“ i’m honestly pretty sure that at this point my diet has it’s own category for just ramen. “ tobias solemnly explained whilst nodding his head. tobias was a lot of things. he was kind and nice, understanding and trustworthy. but a cook ? a good cook at that ? that was a skill that for whatever reason just seemed to run away from him. and honestly it drove him mad. turning to the other male, “ do you know how to cook ? can you help me ? or am i doomed to ruin all of my roommates pots & pans ? “ he pleaded.
a soft laugh escaped jesse’s lips as soon as he heard his friend’s comment. “ what’s wrong with ramen ? at this point it should be its own food group. ” he looked up from his spot on the couch at where the other boy was busying himself trying to assemble something to eat only a short length away. jesse shook his head a little at the question, though any memories of trying to figure out how to cook growing up was cut short by tobi’s mention of his roommate. jesse probably shouldn’t even be there anyway. “ i wouldn’t say that i’m great at it or anything, but i can cook food that won’t kill us, ” he offered, a lopsided smile coming to rest on his lips, “ it’s not gonna be anything groundbreaking though, my promises stop after ‘ not being fatal. ’ ”
if jesse was being honest with himself, he may not have noticed there was anything out of the ordinary if it weren’t for the commotion on the other side of his studio’s door as all the other residents descended onto the building’s ground floor –– but that didn’t mean he was in any way enthusiastic about it. “ was there a campout i missed the memo for ? ” he asked flatly, leaning against the doorway to his room as his peers shuffled past him. the cold that cut into the air of his room only extended faintly into the hallway, but he still lingered in the solitude of his own apartment rather than immediately join the crowd that was already starting to slowly grow in the lobby.
hey guys, im sorry ive been so absent from the dash lately ! i had to go on semi hiatus because of final exams / papers, but i promise im getting to replies as soon as i can !!
PERCHED against the wall of the front of hideaway’s front complex, eric lets out a puff of smoke from his lips. his dark head was covered by hid hoodie and small frame swallowed by a black puffy jacket. it was one of the very rare off nights eric had both from ‘ work ‘ and the diner. most people on their nights off would spend it relaxing in their apartments, but not him. he felt almost stir crazy doing such a thing and much preferred breathing in the bustling night streets of downtown seattle. however, he could already tell the dropping temperature around him wouldn’t allow him to stay out for long. he takes another long drag of his cigarette before throwing it to the sidewalk and stopping out it’s lasting light. a low sigh falling from his lips as he twists on his feet to enter back into the complex, the warm air of the lobby hitting him as soon as he’s through the door. “ fuck , it’s cold as shit out there , “ he murmurs not really to anyone in particular.
jesse should have recognized the figure leaning against the wall as soon as he stepped outside. but until just moments ago he had been so wrapped up in his own worries, the same never – ending spiral that never seemed to evade him anymore, that he hadn’t even thought about who might be around him when he went for another cigarette. “ ah shit, you got a lighter ? ” jesse asked, patting his empty pockets and suddenly remembering where exactly his own was left on his desk in his room. he glanced up once he heard the all too familiar voice. it was just a comment about the fucking weather. he hated how it made him falter now, his lips suddenly part with no words passing and his heart nearly sink lower in his chest than it already is. “ oh, uh, yeah. ” jesse stumbled. “ seattle’s always freezing when it’s not raining. ”
“ lemme in ! “ yelling was much too loud for one in the morning , but the concept of manners felt a concern not worthy of his time with a mix of alcohol and a growing desire to get back into the safety of his own apartment . yes , he forgot his keys , and yes , he has done it before . he wasn’t irresponsible , absolutely not , but on the contrary occasionally forgetful and that was simply something that couldn’t be fixed over the coarse of a mere few months . if he could remember everything under the fucking sun , he would , but until technology or medicine or whatever the hell helped him retain all that shit , he was left only able to adapt to his circumstances . adapting being that he was knocking on what he believed to be his apartment , begging his roommate to let him back in . “ god , i’ll make you pizza . i’ll make you fucking lasagna . i’ll have to look up some shitty buzzfeed recipe or some white housewife’s shit , but i’ll do it for you if you open this door . i swear i’ll never forget my keys ever again . i’ll get a really fucking ugly fucking necklace and wear them even when i’m asleep . “ he’s rambling , as he usually does when he’s had a few too many , and the most pathetic thought of all is that calling him never crosses his mind . nor does checking to make sure he’s at the right door , on the right floor .
