Roulette ♧ 엑소

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"Everything went well, baby." Jongdae said into the phone with a content sigh, though he left out the part where they were all almost captured twice during the mission--once by the security guards, and then once by the Nightmares who had returned just in time to stop them from escaping. "Tomorrow I'll arrange for you and Sky to join us in China. I know duizhang will love to have you back, and he'll love to have Sky as a new member of our family too."

"I miss you so much, papi." She pouted from the other line, sounding absolutely needy, and he didn't have to think too hard to know what papi meant.

They had only been apart for a day--more like a few hours--but it felt like an eternity to Mariel. Now that she had him back, she didn't want to let him out of his sight. But she knew he needed to go to China. He had to save his family, the people who were her family now as well. 

Jongdae grinned at her words, his own lowering into a whisper as he looked to the other person in the bedroom with him. "Soon as you arrive in China I'm not gonna let you out of my bedroom for at least three days." He was going to share his bedroom that night with Baekhyun, while Sehun would be sharing with Tao, Chanyeol would be bunking with Yixing, and Junmyeon with Hani. The couples--Lu Han and Mei Lin, and Minseok and Hyuna--were getting the privacy to sleep in their own bedrooms.

"Pfft." She scoffed at him. "I was thinking more like a week."

"A week?" His smiled seemed to grow bigger at the thought. 

Baekhyun cleared his throat to get Jongdae's attention. The beta of the Pack said in a teasing tone, "You do realize I can hear everything you're saying right now?"

It was like nothing had ever happened between them. No rift in the pack--something that had happened between their leaders and not the other members. It was like they were back to the old days in which they loved each other and they were brothers again. Jongdae grabbed a pillow off the bed and tossed it at Baekhyun playfully. Baekhyun was sitting at an arm chair near the window of the room. The pillow hit him square in the face and he shot Jongdae a playful glare. 

"Oh, come off it, Baek." Jongdae said, pointing out immediately how Baekhyun had no shame either when it came to talking to his girlfriend. "You were insufferable too when you were going out with Minha. Always calling her when we were away on a mission, whining about how you wanted to fuck--"

Mariel gasped from the other line. "Papi is someone in the room with you?" She sounded a bit embarrassed.

Jongdae gave a nod of his head. "Yeah. My friend, that shrimpy guy you saw at the night club?"

"Which one?" She wondered, remembering two guys at the night club when Jongdae went to ask them for help.

Jongdae couldn't help but laugh at her question. Seeing his window of opportunity to retaliate, Baekhyun argued, "I'm grown up now and I only discuss private matters like that when I'm alone with my girlfriend."

"Yeah right." Jongdae rolled his eyes at Baekhyun.

While they traveled to Japan, the others had a bit of time to catch up with Jongdae. They had all talked about how they had been doing recently. It had been awkward at first, but Junmyeon was the conversation starter in the group. Like the leader that he was, he tried to make things comfortable for all of them, starting out by reliving old memories with them. They all made sure to steer clear of that day when half the Pack members decided to leave and form their own organization. 

During that conversation Sehun had complained to everyone that his room was right next to Baekhyun and Miran's when they were living in the cabin in the woods. He could hear them--or mostly Baekhyun--every night getting it on.

Baekhyun grabbed his phone off the night stand and said to Jongdae, "I'll give you an hour of privacy before I come back to go to sleep. Do whatever you want."

Though he didn't say it, Baekhyun was tempted to call Miran for the very same reason.

-

Yifan let Mitsuki take the bed, while he said he would sleep on the couch, but she refused to let him sleep on the small arm chair all night. In the cells where they were kept, there were no chairs or beds for them to sleep in. They had to sleep on the cold floor, and she didn't want him to sleep somewhere uncomfortable again, now that he was in his own house. 

The bed was a king size, big enough for the two of them, and she was small, didn't take up a lot of space. She scooted over to the far end and then patted the other empty side next to her. 

The leader of the Coven pondered it for a moment. The thought of sleeping in a real bed for the first time in months a tempting one for him. He also saw her laying there, so small and broken, in need of comfort. Something happened in his heart and he wanted to bad to hold her--though a part of his mind wished that Hani could need him that way. That Hani could love him that way. But it was the same way with Mitsuki. Yifan couldn't force Hani to love him, and Mitsuki couldn't force Yifan to love her. 

He kept an awkward distance at first, and she laid on her side, facing him. Her eyes were reddened and puffy from crying and there were tear stains on her face. But she drifted off to sleep quickly, exhausted from the day's events.

It took Yifan a bit longer to even fathom the thought of sleeping. She inched closer to him in her sleep. He had been laying on his side, facing her, but eventually moved to rest on his back, eyes trained on the ceiling. Soon his eyes widened in surprise when he felt the soft weight of her head on his chest. He glanced down at her to see that she was fast asleep as she snuggled comfortably by his side.

Yifan didn't give it a second thought and tried to force himself to fall asleep. 

A thought visited his mind as he closed his eyes. That Hani and Junmyeon were probably together right in that moment, and it filled his heart with poison and resentment. He wanted to go and find her, and remind them that Hani belonged to him. She was his whether they liked it or not. 

But another part of his mind told him to stay--there would be time to lay down the law with Hani and Junmyeon later. Mitsuki needed him and he cared about her enough to stay by her side. He was someone who didn't deserve the love she had for him. But he wanted to make up at least part of the sacrifices she had made for him, though he knew he would always be indebted to her, even if she didn't do it for that reason.

He tried to sleep soundly that night, but the thought was still very present in the back of his mind.

Hani didn't love him.

-

slight filler chapter before i go to bed. im covering for my crush tomorrow at work, and he's covering for me on thursday. that means im going to miss the mexico game tomorrow morning, and i wont even get to see him. im kinda bummed out about that. but its okay. i guess i can always watch the highlights of the game.

funny story though, he wants me to cover for him so that HE CAN WATCH THE GAME. sigh. i agreed before knowing the game would be on wednesday. i thought it would be today, so i agreed to cover for him. and then he tells me it was bc he wanted to watch the mexico game. and i couldn't just be like "you know what? i wont cover for you afterall bc i wanna watch the game too."

anyway, thank you all so much for reading and supporting this story. it means a lot to me. also, thank you for getting it to 1k reads.

-clary