Work Text:
"Aiyah, I feel so bad."
"Oh? What for? Do you have a stomach cramp? I heard that your last assignment—"
"No, no. Nothing like that. I just... Did you not hear about the poor rookie who got put into the same dorm as Viper?"
"Ah!"
"Right? Poor thing, truly. No one deserves that."
“So, what I heard about Roe Deer-ssi was true? He’s going to have an ill-met fate soon.”
"And, not only that, but I heard Viper has taken a certain shine to the rookie."
"Oh my. That really won't end well."
"I already sent the rookie a small gift basket to his desk. He might as well try some new snacks before he dies in a mysterious accident."
"Hah... And to think that the rookie had so much promise, too. It had to be his looks. If only he weren't so eye-catching, Viper would have left him alone."
"Rest in peace, Roe Deer-ssi. We'll ensure no snakes can get to you from beyond the grave."
Soleum tiptoed into his dorm room.
He carefully clicked off his shoes, sliding his feet into soft slippers. He then took off his coat, hanging it on a wall hook.
He kept his satchel on him, since he would be unloading some of the items in his room.
He walked across the dorm, his eyes set on the door to his room.
He didn't look at the kitchen and he didn't check out the living room.
Soleum only had one goal, and that was to enter the sanctuary of his bedroom before he came home.
Reaching his hand out to the doorknob, Soleum suddenly felt a presence behind him.
He just barely managed not to shudder.
A hand lay on his shoulder, the fingers grinding against his suit and clamping down like a claim.
"Soleum-ah, you're home earlier than normal."
Saheon had already been home.
Soleum was fucked. He couldn't escape now that Saheon was here—touching him with no prompt. Touching him just because he could.
"You look tired." Saheon's free hand wiped Soleum's cheek, the thumb brushing just under his eye. "You should rest before dinner."
Soleum tried to nod and shake off his roommate, but Saheon didn't let him go quite yet. The hand on his shoulder stayed.
When he glanced at Saheon, he saw that glint in his gaze. The one that sparkled with crazy.
"Seonbae-nim, you're right. I'm really tired." Soleum coolly smiled up at Saheon. "I'll take a nap."
"Taking a nap will ruin your sleep schedule."
"I would rather nap than go through the rest of the day in a daze."
"Hmm."
Saheon took his hand away from Soleum's shoulder, but not before brushing through Soleum's dark locks of hair, twirling it around his finger.
As soon as the last of his hair fell off the tip of Saheon’s finger—
"Goodnight, seonbae-nim."
Soleum fled into his room. Saheon allowed it.
Soleum knew that he only escaped because he amused Saheon. He only held onto his life because Saheon deemed him too interesting to kill.
Shutting the door behind him, Soleum let out a breath.
Fuck, he never thought he would be put in this situation.
His bad luck continued even after he landed in this world.
He passed orientation with flying colors, only to be placed into the same dorm as Baek Saheon.
He was just as the DER Wiki described. A snake in human skin.
Soleum had hoped he would be placed in the same dorm as a sane person. An unknown person. Someone not from the Wiki.
An unnamed character was all he asked for.
He received Viper instead.
Soleum couldn't control himself when he was around Saheon. The man was terrifying.
He broke out into a sweat with every moment they spent time together in the same room.
He knew Saheon knew it. Saheon gloated too much while Soleum stood off to the side, uncomfortable.
"I don't think I can do this," he muttered.
How was he supposed to live with Saheon as his roommate? He needed to get to 500,000 Points to buy the Wish Potion from Baekilmong.
He had only been with Baekilmong for a month, and had accumulated over 5% of it. But that still wasn't enough.
He could deal with Darknesses. Most of the ghost stories were simple to figure out. He knew how to trick the stories.
What he struggled with was his time outside of the office.
D-squad was amazing. Stellar. No issues on set.
Haje always offered to let him sleep on the office couch. Soleum hadn't taken her offer... yet.
Jaheon was a trusted leader, protective of his people. Reliable Chief Lizard was Soleum’s only solace in this treacherous world.
Minseong checked if Soleum ate in between assignments, going so far as to pack extra homemade snacks for Soleum to eat.
Saheon was the problem. In the end, everything came back to Viper.
He taunted Soleum's waking thoughts. He woke up from nightmares, Saheon the star of his dream.
A single person held so much sway over him.
