#my special special special boy brian whose life is awful and never good
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brian is Such a funny fucking character btw. i love brian. sometimes i think about him too hard and just randomly start laughing. he’s introduced as the nice handsome strong love interest with a boyish smile and by the time the story is over he’s suffered more than jesus. it would have genuinely been kinder to crucify him. brian is the literal poster child for “fate worse than death.” brian is like if the long-suffering older brother archetype was a guy. if his life is a peaceful drive down a highway his girlfriend is the bug-covered freak who gets into the car, throws him into the passenger seat, grabs the wheel, and rams the entire vehicle directly through the wall of the nearest police headquarters at 129mph. and then she gets out and becomes the new police chief (previous police chief died when the car hit) and just fucking leaves him there. he’s not even normal but everyone else is so much worse than him that it ends up being his job to make like he’s the normal one anyway. you try to rob one gas station so your absolutely horrible little sister whom you love doesn’t go to juvie and then the next thing you know Taylor Fucking Hebert is calling you to inform you that she just killed wonder woman. he HAS had bugs on his dick before and he’s just going to have to live with that. Wouldn’t even notice with the type of shit he’s got going on. He emanates darkness to cope and it does not fucking work. his life sucks so fucking bad man. I love him.
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It’s a kind of magic tour pt.1; Queen x reader
*Author’s note*
Hey guys wow been awhile since you guys got a Rock Angel update but I figure it’s time you all got an update, and good news, it’s A TWO PARTER!!!! Okay so here’s the deal with this chapter, it’s all one thing but I’ve chosen to break it up into 3 parts because this chapter is ALL about the It’s a Kind of Magic tour, the very last tour Queen did with Freddie. So this first chapter is strictly the Wembley performance, the next chapter I will post up is the Budapest events, and the last one is the very last show Freddie did at Knebworth.
So in this part prepare for some fluffy feels, and LOVEY-DOVEY MUSH!!! Not really any hard warnings, except for the swearing or two. And for anyone interested in watching the concert to follow along are free to watch it on this link----> Concert here
Taglist:
@plethora-of-things
@psychosupernatural
@waddles03
@ixchel-9275
@platawnic
@bohemiansweede
@onebigfangirlworld
@naturalswifty89
@starswin
@dj-lowkey
@isabella-bby
@labessieisallama
@5sos-wdw
@geek-and-proud
@queendeakyy
@simonedk
@kairosfreddie
____________________________________________________
*July 11th, 1986. Wembley Stadium*
It was the hottest tour that Queen had ever done. In light of having just recorded some songs for a movie known as “Highlander” Queen came to the decision in calling their next tour the “It’s a Kind of Magic Tour”. A full on summer European tour filled with new surprises, new songs, and of course the partnership of the decade, for the Rock Angel was also in on the show as the supporting act.
So in reality it was really called Queen+Angel “It’s a Kind of Magic ‘86” tour. Tickets were filling up and had sold out quicker than any tour in the past for both Queen and the Rock Angel. One place in particular ran out faster than anywhere else, and that was Wembley Stadium, so the tour managers of both Queen and the Rock Angel worked out that they would do 2 nights performing at Wembley so that fans could get the chance to see them perform.
*My POV*
I was currently in my dressing room getting ready when I heard a knock at my door.
“Who is it?” soon peeking inside was the face of my loveable husband.
“Fanclub of the Rock Angel, party of two.” It was then Jack came in holding our baby girl in his arms. I smiled and turned towards them.
“Aww there’s my little girl. Ohh darling you’ve gotten bigger since I last saw you.” I cooed as I took my daughter in my arms and held her close. I kissed her cheek repeatedly making her coo and laugh.
“So baby about tomorrow when do you want to head out for our dinner date?”
“Oh Jack I don’t know. I’m scheduled for a full rehearsal all day tomorrow, and then the concert. By then I don’t know if I’ll be up for anything.”
“Then why not just a simple room service dinner and a bottle of champagne. Then I could make you a bubble bath and we could—get in together and……”
“Jack you dirty man. Not in front of our daughter.”
“Ahh she doesn’t know what all that means, do you sweetie bell?” Jack cooed down at her as he took her back and held her once more.
“I swear you’re as bad as Roger and Jensen mixed into one.”
“So how long do you guys got till showtime?”
“About ten minutes. C’mon why don’t we go and try to find the guys?” I asked him.
“When did she last have her bottle?”
“I gave it to her on schedule right before we left the hotel. So she should be good.”
“And how about her nappie? Does she feel wet at all?”
“You know I can never get used to that word, why do you guys call it that here?”
“Because we just do. And why did you Americans have to change it to diapers? I swear it almost sounds like you’re saying diarrhea.”
“That is not what it sounds like at all! Those are completely different words.” Jack tried to defend himself and for all Americans in that manner.
“Whatever, but seriously does she feel wet?” Jack felt around and he said.
“Oh yep, it does feel a bit damp. Must’ve done it on our way here.”
“Okay, c’mere love-a-bug. Let’s change your nappie.” I placed her on my loveseat couch and took off her dress so that it wouldn’t get wrinkled. Jack handed me the diaper bag and I took out the necessary things I needed.
Thank god for the Sensei-Veronica and her wise teachings about changing nappies. Cause boy when it came to changing her nappie, Kelly sure could throw a tantrum. She then began crying as I took off her diaper, her legs kicking in protest.
“No! No none of that now. We gotta get your wet nappie off of yah. Don’t want you to go smelling like pee all day do we? No I don’t think so.” She continued to fuss and kick her legs as I threw the soaked nappie away, applied the baby powder and medicine on her, before finally getting her into a fresh nappie and putting her dress back on.
“Aww see there’s our good girl, don’t that feel better?” Jack said as he picked up our girl while I grabbed my Red Special. We then left my dressing room and went down the hall where I knew Freddie and Roger’s dressing rooms.
Already from down the hall I could hear Freddie’s vocal warmups. Which made Kelly alert and her eyes widened as she reached out. I gasped and said as I took her.
“Who’s that? Who is that poppet?” I could even hear the faint echo of Roger’s vocalization and at that point she let out a “Bah” “Yeah that’s papa Roger and Uncle Freddie, shall we go say hello?” we then walked over to the dressing room but stayed hidden as to not ruin the surprise.
Freddie continued going up his scales in a scat like manner that he always did and that’s when I heard Roger go.
“Oooh!”
“Ohh-Ohh!” Freddie replied in a slightly higher octave.
“Ohhh!” Roger sung again before Freddie and him laughed.
“Well I see you guys are doing your little vocal competition as per usual.” I said as I came around with my family in tow.
“And I see you’ve brought the entire Kline clan with you.” Freddie sassed back at me. I grinned and said as I adjusted Kelly.
“Hope you guys don’t mind your smallest fan coming today.”
“Of course not love, you know we love it when she comes to see us.” Roger said as he came around and took his goddaughter in his arms. “Plus I thought that was her making all that fuss, for a moment I thought it was her mum.” I mockingly gaped at him. A wide, gummy smile spread across Kelly’s face as her godfather played the helicopter game with her.
“Happy to see her again Rog?” Jack asked.
“Of course, last time I saw this adorable face was the around Christmas time. So it’s basically been seven months, and she was still such a tiny thing. Kiddos growing like a weed.”
“So how has parenthood treated you both?” Freddie asked.
“She’s a blessing. I mean there are a few nightly wakeups but other than that she’s good.”
“Although she’s still scared of the horses over at Jared’s place. Anytime we go near them, screams her head off like a banshee.”
“Aww poor baby, did the mean ole horsies scare you?” Roger cooed as he brought her close to him and bounced her up and down gently while rocking her soothingly.
“Well I thought I was hearing a baby earlier but I thought my ears were playing tricks on me.” We turned to see Brian coming out from the tuning room, holding an acoustic guitar in his hand.
“Yep. Our mini-angel came to see us.” Roger bragged as he bounced her once more.
“What do you say lovebug? Wanna go see Uncle Brian?” I said.
“No she doesn’t, she wants to stay with god-papa Roger, isn’t that right my little lovie?” he said as he softly tickled her tummy with just his index finger.
“Oh no you don’t get to dictate on who she stays with. She loves all of you guys equally.” I proclaimed as I took my daughter out of his arms and walked over to Brian and allowed him to hold her. “Careful now Bri.”
“I know (y/n), I know this isn’t my first rodeo trust me.” He assured me as he held Kelly in his arms. Out of all the guys she was always entranced with Brian (probably because of the hair).
Sometimes she would reach out to touch it, and it goes either one or two ways either she tugs it, or she just holds a strand of his curls in his hand. The first few times she did tug at them, but then she relaxed and we told her not to pull it, but of course there’s the occasional pull and tug.
Luckily this time all she did was touch it and even stroke her hand down, almost like she was petting a dog.
“I swear Brian dear you’ve got that little girl wrapped around your finger, and I’m the one whose supposed to spoil her.” Freddie stated with a wave of his hand.
“It’s the hair what can I say?” Brian said as he handled Kelly very delicately and allowed her to take hold of his finger.
“So there’s no chance of you ever cutting it or even changing it, is there?” I asked.
“Not on your life my dear. Especially if this little one likes it, huh? Whatcha say Kelly?” she babbled and continued to grip onto Brian’s index finger. She even started to nuzzle herself into his shoulder. We all awed and that’s when I asked.
“So where’s Deacy? I’d figure he’d want to see his little niece.”
“He’s probably up backstage with his Deaklings as well as the rest of the Queen family.” Freddie replied as he stroked Kelly’s head softly.
“So everyone else is here?” asked Jack.
“Yep, Chrissie brought the kids, and Dominique brought Felix and baby Rory.” Brian replied.
“Well why don’t we head up there now, seems like we’ve got about seven minutes till showtime.” I said as I looked down at my watch. We gathered up our stuff and walked out of our dressing rooms from the bottom of the stage and headed up outside towards the stage entrance.
For some reason security almost wouldn’t let Brian through because he didn’t have a pass. So I spoke for him in the light of mentioning you can’t have Queen without their guitarist (and I may or may not have threatened the guard to let him through cause Brian was still holding my baby and I wasn’t gonna be parted with her for another second).
As the kids reunited with their parents and the crew took the backstage pictures that they wanted to get. I was sitting and watching as Jack stood beside Dominique as Kelly was entranced with baby Rory. Even with being six months apart, Kelly and Rory got along very well.
I was even imagining that when those girls got older, they were gonna be more than just cousins to each other. They would grow to be sisters.
“You doing okay love?”
“Yeah. Just—picturing what Rory and Kelly are gonna be like since they’re technically sisters by law.” I said with a soft smile as I turned towards my brother Deacy.
“Roger did luck out in making you the godmother. Seeing how you fit into the mother role so well with your own baby girl.”
“That or to just make it even since he’s Kelly godfather.”
“Or that too you’re probably right.” I hummed a soft chuckle before turning back. “You miss her when you go on tour, don’t you?”
“How could you possibly know that?”
“C’mon you’ve heard this time and time again sister dear. We know you too well. Plus I know firsthand how that feels. Remember I had my first child at around your age. So I know how hard it is for a first time parent to be away from their child for such a great lengths. But I have a feeling you’re feeling it much worse than what I did, cause after all I didn’t give birth to Robert.”
That finally got a laugh, a real laugh, out of me which made Deacy smile and he wrapped an arm around me as I said.
“I just—I don’t know how you guys do it every year. Every tour you all go on.”
“Having children puts things in a whole new perspective. Same thing with relationships.”
“I totally get your song now. The line ‘I’m happy at home’. It all makes sense now. Because did you know that I missed my daughter crawl for the first time ever?”
“Really? Kelly’s first crawl?”
“Yes. It happened during our show in Paris. Jensen and Jared came for a visit to our home in Napa, California and they were trying to get her to crawl. After hours of getting nowhere, when they had their backs turned, Jack came down from doing some laundry to see Kelly crawling across the floor. Of course poor baby ended up bonking into the couch but she crawled Deacy. And I missed it.”
“It’s hard missing those milestones. Believe me I would know. I missed Robert crawl for the Night at the Opera tour, during News of the World I missed Michael take his first steps. And my little girl Laura, she actually said her first word, and it was my name. Well title name, during the Hot Space tour. I was fortunate with Joshua but.... I can never take back the first experiences with Robert, my first child, or my only baby girl Laura.”
“Oh Deacy I—I can’t believe that. And here I am bitching about missing a simple crawl. Man I’m such a drama queen.”
“No you’re not. You’re just protective and loving mama bear, well mama lioness I should say. After all you had Kelly inside you for nine months.”
“Nine months and a week.” I corrected him.
“Oh yeah, that’s right.” We both softly laughed and he said as his hand came up and ruffled my hair a bit. “But there’s no doubt in my mind you’ll make it up to Kelly. And there will be plenty of milestones to come, because she’s gonna need someone strong to look up to, and I already know she has the best role model a kid could ever have.”
“When did you ever get so wise?” I asked him with a teary eyed glaze.
“Comes with the territory, and experience. You’ll get there one day.”
“Thank you brother mine, really this talk….it’s been the best relief I’ve had in a while. I don’t even think I could’ve talked about this with Roger or Brian.”
“I’m always here for you sister dear. And anytime you want to talk, I’m here for you.” He leaned his forehead against mine and I closed my eyes and drew in his strength.
After the whole family reunion; it was getting close to showtime. We were escorted by our team towards the stage, all five of us pumped up on adrenaline. Even though I wouldn’t go on till the guys started Under Pressure, I was still feeling the anxiety of going on stage.
“Good luck guys, I’ll see you all in a bit.” I told them.
“We’ll see you then darling.” Freddie said as he came up and kissed both my cheeks.
“You’re gonna kill it out there as always.”
“We try our best.” Brian said as he tuned his Red Special. As the opening for ‘One Vision’ began echoing through the speakers and we could hear the audience clapping along and cheering I knew it was time. The guys got into position and I waited backstage from my spot on stage where I would enter and I heard the roar of the crowd as Queen finally made their appearance.
As always Freddie was extravagant on stage, a living legend and a God amongst men. With songs like “One Vision”, “Tie your mother down”, and a surprise for both me and the audience two oldie but goodie songs of Queen, “In the Lap of the God (revisited)” and “Seven Seas of Rhye”, “Tie your Mother down” and “It’s A Kind Of Magic”.
During “A king of Magic”, giant balloons of the guys’ cartoon drawn selves from the album were floating and bouncing amongst the crowd and it was comical to see. Once the song was over Freddie starting doing his vocal echoes with the crowd. As usual they replied back to him with each vocalization that Freddie gave them.
If he held out a note, they did the same thing. But I was noticing that his voice didn’t hold the same amount of power as it used to, even kinda cracking but he still powered through it.
“I can’t go any higher than that. Aye-Oh! Let’s go down. Aye-Oh!” Either it was just due to age or just due to the fact he’s been working his voice so hard, but it surprised me that Freddie couldn’t go higher than he just did, cause just a year ago he was able to. But he still held a long “Aye-Oh” just like he did last year during Live Aid, which I admired. “Fuck you.” I grinned and shook my head.
“Ohh Fred you cheeky son of a bitch.” It was then Deacy began playing the bassline for ‘Under Pressure’. One of my roadies “Lucky” handed me my mic and he gave me a thumbs up and I mouthed a thank you. I shook my jitters out as Freddie and Roger began the song.
*Roger and Freddie*
Pressure pushing down on me
Pressing down on you no man ask for
Under pressure that brings a building down
Splits a family in two
Puts people on streets
Um ba ba be
Um ba ba be
De day da
Ee day da that's okay
*Freddie (Roger)*
It's the terror of knowing
What the world is about
Watching some good friends
Scream
Let me out (Let me out!)
Pray tomorrow gets me higher
Pressure on people
People on streets
Day day de mm hm
Da da da ba ba
Okay
Chippin' around
Kick my brains around the floor
These are the days
It never rains but it pours
Ee do ba be
Ee da ba ba ba
Um bo bo
De do
People on streets ee da de da de
People on streets ee da de da de da
I had my Red Special on hand, I took a deep breath as the two volunteers pulled back the slaps of the see-through curtains and I walked through the smoke and sung the next verse. And as soon as the cameras showed me, everyone was in a roar of applause as I came right up and stood next to Freddie.
And as agreed for this performance whenever I came in at the second verse, I would go up in my high, controlled alto range with Roger and Freddie backing me up before Freddie ended the bridge.
*Me*
It's the terror of knowing
What this world is about
Watching some good friends
Scream! (let me out)
Pray tomorrow higher
Higher high!
*Freddie*
Pressure on people
People on streets
When the bridge came out, Roger, Freddie and I sang in a mezzopiano volume before Freddie sang the rest of the bridge before Roger and I came in on the first “Why”. Then to show off my vocal range, I did a sorta ‘Freddie’ vocal with my why’s and adlibbed a bit. Before we ended back together.
All the while Fred and I danced around together, even sharing his mic at one point as I joined Brian on guitar.
*Me, Freddie and Roger*
Turned away from it all like a blind man
Sat on a fence but it don't work
*Freddie*
Keep coming up with love
But it's so slashed and torn
*Me and Roger*
Why
*Me*
Oh why.
Tell me why?
*Freddie*
Insanity laughs under pressure we're breaking
*Both*
Can't we give ourselves one more chance
Why can't we give love that one more chance
Why can't we give love give love give love give love
Give love give love give love give love give love
*Roger, Freddie and me*
'Cause love's such an old fashioned word
And love dares you to care for
The people on the edge of the night
And loves dares you
To change our way of
Caring about ourselves
This is our last dance
This is ourselves
*Freddie and Me*
Under pressure
Under pressure
Pressure
Freddie and I hugged and kissed each other.
“Ladies and Gentlemen the Rock Angel herself Mrs. (Y/n) Kline!” Roger spoke into his microphone. I bowed graciously as the crowd roared in applause.
“HELLO WEMBLEY BEAUTIES!” I then saw Rock Angel signs being raised high in the sky like a banner waving in the wind. I then heard Deacy strum and fiddle with his bass another familiar bassline.
“I’m feel a little boogie coming on, what do you think?”
“I’m feeling it to Fred.” I spoke into my mic before proclaiming to my dad, “HIT IT ROGER!!” He gave us a beat before counting into the microphone.
“1 2 3 4!” And it was then he and Deacy began playing “Another one bites the dust”.
“Hey! You both called me out.” Freddie spoke. I grinned at him and began playing alongside Brian as the crowd began going crazy and clapped along.
During the song it was like a little competition between Freddie and I. He would sing the first verse, then get the crowd rolling to sing the title of the song with Roger backing him up. Then it was me and Brian getting the crowd pumped up during the second half of the song. Then during the instrumental break, he and I would have a “Scat-off” which is basically all the ’be-boops’ or “de-ba-ba-boop” scats that Fred is known to do very well.
We would even have a competition between the guys and the girls to see who could chant the title out louder. I obvious led the girls and Fred led the gentlemen. Before the two of us would end the song together, and by the end of it all as the crowd cheered, Fred and I hugged each other once again.
After dabbing his face with a towel and I already needing to get myself wiped off from the summer heat as well as the beaming lights, I went up and stood by Brian who was up by the keyboard and he would tell me that now was the time when I would play his guitar part for their newest song, “Who wants to Live forever”. Fred took a sip of beer before saying into the microphone as he walked further up towards the edge of the stage’s catwalk designed specifically for him.
“You know something there’s—there’s been a lot of rumors lately. About a certain band called Queen, along with a talented female artist known as the Rock Angel. The rumors are that uhh—the rumors that we’re all gonna split up and—break our partnership, what do you think?” at that point the crowd began booing and crying out in protest.
It's true. I don’t know where or how it came to be. I mean I myself have heard the rumors about Queen cause to my knowledge, they are literally the longest band to stay together without fully breaking up. I mean yeah there was that break 2 years ago, but Freddie and all of us learned to forgive and forget because we’re family.
And families have their fights, but it’s those fights that keep us together. But now some of the press are saying that Queen is planning on splitting up, and that I may also be thinking about severing my ties with Queen. To fully go off and no longer want anything to do with them.
And it warmed my heart to see Freddie pointing to his ass before proclaiming.
“They’re talking from here!” I grinned and nodded as the crowd cheered. Brian placed his arm around me and I leaned my head against his chest and wrapped my arms around him. “My apologizes but I say what I want. You know what I mean. So forget those rumors, we’re gonna stay together until we fucking will die I’m sure.” The crowd cheered and I nodded. “I keep—I must tell you, I keep wanting to leave but the Devil Angel back there won’t let me.”
