#but he could precision poke somebody’s eye out lmao

[akkivee]

kuukou’s mic isn’t a weapon for its hypnosis capabilities or bludgeoning potential, it’s this part that makes it lethal lmao

[minyoongijjangjjangmanboongboong]

Dissonance Chapter Twelve

Description: After spending a year studying abroad in America, Y/N returns to Seoul hoping to greet the familiar city as a new girl. But what will she do when she’s met with old friends she’d rather forget? It seems the strings of fate are determined to test her resolve…and her willpower.

Genre: Fluff and Angst

Pairing: Taehyung x (f) Reader

Word Count: 12.5k

Tags: Badboy!Taehyung, Non-Idol!Au, Rockband BTS!Au, Bassist Taehyung!Au

Warnings: Swearing and mentions of alcohol, although infrequently

A/N: Hi! We have returned with the long chapters haha. I’m pretty certain you guys are gonna like this chapter lmao. I’m happy with the way it turned out! Ahhhh, and if you guys want a few music recommendations for reading this chapter, I’ll leave them below the Author’s Note. As always, please don’t hesitate to send me an ask about really anything. I love talking to you guys so please shoot me something! I’ll answer all asks I receive within a day of receiving them. And please feel free to send me feedback, critique, questions, concerns, or anything so I can address it. Thanks so much for being so sweet and supportive!

Fic Music Recs:

The Benefits of Heartbreak Epik High Cough Syrup Young the Giant Somebody Else The 1975 The Less I Know the Better Tame Impala Open Season the High Highs Anchor Novo Amor Sorry Aquilo Why Shawn Mendes Drive Oh Wonder Patient Charlie Puth

- Mercury

Previous Chapter – Next Chapter

Masterlist

The wind tossed his hair around as we were locked in a stalemate of eye contact. Neither of us conceded, although I wished I did. Because as he hoisted his duffel over one shoulder he began walking in a straight line, heading right for me. Mrs. Park walked behind him, still chatting about something I couldn’t hear from so far away. As he approached I could see his eyebrows beginning to knit. I recognized that stupid, apologetic expression. I cleared my throat and turned on my heel, walking quickly back into the kitchen where Jimin was rifling through the old refrigerator. I stood beside him and lowered my gaze.

“He’s here isn’t he?”

“Mhm.”

“You can hide in the bathroom?” he offered, glancing at me with wide eyes.

I considered it. Perhaps if I locked myself away in the bathroom he wouldn’t come looking for me for a while. Maybe I could buy myself some time and collect my thoughts.

You run away when things are hard.

I stiffened, took a deep, calming breath, and shook my head. “No. I’m just…gonna do it. Rip the bandaid off.”

He stood up straight and shut the refrigerator door with raised brows. “Really?”

“Mhm,” I said. “He came all the way here. I’m assuming he knew I was coming.”

“Yeah…”

“So he’s here to see me,” I said. “Means he has something to say.”

“Do you wanna hear it though?” he asked, placing a hand on my upper arm as I turned to leave.

I shook my head with a smile. “Not really,” I paused as I remembered Hoseok and the words he said that had unsettled me. “But I need to do better now,” I said, chuckling. “It’s funny, but someone has pretty low expectations for me when it comes to things like this. Makes me want to prove him wrong.”

Jimin blinked at me before shrugging and handing me the sweater his grandmother had left. “Here,” he said. “Don’t get too cold.”

I smiled and slipped it over my head before turning away from him towards the sound of footsteps I knew belonged to Taehyung. He emerged in the doorway with a flush in his cheeks and his duffel bag sliding into the crook of his elbow. Mrs. Park stood behind him with a big grin.

“Oh! Good. Can you two show him where the boys will be sleeping?” she asked, face beaming.

I nodded and gave her a smile. “Mhm,” I said. “I’ll do it.”

Taehyung stared at me for a long while before finally stepping towards me. We walked in silence down the narrow hallway until I found the door on the right side and slid it open. Suddenly and palpably, we were alone again. This time, however, it didn’t feel warm and it didn’t feel intimate. It felt…

Lonely.

“Y/N, I-,”

“Let me say something first,” I said, turning towards him as he slid the door shut and dropped his bag. He nodded and shoved his hands into the pockets of his pants. “You’re an asshole.”

He nodded. “You’re right.”

“And what you did was extremely hurtful,” I said.

“I know.”

“Not just last weekend, Taehyung.”

He lifted his eyes to meet mine and nodded again. “I know.”

“And I want to understand why you did all those things, but talking to you hurts a lot,” I said. “Like…a lot.”

“I want to explain last weekend-,”

“I’m not done yet,” I said, meeting his eyes seriously and setting my lips thin. “I don’t know if you deserve my time and my understanding after everything. I’m…Taehyung, I can’t be the only one trying to be better.” I felt my chest tighten. I wasn’t used to being so hard on him this way. I didn’t want to poke the areas of his that were tender, but I didn’t have a choice. For my own growth, I needed to face this. “So if you’re not ready to do better too…then save yourself the trouble and don’t talk to me about last weekend. We both know it goes deeper than that. I…I can’t keep living my life like this. Toxic. Regretful. Scared,” I exhaled slowly, leaning back against the windowsill. “If you’re only going to do it halfway, don’t do it at all. So if we’re going to do this, we have to go all the way. Not just this weekend, not just the night before I left…we have to go through all of it. I can’t forgive you if you don’t try.”

He stared at me for a long time, blinking. Had he expected me to simply…listen? To offer a generous ear after all he’d done? “I…”

I felt my throat constricting. If I spoke too much, I’d cry again. I’d already tiptoed against my better judgement across the minefield to meet him in the middle, but I would go no further. He had to want to meet me too. I met his eyes and mustered whatever courage I had left. “Tae,” I said, the name settling in the air with intention. “I still believe in you. After everything,” I began, glancing at my hands before looking at his wide eyes once more. “I need you to show me I’m not wrong to do that.”

“Y/N! Tae! Are you ready to fix the roof?” asked Jimin from down the hallway.

I stiffened and looked back towards Taehyung who stood with his shoulders hunched, his brows furrowed, his mouth slightly agape. “We should go. I’ll…I’ll give you some time to think about it,” I said, sliding past him and giving his shoulder a pat.

I blew a piece of hair from my forehead and rolled the sleeves of Jimin’s grandmother’s sweater up my elbows a ways. Jimin and I sat on the roof, replacing old ceramic tiles in the sun as Taehyung carried a few old pieces of furniture out to the truck. I saw him walk by from above several times, end tables or boxes of old silverware in his arms as he strolled to the side of the house. I wanted to say something more, to take back that stupid ultimatum. Perhaps I’d been hoping his decision would be easier, more immediate. But every time he passed by I looked away just as his eyes would flash my way. I was caught between desperately wanting to speak with him and wishing he would leave.

I sighed as I laid another tile down on the roof, aligning it precisely. “You’re being mopey,” said Jimin.

I glanced at him, at the sunlight caught in his honeyed hair. He looked like a little angel, and perhaps he was after all. “I…am a little mopey, aren’t I?” I asked with a chuckle.

He nodded. “Not hard to figure out why,” he said, glancing down towards the deck where Taehyung crouched, helping Jimin’s grandmother pack kimchi into big buckets. 

I nodded. “I feel like I wasted a year abroad.”

Jimin’s eyes flashed towards me. “What?”

“Yeah,” I said, leaning back on my arms and stretching my legs out on the roof. “It’s…I guess, I’m bothered by something Hoseok said.”

“Oh, did he get to you? Sometimes he gets a little rude,” said Jimin.

I glanced at him with wide eyes. “Hm? Oh, no. It’s not that,” I said, then found myself pondering what exactly that meant. “He just…he noticed that I’m really bad at facing my problems. He said it point-blank. And it’s like…I wanted to leave so I could improve myself. Come back better. But…he didn’t even know me before and he saw that in me,” I said with a humorless laugh as I placed another tile. “Means I haven’t changed at all.”

“You’ve changed,” said Jimin.

I peeked at him and saw him smiling softly my way. “Really?”

He nodded and with a thick gloved hand patted my hair. “Maybe not in America, but…Y/N, you’re different now. Even if it’s just today, you’re different.”

I blinked at him and felt a swelling in my heart. My cherished friend. I smiled and nodded. “Thank you.”

“I’m proud of you,” he said. “I…I try not to expect too much from you since, you know, you’re used to that. But,” he pursed his lips and tilted his head this way and that. “You should know that you’ve got people rooting for you with no expectations, only trust that you’ll do the best you can.”

“Thank you, Jimin,” I said again.

“Stop that,” he said, pushing my arm a little. 

I grinned and pushed him back. His hands sought purchase anywhere and landed on a stack of unlaid tiles, causing one to slide off the pile and careen from the roof to the deck where it smashed right beside Taehyung’s thigh. He jumped and glanced back at us and, quickly, I slid down the roof towards the ladder. I took the rungs quickly and hopped off before running towards Taehyung’s side and crouching down.

“Are you okay? I’m so sorry, we were playing around and-,” I started, then stopped when Taehyung turned to look at me and his deep brown eyes were round and his cheeks were dusted with pink. 

I realized a beat too late that I’d placed my hands on his upper arm and his knee, fingers wrapped snugly around his bicep and kneecap. I glanced between both my hands and his face before releasing him and clearing my throat. 

“Uh, yeah. I’m fine,” he said slowly, his voice rumbling deeper than usual.

I nodded, but nonetheless scanned his form for any visible signs of injury. “God, seriously. I should have been more careful,” I mumbled absently as I looked over his body. I lifted his arm to check his side for debris.

“Y/N,” he said with a quiet chuckle, grabbing my hand in his softly and smiling my way. “It’s really fine.”

I blinked up at him before nodded and abruptly rising to my feet. “Alright. Uh…I’ll go back up there then,” I said quietly. 