When they first met, Soleum told himself that the Wiki had exaggerated Saheon's personality.
He was well aware that the Wiki hadn't lied at all.
They had only been dorm mates for a day when Saheon pressed up against Soleum from behind. It sent shivers down his spine, his mind and body frozen from fear.
And then Saheon backed away after claiming to pick fuzz out of Soleum's bangs.
Those incidents kept happening.
If it remained solely at the dorm, he wouldn’t mind it as much. At Baekilmong, their paths did not cross.
Soleum was the rookie of D-squad. Saheon was the leader of a different squad.
There wasn't a reason to collaborate together in a Darkness.
At least, there wasn't until now.
The day started off amicably, if you could believe it.
After taking a nap, Soleum woke up in the middle of the night. He went to the kitchen and heated up food.
He returned to his room, burrowing in the covers as he contemplated his existence in this world.
He dozed off at some point, waking up to go to work later.
When he stepped out of his bedroom, Saheon was on the phone in the living area.
Saheon was smiling. That was his first warning.
Soleum's throat bobbed. He couldn't hide his nervousness. The anxiety that coursed through him caused his hands to tremble at his sides.
Hanging up the phone, Saheon's teeth gleamed.
"Soleum-ah, you'll never believe it. We need to go into the office together. As the newest and best rookie, you've been asked to enter a Darkness with some of the elites."
Nothing had terrified him as much as that sugary sweet tone.
Deceptively kind. That’s what Viper was.
"I haven't received any instructions—"
"You will."
Saheon walked Soleum out of their dorm, his hand pressing against the small of his back.
Saheon ended up being right. As they walked to Baekilmong, Soleum was sent a message by Haje that he was being asked to enter a Darkness first thing in the morning.
Haje met them in the lobby. There was no rush to get upstairs or to travel elsewhere.
Haje handed them pamphlets and said, "No chance to back out. As soon as we read these, we enter the Darkness."
Saheon opened the pamphlet, uncaring as he read the information packet.
Soleum followed suit. He disappeared only moments after Saheon did.
Perhaps that was why they ended up spawning near the same spot in the Manor of the Blind.
There were loud noises of anguish all around them.
Spider-like machines were hunting down others in the room. Soleum couldn't react in time to dodge a needle-like device, but he hadn't needed to.
The machine moved past him, continuing to aim towards an agent in an insectoid mask.
Soleum tightened his mask around his head. It was a defensive act.
He stood in the middle of a hallway surrounded by chaos.
Ushers, the machines that attacked the other field agents, didn't glance at him. He recalled the packet's information. He had 1 hour of free time at this museum. After that, he would be put in the same situation as the agents here.
He was snapped out of his thoughts by a whistle.
Saheon strode through the hall that was now oddly quiet. Blood seeped across the floor.
"Lucky me," Saheon said. "I get Roe Deer-ssi all to myself."
Truly, Soleum's luck had to be the worst in the world.
They moved quickly and quietly. Saheon had a watch. At Soleum's suggestion, he set a timer for 55 minutes.
Time eroded quickly. There wasn't a lot to do other than run. Hiding would do no good since they were given free time at this moment.
Their objective was to find the exit. That's the only way to clear this Darkness.
Saheon was much more relaxed than Soleum.
His long legs could have let him run ahead, but he stayed at a slower pace to watch Soleum sweat.
"Don't worry too much. I won't let you die here."
Soleum chuckled wryly. "Because you'll be bored to death if you can't torment me?"
"Torment?" Saheon's lips curled. "Is that what I do to you, Roe Deer-ssi?"
Yes, Soleum wanted to say.
Instead, he spotted the elevator they had been searching for. His steps naturally became quicker. There was a sign out front, but Soleum couldn't understand the words.
Saheon frowned at the information sign in a language not of Earth as well.
"They're unkind to their guests," he murmured in distaste.
Soleum ignored him, not meeting Saheon's eyes. If he did, Saheon would comment about something he was doing, and Soleum was stressed enough from the situation to add more to it.
Having no way to read the sign, he decided to check the elevator. Saheon followed him so closely that it was like they had to be touching or else they’d die.
He had just pressed the button to call the elevator, but the doors opened immediately.
An Usher was inside. An agent was caught within its legs. The Usher walked out of the elevator, the agent pleading for help as he was taken towards his doom.
