Sunggyu’s eyes fell to the floor, his mouth pursed in a straight line. He was wearing his uniform, pristine from washing it the night before so he could look as good as possible. Today he was going to get promoted. Today he was going to fulfill his goal of getting to the Capital Building.

He may have been achieving something but it didn’t feel like it. In fact, he felt lower than he had in a long time. There were so many people coming up to him and patting him on the back but he just couldn’t acknowledge any of the praises. All of the words went into his ears only to disappear before he could fully understand what they were saying.

People were gathering in front of the small stage set up in the city’s square but everything just seemed like a blur. So many of his guard friends were standing in front of the stage, proud of him for getting promoted. But the shock from his breakup with Woohyun last night still lingered.

“Sunggyu.”

He looked up at the person who spoke to him. “Sir.” It was the captain of the guard from the Capital Building.

The man smiled at him. “Hey, kid. You look down. You’re about to be promoted. When I was in your shoes, I couldn’t have been happier!”

“Yeah.” Sunggyu forced a smile. “I should be happy, I guess. I’m just having a hard time focusing.”

“Why is that?”

“My boyfriend… broke up with me last night,” Sunggyu bit out. “He was going to come with my to the Capital Building… but that’s clearly not the case now.”

“Oh, Sunggyu, I’m sorry,” the man said. He placed a warm hand on Sunggyu’s shoulder. “That’s too bad.”

“Yeah, it is.” Sunggyu sighed.

A smile was sent his way by his elder. “Don’t worry about it. He’s missing out on someone as great as yourself. Go ahead and make your way to the stage, we’ll be starting soon.”

“Yes, sir,” Sunggyu replied, taking brisk steps to get on the stage.

The president was there already, sitting pristinely in his seat. His pressed suit didn’t seem to fit on the dingy stage. He took a seat next to a few other people who were receiving awards. The president nodded towards him as he walked up onto the stage and he nodded back.

As he took his seat, the person next to him pat his shoulder. “Congratulations, Sunggyu! You’re finally moving up today.”

Sunggyu smiled gently. “I suppose so. It’s an honor.”

“You bet it is! Man, next year, I’m going to work just as hard as you did. Maybe I’ll meet you in the Capital Building next year!”

“Perhaps you will.”

Sunggyu didn’t get a chance to say more after that, for the ceremony started. Despite the fact that it was supposed to be proud and happy, it felt a little desolate. Maybe it’s because the streets had been cleared for this event so there was no activity. And maybe it was the way the announcer’s voice boomed through the empty streets and echoed. It made everything seem empty.

Sunggyu’s eyes scanned the crowd, his gaze brushing across the unrecognizable faces in the audience. He didn’t know so many of the faces. Without Woohyun in the crowd for him, it felt like his achievement was nothing. He felt so underwhelmed. He wasn’t even paying attention to the speeches or ceremony happening around him. Sunggyu could only sit in his seat, his eyes glassy as his head was wrapped in thought.

His attention was only reengaged when he felt a tap on his shoulder and realized that everybody was looking at him expectantly. “Hm…?” he murmured, glancing at the person beside him.

“He called you up!” the boy beside him hissed. The boy was now wearing a gold pin on his lapel. Upon seeing it he remembered when he had received the same gold pin a few years back. Woohyun was there at the time, congratulating him and telling him how handsome he looked.

But Sunggyu snapped out of his daze just enough to be able to stand up and walk over to the center, where the president was speaking. He worked up enough strength to smile as he reached out to shake the president’s hand.

“Congratulations, Sunggyu,” the president said, grinning at him. “You will be joining me and others in the Capital Building from now on. How do you feel?”

Sunggyu paused, his smile faltering at the edges briefly. “I feel…”

Words couldn’t come out of his mouth. He bit at his lip, trying to find the words to say. His eyes wandered once more, searching the crowd below the stage as if they could feed him words or tell him what to do.

