Archive of Our Own

Chapter Text

Donghyuck’s family home has never been a stranger to him.

He knew every inch of its halls. The hidden servant corridors that ran through the rooms, the tunnel under the stairs, the hidden doors—he knew it all like the back of his hand. He had long learned them ever since he played hide and seek whenever his cousins Jaemin and Renjun would come to visit. Not that it was often. His older brothers were always too busy with school and their studies to waste time with him, and so he’d often been left to wander the many rooms and secret entrances in the house, each and every one. As a child, he’d considered the house his own maze to live in. It’d been his own puzzle. Such a thrill had been fascinating to him, unlike Taeyong who complained whenever Donghyuck sat on his books or Johnny who always had his annoying friends over playing games and being loud.

As the youngest, Donghyuck was the son who’d come five years later than his older siblings and the child his family had never quite had time for. He’d grown up quite aware of this fact. Where Johnny’s achievements in sports were what his parents would brag about to their friends during their business dinners, Donghyuck’s were often not mentioned at all. Forgotten, even, lucky if acknowledged. He’d always been left to his own devices as a result, and so he’d spent it all learning all of the house's endless secrets. Not even his brothers knew about the secret exits in some of the rooms, he’d told Jaemin once. That was because Donghyuck was not lame and boring like them.

He has always known his home like no stranger would. But he’d never thought he’d have to hide for his life in it.

His brother had gotten married today—which was why he was confused as to the loud frightening noises in the house he’d heard earlier. There was not much he knew. He hadn’t been allowed into the secret meeting or whatever it was Johnny had mentioned. It was midnight, and he didn’t know why most of the lights in the house had been turned off. He didn’t know why the doors had been locked when he’d tried to go outside for a walk earlier either.

He’d been in the kitchen when he'd first heard it, the yelling. The screaming.

It’d been Taeyong’s screams he’d heard—but Donghyuck’s brother didn’t ever cry or scream. But it’d sounded like he had been crying amidst the other voices yelling back at him in return.

He was only fifteen, so he hadn’t been told anything. Johnny had said it was because he was still the baby and mother didn’t want him to know yet. That he’d know everything when he got old enough. Johnny had only told him to stay in his room and lock the door, but Donghyuck had gotten tired and bored. Taeyong had gotten married today. He didn’t know why he was the only one who didn’t get to join in on any of the fun when he liked Doyoung. He was nice to him, actually listened to him whenever he talked about his games and how Johnny was so boring. Doyoung was like the brother he’d never had, which he’d thought was cool. He didn’t know how someone like him had somehow gotten engaged and married to Taeyong. But after he’d left his room he hadn’t given a thought as to why Johnny had been so odd about him remaining in bed. Not when Donghyuck did as he pleased all the time and no one usually cared.

After the screams, though, he’d ran. He’d ran up the stairs and hid.

Something was wrong. Taeyong was crying somewhere in the house. His father’s angry voice had also been bellowing out something back, undoubtedly enraged. He was scared. His father didn’t yell like that unless he cared enough that Donghyuck did something, or one of his business deals didn’t go through.

Sitting against a pile of blankets, Donghyuck clutches his knees to his chest in an attempt to feel safe. Less like he was about to have a panic attack. The closet was utterly dark, his own quickened breaths the only noise in the small quiet space around him.

He didn’t know what was happening, but he didn’t want to know. He’d hidden himself in the usual hiding place he escaped to when he didn’t want anyone to find him: a small linen closet in one of the guest rooms. No one knew to look here. Nothing would happen here.

But no matter how tightly he hugs his legs to his chest, he still can’t get the sound of his brother’s cries out of his head.

Was there something that happened? It couldn’t be. Everything had been fine. Taeyong and Doyoung had been laughing and looking all grossly sweet with each other at the reception. Johnny had even laughed at them with Donghyuck because he’d been grossed out by it too. He didn’t get it, he didn’t—everything had been fine.

He is about to cry. Taeyong had sounded so terrified, like he’d been screaming at the top of his lungs. Like he’d been truly afraid. Donghyuck can’t unhear it. It had struck a chord of fear deep inside of him that he can’t shake. Something was wrong here.

“Stay in your room and don’t come out until I come and get you,” Johnny had told him before he’d been called to join the others. “Hyuckie, I mean it. This isn’t something to joke around about. Better yet, just go to sleep. And lock your door.”

Donghyuck squeezes his eyes shut, rocking himself slightly back and forth in the complete darkness. There was no way he’d get the courage to muster himself to open the door and risk going back to his room. He wished not for the first time that he hadn’t been born in this family. Only these kinds of things would happen in their house, he thinks with a weak shuddering breath. He’d always known they were not exactly a normal typical happy family. He’d even overheard his mother and father arguing about it once, that he was too soft and weak unlike his brothers. Even if his mother loved him, he still wished sometimes he wasn’t a part of their family. He wished so with every part of him.

By the time he’s curled himself up even further into a ball and pressed himself against the wall, he hasn’t heard anything for a while. The upper level of the house is silent. Almost uncomfortably silent for his comfort, an ill sensation resting heavily in his stomach. He wants to check if the coast is clear, but there isn’t any moving from the closet.

It’s when he’s started counting to a hundred in his mind that his ears pick up on a distant noise. The sound of footsteps echo outside in the hallway, to where they approach the guest room and stop. Then, a voice calling out into the quiet.

“Donghyuck?” His eldest brother’s deep voice calls out before there’s the sound of the door opening. “Are you in here?”

Donghyuck stays silent, swallowing thickly and shrinking back. The blankets piled in the closet are soft against his back as he opens his eyes and looks up in the dark to his brother’s voice and footsteps.

“Hyuck, I know you got out of your room,” Johnny continues gently, evidently opening a nearby wardrobe door and closing it by the sound of it. His shoes echo softly on the floor as he approaches the closet, right outside the door. “You can come out now.”

Donghyuck doesn’t dare even breathe. It sounds too loud to where he can see the shadows of Johnny’s feet under the door where the little light from the room floods in underneath.

However, the tentative pause is broken by the handle on the door clicking and the door in front of him being ripped open with a light that almost stings his eyes. He flinches them shut, ducking away from it, and Johnny sighs at him.

“Why are you in here, Hyuckie?”

A firm hand grabs at his arm and tugs him off of the ground, and Donghyuck makes a noise in the back of his throat as he’s pulled out of the closet. He tries to struggle back against Johnny, but it’s useless.

“Found you,” Johnny tells him, pulling him away and closing the door with his foot. “Now why did you leave your room when I specifically told you not to? Are you trying to get hurt, kid?”

“N—No, I’m not, let me go—“

It’s then that Donghyuck’s eyes focus properly on his brother. Johnny has already started leading him towards the door, but that’s not what has his heart dropping in his chest. The red angry mark on Johnny’s cheek makes him stop in his tracks.

“Hyung,” He gasps out, tearing himself from his brother’s grip and stumbling back in shock. “I—Is that a bruise?”

In his black tuxedo, Johnny looks almost intimidating in his towering height and as familiar a figure to him as he has always been. But he seems to sigh deeply and frown slightly when he stares down at Donghyuck. “Yes. It is. I told you to stay in your room for a reason.”