Saheon stepped inside the elevator with a feigned air of annoyance. He dusted off his shoulders as his shoes stepped in a puddle of blood.
"Are you going to come in or not?"
Soleum joined Viper in the elevator, his frame shaking the entire ride.
He could hold his face well. Soleum was an amazing actor, he learned.
He had to keep a straight face while clearing Darknesses and gathering Dream Essence.
No one on his team had noticed how terrified he was at all times.
No one knew that his heart beat so fast that he thought he would die before he reached 30. Heart palpitations would surely let him see the light.
No one had noticed. No one but Saheon.
"You're so adorable," Saheon had said after Soleum cleared his first Darkness under D-squad's watch.
Soleum hadn't known what Saheon meant until the man patted his head. "Don't show them your fear. They'll kick you out, you'd be nothing but an expendable employee. Worse than X-squad."
Saheon knew Soleum's true feelings toward his situation. Saheon barely took a glance, and he knew that Soleum was a nervous wreck.
Those memories flooded his mind as they stood in the elevator.
"I'll take care of you." Saheon looked up at the ceiling of the elevator, timing it, maybe.
Soleum glanced at Saheon. His hands turned into fists. His knuckles turned white.
"Figure the solution out for me," Saheon continued.
It was a give-and-take scenario.
Saheon was offering protection. Soleum only had to provide the way out of this ghost story.
He bobbed his head. It wasn't a bad deal.
He didn't turn down the offer. He probably couldn't, even if he wanted to.
The elevator doors opened to the highest floor.
It was silent. Too quiet for a Darkness such as this.
Saheon stepped out first. His watch showed 32 minutes remained until they would need to be cautious of the Ushers.
"So many elites were called in.” Tsk. “Look at them now."
Saheon showed no mercy to his peers. He looked down at the humans who had no eyes, no ears, no tongues. He kicked one of the corpses over, revealing that they had been cut open.
Soleum gagged. Bile rose in his throat. He bent over, choking it out.
Saheon rubbed his back in soothing circular motions.
This comfort... It only made it easier to hate Viper. He was cruel in all ways.
"Roe Deer-ssi only shows this side of himself to me." It was spoken in slight awe.
Soleum wiped his lips, looking up at Saheon with a pale face and a dizzy mind.
"Don't let others know you're afraid. I'll be jealous if you do."
Soleum had no reply other than a question. "Why?"
Saheon tilted his head. His eyes were bright. "Isn't it obvious?"
It wasn't. Not to Soleum, at least.
Saheon pressed a finger to his lips as if he were whispering a secret. He moved his finger to the side of his mouth and spoke.
"Only I deserve to see Roe Deer-ssi in such a vulnerable state."
Soleum had been placed in the path of a sociopath. It happened by chance, but that didn't make him feel any better.
He wished he had been put in a shared dorm with Yeongeun instead.
They searched the top floor endlessly. They came across some living humans, but their lives were unsalvageable when they didn't know where the exit was.
Saheon commented that they looked like worms squirming across the ground, rid of their senses.
Soleum tragically agreed with a morose nod.
They used the stairs to go down a floor. Saheon said to use the elevator, but they only had 14 minutes left. Soleum wanted to see if the stairs were used by the Ushers.
They did not run into any Ushers while using the stairs. They also didn't run into any humans.
With the seventh floor searched, they ran through the sixth floor in a rush.
An Usher was cleaning a room as they investigated. Saheon remained silent, and zipped his lips metaphorically to tell Soleum to do the same.
The time was draining away.
The sixth floor was searched. They found no exit.
They used the stairs since the time had arrived. Saheon's watch reached 00:00:00. The 1 hour free period to observe the museum was over. If an Usher spotted them, they would have to pay a fee.
The fifth floor was filled with more bodies. Most of them were hidden and alive. It was a nice change.
Saheon and Soleum were investigating a large room full of chairs sitting in front of a podium, as if a normal show would be on display, when whirling was heard.
Soleum's vision skewed instantly. He nearly made a noise, but Saheon's hand covered his mouth.
They lay down under the stage in a small nook. Soleum breathed heavily, his heart hammering against his ribs. Saheon looked at him the entire time, observing every tick of Soleum's brow.
Saheon watched sweat drip from his forehead down his cheek. The pink of his skin was delightful.
