“Nope,” she agrees, popping the ‘p’, “also my daddy told me cause he loves you.”
As Sylvia pats her lap, Lian doesn’t make her usual move to climb up. Instead she just continues to look up at her for another moment or so. Then she leans in real close, a wicked grin, similar to her father’s in every way, comes to her face as she whispers the best threat a girl her age can come up with. “If you make him sad I’ll bite off all your fingers and toes.” Pausing a moment her grin fades, “you make him happy. Before you comed he’d sometimes get sad about my other mom but he doesn’t know I knows.”
She then settles back onto the couch for a beat, eyeing Sylvia’s lap before climbing over to sit on her as though none of that had just happened. Cuddling up to her and waiting for her hair to be braided.
—✹ “YOU KNOW, when my mom got married to my stepdad I was pretty annoyed myself. Since it was just me and my mom for a long time,” Sylvia started to say, braiding her daughter’s hair. With each weave of hair, glittering stars shined on Lian’s braid. “I was so mad. Felt a little betrayed, even if my stepdad was nice and kind and treated my mom well. You might eat my fingers and toes, but I tried to prank my stepdad so much to push him away but he always ended up laughing. Plus he never really told my mom.”
Sylvia’s nose bunched up as she grinned, a soft laugh leaving her. The expression Lian had given her was so much like her dad. “And, I will tell ya. That grin of yours is just like your dad’s so let’s just say I take your threat very seriously.”
He’d learned to take hits in highschool without his heat vision exploding out of him like a death beam. The issue was how easy it would have been to take them all out - luckily he was practicing his restraint. Besides, the last thing he wanted to do was cause a scene or an issue for Lian. (Who should have known better.) Why was she even talking to these kinds of people and why did he have to stick his (now bloody) nose into it? He sat up from the ground and glared at his best friend. Wiping some of the blood from his face with a sleeve. “So, who were they? Don’t tell me you were trying to score something.” His tone was a bitter and he knew that if she was doing something she shouldn’t be- he should probably be kinder about it.
“Oh this? Lian got the better of me when we were fighting over the remote today.” Jade said gesturing to the stitches on her head. “we were high off our asses when I did the stitching though.”
Lois bit her lip, though a giggle escaped anyway. “Did you guys actually brawl over it?” she asked, peering a little more closely at the stitches on Jade’s forehead. “They look okay to me.” Not that she was an expert, but she’d gotten a fair amount of stitches in her day. “Do you want an ice pack or anything?”
a look at the friendships between the neostar artists. whether they’re friendships that the are well known (public) or whether they’re friendships that only those under neostar know of (private).
HAG LINE
taehui + taewon
public v private
the ‘hag line’ of neostar consists of kim taehui and moon taewon. the name of the friendship was given by fans who noticed who close the two were, and noticed that they were the eldest idols under neostar.
the friendship began when taehui was setting up neostar for the prospect of producing his own idol and idol groups and he searched for producers before finding taewon. being one of the very first members of the staff he signed on, taehui made steps to befriend taewon himself to make it a friendly work environment. their passion of music was a shared interest, and their more mellow personalities made it easier for them to become close. even with taewon debuting as an idol, the two’s friendship is still strong as they’re often hanging out at taehui’s house just to unwind. they surprise fans with random vlives together, after noticing the interest in their friendship.
PARTY LINE
lian + insoo + haeju
public v private
the ‘party line’ consists of members li lian, liu jingyi, and lee haeju. they’re one of the friendships not shown off to the general public, and are rather well-known among the neostar idols. they’re simply knowing for either throwing parties whenever possible, having news and access to the hottest parties, or simply going to the clubs the most.
the friendship isn’t a set line, as other idols can join them whenever they wish to tag along to a party or to go to the clubs, however these three are the most prominent in regards to going out and having fun. lian and haeju often throw parties that involve numerous idols, while jingyi is often the one who knows which parties are the best to go to and which clubs to hit up on which nights for the most fun.
LEADER LINE
gyu + sunae + deoksu
public v private
the ‘leader line’ consists of cha changyun, kim sunae, and park deoksu. the friendship simply consists of the leaders of empyrean moon, dark moon, and honey moon. gyu and deoksu’s friendship began very close to both groups’ debuts, as both groups wanted to befriend each other as they were promoted as brother groups with contrasting images. gyu ended up taking out deoksu for a night by themselves and by the end of the night the two had gotten so close to where gyu began seeing deoksu as a younger brother.
sunae, as a producer, knew both groups before her own debut, but following her debut deoksu had invited her out to hang out with him and gyu only for all of their energies to mesh well together.
in private: all three of them saw the friendship as a way to vent the frustrations that potentially come with being a leader, and simply let loose without worrying much.
to the public they often do vlives to entertain fans, and often tease about an actual ‘leaders’ unit coming soon. fans have only joked about how it often seems like two parents taking care and keeping an eye on their kid, aka sunae and gyu always looking out for deoksu.
