Tropes/themes: hurt/minor comfort, angst, enemies to friends(?), in a series would be enemies to friends to lovers
Relationships: oc x canon, silas kumar x leona kingscholar
Synopsis: silas kumar was humiliated when fellow savanaclaw student, ruggie bucchi, used his signature spell to make silas bow before leona during a longstanding rivalry between the two. no one expected the joke to spiral out of control.
Word count: 3,613
Notes: minorly proofread, may contain writing or grammar mistakes. silas is inspired by shere khan
fangs bared at the lion-man before him, annoyance bubbling in his chest. he hated leona. he hated his hold over the dormitory, his arrogance, and that absolutely smug look on his face. all he wanted to do was knock the damn cub down a peg. he’d never been humiliated in such a way before and, for once, the carefully calculating tiger wanted to cast aside all abandon just to see leona dead at his feet. to finally have victory over him.
as the rage and anger continued to build in his chest, silas could feel the magic surging in his fingertips. the long-gone whispered voice of the lord of the jungle urging him to crush the man that stood before him. that mocked every move he made. that had caused nothing but problems day in and day out. the lion that claimed himself a king, but was nothing more than a pathetic whelp.
green energy pooled in silas’ hands as vines and roots tore through the floors of the school hallways, shattering the carefully laid marble and reaching to hold leona in place. to swallow him forever in vines so that he, silas, may take the reins on the dormitory - no, the whole school!
a wicked laughter began to bubble up from within the tiger as thorny vines gripped at the kingscholar man, tearing into his clothes and skin, the spilling red serving to make silas all the more hungry to see him dead.
“you think you can get away with humiliating me?” the question ripped itself from the tiger’s throat as he spoke, deeper than anything silas could have ever managed. “sending your damn dog after me with his signature spell, trying to make ME the laughingstock? no -” his words became suddenly low, the crazed look in his eyes becoming ever more intense. “NO! you’re going to be crushed beneath my heel and everyone else who stands in my way. i’ll show you who the real king is around here. and i’ll savor every last one of your dying. breaths.” with each pause in his final words, the vines around leona tightened, circling their way up and to his mouth, preventing him from speaking the words to his magic spell.
he couldn’t humiliate him again. to win out in the end. not when the voice of shere khan whispered so loudly in his head, driving his movements. driving his rage. silas hardly felt in control of himself and, for a moment, he was scared. terrified, even. in some deep part of him, he knew what was happening to him, and that it was more shameful than just brushing off the movements ruggie had made him do earlier. brushing off the annoyance at leona’s words and that horribly smug look he’d worn. but, at the forefront, all he wanted was power. the ability to finally come out on top over leona and take what he believed was rightfully his. power over not just the students in savanaclaw but the entirety of night raven college as well. he’d hold on to these feelings until even crowley crumbled to nothing but a messy mound of ground bones and flesh before him.
many were fleeing in fear as more and more vines overtook the hallways, curling themselves around the columns and climbing up the walls of the school, some even managing to capture more students in their grasp. by now, the entirety of the hallway was nothing more but an uneven terrain of ruined flooring and vines, becoming a dangerous jungle of thorns and roots. and in it all, silas found himself stalking up to leona, a deep hunger in his eyes as he wiped away some of the lion’s blood and pressed it to his tongue, eyes rolling back in near ecstasy. he wanted to dine right then and there. to tear the flesh off of the tanned man and really get down into the meat of things. still, he held back, instead placing a hand over the thorny covering of his mouth, as though holding his face in the gentle caress of a lover.
yet, the hate in his eyes said anything but that, the twisted, bloodied grin settling on his lips betraying his unusually gentle hold despite the lack of care for the vines that had wrapped themselves around his legs and arms, making him bleed the same red that was staining what was visible of leona’s uniform.
“i’m going to enjoy killing you slowly, lion… i’m going to savor every part of your carcass knowing you were too weak to stop me and when i take over everything, i’ll make sure you get made into the example of what happens to those who cross me.” his words were slow and sounded horribly sweet despite the raging storm in his head. to those too far away, it seemed almost as if silas was muttering loving goodbyes to the lion, a stark opposition to the chaos around them.
he watched as leona squirmed in the vines, trying anything to at least get his mouth free - to ruin the whole moment for them. a frown tugged at the corners of silas’ mouth, the vines only digging ever deeper into the dark haired boy. “there’s no use fighting it, leona. you’re just going to make things worse for yourself, you know…” it was clear that even with the small feats of magic leona was able to pull off, nothing was getting these vines off of him. and, to silas, it was for the better.
letting the vines that had dug into his own tanned skin pull him up and away from leona, he truly did feel like a king as he stared on at those below him, those waiting to see what he would do next with bated breaths, those who had their eyes clamped shut in fear. it felt divine. he felt like the radiating fear alone was enough to feed his urges. to leave leona for a desert instead of the main meal. yet - as he called on more vines and sturdy plant life to pull itself through the floor of the school, ready to finish what he started - he found himself pausing as that ever meddlesome crew - alongside that damn hyena - came up, calling out to him to stop.
stop? why would he stop when he was just getting started? why was it that everything was so adamant on making sure he came out the bad guy in all this? like he was wrong for finally giving in to the feelings that had been steadily building the last four years? like he didn’t deserve his spot as king?!
a deep, guttural roar tore itself from silas’ throat as these thoughts swirled in his head, lips pulling up into a fanged sneer. he was tired of them. of everyone! yet, he knew that a king wasn’t a king without subjects so if he could just get them to see reason…
the sickly green magic that had been calling more and more vines forth suddenly ceased, an obvious ripple of confusion washing over the little group that had come to try and stop him. “can’t you see that this is what this school needs?” he questioned, his tone deceivingly sweet and, almost, pouty. “we’ve let arrogant fools like leona run amok too long now… and crowley is just as much to blame. we have… subservient,” golden eyes flickered over to ruggie with a flash of rage as the memory of being forced to kneel before leona came back to his mind. “individuals running around doing whatever it is their prince asks of them, just for a little food or favor. i can change that. i can make this a better place not just for me, but for you too. if you just let me do what i need to do.”
“you’re taking this too far, silas,” ace - the damned punk - countered. “like… way too far! look at the damage you’ve already done!”
damage? he was just returning things to their natural state, that was all. wasn’t it? the voice growing in his head certainly seemed to agree. before long, everyone would be able to indulge in base instincts. to become animals themselves regardless of their stance as humans, beastfolk, or otherwise. it would be natural. not destroyed.
“besides,” that damn rat spoke up. “it wasn’t anythin’ to get this worked up about! you’re bent outta shape over a joke!”
no… that was no joke. it was a bitter declaration of telling him to lay down. to give up this fight. something he couldn’t do. something he didn’t want to do! he’d be damned before he was made a laughingstock again. made to submit like that again.
the voice in his head roared loudly as the others continued to talk, trying to get him to calm down but there was no longer anything to calm down. not when he was already so enthralled in the clutches of his rage that nothing else seemed to matter anymore. not when it felt like shere khan - lord of the jungle - was on his side and commanding his movements. his thoughts. fueling his anger to keep going. to let him out.
the thought hit him like a splash of cold water to the face. let him out? he wondered if it would be like it had been when leona or riddle overblotted. would they all get to see some twisted inky form of shere khan? he didn’t want to tarnish the tiger’s name like that but, even so, the inner voice didn’t seem to share that concern. all he wanted was to win. was to bask in the vengeance served for the humiliation. to teach them all that he was not someone to be messed with.
“stop your damned yapping,” he finally snapped as green - brighter and more potent than before - began to overtake the hall and, finally, everything went completely dark, silas’ barely conscious mind slipping away into inky darkness.
weakness cannot be shown. that is the rule of the jungle.
if you show weakness, you leave yourself open to attacks. to hurt.
it was a rule that was drilled into silas from a young age. always taught to be regal and guarded. to protect himself before others. to not allow any chances of humiliation to happen. to prevent any fear from being seen.
fire. it blazed up before him, forcing him back and away from the advancing hunters. his heart pounded in his chest and he found himself failing the second of two rules: don’t show fear. but how could he not? he had just witnessed the death of his mother and father both and he knew he was next. he wanted to fight back - to avenge them - but he couldn’t seem to muster the courage or strength to do so again. he’d already suffered wounds on his face and the only thing he could think to do now was turn tail and run.
and so he did. he could only narrowly avoid the bullets that grazed his exposed torso as he ran, wanting nothing more than the heat of the flames to be away from his skin. as he ran, he silently found himself swearing vengeance against them. to save the trophied versions of his parents from them and give them the proper burial they deserved, even if he knew that they could never forgive him. never forgive him for befriending a human. never forgive him for getting them killed and nearly himself.
it seemed like he ran for days. the burn of the skin was well gone, and yet he felt like he could still hear the bullets whizzing past him. the wounds on his skin a stark reminder of the failures and shame he’d brought to the jungle. he was supposed to be its protector, taking his ill father’s place. he was supposed to keep them out and all he’d done was give them a way in.
betrayal, shame, regret. it all tore at him. kept him running until he was sure none of the other inhabitants of the jungle could find him. he wanted to get out. to get away. but where to? the jungle was all he’d ever known before that human came along. and even then he rarely left. he knew he couldn’t survive out in the savanna. there wasn’t enough prey to feast on and he didn’t think he could survive an encounter with a pride if he happened to cross into their territory.
and so, on the edge of the jungle did he find himself, biding his time in waiting, hoping for the day he’d be strong enough to take on those humans once again. practicing his magic, his hunting, his roar. he didn’t want to kill anyone but he knew if it came to it, he wanted to be sure he could. that he wouldn’t let what happened to his parents happen to him. he needed to reclaim the jungle not just for himself but for those in it, too. he needed to become a proper protector like his father. to embody the spirit of shere khan the best he could…
pain surged through him as he finally came to. a wave of dizziness passing over him and - into a solid chest he fell. a weak grip held on to the solid muscle holding him up, eyes barely focused enough to recognize the yellow-colored vest before him. he felt sick. stinging pain working its way up and down his arms and legs like he’d been stabbed a hundred times over by little stinging nettles but somehow worse. and, more than that, he could feel blood on his hands. on his body. and on the body in front of him.
somehow, he knew this was his fault. he knew something had happened to lead to this but he couldn’t remember what it was. all he could remember was anger and then… nothing. it was like he’d completely blacked out, some monster taking him over and leaving him to haunted memories and pain.
the voices around him were ones he could hardly make out, a muddle of sounds in his cotton-stuffed head. all he wanted to do was die. or, at least, lay down in the shade and away from everyone. he mumbled something - though he wasn’t quite sure what - before, rather suddenly, being adjusted to stand up right, realizing only now that the one holding him up right was a bloodied leona.
he was too tired to be angry anymore. and, beyond that, he felt… guilty. like he’d been the one with fire and guns when facing the lion. trying to do to him what they’d done to his family so many years ago. though the pain showed clear on his face as he looked to the one helping him, it seemed the lion paid no mind, instead helping him out of the destroyed hallway and towards the hall of mirrors.
there was nothing but silence between the two as they finally entered the mirror-filled hall, limping towards the one that would lead them to their dorm. he knew he had to expect consequences for the destruction his overblot had caused and yet - just for now - he hoped to be able to hide away from everyone like he had back then. to get away and stay away. he hated that he’d let his anger take over - that he’d let old grievances fuel new ones. that he hurt leona. in all his distaste of the man, he never wanted him dead. and seeing the wounds he bore - the wounds silas caused - the tri-color haired male finally found himself speaking up to the lion.