But as I did, I caught Jimin’s grandmother’s eyes which were flashing between me and Jimin who sat stunned into paralysis on the roof. As she looked at me she gave me a knowing smile before turning around to work on the kimchi once more. Had she been watching us this keenly the whole time?

I laced my fingers and stretched my hands above my head, shutting my eyes as I stretched. Jimin was shambling down the ladder carefully, shouting on every rung as he approached the ground.

“You’re doing great,” I called over my shoulder, eyes still shut. 

“Shut up!” he shouted. 

I laughed as I watched him extend a shaky leg towards the floor, squeezing his eyes shut as he wiggled his pointed toe, desperate to feel the ground. “Just step down,” said Taehyung from beside me.

I glanced up at him and, without meaning to, I edged away. He seemed to notice and did the same, his large frame inching slightly to the side as Jimin approached and, without warning, gave Taehyung’s upper arm a sharp punch. “That’s for hooking up with Satan on Saturday,” he said with a glare. He gave another punch to the other arm to which Taehyung simply stood and stared. “And that’s for hooking up with Satan on Saturday and not telling me.”

I couldn’t help the laugh that bubbled up from inside me, unable to be contained. I smiled at Jimin and shook my head and he returned it. It seemed that with a simple laugh, the tension between the three of us was cut slightly. I figured one more friendly push would clear the air. At least for the night.

“Whether he told you or not, you probably would have punched him either way,” I remarked with a chuckle. 

Jimin rolled his eyes but before he could retort Taehyung interjected with a curt bow of his head. “I’m sorry,” he said, and his voice seemed…sincere.

I stared at the back of his head with my heart pounding. He was apologizing so easily? So humbly? Without urging from someone else? And to Jimin? My head began to spin as I remembered something Hyerim had said a week ago.

If you change, I’ll have to change too.

I blinked at him before Jimin simply smacked the back of his head, causing his dark hair to sway. “Stand up straight,” ordered Jimin sternly. Taehyung obliged and, with innocence in his eyes, nodded. “You’ve never once bowed to me.”

“I’m…I’m sorry for that,” he said.

I continued staring at this strange boy for a moment that felt like eternity. “It’s fine,” said Jimin, brows knitted. “Anyway, you’re forgiven. Just, like…I don’t know, make better choices?”

Taehyung stared down at Jimin, surprise etched into his features. “I…wait, that’s it?”

Jimin shrugged and examined a cut on his finger. “Mhm. That’s it.”

“No punishment?”

“Why would I punish you? You’re my best friend,” said Jimin. “I know who you are and who you’re not. You’re not the guy who hooked up with Hyerim on Saturday.” His words seemed eerily similar to the ones he’d given me on the roof…

“That seems like you’re letting me off the hook too easily. You hate her,” said Taehyung. “She did horrible things to Y/N.”

“And so did you,” said Jimin with a laugh. “But here you are. Standing with us.”

Taehyung blinked. “I…I don’t get it.”

“Stop begging for us to hate you,” said Jimin. He rolled his eyes and hooked an elbow around my shoulders, guiding me into the house. “It’s not up to you to punish yourself. Let the people you’ve hurt decide what to do with you,” he said over his shoulder with a smile.

I turned to glance at Taehyung as he stood on the deck for a moment before jogging to catch up with us. He took up my flank and watched me carefully as Jimin detailed what was still left to do in the house. We were locked in eye contact for a moment longer before, against my better judgement, I gave him a soft smile and turned back to Jimin, poking his cheek a few times.

“What’s for lunch? I’m starving,” I said as he stepped away from me and my fingers, griping immediately about the oils on my fingertips being bad for his skin.

I laughed after him, standing beside Taehyung as Jimin began preparing a few sandwiches from the ingredients his grandfather had left out for us. There were a few moments of only two voices mingling: mine and Jimin’s. But suddenly a third voice rumbled through the room, and it was immediately distinguishable from the rest of the chatter. Taehyung began to laugh too.

We sat at the table on the deck, a fire blazing nearby in the pit, the mountain wind mingling with the distant sound of the sea. The sun was setting and the sky was turning dark by degrees as Jimin and his grandmother set the side dishes precisely around the table. He made sure to place the kimchi near where I sat, knowing that it was my favorite. Taehyung sat across from me, chatting easily with Jimin’s mother. 

“But Tae, sweetie, you’re looking a bit tired,” she said with a sigh. Taehyung gave me a wide-eyed look before clearing his throat and nodding.

“Oh, uh…yeah I haven’t been sleeping very well.”

“Oh! Well if you ever need help falling asleep you know I have a recipe for a nighttime tea that works,” she said with a smile. “I remember it used to work really well on Y/N.”

I groaned and rubbed my forehead. “God, that’s right,” I said as I remembered the night I’d stayed over at Jimin’s house in elementary school while my parents were off on a business trip together. “I had a dream that the sky turned into a massive garbage disposal in a sink and it was sucking me in.”

Taehyung chuckled. “I wonder what that means,” he said.

I smiled. “I woke up yelling and I smacked Jimin in the face.”

Mrs. Park laughed and clapped her hands together. “That’s right! He came into my room crying saying you punched him while he was sleeping.”

“She did!” Jimin insisted as he came to sit beside me, nudging me with his knee. “I woke up in the middle of the night to her rolling on the basement floor swinging her arms.”

His grandmother settled across the table from him and smiled fondly. “Well, everyone has poor sleeping habits you know,” she said with a laugh. “Your grandfather used to say full words.”

“Used to?” I asked.

She gave me a wink. “I conditioned him by splashing him with water every time he did it,” she said. “The men in the Park family are very easy to persuade,” she grinned my way, another knowing look that set me on edge. “I’m sure you know.”

Mrs. Park gave me a puzzled look which I returned. “Ah,” I said with a laugh. “Sounds kind of like a pet.”

The table laughed together for a while before Jimin’s grandfather stood and grabbed for a bottle of rice wine Jimin had placed at the edge of the table. The night chill was creeping in and I curled into my sweater a little more. Jimin’s grandfather smiled wide and uncapped the wine, snatching the brass cups beside him and filling them eagerly.

“I’ve been waiting for Jimin to visit so we could share some of this,” he said with a deep laugh.

Jimin passed me a full cup and I took a sip with the others. “It’s delicious,” said Taehyung, smiling softly.

“I’ve been making it for years,” said Jimin’s grandfather. “I plan on bringing some as a wedding gift when Jimin gets married.”

I didn’t like where the conversation was heading. And judging by the stiffness in Jimin’s posture, neither did he…

Mrs. Park laughed and flitted her hand. “Ah, that won���t happen for a while, Dad.”

“May happen sooner than we think!” said his grandmother, tossing me a look.

I furrowed my brow. “Or…not,” Jimin mumbled, scratching his arm.

“You should get married while you’re still young,” said his grandfather, coughing as he picked around some side dishes.

Jimin blinked at him and nodded. “I’ll try to remember that,” he said.

“You get too old and the ladies won’t fall for you so easy anymore,” he joked, laughing.

His grandmother smiled and shook her head. “Oh, I don't think that will be a problem.”

I gnawed on my lower lip and twiddled my thumbs. She meant well, of course. She was trying to show her support subtly, even if there was nothing to support. I knew she just wanted Jimin happy. But the look on his face made me nervous. His eyes went a little darker, and his expression fell. He wasn’t comfortable. Taehyung caught me eye and raised his brows, as if asking what was going on. I simply shook my head once and returned my attention to Jimin’s grandmother.

“Say, Y/N,” she said with a smile my way. “That sweatshirt is actually Jimin’s. He usually wears it when he comes to visit.”

I glanced down at the navy blue fabric on my chest and smiled. “It’s really comfortable.”

“It suits you,” she said gently. “Ah, but you seem pretty comfortable wearing his clothes.”

Jimin sighed. He seemed to be growing frustrated. “Oh, I don’t normally share clothes,” I said with a nod. “I have pretty particular tastes.” Taehyung raised a brow and I cleared my throat. “Like I don’t like to wear bright colors. I prefer earth tones and-,”

“Oh, Jimin looks so nice in earth tones!” she said with a clap. I briefly wanted to shake the small, sweet woman for being so oblivious. “You two sure do have a lot in common. Oh, and look how nice they look together Chansung,” she said, patting Jimin’s grandfather’s hand softly.

“Grandma,” said Jimin carefully, casting pleading eyes her way.

“I’m sorry, I’m just pleased,” she said, laughing. “I’ve been noticing you two all day. You’re awfully close for a young man and woman.”

“We’re not interested in each other that way,” said Jimin, his tone exhausted. 

His grandmother pouted and crossed her arms. “Well why not? She’s a lovely girl.”

“You’re a young, healthy boy, Jimin,” said his grandfather, sighing as he sipped his wine. “It’s strange for you not to be interested in a girl you spend so much time with.”

“She’s my friend,” he said, resolute.

I cleared my throat. “Ah, like I said I’m actually seeing someone right now,” I said.

“Not Jimin?” asked his grandmother, confused.

I nodded. “Right.”

“Well that’s disappointing, isn’t it?” she asked, resting her cheek in her hand. “I’m getting old waiting for you to find a nice girl.”

“Grandma-,”

“I think Jimin will find someone when he’s ready,” said Taehyung, his voice ringing out strongly in the evening air. He’d been quiet throughout dinner, but when he did speak his tone was stern.

Jimin’s grandmother turned to look at Taehyung with a sigh. “I know, sweetheart. I don’t want to rush him,” she said gently. “But I want to see him happy.”

“A girl will make him happy?” asked Taehyung carefully. He glanced at Jimin, as if asking if this was okay.

“Oh, sure,” said his grandfather with a stiff nod. 

“Only a girl?” asked Jimin, timid. His eyes were trained on the table before us and I stared at him with knitted brows. Was he ready to have this conversation?