“Look at him, he’s speechless!” someone behind him on stage called out. The crowd tittered with laughter and Sunggyu chuckled as well.

“I guess speechless is a good way to describe how I feel,” he joked, watching as the audience laughed.

As he looked at the crowd, his eyes fell upon someone familiar. Sunggyu’s breath hitched violently in his throat as his gaze landed on Woohyun. Woohyun was here, looking up at him regretfully, while standing in the sea of people. Sunggyu wanted nothing more than to jump down and get him back. He wanted Woohyun back in his arms, back in his embrace and more importantly, back as his boyfriend.

“Cat got your tongue, Sunggyu?”

Sunggyu looked back at the president, a new warmth blooming in his chest after having spotted Woohyun in the crowds. “A little,” he replied with a smile more genuine than before. “Maybe I’m just nervous is all?”

“Maybe that’s it,” the president seemed to agree. “Well, you’ll be less nervous after moving in to the Capital Building. Thank you for all the hard work you did, putting insects in jail and keeping the terrible rebels at bay. You have aided us in cleaning the filth.”

“It was the least I could do,” Sunggyu replied proudly. “It is my duty–”

Sunggyu’s words were cut off when the loud sound of a bang went off. Everyone was clamoring around in shock, trying to make sense of what had happened. Sunggyu was quick on his feet as he pushed the president backwards – it was an ambush, it had to be.

The air was suddenly filled with yelling as people dressed in black with masks started running towards them with their fists and voices raised.

“Damn it, now of all the times they could attack?” Sunggyu muttered under his breath angrily. He turned to the soldiers standing on the stage and shouted, “Get the president out of here! Now!”

“Sir!” the replied, moving immediately to get the president to a safe place.

Sunggyu jumped off of the stage, regretting that he didn’t have any weapons on him. The uniform he wore was so starched it was almost difficult to move. But his priorities were more important than his uniform – his priority right now was to get Woohyun to safety.

“Woohyun!” he cried out, shoving away people in his way. “Woohyun, answer me!” Straining his ears, he could hear the faint sound of his name being called out and he turned towards it at once. “Woohyun, I’m coming!” he screamed. “Stay where you are!” With all the panic and commotion around him, it was difficult to make any sense of the situation. He just needed to get Woohyun out and to safety. With all the bodies pushing up against his, Sunggyu had to struggle to shove his way towards Woohyun’s voice.

There was a hissing sound that made Sunggyu stop in his tracks. He paused momentarily and looked around at the people surrounding him. And in that moment he noticed that all of the rebels dressed in black were also wearing goggles.

“,” he whispered. He looked down at his feet and watched in horror as a white gas was starting to swirl around it. “!” he cursed. “Woohyun!” He covered his mouth and nose with his sleeves. He could feel the smoke starting to irritate his eyes as he pushed people out of his way.

“Woohyun!” he called out.

It didn’t take even a second for the sound of Woohyun’s scream to reach his ear. The nhe saw Woohyun with his hands bound as he was being dragged away into an alleyway by masked men. His mouth was gagged and Sunggyu ran after him. He sprinted out of the white cloud of smoke he was encased in and ran directly to the alleyway he saw Woohyun disappear to. It didn’t matter if he could get hurt, what mattered was that Woohyun escaped this situation live and unharmed.

So when he turned into the dark, quiet alleyway, he was more than relieved to find Woohyun just sitting there with no one near him. It was strange, but he was safe.

“Holy , Woohyun,” he gasped, out of breath. “Thank goodness you’re okay.”

Woohyun looked up at him sorrowfully, his mouth pressed into a line. “Hyung, I’m… I’m so–”

Sunggyu crouched down and hushed him, shaking his head. “No, don’t worry, baby. Don’t worry about anything.” He kissed Woohyun’s forehead gently. “I’ll get you out of here. You don’t need to love me again, just let me get you to safety.”

