blackened touch.

Until then, Sungjong’s not a hot maknae. He’s beyond hot –he’s on fire. And he doesn’t plan on stopping.

I hate you.

Forget you.

Just give up.

Because I can’t.

Hoya is this close to calling an intervention. It isn’t because Myungsoo is the one staining his shirts with tears now. Well, it might have contributed a bit.

Hoya is ready to call an intervention, because the soft white down that has always defined Sungjong has become nothing more than charcoal plumes. “It’s that bad, eh?” Sungjong laughs. He pokes at his skin a little. It’s more than bad. “Maybe some sleep will fix it up! Or a mask, I’ve got plenty of masks.”

But all the digging in that cosmetics drawers of his can’t compare to a second of digging through his heart.

Am I still being cruel?

And this time, maybe Hoya won’t be able to say no. Because maybe, Sungjong is being a little cruel. But even then, there’s not much Hoya can do, but clench at the pain in his chest as he watches his baby struggle and change. There’s not much Hoya can do, but hope Sungjong can forget Myungsoo –no matter how impossible it seems.

 Because the reason he’s become so spiteful, the reason those beautiful white puffs have gone up in smoke, is Myungsoo.

The reason I became a witch,

Because, it’s all because of you.

Myungsoo-ah, you really are a bad bad boy.

But you know what?

I’m not so innocent either.

And it’s all because of you.