#it would be nicer if i could just have a big list with vague ideas and then

[warlordfelwinter]

someone stop me before i homebrew a patron for yaz

[sanchoyo]

loosey goosey new years resolutions because I did not even start to try and think of them until last night lmao

-update the webcomic every week of this year. i dont think thats unreasonable, one page doesnt take TOO long to make, so even on busy work weeks I should be able to manage esp if I stay ahead. also I want each chapter to be roughly 20~25 pages long so thats like. roughly 2- 2 1/2 chapters only which is. very reasonable and realistic of me!!!

-try more foods. with my diet being so restricted i need to be less picky bc I do not have as many options. and I have not TRIED half the ones i COULD be eating.

-work out more. at least try more stretches, bc desk job means my back is hurting a lot TwT in the past my jobs have been constantly on my feet type of labor jobs so this is weird for me to just. yeah. sitting so much!! so even if my dr said I can't lift anything over 30 pounds and that kinda rules out the heavier working out stuff. cardio and yoga are still very Real Options

-get a vehicle. oh my god i hate asking other ppl to use theirs + I miss my van. it was so fun choosing what to stock it with + decorating it I MISS IT!!! also just kind of need that if I want to move out asjdhk

-look into therapy. self explanatory (this is less of a priority than the vehicle but still important)

-look into + maybe set up a consultation abt tattoo removals. i hate the one I got ngl it makes me sad everytime i look at it bc of who I went and got it with. this is the least important thing on the list bc its not a NEED and I need to prioritize literally everything else (esp the other ones that cost money on this list) but. like. its a thing I want to at least peep into and it would make me Happy

-debating if I want to open commissions again this year! I know I def want to try to update my portfolio (maybe an entire overhaul) and rework prices + what I offer for commissions, so I guess the last resolution is just. figure out what I want to do with that. very vague idea of just 'update stuff relating to that + my website for that. learn more programming to make it look nicer on mobile.

last years resolutions didn't ALL get accomplished, but I did get a job I don't hate that is both remote and lets me set my own schedule which I like! and I didn't release two zines like I wanted to, but I released one by myself, which I'm still happy abt! I didn't look into 3D modeling at all like I wanted to, which is like. that was never a Big One, but still. I want to dabble in it if I have time this year! not prioritizing it much tho. Big Priorities are steps towards moving out (vehicle first, more income) and web comic.

:3

[smol-dargon]

I've been working on a few things here and there, including "ask me anything" lists for my characters. It's been rough over here, and none of that is finished. So instead, here is an "ask me anything" list about yours truly!

How many scars do you have? Where are they located? How did you get them? What do they look like?

I've got bunches of small ones from cat scratches and hay bales over the years, all over my arms, just tiny scratches. I also have a few pockmark scars from having chicken pox at age 2. That's basically it, I've never sustained any sort of major injury.

How many hours a night do you sleep? Do you nap? How restful is your sleep? Do you have nightmares?

I typically get 6 to 8 hours a night, and I usually feel ok when I wake up. I have nightmares sometimes. Most of them are just waking up with vague feelings of dread, but sometimes I get surprised with a really vivid one. Hours of fun, those ones.

How many meals a day do you eat? What does a typical meal look like?

Usually just two and a snack. I have buttered bread or toast in the mornings, I'll either meal prep pasta or rice for lunch or go out for something quick and easy, and I'll have a big dinner. I don't usually include meat with lunch, just because it's more expensive. Plus, I can add vegetables in. I tend not to eat them otherwise.

Do you have a consistent routine? Do you find it hard to stick to a routine?

On the one hand, I like routine and I like to know what to expect from my day. On the other hand, aside from work, I don't typically do the same things all the time. I vacillate between hobbies and I really don't get out much.

Do you have chronic health conditions? How does this affect you day-to-day?

I have autism, CPTSD, and arthritis. I tend to overthink social interactions despite no longer feeling hypervigilant, I mask anything that comes across as potentially odd, and I have a persistent limp on my right side, probably in the knee, but maybe the hip? They both hurt, all my joints hurt. I'm used to it, along with the chronic fatigue.

How often do you visit the doctor?

I don't even have a primary care physician. If I'm seeing a doctor, it's solely because I'm concerned I might legitimately be dying. All they've ever done is minimize and deflect, and I'm not interested in that. I'll cautiously self-diagnose, seeking input from many reputable sources, rather than trust some dude with a diploma.

What do you do to relax? Is it easy to carve out time for relaxation?

Relaxation is a relative term. I carry tension in my body at all times, even when I'm sleeping or apparently lounging. My mind never stops working, and it can be exhausting. But I do direct my mind to nicer things whenever possible. I enjoy crocheting and writing, as well as listening to music. I've been on a video game OST kick for years now, and it shows no signs of stopping.

Do you handle stress well? What is a surefire sign for others to know you're stressed? How does stress affect you physically and mentally?

That's my secret, Cap; I'm always stressed. I wear it well, and it doesn't cause me many problems I'm not already capable of handling. Sudden stress from work or adverse life events, I tend to panic for a little while and then come to the understanding that none of it realistically matters. I've always found a way through and it's not like I could just kill myself. I'm too busy to die. Besides, my friends would miss me, and that's one thing I'm great at--making friends happy. I hide stress fairly well, but if I've become reclusive, drink more, and don't engage in anything more than doomscrolling, I'm probably worried about something.

How tall are you?

I am exactly five feet tall. Funnily enough, this is equal to 15 hands in horse height.

Are you a virgin?

Don't see why this matters? I am not.

What's your shoe size?

I have no idea. Small.

Do you smoke, drink, or do drugs?

I have historical tendencies to drink, and I have imbibed the ol' Mary Jane once or twice. Beyond that, my biggest vice is actually caffeine.

Do you get mistaken for another age?

All the time. People assume I'm a teenager or in my early twenties. My birth year starts with 19, I'm ancient.

Do you have any tattoos or piercings?

My earlobes are pierced, along with one cartilage piercing each. I have four tattoos. On my spine, Dovahzul runes from Skyrim spelling out "Imaaraan", which translates to "enslaved". Take from that what you will. On my left shoulder, an image of a shrine of Akatosh from Skyrim. On my right forearm, a quote in Daedric: "I am alive because that one is dead/I exist because I have the will to do so". On my left forearm, a dragon coiled around a d20 with the 20 facing up. All in black ink; color doesn't look good on me. I have plans for more, but money.

Who's your best friend?

I don't assign "best". I have a partner, a small circle of friends, a slightly larger circle of acquaintances, and everyone else.

What is your relationship status?

I have been happily committed to my partner for the last ten years. We don't intend to marry, simply because it sounds like a hassle. We are content, and have three cats together.

What are your biggest turnons and turnoffs?

Eheheh… Wow, intrusive, aren't we? Theoretically I'm into bondage/shibari, power play, sensory deprivation, and hypnotism. In reality? I'm basically ace. Turnoffs are the obvious; scat, vomit, piss, that sort of thing. I've had enough of that in my working life, no sense bringing it into the bedroom.

What's your favorite movie?

Again with the absolutes… I have a few I really like. Namely, Robots, Shrek and Shrek 2, Home Alone, Chicken Little, Fiddler on the Roof, Pokemon the First Movie… there's a few others, but those are what come to mind.

What would make you say "I'll love you if…"?

This question gives me the ick. Be a good person and I'll like you, or at least tolerate you. Conditional love is so last century.

Who is someone you miss?

I couldn't possibly mourn everyone I've lost in a single paragraph… I miss my grandparents, lost in childhood to cancer and heart failure. I miss everyone who was ever kind to me in middle school. I especially miss my best friend Kalayna from elementary school. I hope she's doing well, and if she happens to be reading this, I hope you know I still have the pokemon cards you gave me, and the Vileplume you traded to my copy of LeafGreen. I hope life is treating you well; you deserve the best.

What was your most traumatic experience?

… Just go read the Cracking Up chapters from Finding a Better Life Coach, it's all there.

What do you love most about yourself? What do you hate most about yourself?

I guess… I appreciate my commitment to fact and truth. And my bullheaded determination to keep living, even when things are looking bad. I hate quite a bit about myself, but nothing as much as my decisions from the past. I made a great many mistakes in my life, and even if they're not unique or abjectly horrible, I still regret them deeply.

What is your eventual life or career goal?

As long as I'm making enough money to pay my bills and I'm generally being treated well, I am satisfied.

What's your relationship with your siblings and parents like?

I've never met my dad, but my mom's current husband is a decent guy. Kind of a lovable asshole. I don't speak much with my mom. She's very narcissistic and refuses to take responsibility for her actions. She once introduced me to extended family as "her r*tarded child", what does that tell you? My sister and I don't speak much. My brother and I occasionally play World of Warcraft together. I'd be much happier without any ties to the lot of them, if we're being honest. But it's convenient for the moment. Sounds bad, but given my history, I feel justified in my feelings.

What's your idea of the perfect date?

I never really got the idea of romance. Just order a pizza and put a movie on, no sense going broke over someone.

What are your biggest pet peeves?

Tailgaters. I will slow down to 20mph and not bat an eye at it, get the hell off my ass. Beyond that? People not listening when I say something or outright ignoring my advice. I'm not an idiot, and I don't make decisions based on nothing.

Who is someone you dislike the most?

I feel I've covered this one adequately already.

What's a reason you've lied to a friend?

Anytime I felt misunderstood or unwanted, I have lied. I lie all the time. "I'm fine", is my most common lie.

What do you hate most about your job?

Currently? Management. Internal politics. I'll not say more, I think it falls under NDA.

What are some words that upset you the most? And some that make you feel the best?

Abandoned always stings. I'm not fond of r*tard either, for obvious reasons. I like hearing that people are proud of me or like something I've suggested. I like hearing that I'm useful, and wanted. Loved? Not as important as being needed.

What do you find attractive in others?

Look, I've got a type, and literally nobody alive fits the description. You're most attractive if you're non-human, tall, lanky, and "Don't Get It" (trademark).

Where would you like to live?

If money weren't an object? Somewhere in the deep south with no neighbors for a hundred miles. Forest preferred. Give me a homestead, a couple horses, cows, some chickens, and the ability to grow and preserve my own food. Leave me the hell alone. Society sucks.

What is one insecurity you have?

Just one? Hard choice… I think my singing voice is terrible. It's neither masculine nor feminine, and sometimes I wish it would just pick one.

What's your favorite flavor of ice cream?

Basic flavors? Chocolate. I like cookies and crème too, and anything with chocolate chunks, brownies, cookie bits, caramel… Anything but nuts and mint. Nuts are Bad Texture and if I wanted mint, I'd brush my teeth.

Where do you want to be right now?

(Draws one of my fictional novels from out of a hat)

What's the last thing you ate?

Beef pizza.

Who's the sexiest celebrity that comes to mind immediately?

I don't know, Danny Devito?

Do you trust your instincts?

Depends. In video games, writing, and horses? Absolutely. Anywhere else? Absolutely not.

What's an action you regret not taking?

There's so many of them… I guess I regret not spitting on the grave of my mother's first husband when I left the state. But I'm sure I'll get the chance to in the future.

Would you risk yourself to save another?

Despite myself, probably. Being useful is the most important thing I have to offer.

Would you kill to save another?

Probably.

Could you cut ties with someone for the greater good?

I'd cut ties for one corn chip.

Would you survive alone in the wild for a week?

I'm too stubborn to die. I'm also reasonably well-versed in survival. Plenty for a week.

What is your safe place or comfort zone?

Anywhere I can close and lock a door and not be bothered. Aside from a bathroom, that's weird.

If you became immortal, would you consider it a blessing or curse?

Definitely a curse. But at least I could torment humanity with my skeleton fanfics for all eternity.

What's the greatest challenge you've overcome?

Making it to today is always the biggest hurdle. My next goal is to make it to tomorrow.

What's a challenge you could never overcome?

Verbalizing my emotions. But at least I can text them.

Are you an optimist or pessimist?

I am definitely a pessimist. I'm always either right or pleasantly surprised. Not to mention prepared for the worst.

Do you believe in an afterlife?

No. Just the hallucinations of a dying brain.

If you could redo one moment in your childhood, what would it be and how would you change it?

… I would hug my granny a little tighter before I left that weekend.

What are three fears you have?

Spiders, heights, and bubonic plague.

What are three things you like?

That's a pretty broad question. Video games, horses, and music, I guess.

What is your sexual orientation?

I think I'm classified as pansexual or androsexual. I'm nonbinary and I prefer to date masculine-presenting individuals.

What does the best first date look like?

I mean, I guess dinner and a movie?

What is your favorite color?

Black. But red, orange, and blue are close seconds.

What is your favorite place?

Aside from my house? I guess my car.

What is your favorite food?

I'll eat anything. I guess crawfish are pretty high up there.

Do you use sarcasm?

Surprisingly, I'm great at sarcasm. People just assume I'm not because I'm autistic. They assume I'm taking it seriously when I'm actually continuing to play on their sarcasm.

What's the first thing you notice when meeting new people?

Their vibe. Do they feel dangerous?

What is your favorite style of clothing?

Sweatpants and t-shirts. Loose and comfy.

Have you ever done a prank call?

No, but I've pocket-dialed a bunch of people, including 911.

What is your favorite song or genre of music?

Currently, my earworm is Badly Decomposed Brain from the MediEvil 2019 OST. I like orchestral music including video game remixes, and rock.

What's your favorite holiday?

Thanksgiving. I like making sure my friends and family leave my house fat and happy.

What is your relationship with your last ex?

I hope he gets buried alive, force-fed honey, and left to be eaten alive by the insects attracted to his shit.

When was the last time you held someone's hand?

Hm, it's been a minute. But I do cuddle my partner frequently.

How long does it take you to get ready in the morning?

Normally? Fifteen minutes. In a hurry? Five or less and I'm out the door.

If you were drunk and couldn't stand, who would be taking care of you?

Realistically, my partner. But I'd manage myself alone either way.

Do you like music loud or soft?

Loud. How else am I supposed to appreciate the french horns going ham on the harmony under the main theme?

Are you excited for anything coming up?

Not really. I very much live day-to-day. I get excited for dinner.

How often do you wear a fake smile?

Only when interacting professionally. Otherwise, you get what you deserve.

When was the last time you hugged someone?

I always hug my partner every chance I get. You never know when it will be the last time.

Is there anyone you trust that you really shouldn't?

I don't trust anyone.

What is your strangest talent?

I can tell you the location and criteria for obtaining every unique weapon and piece of armor in Skyrim; excluding Creation Club content, I'm still exploring that.

What is your strangest phobia?

All of my phobias are sensible. But I suppose it's odd for a former vet tech to be afraid of needles.

What's the last lie you told?

"I'm fine."

Do you prefer talk or text?

Text. Less pressure to respond, ignores the potential of me being muted.

Do you believe in ghosts or aliens?

Neither. I only believe what can be proven.

Do you believe in magic?

Despite how prominently it features in my fics, I do not. I can dream, though…

Do you believe in luck?

No.

What's the last book you read?

Hm, the last one I read cover to cover was Unmentionable, which is about sex, contraception, hygiene, and similar topics in Victorian England.

Do you have a nickname?

I've had several over the years, but these days I just go by Nyx.

What's the worst injury you've ever had?

Aside from what caused my CPTSD? I once had a kidney stone? I got my arms shredded by a small dog once while placing a cone of shame on him?

Do you spend or save?

I try very much to save, but I typically give myself an allowance to have for fun.

Can you touch your nose with your tongue?

Yes, barely at the septum.

What's your favorite animal?

(Looks at the camera like in The Office)

What were you doing last night at midnight?

Sleeping.

What is Satan's last name?

Darmstaedter. No relation to me, I assure you.

What's a song that always makes you happy when you hear it?

On Top of the World by Imagine Dragons, and I don't care that its cheesy.

How does one win your heart?

Patiently. You must establish yourself as truthful and respectful, and you must be quick to acknowledge and fix mistakes. I tend not to forgive, and I certainly do not forget. Once a rift appears in the relationship, it's too late. I've already abandoned ship.

Do you have a preferred eulogy or tombstone engraving?

Hm, I've never thought about it… I fully intend on donating my body to science and having it tossed into the wilderness afterwards. Don't visit me at a gravesite, I'm not there. Visit me while I'm alive, that's when it matters.

What's your favorite word?

Sternocleidomastoid. I also like promiscuous and pernicious.

Do you have any relatives in jail?

Probably, no idea.

What's a question you'd be afraid to answer truthfully?

Are you afraid?

Have you ever been pregnant?

No, thank god.

Have you ever failed a class?

I failed the first semester of organic chemistry. But I retook it and passed with a high grade the next year. I did come perilously close to failing both semesters of physics though.

Have you ever kissed anyone?

Why is this question after the virgin question? That makes no sense. Of course I have.

Have you ever kissed anyone in the rain?

That sounds unpleasant.

Have you ever left home without your wallet?

Once or twice. I keep my wallet in a set location now so I don't forget.

Have you ever bullied someone on the internet?

Oh yeah. I love going after homophobes and bigots. They never listen, but all I have to do is block them and the conversation is over. Easy to win.

Have you ever had public sex?

Absolutely not. Exhibitionism is not for me.

Are you vegetarian or vegan?

You can pry steak from my cold, dead hands.

Have you ever been underweight or overweight?

I used to think I was fat, but it turns out this is my correct shape. I'd been living on a cortisol high, and it was causing me to burn excess calories, which led me to actually be a bit too skinny. It's amazing how your body can change once you start feeling safe.

Have you ever been to a wedding?

Only a couple. I'm not a fan.

Have you ever watched TV for 5 straight hours?

Those are rookie numbers. I've watched for 16 while crocheting something.

Have you ever broken a bone?

Nope.

Have you ever been on an airplane?

I love flying. I've been on several planes and I always enjoy worrying about turbulence and thinking about all the other planes of the same model that have crashed.

Do you know any other languages?

Regrettably, I'm only fluent in English. I am trying to learn Spanish, though.

Have you ever dyed your hair?

Once, red with a box dye. Didn't notice a difference and didn't feel like spending the money to do anything more extreme.

Have you ever rode in an ambulance?

No, but I have kept up with one driving across town with my papaw inside.

Have you ever had surgery?

No, and the idea scares me.

Have you ever peed outside?

The law of the trail: everyone else averts their gaze, you hide behind your horse, being careful to give distance if you're riding a gelding who sympathy pees. And always check to ensure you're not pissing on a snake. That tends to piss them off.

Have you ever been fishing?

A couple times. Once with family for small brim, another with an ex. I'm pretty sure he just wanted to make out.

Have you ever broken a mirror?

Probably, but I can't recall for certain.

What do you want for your birthday?

To win the lottery…

Are you a righty or a lefty?

I am technically cross-dominant. I have a handedness, but which hand depends on the task. I write left handed, snap right handed, and at one time could place IV catheters with either hand.

Do you have any pets?

We have three cats. Mr. T is a 13yr old domestic shorthair, a smoky grey tabby. Bean is a 7yr old domestic longhair, all white except with some black ears and tail. And Stitch is a 19yr old domestic shorthair, more brown in color and tabby.

What's your favorite piece of clothing you own?

A t-shirt my partner's mom got me. It's purple and says do not meddle in the affairs of dragons, for thou art crunchy and go good with ketchup.

Do you play any instruments?

I used to play piano, saxophone, and bassoon, but I am sorely out of practice.

Do you like chewing gum?

No, makes my teeth feel weird.

Do you prefer coffee, tea, or hot chocolate?

I only drink one specific coffee: the iced coca mocha latte from Dunkin' Donuts. Otherwise, hot chocolate.

White, milk, or dark chocolate?

Dark is my favorite, but I like milk too.

What's your favorite type of cake?

Anything chocolate is a good bet, as long as there's no nuts. I love red velvet too.

How long can you hold your breath?

I've never timed it, but I was a band kid. I've got the breath control to belt out a whole stanza of certain songs.

What is your favorite physical feature about yourself?

Probably my hair. I've grown to love the color and thickness. I haven't cut it beyond trimming dead ends since 2014.

Can you drive?

Yes, but I take after my mother. It's only illegal if you get caught.

Can you bike?

Yes, but I'm not very graceful at it.

Can you swim?

Not even a little.

What's the furthest you've ever traveled from home?

I drove seventeen hours to move here to North Carolina. All in one day, only stopped for gas, had my vehicle stuff floor to ceiling with my things, my bike mounted to the back, and my two cats in the front seat.

Are you scared of space?

You'd have to be an idiot not to be.

Can you knit?

I know how to, but I'm not very good at it. I prefer crochet, I'm great at that.

What's scarier, the ocean or space?

Space. At least the things in the ocean belong here.

Have you ever played competitive sports?

No, I don't like the pressure to perform.

What's a sport you've never played but want to try?

Skijoring looks fun. I want to try both the riding and the boarding.

What's your favorite Christmas movie?

Home Alone, but Nightmare Before Christmas is right there with it.

How many spoons can you balance on your face?

Yeah, I'm not doing that one.

Does pineapple belong on pizza?

Sure, depends on the rest of the toppings though.

What's your ideal temperature?

80F. I hate being cold.

How tidy is your room?

Everything has a place, but I really need to dust.

Have you ever tried a dating app?

They didn't have those when I met my partner, and I've not had a reason to use them.

Do you drink coffee or energy drinks?

I drink soda, does that count?

Are you good at math?

Not even a little.

How many phone numbers do you have memorized?

Three. Mine, my mom's (because it's only 4 digits off), and my childhood home's number.

Can you do a handstand?

Not for very long, even with a supporting wall. Hurts my neck.

What's your favorite type of jewelry?

I don't wear much. Rings, I guess.

Savory or sweet?

Savory, for sure. But Sweet and Savory is good too.

What do you call carbonated beverages?

Soda, or whatever their brand is.

Can you fit your fist in your mouth?

I think we're done here.

[writingsfromhome]

Crystal Clear

A/N: Here’s some fluff, friends to lovers I’ve had going on while I work on something bigger :))

----------------------------------------

“Y/N,” a strange man calls my name. I look him up and down but I don’t think I know him.

“Who’s asking?”

“Y/N, it’s me? Harry.”

“Oh,” I laugh and greet him how I would have if I’d recognized him under all those layers, in a great big hug. “Your disguise is brilliant!”

“It’s not a disguise,” he says into his coat. “It’s bloody cold here.”

“Coldest day so far,” I accept the hot chocolate from the vendor and ask him for another, Harry could use one, poor thing. His plans this week were changed last minute, and since he was in New York City where his best childhood friend lived, he decided to actually hang out with me. Ever since he got famous, it was hard to catch time with him.

“Did the cold freeze all the English out of you? You’re not even wearing mittens,” Harry accepts his own cup from the vendor.

“I’m got them in my pocket,” I point to the bulge on the side of my coat as we step aside and make our way deeper into the winter festival that was at Bryant Park. “Don’t insult me, I can still make a better cup of tea than you ever could.”

“There she is,” I hear the smile in Harry’s voice more than I see it. It truly was ridiculous--not only was he wearing the thickest parka I’d ever seen, he also had on a beanie and a scarf, as well as knit gloves that held tightly to his hot chocolate.

“I’m always here, you’re just too busy to see me.”

“Not this again,” he groans. I was always giving him grief every time he touched down to NYC but didn’t pop by for a visit. I knew he had a hectic schedule, and even though I wasn’t that bothered I still liked to tease him.

“It’s true, you come to the city so often but I see you once a year. And maybe again when I’m in London if I get lucky.”

“I’m busy Y/N, I talk to you all the time!”

“I know,” I elbow him. “I just like to rile you up.”

“Well now that you’ve got that out of your system,” he tugs my hat over my eyes. “Where are we going next?”

I push it back up, “I thought we could just wander the shops, then get on the skating rink if you’re not frozen to death.”

“Alright I’ve got to pick some gifts up anyway let’s see what’s here.”

We make a good team as we visit stands selling ornaments and kitschy decor, handmade gifts, and hot cider. We sift through exactly what we might want, or what the other’s looking for. And with the light dusting of snow coming down, and the bright lights strung around the Park, it was like walking in a Christmas movie.

“Look at this,” I point ahead. We’d nearly visited all the stands and holiday shops but a festive psychic advertises their services in a small glass booth. “Should we?”

“It’s a waste of money,” Harry scoffs. “She’s just going to read your body language.”

“She might be the real deal-”

“You can’t be serious-”

“C’mon!” I tug his gloves hand and it takes a few but he stumbles towards me. It’s slightly warmer inside and I notice the space heater running in the corner. “At least it’s warm” I whisper to Harry.

“You really want to do this?” He asks one last time.

“It’s just $10-”

“$20 for the two,” the woman almost shifts out of the wall and I hide my jump with a laugh. There’s a curtain behind her, I realize, she must have stepped out.

“It’s just me,” I clarify.

She eyes Harry and Harry eyes her back. “You look familiar.”

“Just have that face,” he shrugs, burrowing into his scarf. “I’m just here to watch.”

She stares at him a moment longer before settling at the small table. I flash Harry a smile before sitting down myself, setting my bags onto the floor.

“Palm reading, cards, what will it be dear?” The psychic asks. I remember the sign out front said cards would be more than having my palm read so I opt for the cheaper option.

“Hm,” she says thoughtfully as she traces the lines on my palm. I wriggle my eyebrows at Harry and he rolls his eyes, but he stays watching her like a hawk. It was cute how overprotective he got sometimes. The psychic glances up to catch him watching her, she then glances at me and tilts her head.

“I see longevity, in life and love, a few bumps but you’re a strong persistent woman.”

Harry grumbles behind me and I resist the urge to say something to him.

“I see success after hard, hard work. But a big success that will change the course of your career.”

“Wow, how soon?” I ask.

“Mmm, after a big milestone. Turning 30?” she continues to examine my hand. “I see a second life later in life, with kids...just one no maybe two children.”

“How about her love life?” Harry asks. “Her last love s’not too nice.”

“Seriously Harry?” I turn to glare this time. He’s grinning with flushed cheeks, knowing it was a sore spot he liked to say i told you so to. It was true, he had told me so about my 3 year relationship but I’d ignored him.

“Your love life,’ the woman speaks up. “Shows me two great loves. One cuts short, the other is as long as your life line.”

“Ooh,” I lean in, interested. “I think I know about the one that was cut short. Tell me about the second!”

“This second...” she traces my palm and I feel a tingle. “This second love is very close, a bit rocky but it will last.”

“A bit rocky?”

“Hm,” she chews her bottom lip. “Time, distance...it will make it rocky. But it lasts.”

“So how close is close?” I ask eagerly.

“Close,” she says with a smile that tells me I wasn’t getting anything else out of her.

“That’s a bit vague isn’t it?” Harry pipes up from the back.

“The future isn’t always crystal clear,” she says without looking up at him.

“Lay off,” I scold him.

“It’s okay, I get nonbelievers all the time.” She laughs. “That will be $10 dear.” When I hand her the bill she stops me as she takes it. “A little free advice?”

“Sure.” I pick up the bags I placed on the floor earlier.

"Don’t be so focused on the life you want that you don’t see the life you have around you.”

“I’ve actually told her that before,” Harry decides we want more of his unsolicited opinions. “Maybe there is something true to all of this.”

“Thanks,” I pocket her words for later. Harry was right, he’d said something along those lines to me before, especially when it came to giving up control and going with the flow on trips and events with him. I always declined his offers, we lived a modest life growing up and accepting these gifts from him always felt so excessive. I wanted to make my own way in the world, but Harry always had something to say. “And sorry for his attitude, he’s not always this rude.”

“Yeah,” Harry shifts forward. “I didn’t mean anything by it, I’m a lot nicer usually.”

“I know,” she smiles.

“She’s psychic,” I remind him.

“I’m also online,” she laughs. “Can I get a picture?”

Harry eyes me, before going in for a selfie with her. I know he usually didn’t mind getting asked in smaller settings but he’d admitted it was something he was still getting used to. It had been a couple years since he became so famous, in such a short amount of time I went from being able to go down to a local pub with my best friend to schedules and security details and a whole other list of complications. Sometimes I hated it, mostly I was happy for him.

“Another day, another fan.” I tell Harry after we walk away from the psychic and he flips me off. “Should we get something to eat and get out of the cold?”

“God yes,” Harry shivers. “Can we just go to yours?”

“Let’s go,” I loop my arm through Harry’s.

Harry wants instant warmth so he hails a cab and we pick up takeout once we reach my neighbourhood. Harry had been here a few times, my roommate had gotten used to the fact that I was best friends with him, and sometimes he preferred to stay here when he wanted to be anonymous. Paparazzi sometimes crowded outside his hotel when word leaked he was there.

We eat ourselves into a food coma and Harry decides to stay the night, not wanting to face the cold again. Since our living room couch sprained his neck the only time he’d slept there, he usually crashed in my bed. His head barely hits the pillow before he’s snoring, I guess the jet lag finally caught up.

***

I jerk out of sleep, a crashing noise followed by swearing catches my attention.

“I think your roommate dropped something,” I hear from beside me. I turn my face to get a facefull of Harry’s thigh tattoos.

“Y’think?” I croak and shift backwards to see his face. He’s sitting up in bed and scrolling through his phone.

“Guess which psychic is officially internet-famous?” Harry asks dryly.

“Hm?” I’m still calming my heart from waking up so suddenly so it takes a moment to register Harry’s words. “What?”

He shoves his phone in my face, the selfie he took with the psychic yesterday is posted on social media with over half a million likes. He swipes away and a lot of his tag is filled with news outlets and fan accounts spamming the picture. He pulls it back to read a heading: “Harry Styles visits Psychic for ideas on his next album. There’s also Harry Styles rumored to be connected to the Occult...I don’t know what that means. Psychic tells all on Harry Styles reading.”

“How did that picture circulate?” I rub my eyes and sit up beside him. “And where is all of this coming from?”

“She has a Twitter, and she posted the picture.” He shows me, it’s there with the caption A handsome face showed up to my booth at the Bryant Park Market tonight. Get your future told, 5pm to 9pm 7 days a week.

I can’t help but laugh, she was a business woman and she really took the opportunity to sell her service.

“It’s not funny Y/N,” Harry looks furious so I cover my mouth and squint at his screen as he scrolls. A ton of people are responding asking about his future or what he came there for. Amongst them, she responds to only one person: His love life was involved.

My jaw drops, “That’s such a lie! She read me my love life, and life lines!”

“I told you she was a fraud,” Harry jerks the phone back to him.

“She lied for sales, but doesn’t mean she didn’t tell the truth yesterday.”

“If she lied about this she lied about it all and you wasted $10. She only talked about your love life, not mine...”

I remember her words, my second love was very close...could she have meant...

I glance at Harry and he seemed to have followed the same train of thought because we lock eyes, his probably just as wide as mine.

“D’you think?” he says just as I say “Was she...?”

We immediately burst out laughing as the tension comes to a head and bubbles over in a safe trickle.

“Is that what she was trying to say?” I say when I’ve finally caught my breath, my stomach hurt from laughing this hard.

“I guess when she said close she meant close,” Harry’s flat on his back from laughing. “Quite literal.”

“And you were calling her out on being so vague.”

“I’ve got to give it to her,” he shuts his phone off and throws it onto the covers between us, releasing the annoyance. “She’s a good businesswoman.”

“I was thinking the same thing but I thought you might kill me if I said that,” I admit.

We lay on the rumpled covers in silence, I think about everything else she said. The potential of it all is tarnished by the idea of Harry being my second love, for life. It was so ridiculous, unless by love she meant the way I love him now. As my best friend. Our lives were so different, there was no way it could ever work. Not to mention...he was my best friend since forever.

“Have you ever thought about it?” Harry asks out of the blue.

“Thought about what?” I prop myself on my elbow.

“Us, like...the way she predicted?”

“Together together?” I can’t help but laugh. “No never, you’re my best friend!” I recognize the flash of hurt so I backtrack a little. “No offense Harry, I love you but could you imagine?”

“I have,” he says it so quietly as I lay back down. “What?” I ask. He shrugs, “I’m surprised you haven’t. We’ve been friends since...we were 7. You’re saying you never thought about it?”

“No,” I shake my head. “Actually I haven’t. When...what did you think about?”

“I dunno,” he fiddles with his rings. “Like for school dances, when I didn’t have a date I thought about asking you as more than a friend...thought about where that could lead. Or every time you had your heart broke. I wanted to take the pain away and just show you what you deserved.”

“Harry I...” it was sweet, what he was saying. But he never gave a single clue about it the entire time we grew up. He was always chasing girls who looked nothing like me, so I always thought that’s what his type was. Never did I think about anything more with him.

“Not-not recently though,” he forces a laugh. “Just when we were kids.”

“That’s sweet Harry. I had no idea.”

He shrugs, and sits up.

“No seriously I...that’s so sweet. But just so you know, you have shown me what a good man can be. Just by being the best friend ever.”

“Aw,” he swipes my cheek as he gets up. “That’s cute. I don’t know if I’ve done such a good job when you’ve only dated knobs.”

I could recognize his defense mechanism--turning it into a big joke. But he leaves the room before I can call him out and I’m left sitting in the mess of what he’d just told me. It’s not that it was awkward or a bad thing, but suddenly it felt tense and the tension triggered an anxious feeling in my chest.

I decide to get out of my room and find my roommate cleaning up the remains of her broken mug. I offer to clean the spill as she dresses to go out for her run. Helping her distracts me, and when I hear Harry leave the bathroom I lock myself in, and try some breathing exercises to clear the anxiety creeping up. When I realize I was trying to avoid Harry, I scold myself. This was ridiculous and funny! Harry wanted to ask me out when we were kids, it was cute, and that was it. The psychic was a fake anyway, nothing she said meant anything.

I head back to my room where Harry’s made the bed. I change into trousers and my favourite fisherman sweater, and find him having coffee at our small kitchen table with his phone on speaker as he talks to someone. His legs barely fit underneath, so they’re sprawled to the side. He’s still shirtless, and my attention snags on his torso.

I shake myself out of my thoughts as I bump into the kitchen island, and glance up to see that although he was talking to the person on the phone, his eyes had been on me...while my eyes were on his abs. Oh god, I cringe. I try to act casual, mouthing if he wanted breakfast but he shakes his head and points to the call he’s having.

I make myself a toast and try to ignore what just happened but it only adds to the tension from this morning. When he gets off his call he brings his cup up to the sink.

“I think I need another cup.”

“Be my guest,” I move aside. “You sure you don’t want breakfast?”

“Are you going to feed me avocado flax seed quinoa toast?” he teases.

“There’s no quinoa.” I correct, crossing my arms. “But...yes.”

“I’ll take this banana,” he holds the lone banana on the counter. “I’ve got to be in East Harlem by noon, that’s what the call was about.”

“Aw,” I hated saying goodbye. “Are you busy the rest of your stay?”

“I can make it back here,” he says.

“Do whatever you need to do,” I say. “I’m used to being discarded after you hang out with me in the city.”

“I don’t do that!” he reaches behind me to slot his cup in and set the machine to grind his beans. I can smell my shampoo on him, he must’ve showered. “If you want me back, you can just say that.”

The morning sunlight streaming through the kitchen window leaves no room for shadows; the shift in the mood is clear as the daylight streaming in. Or maybe I was reading too much into his words.

“I always want you back,” I look up to his height now that he’s standing so close, and the kitchen tightens further.

We’re stuck in a tableau; with my back against the fridge looking up at him as he gazes down with a curious expression. My mind grows blank the longer I stare. No one says a word, the sound of beans grinding the only noise in the kitchen.

My best friend in the whole world looks torn standing in front of me like this, and as my senses slowly rush back I realize that even if my expression doesn’t show it...I was torn. Because out of nowhere, all I can think about are all the questions I ever shoved away in the dark: what would it feel like if I kissed him right now? And what would have happened to us if he had asked me out to our school dance? Would we still be best friends? Would we have cut each other out? How many universes were we still good together like this? How many universes were we good together as more than this?

An urge to touch his face, make sure this was real, takes over me. But as soon as my fingers brush his cheek he snaps out of his trance and stumbles back like I’d burned him.

He forces a laugh. “I really do need that coffee.”

“Right,” I turn to the machine to put the grinds into their slot but I yank too hard and the freshly ground coffee flies out towards me. “Shit!”

“What happ-” Harry takes one look at what’s happened and turns away, his shoulders shaking.

“I can see you right in front of me laughing!” I shout. “Help me!”

“It’s all over you Y/N,” he turns around, tears in his eyes. “Give me this, I’ll put it far away from you.” He takes the remaining grinds and sets it down. I brush away what’s closest to my eyes so I can see and try to shake it off my sweater but they stick to the fibers of the knit.

“Great,” I grumble. “This is dry clean only.”

“It’s in your hair,” he runs his fingers through the strands that hang over my shoulder. I shake my head to dislodge the grinds; his fingers brush my neck away and tucks my hair behind my ear. “Uhm, that should be most of it.”

“It’s not out of this sweater,” I pout. “Screw dry clean, why did I think I could buy dry cleaning clothes?”

“I can drop it off on the way out today?” he offers.

“That means you’re coming back to drop it off to me?!” I ask hopefully.

His expression softens, “Y/N I’m coming back to your flat. I promise.”

“He promises!” I shout. Even though things were a bit awkward this morning, I got to spend more time with my hard-to-catch best friend and for that I was over the moon.

“We could also try to vacuum the sweater?” Harry suggests.

“So you don’t have to come back with dry clean?” I tease. “I’m not letting you get out of your promise, let me give it to you before you change your mind.” I tug my top off and ball it up, shoving it in his hands. It falls to the floor when he doesn’t hold it.

“Hello?” I look up and he’s a deer in the headlights. “Harry...”

“I can’t do this right now,” he takes a step back. I get the sweater from the ground and hold it out to him again.

“Do you want to wipe the kitchen floor with the sweater too? Take it!” I sigh. “Harry are you really acting so chaste about seeing a girl in her bra?”

“It’s-” he decides to stop mid-word. “You’re not just any girl Y/N, I’ve already made it clear.”

Now it’s my turn to stare--he hadn’t made it clear. “You said you only felt something when you were younger...”

“And you believed me?”

I realize I didn’t, but I wanted to believe him so I hadn’t questioned it. “Well it’s not the first time you’ve seen me in a bra. Can you take the damn sweater?” 

“Yeah I can I’m just...” he seems to calm down a bit, enough to step towards me and take it. “I didn’t have to face this conflicted feeling in me if I didn’t see you often. I can just be the best friend. But now, with the whole psychic thing and you in--like this in your kitchen and I--I’m remembering how much I just want to...”

“Kiss me,” I say.

“Yeah...” he looks away.

“No, I’m telling you to kiss me.” I clarify. His expression would’ve made me laugh if my heart wasn’t beating so fast. I couldn’t believe I was being this impulsive.

“Really? You’re not just saying that cuz of this morning?”

“Fine,” I step out of his reach and cross my arms to hide my shaking hands. “If you don’t want to kiss me-”

He pulls me back too quickly and I bump into his chest. “I never said that.” He says in a tone I’d never heard from him before, it’s serious and sexy and it sends tingles through my body. I press myself up against him and he finally, finally, kisses me. Every bit of tension and anxiety the day had built up releases in the single moment his lips cover mine.

How had I waited this long?

The kiss is gentle, delicate like he’s still not entirely sure I want the same thing he does. I show him I do by using my tongue to open his mouth slowly and the hesitation disappears immediately. We’re a fighter jet taking off from there; I don’t know where I end and where he begins as he walks me to the kitchen island and lifts me onto it, our limbs tangling together, His hands roam down the side of my body, but he stays in the safe zones until I unclasp my bra.

“Oh hell no,” my roommate’s voice interrupts us from behind. I hold my bra close and turn. She stands at the entryway, shaking her head. “Not here. Not on our kitchen island. You two have a room literally 10 feet away...”

“Oops,” I say quietly which seems to set Harry off. My roommate is still shaking her head but I see the smile on her face. I’d caught her hooking up on multiple occasions so it wasn’t anything new. But I didn’t do this often. I jump down, apologizing to her. “Harry’s going to clean the coffee off the floor...I-I’ll find a shirt.”

“Mhm,” she closes her bedroom door and I look over at Harry who’s crouching on the floor in tears.

“This is all your fault!” I whisper but he tugs me down to where he is and holds my face as he kisses me.

“I know you two aren’t behind the island,” my roommate’s voice comes out again. I stay there as her footsteps move to the bathroom and the door closes behind her.

“I hate you,” I skirt out of his reach, and rush to my room yelling another sorry as I head back and find a top. Harry appears in my room as I put it on.

“I guess that was a good time for her to walk in on before it got too far?” he still has a stupid grin on his face.

“I don’t even want to think about it,” my cheeks were burning and even more so that Harry was elated.

“I’ve actually got to head out now.”

I pout but he kisses my pout instead. He promises he’ll be back in the evening and I let him go with one more kiss, my mind catching up with everything that just happened.

Oh my god.

***

It’s nearly 8 by the time I’m done running all my errands--taking holidays off for work was usually a good decision for me. I had a big family and picking up all the holiday bits before I flew back home was always a big job. I take an Uber home, I couldn’t handle a 40 minutes trip back home carrying everything home on the subway.

I call out to my roommate when I get in but she doesn’t respond. I check her door and it’s open and dark, the bathroom is also empty. She must have evening plans.

I open my door to a surprise. Harry is sprawled on my bed. He jerks awake when I settle my bags down.

“Y/N?” he squints as I turn the light on.

“How did you get in here?” I shrug my coat off.

“Y’roommate let me in before she left,” he rubs his eyes. “Didn’t mean to fall asleep...I had a whole thing planned.”

I’d gone over the whole morning during my errands, surprised and excited and nervous about this new step for us. But I continued to think about what the psychic said, our love lines extended alongside my life line. Even though there wasn’t much comfort or trust in a psychic who used a photo opp as a marketing opp, what she said had come true. And I put my faith in that, calming my nerves about this new step potentially ruining our friendship forever.

“Was that okay?” Harry sits up. “She didn’t think you’d mind.”

“Oh no that’s fine,” I unwrap my scarf and stand at the foot of my bed. “I really wasn’t sure if you were coming back.”

“Of course I would,” he reaches for my hand. “I wouldn’t leave you after this morning, I’m not that flighty.”

“Well we never really got to talk about it,” I say as I sit down. I’d texted him during the day but it never showed he read it, I wasn’t sure how to read into that; finding him passed out on my room meant he was probably on the go all day.

“Are you okay with this?” he says with such concern, I nearly tear up. This was making me way too emotional.

“I am,” I smile at my best friend in the whole world. “I just don’t want to go too fast.”

“We won’t,” he promises as he holds his arms out. I lean in towards his solid chest and he wraps his arms around me. I feel his breath on my cheek, then his lips in my hair. “I’m yours for eternity Y/N, we can take it as slow or fast as you want.”

It was a good thing to say, and I believe him entirely.

We eventually untangle ourselves to get food in us, and even though things are different, they’re also not. We still pick out the same parts of our food to give the other person, we still talk the same shit and laugh at the same jokes. But his hands grasps mine and his thumb brushes over my knuckles absentmindedly. His eyes stay steady on me as I talk like I’m someone new he’s exploring. We kiss after dinner, but we also load the dishwasher and laugh about the one time I’d managed to burn soup from a can. Eventually we end in my bedroom, where we lay together, our conversation growing quieter by the minute, the space between us growing smaller.

And even though we’d slept like this a hundred times before, it’s different now. I can feel it in every atom of my being, I was his and he was mine. And I don’t know how long it’s been like this for it to feel so easy, but accepting it was a no brainer, like accepting the sky was blue or the sun was hot. I remember the advice the psychic gave, I was following it: living the life I had around me even though it wasn’t the life I thought I would have.

There were a million things Harry and I had to figure out to make this work--I knew it wasn’t going to be easy. But I did know that it was right, it was true, and it was going to be forever.

The future may not be crystal clear, but my future with this man was.

