#seungjun fanfic
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113 L. SEUNGJUN
genre. onf universe au (byubyu specifically). fluff.
warnings. kissing. seungjun kinda overthinks a tad but reader sets him straight. seungjun is locked up for time travel. a brief mention of guns and a past wound ig?
pairing. seungjun x fem!reader.
wc. 1.5k.
request. no.
a/n. i'm pretty proud of this fic idk why skdjs onf lore fics are always so fun to write im still fascinated by their lore even tho i don't understand it too well lol but i try my best.
The sound of metal clashing outside made a groggy Seungjun blink his eyes open. He had been locked up for over 48 hours now with no access to food. He was allowed a little water if he begged the android guards extra nicely. His throat was scratchy and dry from the time spent locked up despite the water supply. They certainly didn’t treat time travel criminals as nicely as escape rebels.
Seungjun was sure he looked horrible by now. Or “a little bit scruffy around the edges”, as you would say, even the time when he had a gaping wound in his side. He missed the way you could make light of any situation right about now. He would do anything to have a reason to laugh again.
Seungjun was no stranger to the computer operated prison cells he was often shoved into after being caught. Years ago he had been thrown in for smaller crimes, but got out within a couple hours when he figured out the lock code while no one was looking. This time, it was a lot harder. They had upgraded their system; those damn robots learned quicker than the human brain could.
He had almost accepted his fate of rotting in the small square room by the time 24 hours had passed, but he still kept out a sliver of hope. You were still out there and free, which meant you could still come to save him.
He wanted to laugh whenever he found himself stuck in a situation where he had to rely on your good graces to get out. One of these days he was sure his sweet words and gentle kisses wouldn’t be enough to convey his thanks. You were sure to get sick of him eventually, right? He was always the one messing things up.
His pride didn’t entirely allow him to accept that you were better than him, though he knew in the back of his mind that you were. You were perfect wherever he was faulty and just as decent at the skills that he professed he excelled in. Maybe that was why you were perfect for each other— or, rather, why you were too perfect for him.
It was strange how the human mind always wandered back to the people they loved. So much time and energy was spent just reminiscing memories, and while he found it beautiful, he also acknowledged it as one of humanity's weaknesses. The androids certainly didn’t spend their hard-drive space with personal connections. They didn’t have anything to lose, and that was why it was so hard to win against them.
Seungjun shook off the thoughts in his head and focused on the noises he heard from the corridor. From his watch, he knew it was deep in the night hours, a time when security usually lessened in numbers for recharge sessions. Now was as good a time as you were ever going to get if you were coming to save him. And, by another glance at the watch, Seungjun had a pretty good idea that you were.
The entire team’s locations were shared across the watches; a necessary safety measure for situations like now. The little red dot that showed your location was moving steadily closer to Seungjun’s, and that was when a shadow of a smile started to form on his face.
He stood up and walked to the edge of his cell, peaking out into the dark corridor while also being careful not to get too close to the electrically charged door. If he touched it, he would get shocks charging through his body— something he learnt the hard way. In order to escape, he’d have to take down the electricity system, but pulling off such a scheme without the android guards finding out was beyond his power with such limited resources. You, however, might just be able to pull it off undetected.
A hushed curse just barely reached his ears, and he perked up, trying to hear anything else. It definitely came from you; there was no way any of the robots would let such profanity past their voice record logs. They weren’t the best with advanced vocabulary.
Soon enough, your figure appeared into view, searching around quickly between cells. Once your eyes fell upon the room with the code that read ‘113 L. SEUNGJUN’, you were quick to rush up to the other side of the door.
“Hey, time travelling dumbass. Long time, no see.” You whispered out with a smirk playing on your lips. Seungjun could feel his heart leap in his chest and he returned the smile. He had really missed you.
You quickly punched in the code to his cell and Seungjun watched as the door flickered away. You reached out for his wrist, already pulling him along before he could ask what the escape plan was. You seemed more than familiar with the layout of the building even in the dark. Seungjun opted to let you lead him to the way out without a word. He still didn’t know if there were any guards who might be on patrol.
It was a smooth escape, and you both were out into the cool night air before too long. Seungjun let the crisp fresh air fill his lungs fully, now realising how he had been holding his breath out of caution on the way out.
“How did you disarm the security cameras without getting caught?” He asked once he had caught his breath. Though he had been mostly focused on getting out, he had noticed the distinct lack of little red flashing dots that had been his constant reminder that whatever he did was being watched those 2 days straight.
“Minkyun figured out how to hack it from the inside, so all I had to do was find the control room. Hyojin got me the blueprints and Jaeyoung helped set up the game-plan. My job was pretty simple; get in, disarm, and then go find my stupid ass boyfriend.” You grinned, ruffling his hair as you said the last part.
Seungjun would’ve complained about you messing up his hair, or even the crude nickname that he secretly adored, but he had been apart from you too long to object to anything that came out of your mouth. He was hanging onto every word, soaking up the sound of your voice as his eyes studied yours fondly.
“You’re uncharacteristically quiet. What, did something else happen while you were in there?” You questioned with a quirked brow. Seungjun just shook his head at your question.
“Nothing happened. I’m just glad you came for me.”
“You didn’t seriously think I would ditch you that easily, right?” You stared at him in shock as his eyes told you all the confirmation you needed. “Lee Seungjun!” You smacked his shoulder as you called out his name, causing him to jump and rub the spot afflicted in pain.
“Do whatever it takes to get this thought into your ant-sized brain, okay? I am in love with you which means I will not leave you behind. Ever. Even if I get blasted by one of those androids and die— I’ll haunt you as a ghost until you realize that you can’t get rid of me that easily! Don’t you ever forget that.” You told him sternly, your eyebrows furrowed.
He wanted to laugh, or maybe cry, or maybe kiss you until he couldn’t breathe; he wasn’t sure which. How he had ever ended up winning your heart was beyond him, but he was so grateful that he had. And so, he decided to go with the third option.
“I won’t forget.” He whispered, leaning closer until his breath hit your lips.
You took the first move, pushing your lips on his, starting the gentle dance of passion and care. You didn’t mind that his lips were dry and slightly chapped from the days locked up. No matter what state they were in, they still felt perfect over yours. He pulled you closer almost desperately, but you were just as eager to have him as close as possible. The effect of his absence for 2 days on you was something you never wished to repeat. Though you were sure it would come back to bite you someday; you needed Seungjun like oxygen.
The kiss lasted until Seungjun was gasping for breath, just like he had hoped. Still craving your touch, he stayed in your arms, his chest pressed against yours as close as possible until he could feel your heart racing as much as his.
And he realized that maybe you weren’t too perfect for him after all.
Maybe you were just right. Maybe he could be yours without feeling guilty about all the trouble he dragged you in. Maybe you even liked how rebellious he was, Seungjun thought as you curled your fingers through the section of bright red hair blanketed under his raven strands. The thought made him smile, summoning that warm feeling in his chest that he had always been a little wary of in the past.
Maybe he liked having someone to rely on as well, even if it was another weakness he had to account for. He made up his mind that no matter what, he wouldn’t doubt you again; you deserved at least that much, after all.
↳ onf taglist: @eternalgyu,, @candewlsy,, @weird-bookworm,, @seunghancore,, @haecien
#﹒fics 𓈃 ⵌ#k-labels#lee seungjun#seungjun#onf#onf j-us#onf seungjun#onf lee seungjun#seungjun fluff#seungjun fic#seungjun fanfic#lee seungjun fluff#lee seungjun fic#lee seungjun fanfic#onf x reader#onf fluff#onf fic#lee seungjun x reader#seungjun x reader#j-us x reader#j us#j us fluff#j us fic#j us x reader#onf fanfic#j-us#j-us fic#j-us fluff#j-us fanfic
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one line any fic! rules: pick ten of your fics, scroll to somewhere midpoint, pick a line chunk and share it, and then tag ten people.