“Watch it Mercury.” I warned him into my microphone as the crowd laughed and cheered. He grinned cheekily at me before blowing a kiss my way and I blew one back at him, but also snuck in the finger.
“Also I suppose we’re not bad for four aging Queens and an eternal youthful angel, are we? Really what do you think?” the crowd whistled and exploded with an applause.
“I’d say you guys look great. Better than ever even, what do you all say?” at that point I heard some airhorns go off.
“But you my fine Angel. Serious folks some may not know but that angel right there, just became a mother for the first time ever just several months back last year.” At that the crowd went awe and I even heard some shouts of congrats and cheers, mostly from the women in the audience “And she’s positively glowing, what do you all think? Cause she’s been saying all tour how she wasn’t ready to come out just based off her body now.”
At that point the crowd all booed at the last part and I even heard some men shout out “YOU’RE STILL BEAUTIFUL!”
“YOU’RE A FINE GIRL ANGEL!!”
“WE LOVE YOU ROCK ANGEL!”
“Thank you all it really means a lot to me. At first I didn’t even want to do this tour but—it not only took these four misfits to get me back on stage, but all of your love and support. So I thank you all from the bottom of my heart. Thank you.” I blew the audience a kiss and whether it was the hormones I still had or just seeing all this support from thousands and thousands of people, I honestly got a little teary eyed.
I wiped them away so that I wouldn’t be crying on stage but I could hear the sounds of the crowd awing me. It was then I felt Brian give me a real hug and he said in my ear.
“You’re still beautiful (y/n). We all love you.” He gave me a kiss on top of my head, which showed up on the cameras and I continued to try and suck in my tears.
“Thanks Bri.” I said to him before we separated from each other. “Okay,” I spoke into my microphone, “Before you all truly make me cry. This is a new song of Queen’s ‘Who wants to Live forever’.” The audience clapped and that’s when Brian led in on the soft and gentle intro before Freddie’s voice entranced the audience.
Just like Brian had taught me the scales and notes for this song, I came in when necessary while he kept at the keyboard. When the solo came on, I walked up center stage onto the catwalk and performed the solo which had the audience cheering and whistling as Queen came back on the song.
I got to sing the backup vocals alongside the guys by the end of the song, Freddie sung out the last line as I gave the whammy bar a soft shake to make the last note of my Red Special vibrato a bit before we finally closed the song.
The concert continued with a couple more Queen songs before we did some of my songs like “Rock the World”, “Who I am”, “So good”, “Shallow” (accompanied by Roger, with Fred conducting the audience to sing along since he knew this song was special to me and Rog), and a new song from my recent album, a song I called “Rush”. After that, Roger, Deacy and I left backstage to change while Brian and Freddie took over the stage with “Love of my Life” and “Is this the world we created”.
After that it was time for a little close in personal bonding time as all five of us came down the stage, Rog with the tambourine this time, Deacy and Brian standing at each end, me standing between Rog and Deacy and Freddie (who was now sporting a police officer’s helmet) gathered around as we began to sing our ‘medley’ songs like.
“(You’re so square )Baby I don’t care”.
“Hello Mary Lou”.
And some new songs of mine, one of which I had dedicated to the guys called “Protecting me”.
“No One”
“Tutti Frutti”
Then there were the more popular songs of Queen like their famed “Bohemian Rhapsody”, the audience participation that was “Radio Gaga”, the groovy dancing of “Crazy little thing called love”, the head banging that was both “Hammer to Fall” and my famed song “Set it all Free” (which was more of the audience singing the song and all I did was sing the chorus).
By the end of the entire concert after singing the last two songs “Friends will be Friends” and “We are the Champions.” Freddie came out for the first time on stage in his kingly attire that consisted of a very long red and white robe and a king’s crown that had red velvet inside and had jewels that could actually rival the actual Crowned Jewels of her royal highness.
Like the true Queen he was, he held his crown out to the audience as the boys and I rocked out the final part of the song and once we ended the song, Deacy, Brian, Roger and I came down with Freddie and waved goodbye to the crowd.
“Thank you, you beautiful people. Goodnight, God bless you.” Then as a final touch to the end of the tour we decided to add something special. You know how in every Queen concert you hear their rendition of ‘God Save the Queen’, well for my second album, I included me actually singing Britain’s National anthem. And thanks to the brilliant mind of our sound department and sound mixers, they’ve found a way to combine the two versions together so it sounded like I was singing alongside Queen’s recording.
All for this tour.
As the five of us waved goodbye and I could hear them singing alongside me, I came up to Freddie who had actually placed his crown on top of my head and he bowed before me. I went along with the act by knighting him with his music staff before he stood up and wrapped an arm around me and the two of us walked out, waving and blowing kisses to the audience with the rest of the boys trailing behind us doing the same thing.
After all that, we quickly raced out towards the back where the cars would take us back to our hotel. So all of us gowned in our after concert robes, mine being a red with white wings on the back quickly raced out with my assistants by my side with towels or water as we quickly raced towards the cars.
I got in my car and as soon as I got in, my driver took off back for the hotel. When we all finally arrived, we all had a celebration up in Freddie’s suite with some drinks (non-alcohol due to the fact we had a show tomorrow) and food. It was a small family party really with all our loved ones surrounding us and congratulating us on yet another successful concert.
The next day it was the same thing all over again at the same place. But I began to notice that Jack was acting a bit strange today. He knew that today was our 2nd anniversary and yet he was playing it off like it was no big deal.
I mean yeah I told him I would be busy today rehearsing for today’s concert but I would’ve thought he’d at least wish me a Happy Anniversary. But here’s the catch, whenever I tried to talk to the guys about it, they also waved it off like it was nothing and told me to keep busy.
So I decided was going to get to the bottom of this.
“Now we sure she doesn’t know anything about it?” I heard Brian say.
“Oh she doesn’t have a single clue darling.” Freddie’s voice rang out proudly.
“Shhh! Fred lower your voice. Do you want her to overhear you from her dressing room.” Roger hissed.
“Too late!” I made myself known. They gasped and turned towards me all huddled together, almost like they were hiding something. “Alright spill it, what are you four Queen’s up to?!” I demanded.
“Up to?”
“Up to?”
“Up to?”
“Up to?”
They all chorused out one at a time starting from Deacy, Roger, Brian then Freddie. Brian began stammering trying to find the right words while Freddie threw some accusations at me for thinking that they would be behind something devious (coming from the most devious one of the Queens, that was just rich).
“We want you to rehearse the drums for ‘Now I’m here’.” Deacy blurted out.
“That’s it!” proclaimed Roger. Soon I was hurried out by all four members with Brian and Freddie gently pushing my back or shoulders, while Deacy and Roger each had my wrists gripped in their hands as they proceeded to drag me away from the room. All four of them agreeing with Deacy’s statement.
“But I wasn’t told I had to do the drums in tonight’s show.” I said to them.
“Well things have changed darling.”
“Yep and you’re skilled enough to learn it.” Roger said as he handed me his drumsticks and kissed both my cheeks and nose. “Now go and practice at my kit love.”
“And don’t rush through it.” Advised Brian
“Take all the time you need.” Said Deacy.
“Practice, practice, practice.” Freddie proclaimed. I rolled my eyes and went on to practice at Roger’s drumkit. I waved them off and turned the corner to head up to the stage.
*3rd Person POV*
The four band members continued to wave so long to her, then when she turned the corner, Deacy muttered.
“You still think she doesn’t suspect?”
“Of course not Deacy dear, now c’mon.” Freddie turned with a clap of his hands. “She’s gone!” he proclaimed and that’s when her roadies, costume designers, hair and makeup team as well as Jack came out.
“You’ve kept her busy?” Jack asked.
“Yep. Got her practicing the drums. And she always struggles with ‘Now I’m here’ so she’ll be there for a while.” Said Roger.
“Excellent, okay everyone I’ve got your assignments. Hair and makeup, I want you all to make sure that tonight she looks her best, including waterproof mascara.” Jack explained.
“Yep, cause lord knows she’ll be bawling her eyes out once we execute the surprise during the show.” Freddie said.
“Costume designers, make sure she wears the dress I had picked out once Brian and Freddie begin ‘Love of my Life’.”
“Right-o Jack. And may I just say you picked out a wonderful dress for her to wear. It’ll fit her like a glove.” Her head costumer Phillipe said.
“Thanks, and roadies, you all are in charge of setting up the color themed lights for our dance, as well as the video projection of our wedding.”
“We’re on it Jack.” Said Lucky, (Y/n)’s head roadie.
“Okay now we don’t have much time, get going go!” Jack said with a flick of the pencil to the clipboard and the Rock Angel’s team all scattered to get ready. “And you guys will come out with the cake right?” he said to Roger and Deacy.
“You can count on us Jack.” Deacy said.
“Ohh she’s gonna be so surprised!” Freddie said with pumped up fists.
“And guys, thank you again for helping me plan this. After last year’s anniversary kinda going down the drain due to late rehearsals for Live Aid, I wanna make this up to her.”
“We’re happy to help you Jack darling, anything for you two.” Freddie said with a pat on his shoulder. Jack smiled at the frontman of Queen and said.
“Okay, before she gets even more suspicious, let’s head out and see if we can help the others.” The band nodded and they left the room and helped out around backstage.
*My POV*
As the hours ticked by, it was finally concert time. It pretty much ran the same way as it did yesterday with the songs in the exact order as we sang them yesterday.
But what was odd was that just before ‘Now I’m here’ which the guys told me I was gonna drum to, my roadies and agent pulled me aside and my wardrobe and makeup people began to fit me into something else. I was now sporting a wine ruched bodice high silt velvet dress.
The two spaghetti straps were snug against my shoulders and the slit in the dress only came up to my mid-thigh and was barely noticeable unless you moved and exposed it. I was also forced to wear 2 inch black heels and my hair was done up even curlier than before.
“Okay Phillipe what in the world is going on?”
“My darling I am sworn to secrecy I cannot explain.” He said in his heavy French accent.
“Then can you at least tell me where this dress came from?”
“Maybe from a secret admirer no?” he teased as he told me to look up and he applied some mascara on me. “Ahh and there she is our beautiful Rock angel is complete!”
“Oh wait one more thing,” his assistant Marie said as she came up with a wand and gave me some wings at the corner of my eyes.
“Oh brilliant Marie. Now then my dear, let’s get you back on stage.”
“But how am I gonna perform looking like this?”
“Oh don’t worry it mon Cherie. Now go out there and be beautiful. Kisses.” He kissed each of my cheeks before he and Marie shoved me out and shut the door.
“God what the hell is wrong with everyone today?” but I walked back towards the stage. When I arrived I could still hear the roar of the crowd and that’s when I saw the lights go down and a spotlight came onto Brian as I could hear him prepare to play ‘Love of my life’.
“This is the point where the guitarist gets to speak, now and again.” I grinned softly. “And today I don’t have very much to say except thank for you making this the hottest ticket we’ve ever seen. You’re great we love you.” He played a few more chords before then saying something that caught me off guard, “But tonight, tonight is something very special. And I’d like all of you to give a warm welcome back onto the stage the beautiful Rock Angel (Y/n) Kline.”
Oh god, with me looking like this I’ll be totally out of place but Phillipe and Marie went to all this trouble and work and I hate to disappoint them. So I slowly walked out from backstage and I could immediately hear the wolf whistles and proclamations of love. I smiled and waved before going up to Brian and I said.
“Tell me what’s going on right now May or I swear your Red Special will be missing by morning.”
“Just trust us darling.” He said to me.
“We’d also like to bring out another special person,” Freddie said as he came up beside me. “He’s the one who took this lovely Angel away from us, and was also the one who knocked her up.” I slapped his arm which made the audience laugh, “But he was also her bass player for a time, ladies and gentlemen give a warm Wembley welcome to Mr. Jack Kline!”
The audience cheered loudly as Jack came on the stage sporting a white button up shirt, dark grey pants, and his hair sleeked back. I looked at him and my heart went BOOM! But with that boyish grin, it also made my stomach flutter. He came up to me and took my hands in his and wrapped them around his neck.
“For you see two years ago today, was the day these two young turtledoves became one.” At that point the audience awed and was in a roar of applause. “So this song is dedicated to them, Happy Anniversary Jack and (Y/n).” Freddie said. Finally Brian began playing the final opening chords before Freddie began to sing “Love of my Life”.
All the while Jack took me towards center stage under the spotlight so that we could have a slow dance together. What was even more romantic was when Freddie conducted the audience to sing the song, and Jack stopped dancing and had the two of us look out as the audience sang.
“They’re singing to us baby.” By the end of the audience participation, I cupped Jack’s cheek and brought him down for a kiss which made the audience cheer and whistle.
*Freddie*
Love of my life, you've hurt me You've broken my heart and now you leave me *Audience*
Love of my life, can't you see? Bring it back, bring it back Don't take it away from me, because you don't know What it means to me
*Freddie and audience*
Love of my life, don't leave me You've stolen my love, you now desert me Love of my life, can't you see? Bring it back, bring it back Don't take it away from me Because you don't know What it means to me
You will remember When this is blown over Everything's all by the way When I grow older I will be there at your side to remind you How I still love you
*Audience*
I still love you
“He still loves you (y/n).” Freddie spoke as he came up to us which made the audience cheer.
“I love him too.” I said into Freddie’s microphone and as I kissed my husband of two years once more under the pink lights that shined down on us, the audiences whistled and cheered. The sweet sound of Brian’s acoustic playing and the warmth of my husband holding me in his arms as we continued to sway, had me feeling like I was in heaven.
It was then I took notice of the monitor and saw that there were pictures of us playing on the screens in a slideshow format, some of is were just us goofing around from the summer we met, to our first Christmas and birthdays together, then finally our wedding pictures.
*Freddie*
Oh, hurry back, hurry back Don't take it away from me Because you don't know what it means to me *Audience*
Love of my life *Freddie and Audience*
Love of my life Ooh, yeah
As the song ended, the slideshow ended with Jack and I at the wedding doing our first kiss as husband and wife. It also did a cute little editing of fireworks and a heart around the two of us before finally ending in elegant cursive writing.
HAPPY ANNIVERSARY JACK AND (Y/N) KLINE.
Jack then softly dipped me before capturing my lips with his and I gladly accepted the kiss. I stroked my hands through his hair and down his jawline before he sat me back in the upright position, as the crowd was in a roar of whistles and exclamations.
By this time I was in full on waterfall moment as tears kept pouring down my face. I hugged my husband before turning to Freddie and hugged him. He patted my back and kissed my temple then I turned to Brian. He wrapped an arm around me and kissed my other temple before saying.
“Happy Anniversary love.” I turned around and that’s when I saw Deacy and Roger coming out with a cake. The two of them grinning as they clapped along with the audience. I buried my face into my hands as I jogged towards my dad and brother and hugged and kissed them. Jack came up and wrapped his arms around me before kissing my cheek and the two of us stared down at the beautifully decorated vanilla icing cake with angel wings decorated around it with the words HAPPY ANNIVERSARY KLINES KLAN.
“As an added bonus; we’ve elected to give our beloved Rock Angel the rest of the night off to spend with her beloved husband who worked so hard to put this together.” Freddie said into the microphone.
“Wait what?” I said through the crowd.
“We talked about it love and after having to miss your first anniversary last year for Live Aid stuff, we want you and Jack to have what you couldn’t last year.” Roger said.
“But what about the audience?” it was then I saw Deacy go towards Freddie and Fred handed him his microphone and for the first time Deacy spoke to the audience.
“She believes that she should stay here and continue with the concert. Should she?” at that point the audience all hissed in rejection, telling me to go and be with the love of my life.
“Seems your spoken for darling. Now go on you two crazy kids. Spend your anniversary together.” Freddie said. I smiled and lowered my head when I suddenly felt myself being carried bridal style. Jack grinned cheekily at me before leaning forward and gave me another kiss and carrying me backstage, some of my roadies taking the cake back out.
Once we reached backstage, Jack set me down and wrapped his arms around me.
“I can’t believe you did all this for me.”
“How could I not? I know how devastated you were last year, so I decided to make it up.”
“But you know I had said we could’ve just made it up with wine at the hotel after the show.”
“I know that’s not what you really wanted. I know when you really mean something, and when you said that to me yesterday you were just trying to cover up the hurt you thought I would feel fearing we had to miss another anniversary because of your career.” Damn him, he’s just as perceptive as Brian and Deacy combined.
“Oh Jack, I love you.” I sobbed happily as I hugged him.
“I love you too baby, happy anniversary.”
“Happy anniversary.” With that we raced out of the stadium and caught a ride with my driver Louis.
“To Mazzello’s Italian restaurant Louie, and step on it. We’ve got special reservations tonight.” Jack said.
“Right away sir.” Louis said graciously before starting to car and getting us on the road.
We arrived at the restaurant around 20 minutes later and that’s when Jack led us inside after Louis wished us a Happy Anniversary, which we both thanked him for. Jack opened the restaurant doors for me and I thanked him in a posh tone before he followed in after me.
We went up to the front desk and Jack said the reservation name and the waiter confirmed it and escorted us up the stairs to the upper level of the restaurant. He then led us outside to the balcony sitting and it turned out we were the only ones there.
“Here we are signor, signora.” The waiter said as he set up our table with our menus. Jack allowed me to sit down first and he scooted my chair in before he himself took a seat.
Our waiter came in and Jack ordered us the special champagne they had going on sale for tonight and we both ordered our meals. Jack ordered the spaghetti with meatballs while I got the Fettucine Alfredo with a side of calamari for the both of us.
Once our food came and we both began to eat, it was then I saw the band come up to us and I heard the accordion player begin to play a familiar tune. Oh my god no way, it was then he began to sing “Bella Notte” from my favorite Disney movie, Lady and the Tramp.
“Jack you didn’t.” I said in awe.
“I knew it was your favorite movie. So…..shall we give it a go?” he said as he held up a single strand of spaghetti.
“What did I do to ever deserve you?”
“Just lucky I guess.” I then took one end of the spaghetti and placed it in my mouth as Jack did the same for the other end, till we both slowly came towards each other (timing it with the song just right) as our lips met in a kiss.
Like Lady did, I turned away and blushed thinking I couldn’t believe I had done my fantasy dream kiss. I felt Jack take my hand in his and he stared at me with those beautiful blue eyes of his. He leaned his forehead against mine as the two of us fell under the spell of the Italian singers singing to us.
After dinner the two of us took a romantic stroll under the moonlight in the park. The streetlights and the fireflies being our only source of light, along with the full moon and the stars.
As we walked along the sidewalk, guess the two of us were too dazed and entranced with each other to realize we were now walking on wet cement.
“Oh bugger!” I swore as I laughed embarrassingly.
“Not really, look.” He knelt down and drew a large heart with his first and last initial. I smiled and knelt down beside him and wrote mine in the heart underneath his. Then we imprinted our hands next to the heart before looking at each other smiling lovingly at each other.
Once that was done, we cleaned our shoes and hands off at a nearby sink and continued on our walk through the park. As we came to ‘Lover’s bridge’ we stared down at the small lake stream that flowed under the bridge and watched as two swans swam together.
“Did you know that swans are known to be monogamous?” Jack asked me.
“Really?”
“Yep. It’s even said that when they swim together, they can intertwine their necks into a heart. Which makes swans the sign of love.” Jack said as his hands cupped around mine and when I looked down at my hands, I saw that both his and mine made a heart with mine being the inner heart and his being the outer.
I looked up at him and he looked down at me. He slowly leaned down towards me, his lips softly grazing against mine, his nose nuzzling against mine.
“I hope we can last forever, just like those swans down there.” He whispered.
“I want that to my love.” I whispered back as we turned back towards the water to see the swans intertwine their necks together to form the famed heart shape.
We ended our walk by sitting on top of a hill that overlooked the rest of the park and had a great view of the moon in front of us. Jack and I spoke not a word as we turned to each other. Because truthfully there were no more words that needed to be said at this moment.
I loved Jack and he loved me. As the two of us cuddled close together to stare up at the moon and enjoyed what this night meant to us.
The night we became “And”, the day we became “We”, the day we became husband and wife.
