#rip to my Scream tote bag full of books that continue to be ignored for sci-fi & fantasy book series

[psychokillermp4]

I have GOT to stop accidentally picking up book series bc now I can't just start reading one of the several dozen horror books I have sitting in my book bag! I've had to start Harrow the Ninth immediately and Nona the Ninth is on its way to me from a used bookstore. Sorry I have to continue the story!! If you're a horror book in line on my tbr list, STAY IN LINE!!

[daysswithyou]

Young K - Home

Characters: Young K x You

Genre: basketball!youngk

Words: 2.7k

Description: When the familiar road back leads you to a new home

---

It was the same path home every day.

Get out of the station, walk past a few blocks, cross the street, walk down a few more blocks and past the basketball court, and there home awaits. You’ve been walking that path for a decade now; you could practically walk home with your eyes closed.

Along the way home, the basketball court was always the most happening spot. Regardless of the time of the day, there would always be people in there. Sometimes it was the father and son pairing where the father would try to teach the son how to play, but mostly it was filled with friends that were there after school for a round of game as a stress reliever. Every time the groupings would change – you can tell by the colour of their school uniforms – but there was always someone that was there. You first spotted him amongst the crowd because he was the odd one out. While everyone was decked out in proper basketball gear, he was the only one playing in his black, ripped jeans and battered pair of Converse. You would always silently laugh to yourself when you spotted him: How does he play in that attire? And how does he stand the heat in those black jeans? You wanted to know the name of this comical guy, but the closest you ever got to know his name was through the clues on his shirt. His school shirt reads “B.KANG” and you always wondered what the B stood for.

Every single day, rain or shine, he’ll always be there. Whenever you passed by the court, you would always try to look out for him, and seeing him was like a constant in your life, although you never stopped to ponder more about the boy.

-

Today, things were different. You had a terrible day in school, and you were thinking about the incident that happened again, and again, and again. You couldn’t forget what she said, and your response to her words. You could feel the anger threatening to rise in you again, the blood rushing to your head. You were, of course, very distracted and hence, when the ball came flying right in front of your face, you were shocked. But your shock soon dissolved into anger that sent you into a rage.

First, I had a bad day. And now I almost got killed by a basketball. What a fantastic day.

Rolling your eyes, you turned to yell at the irresponsible player without even looking at his face.

“YAH! Did you have to throw it so high that it went over the fence? Don’t you have eyes to see where you shoot? Can’t you play properly? You nearly seriously injured someone, did you know that!”

When you finally stopped shaking and your heaves slowed to breathes, you finally got a good look at the player – and it was none other than him, the guy that is always here. Today was no different for him, just that you didn’t notice before. Whenever you saw him, he was always smiling that bright smile with a radiant glow on his face.

But all of that was gone now, replaced by wide eyes and an open mouth. He was clearly stunned by your sudden outburst, and you were embarrassed because of it.

Gripping onto the straps of your tote bag even tighter, you tore your eyes away from his face and marched off in the direction of home, all the while mentally cursing yourself and your hot temper. It didn’t take long before you heard someone’s footsteps thundering behind you, and a voice calling you.

“Wait!”

A familiar pair of Converse entered your sight as you looked down on the ground and you slowly lifted up your head to look at him. Before you could open your mouth to apologise for your sudden outburst, he beat you to it.

“You’ve had a hard day, didn’t you? Do you want to shoot some hoops? It might help you forget your anger.”

He then passed you the ball in his hand, and his brilliant smile was on again.

-

After multiple attempts and having the back of your shirt completely soaked through, you finally got a shot in and you did a little victory jump on the spot. You heard loud claps and cheers coming from behind and when you turned, you realised that the noises were coming from him. He was cheering for you with all his might, with his hands cupping the sides of his mouth to amplify his shouts.

“WOOOOO!!! Well done!”

You quickly put a finger to your lips, signalling to him to quieten his voice down. It was already 11pm, and he was going to wake up the entire neighbourhood! But despite your attempts to shush him, he kept up with his efforts and you eventually had to go over to cup his mouth with your hands.

Why is he so annoying? Why does he have to be so loud!

After he finally promised to keep quiet, you moved your hand and plopped down on the spot right beside him. He then leaned back too and made himself comfortable beside you.

