The tumult of the party inside the mansion, slightly blocked by the beautifully carved and painted walls, combined with the vivid usual sound of a summer night, enveloped Jaehwan, with his head on Taekwoon's in a warm yet breezy embrace.

A loud sigh from Jaehwan came along with a concerned question raised by a silky soft voice, painting the the atmosphere a lenient warm color.

"Are you tired?"

"I have always been tired, Taekwoon ah." The lean on his shoulder felt more pressed as time went by slowly, the same as how a comfortable warmth was soothing Taekwoon's body. "Hongbin has been quite active lately, on bed. He gives me more punishments than usual, but it's not like i'm complaining you know." Jaehwan's giggle tickled Taekwoon a little bit, making the stoic man blush visibly even under just a few lights of the farden and the beautiful shine of the moon. "Punishments have always been interesting to me, it just makes the pleasure way more intense. Don't you think so?" 

Jaehwan looked at Taekwoon with those infamous round eyes that the whole city was drawn to, even the seemingly nonchalant man himself, as if the younger was expecting a small sympathy, no other than an implied congratulation. Yet the only thing he received was an unchanged face, and an almost inaudible amused voice.

"I, I have never had, before. So, I guess?" Taekwoon's neck was taken back, almost sunk in his own chest, surrounded by a crimson haze from automatic embarrasment, right in front of those widen eyes and opened mouth of Jaehwan's. "G-Good for you."

Jaehwan slapped his forehead in amusement as he uttered a ridiculous chuckle. He just couldn't believe it. But Taekwoon never lied.

"Oh my ing god. Are you saying Sanghyuk has never punished you before? The famous mischievous young lord Han Sanghyuk has never done s with his toy? Are you ing serious?" The younger let the alcohol take effect, make him curse while knowing for sure Taekwoon was always easily taken aback by such words. 

"Why then? Why does he not do that to you then? Is he busy? No, Sanghyuk always has time for ing. That kid loves . Or-" Sound just stopped being spoken, time just seemed to be prevented from flowing. A sudden lump turned up in Jaehwan's throat, as the care he had always had for Taekwoon was reminded to himself.

"I think we should go back to the party. Hongbin maybe is finding both of us." The tone changed way too surprisingly, it gave Taekwoon no time to function, his legs only stumbled behind with his wrist in Jaehwan's strong grip, and reality only hit him when the atmosphere turned from his favourite summer air, to the thick smell of booze and stuffy place of chatting and yellow lights. They had been back to the party, where Jaehwan noticed Taekwoon's stiffness and took him out in the first place.

Taekwoon's glance unknowingly danced around to find the desired silhouette, yet failed miserably among the terrifying amount of people in the ballroom and their distracting nonstop talking. The feeling of being lost began to panic him, like a daily inevitable pain, even Jaehwan's grip couldn't bring his head back to earth at this point.

It wasn't until the third time of his name being called, was Taekwoon snapped out of his chain of thought and finally noticed the precense of Hongbin and Jaehwan, or even his seemingly drunk master. 

____________________________

"Sanghyuk, can we get to play with Taekwoonie tonight? He said he had never had punishments before! You can't be a toy if you don't have the chance to enjoy toys!" Jaehwan's pout was way too out there for Sanghyuk's taste, at least when his head was covered by nothing but the uncomfortable ache, also with the inclusion of Hongbin's snigger. 

He didn't know what he said, the booze controled him all over, yet a flash of unreadable emotion on Taekwoon's face lingered in his head attachedly, yanked to somewhere far from him. It was the irritating sadness oozing out of Taekwoon's eyes that he refused to read. Sanghyuk had refused to care about him from day one anyway, except for the wonted glance which persuaded him into accepting the old toy as a gift from his grandfather, although the thought of the old man ing that taciturn one was nauseous to the point of giving shiver down his spine.

He almost vomited the first day when the scene of him ing the same toy with that 'ancient' person couldn't escape his own mind. But it didn't matter.