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*SVTFOE Bloopers, Finale Season Epilogue
—The Departure—
(Star and Marco slowly walk up to each other and stop once they are face to face)
Marco:(softy) “Hey”
Star:(softly) “Hi”
(they stare at each other fondly as the final music score plays and the camera pans up to the “Earthni” sky)
Director Daron:(heard off-screen) “And that’s a wrap!”
(the alarm rings)
(Star starts to cry. Marco looks concerned)
Marco:”Star? Star what’s wrong?”
Star:(wipes away her tears) “Oh, nothing” (sniffles) “I’m just so happy I went through all this. With my friends, family and even a bunch of celebrities I never thought I’d meet”
Marco:(confused) “But, you’re a celebrity yourself, don’t you already know everyone?”
Star:(laughs) “Marco, just cuz I’m a celebrity doesn’t mean I know everyone! I never thought I’d meet band members like the lead singers of “Fall Out Boy” and “98 Degrees” (turns to see Ruberiot (Patrick Stump) and Justin Towers (Nick Lachey) who are next to each other and smiling at her) “Or have insanely detailed cosplayers (shows Marco a cosplayer dressed up as Star on her iPhone) “Or even a big namer like Toffee!” (turns to look at Toffee)
Toffee:(about to sip his coffee, but stops when he hears his name and turns to Star) “What, what?”
Marco:(blushing) “Oh, right” (nervously laughs) “And here I thought I was the lucky one starring in a hit tv show with the actress from “The Middle” (Star smiles) “Or doing my karate on camera for everyone at home to see” (turns to look at Jeremy is shown next to Sensei)
Jeremy:(waves frantically smiling) “Hi Marco!”
Marco:(waves back at Jeremy smiling then turns back to Star) “And best of all, I got a TV Star girlfriend!”
(Jackie comes in putting her arm around Marco)
Jackie:(teasingly) “Whoa there! Don’t go putting me on a pedestal bringing me offerers now”
(Marco laughs)
Janna:(stepping into the scene with all her sass) “Quick the water works Star, we’re still gonna see each other again tonight for the big farewell party here”
Tom:(walks into the scene as well) “Yeah, there’s gonna be music, food, the cast of “The Owl House” gonna show up! I’ve seen sneak peaks of that, looks awesome!”
Pony Head:(flies in) “And champaign!”
Star:(her face lights up) “Really!”
Pony Head:(with a sour look) “Yeah, but only for the adults” (blows a raspberry)
(Moon walks in)
Moon:(playfully) “Oh hush Pony” (she puts a hand to Star) “Star, I know you can be sensitive to these things. Much like how you were when your show, “The Middle” ended. You saw the cast as your family and I understand. I may be your TV Mom, but I love you like a real mother does. I’ve seen you at your best and worst on set, but in the end, I still love you cuz that’s how family is. It’s like being on TV. You mold yourself into the character you want to be and take each step of your life as a scene. If the “scene” turns out bad, then you “review” it so as to not make the same mistakes for a better ending. To me, this ending turned out well cuz I did it with my family”
Eclipsa:(walks in on the scene) “It’s true. I felt like the cast of my show “Game of Thrones” were like my family and sadly” (sighs softly) “It’s ending too. I’m going to miss everyone there. It was so much fun, but I’ll be honest. I liked working here better. I loved my character and working with all these talented children, doing something cute and family friendly and being on Disney and of course, you Star”
Star:(looks around the people that she’s worked with for her show smiling and sniffles) “You guys are the best. I’m gonna miss you all” (her face lights up with an idea) “Wait! I wanna remember this moment!” (she pulls out her iPhone and starts waving her hand in the air) “Everyone! Gather around! I wanna get a picture!”
(Star holds her iPhone in the air with selfie mode on as she pushes in Marco, Tom, Jackie, Janna, Moon and Eclipsa together as Pony Head flies in closer and Star gestures for them to stick together as she walks off to grab more people)
Tom:”Ow” (turns to Janna) “You’re stepping on my boots!”
Janna:”Well scoot over!”
Pony Head:(pushes aside Marco) “Move over Karate Kid, I wanna be next to Star! This pic is gonna go viral!”
Marco:”I’m the star!”
Pony Head:”Yeah, co-star! There’s a difference!”
(Star comes in dragging Toffee who’s reluctant)
Toffee:(trying to pull off Stars hand from his arm) “Star! This is Armani!”
Star:”Oh Toffee, it’s a rental!” (she pushes Toffee in with the group and runs off to grab Starfan13 and Oskar who position themselves in the group photo with everyone ready and smiling. Stars about to take the picture when suddenly she stops) “WAIT! Wait! Wait! Wait! I’m missing some people!”
(the group groans as Star runs off to grab others. As they wait, Jack wraps her arms around Marco, Janna attempts to give the middle finger only for Tom to lower it down and glare at her shaking his head going “MmMmm” and Janna blaring back at him and Oskar giving the “Rock On!” sign. Star brings in River, Buff Frog, Alfonzo, Ferguson, Angie, Sensei, Rafael, Ludo, Brittany, Jeremy, Kelly, Mina, Hekapoo, Globgor and even Brian H. Kim and more importantly, Daron Nefcy herself who get into position next to their closest characters companions (ex.Alfonzo and Ferguson next to Marco) and Star gets in the center to finally take the picture)
Janna:”You know Star, there’s a poster of all of us in it, right!? I mean, it’s what’s saving the trouble for this”
Star:”Alright Everyone! Say, “Narwal Blast!”” (quickly takes the picture before they could say it) “Eat your heart out Ellen”
Marco:”Wait I think I blinked!”
Janna:”You suck”
Jackie:”Janna!”
Janna:”What!?”
Director Daron:(claps her hands to get everyone’s attention) “C’mon people! We need to clear out to prepare this place for party tonight!”
(the group breaks loose (except Daron) and walks away as the camera crew leave along with the make-up artists, special effects team and the script writers. Star stands in place watching everyone depart smiling and waving)
Moon:(waves at Star) “Bye dear! See you tonight”
River:(waves) ”Bye TV daughter!”
Eclipsa:”See you tonight sweetie!”
Globgor:”Bye”
Janna:(holds up a peace sign) “I’ll see you tonight at 7!” (winks at Star for the reference)
(Star gives a thumbs up)
Daron:”Star!” (Star looks up to Daron) “I just wanna say thank you for being “Star Butterfly”. There was a reason I named the character “Star” and that’s cuz seeing your character, Sue Heck, an optimist and eccentric girl going through life no matter how God awful it got, made me wanna create a girl who was actually like that and making it better by giving her magical powers! So I saw your name in the credits, Star Sher, and I thought about my character and said, “I want her blossom and grow”. That’s when the word butterfly came to mind. Star Butterfly. I was like you once. Guess I just saw a bit of myself in you and wanted let that same little be do great things” (Star’s eyes light up) “I also wanna apologize for my outburst before our final shooting” (looks away embarrassed) “I was under a lot of pressure from making sure everything went perfectly and I guess I turned into a dragon lady or something. Heavy is the head that wears the crown” (makes a small laugh. Star’s face comes to a realization of that, but goes back to her smile for Daron) “I hope we’re okay so that we can have fun at the party tonight”
Star:”We’re great!”
(Daron was so touched, she hugs Star and Star quickly hugs her back. Daron gently breaks them apart and softly looks at Star)
Daron:”Thank you my rebel princess” (she lovingly puts her head on Stars head and then walks away. Star fondly watches her leave and heard Marcos voice)
Marco:”Star!” (Marco runs up to her followed by Pony Head, Jackie Tom, Shonda and Shinda) “Guess what!”
Star:(eagerly) “What!?”
Marco:”We get to choose the songs played at the party tonight! We can play whatever music we want!”
(they all cheer)
Shonda:(pulls out the records she and Shinda have been playing during the bloopers) “Which one should we play!”
Shinda:(enthusiastically) “OOh! OOh! OOh! I say-“
(Pony Head gasps and grabs the records with her teeth, slams them on the ground and smashes them with herself repeatedly with Star, Marco, Tom, Jackie, Shonda and Shinda staring at her as she does it)
Pony Head:(flies right in the twins faces) “NO MORE MUSIC FOR YOU TWO! I.have.HAD IT! You hear me!? Had it! I’m getting your parents!” (pushes the two ponies away away)
Marco:(points to the broken pieces of the record on the ground shocked) “Those were my records!”
(Toffee passes by to pick up his black jacket on a make-up chair)
Star:(runs up to Toffee whose texting on his iPhone (actually Toms iPhone since he confiscated it) to someone) “Hey Toffee! Toffee!”
Toffee:(looks up from Toms phone) “Hmm”
Star:(holds her hands behind her and looks down on the ground) “I just wanna say that I’m sorry I gave you a hard time during the show. Especially from “Battle for Mewni”. I just got so stressed with working on the show and all. Heavy is the crown and” (pauses) “And uh.......uhhhhhhh, whatever they call it. I mean, I was the star of the show, but you” (looks up and gestures to Toffee) “You were the real “Star”! For “Star vs. The Forces of Evil” How could I measure up to that!? Huh?” (laughs) “And I still do respect you! I just didn’t wanna us to part on bad terms. Sooooooooo, are we good?” (sheepishly grins)
Toffee:(stares at Star for a moment and then laughs) “Yeah, sure, we good”
(Stars face lights up)
Toffee:(chuckles) “I mean, I can’t tell you how stressed I was when I was on my show, “Dexter”. So yeah, I know the pressure of stardom and be toxic and you’re young, so it’s a lot harder on you I guess, but I still do respect you as well. From one “Star” to another”
(Star happily stares at Toffee then gives him a big hug that startles him. He’s bewildered by this sudden embrace, but then hugs her back)
Marco:(comes in with his arms wide open) “Hey, can I get some of that action over here!?”
Toffee:(looks sternly at Marco while hugging Star) “Back off Diaz, I’m still recovering from my shoulder injury”
(Marcos smiles disappears and he still keeps his arms wide open, but lowers them down. He hisses embarrassingly while scratching the back of his head remembering how he went too hard on him during his big punch on “Battle for Mewni”)
Toffee:(breaks free of Stars hug and goes into Marcos face with a creepy smile) “Surprise!”
(Marco screams and backs up)
(Toffee laughs and pulls Marco in under his arm giving him a nuggy)
Marco:(is scared at first, but eventually laughs) “Okay! Okay! Yes, we’re cool too!”
(Toffee lets go of Marco and Marco straightens out his hair)
Toffee:(turns to Star) “Oh and Star” (Star turns to Toffee) “Don’t think too “high and mighty” of me just cuz I’m a huge star. I’m not all that big. I don’t even have a Star on Hollywood! I’m still person like you and Marco and everyone else”
Star:(sing song voice) “Okay”
(Toms iPhone beeps and Toffee looks down at the screen. He puts the phone away and starts to walk out swinging his jacket on his shoulder)
Toffee:”Well, see you kids tonight, I gotta go”
Marco:”Where you going?”
Toffee:”Heading over to my agents place. He’s got my tickets for Ontario later”
Star:”Ontario?”
Toffee:”Yeah, I’m flying over there to Canada to shot a new movie (“In the Shadow of the Moon”) where I play a detective” (in a stereotypical Canadian accent) “Eh” (he laughs to himself)
(Toffee walks away typing in Toms iPhone he and Tom runs after him)
Tom:”Hey, Toffee!” (we hear him from off-screen) “Can I have my phone back now”
Toffee:(heard off-screen) “No”
Jackie:(gasps in realization) “Marco!” (puts her hand in his shoulder) “We gotta go too!” (runs out to the studio door) “Bye Star!”
Marco:(his eyes widen in realization) “Oh yeah!” (runs after Jackie)
Star:(calling out) “Where you going!?”
Marco:(stops at the door where Jackie already ran out from to turn back to Star) “Oh” (laughs. Points behind him with his thumb) “I need to go help Jackie rehearse for her role on “She-Ra”
Star:”Oh! Right! I love that show!”
Marco:”Yeah, well, see you at the party tonight!” (runs out the door)
(Star smiles as she hears Marcos footsteps fading away. She was all alone now. Felt like only yesterday it was the premiere of her show with cast members off-screen watching, the special effects crew making all that glitters (literally) fill the air with magic and praise the show gained from the fans. It was all over now, but Star was happy that she got to try this new show and how it became a hit like her show, “The Middle”. She looked around and saw everything in the large studio quiet and colorful. The light up vanity mirrors, the camera stands and sound equipment and finally, the set of “Earthni” with the green screen in the back. Star found it hard to believe this place passed off as fantasy dimension full of eccentric make believe creatures with backstories. It would all be cleaned up soon. The custodians will be here to pick up everything and redecorate it for the shows farewell party tonight. Star saw a few things that needed to be cleaned up and walked over to do so)
Star:(singing softly to herself)🎶She's a princess winning battles, Through the break of dawn🎶(pushes a chair away from to form a passage. She walks over to the light up vanity mirrors)🎶Don't worry when it's night, 'Cause she will keep the lights on!🎶(turns off all the vanity mirrors. She walks towards the studio doors, but stops half way there to pick up a props box and move it to the other side)🎶Ohhhh, there goes a shining star!🎶(walks towards the studio doors again and stops a quarter of the way to turn off the set lights on “Earthni”) 🎶Evil won't deter her🎶 (echoes the back-up singers) 🎶(No, sir!)🎶🎶(gets to the studio doors, but stops in between it) 🎶’Cause magic flows through her🎶 (echoes the back-up singers again) 🎶(Star Butterfly!)🎶 (slowly looks back at the studio shedding a tear)🎶She is a shining staaaaaaar!🎶(she sighs wholeheartedly getting a good look at it and lastly, flicks off the ceiling lights with the room now dark. Star turns back and closes the door)
The End
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Psst, hey, you! Want a Steven Universe hot take?
Words: Too damn many Summary: It’s a Steven Universe hot take about hurting connie, and how it ties into the show, the original Steven Universe, the lack of filler, and Steak Dinners. Warnings: Longe boi, a bit of a text wall but I do use paragraphs so it’s not awful I guess? A lot of talks about filler and stuff at the beginning.
ALSO I SHOULD POINT OUT this isn’t, like, some sort of SU critical circa 2017 post. I have qualms with the show, which are discussed, but overall, I think it’s pretty good stuff. Please be aware of that. I’m not gonna say it’s the worst thing on the planet because it’s not.
UNDER THE CUT:
Before we get into the meat of the conversation, I need to tell you where I’m coming from.
I have...strange feelings about Steven Universe.
It came out when I was starting High School, when I was bingeing cartoons like nobody’s business because peer pressure for years had made me repulse them. I didn’t care much about the deeper meanings of the show at the time, if I wanted to do deeper meanings I could go back and watch ATLA or those Rebecca Sugar episodes of Adventure Time, or OTGW. This was a bunch of magic space rocks fighting other magic space rocks! I was SO down!
Near the middle, though, and closer to the end, I guess I got a little...bored with it? I dunno what it was; well, I do now, but at the time I had no clue. it just seemed...a little over the top. I guess I had signed up for something like early Adventure Time, or the early parts of any given ATLA season. It became more of a drama than anything else, like a hundred Zuko and Iroh moments rolled into one, emotional punch after emotional punch.
This isn’t the most sound assessment, no, and current me would be...a little annoyed at best if a show started doing this today. Sure, one could make the argument that I sound super hypocritical in retrospect, as I’m a huge fan of She-Ra and Infinity Train, but for every ‘Mermysteries’ in She-Ra there’s a ‘Roll With It’, and Infinity Train’s seasons are 5 nights long, perfect for punch after punch, but on Steven Universe? For every ‘Mirror Gem’, there was a...’Gem Harvest’. Which, sure, it was alright, but c’mon, calling an episode where we meet an entirely new character, even if only for a moment, filler, is a bit of a stretch. Filler is like ‘Always BMO Closing’ or something. And that hits the bone of the weird part here, does Steven Universe even have filler?
The whole 'no true filler’ idea is one of those things that sounds great on a show, but falls flat, because when people complain about filler, it’s complaining about bad filler, not the presence of it in general. If I get a steak and fries, and the fries are bad, I’m not complaining because they’re fries, I’m complaining because they’re bad fries. She-Ra is a good porterhouse with great fries. Infinity Train and OTGW are filet mignon with lobster tail, not really filler, but perfect in a way. Near the end, and really, for me, all the way through, Steven Universe felt more like a strip steak with no sides, just a little bit of A1.
Isn’t this post about Connie, SUF, and how that all works?
Yes, it is. We’re getting there.
Steven Universe Future has been all emotional roller coasters the whole way through, seemingly. I’ll be honest, I’m not as into it as I was into Steven Universe, for a few reasons. Mostly, it expands on that no filler problem, big time. Nothing feels like it can be out of place, there’s even an episode titled the ‘Very Special Episode’, a slang term used in TV to talk about stuff like stranger danger specials, or the Golden Girls tackling the issue of gay marriage, etc. With the tense build of Steven’s mental health issues, I honestly wouldn’t have it any other way. Whether I like it or not, it’s doing what it needs to do, and I’ll acknowledge that it does exactly what it sets out to accomplish.
So in Steven Universe, the main conflict is Steven and his past, and trying to convince people that no matter who someone is, they can be redeemed. It’s not a space war epic like I thought it would be (I used to be angry about that, but, just like the show said, people change, and now I have different qualms with it) but it does really well with that. So what is the conflict in SUF?
Steven has lost his raison d’etre.
He’s going through that most existential of crises; “I’m at the top of the mountain, now what?”
NOW WE FINALLY GET TO THE HOT TAKE!
The reason I brought up any of what I just did is to link it back to this heinous, outright stupid idea that Steven would just, like, I dunno, choke slam Connie or whatever you sick monsters wanna see.
All of this No Filler, Everything is important stuff told us a lot about the characters. After all, it’s hard not to have character development in a show environment like that. Steven was shown as someone who genuinely cared, a lot, about everyone around him. He almost over-empathizes, to the point where he’s able to see the good in a bunch of arguably fascist space rocks voiced by former broadway divas. As much as I dislike the show for only ever being weighty and never having any ‘true filler’ or whatever, the reason it did that makes stylistic sense; Steven has no filler in his life. He’s way too empathetic. He cried when he found out that Snakes don’t have arms, for christ’s sake!
As annoying as it felt watching it, it’s an unfortunate reality that some people are forced to live their lives that way, empathizing with anyone and everyone they meet, and it hurts, and when you fix all the problems people had, but they suddenly leave?
That fucking hurts. And that’s how I think we ended up here.
That’s also why I think he’s not gonna hit Connie. At least, not purposefully.
Steven has pretty openly expressed feelings for Connie before, and while we haven’t seen a romance line yet, it’s pretty obvious it’s slated to at some point.
Now, if Steven can empathize with Space Stalin™, he can empathize with a girl he’s had a crush on for years at this point for going away to seek higher education. Sure, these pink outbursts are getting to him, as recent leaks may have shown, but I doubt that hurting Connie would crop up. It goes against a lot of the show’s themes of community and healing. But most of all?
It’s just crappy writing.
The show has had its fair share of clunkers in my opinion, as every show longer than 2 seasons is bound to have. Remember that episode where Nanefua runs for mayor? Or how about the one with Lars and the Off Color gems where they’re there for a grand total, of, like...the opening?
None of those were terrible episodes though, just...forgettable. It’s not as if Steven just pulls out a chain gun and starts blasting in one of them. That would be stupid, and garbage, and a copout to generate ratings. Punching Connie would be like killing Brian on Family Guy; no weight, just shock. Flash in the pan. A bomb going off with no warning, no suspense. A jump scare.
And that’s why I talked about the whole No Filler thing, and how it annoys me to no end, but how it’s necessary and worth while!
No one would ever have spent this whole time building up Steven as an over empathizer with an Atlas personality just to have him punch someone whose been his love interest since 2013.
We would never spend an entire show cycle building someone up as caring too much about the people around him for his fatal flaw to be punching his girlfriend. The no filler thing was a noble, brave idea, that in my opinion fell over. But damn, did it do great things for the characters on the show, even if it sacrificed pacing.
It should come as no surprise by now that the no filler thing, to me, is a bit of a stretch. Of course there was filler; sure, lore gets expanded, but when it’s not expanded well it just feels like the writers aren’t quite sure what to do (hmm, maybe they’d be better at filler if they’d written some beforehand...).
But it portrayed the lead amazingly well, giving us a world through his eyes, and set up an amazing story about someone who cared too much about a world that was starting to care less and less about him. Setting us up for an amazing show, whether I want to watch it that often, or not.