The mechanical sound of the Usher receded. Saheon continued to cover Soleum's mouth. He pressed a finger to the corner of Soleum's lips, forcing them open.
The sound of other agents fleeing the room once the Usher left echoed off the walls.
Soleum tried to get up. He tried to reject Saheon’s offering but, futilely, two of Saheon's fingers pushed inside forcefully.
"Shhh, calm down."
Saheon thrust them in deeper. Soleum struggled in Saheon's hold.
Biting down on them gently—not roughly, he wasn't suicidal—Soleum hoped it would irritate Saheon enough to take his fingers out.
Instead, Soleum felt like Saheon became happier.
"Your mouth's warm. Tongue is strong. Teeth are sharp." Saheon rubbed his finger pads against Soleum's teeth and gums. "You're healthy, I'd say."
This guy...
Soleum felt the urge to cry.
Saheon chuckled lightly, leaning his head forward in the crook between Soleum's neck and shoulder. He breathed in deeply, and then slowly took his fingers out of Soleum's mouth.
"I don't get it... No one else lasts as long as you do."
“...” He eyed Saheon carefully, his breathing calming down.
“You’re so fun to tease.”
Soleum judged Saheon heavily. So that's why Viper was so intrigued. The other agents he tormented gave in while Soleum vowed not to. He didn't want to be a stepping stone or a punching bag.
Saheon looked him in the eyes.
"Don't run off. We still have 5 more floors to check. Don't be too scared of me yet."
It could have been mistaken as a plea.
The rest of the floors held no clues or signs of an exit.
They hid from the Ushers and saw more field agents scurry away in fright. Still, there was nothing to help their cause.
Soleum was going crazy.
He had Saheon as a companion. He yearned to escape this Darkness, if only to be rid of the man's company.
"Are you pouting?" Saheon asked in glee.
Soleum refused to look at Saheon. He continued to walk forward, staying low to the ground as he heard a scream. An Usher must have entered the first floor.
They were among many of their peers now. The first floor was where most agents ended up. They got too scared to explore, choosing to hide.
They had checked the top floors. They used the elevator to be certain. They had gone to the top floor, all the way to the first. Still, they didn't find an exit.
Soleum disliked the implication that he would need to go to the basement levels.
The elevator had a limitless dial for the basement floors. The museum stretched impossibly long. Over 7,000 floors, if Soleum recalled the Wiki correctly.
He was going to die in a museum with Viper for company. Damn, what a way to go. How many DER fans would love to be in his place?
"You look like you're about to cry."
Those fans didn't realize how horrid his personality was.
Soleum replied quietly, "I'm just thinking."
And he was. He was trying to figure out this ghost story.
All ghost stories had to have a way to survive. The higher the level of the Darkness, the riskier it was to make it out alive. Baekilmong believed this Darkness could be classified as A-Class.
If that were true, then it was still solvable. Only Darknesses above A-Class became nearly impossible to succeed at escaping. There was a logical, feasible way to conquer this Darkness.
The Usher was coming closer.
Saheon unlocked a vent, leaving it open for Soleum to climb in first.
What a gentleman.
They huddled in the vent, both sweating and showing signs of fatigue.
They had been here for hours. If they were caught by an Usher, something would be taken from them. Soleum decided he would want an ear taken. He needed his eyes to find the exit.
The Usher swept through the room. It cleaned up the floor nicely. It was as if the human-like worms hadn't been spilling blood there in the first place.
As soon as the Usher left, from the vents, they watched as agents crawled out of their hiding spaces.
A gasp escaped Soleum's lips as he saw a familiar, trustworthy face.
Yeongeun stood up from behind a sofa. She looked around warily, meeting the eyes of other agents before quickly glancing away.
No one wanted to team up with others. You'd use your teammates to save your own hide, after all.
Soleum had no idea that two evergreen eyes were focused on his expression.
“Do you know that agent?”
Soleum confirmed quietly, “Yes. It’s Goral-ssi.”
“...?”
He briefly side-eyed Saheon. “We passed orientation together.”
“Ah. A fellow rookie.”
Bonding through shared trauma was helpful in this line of work. It was natural to trust someone with who you worked with during a crisis.
Soleum opened the vent, climbing out. He waved, trying to catch Yeongeun’s attention.
He was elated when she looked in his direction, mouthing the words, ‘Roe Deer-ssi?’
Saheon made a strange noise.
