After college, Taekwoon moved in with her five best friends to a large suburban house with a swimming pool in the backyard. 

She'd met Hakyeon back in middle school, followed him through college, where he introduced her to his friend, Jaehwan. Because she was in both performing arts classes (singing and dance - she's a musical theatre major, after all), Jaehwan invited her to do some work for the media arts guys - some sound booth recording and a dance performance to a song of her choice. The two men who Jaehwan said the work was for turned out to be Wonshik and Hongbin, Wonshik being a sound engineer and Hongbin being a cameraman, director and producer. They had gotten permission to do a joint project for their finals and had only needed a performer. From there, Hongbin introduced her to Sanghyuk, an ex-friend's little brother. The six of them had kind of become their own clique on campus, hardly ever going anywhere without each other and all with keys to everyone else's apartments. 

"Let's just move in together." Taekwoon suggested one day, laying across Hakyeon's legs with her torso resting on Hongbin while Wonshik played with her short hair. Sanghyuk looked up from her fingers and Jaehwan pulled away from where her hand was his hair. 

"Huh?" Jaehwan elegantly replied. 

"We live out of each other's back pockets anyway. Just cut costs and let's live together." She reasoned. 

"Okay. I'll look for a house." Hakyeon replied. 

That lead them to where they were now, the five boys splashing about in the pool while Taekwoon was curled up in jean shorts and an oversized black t-shirt in the shade, fast asleep on a reclining lawn chair. 

"You notice she never swims?" Hongbin commented from underneath the diving board. 

"Yeah." Sanghyuk, agreed, making a pouty face. "Noona never swims with us."

"I'm sure she has her reasons." Hakyeon reasoned. "She always does."

Wonshik shrugged. "Conserving modesty, maybe?"

"But she walks around the house in just a shirt and all the time. If she cared about modesty, would I know all the colours of her and their designs?" Jaehwan said. The other men all paused to look at him. "What?! She likes to lay on the couch. You all know that."

"Why were you checking out her at all, though? Like, enough to memorize them?" Sanghyuk shot back, eyebrow raised. 

"I'm a man. Of course I'm going to look when it's just free, right there."

"Prevert." Hongbin rolled his eyes before ducking underwater. The steel heart on his chest flashed metallic in the sunlight. 

Sanghyuk scratched his neck, where the black choker mark was. "Honestly, dude."

"What?! Like you don't." Jaehwan defended, slapping his arm down on the water's surface. 

"No, I don't." Sanghyuk replied. "I wouldn't invade her privacy like that."

"You know though," Hakyeon commented, kicking back off the wall. "I can't say I've ever seen Taekwoon's soulmate mark."

"Some to think of it, I haven't either." Wonshik murmured, looking up at the sky.

"Have you, boy?" Sanghyuk teased .

"Shut up, maknae! And no, I haven't. It's not like I watch her shower or anything!"

"You sure?"

"Shut up!"

Hongbin resurfaced on the other side of the pool, muscular body rippling as the sunlight danced over the water sliding down his abdomen. He shook out his hair.

"We should throw Taekwoonie into the pool." Jaehwan blurted.

"We absolutely should not." Hongbin replied instantly. 

A grin slowly crept over Sanghyuk's face. "We totally should."

"I'm not helping you two morons." Wonshik muttered before diving underwater to join Hongbin. The blue helmet of his soul mark, which he had affectionately nicknamed Rovix, was really bright against his skin, the yellow horns almost obnxious in their highlighter-esque radiance. Jaehwan's yellow rose (appearing right down the line of his stomach) was much more subtle and in his humble opinion, that made his much more attractive. Way more attractive than Hongbin and Wonshik, posed in the shallow end of the pool like they were surrounded by cameras. 

Hakyeon appeared behind both of them, decending from on high like the eomma he was to smack them both really hard on the back of the head.

"For a man with a heart on your hand, you're a real ." Jaehwan hissed, rubbing the spot. It was tender - he knew he was going to bruise. 

"Dickbag!" Sanghyuk shouted. 

Hongbin snickered and Wonshik just rolled his eyes.