Let’s face it, it may not be my favorite meal, but sometimes you just can’t beat a strip steak with a little bit of A1.
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better better 💛 🐻 🍯
너의 그 사랑만이 멈춰있던 날 다시 뛰게 해.
[ Only your love could make the me who was stuck run again. ]
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TW: if you squint, there's very mild mentions of child abuse, physical and verbal
↪ group: DAY6
↪ member: Yoon Dowoon
↪ genre: idk its not really fluff either, (IM SORRY ANON IT GETS VERY FLUFFY AT THE END) but its 90 percent angst free LOL ??? this story is too out of the ordinary to categorise lol ☀️
↪ request: hey admin n! can i have a fluffy day6 dowoon scenario where he cheers you up from a bad day in school? thank you!
↪ A/N: I really wanted to write something for Dowoon, thank you so much, anon who requested this!! I somehow thought of the spiritual love I receive everyday from God (I'm christian to all of y'all who dk, haha) so I think this story will hold a special place in my heart!!! also, the story plot is largely inspired by the story by 九把刀 - 等一个人咖啡,so if u understand Chinese please give it a read, its a nice story uwuwuwuuwwu
edit i am SO SORRY THIS WAS WAY LONGER THAN IT SHOULD HAVE BEEN LIKE the word count will probably be like idk 8000 by the time i finished this when u requested for a scenario lolz i got way too invested I apologise...I wrote almost everyday for a whole week I regret getting carried away oh my gosh, but I hope you enjoy this, I really worked very hard on this!!!
ps im sorry if jihyo is ooc, never written nor know twice well but id say I'm a fan of their music hehe
______________________________________
It was about 7AM in the morning when all of your batch gathered around at the assembly place in your school, and between occasional yawns that slipped off your mouth (thanks, end of year exams), you and your friends were talking about the happenings of yesterday as you walked there, laughter often breaking out in your little group when there were bits of humour in the story.
You all made your way down the stairs and into the assembly grounds, resembling a large, aquamarine blue quilt that took up an obnoxious part of the school-where the netball competitions and other important events were held.
Seemingly following suit with the shade of blue on the ground, the lack of sun in the morning painted everything with a small hint of lighter, sky blue itself, such that it all looked like one entity but distinctive in its own individual colours.
Realising this with your own dark ringed, half opened eyes, you couldn't help but feel the ends of your lips angle up slowly-the world was so beautiful, you couldn't help but think as you knelt down to sit onto the rugged surface of the big, enveloping area-whoever had created it for all its small but still amazing features was exceptionally genius.
As your eyes scattered around the place, still immersed in a world of your own-a shrill screech of a whistle pulled you back to the boredom of school life, and with a slight, but petty annoyance you shifted your back to face the PE teacher who had just walked over, and subsequently, so did the other students around you.
He stood in front of your whole batch, clad in a black, torso hugging sports shirt and fluorescent pink shorts-which immediately, triggered a few giggles for your batch, but the spoilsport of a whistle just had to ruin the fun again, motioning for everyone else to shut up.
You sighed when you saw the creases in his forehead, and the unmistakeable hint of a frown on his tan, oval face-this was not going to be too good of a day.
You just hoped that he wasn't going to make all of you do 4 rounds around the school today. Running, needlessly to say really was not something a person like you liked to do-sweat all over your face, springing pimples on your face, grasping for breath and literally collapsing in front of the whole class like a dead fish because of how energy deprived you were? You were going to pass, thanks.
"Now, class!" his low baritone rasped out to the class, carrying a strong sense of dominance in it like he was speaking to a platoon in the army, "We have a group of alumni today, coming back to visit and help all of you train for your Physical Education Examinations next year." At that, his outstretched wrists flicked backwards loosely, gesturing for the alumni to come, and he continued again, "They are alumni that were our top students from last year, and did exceptionally well. They have all took time out of their 4 month break after examinations to train all of you, so please be nice, and don't be so unruly."
As soon as he had said that, the class started breaking out into applause as the five students stepped into everyone's field of vision.
Your eyes widened when you saw the bones, standing out like rocks in the their toned, fit arm and leg muscles-even the girls' thighs that was supposedly, the most unattractive part of everyone's body had 'walls' lining their lean, hourglass figure. Confident smiles were plastered to most of their faces, with a few tired exceptions-heck, one even had a smirk playing on their face as he scanned the class below him.
Inwardly, as you heard the laughs of the alumni that had aroused from the awing of their juniors below them, you couldn't help but shudder inside-there was no, freaking way that you were going to look like that after training with them.
You didn't want to, anyway-that meant rigorous hours of training and stitches 'basking' under the unhelpful, boiling cover of the sun.
Just then, as you were contemplating the choices of schools you were going to transfer to to abstain from the torture that was soon to come, the guy with the playful smirk on his face had already grabbed a microphone, and was preparing to speak. Translucent frames for glasses hid his small, almost demure but yet somehow condescending eyes-you weren't getting that great of a vibe from him.
"Hello, Class 3D9, I am your senior, Park Jaehyung, and I'm here to train all of you for the exams, since all of you don't seem that excited for it, judging by your expressions." His features softened considerably from a look of mirth to one of gaiety as he started to speak in a 'half air half voice' kind of way-rasping yet not quite, and you rolled your eyes.
It wasn't really that you disliked him much, but you could already picture him being the heartthrob of the girls in class-the gleam in their previously irritant, but now smitten eyes was so undeniably revolting.
They all nodded furiously at the last sentence, and he began to laugh a bit (attracting more squeals from the girls, much to your dismay) before speaking again, this time with the narrow of an eyebrow and a more serious, raised voice. "I know all of you might be thinking that this is very pointless, and stupid. I know. None of you really want to be an athlete in the future, and I understand. But I really hope all of you can treat this seriously, because health in the long run is really very important, and I want all of you to take not only the PE finals but the entrance exam to college confidently, and healthily. Are all of you with me?"
Like how any motivational speaker would have done, there was an applied pressure at the last line, and soon, a long, unenthusiastic 'yes' drawled out of everyone's barely parted mouth.
You snickered a bit at the frown on Jaehyung's face when he heard it-he really should have known beforehand, that encouraging a class didn't consist of just one pathetic speech, and you started to doubt if he had really been from this school.
Let's face it, motivation really wasn't this generation's thing.
"Are all of you with me!" he rasped again, this time yelling into the microphone obnoxiously and poking a hole in your eardrums.
"YES!" the class shouted with increased volume to appease him.
Just please, don't shout into the microphone again, you whimpered inwardly.
At this, Jaehyung looked more or less satisfied (thank God), and with the small hint of a smile, he passed over the microphone to another guy, whose eyes first caught your own. They were delicately angled into the eyes of a fox, emanating a half elegant aura that still seemed to hint 'Let's have fun, everyone!' They fell into small crescents when he started to laugh at Jaehyung's incapabilities to lead the class, and the circles in his lean, rosy cheek bones spelt attractiveness at its finest.
With a sweet smile on his face, he held up the microphone to his mouth and started to talk. "Morning, class! Sorry if Jaehyung sounds like a bit of a drag. I know he has that student leader aura, but you can't blame him, he's always been burying his face in a book during recess-HEY!" The class, including him, started to erupt into waves of giggles when Jaehyung flicked his forehead, a faux anger playing on his arched eyebrows and widened, now not so small eyes. "FINE, fine, I'll stop! Anyway, hello Class 3D9, this is your cooler senior, Kang Younghyun, and I hope to train all of you to success in the exams. Thank you!" Younghyun proceeded to bow with the shy lift of his eyebrows, and everyone clapped.
"His real name is actually Brian, please ignore him." Jaehyung added in with a wink, earning a loud slap on the shoulder from Younghyun (with a subsequent yelp from himself) and more laughter from the juniors, yourself included. Your seniors seemed pretty chill and friendly, not like how you thought they would be.
But sadly, as they were supposedly goofing around too much, the PE teacher blew that stupid, ear-wrenching whistle of his, causing you to jump up in shock again. "Okay boys, lets finish this up quickly." he said curtly, strict gaze fleeting past the two boys and causing their playful charm to melt like ice in front of him.
As Jaehyung and Younghyun simultaneously did a long, 90 degree bow, mouthing 'sorry' repeatedly, you and quite a good majority of your other classmates sighed, inwardly feeling a tad deflated-looks like the rest of the introduction wasn't going to be that fun after all.
The introduction seemed to move past like rusted cogs, at least for just one part of it-the first girl who had greeted all of you sported two round, neat buns at the sides of her hair, complimenting her big, double lidded eyes and her elegantly curved, brightly smiling lips. The corners of her eyes bore a small fragment of the brighter sky above her, gleaming with confidence as she bowed politely, introducing herself to everyone in a more reserved way than the other two. Her name was Park Jihyo, and she had been in dance-which was quite a great feat, since dance was a niche co-curricular activity in your school, but not surprising at the same time, looking at her beautiful figure and slender, well toned arms.
As she talked, she slipped a few jokes there and then mid-conversation, not too much that the PE teacher had to cut in, but attempting to keep the class' attention on her afloat. Jihyo had an unmistakeable pleasant aura that seemed to infect everyone with her laugh, and from the bottom of your heart, you really wanted to befriend her-someone approachable and easy to talk to.
There was another girl next to her who was called Chaewon, with demure, yet youthful brown eyes and a serene smile. Similarly, she too was very friendly and talked with a very laid-back tone-but the problem was, that she talked a lot.
You didn't really mind it much when people talked a lot, but when they overdid it, it got kind of...boring.
Seemingly one hour later, your eyes struggled to remain parted mid-sentence as she went into a trite monologue about how grateful she was to stand here. By the time she was done you felt fatigue wrap around your head like a snake, till a deeper voice was suddenly amplified into the mic.
"H-Hello, I'm Yoon Dowoon, and-"
"I ate ants as a kindergartener." Jaehyung's unmistakeable airy voice cut in annoyingly, causing Dowoon's face to flush a big, rosy red whilst all of you chortled with a louder, more extreme laughter than before-and instantly, you became alive again as the mental image of a small boy swallowing the poor insect with the brightest smile sent you rolling onto the floor.
"He even gave a whole box to his teacher." came a rather unhelpful snicker from Younghyun, further fuelling the laughter and the blush on Dowoon's face.
You couldn't help but admit, that he was sort of cute when he was embarrassed, though-Dowoon had the small, but believing eyes of a child, with two pretty, but not 'big enough that it protruded' kind of bags attached below them delicately. The gentle up curve of the sides of his big button nose was really attractive, and he had semi-big lips that pouted out like the small petals of a daisy.
Seeing Jaehyung's joking, almost condescending smirk resurface onto his face and look down onto Dowoon's expressionless eyes, which now refused to concentrate on anywhere but the floor was maybe, just maybe-sort of sad.
Unlike Jihyo, you couldn't see even a small fragment of the sky in his eyes-it was as if someone had just painted his eyes brown and decided it would stay that way for the rest of the day.
Dowoon was too embarrassed to do anything else, and without even looking up, he passed the microphone to the PE teacher, whose nonchalant expressions didn't seem to care much either.
Inside, a pang of guilt rose up to your chest, and you unconsciously started to frown along with him as you noticed how uncomfortable his hardened features had looked, amongst all the giggles thrusting through his gentle heart.
Being known by 'the guy who ate ants as a kindergartener' to everyone, instead of who he really was mustn't have been a very nice feeling, especially to his juniors-who was supposed to look at him as a superior and a leader figure.
Just as you were debating on whether or not to ask them to stop, a scream broke out through the assembly grounds, shutting everyone up with a magic swipe of its hand.
Of course, it had to be the stupid whistle.
"Are we here to joke, or train? Get up, all of you! We're going to run today." the PE teacher's obnoxiously booming, demanding voice rang into everyone's ears unpleasantly, the catalyst to the small groans of dismay breaking out amidst the class that was already preparing to stand and walk to the field.
"Can you believe he actually did that?" your friends approached you in a fit of giggles as all of you approached the running track, with a new topic to revolve your conversation around.
Just that, this time, you didn't really want to join in.
It wasn't the best of days after all, you thought with a small hang up in the side of your chest. Out of all things, after seeing a poor boy getting bullied by his own friends, you had to do the stupid 4 rounds that all of you did practically every week.
As you braced yourself painfully for the sweating and fatigue that was to come, taking your rightful place behind the white tape attached to the floor marking the starting point- an unusually low cough brushed by your ears briefly, and instinctively, you whirled around.
You saw the big, believing eyes of a child again as you did so-it was Dowoon, and to your surprise, those eyes noticed your gaze and looked back.
Crap, he's really, very cute. you could feel your head lose some of its gravity and your heartbeat accelerating as he proceeded to smile after, the lift of his plump, daisy lips showing off his round, marshmallow-like cheeks.
"You okay?" his deep voice asked you gently, and you nodded with a small laugh, realising how much of a mess you must have looked in front of him for him to ask such a question.
"I should be the one asking you that. I'm sorry for laughing at you earlier."
With that, his smile angled further into a laugh of his own, and Dowoon replied, "It's okay. I'm used to it already."
You could already feel your forehead crease in slight disbelief, as you stared at the sheepish falter in his smile and recalled how unhappy he was earlier on.
"That's not true-"
BEEP!
The PE teacher's whistle had already gone off, and Dowoon, much to a top runner's expectations, was already speeding far ahead of you with a steady, confident pace as his brown curls bounced gently under the force of his movements.
Looking at nowhere but the front, he looked determined to finish what he had started-something you could probably only dream of having.
"What's taking you so long? Hurry up!" the PE teacher yelled at you, averting your attention away from your senior and back to your miserable plight.
You sighed with a slightly defeated energy, giving him a perfunctory nod as you too, began to move towards the finish line.
That is, if you could even make it.
As you ran, you made a mental note to never use that stupid whistle ever again.
________________________________________________
31st December, 2018.
"Se-second place in class? No way, you must have heard wrongly. Second place girls-wise, maybe..." you insisted disbelievingly, feeling the air brush against your throat as you inhaled sharply, hardly able to fathom the news that had just been broken to you.
Contrary to what your stubborn mentality refused to accept, your deskmate Sungjin just nodded again, the smile on his face laced with a small hint of amusement-he too, probably foresaw that you wouldn't believe such a thing.
"I'm serious, man. It came as a shock to everyone yesterday as well." he said, hiding a gentle, but knowing giggle in 'serious'. "You really have Dowoon to thank, look at you go."
You stared at the suggestive crease in Sungjin's big, pretty eyes, not bothering to hide the sarcasm dripping from your smile (very well knowing that someone like Sungjin was capable of playing such pranks on you).
"And where can I get more reliable information?" you demanded, refusing to tear away your gaze from his, and noticing the added pressure in 'reliable', Sungjin couldn't help but break into a more relaxed smile as he lifted his hands up in surrender.
"Fine, go see for yourself, just don't hit me, please."
He pointed a finger at the notice board, littered with numerous sheets of construction paper from all the projects your class had been assigned this year, almost like a peacock's feathers unfolding.
However, there was one paper that stood out from the rest, dull, white and boring-but maybe not so, once the truth was revealed.
In big, bold letters, it spelt:
PHYSICAL EDUCATION EXAMINATION RESULTS: CLASS 3D9.
The thought of knowing your results had thrown all thoughts of replying to Sungjin out of the window as you could hear the squeak of your shoe soles speed across the classroom towards the notice board.
Frantically, as the long table of students revealed a clearer picture of itself to you, you decided on looking at all the names from the bottom to the top-no better way to set yourself up for disappointment than to face it sooner.
It had been a while of panning up, and your squatting legs were getting tired; though knowing full well that you looked the part of an idiot while doing all this. You couldn't find your name anywhere on the board, and as your legs slowly broke its position to ascend further, the anxiety in your chest seemed to rise along with it-what if you had done so bad a job, you couldn't even get a position?
What if Dowoon had seen it and would never talk to you ever again? What would your parents say when they knew...
Just as your imagination was trailing all the way off from your real goal, the truth imprinted in cold, black ink debunked all of the scenarios in your head.
Your name was right next to the position, second place.
"So you weren't lying!" was the first thing you did as you shouted out of instinct from the opposite position of the classroom. As many other students turned their heads to you in slight frustration, you could hear Sungjin's sniggers direct back at you in response, which was yeah, albeit sort of annoying-but nothing could really smother the joy you were feeling at this moment.
Your eyes lingered for a long time onto the placing that you had gotten, and you recalled all of Dowoon's practice sessions with you-how he had drawn out almost 90% of his 4 month break just to train with you after school, how you had nearly tripped over a hurdle on the running track and causing both of you to laugh, how he had made you draw out a meal plan for him to monitor your food intake everyday-you'd never thought you'd say this, but you really, really missed it.
As you thought back to the believing eyes of a small child, looking up at the boundless sea of a sky-the clouds floating past resembling well his sweat glazed cheeks, you realised-how much you'd miss his presence that pushed forward, reaching out to the you who couldn't be bothered with most things, his care that reached out to the you who didn't care for yourself-not necessarily in a romantic way.
The thought of getting Dowoon's number had very stupidly, slipped off your mind amidst all the joy he had brought you, and your good mood was surprisingly diminished by a small tinge of guilt as you returned to your desk.
You regretted it. A lot.
"All those training sessions with her partner must have helped a lot, huh? The one who ate ants in kindergarten, I have to laugh." Suddenly, the silent, but tangible hiss of a group of girls fluttered past your ears, and without thinking, a small sense of anger blazed up in your heart as you stood up with a jolt.
How dare they say such a thing about such an amazing person.
Your chair did a loud, ugly screech against the floor as it happened, and the girls looked to you, slightly perplexed-that was, until you grabbed onto their wrists, and locked eyes with them-with a fire in your eyes that you yourself hadn't recognised.
"Don't talk about your senior like that." you deadpanned, with the motivation of anger that had backed you up well.
Just then, you noticed the arch of your eyebrows, and the anger in your movements reflected in their cowardly gazes, and for a second, you wondered-if the you that was acting like this, was really you.
"Sorry." was all they could manage awkwardly, a sheepish, yet somehow insincere smile dripping from their lips as they slipped away to their own desks-people nowadays just loved to talk about others behind their backs, and you sighed.
Only your love could make the me who was stuck in a rut run again.
_____________________________________________________________
"You got second place in the finals? Okay. Well, good for you, but I don't think you'd come to me just for that." the PE teacher slurred his words sharply, suddenly looking up at you from the bend of his glasses with a dull expression in his eyes. He seemed way more fascinated in the papers lulled over by his wrists than your dumb questions, and in all honesty, it was getting sort of annoying.
The lazy whirr of the fan spun over your head, fitting perfectly into the awkward silence between you and the teacher as you twiddled your thumbs awkwardly, trying to figure out a way to paraphrase such a stupid request-not daring to meet his steely gaze that somehow, stubbornly refused to tear away from yours.
He was right, however; the last thing you'd ever do was to go into the lion's den without an ulterior motive.
No one really dared to talk to the PE teacher about anything else besides school.
Plus, you could already imagine all the worst case scenarios if he was in a particularly bad mood today, and...let's just say that detention would potentially be the second best option.
He really wasn't the best person to talk to.
But in this case...
You looked up at the spinning blades of the fan again, and felt the swirl of cool air blow through your hair gently.
Maybe he was.
At such a comforting touch, you tried your best to ignore the pounding headache dragging you down; and with painstakingly mustered courage, you spoke.
"T-Teacher, do you have Dowoon's number? Like, the one who was our senior?"
Regret kicked in the second you had spoke of Dowoon's name, and you could literally feel your temples and limbs lose all sense of gravity as your reputation crashed to the floor. You could feel your heartbeat go into allegro, pounding onto every organ in your body as the PE teacher looked up with the most unreadable expression on his face.
Sweat emitted disgustingly from your scalp as your chest rose and fell back in waves, failing terribly to compose yourself. This is it, you dreaded your indelible fate that was to come as the PE teacher raised his eyebrows-you were barely standing up already, and you could feel your kneecaps wobble unhelpfully under the tendrils of anxiety.
I'm doomed for life, Dowoon's gonna think I'm a stalker, and-
"Hahahaha."
Laughter rolled out in the depth of that intimidating voice, like coffee spilt over a cleanly lacquered table.
You felt your eyes widen as you looked up at the teacher again, still grasping for breath as your heart refused to stop beating-after all, collapsing on the spot seemed like the best path in such an awkward situation.