“Johnny, I heard Taeyong screaming,” Donghyuck says with fear, feeling sick. There was something happening here he didn’t know about. “H—hyung, what’s going on?”

Johnny seems to hesitate in answering him before he glances back at the door. There’s a tense pause in which he slowly turns his head to look back at him. He looks unhappy, almost pained. “You remember those bedtime stories about great ancestor Eomma told you when you were little? Hyuck, just—just think of this as hide and seek. And I’m keeping you safe. I’ll tell you about it after you get to your room.”

Just then, the loud pounding of frantic footsteps as someone races down the outside hall interrupts them. They sound desperate, deafening enough for Johnny to stop speaking immediately with a widening of his eyes. Once they come closer Johnny seems to abruptly go still, turning to Donghyuck with stricken panic on his face. He glances back and forth between the closet behind him and Donghyuck before Donghyuck’s instantly being shoved backwards, watching as Johnny raises a finger to his lips at him. Donghyuck stares back at him helplessly. He doesn’t know what the panic is.

“Hyung, I’m scared,” he cries out softly to him in a thin whisper, heart racing. There was still distant yelling in the house somewhere. He doesn’t like the look on his brother’s face. It’s twisted in sharp alarm.

“Keep quiet and don’t say a word,” Johnny whispers back at him fiercely, “and don’t come out.”

Donghyuck’s mouth opens in protest, but before he can even blink the closet door is being forced shut in his face. A soft noise of fear escapes him as his vision is again blanketed in darkness, but then he’s cut off by an even louder noise. The noise of someone crying out as they stumble into the room.

Donghyuck closes his eyes then, shaking as he clenches his fists tighter. He really wished he wasn’t a part of this family.

He really did.

****

Taeil is nervous.

“You look so handsome, ah!” Jungwoo squeals at him while he adjusts the sleeves on Taeil’s suit, a wide beaming smile on his face. “Doesn’t he look like he’s glowing, Yuta?”

Taeil is not quite sure if he is. They’re stood in the extra bedroom Taeil had been given for the night so he could prepare for the day on his own, a grand adorned mirror in front of them reflecting them back to him as Jungwoo and Yuta crowd themselves around him eagerly. They had shown up at his door early in the morning just for the occasion, and he can’t help but relax slightly at the sight of his friends around him cooing and talking away easily. He looks back at Jungwoo, and smiles when he sees the excited grin on his best friend’s face.

“Wait until Johnny sees you,” Yuta’s teasing voice joins in from beside him from where he’s already got his own black suit on as well, outfit the very same as Jungwoo’s in their matching groomsmen suits. As the only people he’d consider important in his life, Taeil thinks they are being a bit over dramatic as usual. “He’ll probably rip off your clothes.”

“That’s not a good thing,” Taeil chokes out in his laughter, blushing a little. Yuta only smirks at him. “You know his parents will be right there, right?”

Yuta only rolls his eyes, having become long familiar with his fiancee's family from the long rehearsal dinner they had suffered through with both parties. He scrunches up his nose in exaggerated disgust. “Ugh, don’t remind me. I still don’t think his father ever got over the fact that I called you sexy in front of his face.”

Jungwoo bursts into loud giggles at that. “Oh yeah, and then he demanded to know you if you had ever dated him,” he laughs out. “Illie got so red too!”

That gets a loud huff out of Taeil who only playfully pushes them away from him, stepping up to the mirror to look himself over. His suit fits perfectly, thank god. The nerves are getting to him despite his best attempts, and his hair at least looks decent in the nearing sunlight from the nearby window. His reflection glows back at him, happy and full of bursting nerves. “You two aren’t helping,” he complains with a sigh. “God. I can’t believe I’m about to do this.”

It was a little overwhelming, the idea. The fact that he was about to get married.

“Do what? Marry a man richer than God?” Yuta steps up beside him in the mirror, setting his head on his shoulder as Taeil stares anxiously back at the both of their reflections. “I mean, you could do far worse. He could be ugly.”

“Stop it,” Jungwoo pipes in. His smile is warm when Taeil flicks his gaze over to him. “You don’t have to be nervous. You’ve been ready for this day forever. You got this, hyung.”

“Do I?” He can’t help but think of the wedding party he had glimpsed outside earlier, of the aisle and the guests he had peeked at through the window. Johnny’s family and friends were all outside waiting for the ceremony to start, and he had not forgotten the way Johnny’s father had looked like he was attending a funeral. Never mind his other soon to be in laws. “I think his family hates me, honestly.”

“Well, then fuck them,” Yuta says simply, pulling away from his shoulder and raising his eyebrows wryly. “You know what I say. Eat the rich.”

“Johnny is one of the rich, dumbass,” Jungwoo shoots back instantly. “How is he gonna eat him?”

“Do you really want me to answer that question?”

“Guys,” Taeil interrupts with a rising voice. A loud sigh escapes him as he turns away from the mirror, fingers anxiously running down the lines of his suit to smooth out any possible wrinkles. He needed everything to be perfect. Lord knows everyone would be judging him. He meets his friend’s faces with a fretful expression, teeth digging into his bottom lip. “I’m serious. I—“ A pause as he sags in defeat. “After today, I’ll officially be a Suh-Lee. Do you know how crazy that is?”

Understanding flashes across their faces. Jungwoo’s lips curl into a sympathetic smile as he reaches out to lay a hand on Taeil’s shoulder. “Is it the whole family thing that freaks you out? Cause if it’s about names, I totally am going to miss you being a Moon.”

Taeil recognizes an attempt to cheer him up if he sees one. He smiles back at Jungwoo as he looks away, to the window where the outlines of the wedding altar could be seen from the backyard. Having their wedding here had been one of the only conditions Johnny had insisted on himself. He hadn’t put much input into the wedding decorations and themes that Taeil had because of how busy he had been with his job, but when locations had been brought up he had been very stubborn on having their ceremony at his family’s mansion. Even though things between Johnny and his family were strained, he had wanted Taeil to meet his family and not have to worry about shelling out money to rent out any venues or churches. Apparently it was a family tradition of some sorts to marry at the house. Taeil hadn’t minded the idea of it, of becoming one of their family and following one of their traditions. And so he’d gone happily with it.

But it had been nerve wracking to come here and finally meet the family of his fiancee, meet Johnny’s brothers and parents and cousins. He’d never known what it was like to have any of those. He even got along with Johnny’s mother, who he liked immensely. No doubt it had been an experience coming to this place.

Even if the rest of them intimidated him enough to have anxiety running around in his chest.

“It’s not the name,” he confesses, reaching up to run an absent finger over the ring on his hand. The smooth feel of his engagement ring comforted him oftentimes. “I just—even though his father doesn’t like me, his drunk little brother keeps hitting on me, and he’s fucking rich beyond belief, I honestly would love to be a part of his family. It’s just a lot to take in that I’ll be a part of the Suh-Lee empire. I mean, yesterday I was looking for coupons to use at the fucking grocery store.”

That seems to earn him a significant look between his two friends, who turn to him afterwards and seem to come to a conclusion. It’s Yuta that gives him a serious stare and crosses his arms. “Listen, do you love Johnny?”

Taeil doesn’t blink to answer that question. “Yes,” he replies instantly without hesitation. His fingers still at where they graze his ring. “More than anything.”