“i’m sorry,” the words were quiet, strained, and felt all too foreign on silas’ tongue. he couldn’t remember the last time he’d ever apologized to someone. usually, they were the ones apologizing to him. “i didn’t mean - didn’t want to hurt you.” he wasn’t sure which one it was or if it was perhaps both, his mind still too clouded to properly discern the feelings. not to mention, he wasn’t sure why leona was helping him. he was always so haughty and self-serving that it just felt out of character and yet, maybe, it was because he understood what silas was going through.
his own overblot had been… hard to watch. for a bit, silas had felt glad he’d let go of himself enough to embarrass himself in front of the whole spelldrive team. yet, even after the fact, people seemed to respect him all the same, if not being a tad more careful around him. now, though, he could only imagine what leona had been going through after the fact. what memories he’d been faced with when submerged in that unconscious state of mind.
“i’m not fit to be a king like you are,” silas continued on in leona’s begrudged silence, a pitiful laughter spilling from the tiger. “i can’t even keep a level head over something as stupid as ruggie’s signature spell.” inside, he could feel his heart clench. it was more than just that. it was the past he’d been running from catching up to him, tears beginning to well in his eyes as leona pushed a door open, revealing his room to silas.
they had barely made it a few more steps in before silas - overwhelmed by memories and feelings - nearly collapsed in tears, the lion catching him once more with a huff.
“what, crying over some spell that got used on you?” leona snarked, looking down at the utterly pathetic looking tiger-boy. yet, they both knew it was more than that. leona knew what he was experiencing. the past he’d been forced to relive. the one that got fed on to strengthen the overblot.
even with his twinge of annoyance at the words, the taller of the two shook his head, forcing back the sobs that threatened to escape him, face pressed firmly into the crook of leona’s shoulder and neck. he wanted to speak, to say anything, but he couldn’t all he could do is cry. until his voice had run coarse and he was clinging to his self-proclaimed enemy like a child. he was nothing more than a cub who longed to be held by someone he loved and… he had no one. all he had was leona.
“c’mon, you big house cat,” leona grunted with a strained effort to get the other boy moving to the lion’s bed, of which they both promptly collapsed on. “god, you’re heavy. what the hell did they feed you in the jungle?”
“boar,” he sniffled. “and deer.” he hesitated for a moment, wondering if he wanted to admit to him about his poor diet before he arrived. when all his meals had been reduced to birds and rodents like a small cat. “i don’t know if you remember what i looked like when i first showed up, though,” he paused for a moment, recalling the memory. “an underfed, scrawny cat with nothing to my name. for a few years all i could get my paws on were birds and the occasional rodent. if i got lucky, i could get an onager.”
he could see leona’s brows furrow ever so slightly at this, as if trying to recall something deep in his memory. moments passed before the lion spoke up again, giving up on chasing the thought. after all, he’d seen many students that day. a little fourteen year old cub didn’t exactly stand out much to him.
“well, whatever, you’re a pain to hold up now though, so don’t get used to collapsing on me whenever you’ve gotta cry or get angry.” though the words were bitter, there was the slightest of smirks tugging at leona’s lips - though at the cost of splitting the scabs that had formed there, causing silas to wince, looking away from the lion.
there was a beat of silence between them as silas did this, guilt overwhelming him once more. he didn’t mean to hurt leona. to leave these wounds on him. he hated that he’d let himself succumb to whatever it was that urged him on, to hurt him as bad as he did. and above all that, as he finally began to focus more on himself, he could taste the metallic tang of blood on his tongue, cringing ever so slightly, unsure of if it was even his own.
looking back over to leona with the intent to apologize again, he was equally unsurprised and surprised to see the big cat snoozing away, chest rising and falling in a steady rhythm and lips parted ever so slightly. he looked… peaceful. it was odd seeing it so up close and yet, oddly, silas couldn’t complain. he had wanted to open up more to leona - to express regret about becoming the very hunters he wanted to take revenge on - but, he supposed it could wait for another day.
as silas moved to stand, wanting to leave leona alone to sleep, it seemed like the lion had other plans, rolling over just far enough that he was practically on top of silas, leaving him pinned to the bed. trying to suppress a chuckle, the tiger found himself relaxing under the weight of the older male, eyes growing heavy as exhaustion from the fight and his earlier anger finally grabbed him by the neck and forced him to succumb to sleep.
for as much as silas wanted to confront his past, he figured that, maybe, starting with giving up the reins some - or even sharing them - would help. maybe he could talk to leona about that open vice housewarden position tomorrow…
it has been... a while since i was last on this account and a lot has changed since then. for one, my overall interest in kpop save for a few groups (namely stray kids) has diminished while my interest in things like enstars, twisted wonderland, and varying anime has increased. i come back with the hopes of stirring up my creativity amidst what has, in the last six months, been a hectic and heavily stressful life. i will not have a set schedule for when i post and i may or may not return to old series (like my nct mafia au). i would like to believe that my writing style has improved but... i'll let my readers be the judge of that. i am still taking requests. i will always take requests whether it be character/idol x reader, character/idol x requester, character/idol x original character. i am going to include a kofi link in all stories so if you would like to support a struggling college student, it would be much appreciated but not required. eventually, i'd like to also start taking commissions for writing but that's something i need to straighten out before i decide that.
Sorry for the lack of updates on stories and whatnot. Im going in a slight hiatus until exam week is over (Friday) at which point I'll probably begin working on stories again. I have a Nu'est one in the planning book as well as a BTS Taehyung series so look forward to those.
Warnings: Mentions of negative relationship with family, eviction, not proofread
Word Count: 8.2 K
A/N: This took me forever lmao
Hope you enjoy and feel free to request!
Looking at the small musical note on your wrist dreamily, you sighed. You always wondered what it would be like to meet your soulmate. To meet someone destined to be a musician. What were they like? Were they kind? Would they let any of that fame get to their head? How stable would the relationship really be anyway?
These questions mainly stemmed from your mother’s contempt at the thought of you being destined to end up in a relationship with a musician. She always liked to claim that they would never have time for you. That they would never be around and, when they were touring, they would probably end up cheating on you (the thousand-mile rule, she liked to bring up often).
However, you never really did let her words get to you. If anything, they were like annoying mosquitos or flies just buzzing around your head. You learned to ignore them after a while of trying to swat them away. Besides, you felt in your soul that whoever it was that you ended up would never do something like that to you. You knew they would never stoop that low.
As you stared at your soul-mark, you failed to realize the man across from you repeatedly saying your name.
“Y/N! Y/N! Oh, my God! Y/N!”
At that final call of your name, you were finally yanked from your thoughts. The call of your name had gotten you and your best friend, Hyun Jin, several looks from the others that were in the cafe with you. He snickered as he caught your glare towards him, his beautifully dark eyes glittering with amusement.
“Where were you?” he questioned, leaning forward and resting his cheek on his right palm, eyes following your movements.
“Ten years ago, talking to my mom about her disapproval of my soul-mark,” you revealed.
Often times when you zoned out, you weren’t daydreaming. You were living in the past and, like you had this time, you weren’t in the present. You were seeing the past as it had been. The only change was that you were older.
Hyun Jin chuckled at your reveal before grabbing your arm and pulling your wrist into his view. He let his eyes trail over the treble clef before shaking his head, the ghost of a smile on his lips.
You knew why. Hyun Jin would never meet his soulmate. They had died about a year before the two of you met. Unfortunately, he was never going to be free of the fact that they had been killed. That vicious fiery red open book would forever leave a gruesome reminder on his wrist. His would-have-been soulmate would have been an author. And probably an amazing one at that, had they been given the chance at life.
By the time you met Hyun Jin, he was almost at the end of his rope. It’s not easy to know that your soulmate had been murdered. When the two of you had gotten closer, he had revealed to you that he had felt completely lost before he met you. All his friends gave him pity, but you had guided him. Helped him.
Hyun Jin felt like he would never be able to repay you. You had told him on more than one occasion that he didn’t have to, but he always insisted to do things with you when he wasn’t working and practicing. Hell, that was the reason you were at a cafe with him in the first place.
“Do you think you’ll have to leave Seoul to find your soulmate?” he questioned, his lips forming a slight pout at the thought of you leaving him behind for someone a world away.
“I hope not,” you sighed. “But, even if I have to travel to Antarctica to find them, I will come back to Seoul. I would never leave my best friend behind. Especially not when there’s no one as amazing as you, Jinnie.” you assured him, a smile growing on your lips as you looked across the table towards the male.
He smiled back, his own smile twice as wide as yours. He squeezed your hand, which he had continued to hold in his own, quickly before mouthing an I love you and calling the waiter over. As soon as the bill was paid, the two of you were on your way back to your apartment.
As the two of you stopped outside of your second-floor apartment, Hyun Jin had gotten a call from Chris, the leader of the music group that Jinnie was a part of. After a few minutes of listening to a one-sided discussion, Hyun Jin had left you outside of your apartment with an apologetic goodbye.
Watching him walk back towards the stairs and quickly disappear, you sighed. Once he was completely out of sight, you turned back towards your door and walked inside, your eyes quickly examining the near-bare walls. All you really had in your living room was a couch that had taken forever for you to get and a T.V that an old friend of yours had given you as a moving in gift. There were three photos on the T.V stand (which, like the couch, had taken ages to get), each of them of you and Hyun Jin.
As you began to become hyper-aware of the loneliness your home embodied, you contemplated calling Hyun Jin and seeing if maybe he’d allow you to meet the rest of his group. While you had met Chris in person once, you hadn’t met any of the others and, to be honest, you were dying to.
You were especially interested in the loud, squirrel-ish looking one that he had shown you in photos. The boy’s name was apparently Ji Sung and he was one of the rappers of the group. Hyun Jin knew you found him cute and, as his first warning, he stated that he would never allow you to get with someone who could taint your amazing personality.
You had snickered at his words, rolling your eyes at the time. After all, how could someone “taint” your personality when you knew there wasn’t much left to taint anyways.
The snort you let out at the thought startled you from your memory and you were left to vacillate between calling Hyun Jin or not. Groaning, you decided for the former and, as soon as you plopped down on your uncomfortable and deteriorating couch, you pulled out your phone and texted the man.
Hey! Do you think I’d be able to meet your friends? I want to fill up my walls with some photos. It’s lonely here :(
The message went unread for several hours. However, when he did answer back, you were on top of your phone, reading the message.