Especially when he looked at you with amusement twinkling in the corners of his slit-shaped eyes.
"So, what next? You're asking, me? To help you with your half baked attempt of asking a senior out on a date?" he snarled sarcastically, getting out of his seat and approaching you. The corners of his mouth tugged at a smirk, baring his set of sharp teeth; the jaws of a wolf, that spelt warning at its finest, and in all your shock, you recoiled back.
You didn't think this was how it would end up; no, not like this.
Just then, you felt a hand arrest your wrists tightly, digging holes in your skin.
The pain from the wolf's claws amplified your vocal cords as you screamed, causing all the other teachers out there to look at you from their desks, and inside, you wanted to cry; you had never been humiliated so bad in your entire life.
"In your dreams."
Just like that, with the help of a brute force you were mercilessly thrown out of the staff room, and before you could even put a foot on the floor to stabilise yourself you heard a loud bang behind you-followed by the even more painful sound of the lock seizing the entrance of it.
You got up, slightly blank, slightly hollow, slightly lost-as you walked a bit further, heart feeling heavy with all the baggage in your chest-before the feelings got hold of your throat, and tumbled out through your eyes unashamedly.
You were way too sad to hide any further.
Pathetically, to do all you could to mask the feelings that had crept up onto you, through the not so fair play of fate; you held a wrist to your face as you sprinted back to class, with a scar zipped across it, just as it had done for your broken heart.
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"I'm sorry for what happened today...but I'm happy that senior was able to bring you so far." he barely managed, with his smooth, soft voice that seemed to skim lightly over the atmosphere of the café; just like the soft cream that had been drizzled meticulously over the cup of coffee on the table.
You weren't taking it, the coffee that he had made for you not too long ago. Not really that you had anything against him, no-definitely not your caring, gentle coworker, but you didn't really have the mood to drink anything as of now...You sighed briefly, dusting your apron to keep yourself preoccupied, but still not managing to let off all the steam in your body.
The incident had very admittedly, left you scarred; very literally and mentally. Leftover embarrassment was still tugging at the corners of your heart, begging to be attended to while you tried your best to shrug it off, and walked to the counter to unlock the cashier; the cheery ring of the bell above the door had struck at a rather unconventional time, and a customer was already walking in.
It wasn't very fair that they'd have to put up with your emotional baggage when they were here to get a drink, maybe even to destress and wind down for the day.
"Pil-ah, it's okay, I don't really want a drink as of now." you played it off as calmly as you could, slotting the key into the box and letting it slide open with a click. "You can drink it or something, you don't look too energised yourself."
A disappointed whine echoed back in response to your lousy excuse; there was no way Wonpil was going to believe such a stupid reply, and you could already anticipate his nagging voice as he opened his mouth.
"Heyyyyy, come on...don't be like this, I've known you for so long already. You've got to take care of yourself, even when you're sad."
The last line got you hard, and as you saw the customer's eyes widen in judgement behind her mop of ashy bangs, you couldn't help but glare back at him.
"Wonpil, I said I was okay." you deadpanned with added pressure, however, subsequently feeling guilt crawling onto your nerves after realising how mean that had sounded. His features had softened considerably, with a slightly hurt look in his big, innocent eyes, and you didn't really want to hurt anyone else when you yourself had been hurt enough.
"I'm sorry, just-I'm tired from today." you sighed helplessly, having been pushed into a corner, and being his understanding self, Wonpil nodded back with concern laced in his seemingly nonchalant smile.
After making sure everything was more or less alright, you hastily attended back to the customer, who was looking slightly frustrated with how long you were taking-and after she had ordered her iced americano, she looked a little more satisfied as she took a seat by the table nearest to the window.
It wasn't surprising; the weather today was warm. Lances of golden sunlight had dropped by the café, gracing its interior in its crisp, evening glow, and very miserably, laughing at your bad mood that contrasted with it.
"Are you okay now?"
You turned around to see Wonpil, eyebrows raised, hands rested in the pockets of his apron; and a rare, but serious look in his eyes as he prepared to listen to you.
As much as you didn't want him to worry over you, you knew how stubbornly insistent he was with getting things off your chest, so nevertheless, you opened your mouth-wondering what you had done to deserve his grace at the back of your mind.
"I-It's nothing really, it's just-" you exhaled, breaking into a nervous box smile as you ran a hand through your hair, barely having the right state of mind to continue, "I really wanted to thank him for his kindness and how he cared for my growth so selflessly, but apart from being so embarrassed by the teacher, not being able to do that anymore-it makes me feel so, so bad, knowing that I was never able to do anything for him, because I really, really miss him, and-"
"Don't say anymore. I understand."
You felt Wonpil's hand descend onto your back, like the touch of a small, but pretty little butterfly as it fluttered over the expanse of your spine, caressing it gently and hushing your shaking nerves.
All the thoughts had miserably, coaxed your feelings forward, and without knowing, you had started to cry again as you held your palms to your face-trying your best not to cry too loudly as you let out small, uncontrollable sobs.
"T-Thank you so much." you choked awkwardly, not knowing any better way to express your gratitude, and even in the darkness of your closed eyes, you could already picture Wonpil's relaxed, comforting smile playing on the sides of his face as he chuckled softly.
Just then, a cough cut in, putting a halt to your sobs and causing both of you to turn to the customer.
"Um...I'm sorry to interrupt this moment, but can I have three iced lattes? Please?" he said, carrying a half air, half voice tone-and with the guidance of your instinct your head immediately shot up from your palms.
There was only one person you knew with such a voice-the one you heard when you had first met the school alumni.
"P-Park Jaehyung?" you yelled instinctively, and your own eyes revealed the truth to you quickly-lean, rosy cheeks, big lips, small, droopy eyes, that were now widened into large circles as they stared back at you, with equally as much surprise in his gaze.
"Ohhhhh my! Y-You're the junior that trained with Dowoon a lot, right?" In his hearty voice, he exclaimed almost disbelievingly, but causing you to blush furiously; it was rather weird being so closely associated with him. "And hey, don't be rude-how dare you call a senior by their full name." he added on teasingly, and both of you laughed.
"I think I'll make the drinks for today-you definitely need to catch up with him, someone might be there waiting for you." Wonpil's voice said behind you understandingly, and you said a quick thank you with a smile before walking over to Jaehyung's seat.
"Oh, sorry for my impoliteness, Your Highness, Park Jaehyung, my queen-does this make it better now?" you retorted quickly, with a cheeky smirk on your face and triggering a gasp from him.
"Excuse me? Your audacity? Oh, and by that guy's sound, you sound like you're only here to see Dowoon, how sad-he isn't here, because I'm the most significant out of everyone there." he snickered back, laughing even harder when you stuck out your tongue back at him pettily-but to your surprise, it didn't last very long.
"Jaehyungie-hyung, don't be so mean! I'm here, hi! I haven't seen you in so long, are you doing okay?" a deep voice exclaimed, causing your jaw to drop even further, if that was even possible-and your feelings seemed to arrest all the air in your chest, just for a second-when you once again, saw the big, believing eyes of a child and his kind, untainted smile.
It was the boy that had spent countless hours under the sun, pushing you towards your goals endlessly.
It wasn't just any person, a random school alumni that had came to their transit stop for a while to leave again-it was Dowoon, Yoon Dowoon, of all people that you could have seen on that miserable day of yours.
It seemed almost intangible, yet so palpable as you ran to him, calling his name, as your hands managed to even hug his taller figure again-you could have nearly cried when you felt his bigger palm crash against your back with sincerity, and while you heard Dowoon's deep voice roll out a long string of laughter, commenting jokingly, "Man, I never knew a girl would miss me so much," you sort of wanted to smack him-yet was definitely in awe of the fact that you could hear that laughter again.
You'd never think that you would have heard it ever again.
"Shut up, I'm just here because you got me a second place position in running, loser." you giggled it off coolly, but failing terribly to hide the happiness stupidly written all over your face as Dowoon's smile angled up further, wearing his pride proudly on his sleeve as he gave you a high five.
"Really? Oh my gosh, that's so amazing! I'm so proud of my student." he laughed, childlike eyes widening in happiness and amplifying his innocence. "You deserve it man, you trained so hard for the test-definitely more commitment than I think you would have had."
"Ow, thanks a lot for the last comment, jeez, alright, I know I suck." you jutted out your lips in faux sadness, clutching your heart to your chest-but quickly remembering why you were so happy to see him again, you hastily added, "But thanks anyway, for guiding me. Couldn't have done it without you, taking so much time off your break."
There. I finally said it, you thought happily, allowing yourself a small grin when Dowoon rejected your praises quickly, hurriedly saying, "No, no, I didn't really do anything," and starting to ramble on about how you had done so much more to deserve it-his eyes got even bigger when he was in slight shock, and he looked the part of a small, innocent child more than ever.
"And oh, right." Dowoon suddenly spoke up amidst the topic of running, grabbing your attention. You couldn't help but giggle when he was about to open his mouth to speak, but instead-shut it again and started tugging the edges of his hair, mouthing things to himself with eyes squeezed together tightly-probably a long string of Jaehyung's 'motivational quotes.
A part of your heart fluttered at the purity his very being exuded-he was really, very cute.
But in all your mirth, you couldn't help it-you absolutely had to smack him.
"Yoon Dowoon, hurry up!" you snapped quickly, however with a cheeky smile that showed your real intentions. Dowoon was momentarily taken aback-but his features quickly softened after, when he realised you were joking.
"Sorry for being such a big mess, it's just..." he barely smiled softly, breaking out into further nervous laughter when Jaehyung and Younghyun started to beat his back repeatedly.
"Do you want to go out with us today? We're going to my place further out from the city, and uh...we're setting off fireworks and having a picnic around there and playing our instruments and stuff-" There was probably going to be no end to his rambling if Younghyun hadn't gave him a loud slap on his back-at this point, the creases in his eyes and sheepish box smile showed it all; he was incredibly, incredibly flustered, and to your dismay-also incredibly endearing.
But still, you couldn't miss grabbing the opportunity to tease him. You lifted your lips into a smirk, rocking your shoes against the foot of the table as you cooed, "Aww, is my senior asking me out on a date? I'd love to go with you, aww, Dowoonie..." Everyone in the place, yes, including that grumpy female customer; broke into fits of giggles, raising the atmosphere of the previously still, 'cultured' public place as you chased after Dowoon, who was currently running away from you and ducked his head to hide under the table.
"Haha, why are you genuinely scared? I was only joking, you're so adorable." you grinned cheekily as you saw the blush dancing above his round, squishy cheeks and the embarrassment in his semi opened eyes, "I'll come with you. It's quite timely as well, since I've had quite a bad day at school...You know what, I'll say later. I gotta finish my shift first, Wonpil can't possibly do everything for me." you quickly added when you saw his eyebrows widen in slight concern, and with a good-natured, outstretched wrist you helped Dowoon up from the table; who was quick to stick out his tongue when he saw that Jaehyung and Younghyun were still unable to contain the mirth written across their faces.
"So, I'll see you at 7 then?" he smiled awkwardly, trying his best to ignore them, and you nodded back eagerly as you walked him out of the shop, and into the embrace of the outdoors again.
It seemed so coincidental, that even as Jaehyung and Younghyun had simultaneously tagged along behind the two of you and out into the open, the sun was only blazing through the gaps in Dowoon's curls-girdling the ridges of his shoulders, slicing through the sides of his face and oozing into the crevices of his warm, faith-filled eyes.
You smiled.
The world was so beautiful.
"See you later! Don't miss me too much!" you yelled out to Dowoon jokingly, as he and the other boys got into the small scooters they shared-and after he had yelled back with equal gusto, "Back at you!", the three scooters sped in the other direction; hopefully, anticipating the time where they came back the other way again, because you sure were.
_____________________________
unknown: It's 7 lol have you ended your shift yet?
you: Yeah I have! Are you Dowoon or...?
unknown: No I'm Brian #sike
unknown: Please ignore that, Jaehyungie-hyung took my phone, I don't know what he's doing with his weird hashtags again TTTTTTTTT
you: HAHAHAHA TELL HIM HE SUCKS
you: It's nice to have your number though...it sucked not being able to contact you :( How did you get it anyway?
Dowoon: Yeah hhhh Wonpil told me earlier :) I didn't think you would mind...so
you: Haha of course not! Anyway, are you on the way?
Dowoon: Wouldn't dare to be late, I'm already here hehe ^^
Your head shot up with excitement, nearly screaming as you saw three headlights blaze at you, from the curtain of darkness that had shrouded the city not too long ago. It was around autumn right about now, and you were rather sensitive to the cold-so seeing their warm presence was quite comforting.
Noticing that you were already hanging up your apron and practically bouncing to the kitchen to clean up, Wonpil couldn't help but throw a good-natured laugh at you. "Someone's excited for their first date." he remarked suggestively, cleaning the used table under the illumination of the light bulb hanging above him, and if it wasn't for the distance between both of you you would have probably kicked him in response.
"Shut uuuuup, there's literally 2 other boys goiiiiing." you whined, taking one of the leftover plates scattered across the sink and soaping it,"-The chances of you and I dating just about now is probably way higher than Dowoon...well, at least, I've known you for about a year plus right now, and him, 6 months at most." Wonpil couldn't help but giggle again at the uncertainty in your voice, and pettily, you stamped your feet on the floor.
"There's no way my future partner will be someone as mean as you, I take all my words back." you pouted jokingly, and subsequently, starting to laugh at yourself too-this conversation was going absolutely nowhere.
"Hey, but in all seriousness, I think you should just go. Don't make them wait too long, after all, one of them is your future boyfriend. I'll take care of wrapping up." Wonpil spoke up again, approaching you as he hung the cloth by the arch of the sink, and took the plate from your hand kindly-gesturing for you to wash your hands as he pointed to the tap.
With unmasked gratitude you smiled back at him, washing your hands briefly before taking your phone from the counter, "Thanks again, Pil-ah; and one more freaking thing, before I have to repeat it a second time, there is no way Dowoon is going to be my boyfriend." you remarked strictly, taking your school bag from the seat close to the door and slinging it over your shoulder excitedly-the events of tonight sounded incredibly fun.
"Thank me by inviting me to your future wedding!" Wonpil screamed in his high pitched voice when you opened the door, with the silvery chime of the bell above it-and this time, you really, really wanted to kick him, because outside, in the cold of the night Jaehyung was literally having the time of his life laughing at you and nodding back to Wonpil in agreement (one of the rare times where he actually sided him).
"Boys suck." you groaned pettily as Dowoon, with unmistakeable redness on his face gestured for you to get onto the back of his scooter, and Younghyun laughed.
"Doesn't seem that way with our Dowoonie, am I right?" his unmistakeable fox eyes shot you a small wink, which was sort of annoying-till he yelled smugly, "Good luck on being the first there with extra baggage! Not like anyone ever manages to triumph me anyway."
With that, Younghyun's scooter whizzed off, black coat and black locks fluttering behind him care freely, like how his very personality was-and soon, Jaehyung's scooter whizzed off too, the only thing behind him being his screams of "I'm GONNA BEAT YOU THIS TIME, BRIAN!", and you couldn't help but giggle a bit-the antics of those two were always so stupidly humouring.
"Sorry, they can be a bit of a public embarrassment." Dowoon laughed helplessly, shaking his head, and with a small smile you too shook your head; you were totally fine with them, and you'd even say that having them around was enjoyable. "-Jihyo and Chaewon are actually joining us later, but they weren't comfortable on the scooter, and we need someone to drive our instruments."
He paused for a bit to catch his breath, expelling a small puff of white before explaining, "I hope you're okay with it too-the scooter can feel very unbalanced at first, but I think you can handle it. This sounds incredibly awkward, but you gotta hold onto my waist, or you'll probably fall off within a second of me accelerating. Alright? Don't want to be responsible for your medical fees." Dowoon ended off with a joking crease in his smirk before he tossed you a neon yellow helmet from the basket of the scooter, and you nodded before putting it on.
He thrusted the key into the slot rather vigorously, and soon there was a dull roar from the engine behind you, and at his command, you awkwardly positioned your hands at his waist area. Admittedly, it felt pretty good, however-the coat that hugged his waist was made of soft, thick brown fabric, and it reminded you of your honey scented sheets back at home.
"Ready to ride?" he suddenly piped up, happiness laced in his deep, comforting voice, and you shot him a thumbs up sign.
"Always ready." you answered eagerly, and with a louder roar from the engine than before, both of you sped out towards the moon, that lay on the horizon of the shimmering sea.
________________________
You felt like you were riding on the brim of a cloud as the wind zipped through your hair and your jacket, starting to take flight and flutter violently behind you like kites in the sky. The feeling of being so close to land, yet so far up into the sky was so indescribable-gravity accelerated the thrill in your heart as Dowoon let out a long, unceremonious scream, cheering for the destination that wasn't too far from where you were.
"We're almost here!" he broke into a small gummy smile beneath the mop of his fluttering curls-they seemed to run across the border of his forehead, like running waves crashing beautifully onto the shore of a beach.
However, contrary to your imagination, the river that surrounded all of you in its big embrace was especially quiet-only letting small dribbles of light from the lighthouse float gently above the surface of the waves as both of you moved past, like bioluminescent lily pads that had descended from the glow of the moon. Mountains foreshadowed the road ahead mysteriously, painted in a darker shade of navy than the star speckled-sky above both of you, and the road to the picnic area was long and windy, snaking out into a canopy of trees relaxedly.
"You'd never get anything like this in the city." you said in slight awe, hands slowly finding themselves crawling up to Dowoon's broad shoulders as you dared to hoist yourself up, breaking up from your posture a tad bit, and as you felt one of his curls brush past your wrists, he laughed his slow, deep laugh in response.
"You're cute. I had a friend that didn't live in Busan as a kid, and he lived in the more country area-he would probably protest if he heard what you just said..." His deep voice trailed off softly, seeming to follow the snaking nature of the concrete road ahead of you. "-Nevertheless, I'm happy we're here. It's nice to ride out here with someone."
His eyes, which had now stopped displaying the light of the sun to catch the glow of the moon, was still as warm as ever in the cold weather. With undeniable faith tinting the light that ringed his eyes, half opened submissively and bringing out the semi rosy tint in his bags, the carefree smile on his lips and the uplift of his cheeks resembling floating clouds didn't fail to bring you back in awe again; it was as if all laws of astronomy tailed after his presence, and followed in the footsteps of his unbreakable belief.
"You're really very beautiful." the words left your lips through an airy whisper, and you were too busy staring at him again to even notice what you said until Dowoon spoke up again.
"U-Um...Me? R-Really? Thanks, I guess..." his eyes bore a different spark to it as they drooped shyly, like a mimosa recoiling at someone's touch-and as the truth dawned onto you slowly, mixed feelings of embarrassment and self-blame kicked in a little too fast-you really, really wanted to kick yourself for saying that.
Trying to salvage the situation, you quickly spoke up upon seeing his tilted eyebrows and the embarrassment written on his face. "I-I didn't mean that in a weird way, I'm sorry, not that I don't love your looks-or not that I don't love you any less, i-it's just-" you stuttered awkwardly, brain stupidly failing you at this crucial moment-but being a nice guy, Dowoon just shook his head briefly.
With a small smile breaking onto his face, not fully suggestive; yet not fully chaste, he responded in awe, big eyes widening with more faith than before.
"No, no, please don't apologise, because..." Dowoon spoke with the smile of reuniting with someone again, overly excited to articulate his words properly, "B-Because, I-"
"Dowoon! What's taking you so long, can you drive faster? You're almost there already, hurry up!" Jaehyung's voice suddenly broke through the world that only both of you shared, halting the climax of the story. He and Younghyun were on a higher end of a cliff, where the destination was, and you could already see their hands waving vigorously in your direction. Jihyo and Chaewon had arrived too-you could see two figures with long hair sit on a big red mat.
"What was that you were going to say?" you asked, as the scooter started to move again; both of you had been so immersed in conversation that you hadn't even realised that Dowoon stopped the vehicle to talk.
However, contrary to what you thought he was going to say, Dowoon shook his head almost nonchalantly, losing a bit of the faith in his gaze as he looked down with baggy eyes of dejection.
He squeezed his lips into a textbook version of a smile and talked at a slower pace, this time more scarily composed than before. "I-It's nothing. I don't know if I'll have the courage to tell you again."