Tagged by bestie @gosiksmallspace
1. Beautiful: Dongsik x Joowon
(Beyond evil • hurt/comfort, angst, first kiss)
“Beautiful.”
One of the last words Joowon will ever hear comes from Lee Dongsik whispered to him as he's trapped in the older man's embrace.
Certainly not the words he expected after what just occurred, but they are welcomed all the same.
Joowon's ashamed to admit he's always had a nagging thought in the back of his mind, craving the knowledge of what Dongsik really thinks of him. The praise bestowed onto him warmly flooding through the haze of pain.
He was near obsessive in his pursuit of catching Dongsik off guard, eager enough to test the rules of the law in an effort to see what was hidden beneath that easy smile. It was the perfect facade and one Joowon had almost believed, those tears that came to life in Dongsik's eyes- had they always been a lie?
The tears that Joowon wanted to brush away even while pointing a gun at the defenceless man.
Tears that softened the wall he had put up around his heart.
2. Fill me up into the morning: dongsik x joowon
(Beyond evil vampire au • blood, suicidal thoughts, love at first sight, nsfw, possessive sex)
Dongsik’s ragged breathing is the only noise breaking the silence as he reaches up looping his arms around Joowon’s neck stepping deeper into the snow dragging him down sealing his own fate.
Joowon knows if his heart was beating that would have been his undoing.
He’d never dreamed of being accepted, after he had lost his own mother to the same vampire who turned him and left him for dead unaware of the change she had started.
His own father had never shown love for either of them Joowon was too ashamed to return home after burying his mother, and has been wandering ever since, lost.
Then he’d heard of the man whose pulse is racing at a dizzying speed as he engulfs Joowon.
Dongsik isn’t a sadistic hunter, not the type to take pleasure in stalking vampires, he kills efficiently refusing to torture or subdue them to a fate of burning to death under the sun.
3. You always wanted more: Moonjo x Jongwoo
(Stranger from hell • Possessive sex, pwp, praise kink, nsfw)
Every tear, every drop of sweat beading from his forehead, any sound he makes, the way he tenses and gasps when Moonjo’s fingers turn rough inside him till Jongwoo has no choice but to fuck back on them to seek his release.
He treasures every expression offered greedily.
Jongwoo, his magnificent creation, cries so well for him as he ruthlessly adds two more fingers knowing he’s not ready. His darling never complains, accepting him for what he is and moans so beautifully grinding down on his fingers.
Jongwoo is breathtaking.
4. Can’t you live without me?: Myeongseok x Seungjun
(Extraordinary attorney Woo • post break up, missing scene, kissing)
'You used to love cleaning up after me,' Echoes through his mind rather pathetically leaving a sad feeling behind. Meyongseok stops himself from voicing it aloud, glancing down at the forgotten folder in his hands, feeling embarrassed that he needs help.
Seungjun must sense the shift in his mood, his laughter ceases and his voice lowers intimately, "Leave the files over there." He nods at his desk sounding so kind Meyongseok looks up from behind his glasses about to thank the man when he sees Seungjun's eyes running down his body again- "I'll handle it for you."
The double meaning is evident as a sly smirk crawls over his face, and that's it.
Meyongseok can feel the heat rising up the back of his neck.
5. Felt this way: Joowon x Dongsik
(Beyond evil • Declarations of love, fluff, nicknames/pet names, first kiss)
Joowon grabs him by the jacket collar hauling him in for a desperate kiss, he swallows the surprised sound that escapes from Dongsik’s mouth it belongs to him now anyways.
He pulls away noticing Dongsik isn’t responding under him, did he misread the situation? He bites his own lip, ignorant of Dongsik’s gaze locked on it.
Dongsik definitely felt his leg under the table earlier multiple times, was that just what friends did?
Joowon acknowledges he is bad in social situations but he really thought he was right this time.
He strokes down Dongsik’s collar fixing it to keep his hands busy refusing to meet his gaze, self-consciousness flooding through him as his face heats up.
The urge to run crashes into him and Joowon wants to be anywhere but here right now-
6. 3 times Dongsik gave Joowon flowers + 1 time Joowon gave them back: Dongsik x Joowon background * Changjin x Jihwa, Yuyeon x Jungje
(Beyond evil • Gift giving, Flower crowns)
He's stirring a teaspoon of sugar into his mug when he hears Joowon enter through the front doors of the station talking with Jihoon.
Dongsik shuffles over to his regular position hastily where he can watch Joowon at his desk unnoticed without being seen in return.
Joowon picks up the flower pot delicately wary of dirt but finding none he holds it closer, brows furrowing as he reads over the note eyes blinking rapidly as he reads it again.
His head tilts curiously glancing around the office not recognizing the handwriting.
Jihoon is already sorting through a mountain of paperwork scowling down at his own writing leaving no one else in sight, he stares at Dongsik's desk long enough for Dongsik to realize he knows.
He watches from the side as Joowon runs his fingers over the delicately pink petals, before moving the pot into the last bit of the evening sunlight.
7. Too late for a remedy: Hoyeol x Junho
(D.p • Missing scene, childhood trauma, idiots in love)
Hoyeol manages to sit them both up, hugging Junho to his chest for a long minute, then pulls back keeping one firm arm around Junho's waist as his other runs over his torso looking for any injuries.
His thumb brushes over a spot on Junho’s neck that makes him tremble.
Hoyeol mistakes the movement for pain apologizing as he gentles his touch, “I have to go, he could be anywhere by now.” Hoyeol tells him a nervous edge to his voice, but he doesn't put Junho down.
8. 4 times Hoyeol protected Junho + 1 time Junho protected him: Hoyeol x Junho
(D.p • hurt/comfort, attempted sa, implied ca)
Junho reaches blindly for a towel wiping his face clear of excessive water; he presses it on his face harder, eyes stinging with tears he refuses to shed, trying to get his heart rate back under control.
He glances up through the small window above the sink for a distraction- anything, and Hoyeol is there.
Standing under the street post engulfed in the light shining brightly above him watching as Jangsoo does push-ups, towering over him for once instead of vice versa.
It’s as if Hoyeol can sense his gaze, his head turns, glancing back over his shoulder eyes still dark with anger locking directly onto Junho’s.
It makes his stomach turn with something other than fear.
9. Mine to have: Dongsik x Joowon
(Beyond evil • Oral sex, canon divergence, handjobs, nsfw)
Dongsik brushes the damp hair sticking to Joowon's forehead out of his face then threads his fingers through it as he pushes a bit more into his waiting mouth, "Not just the tip Joowon-ah."
Joowon moans on him helplessly, he wants to do better when Dongsik calls out his name in that soft voice.
He closes his eyes, the rain is making it hard to see anyways- he sucks Dongsik down deeper, cock heavy resting on his tongue wanting more.
Joowon wants everything he can take from this man longing to give him all that he is in return.
10. Thoughts of you consume: Joowon x Dongsik
(Beyond evil • Priest au, virgin joowon, praise kink, religious conflict, restraints, nsfw)
“You did listen.”
The man tsks on the other side of the screen “You doubted me? Shouldn’t you be more trusting of your congregation?”
“Hard to know if they retain my words when half the pews are asleep.”
The man chuckles darkly sounding closer than before “I like you father.”
Joowon stares at the panel surprised, it almost sounds like the man is flirting with him. The silence stretches between them as the words settle in his head.
“I do like you father does that make you nervous?”
