[leokims]

╅ 𝗹𝗲𝗼 𝗃𝖺𝖾𝗁𝗒𝗎𝗇 𝗄𝗂𝗆. thirty5. cisman, he/him. bisexual. divorced. unapologetic workaholic, taster of many energy drinks & coffee types. born & raised in atlanta, ga. merrockite for three years. housemate to aisha thevar, tae suh, & suki tang. currently working as an opthamologist at the hospital center. try not to get too attached, he loves to disappear.

full bio. | wanted. | full nav.

[harlandnewman]

Lan nodded slowly as he watched the other man with the donuts, before biting into the glazed donut that he’d gotten. He wasn’t much of a donut person, but he knew the establishments were giving them out for free, so it only felt right to get one. It was a basic choice, getting glazed when there were many other options, but Lan figured there was nothing wrong with plain glazed. “I…yeah, I guess, but how the hell do you manifest donuts?” he wondered. “I mean, wouldn’t you want to manifest something more interesting?”

[leokims]

...oh. flush flooding his cheeks. he probably turns the brightest red, dark eyes settling on lan's chewing, blinking a whole lot and yet lan doesn't clear from his view. not really an unhappy blink, just surprised. then again, lan's always been so bold. bolder than leo could hope to be, not letting anything tie him down. jeez, not even me. never mind, it's fine. it's just a donut. " through the power of love and friendship, " he blurts. clears throat. " this is where i ask what's more interesting and if it's named lan. " he could melt into the concrete. zero thinking going into his words. calls to attention without realizing it: " you like plain yeast now? "

[leighash]

"Manifested?" Ashleigh asked as she looked up, lost in her own thoughts for a moment as she tried to decide between the two donuts she had purchased for herself, having gotten a pretty big case of FOMO after seeing all of the kids walking around with them. "I'm honestly a little bit jealous, I sort of wish sweet baked goods would just manifest into my hands whenever I wanted them to," she laughed, finally deciding on the Boston Creme donut and looking at the white box in the man's hands. "Are they at least a good variety?"

[leokims]

" i know it sounds crazy but a girl handed them to me and walked away. i didn't pretend to be a student. " it rushes out. the truth, needing to be known. leo tends to skim through signs, newspapers, even textbooks, so misreading happens a lot more than he will admit. yet he could've sworn it said free for students only, and he stopped being a student (in the school sense) five years ago. the sheepish smile only gets bigger when she laughed. " yeah, there's these ... jellies, and some fruit stuff, apricot jam, and then there's regular glazed, i can't complain. " all his words tend to blend together. otherwise, he's completely silent. there's no in-between. " take as many as you want. genuinely. "

[aishathevar]

"As if I haven't been saying that already," Aisha rolled her eyes dramatically, eyeing the donut box in his hand, looking at the different varieties. She was about to head into the bakery herself, but she figured she might be able to swipe one from Leo. The roommate tax, or however it went. "Manifesting donuts?" she raised a brow, trying to hide the amused smile on her lips. "I would think if we were manifesting anything, it'd be something a little more fun. Not to say this isn't a good start."

[leokims]

" ... i see you've put on your fun detective hat, " he replies with a scowl. look, it isn't that she's wrong, but instead the implication of his needing to get out more. this conversation? a broken record. he could've swore they talked about this last week. she eyes the box and he slides it back towards him, thumbs flipping the lid shut, just to be cheeky. " like what? what else you wanna do today? can it be later? " trying to beat her to the suggestion punch, worm his way out of it. " i'll even give you this... erm. it's a... " has to open the box to check. " raspberry glazed donut as penance. payment? " yeah, he most definitely wouldn't be getting out of it, the true roommate tax.

[leokims]

who: leo & your muse

where: downtown merrock

when: feat. donut day

white cardboard box set in his hands, leo rolls his lips between his teeth and frowns. looks here, looks there, flush of embarrassment. how these ended up for free in his hands, tries to decipher: they appeared out of nowhere, delivered as if he got them for himself and he hadn't. " ... guess this is a sign to give my brain a break. " refers to: endless notepads, held in place by the outdoor salt-shakers, table otherwise sans food whatsoever. " these ... i dunno, they manifested. " a thief? him? never, not even a number two pencil back in high school.

[merrock]

information

full name:  leo jaehyun kim

nickname(s) / goes by: leo

pronouns & gender: cis man, he/him

sexuality: bisexual

birth date: august 19, 1990

birth place: atlanta, ga

arrival to merrock: 2025

housing: the coast & pier.

occupation: opthamologist

work place: hospital center

family: daesung kim (dad), chaeyoung kim nee goh (mom), younger sister

relationship status: divorced

personality

charming. all business. knows no limits and easily overwhelmed by it. intense, driven to succeed, doesn't know when to take breaks. a workaholic. yet faithful in being driven, loyal to a fault. expect him to show up to your best friend's cousin's wedding with one text bringing the gift you forgot; if he remembers and put it in his calendar. jealous over dumb things. mature, calm, stubborn.

portrayed by Steve Sanghyun Noh; penned by PomPom.

full biography / background

triggering / sensitive content warning: illness, medical, ableism.

jaehyun was born into a different world. his parents were older when they had him and his sister to follow was a miracle. around age 5, his dad started losing his sight. over the years, he slowly went blind and jaehyun watched him become a shell of his former self in his teens. his dad was still there but he felt like he lost him. their family is one that doesn't talk about what's wrong, so he researched what made his dad go blind on his own. this got him interested in medicine and maybe finding a cure, or something to slow it down.

scary things like glaucoma, macular degeneration and others are ideas jaehyun no longer wanted to be scary. part of why he got into it was to comfort his dad too. his dad used his hands a lot and liked to garden, looking at the flowers they planted together, and all that was taken away. it took a lot of hard work, sleepless nights, and every time jaehyun's own eyes hurt, he wondered if he'd lose his sight too. however that simply added to his drive. he did this for his family, forgetting about any other option as a job.

he interned at a lot of places and went around the south to research as much as possible. he was known as a workaholic and not able to commit to anything too personal outside of the workplace, married to his job, etc. but he became a pharmacologist out of it and made a breakthrough in some research, and yet he felt empty. he realized he couldn't change his dad's mind about his condition and that he needed to look at his own life. where does he want to settle? how? looking at online job postings led him to see the one posted at merrock's hospital. in a time when jobs felt scarce and he felt alone, he figures this is as good a time as any to try and start over.

although he still has a good relationship with his family, he now tries to separate himself from them. he tells himself his research and job will help merrock's people, he can find more purpose, his routine, etc. he struggles with the guilt and still buries himself in his work but maybe merrock will change his outlook as he heads into his forties? he hopes so. otherwise he'll have to start over again.