"You leave Taekwoonie alone! Especially you, Han Sanghyuk!" Hakyeon was scary up close. "I'm not kidding!"

"Alright, alright!" Sanghyuk mollified. Hakyeon may be an eomma, but he was firghtening."I won't throw her into the pool."

Hakyeon nodded to himself, satisfied, and swam over to the edge of the pool, tossing back one more sharp look before he grabbed his towel and went inside. He had a dinner with his mother planned in a couple of hours and he didn't want to go to it reeking of chlorine and his four idiot housemates. As he stepped into the shower, though, he didn't think it would be too bad to smell like Taekwoon's perfume.

Outside, Sanghyuk grinned at Jaehwan. "I never said for how long."

Jaehwan's answering grin was more than enough. Unfortunately, Hongbin and Wonshik noticed too late and weren't able to stop the two boys from picking Taekwoon up from both ends (Sanghyuk at her shoulders and Jaehwan at her feet) and swinging her into the pool. When she hit the cold water, she squealed high enough to make the dog in the neighbouring yard whine. Wonshik almost made it in time to catch her before she hit the water, but not quite. She clung to him like the startled cat she very much resembled and when he brought her to the pool's edge, she scrambled out in no time. She was still shivering when she dashed over to them - caught in the vulnerable position of mid-laugh - and striking Sanghyuk in his solar plexus with the heel of her hand hard enough to knock him back into the pool. She grabbed Jaehwan next by the back of the neck, walking him up the diving board and pushing him belly-first back into the water. 

For all of her sweet demeanour, listening to us when we're sad and cooking all the time, Hongbin thought, we really do forget that she does taekwondo and can kick our asses.

"Just be grateful that my phone was on my blanket and not in my pocket." She hissed, very much a miffed kitten. She tsked down at her wet clothes and walked over to where Wonshik was still perched on the edge of the pool, grinning like a lunatic. Taekwoon very rarely fought back to their teasing, but it was obvious this was too much. "Thank you for catching me."

"No problem, noona. If you want, you can use my towel to dry off some."

"You can change into my shirt, if you want. Just so you don't drip in the house." Hongbin offered. 

She stiffened and reflexively shook her head. "I'll just take the towel. Thank you, Wonshik. I'll bring another out for you."

"Whatever's okay, noona." He passed off, an easy smile on his face. 

She wrapped the towel tight around her shoulders and ducked into the house. 

"Do you think her soulmate mark is on her body somewhere?" Hongbin asked. 

"Might be something ugly she doesn't like." Wonshik shrugged. "Maybe she's just uncomfortable showing her body. If she wants to, she will."

Hongbin shurgged back.

"That really hurt." Jaehwan pouted. 

Sanghyuk looked like he wanted to retort, but he was still clinging to the side of the pool, trying to catch his breath.

"Idiots." Hongbin laughed, ducking back under to start doing laps. 

---

As she said, Taekwoon did bring out another towel, this one extra fluffy. She was wearing an overlarge sweater, a little black belt holding it to her waist and high-waisted shorts. She had the sleeves rolled up and was working in the kitchen mixing eggs. Her eyes flickered up to them.

Hongbin sniffed the air, towel around his neck. "Pancakes?"

She shook her head. 

"French toast?" Sanghyuk tried. 

She nodded. 

"Awesome!" Jaehwan skipped over to her, bowing his head apologetically. "I'm so sorry, noona. Are you still going to feed me?"

She assessed him for a long moment before moving over to the fridge and bringing the eggs back out. The four men walked back to their rooms together, Jaehwan stopping Wonshik in the hallway. 

"Do you think she really wouldn't have made us food?" The poor man looked genuinely afraid. 

Wonshik shrugged. "Hey, you threw her into a pool while she was sleeping. I wouldn't cook for you."

---

Hakyeon came home around ten.

Taekwoon was laying on the floor, Wonshik hugging her waist from behind, Sanghyuk's head on her stomach, Jaehwan settled on her shoulder and Hongbin's legs cradled Taekwoon's head. She waved to him lethargically, Tangled playing on the tv, Hongbin and Taekwoon idly singing along with the duet. 