I don’t mind! I’ll look over our schedule and let you know when we have a day off, alright? Just don’t fall for any of them except me ;)
You let out a loud laugh at the male’s text, rolling your eyes as you shot back a simple ty and went on your way, grabbing something from your fridge to drink. At twenty, you felt a little like a failure. Sure, you had a job, but it was only enough to keep a roof over your head and food in your fridge. You scraped by on bills and the only furniture you actually owned was a beat-up, used couch and an old bed that had springs sticking out of it in several areas. The apartment you had wasn’t exactly in the best place in Seoul, but it was the only affordable place you could find with what you were making.
No, you weren’t angry that you weren’t doing nor were you wallowing in self-pity. If anything, the lack of luxury only urged you to work harder. To become someone who wouldn’t have to worry about choosing between water or food for their next paycheck. You were one of the hardest workers at the place you were working at and, on top of that, you were learning several languages that would be of use getting extra money in whatever the next job you would end up having.
You were determined. You didn’t let people who came over or saw your home or slightly oversize, hand-me-downs bother you when you saw the judgement on their faces. You knew you would become a shining star in your way and, when it happened, you would be sure to go rolling by them in your new car, brand name clothes on your back.
Maybe it would all just end up being a dream in your head, but you wanted it and that made you go as far as you could to try and reach that point.
For now, though, you did what you could to scrape by and make it through week after week. You had no shame in the struggle and, while it was annoying to deal with sometimes, you never whined about it.
After finishing the drink you had pulled from the fridge, you tossed it in the return bag before heading to your room to lie down for a bit. You didn’t have work that day so you were able to catch up on some sleep you had missed. As soon as you were settled down in bed and had the covers pulled over you, you let yourself fall into the deep abyss of rest, letting your dreams take over instead of the real world.
In your dream, you found yourself next to a dark pond. In the pond, there seemed to be thousands of things that mimicked the stars, almost as if the pond was meant to be the sky or universe compacted into a small area. From behind you, there came a rustling from the trees that surrounded you. Near silent footfalls approached you before stopping at your side, revealing someone you least expected. Han Ji Sung. The man you had only seen in photos.
“Wow…” he marveled, his dark, curious eyes settling on the pond.
Being the cheesy, and mildly cringy, ass person you were, you couldn’t help the next words that came from your mouth.
“Come here often?”
His laugh echoed through the silent forest as his dark eyes settled on your own Y/E/C orbs. His smile was just as cute as it was in photos Hyun Jin showed you and, while it wasn’t technically in the flesh, you were happy to be “meeting” him.
“First time,” he commented, the smile never fading. “Your Y/N, I assume? Hyun Jin never shuts up about you. If I knew any better, I’d say he’s in love with you,” the male joked, causing a blush to attack your face, filling it with heat.
“He’s shown me a few pictures of you too, Ji Sung. He talks highly of you. It’s honestly kind of cute,” you chuckled, your eyes turning away from the squirrel-like boy beside you and back to the water.
There was a hum from the boy beside you as he sat down, you soon following suit. There was a certain feeling in your chest that you couldn’t seem to quite place. However, you were able to notice the bright blue glow on the man’s wrist, showing that he had met his soulmate. You were almost a bit disappointed until he pointed out your own wrist, surprising you.
“You don’t think…?”
“I mean, as far as I know, this is just a dream,” he responded, “but I certainly wouldn’t mind being soulmates with someone as pretty as you,” Ji Sung flirted lightly, causing your cheeks to deepen their red hue.
“Wouldn’t this be about the time I’m supposed to wake up? Meeting you, getting to talk for a minute and, just as things are going well, I wake up right?”
“Maybe. We could try one more thing that might wake you up,” he smirked slightly at you before leaning in...
Suddenly, your eyes snapped open, your phone ringing incessantly. Picking it up, you clicked the green answer button before holding it to your ear, letting out a groggy
“Hello?”
“Jesus, thank God you’re awake,” it was Hyun Jin. “Can you get down to the practice room? Ji Sung just woke up from fainting and he won’t stop talking about you and babbling about how you and him are soulmates.”
“I’ll be there in fifteen. Just let me wake up first,” you muttered, Hyun Jin’s words not completely registering in your mind as you finally hung up, slowly making your way out of bed in a struggle to not just put your head back on the wonderfully comfortable pillows that you had previously been resting on.
When you did finally come around to being awake enough to drive over to the JYP building, Hyun Jin’s words finally formed a crystal clear message in your mind: That was more than a dream. It had to be, didn’t it? After all, you don’t usually just pass out in the middle of the day and then wake up babbling about someone you’ve never met before.
If anything, it seemed almost like it had happened because, be it the universe or whatever God decided to make soulmates a thing, you guys were either close to meeting as is or you just happened to be delayed enough to annoy whatever divine spirit put the musical note on your wrist.
From your apartment, you made the rush out to your car and began to drive as quick as you could to get to the practice room that, almost as an afterthought, Hyun Jin texted you. As soon as you pulled up to the building, you were greeted by Hyun Jin at the entrance, the idol pulling you through the inevitable crowd of people to get you on the elevator that would take you down to the practice room.
As soon as you were in the safety of the elevator, Hyun Jin began to talk, a slight smile on his face.
“So… You and Ji Sung?”
“Shut up, we’ll see when we get there, won’t we?”
“Fair enough,” Hyun Jin chuckled, shaking his head slightly. “At least you get to meet the members now like you wanted,” he added on after a moment, his smile never quite fading.
“Very true. Also, I’m assuming you’ve seen Ji Sung’s wrist. If we are soulmates, could you key me in on my destined career?” you questioned, looking from the metal wall you observed him on to the man himself.
“You’ll find out soon enough,” he teased in a sing-song voice, pinching your cheek lightly just before the doors to the elevator opened.
From there, he walked beside you before stopping at the door to one of the rooms, gesturing for you to go in. You shook your head, nerves suddenly skyrocketing as you thought of possibly meeting the one you were guaranteed to eventually be in a relationship with. On top of that, you were also about to meet all of your best friend’s group members which was a whole cause of anxiety on its own.
Stepping into the room, you tried to keep yourself from fleeing as you felt eight pairs of eyes fall on you. From somewhere, there was a small gasp before the voice you heard in your dream, presumably Ji Sung’s, broke the silence that wrapped the room.
“That’s them!”
You fidgeted with the hem of your shirt lightly as your face suddenly went a bright, embarrassed red. You forced yourself to bow politely, trying to do what you could to hide your face at this point, including turning to Hyun Jin who stood behind you with a large, almost painful looking, smile on his face.
“Why won’t you guys talk?” he whined after a second, dragging you over to his friends. “Introduce yourselves, guys!”
“I’m Ji Sung,” the squirrelish boy stepped forward, offering his hand to you.
He wants to know just as much as I do, you thought to yourself, looking at his hand for a second before grabbing it and shaking it.
For that moment, the entire room fell silent, watching as the mark on his left wrist and your right one slowly lit up, growing into a strong blue from a light white. The face the boy made was priceless. He seemed completely shocked and amazed, his eyes staring down at the almost blinding light of the soul-marks finally finding who they belonged to.
As soon as he let go of your hand, the light faded and, left behind, was a changed mark. Instead of being the typical black musical note of those who were yet to meet their soulmates, there was that note in a range of colors. From those, it would eventually change upon the death of Ji Sung from the compact rainbow, showing how he died. It was mildly useful if you happened to live longer than him or he died before his time but, on the other hand, it was somewhat unsettling that now you had to wait to see the color it would turn.
“It’s nice to meet you, Ji Sung,” you tried to say as calmly as possible, your face reddening even more.
The boy chuckled a little before responding, his own cheeks taking on a darker tint. “It’s nice to meet you too, Y/N. I look forward to getting to know you.”
You giggled slightly before being introduced to the rest of the boys. In the order of Chan, Woo Jin, Felix, Seung Min, Jeong In, Chang Bin, and Min Ho, you were quickly acquainted with the boys.
Though you insisted that you should go as to not invade on their practice, Chan now argued that you should stay and see what your soulmate packed in terms of talent. You shyly accepted his request and found yourself sitting against the back wall, your eyes on the boys as the music started up again and they began to dance.
You were in awe the entire time and, though there were a few mistakes made that were called out and quickly corrected, you couldn’t help but be entranced by how fluid it seemed to pull together. You were no expert on dancing, but this was amazing. They were so in sync that you were absolutely astounded.
By the time that the practice was coming to an end, in the early hours of two in the morning, you were beginning to doze off, having trouble keeping your eyes open. At the feeling of someone crouched in front of you and a shadow blocking the bright overhead lights, you pulled your eyes open once more to see Ji Sung in front of you, looking at you like you were some new specimen he had just discovered.
“Chan, do you want me to take them home?” he questioned, not quite trusting you to drive yourself.
There was a moment of hesitation from the leader before he gave the affirmative. “Just call a taxi so you’re not walking, alright?”
There was only a hum in response as Ji Sung helped you to your feet, walking with you out of the practice room and up to your car. He remained silent the entire time, either too shy (which seemed unlikely based on Hyun Jin’s description of him) or unsure what to say. By the time both of you were buckled into the car and you had passed your keys over to him, he had come up with what to say.
“Do you want to know what you’ll be?” he inquired, earning a curious yet visibly tired raise of the brow from you.
“You’ll be a Y/D/J,” he smiled at you, his eyes glittering almost brightly as they had in the dream. “It seems really interesting,” he admitted.
“So does being a musician,” you responded, punching in your apartment complex into the GPS on your dashboard.
“It’s fun but it’s really tiring,” he admitted, “but, as soon as we hit our break-even, we’ll get our first paycheck which I’m really looking forward to.”
“You’ll be rich in no time, Ji Sung,” you chuckled, sinking down into the seat as the rumble of the car started up, trying to pull you into sleep.
“I’ll order you an Uber so you don’t have to walk or call a cab,” you spoke out of the blue, pulling your phone from your pocket and going to the Uber app you kept lying around in your apps. Clicking on it, you did what was necessary to get Ji Sung back to his dorms safely, glad that he hadn’t put up any objections. Once the ride was secure, you put your phone away.
“Thank you for that, Y/N,” he said quietly, looking over at you as you leaned your head against the window.
Ji Sung knew that he still needed to spend some time with you before he made any true decisions, but he was already sure he would enjoy every moment you and him spent together. Even though he was sure your initial interaction of silence and shyness wasn’t how you usually were, he was endeared by it.
The rest of the ride was silent, Ji Sung dwelling in his own thoughts, and you barely clinging to consciousness. When he pulled into the parking lot of the short and trashy apartment complex, he gently shook you to near complete awareness.
Checking the app on your phone, you saw that he still had about ten minutes before the Uber arrived, prompting you to ask the next question:
“Do you want to come in while you wait?”
There was a moment of shock before he accepted, following you up to your apartment.
“It’s not much,” you warned. “And I haven’t cleaned in a while, so it might be a bit messy.”
Ji Sung chuckled a little, a quiet “it’s fine,” passing his lips before you opened the door and let him in, flicking on the light. Taking your shoes off when you entered, you walked over to the ancient couch and sat down, gesturing for Ji Sung to follow.