“Then the rest doesn’t matter.” His best friend reaches forward to adjust the bow at Taeil’s neck gently, looking him in the eye and apparently seeming satisfied at what he finds there. His smile for him is kind. “You said yes to him for a reason. Am I wrong? Don’t stress yourself out, Illie. You aren’t marrying them. You’re marrying Johnny.”

“Yeah, besides we’re here if anyone even dares to say anything at the wedding,” Jungwoo joins in quickly. “Just think about Johnny. The rest won’t matter.”

Taeil lets out a breath at that, glancing towards the window and back to his friends with a shaky smile. His confidence grows the more he sees the faith in their gazes. Maybe he was overthinking himself a bit after all. He lets go of his ring, and his hands fall to his side.

“Okay.” He smiles at them, setting his shoulders back and straightening his posture. “Let’s go marry my boyfriend.”

****

The ceremony is everything he’d been ready for. Yuta escorts him, arm entangled in his almost comfortingly, and it’s the only thing keeping Taeil steady. Johnny looks magnificent in his black suit, a white rose tucked into the breast of his jacket, chestnut hair combed smoothly away from his forehead. Once Taeil appears, their gazes lock once Taeil’s eyes graze past the sea of bystanders watching him. Taeil is enamored and even somewhat relieved by the sight of him, his boyfriend. He’d always thought Johnny was handsome ever since he had first met him, but glimpsing him under the sprawling white altar surrounded by ivory flowers blows everything else out of the water. Johnny is a dream under the gold and radiant sun gleaming over them, and Taeil has never been more proud that the man he loves is going to marry him.

“Good luck,” Yuta mouths at him as soon as they arrive at the altar, a slight watery sheen to his eyes as he turns to Taeil and presses a quick kiss onto his cheek. Taeil resists the urge to choke up at it. When he’d asked Yuta if he would walk him down the aisle as the closest person to family he’d had, they’d both gotten teary embarrassingly enough. But he’s never been happier that he did—Yuta’s squeeze at his arm is a comfort, a quick touching relief before it’s gone. It’s achingly absent after a moment as Yuta is letting him go to join Jungwoo, their designated spots beside Taeil’s empty one. Taeil watches it all proceed with wistful eyes, lingering. When he finally turns away with a growing, sprawling breath in his lungs, his hand moves on its own accord to take Johnny’s offered hand to him, stepping forward gladly and tangling their fingers together like twine.

“You look beautiful,” Johnny murmurs quietly to him before he pulls back, smiling brightly with some softness. His smile has a wider curve to it in a hint of relief. Taeil only beams back at him nervously and once the officiant begins speaking, he doesn’t let go of Johnny’s hand.

“And now for the vows,” the officiant says after some time, and Taeil startles a little at where he had been glancing up into Johnny’s eyes. When he opens his mouth, he quickly feels his heartbeat rabbit away in his chest. This would be the part where he would recite the vows he had rehearsed over and over last night. He flounders a bit. But then he’s cut off by Johnny speaking up instead.

“Taeil. When I first met you, you were just the shy coworker who refused to go on a date with me. And today, I’m happy to say you’re so much more now. That you’re not only my future—but my home. I have met no one else who has understood me more than you. You are all the good in this world, and you make me want to be a better man everyday. I love you, baby. That is why I, Johnny, take you, Taeil, to be my husband to have and to hold from this day forward, for better or for worse, for richer and for poorer until death do us part. I vow to always honor and love you for the rest of my days.”

The words fill Taeil’s heart and he finds himself trying to hold back the emotion in him at that. When the officiant turns to him and he feels the eyes of everyone else on him, he ends up clearing his throat at how flustered he’s gotten suddenly, a soft laugh coming out of him as he tries to contain himself. “Damn you. I didn’t think you’d write such beautiful words, Johnny.” That earns him a few chuckles from the crowd of guests beside him, and when he glances behind Johnny’s shoulder by chance he absently notices Johnny’s brothers. It’s then that he catches a glimpse of Johnny’s younger brother, Donghyuck, winking at him. Taeil glances away, flushed. “Uh, give me a moment. You’ve went and outdone me here.”

“Woo, Taeillie!” That gets a cheer from Yuta behind him, and Taeil feels his ears grow hot. There’s a few amused laughs from the crowd before them, and he ends up clearing his throat.

“Johnny,” he begins.  “I’m sure you know me. You know I’ve never had a home, or even a family. Growing up as a foster kid—” A sharp breath from him. “I never had much. But you’ve shown me how much a person can have, being happy with you. And I cherish that. I promise to love you in good times and bad, to be a loving and supportive partner even when the night is darkest. I can’t wait to share my life with you. I take you to be my husband to have and to hold from this day forward, for better or for worse, for richer and for poorer until death do us part. I also vow to honor and love you for the rest of my days.”

It comes out of him with a rush of air, a flurry of golden tipped words on his tongue. His head dips downwards in his shyness, still wary of the eyes on him and braving a look up at Johnny. The warmth he finds there in Johnny’s gaze soothes him, and Taeil finds himself melting and smiling back at him.

The rest of the ceremony passes by in what feels like a blur. There’s I do, and rings slipped onto their fingers. It’s only as the officiant is declaring “I now pronounce you married, you may kiss your husband,” that Johnny leans down to kiss him fervently, to which garners cheers and applause from everyone around them. By the time they’ve separated, Taeil is breathless and processing still that this is it, he’s been married in just a breadth of a second, tied forever to the man in front of him, married. They’re both beside themselves laughing with excitement when they separate, and Taeil even catches another particularly loud cheer from Jungwoo beside them that has him smiling widely.

“I love you,” Johnny ushers to him then in a tender whisper just meant for him, clasping at his hand, and Taeil is boundless. Floating in the clouds as he turns to the crowd with Johnny’s hand in his, and for once he feels as if the future is standing beside him, his ring on Taeil’s finger as they stroll down the aisle.

He smiles, and the sun beams down on them, a bright halcyon gold that glows over everything, its touch warm. Hopeful. It feels a lot like a promise.

****

A wedding, he learns, is not without its drawbacks—there are many things to do, many people to meet. Eventually, Taeil is pulled aside for pictures of his own. It’s after the third cousin he’s forced to take a picture with and field questions from that it starts to get overwhelming—much less the gawking stares he receives from the less polite relatives who make it obvious they’re staring at him with concealed distaste.

“Don’t let them get to you,” is the first thing Taeil hears as he’s startled from where he is posing for the wedding photographer. It’s sudden, out of nowhere. When he turns his head Donghyuck is sidling up to him, smiling casually as if he hadn’t waltzed right past the line of people waiting for pictures with him. His hand slips easily around Taeil’s waist in a lack of a greeting, assured and bold—the first thing hitting Taeil being the scent of him. Cologne with a hint of alcohol. This is all of course before he's pulled to Donghyuck's side, to his surprise. Donghyuck’s cream suit brushes against his, the look of it complementing his lean build, chestnut brown hair styled away from his face as he poses as if born to it. Taeil only stares at him. “My family, I mean.”

It’s the last thing he expects to hear.