The entire trip to the cliff went downhill in a veil of awkward silence, both of you knowing full well in your hearts why such a thing had happened. Wind rocketed past your ears silently, blowing against your ears and hitting against your hair-as if coaxing you to speak, but right now, you didn't know if you had the courage to say anything to him when you had made him sad.
In less than a minute, the scooter had surfaced up the flatter parts of the cliff, and you decided that this was the best moment to speak up.
"I'm sorry if I made you sad or anything." you mumbled awkwardly, stepping out of the scooter and nearly losing your balance-having your feet on the ground after 2 whole hours seemed like a foreign concept to your legs right about now.
Dowoon shook a hand at you almost instantly. "You've made me more happy than I could ever imagine." he said unhesitantly, and this time, smiled at you with a more genuine smile. For a second, you could see the faith of the crescent moon resurface back on the ring of his eyes as he continued, "Just have fun tonight, that's all I ask for."
You nodded back, returning his smile; and with a new, strangely fluttering feeling in your heart you followed Dowoon to the picnic mat, where Jihyo and Chaewon were sitting, dressed in casual clothing-you felt slightly out of place, decked out in your sloppy, mud-speckled school uniform as you greeted them shyly, sitting yourself onto the mat. But thankfully, the girls initiated conversations well-definitely way better than you did, and within seconds, you hadn't even realised that Dowoon had slipped away to somewhere else.
"So, how's life after finals?" Jihyo asked cheerily, or rather, the way she usually talked; it wasn't rare to see that consistent, bright smile of hers plastered on her doll like face.
You didn't exactly know how to answer. "I don't really know. After school today I have that 4 month break that most have, so what happened after your break?" You started to laugh as you realised how you had redirected the topic back to them, and both of them started doing the same.
"Hmm-hahaha-I'd say that college life is still manageable, I've been doing it for about 2 months plus." Jihyo answered, failing to contain her laughter at one point as she squeezed her eyes together endearingly. "Chaewon is entering a polytechnic, so she has about 2 months more to break, same with Dowoon, Jaehyung and Younghyun want to go to a uni, so they're going to college too, but I don't know...like. I really don't know what I want in life yet..."
Her voice trailed off awkwardly, with the fading smear of her chirpy voice, and you couldn't help but relate. Sure, you had a subject combination and you had did pretty good in finals, but you didn't have a certain passion you would shirk everything to chase; not like many of the people in your class, who were already able to aim their arrows towards their target.
"It's okay. I'm sure you'll find it soon when the time arrives, I'm looking for what I want too." you said with empathy, and in response Jihyo nodded politely.
"I suppose."
All of you talked for a while longer, on less serious topics-occasionally breaking out in laughter when Jihyo came up with one of her silly, yet timely antics, and going soft hours when Chaewon showed all of you pictures of her labrador-it was a he, with a slender, healthy body and adorable marble eyes.
After a while of staring, you had only come to realise that the mahogany, soft brown shade of his fur was the same colour you saw, inked intricately in the depths of Dowoon's eyes.
Just then, there was a very coincidental, but hesitant tap on your shoulders.
"Can you come with me?" a low voice spoke up amidst the cooing over the dog, and you looked up, despite already recognising who it was.
This time, his gaze looked a little different; you couldn't help but feel slightly excited as you noticed the enigmatic sparkle that stood out amidst his gentle, brown eyes, taking his outstretched hand and standing up.
"Yoon Dowoon, I'm warning you, if you don't bring her back safely, we will tail after you with bats and split your head open." Jihyo suddenly spoke up with a glint in her big, doll eyes, voice cracking menacingly at the last line-and again, both of you laughed at her antics.
"Don't worry, I won't." he laughed awkwardly, voice faltering at the last line. You couldn't help but notice that Dowoon's cheeks were starting to heat up, but quickly ignored it when he gestured at you to follow him.
Contrary to what you thought it would be, the walk to the destination wasn't very long, unlike earlier on. From the angle of the picnic mat, a loudspeaker in the distance was clearly visible. Next to it were two other figures, Younghyun and Jaehyung-with a bass and electric guitar slung around their chests respectively.
Needlessly to say, you were shocked. "They can play those?" you exclaimed, and with a small nod, Dowoon chuckled gleefully, "Look to your left."
Without a moment of thought, you turned your head.
Cymbals, glinting on the cusp of its dully golden surface like the rings of Saturn, with two smaller drums and a large bass drum positioned at the bottom-it seemed like you were exaggerating, but...
"Dowoon, you can play that? " you cried out, faltering a little at the last word, but unlike how you had reacted, he just smiled like it wasn't that great of a feat to play the drums.
"Not just that, I'm going to play you a song." he responded triumphantly, as he approached the spinning chair behind it and sat down. A smug smile remained on his face unwaveringly as he bent down to pick up his drumsticks, humming a gentle tune between his lips-and you couldn't help but smile, wondering if that was the very song they were about to play.
"This is all for you by the way," Younghyun cut in, a malicious smirk playing on the sides of his lips as you turned to him, "-We have a school recital tomorrow, and we've practically practiced this song till we could play it with closed eyes-but our naughty youngest absolutely insisted on playing this instead of anything else, just because of his-"
"OKAY, OKAY, I think that's about enough." Dowoon shouted obnoxiously, with a slightly annoyed, slightly red look on his face, and everyone started to laugh.
"Take it away then, drummer boy." you said enthusiastically, remaining rooted to the ground in anticipation.
You definitely weren't ready for the moment he started to position those drumsticks of his.
As the guitar kicked off the song, while layered by the low consistency of the bass, you smiled unconsciously as you let the melody hum in your voice softly. It was in A major, a nice, steady rhythm; and more so when a string of clashes echoed from the cymbals, not too far away from where you were-before there was another silvery tap, followed up by what sounded like the rustle of leaves.
Then, as the melody descended down a few keys, Jaehyung rasped gently into the mic, like the soft blow of the night breeze surrounding you.
Every day I lived like I was dead But you
Became the reason For me to get up Once more You made me wanna open my eyes
In sync with the bass, your heart thumped against your chest-and you stared at Dowoon, who gave you a small smile, before going into a rapid flurry of beats yet again.
Just your smile alone Makes me breathe Because of you, I'm Better better Better baby Only your love Makes the frozen me Start to run again Higher higher Higher baby
The reason for all this looked back at you knowingly, with the same spark of faith spinning confidently in his eyes; as if he understood what he meant to you, and then, the night sky seemed to tear down from the face of the earth, and enclasp itself in the centre of his eyes.
I used to never wait for tomorrow But you Became the reason For me to take one more step Not too far ahead You held out your hand to me
Just your smile alone Makes me breathe Because of you, I'm Better better Better baby Only your love Makes the frozen me Start to run again Higher higher Higher baby The bass suddenly made no more sound, and soon, the music stopped with your heart.
"You must be confused now." Dowoon's low voice suddenly whispered at a distance awfully near where you were standing, and startling you; yet resonating so comfortingly in your ears while he spoke.
As he locked eyes with yours, the light promisingly dancing on the sides of his pupils held the lights of the stars in them-still the ones of a child, maybe even believing more than ever; and in all your awe you began to speak hastily, not knowing what to do.
"I-I don't know, I'm happy-and these words are what I've been meaning to say to you for the longest time, you mean a lot to me, and heck, I don't even know if I could have survived running without you, there's no way you could have known-"
"These words are the words I want to say to you too."
Your eyes widened as he said those words hopefully, taking your wrists-and all the signs of red surfacing across his cheeks, with the smiles that only he could have made you smile with; to the unsure, dull gaze you had seen at your first meeting, to the beautiful, starry sky you could barely fathom in the depth of his big, believing eyes.
"I wanted to drop by your school to visit, but I heard from your friends that you were hurting a lot today, so I didn’t end up going." he said quietly, now holding up the wrist with the thin, ugly scar zipped across it and kissing it; at that moment, you could barely believe the warmth that was withheld between every fibre in the soft, pillowy surface as Dowoon looked up at you again. "And I don't want to leave you like that again. Thank you for understanding me with that kind heart of yours, when I could barely have the willpower to train the batch, and bringing me so much happiness."
He paused for a bit, and as if his voice was a conductor, your breath halted simultaneously-before he opened his mouth again, and eagerly said the words that would change your life forever.
"I want to run with you forever."
You could barely contain yourself from crying again when the feelings gushed to your head, came raining down from your eyes as tears, and through all your emotions, you nodded vigorously.
"I want to do the same, Dowoon," you sniffed, barely stabilising yourself as you felt his callused hands land on your shoulders gently, holding you close to his chest, rising and falling in waves-he too, was crying; and you never wanted to leave that place again.
Just your smile alone Makes me breathe Because of you, I'm Better better Better baby Only your love Makes the frozen me Start to run again Higher higher Higher baby
From that day on, both of you ran not only across the running track in your school, but in the race of life, hand in hand-smiles being the breath in each other's lungs, and love being the reason to keep going.
Only your love could make the me who was stuck run again.
______________________
HECK THIS WAS SO CRINGEY AND CORNY IM SORRY ILL EDIT IT WHEN I HAVE TIME LOL!!! ugh I had sm fun tho lol Dowoon is really so precious and amazing aaaa ;;; also, I feel like I was only able to write this so well because of God, who plays the character of Dowoon and way more than that in my life-being the breath in my lungs and the reason to keep going, so really, all the glory be to Him, I have never wrote with such understanding of a concept like love and He really is so omnipresent and amazing in even everything I write even if I don't mention Him directly!!!
hehe I really like this story uwu its not the best and its way too long than it should have been but it will hold a special place in my heart!! to the anon that requested this I'm sorry if u expected a short read with a much more light hearted topic to 'cheering you up after a bad day at school' JHDSJKFHS HAHAHAHA gosh anyway I hope y'all enjoyed this if you even finished it, thanks for your support!! I'm writing this on my birthday so I gotta go sleep now, happy 2019 to everyone!
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better better 💛 🐻 🍯
너의 그 사랑만이 멈춰있던 날 다시 뛰게 해.
[ Only your love could make the me who was stuck run again. ]
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day6 masterlist
TW: if you squint, there’s very mild mentions of child abuse, physical and verbal
↪ group: DAY6
↪ member: Yoon Dowoon
↪ genre: idk its not really fluff either, (IM SORRY ANON IT GETS VERY FLUFFY AT THE END) but its 90 percent angst free LOL ??? this story is too out of the ordinary to categorise lol ☀️
↪ request: hey admin n! can i have a fluffy day6 dowoon scenario where he cheers you up from a bad day in school? thank you!
↪ A/N: I really wanted to write something for Dowoon, thank you so much, anon who requested this!! I somehow thought of the spiritual love I receive everyday from God (I’m christian to all of y'all who dk, haha) so I think this story will hold a special place in my heart!!! also, the story plot is largely inspired by one of the characters in the story by 九把刀 - 等一个人咖啡,so if u understand Chinese please give it a read, its a nice story uwuwuwuuwwu
edit i am SO SORRY THIS WAS WAY LONGER THAN IT SHOULD HAVE BEEN LIKE the word count will probably be like idk 8000 by the time i finished this when u requested for a scenario lolz i got way too invested I apologise…I wrote almost everyday for a whole week I regret getting carried away oh my gosh, but I hope you enjoy this, I really worked very hard on this!!!
ps im sorry if jihyo is ooc, never written nor know twice well but id say I’m a fan of their music hehe
______________________________________
It was about 7AM in the morning when all of your batch gathered around at the assembly place in your school, and between occasional yawns that slipped off your mouth (thanks, end of year exams), you and your friends were talking about the happenings of yesterday as you walked there, laughter often breaking out in your little group when there were bits of humour in the story.
You all made your way down the stairs and into the assembly grounds, resembling a large, aquamarine blue quilt that took up an obnoxious part of the school-where the netball competitions and other important events were held.
Seemingly following suit with the shade of blue on the ground, the lack of sun in the morning painted everything with a small hint of lighter, sky blue itself, such that it all looked like one entity but distinctive in its own individual colours.
Realising this with your own dark ringed, half opened eyes, you couldn’t help but feel the ends of your lips angle up slowly-the world was so beautiful, you couldn’t help but think as you knelt down to sit onto the rugged surface of the big, enveloping area-whoever had created it for all its small but still amazing features was exceptionally genius.
As your eyes scattered around the place, still immersed in a world of your own-a shrill screech of a whistle pulled you back to the boredom of school life, and with a slight, but petty annoyance you shifted your back to face the PE teacher who had just walked over, and subsequently, so did the other students around you.
He stood in front of your whole batch, clad in a black, torso hugging sports shirt and fluorescent pink shorts-which immediately, triggered a few giggles for your batch, but the spoilsport of a whistle just had to ruin the fun again, motioning for everyone else to shut up.
You sighed when you saw the creases in his forehead, and the unmistakeable hint of a frown on his tan, oval face-this was not going to be too good of a day.
You just hoped that he wasn’t going to make all of you do 4 rounds around the school today. Running, needlessly to say really was not something a person like you liked to do-sweat all over your face, springing pimples on your face, grasping for breath and literally collapsing in front of the whole class like a dead fish because of how energy deprived you were? You were going to pass, thanks.
“Now, class!” his low baritone rasped out to the class, carrying a strong sense of dominance in it like he was speaking to a platoon in the army, “We have a group of alumni today, coming back to visit and help all of you train for your Physical Education Examinations next year.” At that, his outstretched wrists flicked backwards loosely, gesturing for the alumni to come, and he continued again, “They are alumni that were our top students from last year, and did exceptionally well. They have all took time out of their 4 month break after examinations to train all of you, so please be nice, and don’t be so unruly.”
As soon as he had said that, the class started breaking out into applause as the five students stepped into everyone’s field of vision.
Your eyes widened when you saw the bones, standing out like rocks in the their toned, fit arm and leg muscles-even the girls’ thighs that was supposedly, the most unattractive part of everyone’s body had ‘walls’ lining their lean, hourglass figure. Confident smiles were plastered to most of their faces, with a few tired exceptions-heck, one even had a smirk playing on their face as he scanned the class below him.
Inwardly, as you heard the laughs of the alumni that had aroused from the awing of their juniors below them, you couldn’t help but shudder inside-there was no, freaking way that you were going to look like that after training with them.
You didn’t want to, anyway-that meant rigorous hours of training and stitches 'basking’ under the unhelpful, boiling cover of the sun.
Just then, as you were contemplating the choices of schools you were going to transfer to to abstain from the torture that was soon to come, the guy with the playful smirk on his face had already grabbed a microphone, and was preparing to speak. Translucent frames for glasses hid his small, almost demure but yet somehow condescending eyes-you weren’t getting that great of a vibe from him.
“Hello, Class 3D9, I am your senior, Park Jaehyung, and I’m here to train all of you for the exams, since all of you don’t seem that excited for it, judging by your expressions.” His features softened considerably from a look of mirth to one of gaiety as he started to speak in a 'half air half voice’ kind of way-rasping yet not quite, and you rolled your eyes.
It wasn’t really that you disliked him much, but you could already picture him being the heartthrob of the girls in class-the gleam in their previously irritant, but now smitten eyes was so undeniably revolting.
They all nodded furiously at the last sentence, and he began to laugh a bit (attracting more squeals from the girls, much to your dismay) before speaking again, this time with the narrow of an eyebrow and a more serious, raised voice. “I know all of you might be thinking that this is very pointless, and stupid. I know. None of you really want to be an athlete in the future, and I understand. But I really hope all of you can treat this seriously, because health in the long run is really very important, and I want all of you to take not only the PE finals but the entrance exam to college confidently, and healthily. Are all of you with me?”
Like how any motivational speaker would have done, there was an applied pressure at the last line, and soon, a long, unenthusiastic 'yes’ drawled out of everyone’s barely parted mouth.
You snickered a bit at the frown on Jaehyung’s face when he heard it-he really should have known beforehand, that encouraging a class didn’t consist of just one pathetic speech, and you started to doubt if he had really been from this school.
Let’s face it, motivation really wasn’t this generation’s thing.
“Are all of you with me!” he rasped again, this time yelling into the microphone obnoxiously and poking a hole in your eardrums.
“YES!” the class shouted with increased volume to appease him.
Just please, don’t shout into the microphone again, you whimpered inwardly.
At this, Jaehyung looked more or less satisfied (thank God), and with the small hint of a smile, he passed over the microphone to another guy, whose eyes first caught your own. They were delicately angled into the eyes of a fox, emanating a half elegant aura that still seemed to hint 'Let’s have fun, everyone!’ They fell into small crescents when he started to laugh at Jaehyung’s incapabilities to lead the class, and the circles in his lean, rosy cheek bones spelt attractiveness at its finest.
With a sweet smile on his face, he held up the microphone to his mouth and started to talk. “Morning, class! Sorry if Jaehyung sounds like a bit of a drag. I know he has that student leader aura, but you can’t blame him, he’s always been burying his face in a book during recess-HEY!” The class, including him, started to erupt into waves of giggles when Jaehyung flicked his forehead, a faux anger playing on his arched eyebrows and widened, now not so small eyes. “FINE, fine, I’ll stop! Anyway, hello Class 3D9, this is your cooler senior, Kang Younghyun, and I hope to train all of you to success in the exams. Thank you!” Younghyun proceeded to bow with the shy lift of his eyebrows, and everyone clapped.
“His real name is actually Brian, please ignore him.” Jaehyung added in with a wink, earning a loud slap on the shoulder from Younghyun (with a subsequent yelp from himself) and more laughter from the juniors, yourself included. Your seniors seemed pretty chill and friendly, not like how you thought they would be.
But sadly, as they were supposedly goofing around too much, the PE teacher blew that stupid, ear-wrenching whistle of his, causing you to jump up in shock again. “Okay boys, lets finish this up quickly.” he said curtly, strict gaze fleeting past the two boys and causing their playful charm to melt like ice in front of him.
As Jaehyung and Younghyun simultaneously did a long, 90 degree bow, mouthing 'sorry’ repeatedly, you and quite a good majority of your other classmates sighed, inwardly feeling a tad deflated-looks like the rest of the introduction wasn’t going to be that fun after all.
The introduction seemed to move past like rusted cogs, at least for just one part of it-the first girl who had greeted all of you sported two round, neat buns at the sides of her hair, complimenting her big, double lidded eyes and her elegantly curved, brightly smiling lips. The corners of her eyes bore a small fragment of the brighter sky above her, gleaming with confidence as she bowed politely, introducing herself to everyone in a more reserved way than the other two. Her name was Park Jihyo, and she had been in dance-which was quite a great feat, since dance was a niche co-curricular activity in your school, but not surprising at the same time, looking at her beautiful figure and slender, well toned arms.
As she talked, she slipped a few jokes there and then mid-conversation, not too much that the PE teacher had to cut in, but attempting to keep the class’ attention on her afloat. Jihyo had an unmistakeable pleasant aura that seemed to infect everyone with her laugh, and from the bottom of your heart, you really wanted to befriend her-someone approachable and easy to talk to.
There was another girl next to her who was called Chaewon, with demure, yet youthful brown eyes and a serene smile. Similarly, she too was very friendly and talked with a very laid-back tone-but the problem was, that she talked a lot.
You didn’t really mind it much when people talked a lot, but when they overdid it, it got kind of…boring.
Seemingly one hour later, your eyes struggled to remain parted mid-sentence as she went into a trite monologue about how grateful she was to stand here. By the time she was done you felt fatigue wrap around your head like a snake, till a deeper voice was suddenly amplified into the mic.
“H-Hello, I’m Yoon Dowoon, and-”
“I ate ants as a kindergartener.” Jaehyung’s unmistakeable airy voice cut in annoyingly, causing Dowoon’s face to flush a big, rosy red whilst all of you chortled with a louder, more extreme laughter than before-and instantly, you became alive again as the mental image of a small boy swallowing the poor insect with the brightest smile sent you rolling onto the floor.
“He even gave a whole box to his teacher.” came a rather unhelpful snicker from Younghyun, further fuelling the laughter and the blush on Dowoon’s face.
You couldn’t help but admit, that he was sort of cute when he was embarrassed, though-Dowoon had the small, but believing eyes of a child, with two pretty, but not 'big enough that it protruded’ kind of bags attached below them delicately. The gentle up curve of the sides of his big button nose was really attractive, and he had semi-big lips that pouted out like the small petals of a daisy.