“It’s more empty than messy,” he commented. “No photos of family or anything?”
“I don’t talk to them anymore,” you admitted. “I moved out here on my own when I turned eighteen and I’ve just been scraping by, y’know?”
“How old are you?” he questioned, realizing Hyun Jin had never revealed this information.
“Twenty. What about you?”
“Eighteen,” he admitted, suddenly becoming shy.
You chuckled a bit before, almost without thinking, reaching over and pinching his cheek. He gave you a shocked look at which you realized what you had done.
“I’m so sorry! Me and Hyun Jin do that all the time and I guess I wasn’t real-”
“It’s fine, I just wasn’t expecting it, is all,” he assured you, trying to suppress his laughter.
Just as he was going to get comfortable on the rather uncomfortable couch, your phone alerted you to the fact that his ride was that. Seeing him out the door, you waved goodbye before retiring for the night, a smile on your face while you did so.
Over the next few weeks, you had gotten to see more of the group that Hyun Jin was a part of. You had gotten to learn that Chan was an overachiever with creating music and working on choreographies and such. You had been employed to bring food to him more than once over the course of that week and, each time you did so, you got caught staying with him until four in the morning with him asking your opinion on whatever song he was working on at the time.
With Min Ho, you had gotten to know his love for dancing, the man even deciding to teach you BTS dances from when he was their backup dancer along with the chorus choreos for Stray Kids’ own songs. On more than one occasion, he had tried to convince you to adopt a cat or two, only stopping when you told him the cat would probably starve due to your lack of money.
Woo Jin was always a sweetheart to be around. Often times when you hung out alone with him, he was asking how you were, whether or not you’ve eaten, how you’ve been feeling and so on. On the days where you haven’t eaten anything, he would be the first to jump to cooking you food on their days off or going to get you and the boys something during break. He was funny and adorable and, like you did with Hyun Jin, you often found yourself pinching his cheeks.
Felix and Jeong In were almost a package deal, you had noticed. Every time you were around one, you were soon after joined by the other. Jeong In was shy at first, only offering short responses, smiles, waves, and so on. Felix, on the other hand, had gotten comfortable with you almost right away. In the end, both had become like little brothers to you and you couldn’t help but be happy to have met them. The younger Australian always told you stories about the other members, leaving your sides in pain by the time you were leaving. Jeong In told you stories about the people back in his hometown and, in return, you recalled the good times you had back in your own. All in all, hanging with them was always a great experience.
Hanging out with Seung Min often brought along joking about the other members as well as him telling you about his time on ASC. He spoke highly of his family and he told you what he could about his time spent in LA. You always let him do the talking and only gave vague details about your own past, never really stating the relationship you had with your family. Aside from talking about the past, he also told you jokes (that weren’t always funny) and talked about how it was being an idol, something you often liked hearing about as it sounded interesting yet extremely difficult and taxing on the body and mind.
As for Ji Sung, who you seemed to be hanging out with more and more as time went on, seemed to be the most energetic and talkative out of the nine boys. When you spent time with him during days he had off from practice, the two of you were often walking around town and, despite the occasional swarm of fans, you went relatively unbothered, even if there were cameras taking photos of the idol.
On days when you stayed in the practice room with them or waited in the with him while they were recording, the two of you often talked about everything you could before he was being called back to practice or to record. It often ranged from his love for music and his career to talking about your destined one. He occasionally brought up theories and ideas that related to the universe and such and, when it came to Hyun Jin, he wanted to know every minute detail about the friendship.
To you, Ji Sung was a sweetheart with a natural curiosity for things. If he didn’t know something, he would often ask to see if anyone else knew before taking to Google if they didn’t. He was always determined to get the answers to things and you found it endearing. When he wasn’t doing that, he was working on what he loved, that, of course, being music. You had seen him helping Chan in the studio more than once and, on one of the nights you had gotten trapped in the studio to assist Chan, he had been there. He had kept his eyes on you whenever you spoke, taking in your words and holding them to heart as he helped his leader.
Now, nearing the end of a month of knowing them, you felt like you had known them your whole life. They shared next to everything with you and trusted you greatly. They adored you and it was the same for you to them. However, as you sat at the table in the dorm with them, Felix brought up a point.
“How come you never tell us much about yourself?”
You shrugged as you took a bite of food that Chan had made. “It never really comes up, so why bother?”
“It really doesn’t matter,” Hyun Jin stepped in, giving you an I’m sorry for that look.
“But we’ve been talking to them for almost a month and all I know about them is that they had a few good childhood friends they like to play with. They’ve never once mentioned their family.”
“Look, I just don’t have a good relationship with them. It doesn’t matter.”
The room fell silent after that and, though you knew they had a right to be curious, it was still a bit frustrating. After all, if you didn’t offer the information, they didn’t need to press for it. The rest of the meal passed in silence, tension growing thick in the room. By the time everyone finished eating, Hyun Jin had told you to grab your things, telling you he would you walk home.
Once you did have your things together, ready to go, the two of you made your way out of the dorm. As soon as the door was closed behind you, he began to apologize for the others, claiming to feel horrible about them trying to push you to reveal the negative relationship with your family.
“It’s fine, Jinnie, really. I don’t care. I can just keep avoiding the question. Eventually, they’ll stop wondering.”
“Trust me, they won’t. They may not ask you about it, but they’ll still be curious and keep wondering about it.”
“Even if it that is the case, I’m not going to tell them anything until I feel comfortable enough. Sucks for them, but they’ll have to wait.”
Hyun Jin chuckled a bit at your ending sentence, nodding in understanding. “When I get back, I’ll tell them not to mess with you about it anymore, alright?”
“Thank you, Jinnie,” you responded, pinching his cheek lightly. “Don’t know what I would do without you.”
“Probably die,” he joked, earning a gentle elbow to the ribs from you as the two of you headed down to your car.
“Are you gonna stay over or no?” you questioned, pulling out your phone in preparation to kill your debit card to order Hyun Jin a ride back to the dorm.
“I’ll stay over for the night. I’ll have Chan bring me a change of clothes later. I feel since you got to start hanging out with Ji Sung and the others, we’ve not gotten time to just watch a movie and relax together.”
“You would be entirely correct, my beautiful friend,” you chuckled, climbing into your car once the two of you reached it.
Once you were sure both of you were secure in your seats, you began the drive back to your shitty apartment, ready to get your movie marathon on with Hyun Jin.
“You don’t have practice tomorrow, do you?” you questioned halfway back to the apartment.
“Nah. We have a free day.”
“Sweet. I would say we could hit the town but I’m damn near broke,” you pouted slightly. “We could go for a walk in the park, though. I might be able to throw something together for a picnic, too.”
“Don’t worry about that, Y/N. I can pay for food.”
“No! You’ve got other things to spend your money on-”
“Seriously, Y/N. Let me do this. Considering the fact that you’re struggling on your own as is, this is the least I can do. The only time you’re actually eating decently is with us and I’m almost tempted to move you in with us.”
You rolled your eyes at his comment, now pulling into the lot for your apartment. While you appreciated his concern, you didn’t want him to waste money on you. Sure, your fridge may have been near empty and you could barely afford to pay your bills and rent, but you were fine. You didn’t need him to buy anything when you could pull things together.
Getting out of your car, the two of you headed up to your apartment, ready to settle in and relax. You remained quiet as you headed up, both of you lost in your own thoughts. The silence remained until you finally got to your apartment and walked in, making your way to the couch.
Once the two of you were comfortable, Hyun Jin took control of the remote, going through and trying to find a movie the two of you could watch. While he did that, you were on your phone, looking through your social media when you got a message from Ji Sung.
I’m sorry about earlier, Y/N. I really don’t know why they would ask that kind of thing… I trust that you’d tell us if you were comfortable.
You let out a quiet sigh through your nose before texting the male back. It’s fine, Sung. He had a right to be curious. There’s no harm there.
As an afterthought, you sent a follow-up message, telling Ji Sung to alert Chan that Hyun Jin would be staying at your place that night and would be with you most of the next day.
You didn’t really think much of it, especially considering you weren’t particularly feeling any special way towards your soulmate, but for Ji Sung, he had begun to wonder if you and Hyun Jin were more than friends with how much you hung out alone. Sure, it wasn’t his place to be upset about it since the two of you weren’t dating, but he was your soulmate, not Hyun Jin.
Will do, Y/N!
You smiled a bit at the phone before setting it next to you at the alert that Hyun Jin had finally found a movie. With your head now on Hyun Jin’s shoulder and the movie beginning, the two of you had a nice little movie night.
From when you had first discovered Ji Sung being your soulmate in December, a few months had passed and landed you in March. It was raining outside as you made your way home from work, ready to just crash and sleep for the rest of the night. Your workday had been horrible and the people who had come into the restaurant were the most snobby people you had ever had to serve in your life.
At one point, after they made fun of your work friend Amy, you were ready to snap at them. Who the fuck did they think they were? Making fun of your friend… They’re fucking ridiculous! However, you held it in and forced yourself to be pleasant, though you did throw foul glanced at them every now and then in annoyance.
Now, back at your complex and ready to head up to your room, you were glad to be out of the bad two hours you had at the end of your shift. After grabbing your bag from the passenger side of your car, you headed up to your apartment, only to feel your heart drop at the yellow sheet of paper that had been taped to your apartment door. In large, black letters at the top was 7 Days Eviction Notice.
Taking the paper down from your door, you read it over several times while standing in the hall, unable to believe your luck. You were about ready to break down right then and there, but you managed to keep yourself composed enough until you got into the apartment. The paper was partially crumpled where you held it. Your eyes threatened to spill the tears that were beginning to form and your breathing had gotten short and rapid as you tried to control yourself.
You didn’t know what to do, really. Your landlord wasn’t giving you any chances to pay him back this time, calling it an “Unconditional Quit” because you had been late on your rent too many times, most recently being this month because you hadn’t had enough to pay for it after all your other bills and concerns.
Doing what you knew to do best in a bad situation, you grabbed your phone and called Hyun Jin. Pressing the phone to your ear, you were still trying to control your breathing and calm down from the news that had made your day increasingly worse.
When the phone was finally answered, it wasn’t Hyun Jin on the other line, but Ji Sung.
“Hyun Jin’s in the shower and left his phone out here,” he informed, “but what’s up?”
You could hardly care about who was on the phone right now as the waterworks you had been trying to hold back opened up and you began to talk, unable to care about how horrible you sounded. By the time you had finished, still with no word from Ji Sung, your shoulders were shaking and you were hiccuping.
“Do you have much you need to pack?” he questioned after a second.
“N-No. Just my clothes and a ph-hoto or two,” you responded, trying to answer with as little of a hiccup as possible.
“Pack those and then make your way over here. You’re not gonna go homeless, alright?”
“I c-can’t do that, Ji Sung… You alre-”
“You’re staying with us. You’re not in a position to decline that.” his voice was stern, something you’ve never heard from him before. “If I have to, I’ll come over and help you, but you’re coming to the dorms once your stuff is packed.”