while he didn’t like to admit it –– the sound of a man drunkenly pounding against a front door was all too familiar to jesse. “ dude, calm down, ” he let out a groan as pulled himself away from his desk, knowing that once the pounding started, it likely wouldn’t stop until the door was open. his room wasn’t far from the entrance of the building at all, but jesse didn’t even need to hear the rest of the other boy’s speech, not the crude jewelry ideas, the promise of being a housewife to whoever could’ve been inside, or even bribe of the pizza. it was the sheer sound, the loudness that broke through the music jesse had been listening to and make him stop to look at what time it was. jesse pulled the door open, leaning his bodyweight against the frame and meeting the gaze of the man opposite him. “ i hate to break it to you, but i don’t have a roommate. ”
–––––– helloooOOOooo i’m rose ( 9teen, she/her ) and this is jesse !! he’s twenty-one, very bi, and a music shop clerk + musician. he can come off as just quiet and sullen and really rn he can be super pessimistic and reckless, but deep, deep, down he’s super sweet i promise lmao. i’m so excited to start writing him with you guys, under the cut is more about him –– pls like this or add me on d.iscord @ confused#8715 and ill hit u up for plots !
tw: death of a family member, drug abuse, implied child abuse
jesse was born may 11th, 1998 to a parents he knows never should have had him. his parents had first moved to new york city from busan, south korea and already couldn’t afford to make ends met when jesse came along and was another mouth to feed, and they never let him forget how much his existence had put a burden on the already-struggling family.
together jesse’s parents always ran one of the most poorly organized money laundering schemes that jesse has still ever seen, which was only worsened by his father’s habit of spending whatever cash the family had on liquor while his mother spent most of her time trying to gamble it back.
three years later after the “ family business ” fell through in flushing, his parents packed up whatever their lives consisted of and moved across the country to seattle to start the same scheme all over again, and jesse’s little sister was born shortly afterwards
while the two were growing up, they were practically in separable. jesse wanted to make sure her life could be more than just being the brunt of their parent’s problems as their father’s drinking worsened and their mother would disappear for days at a time dealing with him
when he was a teenager, jesse started dealing drugs to try to get any more stable income for him and his sister than what his parents provided and then routinely wasted away, and this quickly progressed to him selling more and more and falling in with the wrong people lmao
the more jesse got involved with that life, the less time he spent with his sister. never had good grades to begin with, now when he wasn’t dealing, he was running deliveries to larger distributors just to for the check. in the meantime, all he could hope was that the money he was getting to put food on the table was doing more for his sister than being there with her could.
but any protecting jesse tried to have done completely backfired. his sister wasn’t oblivious to what jesse was doing, and he could only keep her at a distance from that side of his life for so long, but what he thought was only weed and the occasional adderall or xanax went much further.
his sister died of a drug overdose a little over a year ago, and there hasn’t been a day since that jesse hasn’t blamed himself. he’s tried everything he can to change and get away from the life that he led and that took his sister.
he moved to the building to try to start over, staying in the cheapest studio while he works at a music shop and picks up gigs primarily as a drummer as much as he can to try to pay to maybe one day start college. and while he only goes through more and more cigs everyday, he’s managed to mostly stay away from drugs ( or at least, selling them ) altogether
P E R S O N A L I T Y & H E A D C A N O N S – !
okay this boi is kinda an emo mess rn and is only half decent at hiding that fact ( im sorry if hes just like .. sulking wherever he goes but he’s secretly just a softie who doesn’t like how vulnerable he feels lmao )
he’s kinda noctural at times, and goes up to the roof a lot of the time to have a cig and make sense of his thoughts
most of the time he’s actually super empathetic and thoughtful, but catch him on a rare day where he’s especially off and he can be brash and easily butt heads with people for no reason which .. he knows he needs to work on and always feels really apologetic afterwards
jesse absolutely adores music, and it’s prob the only thing that’s helped him get through the last year. he used to be equally drawn to the guitar as he was to the drums, but for some reason guitar doesn’t feel the same as it used to right now and the drums are honestly just a better way to get out that Saddness and Frustration ™
listen i wanna say that he’s a former fuckboi but rly .. he’s just slowed down a little bit because he kinda just wants to avoid any emotional intimacy and complexity like the plague rn
... he hasn’t cut his hair since his sister died. he hasn’t really given any thought to it at all, but jesse really needs a wakeup call that yk .. haircuts exist for a reason
— kim youngkyun/hwiyoung. he/him. cismale. | was that JESSE KANG i just saw in the hideaway lobby ? i hear the TWENTY-ONE year old spends most of their time repairing instruments while working at a music shop, but i’ve always just seen them PICKING UP GIGS AS A DRUMMER WHENEVER HE CAN. they live in 1C and i often see them in the halls. they always give me a vibe of stolen glances, already-empty pockets pulled inside out, and cigarette smoke lingering on dirty laundry. ( rose. 19. cst. she/her. )