Woohyun shook his head sadly and looked up at Sunggyu with misty eyes that were dark with regret. “I’m sorry, hyung. I’m so, so sorry.”

“What are you talking about?” Sunggyu asked confusedly, his eyebrows furrowed.

But Woohyun only apologized again, looking down at the ground guiltily. “I’m sorry,” he repeated. “If it were up to me I wouldn’t do this, I’m so sorry.”

“Woohyun–”

Sunggyu couldn’t say another word before a rag was shoved over his mouth and nose. He struggled against the tight hold for a few seconds before his vision went fuzzy and ultimately black. The last words he could hear before he out were hissed lowly in his ear.

“Good night, Captain.”

“Hyung, can I talk to you?”

Myungsoo turned to look at Daeyeol who had whispered to him quietly. His sisters were huddled with Sungyeol, who was whispering stories to them. With a quick nod, Myungsoo replied, “Sure. What did you need, Daeyeol.”

Daeyeol pursed his lips together and furrowed his eyebrows. He seemed to be searching for the correct words to say. “I just… I just wanted to ask you something.”

“Go for it. What did you want to know?”

“I just… how long have you and Sungyeol-hyung been part of this? This underground group. How long?”

Myungsoo blinked. “We have been in this for many years, Daeyeol. Sungyeol and I have been secretly working here for a long time.”

Daeyeol frowned as he replied, “Then why didn’t you guys tell me about it? All these years… All these years, I didn’t know! My brother was in danger and I didn’t even know! All those rebels being talked about on the radio for years were you guys all along and I didn’t know!” He stared at the ground angrily.

“Daeyeol, hey–”

“Maybe I’m overreacting.” Daeyeol huffed as he crossed his legs. “Maybe I’m just… thinking too hard. You two are safe and that’s all that should matter, right?”

“No,” Myungsoo said, scooting closer next to him. He placed a hand on his shoulder and said, “It is okay to be upset. We’ve kept this secret from you guys for so long, it’s okay to be mad.”

“I just–… I feel like if I could have known sooner, I could have joined sooner!”

Myungsoo was the one to furrow his eyebrows this time as he asked, “What?”

“I want to help,” Daeyeol repeated, his eyes large and earnest. The way determination sparkled in his eyes reminded Myungsoo of Sungyeol. “I’ve always wanted to help, I just didn’t know how.”
“Daeyeol, you’re still a little young to be joining us. It’s risky.”

“I know but what if I can make a difference?” he responded. “I just feel like… if I had been able to join, I could have prevented my parents getting arrested somehow.”

Myungsoo replied, “Daeyeol, that’s not your fault. You couldn’t have done anything.”

“I know, but what if I could have?!” Daeyeol exclaimed. “I’m sorry for burdening you with these feelings, but I… I just wish I had known! I could have fought those nasty guards off or something. I could have been able to protect my siblings more. I have so many regrets, Myungsoo-hyung. And when I look back at them, I feel like they all could have been fixed had I joined this organization.”

“That’s not true, Daeyeol,” Myungsoo said reassuringly. “Listen – it doesn’t matter what you did or didn’t do, this was unavoidable. Don’t beat yourself up. Your brother does that enough for the both of you.”

Daeyeol laughed lightly. “Yeah, I guess so.”

“You’re like your brother in a lot of ways,” Myungsoo told him genuinely. “You’re both very brave and very willing to give yourselves up for the ones you love. It’s very admirable, Daeyeol. The fact that you were brave enough to follow your brother here without explanations to keep your sisters safe speaks louder than any past regrets you have.”

Daeyeol smiled. “Thanks, Myungsoo-hyung. I’m glad you’re part of our family.”

“It’s not a problem.” Myungsoo smiled back, clapping a firm hand on Daeyeol’s shoulder. “But if this issue is eating you up, I might have a solution.”

“You do?”

“Yeah. If you’re anything like your brother, I think I might have a book that could interest you.”

