Empire | ATEEZ

013

"Nari, I- I didn't mean right now," Seonghwa stammered, stumbling into his room as I pushed him through the door and quickly shut it behind us before turning to him with an bright smile.

"It's okay," I assured him, "The others are still eating so it's only you and me. Besides, Hongjoong isn't even around so no one is going to come and yell at us," I said, making a casual gesture as if it didn't matter anyway, "It's okay," I said again, "You can show me."

But Seonghwa remained quiet, the man opening his mouth after a moment of silence as if to say something but nothing else than a breath of air, the ghost of a response, left his lips. I brushed it off as I took a step closer and let my eyes drift down his arms, "Where is it?" I asked, excited, "Is it big?"

Seonghwa chuckled at that, crossing his arms over his chest as he smirked, "Yeah, it's big." My smile faltered at his comment, a huff leaving my lips as I frowned at him, "Did you just make a dick joke?"

"No I didn't," he mumbled. "Yes you did," I said. "No-" "This is childish," I pouted, turning my back to him and heading back towards the door only to change my mind right before my hand touched the handle, turning back to face the blond only for my eyes to widen as I saw him pulling off his shirt, immediately covering my face with my hands.

"Seonghwa!" I hissed, feeling my cheeks heat up in embarrassment, "Why are you taking off your clothes?! There's a big difference between a dick joke and actually-"

My words faltered as I peaked through my fingers and watched him throw the shirt to the floor with one smooth movement, taking a step closer to me as my breath caught, slowly lowering my hands as he grabbed my wrists and carefully guided them down to my sides.

"But I don't see a-" I began only to gasp as Seonghwa turned around, revealing the enormous tattoo on his back; a sword, the hilt just reaching the back of his neck and the blade cutting all the way down his spine.

"Wow," I breathed, instinctively reaching out to touch it, letting my fingers graze over the skin on his back, feeling my heartbeat pick up as Seonghwa shivered underneath my touch as I traced an outline of the weapon, "Why a sword?" I asked, no longer feeling embarrassed but rather curious, awed, as I took him in.

"Power, protection, authority, courage, strength, and power," he listed, "We all have one; eight identical swords for the people governing the Empire. Only Hongjoong's is different," he said, sighing as I ran my fingers down his spine, the silence within the room, around us, growing heavy, tense, as I focused on every little detail drawn onto his perfectly smooth skin, feeling every cut and curve of muscle underneath my fingertips.

"In what way?" I asked. "His blade pierces a crown," Seonghwa breathed. I could feel chills running down his skin in the wake of my touch as he continued, "Because he's the leader. The King."

I hummed, absentmindedly moving my hand lower and lower only for my eyes to widen as Seonghwa suddenly turned around and grabbed it, ripped from the trance I had just been in as the sound of my heartbeat echoed in my ears as he took a step closer.

I could feel the heat from his skin as he came to a halt right in front of me, breathing heavily as his dark eyes flickered across my face, "Whether or not you're doing it on purpose, you're going to have to take responsibility for your actions at some point or another."

"What do you mean?" I mumbled, feeling increasingly flustered as he kept moving closer, my eyes flickering back and forth between his very-exposed upper body which was practically pressing against me as I kept backing up and the endless darkness behind those eyes of his.

"You take men too lightly," Seonghwa said, making me furrow my brows, "You can't do that. You're absolutely insane for thinking that, with how you look, how you act, you can just touch someone like that, be close to someone like that-"