"Any room for me?" He asked quietly. Wonshik moved in response, opening up some space for him to gather up her legs and drape them across his lap. "Thanks."

It was a little over a half an hour later when Taekwoon shifted. Hongbin her hair.

"What's up, noona?"

"Sleepy." She murmured back.

"Ah." He gave her a gentle smile. "Well, I have to shower, so we can go back together."

The two disentangled themselves and walked off into the darkness of the back halls. Sanghyuk got up to change the movie.

"Oh, I didn't realize how bad I had to pee." He muttered to himself. To the others, he spoke again, louder. "Think Hongbin will mind if I take a piss while he showers?"

"Nah." Hakyeon replied, leaning back against the couch. He had Wonshik's legs on his lap now. "We'll wait for you. Jaehwan, go make more popcorn."

"Why am I your errand boy? Wonshik's younger!" He griped, but got up to follow Hakyeon's orders. The eldest didn't dignify it with a response. 

Sanghyuk knocked on the door once and threw it open. "Bean, I'm coming in for a piss."

"No-!"

Sanghyuk froze, the steam from the shower billowing out over his head. It was Taekwoon standing in the shower, arms strapped across her body, but she was very obviously trying to cover more than her s. She had dropped into a curl in the tub as soon as the door had opened, but there was no hiding the way the black band peeked out past her long fingers, the hint of the silver snowflake catching his eye before she could cover it. It was the same one currently resting at the base of his throat, bobbing as he swallowed. 

"GET OUT!"

He was startled back just by the sheer volume of her cry. Taekwoon was soft-spoken and quiet by nature; he hadn't even heard her really raise her voice before now and never in this kind of scream.

Hongbin appeared out of his open bedroom door, shirt gone. "What the hell? Hyuk, close the goddamn door!"

He swallowed thickly, voice tight as he pointed at her bicep. "That's my choker, isn't it?"

The fear in her eyes hurt him so much, the way she curled tighter around herself and how her fingertips went white as she huddled tighter. "Leave!" She barked.

By that time, the rest of the boys had come, gathering around the two in the hall.

"Move!" Hakyeon barked, pushing Sanghyuk out of the way. "What the hell is going on?!"

"She's my soulmate." Sanghyuk answered, face vacant, like he'd seen a ghost. 

"What?"

"She's my soulmate and she didn't tell me."

Hakyeon turned around and faced her. "What's he saying?"

"Nothing. He didn't even give me a chance to tell him it was me in here before he barged in." Her voice was higher than normal and she looked so scared and small, curled in on herself and pressing back against tile and porcelain as if trying to phase through them. 

In a way that never happened with Taekwoon, Hakyeon's voice went hard. "Taekwoon, show me the band."

She looked to be on her verge of tears as he pulled back her fingers and Sanghyuk's choker revealed itself on her arm. Hakyeon stepped further into the bathroom and she pulled back harder. "Don't touch me."

"I'm not going to. But you're showing us the rest."

"The rest?" Jaehwan asked weakly.

"Get out." Taekwoon tried again, cornered terror making her voice shake. 

"Taekwoon!"

"No!" She screamed again, ducking her head down. "It's ing bad enough that you've seen Hyuk's. Leave me alone!"

Hakyeon deflated and knelt at the bath, extending out a hand to her. "Woonie, please."

She shook her head again, fingers closing over Sanghyuk's soulmate mark once again.

"Why?"

"Because there's so many." She choked out and it was only then he realized that the water had covered her tears. 

"How many?"

She sniffled. "Five."

All four of them met Hakyeon's gaze. "Stand up, Taekwoonie. I'll get you a towel."

---

It was nearly midnight before they seen Taekwoon again, all silently congregated in the living room, not looking at each other. She entered in one of Hakyeon's button-up sweaters, pulled closed across her body, but not buttoned up. They all looked up at her, standing in the middle of the living room.

"I'm sorry." She whispered. "To all of you."

"For what?" Sanghyuk whispered back. 

"For hiding it for so long."