[thatonebackgroundcharacter]

Fighting Fate-

No one would have ever thought that this would be happening. That Billy had survived that night in StarCourt Mall. But now the blonde-haired man has found himself fully recovered (only physically) and helping the damn Scooby gang fight another bad guy from that hell hole they call ‘the upside down’. Something called a Vecna or something. He couldn’t really give a crap about the name. Only that it was responsible for murdering Chrissy Cunningham. Back in high school he could vaguely remember her. Always sweet and always around that Jason guy who he didn’t give two shits about. 

So here he was, helping Eddie ‘the Freak’ Munson, hide from the cops. He honestly wondered to himself why he bothered even helping them. But then when he sees Max it all comes back to him. He couldn’t leave her alone here. Neil had left after a nasty fight and Billy was the only one who took care of his sister. His stepmom was drinking herself silly and didn’t care enough to check in on them. So, he had to be the parent. Taking max to school, making sure she eats three meals a day. After his near-death experience, it seemed to wake him up more. He wanted to be better, and he wasn’t going to just leave max to suffer like he did when his mom left. 

While Nancy and Robin were out getting information, Billy stuck with Steve and the kids. All three of them were squished in the back seat while Billy rode shotgun and Steve drove. They were finding out that the people who had been victims all had the same experiences beforehand. 

“I got some information from the councilor’s personal office, and the key to the one at school. But from what I read Chrissy was experiencing some heavy shit…but she also was complaining about headaches, nightmares…” Billy lost his focus on what Max was saying as he felt his head throb. He had been popping Aspirin like it was candy for the last few days. But he soon began to worry when the kids listed off symptoms he was having. 

The nightmares were nothing new to him. But instead of them being about his mom. They were about his near-death experience. Feeling that creepy mind flayer pierce through his body and leave him for dead on the ground. He couldn’t remember much after that, just that he could hear Max’s screams as he bled out. 

“Hey man, you ok?” Billy snapped out of it and looked to Steve. He had a concerned look on his face. His brown eyes glancing at him before looking to the road again as he drove. 

“I’m fine Harrington, don’t get all mommy on me like you do with your kids” He muttered and looked back out the windshield. 

Yes, he could have said that nicer, but his god damn head was killing him. And he hated seeing Steve look at him like that. The last time he did, was when Billy had shown up at his front door a complete mess after his big fight with Neil. bruised and sporting a bloody nose. 

“I didn’t have anywhere else to go” Billy said in a broken voice. Why did he come to him of all people? He had no idea, but Steve took him in anyways. Cleaning his cuts and getting ice for his bruise. Steve was leaning in close as he cleaned a cut on Billys tan cheek. He winced a bit from the sting of the alcohol and Steve uttered an apology. 

“Sorry…” the brunette muttered as he moved to get a bandage. But was stopped by Billy grabbing his wrist. Steve was totally oblivious; the blonde had been staring at him the whole time. Admiring how he would gently bite his bottom lip as he focused on cleaning Billy’s wounds. The tension felt like it was growing as Billy moved closer and pressed his lips on Steves. It was almost addicting, the feeling of his soft lips on his. One kiss turned into two, and then Steve wrapped his arms around him, pulling him off the chair and they kissed the whole way to the bedroom. 

The next morning Steve woke up to an empty bed. 

Billy had no idea what possessed him to kiss the rich boy. But he knew when he did, it felt good. Almost as if he was safe in his arms. But it couldn’t have been that easy, no Steve would go back to being the Rich boy who babysits teenagers and Billy would go back to what he does best. Running from his problems. 

Steve had tried to talk to him about it, but every time Billy seemed to escape the conversation all together. Billy watched as they drove on the back roads of Hawkins. 

“Where the hell are we going shit birds?” Billy asked in an annoyed tone. 

“Hawkins High, were you even listening to what I was saying?” Max said back to him in the same tone. Billy had no energy to argue as he rubbed his temple. Seeing the familiar building crawl up closer. 

As they snuck into the school, Billy lingered behind to make sure they wouldn’t be seen. Soon they walked into the halls the group running to the counselor’s office and getting inside. But Billy stopped. Hearing something weird coming from around the corner. It was like a ticking noise you would hear from an old clock. Billy went down the hall and turned, stopping in his tracks as he blinked. He didn’t smoke anything before coming here, right? There was a giant grandfather clock leaning up against the wall several feet in front of him. The clock ticked and then released a loud chiming noise that made his head throb even more. He then felt a warm liquid trickle down his upper lip. He wiped it off to see that his nose was bleeding. 

“Billy” 

He jumped and turned around, feeling as if the voice was coming from behind him. 

“Not again, not fucking this time-, what do you fucking want!? You fucking asshole I will fucking kill you!” Billy yelled. 

“Billy…Billy!” Billy blinked and suddenly he was standing back where he started, completely still until he felt Steve’s had on his shoulder, he jumped and shied away from Steve. 

“What?” Billy muttered and looked around, he then looked to Steve and nudged his shoulder to make sure this was real. It was, at least he had hoped. 

“Billy, you're scaring me man, tell me what going on” Steve said and looked at him concerned. Billy made eye contact with him and then gathered his bearings. 

“I’m fine Harrington” he said firmly before brushing past him to join the kids in their research.

[3mmafr0st]

Remember Me Part 2

Previous Part <——-->Next Part

Bucky Barnes x Reader Word Count: 4.1k

Warnings: SMUT and everything that comes with it, Talk of death and murder, violence, guns, brainwashing, sleazy billionaires (eat the rich)

A/N: I have had so much fun with this, give your opinions in the comments

They lied, there was no new mission tomorrow. I stayed locked in that dark little cell that they called my room. It was somewhat comfortable, they had to keep me Poole that so I would be able to keep myself in peak shape. A soldier is no good if they’re sick and in pain. There were sparse books, guides like The Art of War, or the vile words of Mein Kampf. I didn’t like the second one at all. The views were absolutely disgusting, but It made some sort of sense that it was there. I remember vaguely hearing about how Hydra was part of Nazi Germany. Although I couldn’t quite remember what that was, I knew it was bad, because that was what the book itself was about.

The walls were made of cement, the floors lined with corrugated metal. There was a metal bed frame in the corner, with a mattress, pillow, and blanket. Just enough to keep me comfortable. There was a desk in the other corner, simple metal table and chair, but nothing on it or in it. It was simply a place to fill out my mission reports. In the back was a door that lead to a small shower, toilet, and sink. Finally, a punching bag hung from the ceiling on the same side as the bed. I had been in this room for so long that I had memorized every inch of it.

It was difficult to tell how long I had been in here. The only clue to how long was the wall of carved tally marks, at least 20,000, give or take. They never actually gave me a calendar or anything to keep track of time, instead, I tracked it on mealtimes.

It had been about three weeks this time, complete with twenty two new tallies added to the wall. They pulled me out of the room after breakfast, restraining me by walking me with each of my arms held still. I had hope that he would be on this assignment, and as the door opened, a wave of relief hit me. My expression stayed stoic, unreadable. His face was the same, no emotion, no hint of what he did or did not remember. I was pushed into the seat next to him. He didn’t look at me, simply looking forward at the metal desk in front of us.

Pierce finally walked in the door. This must be a high profile mission if he’s here. Two folders were placed in front of us. We each opened our respective files, detailing the mission, even though Pierce began to explain.

“The two of you will be going on and undercover find and kill mission. You will be attending a charity gala for Rosenthal Industries, a former business partner of ours. Caleb Rosenthal will be attending the event. Your job is to get him alone, inject him with the neuro-agent, and make sure he’s dead. Your covers are listed in the file.” I nodded that I understood the mission, and so did Bucky.

The two of us were monitored during the car ride. We were meant to stay in the back while someone else drove the car. The entire ride was silent, the two of us trading glances at each other as we went over our respective files.

We were yet again set up as a couple, but we were meant to have some sort of agreement, an open marriage sort of situation. They were sending me to seduce the young Rosenthal, and get him alone. It was something that I had done millions of times it felt, but this mission was different. There was a more important objective at play, escape.

The minute we were given a room, we looked everywhere, analyzing and checking every item of the room for bugs or cameras. Once we confirmed there were none, I walked over to Bucky.

“What do you remember?” I asked, looking him dead in the eyes. I watched as the facade melted away from his face, the emotionless and cold look being replaced with a smile and adoring eyes.

I pulled his face down to me, pressing my lips to his. I tried to keep control, but it didnt last for long, as an arm snaked around my waist, the cold metal pushing up my shirt slightly to make contact with my skin. I gasped from the sensation, and he took the opportunity to deepen the kiss.

I felt the strain in my lungs, and broke the kiss, looking right back up at him.

“I know its been three weeks, but we only have three hours till the charity gala, and we both have to look presentable.” An idea popped into his head evident by the smirk appearing on his face.

“I mean, we definitely should take a shower first,” He said, hands moving up and down my sides.

“It’s probably a bad idea, but you are too good to pass up.” I yelped as my legs were sweeped out under me, Bucky carrying me through the air into the hotel bathroom.

Since we had to have a higher profile for this mission, the hotel room was much nicer than usual. The biggest excitement had to be the massive shower, more than big enough for the two of us. He put me down on the marble sink countertop, practically ripping his suit jacket and shirt off. My hands reached for his chest as he began to undo the buttons on my maroon dress shirt. Once the offending fabric was gone, he moved on to the rest of my clothing, ridding the both of us of any clothing that we had been wearing.

I whined at the cold as he left to go and start the shower, making sure that it was the right temperature. I didn’t want to wait for him to come back over to me, so I walked over to the shower, wrapping my arms around him from behind as he tested the water. I wanted to stay like that forever, simply cuddling myself into his back, the warmth of his body in contact with my cold skin. He began to turn and face me, and i loosened my grip so I could keep my arms around him.

“Doll, are you going to let go or are the two of us going to have to shuffle out way into the shower?” I pouted, but complied as he pulled me into the deliciously hot water.

“I missed you so much, Y/N,” His hands grazed their way down and up me like they did before. I tangled my hand into Bucky’s hair, pulling his lips onto mine. I had no patience at this point, and neither did he, the kiss rough and passionate as I was backed into the wall of the shower. His mouth began to move from my mouth, trailing lower and lower. I felt the warmth of his tongue swirling around my nipple, and a gasp broke free from my lips. The smooth of his metal fingers toyed with the other, making me throw my head back into the tile of the shower.    

“Fuck, keep makin those noises, doll.” His mouth moved away, trailing even lower, leaving kisses on my hips. He looked up at me, his eyes once again scanning mine for any hint of hesitation. Even through everything, he was still so kind, so sweet and concerned for me, it made me fall in love with him all over again. I was so distracted by my own sappy thoughts, that Bucky got the jump on me, licking one broad stripe up my pussy, nearly knocking the wind out of my lungs with how much I needed him. My hands flew to his hair, tangling into the long locks and pulling him closer. He moaned, sending vibrations straight to my clit, which only made me cry out and pull harder.

“Fuck, Bucky, please!” I could feel that knot that continued to tighten in my stomach. My hips began to try and move on their own, but Bucky’s hands pinned me to the tile wall so I couldn’t. I was pulled out of my trance as I felt two cold fingers slip inside of me.

I screamed his name out as his fingers began curling and pressing against the sweet spot inside of me, the combination of both his mouth and his fingers finally pushing me over the edge.

Buck held me down, helping me through my orgasm, holding my hips so I wouldn’t fall, and licking up every drop of my cum until he was satisfied. He finally stood up, making sure to hold me up so my legs wouldn’t give out from under me, his flesh hand pushing my chin up so he could look at me. My hands reached out to grab his cock, wanting him to get something out of this too, but he pushed them away.

“Not today, Doll, we gotta actually shower now, like you said, remember?” I groaned, but I knew that he was right. We had a mission to prepare for, and a plan to enact. Still holding me up, he moved me into the jets of water coming from the shower head. The hot water hit the back of my neck nicely, as Bucky squeezed out some of the soap into my hand. It felt like his hands were everywhere, assisting me with washing every bit and piece of me. Once I was finally able to stand on my own, he moved to get the shampoo, telling me to turn around and step out of the water.

He stood behind me, his hands in my hair, making sure that every single bit had been properly shampooed. I couldn’t help but sigh as his fingers worked the bubbles into the roots of my hair. Once he was finished, I stepped back under the water, as he aided in the washing away of all the shampoo and suds for one last time before the two of us switched places.

Although I knew that we had to go quickly, we, more like I, needed the time to get ready for the gala, but how could I not take the chance that I had been given to enjoy what he looked like, being able to simply move my hands over his chest, spreading the now foamy soap across his body. I moved my hands across every part of him, making sure he was perfectly clean for the gala. Once I got to putting the shampoo in his hair, I noticed a bit of a problem. Although I wasn’t the shortest person in the world, Bucky was still much taller than me, which created a bit of an obstacle when trying to wash his hair. I got up on the balls of my feet in order to reach the top of his head, collecting all of his hair in my hands to make sure everything was washed and clean. I felt as his muscles relax, as if he didn’t even know that they had been tensed, as my fingers worked at his scalp. If I wasn’t allowed to touch him in the way that I wanted, I would make him feel good in any way I could. He turned back around and into the water, rinsing all of the shampoo out of his hair.

I looked in front of the large mirror that lined one side of the bathroom. As I looked at myself, my thoughts wandered away from me. In all the time that I had been a soldier, the only women that I had ever come in contact with were doctors and nurses whenever I would get hurt on the job. They were extra careful with me, maybe it was because my face was valuable, or some bullshit like that. Other than that, I had never once seen a woman in any facility I had been in. I thought about this as I looked at myself, as the supplies and wardrobe given for me for the mission simply could not have been picked out by the type of men that I had met as a soldier. The makeup was high quality, clearly expensive, with perfect matches in color and shade in comparison to both my skin tone and the dress that I was given. The floor length black dress hugged my body in just the right way while also hiding the shiny silver of my leg. My hair was styled and put up and out of my way, both appropriate for the situation and the mission. I smiled at this woman that I did not recognize in the mirror. This was not me, this was Rose Castellan. I liked her, she wasn’t turned into a soldier against her will, experimented on and tortured for as long as she can remember.

I turned around, breaking away from my little pity party to see Bucky behind me, clearly struggling with his hair and tie.

“Help?” He looked so confused, and I smiled. I knew he didn’t tend to go on these types of missions, at least never by himself. He always struggled with his metal arm and trying to tie his tie, as well as never knowing what to do with his hair.

“Sit down, I’ll help with your hair first.” He sat in the chair that I had pulled into the bathroom from the desk. He complied as I began to fix his hair.

“So, any new memories in the last few days?” I asked, picking up the hairbrush and pulling it through his hair to get out all of the knots and tangles.

“There’s this one name that keeps repeating itself in my head, Steve. I know it’s important, I just can’t quite put my finger on who it is or why they are important.” I nodded, noting the information in my head.

“I am having the same situation. There’s a B rattling around, and I can’t quite get the rest of the word, but the B is there.” My hands gathered as much hair as I could in my hands, pulling it up to the top of the back of his head. “I have some parts that are solid progressions of time, but then it simply stops, sometimes for months, other times for years, is that like that for you?”

“Yeah, I can remember some missions that come in order, but then it just stops, and then starts back up later.”

“They really did a number on us the last time it worked when the tried to fry us, I could have sworn that I knew where all that time was going.” I pulled the elastic from my wrist, pulling it over the bundle of hair that I had gathered into a small top knot that kept his hair out of his eyes. His eyes scanned over his reflection in the mirror, clearly not used to the different look.

“Did I do ok”

“Of course, doll, just going to take a bit of getting used to.”

“You know you don’t need to keep it.”

“Yeah, but I liked it when you did it.” My eyes drifted to the ground for a moment as a blush spread over my face.

Bucky stood up from his chair, standing facing towards me. Taking the tie in my hands, I moved the fabric in and out of itself until it formed the knot that it was meant to. Finishing it off, I buttoned the front of his jacket, completing the look.

Glancing over at the clock, I saw that it was almost time to go. Luckily enough, we didn’t have to get into another car with another random driver, the Rosenthal Building was right next to our hotel.

“So what’s the plan for tonight?” He asked, as the two of us began to get our things together to leave.

“After we complete the objective, instead of returning to the hotel and checking in with Pierce for extraction, we disappear, find somewhere off the grid that we can hide out for a little while so we can recover more memories,”

“Sounds like a good idea, we can’t plan too far ahead, we weren’t given schematics of the building or anything.” We looked at each other, nodding, before he offered his arm out to me, escorting me out of the hotel room.

I picked up a drink off of the small tray that was held by one of the servers in the ballroom. I thanked him, and Bucky did the same. Swirling my finger in my drink, I looked at the polish on my fingernail to see if it had changed color. It hadn’t. The drinks were clean.

The room was exactly how you would expect, with the fanciest furniture and decorations that money could buy, the guests all in the finest and most up to date fashion, everyone talking about their recent business ventures and lavish trips around the globe. There was an anger burning in me, but I had no idea where it came from. The two of us scanned the room, looking for the target.

I looked over to see the target, Caleb Rosenthal. He was young, maybe in his mid twenties, with a pretty face and a lot of money. It was clear to see that this man had never met any sort of opposition or struggle in his life, always given everything he had ever wanted. I looked at Bucky for a sort of confirmation that I should start, and he nodded. Taking a deep breath, I walked over to the small group that Rosenthal had been talking to. I sauntered over, getting his attention.

“And who might you be?” His voice was unbearable, the entitlement and ego dripping off of his words.

“Rose Castellan of Castellan and Stowe Law, we haven’t met formally.”

“I would have remembered a face like yours, what’s your deal?”

“We mainly work in company lawsuits. We’re the guys that save your ass if you do something everyone will regret.” He laughed at the comment, before shooing the rest of the crowd around him away.

“Would you like to dance?” He offered his hand to me, and I smiled sweetly at him, taking it as he led me to the dance floor. His hands were sweaty and wet, but I suffered through it. The two of us danced for a while as the soft and slow music played in the background. I glanced over to see Bucky watching us with a laser stare.

“So who’s the guy?” Rosenthal asked, gesturing towards Bucky.

“My husband, but don’t worry about him.”

“Oh, and why is that?” His voice had that air of suggestiveness to it that made me want to throw up in my mouth. I leaned into him, getting my face close to his ear.

“Let’s just say the two of us have a bit of an arrangement,” I made the underlying tone of the sentence all the more apparent as I moved his hand lower down my back to rest on my ass. He looked surprised at how forward I was being, but it didn’t take long for him to lean into my ear.

“Let’s get out of here.”

“Lead the way.” Rosenthal took my hand and began to lead me away from the party.

The two of us walked the hallways, as Caleb tried to find an appropriate room in his own building. I looked behind me, and in the darkness of the hallway, hidden well by the shadows lurked Bucky, watching to make sure that nothing would go too far.

Once he found an office that he deemed suitable, he swung the door open, looking both ways down the hall before opening the door and letting me walk in. He locked the door behind him, and his lips were on mine, pushing me into the desk. I sat myself on the desk as he began to move his gross and sloppy kisses down my neck. I pulled the small patch out of the secret pockets of the dress, perfectly designed. As I moved my hand around his neck, I pressed the patch into his skin, watching as the material disappeared into his flesh.

It only took moments for the toxin to hit him. He stumbled backwards from me, holding his head in pain, uttering a weak “I don’t feel so good,” before hitting the floor. I checked the man’s pulse, confirming his death, before stepping over the body and unlocking the door. Bucky was on the other side, waiting for me.

“He’s dead?”

“Are you really going to question it? I know what I’m doing!” I said, punching him in the shoulder, the attempt at comedy trying to cut the edge of the situation.

“Let’s go.” Bucky began walking down the hallway behind me, as we tried to be as inconspicuous as possible. There was always a garage door when it comes to facilities like this, and thats what we were going to go to, getting into the elevator and pressing the buttons for the ground floor.

Once the doors closed, Bucky pulled me in and pressed a chaste kiss to my lips, soft and sweet, a comfort.

“What was that for?”

“I just want to make sure I did that, no matter what happens.”

“Nothing is going to happen, this is the perfect plan.”

That was when the elevator doors opened into the ground floor, and a man was standing there.  He nodded to us, before getting into the elevator as we got out. The two of us looked for some sort of lab, anything labeled as such. I couldn’t believe how lax the security was, but I didn’t say anything, that wasn’t our concern. Finally we found where we needed to be, a large garage, that opened up. I opened the door as Bucky watched for people around us. The entire situation felt off, like this was too easy.

Suddenly, agents began bursting in through the doors, none of which I recognized. I looked to Bucky, and he simply yelled, “Run!”

I did as I was told, sliding underneath the door and running into the street, witnesses everywhere as I ran as far as I could. People looked confused, and understandably so, a girl dressed like a debutante running through the city as fast as she can in heels. My heart pounded in my chest, as I kept looking behind me for Bucky, where was Bucky? He had to have made it out, he was a better soldier than me, he was a stronger soldier than me.

20 blocks, at least, thats how far I ran, before I finally stopped. I took so many turns that they would have had to have lost them, but there was no Bucky. I waited in that spot for a little while , an alleyway occupied by a small population of homeless people.

Bucky had to have gotten out, he had to. He just must have gone a different way, yes, that’s it! He had to have just taken a different route, ended up in a different part of the city. We would find each other later.

I looked down to what I was wearing, the clothing too distinctive. I scanned my surroundings, seeing a girl, roughly my age and size.  I went up to her, surprising her slightly.

“Hey, do you think I could trade clothes with you?” She looked at me funny for a second, but then quickly nodded. The two of us walked into the privacy that the shadows of the alley provided, shucking layers of clothing off of us, trading what one had for the other.

As I zipped up the sweatshirt and jeans given to me, I looked at the girl, still confused and concerned as to why I had asked her to take the clothing.

“You’re gonna be able to get at least 2,000 for this at a pawn shop, don’t let it get damaged before the morning unless you plan on keeping it.” Her eyes went wide with excitement and nodded, going back to the corner that she had come from.

I left the alleyway, and once again began to move, trying to find a different place to camp out for the night. I had no money, so a hotel was out of the question, and it wasn’t as if I knew anyone that I could stay with.

I was lucky that one of the things that I had gotten real good at during my training, was pickpocketing. No one was the wiser, as I moved flawlessly on the streets, anyone who dared walk next to me was subject to the loss of their wallet. I continued like this until I found myself another homeless camp, huddling in with the mass of smelly bodies.

I turned to one of the people huddled around a small fire, warming his hands. “What city is this?”

“We’re in New York, you really must have taken something strong.”

[generalfoolish]

Do You Ever Wonder?

Part Two: How You Make a Boy Feel

Pairing: Marcus Pike x fem!reader

Rating: Adult themes, but still pretty fluffy

Word Count: 1,991

Masterlist | Do You Ever Wonder? Masterlist | Part One

A/N: A little update to this story. I'm still on the fence about Marcus, but he's fun to write ;)

Let me know if you'd like to be tagged!

--

“Stop!” You giggled, walking arm in arm out of the movie. Marcus was teasing you about your obvious attraction to both Humphrey and Mary. You couldn’t help yourself, you reasoned, they were a great distraction to the handsome man beside you. You leaned in closer to him as you walked into the chilly D.C. evening.

“Fine, fine. Are you hungry? Popcorn makes me so hungry. I was thinking of a proper restaurant, if you’re into it?” Marcus leaned down closer to your ear, his breath a hot tickle against your hair. You nodded, and burrowed into your jacket a little deeper. It had seemed like a promising evening, but the sun had taken all of the warmth in the air with it.

“It is chilly, isn’t it. Here, I’ll get a cab.” Marcus stepped away from you, and flagged down a cab in no time. He could be very authoritative when he wanted. You slid in after he opened the door, and he gave the cabbie the address.

“So, where are we going?” You asked, rubbing your hands together. He scooped them up and wrapped them in his large, warm hands. You blushed a little, thinking about how big they were and what you’d like them to be doing instead. He smiled and blew some warm air in the pocket his hands had made for yours.

“It’s a little fancier than a diner, but it’s no black tie place.” He told you, lowering your hands, but not letting go. The action forced you to scoot a little closer to keep your arm from being bent awkwardly, but you didn’t mind. Two hours in the dark with Marcus had only driven you crazy. You had no idea why he was going so slow. Not that you minded the switch from the usual dating scene, but if you didn’t taste his lips soon you felt you might actually lose your mind.

“How vague, Marcus.” Your tone was chiding, but you smiled as you said it. You had come to enjoy his easy banter and teasing. You didn’t want it to end. Before you knew it, though, the cab ride was over and he was passing cash to the driver. You got out on the building side, and looked back in confusion at him. There was no restaurant. There were no businesses at all. He grinned widely as he approached you. His hand found the small of your back, and he led you to a door up a small landing.

“That’s because I wanted to cook something for you. I’ve been, well I’ve been practicing, and I...I want to do something nicer than a stuffy meal.” He stammered out, before looking at your face. You had broken into a smile, and you were sure your face was turning red from more than just the cold. Unable to speak, you just nodded. You were overcome with an emotion that was new. No one, let alone a prospective guy, had made you a meal. It felt like a lot, but in a way you’d never had before.

“Welcome! I picked the place up a bit before the show, but I’m fairly clean.” He rambled, tossing his keys in the foyer table’s bowl. He kicked his shoes off, and invited you to do the same. He took your coat, and hung it up in the closet. He ushered you to the kitchen and pulled a small stool out for you.

“So, I’m not a big wine guy, but you struck me as a red wine gal?” He laughed, and pulled out a bottle from the fridge. “The clerk assured me this would impress a pretty girl.” You both laughed as he poured a glass for you, and passed it your way. He watched apprehensively as you took a sip, and exhaled in relief when you told him it was good. He poured himself a glass, but you noticed he didn’t touch it much.

“What’s on the menu, then, Chef?” You asked, swirling the Pinot around.

“It’s number 5 on the “Easy and Romantic dinners to impress your date,” List, and number 12 on the “Easy but Impressive Meals,” List. It’s just mussels in wine with some homemade bread. A little salad if you’re into it?” He rambled, clearly nervous.

“That sounds amazing, Marcus. Did you say homemade bread? I thought you said you were a beginner?” You asked, peppering him with questions, but honestly a little buzzed and ready to tear up some fresh mussels.

“Like I said, I’ve been practicing. Now, why don’t you handle the music situation, and I’ll get cracking on dinner.” He flashed you a big smile, and pointed to the vintage record player in the corner of the living room. It was gorgeous, cabinet style. He had shelves of records to choose from, and you shifted through the sleeves. It was endlessly more intimate than a stuffy restaurant, you thought as you pulled Fleetwood Mac’s self-titled record from the shelf. You loaded it gently on the turntable, and then laid the needle on the edge. Monday Mornings came through the speakers after a little crackle, it sounded clean and beautiful. You swayed a little to the words, before following your nose back to the kitchen. Marcus was concentrating on the mussels, but you could see his foot tapping. You knocked back the wine for a little courage, and poured some more. You noticed he had a nice Sauvignon Blanc for the mussels, and you felt your mouth water at the thought of how delicious dinner was going to be.

Without noticing it, Marcus had started feeling the music a little more, and you watched him dance as he added the wine to the mussels. He slid smoothly from the stove to the counter to chop herbs as the record started croning Warm Days. You watched the way he slowed his slight swaying to match the slower pace of the song, and you felt the rush go right to your core. Everything about him made you crazy. You shifted a little on your stool, getting more uncomfortable as you traced the outline of Marcus’s back muscles as he chopped garlic and parsley. You felt the heat rise to your face as you thought about his hands tracing you, and how it would feel to roam your own hands across his back.

“Dove, would you grab the bread from the oven, there’s a mitt to the left of it, I’ve got sticky garlic fingers.” He said, laughing. You cleared your throat, and stumbled to the oven. You grabbed the loaf out, and nearly dropped it when you saw how gorgeous it was.

“Marcus did you cut this design yourself?” You asked incredulously, and he nodded without turning around. “It’s gorgeous!” You exclaimed, laying it on the board he had set out. He started to say something, but the song loudly switched to Blue Letter, and the moment was lost.

“That’s dinner, then.” He told you, pulling the pot from the stove and walking it to the counter with the stools. “You’ll have to excuse the counter meal, there’s not a lot of space and I admittedly eat most meals on the couch.” He told you, sheepishly.

“No, Marcus, this is amazing. You were right, so much better than another meal out.” You assured him, as he spooned mussels out. He grabbed a knife and sliced a hunk of bread for you, before removing the pot.

“We’ll see if you still think that once you taste it.” He laughed, but you could tell it was a little more serious than he was letting on. So, not minding the steam, you dunked a bit of the bread into the broth. You quickly took a bite, and it was amazing. Not just good, but actually amazing. Which you told him, promptly and a lot. You tried the mussels and it was more of the same.

“Marcus, the flavor is amazing. You’ve never made mussels before?” “No, I just followed the recipe.” He said, sheepish, again.

“Shut up. You’re lying. You have to be.” He shook his head and you just looked at him in awe. You didn’t have much to say as you ate the meal, you were too busy enjoying it. You had never just loved mussels, but Marcus made you change your mind. Marcus made them your favorite. You smiled as you ate, and realized that you were falling for him. It made you nervous. Of course, it made you so nervous. You’d been burned before. He had too. It felt too nice, too quick. There wasn’t any drama between you. Over My Head played behind you, and you had to agree, it did feel nice. It felt amazing to be here, enjoying this meal with this wonderful guy.

That’s probably why you leaned over and kissed him. You didn’t really realize you were doing it, it was like your desire took the wheel and steered you right into the wall. He was surprised. There was no warning, no build-up, but he responded in kind. The kiss sealed it for you. The way his lips met yours hungryly. How neither of you let up until you were panting for air. How you both seamlessly slipped from the stools, and stumbled to the couch without breaking apart. How wordlessly you found yourselves exploring each other.

You broke apart for a second, his hands wrapped firmly around your waist as you straddled his hips. He rested his forehead against yours, and struggled for breath.

“I outta cook for girls more often.” He joked, his lips connecting with your jaw and moving lower at a lazy pace. You moaned against the soft trailing, and shifted against him as he sucked softly at your neck. You felt his own stirring beneath you, which you brazenly dipped against. He grunted into your neck, and held you close. “Careful.” He warned, his voice low.