“Are you always this…loud?”

“Yes, but it’s good to cheer people on when they’ve accomplished something, right?”

“It’s just one out of the hundreds that I did tonight; I don’t think that’s very impressive.”

“It is! Come on, just celebrate with me!”

You turned your head to smile at him before saying,

“Thank you… Idon’tknowyourname.”

“Oh right! I’m Younghyun! Kang Younghyun.” He then flashed you that bright smile again and your felt your heart swell a little inside.

“I’m Y/N. Younghyun is a nice name but what does the B on your shirt stand for?”

“Oh, B.KANG? It means Brian Kang. Brian is the name that I chose to use in Canada; I lived there for a little while before coming back.”

“I see… So, do I call you Brian or Younghyun?”

“Either is ok.”

“Young…Younghyun then. Younghyun is good.”

“Sure Y/N. Are you feeling better now?”

“I’m feeling much better, thank you.”

“So…what was bothering you just now?”

“I...did something stupid in school.”

“Really? Let’s hear it.”

After taking a deep breath, you begun to speak.

“Well, we were in class today and there’s this annoying classmate that we all really dislike. A stuck up, basically. No names so let’s call them A.”

“A for Annoying, I see what you did there Y/N.”

“Stop it! That wasn’t what I meant!”

You furrowed your eyebrows at Younghyun as he chuckled at your expression.

“I’m sorry, but please carry on.”

You then turned to face the night sky full of stars before continuing your story.

“Today was no different. I had asked a question because I didn’t understand what the book was about and once again, A had to make a comment that nobody asked for.

A said: That’s such a simple question, how can you not know the answer to your own question?

That got me completely riled up. I began to think, Why? Is it wrong to ask when you don’t know? In that moment, I felt very wronged and indignant and the words came out of my mouth before I even knew I was saying it.”

“What did you say?”

“I said this: Since you’re so smart and you know the answers to everything, why are you still here? Why aren’t you in the Advanced class? Better yet, how about you answer my question for me?”

Younghyun’s eyes grew wide at what you said and he turned to you with a mischievous glint in his eyes.

“Tell me! What did A say?”

“Nothing… A just turned to face the front with a red face…”

“Well done Y/N, really. Well done!” He then shot you two thumbs up in the air.

“Why? Why is that good? I must look like a gangster now, trying to pick fights with someone!”

“No, you did the right thing by standing up for yourself. No one should belittle anyone, especially in a space where everyone is there to learn. You need to learn how to not let people trample over you, and today you took your first step towards that.”

“Thank you. Now what I did doesn’t seem so bad.”

“You handled it well Y/N. If it were me, I would have walked over and punched them in the face.”

“Have you actually done it before?”

That was how the both of you ended up talking for the entire night until the lights at the basketball court went out.

-

Such occurrences with Younghyun became a regular thing for you. Whenever you were feeling upset, you knew you would find him at the basketball court and he’ll just shoot hoops with you until your exhaustion made you too tired to remember your negative emotions. When you were happy, you’ll go biking and eat lots of good food together; when you’re with Kang Younghyun, food is sure to be found in abundance. When you just needed to talk someone, you knew where to find him – and your footsteps took you down the familiar way home again.

Younghyun treasured all those moments with you very much. He knew you as a reserved person, and understood that you sharing your stories meant a great deal of trust in him. But no matter how overwhelmed you were – he always appreciated the fact that you would never fail to ask him about his day and thank him for listening to you. You were one that knew that a friendship required both give and take, and he felt extremely lucky to have found a friend in someone like you.

It was the small moments that stirred up big waves of emotions in him – and he could only fervently hope that you feel the same.

I’ll tell her when I win. I’ll tell her when I win the basketball championships.

You had promised to come and watch – and he vowed to tell you immediately after.

-

Younghyun had been training so hard for this. He sacrificed sleep and food just to have more time to train, and ignored his body signals to rest. He continued playing full games even with his swollen ankle; he needed to make sure they were in the finals.

He hid it so well from everyone, especially you. He knows how much you worry, and he wanted to give you one less thing to worry about. He would always hide his grimace behind a smile and channelled his pain into a hug for you. Just like that, with your sweet smiles and tight hugs, he took those as the encouragement to get through the finals.

