DAISY CROWNED

let's get this bread!

[mmjiyi-blog]

minbyeolmm‌:

(...)

as they walk towards the pitch, she suddenly gets nervous. jiyi was a fifth year student, meaning she had five more years to practice quidditch. minbyeol knows that jiyi wouldn’t judge, but she still doesn’t want anyone to see her struggle. “ but yeah, the most i can do is make it go up for a couple of seconds, nothing really fancy or anything. ”

she listens to minbyeol’s story, the laughter contagious and she finds herself laughing at the underclassman’s attempt to tell it through her giggles. “that’s my girl!” she cheers, nodding when minbyeol tells her about her success with the broom. then her expression falls into a frown upon hearing the rest of the story.

“what’s her name?” not that she’s thinking of going to beat her up or anything, but haesung could definitely have someone to test out a new prank on... and she wouldn’t be opposed to it. anyone who messes with the people she cares for, messes with won jiyi herself. “she shouldn’t have done that, byeollie! did you get hurt?”

jiyi accios one of the varsity team’s spare brooms, a notch up ( but not by much ) from the brooms that the first years use for their lessons. “it’s okay!” she grins and gives her a thumbs up. “no one starts out good, byeollie! c’mon,” she holds out her own broom to the younger girl, and climbs on top of the spare one, giving the younger girl a little finger heart. jiyi kicks her broom up and lets it hover above the ground, high enough that her toes don’t touch. “let’s see what you’ve got!”

[mmjiyi-blog]

mmhanbin‌:

(...)

hanbin still feels slightly sluggish from the rude awakening he had received, and he’s all too happy to accept the glass of water jiyi offers him. taking small sips, he relishes in the clarity the beverage gives him, quickly downing the rest before setting the glass down upon the table he had slumped over earlier, “i’m glad to be some form of entertainment to you. p’rolly needed a break anyway, retention yanno—” he taps the side of his head with his index finger, a sleepy but cheeky smile on his lips “—working at the facility is fun. we were just understaffed tonight, and i offered to stick around for a lil bit. that lil bit turned out to be two hours—” he stretches his limbs, settling into a more comfortable position, burrowing himself deeper into the duvet jiyi had conjured “—i would if i could, but i missed the bus, and yanno how i am with apparition…can’t do that shit. makes me sick, even if it’s just side-along. and it’s not like i’m taking too much space in the common room ! don’t tell me you’d turn me away, jiyi…”

he worries about apparition, and jiyi just shakes her head. she trusts her wand, sure, and managed to pass her apparition license test without splinching herself. but that’s about as far as she’ll trust herself with it. so she understands his worries, but she still teases him about it. “when’d you graduate again, oppa? prof rhee would be so disappointed in you... was she even teaching apparition then?”

jiyi giggles at his glare, seeing the fondness behind it. “stop it, that’s not what i meant!” she huffs and shakes her head, “it’s got to be way more comfortable sleeping in your own house, oppa.” lord knows she’d rather stay over at changmin’s if she could, and wasn’t so attached to jujak and its members. ( the jujak loyalty, back in full force... and maybe that’s what keeps hanbin coming back, too. )

she brackets her face in her hands, looking at hanbin. “how’s the medical centre been?” anything to avoid going back to studying, really. she shouldn’t keep him up too long when he has a shift the next day, probably. she keeps an eye on the clock and tells herself, at two. she’ll give herself a small half hour break, to spend with hanbin and his stories. that is, if he doesn’t decide to go back to passing out on the couch. “do you have a shift tomorrow, too?”

[mmjiyi-blog]

mmsunwoo‌:

(...)

he sighs as his hand drops back to his side, fingers sliding into his pocket as usual. “let’s go,” he pushes the heavy doors open and steps out onto the courtyard. “you lead the way.”

she huffs at sunwoo’s rebuffing. “don’t you follow me,” she complains, but it’s joking and she just nudges sunwoo with her arm. “and yeah, we have dada, and professor park is gonna murder us, but!” she lets go of sunwoo’s arm and spins out, giving him a peace sign. “i’ll protect you!” which, she absolutely will not be able to when it’s professor park youngja, but. she’d try, for sunwoo. that’s friendship!

jiyi laughs when sunwoo finally acquiesces, shaking her head. “not true! you had a choice, and you chose me!” he slips his hands into his pocket and she slips hers through the loop it makes, swinging them as they walk. jiyi likes the easy way she can find physical affection with her friends, the comforting hold she gets to have with sunwoo. their elbows knock into each other with how close she’s standing to the other fifth year as they walk out of the school campus.