Taeil drops the bouquet of flowers in his hand, but Donghyuck only pulls his arm up instantly to lift it right back up before a bright near blinding flash of the camera goes off in front of them. “What is that supposed to mean?” He never knew how to react around Johnny’s youngest brother. He had been an oddity ever since he had first met him.

“It just means they’re trying to see if you’re a money-hungry gold digger,” Donghyuck only replies casually as Taeil finally glances away from him to stare at the camera as another flash goes off. “You know, like my husband.”

There is no way to know how to react to that. Instead of saying anything more, Donghyuck lets out a soft chuckle as he finally moves to glance aside at Taeil. “I’m just saying. Last chance for a quickie between you and me.”

Another click, a near blinding flash. In front of them, the photographer calls out for them to look at the camera and the both of them straighten up, a smile plastered on Taeil’s lips as he absorbs what Donghyuck had just said. He ends up laughing a little.

“You do know we’re in laws now, right?”

“Unfortunately.” Donghyuck’s words grow wry. “This really is your last chance to run, you know.”

“You’d say that about your own family,” Taeil tells him after another picture is taken. His smile turns more strained.

“Because I meant it,” Donghyuck says as he poses for the camera beside him, pulling him in closer with the hand on his waist. His smile is tense, almost sad. Not as bright as it usually is. “You won’t belong in this family. And that’s a compliment.”

“Okay, next!” The photographer announces loudly, and it’s then that Donghyuck separates from him, but not before he takes him by surprise. He lifts one of Taeil’s hands, pressing a gentle kiss into the skin. Taeil is too stunned to do anything but gasp softly in shock. Donghyuck’s dark eyes are surprisingly sober, a mischievous twinkle in his eye as he peers up at him.

“My brother at least chose well,” he compliments him, lips ribbon soft on Taeil’s skin before he pulls back and lowers his hand. He smiles at him with a wink. “No wonder he hid you from everyone else. You’re still easy on the eyes, Moon.”

“I’m older than you,” Taeil shoots back instantly, rolling his eyes and laughing despite himself. There was a certain natural charm to Donghyuck, he’d admit. It must’ve been something that ran in the genes of this family. Along with good looks, apparently. While Donghyuck was around the same height as him and far shorter than Johnny as his youngest sibling, he was still as attractive as his brother. And somehow cheeky enough to flirt with Taeil every time he got the chance.

Donghyuck’s eyes glint with something lighter as he smirks at him. “Well, you know what they say. Age is just a number.”

“Alright, alright, quit trying to hit on Johnny’s new husband in front of everyone,” someone says as Donghyuck is suddenly yanked away from him by the back of his collar, and Taeil is surprised to see Johnny’s other brother Taeyong who has stepped up to them to interrupt them. “We need to still take pictures, you idiot.”

Taeil laughs at the sight of Taeyong gripping Donghyuck’s jacket much like a child. However, instead of the reaction Taeil expects to see from him he’s taken by surprise. All semblance of mirth that had been on Donghyuck disappears. A sharp annoyance grows on his face as he spins to glare at his older brother. 

“Don’t touch me, Taeyong,” he snaps, shaking off the hand on his collar roughly. There’s a fuming frown on his face. “You know how I feel about you fucking touching me like that.”

Taeyong, who has a frustrated expression on him, only sighs in deep irritation and seems to steal a glance at Taeil who is watching in stunned shock. “Stop, you don’t want to make a scene,” he warns lowly as he leans his head closer to Donghyuck, just audible enough for Taeil’s ears to pick up. “It’s Johnny’s wedding day for God’s sake.”

Taeil automatically raises his hands to placate the both of them, but Donghyuck is only shaking his head and pursing his lips angrily at Taeyong before he’s already storming off without a word. “I need a drink,” he overhears Donghyuck muttering to himself as he walks just out of eyesight over to the private bar they had set up in the backyard.

Once he’s gone, Taeyong only turns to him with a tight smile that comes off more strained than anything. “Sorry,” he apologizes sincerely, waving awkwardly as he gestures to the camera set up with a slight beckon of his arm. “I suppose it’s my, uh turn for pictures?”

“Of course,” Taeil replies right away, returning his smile eagerly, slightly relieved at the subject change. Even though he can’t help but peer back towards where Donghyuck had stalked off to. He’d never seen Donghyuck like that before. His gaze lingers in his direction before it’s torn away.

Taeyong poses gracefully beside him to his credit, the cameraman following their lead instantly and flashing his camera. After they’ve taken several pictures—this time without touching each other, like Donghyuck had so generously done—Taeil can’t help but let out a sigh of relief once they’re finished.

“I didn’t know there’d be so many pictures,” he can’t help but mumble out loud. His head shoots up when he hears ensuing laughter from Taeyong.

Taeyong’s smile at him is smaller this time, less forced. He stares at Taeil as if assessing him, seeming to take pity on him as he tilts his head at him. “I’d say it gets easier after a while, but it doesn’t. Welcome to the family. You’ll learn we take an awful lot of pictures.”

“That we do,” a familiar voice replies, and Taeil brightens at the sound of it. His now husband walks up to them from where he had been standing off the side beside his father. Johnny’s hand clasps his as he strolls up to Taeil’s side easily. When he looks up at him, Johnny is smiling down at him before turning to a much stiffer Taeyong. “I heard something about pictures with the family all together?”

“Oh, yes,” Taeyong replies slowly after a moment, almost reluctantly, looking away from Johnny and lighting up in realization. “Taeil, would you like to have your, um friends join the wedding party picture?”

Taeil pauses for a second. He still felt a little subconscious about the fact that he hadn’t exactly had a giant party of guests to invite on his own. Jungwoo and Yuta were his only groomsmen, as well as the only guests of his he really considered family.

“Yes, of course.”

With a nod from Taeil, Taeyong seems satisfied at his answer. “Alright.” He nods back at them and promptly walks away, nonchalantly skirting past the line of others waiting for pictures. Taeil watches him go absently. As Johnny’s younger brother, while not the youngest like Donghyuck, Taeyong was rather polite and reticent, he noticed—still, in the few moments he seemed to open up, he seemed to at least somewhat like Taeil. His husband was far more friendly and talkative, from what Taeil had gleaned. He was pretty sure his name was Jaehyun. Or Jaemin. He was not certain. Between all the distant cousins and new in laws he had met, a lot of names had started to mix together.

“I trust my brothers didn’t scare you off yet?” Johnny says teasingly from beside him, and Taeil’s gaze flicks over to his pouty frown. “I saw Donghyuck was a bit inappropriate as usual.”

“He’s just charming,” Taeil laughs out, leaning up to kiss Johnny with a quick peck. When he leans back down, he meets his new husband in the eyes and finds the love he sees there enough to have his heart settling in his chest despite the excitement of the day. “You know him. He was being his usual self. Although the hand kissing was a little over the top.”

“I’d say,” Johnny huffs. “I almost thought I had to step in there to defend you from my own baby brother.”

“Why? Don’t tell me you think he’d steal me away from you?” Taeil giggles, pulling him towards the photographer. “You, my very own husband?”

Johnny’s eyes crinkle in a fond smile as he leans in a little too close to Taeil, leaving him breathless as he stops to whisper into his ear. “Say that again.”