Joowon fidgets with the tassels on his robes feeling unsettled now, it does make him nervous. It makes him question his very religion, his voluntary celibacy, things he hasn’t second guessed in years.
Tagging ppl i have noticed while scrolling that i already know/ would like to know better🖤
@juwonahfication @ashcrow @lovetoreader @thoresque @tiffanylamps @yardmargs @dusty-nao @shhhsoftnwet @kseniyagreen @manyang-police-substation
#beyond evil#strangers from hell#d.p#extraordinary attorney woo#my fic#jwds#dsjw#jongwoo x moonjo#junho x hoyeol#myeongseok x seungjun#does this count as a masterpost#i want to believe#fanfic#ao3
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The Day I Ran Into You
ONF Hyojin & Seungjun x gn! reader
Wordcount ≈ 1.2k
Warnings: Feeling left out, anxiety, having trouble making friends, I think that’s it.
Thank you so much for the request, Leo! I hope you enjoy it!
Third Person POV
When (Y/n) got the news that they would be moving to Korea to study, they were very excited. A new adventure with millions of possibilities waiting for them. (Y/n) packed their bags as soon as they knew when they were leaving. (Y/n) had fixed a small apartment that wasn’t too close to the university nor was it too far away, it was a bit expensive but (Y/n) also found a job so it would be fine. (Y/n) was looking forward to meeting new friends and exploring a new city.
However, even though (Y/n) had done everything they could to prepare for this trip, they couldn’t stop their anxiety from ruining the experience. It turns out that making friends was way harder than (Y/n) had expected, throughout the first week of university, they hadn’t met a single person to hang out with. It seemed like everyone had already found their cliques, everyone but (Y/n).
The apartment might have been small but during the night as (Y/n) was feeling lonely, it seemed so vast. The walls span across the country, the roof nowhere in sight, the small night light only illuminating the shadows that dwell around the room.
During the start of the second week, (Y/n) was ready to give up, they were ready to pack up their things and return home. That was until they met two boys who finally made the anxiety shrink from a raging storm to a gentle breeze.
It was during lunchtime on Tuesday that (Y/n) ran into a guy with bright red hair, he was dressed in a dark green hoodie and ripped jeans. The guy was coming around a corner and (Y/n) didn’t see him so they ran right into each other, fortunately, it wasn’t more than a bump so no one got hurt.
“Oh, I’m so sorry. Are you okay?” The guy stopped and gave (Y/n) a bright smile while also looking them up and down to see if he caused any injuries or anything. “Um, no, no, um, yes, I’m okay, sorry for running into you,” “It’s fine! It was my fault too. My name is Hyojin! I’m an Astronomy student,” Hyojin reached out his hand for (Y/n) to shake, still a friendly and bright smile on his lips. (Y/n) reached out and took his hand, giving it a gentle shake. “Hi, my name is (Y/n), I’m a (subject) student,” “Are you a first-year student?” “Yeah,” (Y/n) felt a bit nervous to stand there and talk to Hyojin but he was very friendly and his aura calmed her nerves. “I’m in the second year, OH SEUNGJUN! Hey,” Suddenly Hyojin saw someone behind (Y/n) and he began shouting and waving to catch the person's attention. (Y/n) turned around and saw another guy who waved back as he jogged over to where Hyojin and they were standing.
“This is Seungjun, Seungjun this is (Y/n),” “Hello, nice to meet you!” “Hi,” “Sorry, I got caught up with (Y/n) so I forgot we were meeting for lunch, about that, am I keeping you from meeting up with your friends?” “No, not really, I kind of don’t have anyone to eat lunch with,” “Just today or always?” Seungjun asked, his eyes sparkled warmly. “Ya, you can’t just ask them that,” “It’s okay, um I guess always because well I’ve had a hard time finding friends here,” “Are you an exchange student?” “Um kind of, well, I’m not from Korea originally or anything but I’m enrolled for the entire program so not just one semester or so,” “Woah that’s so cool, I don’t think I’d have it in me to move to another country to study, not alone at least,” Seungjun said. The two boys were very easy to speak with, their energy made (Y/n) open up more too, daring to actually speak and show some of their personality.
“Hey, so um, lunch is almost over now, hehe, seems like we all will have to skip it from talking too much. Anyways, Hyojin and I usually have a little picnic on Thursdays after our classes, because some weeks we don’t have time to meet up before that so it’s sort of mandatory for us to do it. Wanna join us this Thursday? It was so nice talking with you so I’d at least love to get to know you more!” “I’d like that too, so what do you say?” (Y/n) took a deep breath, they never thought that them running into a guy with bright red hair could lead to friendship. “Yes, I’d love too,” “Give me your number, I’ll text you the details of when and where and what you should bring!” “Okay!” Hyojin handed (Y/n) his phone and let them add their contact to it. “See ya on Thursday if we don’t run into each other before then!” “Bye,”
Thursday rolled around and classes were over, (Y/n) was at a convenience store to get some drinks for them and the two boys as (Y/n) had been tasked with bringing drinks. (Y/n) was feeling excited to meet with the two nice boys once again, they thought they’d be nervous but they weren’t, probably because Hyojin and Seungjun had been so nice and welcoming. After buying some different drinks, (Y/n) began walking over to the location Hyojin had sent. When they got their, they searched for the bright red hair but couldn’t find it, (Y/n) felt sad, had they been played? Had the boys just been fooling around? That was until they heard two voices shouting their name.
“(Y/n)! Over here!” They turned a bit to the left and saw two boys jumping and waving their arms around as they shouted (Y/n)’s name. Hyojin no longer had bright red hair but now he had a light blonde color. “Hey, I was trying to look for you by your hair color but you changed it,” “Yeah, I got tired of the red, also my teachers didn’t appreciate it, said it was distracting,” As he said distracting he made a funny expression and used a mocking tone, making his two friends laugh. “Well, the red looked good on you but so does the blonde,” “Thanks, (Y/n)!”
And so the three sat in a park, talking about their lives both before meeting and the most recent days, (Y/n) didn’t feel like an outsider or like they had just met the two boys two days ago, no (Y/n) felt like they had known each other their entire lives. Finally, they could enjoy this adventure. Finally, that small apartment wasn’t vast and lonely, no it was slowly getting filled with happy memories, photos, trinkets, and moments from hanging out with the two guys. And Thursday picnics were no longer just a Hyojin and Seungjun thing, it was now a Hyojin, Seungjun, and (Y/n) thing.
#onf#onf hyojin#onf fluff#onf j-us#ONF Imagines#onf scenarios#onf fanfic#onf x reader#onf hyojin x reader#onf oneshots#onf x gn reader#gn reader#hyojin x reader#j-us x reader#seungjun x reader#onf seungjun#platonic#mirisss#leo#onf request
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prompts #18 and #56 for onf’s j-us please ^•^
18. "Are you wearing my shirt?"
56. "Come sit on my face, let me show you how much I missed you."
꧁꧂ ꧁꧂ ꧁꧂ ꧁꧂ ꧁꧂ ꧁꧂
Seungjun’s nights were constant battles between needing to throw his all into practice and needing to give you the attention you deserve. No one said it was going to be easy, but he was taken back when he came to realize just how much you truly meant to him.
“Are you wearing my shirt?” He casually asked, one eye closed, tired from work; while the other took in your appearance. You’ve managed to steal one of his favorite shirts, a band, and wear it. It was only supposed to be a cute surprise when he got home but the way his tongue quickly licked his bottom lip made you think otherwise.
In a cool smooth motion, he raised two fingers; motioning for you to come closer. He sat on the couch, manspread as wide as he could be. Your eyes immediately watching as his twitching cock come to life.