Daeyeol’s face fell. “I can’t… I can’t read like my brother can though. His reading level is so much higher than mine. And I haven’t read since they burned down the libraries.”

“Then I’ll read to you.”

Daeyeol and Myungsoo looked up to find Sungyeol looking down and smiling at them. Yerin was in his arms and Yeoreum was at his side. The three sat down together in front of Myungsoo and Daeyeol.

“I can read to all of you,” Sungyeol said gently. “It’ll help us all get our mind off things until we can get mom and dad back, right?”

“Yeah,” Daeyeol agreed, visibly relaxing with his family in front of him. “Will you and Myungsoo still leave after we get mom and dad back?”

Sungyeol shared a small glance with Myungsoo before slowly nodding. “I believe so.”

“How will you get them back though?” Yeoreum asked. “Do you know where they are?”

“Not yet, we don’t,” Myungsoo said. “But Hoya said that by the end of today, we will have information.”

“How is he getting it?”

“I don’t know. But one thing is for sure – when Hoya wants something, he will get it.”

Sungyeol nodded. “But it’s nothing for us to worry about. For right now, we just need to get by. So let’s relax today, alright? And we can read a book. Myungsoo, do you want to go get it?”

Myungsoo nodded and stood up, placing a chaste kiss on Sungyeol’s forehead. “Yeah, I’ll go get it.”

When Sunggyu came to, there was a blindfold covering his eyes. When he tried to move he found himself stuck from the rope burning at his wrists. His legs had also been bound to the chair he was sitting on. He had no inkling as to where he was or who was around him. But he could hear noises coming from his left and right – the sound of shoes on cement. And then there was the sound of an airy, humorless chuckle.

“Well, look who decided to wake up.”

“Who are you?!” Sunggyu yelled viciously as he struggled against the ropes around his wrist. “Where did you take me?!”

“Quiet down or you won’t be able to hear me.”

“No!” he barked. “I will not calm down until you tell me where I am and what you plan to do with me.”

“Calm down, Captain, and I’ll take off your blindfold.”

Despite not wanting to follow the orders of whoever was speaking, Sunggyu stilled anyways. He felt a pair of hands removing the cloth covering his eyes. Once it was off, he blinked rapidly, trying to adjust his eyes to the dark room.

“There you go, Captain. Isn’t that more comfortable?”

Sunggyu glared up at the man who was looking down at him, smiling. “I can’t really say I’m comfortable, considering you have me tied up.”

The man smirked at him, backing up as if to look at Sunggyu as a whole. Sunggyu hated it, he felt like a piece of meat waiting to be slaughtered.

“What do you want from me?” he spat.

“Whoa there tiger, not so fast. We can get to that in a bit.” The man in front of him laughed. “Let’s introduce ourselves first. You can call me Hoya.”

Sunggyu snorted. “And you can call me Captain.”

The man laughed haughtily, as if mocking the title. “That’s funny, Sunggyu, it’s really funny.”

“Sunggyu–?!”

“Don’t look so surprised there. It would be so rude of us to invite you without knowing your name,” Hoya said.

“You’re not funny,” Sunggyu stated dangerously. “And if you don’t let me go right now, I’ll–”

“You’ll what? Call your guards? Call your pathetic legion that does nothing but hurt us?” Hoya scoffed. “I don’t know if you noticed, but you’re kind of isolated, Captain. And you have no clue where we are.”

Breathing heavily, Sunggyu searched the room with his eyes, trying to find anything familiar to help him figure out where he was. But he was in a cement room – from the floor to the ceiling, it was all cement. There were no windows or light. Sunggyu had no idea where he was.

“You see? No way of escape for you,” Hoya chuckled mercilessly. “So you won’t have a choice but to cooperate.”

“I would never cooperate with you,” Sunggyu replied stubbornly. “I would never assist you or your pack of dogs! All you lot ever do is cause trouble and try to disturb the peace.”