“it’s in hongdae, i think it’s near the tea shop with the nice tiramisu? we can floo there and then walk,” she suggests, bringing the both of them to the closest floo fireplace is. “ready?”

she calls out the name of the tea shop, and steps through the green flames, and knows that sunwoo will be right there with her, always.

[mmjiyi-blog]

mmchoa‌:

(...)

choa gives jiyi a moment to absorb her words before cutting right into the heart of her hypothesis, all too eager to unveil her theory and see them being put into practice. “a theory i have that might help you tame your wand is: visualize what you want your magic to do. we’re so used to casting spells with just incantations that we forget that magic work in mysterious ways but still garners similar results. the power behind an incantation is as strong as the mind of the caster, so i think visualizing what you want to happen might make your wand more obedient to your will.”

choa is truly animated about sharing her knowledge, and it settles jiyi a little to know the older woman won’t hold any judgments over her. magical theory says nothing about this – nothing that’d have been this useful, at least. or maybe she’s not paying attention enough.

so jiyi leans against the table, taking a sip of her tea and listens to choa explain the intricacies of magic. she can’t tell ( doesn’t know ) which part of her personality is a rebellious, creative, powerful creature, the same as her wand.

( though in truth: jiyi is exactly that free-spirited, if only she could listen to her intuition. but years of moulding herself into her parents’ expectations, her friends’ needs, her teachers’ instructions, have quietened that in her. she’s going to have to figure out how to take those parts of her and reframe them into her life, learn to trust her instincts instead of following the strict rules she’s had set for her. that’s the growth she’ll need, even if she doesn’t know it yet.

and thankfully, there’s choa to set her on the right path now. )

“oh!” that does make sense, the way she focuses on the end result of the spell and so does her wand, albeit to differing means. “i’ve never tried that. but that sounds like it could, like it might help?” she beams up at choa, nodding. “thank you for the advice, unnie. i’ll go back and practise that.” she finishes the last of her tea, setting the cup down. “maybe if you come back to dueling sometime i can show you if i make any progress.”

[mmjiyi-blog]

mmlinkai‌:

(...)

he’s never been one to think rationally in any certain circumstance, but whenever that little spitfire was involved, any hint of rationality was out the window and long, long gone. zhou linkai was turning over a new leaf, and the first step in that process was coming clean to jiyi … she needed to know that, underneath all the snark and the snide comments, he cared a great deal for her. so, accordingly, kai does the only thing that feels right and shows up outside one of her classes unannounced. as he watches the crowd file out of the room, his heart is pounding. is he making a mistake? he’s not sure, and he’s almost about to forget the entire thing when he sees her. she’s a golden beam of light and suddenly, everything seems clear. kai pushes himself through the crowd before beaming at her. “uh, hey. can i talk to you for a minute? please don’t say no …  i know i’ve given you more than enough reasons to say no, just please don’t this time. i’ll make it worth your while, jiyi, i promise.”

she’s operating on routine and pride, after last night. there’s not much left to go on other than that. part of her thinks it’s early adulthood melodramatics, the absolute fucking heartbreak of a lost first love and the lies she’d been literally fed through a cupcake. it doesn’t make her feel any better.

and sunwoo and haesung are both off in magical ethics, while she tries to keep her head in alchemy. her focus is off, missing chunks of information as the professor speeds through class. half the class is probably also feeling the shame and embarrassment from last night’s dinner, anyway, and they end the class early. jiyi takes her time, slowly putting her things back into her bag, letting the students stream out past her. her next class isn’t until later in the afternoon, anyway; she can curl up in bed until she’s got to get out and pretend like her heart’s in it.

“kai?”

she’s confused, she hasn’t talked to him since their last fight. her fault, she’s well aware. he smiles at her despite it all, and inexplicably there’s a little jump to her heartbeat. it’s not enough to perk her up but enough for her to smile back at him, still wary and confused. he seems sincere when he asks for a bit of her time, but sincerity is a currency neither of them know well on the other.

“yeah, sure,” she says, stepping forward to let him lead the way. “your dorm? mine?” she knows what she’s asking, what those words will probably bring them to, but she can’t find it in her to care. it’s not like she could feel any worse, or any more empty, than she does right now.

[mmjiyi-blog]

mmyemi‌:

(...)