"Come sit on my face, let me show you how much I missed you." He said as calmly as ever, leaning to the side so he was able to lay down on the couch. You swallowed quickly, knowing full well how great his tongue works, just as you dropped your panties.
#kpop fanfic#onf smut#onf j us#onf seungjun#onf imagines#ONF one shots#onf scenarios#onf drabbles#kpop prompts
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seventh albatross
j-us x f!reader
word count: ~ 11500
warnings: profanity, physical intimacy (sex but not smut, you know??), alcohol consumption, “off screen” violence
a/n: steampunk(??) au; a 100 ways request from ages ago with the prompt “ “I bought you a ticket.”
In your small town, there are only two certainties: things change, and you are irreparably in love with lee seungjoon.
The sky spells trouble with ominous gray and wisps of fog. While you should be stocking shelves, you find yourself instead frozen near the front of the store, your eyes fixated on the heavy clouds. There’s layers of them. Those closer to the ground a paler shade, and seem to float along faster than the blanket of dark steel above it. There would be no shipments coming or going now.
People liked to say your town’s shipments were essential. That they kept society as a whole running. Airships don’t run without fuel, after all. Neither does half the machinery in the city’s factories. Faraway as the town might be, society needed you. Except, of course, that society had already proven it didn’t. At least, it didn’t specifically need Seogholde. They could make due as long as there were other coal mines they could reach.
Society proper had only decided to care about Seogholde again when they found out just how it was that the town hadn’t collapsed without them. So the hangar had opened back up, officially. Shipments back and forth between the town and the rest of the world began again, officially. It was the kind of thing that would be in history books, if anyone ever bothered to write a history of Seogholde.
You ought to appreciate that you’ve seen both the opening and closing of the town’s chapter of isolation. Instead, you only worry that it will rain right as closing happens. You hadn’t brought an umbrella with you today. The wait for the tram and the walk to your home will be frightful without one if the darkness of the clouds is any indication.
A call of your name nearly makes you drop the glass bottle you are still holding from when the weather had distracted you.
From behind the counter, Old Karim’s face crinkles as he smiles warmly. He was Old Karim eternally in your mind, even if the younger Karim had gone years ago. “If you just place that one, I can take care of the rest,” he told you, “I can tell you don’t want to get caught in the storm.” Ever since you were young, people have always said he could tell what was wrong. It wasn’t until you began working with him that you realized it seemed to be true of more than just physical ailments.
It might not make you a very good apprentice to rush off before the apothecary closes, but your master’s offer is tempting. “It’s alright. I don’t want you to have to pace around the store.”
Karim’s smile only grew. “You won’t have to walk back and forth when you know where everything belongs by heart.” Embarrassment crept up the back of your neck at that. “Or I could ask Valeria to do it.” From the backroom, you swear you hear your fellow apprentice already calling from hearing her name mentioned. She’d resent you for at least a weekend if she had to take over the end of your work.
“Really, I’ll be fine. I think the rain will hold a while longer,” you claim, and hope that it doesn’t really show that you have no idea.
You happen to be lucky, though. The clouds continue to drift in an overbearing fleet overhead as you arrive at the tramstop, but the ground remains dry.
Across the wide, dust laden street, you spot a familiar form closing up a shop. Curtains are pulled shut over the store’s broad window, as if anyone in town would forget the magnificent display of antiques and clocks that lay on the other side of the glass. The shopkeeper, Lenna, visibly sighs when she turns around and sees you in return.
She says nothing until she’s crossed over the tramline and practically by your side. Then etiquette forced her to greet you with a quaint, “Good evening.”
“Good evening, Ms. Kask,” you return, fumbling for a politesse that you had never quite been taught. From the thin line of her lips, you can only assume that you still haven’t managed to get it right. “You’ve been working late, lately? I haven’t seen you here all week.”
Lenna does not turn her attention to you. “Some people have the misfortune of caring enough about their profession to put in long hours when a job calls for it, you see,” she insults carefully, such that it might be taken as simple repartee. “And yourself? Are you still carrying on with that… distinguished young man of yours?” Here, Lenna is less delicate. Her words may have been complimentary, but her tone made it clear that she implies just the opposite meaning.
“Seungjoon,” you feel compelled to remind Lenna of his name, as if she’d truly forgotten, “and I are doing fine.”
“Just as I feared,” she replied curtly, “More and more it seems our only hope is that he breaks your heart before he gets it in his head to propose.”
You scowl, the good mood given to you by Old Karim’s jovial laughter and Valeria’s promise to see you this weekend spoiling quickly. “I wasn’t aware you had any hopes for me, Lenna.” There is no surprise nor fondness in your words.
“I have hopes for everyone halfway decent in this forsaken town,” she announced, sparing you a glance. Halfway decent, you understood, really means anyone who could still trace their lineage back to one of the cities. Not the miners, their descendants, or the wanderers who had managed to make some kind of pilgrimage to reach Seogholde by anything other than aircraft. “If I didn’t I’d have no reason to stay.” That is, she’d been trapped here when the town was blacklisted nine years ago. And she hadn’t yet managed to make the funds needed in the past three to afford a ticket out. Bitter, cynical Lenna. There is nothing in the apothecary you know to fix that.
The steam is visible before the tram itself. From over the roofs of the street, it rises in steady plumes before camouflaging itself amidst the fog. The serpentining of the tram’s sole route a scarlike reminder of how unplanned the town had been. For generations, they say, straight roads would be intercepted by the sudden sprouting up of the frame of a house or store. By the time the tramline was built, the main road had become a curving vein that’s path was more like that of a river than a manmade plan.
It runs roughly from northwest to southeast. The Old Mine at one terminus and the first stretch of the Xu farm at the other. A year and a half ago, the Sorensens had campaigned to extend the track out to their own farm as well -- but they had too little good will in town for it to be effective. They had arrived only six months prior to that, with a land permit signed by the city’s chairman of property. While the town had decided, quietly and collectively, not to fight the ordinance, they got little more than that. Moreover, the Sorensens had gone about it all wrong. Very few things had happened in Seogholde by the city’s bureaucratic standards for nearly a decade. (Lenna Kask, of course, had been the first of the few who did sign their petition, and only because she was impressed to see a proposition on paper at all.)
The tram comes around the corner of the grocer’s with a heave of steam from its engine. Two metal boxes linked together, with dark green paint chipped in places. On each car there are two rounded rectangles punched out of metal sides that need to be fastened over with tarp in the winter to keep snow from falling in. On the boarding side, a doorway space divides the two open-air windows, wide enough for a couple to get on or off at the same time.
As it approaches your stop, a familiar face leans out of one of the windows, features brightening at the sight of you; and yours in return. Seungjoon waves at you, earns a scoff from Lenna, and ducks back into the tramcar in time to move towards the entryway to meet you there.
He offers you help in taking the step up onto the tram not because you need it, but because it’s a gentlemanly, acceptable excuse for him to hold your hand. One that not even the eldest, more reserved onlooker would feel the need to gossip about.
After his smile and the smudge of grease on his cheek, the next thing you notice is the welding goggles still around Seungjoon’s neck. As the tram ticks back into motion, you give a small tug at the goggle’s band to point it out. “Is Ms. Giroto going to be mad at you for taking these again?”
He laughs, his grin turning to one of some chagrin at his forgetfulness. “She’ll understand,” he said, though you both know his employer will chew his ear off if she discovers a single item from the workshop.
With a glance around, you soon find yourself with another question for him. “Where’s Yuto?”
“Mikhail had to keep him back a while longer, show him some details of an old model that needs fixing.”
“Mikhail?”