The table went quiet and nobody dared eat or drink. The silence felt humid somehow, suffocating. Like it coated my lungs as I breathed. Without moving too much, I slid my hand beneath the table and grabbed onto Jimin’s knee softly. He placed his hand atop mine without looking at me. A silent sign that he was okay.

“Jimin…,” said Mrs. Park, looking at him seriously from across the table. He nodded. “To be honest, I just want a person to like,” he said, still looking down. 

“Jimin, are you saying…?” began his grandmother, placing a hand to her lips. Jimin scratched the back of his head. “Just a person.”

I squeezed his hand. We’d hadn’t had too many conversations about this, as he was still figuring things out himself, but tonight more than ever my heart ached to reach out and help him somehow. His hand was shaking beneath mine.

“Uh…,” started his mother, clearing her throat. She glanced up at me and smiled softly. “Would you go down into the cellar and bring out some more rice wine?” 

I stiffened and blinked. “Oh! Um…,” I said, glancing at Jimin who simply patted the top of my hand in reassurance. I nodded slowly. “Y-Yeah,” I said, standing and glancing down at Taehyung. “Tae…uh, will you come help me?”

Taehyung stood quickly and nodded. “Yup! We’ll be right back,” he said, rushing around to the side of the table.

Mrs. Park smiled. “Take your time,” she said. 

I nodded. “Okay.”

“Oh, uh, Jimin,” started Taehyung, but before he could say more in such a tense atmosphere, I grabbed his hand and began walking towards the cellar door around the side of the house. “Why did you grab me?” he asked from behind me.

I shook my head. “You gotta read the room,” I said. “They have a lot to talk about.”

Taehyung was quiet as his hand slipped from mine. “So do we,” he said. I opened the cellar door, flicked on the light, and descended the stairs carefully.

I sighed as I sat down on an empty crate, pulling up a second crate and patting it softly. The room was overflowing with boxes and landscaping equipment. Jugs of rice wine sat precariously on nearly every surface. I stared down at the blank concrete floor between our feet. There was a heavy silence for a moment. Neither of us spoke. I felt my phone buzz in my pocket.

Dad: I heard you’re in Busan. Give us a call soon.

I felt tears pricking my eyes and rubbed them away. I shoved the phone back into my pocket and sighed. “Who was that?” asked Taehyung.

I glanced at him. “It’s…my dad,” I said.

He raised his eyebrows. “Have you guys not been in contact?”

“Not since the day before I left,” I said.

He shook his head. “So…you came to me right after you found out? About…everything?”

I nodded. “Yeah. I felt like…of all the people I’ve wronged…somehow, it felt like you were the only person I could fix things with.” I paused to chuckle quietly.

“Maybe that was stupid of me.”

“It wasn’t,” he said, scooting closer to me. Our knees brushed. “If we’re being honest…I was really happy when you said you still loved me.”

I blushed and glanced at him. “Taehyung, are we doing this?” I asked.

He nodded. “We need to. I…I need to.”

“I’ll listen,” I said.

“Me too.”

“Taehyung, did you love me?” I asked, the words tumbling out before I could stop them. My cheeks went hot.

His eyes grew round for a moment, both of us locked in a gaze that felt intimate, and cleared his throat. “Yes,” he said. “So much.”

“Then…why did you start seeing Hyerim?”

“We never started seeing each other,” he said. “We hooked up a few times because we had something in common.”

“What did you have in common?”

“You.”

I blinked and stared at him. “Excuse me?”

He shook his head, resting his elbows on his knees. “I…I didn’t feel like I could be around you anymore. You were starting to glow, you know? Doing all these competitions, getting recognized for your hard work. And I was…directionless.”

“You lost someone important. Wandering is okay,” I said.

He shook his head again. “Not this kind of wandering. I…I felt worthless. Like I had nothing to offer anymore.”

I grabbed for his hands and held them tightly in mine. His eyes flashed up towards me and I set my jaw. “You have so much to offer.”

He smiled softly and nodded. “I’ll try to believe that,” he said. “I just kept seeing you succeed and succeed. You had all of these people believing in you. And it was like I was a kid again, jealous of Jimin for being so good at playing guitar but also so insecure. I didn’t know how to be around you when you were shining like a star and I was a black hole,” he said, voice low in the dim room. “I didn’t want to suck you in.”

“That’s a horrible way to think,” I said.

He nodded. “I know.”

“And it’s wrong.”

“Well…”

I lowered my head to match the level of his eyes, forcing him to look at me. “Just because some people don’t believe in you doesn’t mean they’re right. You have no idea how much potential I’ve always seen in you.”

He sighed. “I don’t think you see me properly,” he said. “I…I just wanted you to do well. And I knew that if I was around, especially in the state I was in…well, I knew I’d hold you back. Your parents didn’t tell me anything I didn’t already know.”

“They were wrong,” I said. “We could have grown together,” I paused. “I could have helped you. If I’d tried just a little harder-,”

“No,” he said. “No, I started hooking up with Hyerim because I knew it was the only way you’d stay away from me. After what you said about wishing she’d disappear, I figured that if I associated with her you might want me to disappear too.”

“I’d never want that,” I said.

He smiled. “I wish you would have.”

“Jimin was right before,” I said. “You aren’t in charge of punishing yourself. That’s my job.”

He shrugged, sitting up straighter and releasing my hands. “She approached me at the party in high school and mentioned how well you were doing. How bad I looked. She…she knew how I felt.”

“She did?”

“Yeah,” he said. “She knew how hard it was to feel like you’re toxic for someone.”

“Because she was toxic too.”

He nodded. “We started talking and it just seemed to…make sense. She wanted to take something of yours and I wanted you to leave me alone. The logical solution was-,”

“Was to hurt me.”

He nodded once more. “It was stupid.”

“Yeah.”

“And I regretted it immediately. I…God, I wanted to run to you and hug you and tell you how sorry I was. I wanted to kiss you instead and I wanted to be with you. But…,” he trailed off as my heart began to race. “But then I remembered that being with you would mean that I’d have to work hard. Be motivated again. And…somehow, that felt too painful.”

I thought for a moment. “Did…did you feel like you didn’t deserve good things anymore?” I asked. “After losing your grandmother?”

He blinked and wiped beneath his eyes. “I…I try not to think about it,” he said.

I nodded. “I won’t push it.”

“She was the person who thought I could do anything,” he said. “The one who thought I was good even though I made mistakes.”

“And without her…,” I began, then stopped as he nodded.

“Without her,” he said. “I felt like the part of me that she believed in couldn’t exist anymore.”

I rubbed my teary eyes. “I’m sorry,” I said.

“What?” 

“I’m sorry I wasn’t there for you like you needed,” I said, tears slipping from my eyes and onto my lap. “I’m sorry I didn’t tell you how much I believed in you when you needed to hear it most. I’m sorry I let you go.”

“No,” he said, leaning closer and cupping my face in his hands, running his thumbs beneath my eyes. I glanced up at him. His skin was flushed, brows knitted as his warm eyes scanned me. “I’m the one who let you go.”

“Why did you?” I asked, letting a piece of that deep pain breathe as the words hit the dead air.

He swallowed hard and his eyes fell. “After everything, I felt like…you were giving me a chance at redemption that I didn’t deserve. Like you were being too soft on me.”

I remembered Hoseok’s words. I was too soft on people who hurt me…

“I’d rather get hurt a million times,” I began. “Than lose someone precious.”

“That’s why you keep getting hurt, Y/N,” he said, rubbing beneath my eyes. “You need to know when it’s too late to save someone.”

I shook my head. “If I ever needed saving, I’d want someone to try even if I didn’t want to be saved anymore.”

“Y/N…”

“I mean it,” I said, meeting his eyes. He looked so soft, so small. I wanted to wrap him in my arms and smooth his hair. I wanted to tell him it was okay. I wanted to help him heal like I couldn't do before.

But something was still holding me back.

He still hadn’t apologized.

“This is what I meant,” he said with a sigh, his fingers brushing over my skin. He shut his eyes for a moment. “I don’t want to ruin the you that’s kind and generous and innocent. I don’t want to be the reason you lose that.”

“You think I’m that weak-willed?” I asked with a scoff. “Or you’re that powerful? Kim Taehyung, have you met my parents?”

He chuckled and shook his head. “Stop trying to make me laugh. I’m being serious.”

“Me too.”

He met my eyes, sincerity in every detail of his face. “About last weekend,” he started.

I nodded. “Tell me.”

“I…I don’t think I was ever so close to kissing you,” he said.

I flushed. “What?” I asked.

He cleared his throat and backed away, nodding. “I guess now’s the time to be honest,” he said with a humorless laugh. He averted his eyes. “I’ve…I never stopped having feelings for you.”

“You…,” I started, but I was unable to finish. I could hear my pulse thrumming in my ears like white water.

“I know I’m too late,” he said. “You’re with Hoseok now, but…I don’t know. That night, after you gave me my grandmother’s necklace back. I just…you trusted me that much. After everything I’ve done, you were willing to give me that trust again.”

“Of course,” I said. “Because I know your heart.”

He shook his head. “You don’t,” he said. “A good person wouldn’t have gotten so close to you knowing that you were seeing someone else. And a friend at that.”

“I was getting close too.”

“Stop trying to take blame,” he said, meeting my eyes sharply. “This is my fault entirely.”

I blinked and nodded. “O-Okay.”

“I had this disgusting thought in Hyerim’s room that if I just kissed you, if I just did it…you’d be mine again,” he said, then smiled sadly to himself. “But the truth is you were never mine. And you shouldn’t be. And I realized it then that if I kissed you…it would be the cruelest thing I could do to you.”

I flushed. “What?”

“I don’t want to shake you up when you’re finally with someone who can make you happy,” he said. “I want you to be happy.”

“It’s my right to choose what makes me happy, Taehyung. Not yours,” I said. 

He glanced at me and smiled. “You deserve someone better than me.”

