“gyeon kiyoung,” friday announces her presence, chest filling like a balloon with baseless confidence. “i need you.” wait. she flushes. “i mean, your hands—” WAIT. “—your MAGIC.” stresses the word, nose scrunching in self disdain. good going kang. “i need a lab rat for an assignment.” she clarifies, dipping her fingers into her tote to pull out kiyoung’s hoodie from halloween, setting it on the table gingerly and giving it a small pat in quiet thanks for the warmth it offered her that night. the hoodie, not the man.
“you’ll help me right?” friday lifts her gaze from his plate to his eyes, head tilting slightly. “remember?” she speaks with emphasis, drawing back to night of hallow’s eve clearly. it’s important now to dredge back past interactions, if only to hold him accountable. “you said you’ll make it up to me? remember?? after you apologized for being an asshole who played with my feelings?” the corner of her lips twitch at the recollection, feeling a sudden rise in vexation from just rehashing their history in general. but once again, its a necessity to rehash. to make sure it didn’t just slip his mind or whatever! she too, after all, was inebriated for most of the night.
who’s to say if kiyoung even remembers what he said? and where would that leave her if he didn’t? embarrassed? shamed,?on the express train outta here and back to london? probably one or the other.
friday takes a small breath, leaning in close to stare into his eyes, her own narrowing in scrutiny.
ever since kang friday walked into kiyoung’s life, he’s realized he’s never been the same. is this good or bad? he doesn’t really know--or well, doesn’t want to say because he’s sure the other will find out somehow and will throw it back at him if (when) they argue again--but seriously, it’s just been... something.
it was good for the most part, like when they dated, even if his main intentions for agreeing to go out with her were less than honorable (because he really did--does? again, he’s not sure--like her; it’s just he liked someone else more), but that was on him, not her which is why he supposes he feels like he owes it to friday in more ways than one. it’s also why he told her as much when they finally had a talk of sorts recently.
so when the conversation he was having with a fellow housemate in the great hall is interrupted by said girl, he’s not surprised in the slightest but he does wonder what she’s seeking him out for. normally friday will avoid him like the plague and he’d be the one who would have to approach her first but the situation has reversed this time and he's not sure what to do. did he do something again and she’s come to curse him for it? or did she need something from him? although he can’t come up with anything that he has that friday would want from him but anyways.
except she says exactly that--’i need you’--and his eyes widen. then she continues and his mouth drops. what is going on?!
before he can get a word in though or even ask, friday keeps talking and realization dawns on him. “so you... need me... so you can test something?” he asks slowly, making sure he understood her (the lab rat comment pointedly ignored), as she watches her pull out the hoodie he had lent her on halloween. (she was crying and cold and what was he going to do? just let her freeze? he’d rather walk back to his dorm in just a t-shirt than let her walk around in her costume--which was really too light to wear during an october night--for the rest of the night.)
the pat she gives the clothing item is a little weird but oddly endearing--and he even thinks it’s cute for a split second before shooing that thought out of his mind--but focuses his attention on the girl again when she asks him if he’ll help.
her voice only grows louder and more intense as she goes on, reminding him of what happened that very night, and he feels heat rising to his face. of course he remembers; he wasn’t drunk at all when he had met her in the haunted house and he had wanted to apologize to friday for the longest time too. he knows what he did was awful and an asshole move even if that wasn’t his intention but that’s what he gets for not thinking things through clearly and thoroughly before deciding to go out with someone in an attempt to try and get over another person.
but he’s embarrassed having this aired out in the great hall of all places, even more so that it’s in front of others who could very clearly hear everything she’s saying. he wants to stop her while he can--if it’s even possible because friday is admittedly, hard for him to handle when she’s on a roll like this--but instead what he gets is her learning in close to him, just to stare at him in scrutiny, and he suddenly feels very small in his seat despite obviously towering over the other both in height and body size.
“yes, i remember,” he grits out, voice low and his own stare slightly challenging. not because he thinks friday is wrong (she isn’t, not at all) but because he’s a little annoyed at how she chose to ask him for his help this way when he would’ve agreed to it without the need for vaguely threatening him. “and i would’ve said yes without all... this,” he waves his hands around as if to gesture to her outburst.
kiyoung stands up then, breaking the gaze they were sharing in an instant but doesn’t look away from her. “can we talk about this? privately?”