“Mr. Kavaliou,” he clarifies. You lean back slightly, until your shoulder brushes against another passenger, right yourself a fraction, and give Seungjoon an amused once-over.
“Look at you. You finish an apprenticeship and suddenly Mr. Kavaliou is just Mikhail?”
“Not to his face,” Seungjoon admits with a chuckle. “Besides, you’ve always called Old Karim by his given name.”
“Everyone calls Old Karim by his given name. That’s the difference.”
“How is the apothecary, anyway?” Seungjoon’s gaze went past you for a moment. Then one of his hands reached for the wall, and the other to your arm. In total, it steadied both of you as the tram took its harshest turn; passengers paying less attention stumbling around and apologizing to those they bumped against.
“It’s alright. I think, if I could actually memorize where everything’s kept, I wouldn’t be an apprentice anymore.”
The breaks squeak as the tram slows at the stop -- affectionately known as Clara’s, after the founder of the tavern sat right across from it, though it had changed hands time and time again over the generations. This is usually where Yuto would say his goodbyes to the two of you; hurrying away among the crowd not to get a drink, but to go down Baker’s lane to the narrow wooden house his forefathers had built upon arrival in Seogholde. Most of those who got off at Clara’s stop headed to the tavern. It’s owned by a Yoon now, but the sign out front, if anyone bothered to read it, still reads DuFaure.
With the car emptied out around you, Seungjoon let his arm come around your waist, and pulls you a little closer to him. He steps back, you along with him, away from the open panels until his back hits the metal end of the car. Then he kisses you. Unabashed and tender, with hands trailing up your back and over shoulders until they cup your face. The tram sways to the left, following the same curvature you’ve known all your life. It only makes your feet shuffle closer to him, your hands grasp tighter at his waist.
It isn’t until a rumble breaks through, originless and all around, that the two of you break apart.
You watch as Seungjoon’s eyes roam up and over, his head tilting as he takes the best look he can out the window. Your fingers curl against the cotton of his shirt, endearment keeping your gaze locked on his gentle features.
“The sky’s gonna break soon,” he says. Neck and chin still at an angle, his eyes flit back to yours, an impulsive smile creeping onto his lips.
There is a flash somewhere, unplaceable, like one you must have missed before. Wordless, both of you wait for the crack of thunder that follows. It rings impossibly loud, seeming like it should be enough to shake the whole tram. There’s never been a drum as loud as nature’s own.
“Did you bring an umbrella today?” you ask.
He shakes his head, and moves his hands away from your face. “Maybe it’ll hold.”
The universe contradicts, refuses any optimism. You hear it first, like bullet fire against the car’s roof, and then you see it. Rain falls in thick sheets on either side of you.
“Maybe it’ll wash the muck off your cheek,” Seungjoon revises his hope, looking at you with a simpering grin. You set an accusatory glare at him, and wipe the back of your hand against where you remember his fingers being. Sure enough, there’s an inky black smudge on your skin, a transfer from his wellworked hands.
You tsk, and ask, “Doesn’t Ms. Giroto have sinks for you mechanics?”
He looks on the verge of answering, but the tram is squeaking to its next stop, and both of you need to disembark. Seungjoon settles on a shrug, and grabs your hand to lead you both towards the cutaway doorway. As soon it comes to a halt, he looks out at the pouring rain and then to you as if it were a challenge. “Run?”
You nod, and shift your hand in his. “Run.”
He hops down first, and lets out a shriek as the rain hits his skin. But he pauses, your intertwined fingers a tether he has no intention of breaking, and you follow his small pull out into the downpour.
The cobblestones are slick enough, but it’s worse as soon as you’re off the main road. Well-trodden as the narrow streets that branch off the town’s center may be, they still turn to mud quickly, especially with a storm of this force. You and Seungjoon cling to each other as you run the familiar path, nearly slipping at intervals, and letting out yelps and yells each time one rescues the other. Onlookers and overhearers would call you both raucous, with the way senseless loud laughter mixes in with surprised shouts.
Bright flashes cut across the sky, accompanied by a timpani impressive enough to convince you this is a doomsday. Yet you’re laughing. Seungjoon falls a step behind you, nearly pulls you down with him. You manage to keep your footing, and use your free hand to stabilize him. Droplets pound against your skin, and cling at your eyelashes, threatening to blind you. He shouts a thank you. It’s hard to feel like you can say anything without shouting in this rain; it is loud, demanding, but in the end he is louder than he imagines. The two of you are off again, around the last bend before some reprieve.
The covered porch of Seungjoon’s home is narrow. There’s a hole in one of the planks that means the rain leaks right through in a small spot to the far right of the door. But it’s enough shelter for you to try to rub some of the moisture off your face and ring out part of your skirt before he opens the door.
The door opens into a short hall of sorts, formed by the outer wall and the side panel of the house’s sole set of stairs. To the right is the small kitchen, and the round table where most meals are had; to the left what amounts to a sitting room, poorly furnished but familiar enough to feel cozy to you now. Upstairs -- although decorum said you shouldn’t know -- were the two bedrooms.
“Changyoon?” Seungjoon calls. He gives you a signal to head left before turning the other way, heading up the creaking steps to check if his housemate is already back.
You run your hands through your soaked hair and wander into the sitting room. On the wall is a tin panel that frames four daguerreotypes. The two on top stoic portraits of Changyoon’s parents, and on bottom ones of the whole family. Changyoon is only recognizable in one of them. In the other, he is only a bundle in his mother’s arms. It is a reminder that this home had once been only theirs.
A shudder runs down your spine, either from the chill of being soaked or the memory of how things changed.
People always said Seogholde’s shipments were essential. Vital goods needed by all of society. Naturally, then, cargo crafts were known to be at risk for plundering. Only one passenger airship ever went between the town and the city. Nine years ago, when the news came that the Sixth Albatross had been taken by rogues and left a burning mass in the middle of the mountains, no one had believed it. You hadn’t really known either Changyoon or Seungjoon yet. But people began to mention them, in hushed tones, along with a short list of others. It was Valeria’s father, you recall, who had referred to them as the Albatross’ orphans.
And the rest of the world, it seemed, felt no sympathy for the town. The pillaging of the Sixth Albatross had been taken as a sign that Seogholde is simply too far away, with too many dangerous stretches of open skies. There are other mining towns. So for six years, the world carried on without your town, pretending it never existed at all.
Three years ago, when the government sent its first passenger craft in years, everyone had been astonished. Sickened, even, at the name embossed on the side of the airship.
Seungjoon interrupts your reminiscing with an arm around your waist, his chin coming to rest on your shoulder from behind you. “He must still be at the hangar,” he tells you quietly. Wet strands of his hair tickle at your cheek. He looks at the daguerreotypes hanging on the wall and lets out a small sigh. A moment passes, where you wonder if he’s thinking back on the same tragedy as you. “Hey,” Seungjoon calls for your attention lowly.
You turn in his loose hold, and he straightens his back to look at you properly. He’s already hung up his leather coat; the wet sleeves of his shirt messily rolled up to his elbows, the material clinging to his chest. “You’re shivering,” he observes. “Do you want something dry to put on?”
The way his eyes roam over your face sets a warmth in the middle of your chest. His fondness is evident as ever. Enough to make you wonder how it is that you went years with him as little more than a name rather than as a person essential in your life. You reach up so your palms rest along his jaw, and bring him close enough to kiss. The arm around your waist tightens, and a hand finds its way to the nape of your neck. His hold stays the same only long enough for the kiss to deepen before his fingers clutch at your hips.