I sighed, frustrated, and gave his arm a firm push. “Would you just drop that already? You’re not a black hole. You’re a person. A damaged person,” I said, then shrugged. “Like me. Like Jimin. Like everyone.”

“Like Hoseok,” he said, then stared at his lap once more. “He was there for me after you left. It was…a remarkably hard first few months.”

“What?”

“The guilt almost made me crazy,” he said. “I…I couldn’t live with myself for leaving you there that night.”

“I can understand why you did it though,” I said. “Even though the way you think is totally wrong and ridiculous. From your viewpoint, it was a logical decision.”

He smiled. “I guess the fact that you two started seeing each other…I think that hurt a lot,” he said. “And it made things so much more complicated.”

“You talked about me with him,” I said. “He told me.”

He nodded. “A lot. I think I accidentally made him love you,” he said with a laugh. “Isn’t that pathetic?”

“Tae…,” I said slowly, but I didn’t know what else to say.

He smiled. “He’s been such a good friend to me. He doesn’t have a lot of close friends. It’s hard for him, you know? To be himself around people.”

I nodded. “I know.”

“So…seeing him getting closer with you, it all just seemed so perfect. You two together, making each other happy. There wasn’t a place for me there,” he said.

“He deserves a chance at happiness too.”

“And what if the two of us together is wrong, Taehyung? Why do you get to decide what will make us happy?” I asked.

He shook his head. “He’s lighter around you. Seeing him like that…I don’t think it would be right for me to take that away,” he said. “And besides, he’s one of my best friends. What kind of person would I be if I tried to steal you away?”

“So that night…,” I urged.

“I almost made a huge mistake,” he said. “And I drank too much. Hyerim approached me and said the right things. Like how you seemed happy with Hoseok. How I must have been lonely. I thought that maybe the same trick with Hyerim would work twice.”

“And I caught you,” I said.

“Yeah,” he said. “I figured you might just hear about it from Hoseok or Jimin or something, but you seeing it was…not part of the plan.”

“You tried to come after me,” I said, recalling the painful evening.

He nodded. “I…I hadn’t seen you cry since the day before you left. I know you’re not a big cryer. I realized that…God, I realized how bad I hurt you,” he said, shaking his head and raking his fingers through his hair. “Isn’t it stupid? The person I love the most is the person I hurt the most.”

I felt my insides light on fire. Despite the sweet words, the meaning in them made me so uneasy. His thinking was disordered, dark, and so negative. Staring at him bent over himself on the crate, he seemed like someone bereft. I hadn’t been persistent enough with him. I hadn’t shown him the love he needed to understand that he wasn’t so bad. That life wasn’t so bad.

But I had a chance now.

I reached out and flattened my palm against his hot cheek. He startled at my touch and sat up straight, staring at me with wide, bloodshot eyes. “The person you’re hurting most is yourself, Tae,” I said softly.

He shook his head and opened his mouth as if he were going to speak, but all that came out was, “I…”

I smiled gently and let my fingers ghost over his skin. I had a chance to tell him what I hadn’t told him before. I had a chance to change things. “You’re more than your mistakes.”

His eyes looked dewy, like he may cry. I brushed some hair from his forehead. “That’s-,”

“You’ve always been too bright to look at,” I said, recalling our conversation on the trampoline all those years ago. All those memories ago. “You’ve always eclipsed the sun for me.”

He continued to stare at me misty-eyed, lips parted, and quietly I leaned close. I smiled at him softly, gauging his reaction, before placing a small kiss on the apple of his cheek. I backed away and nodded my head. Without so much as a word, he leaned across the distance between our bodies and wrapped his arms around my shoulders, pulling me against his chest. I wrapped my arms around his back and nodded. I felt tears hitting my shoulder, soaking through Jimin’s sweatshirt. Slowly, I shut my eyes and rubbed circles into his back.

“I’m so sorry,” he said, voice low and cracking.

I smiled and breathed in the scent of his cologne. He hadn’t changed it since high school. “That’s enough,” I said.

He sniffed. “I’m so, so sorry.”

“Sh,” I said, nodding against him. “I know.”

The sound of the heavy door above us opening caused us to slowly break away. His face was red and his eyes were still cloudy, cheeks damp. I smiled and, with the sleeve of my sweatshirt, I rubbed his cheek gently. 

“Guys?” asked Jimin as he walked slowly down the stairs.

I turned to face him and saw that he too had been crying. Taehyung and I stood to meet him as he came to a stop at the bottom of the stairs. He turned to us and sniffled a little with a small smile. “My mom knows now,” he said, laughing.

I nodded as Taehyung and I approached him. “Yeah?”

“I didn’t know how to explain it. I…I was waiting until I understood it myself to talk to her,” he said, shaking his head. “But she smiled at me. She understood it even though I didn’t.”

I smiled and placed a hand on his shoulder. He raised a hand to cup mine and met my eyes with his watery ones. “That’s great,” I said.

He nodded. “My grandparents are confused. Mom told me to come help you guys with the wine and I-,” he started, but a sob broke loose and he covered his face with his hands. “I’m scared.”

Without a second thought, I wrapped my arms around Jimin’s shoulders and held him close. Silently, Taehyung came close and wrapped both of us in his arms. Jimin continued to cry for a moment, his arms snaking around mine and Taehyung’s sides. I smoothed his hair softly as he settled down, the three of us still locked in an embrace that we hadn’t had since we were kids.

“It’ll be okay, Jimin,” Taehyung said.

I nodded. “Your family loves you no matter what.”

“I always wanted,” he said between sniffs, “to make my dad regret telling me not to contact him.”

“If I was him, I’d regret it with my whole heart,” I said, still smoothing his hair. “To lose the chance to know you…I would regret it until I died.”

Taehyung nodded beside me. “He’d be an idiot not to regret it.”

“Even now?”

“Especially now,” said Taehyung.

Jimin nodded and pulled away slightly. The three of us stood together, three friends who through the mess and chaos of growing up somehow grew back together. I never thought I would see it again. But somehow, despite or possibly because of the hardships, we’d found that essential something between us once more. I smiled at Jimin and he smiled back. Something shifted back into place that night.

“Be sure to call more often,” cooed Jimin’s grandmother, holding his face in her hands with her brows furrowed.

Jimin laughed and nodded, patting her arm. “I will, Grandma,” he said.

“Come by to help me paint the kitchen next month,” said his grandfather with a booming laugh. “Lord knows your grandma won’t help.”

“I have arthritis!” she called back, sending him a glare over her shoulder.

Jimin smiled, beamed really, and nodded once more. “I will.”

“Oh! And Y/N, don’t you dare be a stranger! Come by anytime,” said Jimin’s grandmother, turning her attention to me.

I smiled as she approached and threw her arms about me in a hug. “I’ll come by during the holidays and bring some fruit,” I said.

She grinned and pulled away. “That’s a promise now,” she said. She turned to Taehyung and smirked at him, eyes flashing between him and me. “You two take care,” she said, chuckling as she returned to her husband’s side.

I flushed and exchanged a puzzled look with Taehyung. “Uh,” said Taehyung, smiling quietly. “We will.”

“Oh, you’d better go or you’ll miss your train,” fretted Jimin’s grandfather. 

“Ah!” said Mrs. Park with a nod. “That’s right. Let’s get you to the station,” she said, guiding us to the white sedan.

We drove in casual chatter for the most part, and as we exited and said our goodbyes I noticed something odd about Mrs. Park. The way she gazed at her son, so fond, so gentle, so caring, seemed somehow more tender. It was as if a wall was broken between them that nobody knew was there to begin with. I smiled softly as they hugged and edged closer to Taehyung as we hovered near the train’s open door.

“You’ll come by the house next weekend, right?” she asked Jimin.

Jimin smiled. “Yep. We have a few gigs, but I can come over on Sunday.”

“Well…I’ll be here another few days so I might not be on my phone much but…please call me if you need anything,” she said, then laughed. “Or if you just want to talk.”

Jimin nodded. “I will, Mom,” he said, hugging her once more. “I love you,” he said quietly into her dark hair.

We waved goodbye as we entered the train and shuffled to find our seats. I sat beside Jimin, Taehyung settling in the seat across from us with a tired sigh. He leaned back against the seat and shut his eyes immediately.

“Tired?” I asked.

He opened one eye to peek at me and smiled. “Should have made me some of the nighttime tea,” he said.

I chuckled and nodded. “Sorry,” I said.

“You two seem closer,” said Jimin with a smirk. “Did something good happen in the cellar?”

“No!” called Taehyung and I in unison. I glanced at him and flushed before shaking my head. “We just talked some things out,” I finished. “Speaking of which, your grandparents seem…”

“Super supportive and wonderful and understanding?” asked Jimin with a laugh. “They are.”

“What happened?” I asked. After we’d all left the cellar, Mrs. Park had led us to our rooms and kept Jimin outside at the dining table with his grandparents. By the time they were finished talking, I was asleep and I could only assume Taehyung was too.

He smoothed his hands over his thighs and smiled. “I came over and they basically said that whatever or whoever I liked they loved me. And they just wanted to see me happy,” he said, lacing his fingers over one crossed knee. “Whatever form that takes.”

I smiled. “That’s great,” I said quietly.

He nodded. “At the end of the day, I think that’s what matters most,” he said, glancing at me over his shoulder. “Finding what makes you happy.”

I couldn’t stop myself from turning my eyes towards Taehyung only to find him looking at me too. We exchanged a look that felt different somehow before each of us turned back to Jimin and I cleared my throat.

“You’re right,” said Taehyung with a soft smile, staring down at his lap. “Find what makes you happy and protect it.”

“And don’t let it go,” I added, looking back at Jimin, but he was already popping his headphones into his ears. I glanced towards Taehyung who, once again, was staring at me.