“he’s setting me out to fail because— well because…” hyemi’s sentence drags off as she tries to find a likely excuse “reasons” she doesn’t find one. “i know i promised we’ll study together but can we do literally anything else?” she’s giving jiyi her best attempt, bottom lip curling into a deep frown as she clasps her hands together, pleading.

jiyi laughs and shakes her head, easily defending their charms professor just like she’s been doing for the last few weeks. “who, professor kyung?” wait, no, that’s not right. “professor han?” she tries again, and makes a face at her slip up. she’s a little too used to calling kyung oppa. “i promise he’s not doing that, ‘mi.” jiyi pets her friend’s head soothingly, half hidden in her hands now. “what’d he do, anyway?”

and she’ll listen to hyemi explain her side of things, even if kyung’s got her loyalty on lock. hyemi’s as good a friend as kyung’s been an almost-parental figure for her, and she won’t just steamroll over her friend’s worries. she’s earned it, at least – their rivalry turned into a grudging respect, and now a genuine friendship. a couple of aggressive quidditch games turned into unexpected team practices, and a few too many late night study sessions that never really went anywhere with how easily both girls get distracted.

which, coincidentally and entirely in character for them, is exactly what’s happening now. “literally anything is a lot!” jiyi grins, and leans over the table to meet hyemi’s puppy eyes. “gimme something fun and i might say yes?”

[mmjiyi-blog]

maracmm‌:

Mara laughs at the bit of affection thrown her way, taking care to throw it back with equally loving measure. Leave it to Jiyi to be cute as hell about anything, even if the possible outcome (read: two hours and too many drinks later) for the both of them might be anything but. She doesn’t think about that now though, fishing her phone out of her jean pocket to fire up the search engine.

A couple of seconds pass before she looks up from the screen, smile wide in a wordless Bingo! “Pulse has Ladies’ Night. Downtown.” Free flowing taps, free of charge and free of familiar testosterone—all in all, the makings of an impossibly perfect night ahead of them. “Start there, and we go explore after? Or do you wanna save the best for last?” 

oh~  ( ` jiyi grins and nods, swinging their arms together as mara starts walking, following after the older girl )  ladies’ night sounds good! let’s start at pulse, then?  ( ` she’s never been one to save the best for last – jiyi’s more a, go for the best and expect it to get better from there kind of girl. which is what her plan is for tonight ; gestures down to what she’s wearing now, definitely not what she wants to be wearing to a bar. it’s her fresh out of quidditch outfit, after the round they’ve just had )  i’ll go get changed, properly, and meet you at the entrance of the dorms in ten?

[mmjiyi-blog]

mmseol‌:

(...)

“well…” how does she explain this without seeming like a complete idiot? “i fell asleep in the baths before dinner because i was reading a potions text… then woke up all pruney way after curfew. then i got hungry so i decided to try looking for the kitchens by myself, instead of just hiding in the baths! i remembered hearing the entrance was near the jujak commons, so i knocked on every portrait. got scolded twice, actually, before the lady in the green hanbok pointed me!”

jiyi laughs; it’s a surprisingly innocent explanation. it’s not out of character for seol, she supposes, top of her year and everything. though jiyi’s no stranger to falling asleep while reading a text, too. “yeah, the lady in the green hanbok is usually really nice! she showed me how to get into the kitchens in first year, too.”

the elves finish up with the fruit platter, one of them scuttling over and placing it down where they sit. “thank you, nabi!” jiyi says, smiling when the small elf beams back at her before heading back to do one of the many chores the house elves are finishing up with. she takes a passionfruit half and the spoon that nabi and the others have graciously provided, digging up a mouthful. it’s sweet and a little sour, exactly how she likes it.

she settles in beside the other girl. it’s early enough, and seol is good company. “how’s school been?” she’s only a second year, damn. what was she doing in second year? probably sneaking into the kitchens for ymmc bribery to see sunwoo, and things haven’t changed much. “have you gotten to apparition yet?”

[mmwonsik]

round 2.