He pulls back, and leads you a few steps further into the sitting room. When you pull the welding goggles off of him, the water pooled inside them sprinkles the both of you, making both of you let out a mixture of a cry and a laugh. You drop the heavy accessory to the floorboards. In another mood, Seungjoon might have complained, or teased, that Mr. Kavaliou would chew him out more than Emma Giroto if they were damaged. With the air that’s set between the two of you, though, he can only pull you in again, his chuckle dying out just in time for him to press his lips to yours.
His fingers set to work on the buttons down the front of your dress. He stops when he reaches your waist, breaks off the kiss, and looks at you tenderly. “Do you want to?” he asks, searching out hesitancy on your features. You reply by reaching out and starting on the fastens of his shirt.
“Yes,” you manage in an exhale, and kiss him again.
He carries on until you can shrug off the outer layer. His lips move from yours to your neck, starting at the sensitive pulse point just beneath your jawline. You push the soaked cotton off his shoulders, and Seungjoon lets go of you to let his shirt fall to the floor. He sits on the one couch in the room, and holds out his hands to you. There’s still a slight dampness, a chill from the storm on both of you as your palms glide over his.
You settle onto his lap, and he gathers the light material of your underdress around your hips. His fingers clutch at the white fabric and at your sides as he kisses you once again. Your back arches a fraction as he mouths at your skin, traveling as low as the neckline of your shift will allow. He looks up and you to murmur, “you’re beautiful,” before he tugs the damp dress up over your head.
All the more exposed, you find yourself pressing closer to him as he resumes littering kisses along your skin. Your fingers trail over his bare chest. He releases a sigh, appreciative of your every touch, against a patch of your clavicle he’s left wet with saliva.
It isn’t the first time. Sometimes you wonder if somehow Lenna knows that you and him have done away with the decency of a respectable courtship; if that was why she harbored a cynical sentiment towards him. Or maybe, you think selfishly, she’s simply never felt warmth pool beneath another’s touch the way you do now with him.
“Seungjoon,” you say, your hands moving up to tangle in his damp hair. He hums and pulls back, his touch still roaming you. A lusty gloss in his eyes confirms that he wants the same as you. You reach between your two bodies and begin on the buttons of his pants. He relaxes against the back of the couch, his hands stroking at your thighs as you work at undressing him as well.
Once they’re undone, the two of you switch positions, him rising for a moment to push his trousers down providing you the opportunity to lay back against the thin cushion. When he returns to you, one of his hands runs up your bare side while the other laces with one of your own.
“I love you,” he whispers, his lips a fraction away from yours. It’s not the first time for that, either, but it still sends a flutter through you, from lips to toes.
“I love you,” you return without qualifier, hands upon his shoulders.
The wicker frame creaks beneath every rock of his hips against yours. It’s barely audible to you over the sound of his heavy breath beside your ear.
Your grasp at his face and redirect him to kiss you again. They’re sloppy now, open-mouthed and interrupted by quiet moans. Seungjoon presses his forehead against yours, eyes squeezing shut for a moment. Your fingertips curl against his skin, gasping out praises that cause a panting grin to pull across his lips.
Seungjoon mumbles adulations back to you choppily. Sentences that begin without ever ending; broken middles running against each other. “You’re… I love… So good, so pretty… Shit... You...”
When he comes undone, his head is pressed against your neck, lips senseless against your skin. He stills entirely for a moment, listening to your heavy breathing, the slight whine that works into it. Then his hand moves, trailing over your stomach and then further; unsatisfied until he sees your eyes flutter shut with a relief that matches his own.
“Good?” he asks.
Without opening your eyes, you nod, lips still blissfully parted.
Seungjoon takes it as his cue to roll off of you, squeezing the two of you side by side on the wicker couch as best you can fit. For a moment, the two of you do nothing. The moment hovers, unbreakable, somewhere far away from towns and cities and airships. You become aware again, slowly, of the sound of the rain against the walls and the windows’ shutters. It’s as heavy as it began, with crashes of thunder still sprinkled amidst it.
The two of you manage to gather your clothing and head up to his room before Changyoon returns.
Your clothing, still damp, is hung up. Seungjoon finds an old chemise and a pair of trousers that fit well enough for you not to feel uncomfortable appearing in front of his housemate.
When you both come down the stairs, Changyoon is in the kitchen, and raises his eyebrows at your appearance.
“I didn’t know you were coming over today.”
“The rain caught us off guard,” you explain in a sigh, “Your house is closer than mine.”
Seungjoon settles behind you, both arms around your middle. “How’s the hangar?”
Changyoon groans. “We weren’t able to send out our last shipment today. The rain caught us off guard, too. Someone from the city will probably send a strongly worded message as if it’s our fault.”
“They’ll make do,” you reply quickly. A catchphrase of sorts in Seogholde, ever since society decided they cared about the town after all.
“They’ll make do by making our lives hell somehow, more like,” Changyoon retorts, leaning back against the small bit of counter space their kitchen had. You frown, and Seungjoon asks what he thinks that’ll be. He scoffs. “It’s not like before,” he says; you both know before is the six years that the town was on its own, “Everyone at the hangar gets paid by the city now.”
Seungjoon lets go of you, moves to your side instead. “They can’t just not pay.”
“Like they can’t just blacklist a whole town?” There isn’t much either of you can say to that. Six years had already proven his point.
“If it’s the same as before, you’ll get paid the way they did before too,” Seungjoon concludes, moving towards one of the cabinets to find food. Changyoon gives his friend a questioning look; one that flits between you and him, as if you’re the problem here. As if just because you hadn’t been close to them during that time meant you were naive to how Seogholde found a way to survive.
“Open mooring towers to the highest bidder?” you propose, if only to prove that you aren’t unaware. Changyoon looks at you with surprise for a moment before his features warm with a smile, a chuckle passing his lips.
“Why’s it so easy to forget you’re a local?” He muses, before asking if you’re staying for dinner. The way Changyoon uses the word local seems to you an antonym to Lenna Kask’s term of halfway decent. It must be the fact that you’re both that causes any distress.
You stay to eat with them, and indulge when Changyoon pulls a bottle of amber liquor from a cabinet after the meal.
The three of you relocate to the sitting room by the second round, you and Seungjoon side-by-side on the wicker couch and Changyoon in the rocking chair opposite. The conversation is warm and casual, sprinkled with full-bellied laughs.
“Valeria wants to have a get-together tomorrow,” you announce to them both, “since Haebin’s tending at the tavern tomorrow.” You pause to give Changyoon a pointed look, “Marwa might come.”
He takes a hefty sip from his cup. “Marwa? Why specify her?” You and Seungjoon both only laugh; his infatuation with the aforementioned girl obvious enough for the question to be amusing. “When do you apothecaries get so much time to rally together a group, anyway?” Changyoon huffs and changes the subject.
“When did Valeria get to ask Marwa to come, you mean?” you tease. Leaning into Seungjoon’s side, you take a small drink before answering in earnest. “Lots of people come and go during the week.” With a pause, you frown into your cup. “Marwa’s actually been coming around the apothecary more often, lately.” There’s no taunt for Changyoon in mentioning her this time.
“She’s alright?” Seungjoon checks.
You furrow your brow and then nod. “It’s her father who’s sick.” You beside you, sharing a worried look with Seungjoon, and then across with Changyoon.
Her father is one of the best respected men in your town. A respect found not from his name, but from action. He had guided Seogholde through both its transitions. Responsible both for helping the town find peace even after society abandoned it for lawless; and for navigating the circumstances when, unanticipated, law returned three years ago. No one knew what would come after him.
“Maybe I should go,” you remark suddenly, “It’s getting late.”
After you’ve changed back into your own clothing, Seungjoon insists upon walking you home.