Hoya’s mocking smile fell as his eyebrows furrowed. “Me and my pack of dogs? You think we’re the cancer of this city? You’re wrong there, Captain.”

“Don’t make me laugh this time,” Sunggyu bit back, a chuckle of his own escaping into the tense air. “You think you’re doing any good by attacking the authority? By raiding shops owned by the government? You’re not. You’re just making us angrier.”

Sunggyu winced as Hoya grabbed his hair to pull him forward. “Maybe that’s exactly what we want. You’ve obviously ignored the unfair system of this city. And maybe we want you to be angry for once instead of us.”

Ripping his head away, Sunggyu glared up at Hoya. “So is this what you want? To make me angry?! Is that all you want from this?”

“Oh, no. Not even close.” Hoya crossed his arms and stood in front of Sunggyu firmly. “I need information and you’re going to give it to me.”

Sunggyu was the one to scoff this time, rolling his eyes. “You clearly didn’t think this through if you thought I would talk. You wouldn’t be able to do anything to make me talk,” he spat out.

“Then I’ll only ask you this once,” Hoya stated. “Your guards took something – someone – that belongs to me. And I want to get him back.”

“You’ve run out of luck if you think I can get him back for you.”

“I don’t expect you to. I just want to know where he is.” Hoya narrowed his eyes at him. “You know where they take prisoners, don’t you? You should have arrested enough of them to know.”

Sunggyu pursed his lips and sat up straight. “And if I know? You won’t even release me. There’s no reason for me to even speak.”

Hoya laughed humorlessly and rolled his eyes. “Listen, Captain – there are two ways we can do this. There’s an easy way and a hard way. And you know what? I highly recommend doing this the easy way so that no one gets hurt.”

“So what – you’re going to hurt me? I’m the captain of the guard. You’ll find that my pain tolerance is higher than what you probably expect.”

“Then I’ll only need to ask you once,” Hoya said, his voice biting. “Where do they put the prisoners when they take them to Capital Building? What do they do with them?”

Sunggyu smirked. “They kill them off as soon as they get to the building. Whoever you’re looking for is dead.”

With anger flashing dangerously in his eyes, Hoya punched Sunggyu across the face. Sunggyu winced, pulling back to send a sharp glare at Hoya. “You’re lying,” Hoya seethed, yanking at Sunggyu’s hair unforgivingly. “You have to be lying!”

“Am I?” Sunggyu smiled coldly. “You won’t know, will you? You can hurt me all you want but you’ll never get an answer from me. Or maybe you will, but you’ll be too dimwitted to realize the truth.”

“I’ll give you one more chance,” Hoya growled, his canines revealing themselves. “Tell me where he is! Tell me where they keep Dongwoo!”

“Oh, Dongwoo, is it? That’s your precious boy, isn’t it? The one you’re willing to hurt me for?” Sunggyu’s eyes lit up in crude amusement. “What do you want me to tell you about him? Oh I know – how about the one where he’s forced into being a human experiment? That’s a good one, isn’t it?”

Another punch was thrown at Sunggyu’s face as Hoya glared viciously at him. “How many of your games are you willing to play, Sunggyu? I told you there would be two ways to do this.”

“And this is the easy way, am I right? You can’t hurt me anymore because if you do, I won’t be alive to give you the information you want. But at the same time if you don’t hurt me, I won’t give you straight answers.” Sunggyu laughed at him coldly. “You didn’t think this through, did you? Now tell me, what is the hard way of doing this? I want to see what you’ve come up with.”

“The hard way? Believe me, you’ll wish you hadn’t asked.” Hoya grinned.

Sunggyu raised an eyebrow, at the blood that had trickled from his lip. “Hurt me as many ways as you can, Hoya. You can’t get an answer from beating me.”

“It’s not you who I’m beating.”

Sunggyu’s triumphant grin fell as Hoya turned his back and stalked over to the sole door to the room. He swung the door open and let in streaks of light that hurt Sunggyu’s eyes. But when his vision finally adjusted, his eyes widened at the sight he saw.