In the background, you heard Hyun Jin speak, asking who was on the phone and why Ji Sung seemed to be frustrated with something. Instead of responding, Ji Sung passed the phone to Hyun Jin.
“Y/N? What’s going on?”
“I… I got evicted today. I have a week to move out,” you muttered, suddenly feeling ashamed.
“Oh… Oh no… I’ll go talk to Chan and let him know you’re staying over for an indefinite amount of time. Ji Sung will be over to help you pack, alright. We can try to sell the couch, bed, TV and stand for some money, alright?”
“I don’t need help packing, Jinnie… I don’t have much anyways.”
“Still, I feel Ji Sung should help you a bit. Emotional support, you know?”
You let out a sigh before finally giving in and agreeing, soon getting off the phone with Hyun Jin.
While you waited for Ji Sung, you grabbed the bags you had moved into the apartment with and began to pull clothes out of your closet, folding them before putting them in one of the three bags. By the time you were halfway done with filling the first bag, there was a knock at the door.
Walking out to the front door, you pulled it open to see Ji Sung, the man’s hair sticking to his forehead from the rain. As soon as the door was open, he had pulled you into a hug, probably in an attempt to comfort you. Light from the soulmate marks spilled into the room and hall, only muted slightly by his arms around you.
“Let’s get to packing, huh?” you said after a moment, waiting for him to release you.
Closing the door, you led him to your small room that had clothes spilled out onto the bed and three bags sitting open at the end. It was a pitiful sight, really. Three bags that could easily hold all your clothes and photos. You were, to put it simply, almost the poorest of the poor.
However, there didn’t seem to be any judgement from the man beside you. If anything, he only seemed intent on getting you out of the apartment and into an area where you wouldn’t have to starve in an attempt to pay bills.
“How come you never asked for help?” he spoke up quietly as you zipped the first, now full, bag closed.
“I didn’t want to bother anyone. I thought I could handle it, but… that clearly isn’t the case,” you responded.
As you went to pull the third bag towards you, Ji Sung stopped you, stepping closer to you. Once again, he wrapped his arms around you, holding you gently. His hands were settled in between your shoulder blades and he had rested his chin on your shoulder. This time, you hugged him back, holding him tight. The gentle, blue light that filled the room filled you with comfort, making you glad to have the one you were destined to be with by your side in your weakest moment.
Your chest had grown tight as you fought your emotions, trying not to cry again. Especially not where he could see you. You didn’t want to be seen as someone who was weak. Someone who would cry when they had friends who were probably more than willing to help out.
“Y/N…,” Ji Sung spoke as he pulled away, cupping your face in his hands and looking you deep in the eye. “You don’t have to be afraid to ask for things. I know it can be hard but… you have people around who are always here for you. You have Hyun Jin. You have me. You have the boys. I’m sure there are people at work who care about you as much as we do. You aren’t alone. You never have been and you never will be.”
You could feel your throat close and the heated trail of tears begin to fall. The sweetheart in front of you wiped away your tears before pulling you out of your room and setting you on the couch, kneeling before you.
“I’ll finish packing your stuff and you can turn in your key. We’ll be out of here as soon as you’re ready, alright?”
You nodded slightly before stopping him from getting up. Your next words came out unfiltered.
“I’m sorry you got stuck with me as a soulmate,” you choked.
His eyes went dark and he scooted closer to you, taking your hand in his own. “Don’t ever say that. I wouldn’t ask for anyone else to be with, Y/N. You’re stronger than anyone I know. You beat Chan out of the park. You are all I could have asked for.”
Almost without thinking, you squeezed his hand tightly, glad to have him. The light around you only solidified the somewhat dream-like idea of him as your one and only. You knew he believed what he said and, while you had your own difficulties, you appreciated it more than anything.
When he pulled his hand out of yours and the light died down, you felt empty again. You watched as he retreated to your room and, after a few moments, you stood and grabbed the key to your apartment, ready to take it down to the office. Blocking the door from closing with a shoe, you headed out and made your way to the main office, Ji Sung’s words running through your mind the entire time and putting a small smile on your face.
Once you reached the office, it was a matter of pulling together your courage and pushing open the door. Taking a deep breath, you grabbed the handle and pushed, walking in. With your key in hand, you approached the desk and dropped your key on it. The woman working there looked up and gave you a distasteful look.
“Moving out day one of your eviction?”
You nodded, your face stern and set in stone.
“Well, it was nice having you, Y/N. Such a shame to see you go.”
You didn’t bother much with hearing any more of the woman’s sarcastic remarks and, instead, you made your way back to the apartment room. Pushing the door open, you saw Ji Sung standing with the photo of Hyun Jin and you in his hands, the last bag still open on the couch.
“You two never dated, did you?” he questioned, looking up when he heard the creak of the door.
“Me and Jinnie? No! We’re like siblings. It would be weird,” you responded, walking over and looking at the photo as well. You smiled at the memory of the day you two had when Amy had snapped the candid photo of you and your best friend.
“When was this taken?”
“About a week after I moved in here. Me, him, and my friend, Amy, had decided to go on a walk through the park. Amy is working towards becoming a photographer, so she had her camera on her to snap some photos for her portfolio. Him and I had been talking about something, I don’t remember what now, but he had made some joke and that’s when Amy snapped the photo,” you recalled, the smile never leaving your face.
Ji Sung nodded as he turned, gently placing the photo on the top of your clothes before zipping it up and pulling the straps together, securing them with the velcro latch attached to one. He picked up two in one hand and one in the other, beginning to move towards the door and head out. You stopped him and removed one of the bags from his hand, shouldering it.
Taking lead, you grabbed your keys off of the hook you would never see again, put on your shoes and headed out, ready to leave and deal with only paying Chan for your stay at the dorms.
Once out of the building, the two of you rushed to your car, tossing the bags into the backseat before hopping into the front. You were chuckling and out of breath. Your head, now drenched, was leaned against the headrest as you tried to slow your breathing.
“You’re beautiful, you know that?” Ji Sung said out of nowhere, causing your cheeks to flush.
“I- Thank you, Ji Sung,” you commented, looking over at him. “You’re handsome yourself.”
He smiled sheepishly at you before grabbing the keys that had been left abandoned on your thigh, pushing them into the ignition. “Why don’t we head home now?”
You nodded and turned the key, feeling the car start beneath you. With that, you began the drive to the dorms, ready to move into your new, temporary home.
You ended up sharing a room with Hyun Jin, Ji Sung, and Seung Min. Chan completely opposed the idea of you sleeping on the couch and preferred you to sleep in one of the rooms. He also opposed the idea of you sleeping on the floor, leading you to be sharing with Hyun Jin. It wasn’t as though the two of you didn’t sleep in the same bed whenever he had stayed at your place, now it was just a slight bit more weird, knowing that your soulmate was in the room with you now.
Across the first week in the dorms, you had gotten a lot closer to Ji Sung than you had prior to him coming over and helping you move out. You had also summoned the courage to tell the boys about the background you had with your family and the reason why you had saved only enough to move out and into an apartment.
The boys often made jokes at you and Ji Sung, telling you guys not to be alone in a room together for too long and so on. They knew the two of you weren’t dating still, but they found fun in the blushes and embarrassment it caused the two of you.
It was nice living with them, really. You had consistent and decent meals and, when the boys were at practice, you always found something to do to entertain yourself while they were away. Usually, it came in the form of singing your heart out to music and cleaning while you did so.
About half a month had passed since you moved in when the boys, finally having a day off from practice and shows, decided to sit down with you and watch a movie. While you were in the kitchen making bowls of popcorn for them, you felt someone come up behind you and put their arms around your waist. You jumped at the contact before turning and see Ji Sung, his cheeks red now.
You chuckled at him, shaking your head. As you moved to finish the popcorn, he suddenly blurted the question that had been plaguing his mind for weeks. “Will you be mine?”
Now, it was your turn to blush. It felt as though flames had enveloped your entire head as you turned to look him in the eye.
“I mean, I don’t think I can oppose to that,” you stated. “After all, I do have the best soulmate.”
From the doorway of the kitchen, there was an “ew” before Felix, who had been the one to witness it, shouted out to the others
“Ji Sung and Y/N are dating now! Do we have to move them to a different room?”
This was followed by a chorus of laughter that you and Ji Sung ignored as he took your hand in his own, squeezing it tightly before leaning over and speaking quietly into your ear.
“I still stand by my statement that you’re the best soulmate I could have ever asked for.”
Things always happened in unpredictable and mysterious ways. Perhaps the keys you lost and didn’t find until after an accident happened on your route to work were signs from some sort of higher power. Or maybe it was just the subconscious. Either way, it was something that showed that there’s always something watching over you, be it yourself or whatever God that you believe in.
Or maybe it was someone who died who looked over you. Someone who cared so much about you in life that they couldn’t bear the thought of dying and leaving you alone to deal with it on your own. That little thump in the night might not be the house or a monster in the closet at all. Maybe it was your great-grandfather or a friend. Maybe it was someone older than that just looking over you because they followed the line of their grandchildren and so on.
We don’t always realize the things that stop us from getting hurt or even stop us from getting into little mishaps. We don’t always realize that there may be something there and, for the case of one, there is this failure to realize that she is never alone.
Haley had been at the site of the crash her boyfriend, Aaron, was a part of. At first, she hadn’t known who was in either of the vehicles but she had been far too shocked to move as the large, dark blue Ford truck came barreling through the intersections and into the smaller silver Maxima. Honestly, if the crash hadn’t been so horrific, the crumpling of the front half of the Maxima would have been almost cartoonish.
However, that wasn’t the case. It was obvious that whoever was in the smaller car wasn’t going to make it. There was no way in hell anyone in a car like that would survive that crash. It just wasn’t feasible.
When the ambulance arrived, Haley was still at the scene of the crash, her mind going a thousand miles a minute as she watched them recover the body from the car. What she saw broke her heart into a thousand pieces. Pulled from the wreckage was Aaron’s mangled body.
There were shards of glass in this face, neck, and arms. He was cut up nearly beyond recognition. He was clearly not breathing and his body was completely limp. It wasn’t until they had produced the body bag that her body sprung into action and she was by the ambulance in an instant, staring down at the body of her now-deceased boyfriend.
As one would expect, tears were falling, some dropping from the bottom of her jaw while others snaked down her cheeks and throat, leaving their temporary stain behind. Her mind was blank except with the grief that had swelled inside her.
This shouldn’t have happened to him. It wasn’t fair. He didn’t deserve this! If there was some otherworldly force, why the fuck did it allow this to happen to him? He was at the peak in his life! He was loved and he loved many. He wasn’t that old and he was happy. Above it all, he was happy. Despite the hardships he and his group had gone through throughout the years, despite the years of training, despite the arguments that arose between him and Haley, he was happy.
So why did this happen to him? What could he have possibly done in his life that would lead him to such a grisly death? He didn’t deserve it! His friends and family didn’t deserve to deal with the news of it! He had so much more to live for… but it was all cut short because some jackass couldn’t just fucking wait at a stop light.