"I've heard that only two top rookies were given the chance to enter this Darkness."
Soleum was surprised to hear that.
Baekilmong was the type of company to throw all of its people at a problem. Who cared if they died? Baekilmong would recruit more.
Saheon continued, "Goral-ssi must be doing well."
It was a compliment. Soleum was shocked to hear Saheon praise someone else’s abilities.
They joined together, nervously looking around for an Usher. Their ears were spread thin, picking up on any small noise.
Yeongeun greeted him with a familiar smile of relief, "Roe Deer-ssi." Then, she looked at Saheon. "...Goat-ssi."
"Goral-ssi," Soleum returned, bypassing most common greetings. "Have you gone to any of the basement floors?"
Yeongeun's lips pinched together, her eyes glancing everywhere but his face.
"No... I haven't."
"Would you like to go down with us?"
Saheon frowned. "I didn't say you could invite other members—"
"I would appreciate that deeply." Yeongeun wiped her chin. "What do you need me to do?"
Saheon must have approved of her because of her reaction. He turned silent, not arguing to get rid of her.
Soleum smiled at Yeongeun, her willingness fueling a new resolve in his heart.
Now that there were three people here, he could enact a plan. He was going to use an item.
They traveled as a small and silent pack. Solem led it, Yeongeun watched for threats, and Saheon was stationed at the rear.
They used the stairs to delve further into the museum.
Yeongeun didn't make a single noise. She asked no questions.
Opening the double doors, Soleum was greeted with the sight of a lounge. It was a resting area. They could do things here that they couldn't do anywhere else in the museum.
Fire. There was a small fire next to a circle of furniture.
Soleum was going to live all due to the help of Saheon and Yeongeun.
They huddled in a corner, out of sight in case an Usher snuck up on them.
Soleum took out the candle-making box. He received a confused look from Yeongeun.
"An item." Saheon sounded impressed.
His hand rubbed Soleum's shoulder. Soleum didn't brush it off. He needed Saheon on his side.
"It's an item that only activates with three people," Soleum explained quietly.
He set up the candle-making kit as quickly as possible. There was a picture of a candle and a series of cards. Those were the focal points.
"Roe Deer-ssi, I'm not sure how this will help us," Yeongeun said.
Soleum didn't explain the item in full. They didn't have time to waste.
He led the other two through the process. They all drew cards. Finally, they were lucky. The candle, once it was done, would protect them from the sight of Ushers.
There was one problem.
"It will take 30 minutes to be ready."
Yeongeun's gaze turned worried, gripping one of her ears. "An entire half-hour?"
Half an hour was equivalent to half an ear to the Ushers.
Yeongeun shook her head. "Will it be powerful enough to get us out of here?"
Soleum showed the hand movement of so-so. "It will be a tool that will help us escape, but without us to use it, it will be useless."
Saheon's eyes never left Soleum's form. He took in everything—from Soleum's nervous laughter, the bob of his throat, and the way a dark look would cross his eyes every time he looked at Yeongeun's ear.
"Goral-ssi has already paid a fee," Saheon said.
Yeongeun flinched. "That's... true. I did."
Soleum tried to hide his disdain. He knew it was likely that Yeongeun had been seen by an Usher before, but he hated for it to be true.
"They were very surgical about it," she added, comforting them in case they got caught later.
Saheon huffed. Soleum showed a wry, appreciative smile.
Comfort was difficult to find in ghost stories. With Yeongeun and, oddly enough, with Saheon, Soleum was covered in it.
Saheon offered physical protection.
Yeongeun gave him mental reassurance.
Things had been too calm. Their progress was going too well.
Saheon set his watch for 30 minutes, the time it would take for the candle to be ready for use.
That's when the whirl of the mechanical Ushers filled their ears.
They didn't have time to react as the doors flung open. Despite being in the corner of the room, they were not completely hidden from the cameras.
The Usher whirlled toward them.
Soleum scooped up the candle, holding it close to his body. He couldn't let the item become damaged, or else it'd be useless.
They made a run for it. The Usher chased them through a hall, leading to a new, mysterious display of horror.
Soleum saw eyes. An endless array of them. The double doors behind him compelled him. He wanted to walk back out of this room.
Yeongeun reacted similarly once she saw the eyes. This was a room where they put all of the eyes they took from visitors. This display was proof of how many people had died in this Darkness.