"Noona, we adore you." Jaehwan said, leaning forward. "I know people are about soulmate mark numbers and if you have more than one you're a freak, but I don't care. None of us do."

"And so what if one of your mates is Hyukkie?" Wonshik spoke up. "We wouldn't begrudge you anything."

"But that's just it." She whispered again. "It's not just Hyukkie."

"Do you know who the others are?" Sanghyuk asked, uncharacteristically serious. 

She bit her lip and took a deep breath, shoulders going lax before she released Hakyeon's sweater, letting it hit the ground. 

Hongbin stood, slow and cautious, and approached her. He left a little bit of space between them as he reached up to trace his steel heart on her chest. He felt it flutter under his fingertips.

"I didn't know what to do." She admitted. "I knew all along, but I didn't know who to tell and when. Then we all became friends and we moved in together. I thought that maybe we could develop a kind of romance, between all of us and it would be a good thing whne I reveal that I'm the binding soulmate, but that never happened. We just . . . stayed friends and I didn't know how to bring it up or ask you guys how you feel about multimates without giving myself away . . . "

Wonshik stood up and walked over, running his hand down her back and leaning in to kiss her matching Rovix, nuzzling it a little bit before backhugging her. "You don't have to be afraid, noona."

Sanghyuk and Jaehwan approached too, unsure about how to touch her. Hongbin made space and Jaehwan traced over his rose, the yellow colour on her skin the same softness of the real petals reaching up delicately to touch the underside of her left . Sanghyuk wrapped his arm around her bicep, over the shining silver skin.

Hakyeon was the last to come over and there was someting about his aura that made the others back away from her. Her breath hitched in when he tilted her head back, forcing her to meet his gaze. His other hand gripped her right hip, right over the bronze heart with a red lining. The same one on the back of his hand. 

"You knew all this time?" His voice was broken and weak, full of hurt. "You knew we were soulmates from when we met in sixth grade and you never said anything. You let me go on and on about soulmates and trying to find mine and you were there all along."

She swallowed, averting her eyes guiltily. "I'm sorry, Hakyeon. I wanted to tell you, wanted to know that you would still like me even though you would have to share me with other people. I didn't mean to hurt you, but I didn't know what you would do."

The vibrant red of his hair did nothing to hide how colourless he had gotten. "I would have done this."

He wrapped both arms around her and pulled her in tight, kissing her right there. She melted into him almost immediately, wrapping her arms around him and holding tight. She kissed Hakyeon like she was coming home from war, all of the careful tension and secrecy was gone and her soul was barred to him. Her fingers tangled in his hair and she forced him closer, deprived and desperate. They broke apart after a long moment and she shared a look with Hakyeon before he let her go and she grabbed Sanghyuk.

She kissed each one of them differently. Hakyeon's was teeth tugging lips and kissing like they would never kiss enough to make up for lost time. Her kiss with Sanghyuk was slow and largely chaste, hands roaming everywhere. Jaehwan was sugary sweet pecks and kisses and to each other's necks, coming back up occasionally to reassure each other that they were still there. Hongbin was long, slow and filthy; they were all tongue and he held onto her like he needed her to breathe. Wonshik was a long stare before she fell into his arms, thick and sensual passion taking them over with her shivering and into his mouth when his hand clamped into the back of her neck. 

"I love you." She gasped when she pulled back. "All of you. So much."

"We love you too, Taekwoonie." Hakyeon replied, bringing the other men around to hold onto her. "And no amount of marks is going to change that."

---

A week later, they were back in the pool, Wonshik and Hongbin doing laps while Jaehwan insisted he was the winner of the splash fight with Sanghyuk. Hakyeon was floating face-up in the shallow end of the pool, just soaking up the sunlight. 

"Woah! Noona!"

Hakyeon jolted upwards, shaking his head out a little as he looked over at Sanghyuk, who was staring, open-mouthed, at the diving board. Taekwoon was standing on it, a cute bikini on. It was a black bandeau with thick blue stripes running across it with matching boyshort bottoms. She was standing regally ont he diving board, motioning for the two to get out of the way. Obediently, they moved back, knocking Wonshik and Hongbin out of orbit. They, too, came to the surface, complaints already on their tongues when they caught sight of Taekwoon. 