“I think I’d like to skip straight to dessert.” You evened, darkly. He smirked and pulled you down for another kiss.

~~~~

You were laying against his chest, his heart a steady thump beneath you, and you could have probably fallen asleep just like that. His arms were wrapped around you, and his fingers were trailing in your hair or rubbing gentle circles on your back.

“What does this mean for you?” He asked the darkness softly. You felt his heart start to race, and you hoped it was for the same reason your own started racing. You swallowed hard, the words not coming easily. For you, it was so much more than just sex. It was shattering. You’d had casual hook ups before, but this felt like so much more. He took your silence badly.

“It’s just, I’m not a kid, y’know. I’ve been married, divorced, and engaged again. I want something real, and lasting. I can see that for us. I promised myself I wouldn’t get serious fast, but there’s something about you. You know? It’s everything. There’s everything about you. I want to make you dinner all the time. I want to dance with you, and watch movies, and just see your smile. I just have to know if you feel the same, because if you don’t then I can’t be hurt like that again.” You propped up on your elbows to look at him, but his eyes were squeezed shut. Your heart broke for him as he spoke, and you just wanted to put him together. You pressed a kiss against his chest.

“Marcus, I want nothing more than to get to know you, and learn how to make this work. I don’t want to rush in, but I couldn’t wait another second. I want to try this out with you.” He pulled you closer and kissed your forehead. You were happy to see him content, and you were as happy as you could be. It was the start of something amazing.

tagged: @mouthymandalorian

[readyplayerhobi]

A Universe To You

; Soulmate!Hoseok x Reader

; Genre: Fluff, angst, smut

; Warnings: Mentions of an accident and injury resulting from it, discussions of poverty, minor breakdown, oral sex (receiving), penetrative sex, unprotected sex

; Word Count: 41k

; Synopsis: Life for you has always been dull and grey; not only because you grew up on the most over-populated and polluted planet in the galaxy but because you’re colourblind. You’re convinced it’s because you have a soulmate out there, but soulmates are a forgotten concept now that humanity has spread across the stars. What happens then, when you finally escape Earth and discover colour with the touch of a man on a planet in which soulmates are just a tale of myth?

; A/N: Hi, yes. I’m sorry this is so long lol I half proof-read it but...it’s just so long and I’m so done with it haha. Sorry if it’s bad ;-; please reblog it (if you’re on desktop, it’ll kill your phone) and please leave me comments, asks or reviews! I’m convinced this isn’t actually all that great, my first soulmate attempt :/

-

The familiar roar of a star engine rattles through the ramshackle apartment you’d grown up in, the noise outrageously loud and yet no one in the cramped space pays any notice. It’s the price of living next to the Busan Spaceport unfortunately. The rent is astonishingly cheap, relative to how much anything costs in the 32nd century, but that’s only because it came with the downside of pollution.

All kinds of pollution. Noise pollution from the roars of starships and starfreighters as they fired up their engines, their fusion cores pushing them high into the sky and past the atmosphere limit where they would then jump into hyperspace, heading for whatever planet was next on their list.

Light pollution, from the blinding neon of the signage that littered the area surrounding the dirty port. Signs that screamed everything under the sun was for sale here in Busan, which it was. From entertainment screens to the latest in clothing to prostitutes and cosmetic surgery, everything was for sale here on Earth.

Most of it was supposed to be regulated, and a large portion of it was supposed to be illegal. But Earth had stopped caring about laws a long time ago. Probably five centuries at least. A few billion people ago. Maybe back when you could actually see the sky without it being consumed with the constant smog of pollution from the factories that belched smoke and other contaminants into the air.

Ironically enough, the star engines that were in the various ships, liners, freighters and more were actually incredibly environmentally friendly. They made a lot of noise, but they were relatively clean compared to what Earth produced. 

That was probably because other planet’s actually gave a fuck about their environments. You’d heard that there were whole planets out there that had developed entirely clean technology. Neutral carbon, nothing toxic or deadly going into their atmospheres, nothing choking their plant life or killing off their living species.

It was hard for you to imagine really. You’d grown up here in Busan, the second largest city in Old Korea. Centuries upon centuries ago, Busan had been a hub of freight for the old world and it’s old technologies. Actual ships that had travelled upon the oceans had arrived and departed from the now gone port.

That old method of transport had taken weeks to get anything anywhere, or so the e-book’s said. You could believe it, even though you’d never even heard of anyone going on a boat or a marine ship. People didn’t do that anymore. Not since the oceans had turned toxic from the pollution centuries ago.

Any fish or seafood that was for sale on Earth was either processed, by which it meant that it didn’t contain any actual seafood and instead was just made up of various fake food that had been manufactured to taste vaguely like what it was intended to be, or was shipped in from off-planet. 

Only the rich could afford to eat seafood anymore. Those who lived near inland lakes that hadn’t been overfished in the years after the seas died could also afford to eat fish. It was a luxury now, more rare than diamonds had been in the 21st century.

The idea of a small gemstone being worth a lot of money was laughable now. They’d discovered a whole asteroid made of diamond four centuries ago and had been mining it ever since. Diamonds were as rare as mice in today’s world. Fish on the other hand? Now that was rare.

Despite the overpopulation of Earth and the environmental devastation that had occured, people still sought what little comforts they could. Which meant that even the poorest tried to stay away from living around the spaceports of each city. It meant the apartments were cheap, but you’d grown up listening to the scream of engines and experiencing the building shake subtly every time one took off or landed.

In a bizarre way, it was almost helpful. You could sleep through anything now. But on the downside, it was a visible sign of the poverty your family lived in. One of the few ways to earn near enough guaranteed money was to be able to get onto one of the United Nations of Earth benefits programmes. It was almost a badge of honour for some people, as it meant a near enough constant steady stream of income that could be used to pay rent, buy food or simply live.

Some people abused it, just like people had abused governmental benefits throughout the history of Earth. But most people desperately needed it.

Earth had lots of people. It did not have lots of jobs to match. 

The only real job available on Earth now were factory jobs, building the items and products that the rest of the civilised galaxy bought for cheap. Someone in the early years of the 2nd millennium might have thought that Earth would be given some grand status amongst planets in whatever future space exploration they did.

It was the birthplace of humanity after all.

They would be wrong.

Your home planet was where products and items were built cheaply, relying on the overwhelming number of factories and warehouses that grew like weeds amongst the cities and taking advantage of the over abundant population. With a population of twenty billion people living in squalid cities and towns that were millennia old, creaking with age and underfunded to cope with all those who lived in them, there were plenty of people desperate for a job.

Which meant you didn’t need to pay much to get something. Most factories underpaid their workers because they always knew they could get more. There were no such things as trade unions anymore. People needed work too much to care about things like workers rights. Anyone who got too vocal simply lost their job.

Your parents had been able to gain governmental benefits because of your dad. He’d been a part of the United Nations Navy, which meant the navy in space, obviously. His career had been cut short when his battle cruiser had been destroyed in an attack from terrorists fifteen years ago, ending up back at home while he recovered from losing his legs.

As a result, he’d retired from the navy and been given a military pension, which was incredibly hard to get, along with disability benefits due to him being injured so badly in service to the government. It made him a rarity, and should have meant that in conjunction with your mom’s three jobs as a cleaner that your family would be able to live somewhere a little nicer.

Nicer being a relative time on Earth of course.

But they’d chosen the worst place because it was the cheapest, because of you. Because they’d been informed by your daycare centre that you were showing surprising promise in education. To the degree that they suggested possibly trying to get you sent to a private school that offered a better education than the public schools.

So they had. And they’d succeeded. All the money they saved from skimping on food and rent went to paying your education fees, buying your uniform and school supplies. You took the skybus to class every day and came home the same way, trying to limit your burden on your family.

Scholarships and bursaries were hard earned by you throughout school and you studied hard to make sure that your parents sacrifices weren’t in vain. They had dreams for you, hopes. Hopes that other people on this shithole of a planet had long given up. They wanted you to escape here, to escape the constant spiral of poverty, overpopulation, pollution and more.

To live a life without worrying every day.

Not that poverty and stuff wasn’t an issue on other planets too, but it was far less of an issue than here. The poorest planet in the galaxy was still richer than the citizens of Earth. Whether in terms of real money or just overall living conditions.

You wanted that for yourself too. So desperately. So badly. You wanted to look up at the sky on a night and have the bright lights be twinkling stars that had probably died millions of years ago instead of simply just being the lights of star engines as they powered away. To look at an ocean that wasn’t filled with sludge and pollution and more.

Resting your head against the double paned window, you sighed softly and watched yet another starfreighter rumble it’s way out of the port. It was big, astonishingly big, and extremely hulky. Despite that, it was still sleek and refined, allowing it to cut through the air and atmosphere with ease as it groaned its way further into the sky.

You knew that calling it a starfreighter was wrong in reality. The actual starfreighter’s never came down to the planet itself. They couldn’t; they were too big. What left the depot here planetside was basically a mini freighter, trekking containers and more up to the giant ships that were in orbit until it was full. Those ships physically couldn’t try to land on a planet, they were too big and unwieldy and would burn up in the atmosphere.

It was the same with large war ships and such. You couldn’t even imagine the size of what was out in space, not when what went up there was big enough to big a tower block like yours shudder and shake. 

You wanted to though. Oh, the ache to see the galaxy and more than what life had handed you was so strong. Maybe it was your parents fault for instilling in you the desire and need to achieve more than what the society you’d grown up in expected from you.

“Have you heard yet?” The gentle sound of your mom’s voice distracts you from your thoughts, causing you to look over at her with a slight smile. She looks tired, and you realise with a pang that she looks old. You knew that other planets had managed to achieve astonishing life averages, with life extending sciences causing the average age of a woman in the galaxy to now be 123.

On Earth it was 64. 

It made you want to cry sometimes when you looked at your parents, at how exhausted they seemed. How at 50 they were already approaching what was viewed as the twilight years here. It wasn’t fair. They worked so hard, working themselves to the bone for you and you knew that even if everything went well, they still probably wouldn’t see their 70th birthday.

Her cleaning uniform was stained and dirty as usual but you could see the hope in her eyes. Shaking your head, you reached out and pulled her into a tight hug before sighing softly.

“Not yet mom. But it’s supposed to be today. I’m just...thinking I guess.” Pausing, you shift until you’re resting back against the aged synthetic fibre couch that had come with the shoddy apartment. Water stains do the ceiling while the beige carpet has been worn threadbare over the decades. A slight odour of garbage emanated from the attached kitchen, probably coming up from the sink or something.

These buildings were old and no one cared enough to fix them properly. The one plus side of it was that a broken elevator meant that you’d always maintained a certain level of fitness by having to climb fifteen flights of stairs. A downside was that it relegated your dad to work that could only be done from home.

“What if I didn’t get in? Or if I did but they want me to pay tuition and stuff? Will the government cover that for me? I don’t know.” Playing with the loose thread of your pants, you bite your lip in desperation as uncertainty washes over you.

You’re waiting for the notification to inform you of whether or not you passed the university entrance exams. They were a galaxy wide set of exams, the exact same that every planet had to take at what was considered to be relatively the same time. It was standardised to ensure that universities from all planets could assess candidates equally.

The only difference was that the exams were each translated into the relevant language of wherever the student lived. 

But it didn’t really matter if you passed the exams or not. Each student was instructed to apply for ten universities from the list of all available universities in the galaxy. It was an astonishingly large list that was ranked in various ways; from best value to the best teaching to the best student life and so forth.

Unsurprisingly, Earth universities ranked lowest in every score. They were the universities that only other Earthen students attended, pumping out people with just enough education to become managers in factories or whatever small businesses managed to prosper here. Most of the time though, they produced teachers and medical staff.

You knew many people in your class had signed up to the military. The UN military paid for four years of tuition at the best military university on Earth, which was actually the only university ranked anywhere good. All it required in return was thirty years of service, minimum. 

Your dad had refused point blank to let you do that, calling it a con. They allowed people to attend university and attain degrees, but they then stagnated in the military for decades on end. And the UN had a terrible habit of extending out service beyond the mandated years until people found that they were retiring. The only real benefit, he often said sarcastically, is that military staff were one of the few people on Earth who actually lived longer than everyone else.

Choosing universities has been stressful for you. You desperately wanted to teach, to educate and enrich the minds of a younger generation and give them the hope that your own parents had instilled in you. Your high levels of intellect had meant that you had been the top of your class every time in all levels of school and you’d studied your ass off after hours to gain extra qualifications and grades.

The standard education system taught maths, physics, biology, chemistry, history, Standard Language, physical education and literature. Literature and history were the only subjects that deviated in terms of topics and those exams were specific to the planets. Most also had an extra subject in whatever language was native to their planet with Standard being taught simply because it was the galaxy wide language that everyone spoke to communicate.

You’d gone further though, desperate to make yourself stand out to universities. No matter how good your grades were on the tests, universities were still allowed to pick and choose who they wanted to attend. Those from better off planets often got the places and those whose parents could afford to encourage universities to look twice found themselves prospering too.

As a student from Earth, the odds were stacked unbelievably against you. The education system just wasn’t as good here, the students couldn’t afford to even leave the planet, never mind pay the fees that an off planet university would require and there was the awful stigma that Earth maintained.

Most students who managed to get a place in university off world had a ridiculously large set of subsidies, scholarships, bursaries and grants that paid for their further education. None of them ever came back to Earth.

You’d studied harder and more. Your grades included not only the basics, but Korean Language, English Language, Spanish Language, advanced maths, astrogeology and astrobiology. They probably wouldn’t be useful for an education degree, but you’d loved them and you’d wanted to stand out from the rest.

Now you were just waiting...hoping desperately that one of the ten universities you’d picked would want you.

“You’ll be fine sweetheart. I’ve raised you for eighteen years now and I know the girl that you’ve always been. Strong, stubborn and determined,” She smiled softly, running her well worn fingers over your cheek. “You’re going to go out there, to the stars and beyond. You’re going to live the life we’ve dreamt for you, the life that your ancestors would have never thought possible. You’re going to be something.”

Eyes tearing up, you take in the deep sincerity and belief that she holds in her voice and face. She believes that you’ll do it, that you’ll make it despite everything that’s stacked against you. It makes you sit a little straighter, shoulders pushing back as you acknowledge what your parents have sacrificed and how far they’ve gotten you.

You have to believe that it was all worth it.

“I can save and move you both out to wherever I go.” You tease lightly, trying to cheer up the mood before poking lightly at her side. She gives a soft laugh and hugs you back, embrace a little tighter and longer than you’d expected.

“I’d like that. And maybe you’ll finally get to see the beauty that the galaxy holds. Maybe you’ll finally see colour.” Her words are gentle and soft, her touch equally as light but you can see the hope once more in her eyes. If there’s one thing that’s always made your mom believe that you were destined for more...it was the fact that you were colourblind.

Most people who knew this about you just thought it was some weird genetic quirk. It was well known that men were mostly colourblind, but not usually to the extent that you were. Your entire world was monochromatic...greyscale at the very best. Part of you didn’t mind, because it meant that you didn’t notice just how bad the polluted landscape of Earth was.

But part of you knew that you were missing out on so much. 

Your mom believed it was a sign when you were younger, alongside your intellect. A sign that you were going to leave Earth. She was a little superstitious, but this was one aspect that you were willing to go along with her.

Because your mom still believed in the theory of soulmates. 

According to the history books, soulmates had been a regular occurrence in pre-spaceflight days. Two people whom fate had determined would be the perfect companions. It had been almost a badge of honour back then, centuries upon centuries ago. People had been desperate to find the one person who would love and accept them as they are with no qualms, no worries and no stress.

The person who fits them best.

There had been so many ways of finding out who your soulmate was back then. From tattoos appearing simultaneously somewhere on the body at the age of eighteen to people born with tattoos, seeking out those who had the same. Or the people who gained a tattoo when they met their soulmate, the painful occurrence signifying that their world had just changed.

Some had the first words they would ever hear their soulmate speak written on them, while others didn’t see colour until their other half was near. Some required to be touched to see colour. 

And those were just the most popular soulmarks as they had been called.

There were ancient stories of other, more rare methods. One in which a soulmate could draw on their wrist and it would appear on the other wrist as well along with so many others. They were all magical and defied belief, which is why they were decreed a sham by most modern day scientists.

No one could figure out how those remarkable events had occurred, and no one had experienced anything like those rare events in the last few centuries. People born with tattoos or who suddenly gained them thought they were strange, but most didn’t bother trying to find their soulmate because most didn’t even really know the stories anymore.

Finding your soulmate on Earth had been hard back then, finding your soulmate now that humanity had spread itself across the galaxy was nigh impossible. Most other planets had apparently forgotten all about soulmates, the tales simply one of the myths that were spoken about much in the same way that the ancient stories of old Earth gods and goddesses were.

Those born and raised on Earth were more likely to believe though. It was a part of your planet's culture and history, strong and proud. One of the few parts people were proud of. You’d even heard of people actually finding their soulmates, living happily even in the poor environment they lived in.

Your mom was convinced that your color blindness was a soulmark, and that your soulmate was waiting for you out there. She refused to acknowledge that they could be here, on Earth. No, to her it was a sign. A sign that you would venture far beyond and find happiness she couldn’t even begin to comprehend.

And she believed so strongly, that you did too. You hoped desperately that you would be able to leave this planet and that one day, you would see the bright and vibrant colours that brought the galaxy to life. That you would meet someone who made your heart sing and your soul vibrate with joy.

Those in your class had laughed at you for the very notion of it, thinking you were being an idiot and setting yourself up for a fail. You just had a medical condition or something, that was all. But you believed in more, you had to believe in more. You couldn’t let your mom and dad down.

“I’d like that. I could tell you all the amazing colours that are out there. There’s even supposed to be colours that we don’t even here on Earth. Though I guess that doesn’t matter to me, does it?” Chuckling, you smile at her before shrugging lightly. She responded with her own smile, skin wrinkling at the corners with affection for you.

A sudden ping from your PED, personal electronic device, caused you both to jerk slightly in surprise. Glancing down at it, your eyes widened as your finger tapped the slim black tube. The familiar holographic screen of your PED came to life before you, glowing white in your vision.

Apparently it was supposed to be what was termed neon blue, but to you it was just like white. Much like any lighting did, no matter the colour. The various apps on your PED were closed at the moment, leaving just the background of the Pegasus cluster and the outlines of the few apps you considered important enough to keep on screen at all times.

One of them was your messaging app, which currently had a little ‘1’ in a tiny circle at the top right. You had one message, one new notification.

Looking over at your mom, your eyes widen as you lift up your PED so she can see better. Chewing on your lip, you press the app and watch as it opens up immediately. The list of messages from your parents, classmates and teachers filled up the screen and you quickly shifted from personal messages to mail.

Your inbox was full of scholarship and bursary applications to various governmental bodies along with newsletters to the random sites that you frequented often. But the newest message, the text bright and bold against the rest attracted your attention.

Clicking on it, you felt yourself go cold as you read it over slowly.

To: Y/N-Y/L/N@excelsioracademy.earth

From: results@eartheducationboard.earth

Title: University Entrance Examination Results

Y/N Y/LN,

Thank you for participating in the 3121 University Entrance Examinations at Excelsior Academy in Busan, Old Korea, Earth. We appreciate the time and effort that you took in not only studying but taking part in the examinations.

Please see your results from the Standard Education examinations below. 

Mathematics: 97/100

Standard Language: 89/100

Physics: 91/100

Biology: 90/100

Chemistry: 91/100

History: 100/100

Physical Education: 85/100

Literature: 95/100

Any extra examinations that you have undertaken outside of the Standard Education will be listed below.

Korean Language: 98/100

English Language: 97/100

Spanish Language: 92/100

Advanced Mathematics: 94/100

Astrogeology: 91/100

Astrobiology: 85/100

We hope that these exam results meet the level you had expected. The universities that you applied to have been in receipt of these grades for the last seven days. Please see below to see which universities, if any, have accepted you onto your chosen course of: Education.

New Seoul University, New Korea

If you have been accepted by any universities, please note that they will be in communication with you separately in regards to your course.

Kind Regards,

Earth Education Board

You sit with wide eyes, neither your mom nor you quite comprehending what you’re reading as you flick back to the top and read again. Before you can even make it to the bottom once more though, another noise indicates you have another notification and you click out in a daze, accepting the second mail that has been sent to you.

To: Y/N-Y/L/N@excelsioracademy.earth

From: admissions@newseouluniversity.edu.newkorea

Title: Welcome To New Seoul University!

Welcome Y/N Y/L/N!

We’re delighted to accept you into the below degree course here at New Seoul University for the 3121 intake of students:

Bachelor of Schooling Education

This is a four year course that will see you studying with some of the top professors across a range of subjects at one of the top ranked university institutions in the galaxy. We hope that you’re excited to start your new education here!

As a student of Earth, please note that you have been granted the below scholarships and grants in order to pay for your tuition, academic fees and accommodation fees. If you require any more help then please respond and we would be more than willing to help!

United Nations of Earth Travel Grant

As a citizen of Earth who has performed above average on the University Entrance Examinations, you have been approved for a grant that will cover the transport costs from Earth to New Korea.

United Nations of Earth Education Grant

As a citizen of Earth who has performed above average on the University Entrance Examinations, you have been approved for a grant that will provide you with money to pay for any academic items you may need alongside any extra academic fees.

New Seoul University Education Scholarship

Due to your high grades, you have been granted a scholarship from the Education department to cover any field trips or placements you will need to partake in as part of your degree.

New Seoul University Equality Scholarship

Due to the circumstances of your monetary background, you have been granted a scholarship that will cover the tuition fees for your degree. You have also been granted a scholarship that will pay for your accommodation here in New Seoul to allow you to study.

We hope that you look forward to studying here. We look forward to meeting you!

If you have any more questions, please let us know. We have provided relevant literature to your degree and the university to allow you to research where you will soon be living more! Included in this pack is an accommodation application, please fill this in along with the New Student form and send it back as soon as possible.

We will be in touch soon!

Kind Regards,

Kim Namjoon

Admissions

New Seoul University

“You did it! Oh my god, you did it! HONEY! OUR BABY GIRL GOT INTO UNIVERSITY!” Your mom starts screaming, tears falling down her face as she jumps around the dilapidated room in joy. Watching her with numb hands, you realise that you’re crying too when you feel the wet streaks down your chin.

Your father comes out of their bedroom, which also doubled as his makeshift office, and looks with confusion between your mom and you. Seeing the tears, he moves over to you, prosthetic legs creaking as he sits down and reads the messages that you hand to him.

Once done, he looks back up at you with eyes that glisten, emotion that you can’t even begin to understand welling deep within him. At seeing your dad’s overwhelming emotion, you finally let out a sob of joint happiness and shock, throwing your arms around his shoulders and crying into him as it all finally hits you.

You did it. You passed the entrance exams. You passed the entrance exams and got into university. A university off planet! One of the best universities in the galaxy at that! You were going to escape Earth, you were going to have a better life.

“I did it!” You whisper, pulling your mom into the hug as she kneels down in front of you both. It’s all you can say, all any of you can see as you celebrate this monumental achievement.

Less than 500 students out of the 5 million who take the university exams get into off world planets. Less than 100 get into prestigious universities.

You managed to be one of those lucky hundred, all thanks to your parents perseverance and belief. Hugging them even tighter, you press kisses to their faces as you all start to laugh while crying, the pure happiness infectious between you all.

You were going to make them proud. You were going to do everything they ever wanted for you and you vowed then and there, with your arms around them, that you would get them off this god forsaken planet.

It was unlikely that you could give them the life they deserve with what they had left, but you would at least let them live out their end years in peace and happiness somewhere better. 

And maybe, just maybe...you might find a way to see colour along the way.

Looking out the window, you bite your lip as you watched another starship take off, heading for planets unknown thousands of lightyears away. That was going to be you soon, heading off a planet you’d only ever really heard about. 

Maybe your soulmate was waiting for you there. 

Either way...you couldn’t wait.

-

The first few days of being in New Seoul are overwhelming to say the least. You’d spent hours researching the campus and city extensively, scanning over the history and images that were available to you. Admittedly, they all just looked pretty similar given you could only see in grayscale but it looked nice.

The reality was something else entirely though. Towering skyscrapers reached towards the sky like the fingers of a hand in Busan, trying to scrape their way to freedom in space. That combined with the scent of garbage, sewage, the sludge from the ocean and the fumes of exhausts that didn’t quite comply with what should have been the environmental standard.

And all of that competed with the abundance of neon signage that screamed out at passersby, demanding attention from all corners. Busan was busy, overcrowded and dirty but it shouted what it had to offer as loudly as it could. Not that what it did offer was any good.

New Seoul was...similar and yet completely different. The skyscrapers here didn’t stretch as far as possible into the skies, in fact the capital city of New Korea apparently had a building limit of 50 stories. It boggled your mind when you looked around the streets, each one astonishingly wide and lined with an abundance of native trees.

Grass, real grass and not even that fake crap that had been trodden into the dirt over decades, blew ever so gently in the breeze and you had no doubt that it would be a rich and luscious green if you could see it. But nothing really compared to the magnificent sight above your head.

To you, the sky simply looked like a shade of grey. But it was a shade you had never seen on the vast expanse before, occasionally dotted with white clouds with darker grey embedded within them. You’d never seen the sky itself though. Busan kept a perpetual haze in the upper limits, a blanket of thick and suffocating pollution and smog that made the sky as grey for everyone else as it did for you.

Even though you couldn’t see the colours of the sky here, you knew that New Seoul was more beautiful than Busan could have ever hoped to be. 

And there was more. The motor vehicles here were energy efficient, powered by solar via the panels that were embedded into the body, only a slight hum emanated purely to make sure that they could be heard by any pedestrians walking around. The streets were impossibly clean, hygiene robots patrolling regularly and cleaning along with hoovering up any rubbish that may be dropped.

It was also so...sparse in population compared to what you were used to. People here often lived on their own in a whole apartment. You had a room to yourself with a little kitchen in it and everything. You’d seen less people here in a few days than you had in two minutes outside in Busan. 

Overwhelming, yes. That was the right word for it.

And then of course, there was the sheer abundance of fresh and delicious food available. You’d eaten fresh, real tuna the other day in a sandwich made with bread that had been baked that morning. It had boggled your mind how delightful it tasted, only cementing how terrible the fake food that was served on Earth was.

Milkshakes were also a revelation, the vanilla taste so rich and indulgent with a wonderfully smooth texture that just slid down your throat. You’d spent a good two hours in a café on the first day, amazed at the world as you watched it pass by outside the window. 

New Seoul had the neon signs still, they were almost a tradition of big cities in the galaxy at this point, but they were almost tasteful now. Advertising clothes or virt-real arcades where children and teenagers flocked. Restaurants used them to announce their menu of the day and so much more. It was beautiful here, elegant almost.

The people walking around New Seoul even looked different to back in Busan. They looked healthy and strong here, happy and full of life and hope. Everyone was a little taller here too, a side effect of the planet having less gravity than Earth. It had been a little awkward for you at first, feeling ever so slightly weightless. 

You were stronger than people born and raised here too. That had been something you’d known objectively but forgotten until you’d accidentally launched an empty cup into the recycling. A few odd stares had occurred but no one said anything. People were generally used to the differences in strength and ability, but it was still amusing to see sometimes.

A slightly more negative discovery had been that your years of studying the Korean language had apparently been in vain. It was your mother tongue, the native language of Busan and therefore the mother tongue of New Korea as well. You’d only naturally thought that it would be useful to continue on your studies of the language past the basic lessons in your early childhood.

As such, you’d never considered there’d be anything wrong. But you’d forgotten that New Korea was founded over 700 years ago and the vast majority of the population today had emigrated at some point over the past few centuries. The socio-economic situation on Earth meant that immigration from Old Korea had been a trickle, one that had often run dry.

With that lack of interaction over the centuries...the Korean language spoken here had become almost unintelligible to you. They used words you’d never even heard of and even some of the grammar had shifted. What should have been a warm and easy welcome had become fraught with difficulty as you struggled to understand the silken tones and dancing syllables they used.

Your own Korean, slightly more standardised in the 32nd century than what it had once been, was equally as confusing to them. They could understand you to a degree, but it was like you were speaking some bizarre dialect with odd formalities. And apparently, your dialect was considered to be rough and grating.

Despite the pain at realising you would struggle with that, you had the reassuring balm that New Seoul taught in Standard. But you were a smart person, you would enlist in Korean lessons here and learn this language that was the same but entirely different. 

Biting your lip, you looked out over the large classroom and inhaled deeply. It smelt clean, the slightest hint of vanilla in the air from the scent diffusers installed into the air units while the seats were currently folded up, soft memory foam in black waiting for students to sit in them.

Hesitantly, you head over to one of the centre rows and sit down. The chair is possibly the comfiest thing you’ve ever sat in, and you’re positive it cost more than anything in your old bedroom. It kind of annoyed you to think that, but you pushed the thought away quickly. You were here now. You were going to make something of your life.

Pulling out your PED, you extended it out and turned on the screen, watching the holoscreen come to life in front of you. A quick tap had a keyboard appearing on the desk in front of you and you navigated through to the relevant class information on the university intranet. 

“Err...is it okay if I sit here?” A deep voice asks beside you, his accent oddly lyrical as he spoke Standard to you. Glancing up, you see a guy standing next to you. He’s ridiculously attractive with hair that you presume to be black looking all ruffled on his head. His eyes are kind though while his smile is nervous.

Nodding, you gesture to the seat and smile back at him as he sits down. 

He sets up his own desk before looking at you, pausing for a moment before obviously taking the plunge and leaning forward. “Are you from here too? Or are you an off planet?”

“Oh, I’m off planet. I’m...err...well I’m from Earth. Old Korea actually. You? I’m Y/N by the way.” His eyes widen at your words and you see him do a quick scan of your body, not even caring that you could blatantly see him doing it. You must pass some internal test before he shrugs, settling back in his seat.

“Taehyung. I’m from Alexandros. I get the feeling we’re both going to suffer a bit of a cultural learning curve.” Snorting, you roll your eyes and nod at that. Already you feel comfortable and at home with him, even though you’ve barely spoken. Something about him is exceptionally friendly and nice.

Despite him not explaining, you know why he said it. Alexandros is a planet with a reputation, much like Earth. Only his planet’s reputation is a little more...hedonistic in nature. Sex of all kinds wasn’t illegal on there, even the kinds that you personally thought should be illegal.

Marriage didn’t exist and polyamory was the norm. Most people had multiple partners which resulted in multiple children. You didn’t know the in’s and out’s of it, but it was basically the planet you went to if you just wanted a good time. It held the title of the best wine and beer made in the galaxy along with a surprisingly good restaurant scene according to the information pages about them.

New Korea...was not as free as Alexandros and you felt that you and Taehyung were certainly going to have to learn what was acceptable and what wasn’t here. Just getting used to the fact that this place had actual laws that mattered, like not walking across the road anywhere other than at specified crossing areas.

“Yeah...we’re gonna have a bit of a tough time huh? I even discovered that not only is Earth considered backwards to everyone else, we really are because I can’t even understand their Korean.” He laughs at that, his smile box like and you can’t help but smile in response.

“Shit...that must suck. At least you can speak Standard though. So like, feel free to tell me to fuck off if it offends you but...does Earth really suck as bad as everyone says? I’ve never met anyone from there.” Taehyung is inquisitive, a tiny frown of interest on his face and you let out a small sigh.

“It really is. Let’s just say...well this is the first time I’ve ever seen the sky. Like...without pollution and stuff. And trees. I’ve never seen a real tree. It’s all very...I tried tuna! And real beef! Oh my, it was amazing. You don’t understand what luxury the galaxy has without even realising it!” The wonder in your voice and excitement that resonates causing Taehyung to grin even bigger.

“I’ve...never considered it before to be honest. I mean, I’ve never had tuna. It’s not a common food on Alexandros but I have had other seafood if that counts? I’m interested in trying the beef here, apparently they have some ancient way of cooking it?” Nodding, you open up a new screen on your PED and quickly type into the search.

“Yes, it’s a traditional Korean barbecue, they cook it on the table for you. Or rather you cook it. We actually do still have this back home but it doesn’t really taste nice because they don’t even bother washing the grills anymore so it’s covered in black crap. And the meat is just...artificial crap. I’m excited to try it here though, I bet they use real sauce too.” 

You don’t see the way Taehyung looks at you in pure wonderment, completely bemused by how excited you’re getting over something as simple as real meat and sauce. Pausing, you glance over and lower your head in embarrassment which immediately gets him shaking his head with a smile.

“Hey don’t get upset, I want to try it too. We should go, you seem to know what would be good. This is me trying to make friends by the way. I feel we could both use with at least one friend here, right?” You eyed him in astonishment, surprised that he was this bold and forward. No one cared about others back on Earth, they certainly didn’t embrace friendliness this quickly.

“Are you always this forward?”

Taehyung nods enthusiastically, his hair flying everywhere as he does so and you can’t help but laugh at him. “Oh yeah. It’s an Alexandros trait but my mom’s and dad’s always said I was the most outgoing out of my siblings. It’s why they paid for my tuition and everything to come here. They felt I’d make a good teacher!”

Humming quietly, you wonder whether to be as forward with him as he’d been with you. Eyeing him for a second, you decide to go for it. He can’t get upset when he just asked something that could have been hurtful to you.

“So it’s really true about Alexandros? Multiple partners and stuff?” To his credit, Taehyung doesn’t even look slightly bothered about your question. He’s busy opening up the class documents on his own PED, tongue flicking out to lick his lips.

“Oh yeah. I’ve had a lot of dad’s and mom’s and parents who didn’t identify as either gender. Some of them are still around, some have moved on to other places. At last count, I’ve had eight dad’s, six mom’s and two non-binary parents. I believe I have,” He pauses, looking up and doing some quick calculations. “Twenty two brothers and sixteen sisters. It all started because our planet wasn’t the most hospitable at the start and so they had to have more kids to be able to actually have a normal amount survive. Now everyone just likes sex and big families. It’s cool.”

You’re positive that your eyes are wide, but it’s just a completely foreign idea to you. Earth actively encouraged small families, trying to desperately reduce the rampant overpopulation. You’d never met anyone with a sibling. Nevermind thirty eight siblings!

“That’s...wow. I’m not being like...rude or anything. The idea of that on Earth is...horrifying actually. That’s how to end up in absolute poverty on the streets. It must be nice though, having such a big family around you.” He hums, lips twisting while his hand shakes slightly.

“Yes and no. It’s fun and you always have support but the fights aren’t fun, let me tell you that.” Smiling at him, you turn your head as the professor enters from the door at the bottom of the room.

“Well Taehyung...how about you tell me all about it over some barbecue later?” With an even bigger smile, he shakes your hand and nods his head in acceptance.

-

4 Years Later

Over the last four years at New Seoul University, you’ve learnt many things about not only the world outside of Earth but about yourself. You’d learnt that you were not as smart as you’d originally thought you were, but you’d come to terms with that and even enjoyed no longer being the shining example in class.

You’d learnt to no longer worry and stress about your future, instead choosing to live in the moment. This was something that people on Earth simply wouldn’t really understand, because they had no real future. But you had the galaxy in your hands now, and after you finished your final year of your degree then you’d be able to venture out into the world.

You’d learnt that the universe really did consider Earth a backwater dump, one to which you couldn’t even really argue about. But the rest of the galaxy wasn’t all roses either. Niflheim, so named after the Ancient Norse world of fog, mist and darkness, was a planet that was probably even more harsh to live on than Earth. A planet of near perpetual storms of ice, most of the inhabitants had to survive underneath specially built domes that protected the buildings that led to the mineshafts deep in the astonishingly large mountains.

Despite it’s unforgiving nature, Niflheim was popular to work in because of the Helite its small towns mined, a material that was incredibly hard yet surprisingly flexible. It had a high resale value, making the tough world hard to live in but valuable to those who roughed it out.

You’d learnt to explore yourself as well, enjoying your life for once instead of pushing yourself hard to succeed academically to the point you had no life. Taehyung had helped here, decreeing that it simply wasn’t acceptable that you kept shutting yourself in your dorm room and doing all of your homework way in advance of the deadlines.

As he pointed out, life was for living...not punishing yourself.

So you kept up your high grades to maintain your scholarships, but you lived a little more freely too. You’d shyly dated a few people here and there, sad that none of them brought beautiful to your world, and learnt many new things about yourself.

Unsurprisingly, you weren’t a fan of casual sex but you’d also discovered that you hated beer but enjoyed wine. Alcohol was far too expensive on Earth so most people made their own version which could be bought cheap. But it also came with a far higher mortality rate because you never knew what was going into it.

But you enjoyed it here, understood why people thought wine was more ‘sophisticated’ and had become quite accustomed to a glass at night. Another benefit to being friends, or more correctly best friends now, with one Kim Taehyung was that he had a much more lax view about sex than anyone else around here. And that was saying something compared to you.

Which meant that instead of casual sex, you’d been friends with benefits with him for well over a year. To him, it was purely sex and he didn’t mind giving it to you even if he was dating because of the culture he’d grown up in. He made it clear with his partners that he was free to date others and have sex with others too. But you’d mostly kept to him, not really enjoying putting yourself out there for anyone else in a while.

This was the start of your fourth, and final year at university. And you still see in black and white and all the shades of grey in between. It made your heart hurt and sometimes, at night in your shared apartment when you were a little tipsy, you lamented to Taehyung that maybe you’d never see colour.

Given the planet he came from and it’s views on sex, dating and all of that, it was perhaps unsurprising that Taehyung viewed the idea of soulmates with more than a little skepticism. In fact, you were positive he thought it was all just a bunch of shit but was being too polite and nice to tell you otherwise.

Not when he could see how much the belief that there was someone out there meant to you; someone who would love you unconditionally and who you would adore in turn, someone who would bring colour and joy to your world.

He’d acknowledged that you were in fact colour blind, many times accidentally asking you for colour advice on outfits or hair before hitting his head in realisation when you stared at him blankly. But he probably just thought it was some medical condition caused by being raised on Earth.

Soulmates didn’t really gel with the Alexandros philosophy on relationships. You didn’t complain too much to him, even though you knew of stories where people had multiple soulmates back in the old times. A lot of people today who heard about soulmates thought they were always, ironically, black and white in terms of who was bonded together.

A man and a woman, but that was wrong. Fate brought together the two souls who complemented each other the most. Men and women, yes, but also two women, two men, those who don't identify as either and so much more. Fate didn’t care about humanity’s ideas of sexuality or gender...it just cared about finding two people who would be perfect for each other.

But most people didn’t believe it anyway, so you didn’t see any point in trying to educate them. Not when they obviously had no visible reason to believe in it. 

You did though. The café that you stared out at right now told you that there was someone for you, because there was no way you’d been born this colour blind and had such a desperate urge to leave your planet and come here otherwise. They were here, you were sure of it. 

It’s just that there were over 2 billion people on this planet, so your chances were slim.

“Is there a particular reason you’ve been drying that cup for five minutes now?” The deep voice of Taehyung causes you to jump slightly, jerked out of your thoughts abruptly. Turning to look at him, you see his ever smiling face watching you intently as he leans his hip against the sink.

“Sorry...I just...new year and all that. Just...thinking.” You can’t even find a reason for him, instead just shrugging and placing the cup down before grabbing another and beginning to dry it. Glancing out over the café that you both work in, just one of the many that dot the city of New Seoul.

If there’s one thing that both old and new Korea have in common, it’s their avid love of coffee. The only difference between the two is that real coffee and milk is actually used here and not fake stuff. You could personally attest that it made all the difference to have the real stuff, it was far more flavourful and creamy.

This café is one that’s just on the outskirts of the university, meaning that it was frequented by students at all times of the day. From noon to midnight and even at 4am, there would be at least one student in its warm and fragrant walls.

You liked working here, even if it added to your stress by giving you even less time in the day for yourself but it also helped to give you an extra money flow. The scholarships and grants were great, but you needed more money to save away for when you’d finished uni.

New Korea thankfully gave automatic citizenship to anyone from Old Korea due to the historical relations between the two and you would be accepting that as soon as you’d finished uni. You would admit that perhaps you were trying to game the system by waiting until you had a degree in your hand as accepting citizenship now would mean losing the money from the United Nations Government.

Taehyung said you were being smart, but you felt like you were being selfish. But at the same time, you almost felt like Earth owes you it at least. You would be the best kind of PR for the planet, born on the ancient homeworld of humanity and dragged yourself out of it through sheer willpower and smarts.

So you worked at the café to help yourself out, letting you put away half your wages into a savings account that you would use to put down a deposit for an apartment when you finish school. The other half went to just actually enjoying life.

“All your classes are sorted right? You’re in the same Children’s Cognitive Development class as me right? With Dr Oh?” Your best friend asks, reaching past you for a cup before heading over to the coffee machine. The selling point of this café is that it uses traditional methods to make its coffee, which means the machines here are just modern versions of those that were used over a thousand years ago. 

Apparently it made the best tasting coffee, despite all the advancements of technology since.

You would agree to be honest. It wasn’t quick but that almost seemed to make it taste better.

“Yeah, I’ve got that and then I’ve also taken Interplanetary Children’s Education, The Psychology of Childhood and Teaching Special Needs.” The cups are all dry now and you begin stacking them back up in their relevant area, making sure that the café logo is facing forwards as you’d been taught long ago.

“Damn, big schedule. You’ve got the dissertation to do, you need to remember that too.” Tae points out, grabbing the carton of milk out of the refrigeration unit and adding it into the drink he’s making. Nodding, you give him a quick smile.

“I know. I’ve already decided on my topic, it’s basically going to be about how the education system is meant to be set up to be applicable to all children across all planets but it still benefits those who are better off than those in poverty.” Glancing over at you, Taehyung puts the cup and saucer onto the small tray before reaching into the counter, cutting off a piece of luxurious strawberry and cream cake before carefully placing that on the tray too.

“I wonder why the girl from Earth has chosen that topic?” He muses with a smile, brow rising at you and you just give him another innocent shrug. Your teacher had thought that same thing when you proposed it, but he’d supported you in your topic anyway.

“Can you take this out? Table 12.” He says, nodding out into the area and you smile before acknowledging his request. Brushing your hands down your black apron, you look out and your eyes widen as you see who’s sat at the table, PED glowing in front of him as a small frown knots his brow together.

“Jung Hoseok? Are you kidding?” That Tae laughing quietly, looking over before giving you a conspiratorial grin. He knows full well about your little crush on one of the most eligible bachelors on New Korea. 

Everyone knew who Jung Hoseok was, his family had been one of the first to emigrate to New Korea and had been instrumental in the founding of New Seoul. His family was astonishingly rich and well cultured, his genealogy being traced back not only centuries but centuries before humanity left Earth.

That alone made him one of the most eligible bachelors. Everyone wanted to be rich, and bagging one of the founding families was certainly the way to ensure you were rich and someone who mattered. You knew that Hoseok’s father was a Congressman in the government of New Korea, involved in regulating laws, business and more for the whole planet.

His mother was heavily involved in the education system itself. Despite that, Hoseok had got into university on his own merit. Despite your dissertation subject, the university exams were all done anonymously. So he’d gotten here by his own brain and not by the money his parents had.

Another reason he was incredibly popular and wanted though, was because he was so damn attractive. A straight slope of a nose ended in the slightest curve upwards, combining with the sharp cut of his jaw to give him one of the most astonishing side profiles ever. Soft cheeks were dotted with sweet dimples that showed when he was happy, frustrated or thinking.

Long and elegant fingers had apparently grown up playing the piano while his eyes were pools of friendliness and warmth. Jung Hoseok was well known for being exceptionally polite and friendly, one of the most affable people in the whole university. He had no real enemies and tried hard to stay on the good side of everyone.

And he did, because he was just so damn...nice.

He was astonishingly beautiful, his black hair a little fluffy and mussed together with no styling in it. You didn’t know what colour his clothes were today, all you knew was that it looked like his jeans were dark and his shirt was white. Taehyung had confirmed his hair colour long ago to you and you could only imagine how astonishing he looked in colour.

In monochrome, he was quite possibly the most beautiful man you’d ever seen.

You were best friends with Taehyung too, so that was high praise.

And Taehyung knew all about your little crush on the important, influential, beautiful and friendly heir. You’d never even spoken to the man before, simply simpered over him from behind the counter whenever he was here. 

You’d never encountered someone who had lit up your thoughts and captured your dreams quite like him. He made your stomach feel a little funny when he was here, like there were little birds flying around inside that were trying to make their way out.

But now you had to go out there and talk to him. And give him what he’d ordered. He probably wouldn’t even notice you. Hoseok was two years older than you, in his final year of a business management master’s degree and you were positive he was going to go into some area of his family business once done.

As such, your paths had never had any reason to cross outside out of the café, so he probably hadn’t even noticed you existed. Most people didn’t really pay attention to the staff in places, even here in New Seoul where everyone was meant to be a little more ‘cultured’.

Taking a deep breath, you quickly brush over the flyaway hairs on your face and brush away imaginary dirt from your apron once more before grasping the tray. It shakes only a little bit, and part of you wonders why you’re so bothered about him. You’d never been this bothered about anyone even when you’d been dating them.

Heading out, you see Taehyung give you a thumbs up with a cheesy smile as he accepts a new order from the terminal that a customer has sent through from the holo menus in the tables. He’s distracted immediately and you’re left on your own, walking over to Hoseok.

Smiling politely with your best customer service face, you place the ceramic saucer on the table before carefully placing the matching cup on top. The familiar clink that occurs when they meet each other is lost in the overall noise that crowds the café. Glancing down, you add the piece of strawberry and cream cake that he’d ordered as well before placing the dainty silver fork next to it.

“Here’s your drink and food sir, I hope you find it enjoyable.” You say politely, tipping your head in a slight bow as you hold the tray against your waist, pressing against the apron that makes up part of the uniform you had to wear here. This had been part of the training that you’d had to actively learn when compared to the others who worked here and had grown up on New Korea.

Taehyung had had to learn to incorporate cultural differences into his daily and work life as well, so at least you hadn’t been on your own there. Customer’s were treated like mini deities here, and while it was pleasing when you were on the receiving end, it wasn’t entirely nice when you were on the other end. Most customers were equally nice but some, as expected, were not. Those were the ones who tried to take advantage of staff.

You hated dealing with those.

But you knew Hoseok wouldn’t be like that. He’d never raised his voice to any member of staff here at the café before, in fact you’d never heard of him shouting or being mean to anyone. You wish you could that was because of his upper class upbringing here on New Seoul, but usually those people ended up being the ones who had the worst manners.

Not Hoseok though. Jung Hoseok was always exceptionally polite and friendly to everyone. Part of the charm that made him idolised by those at New Seoul University while also making him a prime bachelor for the many single women and men here. If you had to make a list of the top ten most eligible men in New Seoul University, Hoseok would probably be in the top three.

Park Jimin and Kim Seokjin would be battling it out for the other places no doubt.

You turn once he’s acknowledged you with a small smile and a quick thanks, his voice deeper and quieter than you expected, shifting your tray in your hands as you look back over to the counter to check if Taehyung’s okay or if you’re okay to collect the leftover cups and plates on the empty tables. 

A sudden warm weight on your wrist jerks you to a halt, surprising you because you weren’t expecting Hoseok to interact with you anymore. Brows raising, you turn back to Hoseok as you hear him begin to speak.

“Excuse me, miss-” He pauses though and you frown, wondering why until you look directly into his eyes once more. They’re a colour that you’ve never seen before, which causes you to pause in surprise, leaning back slightly.

Hoseok is staring at you with equally wide eyes that flick over your face, brow creasing ever so slightly while his mouth remains open. For a few seconds, it seems like the world outside of you both has paused and there is only Hoseok and you.

Brown. That must be the colour. You’d overheard girls on occasion gushing over Hoseok’s rich brown eyes. At the time, you’d shrugged off the comment without a second thought. Life without colour had become familiar to you, so you couldn’t miss what you’d never had.

But now, now that you can see the beautiful colours slowly bleeding to life as you look him over. His skin is more vibrant in colour, his sweater an odd shade darker than white actually that you can’t quite figure out. Jeans remain black while his equally black boots remain on his feet, matching the dark and luscious locks on his head.

Even there though, you can see hints of brown shining through their strands, blending together in a beautiful colour. Looking away from him, you see colour everywhere suddenly. Green, the colour of the grass outside that had always just looked pale to you. 

Hoseok’s hand tightens on your wrist and you look back at him, ignorant of everything else once more. Confusion is written all over his face and you get the sudden sense that he’s probably extremely overwhelmed with what’s happening right now.

“What just happened?” He whispers, confirming your suspicions. But he sounds so lost and meek, almost afraid that your heart clenched tightly with the need to console him. Uncaring whether your manager or colleagues get annoyed, you sit opposite him at the small table, the cup of coffee still steaming between you both.

His hand is still on your wrist, warm and solid.

“Are you seeing colours right now? Like...real colours?” You ask softly, leaning forward and keeping your voice low. Part of you wants to look around and take everything in, but the abundance of sheer...variety of colour that the world has makes your brain hurt a little, unable to take everything in.

It’s even worse given that you don’t even know what some of these colours are, your mind grasping for answers it simply doesn’t know.

Hoseok looks much the same, squinting his eyes slightly and you marvel at the fact that even light itself appears to have a colour. 

“How do you know that? What just happened?” Hoseok asks insistently, moving forward to shorten the distance between yourself and him. You take a deep breath, knowing that what you’re going to say next to him will make no sense. New Korea is a planet that stopped believing in soulmates long ago, the concept dying quickly as those with the knowledge passed away.

Anyone who finds their soulmate now does it by accident, so there’s no wonder Hoseok has no idea what’s going on. He probably just thought he’s always been colourblind because of some medical reason no one can figure out.

Just like you.

“I...okay, this is going to sound very strange and silly. But...have you heard of soulmates?” He tilts his head, eyes still blank at the word before shrugging slightly, lips pursing.

“In films I think. Maybe a book or two. Aren’t they just myths?” You shake your head slowly, taking a deep breath to stabilise yourself and your feelings before letting it out just as slow. It doesn’t really work, but you try to pretend that it did.

“Soulmates aren’t myths. They’re real. And...well...I don’t know how to say this to you without weirding you out but...I’m pretty sure you’re my soulmate. And I’m yours.” 

Hoseok just stares at you, face completely expressionless. For a moment, you think he’s going to laugh at you loudly and walk off, resolving to never come to this café again because of the strange Earthen girl babbling about soulmates and stuff. But instead, he releases your wrist and sits back against his chair with a soft ‘oof’, eyes widening.

“What?”

-

Perhaps unsurprisingly, there’s an odd tension between you and the man you fully believe to be your soulmates as you walk quietly through the nearby park. He hasn’t said a word since leaving the café and the bubbling in gut is a mix of excitement that you’d finally found him and worry that he wouldn’t believe you.

That he’d turn and walk away.

It had been ten minutes since you’d quickly rushed back to Taehyung behind the counter, begging him to cover the rest of your shift even though he was due to finish. Understandably, he’d been more than a little confused and surprised.

The half counter door swings shut behind you silently, the only sign it had been opened was the gentle swaying as it settles back into its usual place. Taehyung is currently adding the cherry syrup onto the whipped cream in the hot chocolate he’d made for a waiting customer, his face scrunched as he concentrated on the task at hand.

Chaeyoung is currently pulling the freshly baked goods out of the auto oven, placing the tray on the side to let them cool down for a bit before adding them onto the shelves in the counter for people to choose something to snack on. She hasn’t noticed your rushed appearance though, only her vibrant blue hair visible as she hums quietly to the gentle music piping through the hidden speakers in the café.

Once Tae had finished his latte and placed it on the counter to be collected, you grabbed his arm tightly and tugged him towards the back. He looked at you with confusion, dark brows tighty knitted together in concern at whatever expression you had on your face.

“Tae...I need you to cover my shift. Please, please say yes!” You beg him, letting go of his arm to clasp your hands together while you made your eyes go as wide as possible, pleading with him desperately to get him to agree.

“What? Why? I finish in ten minutes? You don’t finish for another two hours!” He begins to complain, the corners of his lips already turning down in a pout that would tug at your heartstrings.

But you can’t give in to him this time. Not now.

Glancing back outside at the café, you’re relieved to see that Hoseok is still sitting at his table. His own expression is a carefully blank one, the lower half of his face hidden as he drinks deeply from the cup you’d placed in front of him only minutes earlier.

“I found him. I found him Tae.” Taehyung’s expression slips into its own version of Hoseok’s, face not giving away anything as he obviously doesn’t understand what you’re on about.

“My soulmate! It’s Hoseok.” That gets an incredulous look, Taehyung’s eyebrows rising high on his forehead until they’re disappearing beneath his ruffled hair. They soon begin to track down though as disbelief fills him and he leans back, looking out of the door himself at the man in question.

“Jung Hoseok...is your soulmate...right. Okay.” You can tell he’s trying really hard not to put down your hopes here. He’s never believed in soulmates and despite the stories you’ve told him over the years, he’s remained firm in the belief that they’re just old wives tales from a planet that’s been dying for centuries now.

A small piece of hope for people who don’t have any.

But you still believed. And now you’d been proven right.

Glancing around the items stored on various shelves in the back room, you suddenly point towards a box of fresh coffee beans. “That’s green. And...and your hair is blue! Like the sky outside. That cup is...red and that box is brown.”

Taehyung follows your gestures, suspicion deep within them at first before slowly his eyes widen and his jaw drops.

“Holy shit. You can see colour now? What colour is this?” He asks loudly, pulling out another box from one of the shelves and holding it up. You can’t even begin to describe the colour, your brow creasing in a frown as you try to find a reference for what it could be.

“...light red?” Taehyung laughs loudly.

“Kind of. Pink. It’s pink. Actually it’s more of a fuchsia which is like...a pink mixed with a purple. Which you also don’t know so I should shut up. But anyway...how did that happen?” Chewing your lip, you shrug lightly.

“I don’t know. I mean...well...Hoseok touched my wrist to get my attention and then suddenly...it was like the world filled in. And he had the same expression, looking around everywhere. So I asked him if he can see colour now and he asked how I knew that. He...I...I mean...if he couldn’t see colour either until he touched me? You know I’ve liked him for ages too!” You’re not entirely sure why you’re almost begging him to believe you, but you need someone to accept you’re not just talking bullshit.

“Damn...yeah. Okay...I’ll bite then. Yeah, I’ll cover your shift. Go talk to him or whatever it is soulmates do. If it really is soulmates. Holy shit. Y/N, you do realise that’s Jung mother-fucking Hoseok out there? Not just some regular college guy?” Pointing out the door, he looks at you with deep concern and you feel warmth blossom inside at his protectiveness over you.

You know what he’s talking about. Of all the people in the universe, it had to be him.

“I know. I know...I just...well we’ll talk to each other and...see what happens I guess?”

What happens is apparently a lot of silence. You’re not sure if this is just Hoseok’s general nature, if he’s angry or if he’s just in shock. What you’ve seen and heard of him over the years indicates that he’s not particularly a generally quiet person.

Sure, he has his moments. But mostly he’s pretty loud when with people he likes and almost abnormally friendly. Not right now though. Right now he’s the quietest you’ve ever seen him, his hands shoved into the pockets of his jeans while his boots are silent on the ground. They’re obviously high end with in-built silencing fabric. You don’t even want to imagine the cost.

His bag is now slung over his shoulder, the contents of which you don’t know. Bags aren’t exactly the most common thing in today’s society, nearly everything could be done either on a PED or the small biochip that was implanted into everyone’s wrist. A combination ID card, bank card and more.

Finally though, he stops at an old-fashioned wooden bench with ornate metal woven between it. It’s been coated in weather-resistant paint, the black colour still as vibrant and shiny as the day it had been originally painted on.

For a moment, you simply stare at that and find yourself speaking without even thinking.

“Wow, even black looks different in colour.” It’s true, even if you didn’t mean to say it out loud. Hoseok’s lips pursed for a moment before he looked to his side, taking in the railing with interest before nodding and letting out a quiet noise of agreement from his throat.

And then you find yourself staring at him, taking in his sheer beauty before then looking around the park as well. It’s truly astonishing to see so much colour, to know that people just grew up being able to see this all the time. You couldn’t have even imagined just how many different variations of green there are, the shades running from the darkest green that almost borders on black to the pretty and palest green you’d spotted on a few flowers.

“It’s so beautiful.” You whisper gently, eyes running along an ancient tree that towers above you both. It’s trunk is thick and strong, the bark a shade between grey and brown while the leaves that sway in the breeze are a mixture of greens and what you presume to be orange and yellow. The science books said that was generally what colour leaves went during autumn, but New Korea had species of trees that weren’t found on Earth.

Either way, it was possibly one of the most beautiful sights you’d ever seen.