They shouldn't have stopped. It was a rookie move. Saheon tried to push them forward, but the Usher was too close.
Soleum began to close the double doors, but Saheon shook his head. He threw Soleum back, and then stepped onto the other side of the doors.
Saheon went toward the Usher instead of away from it.
Soleum forgot how to breathe. He lost his sense of time. This... This was pure insanity.
“Hah… Fuck.” Saheon ran his fingers through his hair.
Saheon began to close the doors. The Usher continued a steady pace toward them.
Just before the doors closed in the center, Saheon said, “You’ll owe me a favor.”
His voice was deep, raspy. A promise owed.
Soleum’s eyes didn’t break away from Saheon’s eyes until the doors cut off his sight.
Did Viper just sacrifice himself?
That was… That was out of character. Completely.
Soleum was stuck in place. He tried to listen to the other side of the doors, but he couldn’t hear anything other than a mechanical whirl.
Yeongeun pulled him away from the doors. Dragged him when his body wouldn’t cooperate.
“Roe Deer-ssi, we have to move.”
Right. They had to leave before the Usher came for them.
His stomach churned as they ran.
He didn’t know what direction they were going toward, and if he were honest, he didn’t care.
It was during their run when Minseong found them. Soleum had never been happier to see his coworker.
They traveled to a higher floor, where the other members of D-squad waited. It was a balcony that Soleum had never heard of, even from the Wiki.
Jaheon explained their plan to climb down the museum. Soleum disapproved of it.
He offered a different solution.
“I can find the way out. I just need two people. Everyone else will wait here, where Ushers don’t travel.”
He lied when he then proceeded to say that he needed Yeongeun and Saheon to activate the candle.
Yeongeun was the only one to give him a look as if she knew he had fibbed.
He’d later find out that Jaheon knew he lied as well.
Soleum and Yeongeun went back out in search of Saheon. They had to use the candle as a trio. If they did, they’d be able to find the exit.
They found him in a vent. His watch made a small beep noise. He turned it off before greeting them.
Soleum held his tongue when he saw the bizarre mechanism that had replaced Saheon’s eye.
“What a sight,” Saheon greeted. “Roe Deer-ssi looks good even through an ocular implant.”
“Goat-ssi is full of nonsense.”
They used the candle to regroup. Soleum had to rethink this entire ghost story.
The pamphlet should not have lied. The exit was around. It was near. It was someplace that the creators of the museum felt was obvious.
Yeongeun held the candle, the wax dripping on her fingers. Her grip never loosened.
The exit was obvious. It had to be near the first floor.
Saheon and Soleum already checked from the top floor to the first floor.
They went down to the basement again.
They then went back up to the first floor. Again and again.
Repeatedly.
They didn’t give up, even as they passed by agents who writhed on the floor begging for mercy.
Until something struck him as odd. The staircase changed hues just slightly.
They walked in a slightly different direction than they had before.
A new staircase was shown. Floor 0, home of the exit.
They went back upstairs. That’s when they began to yell.
‘Follow me to the exit!’
Agents flooded the hallways. The members of D-squad grinned when they saw Soleum amidst the crowd.
Soleum had succeeded in finding a solution.
Dread filled the pit of his stomach once he saw Saheon waiting behind with him. They were calling for other agents to escape.
Saheon and his one-eyed gaze pierced his head.
Soleum’s Adam’s apple bobbed.
Thrill zipped down his spine. His mouth watered, and he wasn’t even sure why.
They exited the Darkness together. Later, the report would say it was a B-Class Darkness. The Baekilmong directors were displeased.
But still, they got something out of it. B-Class Dream Essence.
Agents who entered Manor of the Blind were sent home after recuperation or using their Points in the Employee Shop.
When Soleum returned to the dorm, he was the first to arrive. He was uninjured.
He took off his shoes, being quiet as an automatic response.
As he took off his coat, the door opened. Saheon arrived home with a medical eyepatch over his left eye.
Soleum wanted to apologize. He had an overwhelming need to thank Saheon, too.
He opened his mouth. He began to speak. But it was for nothing.
Saheon gripped his collar, cutting off his voice, tugging Soleum up.
"Seonbae-nim?"
“I’ll cash in that favor now.”
Soleum didn’t push Saheon away as he leaned down, those lips pressing against his own.
Was this the definition of trauma-bonded?