Hoya was dragging in Woohyun, bound by ropes.

“Woohyun…” he whispered, his hands clenching in shock.

“Let’s see,” Hoya seethed, “how much I can hurt you before you break.”

“No,” Sunggyu murmured, his eyes going wide as the first punch landed on Woohyun. Woohyun stumbled backwards, visibly shaken by the punch. “No, you can’t do this.”

Hoya grabbed Woohyun by the collar, laughing at Sunggyu’s remark. “Oh, I can’t?” He threw Woohyun down onto the floor and kicked him in the stomach. “You agreed to do it the hard way, Captain. And you haven’t told me what I wanted yet.”

Woohyun opened his eyes blearily, the sheer desperation in them piercing through Sunggyu’s soul. “Woohyun,” he muttered out again, trying to move his limbs. He wanted nothing more than to get up and help him. But he couldn’t budge from his spot – he was a captain for a reason.

“You’re not going to help him?” Hoya asked mockingly. He landed a slap across Woohyun’s face and the sound echoed dangerously throughout the room. “I expected more, Captain.”

Sunggyu shook his head, biting the inside of his cheek. His eyes were wide and his eyebrows were furrowed in shock and pain. He couldn’t bear to see Woohyun like this, not in front of him while he couldn’t do anything. He tugged against his restraints but with no avail.

“Woohyun!” he shouted in panic as he watched Hoya punch Woohyun in the face. “Don’t hurt him!” he begged. “Please, don’t hurt him!”

Woohyun coughed up blood onto the floor, as if the blood dripping from his brow wasn’t enough. Hoya laughed and kicked Woohyun in the leg harshly. “That’s close, but still not what I want to hear.”

The tears that sprung into Sunggyu’s eyes were hard to control as he heard Woohyun scream in front of him. He leaned forward as far as he could in his bound hands. “Please!” he shouted. “Let him go! It’s me you want, not him!”

But Hoya refused to listen. He pulled Woohyun up to his feet and landed a vicious blow against his chest and Woohyun screamed out. “Sunggyu!” he cried desperately.

“I’ll talk!” Sunggyu screeched, struggling against his binds as his voice scratched in desperation. “Please let him go, I’ll talk! I’m begging you! Don’t hurt him!”

Hoya smiled, letting go of Woohyun entirely. “There’s the answer I wanted. Now that you’re talking – give me the information I want.”

Sunggyu bent his head down in defeat, staring through misty eyes at the gritty floor below him. “T-They take prisoners to work their debt off in the Capital Building. Females are usually sentenced to being escorts while males fill in for empty jobs.”

“What kind of jobs?”

“Labor. Intense jobs like working in boiler rooms or hot kitchens. Jobs where they can easily die on the job.”

“Now how do I get into the Capital Building?”

Sunggyu bit his lip, not wanting to answer. He didn’t plan to answer but once he saw raise a leg over Woohyun, he spat out, “There’s an underground tunnel! In the middle of the Capital Square there’s a sewer grate. The guards use it after curfew to transport the prisoners to the Capital Building.”

Hoya stayed silent but he his satisfaction was evident from the smile on his face. He began to walk away, opening the door to the room as if to leave.

“That’s all you want, right?” Sunggyu asked bitingly. “That’s all you want?”

“Yes it is,” Hoya said smugly. His grin was taunting.

“Then let me help him,” Sunggyu pleaded, looking at Woohyun who was crumpled on the floor. “Please, just let me get to him.”

Hoya looked back and forth between the two of them before sighing. With a roll of his eyes, he walked behind Sunggyu and began undoing his ropes.

“I’m going to trust,” he said, “that you aren’t going to try to escape. If you know what’s best for him,” he nodded pointedly at Woohyun, “then you’ll stay put.”