“We’re in public, you fool,” Taeil only replies, slapping his arm with a giggle as he leans away from Johnny who has a grin on his face. “Now come on. We have to actually go and pose like rich people for our pictures.”

“But baby, you are rich people now,” Johnny declares a little too loudly, and Taeil feels himself go a bit pink at the fact that it gets the attention of nearby people. By the time he’s scolding Johnny for embarrassing him, his new husband is too busy laughing at him as he’s dragged over to the photographer by a huffing Taeil.

****

There isn’t really much of a reception after the dinner ends, to Taeil’s great disappointment—not that he could complain. Having a giant wedding in his in law’s backyard wasn’t exactly like they weren’t already imposing enough. Soon after Jungwoo and Yuta and the rest of Johnny’s extended family leaves for the night, Johnny brings him to the inside of the mansion where the rest of his family is already relaxing. Once Taeil is led into a sitting room, he has to prepare himself for the strong nerves overtaking him.

“A fucking sitting room,” he mutters to himself as he follows Johnny’s lead and enters the room, smiling and bearing it. This would be his new life. Being a part of a family wealthy enough to have things like sitting rooms. God if it wasn’t a bit intimidating.

Thankfully, the first person who happens to see him is Johnny’s mother. She rises up from where she had been sitting on a sofa with a warm smile on her face, looking at him like she couldn’t be more glad to see him. “Taeil, dear,” she calls out as she heads straight over to him where he stands wide eyed in the doorway, tugging him away from his new husband who only watches them worriedly. “Oh, don’t give me that look, son, I’m not kidnapping him.”

Taeil relaxes a little at the sound of her pointed voice, following her easily as she seems to lead him away from a shocked looking Johnny and pull him onto a different couch across the room. Around the corner of his eye, he witnesses Johnny being embraced by his father and turns to his mother with eagerness. She has been nothing but warm to him ever since their first meeting a week ago, despite his inability to not be anything but anxious around her. There was no doubt that she was a beautiful woman, if not very graceful in the elegant black dress she wore. There was also no doubt she and Johnny looked very alike.

“I for one am so glad you are here now,” Johnny’s mother tells him in her kind voice, reaching over to rest a hand on his knee. “Those vows of yours? They were so touching. Ah, you two almost had me ruining my makeup crying.”

Taeil smiles, melting despite himself. “Really?” He feels like a child asking a small question, but it doesn’t seem to faze her.

“Yes. Oh, I never thought I’d see the day my first baby would get married. I’m so glad you brought him back to us, back to the family. I cannot wait to see you two settle in with us.”

Taeil grows a bit shy at that. Johnny had insisted they leave for their honeymoon straight off the day after the wedding—but Taeil had wanted to meet his family. Especially since they all seemed to have been excited to see their eldest son back. He’d barely gotten Johnny to set their honeymoon date for a few days ahead, and Johnny had only caved because of how much Taeil had pleaded.

He looks away from Johnny’s mother’s gaze, straying to the others around the room and to where he could see various family members strewn about. Donghyuck is sat in the corner of the room on a chaise with a glass of what appeared to be liquor in his hands, steadily avoiding the others with a withdrawn look on his face. There is Taeyong stood by a man who could only be his husband, alongside a younger impatient looking man whose relation Taeil was not certain of. Johnny’s father is talking away to Johnny himself, the picture of father and son with their matching tall figures. They were all his new family now, or what would be his new family. Out of the corner of his eye, however, he can’t help but glimpse a maid or two rushing out the room silently. Right. His new family is rich enough to have hired staff waiting on their hand and foot.

Taeil smiles nervously at such a sight. He flicks his gaze back to Johnny’s mother beside him, before away again. “Well, um. If I may be honest, Mrs. Suh-Lee. Your son knew how much family means to me. He understood how important having one is to me, since I was, well, a foster kid for most of my life. I don’t want him to lose that. You all seem so wonderful.”

“Why, aren’t you a sweet one,” Johnny’s mother coos back at him, and when he looks up he glimpses a fond smile on her. She leans towards him secretively, her voice growing lighter. “You know, don’t tell your new siblings I said this but you remind me a lot of me when I first married into this family. I was so proud of my son when he brought you home. Finally, a good one, I told my husband. At last one of my children has finally chosen someone who has what it takes to be in this family. I’m so happy it was my Johnny.”

“Really? I—You mean that?” Taeil asks, a little too choked to not hold back the weakness in his voice. He couldn’t help it.

“Yes,” his new mother-in-law confesses, and she pats at his knee before leaning back. “Oh, trust me, dear. I know what it’s like to not have your blood be blue enough for a place like this. You’ll always have someone think you’re not good enough. I heard it all marrying my husband. Believe me when I say I can see you standing tall by my baby’s side. You have a fighter in you, I can tell.”

Taeil lets out a soft laugh at that, a little comforted by her words. It was a relief to hear after a day spent enduring all kinds of judging stares and questions about himself from random family of Johnny’s he had never met. He hadn’t known that Johnny’s mother hadn’t been rich either. It was a little relief to know he wasn’t the only one.

“Thank you,” he replies with warmth. “That means a lot to me. I can’t wait to spend the rest of my life with your son, crazily enough.”

That earns him a laugh as the other woman reaches out to grab a flute of champagne from a nearby maid’s tray, offering one out to him which he takes as well. “Well, darling good luck. I know my John. He can be quite a handful when he wants to be.”

It sounds so much like Johnny that Taeil only giggles back in return. He grips onto his glass of champagne as they both sit there for a moment before they’re interrupted by the sound of Johnny’s voice.

“Excuse me for a moment, Eomma,” he says as he approaches them, going to pull Taeil off of the couch by the hand and give the two of them an anxious look as if suspicious. “I’ll have to steal my husband away.”

The interruption is so sudden that Taeil can only blink before he’s being led away. “Bye,” Taeil manages to get out with a wave at his mother in law. Then he turns to give Johnny a look that tells him he’s gone crazy. “Why are we walking away from your mother?”

“What did she say to you?” Johnny only asks lowly, a worried look in his eye before Taeil gets it. He only smacks Johnny’s hand from where it’s gripped loosely around his arm.

“If you think she’s scared me off, don’t worry,” he replies, rolling his eyes. “I wasn’t going to leave in the middle of the night until after she’s showed me baby pictures.”

The deep worry that had been on Johnny’s expression lifts as he eyes Taeil’s face, searching. Then he smiles in relief. “Oh, babe. That’s sweet. You wouldn’t even take my fortune with you?”

“Ew,” a loud voice cuts the both of them off, and Taeil recognizes its honey sweet tone instantly. It’s filled with disgust. “Get a room already.”

Johnny only turns to the person who had spoken with a dramatic eye roll, who they’ve somehow trailed themselves near in the rather spacious sitting room. Donghyuck only rests back against his chaise with his tie untucked and cuffs rolled back, the picture of elegant relaxation as he peers at the two of them over the rim of his glass, taking a lazy sip. “Why?” Johnny shoots back without hesitation, quick witted as always. “You want a show?”

Donghyuck is unfazed as usual as he makes a face at his brother. “Ugh, not with you. Gross. Maybe with Taeil.”