“It is. And I don’t really mean to interrupt you, because I kinda really just wanna look around too, but...I need you to explain. Please.” Hoseok gestures to the bench next to him with an imploring look and you see the pure confusion in his eyes. The poor guy's life has suddenly been turned upside down and he has absolutely no idea what’s just happened apart from a quickly blurted out statement from you in a café.

Honestly, he’s taking it all pretty well.

Taking a deep breath, you use it to fortify yourself as best you can before sitting down next to him. A quick glance over at him lets you see that he’s staring at you, and you find yourself looking away shyly in response to his intense gaze. Somehow, you’d always imagined meeting your soulmate as being a little more...romantic.

Obviously you hadn’t actually considered the awkwardness that would ensue upon two or more random people meeting each other and finding out that they’d been chosen by destiny to be perfect for one another. Then again, the stories focused on the love and romance of it all.

“Erm, well. Like I said earlier...we’re soulmates. Or like...I’m pretty sure we are. I err, I grew up on Earth. In Old Korea. And there’s still stories about soulmates back there, they’re not as popular anymore and they’re almost gone everywhere else but my mom always told me about them. She was convinced that the reason I couldn’t see in colour was because I was meant to get off Earth because someone was waiting for me out there.”

“What if your soulmate had been on Earth though?” Hoseok interrupts, looking thoughtful as he leans back against the bench and you pause, considering that. You’d pondered this a few times yourself over the years, but she’d been so adamant and desperate for you to leave that you’d pushed it away every time.

“Well...she might have just been telling me it. I mean, whatever you’ve heard about Earth...the reality is ten times worse. No mother wants to try and keep their kid on that hell planet anymore. So maybe she was but, I believed her. I used to read the stories all the time, of people finding each other through soul marks or just accidentally coming across each other. Two people who fate had decided were perfect for each other, complementary souls who would make each other happy in the long run. Who wouldn’t want that?” Hoseok’s brow rises slowly.

“I don’t know, freedom of choice is a really great thing.” He says dryly and you feel yourself wilt under his tone. You’ve dealt with Taehyung for long enough to understand where this is going. Hoseok thinks you’re being outrageous, having all these wild claims. Understandable, but it doesn’t stop the pain in your stomach when you think that it probably means he’ll leave.

“Yeah…” Trailing off, you look down at your hands and simply watch as you play with your fingers nervously, wondering what you’re meant to say. Anything is going to sound crazy to him and you’re trying to think of things that won’t send him running.

“Hey, I’m sorry. I just...this is all a little overwhelming and I get the feeling you’re understanding more than me. So please, continue. I’ll be less of a dick.” With those few sentences, you can already hear the centuries of high class breeding that has gone in Hoseok. Because there’s no one on Earth that would’ve been that polite about just potentially causing offence.

“It’s...it’s just. It all sounds so silly now I’m saying it out loud and you’re right. There’s no choice involved which makes it bad, right?” Looking at him, you give him pleading eyes but he has no response for you. “But I just...I’ve spent all my life looking in black and white. I used to watch the spaceport out of my bedroom window and wish I could see the stars, see the universe in the same colour everyone else did. And my mom told me it's because I have someone out there, someone who will make me happy and who will love me.”

Pausing, you swallow before shifting slightly to look at him.

“You have to understand. I can’t even begin to describe Earth to you, how bad it is. I made it here and...I can’t even begin to say how low my chances were. But I did. I just...I really believe that you’re...my soulmate. As stupid as that sounds to you. I’ve always felt like I needed to leave Earth, that I had to leave Earth. And I always wanted to come here to New Seoul. I thought it was just because I thought I’d have an easier time you know? Old and New Korea, it’d be similar. But when I made it here, I knew that I had to work to sustain myself and I picked here...like I just felt it was right for me. That probably sounds weird and stalkerish, huh? I just...looking back now, it feels like everything in my life has-”

“Lead to you a little café off the campus of New Seoul?” Hoseok says, his voice is carefully neutral and you look at him with surprise. You hadn’t expected him to say anything and he sounds strange. His expression is odd too, almost thoughtful as he stares down at the path.

Slowly you nod, even though he isn’t looking at you but you feel the need to let him work through whatever his thoughts are. And then he lets out a snorted laugh, shaking his head as he gives you a lopsided smile.

“You know, I thought you were full of shit in the café. I mean sure, I didn’t have any other explanation as to why suddenly I was seeing colour but I thought I’d let you talk. Even if I was sat here thinking ‘what the fuck is she on about? Soulmates?’. And then you kept talking and...it made sense,” Pausing, he glances over to you. “I’ve always been obsessed with Earth. The history and the culture. I actually wanted to do an Earth Studies major but my parents would’ve killed me. I didn’t really know why I was fascinated with it, not when everyone knows it’s one of the worst planets in the galaxy. But I just...absorbed everything I could about it. My mom was terrified that when I was eighteen that I’d run off there or something.”

Hoseok laughs at that, his face breaking into a bright smile as he glances up at the astonishingly blue sky. There’s a moment where he stops talking, his eyes simply wide as he watches it in wonder and you can’t take your own eyes off him. The smile of pure joy and wonder on his face makes your heart twist a little and you rub at your chest.

“I’m not that stupid. Besides, I got to choose a university and I just...wanted to come here. Had to. And then when I finished my degree, I felt like I should stay. Do a postgrad course. This makes a lot of sense now.” 

Chewing your lip, you wonder what to say to him and shift nervously, hands clasping and unclasping as you run through options in your mind. Was he seriously saying that he’d experienced the same urges that you had throughout life? The obsession and desire to go somewhere else with no real knowledge as to what was pushing it? Was it really the bond between you?

“I just thought I kept going to the café because I thought you were cute.” He says it so casually, like he’s commenting on the weather, that you don’t even realise what he’d actually said. And when it finally processes, your eyes widen almost comically.

“What?” You blurt out and Hoseok gives a small smile, looking a little awkward as he rubs the back of his neck before letting out one, long breath. This wasn’t where you’d been expecting it to go at all.

“I mean...are you really surprised? If what you say is true...and we’re...soulmates, then it kinda makes sense. From what you’ve said and what I just told you, it seems like we’ve had something trying to get us near each other even if we didn’t know what that was. So if whatever that was, was powerful enough to make you move to a different planet...then I think me liking you is the easy bit really.” Hoseok shrugs slightly, shifting to face you a little better before holding out his hand.

Pausing, you stare down at the palm facing you and lick at your suddenly dry lips. This is both exactly how you’d imagined this scenario going but also nothing like you’d imagined it all at once, and you’re not entirely sure how to feel about it all.

“Don’t you think it’s weird though? I mean...I just came up to you and started spouting all this soulmate bullshit and yeah sure, if I did this back on Earth to someone then they’d probably believe me easily because we believe in the stories more back there but you don’t. Not here. And you have no choice, like you said. I mean, you’re right, it’s not fair really. I don’t like...want you to feel pressured into anything because that’s not right.” You’re babbling, and you’re well aware that you’re babbling. There’s an inkling inside you that tells you that Hoseok also knows that you’re babbling, because he’s giving you a distinctly droll stare.

“Okay, Y/N,” You’re shocked that he knows your name but then remember the badge on your shirt that portrays the letters proudly in white holograms on a black background. “Yes, you’re right. I don’t think it’s fair, but then it’s also not fair for you. And it’s all a little fantastical and strange. But I have heard of the stories. I don't know much about them but I’ve heard of them. I was obsessed with Earth remember? Plus...both of us started seeing colour the moment I touched you. And even though you’re telling me all these things that sound pretty crazy and I’m more than a tiny bit bewildered by it all...sitting here with you is just about the best thing I’ve done all week.” 

Silence fills the air between you after that statement, expectant from him and stunned from you. You suppose that you should be thankful that he’s not running away from you as fast as he possibly can but you’re just...confused as to why he’s so laid back about it all.

And also shy, because this man who you’ve been crushing on for a long time, who is your soulmate, has admitted to liking you in turn. So much that he thought just sitting with you was good.

“Look, I could freak out and start screaming about how you’re talking bullshit and then walk off. I could avoid you for the rest of my life whenever I see you. But I don’t want to do that. I really, really don’t want to do that. I considered it while walking here, but something in me...something really deep in me shied away from that idea. So I’m going to roll with the punches. It’s not the weirdest thing I’ve ever heard I guess. And I mean...it costs me nothing to try, right?” 

Staring at him with wide eyes, you feel your mouth open and close dumbly. Finally, you jerk your head away and swallow, wondering what you’re meant to do now. You’re not surprised to realise that you have absolutely no idea, so you tell him so.

“I don’t know what to do now. I mean...the stories never really talked about...this,” You gesture between you both. “So I mean...what happens?”

Hoseok lets out a cheerful laugh, the sound surprisingly high and infectious as it causes you to smile along with him. Looking at you, he carefully reaches out and takes your hand. His skin is soft and warm against yours and it’s almost like everything in your body focuses on that touch.

Glancing back at him, you wonder if he’s feeling the same because he can’t stop staring at your hands as well, his brows knitted slightly as a curious expression paints itself on his face. He snaps out of it quickly, turning his eyes to your own face before giving you a slight smile.

“Well...I guess this is probably the part where we get to act like normal people and just...go on a date? Maybe not somewhere too colourful right now but...I like the sound of that?” You can tell that he does by the hopeful tone to his voice and your mind does a leap of joy at it, amazed that he’s not only taking this all pretty well but seems to be pretty excited at the prospect of dating you.

So you smile at him sweetly, turning your hand until you can thread your fingers with his own before nodding slowly. “I like the sound of that too. So...where to?”

-

Two Months Later

You didn’t have a huge amount of experience when it came to dating. That was something that you had already been well aware of upon moving to New Seoul and something that had been made abundantly clear to you in the last four years. You’d never dated anyone back on Earth, too busy studying to try and pass your exams to even notice if anyone had potentially been interested in you.

Learning to date here had been interesting as a result. Despite the fact that you’d been well aware of how others dated back on Earth, even if you hadn’t been part of it, you’d quickly discovered that dating was very different here.

For starters, people were far more sexually liberated. Which was odd, because you’d had thought that the backwater of Earth would be. But while you’d entered into the world of sex thanks to Taehyung, who you’d not been surprised about at all given where he came from, it had surprised you to discover that New Koreans were actively having sex.

Which meant that you’d been on a few dates with people only to discover that sex on the first date was very much normal here. Hell, sex before the first date. It made you feel like a prude because on Earth it just...wasn’t done. 

People avoided sex because there was always the risk of a baby. And babies were not wanted on Earth, for many reasons.

But here, the population could withstand any number of children. New Korea had only just over a billion people on the entire planet, despite being founded centuries ago. It was something that you’d only really just gotten used to.

Other strange things were that people actually went out on proper dates. Like...to other places and would spend money on things. From what you knew, a date on Earth was probably just a virt-real session in a cheap arcade in some back alley. Here though, they were whole day experiences.

Getting used to that had been a learning experience, but you soon discovered that experience hadn’t prepared you in the slightest for dating someone like Jung Hoseok.

His level of wealth was something you couldn’t even begin to compare, and his own friends must be of a similar enough status because he kept making accidental mistakes with you. Your first date had been a prime example of that.

Brushing your hands down the dress you’d bought, you admired it once more in the mirror of your bedroom. It was a pretty design, one of those timeless classics that had existed for centuries now with the body tight on your waist before gently flowing out around your waist. It stopped above your knees while the top of the dress was cut into an elegant shape, thick straps over your shoulders that became slim points, connecting to the bodice and the material cut into a shape that enhanced the shape of your breasts. 

Taehyung had agreed that it was the perfect shape for a first date, especially given that Hoseok had told you that he was taking you somewhere that had a dress code. Your feet were currently inside some dainty flat shoes with black ribbon that criss crossed up your calves. 

The dress was particularly nice because it was made of a special material that allowed it’s wearer to change the colour or pattern at will. A useless dress for you before, but now you got to see colour in its full glory and you wanted to revel in that.

You’d designed to go for a simple black today but Taehyung had encouraged you to make the flowing ends sparkle like the night sky, the tiny glittering specks becoming more sparse the higher up the dress they went.

It made a beautiful effect and you’d thanked Taehyung profusely.

Hoseok had apparently really liked it as well when you met up an hour later. You’d met up at a designated spot in the centre of New Seoul, the neon lights surrounding you making your dress shimmer in a beautiful array of colour that you’d never even seen before that had you feeling like the walking embodiment of a galaxy. His eyes had lit up when he’d met you, his own body attired in a classic black button up with matching black slacks. 

It had taken a lot to keep your jaw closed at first, eyes almost bulging at the sight of how unbelievably attractive he’d looked. You’d been shy after that, convinced that fate had it wrong and that there was no way he was your soulmate. 

Hoseok had been a little awkward as well, his movements almost stiff while his speech had been a little stilted. That hadn’t stopped him from complimenting you though, his smile genuine and eyes warm as he’d looked you over repeatedly.

“You look beautiful. The dress is...I’d say it’s possibly the most beautiful thing I’ve seen but then I’m looking at you so…” That had made you snort with laughter, the sound not attractive but you’d been unable to stop yourself as your hand had moved to cover your mouth.

“Wow...use that line on all the ladies Mr Jung?” His cheeks had flushed red at that, embarrassment making him look elsewhere while his fingers had played with each other in the classic body language of uncertainty. It had made you feel bad, so you’d reached out to him and grasped one of his hands carefully, pleased when he’d instantly shifted to thread his fingers with yours.

“So where are we going?” Had been your next words to him, the gentle smile on your face trying to let him know that you weren’t trying to make him feel bad or stupid. He’d given you a relieved expression in response and a small part of you had marvelled at the fact that already you could read him so well despite the little amount of time you’d spent together.

Hoseok had led you through the streets then, happily pointing out various stores or bars that he’d been to while at university and regaling you with stories of incidents that had happened. One clothing store had been the unfortunate recipient of Hoseok and his best friend, Jaebum, when they’d been drunk after a night out.

Apparently he was now banned from it, something that had caused him much embarrassment. A throwaway comment had let you know that it hadn’t pleased his parents either, but he’d danced away from that topic quickly.

You’d reciprocated his stories with the few you had of your own. The street where Taehyung had run the whole length stark naked after getting absolutely wasted on Mei Long, an infamous spirit with a high alcohol content made using native plants on Yangzhou. It’s name came from ancient China on Earth and meant sleeping dragon. 

Needless to say, you’d discovered why when Taehyung had ripped his clothes free and proclaimed himself to be a spirit of the universe who no one could hold back. It had taken you, Chaeyoung and one of his girlfriend’s at the time, Jisoo, ten minutes to chase after him and finally get him back into his clothes.

Thankfully, this had been at three in the morning and there’d been no one in that particular area which meant there had been around to call the police on him. 

Hoseok had laughed hysterically at that, telling you that he definitely wanted to meet Taehyung properly and get a look at the guy who’d decided to drink a whole bottle of Mei Long. You’d given him a look, asking him if he’d ever done that before.

He’d become very innocent looking after that, but you’d been unable to query him given that you’d apparently arrived at your destination. The building was huge, one of the skyscrapers that dotted the very centre of New Seoul and you stared up at it.

“This is the biggest building on the entirety of New Korea.” Hoseok said with a smile, leading you inside and taking you to the elevator. It opened immediately with a soft ding, the holographic numbers above not telling you how many floors there were.

He input a number into the datapad beside the doors and you watched as the numbers zoomed past, a funny feeling in your stomach as it moved upwards at an incredible speed. On floor 120, it finally stopped and you both walked out to find a beautiful restaurant that had a classic feel to it.

There were no holograms here, no neon or anything. Just subtle lighting that was almost yellow in colour, giving everything a look that made it all feel old somehow. It also felt very romantic, with the tables far apart from each other and each table having a traditional wax candle burning away in the centre.

You’re so busy taking in everything that you don’t even notice when Hoseok gives his name to the woman dressed in an elegant uniform. It’s only when you’re being led to a table by the windows that you realise this is where your date is going to be.

But you can’t find it in yourself to say anything as you take in the jaw dropping sight of New Seoul before you. The windows are floor to ceiling and stretch from wall to wall on both sides of the restaurant, only the bar, kitchen and entrance exempt. New Seoul glitters and shines in the night, stretching out far below you and you’re almost pressed to the window in amazement at it.

Part of you wonders if this is what Busan looked like when you lived there, but then you realise that it’s so much better than that. As the tallest building, the restaurant towers above everything else and let’s you get the perfect glimpse of your adopted city. The neon signs you’d become so familiar with gleam brightly in the darkness and you admire the way everything looks so beautiful despite all the technology littering it.

Even at this late hour, the buildings still look clean and simple while the city itself looks almost elegant. It’s so unlike anything on Earth and you smile softly to yourself, a warm feeling spreading in your chest as you realise that you truly do consider this place to be home now.

The city turns abruptly into darkness far in the distance and you know that’s because it’s the very edge of New Seoul, the mountain range of Namsan rising into the sky behind it. It had been named by the founders of New Seoul after the mountain in Old Seoul and you thought it was rather fitting that it still towered over everything centuries later.

“Wow, it’s incredible.” You whisper softly, unaware that the waitress has left and that you’re alone again with Hoseok. He’s just watching you quietly though, chin in his hand and a gentle smile on his face as he does so. It’s only when you shift back to look at him that he sits up, the softness in his eyes vanishing until you only think it’s the reflection of the city lights in them.

“Yeah, it looks a lot better in colour.” He admits, grinning shyly and rubbing at the back of his neck. Reaching for the menu that had been placed in front of you, and marvelling for a moment over the soft feel of real paper, you scan over the options with narrowed eyes.

“Do you come here often?” You ask, keeping the conversation going while you try to figure out what some of the food was. It didn’t have explanations on it bizarrely, nor did it have how much anything cost. Half of the names made absolutely no sense to you and you chewed on your lip, probably ruining your lipstick but uncaring.

Hoseok looks up at you awkwardly, shrugging with one shoulder. “I’ve been here a few times. My parents made me come when I was younger. It’s one of the best restaurants on New Korea and I knew the view was amazing so...I wanted to share it with you. So we could both see it in colour for the first time.”

The sentiment behind his desire is sweet and you go warm all over at it, fingers playing with the white cloth napkin that was placed beside an elegant glass. At the same time though, the fact that he’s brought you to one of the best restaurants makes you feel a little uncomfortable.

Combined with the lack of prices on the menu, you had a feeling that this place was probably going to wipe a big chunk out of your savings. The common courtesy for men on New Korea was to pay for the dinner still, an outdated belief that was still somehow prevalent in a society that was remarkably forward with dating.

You would be insisting that Hoseok split the bill of course. It simply didn’t do for you to accept him to pay for it all.

Though you would at least like help on what to order. Other than that, you couldn’t fault him for picking what had to be one of the most stunning sights on the planet to witness, because the view truly was incredible. And you had to remember that he did come from money, so it probably hadn’t entered his head.

It was something you could work on.

After that, you’d admitted to not knowing what the food was and had been instructed by Hoseok on what everything on the menu actually was. Apparently this was all traditional New Korean food, which was amusing to you because most of it didn’t really represent the food you’d grown up with in Old Korea, aka the real traditional Korean food.

A lot of the classic meals here had been adapted from old recipes to incorporate native plants and animal species here or had changed throughout the centuries to accommodate spices and foods brought in from other planets. The results meant that you barely recognised them and when your order of what was the New Korean equivalent of kimchi jjigae arrived, you’d been bemused to discover that it was nothing like what you were used to.

“This is not kimchi jjigae,” You said with laughter, sipping at the soup anyway and enjoying the taste despite that. It was sweet, incredibly sweet to the point that you were almost cringing with only the slightest hint of spice to it. “Where’s the spice?”

Picking up a piece of kimchi between your chopsticks, you ate it carefully and hummed in contemplation. Whatever this vegetable was, it wasn’t what you were used to and you carefully ate another piece.

Hoseok watched you with a laugh, shaking his head and grinning. “It’s been a few centuries, apparently recipes change. Either that or this place is just too fancy. You know what it’s like with restaurants like this.”

He’d said it so airily, so completely unaware that you haven't grown up anything like him. But the innocence with which he says it makes it hard to feel annoyed at him, not when you can tell that he genuinely doesn’t mean anything mean or rude by it.

“Not really. I don’t think they have restaurants like this on Earth. Or if they do, they weren’t in Busan and I could have never gone there.” That stuns him into silence, his jaw audibly clicking shut while red appears once more on his cheeks. You get the impression that Hoseok is mentally slapping himself and laughed, letting him know that you’re not really bothered.

That leads on to a whole discussion about Earth, with Hoseok peppering you with questions about what it was like growing up there and what Earth was actually like. It was hard to describe somewhere so completely destitute and poor to someone who came from a place that was as rich and powerful as New Korea, but you tried for him.

You could tell that he was genuinely interested in your home planet; not only because of his own interest in the homeworld of humanity but because it was where you had come from. He asked you unique questions that you would have never thought of and the time had quickly passed as you had answered him, firing questions back to him about growing up here.

It was during this conversation that you found out that Hoseok had mostly grown up in New Seoul though his parents had often taken him to other cities for months at a time. You got the impression he resented this but despite the subtle querying, he didn’t take the bait and discuss it further.

All you knew was that neither of you had grandparents; your own dying when you’d been a child from what was deemed old age on Earth while Hoseok’s had apparently died before he’d even been born. You presumed from that then that his parents were on the older side, which you found interesting given their position in New Korean society.

Finally though, it was time for the bill and you were surprised to find out that three hours had passed by. You’d eaten all the kimchi jjigae, despite the laughter about how different it was to what you were expecting, and had fully enjoyed the dessert that had followed it. 

The waitress placed the bill on the table, the paper printed carefully with the meals and drinks that you’d both ordered and eaten throughout the evening. It was a novel concept to see paper being used so liberally here and you took it from Hoseok, ignoring his protest.

“I want to pay for half. That’s how we do it on Earth and I know that it’s different here but I-” You stop suddenly, eyes widening as you read the total at the bottom. It’s so high that your brain can’t even compute it for a few seconds and you simply gawp, blinking before frowning. “Is this right?”

Hoseok takes the receipt from you and scans over it, nodding slowly before looking at you. Now it’s your turn to be embarrassed, hands playing with the hem of your dress as you carefully avoid his gaze.

“Yes? It’s right? I mean...is there something wrong? I can’t see anything? And I’m okay sharing the bill, it’s not what I’m used to but I want to make you comfortable.” You wish you could go back in time and slap yourself to stop those words coming out of your mouth, because now you’re going to have to embarrass yourself even more.

For a minute, you struggle to find the words to tell him, shame at your own situation and a sudden hatred of where and how you’d grown up taking over. You’d spent years studying to get here and then years working here when you had, yet you still weren’t good enough. Especially not for him, not for your soulmate.

“Hoseok...I’m really sorry. I...I can’t afford this.” The words are whispered, barely audible and he frowns for a moment. You wonder if he’s not heard you, humiliation rising at having to say it for a second time before suddenly his eyes widen, jaw dropping.

“Oh fuck.” He curses loudly, attracting shocked looks from other patrons. Shoulders hunching, you try to make yourself even smaller to avoid their gazes but it’s Hoseok’s you want to escape from most of all. The way his face crumples into dismay and then pity makes you want to throw yourself out of the damn window.

“Shit. I’m so sorry. I just...I forgot and I wanted to show you this place but I forgot the pricing and-” He’s about to continue, prostrating himself to you from the other side of the table and you can hear the genuine apology in his voice. Not to mention his worry about making a bad impression.

Holding up a hand, you give him a slightly strained smile and sigh deeply. “It’s okay. I...the food was great, the view was amazing and I really enjoyed it. I just...do you mind paying? I’m really sorry.”

“Please don’t say sorry, this was my mistake. My bad. I’m so stupid, oh my god. I didn’t mean to make you feel bad or anything. Fuck.” He lets out a groan, running his hands through his artfully done hair before tugging on the strands a little. It makes him look even more attractive and you hum in amusement at that, despite the little bubble of negativity you’re feeling.

“It’s okay. Honestly. We’ll just...learn from this right? That’s what we’re doing...learning.”

He’d spent the rest of that night apologising profusely, his cheeks bright red in shame and a look of sadness on his face as he chastised for his mistake. 

Hoseok had already admitted to you before then that he’d never even met anyone from Earth, despite his obsession when younger. As such, he hadn’t quite realised just how poor people from there were. After that date, you’d carefully given him more cultural lessons about Earth from someone who had actually lived there.

You had money here, yes. But you didn’t have the kind of money required to sustain those levels of dating.

Thankfully, he’d proven to be a quick learner and had made sure to propose dates that were a little more amenable. Whole days spent running around virt-real landscapes that took you both away to planets you hadn’t even thought of or engaged in full story led experiences. A day at the closest amusement park, the rides there engineered to almost defy the laws of physics. Another day at a conservation park, full of wild animals that were being carefully raised or nurtured back to health.

Some of them had been native to New Korea whereas others had been bred here specifically to repopulate other planets wildlife species. You had both learnt that apparently there were many attempts being made across the galaxy to bring back once extinct Earth wildlife with the eventual hope of repopulating the homeworld of humanity with the animals they’d once killed off.

You’d been a little dubious of the whole idea. People had already messed everything up once and Earth was polluted enough just for humans. The idea of putting all these innocent animals back there to potentially just suffer and die wasn’t good for you, but you appreciated the attempts in the hope of a future.

What had maybe surprised both of you though, had been just how well you got on with each other. You could tell that Hoseok had remained a little dubious about the whole soulmate thing and you hadn’t pushed him on it either. But even you were finding it a little strange just how well you both were interacting with each other. 

The two of you came from wildly different backgrounds and completely different planets. Neither of you had watched the same things growing up, hadn’t read the same things or done the same activities. And yet you’d both discovered so many commonalities already.

Your music tastes didn’t quite align with each other, but they were complementary enough that neither of you complained when you heard something playing that the other loved. Your film tastes aligned perfectly though and you’d both spent more than a few evenings at the retro cinema a few blocks away from the university.

Cinemas were a novel thing nowadays, given the galaxy’s penchant for things immediately. They were mostly just for those who wanted to pretend they were living a few centuries ago when a cinema was the only place you could watch something new. They’d also gained a new life as social places to meet up and hang out with friends and family.

Hoseok and you had watched so many films, from those made right here in New Korea to those from all reaches of the galaxy. They even showed the Ancient Classics from Earth, the home of film.

The cinema has that familiar subtle lighting that makes it feel warm and welcoming while the scent of fresh popcorn, an old Earth staple for this kind of event apparently, flavouring the air. Traditional style posters were hung everywhere, advertising what films were going to be shown in the upcoming weeks and you hummed as you looked over them, sipping on your drink as you waited for Hoseok to come back from the bathroom.

The two of you had been dating for a month now and you were surprised at how relaxed and comfortable you felt with him already. It reminded you almost of your friendship with Taehyung, but far more intense. 

You suspected that Hoseok reciprocated the feelings as well, given that the two of you had been going on ‘dates’ or just enjoying time together at least once every two days. Almost like neither of you liked going longer than that without seeing each other.

By this point, he’d become well acquainted with Taehyung, visiting your apartment frequently. The two of you had done everything from watch entertainment to simply sitting together and reading and even studying for your classes. It felt nice, just to be near him. Relaxing almost.

Unsurprisingly, it had been Hoseok who had introduced you to cinemas. They didn’t have them on Earth anymore, which he’d been surprised about. Though you’d pointed out that even if they did have them, no one could afford to go to one anyway. Or even have time.

But apparently he loved them and was a huge aficionado of the old films from Earth. He’d been surprised to discover you hadn’t really seen any, only really watching the newer stuff that had been released. Which had led to him taking you to this specific cinema in New Seoul which specialised in an authentic and traditional experience.

They even had old style projectors here, which you hadn’t even known still existed. The first film he’d taken you to see had been something called Star Wars, apparently the first in a series that had been hugely popular in the 20th and 21st centuries. Given its age, it didn’t look its best and you’d both laughed over how it treated space flight and so forth but you’d surprisingly enjoyed it a lot.

As such, you’d come with him a few more times since and had watched a wide range of genres with him. Everything from something called Mamma Mia! to Alien, all of it so old that you didn’t even recognise half of the stuff you were looking at. It was like a window into another world, but you loved it and so did he.

Tonight though, you’d be watching something called Jurassic Park. Apparently it was one of the best films from Earth and featured dinosaurs. That had immediately fascinated Hoseok when you’d both read the description. You had been interested too but New Korea had nothing comparable to the dinosaurs of Earth.

“Hey, I’ll take that.” Hoseok says as he comes out of the bathroom, smiling at you brightly as he reaches for the large tin bucket full of sweet flavoured popcorn. You give him to happily, holding onto the drink in a reusable cup and take another sip before gesturing to him as you both walk to the correct screen.

He leans forward and you carefully press the cup to his lips, tilting it just enough for him to drink before taking it back once he’s had enough. The screen is dark when you go in, the generic lighting letting you find your seats in the small room and you listen in happiness at the gentle chatter of the people around you.

You’d been surprised to find that these screenings were very popular here and it never failed to amuse you the fascination people still held for Earth. Particularly given their contempt for it as well. 

Hoseok shifts in his seat, slumping even further and you smile at him. This cinema apparently wasn’t in the actual traditional style with individual seats that were numbered. Instead, it had opted to go for a more casual approach that appealed more to the citizens of New Seoul, it’s one concession to modern day preferences.

Each screen has multiple different kinds of seats available, with some long couches allowing up to four people on them or alternatively, smaller armchairs for those going alone. You always booked tickets for two seater couch, enjoying how comfortable it was and how you could relax completely in your seat to enjoy the film.

It also helped that it let you get a little bit closer to Hoseok, his warmth exceptionally comfortable and soothing to you. You’d even fallen asleep once against him, walking up to his gentle prodding in an hour later and having to steadfastly ignore his amused expression. 

Unfortunately, you’d drooled all over his shoulder. He’d thought it was cute, you’d been mortified.

Today though, he simply held up an arm and gave you a questioning look. Smiling, you placed the cup into the inbuilt cup holder on the arm of the couch before shuffling over, cuddling into his side and enjoying the way his arm felt on your shoulder while he felt so solid against your side.

You both chat for a few minutes, your voices quiet and low as you discuss how your day had gone before the lights dimmed and the screen came to life. Almost immediately you both quietened down, eyes glued to the screen as it went through the usual advertisements for brands and films. 

And then the film began.

Neither of you talked at all throughout it all, both of you completely enraptured in the film that had been released over a thousand years ago. You were in complete awe over the storyline and the magnificent dinosaurs, squeezing Hoseok tightly in fear at the scene with the Tyrannosaurus Rex and the car before pushing your head into his shoulder with the Velociraptors in the kitchen.

It was all over far too soon, with the soaring music that filled your chest signifying the end along with the credits that rolled of people who had long since died. Looking at Hoseok, you grinned at his awed expression, taking a handful of the remaining popcorn and stuffing it into your mouth before getting up.

You both stretched with a groan before exiting, placing the popcorn tin and cup into the relevant recycle bins before quietly heading into the bathrooms. Hoseok was waiting for you outside and he took hold of your hand, holding on tightly as you both exited the cinema and began to chatter about the film you’d both watched.

It had become a tradition quietly to go for a meal afterwards and talk all about what you’d just seen; from analysing the storyline to discussing the effects and acting. Some of the films you’d watched had been truly atrocious, but you got the feeling that what you’d just seen was special.

Sure enough, you’re both sat in a Valerian restaurant half an hour later, the pasta that had been brought with Valerian’s from old Italy mixed with the native spices and flavours from their planet being eaten without even properly appreciating what you were eating.

“Was it just me, or did the dinosaurs still look really good? I mean...the film’s over a thousand years old but it didn’t look...crap?” Hoseok says, wonder in his eyes as he talks and you nod in agreement.

“I did some quick reading beforehand and apparently they used physical props for like the T-Rex, so that was actually real. Maybe that’s why it looked like that? I mean, the dinosaurs at the very start looked pretty awful.” He nods and hums, tapping his finger against his chin before eating some more.

“Makes sense I guess. Though they used physical props in Star Wars and that still looked absolutely shit. Maybe it’s the lighting they used? It was dark often and you can hide a lot in darkness.” 

Shrugging, you took a deep drink of Valerian wine, enjoying the subtle fruity taste of the alcohol before swallowing it. “I really liked it though. I think that’s been my favourite so far.”

Hoseok grinned broadly, happiness radiating from him and you felt a blossoming warmth in your own chest at his expression. Gripping your fork a little tighter, you watched as he nodded, eyes almost sparkling and you wondered if your own expression looked like his.

“Definitely. I can see why it’s been rated so high for so long. Apparently there’s sequels.” He raises a brow at you, the question in both his tone and face and you grin immediately.

“If we finish this quickly...do you want to go watch one at mine?” The question was already defunct as Hoseok was nodding immediately and you laughed loudly, loving how eager he was to spend more time with you.

Not that you were complaining of course…

Today, Hoseok had asked to meet you outside of your apartment in the early hours of the morning. You’d do so with a gentle whine, heart racing a little at the sight of the little smile on his face as it hovered above your PED. He’d promised that it would be worth it though.

And the sight of the silver air car coming to a quiet landing in front of you told you that it probably was. Brow rising, you watch as the passenger side door opens and Hoseok grins at you from the other side. Carefully, you climb in next to him and sit down, pressing the button where the safety harness engages and the door closes.

The interior of the air car is possibly the nicest thing you’ve ever seen in your entire life and it smells clean and fresh. That’s not surprising, given one of the things you’ve learnt about Hoseok is that he’s pretty sensitive about smells and only likes light fragrances. Apparently he really liked the fruit scent that you’d taken to using here on New Seoul, a fruit called peach that you’d never heard of before.

But despite all of that, you can tell that this air car costs money. They’re common here in New Korea, less common than on Earth though but these air cars are made to the highest galactic standards. They produce almost no pollution  and have high safety standards. A law was passed over a century ago that required all air cars to be less than four years old to reduce accidents.

Unlike Earth, where you knew of people with two hundred year old air cars that occasionally stopped working.

As a result though, air cars weren’t the cheapest form of transportation and most people took the excellent public transportation which connected every city, town and village on the planet together.

“I should’ve known you had an air car.” Smiling slightly, you reach out and run your fingers along the black dashboard. It’s sleek and beautiful, soft to your touch but you know if there was an accident that it would immediately swell with life saving foam.

“Oh yeah? Why?” Hoseok’s question is genuine, you can hear the actual curiosity in it and you just stare at him dryly until his mouth drops in realisation. Seeing that gentle flush of pink on his cheeks, you turn away and shake your head slightly in amusement.

“Anyway, where are we going that requires this?” He’d only ever taken you places using the public transportation before, so going somewhere privately intrigued you.

“We’re going to Sejong. I thought you might like it.” The statement is so casual that you almost miss it at first until it finally registers in your head. Then you look at him with wide eyes and a dropped jaw.

“Sejong? You’re taking me to Sejong? Seriously? Why?” That gets a confused look from him, almost affronted and you want to laugh at how genuinely baffled he looks by your suddenly accusatory tone. He takes a moment to formulate a response, hand reaching out to press confirm on the begin button on the journey map holo and you can’t help the small ‘ooh’ of pleasure as the air car rises silently and smoothly.

“Because my family has an estate there, on the beach. And...well I always really hated it when I was younger and I couldn’t see what it all looked like because everyone always talks about Sejong being beautiful. But it just looked like everywhere else to me. So...I want to see it, and I want you to see it too. You brought colour into my life...it’s only fair that I show you one of the most beautiful sights in New Korea.” 

It wasn’t a hugely romantic statement that he’d just said. People might even view it as a little selfish, using you as an excuse to go on an excursion to his family’s estate in one of the most affluent areas in the entirety of New Korea. But the breathlessness that had taken over your chest and the way your heart fluttered told you that you thought it was the romantic thing you’d ever heard.

He wanted to go see what was considered to be one of the natural wonders of New Korea in its full colour glory...and he wanted to go with you. The woman who claimed to be his soulmate and whom he didn’t quite believe but didn’t quite not believe either. 

Your stomach felt a little funny.

“Okay...I mean...yeah. I’d love to.” It was the only thing you could say really. You wouldn’t have turned down the offer anyway, but the fact it was with him made it all the better. The last two months had made your crush on Hoseok grow bigger, the feelings swirling inside you snowballing faster and faster until you weren’t entirely sure what you felt anymore.

Being around him was the most exciting thing in the galaxy to you but it was also one of the most calming and relaxing. He made you smile with his sweet attempts at dating and conversation, his uncertainty with how to act endearing, and made you laugh with his good humour. But he also made you feel safe in his presence, like you could tell him all of your problems and he’d be a vault for you or fall asleep in his presence and he’d protect you.

You’d wondered whether the whole soulmate thing really was real sometimes after finally meeting him, or if you’d just projected hard. It was complicated to comprehend, but you genuinely believed in it. You weren’t sure what he thought, but you’d never met someone you just felt so...right with before.

And so quickly. 

After only two months you already felt like you’d been friends for a long time while the romance between you both made your stomach fizz sometimes. It was a strange mixture of comfort with excitement.

Glancing over at him, you realise that he’s already looking at you and you pause in surprise. There’s a moment of hesitation from you before he smiles softly, reaching out across the gap that separates your seats and grasps your hand gently. With a movement that’s become practiced over the months, his hands shift until he can lace your fingers together, squeezing tightly for a moment.

“So how big is this estate? The very fact that you can use the word estate is mind boggling to me. The fact it implies you have more than one is even more so.” That gets a laugh from Hoseok now, his head rocking back to rest against the soft headrest behind him.

“It’s...of a good size. And I wouldn’t go around thinking everyone here has an ‘estate’, they don’t. It’s just...my family…” He trails off awkwardly and you nod, acknowledging that with a quiet sigh. Hoseok had proven to be rather reticent about his family and you’d been a little insulted at first, wondering if maybe he didn’t think you’d be good enough with your incredibly low birth status.

But you’d soon realised that it was actually because he wasn’t really sure how to go about it. He’d never actually said that out loud, but the way he danced around conversations that veered too close to his family told you everything. You’d even noticed that he did it around his own friends, whom he’d introduced you to last month.

Quickly though, you’d decided not to push him on it. He would tell you all about it when he wanted to and you didn’t want him to feel pressured or anything. The last thing you wanted was for him to feel pressured, especially when he didn’t pressure you on anything. You were a little curious though as his family dynamics were something you couldn’t even comprehend really.

“It’s okay. So...we’re going to the sea?” You grin at him, causing him to smile back and the happiness in his eyes makes you feel content. Nodding at you, he leans back and lets out a deep sigh. 

“Yeah. I used to go to the Sejong estate when I was younger a lot. It’s one of my favourite places in this world. And I’m aware of my privilege when I say that, but I want you to see it too. You’ll love it, I’m sure.” That has you wiggling in your seat in excitement. You’d seen pictures of Sejong throughout your years here in New Seoul but they’d all been in black and white obviously.

You hadn’t looked at any since being able to see in colour, so you were excited to see what Hoseok had to show you. Particularly if he loved it too.

The rest of the journey to Sejong was quiet after that, the two of you settling down with just your hands holding. You even slept for an hour or so, content in the gentle noise of Hoseok’s music playing over the speakers while he read an e-book. It felt nice to not have to find the need to talk, the contentment of simply being near each other satisfying enough.

Despite joking around with Hoseok beforehand, you really were excited to see Sejong and experience it with him. A small coastal town on the equator of New Korea, it had been named after the ancient Korean King Sejong, the creator of the Korean alphabet, hangul. 

Sejong had originally been founded by the planet’s richest inhabitants four centuries ago, bestowing the name of the famed king upon it. It was considered to be one of the most beautiful places on the whole planet and was populated with the sprawling estates of the oldest and most influential families.

Hoseok had also informed you that it did have a normal, fully working town as well with a population of people who simply lived their lives like any other person. The original founders of the town had built affordable housing for everyone and special laws had been passed to ensure that the price of the buildings never rose. Even now, centuries later, houses still had to be sold at the price that had been specified all that time ago.

It had helped to encourage more growth in the town and a diversity of people from all walks of life, as all new buildings had the same regulations. The proximity to the planet’s richest people made it a popular place for people to live and visit but it had industry had been banned in the area to protect it.

A small beep alerted you both to the fact that the air car was about to land and you sat up, sad that Hoseok’s air car didn’t have windows in it. They were considered a structural safety hazard as there hadn’t been a glass invented that was strong enough to protect an impact that an air car could have in an accident so they just didn’t have them.

Glancing at you, Hoseok grinned before pressing a button once the car came to a gentle halt, the soft sound of the landing gears engaging as they touched the ground. Both doors hissed open and you bounded out, excitedly looking around and not even noticing when Hoseok came up behind you.

His arms wrapped around your waist before he lay his head on your shoulder, kissing your neck briefly before taking in the sight as well. 

An obscenely beautiful fountain made of what you thought was some material like marble took up most of the entrance courtyard, sprays of water shimmering like diamonds as they fell elegantly from a beautifully carved dragon and tiger that were intertwined. The black stone was engraved with hangul and you read it over, noting that they were names.

“It’s all the members of my family. Somehow it became a tradition to engrave the names of family onto the fountain throughout the centuries so...it’s like a living family tree.” The very notion that he could not only trace his family back so far but actually had a fountain with their names on it blew your mind.

“Hoseok...this is...I don’t even know the name of my great-grandmother.” It made you feel almost...ashamed to admit that to him. But while you knew he was rich, and came from an important family, it was another thing entirely to be face to face with it. The house behind the fountain was...obscenely large. A mansion, something you thought was only an image in e-books from centuries ago.

But this was actually a mansion...two stories high and long. So many windows dotted it’s sides, gleaming in the sunlight while the two-door entrance required three steps to climb before entering the entrance canopy. The walls were a beautiful off white colour while the tiles on the roof were a burnished orange, giving it a look that you recognised from images of ancient Italy and Spain on Earth.

The difference was the style of the architecture though. It was a blend of what had once been called Asian and Western on Earth. The house itself, the windows, the colouring and the doors were all clearly inspired by the mansions and houses of old Europe and North America. But the roof itself arched in the elegant lines of old Korea, reminding you so much of the ancient palaces and temples that still dotted the landscape of your home country.

Hoseok sighs gently before kissing your temple, resting his lips there for a moment before pulling away and taking your hand once more. “I’ll give you a tour of the house later...but for now...I want to take you to the beach. And the ocean. I just...please don’t stress yourself about this place. I like to think you know me well enough now to know that I don’t really care about stuff like this. I just want to show you something that’ll make you smile.”

Watching him quietly for a moment, you just smile a little to yourself before letting yourself be led down a gravelled path that was surrounded by vibrant green hedges that bloomed with a whole array of pretty flowers. You presumed that these were likely native to the planet but you couldn’t be sure.

Either way, they were beautiful and smelled just as delightful too. Pausing for a moment, you leant forward to smell one of them and hummed lightly. It smelled like oranges bizarrely, and you frowned in confusion at it.

“Weird right? It’s a flower that smells like a fruit. And what’s even stranger is that the scent changes according to the season. Mom loves it though so she made them put these in when I was younger. Now the whole place smells like them but I don’t mind.” With a little tug, he continues leading you through until he reaches a tall, white stone wall that rises high above you both. 

It looks to go for a distance in both directions and you presume it marks the boundaries of the estate itself. The gate Hoseok opens doesn’t look like anything you’ve ever seen in person before. It looks to be in a traditional iron gate, the metal intricately curled into patterns while the black colour stands out starkly. You like it though, strangely.

“I thought the sea was like...right here from what you were saying.” You say to Hoseok lightly, following him carefully through the small trail that looks to have been worn into the tall grass over years of use. It must be very old, because you can’t imagine many people being here all that often.

“Well...I mean it technically is. It’s just over this little rise. Apparently this was here when Sejong was founded and it makes like...a natural sea wall to prevent any tsunamis. Not that there’s ever been one but...I guess it’s nice to know it’s there. And then we have the estate boundary wall as a defence as well. Though I think that was more to keep prying eyes away. But anyway, I digress. The sea is right here, and you can see it perfectly from my bedroom in the house.” That gets a laugh from you and you push at his side gently, humming in amusement as he lets out a tiny wail and overdramatically pretends to fall.

“I lived near the ocean too on Earth but I couldn’t see it. Not that I’d ever want to. It wasn’t anything interesting to look at. And I wish I could say that was just because of being colour blind but you know...dead ocean and everything.” You say it lightly but Hoseok looks back at you with slight concern.

Even though he knew a lot about Earth thanks to all his self-studying growing up, you knew that he’d been learning a lot from what you’d been telling him. A lot of it had been shattering that idealised image he’d had but at the same time, it had just increased his concern for you as well.

You didn’t have to be a mind reader to know that he felt a lot of shame at the vastly different ways you’d both grown up. But you didn’t want that. Neither of you could have changed your situation back then and you wanted to just focus on the here and now. You’d made it away from there, you were where you’d always dreamed of being and now...now you had your soulmate too.

Finally, the two of you reach the top of the ridge and both pause. Partially, it’s because you’re both a tiny bit out of breath from the small climb but mostly it’s because you’re stunned by what you see.

Carefully moving down, you take off your shoes once the coarse grass meets the fine sand. Moving onto it barefoot, you look down and smile as you feel it squish between your toes, moving beneath your feet and making it a little harder to stand. It feels so soft and warm, so unlike anything you’ve ever felt before.

Crouching down, you run your fingers through it and smile as it leaves behind trails, a few grains rushing to fill the gaps. Taking a handful, you hold it up and watch as the perfectly white sand slips between your fingers, falling to the ground gracefully in the gentle breeze of the wind.

You’re so enamoured with the sand that you don’t realise Hoseok is crouching next to you too, just watching you with a fascinated look. It’s only when he pushes some sand over to you, covering your hand that you look at him.

“I thought you said you lived by the ocean?” Nodding, you look at your hand as you lift it up to your face, noting how it seems to stick to you. “So why do I get the feeling you’ve never seen sand?”

“Because I haven’t. The sea is dead on Earth. No one goes to a beach anymore unless you want to risk getting something. And even then, most of the sand beaches are gone. This...this is...beautiful.” Looking up, you take in the astonishing sight before you.

The white sand extends out around a hundred metres before it meets the ocean, the waves lapping against the shore lightly. White foam bubbles at the lip of each wave, extending out as it slides along the sand before sinking back out and awaiting the next wave.

Jogging forward, you note that it’s not as blue as you’d expected. Or at least, not as blue as you’d seen in the photos that you’d looked at over the last two months. The sea closest to the shore is crystal clear with the slightest hint of an almost green shimmer to it, letting you see directly to the shells, stones and driftwood that dot the ocean floor. 

Moving further away, it deepens into an exquisite green that’s so light and so unique. It reminds you of the colour ‘seafoam’ that you’d looked up on the colour charts when you’d gone home the first day after properly meeting Hoseok. You’re not sure you’d ever be able to replicate the colour here.

This astonishingly beautiful green slowly turns into a crystal aquamarine as it gets farther out, deepening until the horizon is a rich and luscious navy against the clear and clean blue of the sky. You’re not sure you’ve ever seen anything so...magnificent. 

The ocean here isn’t a stretch of land though, and you note with awe that it’s more like a bay. White sand circles around in a wide arch and you take in the sight of the mountains that thrust proudly towards the heavens in either direction. The right side of the bay is heavily forested in luscious green, as if it has a living coat made of emerald leaves that breath in time to the wind.

On the left hand side, the mountains are coated in the same forests, but this side doesn’t approach the ocean gently like the other. Instead, it meets the elegant sea in a crash of jagged cliff sides, their faces bone white as they push back against the ever looming waves. 

Gazing around everything in wide eyed wonder, you turn and look at Hoseok. You’re slightly pleased to see that he’s also looking everywhere with the same awed look as you, finally catching your eye and giving you a smile that slowly turns into a grin.

“Wow. I knew it was beautiful here, it was beautiful even in black and white but this...this is…” He trails off, unsure of what to say and you find yourself nodding in agreement with him. It was easy to see why this was considered one of the natural wonders of New Korea and it boggled your mind even more to know that his family had a whole estate right here. 

The bay was big enough that it didn’t take up a huge amount of space in reality, but it still blew your mind. And you knew that unlike the oceans of your homeworld, this ocean would be in pristine condition because of the strict environmental laws in place.

It was why you couldn’t resist running forward to the water, shrieking with laughter as warm seawater splashed your feet. The very fact that you could do this without any words was amazing but you didn’t pay attention to that, just looking at Hoseok with a bright grin.

“It’s warm! Come here!” You gestured to him but he shook his head, laughing in response as he pushed his black hair away from his forehead.

“I have my clothes on. I don’t want to get them wet.” He said lightly, ignoring the fact that your own leggings were now soaked around your calves as you kicked around in joy. But you pouted at him, sticking your lower lip out far and giving him the biggest puppy eyes you could possibly do.

And you literally saw the moment he gave in. The moment when his resolve died in him. It was astonishingly fast but soon enough he was kicking off his own shoes, placing them next to yours where he’d brought them after you’d taken them off before coming over to you.

He hesitates for a moment at the water’s edge and you grin, bending over and spraying him with water that you throw upwards. The yelp he lets out makes you laugh even harder, but not as much as you do when he does it straight back to you.

That starts a whole water fight between the two of you, throwing water that glitters in the sunlight at each other until you’re both drenched and tired. Heaving a breath, you let out a breathy laugh as Hoseok moves over to you, the water up to his stomach now.

He cups your face in his hands, smiling down before kissing you quickly. “So...how do you like the sea?”

Twisting your lips, you think for a moment before wrapping your arms around his waist and hugging him tightly. Pushing up on your tiptoes, you kiss him once more and enjoy the way your stomach almost buzzes in content delight at the sensation of his lips against yours.

“Amazing. I could live here.” You say once you pull away, admiring the way his sun makes his skin almost glow golden from where it reflects against the water on him. His hair is plastered to his head, the strands an inky black and you reach up to gently move them away.

“I’m glad you like it.” He whispers and then he’s kissing you again. Only this time, he reaches down and grasps the back of your thighs, encouraging you to jump. Even if you weren’t stronger than him because of your Earth heritage, the water adds a buoyancy that allows you to feel lighter than ever. Squeezing your legs around his waist, you wrap your arms around his neck and simply enjoy the sensation of making out with him in this beautiful place, the water warm against you while the sun beats hotly onto you both and the gently crashing of the waves make the most perfect soundtrack.

It’s something you never could have even imagined back on Earth and the thought makes you grip him a little harder, not wanting to let go of him in case this all just turned out to be a dream that would break your heart. He doesn’t complain, just lets out a quiet groan into your mouth and squeezes your thighs a little harder.

Hoseok has been good for the last two months. Despite the common prevalance of sex in dating here, he’s understood the differences between you both more than you thought he would. Your shyness around sex with new people was still there and you hadn’t liked the idea of jumping into that with him. 

Especially given you were confident he was most definitely your soulmate. You didn’t want that fact to pressure you into something, no matter who he was. What you’d wanted to do was get to know more of him and his personality before any of that and let him do the same for you.

And so you had. He hadn’t complained or even tried to insinuate it, not after you’d told him the differences between Earth and New Korea dating culture. Instead, he’d been respectful and told you that he’d wait until you were okay with it all.

But that didn’t mean you didn’t want to sometimes, even though you hadn’t felt entirely ready. He was your soulmate and you did feel a deep and intense sexual attraction towards him. Sometimes the tension between you both was so strong that you could cut it with a knife. You knew that because Taehyung had complained about it whenever Hoseok came to your apartment.

He’d pointed it out and said that every time, he had to go to one of his partners for an intense session because of how turned on he became because of the untouched attraction between you both. You’d just laughed at him at the time, but you’d also felt grateful to know that Hoseok desired you as much as you did him.

Right now though, you’d admit the ocean wasn’t the only reason you were wet, but you didn’t want to ruin the sweet and romantic moment you had going with him.

And you were glad that you didn’t, because you both spend the next ten minutes simply...enjoying each other and the tranquility of everything. The way he feels against you, the way he tastes, the way he smells and some part of you, deep down inside, relaxes. As if you’d finally, finally come home.

It all sounded silly and stupid, you knew people would laugh if you said it out loud but it’s the only way to describe how you feel around him. Home.

Finally though, you both separate and wade out of the sea, holding hands and laughing as you occasionally spray each other with kicks of water. How could anyone think soulmates aren’t real when you feel so comfortable with him so fast? As if you’d always known each other.

He hadn’t said whether he felt these same things, but he seemed to enjoy spending time with you or just talking to you so you thought he probably did. It was...nice, to know that there was someone who enjoyed everything about you.

The two of you walk a little along the beach before finally sitting down. You grimace slightly from your wet clothes and the way the sand seems to stick even more to your skin now, making Hoseok chuckle lightly before he sits a little closer to you and wraps an arm around your waist.

Slowly, you rest your head on his shoulder and inhale deeply before letting it out just as slowly. The two of you are quiet for a few minutes and you just take a moment to enjoy it all; the peace and tranquility that comes from him for you alongside the calm that nature provides in this exquisite place.

Finally though, you ask him the question that’s been festering inside you for the last month. You’re afraid of his response, but you know that you need to ask.

“Do you...do you believe in soulmates now? Do you think this is moving too fast or anything? I...I really…” You trail off, body warming in embarrassment as you wonder how on earth you’re meant to tell him your feelings. It’s only been two months. That’s far too fast to tell him that you love him, right?

“I don’t think we’re moving fast. You’re not moving fast if it feels right. You’re moving at exactly the pace you need to. And...yeah. I do. I can’t not, not after the last two months. Besides the fact that I actually get to see everything like everyone else does...the thought of not being around you physically hurts. In a way that’s never happened with anyone before. Being with you feels like-”

“Like you’re home.”

He tilts his head to look at you and you lean back, staring straight into those beautiful deep brown eyes that you’ve fallen for. There’s a moment of surprise that you’d said it, but then you recognise the acceptance of what you’ve said in his face as he nods.

“Yeah...home. It’s weird that it feels like that but I don’t think it’s weird I feel like that. If that makes sense?” Shaking your head, you wrap your arms around his waist and squeeze tightly.

“No, no it feels...good. I feel...I feel happy with you.” You get a little choked up at that, the words squeezing your throat tightly and he makes soft soothing noises. His free hand runs along your cheek, stroking gently as he presses a kiss to your nose and then your forehead.

“Hey, hey don’t get upset. We’re apparently living some super romantic ancient bond thing. Everything makes sense when you think of it that way.” That gets a snort from you and you rest your head on his shoulder again, nuzzling closer to him.

“No one will believe us. You know that right? I mean...even you didn’t really believe me at first. Taehyung is still half convinced we’re just having a ‘moment’ or something. If this was Earth then...there'd be a bit of disbelief but that would be it. But here? They’ll just think we’re lying or making up stories. Especially...especially given who you are...and who I am.”

He’s quiet for a moment, running the words through his mind and you hear the caw of birds. Glancing up, you take note of the unusual colouring of them with slight awe. Their wings were burnished gold and red, melting between each other as the sun glanced off them. You knew the name of these, it had been one of the things you remembered reading before.

The bulsajo, the Korean version of the ancient Greek phoenix. It had been named that due to the similarity of colouring and shape, with its long tail feathers helping to give the illusion of fire and warmth. It was even prettier than you’d imagined.

“Did you know that there’s a legend around the bulsajo here?” Hoseok asked softly and you looked at him, frowning slightly. “It’s not really something that would get noted down, just a legend here in Sejong. They’re a bit more common here than anywhere else, but still rare. It’s meant to be that you if you see two of them then it’s a mated pair, and the couple who sees them will stay together through their life and the next, like the bulsajo in the myths.”

Glancing up, you note that there’s two of them playing together in the breeze, their magnificent wings beating to keep them flying while they soar and swoop together. Something inside you gets a little emotional and your voice catches.

“Is that real? Or did you just say it right now to try and make me feel better?”

“Totally real. I spent a lot of time here growing up, you learn some things. One of my tutors lived in town and told me about it. I guess it’s kind of like...our version of soulmates or something? Either way, I believe in both. So it doesn’t matter what other people think, it matters what we think. I don’t care that you grew up poor on Earth, or that I grew up here with all the shit my family has. I don’t care if people think we’re stupid or weird. I know and you know. I spent twenty-three years of my life seeing in black and white. You spent twenty-two. And then I touch you, the girl I’d been crushing on for months and suddenly we can both see? I have no other explanation for that, and frankly I don’t want one. I’m happy with what we have.” Biting your lip, you curl into him a little more and sigh.

“People will think I’m just looking for money or status though.” That has Hoseok snorting and he stretches his legs out.

“Let them think that. It doesn’t matter, we know what’s real. That’s what matters.” Looking at him, you scan over his face intently and see clearly that he’s being completely serious about it. He really doesn’t care what anyone will think, despite the vast wealth and social status gulf between you both. 

Thinking about that too hard makes you feel upset though and you don’t want to feel that. Not right now. Not here with him.