And they were finally down to the last 5 minutes of the final game. His ankle was screaming for mercy and he was finding it hard to focus. He was seeing double – and that was when he knew that perhaps… he had pushed himself too far.

But both schools were tied now, and did he mention that he was stubborn? Rushing forward, he intercepted the ball passing overhead before passing it to a teammate that sealed the goal that brought them victory.

Younghyun smiled but when he wanted to cheer, no sound would come out. He could feel himself falling, but he couldn’t stop it. The last thing he heard was your voice before the darkness dragged him in.

-

When you arrived at the hospital, you saw him lying on the bed. You wanted to run to him, but the four boys held you back as the doctors ran checks on him. They reassured you with soft voices and small gestures; that there was nothing wrong with him, and that he passed out due to fatigue.

“Younghyun, is he really ok?”

He must have heard you call him, because he stirred. With a groan, his eyelids fluttered open and they immediately lit up when they found yours. The lights in his eyes were dim today, but they still twinkled with adoration for you. The doctors were called in to run the last check and their final orders were an overnight stay to monitor his condition and his leg before letting him go. The four boys then let you pass, before leaving the room with the doctors.

You wanted to smack him for scaring you like that, but you opted for scolding him instead.

“Kang Younghyun, why did you do that? You were already injured and you still pushed on till the last game? You’re…unbelievable.”

He bit his lower lip. He knew how sharp your words can be when you’re really angry, and he waited for them in bated breath.

“You’re…unbelievably strong. Really, when you want something, you’ll stop at nothing to get it. Now I know how much you really want to win the championship.”

“I want to win the championships, but there’s something that I want more than winning the championships.”

You raised a single eyebrow at his statement – what could be more important than the championships for him to ruin his body like that?

“It was a promise I made to myself, a promise that if I win the championships, I’ll be able to ask you this.”

“What did you want to ask me?”

“I wanted to ask if you’ll go out with me.”

“Of course I will. I’ve – ”

“Not in that way. Go out as…a couple.”

He stared at you unblinking, waiting in anticipation for your answer. He couldn’t read the blank expression on your face.

“You’re unbelievably strong, but also unbelievably stupid. Of course I would go out with you Younghyun. I would have said yes even if you didn’t win the championships.”

Your shoulders deflated as you shook your head at the idiot lying in front of you. But, oh wait; he was your idiot now.

To prove just how senseless he was, he attempted to get up from his bed while still attached to the IV drip and you had to rush over to push him down by the forehead before he caused more damage to himself.

With your finger still on his forehead and your face hovering above his, you stared him down with your wide eyes to get your point across.

“You, Mr Kang, are going to stay in bed like the doctors say until you can leave. Understood?”

“Yes Mrs Kang.”

“Mrs Kang? Yah you – ”

Taking advantage of your moment of confusion, Younghyun lifted his head up to place a soft peck on your lips before settling into his pillow with a smug smile on his face.

“So this is what it truly feels like to win.”

“I hate you Younghyun.”

“I love you Y/N!”

And he had to do that in his annoyingly cute voice, but it still made you smile.

-

[0236]

Younghyun lay awake in bed, turning to his side for the nth time that night. No matter how hard he tried, he couldn’t find a spot that was comfortable enough to fall asleep in. When his eyes finally landed on your figure lying by his side, his heart ached a little. Your neck was positioned in an odd angle, and he was sure that you’ll wake up with a sore neck tomorrow. You were using your arm as a pillow, so that was sure to hurt too. The frown on your face told him that you were sleeping in a very uncomfortable position in the chair so he decided to gently rouse you.

“Y/N-ah…”

“Why? Do you need something? Are you hurting?”

“No, it doesn’t hurt but I do need something.”

“What do you need?”

“Come here.”

Younghyun then shifted to make an empty spot next to him on the hospital bed before patting the space. You must have been tired because you did not even consider the meaning or consequences of your actions. You just did as you were told and quietly climbed into the space he had made for you.

Tucking your head into the crook of his neck, he whispered,

“Is this better now?”

You didn’t even open your mouth to answer him; you merely nodded your head.

“Silly girl, why did you sleep on the chair? You must be tired, sleep well baby.”

He then pressed a soft kiss on your forehead before drifting off to sleep in an instant.

Both of you were finally home – home in each other’s arms.