Instead of getting angry, Johnny only responds by stepping forward and pulling Donghyuck into a headlock with a playful grin on his face. “Stop, ow, fuck! I spilled my drink!” Donghyuck groans out as he tries to wiggle his way out of Johnny’s grip, smacking his arms in frustration much to Taeil’s amusement from where he stands witnessing the two of them pile on top of each other. “Johnny, I’m not fucking twelve!”

Johnny’s hand ruffles Donghyuck’s hair before he lets go of him with a smirk, standing up and brushing off Donghyuck’s shoulder with satisfaction. “You still look like my kid brother to me.”

“Fuck off,” Donghyuck returns but it has no heat behind it as he stands up too, rubbing at his neck with a sore face. “You know, I think I actually missed when you weren’t here.” Taeil doesn’t miss the way he glances regretfully at the glass of liquor that had spilled onto the floor before turning to face Taeil. “How the hell did my brother even get you to say yes?”

“I’ll never tell,” Taeil only tells him, holding back laughter. The two of them together never failed to make him laugh. Then his eyes run over Donghyuck and he realizes the empty area that had been around him. He frowns in confusion. “Ah, where’s your husband, Donghyuck?”

That only has Donghyuck gesturing aimlessly to the other side of the room where Taeyong and his husband were, chatting absently with the other young man who only smiles back at them placidly. Donghyuck almost looks bored if not for the frosty look that comes over his eyes. His voice turns sarcastic. “Mark’s catching up with Taeyong. You know, about his charter plane and his trip to Paris. He just cannot stand flying commercial anymore.”

Taeil stares at him, taken aback before Johnny is already speaking up beside him. “Oh, Markie came then? I haven’t seen him in so long. Come, babe, I should introduce you to him.” There’s an arm trying to pull him away but Taeil just stays put, frowning. Donghyuck only looks unhappy as he turns around to pick his empty glass up off of the floor.

He shakes off Johnny’s hand on him and instead reaches out to rest one of his own on Donghyuck’s arm, causing the other man to stop and gaze up at him with muted eyes. “You should come with us,” Taeil offers gently, not liking the dimness in Donghyuck’s face. He had grown to be used to the usual liveliness that came with Donghyuck, much as he was the only family Johnny had allowed him to meet long before the wedding. He didn’t like seeing him look so drawn. “I’d appreciate knowing at least one person here.”

Donghyuck only stares at him with an unreadable look in his eyes before he smiles sadly and shakes his head. “Sorry, Moon. You’re better off without me on this one.”

“Babe, you coming?” Johnny’s voice pipes up from behind him, and Taeil lets go of Donghyuck reluctantly. He’s just about to say something to him when Johnny speaks up again. “Taeil?”

“Coming,” Taeil answers with one last pleading look at Donghyuck, disheartened when Donghyuck merely turns away to reach for his glass again. He’s forced to leave him reluctantly and follow Johnny to where he’s waiting for him beside his other siblings. It's a little intimidating, the way they watch him timidly approach with waiting eyes. Taeil only smiles half-heartedly when he’s close enough for Johnny to tuck his hand into his.

“So this is the man of the hour,” one of the strangers greets him, the one he has assumed is Taeyong’s husband. The man stands nearly at Johnny’s height, dressed in a suit with a gleaming silver watch on his wrist and handsome enough to be a face on any magazine. The look he sends Taeil is friendly, appraising from where he raises a glass of champagne in his hand. “Hyung, you didn’t tell me your husband was so good looking.”

“Honey, this is Jaehyun,” Johnny introduces eagerly. “He’s Taeyong’s husband.”

“Oh, nice to meet you.”

Jaehyun winks at Taeil, smiling easily. “You too. You survived the big day.” He takes a sip of his champagne. “Kudos to having such beautiful vows. I told Taeyong not even ours were as sweet.”

Johnny laughs in return. “That’s because Taeil is actually a poet, unlike you or Yongie.”

“Right,” Jaehyun says, chuckling. “Of course.”

“Congratulations, by the way.” Taeyong speaks up from beside Jaehyun, looking at him with a carefully polite nod. “It was a beautiful wedding. I had many of the cousins and aunties tell me they had a good time. You did well.”

Taeil blushes a little at that, holding onto Johnny’s hand tighter as he smiles under the other three’s stares.

“Thank you.”

“I saw Hyuckie tried to steal you away on your wedding day,” Jaehyun teases. “During the pictures. Any man who can stand that and still want to marry into this family is brave in my book.”

Taeil laughs—he hadn’t thought anyone else but Johnny had seen that. He had forgotten there had been others standing by witnessing the whole thing. It’s a little embarrassing hearing it out loud. Part of him is wondering why Donghyuck had even refused to come and join him when Taeyong and Jaehyun were being so friendly to him. At least until his thoughts are cut off by a new voice.

“How long have you known Donghyuck?”

Taeil’s eyes widen slightly at the stiffness of the words aimed at him. When he turns his head, Donghyuck’s husband is stood by Johnny’s side where he has been all along, only just now having spoken. Except there’s a look on him that says he’d rather be talking to anyone else, even if his smile says differently. Taeil startles at it. This was Donghyuck’s famed husband. He looks around the same age as Donghyuck, youthful and attractive. He’s dressed more extravagantly than even Jaehyun, several glimmering rings on his hand from where he holds the stem of his champagne glass. He carries himself with an air of impatience, of elegance not unlike his husband. But where Donghyuck had a certain lazy charm to him, his husband is much more stiff and currently staring at Taeil like he’s an intruder.

“I—only a few months,” Taeil says slowly under his stare, muscles tensing up despite himself. Why by God did he feel like he was being interrogated? “I don’t believe me and you have met.”

“Of course.” The other man’s smile tightens as he reaches out a hand to offer to him in greeting. When Taeil takes it, his grip is cool and firm around his. “I’m Mark. And you’re my new brother-in-law.”

“Easy, Markie,” Jaehyun interjects. “You’ll scare him off.”

“My husband has taken a liking to you,” Mark only continues as if Taeyong’s husband had not spoken. “I don’t think Donghyuck’s quite liked just about any of Johnny’s boyfriends before. You must be special.” Then he laughs as if his words hadn’t come out with an edge to them.

Taeil gets the sudden inclination that the man in front of him absolutely despises him.

It’s to his relief that Johnny steps in then. “Husband now, not boyfriend.” He swoops in to wrap an arm around Mark’s shoulders, and Taeil is surprised to see a genuine smile break out on Mark’s face. “We didn’t pay all that money for nothing.” Both him and Mark relax into each other as Johnny lifts his head up and smiles softly at Taeil. “I thought it was about time that I actually bring Taeil back to the family.”

“He must be a keeper,” Jaehyun muses. “Well, I’m glad. It was getting a little boring around here.”

“You only say that because your drama got cancelled,” Taeyong scoffs, slapping him on the arm. “You haven’t stopped complaining to me ever since you got dropped from it.” The two of them delve into bickering that grows too muddled for Taeil’s ears. He ends up turning away from them to be polite, feeling slightly awkward.

“So, Taeil, tell me,” Mark speaks up. “Moon. I haven’t heard that before. Which family do you come from?”

Taeil’s face stills at that. That had been the question he had been hearing all day. Something about Mark’s watchful eyes makes him feel like the question wasn’t innocent, though. He’s saved from responding by Johnny’s stilted chuckle.