So instead, you just look out across the incredible ocean in front of you. The sun isn’t as high as it was anymore and you wonder how it would look with the blaze of fiery colours that splash across the sky at sunrise will look against the exquisite jewel of the sea. You’re sure it’s probably phenomenal and you try to imagine it already, putting what you’d already see of sunrises against this beautiful background.

And then suddenly, you’re reminded of Busan. Of the grey world you’d grown up in, the heaving city with the dirty streets and buildings. The mountains that had once soared into the sky but were now outmatched by the skyrises that loomed even higher. You had seen the ocean there, known that at once point in its history it too had probably resembled something approaching what you saw here today. But that had been so long ago.

Now that ocean was as dead as everything else around it, a sullen grey that was probably exactly what you had always seen growing up. Your mom hated going to the ocean, even though one of her cleaning jobs had been stationed on the dock there. 

It was a feral ocean on Earth, angry and riled up by the weather constantly. Hell bent on destroying what humans had built in revenge for the pollution they had caused centuries ago which had suffocated the planet. You knew that was just your mind being over-active, but you could believe it.

You’d want revenge on humanity as well.

And it was all your parents had known. You were suddenly reminded of how you’d promised to get your parents off Earth once you had the money and you swallowed thickly, throat tight as hot tears burnt your eyes. Here you were, swanning around New Korea with your soulmate and taking in the sights of one of the most beautiful and exclusive places on the whole planet while your parents were back on Earth, still labouring and toiling in their exhausting existence.

The first tear falls, trailing down your cheek before it’s rapidly joined with another on the other side. Deep pain that you’d pushed down for years, the homesickness now for Earth but for the two people who had loved you so much that they’d given up everything for you roaring to life. They would love it here.

Suddenly, a ragged sob leaves your mouth and you bury your face in your hands as your shoulders shake from the strength of your cries. The startled noise Hoseok makes tells you that he doesn’t understand what’s happening at the moment but he recovers quickly, wrapping his arms around your shoulders and rocking you slowly as he whispers soothing words to you.

For a few minutes, all you do is cry out the pain and longing, the desire and guilt that all mingles together when you think of your parents until finally your crying is more stable again. Your eyes are puffy and sore, cheeks stained wet with your tears and you have to wipe away some delightful mucus from your nose.

“I’m sorry.” You croak out, voice breaking slightly. The tears still fall, only quieter this time, their intensity burnt out of you as you take in deep and shaky breaths to try and stabilise yourself. Hoseok’s hand rubs your back in long and slow movements, the feeling so calming and reassuring.

“It’s okay...are you okay? What’s wrong? Is there anything I can do?” His concern is sweet and you smile weakly, wiping at your eyes before resting your hand on his knee. Licking your lips, you wonder how to word it before finally deciding to just jump straight in. You hadn’t explicitly discussed your parents with him before, not wanting to seem so...poor in front of him but now you felt shame for thinking that.

“I just...I wish my parents could see this. Just...all of it. The ocean, the sky, New Seoul. Everything. I wish I could bring my parents and give them a better life than what they had. I promised them I would but I don’t know when that will be. I don’t even know if they’ll be alive then,” You look at Hoseok, his face blurry from the tears and your breath catches in your throat. “My mom is fifty-four currently, and my dad is fifty-six. I don’t...I don’t think I’ll be able to meet my promise to them and I just...feel so guilty about being here and enjoying myself when they’re back there.”

The tears track down your face against, following those that had already come before and you sniff, the sound gross but you can’t help it. Hoseok’s got a frown on his face, not quite understanding.

“There’s still plenty of time to bring them here. You can do it, don’t put yourself down like that.” He starts but you shake your head, interrupting him.

“What’s the average age here in New Korea?” The frown on his face shows that he’s confused, but he answers slowly. He knows, you know that he knows it. With parents as influential as his, there’s no way he doesn’t. New Korea has a higher life expectancy than normal, with a woman living on average one hundred and thirty one years. Men live an average of one hundred and twenty nine years.

“Earth is sixty-four for a woman. Sixty-four Hoseok,” Your face crumples as you say it out loud finally, a sob choking in your throat. “According to the average she has ten years left. How am I meant to bring them here in 10 years? My dad has even less and he already has issues. They’re going to die in that shithole without ever getting to see anywhere else. Without getting to see a blue ocean or a blue sky. Never getting to breath air that isn’t polluted, go into a building that isn’t dirty and falling down. Never get to eat fresh meat or have fresh, real ice-cream. None of that. Because they spent their entire life working to get me here.”

Sniffling, you wipe at your nose once more and try to take a calming breath. You can tell that Hoseok doesn’t really know what to say, but you didn’t expect him to honestly. What could he say? He truly had no idea what life was like on Earth. Growing up there was one thing, but you’d escaped at eighteen. You were never going back. But they were never getting out.

“I’m sorry. I...I wish I had an answer for you. Some...some way to resolve it. I’d offer to pay but I get the feeling you wouldn’t really like that.” Looking at him, you shrug weakly and give him a limp smile.

“It’s my mom and dad. My only family. I think I’d do just about anything but that would definitely reinforce the idea that I’m just with you for your money. And...I’d feel too guilty towards you. That I’d have a debt to repay already. It’d make me feel like I was using you too.” Before you can even say anything more, Hoseok is shifting to face you properly.

“Okay, I’m going to say this nicely. You’re not with me for my money, and even if you are then I guess I’m an idiot because I don’t care. I offered this, you didn’t ask. You’re even turning me down. I have money Y/N, you know that. We both know my family probably has more money than sense and we don’t need it. Bringing your parents here? That’s probably the nicest thing we’ll do in years.” He sounds so honest and stern that you can’t help but pause, eyes tracking every minute expression of his face to see if he’s being truthful. 

And surprisingly, you get the sense that he is. Hoseok would probably transfer that money to you right now if you asked, but the shame and pride you have whirring inside you stops you from doing that. Instead, you just look down at where he’s taken your hand, uncaring if it’s covered in snot and tears.

“Your parents might not approve of that.” It wasn’t cheap moving someone from Earth to New Korea. Your flight had been paid for by a travel grant. Not to mention then they’d have to find somewhere to stay. They had no money saved up and they might not even be fit enough for jobs here. But it was still tempting. So tempting.

“I don’t know if you’ve noticed this...but I don’t really care what my parents think. My parents are...well they only really cared about themselves and their image I guess. The Jung name is the most important, you know? They cared about politics and making sure they had influence. I drove them up the wall when I showed zero interest in any of their stuff. Did my degree cos they wanted it and I couldn’t be bothered to argue with them if they were letting me go to New Seoul. This estate is nice and all but...it’s not really that nice when you never see your parents. They always had business to attend to, events to plan, events to go to, work to do or just...plain not caring about me.” You squeeze his hand, distraught at how callous they sound. Even though you’d grown up in the backwater of Earth, you knew that your parents would have died for you if they’d had to.

“They’re older by New Korea standards for parents. Too busy having social lives and influence I guess. Kids would have interrupted that. And then suddenly they realised that they had no heir so they tried for five years. Natural and artificial until finally...baby Hoseok arrived. And then they just couldn’t get pregnant after that. I was it. All they had. They wouldn’t even consider adoption. A Jung that’s not in the bloodline? Not acceptable. So yeah, I grew up being the family disappointment because I didn’t want to do what they did but they couldn’t turn me down or throw me out. Can’t disown me because then the family name dies. I’d enjoy getting stuff out of it if I didn’t feel like it was such a heavy burden.” 

He’s not looking at you now. Instead, his gaze is focused firmly out on the horizon and your heart clenches when you notice the bleak expression on his face. Now you understand why he’s never liked talking about his family.

You couldn’t even begin to understand his feelings towards his parents or the society he’d grown up in, but at the same time he couldn’t understand yours either. Which made you both kind of perfect in a way, as it meant you were both bridging the gap between each other’s worlds. 

“I think you’re perfect.” The words are a little limp, quietly spoken without you even meaning to but you can feel the honesty from deep within you as your grip tightens on his arm. It makes him smile though, no matter how lame it sounded and he kisses your forehead affectionately.

“Thank you. I think you’re perfect too,” He quietens momentarily, looking down and playing with the sand before taking a deep breath. “These last two months have been amazing. For once, I feel like someone likes me for just me. Not my family name or money or influence. Just me. Jung Hoseok. I feel like I could be the poorest person on this planet and you’d still look at me that way.”

“Because I would. You look at me the same way and I was the poorest person on the planet when I arrived. I came from nothing and I arrived with nothing really. Just some clothes packed up in an old bag that my parents had managed to scavenge from one of our neighbours and a pocket full of credits that they’d given me. I won’t lie that the idea of financial stability is attractive but...I’ve been in poverty before. Poverty to the levels no one understands here. I wouldn’t be happy if I was back there, but I’d at least be happy to have you.” That makes Hoseok make a quiet noise before he’s hugging you tightly, pressing overly exaggerated kisses to your head in an effort to lighten the mood and you can’t help but giggle as he rocks you from side to side.

“You can’t say things like that. It makes me feel all funny and then I’m definitely convinced that soulmates exist because there’s no way they don’t when you’re saying something that deep to me so soon and all I can think is to make heart eyes at you.” Snorting, you push his face away with one sand covered hand and watch in amusement as his expression contorts in disgust, spitting noises being made as he tries to rid himself of the sand that had fallen into his mouth.

The next few minutes is taken over by you both play fighting, getting your still wet clothes even more covered in the fine sand that you’d so loved at the beginning. You didn’t love it as much anymore, but that didn’t matter because you were making him smile and laugh again. The sound and sight filled you with such joy that you felt like you were floating.

It’s when he’s tickling you that you get the urge, laughing loudly at his touch. You get an odd out-of-body experience, like you’re looking at him from outside yourself and you see the most beautiful man ever. His skin is glowing fiercely in the slowly lowering sun while his black hair has highlights of soft brown from the gentle rays, his delicate half-moon eyes dancing in happiness while the roundness of his cheeks is higher than ever from the heart wrenching smile on his face.

If you had to spend twenty-three years seeing in black-and-white, you thought it was all worth it for this one moment. To watch him in glorious colour, so vibrant and full of life, against the backdrop of the jaw-droppingly beautiful vista of jutting mountains, luscious trees, the jewelled ocean and a sky that was beginning to streak beautifully with the rich, warm strokes of nature’s sunset.

“I love you.” It falls from your lips without you even realising it. Those three words, three syllables that mean something so deep and intense that has been said for centuries in hundreds upon hundreds of different languages across hundreds of planets and billions of people. Words that portray your feelings and yet can never adequately get across what you truly feel deep within, the well of sheer and intense emotion that still feels so young after only two months and yet so old that it almost makes your bones ache.

Hoseok stops moving, his face shocked for a second as his jaw drops open. But then you spot those sweet dimples indenting themselves in his cheeks, the way his full, pink lips begin to curve into that beautiful heart shaped smile that you’ve fallen for so quickly. The happiness that had been present in his eyes turns quickly to pure and unabashed joy. 

And then he’s kissing you, those lips soft and gentle against your own yet you feel the powerful force of his own emotions behind them. He pushes you backwards gently, the sand cushioning your body as he lays next to you, his torso leaning over just enough to keep the kiss going and you sighed into it, running your fingers through his sea salt encrusted hair gently. 

There’s no time wasted from him as he dips his tongue into your mouth quickly, the movement familiar after so many makeout sessions that your dates often devolved into. One hand cups your face so gently, his fingers stroking your skin tenderly and you suddenly feel the urge to cry at everything. Like the emotions and feelings are all too much.

Almost as if he recognises that, he lifts his head from you, the sound of your lips separating almost audible despite the crashing waves. Opening your eyes, you take in the sight of him in so much beautiful, luscious colour that only he had brought into your life. Lips that were swollen from the kiss, flushed a deep pink from the movement while the chocolate brown of his eyes has darkened as his pupils widened.

“I love you too. And I don’t care if anyone thinks that we’re rushing or any of that. I believe you, with this soulmate thing. I really do,” His thumb runs along your cheek gently and his eyes dart all over you. “I’ve never felt as at peace or as happy as I do with you. Might sound like a drama, but it’s true.”

“I get it. I do.” Wrapping your arms around his neck, you give him the biggest smile that you can only hope shows even half of the pure ecstasy and joy that lights you up from within. There’s a moment’s pause before you’re simultaneously pulling him down while leaning up, meeting his lips once more in a kiss that you’ve grown addicted to.

At that moment, he moves to almost lay on top of you, the sand shifting beneath you as he does so and you gasp when it shifts enough to cause his hips to slide against yours firmly. It wouldn’t bother you normally, but this time you can feel that Hoseok is as happy and excited as you are.

Almost immediately he’s jerking away, eyes wide with worry as he holds his palm out in a calming gesture. Chest heaving ever so slightly, he wipes at his lips before reaching out and resting a hand on your knee. Despite everything, you don’t even hear him apologise as your eyes are focused solely on his groin.

It may be the 32nd century and clothing material may have been drastically improved over the centuries but they still couldn’t quite make anything that wouldn’t be painful and restraining for when a guy got an erection. Which meant that unfortunately, they still had the telltale tented pants when they were feeling frisky.

Or those awkward moments where they just randomly got hard. 

You knew that Hoseok probably wasn’t bothered about the erection itself. People in New Korea were more sexually liberal as you’d already discussed and those who grew up and lived in New Seoul were even more promiscuous than more rural areas or other cities. As such, you had no doubt that Hoseok didn’t give a flying fuck about it.

But he knew that you didn’t grow up like that and even though you lived with Taehyung, you still got a little shy about it. 

Not now though. Now you wanted him in all the ways possible, not just the soft and tender ways that you’d been experiencing.

“I want you.” You blurt out, looking up at him. For a few seconds he pauses, almost like the words are filtering in his brain but then his eyes widen and his jaw drops. It almost looks like he’s going to protest and you’re fascinated by the concept but then suddenly he’s standing, brushing the sand from his clothes before grasping your hand.

“We may be more sexually liberal here but our first sex is not going to be on a beach in public for everyone to see.” He says sternly and you feel your stomach drop with anticipation while your pussy clenches tightly at the thought. His words are so plain and blunt and you almost whine as he pulls you into a standing position, kissing once more before walking as quickly as he possibly can back towards the estate.

You’re almost dragged behind him, almost falling over multiple times as you struggle to balance properly in the sand. It was the strangest thing really, how it kept moving beneath your feet. A five minute walk on this beach made you feel like you’d run for ten minutes, and you were working with an Earth physique too.

Despite the sexual tension that was now bubbling over, your body hot with desire while his hand grips yours so tightly that you’re positive he’s just as warm with anticipation, you both can’t stop giggling at the way you struggle. Quick laughs are taken over by kisses peppered over your face, returned by you to him whenever he stops and leans towards you. More than once, you wrap your arms around his waist and simply enjoy a deep and delightful kiss, the cooling air rushing past you yet doing nothing to quell the flames of need.

Finally though, you both cross the rise and run towards the black gate that stands out so boldly against the white wall. You’re so enamoured by Hoseok that you don’t even notice the way his family estate rises so boldly behind the tall wall, it’s foundations deep and strong. All you see is Hoseok.

If it wasn’t for the fact that you had hormones racing through you, desperate to get your hands on the delightful body of your soulmate finally, then you might have taken more time to look around the house as he led you through it. Or maybe it was a good thing you’d been too absorbed in him, given the complete disparity in this house and where you’d grown up.

You don’t get to think of it though as soon enough, Hoseok is opening a door on the second floor and quickly pulling you through, closing and locking it behind him instantly. There’s a brief question of why he’s locking the door in an empty house but you don’t get to think of it as Hoseok wraps his arms around your waist, tugging you closer before attaching his lips to your neck.

Almost immediately you sigh in delight, shifting your head back to give him better access as his kisses your sensitive skin. His experience shows clearly as he licks at you before blowing on it, the cooling sensation making you shudder before he laughs and tries his hardest to suck a bruise into you. All the while, his hands are slowly trailing along your skin beneath your shirt, the pads of his fingers soft and gentle yet firm when he grips at your ass.

“Hoseok…” You whisper, running your fingers through his hair before tugging a little, enjoying the whine he lets out before he finally lets you lift his head until he’s looking directly at you. You’re not sure you’ve ever been as turned on as you are right now, staring into an expression of pure lust and desire.

Slowly, you extricate yourself from his grip all the while fully ignoring his grumblings at the loss of you. And in carefully paced movements, you strip yourself of any clothes until you’re standing before him bare, the temperature of the room just warm enough to stop you from feeling chilled. But the goosebumps on your skin aren’t anything to do with temperature, nor the way your nipples peak almost painfully.

That’s everything to do with the hungry look in Hoseok’s eyes, the low growl that reverberates from his chest at the sight of you. You’ve never been this bold with sex before, even with Taehyung for whom sex was the most natural thing in the world. But there’s something about Hoseok that just commands you to move forward, to keep moving and take what you want.

Even now, in your vulnerable state, you feel safe and protected in his presence.

Carefully, you move backwards until your calves hit the tall bed that you’d spotted upon entering the room. It’s in a traditional style, with four dark wood posters reaching up towards the tall ceiling and an impossibly soft looking cover set covering the astonishingly large mattress. Of course a house like this would have a bed big enough to get lost in.

But you don’t care, keeping your gaze on Hoseok’s as you slowly make your way around to the open side of the bed, biting your lip as you crawled up onto the softness and simply kneeling there. Hoseok hasn’t moved once, only his eyes following you and you feel the pure desire for him to touch you.

So you reach out, hands palm up as you try your hardest to bring across your need for him. And he understands instantly, his hands working to throw his own clothes off with a haste that would almost make you laugh if you weren’t so turned on.

Instead, you watch hungrily as luscious golden skin is revealed, taught muscles and a perfectly formed body that makes your mouth water and your pussy clench in lust. Hoseok is taller than you and has the slightly leaner body structure that those on lower gravity planets had. It looked good on him.

He moves over to you quickly, cock bouncing with every stride from how unbelievably hard he was and you lick at your lips, grinning when he threads his fingers through your own. You don’t get to admire him anymore though as he leans forwards, latching his lips onto yours and you moan into his kiss, opening your mouth and letting him have his way with you. It’s nothing that you haven’t both already done before, but it almost feels like a tease of what’s to come, the way his tongue slides into your mouth while his hands tighten on your own has you gasping, thighs clenching together as an almost painful ache takes over between your legs.

You’re almost amused to find out that you’re impatient for him, the need for him to be inside you so strong. None of the other times you’d had sex had ever been like this. While you’d certainly enjoyed it, you hadn’t felt an all encompassing desire to have sex. Until now.

Falling backwards onto the bed, you forget about the disparity between your strengths and Hoseok pulls away from your mouth with a yelp as he almost crashes into you on the bed. What you’d thought had been a gentle, almost playful tug of his hands from you had actually been much stronger than you’d anticipated, your Earth heritage coming through and you immediately begin apologising.

He laughs though once recovered, pressing a kiss to your shoulder before trailing slowly down your chest to your neglected nipples. Tongue swirling around one peak, Hoseok peaks up at you playfully, grinning despite what he’s doing with his pearly white teeth on full show.

“Someone forgot how strong they are huh?” He teases, sucking on the bud hard after speaking until you’re whining beneath him, body writhing in a movement that ends up with him perfectly on top of you and between your legs. The hardness of his erection pressing against your stomach is erotic, the heat of it causing more wetness to leak from you as you shift your hips in an effort to try and get him to slip inside.

But he thwarts your attempts, the husky laugh vibrating against your chest delightfully and you can’t help the smile at the sound. His happiness is infectious, particularly given how excited you are yourself. Hoseok doesn’t let you bring him back up though, instead he’s pressing butterfly kisses down your stomach, your muscles sucking in to try and hide them a little.

Despite your need for him and complete uncaring about your body at first, you still can’t deny the tiny voice in your head pointing out that you’re far heavier looking than most girls here on New Korea. Their lower gravity meant they all naturally looked slimmer than you anyway, but Hoseok doesn’t even pay attention to it. Instead he just lavishes your body with kiss upon kiss, focusing entirely on you without a care and you feel yourself relax a little in comfort with his attention.

“Hoseok, you don’t need to. We can just-” He interrupts you with a hard look, his hand moving to push your thighs apart as he finally reaches the place he wants. There’s a moment of stillness before he slowly lowers his face and you feel his tongue press against your pussy’s entrance firmly. He holds it there for a second before slowly dragging it up, the sensation wet and yet so unbelievably amazing.

His tongue is flat as it presses against the hood of your clit, the sensitive bundle of nerves desperate for his attention but he doesn’t give it to you. Not yet. You’re not sure if he’s just teasing you or if it’s because he hasn’t found the spot to make you moan but you don’t care, can’t find it in yourself to care.

“I am not going to just stick my dick in you without any foreplay.” Hoseok says, his tone not allowing for anymore nonsense and you go hot at the steel in his voice. Part of you wants to go against him but you can just tell that you’ll get nowhere. So your jaw snaps shut, instead just watching as Hoseok gives a smirk of satisfaction before dipping his head back down.

It takes only a minute or so for him to actually find your clit with his talented tongue, a minute of him exploring you and taking in your taste before you jerk in pleasure. A deep hum leaves him as you do so, letting you know that he’s pleased himself by finding it and you spend the next few minutes being edged towards an orgasm so wonderfully by his hot, wet mouth.

You’re not sure if it’s because he has the experience and knowledge or if it’s because of whatever bond you have with him as your soulmate, but the pleasure he gives you seems to be double what you normally experience. Each ghostlike touch of his fingers as they dance along your inner thighs feels almost unbearable, each lap of his tongue on your pussy sending jolts of pleasure through your body that are more intense than you’ve ever experienced and you’re almost embarrassed by how slick you’ve become down there, inner muscles clamping in a painful ache around nothing.

“Hoseok please, god please,” You beg, voice high pitched and whiny as you gently tug at his hair. It takes a lot of effort to remember to be careful with him but you do, successfully getting him to look at you. “Please, I need you now. Please.”

He watches for a few seconds before grinning, pressing a kiss to the hair on your mound before making his way back up the bed. Glancing down, you bite your lip at the sight of straining erection, the tip of him flush with colour while a clear liquid drips from him in his excitement. It makes you feel even hotter, even more lustful for him and you’re running your hands along his body, memorising every part of him before you kiss him deeply.

Neither of you makes any effort to stop the kiss, enjoying the feelings and the sparks it generates. Until you feel the head of his cock pressing against your clit, his hips rocking ever so slightly to try and get what stimulation he can from you. Reaching down, you grasp him gently, enjoying the way he groans into your mouth and how his hips push forwards, rutting into your grip.

Squeezing him, you give him a few strokes, fully enjoying how hard he feels beneath your hand, the thickness of his girth and the pure heat of him. Finally though, you direct him to your sopping entrance, so unbelievably wet and slick in preparation for him. As soon as you feel the tip of him push into you, he takes over and surges forward.

Hoseok isn’t as big as Taehyung, but you hardly notice with the pure ecstasy that his cock produces in you. Your entire body shudders violently beneath him, the sensation of him rubbing against your sensitive walls overwhelming in a way you’d never experienced before and your head falls back into the pillow, ragged moans leaving your throat.

He’s not spared from it either, whatever special bond the two of you have that has made you both feel so happy and comfortable with each other apparently magnifying in the heat of sex. It’s unlike you’ve experienced before and you don’t complain when he begins thrusting immediately, the sharp slap of skin on skin loud in the room.

It’s almost drowned out by the hedonistic moans, groans and growls that escape your throats in the desperate pursuit you both have for an orgasm. The familiar tightness in between your legs seems to be bigger and tighter than you’ve ever felt before, stretched almost to breaking point and you heave breaths beneath Hoseok, hands scratching at his back desperately. The pleasure he’s giving you is almost too much, almost too painful for you to cope with and your mind can’t quite work out what’s going on.

“Fuck Hoseok, I...Hoseok...oh my g...uurgh please.” You beg incoherently, unaware of what you’re babbling to him. He’s moaning out your name and curse words in Korean that you don’t even understand, words you’ve never heard before. But you understand the meaning behind them, the pure need and strain in them as he fucks into you hard.

Your pussy clenches around him almost rhythmically, the friction his cock causes as he slides in and out of you in a smooth glide thanks to the obscene amount of slickness you’ve created causing more feelings than you’d ever experienced in sex before. Legs tightening, you almost feel a cramp in your thigh from how hard you’re holding your muscles in your body, gasped moans encouraging him forward.

And then he brings a hand to your pussy, fingers coating themselves in your sticky wetness before he fumbles for a few seconds, looking for something. The way you cry out, body spasming on him let him know that he’s found what he wanted and those talented fingers continue to rub at your clit, quick little circles in a rhythm that has your breath stuttering.

 “Come on baby, come for me. Come on. I know you can.” He whispers into your ear, kissing along the sweat soaked skin there before trailing his lips along your jaw. His hair is jet black once more, only the wetness now has been caused by the sweat of effort and sex. You’re not sure you’ve ever seen a sexier sight and moan, the combination of it all finally spiralling you into what had to be the most intense orgasm you’ve ever experienced in your life.

For a few seconds, you can’t think even properly, your mind whiting out and your hearing going fuzzy. You momentarily wonder what’s gone on before the blazing heat of your orgasm overloads the nerves of your body, your pussy spasmodically tightening on Hoseok’s cock in a way that has him whining out in dual need and agony. There’s no controlling your strength here, and as the blistering pleasure begins to subside, aftershocks ricocheting through you, you realise that Hoseok’s probably never fucked someone so tight as you right now. 

Sure enough, he comes almost instantly once you begin to wind down, the vice your inner muscles made on his cock too good for him to be able to last any longer. Hips stuttering violently, a deep groan that borders on a growl is dragged from what sounds like the very pit of his stomach, entire body shaking as you feel his cock twitch with each pulse inside you.

Humming in delight, you watch him through tired eyes as his face scrunches up, giving away every single thing he’s feeling. It causes a surge of pride inside you to see it, to know that you’ve caused that and you run your fingers through his hair, messing up the strands. It brings him back to you though, his gaze almost lazy as he finally slows to a halt inside you.

The two of you are breathing heavily, as if you’d just run a marathon in forty degree heat but there’s a feeling of satisfaction in the air. Taking in his face, watching as a bead of sweat track down his temple, you feel more in love with him than ever.

Fully aware it’s probably just the after effects of the sex, the incredibly good sex, you nonetheless bathe in the sensation as he gives you a tired smile. The kiss you both share now is almost sluggish, your energy gone but it feels so incredibly intimate after what you’d just done, with him still buried inside you.

“Fucking hell, if that’s what our first time is like…” Hoseok trails off, pulling out of you and flopping onto his back beside you. That toned stomach you’d admired so much before is breathing heavily, lungs sucking in breath in an attempt to recover from the frenzied workout he’d just had.

Like everything else so far, it had been quick and intense but you already knew that you wouldn’t change it for the world. Rolling to your side, you smile at him before kissing his shoulder and then resting your head on it.

“I look forward to us in the future then.” You tease him lightly, running your fingers along his chest and causing him to shiver. The temperature in the room was perfect before, but now it feels almost cold as you both begin to cool down.

“Lucky bastards,” Hoseok grins, looking at you with mischief in his eyes. “Do you wanna shower? I swear you’ve never seen a bathroom till you’ve seen this one.” 

Pushing up onto your elbow, you raise an eyebrow at him in interest, pursing your lips. “Oh yeah? Big enough for two?”

“Oh baby...how naive you are. Let me educate you in the ways of rich people having way too much fucking money and not enough sense.”

-

Waking up the next morning is the most luxurious thing in the world. The bed is just as unbelievably comfortable as you’d first thought and the pillow beneath your head is so soft that you’re tempted to just let yourself drift back off into sleep.

This is truly a luxury that you’ve never even considered before and part of you wants to ask Hoseok if you can have this bed. Not that it’d fit in your apartment but still.

But what really makes it all feel so much better is the warm presence behind you, the solid arm slung over your waist and the gentle puffs of breath that tickle the back of your neck. Groaning quietly, you stretch and enjoy the way you ache delightfully all over, the slightest soreness between your legs as your muscles relax once more.

The two of you had indeed enjoyed his astonishingly large bathroom and you’d discovered that shower sex really wasn’t as fun as it looked. Taehyung had told you that once but you hadn’t believed it. You did now, particularly given Hoseok had accidentally thrust so hard that you’d lost balance, taking the two of you down onto the slick tiled floor. 

Thankfully, as Hoseok had said, the shower was ridiculously large and so the two of you had been safe from any real damage. That hadn’t stopped you from feeling embarrassed of course, but Hoseok had simply laughed and kissed you, taking the opportunity to enjoy one of the benefits of his family's wealth as he pulled you on top of him.

It hadn’t been the most comfortable sex you’d ever had, but you’d enjoyed it all the same.

You finally understood though what Taehyung had talked about when he’d discussed the honeymoon phase of a relationship because you didn’t want to take your hands off Hoseok. It was like the sex had unleashed a primal desire within you to have him as many times as was physically possible.

Which meant that this morning, you were aching but also feeling exceptionally fulfilled. 

Twisting around, you take in the sight of Hoseok fast asleep beside you. His expression is gentle, almost innocent looking in his sleep and you take him in with unhidden delight. The rays of sun peeking through the gauzy curtains that hang over the large bay windows streak over his face, lighting his skin from within to give him a healthy glow.

Dark hair is splayed across the pillow and you have no doubt that he’s probably going to get up with some serious bedhead. Equally dark lashes flutter slightly as his eyes move beneath his closed eyelids, breath a little faster suddenly as he twitches and you smile as you watch him wake.

Neither of you had slept in a bed together so far. You’d fallen asleep on each other occasionally sure, but that had almost been on a couch or something. The bed had felt a step too far.

You almost understood why now, 

Because you weren’t sure you would ever let him go now that you’d been so intimate with him, now that you’d slept beside him and experienced what a night with your soulmate was like. Even though you were tired, you felt so refreshed and just...happy.

Like he’d somehow rejuvenated your senses and mind. You were positive that if you told Taehyung this that he’d roll his eyes and laugh, telling you that you sounded like some kind of sappy romance writer and that it was probably all in your head.

And maybe it was, but even so. It felt so good.

Bringing your hand up, you let your fingers run along the smooth skin of his rounded cheek, taking in every centimetre of his face while you had the time. His lips were pursed in a pout, their soft pinkness not as swollen as last night when he’d kissed you like his life depended on it.

Gently, you slide your thumb over the softness of his lower lip, enjoying how it felt before you move to his nose, trailing the pad of your finger down the elegant slope of his nose. Lips quirking into an awed smile, you simply watched him as you took in his regal features and felt that familiar bubble of marvel that you’d found him. 

Out of the entire galaxy, with the odds of a whole universe against you, you’d found your soulmate. And he was everything you had imagined and so much more.

“Mmm, if you keep doing that I’m going to have to repeat last night.” He murmurs suddenly, his voice so unbelievably deep and husky from the deep sleep he’d been awoken from. Grinning, you rest your palm on his cheek and kiss the tip of his nose, careful to avoid his breath or let him smell your own.

As much as you love him, you don’t think you’d love the smell of his breath in the morning. Society still hadn’t figured out a cure for that unfortunately.

“Maybe I wouldn’t mind that.” You tease him lightly, thumb stroking and you feel something joyful blossom in your heart as he tilts his head into your hand, shifting until he can kiss the palm of your hand affectionately.

“Oh I would, but we weren’t meant to stay here last night and I think we need to get back. Someone doesn’t have any clothes here.” His eyes open and that, the deep brown dark against the whites of his eyes and you chuckle with a shrug.

Sitting up, you take a moment to stretch once more and sigh in relief at the feel of your muscles relaxing from the stiffness of sleep. True to his word, you were currently as naked as the day you’d been born.

Hoseok had run downstairs last night to get your clothes washed for today, the material stiff at the time with dried saltwater from the ocean. You’d both chosen to sleep with nothing as Hoseok didn’t even have clothes here anymore, a sensation you weren’t used to but that felt oddly liberating.

The covers of the bed slip down to your waist and you exhale deeply, looking over to the large windows with curiosity. You hadn’t bothered to look last night, too enamoured with Hoseok and sex at first and then it had simply been too dark to see anything later.

But now, now you can see it and your eyes widen as you realise what you’re looking at.

Slipping out of bed, you pause for a moment as you feel the vulnerability of your nakedness. Shifting slightly, you look back at Hoseok only to see that his eyes are closed once more. Chuckling to yourself, you move over to the curtains and peek through them carefully.

Hoseok’s bedroom apparently faces the ocean and your jaw drops as you take in the view. It’s the bay that you’d both enjoyed yesterday, the sea shimmering in it’s luscious greens and blues while the deep emerald of the forests on the mountains provide the perfect contrast.

“Holy shit, you didn’t tell me this was your bedroom view!” You say loudly, pushing the curtains aside as you realise there’s no one to see your nakedness. Opening the doors that make up the windows, you push them to the side and lean against the metal barrier that prevents you from falling out and take it all with greedy eyes.

Almost immediately you’re hit with the soothing sound of the crashing waves and your eyes close as you take it in with a smile, the unique scent of the ocean filling your nose as a warm breeze rolls by. You’re not sure that you’ve ever felt so at peace somewhere before than you do here, with the strong mountains and the serene ocean.

“I forgot honestly.” Hoseok’s voice is close and you turn slightly, finding him almost directly behind you. The sun makes him almost look like some ancient god and you feel your mouth dry at the sight of him, his skin so vibrant and the tone of his muscles making you want to reach out and touch him.

Though that’s not what distracts you the most though. No, that would be the sight of a very proud erection jutting out from the dark pubic hair, cock quivering slightly as it fights gravity and your brow quirks up in amusement.

Looking up into his eyes, you ask him the question silently and he just grins, shrugging without a hint of shame or embarrassment.

“What can I say? I’m looking at my very naked, very beautiful soulmate standing in front of one of the most astonishing views on the whole planet. Forgive me for being a little turned on.” Laughing, you don’t protest as he moves forward to you and turns you around so you’re both facing the ocean once more.

His lips press to your neck in gentle kisses while one hand shifts down your body dangerously, meeting the hair that nestles between your legs and dipping beneath. The touch of his fingers against the hood of your clit has you sighing, legs shifting slightly to give him better access and you feel the whisper of a laugh against you.

“I thought we don’t have time?” You ask breathlessly, the ghost of a moan in your voice as he darts his fingers lower, coating himself in the slickness that somehow is already present despite the short amount of time since this started. Maybe it’s just because of who and what he is to you that he has you so turned on so quickly.

“We’ll just make time.”

-

It’s over forty-five minutes later when you both finally get downstairs, now fully clothed and clean again after yet another shower. Hoseok had promised you that there would be food in the kitchen as apparently they had house staff who kept the estate operational at all times in case anyone wanted to come back.

That had made you pause and he’d rolled his eyes, saying it was a family thing that he thought was excessive but he still appreciated it at moments like this. You couldn’t find an argument with that when your stomach rumbled, the two of you realising that you hadn’t bothered to eat much yesterday and so you were both determined to have a big, hearty breakfast to make up for all the...exercise you’d both done.

Following Hoseok down the ridiculously large staircase, you almost walk into him as he stops suddenly halfway down, yelping as you struggle to balance before resting your hands on his back. You’re about to ask what he’s doing when he suddenly speaks and you go cold.

“Mom. Dad.” Without even a word to you, you can feel the tension in his body as the muscles of his back go stiff, his shoulders rising ever so slightly. The anxiety in your stomach bubbles at the realisation that his parents are here, but there’s also a worry about how he’s reacting.

From what he’d told you yesterday, and what you’d gathered previously full stop, you got the distinct impression that Hoseok and his parents didn’t get along with each other. And now you were, in their fancy estate with their only son.

“What are you doing here?” He asks in Korean, the Korean that they use here rather than the one you’d learnt back on Earth, his tone so blunt that you’re pretty sure he could have hammered a nail with it and you cringe slightly. Even you recognised the belligerence in him and you wonder if you’re going to have to be witness to a fight between them both.

That was an alien concept to you, as you’d never witnessed your own parents fight. Nor had you fought with them.

“What are you doing here? Why are you not at the university?” A crisp voice responds, the tone light and feminine yet filled with an underlying steel. It makes your stomach sink to hear it and you swallow hard. “And who is that with you?”

Hoseok stiffens even more if possible and your hands tighten on his shirt, knuckles pressing into his back in simultaneous comfort and concern. He doesn’t bring you out from behind him though, not immediately.

“It’s university mom, not a job. I don’t have to always be there.” It’s confusing to you why they’re being so...harsh with each other. Even with the animosity he harbours towards them, you can’t imagine ever being like this with your own parents.

“What are we paying for then if you’re swanning around the planet like you own the place? And who is that? Who have you brought into our home?” You almost feel sorry for whoever she works with in the education system as you can practically hear the underlying ‘I’m right no matter what’ in her voice. It’s a wonder that Hoseok has grown to be so friendly and warm in comparison.

What’s even more surprising is that you haven’t heard his dad speak at all. Maybe he’s more diplomatic given his career in politics.

“Firstly, I do technically own this place. It’s a family home, not your home solely. And second of all,” He hesitates for a moment before he turns slightly, giving you a small smile that told you so much before he grasps your hand, threading his fingers with your own and squeezing gently before moving to let you be seen better. “This is my girlfriend, Y/N. I brought her here to see the ocean and beach.”

Your first thought upon seeing his parents is that Hoseok got his mother’s eyes and his father’s nose. They’re both astonishingly beautiful, which doesn’t surprise you at all given how exquisite Hoseok had turned out. It also isn’t a surprise given they’re rich and influential. You highly doubt that people like that married those who weren’t equally as beautiful.

Your second thought is that they don’t even remotely look like parents. Which is stupid, because anyone can be a parent obviously. But you just get the aura of them that there’s not a single maternal or paternal instinct in them both. Which given what Hoseok had said about his childhood, makes a lot of sense.

His mother is dressed in a white pant suit, the lines of her trousers crisp with not a hint of dirt on her. Her hair has obviously been dyed a luscious hazelnut brown and there’s a few signs of age hidden beneath the veneer of perfectly done make up. Lines that not even the best medical technology or make up can get rid of without it looking artificial.

She’s quite possibly one of the most beautiful women you’ve ever seen but she’s also one of the most intimidating. Her stare is as cold as ice, those red lips turned down at the very edges in disapproval as she scans over your body slowly. An elegant white bag that is probably made out of real leather is hung delicately over her arm, understated in a way that made it clear it cost money while her wedding ring on her finger is large, the multi-coloured rock of what had to be pure enchantium glittering in the light.

His dad is equally intimidating, his own attire a match to hers only in black. Black slacks matched with a black button up shirt, his own hair allowed to grey in that way that men can get away with. He looks ever so slightly kinder than Hoseok’s mom, but you don’t trust that at all. Given his career, he could be a viper in disguise.

Swallowing hard, you find yourself gripping Hoseok’s hand even tighter in a fear you hadn’t even realised you truly had. You’d always known Hoseok was far richer than you, that he came from a wealth you couldn’t possibly understand and a social standing that was a foreign concept to you.

But it was entirely different seeing it like this, being stood in the centre of a ridiculous grand staircase in a mansion that was as beautiful as it was overwhelming in its subtle wealth. You hadn’t queried it last night, but a quick glance around told you that everything in this entrance hallway alone was probably worth more than the apartment you’d grown up in.

And that said nothing of the chandelier that hung above it all, glittering in an astonishingly beautiful sight that you couldn’t even begin to properly comprehend. The expense of just that alone had to eye watering and with all this combined with the frozen aura of his parents, you realised just how big the gap between you both was.

Still though, you had to try. You’d managed to get yourself here with pure effort and hard work, fighting against odds that were impossible to understand. You deserved to be here.

“Hello, I’m Y/N. It’s a pleasure to meet you.” Every bit of politeness you have goes into your tone as you speak Standard to them and you give them a smile, trying your hardest to look warm and welcoming to them. Perhaps unsurprisingly, they don’t react.

“Come into the dining room. We had breakfast prepared before we arrived. I would like to talk to you both further.” His mother states before turning and walking away. Hoseok’s dad watches you quietly for a moment before inclining his head with a slight smile and following his wife.

Once they’ve both gone, Hoseok turns to you and cups your face immediately, fingers stroking at your cheeks while a distressed look takes over his expression. “I’m sorry, I’m so fucking sorry. I didn’t know they were gonna be here, I swear. I did not want you to meet them like this.”

Carefully, you give him a smile and take his fingers, pressing a kiss to the pads of his fingers one by one before sighing. Looking back in the direction where they’d both gone, you swallowed thickly and took a deep and fortifying breath.

“Okay, we can do this. We can do this right? It’s just breakfast.” Hoseok lets out a harsh laugh, his face turning ugly for a second.

“Yeah, breakfast with my parents. I don’t even fucking like being near them. They’re...it’s not going to be nice. I wish I could say otherwise but it’s the truth. And I just want to apologise beforehand for anything they say.” His voice is soft and gentle, a deeply hidden pain buried within it and you wrap your arms around his waist, pressing your head to his chest while you squeeze him tightly.

“It’s okay. Honestly. I grew up on Earth...anything they throw at me is nothing compared to that. Let them try.” Looking up at him, you rest your chin on him and beam up at him brightly, hoping to brighten his mood. He stares down at you for a few seconds before chuckling reluctantly, pressing a kiss to your forehead.

“I love you. Just...remember that.” Nodding, you let go of him and retake his hand, following carefully as he leads you through the maze like hallways of the house. As he goes, you take the time to take it all in, acknowledging how bright and big it all seems. It’s tastefully decorated, but you suppose that would be expected with his family.

 Finally though, you come to a room that’s even more astonishing than everything else. The ceilings are high, painted the same white as everywhere else that makes it all seem so much larger than it actually is while the centre is taken up with a long table, elegant chairs pushed in while his parents sit at one end.

You almost want to laugh at how large it is, the dark table made from real wood that must be native to the planet given the purple tint to it. They’re a family of three but you’d think Hoseok had ten siblings given the size of this table. 

But you don’t give in to that urge though, instead putting on a carefully neutral smile and following your boyfriend as he moves towards the table. There’s a spread of breakfast on top that makes your eyes widen despite yourself, the sheer amount of food astonishing given that they didn’t even know Hoseok was coming.

It all seemed far too much, and you wondered if they actually would eat it all if Hoseok and you were not here. The idea of wasting all of that made you cringe, nose wrinkling ever so slightly as you sat in the seat that Hoseok offered to you. He took the one next to you, closest to his father who sat at the head of the table while his mother sat opposite him.

Everything felt very awkward and you wondered how you were supposed to react. Was there special instructions on how to eat? Did you have to use certain cutlery to eat certain foods? You had no idea what to do and your hand rested on Hoseok’s thigh without even meaning to, your anxiety calming slightly at the feel of him.

“So, where are you from?” His dad asked politely. You were relieved to see that he at least had the decency to plaster a smile on his face, even if it was one of those blatantly fake ones that politicians mastered in their lifetime. 

“I’m...I’m from Earth. I got into New Seoul University four years ago and moved here then, enrolling in the education department. I met Hoseok properly two months ago.” You’re not sure which bit is the one that causes Hoseok’s mother to wrinkle her nose in what you presume to be disgust but you carefully bite your tongue, smiling at Hoseok as he quietly asks if you’d like something off the plate he’s holding.

There’s nothing for a few minutes as you prepare your breakfast from the available foods, making sure to not look like you’re eating too much while making sure that you actually have enough to fulfil you. Hoseok is stiff next to you, his unhappiness so obvious to you that you wonder if it’s equally as obvious to them. 

And then, his mom says something that leaves you stunned.

In Korean, or the New Korean that you’d had to study so hard over the last few years, she asks Hoseok something with a distinctly unimpressed look on her face. Something that leaves you shocked and Hoseok fuming beside you.

“Earth? Really? We’re not paying for you to be educated if you’re going to slum it with some backwards girl like this. Break it off with her today, this is just embarrassing to you and to us. Think of what it would do to our family image to have you associated with someone from Earth of all places. What do you think we are Hoseok? A charity? We raised you better than this, to have better standards. Your obsession with that cesspit is becoming too much.” Hoseok’s jaw drops at that, his hands fisting around his cutlery so tight that his fingers turn white.

You can’t even find it in yourself to say anything, understanding that she was at least having the decency to say this in a language she didn’t think you’d understand. But the fact she was still doing it in front of you was beyond mind boggling and straight into the realm of ‘holy fuck’.

And despite all that, her words hit every anxiety that you had deep inside you. Every worry that you’d buried deep when you’d realised that Hoseok was a sweet and kind guy who seemed to be unaware of the differences between you both. Because no matter what he thought, the rest of society would have a different opinion.

“First of all, you’re not paying for my education in order for me to date anyone, so why does that matter? Second of all, that’s where she grew up. If you’d take your head out of your ass and actually asked her, then you’d realise that she grew up in Old Korea. You know, our ancestral homeland? More than that, I don’t give a fuck about our family image. That’s all you guys. And finally...she can speak Korean.” He shoves a piece of fruit into his mouth after that, glaring intently at them as he chewed furiously.

His mother’s face pales slightly as she looks at you, shock the first time you’d seen something beyond disgust and the careful expression of neutrality on her. You’d almost be amused if it wasn’t for the fact that you knew she was only shocked because she was probably embarrassed at being found out like that.

But you decide to be diplomatic, recognising that Hoseok was evidently the one who was going to be battling with them today. Instead, you wanted to take the approach of trying to be sweet and kind with them, even if stuck in your throat that you had to do that when she’d been so blatantly insulting. 

Sure, Earth was a backwards shithole but it had been your backwards shithole.

And besides all that, you just really hated their belittling of your soulmate. You got the distinct impression from only five minutes with them that this was common. His mom didn’t even seem offended by his harsh words.

“Well...why didn’t you state you could speak Korean?” His mom asks bluntly, a frown marring her brow in obvious disapproval. Swallowing the harsh retort you wanted to say, you instead plastered a neutral smile onto your face and gave a delicate shrug of your shoulders.

“My apologies. Most people just speak Standard to me here at the university so I’ve gotten used to it. I grew up with Korean back in Old Korea, but upon arriving here I discovered that the centuries of separation have changed the language so I had to relearn. I’m sorry if I appeared rude, it wasn’t my intention.” There, that was nice and polite.

You got the sense that Hoseok was pissed that you had to be that polite and before any of you could say anything, he suddenly spoke again.

“Did you know that she can also speak fluent English and Spanish alongside standard, New Korean and Old Korean? Or that she got better grades than me? Or that she managed to overcome unbelievable odds to get here? She’ll be graduating this year in the top 1% of her class and has already been accepted for a graduate degree. On top of all that, she works hard to maintain her grades while also working to save money,” Hoseok looked at you then, pride in his eyes. “She’s the perfect example of someone who works hard and makes it through effort. Not just being born into it.”

The silence that falls over the room is beyond awkward and you shuffle slightly, feeling flushed with embarrassment at his words. You weren’t embarrassed over him being proud of your effort, in fact you were happy that he’d remembered everything you’d told him. No, it was the ugly look on his parents faces.

“Yes well, I suppose it’s easy to do well when everyone feels sorry for you.” His dad said suddenly and you looked at him in surprise, shocked that he’d think that way. He catches this and shrugs, taking a deep swallow of juice before carefully placing the glass back down. “It’s true. You’re a novelty here and no one wants to be the one to send the girl from Earth back.”

Jaw clenching you try hard to clamp down on your temper but Hoseok beats you to it, slamming his fork down onto the table so loud that you jump.

“For your information, father, essays and exams are anonymous. They have no idea who it came from. You know that, after all, it was mother who helped to implement that standard,” He glares at his mother who sniffs in response. “And secondly, stop being so fucking rude. I thought we cared about our family image?” 

His voice is so pedantic here that you almost want to laugh, Hoseok’s facial expression twisting almost comically as he parodies them. Both of their faces convulse grossly, unhappiness evident and you feel Hoseok take your hand tightly.

“Jung Hoseok, don’t you swear at us.” His dad grates out and Hoseok snorts, rolling his eyes.

“I don’t give a fuck. What are you gonna do? Disown me? You can’t, you have no other heirs because you waited too long and you were too snobby to adopt. I have no cousins so our name dies with me. Disown me if you want, I don’t give a fuck. But I’m not going to sit here and subject my soulmate to the two of you.” He goes to move then when his mother lets out a bark of laughter, causing you both to pause and look at her.

“Soulmate? Is that what she’s fed you? Is that how you’ve managed to latch onto him so fiercely? I thought you were smarter than that Hoseok. Instead, apparently you’re too busy thinking with another body part to realise how you’ve been led along by someone who probably only wants to make sure she’s well off. Soulmates, are you stupid?” She spits, tone venomous and eyes equally hard.

You want to respond when Hoseok holds up a hand up to you, his face suspiciously calm and you frown at him. There’s a moment of silence in the room, everyone waiting for the next harsh words to be spoken and you quietly take a sip of your juice in an effort to just do something.

“I can see colour. Your hair is brown mom, with a slight red tint to it. Dad, the apples you’re eating this morning are a wonderfully rich red, almost purple in shade. The Earth mangoes also look particularly ripe today. I believe that being this orange means that they’ll be very sweet, yes? Though this one probably isn’t the best given it’s more green.” He finishes, glaring at them both and they stare at him in shock.

But he doesn’t let them speak, his underlying anger and disgust bubbling over. “I first saw colour over two months ago when I touched Y/N. She saw colour for the first time too. I don’t care what you believe or what you think, nor am I going to explain why I believe that she’s my soulmate. You don’t really care. All I will say is, I don’t want to talk to either of you again. Not until you’re willing to apologise for what you’ve said today and accept my girlfriend, because I will not be leaving her. Not for you, not for anyone. Disown me if you want, I’ve already said. I don’t care. I’ve had enough of you both over the years and I’ll be damned if I let you both walk all over me in this regard. It has nothing to do with you and it never will.” 

They don’t speak for a few moments, eyes wide before his mother’s gaze hardens. “Fine, we won’t cut you out. Like you said, we can’t. But as long as you’re going to slum it with her, we won’t talk to you. As per your wishes. I feel like this has been a long time coming Hoseok.”

He snorts at that, rolling his eyes and standing abruptly. “Yeah, it really has. And it feels fucking amazing. Goodbye.”

You follow him as he almost storms out of the room, eyes wide in confusion as to the sudden events that have occured. Glancing back into the dining room, you note that his mother is stony faced while his father looks a little more uncomfortable, almost unhappy with what’s just happened.

Grasping Hoseok’s hand, you practically run after his long strides, almost giggling at how much faster you catch up to him. But then you see his face, the pain in it and you stop, biting your lip and climbing into the air car with him quietly.

For a good ten minutes, neither of you says anything and you simply stroke his hand reassuringly. Guilt bubbles in your stomach, causing you to look down unhappily as you wonder how everything had just happened like this. So fast as well.

“I’m sorry.” You whisper gently, licking at your lips. Almost immediately though, Hoseok is cupping your face and kissing you softly, his movements so much sweeter than the harsh and uncaring man you’d just witnessed in the dining room.

“Don’t ever say sorry for them. As my mom said, this was a long time coming. We haven’t been able to meet and not have an argument for the last few years anyway. It annoys them I don’t care about the same stuff they do. And I’ll be damned if I let them push you away with their horrible ways.” You can tell by his face that he means every word, but the very idea of pushing your parents away like this is so alien to you that you almost can’t believe it.

“But...I mean...you’ll talk again, right? They’re your parents.” Hoseok lets out a laugh, his face softening as he looks at you so fondly. Any anger he’d been feeling has evidently vanished and you revel in the attention he gives so you willingly.

“They’re not my parents. Parents are what you have, people who love you so deeply that they’d give up everything for you to make sure you’re happy. Mine are just the people who created me. They’ve never shown any interest in me, I was raised by staff. I’m not a person to them, I’m just the heir to their fortune and name.” It’s a concept you just can’t really understand, your mind refusing to wrap around the words.

You can’t even begin to imagine your own parents acting like that, even though they had nothing to give. To know that his parents had everything and yet had given their son nothing that he actually wanted was horrifying.

“I’m sorry Hoseok, you deserve better.” He smiles and shrugs, his expression a little sad. Leaning forward, he kisses your forehead and remains there for a moment, nose pressed to your hairline as he simply breathes you in.

“I do. And I have. I’ve got you now. You’ve shown me more love and affection in two months than they have in twenty-four years. I’m okay, I’m used to it. I just...are you okay? Please don’t believe what they said. They have a public persona that’s much nicer and sweeter than their real identity, as you saw. Don’t believe anything, you’re so much better than what they said.” 

Watching him over quietly, you give him a small smile before moving to sit in his lap. He chuckles at the movement, arms wrapping around your waist tightly as you kiss him sweetly. The air car complains at the sudden double weight of his seat but he turns the alarm off, both of you well aware that he’s now breaking the law.

But you don’t care at the moment, too busy hugging him and just being content in his presence. 

“I won’t. I can tell when someone’s saying something to just be mean. Like I said...I grew up on Earth. They have to try a lot harder to truly hurt me.” You say lightly, grinning at him before burrowing your face into his neck. He squeezes you tightly and sighs, the both of you settling into a gentle peace. “My parents will love you, I swear.”

“I have zero doubt of that, not when they did so much for you. I can’t wait to meet them.” That makes your stomach twist and tumble in excitement, the feelings buzzing through your body and you hug him harder.

“We’ll be okay, right?” You’re not sure what you mean by that, but you feel the sudden urge to ask him. The knowledge that his parents didn’t approve of you wasn’t surprising, but his willingness to cut them out of his life so quickly was. Maybe it shouldn’t have been, given what he’d told you yesterday and the way he’d avoided talking about them for so long now.

“We’ll be okay. I promise. I’m happy with you, happier than I’ve ever been. I swear.” He kisses your forehead once more, nuzzling against you and you sigh in contentment, the feeling of bliss rolling through your body at his touch.

“I’m happy with you too.”

-

Fifteen Years Later 

The sun is high today, without a hint of any wispy white clouds to block some of the intense rays for a few minutes. It’s the middle of summer in Sejong, the days long and bright with a temperature that made you want to stay inside the air conditioned house all day long. But at the same time, the gentle breeze that blew in from the sea helped to cool the air, the scent of salt pleasant while the distant lapping waves created a calming soundtrack.

Walking out of the house that borders the beach, the home that Hoseok’s ancestors had so carefully built and maintained over the centuries, you smile brightly at the scene in the extensive garden.

The tall white walls surrounded the whole boundary of the Sejong estate, protecting it from prying eyes and providing a safe space for anyone who came here. Carefully maintained green grass that had been imported from Earth a long time ago gleamed a beautiful emerald while tall trees with the indigo stain of the native New Korean trees stood proudly amongst the lawn, their towering branches providing much needed shade.

You’d been bemused by their colouring when you’d finally been able to see colour. Even though you’d never seen brown before, or even really proper trees back on Earth, you’d grown up being told that trees had brown trunks. It had been unusual that the indigo bark had been hard to get your head around given you’d never seen anything else. 

Glittering violet leaves shifted in the low wind and you inhaled deeply, the succulent scent of those special flowers that Hoseok’s mom had planted so extensively throughout the estate today smelling of luscious strawberries. Real strawberries too, not the fake crap you’d grown up with.

The sound of laughter distracts you from the nature around you, your gaze immediately being drawn to the colourful play equipment that had been set up in the very centre of the garden. Pure white sand took up a square in the middle of the grass and slides, swings and more was set up in this small play area, a traditional way for children to play in this modern era.

Your seven-year-old son was the source of the laughter, his giggle so sweet and high that it made your heart clench. Watching as he throws a handful of sand into the air, you can’t help but smile as you see your soulmate in him so strongly. Even from here, you know that his eyes would be the same half-moons of delight that Hoseok’s got when he was happy.

A shout of annoyance came from your four-year-old daughter, her small hands pressed to her hips as she scowled at her older brother. She was at that age where she wanted to follow her brother around all the time to play but he was fast approaching that strange age in childhood where they didn’t want to play with their siblings anymore.

Especially not a little sister who clung to his every movement. 

Sarang shrieks in anger when Hajoon runs away from her, his longer legs letting him climb the ladder to the wooden playhouse quicker than her. You go to put a stop to their fighting, as usual, but you’re beaten to it by the elderly lady who tuts at them both in stern amusement.

“You two...stop fighting.” Your mom says, running her fingers through Sarang’s dark hair while she gestures at Hajoon who leans dangerously over the railing. He says something back to her but you can tell it’s nothing mean and you sigh quietly, looking to your side as she manages your children.

Your dad is sitting in his usual comfortable chair on the extended porch, safely in the shade but able to enjoy the weather, smells and the sight of his grandchildren without having to move. Which you’re glad of, because despite your hopes, the medical staff here on New Korea hadn’t been able to do anything for him in regards to his legs.

Hoseok had been true to his word fifteen years ago, looking into how he could bring your parents to your new home to live out their final years with you. He hadn’t let you know he was doing it, or that he’d even been in contact with them.

All you’d known was that a year later, you had been undertaking your graduate degree and Hoseok had begun working at one of his father’s companies after they had finally begun talking again. Their communications were still icy cold, but you got the sense that his dad cared more than his mom. The two of you had moved into his apartment in downtown New Seoul, an expensive building that you would have had no chance of beforehand.

And then suddenly, one day you’d come home to find your parents sitting in the living room with a smiling Hoseok. There had been a moment of complete disbelief before you’d burst into tears, running over to them both and almost choking them in tight hugs. Neither of them had complained though, instead just hugging you back just as tightly as they cried themselves.

In the five years since you had left Earth, they had aged dramatically and part of you had wondered whether Hoseok had brought them here to die within a year. Their hair had greyed quickly while the wrinkles in their skin had deepened. Despite all that though, you had been so unbelievably happy that they were finally there with you.

Hoseok had confirmed that he’d managed to get them the citizenship that you’d only just acquired last year, pulling more than a few strings with some of the family friends he knew. It had been a blatant abuse of power, but you couldn’t find it within yourself to complain. Not when your parents had finally left Earth and that your promise had been fulfilled.

Perhaps unsurprisingly, they had become completely taken with Hoseok. It had been a bizarrely amusing situation for you in which your own parents, who had been so far away, became the rocks that Hoseok and you had relied on when times get tough. His own parents had remained very distant after the whole debacle of your first meeting; Hoseok had still yet to forgive them even now.

Despite being unable to help your father with his legs, the doctors here had been able to extend your parents lives a little further than should have been possible on Earth. The combination of medicine, clean air, healthy living, no work and good food meant that they had slowly come back to life before your eyes.