As soon as Sunggyu’s ropes had been unknotted, he immediately rushed to Woohyun’s side. He lifted his boyfriend up carefully into his lap and hushed him while cradling him gently. He spoke to him in whispers, reassuring him that everything would be okay.

Sunggyu sent a glare pointedly at Hoya. “How cruel are you?” he asked in spite. “You kidnapped an innocent person.”

“Oh, no – we don’t kidnap innocent people. In fact, we didn’t even need to kidnap Woohyun.” Hoya grinned. “He’s been here the whole time.”

Sunggyu furrowed his eyebrows. “What–?”

Hoya cut him off. “I’m glad we had this chat. I got everything I needed. Thank you for your cooperation.” He slammed the door shut with a resounding thud and Sunggyu feared it might be the last one.

“Monster,” he muttered under his breath.

Woohyun coughed in his arms, trying to speak. Sunggyu shook his head and silenced him with the gentlest of kisses.

“Don’t talk, Woohyun. I’ll get us out of here, I promise.”

Woohyun’s hand reached out to hold his, his eyes looked up with regret. “H-Hyung,” he murmured sorrowfully. “I have a-a confession–”

“That can wait,” Sunggyu interrupted. “But believe in me, Woohyun. I’ll save us. I’ll get us out of here.”

Sunggyu was rendered speechless when Woohyun shook his head and burst into tears. He tried to console him by running his fingers through Woohyun’s hair – something he would do to comfort him when they were dating. But Woohyun kept crying and crying and shaking his head and muttering.

“You can’t save me, Sunggyu. You can’t.”

Myungsoo rested his head on Sungyeol’s back, finding comfort in the way it rumbled when he spoke. All of Sungyeol’s siblings were sprawled over his lap, starting to doze off as Sungyeol continued to read to them in a gentle voice. The book Myungsoo had brought back for them was To Kill a Mockingbird. He had originally planned to save it to give to Sungyeol for his birthday but now seemed like a good time to pull it out. 

Myungsoo loved it when Sungyeol read out loud. It was relaxing and soothing, like a hot bath after a long day’s work. Stories always came to life in Sungyeol’s voice. Maybe it was the fact that Myungsoo never had the chance to learn how to read much more than the essential everyday words, but he loved when Sungyeol could read big words to him and could explain the meaning behind them. There were so many meanings and so many ideas. Myungsoo couldn’t understand why the government would try to eliminate something as beautiful as reading.

He reached up and placed a feathery kiss on the back of Sungyeol’s neck lovingly. Sungyeol giggled at it, pausing his reading for a moment.

“Something to say?” he asked, turning his head slightly to look at his boyfriend.

Myungsoo smiled and kissed his cheek. “Nope. You just keep reading, baby.”

“You look like you want to do something else.”

“As much as I’d love to, I can’t, because your siblings are here,” Myungsoo whispered into his ear playfully. “So we’ll save it for another time.”

“Whatever you say, baby,” Sungyeol laughed. “I’ll be honest though, it will probably be after we leave.”

“Probably,” Myungsoo agreed, nuzzling his nose into Sungyeol’s neck. “But that’s okay. I can wait that long.”

“You sure?” Sungyeol asked playfully. “What if something doesn’t work out? And I can’t leave for longer than expected?”

Myungsoo kissed him again, poking his tongue out for just a moment to the shell of Sungyeol’s ear. “Then I’ll wait. If there’s anything in the world worth waiting for, it’s you.” Sungyeol turned his head and Myungsoo took the chance to kiss him deeply on the lips. When they separated, Myungsoo Sungyeol’s cheek with the back of his hand and smiled at him warmly. “But for now, just keep reading to me.”

“Alright.” Sungyeol smiled and turned back to the book.

Myungsoo laid his head back on his boyfriend’s back and waited for the soothing rumbles of his voice to fill the air.

“Shoot all the blue jays you want, if you can’t him ‘em, but remember it’s a sin to kill a mockingbird.”