[mmjiyi-blog]

mmwonsik‌:

(...)

spotting the jujak student across the room, wonsik makes his way towards her, ignoring the watchful eyes that were following him. “you ready, kid?” he pulls out his wand, giving her a small smile. “try not to put me in any stockings or undergarment this time around yeah?”

she gets nudged by one of their club members, a teasing, “what are you gonna put him in this time?” joking smiles and amused laughter when her partner is announced. it hasn’t been long since the first time she was given the chance to duel the upperclassman, and everyone’s ( hilariously ) aware of what happened the last time. she’ll take the blame for it – her wand had taken a pretty liberal interpretation of the entrapment charm she’d tried to cast, to be fair. but, you know. it worked, she won, the rest is pretty recent history.

and, she can’t say it ended up all bad. there’s been a bit of teasing but jiyi’s gotten the chance to talk a little more to the older boy, and she’s starting to pick up on the little vagaries of his personality. she’s pretty sure she saw him give her a half-smile once, too. 

“of course” she says, eyes crinkling up, and takes her bow. “no promises, though.” wonsik may be the senior here, have more experience at dueling but she’s got a couple of unconventional aces up her sleeve.

[mmjiyi-blog]

mmcheol‌:

c’mon noona, cut it out ! ( ` his flush darkens at her teasing, beyond embarrassed at how much he’s let slip. would he get expelled if he attempted obliviating someone ? he sighs, knowing he could never turn his wand on his friend, so he allows her to manhandle him as they trudge towards the lockers ) yeah, yeah, i like older girls. or just…mature girls in general…i dunno… ( ` he snorts at his own lackluster explanation while moving away from her attempt at sauciness. gross, noona ! ) i mean…that’d be cool ? but i’m not gonna lie, noona, but i don’t think any girl in her right mind would date a second year…

( * there’s probably a jab at her in there about mature girls but she can’t find it, and she’s sure he doesn’t mean it anyway ; laughs when he moves away from her instinctively, shaking her head at him )  you never know until you try, buddy.  ( * shoves him in the direction of the boys’ locker room )  this isn’t over!

( * and she means it, like a dog with a bone. when jiyi pops out of the showers clean and fresh, and the first thing out of her mouth when he finds cheol waiting outside is: )  what about hana, y’know, the third in baekho?  ( * nudges him, grinning )  treat you to lunch if it goes well~

[mmjiyi-blog]

mmlinkai‌:

(...)

“trust me, princess …” kai trails off, bristling up and trying to get himself to do anything other than get in her face. “you don’t have to tell me twice. you see, when someone tells me something once, i don’t go around repeating it two and three times. funny how that works, isn’t it?”

just having that space between them is enough to give her a better perspective, out of the inexplicable pull she’s weak to around him. he’s not that fucking awful when he’s further away, can’t see how she’s made the tips of his ears red with his anger and his thin, narrowed pupils. he’s not that fucking awful when he’s drunk and strangely clingy, and confusingly eager to please. but he gets back in her face and neither of them are drunk, so zhou linkai is just. fucking awful, and so is the bullshit coming out of his mouth.

“that’s the best you’ve got?”

not the lowest blow ( that one goes to her ), but a low one nonetheless; jiyi feels the acidity behind those words and it only sharpens her frustration with him, and herself for still being in his space. why is she putting herself through this, when she’s definitely not drunk enough, or at all, to have to be even looking at linkai?

“don’t tell me anything, then,” she snaps, balling her hands into fists, the tension giving her something more to focus on instead of how punchable linkai’s face is right now. not that having her hands into fists helps much with that, or the regret that comes instantly with her words that only makes her angrier. she shouldn’t want him to tell her more, doesn’t want to hear anything out of his mouth right now, doesn’t want to let herself understand him more.

( even though she does, and isn’t that the fucking kicker. )

“fuck you,” she says, and pride insists on having the last word so she takes her leave, leaves linkai there with what she hopes will be a wholly unsatisfying ending to a wholly unsatisfying conversation, and relishes in the way the door slams behind her.

END.

[mmjiyi-blog]

mmeihua‌:

(...)

“you haven’t?” colour her confused; perhaps she’s misunderstood this whole thing about jiyi and kai. maybe that’s what she gets for not asking. she laughs instead, shrugging the quizzical look off of her features, shifting idly on the bed. “it’s been a little while, i guess. i’ve been focusing on school a lot.” a tried and true excuse; convenient when she needs it to be, yet little more than a second-thought when she doesn’t. for now, it’ll do. 

