✉ — @maneoseojin asked: 89 - playing 20 questions
“—So, yeah. That’s why I think Satan should have monthly meet and greets.” Kannika sipped at her milkshake as if she’d really done something with that answer. What was the question again? Definitely not anything about hi-touches with the devil, but somewhere along in her bullshit rant, she’d managed to get off track. Oh well. Now Seojin knew about her wildest shower thoughts.
“That’s... thought-provoking as always, Nika.” She couldn’t exactly tell if the angel was being sarcastic or not, but she took the compliment as it was either way. “Your turn to ask a question, then. Hit me with your best.”
The witch smiled, almost too cheerfully to be sincere. “What are your intentions with my best friend?”
Seojin blinked, and Kannika simply went back to sipping at her milkshake. “Did... did you suggest we play this game just so that you could ask me that?”
╰ ♡ ✧ ˖ non-sexual forms of intimacy ┊ @maneoseojin — 108 .
kindness is often found in places you least expect it.
amaranthine isn’t meant to become a home, but when they offer him comfort and safety in a time where he most needs it, he comes to the realization that this might be the place he has always longed for. it scares him as much as it excites him. his plan was never to stay, but to leave when he has enough money saved up to return to college or if he finds a job that is safer and pays about the same amount—whichever comes first.
being hospital bound gave him a lot of time to think—a lot more than he would’ve liked, and while he sometimes finds himself roaming the dark corners of his mind he hasn’t visited in years, he spends most of his time preoccupied by thoughts of people who have only been a part of his life for a couple of months. and yet they mean so much to him. it doesn’t fully hit him until he sets foot outside for the first time in weeks, accompanied by seojin.
well, not literally. with both his right arm and his left leg out of commission for the time being, he isn’t setting his feet anywhere. but that isn’t important right now. siwon looks up at the fallen angel and smiles. his first impression of the man doesn’t match his opinion of him now, and he can’t help but think how grateful he is to have met him, especially knowing how hard he fought to keep him alive. and not just him, but the others as well.
fuck. he owes seojin his life, doesn’t he?
siwon doesn’t mention it. instead he enthusiastically points out a bird in a tree and the clouds in the sky with the brightest smile he can muster, only to pout seconds later because he forgot to take his sketchbook outside with him. they talk about everything and nothing, and if seojin notices the tears in the corners of his eyes, he doesn’t mention it. and for that he is grateful as well.
“wait,” he speaks up, right as they’re about to go back inside again. “can we— god, this is gonna sound stupid.” siwon laughs, “but can we maybe take a picture together before you lock me in my room again?” a soft shade of red spreads across his cheeks, and his blush only grows when the medic agrees.
“thank you,” he says softly, after taking the picture, “it’s just— it’s been such a nice day, all things considered. i don’t want to forget.”
he swallows the rest of the truth. that the hospital brings back memories he tucked away in the back of his mind when he was but a child is something he isn’t willing to share. not right now. and admitting he needs something tangible to ground him whenever he feels himself slipping again seems like an incredibly lame thing to admit. siwon quietly saves the selfie, and his lips stretch into a wide grin when he looks back up at the angel.
“alright, doc, let’s roll! i think it’s time for my nap.”
took your advice and did the 𝒐𝒑𝒑𝒐𝒔𝒊𝒕𝒆,
just being young and 𝐬𝐭𝐮𝐩𝐢𝐝.
date: may 24 - may 30.
trigger warning: mentions of death.
luck has always been on his side, but when he’s told he is lucky to be alive and that he is expected to make a full recovery, siwon finds himself unable to agree. he should feel lucky he didn’t lose his life in the attack, but instead it is fear that wraps around his heart until he feels he can no longer breathe. the reality of the danger he put himself in by joining a gang finally sinks in, as does the realization he could’ve left his sister without both her parents and her brother. fear quickly turns into guilt, and he wonders if he should leave amaranthine when he gets out of the hospital, before something worse can happen to him.
something he can’t recover from.
as desperate as he is for money, putting his life on the line doesn’t seem worth it, and he’s going to run out of excuses to tell siyeon sooner or later. if she’s suspicious of the story he tells her, she doesn’t say so, but maybe that’s because she’s too busy wetting his hospital gown with her tears. “sorry i missed your birthday,” he mumbles with a weak smile. she responds by hitting him in the chest and calling him an idiot, only to apologize profusely a second later when he grimaces in pain. he laughs at that, but soon realizes just how exhausted he still is, even after weeks of being asleep. and with the promise he’ll make it up to her as soon as he’s released, he feels himself drifting off to sleep again.
siyeon returns the next day. she picks up a note that he doesn’t remember being there the previous day and smirks as she hands it over to him. get well soon ♡, it reads. “kai came to visit you yesterday.” and before he can say anything, she tells him, “he didn’t want to wake you up, so he left you this note.” his sister only laughs when he turns his head in an attempt to hide the blush that dusts his cheeks and he tries to reason with his heart that kai is just being a good friend and there is no need for it to beat as erratically as it does. after all, boys like kai don’t fall for boys like him.
another four days come and go, and it doesn’t take long for him to get bored of being stuck in a hospital bed, even if he spends most of his time asleep. seojin and iseul are faces he grows accustomed to seeing on a daily basis, especially the former, who he is convinced hasn’t left the hospital since the incident. he doesn’t dare ask if the man has even slept since then, scared of the answer he might get. a question he does ask is who else had been injured and feels his stomach turn at the names that are given to him: hana and somin.
he pays the women a visit, despite that he isn’t too familiar with either, and leaves both of them with sketches to make their rooms seem a little less depressing and the promise he’ll return another day, using the excuse he needs to practice drawing with his left hand more. it is half a lie, but neither of them need to know that he feels lonely and trapped every time he returns to his own room, and that the pristine white walls of the hospital remind of the day his parents died. and if his signature smile falters for the first time in seven years, no one is there to witness it.
it is after hyunae visits him, he realizes the family he’s been longing for has been in front of him all along. amaranthine has shown him nothing but kindness in the past couple of days—no, in the past few weeks. they took care of him without hesitation, worrying and fearing for his well being despite only having known him for months, and it is that realization that has tears flowing down his face in the dead of night. but he smiles. home has been an intangible concept since his parents passed away and after years of searching, he’s finally found a place where he belongs.
Since joining Amaranthine, Iseul had become friends with Seojin. Both being part of the medical team meant they worked alongside each other often. Which meant also practicing skills together, such as CPR. It was always important to know, and the dummy--a complicated thing to get-- was living between the two of them. “CPR is tough,” Iseul grumbled, sweat beading on his forehead and his arms aching.
J picked himself off the bed with a hum, ruffling a hand through his hair. It was post-events with Seojin, his body aching still. He didn’t exactly cuddle, but he didn’t exactly want to leave. Seojin was still different from other people, after all. J cared about him. Despite apparently not caring about anyone else he hooks up with. That thought was easily dismissed as he paused, looking to Seojin who was in the bathroom by now, having gotten a shower. J really should have joined him, he thought, feeling a pang of guilt. He stood, padding over to where Seojin stood in front of the sink. He wrapped his arms around him, purposely getting rid of the towel around his hips with a smirk. Now they were in the same state--naked. “Handsome,” he murmured, pressing his face into his back with a hum. Maybe he would cuddle this time.