Seeing Jaehyung’s joking, almost condescending smirk resurface onto his face and look down onto Dowoon’s expressionless eyes, which now refused to concentrate on anywhere but the floor was maybe, just maybe-sort of sad.
Unlike Jihyo, you couldn’t see even a small fragment of the sky in his eyes-it was as if someone had just painted his eyes brown and decided it would stay that way for the rest of the day.
Dowoon was too embarrassed to do anything else, and without even looking up, he passed the microphone to the PE teacher, whose nonchalant expressions didn’t seem to care much either.
Inside, a pang of guilt rose up to your chest, and you unconsciously started to frown along with him as you noticed how uncomfortable his hardened features had looked, amongst all the giggles thrusting through his gentle heart.
Being known by 'the guy who ate ants as a kindergartener’ to everyone, instead of who he really was mustn’t have been a very nice feeling, especially to his juniors-who was supposed to look at him as a superior and a leader figure.
Just as you were debating on whether or not to ask them to stop, a scream broke out through the assembly grounds, shutting everyone up with a magic swipe of its hand.
Of course, it had to be the stupid whistle.
“Are we here to joke, or train? Get up, all of you! We’re going to run today.” the PE teacher’s obnoxiously booming, demanding voice rang into everyone’s ears unpleasantly, the catalyst to the small groans of dismay breaking out amidst the class that was already preparing to stand and walk to the field.
“Can you believe he actually did that?” your friends approached you in a fit of giggles as all of you approached the running track, with a new topic to revolve your conversation around.
Just that, this time, you didn’t really want to join in.
It wasn’t the best of days after all, you thought with a small hang up in the side of your chest. Out of all things, after seeing a poor boy getting bullied by his own friends, you had to do the stupid 4 rounds that all of you did practically every week.
As you braced yourself painfully for the sweating and fatigue that was to come, taking your rightful place behind the white tape attached to the floor marking the starting point- an unusually low cough brushed by your ears briefly, and instinctively, you whirled around.
You saw the big, believing eyes of a child again as you did so-it was Dowoon, and to your surprise, those eyes noticed your gaze and looked back.
Crap, he’s really, very cute. you could feel your head lose some of its gravity and your heartbeat accelerating as he proceeded to smile after, the lift of his plump, daisy lips showing off his round, marshmallow-like cheeks.
“You okay?” his deep voice asked you gently, and you nodded with a small laugh, realising how much of a mess you must have looked in front of him for him to ask such a question.
“I should be the one asking you that. I’m sorry for laughing at you earlier.”
With that, his smile angled further into a laugh of his own, and Dowoon replied, “It’s okay. I’m used to it already.”
You could already feel your forehead crease in slight disbelief, as you stared at the sheepish falter in his smile and recalled how unhappy he was earlier on.
“That’s not true-”
BEEP!
The PE teacher’s whistle had already gone off, and Dowoon, much to a top runner’s expectations, was already speeding far ahead of you with a steady, confident pace as his brown curls bounced gently under the force of his movements.
Looking at nowhere but the front, he looked determined to finish what he had started-something you could probably only dream of having.
“What’s taking you so long? Hurry up!” the PE teacher yelled at you, averting your attention away from your senior and back to your miserable plight.
You sighed with a slightly defeated energy, giving him a perfunctory nod as you too, began to move towards the finish line.
That is, if you could even make it.
As you ran, you made a mental note to never use that stupid whistle ever again.
________________________________________________
31st December, 2018.
“Se-second place in class? No way, you must have heard wrongly. Second place girls-wise, maybe…” you insisted disbelievingly, feeling the air brush against your throat as you inhaled sharply, hardly able to fathom the news that had just been broken to you.
Contrary to what your stubborn mentality refused to accept, your deskmate Sungjin just nodded again, the smile on his face laced with a small hint of amusement-he too, probably foresaw that you wouldn’t believe such a thing.
“I’m serious, man. It came as a shock to everyone yesterday as well.” he said, hiding a gentle, but knowing giggle in 'serious’. “You really have Dowoon to thank, look at you go.”
You stared at the suggestive crease in Sungjin’s big, pretty eyes, not bothering to hide the sarcasm dripping from your smile (very well knowing that someone like Sungjin was capable of playing such pranks on you).
“And where can I get more reliable information?” you demanded, refusing to tear away your gaze from his, and noticing the added pressure in 'reliable’, Sungjin couldn’t help but break into a more relaxed smile as he lifted his hands up in surrender.
“Fine, go see for yourself, just don’t hit me, please.”
He pointed a finger at the notice board, littered with numerous sheets of construction paper from all the projects your class had been assigned this year, almost like a peacock’s feathers unfolding.
However, there was one paper that stood out from the rest, dull, white and boring-but maybe not so, once the truth was revealed.
In big, bold letters, it spelt:
PHYSICAL EDUCATION EXAMINATION RESULTS: CLASS 3D9.
The thought of knowing your results had thrown all thoughts of replying to Sungjin out of the window as you could hear the squeak of your shoe soles speed across the classroom towards the notice board.
Frantically, as the long table of students revealed a clearer picture of itself to you, you decided on looking at all the names from the bottom to the top-no better way to set yourself up for disappointment than to face it sooner.
It had been a while of panning up, and your squatting legs were getting tired; though knowing full well that you looked the part of an idiot while doing all this. You couldn’t find your name anywhere on the board, and as your legs slowly broke its position to ascend further, the anxiety in your chest seemed to rise along with it-what if you had done so bad a job, you couldn’t even get a position?
What if Dowoon had seen it and would never talk to you ever again? What would your parents say when they knew…
Just as your imagination was trailing all the way off from your real goal, the truth imprinted in cold, black ink debunked all of the scenarios in your head.
Your name was right next to the position, second place.
“So you weren’t lying!” was the first thing you did as you shouted out of instinct from the opposite position of the classroom. As many other students turned their heads to you in slight frustration, you could hear Sungjin’s sniggers direct back at you in response, which was yeah, albeit sort of annoying-but nothing could really smother the joy you were feeling at this moment.
Your eyes lingered for a long time onto the placing that you had gotten, and you recalled all of Dowoon’s practice sessions with you-how he had drawn out almost 90% of his 4 month break just to train with you after school, how you had nearly tripped over a hurdle on the running track and causing both of you to laugh, how he had made you draw out a meal plan for him to monitor your food intake everyday-you’d never thought you’d say this, but you really, really missedit.
As you thought back to the believing eyes of a small child, looking up at the boundless sea of a sky-the clouds floating past resembling well his sweat glazed cheeks, you realised-how much you’d miss his presence that pushed forward, reaching out to the you who couldn’t be bothered with most things, his care that reached out to the you who didn’t care for yourself-not necessarily in a romantic way.
The thought of getting Dowoon’s number had very stupidly, slipped off your mind amidst all the joy he had brought you, and your good mood was surprisingly diminished by a small tinge of guilt as you returned to your desk.
You regretted it. A lot.
“All those training sessions with her partner must have helped a lot, huh? The one who ate ants in kindergarten, I have to laugh.” Suddenly, the silent, but tangible hiss of a group of girls fluttered past your ears, and without thinking, a small sense of anger blazed up in your heart as you stood up with a jolt.
How dare they say such a thing about such an amazing person.
Your chair did a loud, ugly screech against the floor as it happened, and the girls looked to you, slightly perplexed-that was, until you grabbed onto their wrists, and locked eyes with them-with a fire in your eyes that you yourself hadn’t recognised.
“Don’t talk about your senior like that.” you deadpanned, with the motivation of anger that had backed you up well.
Just then, you noticed the arch of your eyebrows, and the anger in your movements reflected in their cowardly gazes, and for a second, you wondered-if the you that was acting like this, was really you.
“Sorry.” was all they could manage awkwardly, a sheepish, yet somehow insincere smile dripping from their lips as they slipped away to their own desks-people nowadays just loved to talk about others behind their backs, and you sighed.
Only your love could make the me who was stuck in a rut run again.
_____________________________________________________________
“You got second place in the finals? Okay. Well, good for you, but I don’t think you’d come to me just for that.” the PE teacher slurred his words sharply, suddenly looking up at you from the bend of his glasses with a dull expression in his eyes. He seemed way more fascinated in the papers lulled over by his wrists than your dumb questions, and in all honesty, it was getting sort of annoying.
The lazy whirr of the fan spun over your head, fitting perfectly into the awkward silence between you and the teacher as you twiddled your thumbs awkwardly, trying to figure out a way to paraphrase such a stupid request-not daring to meet his steely gaze that somehow, stubbornly refused to tear away from yours.
He was right, however; the last thing you’d ever do was to go into the lion’s den without an ulterior motive.
No one really dared to talk to the PE teacher about anything else besides school.
Plus, you could already imagine all the worst case scenarios if he was in a particularly bad mood today, and…let’s just say that detention would potentially be the second best option.
He really wasn’t the best person to talk to.
But in this case…
You looked up at the spinning blades of the fan again, and felt the swirl of cool air blow through your hair gently.
Maybe he was.
At such a comforting touch, you tried your best to ignore the pounding headache dragging you down; and with painstakingly mustered courage, you spoke.
“T-Teacher, do you have Dowoon’s number? Like, the one who was our senior?”
Regret kicked in the second you had spoke of Dowoon’s name, and you could literally feel your temples and limbs lose all sense of gravity as your reputation crashed to the floor. You could feel your heartbeat go into allegro, pounding onto every organ in your body as the PE teacher looked up with the most unreadable expression on his face.
Sweat emitted disgustingly from your scalp as your chest rose and fell back in waves, failing terribly to compose yourself. This is it, you dreaded your indelible fate that was to come as the PE teacher raised his eyebrows-you were barely standing up already, and you could feel your kneecaps wobble unhelpfully under the tendrils of anxiety.
I’m doomed for life, Dowoon’s gonna think I’m a stalker, and-
“Hahahaha.”
Laughter rolled out in the depth of that intimidating voice, like coffee spilt over a cleanly lacquered table.
You felt your eyes widen as you looked up at the teacher again, still grasping for breath as your heart refused to stop beating-after all, collapsing on the spot seemed like the best path in such an awkward situation.
Especially when he looked at you with amusement twinkling in the corners of his slit-shaped eyes.
“So, what next? You’re asking, me? To help you with your half baked attempt of asking a senior out on a date?” he snarled sarcastically, getting out of his seat and approaching you. The corners of his mouth tugged at a smirk, baring his set of sharp teeth; the jaws of a wolf, that spelt warning at its finest, and in all your shock, you recoiled back.
You didn’t think this was how it would end up; no, not like this.
Just then, you felt a hand arrest your wrists tightly, digging holes in your skin.
The pain from the wolf’s claws amplified your vocal cords as you screamed, causing all the other teachers out there to look at you from their desks, and inside, you wanted to cry; you had never been humiliated so bad in your entire life.
“In your dreams.”
Just like that, with the help of a brute force you were mercilessly thrown out of the staff room, and before you could even put a foot on the floor to stabilise yourself you heard a loud bang behind you-followed by the even more painful sound of the lock seizing the entrance of it.
You got up, slightly blank, slightly hollow, slightly lost-as you walked a bit further, heart feeling heavy with all the baggage in your chest-before the feelings got hold of your throat, and tumbled out through your eyes unashamedly.
You were way too sad to hide any further.
Pathetically, to do all you could to mask the feelings that had crept up onto you, through the not so fair play of fate; you held a wrist to your face as you sprinted back to class, with a scar zipped across it, just as it had done for your broken heart.
__________________________________________
“I’m sorry for what happened today…but I’m happy that senior was able to bring you so far.” he barely managed, with his smooth, soft voice that seemed to skim lightly over the atmosphere of the café; just like the soft cream that had been drizzled meticulously over the cup of coffee on the table.
You weren’t taking it, the coffee that he had made for you not too long ago. Not really that you had anything against him, no-definitely not your caring, gentle coworker, but you didn’t really have the mood to drink anything as of now…You sighed briefly, dusting your apron to keep yourself preoccupied, but still not managing to let off all the steam in your body.
The incident had very admittedly, left you scarred; very literally and mentally. Leftover embarrassment was still tugging at the corners of your heart, begging to be attended to while you tried your best to shrug it off, and walked to the counter to unlock the cashier; the cheery ring of the bell above the door had struck at a rather unconventional time, and a customer was already walking in.
It wasn’t very fair that they’d have to put up with your emotional baggage when they were here to get a drink, maybe even to destress and wind down for the day.
“Pil-ah, it’s okay, I don’t really want a drink as of now.” you played it off as calmly as you could, slotting the key into the box and letting it slide open with a click. “You can drink it or something, you don’t look too energised yourself.”
A disappointed whine echoed back in response to your lousy excuse; there was no way Wonpil was going to believe such a stupid reply, and you could already anticipate his nagging voice as he opened his mouth.
“Heyyyyy, come on…don’t be like this, I’ve known you for so long already. You’ve got to take care of yourself, even when you’re sad.”
The last line got you hard, and as you saw the customer’s eyes widen in judgement behind her mop of ashy bangs, you couldn’t help but glare back at him.
“Wonpil, I said I was okay.” you deadpanned with added pressure, however, subsequently feeling guilt crawling onto your nerves after realising how mean that had sounded. His features had softened considerably, with a slightly hurt look in his big, innocent eyes, and you didn’t really want to hurt anyone else when you yourself had been hurt enough.
“I’m sorry, just-I’m tired from today.” you sighed helplessly, having been pushed into a corner, and being his understanding self, Wonpil nodded back with concern laced in his seemingly nonchalant smile.
After making sure everything was more or less alright, you hastily attended back to the customer, who was looking slightly frustrated with how long you were taking-and after she had ordered her iced americano, she looked a little more satisfied as she took a seat by the table nearest to the window.
It wasn’t surprising; the weather today was warm. Lances of golden sunlight had dropped by the café, gracing its interior in its crisp, evening glow, and very miserably, laughing at your bad mood that contrasted with it.
“Are you okay now?”
You turned around to see Wonpil, eyebrows raised, hands rested in the pockets of his apron; and a rare, but serious look in his eyes as he prepared to listen to you.
As much as you didn’t want him to worry over you, you knew how stubbornly insistent he was with getting things off your chest, so nevertheless, you opened your mouth-wondering what you had done to deserve his grace at the back of your mind.
“I-It’s nothing really, it’s just-” you exhaled, breaking into a nervous box smile as you ran a hand through your hair, barely having the right state of mind to continue, “I really wanted to thank him for his kindness and how he cared for my growth so selflessly, but apart from being so embarrassed by the teacher, not being able to do that anymore-it makes me feel so, so bad, knowing that I was never able to do anything for him, because I really, really miss him, and-”
“Don’t say anymore. I understand.”
You felt Wonpil’s hand descend onto your back, like the touch of a small, but pretty little butterfly as it fluttered over the expanse of your spine, caressing it gently and hushing your shaking nerves.
All the thoughts had miserably, coaxed your feelings forward, and without knowing, you had started to cry again as you held your palms to your face-trying your best not to cry too loudly as you let out small, uncontrollable sobs.
“T-Thank you so much.” you choked awkwardly, not knowing any better way to express your gratitude, and even in the darkness of your closed eyes, you could already picture Wonpil’s relaxed, comforting smile playing on the sides of his face as he chuckled softly.
Just then, a cough cut in, putting a halt to your sobs and causing both of you to turn to the customer.
“Um…I’m sorry to interrupt this moment, but can I have three iced lattes? Please?” he said, carrying a half air, half voice tone-and with the guidance of your instinct your head immediately shot up from your palms.
There was only one person you knew with such a voice-the one you heard when you had first met the school alumni.
“P-Park Jaehyung?” you yelled instinctively, and your own eyes revealed the truth to you quickly-lean, rosy cheeks, big lips, small, droopy eyes, that were now widened into large circles as they stared back at you, with equally as much surprise in his gaze.
“Ohhhhh my! Y-You’re the junior that trained with Dowoon a lot, right?” In his hearty voice, he exclaimed almost disbelievingly, but causing you to blush furiously; it was rather weird being so closely associated with him. “And hey, don’t be rude-how dare you call a senior by their full name.” he added on teasingly, and both of you laughed.
“I think I’ll make the drinks for today-you definitely need to catch up with him, someone might be there waiting for you.” Wonpil’s voice said behind you understandingly, and you said a quick thank you with a smile before walking over to Jaehyung’s seat.
“Oh, sorry for my impoliteness, Your Highness, Park Jaehyung, my queen-does this make it better now?” you retorted quickly, with a cheeky smirk on your face and triggering a gasp from him.
“Excuse me? Your audacity? Oh, and by that guy’s sound, you sound like you’re only here to see Dowoon, how sad-he isn’t here, because I’m the most significant out of everyone there.” he snickered back, laughing even harder when you stuck out your tongue back at him pettily-but to your surprise, it didn’t last very long.
“Jaehyungie-hyung, don’t be so mean! I’m here, hi! I haven’t seen you in so long, are you doing okay?” a deep voice exclaimed, causing your jaw to drop even further, if that was even possible-and your feelings seemed to arrest all the air in your chest, just for a second-when you once again, saw the big, believing eyes of a child and his kind, untainted smile.
It was the boy that had spent countless hours under the sun, pushing you towards your goals endlessly.
It wasn’t just any person, a random school alumni that had came to their transit stop for a while to leave again-it was Dowoon, Yoon Dowoon, of all people that you could have seen on that miserable day of yours.
It seemed almost intangible, yet so palpable as you ran to him, calling his name, as your hands managed to even hug his taller figure again-you could have nearly cried when you felt his bigger palm crash against your back with sincerity, and while you heard Dowoon’s deep voice roll out a long string of laughter, commenting jokingly, “Man, I never knew a girl would miss me so much,” you sort of wanted to smack him-yet was definitely in awe of the fact that you could hear that laughter again.
You’d never think that you would have heard it ever again.
“Shut up, I’m just here because you got me a second place position in running, loser.” you giggled it off coolly, but failing terribly to hide the happiness stupidly written all over your face as Dowoon’s smile angled up further, wearing his pride proudly on his sleeve as he gave you a high five.
“Really? Oh my gosh, that’s so amazing! I’m so proud of my student.” he laughed, childlike eyes widening in happiness and amplifying his innocence. “You deserve it man, you trained so hard for the test-definitely more commitment than I think you would have had.”
“Ow, thanks a lot for the last comment, jeez, alright, I know I suck.” you jutted out your lips in faux sadness, clutching your heart to your chest-but quickly remembering why you were so happy to see him again, you hastily added, “But thanks anyway, for guiding me. Couldn’t have done it without you, taking so much time off your break.”
There. I finally said it, you thought happily, allowing yourself a small grin when Dowoon rejected your praises quickly, hurriedly saying, “No, no, I didn’t really do anything,” and starting to ramble on about how you had done so much more to deserve it-his eyes got even bigger when he was in slight shock, and he looked the part of a small, innocent child more than ever.
“And oh, right.” Dowoon suddenly spoke up amidst the topic of running, grabbing your attention. You couldn’t help but giggle when he was about to open his mouth to speak, but instead-shut it again and started tugging the edges of his hair, mouthing things to himself with eyes squeezed together tightly-probably a long string of Jaehyung’s 'motivational quotes.
A part of your heart fluttered at the purity his very being exuded-he was really, very cute.
But in all your mirth, you couldn’t help it-you absolutely had to smack him.
“Yoon Dowoon, hurry up!” you snapped quickly, however with a cheeky smile that showed your real intentions. Dowoon was momentarily taken aback-but his features quickly softened after, when he realised you were joking.
“Sorry for being such a big mess, it’s just…” he barely smiled softly, breaking out into further nervous laughter when Jaehyung and Younghyun started to beat his back repeatedly.
“Do you want to go out with us today? We’re going to my place further out from the city, and uh…we’re setting off fireworks and having a picnic around there and playing our instruments and stuff-” There was probably going to be no end to his rambling if Younghyun hadn’t gave him a loud slap on his back-at this point, the creases in his eyes and sheepish box smile showed it all; he was incredibly, incredibly flustered, and to your dismay-also incredibly endearing.
But still, you couldn’t miss grabbing the opportunity to tease him. You lifted your lips into a smirk, rocking your shoes against the foot of the table as you cooed, “Aww, is my senior asking me out on a date? I’d love to go with you, aww, Dowoonie…” Everyone in the place, yes, including that grumpy female customer; broke into fits of giggles, raising the atmosphere of the previously still, 'cultured’ public place as you chased after Dowoon, who was currently running away from you and ducked his head to hide under the table.