“but, not as long as you? am i wrong?” snickering. “i’ll let you know when if happens if you do the same — if you’ll just tell me who this is about.”

meihua’s question isn’t completely confusing, considering how close she is ( she seems to be ) to linkai, but this isn’t about that. thankfully. “yeah,” she shrugs, finds nonchalance and sticks to it, scrunching her lips up into a pout. “gotta take myself out, i guess.”

she huffs in mock hurt, shaking her head. “ouch.” but it’s also true, kind of, so she just settles back into her seat. “it’s not that exciting, it’s just some guy? might not even get a second date.” it’s hypocritical of her, but she didn’t invite meihua over to be the interrogated instead of the interrogator. though admittedly she hadn’t really been thinking of prying so much as just ( not so subtle ) hints about how eminently dateable one park sunwoo is.

which brings her back to it. the other fifth year mentions school and she makes a face, groaning. “you don’t even have to,” she says, but it’s good-natured and friendly, jiyi not competitive enough in school work to really be bothered by it. plus, it gives them ( meihua and sunwoo, not the two girls ) something in common – “you should try studying with sunwoo too, he’s really good at,” he’s not taking transfiguration, damn, what could hook meihua in with the promise of actual good grades? “magical theory!”

[mmjiyi-blog]

minbyeolmm‌:

(...)

but because it’s jiyi, she decides to get out of her comfortable position on the couch and stretches, her back cracking as she does it. “ i’m only agreeing because i’m immensely bored and have nothing else to do. ” minbyeol tries to sound nonchalant, but the fond smile on her face says otherwise, making it obvious to everyone that she had a soft spot for the sister she wished she had.

she grins when the other girl agrees, seeing the fond smile behind the casual words, a rare instance of park minbyeol, tech addict, agreeing to go outside for once when she knows she’d definitely prefer staying in their common room. “thanks,” she says, and that bit’s genuine, for the little sister she’s unofficially taken on and the obvious soft spot they share for each other.

“let’s go! promise you won’t fall,” jiyi says, holding up a pinky finger. “the locker room has spare brooms, but you can use mine first!” probably for the best; those old brooms are what the first years since yosul took in its first batch have used, and their balance isn’t the best. she waves her broom at minbyeol, pride and affection colouring her words when she adds, “definitely better than our spares! only the best for,” teasingly pinches the younger girl’s cheek, “the best!”

she’s probably too sweaty to get away with swinging an arm around minbyeol, so she settles for falling in step with her as they make their way to the quidditch pitch. “how’ve your flying classes been?” she asks, curious, wanting to know exactly how much she can get away with. knowing sunwoo, she doubts they’ve been the best, but she’s got faith the younger park is at least a little more stable than her older brother ( no offence to sunwoo, it’s just a low bar ).

[mmjiyi-blog]

CONTINUED FROM HERE ; @mmclaud​

she huffs and shrugs, and flicks the packet of cigarettes out from his hands with her thumb and index. “i’m going to have to fight you if you start smoking in front of me,” she grumbles, but her words are worn down and don’t have a bite to them. the smell of cigarette smoke irks her, and she doesn’t care if he does but she won’t have it stink up her hair and her clothes.

“they’re just, y’know. the usual.” she shrugs again, lost for words when she’s usually so talkative. “probably because i still don’t have a major, and last week my wand messed up a charm in front of the rhees. and it’s not like oppa’s there for them to focus on either.”

[mmjiyi-blog]

mmlinkai‌:

(...)

kai knew he could handle a lot of things. he could handle needless, unjust insults to his looks and to his personality. he was strong. his mother had assured him time and time again how strong he was … but, still, there were a lot of things that he couldn’t handle, and little brats talking about his family when they knew literally nothing about them was high on the list – maybe even at the top. kai’s heart began to race and, suddenly, he felt the need to lash out, try and spew an equal amount of venom jiyi’s way. it wasn’t like he didn’t have an ample amount of things to choose from  … but he frowned at the realization that, right here, right now, she wasn’t worth it. “that’s just the type of thing some entitled little rich girl would say when she’s got nothing else. that’s always your last resort, isn’t it? low insults? you can dish it out, but you can’t take it and you’ll never be able to, jiyi. it’s pathetic, really.”

it’s pathetic, it is – she can’t say he’s wrong, when she takes what he’d told her in confidence and fucks it up, uses it against him just so she can make him hurt. the guilt only colours her an angrier red, when he doesn’t respond in kind. some angry, twisted part of her is displeased when that’s all he can come up with, after quiet mornings stolen from late nights, when she’d given him all he’d need to do what she’s trying to do now. be mean, she wants to say, wants him to poke at those sore spots she keeps hidden, that he knows now, so the harsh things that come out of her mouth feel justified.