It’s a winding, ten minute walk from his home to yours. Easily it becomes fifteen as the two of you make a game of dodging puddles. The air is cool and pleasant in the wake of the evening’s storm, and you think it would be nice to spend hours like this, walking along in the dark with Seungjoon.
Your home comes sooner than you’d like. It’s larger than it needs to be, looming with the grand expectations an ancestor had once when he first was given property by the government to go be a small mining town’s physician. It was the reason the road your home is on is called Doctor’s Way. Years of giving directions to this part of town by saying head over the doctor’s way had turned it into a place name, even after any doctor that lived here passed away. The paint is faded now, a few shutters hang slightly crooked. You forget how many generations ago it was that your family decided the deed to this house had been a banishment from the government rather than a present.
Seungjoon, in front of a reminder that in a city the two of you would have never crossed paths, settles for kissing the back of your hand.
“Good night, Seungjoon. I’ll see you tomorrow.”
He grins at you, his fingertips pressed to yours for a lingering moment before he repeats the same back to you.
Tomorrow comes, and you don’t tell Seungjoon that your mother had still been awake when you’d gone inside. How she’d started quietly, asking where you had been, but it quickly grew to a yell. Ms. Kask had dropped by on her way home, and shared who she’d seen you running off with at the tram stop. Your mother had shouted with a force you hadn’t known she had, and collapsed in tears, cursing that her family ever came to Seogholde. A cursed town, she said, that could turn ladies that should be aristocrats into demimondes.
Some remnant of that tension must still be in your demeanor when you come into the tavern. Seungjoon frowns after a moment of looking you over and ducks his head close to you to ask if everything is alright. You put on a smile and tell him that you’re fine.
“Yuto,” you say brightly, taking the younger mechanic’s presence as an excuse to change the subject. “I’m so glad you’re here.”
“Him more than others?” Valeria questions.
“You have to understand,” you begin, and sling an arm around Yuto’s shoulder playfully, “It’s always a relief to see your wisest friend somewhere.”
The crowd of friends around your end of the bar erupts into protests, slighted by your teasing wording. Yuto, with widened eyes and a chuckle threatening to burst out, looks at you to say all this yelling is your fault, and that you knew it would happen, too. With a shrug, you take your hand off his shoulder in order to pass him one of the glasses Haebin had just delivered.
Time slips away from you all. Except, perhaps, for Haebin, who still has to attend to other patrons in the tavern. She manages to circle back to your group when she can, joining in on the conversation and laughing along with you all. When the sky grows darker, and the air cools, a band begins to play in one end of the tavern.
“Isn’t that Zhenyu?” Valeria gasps after looking over the musicians, and turns to Changyoon, who would know his coworker better than the rest of you. He coughs on his drink once he follows her pointing, and sputters how he didn’t know his superior at the hangar had a musical bone in his body. “Well he plays well!” Valeria declares, and sets on a mission to get the group of you to dance while the tune was still lively.
She succeeds first with Yuto. Seungjoon nudges at your side. You glance between the mess of partners carrying out lively steps between the tavern’s table and him. “No way,” you decide, shaking your head. He attempts a pout, but a more mischievous expression is creeping just behind, and he’s already taking your hand. He gives a semblance of a bow before pulling you out of your seat.
“Seungjoon!” you yelp as you find yourself on your feet. And, in some attempt at salvation - or solidarity - you reach out for Changyoon’s arm as well. “If I’m doing this, so are you!” you tell him.
The truth, of course, is that neither of you put up all that much resistance.
You laugh throughout the song, if only to make up for how few of the steps you know. At one moment, you manage to catch Haebin leaning her elbows on the bar, watching the group of you with an amused grin.
With the last chord, you hear Valeria’s voice above the over cheers. Seungjoon pulls you close to him, eyes bright and grin wide. “Thanks,” he says, only just loud enough for you to hear above the crowd. There’s a spark in his gaze that makes you want to kiss him. But there are too many eyes here. You squeeze his hand as a poor substitute. Fingers linger when you let go, running from palm to his fingertips.
As if carried by a gust of wind, the lot of you end up back at the same spot of the counter. You get caught up in conversation with Haebin for a brief while - asking after the letters she’d been exchanging with a certain young man. She flushes and pours another drink into your cup.
“I bet you’d know what to write back,” she comments, after admitting to her own sense of inefficiency.
“What do you mean?” you laugh out the words. Haebin nods her head towards Seungjoon. He has a hand on Changyoon’s shoulder, and looks to be teasing him over something he’d just said. “It’s not as if we write love letters.”
“Well, whatever you do seems to have him entranced.”
You become aware of your posture, and lift your forearms off the bar, spine straightening. “I didn’t do anything.”
Haebin slides your cup back across the worn wooden bartop. “Then how do you explain it?” You aren’t sure if the warmth in your chest is from bashfulness at her question or from the sip of alcohol you’d just taken. Is it something that needs to be explained?
There isn’t a chance to ask her.
A brusk “Oi --!” is shouted in your direction. Haebin looks quickly, assuming it to be an impatient customer. And, he may be, but for now his attention is on you and your gathering. Paul has one elbow against the counter, his eyes unfriendly. You had known him as a child. Time had made him a mystery to you. Something had shifted in him during those six years of Seogholde’s isolation, and had stayed that way.
“I notice Marwa isn’t with you lot,” he says, “I guess that means the rumors are true.”
Valeria scoffs at him. “What rumors?”
“That her old man is on his last breaths.” There’s no condolence or concern in Paul’s tone. The joy in your group seems to be sapped up in an instant. “And then this whole town will end up as it deserves,” he finishes ominously.
“What’s that supposed to mean?” Seungjoon is the one to question this time.
Paul nearly snarls. “It’s not my job if you’re too dense to figure it out. You want to pretend shit won’t change around here, you ought to walk out into the plains like that friend of yours did.” Seungjoon and Changyoon both tense, visibly.
“Fuck off,” Valeria drawls, drawing his attention back to her.
“You think it’s not true? If you’re gonna be ignorant, you might as well walk off and get a head start of dying. What’s coming next isn’t going to have any sympathy for--”
“Enough!” Haebin interrupts. “You can move down the bar or you can leave,” she tells him steadily, pointing one figure towards the opposite side of the tavern. Paul stares back at her for a moment. She is unwavering, and he rolls his eyes and sends a look of warning towards you all before skulking off in the direction she’d pointed.
“Fuck him,” Valeria grumbles. “Last I spoke to Minghao, he doesn’t even work on the Xu land anymore. Did you make sure he’s even paying for his drinks?”
Haebin sighs. “I don’t know how he makes money, but he makes enough.”
“Probably dealing with rogues, then…” Yuto points out. You move closer to Seungjoon, the tension still obvious on his face, and place a hand over the back of one of his. He looks at you with a seriousness you aren’t used to.
“To be fair, can’t knock him for that,” Changyoon says. Seungjoon doesn’t appear to be listening. His focus on you as you try to convey your worry to him without words.
“What, you’re on his side now?” Valeria looks to Changyoon.
“Not at all!” he answers. At the same time, Seungjoon turns his hand over underneath yours so they sit palm to palm. “But no family still here can say they haven’t exchanged with bandits, pirates… Whatever you wanna call them. It’s the only reason there was still a Seogholde for the city to come back to after all that time.”
“Well, the Sorensens probably haven’t,” Yuto points out, “Though… I can’t imagine they’ll really stick around here much longer.”
“Exactly!” Changyoon enthuses, regardless of how well the points connected to his own. Seungjoon’s fingers curl through the spaces between your own, his thumb moves to rub back and forth against the top of yours.