A regimented skin care routine that your mother had discovered was slowly reducing the wear and tear on her skin while your father simply enjoyed not being run ragged by work. Fifteen years later, they were still here and going on strong.

It brought you to tears sometimes to know that not only had they escaped from Earth finally, but they had been at your wedding to Hoseok and had then been lucky enough to witness their grandchildren being born and growing up. All of this, because of your wonderful soulmate and two parents who had refused to let you stagnate on a dying planet.

Two arms wrap around your waist from behind, a warm body pressing against your back while petal soft lips pressed against your temple. Grinning broadly, you rest your hands on his own and tilt your head back to take in the still beautiful sight of your husband; the love of your life and your soulmate.

He smiled back at you sweetly, contentment on his face as he pressed a kiss to your lips and you sighed happily. The two of you had decided to move to the Sejong estate after Sarang’s birth just over four years ago. While you both loved New Seoul, you’d desperately wanted your children to grow up with everything you hadn’t.

Which meant a childhood free of towering buildings and busy streets. Sejong was the perfect mix of urban and rural, with Hoseok’s already owning the estate here. His parents had given to him as a wedding present, despite their distinct unhappiness at him marrying you.

So you’d made your home here. Hoseok worked for his father’s company remotely, occasionally travelling into New Seoul or any other cities he needed to before coming back. You taught at the local school in Sejong, enriching the minds of the children of those who had made their homes here in one of the most beautiful places you’d ever seen.

And just on the other side of the wall was the beach and bay that still astonished you every time you saw it. It had not only been the place where Hoseok and you had admitted your love to each other, but also the place where he had asked you to be his wife and the place where you had both sealed your love together in matrimony. As such, it had become a special place to you and you’d hated the idea of the estate standing empty when you had a family ready made to move in there.

“Let me guess, Hajoon made Sarang cry again?” Hoseok sighed quietly, resting his chin on your shoulder and you chuckled. Despite being inside when it had happened, your husband knew your children very well.

Nodding, you grin and lean back against him, the familiar contentment at his touch spreading through you.

“Yep, but my mom put a stop to it. I think she might take Sarang inside to bake soon, she bought a load of stuff at that traditional store in town.” That made Hoseok laugh, his breath warm and ticklish against your neck.

“I’ll never understand why she likes to bake when she could just get Somin to do it.” Somin was the cook that apparently came with this estate, because that was a thing. You hated it, but you wouldn’t deny that she did make the best food. Which was why you’d reluctantly agreed to keep her. That and Hoseok had pointed out that the estate was so big that you simply needed to have staff to help maintain it.

Somin at least let you cook if you wanted to, or showed you how to make things. She’d also taught your mom how to bake in the last fifteen years and Sarang had taken a fascination to it as well, so your protests had long since died down. Hoseok still didn’t understand why they liked doing it though.

“She finds it relaxing I guess. I’m not going to tell her to stop doing anything she enjoys.” He hums lightly, swaying you both gently from side to side in a rhythmical movement. It lulls you into a wonderful sense of calm and you smile, still amazed that this was your life now.

“How’re you? And is the baby okay?” His hands move down to gently rub at the bump protruding from your belly, the swollen roundness an obvious sign of the child that grew within. It was still odd to know that it was acceptable to have large families here and you’d quickly discovered after Hajoon that that was exactly what you wanted with Hoseok.

After a childhood of growing up alone with uncaring parents, Hoseok wanted it too. Which is why you are now pregnant with your third child, due in another three months.

“We’re fine. Everything’s fine.” You murmur, reaching up to gently stroke Hoseok’s cheek as you just enjoy the feel of him against you. Fifteen years later, he still makes you feel so safe and protected.

“Good,” He quietens for a moment, simply enjoying the moment with you before he kissing your temple once more. “Are you happy?”

Gazing out, you take in the sight before you. Your children are now playing happily in the sand, both cooperating as they work to make miniature sand castles with your mom. She’s smiling so brightly, happiness that you’d never seen on Earth radiating from her so strongly that it makes tears bank in your eyes.

Your father is still asleep, but the lines of worry and exhaustion that had long since plagued him had smoothed out, his days spent simply enjoying his life now. And then there was Hoseok, your beautiful, wonderful, amazing Hoseok.

The man who had taken a chance fifteen years ago when a woman had told him she was her soulmate, despite knowing nothing about it. Who had taken seeing colour suddenly in his stride and had plunged into dating without any knowledge of what was going on.

The man who you’d fallen so deeply in love with so fast and who had reciprocated so quickly in response, who had defended you and chosen you over his parents when he could have abandoned you so quickly. Meeting Hoseok had been fate and you couldn’t ever imagine your life without him now.

“I’m happy,” You whisper, throat tight with emotions as you feel your baby kick inside you. The movement is directly beneath Hoseok’s hand and you feel him grin, your own hand pressed lovingly on top of his. “I love you.”

There’s a brief moment of quiet after you say it to him, the words so common in your conversation that you could almost be mistaken for thinking there was no real meaning behind them anymore. But you mean every syllable that drops from your mouth when you tell him that, never wanting him to think that you don’t love him.

When he responds, you can feel the same unspoken weight of emotion behind them too and you feel joyful at the knowledge that he feels the same for you.

“I love you too.”

[mxrstar]

hey do you ever love a fic so much you want to draw fanart for it? but you are not very good at drawing so you decide to try out collage for the first time in your life? well, let’s just say that i quite liked the last published chapter of  @gerrydelano​​‘s fic 

[ID: the image is a collage. the background paper is pastel blue, and towards the top right corner there is a group of birds, drawn in white. they are eating and the lines of the drawing are smudged, so that the white drags out from them in vague shades. on the top left corner, there is a single window frame; the frame is green and the glass is black. there are a series of eyes taken from various paintings glued on top of the glass. from behind the frame, comes a single butterfly’s wing, which is red yellow and white. on the bottom right corner, there is a tiny, white drawing of a person helping another on a small boat. the drawing is framed into the corner by an arch. the colors of the arch are graded from dark green to dark red. a red and yellow leaf is glued on top of the arch, and there is a tiny piece of paper glued onto the leaf. the paper says: “-G”. right in the middle of the drawing, we first can see (looking at it from the bottom to the top) a picture of some kind of body of water, upon which two boats are sailing. upon that first picture, acting as shore for the water, there is a picture of outer space. it is red, green, violet and white, and it is a bit shiny. there is an old stairway glued right in the middle of outer space. at the bottom of a stairway we can see a yellow figure (maybe a kid, with long hair and a backpack) and the top of the stairs connects to a door. the door belongs to a blue room. there is a big clock glued upon the door, and there is a drawing of a man, looking tired and facing the other way, right in the middle of the room. the top and bottom right corners of the room are framed by two colored vortex, which are incidentally two of the stars from Van Gogh’s “Starry Night”. from behind the left side of the room, comes out another butterfly wing, which perfectly mirrors the one that comes out of the window. on the right side of the paper, we can see the sentence “I’d say you have at least somewhat of a chance” spelled out in different letters. at the bottom of the paper, a white piece of paper says “two ships passing”. /end ID]

under the cut I have written an explanation of the meaning behind the,, symbols? I am not going to pretend I had super strict idea to begin with, but as I started to find things I liked on random high-school books I (un)consciously  assigned them a meaning. feel free to indulge my pretentiousness and read my ramble I guess + (also under the cut) close-up pictures

okay so let me just run down a list: — the window okay, so. that’s meant to represent the background world, the things Gerry and Jon are going to have to live with whenever they step outside of their refuge. the glass is dark, because they try to protect themselves for as long as possible, but there are still various Eyes peeking in, mostly looking aggressive or extremely focused (fun fact: all of these come from paintings; i perhaps should have written down which belongs to what but i forgot) — the birds this is a reference to the ongoing “birds in jon’s stomach” metaphor. they are eating because that’s what they were drawn doing on the paper i miraculously found dsgfghk but if you want to push it you could say that they are all going “finally, some good fucking food” at Jon’s joy in meeting Gerry?? + they lines are smudged because,,,,,,, (god i am so sappy) because it gives an impression of movement? like, they are at ease but part of them is free to fly — the butterfly’s wings so, take “one dropped stone can change the way the whole ocean moves” but make it boring, and suddenly it’s the butterfly’s effect. the wings connect both to the outside world, to the window and the Eyes /and/ to the room (which I will get to later) because their meeting changes everything. it changes how they interact with the world and (at least partially) it saves them from it + it changes them as people, and gives them a space to be happy, to be with each other — the sea + outer space the sea with the two boats is quite an obvious one so i am not going to say anything about it. outer space is,,,,,,,,,, Miriam? I know she is more ocean vast that she is space vast, but I guess the contrast is nicer this way. she has been the shore to their sea, the vast, contextless freedom through which Jon and Gerry have connected, and Gerry has healed — the yellow figure in my head, that’s Gerry. i don’t know about the yellow, it came with that so i didn’t choose it and i don’t really have a meaning for it (unless you want to be really emo and decide that “Gerard just looks at him like he’s seeing the sun for the first time, and then looks away like he’s surprised by how much it hurts” is suddenly reversed in this last chapter, and Gerry is, in a way, Jon’s sudden source of light). the figure is that of a kid (I think, at least?) with a backpack. it’s Gerry as a kid, meeting Jon in that chance Miriam has made possible and relatively durable — the stairs those are a reference to the stairs in Portia’s house, but they also mark the passage of time (that’s sort of represented by the big clock on top of the door). by the time Gerry gets to the top, Miriam has left and suddenly he is in another room — the blue room + the man the blue room is where Jon is stuck now. he is facing the other way, he is adrift. the man doesn’t look like Jon but we’ll forgive that because in the original full drawing he is sitting onto a rock which is connected with some ropes to a boat. the blue room is framed by those vortexes (which are actually two starts from Van Gogh’s Starry Night) because i had made a mess with glue and i needed to cover up the corners sfgsdfg but if we want to think well and hard about this, perhaps they are the lights Jon still has but cannot, won’t see. he is not looking at either of them. wow now im sad — the door Gerry and Jon don’t meet in the universe, nor in the blue room. they meet beyond the door, in their sacred, private space. they both need to get in in order for this to work — the bottom right corner okay, in my head that’s sort of a page number. something that marks our position in the story. there’s this drawing of a man helping another on a boat (which comes from the same drawing I found the man in the blue room in!) cause, you know. it’s reunion time. the arch was originally part of a circle which was rainbow-coloured. it reminded me of that idea which I think is in the Official™ gtcmu™ lore- that thing about Jon having no specific colour, but colouring everyone else, sort of being the rainbow. it’s not obvious cause the arch isn’t a full rainbow, but I was indeed thinking about it. i guess i also wanted to somehow convey that it’s not just Gerry that is giving something to Jon. they are both sharing something meaningful with each other. Jon is still making him bright. then, there is the leaf, because this happens in Autumn, and the small “-G” which is a reference to the note Gerry leaves to Tim — “I’d say you have at least somewhat of a chance” the quote is obviously very cute and the moments in which both Gerry and Jon say it (though this is Gerry’s phrasing) are CUTE. but i chose this one because it’s superficially warm + as a standalone could mean something more. it’s simple and it’s complex. it’s “yeah im totally bi” “yeah i would indeed like to kiss you” and it’s “sometimes it feels like the entire world is against you and your life has been so so hard, but I’d say you have at least somewhat of a chance”. and this is their chance. so they take it

OKAY i made myself emotional thank you for get quite as far as you are reading this!

pictures next:

[battle-of-alberta]

OCtober: Cal and Ed

It’s finally over. I’m sorry for the delay but stuff has been Happening. If there’s a tourism site that attracts you more to one city or the other, let me know.

Calgary | Edmonton

Below is some meta stuff about the ‘research’ (if you can even call it   that, it was more of a vibe check) I did for re-doing the profiles. Read  on, if it intrigues you. And I gotta mention there’s a bonus rabbit hole I went down for Calgary’s self-image that is. Well. A Lot.

Major Cities: Calgary and Edmonton

We made it team, the heart of the Battle of Alberta, the major city rivalry that defined generations. Calgary is the largest city in the province and the centre of southern Alberta, a young, fast-paced major city that oscillates wildly between boom and bust and is attracting both attention and employees from the traditional major cities in Canada. Edmonton is the capital of the province and the the most northern major city with a metro population of over one million on the continent, a little older and more blue collar, somewhat more stable economically, and quickly rising to meet the challenges presented by open data and sustainable urban planning. And, as we know, they've been antagonizing each other since the 19th century, but collaborating as well.

Website Round Up Premise

While I was revisiting these character profiles, I took a look at how cities represented themselves on their municipal sites and tourism sites rather than how cities were represented in the news or in stereotypes, as the latter already tend to live in the back of my head. I was interested to see who the target audiences for each city were, what they considered their strengths, and how much effort each city put into putting its own identity on display. I was also interested into what ideas sort of fed into any pre-existing confirmation bias I had about each city's personality as well as interested in what narratives might be used to counteract negative stereotypes.The first thing I tended to notice was the overall information architecture of each city's website. How easy were they to navigate? What kinds of information did they have? How did they organize it? How did they communicate that information?

Out and About

There's a sharp difference between the websites of major cities from other cities. They are very careful to separate the corporation of 'The City of' from the cities we might know, and therefore both websites have a much more business-like tone and more distance from their civic identities. This means no traditional "About" pages as other cities might have.

At the time I'm visiting, Edmonton's page has some ADORABLE art of a nuthatch that's making me very homesick. Calgary has a seasonally appropriate snowy skyline.

Calgary does have an "Our Organization" tab which describes the City as a corporation, and likewise Edmonton has a "City Government" tab that performs a similar function. Edmonton's is in alphabetical order which is only a little annoying and Calgary's reads like a very perfectly chunked business portfolio that doesn't... really say as much as it looks like it does, but it does get bonus points for vision/organization/accessibility.

I have never seen a more concise history of Calgary in my life. It's literally three bullet points and a couple of bracketing sentences, but it does do the job. Calgary is, more or less, what it says it is (although I do take slight issue with its self identification as a trading post - it may have functioned that way but that was not what it was founded for and in fact the trading companies gtfo'd asap in those early days). It goes on to paint a very good sketch of the city in as few lines as possible in the text, and there's a little video at the end that feels like it was voiced over in 1988 even though it's clearly not.

Edmonton's City government page is even vaguer. Let's make a more dynamic and resilient Edmonton shall we, the page suggests. Resilient against What Exactly, I wonder. Winter? The boom-bust? Calgary? who knows. The majority of the sub pages are even more mysterious and essentially paint the picture of a city. It's a normal city. Trust us. We do city things. Here is exactly how government works and how to raise and lower a flag. In Edmonton, which is, in fact, a city.

I'm begging you if you think Calvin is hokey and annoying please read the Our Culture page and see it's EXACTLY how I intended to portray him because it's eXACTLY what it's already like. "The Four C's of Our Culture" give me a break.

Edmonton offers me a picture of the skyline and says "City of Opportunity: City of You". I suppose this is true. I don't know what it means. I fear slightly for its intentions.

I keep seeing "Calgary: A great place to make a living, a great place to make a life" and it's like. Stop! I won't go! You can't make me! (and again the Strong and Resilient Calgary. these kids are always catching colds because they don't eat properly.)

Although Edmonton makes literally zero attempt to define itself (outside perhaps the official symbols page hidden under Facts and Figures), what strikes me is that it is portraying itself as a very future-oriented city, which, when I was growing up we really never were. We were an inward city constantly wishing we were somewhere else which is partially still true, and we were a city with such an intense nostalgia (that unlike Calgary we failed to really capitalize on) that grated roughly against a complete failure to preserve history. It does kind of make me glad that the city is looking towards the future and just like, acknowledging basic realities (like snow) and trying to involve people in urban planning more (and throughout the website the city LOOOOVES to share data which I also called, haha). There's also an adorable animation of the city road map in its strategic planning pages. It's interesting that for a city that leaves itself up to your own interpretation, it does have a LOT of information about itself collected and available.

Tourism

Oddly enough, neither city has substantially changed their tourism homepage to accommodate COVID-related staycation plans, although each does mention that many things may be closed or unavailable as a result of the pandemic.

CaLGARy, Be PaRT of THe EnERGy!!

I like how Edmonton's self-presentation is "original" and "we do things differently". It's like a Keep ___ Weird thing but in an understated self-assured way that makes me laugh a little. Like yeah, I guess we are kind of different, I guess we're just not used to seeing that as a good thing.

In the tourism guides there isn't much to say about Calgary's that isn't just "oh, classic Calgary" but I do think the fact that they have "quick facts" to explain what timezone it's in and what currency they use is adorable to say the least. also the title of the guide is CALGARY (and the canadian rockies) and that sums up Calgary pretty well, which I'll elaborate on more.

I actually can't find Edmonton's guide, if it has one, but that's ok. The website hits all the buttons that I would and I actually use exploreedmonton quite frequently because it has a nicer event calendar than the city website does, which is important in a place nicknamed Festival City. I really appreciate how things are organized by month/season and even down to "what's happening today/tomorrow/this week" because it makes planning trips for my visitors easy, so now you know my secret : ) I wish I could just beam this site directly into people's brains when they mention "oh yeah thats where the mall is" when I say I'm from Edmonton.

Interestingly enough it's Calgary's turn to be vague, which I can only assume is part of its "exactly what it says it is" charm. This desperation to find a shred of self-description outside of things to do and places to stay led me down a rabbit hole I will elaborate on in a moment that truly showed me I Knew Nothing about how deep Calgary's branding goes. Otherwise, the website is very practical and functions more like an answer to questions you had about the what and the how and less so the why.

Also, the "Locals" page on Calgary's site has tips on hosting friends and family from around the province safely during the pandemic which is kind of cute. Edmonton doesn't really have a local page (i guess because if we had a hashtag like #loveyyc we'd ruin it)

Bonus: The Rabbit Hole

I wondered why Calgary's tourism page, which I expected to be the most in your face description of the city possible, fell kind of flat. I learned this seems to be because tourists are not the target audience that Calgary wants to attract. It's companies and corporations, and they get their own page.

Boy oh boy do they get their own page

This led me down this frightening path of getting validation like being repeatedly punched in the face by what On Brand Calgary truly means and I'm frankly quite speechless about it - all I can say is that you need to see it for yourself.

The tourism site gestures to a Billion reasons why you should hold your next meeting in Calgary and here is where the self definition as Big City Energy and Western Hospitality starts kicking the tires and lighting the fires. Likewise with the media-oriented page. Suddenly stuff like the Calgary Bucket List starts popping up and I can't help but go hang on, why not suggest this to tourists?

"It's cowboy spirit, but also refined and cosmopolitan" [sighs into hands]

Suddenly all the "Calgarians love visitors! Calgarians love the outdoors!" stuff is spilling out like water from a dam here. "Where's Calgary?" [Link that reads FIND US].

Like i literally feel like the tourism side on the left is the Kids Menu, it's the corporate stuff on the right that I'm actually finding the type of information I want on. Eventually, I somehow make my way to Calgary's Destination Strategy which is trying to make Calgary a place that... well, people go. Like, internationally. Like the Olympics but MORE of that.

Then I find the Brand Evolution. Then I find Calgary's Economic Development site. The poetry about rocky mountain prairie skies and "where a handshake still means something" starts to reach its peak.

Then back through the tourism site I find the video. And the video makes me shake because it suggests the premise of The Powerpoint.

The Powerpoint. I cannot summarize the powerpoint in any meaningful way or how my emotions were a rollercoaster further and further up and down the longer i scrolled. Everything I know and suggest about Calgary seems to be unequivocally true, including the sense that Calgary as a person is the sort of person who makes powerpoints about his own identity crisis because that's precisely what this is.

And then I get to the part of the powerpoint that suggests I imagine what kind of person the city of Calgary might be (and implied: does that person think about anything other than the mountains???) THEY EVEN DID AN OCEAN PERSONALITY TEST FOR THE CITY I KID YOU NOT

Hi, City of Edmonton, hire me to take an OCEAN test for our fair city. I'm begging you.

[kaibutsushidousha]

Cat, Ghost, and Revolution Sunday - Chapter 2: The events from Wednesday (part 7)

[INDEX]

A ghost showed up out of nowhere.

Kei was in bed, with the lights off and his eyes closed, recalling that day's events. Remembering the cat he found, Murase, and a lot more.

While was thinking about the meaning of every piece, he heard someone call his name.

It was a girl's voice. At first, he suspected it was Tomoki's ability. He thought his friend was sending another boisterous message with that annoying ability of his. But he didn't hear Tomoki's voice.

Lacking other options, he opened his eyes. There was a ghost there. A ghost was nonchalantly floating in his unlit room. She was transparent and shaped like Minami Mirai.

(Take a deep breath, Kei. What the heck is going on here? I've never seen a ghost before. I'm honestly at a loss for words. I would scream if I was walking on a silent street, but with this ghost appearing to me so anticlimactically, I can't figure out the exact timing to be surprised.)

What confused him the most was the ghost's behavior. She was scratching her head with a blush and smile.

"Uh, good evening", she said.

(How are you supposed to scare me like that? Oh well, I guess I have to answer.)

"Good evening."

No one spoke for the next few seconds. Kei slowly forced his body to move and sat up.

(Ok, what do I do next? I'm really confused with this ghost I just found.)

"Minami?"

The ghost answered with a nod. This confirmed she was Minami Marai. Much to his chagrin.

Kei's head still wasn't running properly but he forced it to find the right words.

"So?"

One word, two letters. It was the vaguest question possible, but she accurately understood what he was asking.

"I woke up like this. Any idea why?"

"Nope."

(When you think of ghosts, you think of death, but here in Sakurada you don't necessarily need to die to become a ghost. And you probably wouldn't become a ghost from dying anywhere else.)

Kei shook his head.

"I have no idea. Is that an astral projection?"

(Makes sense for an ability like that to exist.)

As far as he knew, Minami didn't have an ability. That meant her ability could potentially awaken at any moment. When an ability awakens varies greatly from person to person. It's rare for it to happen to an adult, but gaining an ability as a high schooler didn't make you all that much of a late bloomer.

"Astral projection? That's a supernatural phenomenon. Awesome."

Minami bounced up and down in excitement. It's strange to say a floating object was bouncing up and down, but there was no other way to describe it.

"Pretty sure that's just an ability."

(Though she'd be right if we're counting every ability in Sakurada as a supernatural phenomenon.)

"My ability?"

"That's the most likely answer. Give me some time to think."

People learn about their own abilities having to try. That said, they don't have any instruction manuals. Just a vague feeling they can do something.

Suppose, for example, that someone had the ability to fly. That person would unconsciously know that they could fly before they tried it for the first time, but they would have no idea how high, how fast, or for how long. They'd continue living their lives without knowing how to take off, until one day they inadvertently start flying. Until they're floating in the air, they can't tell if they really have that ability or if it's just their imagination.

"Have you felt like you could become a ghost", Kei asked.

"I wanted to be one sometimes."

"I see. Anything else you wanted to be?"

"A vampire, a mage, a superhero, anything. I just wanted an ability."

"Any particular favorite among the list?"

"Not really. All options were interesting."

(This could go either way. I'll change the question.)

"What's the first thing you want to do now that you're a ghost?"

"Becoming a rumor, I guess. Like the kuchisake-onna. A rumor that will get kids hyped, hopefully."

"So, are you going to do that now?"

"Hm, I wanna try returning to my human form first."

"You think you can?"

"Nope. I have no idea what's going on. Did you figure anything out?", Minami asked, curious.

Kei answered he didn't. Then he noticed how wrong it was for him to talk to a ghost girl from his bed, so he stood up and turned on the lights.

He sat on his desk's chair. Minami was spinning in the air.

"What are you doing?"

"I can go upside down and my skirt won't turn over. That's convenient."

"Nice."

The people had a duty to report to the Bureau whenever a new ability was discovered. Doing that, the Bureau will follow their manual and deal with any potential problems. Kei decided to report to Tsushima, but before he could do anything, Minami swiftly approached his face.

"Think harder, Asai. What do you think happened to me?"

"Ok. Can you tell what you were doing before you became a ghost?"

"I can't remember. I just woke up like this."

Kei gave off an intrigued sigh. Her losing her memories didn't make much sense under the assumption that her ability was to become a ghost. Abilities have all kinds of restrictions, so this could be that, but there was a real chance that it was an external factor.

"Tell me everything you remember, in order. Do you remember getting out of school?"

"I do. You ditched me."

"So you went to search for the vampire alone?"

"Yeah. I guess I became a ghost because I went to the Ghost Mountain?"

"That could be related, yeah. Did you find the vampire?"

"I can't remember. Everything past me approaching the mountain is a blank."

"What time was it?"

"Not long past 5 PM."

Over 6 hours ago.

"When's your next memory?"

"Not too long ago. About 20 minutes."

"And you already a ghost?"

"Yeah."

Kei traced back his memories. Everything she said about the vampire.

"Years ago, someone collapsed from a vampire attack, was it? Do you know what happened to him?"

(Assuming this person really met a vampire, the same thing could have happened to Minami. If what happened to her is like astral projection, her body should be collapsed somewhere.)

She was speaking slowly as if she was trying to remember things mid-sentence.

"According to the files at the U-Res, he quickly regained consciousness."

"And what next? What happened to the vampire?"

"Oh. That's it. That person was also missing memories. That's why they don't remember the vampire's face."

(That's contradictory. I feel like I'll get sidetracked, but I'll ask just in case.)

"He couldn't remember the face, but remembered he met a vampire?"

"Weird, right? The vampire part is probably made up by the U-Res. Oh, I see, that might have been why the prez didn't care for the search."

(It figures... There's one really positive piece of information in her story. The previous vampire victim regained consciousness. That means Minami should be back in her own body in no time. This conclusion is a little too optimistic to my taste, but looking for pessimistic alternatives won't help here. If anything bad happened to her body, a Reset can solve that.)

But there was also one negative piece of information. Kei changed the subject, as he'd prefer to think about that by himself.

"By the way, why did you come to my house?"

"'cause you're with the Service Club. I thought you'd know how to solve the problem."

"Sorry, but Service Club requests need to go through the Bureau."

"What? Even for classmates? I thought you were nicer than that."

"I'll help on a personal level, of course, but you'd better leave for tonight. It's already late. Your family must be worried."

"Going home as a ghost wouldn't make them any less worried."

"I'll tell Tsushima to tell the Bureau. They don't take long to solve any ability-related problem. Tell your family everything is fine."

Minami frowned, displeased. That was a rare expression for her.

"If my body is collapsed in the mountain, I'm not really too comfortable with just leaving it there."

(Excellent point. I know it's fine because I can simply Reset, but I'm not supposed to tell my classmates about that. Tomoki has been the only exception so far. I absolutely don't want anyone casually asking me to rewind time for any trivial reason.)

Kei proposed a random idea to console her.

"So, do you want me to go check the Ghost Mountain now?"

(I really should have done that from the start. But if there really is an unknown threat on the Ghost Mountain and I make a big mistake... if anything happens to me, Haruki won't be able to Reset. I gotta set up a safety measure.)

Minami frantically waved her arms in front of her face.

"Thanks, but I'd never drag away someone who was trying to sleep. Will you go to the mountain with me in the morning?"

"No problem. That's better for me, too."

"Oh, but you have work for the Service Club tomorrow, right?"

Kei shook his head. That was a lie made to keep the pre-Reset world intact.

"I can do something about that. No need to worry."

"Really?"

"Yeah. How about we met at 9 on the staircase of the Hanamisaki Shrine?"

She agreed.

They said goodbye to each other and Minami left through the closed window. Being a ghost had its benefits.

Kei watched her go away. The rain was already over. There were no stars in the night sky, but the outside was lit by the city lights. Her dim glow made her look like a real ghost. After he could no longer see her, Kei closed the curtains and went to bed.

(Now, the negative information. That's ghost Minami's appearance itself. She didn't come to my apartment before the Reset. She didn't become a ghost. This changed despite my constant efforts to react the same way I did before. What caused this? Where did her future change? Damn it.)

The Reset caused this. She became a ghost because Kei ordered Haruki to Reset. Ghosts are associated with death. Kei couldn't stop himself from thinking about the girl who died two years before.

(Let's do what I can first. I have to tell Tsushima. He'll need to tell the Bureau, so I'll text him. Less information is lost in the telephone game when it's written.)

After sending his message, Kei opened his phone's contact list. He wanted to prepare insurance for the case of an unforeseen tragedy. He selected a saved number and hit Call.

The dialing sound soon stopped and he heard a cheerful voice. Nakano Tomoki. After he was done with the long-winded greeting, Kei spoke.

"I got a favor to ask if you don't mind."

[maple-writes]

Dissidia March 2021: Week One

Big thanks to @onmywaytobe for sharing Leo with me for this! I’m really excited to keep writing these two together :D

and thanks @dissidia-writeblr for hosting again!

the intro got kind of long but I was having a good time so it stays like this lol

###

Warren hit send on their email and quietly hoped the recipient would actually read everything this time before asking another question they shouldn’t have to answer again. At least that was the last they needed to respond to for now. They double checked though, just in case they missed anything from an order, an information request, requests for meetings, or sometimes the odd message sent to the completely wrong email address.

They reached for their near-empty travel mug and downed the last of the coffee as they crossed off email replies from the to-do list they’d drawn up first thing in the morning. Today it wasn’t as long as it could be, but would still be more than long enough to keep them busy until the end of the workday. After that… They smiled to themself as they turned back to the computer screen. The woman at the store tipped them off the other day that pears would probably be on sale today. Older style pears hadn’t been on sale in a long time especially since newer hybrids started coming out a few years ago. The new ones were sweeter, softer, and lacked that weird texture if picked too late, but there was something about the older pears. The new ones were almost too sweet, too soft. They still had some wine from last night too that might go well with it after dinner.

The click of short heels echoing down the hall brought Warren back from thinking about fruit and wine a moment before Indigo poked her head into their office. Her opalescent white hair pulled back in a low pony-tail suggested she was here to check up on the labs. When the light hit just right, the hollow, prismatic strands refracted subtle orange, blue, and even hints of green. Right, it was Wednesday, she usually came in on Wednesdays.

When she noticed Warren was in, she stepped in with a polite nod. “Any word from the Norris Lab?”

Warren smiled. “Yes, actually.” They leaned forward, pulling up the documents on their computer. “I spoke with one of their reps today, and honestly,” they sighed, one hand up and massaging the side of their head at the memory of that agonizingly long phone call, “it was like pulling teeth but I convinced her to send over their manuscripts. I’ve also set up a meeting with a member of their team for the twenty-seventh.”

“Well done Warren,” Indigo purred. She rested her hand on their desk and leaned forward as Warren turned the screen to show her the documents. The way her eyes flickered over the words and tables she seemed to know better than them whatever it was this research was about on anything more than an abstract level. “Oh that’s perfect.” She glanced down at them. “Could you send those files to me and print off a copy of each when you get the chance?”

She’d probably want an extra copy too, one for them to file away with the other hard-copy records. Warren nodded and jotted down a note for later. “Can do.” Paper records and files hadn’t been mandated for decades now but Indigo usually insisted on physically backing up important files. “Anything else?”

“Not at the moment.” She straightened up with a smile, a genuine one rather than the ones they’d seen her give at events and meetings with people she had to pretend to like. “Thanks Warren.” She started to turn, but seemed to remember something. “Actually, if you could do me a favor, I need something confidential ordered along with this week’s deliveries. I’ll send you the info by the end of the day.”

Warren made another note, nodding down at their paper pad. “I’ll see what I can do.” This wouldn’t be the first time she’d asked something off the record like this, but with her position she was bound to have some projects that weren’t ready for public attention yet.

She thanked them, left, and Warren turned back to their computer to update their to-do list. They were already planning on taking a trip down the hall for the printer for some labels so adding a couple copies of the manuscripts Indigo wanted probably wouldn’t take too much longer. As much as her insistence on physical backup copies filed away just in case was a bit of a pain sometimes, it was nothing compared to what some of their other coworkers wanted them to do. Some of the ‘great ideas’ some of them came up with were nothing more than a logistical nightmare, and some of the clerical work they had at the end of the week was usually tedious at best.

A couple of documents proofread later, Warren sent the files to the print server and got up with a stretch cracking some of the little joints in their shoulders. On the way out of their office, they plucked their lanyard with their ID and key card with an outdated photo and a little sticker label with they/them stuck to the casing, draping it around their neck as they stepped into the hall. The one time they’d decided to just stick it in their pocket it fell out and they hadn’t noticed until they found themself locked out of the building in the middle of winter, banging on the door until someone heard. Not doing that again.

They stopped at the coffee maker along the way, leaning against the counter as the single-serve pod brewed and trickled into their travel mug. It was old, the mug, paint starting to chip off around the top and bottom, but it was a gift from years ago and it still worked well enough so why replace it?

Taking a sip of their fresh coffee, Warren reached the print room. They raised their key-card to the scanner, pausing as it beeped and the light turned green. Years ago when they’d started here someone had explained why the print room was locked like this, something about some very fancy and expensive kinds of machines that they’d never had any use for in their work. They dropped their card to dangle around their neck again and opened the door.

This was not the print room.

Warren froze, wind toying with their ruby hair and tugging at the lanyard around their neck. Grasses brushed against the cuffs of their pants and white clouds drifted across the open, unimpeded sky. The air carried the fresh scent of plants and unfamiliar toiled soil. An unfamiliar city rose in the distance behind fields filled with crops and farmers and uniformed people patrolling the planted plots.

This was not the print room, not even close. Warren broke the ice holding them ridged to glance back over their shoulder, twisting to try and find the door. But there was nothing. It was gone. Nothing but more fields and more farms and more farmers and more uniformed personnel. Soldiers maybe? But what were they doing here? They frowned. Better question: what was here?

Someone standing nearby looking nearly as lost as Warren caught their eye. Dressed different from the other farmers and soldiers he probably wasn’t from around here. Although, Warren really couldn’t tell where he might have been from either. He had a very old-timey look, plain dark skin and darker hair with eyes to match. Maybe he came from some remote town in the middle of nowhere, but even then… Odd that nowhere in his ancestry there’d been anything altered to pass down. Still though, he was far more familiar than the people working around them in the farms.

Warren turned towards the stranger with a deep breath. “Hey,” they paused a heartbeat as he turned towards them, “uh, do you know what’s going on?”

The dark-hard main just shrugged and muttered something about all of this just being a weird dream.

A dream? Warren scrunched their eyebrows and took a sip of their still nearly too-hot coffee. Strange. They didn’t remember going to sleep. They woke up like usual, had breakfast like usual, got dressed like usual and as far as they knew had been at work for a couple hours already. Were their dreams really that boring? They frowned. If this were a dream then how come they could still taste? At the same time though, it wasn’t like this made any sense either.

Dream or not, this was the only vaguely familiar-looking person anywhere in this field and he looked almost as confused as they did. They turned back towards him. “I’m Warren, by the way.” It was probably only polite to tell him their name.

The mysterious stranger nodded once. “Leo.” He paused, stealing a glance, then added, “nice hair.”

Hair? He liked their hair? “Oh, thanks.” Warren flustered. “I just kind of brushed it this morning and I guess it’s working out for me today.” Okay, stop talking. They cut themselves off with a very long sip of coffee. Leo just said he liked their hair no need to ramble on and on even if nerves prickled all the way up and down their body.

The sun shone down warm on their shoulders, the air fresh with plants. If this really was a dream maybe it wouldn’t be so bad as long as they were actually asleep and not collapsed and dying on the copy room floor. They frowned. No one really went that way unless that had to, and most people in the office dealt exclusively with digital files. Hell, Warren might have been only one of a handful of people who even knew how to use some of the older model machines.

Were they… Dead?

No, no way. They’d been fine all day why would they be dead now? Leo’s idea of a dream sounded much nicer. Warren sighed and squinted against the sun, staring over the sunny fields. This time their eyes settled on one figure walking between the plots in their direction.

They glanced at Leo. “Do you think that guy’s coming for us?”

“Looks like it.”

Warren shifted from side to side on the soft grass and tightly gripped their mug as nerves built. No question now, the new stranger was headed straight for the two of them. Warren tried to look away, at anything else. They didn’t want to look like they’d noticed, didn’t want to draw his attention more than they already had.

But the stranger wasn’t swayed, stopping in front of the both of them with a bow and a smile. “You two must be so confused.” He said. “My name is Sichoris, and I work for one of the leaders of Ritania.”

He gestured to the city towering behind the farms. Ritania? Warren’s head spun. Sure it’d been a long time since they’d looked at a map or a chart or anything, but they’d sure as Hell never heard of Ritania.

Sichoris kept talking. “If you would follow me, I can explain everything along the way.”

Without waiting for a reply, he turned and started back the way he came. Warren hesitated, but only a moment. Standing around in a field wouldn’t get them anywhere and if Sichoris really did work for some leader maybe it wouldn’t be so bad. As false-faced and draining some of the officials they’d had to interact with every now and then were, it wasn’t like any were usually cruel towards them. At worst a little demanding with no idea how long it actually took them to do the work they wanted but not horrible.

With a deep breath Warren unstuck their legs and followed Sichoris towards the city but paused when Leo didn’t move. He still stood, staring glass-eyed up at the unfamiliar city. Was he just going to stand there? What was he waiting for?

“Hey,” Warren called, catching his attention. “Are you coming?”

Leo glanced between them and Sichoris already paces ahead, then seemed to decide following along would be the best bet. Walking just behind Warren’s shoulder, his eyes wandered, and he reacted strange as if in a dream. Which maybe that made sense, but maybe not. But it wasn’t like they had any kind of better answer up their sleeve.

Some of the farmers looked up as they passed, watching curiously before getting back to their work. Some of the soldiers—they looked like soldiers anyway—did the same. No one looked anything like what they were used to, and they couldn’t help but hunch in on themself just a little. They stood out here, especially the way the sun caught the iridescent structures in their hair, shimmering from red to faint violet and blue where the sun hit just right. As much as they weren’t a farmer either, they couldn’t begin to recognize what exactly grew in the fields, or even why they might have been using so many open air fields like this either.

Warren took another sip of coffee and stole a glance at Leo. So far the only thing they knew were his and Sichoris’ names, and at least Leo seemed to be in the same kind of disbelief as they were. He seemed trustworthy enough. Even if he didn’t seem one for talking, at least they weren’t completely alone.

[earthendandinbetween]

THE BABATTO

The sun had barely broken over the horizon, setting the landscape in a gold-red hue as the first rays of light spread out. Early enough for nothing to be particularly active, thus making it a perfect time to enact a planned incursion of a fort located just east of the hideout. Any chance to clear their enemies before they could group up in high numbers, really.

Multiple hooves trampled over the earth, huddling together in the early morning chill. A sign of winter, or further encroachment of the snow-fields’ raging storms. Either way, it might as well have meant the same thing, really. Every kibaton available had been rounded up, as well as the remaining tatepons from the patapon’s tribe. There were other units around, including the almighty and her uberhero, Keyro, but nothing particularly notable about the group other than that. A perfectly standard set up.

Which is why, it was incredibly aggravating and obnoxious to Kuwagattan when he was told he was not being brought with the small army. The only time to do something enthralling and interesting after weeks of inactivity, and he can’t even go with them? With a narrow of his eye towards a particular horse and her rider, the real reason for being told to stay behind sunk in.

Of course. This was Spiderton’s plans, as he vaguely remembered, and any opportunity to keep the akumapon out of anything at all, he would typically take it. That wasn’t entirely uncommon, to be honest, but still annoying none-the-less. Kuwagattan took it as a jab at his pride, and typically would be told it came out of a distrust that still lingered around him with the others in the tribes. That much he knew, when it came to the kibaton general, was a complete lie. The only one still distrustful of him--- as far as he was concerned --- was Spiderton himself.

He was trustworthy, of course he was! Being an akumapon didn’t make him less trustworthy. ...Well, he had made multiple attacks on both tribes in the past, hadn’t he? That wasn’t a big deal, really. It wasn’t like anyone died or-- Well---

...Alright, perhaps there was a point to be made there on his reputation, but he still did not find this treatment up to his standards. He was as much of a general as Spiderton, he should get a say in any ridiculous plans.

His attempts at insisting he was coming with, that they would be weak without him, that they couldn’t stop him if he wanted to come...It all proved to be fruitless, and he wasn’t even given a single response from any of the team that had gathered. He hated being ignored.

The dekapon simply rolled his eye with a cross of his arms as the spider-general began to speak. He boasted about some stupid trap he had made to help with slowing the enemies, about how this shouldn’t take long with the time of day, why leaving some of both tribes behind was good for defense. All that annoying, pitiful attempts at rallying up moral and encouragement. And here he was, stuck on guard duty, as if he were a newly recruited unit. Incredible.

He’d probably follow them from afar later, when they couldn’t spot him and chase him back to the hideout. He had just as much right to be apart of this as anyone else, and he was stubborn about it. As the hooves stomped across the sands, disappearing into the distance overtime, Kuwagattan begun to formulate his own ideas on how to get back at Spiderton later. Breaking something was always high on his list, but then it’d result in so much chastising later from everyone else. Destroy a carefully made mapped out plan of something? That could work as well.

The very few cheers and well wishes from the soldiers left behind faded out, turning into murmurs and questioning about how today’s battle would go. He took note of how few zigotons had been left behind,   just causing him to groan in annoyance. Ah yes, what a good defense, just another way to justify leaving the akumapon behind. He was certain that stupid kibaton got a lot of joy out of treating him like any other low ranking soldier. He’d have to make sure to remind him that this hideout was very, very lucky he decided to be on their side and not the Dark Heroes side.

For now, he just had to wait this out. His least favorite thing to do. Patience was not his strong suit, which is why he much preferred to bother the other residents in the hideout for his own entertainment. But with a lack of his usual targets, he found himself with not much to do.

A telltale squeaking sound caught the general off guard for a moment, pulling him out of his frustration over the current situation as he glanced downwards a few feet away from himself. Worming across the dirt with her eye wide and focused in on him, was the young injured babatto that one of the patapons had taken in. He wasn’t exactly sure of the need to do such, she was a wild animal, she could figure things out on her own, even with the inability to fly. The bat had become quite the spoiled little thing too, typically clambering over to the first creature she could spot to be held or praised. No doubt the doing of one of the more annoying tatepons from Calle’s tribe.

Kuwagattan took a firm step back, shaking his head with disdain towards the little thing. No. He was not going to encourage this behavior. He didn’t take orders from anyone, especially not a tiny babatto.

“Get lost,” He grumbled, stepping over the ever advancing creature, opting to keep walking towards the barracks, “I’m not interested.”

Every step along the way was met with the sound of shuffling, flapping wings, and frustrated squeals or shrieks. The creature had not given up the entire time. He had to admire the absolute audacity of her determination to continue to ruin his already terrible morning. Just keep ignoring the bat. She’ll get bored eventually and find one of the other few that were left behind to bother.

“Looks like you have yourself a new friend,” a familiar, though a bit hoarse voice called out in a light laugh, “How long has she been at this?”

Kuwagattan turned in slight surprise, glancing at the zigoton standing just outside of his own makeshift home. He had expected that the other would have gone with the others to assure the battle would go smoothly.

“Ugh, no,” He hissed softly, avoiding the bat clambering at his feet now, “She hasn’t left me alone since the troops left.”

“Hm, she must be lonely then,” Gong responded, shaking the sleep out of his form, “I suppose I can take her off your hands, then. I was suggested to stay back and rest anyways, I’m not doing much.”

“Yeah, do that,” The akumapon avoided a snap from the babatto at his heels, “I’m not in the mood for this.”

After the response, the tateton took a few steps forwards, lifting the small creature into his arms. Things seemed fine at first, with the bat blinking a few times and tilting her head about as if to get a better view, and then a flurry of flapping wings assaulted him instantly, followed by nipping and squealing from the babatto before she was dropped unceremoniously in the chaos. Then, just as she had before, the animal wormed about right back to the dekapon, looking up at him with her wide, orange eye.

“Great, just what I needed,” He growled, deciding to sit down, pushing the bat away with his foot when she attempted to get closer, “To deal with this the entire day.”

“Why don’t you just pick her up for a moment?” A shuffling to his side alerted him of the other general taking a seat as well beside him, “It’s not like you dislike animals.”

“Because!” Kuwagattan snapped, “I don’t take orders from anyone! Especially not a stupid little babatto!”

He opted to give up shoving the creature off of himself, ignoring as the small, soft animal scrambled up into his lap, finally ceasing the constant noise she had been making with one more, more contented squeak. Gong furrowed his brow a bit, reaching over to pet the babatto on the head as he did such.

“It sounds like something else is bothering you, not her,” He said softly with a tilt of the head.

“It’s just- It’s stupid!” The dekapon hissed in anger, “Nothing happens for weeks, and the second something does, I’m shoved back to guard duty like I’m a brand new soldier! I can handle myself!”

“I see. You and Spiderton are going through another bout of rivalry again.”

He opted not to respond, instead refocusing on the babatto that had now nuzzled her cheek against his hand with the smallest of chirps. Rivalry. He guessed you could call it that. More like a mutual grudge built up over a conflict of interests that results in the most ridiculous of situations at times.

Ugh. And here he was, letting that stupid nerd get under his skin.

“...I think she likes you,” with a light laugh, the tatepon motioned to the half asleep animal.

He had to admit, the fuzzy little thing was at least a little cute. However, Kuwagattan was never going to say such out loud, what a hit to his tough reputation that would be. It was already out that he was much nicer to animals than others, to admit to being somewhat fond of a tiny bat? No. He’d keep that to himself.

“The feeling is not mutual,” his grumble lacked any bite with the babatto nestled up to him, “I’m not in the mood for any of this nonsense.”

“If you insist on such,” Gong stated with a soft shrug, “I don’t believe you for a moment, my friend. I’ve seen you when you truly do not wish to be bothered.”

Kuwagattan simply rolled his eye, grumbling to himself as he elbowed the zigoton at his side in warning, though it was only a false threat really. Of all the days to be prodded like this.

“Well, if you’re really that annoyed by her and I,” He watched as the tateton took a light hold of the babatto, “I can take her now that she’s asleep, and we can leave you be.”

He twitched slightly, eye darting to the creature, then to the zigoton general. It was too embarrassing to say no and then get a smug look or laugh directed at him for caring about this stupid little---

The akumapon brought a hand to his head, groaning in annoyance.

“No, she’d just come back. Leave her.”

That seemed like a good enough excuse to keep the company of both. Though, with the look he received in response from Gong, it was clear his true intentions were still somehow revealed too easily. Ugh, that stupid general could read him like a damn book sometimes and he had no idea how.

“Yes, that would be rather annoying, wouldn’t it?” The tatepon’s posture relaxed, releasing the babatto from the half raised position he had brought her to, “To have her constantly returning and riled up. Might as well leave her until the troops come back.”

“Uh...Yeah,” Kuwagattan coughed slightly, relieved at the other playing along, “Better just to leave her. Just because that’d be annoying.”

...Maybe the morning was getting better after all.

[bombshellbois]

Sticking Points

Rating: T

Summary: The summer of 1986 doesn’t look much different to Billy than the summer of 1985 did, when it started. Few more scars, few more burned bridges, but not much else has changed. He’s still working at the pool, and still giving swimming lessons to bratty kids. Today the bratty kid is Holly Wheeler.

It’s funny the things that stick in life. Billy has found himself thinking that a lot lately. His days are eerily similar to last summer, right down to the weight of the lifeguard whistle against his chest. Sure, there was the brush with actual fucking monsters (not really a brush so much as a head-on collision) but… he didn’t have any better ideas once summer came around again, really. It’s been long enough that he can drown out the memory of that voice that screamed inside his head that the sun would kill him. He still needs a job, still misses the beaches of California, and the best Hawkins can offer is this goddamn pool so… 

It’s not like he has any more bad memories of this place than he does of anywhere else. 

Sitting on the corner of the pool beside him, dangling her legs into the shallows, is Holly Wheeler. She’s got goggles on her head that look too big for her, with worn blue rubber around the lenses. The neon fish on her swimsuit with the tail the trails on and on reminds Billy vaguely of album art. He’d compliment her taste if he thought she did it on purpose. 

Talk about things that stick. Billy’s not sure if Karen has regrets one year later, or if she’s still hanging onto some kind of guilt, but she was insistent that Billy had to give Holly swimming lessons. The size of the tip she gave him and the fact that she gave it to him up front suggests guilt. 

“I already know how to swim,” Holly tells him matter-of-factly. She’s staring at him with the same huge dark eyes that her brother and sister both have. She’s blond as fuck, though. Where the hell did that come from? Karen must have used so much peroxide when she was knocked up that it soaked into the womb or something. 

“I know.”

“I was here every day last summer,” Holly persists. “Swimming.”

“I know,” Billy repeats. “I was the lifeguard last summer.”

She squints at him, like she’s trying to remember if that’s true, probably stretching the limits of her 6-year-old memory span. 

“So you already know I’m a good swimmer,” she says. Billy does know. She knows most of what he’s supposed to teach kids her age, but that’s her problem for having a mom who runs too wet for the pretty ones. 

“I’m gonna make you a better swimmer,” he says. “Your form is shit.”

“You can’t say that!” she gasps. “Steve said I’m really good!”

Billy expected her to say he can’t say ‘shit’ because kids believe in rules like that. She doesn’t, probably because she has to hear worse than that from her brother. The Steve thing… Billy isn’t expecting it, but it isn’t a surprise, either. Hawkins’ Golden Boy is gunning for mother of the year. And hey, in this town where his competition is mostly the Karens and the Susans, he just might get it.

“Steve is a nice person.” That’s not Billy’s favorite thing to admit. Makes him feel guilty too easily. “But he’s also a liar.”

And Billy would know. 

***

Steve has been to the hospital room a handful of times. Billy suspects he’s been to the parking lot way more often because Neil and Susan sure as hell aren’t bringing Max by as often as she’s here. He just sits there and makes chit-chat every time. He’s good at that, at talking and saying nothing at all. Billy can’t decide if it’s because that’s what silver spooners learn or if Steve is just actually a dumbass. 

“You know I don’t actually care, right?” Billy finally says, cutting off Steve’s intense re-telling of his debate with Keith about whether or not Teen Wolf belongs in the horror section.

“You could tell me what you do care about and then I can talk about that,” Steve offers, not missing a beat. Billy rolls his eyes and falls back into the silence he’s lived in for most of Steve’s visits. 

Steve groans. 

“Billy. Come on, talk to me. I’m not still mad about last year, you know. We can just… start over.”

There are no free passes in life. Billy knows that for a fact. Which means Steve is just saying the right thing you’re supposed to say when someone is in the hospital. He’s a fucking liar, is what he is.

***

“Steve is not a liar,” Holly huffs. “He was a swimmer. He knows when people are good.”

“Steve’s sport was basketball.” Billy grabs the pink boogie board from the side of the pool and drops it into the water. “He just happens to have a pool in his backyard.” 

“He was a swimmer when he was dating my sister.” Holly wrinkles her nose at the board and kicks it, making it float off further into the pool. “I’ve seen other swimming lessons. You want me to hold onto that and kick, but I already know how to kick.”

Billy… sort of believes that because Steve was never all that great at basketball, but he did have a jock reputation before Billy came to town. And he’s already kind of wondered sometimes why the guy always brings his pack of kids to the public pool instead of just using his back yard. But then Holly decides to be a massive pain in the ass and he decides he still doesn’t care about any mystery involving Steve Harrington. 

He has to handle the Wheeler brat instead.

“Look.” Billy drops his elbow to his knee so his hunched posture puts him on eye-level with Holly. “I know you know how to kick. But we have to go through the lessons, got it?” She’s pursing her lips like she’s about to start bitching again, so Billy just brings out the big guns. “And if I tick off all the little boxes of shit you know how to do, you get a whistle at the end of the week.”

That gets her attention. Bribing always works with kids, but he’s pretty sure Holly knows it’s a bribe. She understands checking off boxes that might be pointless in exchange for a reward. Billy would bet anything her limp-dick dad uses that technique all the time. 

“I want the whistle,” she says, pulling her goggles down over her eyes. They slide down her nose, the band way too big on her head to form anything closed to a seal. 

“Those are too big for you,” Billy says, holding out his hand. “I’ll hold ‘em. Go get the board.”

Holly pulls them off and hands them to him. “I want them back,” she warns. “Steve gave them to me for my swimming class. He won a trophy once with them and said they’ll bring me good luck.”

Billy doesn’t believe in luck, and personally thinks there would have been more use in Steve just getting Holly a pair of goggles that fit right. But people like stories and sentiments like that. And Steve likes giving people shit.

***

There’s  hairspray on the table beside Billy’s bed. Not the right kind, mainly because it’s the expensive shit, where the can is muted chrome, and the logo is in thick, flowy letters. Max sure as hell didn’t buy it. There’s not a long list of people visiting him in the hospital, but there’s only one who would think doing his hair would make him feel better. 

Someone (meaning Max) must have shared with Steve that Billy’s latest ‘milestone’ (because every single fucking thing counts as a milestone if your injuries fuck you up enough) is being allowed to shower on his own. He’s happy about that, don’t get him wrong. The nurses around here are not the stuff of wet dreams, and being sponged by a 60-something who talks about her collapsed uterus was pretty much hell. But seriously, he didn’t need that shared with Harrington. That guy is being weird enough about this already. 

Billy hates that he kind of wants to. Wants to wash his hair, which feels grimy and flat from being slept on so much. Wants to pick it with a comb while it’s damp, give it some lift, rub it dry with a t-shirt so it won’t frizz… and yeah, maybe spray it in place a little. And he really fucking hates that the town pretty boy, with his head of brunette fluff and nothing else, understands that so well. 

He dumps the can in the trash and makes sure Steve can see it in there.

***

Holly retrieves the board and kicks her way back over with it. Billy mentally checks off that box in his head. Yeah, he’ll probably make her do it some more just so she’s quiet for longer. He’s gonna milk the promise of that graduation whistle for as long as he can. But the kid can clearly already kick. 

“Don’t scuff them,” she reminds him when he must run a thumb over the rim of the goggles in the wrong way or something. Billy sighs internally. Clearly Harrington’s next generation of kids are already forming their attachments to him. Which means Billy is going to have to see him shuttling kids to and from the pool well after his current bunch gets their licenses. 

“I’m not scuffing Steve’s shitty goggles, kid,” he snaps.

“They’re my goggles now,” she says, the imperious tone grating in the same way her brother’s does. And her sister’s. Fucking Wheelers, man. “And you should be nicer to Steve.”

“Steve isn’t even here. Why does it matter?” Billy sets the goggles on the side of the pool so the kid can stop glowering at him. 

“Because he said I should be nice to you,” she says,  tossing the boogie board up onto the poolside where it turns the stones darker with a splatter of water. 

God Billy wants a fucking cigarette. “Can’t imagine why he did that. We’re not friends.”

***

“We’re not buddies, Harrington.” There’s venom in Billy’s voice, but Steve just looks tired. And kind of frustrated, like he knows he opened his mouth too wide and can’t take it back now. 

“I didn’t say we were. Or that we were going to be.”

He didn’t. But ‘I can help with your PT if you want’ isn’t exactly something to say to the guy you had a fistfight with a few months ago. It’s a nice offer and it’s coming after too many goddamn nice things, and Billy… Billy is over it. Harrington just keeps showing up and talking and trying to act like he and Billy are just gonna be nice to each other. Like that’s a thing that happens in real life. 

“I don’t want your fucking help.”

“I know.” And Steve sounds like he does know. Maybe he knows exactly how much Billy hates every second he insists on sitting in that plastic chair, hates every chipper word out of his mouth. And still keeps coming like a sadist. Or a masochist. Or both in one fucking punching bag of a package. 

“So fuck off! Stop showing up to visit me, stop leaving shit around my room life a fucking creeper! Get on with your shitty life, maybe go collect some more kids to need you!” Billy is sure some of that wounds. If Steve’s fall from grace in his senior year was a Greek tragedy, his languishing in a humiliating job while everyone else went off to college was some depressing Dickens shit. The kind where everyone knows, and everyone judges and tuts about it. But other than a little tightening in the jaw, Steve doesn’t react. 

Billy’s stomach does. Turns sour and roils and wants to take it all back as badly as Steve wanted to take back his offer to help. But the words are out and it’s full steam ahead, and he’s slapping his palm repeatedly against the button to call the nurse before Steve can do something stupid like apologize, like he’s the one who did something wrong. 

Steve doesn’t visit again. He can’t. Billy tells the nurses he doesn’t want him in there, and never asks if he tries to come back.

***

“You know, if you’re not nice to people, then no one will by nice to you,” Holly tells him, breaking Billy out of his reverie. The wisdom of a 6-year-old. “But if you’re nice, like to Steve, then maybe you can be friends.”

“Wow, is that how friends work?” Billy rolls his eyes, but it’s probably lost on Holly since he has sunglasses on. “Consider me fuckin’ schooled.”

Holly grasps at the lip of the pool a few times , trying to pull herself out. It doesn’t work, so she just waves a hand at Billy’s arm until he obliges and holds it out to her. She grabs it and pull herself out of the water, planting her butt back on the corner of the pool.

“Thank you,” she says. “Now you say ‘you’re welcome’ to me.”

“Trying to improve my manners, kid?”

“Yes. Good manners make it easier to make friends.”

Billy sighs and hands her back her goggles. His brain hurts, and his chest feels a little tight from too much thinking. Too many memories that are still fresh enough to sting. A cursory glance at the row of moms confirms that no, Karen didn’t stick around. Definitely a guilt thing.

“Tell you what. Why don’t we skip the rest of the baby lessons today and I buy your silence with a popsicle from the staff freezer?”

Holly, like all smart kids, knows when she’s got a good offer on the table. She nods immediately, fitting Steve’s goggles back on her head. “Deal.”

Billy stands up and heads for the staff office, with small, wet footsteps slapping the ground behind him. Holly might be okay. She’s a quick kid, and not quite as annoying as her siblings. Yet. She might even be right about a few things too. 

And with any luck, as long as there’s a decent stash of flavors to barter with in the freezer, she might even be useful in figuring out how Steve likes people to be nice to him. 

[fiction-in-my-blood]

Switching Sides: Part 7 (HLITF)

if anyone possibly wants to get on a tag list I’d be happy to make one 👉 @theshove 👈 If you wanna catch up, Part 6 is right here! Happy reading :) Premise: Growing up in a life of crime in a Japanese mafia, Atsuko Motomori has seen enough injustice to last her a lifetime. To try and give back to the universe her family has taken so much from, she dreams of being a detective from a young age. Her twin, sharing her disgust for her father and many uncles, just wants an ordinary life away from the crime, paing and suffering. Instead, she wants to be in the spotlight with the soft notes she makes with her cello. In their escape of 2015, on their coming of age birthday, they must split ways, never to be together ever again. If one was found, they didn’t want the other dragged down with them. Atsuko, having changed her name and appearance as best she can without a scalpel, sets off to start her life of car chases and arrests. Four years in a seemingly dead-end police station in the middle of nowhere, being passed over time after time for promotion, Atsuko finally gets a shot at her dream, having been sent to an academy for the best candidates in the country by her boss who had always kept an eye out for her. After discovering her boss may have made her bite off more than she could chew, Atsuko must become the slave of a dominating instructor!? Who so just happens to be the captain of the most famous police unit in Japan? Not to mention a total knockout! Will Atsuko finally achieve her dream? Or will her new instructor put her through the wringer? Warnings: Language, Reference to sexual activity, Forceful nature, Description of bloody scenes