She looked back at them, nervousness making her curl in on herself some. She was obviously very uncomfortable with the possibility of neighbours and the like seeing her marks bare like this. Hongbin's steel heart shone, blinding, in the sunlight and Rovix on her opposite shoulder seemed to glow like a highlighter. The red surrounding Hakyeon's heart was brighter, just like his hair in the sun, and the bronze stood out darkly against her pale skin. Sanghyuk's choker looked almost like a purposeful tattoo, save for the metallic sheen of the snowflake. Jaehwan's rose was perhaps the most subtle in its colours, but the sheer size of it, stretching up the whole of her left ribs and barely touching the far underside of her breat was enough to make it obvious. 

She took a deep breath, though, and jumped forwards, perfectly diving into the pool and touching the bottom. She came back with a ring of some sort - Hakyeon vaguely remembered Hongbin and Wonshk racing for it - and passed it to Jaehwan, watching him as if she expected him to throw it again for her. Her short hair was plastered back to her head, but she looked so good, lively in the sun and water. Jaewhan tossed the toy and it sunk fast. Taekwoon waited for a couple of heartbeats before she dove down after it, powerful and long legs pushing her down fast enough to catch the ring before it hit the pool floor. She resurfaced quickly, wiping her hair out of her eyes. 

"I forgot how much fun swimming actually is." She chuckled softly. She waved the ring at them. "Anyone want to play me?"

---

Four solid hours of fooling around in the pool with their soulmate lead to fooling around on the lawn and in the kitchen where it eventually got less silly and more handsy. With her secret revealled, Taekwoon had no issue with them groping all across her body. A heated set of makeout sessions in the kitchen transferred to the living room and somewhere along the lines, someone had been stripping off her clothes. But none of them felt ual at the moment and wound up laying on the living room floor with each other, idly feeling Taekwoon up and talking about other friends of theirs and how their actual families were doing. 

"We should all tell our families about each other." Hongbin suggested. Taekwoon stiffened uncomfortably and he down her flank to soothe her some. "we should go as a group of six to each of our parents' houses and tell them that we're all soulmates together."

"And if they ask about us guys only havng one mark a piece?" Sanghyuk asks.

Hakyeon shrugged. "Taekwoon is the link. That's all there is to it."

"You really want to? This is all really new." She pulled at invisible and non-existent fluff on Jaehwan's pants where they cradled her head. 

"New?" Jaehwan scoffed. "Not even close. You've been around for years, Woonie-noona." He leaned down and kissed her collarbone. "It might even be a relief to my mother to know that I've got such a beautiful and wonderful woman as my soulmate."

She flushed a little bit, looking away from them all. Hakyeon rubbed up her legs, pressing a kiss to her navel. 

"Don't worry about it, jagi." He assured, patting her hip over his mark. "Our families already love and adore you. This is just a formality, really."

"Okay." She whispered, pulling harder at Jaehwan's jeans. "I would like a shirt again."

Hongbin readily volunteered his, pulling it off his back and gingerly helping her into it, pulling her to lay back against his chest. She curled into him, looking out at the rest of them as they curled up around her. She had noticed it long before they knew she was their soulmate, how they would congregate around her no matter what. Now that they knew who she was to them, they didn't even attempt to keep their hands to themselves, to give her any kind of room. She didn't really want it, honestly. She appreciated the closeness, the kind of human blanket they would become sometimes. 

"Netflix?" Sanghyuk suggested.

"I'll get popcorn."

"I want chips." Wonshik called out.

They congregated around her and settled in, Hongbin's comforting presence againts her back, Sanghyuk and Jaehwan curled up around her legs and Hakyeon and Wonshik flanking her sides. 

Maybe, she considered as she felt sleep creep up on her and her boys' warmth soak through her skin, it will all turn out just as wonderfully as we hope. I'll never lose them, so I suppose it doesn't matter, does it? I love them and they love me. That's all I ever wanted.