STONER LINE
haeju + dae + deoksu + sunae + jingyi
public v private
the ‘stoner line’ of neostar simply consists of a bunch of close friends who simply smoke weed once in a while all together. initially the group solely consisted of jingyi, as he had his fun with weed for several years even prior to his debut. however, one time he was coming back down from the rooftop as smoking, and bumped into haeju who noticed the smell and the look in his eyes from her time smoking in new york. that’s how jingyi ended up smoking with haeju, only for haeju to slowly invite sunae once they became close.
daehyeon is someone who smokes with them less frequently and simply does it when he’s stressed out, as opposed to doing it for fun like the other three. deoksu, on the other hand, heard about the small friend group from dae and ended up sneaking into the rooftop one night to join them only for them all to flip out and refuse to ‘corrupt a young one’ (sunae’s words). however, since he was an adult jingyi let him make his own mind up and deoksu ended up smoking once or twice before realizing he wasn’t a fan (that doesn’t stop him from joining them to build a friendship).
the friendship is kept a secret from majority of neostar and is definitely not open to the newer idols/trainees in neostar. they only meet up when they are not promoting or do not have schedules.
3 STOOGES LINE
seoyun + yeonjin + eunjae
private v public
the ‘3 stooges’ line consists of moon seoyun, seo yeonjin, and moon eunjae. the three became friends during their trainee days, with yeonjin attacking both eunjae and seoyun with his innocent yet bold smile and asking both of them if they wanted to be friends with him, separately. seoyun found yeonjin too adorable to reject and their friendship began with yeonjin fawning over seoyun’s minor roles in dramas and seoyun praising yeonjin’s vocal when they’re training, while yeonjin and eunjae became best friends within a week and couldn’t leave each other’s sides. seoyun and eunjae ended up befriending one another through yeonjin.
the three have made their friendship very public with going out a lot together to movies, restaurants, or festivals and much more. seoyun has gone to state that she sees the two as her little brothers, and is always prominent in showing her support for their activities. fans have grown to love the three together as they simply show off a strong yet loving friendship between each other.
3 IDIOTS LINE
yeonjin + hayun + daejung
private v public
the ‘three idiots line’ consists of seo yeonjin, yang hsiao-chun, and bae daejung. daejung and yeonjin’s friendship began early, as both were one of the earliest trainees in neostar and daejung was originally meant to be in empyrean moon alongside yeonjin. honestly, they kind of all became friends together during taehui’s parties for neostar/some of the neostar idol’s parties. they just sensed the lack of braincells in each other and gravitated towards one another.
they simply became friends because they’re all the type to just want to do fun and random shit to live. them not having an ounce of common sense helps them do the most random shit and just have a good laugh. the three became friends late 2019 following hayun’s debut, and just hang out sometimes to do fun challenges/pranks they’ve seen online.
GAMER LINE
sehyun + yunsik + chan
private v public
when yunsik signed with neostar after leaving cube, he went around and attempted to introduce himself and befriend some of the idols to be polite only for sehyun and him to become friends do to their love for gaming. sehyun knew of yunsik’s streaming while he played and when he mentioned he tuned in from time to time, yunsik invited him to play with him.
chan had slowly become friends with sehyun after chan had been empyrean’s back up dancer while he was a trainee, and with sehyun knowing chan shared the same love for games, he ended up invited chan with him and yunsik to play.
the three ended up becoming good friends, and started a channel together to stream their gaming together which fans enjoy watching.
“Homie, I know you’re wasted, but there’s no music,” Lian said, allowing Jordan to twirl her in front of the ferris wheel. She still wasn’t sure that being here was a good idea, but he’d insisted he take her on the date he was going to take Mar’i on. Amusement Mile looked better right now than it ever did in the future, so she had to admit that she was enjoying herself. After a minute or so of letting him lead, she took over and dipped him with a grin. “Jordan Kent, I declare you the prettiest woman at this ball. Those curls and eyes could make anyone swoon.”
“Yeah but a night like this calls for dancing.” Jordan replied, giving her a smile that was meant to be charming but that came off much more dorky than intended. “Aren’t’chu happy you agreed to come?” He slurred. When he heard Amusement Mile reopened, he wanted nothing more than to bring Mar’i here on of their dates. Of course, he was going to let her choose the next one after their first date fell through, but he was going to suggest this for the third one. He practically giggled when she dipped him all of a sudden. “Lian!” He said in a fit of laughter. “Here I was thinking you were the prettiest woman at the ball... Anyone huh? Even you?” He teased.
“Well, you should. I’m not and never will be worth the effort.” Despite hearing Jordan enter her home, she made no attempt to move from laying down in the middle of the floor. My Chemical Romance was blasting through her Bluetooth speaker, and she was dressed in blood stained clothes from the fight she’d had with a criminal a night or two before. She was losing track of time. “I didn’t do shit to help your brother and Dory. I’d give up on me. I’m a shitty best friend. You should get a new one. Peter looks promising.”
“Hey, you cut that shit out right now.” He said, although it didn’t sound at all threatening. Jordan bent over and snatched her phone off the floor to turn off the music. As much as My Chemical Romance was an absolute bop, it was also what Lian listened to when she wasn’t doing so well mentally and she needed a little pick me up. Which Jordan was practically trained for at this point, with how long the two of them had been friends. “None of us could do anything to stop it. Besides. I don’t want anyone else as my best friend. You’re like... the best. There’s no upgrading from you.” He said, getting down on the floor with her and putting a hand lightly on her cheek. “Why don’t we get you all cleaned up-” He’d ask about the blood later, this was more pressing. “And we can go out and get burritos or something?”