“Taeil isn’t from any family,” he explains. “Not like you or Jae. He’s above all of that. Not everything is about who’s who, Markie.”

When Mark makes a carefully surprised face in return, Taeil swallows heavily. He suddenly felt an itch to hold Johnny’s hand again, if only to see it rested on Mark’s shoulder where it sat comfortably. “Oh. My mistake.”

For some reason, Taeil senses an unsaid question in his words. Then why are you here?

It’s a little hard to breathe when he speaks up next, but he does. He clenches at his champagne tighter. “It’s fine. You’re not the first.”

“Alright, everyone is here!” They’re interrupted by a loud male voice. All of them look behind them to where Johnny’s father is stood at the front of the room alongside his wife, a harsh look on his face from where he gazes down at all of them impassively. He doesn’t even seem to glance once in Taeil’s direction. “Donghyuck, leave your damn alcohol. It’s nearing midnight. We’ll reconvene in the music room to play a game.”

By the time he leaves, the others have gone completely quiet around him. Johnny’s mother follows suit out of the room too as does Donghyuck, and Taeil turns to Johnny in pure bafflement at what he just heard.

“What the hell is he talking about?”

This is apparently the wrong thing to say. The others all go still and their faces drop at his words, as if he’s somehow offended them. But the strange thing is that they don’t look angry or hurt. In fact, Taeyong seems to have gone awfully pale from where he stands. They only stare at him as if he’s dropped a bomb on them. It has Taeil blinking in confusion as he glances back and forth between his in laws and Johnny, wondering if he's somehow said something wrong by mistake.

“Johnny?” He asks.

Johnny only swallows visibly before hesitating to answer him.

“I, um, forgot to mention,” he starts off in a higher thin voice. He sounds nervous, shaken. “I—honey, come with me. Let’s talk on the way to the music room.” His eyes harden as he gazes at his siblings who stand around him eavesdropping on their conversation, a stormy look in Taeyong’s eye from where he's staring Johnny down. “Alone.”

This is also apparently the wrong thing for him to say.

“You forgot to tell him?” Taeyong says almost immediately in a low voice, darker than a thunderstorm, and Taeil tenses up from where he sees Taeyong stalk forward to press a finger to Johnny’s chest. Even though he’s shorter than him, he still stands imposingly despite his delicate build. “Are you fucking kidding me?”

Before he can say anything more, however, Jaehyun steps in to rest a hand on Taeyong’s shoulder from where he seems to be fuming at Johnny. Taeil’s never thought he’d ever see someone as soft-spoken and quiet as Taeyong so livid. Johnny only stands there, a bit paler from where he’s gazing back at Taeyong with a wavering look in his eyes. “Come on, Taeyong. This isn’t the time.” Jaehyun’s voice is careful.

“You’re right. This isn’t the time. I’m not the one that should have told him,” Taeyong spits out before leaving without another word. He shrugs off Jaehyun’s hand on the way out of the room while the two of them continue arguing in biting tones, the sounds of their raised voices disappearing down the hall.

Taeil only watches them go with wide eyes.

“I’ll go find Donghyuck,” Mark mutters quickly before he’s leaving too, casting a last look at Taeil that seems almost wary. Then he’s gone. It’s only after he’s disappeared that Taeil notices that even the maids and butler he had seen earlier have gone too. It’s only him and Johnny.

He’s quick to raise his eyebrows and gape at his husband.

“Are you gonna tell me what the hell that was about?”

Johnny winces. He doesn’t quite look Taeil in the eye as he raises his hands imploringly. “I know how it sounds. But I swear I was going to tell you.”

“Tell me what? That your family apparently does weird things like play games at midnight on our wedding night?”

“Okay, in my defense, we are known for our board games,” Johnny defends. “I mean, it’s where we got our money, babe. We are the Suh-Lee dominion.”

Taeil is aware of his new husband’s family and where they had gotten their wealth from. He’d been aware of it ever since Johnny first told him. He hadn’t even believed he was dating a rich man until he had looked up their company on his phone. What he didn’t like was the way Johnny was avoiding his question and why his brother had seemed so furious with him for no visible reason.

“I know that. I mean, I’m fine with playing whatever if it’s what your family does. Just warn me first. But I want to know why your brother was about ready to kill you, John.”

Johnny sighs. “It’s hard to explain. Our family has this kind of tradition on weddings. It’s this thing where you have to play a game to be accepted as one of us. Honestly, you don’t even have to win. Just playing it is enough to mean more than the wedding itself.”

“That’s a little… strange. Fine. But that doesn’t explain why Taeyong was so mad.” Taeil only narrows his eyes at him.

“Honey, it’s just something we take seriously.” His husband’s voice grows soft. He’s biting at his lip before giving up and staring at Taeil. “Look, I’ve said my family was fucked up. But this is just something we do. It’s something Mark has done, Jaehyun has done. Taeyong just thinks I should’ve told you before the wedding. He and I... It’s complicated. He’s never quite forgiven me for leaving him behind to deal with my father. You know I’ve never wanted to take over after him. Taeyong wants to. He’s as serious about this shit as father is. Honestly, it’ll be fine.”

Taeil takes the information in slowly. His new brother in law and father were sticklers for tradition? Johnny had mentioned before his relationship with his family was strained, although he’d never wanted to delve into anything more about it. After all, Taeil had never even met Taeyong until a few days before today. If Taeyong wanted to take after their cold father, he sure didn’t seem so. He actually seemed to tolerate Taeil unlike his father who hadn’t even looked in Taeil’s direction once since he’d stepped foot in the sitting room.

“You never told me this,” Taeil says plaintively. “Johnny, if you have some problems with your brother, then you know I don’t mind. I just hate the way your family looked at me like I killed a puppy. No more secrets from now on. No more surprise games. Please.”

Johnny reaches over to take his hand in his, worry still in his eyes as he gives Taeil a quick kiss. “Of course. No more secrets.”

“I love you,” Taeil tells him, serious. Then he clenches Johnny’s tie in his hand tight enough to nearly choke his husband. “Now if you want me to play chess to get them to like me, then I will play the shit out of chess. You aren’t escaping me, idiot.”

Johnny’s returning smile back at him is relieved, even if it doesn’t quite reach his eyes. He pulls Taeil’s hand as he leads them out of the room slowly, looking at him as if worried he will run away at any moment. “Okay. I love you too.”

Taeil smiles back at him.

****

By the time he and Johnny stroll into the music room—which is a crazy thing to Taeil in of itself, because compared to a sitting room who had a need for a music room—the other seats at the grand table in the middle of the room are already taken. However, there are two chairs left open for the two of them at the end of the table. Donghyuck happens to be sitting at the very end, and when Taeil sits next to him his welcoming smile for Taeil is comforting amongst the unfamiliar faces at the table.

“You didn’t run,” he whispers to Taeil as soon as he’s sat down, secretive albeit concerned. Taeil is about to reply to him when he happens to feel eyes on him and he looks aside Donghyuck’s shoulder to see Mark glaring at him behind him, sharp enough to have his smile stilling and dying on his face. Clearing his throat, Taeil looks quickly away from the both of them.