I stretched my arms above my head and smiled sidelong at Haewon and Yuna, raising the microphone to my lips as I belted out the notes to Red Velvet’s Bad Boy. The girls laughed as I pointed at each of them, beckoning either of them to join me. Of course, neither of them did. I laughed through the bridge and, as the chorus came closer, I began to sloppily imitate the choreography.

“No!” shouted Hoseok through laughter. “It’s like this!” he called, standing from the plush bench in our private room and tossing his hands in a wide circle, index fingers up.

I laughed and shook my head. “Excuse me! This is my performance!” I said, patting my chest with the microphone, releasing a few horrible booms through the speakers. 

Namjoon grabbed Hoseok by the arm and pulled him down beside him, shaking his head as I continued. “Say, why don’t you join Bangtan?” he called, laughing.

I rolled my eyes as I continued to sing and dance. The song came to an end and I collapsed on the couch beside Yuna as she fanned my face. “Listen,” I said, panting. “Just because it’s a Wednesday night doesn’t mean I can’t give it my all.”

Hoseok laughed and patted my knee. “I’m going next,” said Jungkook, standing from his spot beside Namjoon and extending a hand to Yuna who by then had become my personal headrest. “I need a partner.”

Yuna scowled. “No,” she said.

Jungkook gaped. “Do you know how many girls would jump at the opportunity to sing a duet with me?” he asked, bewildered.

Yuna examined a cuticle. “That’s nice. Ask one of them.”

Jungkook fumed before turning to me. “Will you make her sing with me?” he asked.

I met his eyes and rubbed my forehead. “Jeez, I don’t know. She’s…you know, an autonomous human being. I don’t think I can make her do anything,” I said. I glanced at Haewon. “You wanna sing with him?”

“No,” she deadpanned, scrolling through her phone. I laughed. 

“Yuna please,” he begged, pouting.

I sat up straight and stretched. “I’m gonna go get some water,” I said, standing and sliding past Namjoon as he stood and offered to sing with Jungkook instead. 

Hoseok stood and grabbed my elbow with a smile. “I’ll come too,” he said. “Since I haven’t seen you in a while.”

I smiled and nodded, but guilt ran through me coldly. “Okay.”

We exited the room together and I bent down to adjust my uncomfortable boot heel. It had been a few hours since I’d pulled an outfit together last minute after Hoseok had called to invite me and the girls out to karaoke. Since the week had been pretty hectic, I hadn’t had a chance to tell Yuna or Haewon about what happened in Busan, and I’d planned on explaining everything and hearing their thoughts that night. But Hoseok had sounded so very excited, and I figured that before the girls, I needed to face him. My feelings were swirling and I knew it wasn’t right to keep stringing him along when I couldn’t sort myself out. I hadn’t anticipated Namjoon and Jungkook tagging along, and so many people around meant I’d had no time to speak to Hoseok seriously about what was going on. 

But now that I had him alone…

I almost wished the others were here.

I walked down the narrow hallway towards the bathroom with Hoseok beside me, whistling absently. I took a sip of water and turned towards him with a smile that I couldn’t force to reach my eyes. He stared at me for a long moment before he sighed and nodded, taking my hand and leading me down the hallway. I stood with my back against the wall, facing Hoseok as he stopped walking and turned towards me, our fingers still interlocked. He scanned my face for a long, quiet moment. The muffled sound of loud music mingled into indistinguishable noise all around us.

“What’s up?” I asked.

He shrugged. “Just thinking I was a little tired of being around people,” he said.

I blinked. “Those are your friends though.”

He smiled at me. “I want to stop pretending for a minute,” he said, pushing my hair behind my ear. How many friends did he have really? 

“Even with Namjoon and Jungkook?” I asked. My stomach felt queasy.

“Sure.”

“Don’t you think you can trust them a little?” I asked. “After all, you trusted me.”

“You’re different,” he said, gazing at me with warmth in his eyes, in his fingers as they traced my skin. “You make me honest.”

I furrowed my brow. Something wasn’t sitting right with me. It hadn’t been for a long time. “Are you sure it’s me? Are you sure it’s not…just the idea you have of me?” I asked.

He pursed his lips in thought. “Maybe both?”

“Isn’t that wrong?” I asked, shaking my head. His hand slipped from my hair. “Is it okay to build someone up into something they’re not?”

“Either way,” he said, pressing his forehead against mine. The way we looked, you’d think we were two lovers sneaking off into the dim hallway for a rendezvous. I felt hot with guilt. “I trust you a lot.”

“Hoseok, I-,”

“Something happened in Busan,” he said slowly.

I blinked, wide-eyed, and nodded. “How did you know?”

He smiled and pressed his pointer finger to my nose. “You seem troubled,” he said. “Whatever happened, I forgive you. There’s no need to talk about it.”

I furrowed my brow. “Wait, you what?” I asked.

He shrugged. “I like you. And you understand me. When else am I gonna find someone like that?” he asked with a chuckle. “I don’t know what I’d do if you weren’t around.”

I stared up at him, wide-eyed, as a realization struck me that made me want to cry. He relied on me this much. “Hoseok,” I said. “Do you feel alone?”

He backed away and his confident facade faltered a little. He stared down at me with furrowed brows. “Huh?”

“Do you feel alone?”

He blinked and stared into the middle ground. “I…I guess so.”

“I don’t think this is what you need,” I said, slipping my hand from his. 

He stared down at me dumbfounded for a moment. “Excuse me?”

I shook my head sharply. “I don’t think this is right,” I said. “Hoseok, I care for you.”

He smiled, just barely, and nodded. “I care about you too.”

“And I’m not going anywhere,” I said.

He nodded again. “That makes me happy.”

“So you don’t need to do this,” I said, thinking of the right way to phrase what I was about to say. It needed to be said properly or he’d misunderstand. “You don’t need to date me to keep me from leaving.”

His eyes went wide and round. “Y/N, that’s not what I’m doing,” he began. 

“Then why do you want to date?” I asked carefully, watching for hints in his even expression.

He thought. “Because…I like you.”

“I like you too.”

“So what’s the problem?” he asked.

I chewed on my cheek and ran a hand through my hair. The pieces he’d tucked behind my ear came free again. “What about me do you like, Hoseok?”

“You’re kind and you don’t judge me. You make me want to do better,” he said without so much as a moment’s pause.

“But what about me do you like romantically?” I asked.

At this he went silent. “I…,” he started, then furrowed his brow. “Why are you asking me that?”

“Because it’s super important,” I said. “Hoseok, you don’t have to like me romantically to keep me around. I’ll stay because I’m your friend. And because I care for the person I’ve gotten to know.”

He stared at me with a shockingly unguarded expression, brows knit. “You…wait, you’re confusing me.”

“The only longterm relationship you’ve had has been romantic,” I said, piecing it together. “You’re trying to fill that space with me.”

“I don’t know,” he said.

“Even though I don’t fit in that space,” I said, shaking my head. It became so clear to me, standing outside the karaoke room in that musty hallway, the sun setting somewhere outside. “Hoseok, do you even have romantic feelings for me?”

His eyes went wide. “I…never really thought about it.”

“Hoseok, I’m your friend,” I said, placing my hands on his shoulders. “I don’t need incentive to stay beside you.”

“You…you don’t?”

I nodded. “I don’t need anything.”

“So…even if we just hang out,” he said. “Play games and talk,” he continued, eyes flashing across my face. “Even if it’s just that much…you won’t leave?”

I shook my head. “No.”

“Even though I showed you something scary? Something ugly about myself?” he asked.

“Yes.”

His shoulders slumped a little and he nodded. “That’s…a relief.”

“You’ve always felt like in order to keep people in your life, you had to act a certain way. Give them something,” I said with a soft smile. “But just being yourself is enough.”

He swallowed. “I…I still don’t know if you’re right. Because right now I kind of want to kiss you,” he said. 

I flushed and nodded. “I don’t think that’s what you need.”

“I…I don’t know yet,” he said.

I smiled. “You don’t have to,” I said. “But for right now, I think-,”

“Don’t say it,” he said, shaking his head. 

“I think we should stop here,” I said.

He looked at me, and I saw nothing but softness in his face. The sadness I’d grown used to during vulnerable moments was no longer so evident in his features. He seemed different now, open. And I knew looking at him that this was an expression I would never have seen as his girlfriend. The expectations, the implications, the obligations…it would have created yet another mask. He needed someone to care for him wanting nothing in return. No fake smiles, no dates, no exaggerated happiness. I wanted to help him, and I wanted him to help himself. Being with him that way…it would only send him further into his performance.

“I love you, Hoseok,” I said, smiling gently up at him.

He met my eyes and nodded. “You do?”

“The real you,” I said. “And I’m here. No matter what we are.”

And so began my third meaningful embrace in less than a week. He wrapped his arms around my waist and buried his head in the crook of my neck. I hooked my elbows behind his neck and hugged him back firmly. He held me close and for a long moment neither of us said anything.

“Thank you,” he said.

I nodded. “Thank you for trusting me.”

He chuckled and pulled away. “I’m glad I did,” he said, then tilted his head to the side as he looked at me. “Can I give you a hint?”

“A hint?” I asked, confused.

He smiled. “Yeah. It’s a small hint, but I hope you can figure it out.”

“Um…sure,” I said.

He took a deep breath and nodded. “Check the top drawer.”

“Huh?”

“That’s the hint,” he said.

I blinked up at him, searching for an answer in his eyes, and saw nothing but a smile. “Okay…I’ll remember that.”

“You’ll get it eventually,” he said, then laughed. “God, why am I helping you guys?” he asked. “See? You’re already helping me become a better person.”

I rolled my eyes and gave a weak punch to his chest. “I have no idea what you’re talking about. But…you were already a good person, Hoseok.”

He ruffled my hair and smiled. “I’ll remember that.” He turned over his shoulder and glanced towards the door leading to our karaoke room. He pursed his lips. “I wanna sing a Beyonce song.”

I laughed. “Alright,” I said. “Maybe Yuna agreed to the duet. Let’s go see.”