Haley hadn’t even noticed the paramedics who had pulled her away from the body of Aaron, talking to her in that voice that mimicked empathy but, on the inside, she knew they didn’t care. This was just another day in their lives. For her, this was crushing but they could never understand that, could they? They would never have to see the one they loved get brutally killed in a crash or, for lack of a better thought, murdered by some reckless asshole.
All Aaron knew when he came to was that he had been driving down the road and now he was in Haley’s house, sitting on the couch. The world didn’t seem completely there and, if he was going to be honest, he didn’t feel completely there either. Everything seemed fuzzy from the noise of the barking dog to the sound of the T.V that had been left on.
Standing from the couch, which the feel of leather had also been muted, he shut it off. It had really become a habit at this point. He knew how often it happened and he was usually the one to turn the device off when Haley forgot to. Aaron couldn’t help but smile at the thought, a warmth that he recognized as love towards the woman filling him.
However, when she came walking through the door of her home sobbing, that feeling faded into concern, his heart-shattering at the thought of something so horrible happening that it would leave her this way.
Walking over, Aaron wrapped an arm around her, hoping to comfort her a bit only for her to tug her jacket against herself tighter and walk to her room. Frowning, the male followed behind her, pushing the slightly closed door open so he could try to figure out what was wrong with her.
Just when he had thought he had finally been recognized, based on her look of mild shock, he was just as quickly shut out as she stood and walked through him to close the door. He had felt her shiver in cold as she passed through him both times and the sudden realization had hit him. He wasn’t alive.
Panic had struck him like a freight train and he wasn’t sure how to deal with the information. A memory of the crash had broken through but otherwise, he was left in the dark about whether or not he died on impact or at a hospital.
In any case, he was confused about why he was here in Haley’s room now. Wasn’t there supposed to be some afterlife other than remaining on Earth? Or had it been with his sheer want of hoping to see Haley day in and day out that had kept him around, making him, in a way, her guardian spirit? Either way, the spirit of Aaron knew that he was going to do everything in his power to make sure that she was able to live a full and happy life with himself no longer being in the picture.
While Aaron knew that she would one day move on to find someone else to live out her life with, he also knew that he would remain around until the end of her days. Maybe that was going to be his purpose in the end. Maybe he wasn’t supposed to die so soon and he was meant to at least live out a decent portion of the rest of her life watching over her.
Watching Haley cry made him want to go to her, to comfort her. But he knew better. He would just be a gust of chilly wind, looked over until he could find the energy to become a visible figure. He knew that he would just become a bump in the night for her but, for him, he knew that he would be trying to show that he was still there with her, forever and always.
With a knock at the front door, Aaron moved out of Haley’s way before following her to the door, only to see the rest of his group mates, including Min Hyun, standing there. Each one had eyes as red and puffy as her own and it was clear that they were there to try and comfort her as well as themselves.
Aaron truly felt horrible for the whole ordeal, a slight feeling of guilt entering him as he watched them filter into the woman’s home before surrounding her in a large hug, an attempt at comfort. Had it been him who hadn’t been paying attention or had it been the other driver? If it had been him, he knew he wasn’t going to be able to forgive himself for as long as he was just a hovering spirit.
The now-deceased member of NU’EST stepped aside as his friends began to filter farther into the house. He dimly heard them talking about trying to get Haley’s mind off of the death of her boyfriend while preparations for his funeral would take place over the next week or so.
Aaron shuddered at the thought of being able to see himself going into the ground, wondering how his body would look dressed up, skin paler than ever and his chest failing to rise and fall. Would his parents request his body to be buried back in California or would they leave him to be buried in Korea?
He had no doubt that after a period of mourning, his group would have to continue their promotional activities and, on a far more unfortunate note, Haley would be left to deal with losing the man she had spent the last four years of her life with.
Deciding to leave the group alone, Aaron wandered off to the guest bedroom that he used to stay in during the beginning of their relationship. He didn’t quite want to hover and possibly cause a feeling of discomfort, so what better place to go than to where he used to spend a lot of time? It almost felt cliche to go there, as though he really wasn’t anything more than your resident haunter.
After a while, he noted the closing of the front door and the steps that were coming up the stairs, prompting him to slip into her room, hoping that he may be able to garner enough energy to show himself to Haley, even if it was just once while he stuck around. As he watched her lie down in bed and curl over onto her side, he wondered just how to do pull energy from the electronics around him.
Closing his eyes, he set his focus on that and, after a minute, the light in the room had gone off. With it came the expected what the fuck? from Haley as she stood to go turn on the light again. Aaron kept at pulling energy from the surrounding electronics until he felt confident that he had collected enough to show himself to her, even if it was only by talking.
Taking a deep breath, Aaron projected the energy out with a sigh, hoping that this wasn’t for naught.
As Haley turned away from the light switch after jiggling it a few times in annoyance, she jumped as she heard an all-too-familiar voice in the darkness. Nothing was really there, she was able to convince herself that much, but the voice was so… real.
Look, I know this is crazy and I don’t have long to say this but I just want you to know that I’m here. I’m always here with you, Haley. No matter what.
Like that, the voice was gone. She may have been able to put it off as nothing more than her imagination but it seemed too real, alongside the freezing cold that seemed to envelop the room as well.
Shaking her head, she gave the light switch one last flick and watched as the light came on, flooding the room with a much-needed brightness after being scared almost out of her skin. Walking back over to her bed, she huddled under the blankets, trying to ignore what happened. The coldness had increased since she had settled herself into bed and, in the back of her mind, she could believe that it was Aaron. However, the logical part of her just had to assume that it was the AC acting up rather than some paranormal force.
Closing her eyes, Haley let herself fall into a fitful rest, her dreams plagued by what had happened earlier. She had woken several times throughout the night before going back to sleep. The chill had remained steadily through the night, only to leave when morning came. It was almost a disappointing feeling but she was glad that she was no longer freezing her ass off when it came time to get up and get ready for the day.
“I could call off work,” she muttered to herself, “but I need the cash and no amount of grief can stop me from lessening my hours.”
Sure, it wasn’t the best thing to do. After all, grieving properly is a good thing as well as getting things off of one’s chest after such a horrific event but wouldn’t it be better to just deal with it? After all, death of all sorts was simply a part of life. Why bother being sad over something inevitable when there were other things to worry about?
As she finished getting ready, she accepted the cold chill that had come back into her room, ignoring it as best as she could before grabbing her keys and getting out of the house, leaving her unknown and ignored spirit behind her.
Aaron was more than elated to realize that he could leave the house to follow Haley. However, for this day, he wanted to leave her alone. He felt that there wouldn’t be anything that would remotely be dangerous that day and, if anything, he would only make things worse. He knew that, eventually, he would have to prevent her from going out one of these days but today was not that day.
Letting out a sigh, Aaron wandered around the house, wondering just what he could do. He had no idea if he could visit the dorms or not and, if he could, would he just stumble in on his former group mates mourning? Or would they have made like Haley and just pushed themselves through it?
Whatever it was, Aaron wanted to find out his limits as a spirit.
Amazingly, he found, he was able to go back to the NU’EST dorms. Upon entering, he was greeted with the sight of them sitting on the couches in silence, no one looking at the other and rather just basking in the tense silence. Walking over to where Jong Hyun was seated, he stood beside the man, mildly aware of how cold he had made the room with his presence.
“You guys are so dull,” he muttered to himself, knowing they wouldn’t be able to hear him.
“I get I’m dead but damn, lighten up.”
It was almost nice to be able to talk to them without them hearing. He would pretty much always be able to vent if he needed to and no one would be able to hear him. Definitely a plus to being an invisible being.
“Can one of you guys turn on the heat?” Dong Ho questioned, looking over to the others.
“Why don’t you do it if you’re so cold,” Min Ki scowled, lowering himself into the couch.
Dong Ho visibly rolled his eyes before standing, walking over to the thermostat, turning it up a bit in an attempt to soothe the chill in the air.
Aaron was amazed at the fact that they had all become so cold towards one another with the untimely death of one of their friends. Sure it wasn’t the greatest thing to have happened to them, especially considering they just got Min Hyun back from Wanna One, but it was still shocking that they weren’t consoling one another and rather bottling their feelings and snapping at one another.
Shaking his head, Aaron turned to walk out before Min Hyun spoke up, speaking the deceased’s name.
“I really don’t think Aaron would like us acting like this, guys. I get it’s hard but… shouldn’t we be trying to talk to one another? About future things? Helping Haley? Helping ourselves?”
“What does it matter? Everything will fall back into place. She’ll move on. We’ll continue with our activities, he’ll just be a skeleton in the ground.”
“Jackass!” Aaron spoke aloud, looking over at Dong Ho, the man who had spoken.
“Still, shouldn’t we at least try to do things to remember him how he was in life?” Min Hyun shot back, crossing his arms over his chest.
“Alright fine, what do you suggest we do then, Min Hyun?” Dong Ho’s voice was dripping with sarcasm and the younger male’s face dropped as he turned away from the elder, falling silent.
Aaron scowled as he looked at Dong Ho before picking up, successfully may I add, a pencil from the table and throwing it at Dong Ho. The eraser end struck his chest and the others all looked to the center of the room like they had just physically seen Aaron.
“What the hell…”
“Do you think…?”
“No, that’s not possible. There shouldn’t just be souls wandering around…”
With that, Aaron tried to pick something else up, only to find it near impossible. Instead, he opted to roll something across the table instead.
“We need out of the house,” Min Ki suggested, standing quickly.
The others followed suit after, each one quickly making a leave while a mass of cold air followed them out the door, only to disappear as Aaron decided to make his way back to Haley’s awaiting her return from work.
Haley had only dealt with the cold spots for the weeks following up to the funeral and the two weeks after it. However, it had all quickly changed after getting dressed one night to get ready for bed and making her way into her room, only to see the near transparent figure of Aaron sitting on her bed, looking at his hands.
Almost as though he had sensed her presence, he looked up and gave her a ghostly smile before gesturing her over. Cautiously, the woman moved closer, eyeing the spirit before her and wondering if this was real or not.
When he spoke, however, that question had been put to rest.
I know this insane, but trust me. It’s me. Like I said before, I’ll always be here. I need you to believe that because if you don’t, then my reason to be here would be next to useless. I’m acting like a guardian angel until your own death… I don’t know when that will be but I’ll be by your side throughout it all. You can count on me.
With that, the figure of the man faded, though the cold spot was still there, signaling his presence and prompting Haley to speak, though her voice was the slightest bit shaky at seeing the non-mutilated version of her boyfriend once again.
“Aaron, I… Thanks for sticking around. You could be living with a much better afterlife than watching over me but I appreciate it. I really do. I couldn’t have asked for a better boyfriend- neither in life, nor death. So thank you.”
With that, the woman went to go lay down, the cold spot only moving over in her bed, almost as though Aaron had decided to lie down with her, much like he had when he was alive.
Although Aaron was no longer alive, he was still there. And, like he had said, he had remained until Haley died. Once he was sure she would no longer be in danger, he finally felt comfortable enough to pass on and meet her in the forever ambiguous afterlife.