The only thing that mattered was the absence of Hyunseung.

____________________________

The next morning felt empty. As in the missing of a timid frame trying to take as little room as possible waiting at the end of his bed after his preparation for everything of Sanghyuk's morning. When his comprehension was finally put together, an abrupt sense of anger made him stomped out of the bed after a violent swish of sheets tossed away, internally threatened to crucify Taekwoon to hell if he couldn't find the toy in his bedroom. The urge to choke Hongnbin and Jaehwan with his own bare hands could only be stammed out when the visible hug of the white silk blanket on the older's body turned up behind the aggressively stamped door, as Sanghyuk's pant fast came back to normal breath. He wouldn't let his control slip out of his own hands again. Never.

Alproaching the bed, Sanghyuk tried to slightly opened to blanket to check on Taekwoon, yet unfortunately failed in hopelessness as the blanket was snatched with force, revealing a ball of Taekwoon under it.

All of his questions were answered, by the sight of puffy eyes and swollen lips, or heavy breathing and limp body. 

The lack of servants was no where to be found, but it sent him a light of betrayal when Taekwoon didn't appeared to help with all the work he was never signed up for. Ain't betrayal the thing he despised the most? 

____________________________

A breeze caused Taekwoon to squirm, waking him up to flutter his eyes at Sanghyuk, sitting on the side of his bed. Taekwoon almost whined out of exhaustion, but immediately sat up as he gained consciousness of his duty. 

"I-I'm sorry." Words were spoken in his usual monotone, without any change of expression on his face. "I'm g-I'm gonna do my work right now." People always asked his secret behind being able to blush and stutter while keeping a straight face, but the answer was always a short "I just, do it". He managed to stand up, yet completely failed with a loud thud on the floor, as expected from hig legs given up, and those abusive grips on his whole bodies by Jaehwan and Hongbin last night. He tried again. Failed again. Embarrassment was burning his face up, his body was going against his will to not disappoint his master with how useless he could become. Tried again. Failed again. He felt like crying. A sour taste filled up every single blood vessel of his, his breath soon became agonized under Sanghyuk's stare. The master was watching. And here he was, couldn't merely stand up to do any of his job.

After the fifth attemp, a long sigh froze every of his cells, tossed behind by Sanghyuk, telling him he didn't have to serve him till afternoon before leaving the room.

Drip drop. Drip drop. On the floor and the tremble of the poor toy.

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"Don't you want to sell him, Sanghyuk?" Hongbin cocked his eyebrow, sipping his favorite earl grey tea, didn't even try to avoid Sanghyuk's penetrating stare. "Oh come on, he told us, you know. How you only forced him to give head and ride you but never actually ed him or even remembered, cared, to let him ." 

The stare intensified.

"Okay, we actually used ring and other toys to make him spill out honestly. But if you don't even care about him, or toys, i don't mind buying him for Jaehwan. He is really fond of Taekwoon and easily gets lonely when i'm busy, and of course his shy nature really triggers me haha-"

"He is not for sale, Hongbin." The determined tone cut off his laugh tyrannically. "He is not."

"He hadn't been under anyone except us!" Hongbin noticed Sanghyuk's faint jolt. "The poor thing doesn't know what fun means, Sanghyuk! If he knows you keep him just because of his eyes he will probably leave with any chance he gets."

"He knows it." 

Hongbin's shrug was replaced by a brow raise.

_____________________________

"Look at me."

Taekwoon jumped, immediately raised his glance up to Sanghyuk, couldn't make out what expression was on his face behind his blurry eyes, with his master's down his throat. His inside was too muddled by his attempt to put down the urge to gag, as Sanghyuk never let him have any chance to catch his breath. 

"Don't you dare look away."

Sanghyuk's grunt made his cheeks colder and colder with the continous flow of tears, and there was no sign of it stopping, or the frantic s into his mouth stopping.