He wrapped an arm around my shoulders as we walked back into the room together. He sat beside me on the bench as the room was filled to the brim with laughter. Namjoon was belting lyrics at all sorts of notes: radically high and impossibly low. Jungkook laughed as he tried to keep up, but Namjoon was a showstopper in the front of the room. He began to rap Heize’s part in And July and Jungkook fall onto the arm of the couch laughing at Namjoon’s comically high impersonation.

I joined in the laughter and, for a moment, everything was calm.

“You guys down to go to a bar?” asked Hoseok, wiggling his eyebrows at us.

I shook my head as we all settled on the dark sidewalk. “I have class,” I said.

Yuna nodded. “So do we. How about this weekend instead?” she asked the guys.

Jungkook smirked at her. “Can’t get enough of me, huh?”

“Ew,” she said. “I take it back.”

Jungkook laughed and Namjoon shook his head. “We’re gonna go then. See you at the show?” he asked.

I nodded. “Sure. Oh, don’t stay out too late! I think it might rain,” I said, glancing up at the grey, rumbling sky. 

Hoseok smiled. “We’ll be safe,” he said.

I tossed a smile his way. “Better be.”

We said our goodbyes and the girls and I started on our way to the bus stop. Itaewon was loud even on weeknights, and people shuffled past us in the night. “You and Hoseok seem closer,” said Yuna, elbowing me.

I stiffened. “Oh, uh…we kind of ended things actually,” I said, glancing at her.

Her eyes were wide. “You what?” she asked.

I nodded, watching my uncomfortable shoes as I walked. “I realized that…,” I began, searching for the words and finding something Taehyung said in my brain. “I realized that it would be cruel to stay with him.”

“Why?” asked Haewon.

I smiled at my feet. “It’s complicated.”

“Does it have to do with Taehyung?” she asked.

I flushed. “I…partially,” I said, meeting her beseeching eyes. “We talked in Busan. I wanted to tell you guys about it, but I haven’t had the chance.”

The girls nodded. “Then, you’ve made up?” asked Haewon.

I nodded. “I understand him better now. I think…things make sense now.”

“If you guys are back on good terms,” began Yuna. “I think I have something I need to tell you.”

“Huh?” I asked, glancing at her.

“Wait!” called Haewon, swinging her arms in front of me. “What exactly happened?”

I pursed my lips. “He looked…like, sick. Like he hadn’t been sleeping well or eating properly. I think he realized he messed up.”

“He messed up? When?” asked Yuna.

“The night of the party,” said Haewon. “I told you he hooked up with that pink-haired girl.”

Yuna nodded as the recollection returned to her. “Ah, that’s right,” she said. “So he realized he messed up and then?”

“And then he wanted to talk to me about it. That’s why he came to Busan,” I said, pursing my lips. “I told him I didn’t want to hear half an apology. I wanted to talk it all out if we were gonna talk at all.”

“My queen,” said Haewon, clapping my shoulder.

I laughed. “It wasn't that cool. But, uh…it took all day, but we finally got to talk for real. And he explained everything. I realized that I hadn’t been there when he needed me. Like…like I’d let him down too. Without even knowing it.”

“Oh,” said Haewon. “My queen is weak.”

I shoved her lightly. “It’s true. We both fucked up.”

“Then?” asked Yuna, but her brows were knit in such a way that made me uneasy. What was bothering her?

“Then he apologized. For all of it,” I said.

She nodded. “That’s good then.”

“He should do more than just apologize. After all the shit he put you through-,” began Haewon.

I laughed. “I told you. We both did stupid things when we were young. And he thought he was doing the right thing.”

“My queen is stupid,” she said with a sigh. “I love a nice, stupid queen.”

“Shut up,” I said, chuckling. “Anyway, things seem…better now. Like how they used to be.”

“Have you spoken since?” asked Yuna.

I turned to her and thought. “No. We don’t text much to begin with. It would be weird if we started talking all the time.”

She furrowed her brow as we came to rest at the bus stop. I checked my watch. Only two more minutes until the bus came. “Did you smooch?” asked Haewon with a smirk. “Kiss and make up?”

I rolled my eyes. “No.”

“Missed opportunity,” she said, pouting. “Hey! Now you’re a free woman! You can do whatever you want with him.”

I cringed. “I don’t want to do anything,” I said. “And besides, Hoseok and I were never exclusive or anything-,”

“Um,” said Yuna.

I glanced at her. “Hm?”

“I really need to tell you something,” she said, brows knit.

I blinked at her. “Okay.”

“That night at the park,” she began, and my stomach dropped. Any sentence that began with mentions of that night meant something painful. “When I found you, it…wasn’t actually me who found you.”

I raised my brows and stared at her, her face yellow in the harsh streetlight. “What?” I asked.

“It wasn’t me,” she said. “I…I got a text from a number I didn’t know saying he got my number from, like, this chain of people he’d talked to. He asked someone who asked someone who asked someone-anyway, that’s not important,” she said, shaking her head and waving her hands. She was never this flustered. I had a horrible knot twisting in my stomach. “Anyway, at around three I got this text saying you were alone in a park, laying on a bench crying. And that I should come right away.” Rain drops fell quietly from above.

I flushed. “Someone was there…,” I began. “The only person who knew I would be there was-,” I swallowed the ball in my throat. 

“When I got there, I wanted to ask the person why they hadn’t just helped you, but by the time I arrived I saw them leaving. It was so late, and they were still there. Just…watching,” Yuna said with a sigh.

“Did you see who it was?” asked Haewon.

She nodded. “He was wearing a hoodie and he looked really different, but I recognized him immediately when he came onstage during that first concert,” she said. “It was Taehyung.” The rain began to patter against the bus stop overhang.

I shook my head. “He was…he was there all along?” I asked, tears welling in my eyes. 

Yuna nodded. “Must have been. He said in his first text that he'd been trying to get my number for hours. Or, anyone’s number who knew you I guess.”

“I thought you found me because I shared my location,” I said.

She shook her head. “I wouldn’t have come out looking if it hadn’t have been for that text. I knew you were kind of…prone to doing stuff like that. I figured you were probably okay.”

I raked my fingers through my hair and shook my head. “He got you to come…,” I said.

“Yeah,” she said. “I couldn’t tell you that night because you were just…so sad. And the next day you thanked me for coming to find you and for being a good friend and I just…I felt really bad for not going on my own. I couldn’t tell you.”

Haewon rubbed my back. “You okay?” she asked.

The bus rolled to a stop beside us. I shook my head. This changed…everything. The thing that had always hurt the most was his absence that night. The fact that even after begging him, crying for him, telling him I loved him, he still didn’t show up. I’d held onto that hurt the tightest all along. I blinked and breathed for a moment, desperately trying to collect myself.

The girls stepped onto the bus, Yuna hanging halfway outside and Haewon peeking at me over her shoulder. “Come on,” said Haewon, gesturing into the bus.

But I couldn’t get on.

“I…I gotta go,” I said, pulling my long jacket closer to my body and turning on my heel. 

“Where are you going?” called Yuna as I jogged out into the rain.

“I’ll call you!” I yelled over my shoulder, racing down the street. 

I was lucky enough to start my sprint as the rain was only beginning to spit. By the time I reached the front door of Bangtan’s apartment, I was only halfway soaked. I knocked on the door once, twice, three times and as I raised my fist to knock a fourth, the door swung open and revealed Jin with squinted eyes and glasses falling down the bridge of his nose, toothbrush in hand.

“What are you doing here? Isn’t it kinda late?” he asked, glancing at his watch.

“It’s only nine,” I said, shaking my head. “Can I come in?”

He nodded. “You’re pretty wet,” he observed.

“Yeah,” I said. “Is Taehyung around?” 

Jin glanced about the living room as I removed my shoes and found blisters swelling on my feet. “I think he’s out with Jimin grabbing groceries. Should be back any minute,” he said. “Why?”

“It’s urgent,” I said. Jin continued to stare at me with his half-shut eyes, and I began to feel like I was intruding on his space. I cleared my throat and fluffed out my wet hair. He simply watched me drowsily. “Um…can you tell him I’m waiting in his room?” I asked, pointing to the hallway.

He nodded. “I’ll tell him.”

I nodded in return before walking quietly into his bedroom. I found on his walls all those familiar paintings, sitting in all those mismatched frames. I ran my fingers along his bed before sitting down atop it, facing Hoseok’s wall with a sigh. If he didn’t get home soon, I’d explode and leave nothing behind but a small circle of rainwater on his comforter. I bounced my legs in anticipation, watched the clock on the wall, glanced out the window and twisted my upper body.

Check the top drawer.

I lurched upright. The top drawer? Quickly, I rushed towards Taehyung’s desk, the one I’d noticed the first time I’d entered this room. The one where he kept his notebook. My hands hesitated as they extended towards that wooden desk. If I opened it and my guess was wrong, not only was I invading his privacy but I was doing so needlessly. But my gut urged my fingers to clasp around the handle of the top drawer and slowly, I pulled it out. 

At first, it didn’t look like much. Atop a pile of many other things was that old notebook I’d seen him carry that day when I’d watched Hoseok perform in Hongdae. The one I’d teased him for. I removed it and placed it carefully atop his desk. I thumbed through some papers he kept in there and a few other full notebooks before my fingers hit something hard. Something glass. I pulled that glass something out from the drawer and held it in my hands. I didn’t have to look at it to know what it was. The weight of the frame in my hands and the feeling of it told me enough.

It was the copy of A Pair of Shoes I’d given him years ago.

It was the proof I needed that he’d never stopped caring for me. That I’d never become a ghost of a memory, a pleasant but distant life lost long ago. It laid in my weak hands like a heavy reminder of everything we’d ever been through together. I saw myself reflected in it and I saw the tears in my eyes, the flush in my cheeks, the wind in my wild, wet hair. Even though I’d changed, the painting hadn’t.