“Haha, why are you genuinely scared? I was only joking, you’re so adorable.” you grinned cheekily as you saw the blush dancing above his round, squishy cheeks and the embarrassment in his semi opened eyes, “I’ll come with you. It’s quite timely as well, since I’ve had quite a bad day at school…You know what, I’ll say later. I gotta finish my shift first, Wonpil can’t possibly do everything for me.” you quickly added when you saw his eyebrows widen in slight concern, and with a good-natured, outstretched wrist you helped Dowoon up from the table; who was quick to stick out his tongue when he saw that Jaehyung and Younghyun were still unable to contain the mirth written across their faces.
“So, I’ll see you at 7 then?” he smiled awkwardly, trying his best to ignore them, and you nodded back eagerly as you walked him out of the shop, and into the embrace of the outdoors again.
It seemed so coincidental, that even as Jaehyung and Younghyun had simultaneously tagged along behind the two of you and out into the open, the sun was only blazing through the gaps in Dowoon’s curls-girdling the ridges of his shoulders, slicing through the sides of his face and oozing into the crevices of his warm, faith-filled eyes.
You smiled.
The world was so beautiful.
“See you later! Don’t miss me too much!” you yelled out to Dowoon jokingly, as he and the other boys got into the small scooters they shared-and after he had yelled back with equal gusto, “Back at you!”, the three scooters sped in the other direction; hopefully, anticipating the time where they came back the other way again, because you sure were.
_____________________________
unknown: It’s 7 lol have you ended your shift yet?
you: Yeah I have! Are you Dowoon or…?
unknown: No I’m Brian #sike
unknown: Please ignore that, Jaehyungie-hyung took my phone, I don’t know what he’s doing with his weird hashtags again TTTTTTTTT
you: HAHAHAHA TELL HIM HE SUCKS
you: It’s nice to have your number though…it sucked not being able to contact you :( How did you get it anyway?
Dowoon: Yeah hhhh Wonpil told me earlier :) I didn’t think you would mind…so
you: Haha of course not! Anyway, are you on the way?
Dowoon: Wouldn’t dare to be late, I’m already here hehe ^^
Your head shot up with excitement, nearly screaming as you saw three headlights blaze at you, from the curtain of darkness that had shrouded the city not too long ago. It was around autumn right about now, and you were rather sensitive to the cold-so seeing their warm presence was quite comforting.
Noticing that you were already hanging up your apron and practically bouncing to the kitchen to clean up, Wonpil couldn’t help but throw a good-natured laugh at you. “Someone’s excited for their first date.” he remarked suggestively, cleaning the used table under the illumination of the light bulb hanging above him, and if it wasn’t for the distance between both of you you would have probably kicked him in response.
“Shut uuuuup, there’s literally 2 other boys goiiiiing.” you whined, taking one of the leftover plates scattered across the sink and soaping it,“-The chances of you and I dating just about now is probably way higher than Dowoon…well, at least, I’ve known you for about a year plus right now, and him, 6 months at most.” Wonpil couldn’t help but giggle again at the uncertainty in your voice, and pettily, you stamped your feet on the floor.
“There’s no way my future partner will be someone as mean as you, I take all my words back.” you pouted jokingly, and subsequently, starting to laugh at yourself too-this conversation was going absolutely nowhere.
“Hey, but in all seriousness, I think you should just go. Don’t make them wait too long, after all, one of them is your future boyfriend. I’ll take care of wrapping up.” Wonpil spoke up again, approaching you as he hung the cloth by the arch of the sink, and took the plate from your hand kindly-gesturing for you to wash your hands as he pointed to the tap.
With unmasked gratitude you smiled back at him, washing your hands briefly before taking your phone from the counter, “Thanks again, Pil-ah; and one more freaking thing, before I have to repeat it a second time, there is no way Dowoon is going to be my boyfriend.” you remarked strictly, taking your school bag from the seat close to the door and slinging it over your shoulder excitedly-the events of tonight sounded incredibly fun.
“Thank me by inviting me to your future wedding!” Wonpil screamed in his high pitched voice when you opened the door, with the silvery chime of the bell above it-and this time, you really, really wanted to kick him, because outside, in the cold of the night Jaehyung was literally having the time of his life laughing at you and nodding back to Wonpil in agreement (one of the rare times where he actually sided him).
“Boys suck.” you groaned pettily as Dowoon, with unmistakeable redness on his face gestured for you to get onto the back of his scooter, and Younghyun laughed.
“Doesn’t seem that way with our Dowoonie, am I right?” his unmistakeable fox eyes shot you a small wink, which was sort of annoying-till he yelled smugly, “Good luck on being the first there with extra baggage! Not like anyone ever manages to triumph me anyway.”
With that, Younghyun’s scooter whizzed off, black coat and black locks fluttering behind him care freely, like how his very personality was-and soon, Jaehyung’s scooter whizzed off too, the only thing behind him being his screams of “I’m GONNA BEAT YOU THIS TIME, BRIAN!”, and you couldn’t help but giggle a bit-the antics of those two were always so stupidly humouring.
“Sorry, they can be a bit of a public embarrassment.” Dowoon laughed helplessly, shaking his head, and with a small smile you too shook your head; you were totally fine with them, and you’d even say that having them around was enjoyable. “-Jihyo and Chaewon are actually joining us later, but they weren’t comfortable on the scooter, and we need someone to drive our instruments.”
He paused for a bit to catch his breath, expelling a small puff of white before explaining, “I hope you’re okay with it too-the scooter can feel very unbalanced at first, but I think you can handle it. This sounds incredibly awkward, but you gotta hold onto my waist, or you’ll probably fall off within a second of me accelerating. Alright? Don’t want to be responsible for your medical fees.” Dowoon ended off with a joking crease in his smirk before he tossed you a neon yellow helmet from the basket of the scooter, and you nodded before putting it on.
He thrusted the key into the slot rather vigorously, and soon there was a dull roar from the engine behind you, and at his command, you awkwardly positioned your hands at his waist area. Admittedly, it felt pretty good, however-the coat that hugged his waist was made of soft, thick brown fabric, and it reminded you of your honey scented sheets back at home.
“Ready to ride?” he suddenly piped up, happiness laced in his deep, comforting voice, and you shot him a thumbs up sign.
“Always ready.” you answered eagerly, and with a louder roar from the engine than before, both of you sped out towards the moon, that lay on the horizon of the shimmering sea.
________________________
You felt like you were riding on the brim of a cloud as the wind zipped through your hair and your jacket, starting to take flight and flutter violently behind you like kites in the sky. The feeling of being so close to land, yet so far up into the sky was so indescribable-gravity accelerated the thrill in your heart as Dowoon let out a long, unceremonious scream, cheering for the destination that wasn’t too far from where you were.
“We’re almost here!” he broke into a small gummy smile beneath the mop of his fluttering curls-they seemed to run across the border of his forehead, like running waves crashing beautifully onto the shore of a beach.
However, contrary to your imagination, the river that surrounded all of you in its big embrace was especially quiet-only letting small dribbles of light from the lighthouse float gently above the surface of the waves as both of you moved past, like bioluminescent lily pads that had descended from the glow of the moon. Mountains foreshadowed the road ahead mysteriously, painted in a darker shade of navy than the star speckled-sky above both of you, and the road to the picnic area was long and windy, snaking out into a canopy of trees relaxedly.
“You’d never get anything like this in the city.” you said in slight awe, hands slowly finding themselves crawling up to Dowoon’s broad shoulders as you dared to hoist yourself up, breaking up from your posture a tad bit, and as you felt one of his curls brush past your wrists, he laughed his slow, deep laugh in response.
“You’re cute. I had a friend that didn’t live in Busan as a kid, and he lived in the more country area-he would probably protest if he heard what you just said…” His deep voice trailed off softly, seeming to follow the snaking nature of the concrete road ahead of you. “-Nevertheless, I’m happy we’re here. It’s nice to ride out here with someone.”
His eyes, which had now stopped displaying the light of the sun to catch the glow of the moon, was still as warm as ever in the cold weather. With undeniable faith tinting the light that ringed his eyes, half opened submissively and bringing out the semi rosy tint in his bags, the carefree smile on his lips and the uplift of his cheeks resembling floating clouds didn’t fail to bring you back in awe again; it was as if all laws of astronomy tailed after his presence, and followed in the footsteps of his unbreakable belief.
“You’re really very beautiful.” the words left your lips through an airy whisper, and you were too busy staring at him again to even notice what you said until Dowoon spoke up again.
“U-Um…Me? R-Really? Thanks, I guess…” his eyes bore a different spark to it as they drooped shyly, like a mimosa recoiling at someone’s touch-and as the truth dawned onto you slowly, mixed feelings of embarrassment and self-blame kicked in a little too fast-you really, really wanted to kick yourself for saying that.
Trying to salvage the situation, you quickly spoke up upon seeing his tilted eyebrows and the embarrassment written on his face. “I-I didn’t mean that in a weird way, I’m sorry, not that I don’t love your looks-or not that I don’t love you any less, i-it’s just-” you stuttered awkwardly, brain stupidly failing you at this crucial moment-but being a nice guy, Dowoon just shook his head briefly.
With a small smile breaking onto his face, not fully suggestive; yet not fully chaste, he responded in awe, big eyes widening with more faith than before.
“No, no, please don’t apologise, because…” Dowoon spoke with the smile of reuniting with someone again, overly excited to articulate his words properly, “B-Because, I-”
“Dowoon! What’s taking you so long, can you drive faster? You’re almost there already, hurry up!” Jaehyung’s voice suddenly broke through the world that only both of you shared, halting the climax of the story. He and Younghyun were on a higher end of a cliff, where the destination was, and you could already see their hands waving vigorously in your direction. Jihyo and Chaewon had arrived too-you could see two figures with long hair sit on a big red mat.
“What was that you were going to say?” you asked, as the scooter started to move again; both of you had been so immersed in conversation that you hadn’t even realised that Dowoon stopped the vehicle to talk.
However, contrary to what you thought he was going to say, Dowoon shook his head almost nonchalantly, losing a bit of the faith in his gaze as he looked down with baggy eyes of dejection.
He squeezed his lips into a textbook version of a smile and talked at a slower pace, this time more scarily composed than before. “I-It’s nothing. I don’t know if I’ll have the courage to tell you again.”
The entire trip to the cliff went downhill in a veil of awkward silence, both of you knowing full well in your hearts why such a thing had happened. Wind rocketed past your ears silently, blowing against your ears and hitting against your hair-as if coaxing you to speak, but right now, you didn’t know if you had the courage to say anything to him when you had made him sad.
In less than a minute, the scooter had surfaced up the flatter parts of the cliff, and you decided that this was the best moment to speak up.
“I’m sorry if I made you sad or anything.” you mumbled awkwardly, stepping out of the scooter and nearly losing your balance-having your feet on the ground after 2 whole hours seemed like a foreign concept to your legs right about now.
Dowoon shook a hand at you almost instantly. “You’ve made me more happy than I could ever imagine.” he said unhesitantly, and this time, smiled at you with a more genuine smile. For a second, you could see the faith of the crescent moon resurface back on the ring of his eyes as he continued, “Just have fun tonight, that’s all I ask for.”
You nodded back, returning his smile; and with a new, strangely fluttering feeling in your heart you followed Dowoon to the picnic mat, where Jihyo and Chaewon were sitting, dressed in casual clothing-you felt slightly out of place, decked out in your sloppy, mud-speckled school uniform as you greeted them shyly, sitting yourself onto the mat. But thankfully, the girls initiated conversations well-definitely way better than you did, and within seconds, you hadn’t even realised that Dowoon had slipped away to somewhere else.
“So, how’s life after finals?” Jihyo asked cheerily, or rather, the way she usually talked; it wasn’t rare to see that consistent, bright smile of hers plastered on her doll like face.
You didn’t exactly know how to answer. “I don’t really know. After school today I have that 4 month break that most have, so what happened after your break?” You started to laugh as you realised how you had redirected the topic back to them, and both of them started doing the same.
“Hmm-hahaha-I’d say that college life is still manageable, I’ve been doing it for about 2 months plus.” Jihyo answered, failing to contain her laughter at one point as she squeezed her eyes together endearingly. “Chaewon is entering a polytechnic, so she has about 2 months more to break, same with Dowoon, Jaehyung and Younghyun want to go to a uni, so they’re going to college too, but I don’t know…like. I really don’t know what I want in life yet…”
Her voice trailed off awkwardly, with the fading smear of her chirpy voice, and you couldn’t help but relate. Sure, you had a subject combination and you had did pretty good in finals, but you didn’t have a certain passion you would shirk everything to chase; not like many of the people in your class, who were already able to aim their arrows towards their target.
“It’s okay. I’m sure you’ll find it soon when the time arrives, I’m looking for what I want too.” you said with empathy, and in response Jihyo nodded politely.
“I suppose.”
All of you talked for a while longer, on less serious topics-occasionally breaking out in laughter when Jihyo came up with one of her silly, yet timely antics, and going soft hours when Chaewon showed all of you pictures of her labrador-it was a he, with a slender, healthy body and adorable marble eyes.
After a while of staring, you had only come to realise that the mahogany, soft brown shade of his fur was the same colour you saw, inked intricately in the depths of Dowoon’s eyes.
Just then, there was a very coincidental, but hesitant tap on your shoulders.
“Can you come with me?” a low voice spoke up amidst the cooing over the dog, and you looked up, despite already recognising who it was.
This time, his gaze looked a little different; you couldn’t help but feel slightly excited as you noticed the enigmatic sparkle that stood out amidst his gentle, brown eyes, taking his outstretched hand and standing up.
“Yoon Dowoon, I’m warning you, if you don’t bring her back safely, we will tail after you with bats and split your head open.” Jihyo suddenly spoke up with a glint in her big, doll eyes, voice cracking menacingly at the last line-and again, both of you laughed at her antics.
“Don’t worry, I won’t.” he laughed awkwardly, voice faltering at the last line. You couldn’t help but notice that Dowoon’s cheeks were starting to heat up, but quickly ignored it when he gestured at you to follow him.
Contrary to what you thought it would be, the walk to the destination wasn’t very long, unlike earlier on. From the angle of the picnic mat, a loudspeaker in the distance was clearly visible. Next to it were two other figures, Younghyun and Jaehyung-with a bass and electric guitar slung around their chests respectively.
Needlessly to say, you were shocked. “They can play those?” you exclaimed, and with a small nod, Dowoon chuckled gleefully, “Look to your left.”
Without a moment of thought, you turned your head.
Cymbals, glinting on the cusp of its dully golden surface like the rings of Saturn, with two smaller drums and a large bass drum positioned at the bottom-it seemed like you were exaggerating, but…
“Dowoon, you can play that? ” you cried out, faltering a little at the last word, but unlike how you had reacted, he just smiled like it wasn’t that great of a feat to play the drums.
“Not just that, I’m going to play you a song.” he responded triumphantly, as he approached the spinning chair behind it and sat down. A smug smile remained on his face unwaveringly as he bent down to pick up his drumsticks, humming a gentle tune between his lips-and you couldn’t help but smile, wondering if that was the very song they were about to play.
“This is all for you by the way,” Younghyun cut in, a malicious smirk playing on the sides of his lips as you turned to him, “-We have a school recital tomorrow, and we’ve practically practiced this song till we could play it with closed eyes-but our naughty youngest absolutely insisted on playing this instead of anything else, just because of his-”
“OKAY, OKAY, I think that’s about enough.” Dowoon shouted obnoxiously, with a slightly annoyed, slightly red look on his face, and everyone started to laugh.
“Take it away then, drummer boy.” you said enthusiastically, remaining rooted to the ground in anticipation.
You definitely weren’t ready for the moment he started to position those drumsticks of his.
As the guitar kicked off the song, while layered by the low consistency of the bass, you smiled unconsciously as you let the melody hum in your voice softly. It was in A major, a nice, steady rhythm; and more so when a string of clashes echoed from the cymbals, not too far away from where you were-before there was another silvery tap, followed up by what sounded like the rustle of leaves.
Then, as the melody descended down a few keys, Jaehyung rasped gently into the mic, like the soft blow of the night breeze surrounding you.
Every day I lived like I was dead But you
Became the reason For me to get up Once more You made me wanna open my eyes
In sync with the bass, your heart thumped against your chest-and you stared at Dowoon, who gave you a small smile, before going into a rapid flurry of beats yet again.
Just your smile alone Makes me breathe Because of you, I’m Better better Better baby Only your love Makes the frozen me Start to run again Higher higher Higher baby
The reason for all this looked back at you knowingly, with the same spark of faith spinning confidently in his eyes; as if he understood what he meant to you, and then, the night sky seemed to tear down from the face of the earth, and enclasp itself in the centre of his eyes.
I used to never wait for tomorrow But you Became the reason For me to take one more step Not too far ahead You held out your hand to me
Just your smile alone Makes me breathe Because of you, I’m Better better Better baby Only your love Makes the frozen me Start to run again Higher higher Higher baby The bass suddenly made no more sound, and soon, the music stopped with your heart.
“You must be confused now.” Dowoon’s low voice suddenly whispered at a distance awfully near where you were standing, and startling you; yet resonating so comfortingly in your ears while he spoke.
As he locked eyes with yours, the light promisingly dancing on the sides of his pupils held the lights of the stars in them-still the ones of a child, maybe even believing more than ever; and in all your awe you began to speak hastily, not knowing what to do.
“I-I don’t know, I’m happy-and these words are what I’ve been meaning to say to you for the longest time, you mean a lot to me, and heck, I don’t even know if I could have survived running without you, there’s no way you could have known-”
“These words are the words I want to say to you too.”
Your eyes widened as he said those words hopefully, taking your wrists-and all the signs of red surfacing across his cheeks, with the smiles that only he could have made you smile with; to the unsure, dull gaze you had seen at your first meeting, to the beautiful, starry sky you could barely fathom in the depth of his big, believing eyes.
“I wanted to drop by your school to visit, but I heard from your friends that you were hurting a lot today, so I didn’t end up going.” he said quietly, now holding up the wrist with the thin, ugly scar zipped across it and kissing it; at that moment, you could barely believe the warmth that was withheld between every fibre in the soft, pillowy surface as Dowoon looked up at you again. “And I don’t want to leave you like that again. Thank you for understanding me with that kind heart of yours, when I could barely have the willpower to train the batch, and bringing me so much happiness.”
He paused for a bit, and as if his voice was a conductor, your breath halted simultaneously-before he opened his mouth again, and eagerly said the words that would change your life forever.
“I want to run with you forever.”
You could barely contain yourself from crying again when the feelings gushed to your head, came raining down from your eyes as tears, and through all your emotions, you nodded vigorously.
“I want to do the same, Dowoon,” you sniffed, barely stabilising yourself as you felt his callused hands land on your shoulders gently, holding you close to his chest, rising and falling in waves-he too, was crying; and you never wanted to leave that place again.
Just your smile alone Makes me breathe Because of you, I’m Better better Better baby Only your love Makes the frozen me Start to run again Higher higher Higher baby
From that day on, both of you ran not only across the running track in your school, but in the race of life, hand in hand-smiles being the breath in each other’s lungs, and love being the reason to keep going.
Only your love could make the me who was stuck run again.
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HECK THIS WAS SO CRINGEY AND CORNY IM SORRY ILL EDIT IT WHEN I HAVE TIME LOL!!! ugh I had sm fun tho lol Dowoon is really so precious and amazing aaaa ;;; also, I feel like I was only able to write this so well because of God, who plays the character of Dowoon and way more than that in my life-being the breath in my lungs and the reason to keep going, so really, all the glory be to Him, I have never wrote with such understanding of a concept like love and He really is so omnipresent and amazing in even everything I write even if I don’t mention Him directly!!!
hehe I really like this story uwu its not the best and its way too long than it should have been but it will hold a special place in my heart!! to the anon that requested this I’m sorry if u expected a short read with a much more light hearted topic to 'cheering you up after a bad day at school’ JHDSJKFHS HAHAHAHA gosh anyway I hope y'all enjoyed this if you even finished it, thanks for your support!! I’m writing this on my birthday so I gotta go sleep now, happy 2019 to everyone!
(looking back and literally the only good thing about this story was the ending what the hecK I did so much unnecessary elaboration LOL)
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