You had been warned by some of your older friends to watch out for a particular group of people when you entered university. Generally, people just outed them by saying “Park Ji Min and his friends” but, from what Ji Soo had told you, they had self-proclaimed themselves as the “vigilantes of the university and school system”. Of course, there hadn’t been much headway with their ideas and there probably never would be as they only ever fucked around, according to Ji Soo and your other friends.
Naturally, you took their word for it. You had kept it in your mind to steer clear of the group for your first year of university and, hopefully, they would decide that it just wasn’t their setting and they would leave or you would just be able to completely avoid them altogether.
This proved to be harder than you thought after realizing that in your morning classes, four of the seven you had been warned about were in them. In first hour there was Nam Joon and Tae Hyung. It was said that, despite the annoyance that Nam Joon had for the school system, he was one of the top students in the school. He was supposedly never in class but somehow managed to pass every one.
Tae Hyung, on the other hand, often just refused to go to class but was found walking the halls. He always had a notebook in his hand and, often after observing teachers in the halls during passing and when outbreaks between students happened, he was writing in it.
In your second class, psychology, there was the man at the center of it all, Ji Min. From what Chae Young had told you, he was the one who often acted out against teachers the most. He’s the one who defied them and called out the bullshit with how things were going. There had been printed papers around the school written, most likely, by him that told of the things that were assumed to go on from the teachers not giving a shit about the kids to money given to the schools going to things other than helping the students.
Finally, in your third hour, there was Seok Jin. He was the oldest of the group but stuck around because he believed in what they were doing. He was said not to be too much of an active participant but rather just observed and kept notes on information he gleaned from old teachers that worked at the university and, on the rare occasion, teachers who were at the end of their rope and ready to find something else to do.
From what you had been told, nothing was truly working. It was just creating a stricter code that they continued to break and fight against. While there were bits you could agree with on their views, you couldn’t find yourself agreeing with how they were going about it. After all, what was it going to do if you just skipped class, took notes on teachers and authority in the school, and posted papers? If they wanted to fight for a true change, they should have been working with petitions and e-mails to the Department of Education, addressing the concerns in a professional way. The way they were going about this wasn't going to spark some amazing fight against the system.
However, despite agreeing with them and having the urge to actually approach them, you fought against it and listened to your friends’ advice. You weren’t going to get caught up in something so messy and unassured to actually work. You would rather just work on getting your degree and finally being free of school. Why bother with something that you’ll only have a vague memory of in the upcoming years anyways?
Perhaps that was the mentality that kept you coming back and forth. You wanted to help guide them. You wanted to make a change- you had since high school. But how could you just bust into their group and say “hey! I’ve got a better idea than acting up and doing bullshit!” especially you had no idea what they were planning? It just wouldn’t work and you knew this. So you stayed away. Kept yourself at a distance in remembrance of the advice you were given before you came to the university.
Nearly five months had passed and you hadn’t gotten directly involved with the boys. You took what you could get from papers that Ji Min had posted around the school, preaching how it was up to them to be successful, that even if you barely skimmed by, you wouldn’t be a failure like they taught you to believe. Warning that schools were corrupt, never truly caring for the wellbeing or success of their students.
Throughout the months, you collected these papers and wrote down what you had heard, always making your own notes on how things could be fixed. Sure, you weren’t one of them but you subtly participated. Throughout that fifth month, you began to do your own in-depth research. Began to write your own papers and hang them up in the early hours, even before teachers arrived.
Though the blame of the papers was being put on Ji Min and his crew, you could tell that they were starting to get more bold with the additions to their sayings. And mayhap it would push for more action to be taken with your word. Things were set up in a more structured way, citing sources and showing what could be done. Hell, you had even heard your friends talking about the idea of putting their own contribution into it through videos that they could show in their classes.
The slight contribution you were putting in made you feel proud. You didn’t need to be known and, for a while, it seemed like you could get away free without being noticed by anyone.
That is, of course, until you were approached by none other than Park Ji Min himself. You had never seen him up close before and, from the times you had passed by him, he usually had a hood up and was staring down at writings in a notebook that you had identified as Tae Hyung’s over the course of the months you were there.
“I know it’s you.” had been his only words before he was dragging you off to somewhere quieter.
By the time you reached an empty lecture room, you were feeling a bit concerned about what the hell was going on. You weren’t about to admit to anything, knowing that your plan of originally just staying out of it would begin to go down the drain and you would be caught up full time.
Upon entering the room, Ji Min released your hand, covered the window to the lecture hall with a black cloth before flicking on the lights to the high ceiling room, revealing the other six. You couldn’t help but feel that it was just a bit cultish, though you knew they were simply trying to stay undercover.
“Why bother?” Tae Hyung spoke up in place of Ji Min, standing from his spot on the abandoned teacher’s desk.
“I don’t understand what you mean,” you defied.
“Don’t play that with us. We know it’s you who wrote those papers that got plastered on every lecture hall door in the main building. We know you’ve been watching us just like we’ve been watching you, Y/N,” Ji Min stated, crossing his arms as he looked you over.
You felt a jolt of nerves as he spoke your name, leaving you to try and suppress a shudder. Of course it would have ended like this. You really should have seen it coming. It was almost like a Spy vs. Spy comic in a way. The only difference was that you were working towards the same thing.
“Why don’t you just help us? It’s obvious that people are following your influence more than they were with Ji Min’s.”
“That’s because they’re starting to suspect your ideas are latching on more. It’s nothing to do with me, but people will follow the crowd. That’s just how we, as humans, work. Follow the big thing even if you don’t know what you’re following.”
There was a beat of silence before Ji Min turned his back to you, heading up the stairs of the seats and stopping at a particular bench, walking down before he ducked behind the desk and pulled up large stacks of paper, bringing them back down.
As he handed them to you, you were able to recognize what they were without even having to read them. It was pages upon pages of compiled research, arguments, and even ex-teacher’s own problems with the schools. All new stuff that you hadn’t even thought to include in your own paper.
“What do you want me to do with these?” you questioned, the words coming out as more of an I’m in, what do you need me to do? Instead of your intended I don’t understand why you’re handing me these…
“You clearly write better papers than I do. I want you to make a paper with this information. I don’t care if it takes you until next year to complete, we want it done and we’ll be willing to help along the way. If we can get it written, we’ll have Joon read it, record it and, hopefully, that can be something we send off to the Department of Education, much like you suggested in your own paper.”
You looked at each of the seven’s individual faces, unsure of whether or not you should really rally with them full time. After all, their efforts had been for naught but you… you could be the turning point for that. You could bring actual cases to the table, get the others to understand that it would be an important change for any incoming students if they could actually get a reform.
“Alright, I’ll do it,” you finally gave in, glancing down at the large, and quite heavy, stack of papers.
“Nice to have your help,” Ji Min stated as a smile lit up his face. “Like I said, we’ll help you out while you write. Whether there’s been any additions to information or changes or such,” he explained, walking over to the desk and hopping up on the surface of it, legs crossed.
“I suppose you’ll need my dorm number for that?”
“Don’t worry about that, Tae Hyung hangs out with Ji Ae pretty often so he already knows where to go. We’ll just tag along.”
“Have you been over to the dorm while I was there?” you questioned, turning your attention to the man in question.
“It’s possible. You were probably studying or something ‘cause I never saw you,” he shrugged.
Shaking your head, you turned your focus back to Ji Min. “Well, I’ll be getting to work once I read through all of these. Feel free to drop by anytime I guess.”
Before you were able to turn away, Ji Min called you to a stop with a “Wait!” upon you raising a brow at him, he continued on. “What’s your number? We should be in contact if you’re going to help us at least.”
Chuckling, you began to recite your number to them as they worked on typing it into their phones, saving the number. Almost at once, you were hit with seven messages, your phone violently vibrating against your thigh from its spot in your pocket.
“I’ll see you guys,” you snickered, turning and finally exiting the room before you made your way back to your dorm, a slight smile sketched on your face the entire walk there.
The following week had been one of meeting up with the boys after your classes, talking to them about anything and everything under the sun, and getting to know them better. In between studying, you had worked on reading the papers and, by the end of the week, you had begun work on the lengthy paper.
Over this course of time, you had gotten close to everyone, forming a tight friendship with all of them. The one you ended up being closest to, however, was Ji Min. He was the one you had gotten the most comfortable with the quickest and, it seemed, he felt the same.
Upon hearing a knock at the door of your dorm, you already knew who to expect, the male and you having had texted for nearly an hour before his planned arrival. Walking out of your room, you opened the door and greeted Ji Min with a smile.
“So, either I’m here because of the paper or you just genuinely wanted to hang out. You never specified,” he joked.
Rolling your eyes, you stepped out of his way and let him walk in before closing the door and walking over to the couch, immediately showing that you had no intentions of working on the paper while he was there.
He snickered at you before sitting down as well, immediately getting comfortable on the couch. He watched as you flicked through channels before switching the TV over to Netflix. He chuckled as he watched a pout form on your lips, unable to find anything you genuinely wanted to watch.
“How about, instead of a movie, we go on a walk? Hang out, get you out of the dorm, and maybe grab a coffee? You look dead inside.”
“I’m always dead inside but thanks for the sentiment,” you joked. “Just let me change real quick and I’ll be ready to go.”
“What’s wrong with what you have on?”
“I’ve worn these sweatpants for the last two days and this shirt has like twenty holes in it. I needa change, my dude.”
With that, you made a quick exit to your room to quickly rummage through your closet and come up with some dark wash skinny jeans and a striped blue and white shirt. Ditching the sweats in favor of the jeans and the tattered shirt in favor of the clean and cute one, you quickly dished out a pair of socks while buttoning and zipping your jeans. Pulling on the final pieces of clothes, you hopped out of your bedroom whilst struggling with the left sock, leaving quite the amusing show for Ji Min as he observed your struggle.
“Shut up, asshole!” you shouted playfully at him, finally managing to yank on the sock and head towards the door. “This sock hates me!”
“Yeah, sure it does,” he snickered, standing from the couch and waltzing over to the door, waiting for you to join him and put your shoes on.
As soon as you were set and ready to go, the two of you were off. There wasn’t really anywhere you wanted to go in particular. If anything, it would just be a case of stopping and looking around different stores. It was nice to have company to do these things. You honestly couldn’t remember the last time you had done anything like this alone for yourself since you started college. You spent all your time in a darkened room like a fucking bat to study for everything.
“Thanks for getting me out of the house, Min,” you said quietly while the two of you quickly crossed the street over to where Ji Min had spotted a shop of plushies.
“It’s no problem, Y/N. You don’t seem to notice how much I observe but I hardly see you around campus unless it almost one in the morning and you need a coffee from the campus cafe,” he snickered.
You blushed lightly at his comment, rolling your eyes as you continued to walk towards the plushy store, a slight childlike glee filling your veins as you neared the walls of fluffy and soft animals and characters.
You wouldn’t say you were a plushy fanatic but you did have a few back at the dorm that you probably wouldn’t be able to live without. You had had them since you were young and, quite frankly, you wouldn’t mind adding on to the small collection just a bit.