“yeah?” she brings her arm down, tucks the wand back into her pocket. “i can take it... not that i’ve had to, with you.” she sneers, and it’s an ugly split across her face, usually so sunny and open, though that’s not something linkai would be familiar with, with the many sullied interactions they’ve had between the two of them. “not that you’d know,” she adds, a layer of because you don’t know me underneath those words. she doesn’t know if she’s directing that at him or herself, a reminder that he doesn’t, after all, and won’t ever.

this is like an ugly scab, one they’ve taken turns to pick at through the years, letting it heal over before the itch returns and they have to peel it off raw, bring themselves back to the same place once more. maybe it’s permanent, this constant push and pull, the only way she can be comfortable with him being whatever the fuck this is now.

this isn’t worth it; he’s not worth it. “just keep my name out of your mouth,” she bites out, stepping back and out, separating their overlapping personal spaces.

[mmjiyi-blog]

mmjina‌:

(...)

launching her small little body to collide with the other’s in a joyous embrace, arms immediately going round tiny shoulders as she jumps in place. “jiyi, you’re here!” she’s here! she’s really here! her heart soars and a part of her wants to take this happiness and bottle it up. a contagious feeling that makes even her fingertips sparkle in glee. “come inside, come inside! ahjumma made some snacks for us!” she says, hands unhook themselves from the other’s shoulders to search for a hand unto her own; tugging the other through and letting the door lock behind them. 

“i’m so happy you’re here, we can play now!”

“jina!” she’s all giggles and laughter, when the younger girl practically knocks her entire self into her. “surprise! i’m early, right?” she’s pleased with herself, and the smiles her mere presence elicits from the younger girl. jiyi returns her hug before letting herself be brought into jina’s house, oohing and ahhing at the intimidatingly tall doorway they walk through, nodding to everything jina tells her as they enter. “i brought snacks too,” she says, feels it necessary to inform jina so she knows she won’t be a burden to her or the adults in her house. she is, after all, trying to make a good impression so she’ll be invited back.

which reminds her.

“wait!” it’s earth-shatteringly important to her, all of the goodies she’s brought to jina’s house just for this occasion. jiyi holds out a small, still chubby hand, and turns the both of them around. “we can’t play yet! i brought presents!” with all the focus and attention she can muster, tunnel vision of a ten year old, jiyi immediately puts her bag on the floor, squatting by it to have better access to everything she’d brought along with her.

she pulls out jina’s present first – a pretty, sparkly doll, snatched off the shelves of the won conglomerate’s subsidiary that specialises in wizarding toys. “this is for you!” she has a matching one, jina having admired it the last time she brought it to school for show and tell. two of a kind, the only ones in the world, and she can’t think of anything better than that to give to her best friend. “do you like it?” she watches the other girl’s face, waiting for her to light up as she hopes she will.

[mmjiyi-blog]

mmchangmin‌:

(...)

because he loves jiyi, and she’s had to shoulder the weight of his defiance. double the demands, double the weighted attention. “there’s nothing to fix. your hair’s perfect.“ he reiterates, “you’re already perfect.“ but he humors her– raising a hand and flicking two fingers for her to approach. “do you want it down?“

she shrugs; in truth she doesn’t know if her we had included changmin in it. it does, perhaps, in the same way family encompasses all, even the oldest brother who refuses to be kept within it’s reach, who refuses her we when it’s offered. jiyi takes a sip from her flute instead of replying, champagne sweet and tart on her tongue, crust and sugaring over any sharp words that could rise like the bubbles in her drink.

and his words help too, the small attempt at reassurance that he gives her. it’s too strange, too distant to thank him for them, like she’s talking to yet another one of the wizards and witches that she’ll have to socialise with in a few minutes, when these stolen ones are up. so she doesn’t, just smiles and moves obediently to his side, gesturing to the flyaways that have escaped her updo.

“no, just,” her finger loops around one especially long lock of hair that’s gotten loose, “pin these up, or neaten it for me, please?”

that’s her way of thanking him, even though it’s changmin who’s doing her hair for her. it’s what they’ve used, as an olive branch and precious time spent together, when they were children and their parents allowed them time alone. even now, as adults, when they can choose what to do with their time ( changmin, mostly, when jiyi returns to their home almost weekly ), it feels comforting and safe to let him do this. and she feels no distance when she adds, “thank you,” for this, for doing her hair, for being her one safe space where she can relax.