Even though we’d changed, what we shared hadn’t.

I set the painting down softly and reached for his notebook, flipping it open to the first page. I saw there a few songs that I dared not read. But one caught my eye as I paged through the book. One of the only ones with a title.

4 O’Clock.

The tears I’d been fighting fell and I clasped a hand over my mouth as I read the lyrics. I shook my head, falling into his desk chair and, sobbing, I continued reading. Suddenly I realized what Hoseok wanted me to find. Why he’d sent me here on the first day I’d visited here instead of the bathroom. I realized what he’d been trying to show me from the beginning.

The nameless bird that sings

In the park at dawn

Where are you

Oh you

Why are you crying

It’s only me and you here

Me and you

Oh you

“Y/N!” called Taehyung’s unmistakable, frenzied voice from behind me.

I turned to him and saw him standing in the middle of the room, the door shut behind him as he stared at me with wide, worried eyes. He was swimming in a grey cardigan and baggy shirt, but his color was better. He seemed to be sleeping. His eyes fell to the notebook in my hands, then lifted to the tears on my face. No words were exchanged as he slowly shook his head and blinked at me.

I set the book down and, without sparing a moment, I walked towards him and placed my fingers on his cheeks once more, like I had in Busan. He stared at me, still shaking his head. I smoothed my fingers over his skin, brushed his dark hair out of his eyes. He shook his head once again, but this time I held him in place and forced him to simply look at me. I couldn’t convey my thoughts with words, and this action wasn’t enough.

It wasn’t enough.

Slowly, I lifted myself onto my toes and, still holding his face between my hands, I pulled my face close to his and shut my eyes. I couldn’t see if he shut his, but as my lips ghosted against his I felt him exhale. Without moving too much, I pressed my lips against his. It was the first time. Tenderly, he tilted his head to the side and, so softly I almost didn’t feel it, let his hands fall to my waist. I wrapped my arms about his neck and held tight. There was nothing I could say that would explain more than this. This gesture. The cruelest thing he could do to me.

I knew he wouldn’t do it on his own.

So I let my fingers play with the ends of his hair as he moved gently against me, never once pushing me. For a moment that felt like eternity, butterflies raged against the inside of my stomach and our lips moved together in quiet synchronicity. I felt my skin becoming hotter, my cheeks growing red, my hands moving faster. 

Before I could do something too sudden, I pulled away and slowly opened my eyes to find Taehyung staring down at me, still shaking his head. “Why did you-,”

“I love you.”

His brown eyes went wider than I’d ever seen them and his grip on my waist tightened. I pushed his hair off his forehead once more and nodded my head. “But…you…”

“I love you,” I said. “I’ve always loved you. And I…I’ll love you even if you mess up.”

“I don’t…Y/N, you don’t need to say that,” he said. “I know you have-,”

“I love you,” I repeated. “I’ll keep saying it until you get tired of hearing it. I’ll say it until it’s finally enough. Kim Taehyung, I love you.”

He shook his head. “Please-,”

“I love you. I love you,” I said again. “I’ll keep on saying it until you believe it. Until you know you deserve it.” I forced him to look at me once again. “I love you. I lo-,”

He cut me off, abruptly pressing a kiss against my lips. The words caught in my throat as his soft lips were once again on mine. I blushed, eyes wide before shutting, and wrapped my arms around his neck again. His hands grew firmer on my waist and slowly, he had them hooked around my back, holding me in an embrace. He pulled away to leave a trail of kisses along my jawline which sent chills down my spine.

“Hey,” I said.

“If you say I love you again I’m gonna smack you,” he mumbled against my skin.

I smiled past the tears that had only just stopped. “I love you.”

He chuckled and pulled away. “I love you too, okay?” 

I nodded and met his eyes seriously. Before I could say anything more, he was kissing me once more. Instead of speaking, I shut my eyes.

[moonraccoon-exe]

GLADNIS VS RAVNIS AMUSEMENT PARK AU PLEASE

SOMEBODY ASKED FOR SOMETHING RAVNIS RELATED AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH

OKAY HERE I GO YOU TRIGGERED ME ONLY BECAUSE #RAVNIS

Tbh last time I wasat an amusement park I was like 4 y.o. and I HATE them because I hate all the machines. I could ride a horse and climb a mountain and camp if I had the chance, but you won’t put me in a seat on a roller coaster. I can vaguely handle cars. Anything with an engine somewhere makes me nervous (I’d suck as a Nif ;-;)

So believe it or not I’m gonna have to google to know what the HELL you can do at an amusement park, because no way am I not gonna answer this with some damn headcanons you heard me

*furiously googles*

Jesus christ, I’m going to add a Read More because it turned out SO LONG.

You triggered me, dear person I BLAME YOU.

It was the four guys who went to the amusement park for mere fun.

Prompto asked Luna to join them.

She did. Except she brought Ravus along.

Before knowing Ravus would go, Gladio had convinced (maybe with a coin or two) Prompto to take Noct and Luna somewhere so he could be alone with Ignis for a while (they’re in indirect-courting process, not in a relationship just yet).

Prompto did.

Except he didn’t take Ravus away.

He tried but the man insisted he stayed with Gladio and Ignis.

Gladio’s currently like (╬ ಠ益ಠ) on the inside.

Ravus is (ಠ_ಠ)

Ignis is just -___- like usual, nothing out of ordinary for him.

Except he really is a bit nervous because he’s aware he’s been courted by both AT THE SAME TIME for the past six months and he’s SO CONFUSED and now that the three are alone it’s so awkward like, he doesn’t want to offend either of them, but he’s also aware both are going to poke each other’s eyes out if he doesn’t stand in the middle so, what a shame, he has to stay there.

“Ignis, let’s go to that ride.”

“Who put you in charge, Amicitia?”

“I was just making a suggestion, mister poker face.”

“What did you call me?”

“Poker face, are you deaf?”

“No, but I wish I was. That way I wouldn’t have to deal with your horrible voice and stupid suggestions.”

“SAY THAT AGAIN.”

Ignis is just -____- sigh.

Roller coaster comes first

There’s a whisper-shout argument between Ravus and Gladio the entire time while picking a seat. You know, it’s by pairs, not trios.

“MOVE ASIDE AMICITIA, I ARRIVED FIRST.”

“NO WAY, YOU MOVE, PRINCE ASS.”

“WHAT ARE YOU DOING YOU CHEATER”

“WHO’RE YOU CALLING CHEATER YOU DOUBLE CHEATER”

“MOVEASIDEDAMMIT”

“NOYOUMOVE”

Gladio wins this round.

Gladio’s having fun and encourages Ignis to let himself go and just throws the arms up.

Ignis is having fun because while he doesn’t let himself go fully (it’s too vulgar, I’m the king’s adviser, I shouldn’t be- Gladio, stop, ahaha, no- *ahem* no, that’s fine, I’ll just- okay,maybe a little) he’s having fun.

So Ignis is a bit moved that Gladio wants him to be himself and just that.

Ravus sits with a stranger behind them like  (ಠ_ಠ) and he keeps poker face and arms crossed THE ENTIRE RIDE.

Like not even when they’re left up-side down does he show any reaction.

He literally does nothing. Not a single movement except blink.

Coming out Gladio’s half-hugging Ignis and he’s letting him.

Which Ravus can’t allow so ofc he plans his next move.

“Wasn’t that fun, little prince?”

“While it was enjoyable, I do dare to say Ignis would prefer a different type of rides. You think about yourself only and the kind of fun you’d have, and Ignis has to stand you. So it’s time to pick something HE should enjoy.”

Ravus very damn gently (cause he’s a prince, he’s naturally soft in these cases) takes one of Ignis’ hands with a small bow.

“May I suggest the next one?”

Ignis is so flustered because dammit, Ravus is so SMOOTH, so a bit nervous he just nods so long saying yes will make the prince let go of his hand.

Ravus takes him to the star flyer ride

…which is by pairs and not trios again.

There was very little chance for Gladio to fight his seat this time. Ravus, some strategic way, ended up sat with Ignis.

Ignis IS enjoying VERY much of this one ride.

Ravus is enjoying of it too, and enjoying of the adviser’s time-by-time tiny contained laugh at his side.

“What a fantastic sensation, isn’t it? To fly?”

“Fantastic, indeed.”

Gladio’s with a stranger like(╬ ಠ益ಠ) the entire time and he’s sometimes yelling long and loud while in the air out of mere anger, ahaha.

He’s so upset because he was like LOOOOOL AHAHAA on the roller coaster, while Ravus is all Ah yes, le amour est dans l’air on the star flyer.

Like the roller coaster was brute fun and Ravus picked a romantic and fun thing, IT’S NOT FAIR.

“Think, Amicitia, think. Think of something romantic, of something unique, something that’s gonna catch Ignis’ heart. Something very romantic.”

Gladio chose the Reverse Bungee.

Don’t question him.

He tries to be romantic, I swear.

That’s for two again, lmao, so as he chose Ravus had to stay away.

“Gladio, are you sure it’s safe?”

“You’re gonna love it, Iggy, trust me.”

“I trust you, but this looks a bit-woh, okay, that startled me. Okay. Okay, this is…new. OkAY WHAT THE FUCK GLADIO, HOLY SHIVA.”

“SEE, YOU’RE LOVING IT, NOW SCREAM WITH ME AAAAAAAH”

Ignis is not screaming.

Again, Gladio comes out laughing and all LMAO and Ignis is like Oh, uhm, yah :) because he enjoys but it’s not precisely his cup of tea, but Gladio’s treating him real nice so he doesn’t mind.

Ravus outside and goes with “Again with your brute choices. It is my turn.”

Ignis has been trying to say where he wants to go, but the guys insist on choosing themselves.

Ravus chose the ULTIMATE ROMANCE RIDE. 

Merry-go-round.