“Uh, yeah,” he gets out quietly, and it’s hard to muster the energy to fake a smile after that. It feels like all the eyes in the room are on him. Taeil takes a sip of his champagne just for something to distract himself, glancing out of the corner of his eye to see Donghyuck’s smile having fallen as well. It’s almost a relief when Johnny sits beside him.

“We’re here, father,” Johnny says at last once he’s seated, and his hand snakes out to hold Taeil’s over the table.

From the other end of the table, Mr. Suh-Lee seems to be satisfied by his answer, if not a little disappointed when his eyes graze over Taeil at last. Taeil feels his stomach drop at it, but then it’s gone. The man continues speaking to the whole room. “Alright. The time has come, everyone. For those of us new here, I’ll start. Taeil, we here in this family like to play a game every time we get a new addition to the family. This game has been in our family for generations, a time and time honored tradition. I’m sure Johnny has told you about it. But truly, we only play this game because of where we started. A long time ago, our great ancestor blessed us with what we have today all by accepting a deal with an investor who was interested in his board game ideas. You see, this was no ordinary deal. This man, who was rich beyond heavens, struck a deal with our ancestor. If he could play a game with him and win, he’d let him have the money. But he’d have to let his descendants play the same game or else he wouldn’t give him anything. And so our ancestor played. And he won.”

Taeil tries not to let anything show on his face as he listens. He just sits there and clutches onto Johnny’s hand.

“You see, Taeil. This is why we still play this game even today. Because honoring our ancestor’s deal was important. It’s a tradition for a new member of the family to draw a blank card and play the game drawn to honor that deal. Nothing more, nothing less. As Johnny’s groom, it’s up to you now to play. Whatever game you are given is up to fate.”

Well, that doesn’t sound foreboding at all, Taeil thinks. He fidgets in his seat, unsure of exactly how to process that bit of information until the silence is broken by a younger voice.

“I drew go fish,” Jaehyun speaks up. He looks sympathetic from where he sends Taeil a look. “I mean, I didn’t even win. Taeyong fucking beat me.”

Mark sips at his champagne, eyeing him with cold eyes. “For me it was checkers.”

“Exactly.” Johnny’s father continues as he lifts an antique looking black box from the table, a blank card in his other hand. “This is the box we use to draw a game. You put in a blank card, it gives you a random game. It’s your turn now to take your pick.” With a loud click, he slides the card into the box. A quiet ticking noise comes from it then as he hands it over to Johnny’s mother beside him, and Taeil watches as the others proceed to pass it down the table towards him. His hand slips out from where it had been in Johnny’s then, his eyes falling to the box. When Donghyuck at last gives it to him gently, he’s surprised to notice that its carved wood is surprisingly heavy in his hands.

“So I play this, and that’s it?” He finds himself asking, staring at it to inspect it and the ticking coming from it, and to his surprise Johnny’s father chuckles at him dryly.

“You play this, and you’re one of us. That’s how it goes.”

The box finishes ticking with a soft ring then. Taeil finds himself glancing up at Johnny in nervousness before a card pops out of it with a quick slide. He’s almost afraid to grab it at first, but then he does and flips it over only to sigh at what he reads.

This would be simple at least. He didn’t know child’s games were even part of the draw.

When he chuckles, the rest of the table only seems to grow tense.

“What does it say?” Taeyong at last says, seemingly unaware of how he was picking at his nails in wait. His eyes are wide as they lie on him.

“I mean, it’s just silly,” Taeil comments before Donghyuck seems to break his patience and lean over to peek at his card. “I really have to play this with you guys?”

Beside him, Johnny has gone completely silent. He seems to have stopped breathing from where he can see Taeil’s card from beside him. Next to him, Donghyuck pulls back so sharply that he almost falls out of his seat. “No,” Donghyuck whispers softly, sounding oddly horrified. “No.”

Taeil frowns at him, wondering what could have stressed him out by just glimpsing his card. “What?”

“What is the damn game?” Mark snaps, sounding ready to burst.

That only gets an eyebrow raise out of him.

“It’s hide and seek.”

He doesn’t know what to expect from the others. But it isn’t Taeyong standing up so quickly out of his seat that his chair squeals loudly against the floor. “No way. No fucking way.” He takes a step back from the table, upset.

Taeil doesn’t know why the three of them are so shaken by his card. Even Jaehyun looks to have gone whiter at Taeyong’s side, whereas Johnny’s mother is staring at him almost mournfully. It’s weirding him out. He just turns to Johnny, but his husband has started almost shaking at his side. “Johnny?” He tries to get his attention.

“We’ll give him a moment, sweetheart,” his mother in law speaks up when it becomes clear no one else will answer him. “He’s a bit in shock. It’s just the excitement of the game.”

“Oh.” Taeil deflates slightly in relief. He glances up at Johnny’s parents in his confusion. They might as well get this over then. “How do you want me to play this then? Do we just go for one round?”

Johnny’s father nods, grim. “Yes. You are supposed to hide until dawn. If you want, we can give you a head start. You can hide anywhere in the mansion.”

“Until dawn?” Taeil’s bafflement slips through his voice. “That’s a long time, Mr. Suh-Lee.”

The older man stands up out of his chair, leading the others at the table to follow as well except for Donghyuck and Johnny. The two of them only sit there in absolute silence. “It’s the rules of the game as they would’ve been played in our ancestor’s time. It’s the card that has been drawn. I suggest you go and get your head start, Taeil. Good luck.”

Taeil only stares hopelessly to where Johnny is not moving or even seemingly breathing. He didn’t want to leave him when he was so visibly distressed. “So I won’t see Johnny until dawn?” The thought makes him hesitant. This was far from how he had imagined his wedding night.

At that, Johnny seems to snap out of whatever shock had overtaken him. His eyes are wide with something that worries Taeil when he looks up at him and gets up to grasp at Taeil’s hand, an agonized look to him that had not been there before. “Don’t worry, it’ll be alright,” he chokes out to Taeil, but his face is too ashen and shaky when his hand envelops his. “I—“

Taeil flinches. His hand is painfully crushing around his.

Johnny is cut off by his mother rushing up to draw him away from where his grip has almost broken Taeil’s hand.

“Johnny, dear, you’ll upset Taeil,” she soothes, giving Taeil a sympathetic look as she pats her son on the shoulder. Johnny only moves back under her touch as if not even aware of his own body, looking right through him with an unseeing gaze. “I think it’s best you go, sweetie. The more time you have to hide, the better chance you’ll have.”

A choked noise comes from Donghyuck beside them.

Taeil is remiss to leave, but he gives in after he sees the gentle concern Johnny’s mother is showing him. If she was telling him he’d be better off going, then she was probably right. He glances at Johnny one last time regretfully, reluctant to leave him when he looked so alarmingly pale, but then Johnny's father is helping usher him out of the music room before he can even think of doing anything more. The second the heavy wooden door closes behind him, it groans and creaks loudly, sounding oddly final. It sends a foreboding feeling through him that he can’t shake—if only because it has him aware of how alone he is. Or how strange of a situation he's found himself in.

After a moment of hesitation, Taeil makes a decision. He sets off immediately towards the direction of the stairs. 

Well damn. If he was going to play hide and seek, he might as well make the best out of it.