~~~~~~

When I woke up next, there was a face right in front of mine. I yelled out in surprise to see Kaga peering down at me. 

"Hush with the shouting." He frowned as he straightened and I jumped up. I looked around to find I fell asleep in his living room. "Why are you out here?" He asked and I remember the nightmare I had last night. 

"I-I couldn't get to sleep in there," I muttered, shy that I didn't have a very good excuse. Instead of questioning me further, he threw a towel in my face, telling me to go shower.

As I walked into Kaga's bedroom, I noticed something glinting in the sunlight. I kneeled down and reached under his bed to pick up whatever it was. It was a picture frame, cracked before I had anything to do with it. There were men dressed in suits, one I recognised as Kaga. I started to worry that, in my frantic awakening last night, I knocked it off. Pretending like I hadn't seen anything, I place it on the sideboard, hoping he won't realise as I ran into the bathroom. 

~~~~~~

When I got to school, at a different time to Kaga as he left while I was in the shower, I was listening to Naruko gossip about my night at his apartment. As usual, she was less worried about me messing up than she is with the risque situations she can think up. 

"You two alone... seeking out each other's skin to heal your tired bodies." She goes off into her own little world as she pictured it. "Then your shadows overlap..." I quickly tried to silence her as her retelling of the night got too vulgar for me. A memory of him recently out of the bath flashed through my mind and my cheeks burn brightly. ‘Not to mention how much nicer he was...’