"You ing said you had never been under anyone before last night, to Hongbin. Then what did that old man do to you, huh? You yourself? You're slyer than your ing aloof figure, you ing liar."

Taekwoon's sobs became uncontrolable, and soon a bitter fluid came down his throat before Sanghyuk pulled it out for him to cough.

Taekwoon tried his best to respire, to not fall down on the floor helplessly, and to gain confidence to speak.

"Master, can i, speak?"

The wall of fearlessness he tried to build crumpled right at the moment Sanghyuk's glower appeared. An enormous lump started to stutter him, to tremble his lips, yet a surprise nod from his master stopped everything.

"Speak."

"I-I didn't do, anything with your grandfather. He b-bought me to be his m-maid."

Sanghyuk's back was facing him, so he couldn't know what face he was making.

"Who would buy a maid at a ing toy market? You tell me."

But an angry groan allowed him to imagine.

" off."

There were more words he wanted to say, but they stucked desperately on the way from his heart to his mouth, and all he could do to help himself was to silently leave.

 
A summer night in the garden like last night, without Jaehwan's joyful nagging, only Taekwoon with his legs in his chest and a shivering breath.

_____________________________

"Hongbin, you don't need to come here everyday." A glance at Jaehwan. "Also with that thing."

"I'm just giving Taekwoon some good time as to pay for the fun night we had." Signature dimpled smile that could beat the sun. "Don't tell me you hate him to the point of taking away every single drop of his happiness?? That's too cruel! Yet expected from the lord Han Sanghyuk." 

That irritating wink.

"I don't hate him. I don't care about him. But i can't stand liar."

"And what do you mean by liar, my dear Sanghyuk?" The concept of Taekwoon being anything but an adorable kitten seemed to always be unbelievable to Hongbin, or to Jaehwan, or to anyone, except for Sanghyuk.

"He said my grandfather bought him as a maid, not a toy, from the toy market. How convincing is that my lord Lee Hongbin?"

The older didn't stop cleaning the pearl head of his black cane, as indifferent as Taekwoon's face under any situation. There was no fun in acknowlegding a toy lying in its teeth to its master, especially when the master was a high-stated lord, to whom power mattered the most, moreover, when the said lord was the Han Sanghyuk.

The only escaped one under his sword, was the one and only Hyunseung.

"It's totally understandable when it comes to your grandfather's nature, Sanghyuk. I'm surprised his own grandchild doesn't even understand how kind he is." Hongbin was annoying Sanghyuk with his best fancied accent that the younger felt disgusted by all the time, a mere mimic after watching too many old rich men blabbing with each other. "Taekwoon is already too old to be a toy, my lord! And of course most of them don't even like a toy with such an intimidating look, mistakening my favorite feline eyes with a strong threat. At the age of the year he was bought by your grandfather, he must almost have been tossed away no better than a trash. The old man must have shown his compassion by buying Taekwoon out of pity, and he needed a maid that was willing to take care of his illness anyway."

It all made sense. Even more, when the image of his grandfather's coughing out blood and vomit under those servants' squeamish eyes, in those servants' hesistant hold, flooded back to Sanghyuk. It all made sense. How Taekwoon always took care of everything for Sanghyuk without being told, always did everything to pleasure Sanghyuk with meticulousity, even when he wasn't treated right. No, it didn't make sense. But it could. If everything Taekwoon did was to repay the passed away man, not out of the thing Sanghyuk wanted in denial.

A tantrum, at everything, and at himself. He didn't even let the poor toy finish his words. 

Since when did he care for the toy, except for his eyes.

Since when did he actually started to let the taciturn toy's equivocal sign of affection sink in his skin.

All of those thoughts were thrown away, because the only logical reason for all the unnecessary feelings to suddenly appear inside Sanghyuk, was his own sense of guilt.

He was waiting for Hyunseung.

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Note: When you read too much toy!AU fics and you can't keep it inside. Sorry for awkward English ;-;