10000000 POINTS TO RAVUS, DING DING.

Gladio’s pulling from his hair in the distance because WHY DID I NOT THINK ABOUT THAT, OFC I HAD TO TAKE HIM TO THE BUNGEE WTF GLADIOLUS AGH YOU’RE AN IDIOT AND IDIOT AND IDIOT YOU’RE AN ETERNAL IDIOT AND YOU JUST DEFINITELY LOST HIM JUST NOW.

Even though Ravus knows full that Ignis doesn’t need that cause he’s not a fragile princess, the prince still offers a hand so Ignis has it easier to hop on his horse on the carousel.

Now that I think about it Ravus would be KING now, so IGNIS IS BEING COURTED BY A KING, NUFF SAID.

Ravus takes his seat on the horse right next to him, because he, unlike Gladio, “understands you love your personal space, Ignis.”

Ignis is dying inside like omg could Ravus be the best choice, Idk I’m so confused.

He only knows Ravus is so gentle like ohmygod, no doubt he’s royalty.

Gladio’s sat like 5 horses behind watching Ignis smile at Ravus as the ride starts.

Gladio drops himself on the horse and he’s literally limp the entire ride.

Ravus is mostly quiet, but his gestures are all gentle and kind and Ignis is like Asjfpsdfjsdf on the inside but says nothing.

That’s it, Gladio’s had enough.

Now it’s not about enjoying rides with Ignis, now it’s about picking rides to prove he’s stronger, more resistant, braver and better than Ravus.

So he picks the BUMPER CARS, ahahaha

100 points to Gladio, you ass, I love you, nerd.

Ravus, as serious as he is, takes the challenge like it’s about a damn war between countries now, and he spends his whole while furiously bumping on cars that approach Ignis.

“WORRY NOT, SCIENTIA, I’M YOUR SHIELD.”

 Ignis is a bit worried because he’s not sure if Ravus understands the concept of “game”.

Gladio bumps into Ravus furiously and multiple times.

“EXCUSE ME, THE ONLY ONE WITH SHIELD TITLE HERE IS ME”

Ravus bumps back.

“YOU’RE THAT NOCTIS’ CHILD SHIELD, NOT SCIENTIA’S. I’M DEVOTED TO HIM, YOU’RE NOT.”

“YOU’RE NOT EVEN FROM LUCIS YOU IDIOT”

“SO WHAT”

They continue bumping each other to death.

Ignis had been previously amazed by Ravus’ treat but now he remembers these two are in war and he’s just -__- sigh.

Ravus understands that Gladio wants to prove who’s better, so he starts picking rides according to that and not on Ignis’ interest anymore.

Ravus picks a drop tower.

There are 3 seats so Ignis sits in the middle.

Gladio’s clearly nervous. Fighting behemoths and astrals is one thing, but heights, omg.

Ravus keeps mocking him, indirectly.

“Ha, what a shield. Scared of a little height. We in Tenebrae are basically on floating islands, the cliffs are very high, we’re above the sky, so I do not- WOAH, WOH, OKAY, THAT STARTLED ME, I’M- WTF MMMFMFPPPPHHH”

Ravus is fighting to not scream.

Ravus and Gladio end up yelling and trembling the entire time.

Ignis is the only one that wasn’t scared lmao.

Ignis’ still trying to tell them where he wants to go.

Gladio picks the ROTOR.

He and Ravus are glaring at each other the entire time and resisting the urge to scream.

Both end up screaming. 

They spend a long while on similar rides to test each other. 

By this point Ravus and Gladio are very dizzy, breathless, tired and with the hair and clothes messed up.

Ignis is intact.

And he’s gone to ALL rides with them.

Lmao, Ignis is the alpha in there and they don’t notice.

They stumble upon this water ride, idk if it has a name, where it’s roller-coaster like but lands in water?

“MOVE ASIDE AMICITIA I ARRIVED FIRST”

“NO WAY YOU MOVE PRINCE ASS”

“IT’S MY TURN TO BE WITH HIM”

“OFC NOT YOU DEADBRAIN IT’S MY TURN”

“Sirs, please stop arguing and somebody sit down already.”

Ignis does this smart thing and he ends up sitting with a stranger that he says Hi to with a sigh of relief and he relaxes for the first time in hours.

Ravus and Gladio share seats HAHAHAHAHA

Both are >:( the entire ride.

When the ride’s over they hurryhurryhurry on leaving so they can get away of each other.

Except they keep throwing the hands at each other like little kids trying to fight, muttering insults and walking away.

They’re handed towels at the exit and they keep fighting when they hear that “Thanks” behind them and they remember Ignis is there too.

They turn around and freeze at the same time.

Ignis is standing there, all soaked, the shirt all damp against his body, having come to be transparent in most parts. And his pretty hair is down like when he was 18 except longer and all awkward on him, dripping, and he’s just like “Apologies…this is embarrassing”

Ravus and Gladio stay frozen in their place because HE LOOKS

ADORABLE

HOT

GORGEOUS

AND CUTE

ALL AT ONCE

They start fighting again with each other because both try to stop the other from getting close.

They end up stumbling and falling in front of Ignis and both lift the arm each with their towel.

“HERE”

“I uhm…I’m grateful, but I have my own, you two…”

Both continue arguing when they stand up and shove each other back the entire time.

Ravus ends up wrapping his towel around Ignis’ shoulders and keeps him softly half hugged.

“It is my duty as a king, even if not yours, to keep you comfortable and safe. I would hate that you caught a cold. Please do take my towel.”

He starts trying to leave but Ignis has to stop.

“I’m very grateful, Ravus, but I will remind you the towel is not yours. We have to give it back”

Gladio will be laughing at Ravus shamelessly pointing at him while Ignis goes back to hand back the three towels.

Ignis is still trying to tell them where he wants to go.

Idk if you can find those at amusement parks but I have to include this:

Those testing/trial games? You know, the stalls where you have to shoot bottles, throw a ring on sticks, darts, all that stuff.

They spend like an entire hour there because most games are the kid vesion of real battle training, and you know, Gladio and Ravus are MASTERS on it.

Indeed they play everything three times trying to prove who’s better.

The first Moogle plush that Gladio gifted Ignis was a cute detail that had the man smile at him.

By now he’s carrying with 10+ plush toys.

He ends up gifting all but two to some kids passing by because it’s ridiculous, he’s not a plush-toy person, and he can’t carry these many.

Ravus and Gladio are too busy furiously shooting bottles to notice.

The ones he kept are the first Moogle plush Gladio gave him and the first fox plushie Ravus gave him.

He’s not a plush toy person, like stated above, but those were the first they gifted him so he’s keeping them.

“It’s etiquette.”

Sure Ignis just admit you’re crushing on both and mentally dying not knowing who to choose.

Ignis why not both

I didn’t say that.

Okay but the one… *googles*

THE HIGH STRIKER.

Gladio rushes there because AWMAN IGNIS WILL SEE I’M THE STRONGEST HE’S GONNA BE AMAZED.

Ignis is still trying to tell them where he wants to go.

Ravus accepts the challenge.

Gladio hits with all his might.

He fucking BREAKS the bell.

Like it splits and falls down.

The three and all people around are like ._______.

Ravus is at the high striker at a side. 

He’s like “Hah, you brute.”

Ravus, with the mechanic arm, doesn’t control his strenght.

He breaks the bell too, the same way.

They end up head down and faces red in embarrassment while Ignis, as the only responsible adult, talks with the people in charge and signs a check to cover all costs of it.

By now they’re EXHAUSTED.

Ravus and Gladio from the games, they can’t cope with any more, but they are both TOO PROUD to say it and will continue shoving each other.

Ignis is exhausted…OF THEIR SHIT.

“Guys…I just…I really just want to go to the ferris wheel…that’s all.”

Both fight again to sit with him.

“*heavy sigh*”

“Guys, there’s space for 4″

Ignis just wants to go home.

The three end in the same…space…cubicle…thing of the ferris.

I don’t speak english don’t judge me.

Gladio and Ignis sit on the same side, but Ignis put distance.

Gladio and Ravus are sitting across each other. 

Both arm-crossed and glaring.

Each hugged to their respective plush toys that they gifted to Ignis.

It’s a dumb image and I love it.

Ignis is just staring out the window, sighing softly and smiling.

Peace.

Relatively.

He thanks them for the day and thanks them for not killing each other.

“It would make me very happy if you two could get along, nonetheless.”

Both freeze because they want to make Ignis happy but that what he’s asking of them is just

Ew

No

Ignis why

So both are deeply confused and that was Ignis intention because that’s how you shut them up for the rest of the day.

He did that on purpose, Ignis, you smartass.

They reunited with the other three in the end.

Luna asked her brother about his day with Ignis and if he succeed.

“I believe I may be close. He smiled and thanked me. Amicitia was in the way, but I believe I may have called Scientia’s attention. I hope he’s noticing my intentions and feelings for him. I wish he does and will one day answer them. Gladiolus worries me as big as an ant can be.”

But he’s actually nervous cause wow, Amicitia’s quite a challenge.

Prompto’s asking Gladio while Ignis is busy talking with Noct.

“Hell yeah, he’s so going to be mine. Fleuret dude tried to be in the way but he’s no challenge to me. Ignis is gonna see how much I really like him and how I’d die for him so no way he’s gonna fall for that princely pale poker face ass.”

But he’s actually nervous cause wow, Ravus is quite a challenge.

My favorite bonus of every ship vs ship headcanon

Ignis turns to be asexual.

Lmao not really, I mean it’d be fun, but I’ll stick with non-ace him.

so if that’s the case

Ignis is REALLY confused and literally can’t pick.

He likes both and he also hates both SO MUCH.

Still, against all odds, against his own opinion, against his own pride, he’s gonna sleep with both plush toys for a week.

Prompto has a picture of that but shh.

MAN, this was SO MUCH FUN OHMYGOD

THANK YOU FOR TRIGGERING ME

THAAAAAANK YOOOOOOU