~~~~~~

After school, I was walking to the Instructor's Staff Room for a briefing on Takeda's mission. My leg still hurt and I had to rebandage it in the infirmary during my break because it started bleeding again. ‘I’m lucky it wasn't that deep, but it needs to heal quickly or I'll fall behind.’ I began to worry about my training as I walked along. Taking a quick sigh, I knocked on the door. 

Many people were already there, so I walked fast enough so that no one can see my limp and bowed my head to Instructor Kaga. "I'm truly sorry for inconveniencing you yesterday." He didn't even look in my direction as he looked at the papers in front of him. "I understand that I failed miserably and I'm very sorry." Thinking he wasn't listening, I tried apologising again.

"This mission is back to square one thanks to you." He spat. "I have no need for useless morons." He scowled but still couldn't look at me. 

"Yes sir. I will be more careful next time." I straightened my back, trying not to seem scared as he rightly reprimanded me. 

"You can leave already. Disappear." His final words made my heart stop, but I quickly regained my composure. 

"I have no use for useless morons. Get lost. Now." He announced again and I tried to find the words to respond. He seemed angry. Usually, he would just be annoyed and get me to do more meaningless filing. But, right now, there's hatred in his words. 

"Didn't you hear me? I'm done with you. Get out." He didn't even raise his voice to brush me off, but he may as well have. Everyone around us acted like nothing was happening, just like at the station. I clenched my fists to calm myself down. What had changed since last night? 

"Yes sir," I muttered, turning to leave when the door opened. There, Ishigami came to stand in front of Kaga.

"What's wrong? Did something happen?" Ishigami directed his question to Kaga, but I was the one who tensed up. 

"It's no big deal. Just getting rid of this moron." 

At my instructor's words, Goto stared at me. I try to seem unaffected by them, but I felt so tired from the little sleep I got last night, I couldn't meet his gaze. The triggering words don't help, my fists clenching harder, but I couldn't feel the pain I'm sure I'm inflicting on myself. I couldn't feel anything. No pain. No warmth or sensation. It wasn't only the mental scars I left that house with. 

"Kaga, explain." Ishigami looked at Kaga with a stern expression. 

"As you know, the investigation was a failure thanks to her mistake yesterday. There's no value in using her, so I'm disposing of her. That's all." The triggering words he was saying set alarm bells to go off in my mind. I was left frozen in this room of professional detectives. 

"Same as ever, aren't you? You can't simply-." Soma tried to butt in with a smile, maybe even to help me out, but he was cut off. 

"This is my decision," Kaga argued. Even though it was my first job, there seemed to be no excuses in the Captain's eyes. Why was I surprised?

For a moment, I felt numb. My heart was hammering hard in my chest, my temper through the roof, and stress pumping through my veins, mixed with the maddening adrenaline. Squeezing my eyes shut in an effort to calm myself down, I took a deep breath, not really caring how strange or pathetic I might have looked trying to console myself. When I opened my eyes again, luckily, no one was looking at me.

"Excuse me," I muttered before he could insult me further and left the room without a reply. 

~~~~~~

I escaped to the rooftop, seething with anger and trying to breathe through it. ‘Why am I so stupid?’ I scream at myself, kicking a trash can with my injured leg. 

‘Okay, that hurt more than I thought.’ I held my foot, hopping over to a bench by the railing. 

"What is wrong with me?" I asked myself, letting my head fall into my hands. ‘I'll never be able to help Juna at this rate.’ I let out a heavy sigh, falling back in the seat to look up at the orange-hued sky. 

Soon, the door to the roof opened again and I heard someone call my name. It was a girl's voice and, getting ahead of myself, I thought it was my sister coming to comfort me. Unfortunately, it was just Naruko and some of our male friends. Naruko saw me physically deflate as she approached. She sat down next to me, placing a hand on mine. 

"Did you really get cut from doing undercover work?" She gasped and I almost laugh. 

"Yeah, but that's not what's bothering me." I forced a sad smile as our male friends stood around us.

Naruko smiled to encourage me to continue. "I think my sister's in trouble." I sighed, bringing my knees up to my chin. She seemed shocked and told me she thought Juna was dead. The guys were more shocked, they had no idea about any of my relatives. 

"What would give you that idea?" I raised my voice in shock. She explained how sad I seemed when she brought up the pictures and anything about my family. 

"Well, I can assure you she's still alive." I laughed, maybe trying to make myself aware of that fact. I sighed just thinking about it and fell back on the back of the bench. 

"We didn't grow up in a great family. My dad was a pretty bad influence and my mom left us when we were kids. It was hard to leave home, but when we did, we kinda lost contact." I tried to be as vague as possible, but I wanted to get some of this stuff off my chest. I had been bottling it up for years. "I guess I've just had her on my mind lately." I looked at my printless fingertips and wiped my thumb over them again as if reminding myself of the damage my father could do.

"Well, Instructor Kaga has been pushing you really hard." Naruko smiled and I nodded. She probably thought the stress of school was rehashing old memories. "You made it here! So don't get down on yourself when an instructor forces you to do more than you could do." She tried to cheer me up. Even though she made sense, it was nice to think Kaga trusted me enough to do more than I thought I could do. Besides, if I wanted to stay here, I needed to be able to do this stuff.

"Besides, it's probably best he cuts you loose now." Our friend spoke up and I threw him an inquisitive expression. 

"How's that?"

"There's a rumour about him. That he killed his part-." Before another classmate could continue, I brushed it off. 

"I don't believe it." My adamant statement seemed to shock my group of friends. "I accept he's mean and scary, but leave a man to die..?" My brows furrowed as I contemplated everything the instructor had done for me. 

"Isn't there a saying for that? There's no smoke without fire?" The men started to shrug off the rumour as something they would never really know as true or not and they all left me on the roof to cool off. 

~~~~~~

Left with my own thoughts, I started to realise what being fired as Kaga's aide meant. I would have no access to the case. No way to make sure my father was involved. No way to tell Juna if she would be safe or not. And I sure as hell couldn’t keep tabs on who the team was dealing with. 

I groan out upon the realisation that I had messed things up so much more than I originally thought I had. 

"You depressed over Hyogo tossing you out?" A voice I wasn't expecting to hear called from the direction of the fire escape and my gaze darted over. 

"Shinonome?" My face screwed up in confusion as he walked over. 

"Or are you depressed over being yelled at?" Ayumu finished his question as he came to a halt in front of me. 

"I've been yelled at far worse than that before." I laughed self-deprecatingly, thinking back to when my father was ever in a 'good' mood; whenever he didn't feel like he needed to punch the closest thing to him

"Wow, you're tough." The young detective smiled and I stared up at him. 

"Besides, it's not like he's yelling for no reason..." I sighed, pouting at my own shortcomings. 

"Then why are you making that face?" He looked down at me suspiciously and I felt like glaring back. Whenever he asked me questions I felt like I was being interrogated. I didn't trust him or his stupid smile, and I especially didn't trust his words of consolation- if that's what these words were meant to be.

"What're you doing here anyway? Coming to accuse me of being a missing person again?" I frowned, dropping my chin into my knees. I just wanted to mope around now, not have him question me. Ayumu just sat beside me. Maybe he was here to hear me out. Maybe he was here to tell me I was out. But I couldn't tell when the only expression he had was somewhat positive. 

"I came here to save people, and all I've done is mess up over and over again." I sigh, staring at the floor in front of me. "It's like I don't know anything, no matter how long I've been here. Every time I try to fix something, I end up doing something worse." Thinking back to when I tried to stop Takeda from being suspicious of us by pulling Kaga close, I also remember how I eventually broke the investigation. 

"Well, if you're comparing your detective skills to Hyogo's, you would be close to nothing." Ayumu laughed and I secretly glared at him. 

‘How was that meant to make me feel better?’ 

"It's because that guy has put everything he has into becoming a detective." The statement made me think back to everything I had been holding back. All my past experiences with the law and seeing it fail miserably, just like I felt like I was doing, had been locked away so no one can figure out who I was or where I came from. I didn't want anyone to get close or to draw any unneeded attention to myself, it had only ever gotten me in trouble. But, when you're in a competition to get to the top, or pass the bare minimum bar, you really need to show everything you've got. 

"By the way, they may seem like complete opposites, but Ishigami is the same way." Ayumu leant over to pull me out of my thoughts. 

"Don't tell them that." I laugh at the idea of both of them having a similar trait. 

"We're here because those two recognised something in us." The instructor closest to my age added and it filled me with a little hope. Until I remembered my application here was totally falsified. 

"But..." Ayumu got my attention again before I could spiral. "I've seen very few people last this long with Hyogo. Let alone a woman or a student." I started to think that maybe my childhood experiences could have attributed to my ability to withstand the man's abuse with a smile most of the time. 

"I can follow him like a puppy all I want. That doesn't mean I'm at all helpful," I complained, thinking back to my late night filing sessions and carrying Kaga's papers from classroom to classroom. 

"Really? I'm sure Hyogo would've cut you off much sooner if that's all you do. Just think about the guy in the alleyway." Ayumu seemed a little surprised with my depressed attitude. 

"What?" I recalled defending Kaga from that blade-wielding maniac as we tailed Takeda. It was an instinct, mainly meant for when I was protecting Juna from any of the men in our house. 

‘Kaga wouldn't have been in that situation in the first place if not for me though...’

"Since he hadn't then... surely some part of him approves of you?" The word echoed in my brain and my heart fluttered at the idea. "Well, it could just be his fickle temper too..." Ayumu immediately shut me down. "The only time I thought you were helpful was when you made me tea." The innocent smile he portrayed was completely different compared to his demeaning words. 

"And I was just starting to think we could get along." I sighed, standing up once I realised my private time wasn't mine anymore. Although, I did feel a grin growing on my face as I thought about the possibility of Kaga approving of me. If only a little. 

"I'm going to put everything I have into this exam." A grin finally appeared on my face. 

"Where did this come from?" Ayumu, on the other hand, was evidently confused. I had only ever done one exam in my life, and that was the officer's exam in the police academy. I did pretty well in it, so I was confident I could prove to Kaga I wasn't completely useless. 

"That's all I can do, for now, to prove I'm worthy." I looked triumphantly into the distance. 

"Do your best. But Hyogo will be giving the exam." The information slightly deflated my resolve. 

"That means I'll just have to try harder than my all." I nodded to him before turning and leaving the rooftop.

~~~~~~

It was the weekend after my abysmal show of a mission and I was on my way out of the school to meet Juna at the cafe I suggested to update her on my situation. It was hot. Unbearably so. So I'm wearing shorts, which I hadn't worn since enrolling in the basic training academy. And, to hide my face from anyone looking for someone with my features, I had a baseball cap and sunglasses.

"Atsuko, where are you going?" I heard Naruko call out to me in the cafeteria. Usually, on our days off, I'm doing work for Kaga. Maybe there was one blessing to come with being let go. 

"I'm just leaving campus for a bit. Need to clear my head." I kneeled down to grab the coffee can I bought from the vending machine. Naruko was in her casuals as well as everyone else in the room at this point in the morning. 

"Oh? I thought you were going on a date." She cheered and I just laughed her off, used to her vivid imagination by now. 

"I'll see you before curfew!" I waved behind me as I ran out of the cafeteria.

~~~~~~ 

Just as I was about to pass the school gates, I heard my name again. I turned to see Instructor Soma wearing his usual suit. 

"Are you teaching today, Instructor?" I asked as he walked up to me. I was in a rush, but I disn't want to seem rude or suspicious in front of the only friendly special instructor. 

"Something like that. Are you on your way out?" He asked with his kind smile. 

"Is that a bad thing?" I laughed awkwardly, not wanting to seem like I was slacking off after Kaga dropped me. 

"Not at all, we all need some r'n'r" Soma grinned at my reaction to his question. 

"Then you should too, sir! I'll see you around." Finding that I'd have to leave now to catch my train in time, I ran out the school gates.

~~~~~~

At the cafe I used to work at, I took a seat at one of the tables outside. It hadn't changed much, except for some of the staff that ran around taking orders. The last I heard, my father didn't control this area of the city. Control in the sense of demanding protection money or laundering money through its businesses.

After I asked for a coffee and what I remembered my sister's favourite drink to be, I saw a woman walking up the street with long, flowing green hair. She sat at the table behind me.

"Were you followed?" I asked low enough so only she could hear, hiding the movements of my lips with the edge of my phone I knocked against them casually. 

"No, I went on three different lines to lose them. And left my phone in his house." She replied in a whisper as well, looking down at the paper menu left out on the tables, lifting her shades only slightly with one hand. "What about you?" Her question surprised me, seeing as she was the one being held hostage. 

"Who's going to follow me?" My face screwed up in confusion before I realised I had to be covert, sitting up and looking around just in case her own concerns were valid. I shuffled in the metal seat, my own sunglasses sticking to the place on the bridge of my nose with the glisten of sweat that collected there due to the weather and my nerves. Luckily, I didn't see any familiar faces or vehicles. 

"You literally go to a school for cops." She laughed in response and I heard the screech of her chair being pushed back as she stood up again. I jumped up as well, turning to my sister dressed in large sunglasses to hide her face from recognition. 

"I'm so glad you're safe." I breathed a sigh of relief as we enveloped each other in a tight hug. I sniffed to hold back my tears, of relief or fear I didn't know, and the fresh scent of the shampoo my father had us use filled my nose. The sense of fear that I drew from that made me hold her just a bit tighter, my arms wrapped around her neck.

"I had to get to you, didn't I?" She pulled back with a bright smile, noticing my tenseness, and we sat back down on my table. I took off my sunglasses but left on the cap and she left her glasses on. 

"Not like you to wear shorts, though." Juna looked down at my bare legs once we got our drinks. When we lived with my father, I hated showing any skin in front of our creepy uncles, or anyone for that matter. My sister grew a little concerned at the bandage around my shin.

"I came to the realisation that heatstroke is more important than keeping my modesty." I laughed nervously in response and she giggled, pushing her questions to the side for now because I seemed positive. As we made easy conversation, I felt my nerves bubble up again.

"Juna... I... I got kicked off the case." I told her, anxiety written all over my face. Her hand freezes from stirring her iced tea and my palms became clammy around my freezing coffee. "I messed up when we were following Takeda and we got attacked. He got away and my instructor got really mad." I explained slowly, trying to speak in a low voice so no one would overhear who or what we're talking about. 

"Actually, I have something to say as well." She responded in a low, frail tone and I gulped to push away my guilt. I put her in danger by asking her here, just to tell her that I was losing my chances to save her. 

"There's a meeting happening at a hotel in a week. Dad's going to be there, along with a lot of the uncles... Katsumi, I'm scared they're going to do something really bad." Her glasses were off now and I could see the true fear in her eyes. 

"And... I overheard someone talking about a detective that broke into one of the offices. They mentioned a woman that they found familiar..." She didn't have to explain why they found me familiar. I already knew who she was talking about. I sighed, frustrated I had been so reckless. "They know you're in the city, but I don't think they know your name or where you live..." She explained and my heart stopped. I was lucky Kaga doesn't refer to me by name and I didn't have my badge on show. 

"I think we need to leave while we can. The next meeting is going to be big. If you can manage to be there, I'll be waiting for you. But I'm leaving the first chance I get." Her words echoed in my skull. 

‘I'll have to leave my life behind? The one I worked so hard to get? I'll have to leave my job, Naruko..? I'll have to leave Kaga...’ The words vibrated in my skull like a resounding alarm as I thught about what being discovered meant. 

"I have money and a ride. Somewhere to stay. It won't be difficult once I get away. Katsumi, I want you to come with me. My life has been so empty without you. So much more than I expected..." Juna reached forward to grab my hand. I was biting the tip of my thumb, trying to plan with the information she gave me. 

"We'll be safer together..." Juna added on, leading off when she realised I was stunned to silence, clutching my hand to bring me back to earth but knowing I couldn't feel her support that way. Her fingers worked up my wrist and I finched when she touched the skin on the inside of my wrist, a place I could feel, and my gaze fell on her. She looked just as scared, just as earnest as she was the day I talked her into running away. I never thought I'd be the one that would hesitate. 

"What about our plan, Juna? I'm so close. If I can just get the pictures to one of my instructors, he'll be locked up. Maybe even executed. They're already doing an investigation." I explained. I really wanted to stay. I was enjoying the life I had made for myself. Even with how hard it was right now. Even if the people I had grown close to c ould never know the real me, the reason I became a cop, I felt like they knew the me I had become. Hopefully they trusted me enough to not ask why I had those pictures.

"What happens when they ask you where you got them? When they find out who you really are? Who we are? The moment dad realises where you are... He'll kill both of us." She argued back, trying to bring me to my senses. 

"You're not safe there, Katsu. Just look what happened to you when you got involved with his case." Juna gestured to my bandaged leg and I cursed how right she was. If they were already suspicious, it wouldn't take them long to realise what I was working on. The threat of being discovered would push them to be more reckless. More unpredictable. Who knew what they'd be willing to do. 

"I've been out for too long. Look at this. It might help you decide." Picking up the black backpack she had carried here with her, Juna sighed. 

"What is it?" I asked, pulling on the zip. I peered in to see a few files of paper, a piece of cloth and a flash drive. 

"I found your old camera hidden in our room," Juna explained as I pulled the paper out to find photos of gruesome acts and forced them back in desperately but carefully enough not to crease them. 

"Juna..." I led off, knowing how dangerous it could be to get these images. 

"I saved some accounting documents to the flash drive. It proves they're embezzling from uncle's company and they’re paying off cops and hitmen. I think I saw Takeda's name in there as well." She continued and I looked at her in shock. 

"You're a better detective than I am." I laughed defeatedly, ashamed she had to do this when it was my job to protect her. I should never have left her or made us try and forget each other.

"It's kind of exciting. I can see why you do this." She returned a tired smile. She was probably kept awake at night, worrying that someone would discover what she was doing. I know I was.

"What's this?" I pulled out a silken rag decorated with red splatters. 

"It was under dad's bed. I'm not entirely sure, but it might be from mom..." She led off, knowing what this meant. 

‘So he really did kill her.’ I clenched the bloodied scarf in my hand, having a vague memory of our mother possibly wearing it. 

"I have to get going. Will I see you at the hotel?" She stood up without the bag. I looked up and smiled sadly, giving her a heavy nod. 

As she turned to leave, I noticed a black SUV approaching the shop with the back window pulled down. Seconds later, a hand pulls a gun through the window. 

"Gun!" I screamed, running to Juna and pushing her to the floor with the full force of my launched body. As bullets sprayed into the glass storefront, I held my body over my sister's to protect her. 

When the blaring bangs halted, I hesitantly raised my head to look around. Car alarms were going off and I could hear a woman crying loudly as I searched for the car. 

"It's gone," I muttered, standing up to get a better view of the street. 

As I looked at the destruction in front of me, my sister hobbled to her feet. "A-Are you okay?" She looked at me with trembling legs, arms reaching out to hold mine, maybe in an effort to stable herself or make sure I'm actually alive. I saw some customers rising from the hiding spots and heard a man calling for help.

"You need to go. Before the police get here." I rushed to my sister's side, guiding her in the direction she was already going. 

"But Katsu-." 

"They'll question you if they see you here. Go home, tell dad it was a rival or something. Just go." I spoke in a low voice as I pushed her along. "I have things here," Were my last words to my sister as she started running down the street.

When I turned back around, I saw some bodies laying on the floor and glass was sprayed everywhere. 

"Ma'am, can you call emergency service?" I kneeled in front of a woman who was likely in shock but seemed otherwise unaffected. She gave me a rushed nod as I got up to look at the injured.

There was a man lying in the doorway with the cafe's uniform on. A woman in a similar uniform was holding him up, tears spilling out of her eyes as blood poured out of his abdomen. I hurriedly grabbed a fabric tablecloth from where I had been sitting and rushed over to them, not caring for the glass mugs that shattered on the ground. 

"Sir, are you awake?" I asked, remembering to apply pressure to the gunshot wound from my training in the police academy and what I could gather as a child. 

"H-He passed out. Or he's dead. I... I can't tell." The woman stuttered out as his head laid in her lap, voice hoarsening as she spoke. 

"Miss, can you press on here. I need to see if anyone else is injured." I didn't try to make my voice softer as I grabbed her arm, pulling her to my side. I had felt him breathing through his mouth. There's nothing more I could do for him personally. I had no first aid kits and no professional medical training apart from this.

"Bu-But what if he dies?" The shock she was in prevented her from wanting to touch him except for cradling his skull in her lap. 

"He won't if you apply pressure. An ambulance will be here soon, but he won't live if you don't do this." I forced the tablecloth into her hand and then on the man's side where he was hit.

Once I ensured she was aware enough to continue, I moved onto the next person. There was an older man, resting, or having fallen that way, with his back against the half-wall of the cafe. He was clutching his shoulder, red seeping through the partings of his fingers.

"Hey, how're you feeling?" I slid to his side, asking to see his wound so I could assess the damage. 

"A... A little woozy." He stammered out, trying to act strong but I could tell he was scared. 

"That'll be the shock. The bullet went straight through, so it should be an easy fix when you get to the hospital." I explained as I took the tie from around his neck, obviously asking first. 

"Well, I've lived this long. I guess I've gotta keep going." The man was in the makings of a suit, but I assumed he had left his blazer at his office. Tying the tie over his wound, I took a few of the paper napkins from the host's counter just outside the front door and stuffed them under the tie. I knew he'd be too weak to put appropriate pressure himself. 

"Too right. Stick tight, help will be here soon." I put a comforting hand on his other shoulder and gave him a calm smile before heading inside.

Climbing through the now empty window frame, as I wasn't sure if I should move the man from the doorway and sure as hell didn't want to try and step over him, probably scratching up my legs on the shards that settled there, I looked around for anyone crying. Calling out, I heard a little kid yelling from the back of the small room. My eyes widened at the familiar cry of an innocent child and charged to where I heard them. In the corner, behind the service counter, a little boy was sitting next to a woman with blood already puddling at her sides.

"H-Hey, kiddo, how are you doing?" Knowing how traumatic it could be to witness something so horrific, I kneeled by the opposite side of the woman the boy is sitting. The spots of red on her blouse, holes ripped through it, was obvious she had been hit twice, maybe three times, I couldn't count right now. Not when it was possible this kid may watch a human being die right before his eyes.

"M-Mom got hurt." I could see he was trying to hold back tears as he held his mom's hand. I looked down at her body and saw a splatter of red pumping out of her thigh far more intensely than the others on her torso. The mother's expression was pained and she looked a little out of it, probably delirious with agony and blood loss. 

"Toto. Are you alright?" She mumbled over and over as I found something to plug the hole in her leg.

"Is that your name? Toto?" I tried to distract the kid from his mother's slurred words, trying my best to plug the two other holes in her body. Hopefully, god please, I could help her enough until paramedics arrived. The kid nodded curtly, scared if he talked he would cry. 

"I'm Atsuko. Can you be brave for me?" I asked, pressing on the wound that likely came from a major artery. He looked up at me. "I asked a woman outside to call the hospital, but she seemed a little shaken up. Can you call them for me?" I tried not to let my gaze leave his, wanting to draw his attention away from the wettening body below us. Taking the phone from my back pocket, I hand over what must look like a relic to him.

The boy called the emergency services and put it on speaker so I could talk. "This is Officer Atsuko Motomori. There's been a shooting at Cafe Zero down Empire Street. Please send paramedics for at least three victims." As I announced my badge number so they knew I wasn’t lying, I spoke fast and clear, noticing the mother's consciousness fade. 

‘You can't do this. Not to him. You can't die in front of him.’ I moved from her leg to her torso, feeling for a pulse on her neck. ‘It's weak, but there.’ I started pushing on her chest to keep her heart beating and blood pumping to her brain. Luckily, there was a waiter watching over us that had a belt so I could secure a makeshift tunicate to her thigh so she doesn't bleed out as fast.

"Ambulances and police are on their way." The operator responded bluntly. 

"Can you take him somewhere else?" I peered up at the waiter standing in the opening of the counter. 

"No! I don't wanna leave my mom!" Toto cried out but I shot him a concerned and slightly annoyed look, probably scarely similar to Kaga's. 

"Your mom doesn't want you to see her like this, okay, Toto? I'm going to make her better so that you guys can go to the hospital together, but it's going to be scary." As I'm telling him, sweat is growing on my brow far thicker than the ottest day on earth could make as I pressed all my body weight on the woman's chest to a rhythmic beat. 

"I-I'm brave enough." The boy stuttered and it was clear he was terrified. 

"You're not a wimp to go, Toto. You're not cowardly to hide, you're brave to leave your mom's life in someone else's hands. Trust me, you don't want to see this." I lowered my voice so only he could hear, hoping to seem more personal. He looked from me to his mom's sleeping face and I could see the tear dams break behind his eyes. He got up and took the hand of the waiter, walking to a table on the other side of the counter.

"You can't die on him, you hear me? Do you know what that will do to him?" I panted as I whispered, enraged my father would open fire on a building of civilians. It was likely that the people following Juna hadn't lost her and decided to do this as a warning. Hopefully, for both of our sakes, my sister could convince him that this was some sort of action performed by a rivalling gang trying to intimidate him or a gang members betrayal.

When I next checked the mother's pulse, it was slightly better than before. 

"The paramedics are here!" A voice called out and I looked up in relief. Toto came running around the corner, probably having escaped the waiter, and looked down at his mom, covered in blood but slowly awakening. He cried out her title and ran to her side and I couldn't help but smile. I stood up, calling the paramedics as they made their way through the door, having extracted the male waiter.

"She lost consciousness for a bit, but I performed compressions and she's coming around again," I explained as they came running around the counter. I grabbed Toto and pulled him off her so the trained professionals could get a look at her before sending her to an ambulance. 

"I-Is she going to be okay?" He asked as I picked him up, carrying him around the counter so that we wouldn't intrude. I didn't want to give him false hope if I was too late to save her, but I didn't want to break his heart unnecessarily.

"She should do good. It was all because of your bravery that she woke up again." I laughed, tapping underneath his chin to get him to raise his head. I only noticed now that my hands were covered in blood. I looked down and so were my legs, having kneeled in the mom's blood that had come out before I got to her. 

"Thank you!" He cried out, wrapping his arms around my neck as he sat on the counter.

Then, the paramedics announce that they were ready to go. I told Toto to go with them and he ran after her gurney.

Finally having a moment to myself, I dropped to the floor in exhaustion. I had been running on so much adrenaline that my head now felt light as I sunk to my knees. Soon, the waiter who had helped me with Toto ran to my side, helping me up so I could sit in a glass-free chair.

After he got me a glass of water and the other paramedics on the scene looked over me for any serious injuries, I heard police sirens driving closer. Several uniforms came out of the cars that pulled up outside and started questioning us all about the incident. I explained how I had seen the car approaching and, after I heard the gunshots ending, went to help the people who were injured. I left out the part where my sister had been here, not wanting to get her involved, and hoped no one else noticed her through the mania.

"Well done, Officer Motomori. You were good to act so quickly. Although, you do look a little pale. Do you want a ride to the hospital?" The officer questioning me slapped his booklet shut and I jumped a little at the sudden noise. 

"I-I should be fine." I stuttered, even though I noticed my hands shaking. I had already refused an ambulance ride, I definitely didn't want to go in a squad car.

"...Okay. We'll give you a ride back to your home. You can't go wandering the streets like that." The older man chuckled and I looked down at my reddened body. The bandage I had around my leg had unravelled and my own wound had started bleeding again, probably because of any glass that I most likely kneeled in. I had a lot of little cuts as well.

"Can I make a call first?" I look back up with a tired expression and he nodded, handing me his phone. I had washed my hands by now, so I wasn't too worried about getting blood all over his possession.

Shakily, I typed in the number for the Instructor's Staff Room. "Captain Ishigami." The stone-cold voice spoke up over the phone and I was somewhat disheartened, somehow expecting to hear my mentor's. It wasn’t like he would answer a phone anyway. I shook my head. 

"U-Um, sir, it's Motomori. I'm sorry f-for disturbing you. But... There was this... This..." Not knowing how to explain the situation, I took in the scene around me. There was glass swept all over the floor and tables and chairs are overturned. I could see bullet holes in some of the furniture and the actual bullets were either in the wall or on the floor next to it. A cold shiver ran through me to finally understand how close to death I really was and the sweat on my body only made the breeze blowing through the hollowed window frames icy.

"Motomori, what is it?" Ishigami sounded annoyed that I was lost for words. Then, the officer who had been watching me took the phone back. He introduced himself before explaining the situation, but I wasn’t  really listening. 

‘I was actually able to save someone.’ Joy filled my heart. My father had done something despicable to so many innocent people, and I was actually able to help. I didn't just have to sit there and take pictures for when I could use them in an investigation, I was able to stop a murder from taking place in the first place. However, that delight was short lived.

"Alright, Officer Motomori, you're captain will be by soon to pick you up." Hanging up from the conversation with my instructor, the officer looked at me with a smile. 

"Did that really just happen?" I looked up at him with shame and fear wrapped in my expression. Even though I was able to help, it was still my fault they all got hurt in the first place. If I hadn't come here or told Juna to meet me, there would never have been a shooting. Toto would never have had to see his mom almost die. 

"Are you sure you're going to be okay?" The officer put a hand on my arm as my gaze wandered again. At the end of the counter, I could see the puddle of blood left by Toto's mom slowly crawling out, almost taunting me with the knowledge of my naivety. 

‘How could I think we could meet safely?’  

I nodded with a small, encouraging smile.

~~~~~~

By the time Ishigami arrived, I was still sitting with the cop, just trying to compute what happened. He looked at the destroyed cafe, and then at my bloodied body. Soma was with him, but no Kaga. I found myself looking around them in hopes he would be here. 

"Captain Ishigami. You have a very capable, young cadet here!" The officer sitting with me jumped up, trying to lighten my spirits by praising me. "She was able to act quickly and three people are on their way to the hospital instead of our morgue." However morbid, the statement was true. It was lucky I had the training I needed to save them.

"Atsuko." Soma kneeled down in front of me to catch my gaze as it drifted to my legs. The blood had dried by now, staining my legs and my clothes. I looked at Instructor Soma as he smiled kindly. 

"Instructor. I...I'm sorry." I apologised, but I'm sure they didn't know why. He laughed at this and I realised what I said. I bit my lip to stop myself from talking further. It was an instinct from a child. The last time I had seen this much blood in one room.

"I'm not Kaga. I'm not going to yell at you. Come on, you need to rest. Remember that r'n'r we talked about?" He s stood up and I followed his rising stature with my eyes. 

"O-Okay." Embarrassed by the apology I made, I got up. As I was walking out the door, I remembered the bag Juna had left for me and rushed to pick it up, making sure the zip was closed so that no one could see the contents.

"Is it really okay? Won't your car get messy?" I asked as Ishigami tells me to sit in the back seat. My legs were covered in blood, thankfully not all mine. I only had little cuts and scrapes. And when I say covered, it looked like I was wearing red shin pads. My clothes were likely ruined and I felt like I might smell a little, having exerted so much energy trying to keep Toto's mom alive. 

"It's fine, just get in." He got in the driver's side and I was forced to jump in before I got left behind.

~~~~~~

When we got back to the academy, everyone that was sitting out in the rays of the setting sun were staring at me. I probably looked crazed. Maybe they thought I had flipped out after Kaga dropped me from the case, because it looked like I had killed someone. Suddenly, Naruko ran up to me as I walked behind the instructors. 

"Atsuko! Oh my god, what happened to you?" She held my arms as she shrieked. 

"There was a shooting at the cafe I went to. Don't worry, I'm not hurt." I laughed, trying to help her not worry. To be honest, I probably wasn’t as affected by that scene as I should have been. I had watched people die before, many times before, so I was somewhat used to it. 

"You're covered in blood!" She yelped again and I could tell Ishigami was getting annoyed. I reassured her that it wasn’t mine and she just sighed. "How are you so calm?" She sounds exasperated as she held my arm, encouraging me to keep walking to the dorms. 

"My dad was a butcher, so I'm used to blood." It took me a moment to respond with a nervous shrug, hoping to make up a viable lie. Hopefully the instructors wouldn't feel the need to double check that information on my made up file.

"I swear you're not even human." She laughed, thinking back to all the training I was able to do without complaint.

~~~~~~

Once she escorted me back to my dorm, I threw my bag far underneath my bed and took a shower, scrubbing at my skin to get all the blood off. I hadn't realised, but I had smudges all over my face from where I was wiping the sweat off my brow. 

‘This... This can’t happen again. I can’t let it happen again’. I clutched the water basin to hold my weak body up during my contemplation. I felt so guilty and helpless in that moment. If I couldn’t go back in time and stop that shooting from happening, stop Toto’s mom and all those people from getting hurt, I would have to make sure it never happened ever again.

~~~~~~

When I was done cleaning myself up, I went down to the cafeteria to get a well-deserved meal.

"Hey, Motomori! Heard about that cafe. Well done out there!" A male classmate called out from his table as I passed. 

"Oh, thanks, but I was just doing what I could at the time." I showed an anxious smile, not wanting to give it more attention than it already had.

"Motomori, did you really bring someone back from the dead?" Another called out from a different table and my gaze whipped around. 

"W-Well, it was a close call, but she didn't die. And how did you hear about that?" I replied, stumbling over my words as everyone started to surround me, asking questions of what it was like to be in such a disastrous scenario. 

After a bit, having escaped the line without buying any food, I got overwhelmed and stormed out the hall.

~~~~~~

On the roof, I made sure whether or not anyone was there before I started to pace. If Kaga wast here, I would ave hated for him to see me so freaked out, he would think I was more moronic than he already did. Unfortunately, I saw him in his usual corner, breathing out smoke. Just as I was about to turn, his gaze caught mine. He looked down at my body, scanning for any signs of fear or delayed shock. When he saw that I'm neither shaking nor swaying, holding my breath just in case my racing heart betrayed me, he turned back to the view of the city before him. I released the breath I was holding and ran back to the door, wanting to be here as much as I wanted to be badgered by my overexcited classmates.

~~~~~~

Once I returned to the dorms, it was a little after dark. "Oh, Atsuko, there you are!" Naruko cheered when she saw me pass by a common room she was lounging in. 

"Sorry I had to leave! I just needed to get some air." I smiled, although nervous that she would ask me where I had been. 

"It's not a problem. Those guys were too pushy." She shook her head and frowned at some of the men that had surrounded me earlier. 

"So, what did you do today?" I asked, wanting to get my mind off those memories. She looked a little surprised at first, but soon understood why I asked. 

"I got to do some serious studying for next week's exam!" She smiled brightly as we started walking to our rooms. 

"Oh yeah..." I quickly remembered a big part of my plan for next week might be greatly impeded if I were to attend.

"It's at this hotel. Apparently it's a big meeting of some major crime syndicates!" Naruko was so excited, she didn't even notice me stop. 

‘Could that be the meeting Juna was talking about?’ I started to think about how, if the mission went well, I wouldn't have to run away again. I could continue my life here, like my past wasn't a thing. As Naruko pulled me back to earth, I showed her a smile full of hope.

[generalfoolish]

Mavar

Rating: 18+ (minors take a hike)

Warnings: helmet less!Din

Word count: ~1.8K

Pairing: (eventually!!!) Din Djarin x F!reader

Summary: Two Mandalorians go to the grocery store (restock)

A/N: Hey babes! This is number eight of the #mandomay2021 prompt list. Sorry it's a little late! I definitely hit a bump. It's pretty much all fluff. I will continue be taking Din's helmet off as often as I can, I'm a sucker for that face! Feel free to send me hate for the last few lines! Enjoy 💕

Masterlist | Partaylir | Ori'vod

Let me know if you want to be tagged!

Hyperspace was always cold. An experienced pilot, like yourself, knew that. You were expecting the cold, but what Mando gave you was a freeze. No, not Mando, Djarin or Din? You tucked it away, he hadn’t given you his name yet, and Skywalker had interesting ideas of what a “good” nickname made.

You had hid yourself away in the hull, and that afforded you some reprieve from the tundra in the cockpit. Mando’s helmet was fitted snugly back on his head, and you had just skulked downstairs to wait. The jump to Naboo would be short, and Mando could pilot his ship without your company.

You had scoffed when he had suggested Naboo for the refuel. A Mid Rim planet? For a fuel-up, no less. You had just about bit through your tongue, when he punched the coordinates in. Whatever, you had told yourself, a temperate climate would be nice after the stifling, muggy swamps of Dagobah. You had to remind yourself, though, that it was just another step to what you wanted.

Except, what you wanted might be changing. Or had already changed. You picked at the peeling black paint, and eyed the untarnished silver below. The children on Jelucan, and Mando’s child on Dagobah, had you considering a different path. One you find yourself craving for in the dim, red-washed lights of the hull. A youngling of your own? Or maybe not even that complicated, just a...family. Someone to keep fighting for. You had a creed and a plan, but between you and the storage crates you were perched on, you didn’t think you cared to uphold that creed any longer.

Who was it for? Your kin were all dead. You thought of Mando, the man of ice upstairs, and assumed his kin were likely dead too. It was a common side-effect of living on the Outer Rim. It was an even bigger side-effect of being a mandalorian. You wondered, not unkindly, if he was lonely. If he simply had forgotten how to be.

Then your rising stomach acid, the familiar burn hot on your throat, reminded you that he was plenty friendly to Cara and Luke. Loving to Grogu. You assumed he would be kind to Karga, too. Anyone in the galaxy, except for you it seemed.

You groaned, knowing that wasn’t entirely true. Or, if it was, it was because you had thought he was going to murder you. For the record, you thought, it’s unlikely.

He cleared his throat twice before you noticed, teetering dangerously close to falling from your crate from the startle. He titled his helmet, and you decided it was an apology.

“We’re dropping from hyperspace, and docking, so, if you want to strap in somewhere…” He trailed off, but was vaguely gesturing to your impeccable balance. You snorted in response, but followed him back up the stairs.

He seemed to have thawed in your time apart.

~~

“It is beautiful here, isn’t it?” You mused, your modulated tone not carrying the wonder you felt. Mando only nodded in response, and paid to be refueled. You shrugged and stepped off the ramp. You wished you could deeply inhale, the air seemed clean, even at the Kwilaan spaceport.

You followed the crowd, the intermingling of species a stark contrast to any covert you’d been in. You had always loved the variety of life, and found it lacking in mandalorian culture. Not that it was strictly humans, like you and Mando. It was quite the opposite, as far as you knew. A misread text, a few generations of stuffy “believers,” and a civil war, kept most mandalorians beneath their beskar. Even painted beskar sang of mundanity. Even the light of Naboo reflected off of Mando’s pauldron paled in comparison to the stormy eyes you knew were just below the visor.

Yelling brought your attention back to the market, and you smiled when you saw the bountiful fruit selection. Jelucan and Nevarro had their charms, you were sure, but a selection of fresh fruit wasn’t one. Understandably, Mando’s ship wasn’t stocked with any, and yours hadn’t been either. Luke had shared his meals with you, but Dagobah seemed treacherous. You hoped he would take his X-Wing and Grogu and fly somewhere nicer. A beach planet, hopefully.

Mando gently squeezed your arm, and it brought you back again. You felt heat creep up your neck, and wondered when you had gotten so airheaded. You motioned to the fruit, and paid the merchant for a heavy bag. You tugged Mando’s arm with you to the next stall, and so it went. You flitting around, stocking up for the journey, and pulling Mando along. He stood beside you, not possessively or threateningly, just there. Not that you needed help looking intimidating. The chipped black paint gave you the look of a seasoned warrior.

It was far from the truth, but it helped keep the pickpockets away. When you had finished your shopping, and pulled Mando back to the flow of the crowd heading into the station, he seemed to deflate a bit. You smiled at his hesitancy. When you got to the ship, you watched as Mando toggled his vambrace to shut the door.

“Want to camp out by a lake tonight? We have a long trip ahead, and this planet is too good to pass up.” You spoke confidently, but you flexed your fingers at your side to stop their shaking. He tilted his helmet dramatically to the side, and you waited for the disapproving verbiage. It didn’t come.

“It is getting pretty late…” He told you quietly, and motioned towards the cockpit. You followed, setting the few bags down, and taking the rungs two at a time.

You sat down behind him, and he punched in some coordinates. The ship lifted easily, and you watched the city die down until there was nothing but mountains beneath you. You sucked in a sharp breath when the mountains broke away and revealed a beautiful lake vista. Mando surprised you by setting the ship down, right in the field. You looked at him, sure your helmet betrayed your shock, and he chuckled.

“I thought you might ask, so I checked a few places.” He shrugged, not knowing that the gesture was too much. Too big. Just a few hours ago, you had resigned to never talk to him again. And here he had found you a gorgeous campsite. You rested your hand on his, for a moment, and then took it away. You hoped it conveyed the right message, but you weren’t sure what you wanted that message to be anymore.

You stood slowly, and eased your helmet off. You paused for a minute, and then decided to go all the way. You took each piece of armor off, casting it aside, until you were down to the under clothes. Mando watched silently, and you wondered if it felt sacrilegious to him. Until, he reached up under his helmet, and slipped it off. His hair was messy from the helmet, but the curls still plopped around his face. He was less hesitant in removing the rest. Soon, he was in his dark under clothes. His slight smile was a delicious sight.

“You can bring the blaster.” You joked, as you made your way to the ladder. He fixed you with a glare, and then smirked.

“Of course. Weapons are my religion.” You giggled as you picked the bag of fruit up, and walked down the ramp. Mando was two steps behind you, controlling the ship with his vambrace. You liked that feature, you’d have to have him set yours up. If you ever made it back to your ship.

More and more, you were hopeful you would. You watched as he spread a small blanket out on the soft grass, and you joined him when he clumsily sat down. He laughed, a sharp, barking laugh. An unpracticed laugh, you realized.

“I can’t remember the last time I sat down with the suit.” He explained, grabbing the muja fruit from your hand. You glared, but grabbed a new one, anyway.

“That’s incredible. I can’t wait to have mine off.” You muttered into the skin of the fruit, before taking a bite. You felt his eyes, so you met them. He looked amazed. Or maybe, curious.

“Doesn’t your armor feel natural to you? Like a second skin. Or even your only skin? I feel so exposed right now.” He confessed, taking a bite. You considered it for a moment.

“I...I never felt like I really belonged in the suit at all. It’s stifling to me.”

“Probably because you painted it black.” He told you, his usual deadpan tone ruined by his loping grin.

“Well, I only just did that. It was part of my death rite, I guess.” He lifted an eyebrow, so you continued. “I didn’t think I would still be alive. I had big plans, but then...the Force? No, not for me. Whatever controls the universe, reminded me what life was actually like. My clan was wiped out, and for a while, I couldn’t breathe.”

“I was orphaned when I was young. It was a war. I was rescued. Were you born in?” You nodded, stealing another glance at him. His brow was furrowed, and you wanted to smooth it.

“I’ve never known anything else...but it doesn’t feel right to me. I don’t know, Mando-”

“Mando?” He interrupted, looking bemused.

“Yeah, I don’t know your name.” You took a bite to cover how awkward you felt.

“Yes, you do? Luke said it back on Dagobah.” He reminded you. As if you had forgotten, what the most beautiful man you’ve seen was named.

“Well, you hadn't told me. It seemed too...personal. And you were mad at me.” You told him, matter-of-factly.

“I wasn’t mad at you, ridiculous girl. I was amazed. You just…” He mimicked taking his helmet off. “Without any hesitation. You let me in, just like that.” You felt your ears start to get hot.

“You saw me without my helmet in the covert?”

“That wasn’t deliberate.”

“It could have been.”

“I don’t think it was.” He murmured. It was only then you realized how close you had gotted. Both of you gravitating toward the other, the blanket bunched by your legs, his breath hot and sweet in your nose.

“Din.” He told you, his nose grazing yours, before he pulled back completely.

“Nice to meet you, Din.” You whispered, your mind not as sharp as it was, drunk on his smell. He lifted his fruit to yours, and met your eyes again.

“To names and faces.” He smiled as he waited for your cheers, and you couldn’t string together a thought, let alone a joke.

“To...mavar.” You said plainly, taking a bite of your fruit.

**Mavar: freedom.