Stepping into the store, you and Ji Min began to make your rounds to look around, sometimes joking and saying that a plush looked like one or the other. By the time you were ready to go, he had actually grabbed a pair of Ryan plushes, one for you and one for him. It was a cute little gesture and, in his words, you should let it remind you to take some time off of work to take care of yourself. Of course, you weren’t going to argue this and decided to roll with it even if it wasn’t necessarily going to work.
By the time the two of you had actually settled at a cafe, the sun was beginning to lower and paint the sky various shades of pink, orange, and red. It was quite beautiful and, to be honest, something you hadn’t ever actually stopped to look at before now. You wondered how you had managed to go your entire life ignoring the beauty of the sunset.
“You good, Y/N?” Ji Min questioned, noticing the glossy look that settled over your eyes.
“I’m good, Min. Just watching the sunset is all,” you responded with a smile, looking over as the male who sat across from you, hand wrapped around his cup of coffee and his eyes trained on you.
“It is nice, isn’t it? It’s a shame we don’t watch it more often.”
“Maybe that’s something we can start doing. Meet up at the park or greenhouse to watch it.”
“That would be nice,” he muttered, taking a sip of the coffee in his hands, his eyes glancing out the window to watch as the colors in the sky faded together to a gray and, before he knew it, a darkness spotted by the occasional star.
“Can I ask a question?’ he spoke up from the lengthy silence.
“Have at it.”
“Why did you decide to write that paper?”
“Because I agree with your views for the most part. I also had the idea that high schools should be more focused on what the student wants to do rather forcing the workings of a cell and the Pythagorean Theorem down our throats when it’s something we’ll never need in our chosen field.
“Like I know you’re doing music and all that so, for you, you should have been able to choose classes relating to that. Tae Hyung should have been able to choose classes that focused more on the creation of clothes while Joon should have chosen subjects that an English college professor would have to know, you know?”
Ji Min nodded in silence as your words sunk in, his eyes showing that he wasn’t completely there but rather like he was imagining a world where your words would become reality. A slight smile donned on his face and you could tell he believed that students may be happier if they had a complete say in the classes that they took instead of being fed useless (for the most part) information.
Yes, you understood that it was important to know basic things like that but it’s the same shit they’ve been teaching since elementary. Middle school should have been the end of forced classes. If high schools wanted their students to decide on a job right out of the gate, they should allow their students those four years to go through different possibilities for what they thought they would want to do. It shouldn’t be some Myers-Briggs test and then a counselor telling you what you would be best suited for.
“Why don’t we get out of here?” Ji Min snapped you from your thoughts, bringing you back to reality with a smile to greet you.
“Yeah. Home or somewhere else?”
“I’ll take you home. Maybe we can watch a movie and then you can settle in for the night. I know you have classes tomorrow.”
At that, you let out a slight groan before setting your head on the table with a light thud. You really didn’t want to go to your classes tomorrow. In fact, you would rather do anything but that. For all the secret fighting you were doing against the system, you still put up with it completely.
Ji Min snickered as he watched you. Standing, he walked over and set a hand on your back before it snaked around to your side and he was suddenly lifting you out of your chair. You let out a yelp, eyes wide with surprise. You were tensed up until he set you down at which point you punched him in the shoulder, the man laughing the entire time.
“Screw you,” you mumbled jokingly.
“Anytime,” he responded with a wink, causing your face to flush furiously.
Rolling your eyes, you left the man to pay the bill as you walked towards the door, hoping to soothe the heat that had risen to your cheeks and ears at his comment. Soon enough, Ji Min had caught up and linked arms with you and, like that, the two of you were out of the cafe and on your way back to your dorm.
You weren’t really sure how much time had passed since you first met Ji Min. Honestly, all you remembered was that it was somewhere near the middle of the year and now it was the last day of school. You had finished the paper, edited it, and now you were skipping class (the first time this entire year) to record Joon reading it off to the chairman of the Department of Education.
From there, you would hand it over to Ji Min to edit the clip and it would be sent off, hopefully reviewed and it would then determine whether the eight of you had to keep going at it or if you had won, even if partially, a bit of the fight.
Currently, Joon was turning over to the fifth page of the ten-page paper, reading it off with the voice of someone who should be in an authoritarian position. Seriously, you thought, if this doesn’t get them to change their minds, at least for the high schools, then what will?
By the end of an hour, Joon had finally finished and Ji Min was on the job of cleaning it up. As you and the older male stood watching, you glanced over and gave him a smile.
“That was a really good job. Why don’t you try going for a position that’ll allow you to use your voice in a persuasive way? I’m sure we all trust that you’d do the right thing, Joon.”
“Someone’s gotta stick around and make sure that the Department of Educations sticks to their words,” he joked, giving you a dimpled smile.
You rolled your eyes before turning back to Ji Min’s work, seeing that he was already halfway through the video. You were honestly amazed. There were quite a few times where you had paused and started it up again so Nam Joon could take a drink and he was working through those and other disturbances with ease.
When he finished, it was just a simple case of e-mailing the Department of Education and waiting. Of course, waiting could take an hour to several years but, if change came with it, it would be worth it.
“You know,” Tae Hyung spoke up after a while once the e-mail was sent, “even if it doesn’t get reviewed, we should celebrate for trying to do something. For trying to change something that we see is wrong.”
There was a chorus of I agree’s and, with that, it was agreed that everyone would pitch in and they’d go to an arcade and stop by a movie afterward. After all, what better way to celebrate, right?
Upon reaching the arcade, it didn’t take long for Ji Min to pull you to the side, letting the others grab coins while the two of you stood in the corner. He seemed fidgety, nervous. You could tell he was having trouble forming what he wanted to say and it surprised you. Usually, he was so put together. Knew what to say when he wanted to say it but now… he seemed lost for words.
Until suddenly: “I like you!” came from his mouth. “I really like you and I wanted to know if maybe we could go on a date sometime and possibly begin, like… actually dating like a couple and-”
“Ji Min, calm down,” you chuckled, your brain still processing the words that he let flood out like Niagra Falls. When it finally clicked, you smile at him and took his hand in your own.
“You know, I would really like that, Ji Min. When this is over and we head to the movies, why don’t we go see our own? That can be our first date.”
His face lit up like you had never seen before, his dark eyes sparkling brightly. A smile stretched his cheeks out to a point where it looked painful and, before you knew it, he had you tightly embraced. His face was buried in the crook of your neck as he held you, taking the breath out of your lungs. He refused to let go until Tae Hyung was calling the two of you over so you could finally commence on competing with one another in Skee Ball and Dance Dance Revolution.
There was no mention of the corner talk the rest of the time at the arcade and even on the way to the movies. However, when it came to you and Ji Min wanting to split to see your own movie, there had been a glance among the others before they began to tease the two of you, causing both of your faces to flush a bright red.
However, you got away from them in the end and were able to get into your movie after a fifteen-minute wait.
“You know, even if the Department doesn’t grant us what we want, I’m glad that I was at least able to meet you, Y/N,” Ji Min commented, a smile on his face as he held your hand.
“Same goes for you, Min. It’s definitely been fun.”
So, for the milestone, I figured I could do this: if you are interested in a story made specifically for you, then you can go to my inbox, give me your name (or nickname if you prefer), you bias (and the group they’re from) and however basic or complex of an idea you want.
My irl friends usually just ask for stuff like (bias name) with fluff ending. That’s good. Going into detail with what you want is also good.
For these requests, however, I won’t write smut as I don’t know how old you guys are and I don’t want to inadvertently write underaged smut since it will be you.
Additionally, if you want me to make the story for a friend who has a Tumblr, give me the at and I’ll do a To/From format for you if you want lol.
Anyways, I think that’s about it so, please, if you or a friend wants to be in a story and paired with an idol, go ahead and request for that. I will write everything (except smut) so have at it.
I recently hit a milestone for my blog so I want to know what you guys want! My inbox is open for suggestions so please leave some! Thank you guys for getting me this far 💞💞
stay warm on these cold december nights. today and tomorrow, especially. don’t feel weak for still grieving, it’s okay. don’t feel worse for trying to move on, it’s okay, too.
it’s been a difficult year and it will still get hard sometimes but you’re not alone. look up at the stars when you’re lonely – he’s there, he’s the brightest of them all, and he’s looking out for you.
the morning will always come, trust it to bring you the joy you deserve after so many nights of suffering. be brave. be strong. and don’t be afraid to heal. turn to others and be there for each other just like you know he’s always there for you.
you did well, our angel. we will never forget you.
A day where almost the entire K-Pop community had come to recognize the loss of a great soul. The loss of someone taken too soon. Kim Jong Hyun had, unfortunately, been battling with depression for God knows how long and eventually succumbed to his demons.
Depression isn’t an easy thing to deal with for a regular person and I’m sure it’s even harder for idols who always have to put on a happy mask for us, to make us think they’re okay.
Kim Jong Hyun’s loss was heartbreaking then and it continues to be even a year later. His life was cut short and it affected so many people. From his family to his friends to his fans and even people in the community who only heard of him in passing. December 18th, 2017 was a day where there was complete mourning for the community.
I would hope that idols with mental health issues find help somewhere. Any help is better than none and maybe it can be the help that will prevent something like this happening again. Depression is so much more than just be sad for a few days and then being over it. It goes so much deeper than that and, if you haven’t experienced it firsthand, and I hope you never do, it’s hard to explain.
While mourning may be over, at least let this be a day to honor his memory and all he’s contributed to the community over the years before his death. He deserves at least that much. He was a wonderful friend, artist, son, and person. He really deserves to be remember for his best moments.
Also, please stream Shinin' in remembrance of Jong Hyun. Most SHAWOL's would prefer that over the cancellation of your selca days. If you can, it would also be appreciated if you could buy a copy of Poet|Artist as money goes to a charity.
I feel like I’ve been hella inactive with actually creating anything and I apologize about that.
I will say I’ve been kind of eh latetly. I won’t go into detail but I’ve just been fighting myself so stories may come slowly for a while (I have two in the works right now that are slowly but surely being worked on)
Secondly, I don’t have very many ideas. I’ve been starting and deleting stories cause I have no idea what to write so your guy’s requests and ideas would be fantastic lol.
I’m not going on hiatus, I’m just warning that things will be slower than usual.
look, idk about you but Han Jisung could rip out my heart, throw it to the ground, step on it and make fun of me and I’d still still love him and offer him my heart a second time-
What do you guys want to see from me more often? Would you prefer I stop doing the fake texts entirely and keep to stories or some mix like I’ve been trying to do? Would you guys want more angst? Fluff?
While I enjoy writing these for myself (a big reason why I write), I also want to know what you guys like so I can work on something that you might enjoy whilst maybe attempting to change up my style a bit (if i can lol).
But seriously, what groups do you want to see more of? What kind of stories? I’m also open for constructive criticism on literally everything because I know my writing isn’t the absolute best.
If you have the time, please go check out my recent written story When The Seasons Change... I worked hard on it and I actually really liked the way it came out...