“Maybe that’s what he’s referring to,” Haebin says. “If things become unstable here. It’d make sense for a family that just got here to flee.”
“Yeah, well, the Seventh Albatross is coming next week. I’d be happy to see them or Paul go,” Changyoon concludes.
“Nothing,” Seungjoon murmurs to you. You frown, and he changes to, “Later.” With that, you slip your hand away from his.
Levity manages to return to your group, at least over the course of another round. Yuto ends up saying his goodbyes before any of the rest of you are ready. Imploring him to stay doesn’t work, so you swear him into paying for the first round next time. The evening carries on.
When a brawl breaks out, it’s at the other side of the tavern from you all. While Haebin is shouting up the stairs for the owner, you all take her advice of clearing out. It’s too late for the tram to still be running. In the dark of the main road, you say goodbye to all but Changyoon and Seungjoon, and head out on the long walk home.
You’re nearly halfway there when you decide to ask, “What did Paul mean, when he mentioned heading off, your friend?”
The same tension returns to both of their shoulders. Just before you apologize, Changyoon speaks. “Wyatt.” That’s all you get for several steps. A hundred or so questions in your head, but you trail beside them silently.
“He didn’t like how things changed, after the city turned its back on us,” Changyoon continued after exchanging a few glances with his housemate, “He got fed up with working for criminals, he said. So he left.”
“On foot?” you can’t help from asking. The only airships that came and went during those six years had belonged to rogues of some sort or the other; if the issue was criminality, it was difficult to imagine him hitching a ride with one of them. “Alone?” Neither of them answer. “...You never got any letters from him, after a while?”
“No,” Seungjoon says flatly. You want to take his hand, apologize for mentioning it at all, but you know it can’t be undone.
“How bad is it?” Changyoon asks after a beat, “With Marwa’s father?”
“How should I know?” You return, voice quieter than before.
“You’re his apothecary.”
“Apprentice --”
“-- Close enough,” he insists, looking at you expectantly.
You swallow and look up towards the stars and the dark. “...Do you think Haebin’s right?” It’s easier to refer to it through her than Paul. “Everything will change here once he’s gone?”
“Everything’s changed with him here,” Seungjoon tries to reassure, but Changyoon doesn’t have a look of agreement.
“Things changed well with him, however he managed it,” he amends. “It’d make sense for people to feel opportunistic about him being gone.”
The three of you carry on as the road turns from cobblestones to dirt.
What isn’t clear is which side would take the most advantage of the town being thrown off kilter by the loss. Both the government and outlaws had an interest in the town.
“It doesn’t look good.” Seungjoon and Changyoon both look at you, verging on asking for clarification. “I don’t know how long he’ll have,” you add, both to make it clear what you mean and to stave off the most obvious followup.
A feeling hangs in the air between the trio of you. An uncertain mix of hesitancy and fear, like the kind that had crept up on everyone first nine years ago, and then returned three before now.
Their home comes up sooner than it should. Too quickly for the tension to ease away. While Changyoon steps onto their porch, Seungjoon stays on the road beside you. Leaning against the door, he asks if Seungjoon is coming inside.
“I’ll walk her up to to Doctor’s Way.” It sounds nearly like a question, and he sends you a look that says he’ll change his mind if you insist.
“Thanks,” you tell him, and wish Changyoon a good night.
Somewhere between his doorstep and yours, his hand reaches out to let it graze against the back of yours. You move closer to him in return; your fingers flex, longing simply to grab his. Lingering weight from the previous conversation holds you back. Seungjoon’s hand brushes against yours again, and this time his pinky locks with yours.
For a long stretch, the two of you carry on that way. Quiet and linked by your smallest fingers, searching for the right things to say in the wake of a realization as grave as the ones you’d all had this evening.
“I’m sorry.” Seungjoon is the first to break the worrisome silence. “You deserve better.”
You stop, dirt scuffing beneath your shoes at the abruptness. “Better than what?” you asked. There’s no reason for him to make apologies; nothing better than him that you could imagine.
“Better than this town,” he says.
“It’s home.” You shake your head.
The smile he gives you is weighted with a melancholia you can’t place. “You say that like I don’t remember how we met.” A complicated story of its own; how your mother had wanted to sneak you out of Seogholde, how lucky you consider yourself now that the plan was thwarted by the airship you’d been snuck onto needing repairs. “...Would you still go? If you could?”
Impulse has you shaking your head. You’re not afraid of this town, you’re tempted to say. This evening’s conversations drift up from not-so-far-back in your mind, though. And no, you aren’t scared of your hometown. Not of the locals. But there are eyes on it, outsiders, lying in wait.
The fare for the Seventh Albatross is more than most here can afford.
“Would you?” you turn the question back to him.
Seungjoon presses his lips together, disappearing into a thin line. “Mechanics can find work anywhere.” The surmising isn’t really an answer. But you hadn’t been much clearer, either.
Outside your door, he presses his lips to the back of your hand again.
You can’t accept it. After he lets go of your hand, you place both of yours upon his shoulders and kiss him directly. He nearly stumbles, taken aback by your affection here.
“Your mother --” he whispers when he breaks away from you.
“Let her see,” you say certainly, recklessly, and steady your eyes with his. His face scrunches with puzzlement at that simple declaration. Once you kiss him a second time, he seems to forget anything he could want to ask.
By next week, the troubling thoughts are all long gone. The warmth of summer settles in full over town, bringing with it a dreadful dryness that makes it seem as if it never rained here at all.
You board the tram with Seungjoon. Yuto joins the two of you at Clara’s Stop. Pleasant conversation, interrupted only a few times by yawns, carries on until you say goodbye to both of them at your own stop. Lenna’s absence on the tram isn’t noticed by any of you.
Things feel the same as always. Old Karim has you and Valeria both set out on your usual tasks. Sunlight drifts through the apothecary’s windows, and on schedule, you see the tram pass by on its way in the other direction.
The light shifts, the sun carries on overhead. It’s nearly noon when Himari pushes open the door to the apothecary. There are stains on the skirt of her dress that you don’t notice right away.
“I need an anodyne,” she commands when she reaches the counter.
“What for?”
Himari looks you over as if it’s the most absurd thing you could have asked. She isn’t someone you know well. Lenna Kask employs her as a clerk at her store, and she spends some measure of her free time with Paul. None of that explains what pain she would need relieved.
“You haven’t heard?” she scoffs. From your face, she shifts, and repeats with a different intonation, “You really haven’t heard.” Finally, condescendingly, “How oblivious can you be?”
“I can’t give you the best option unless I know what the problem is.” It’s the best you can do to maintain professionalism.
“Ms. Kask was shot,” Himari informs you, maintaining a tone that implies your deficiency for not already knowing.
“What? Lenna? When?”
“Last night. You really didn’t notice today? The front of the store is still a mess.”
“What does the store have to do with it?”
“That’s where she was.” Himari eyes you over contemptuously. “Poor Ms. Kask was lucky to make it to a physician in time.” Something in her demeanor unsettles you. A lack of sympathy that doesn’t match with her role. The look she gives you reminds you of the one Paul had at the tavern.
“And you’re getting the anodyne for her…” It’s intended as a question. It comes off more as a kind of reticence, and Himari glares at you for it.
“Of course.”
You tell Seungjoon and Yuto about it on the tram. The younger of the two mechanics frowns all the way through your story.
“I heard someone tried to rob the store. I didn’t know Lenna got hurt,” he remarks.
“Who told you it was robbed?” you ask.
“One of the Sorensen kids… They came by to see if their tractor was ready yet this afternoon. The younger one, he mentioned it…” Yuto recalls, and finishes with an uncertain glance towards Seungjoon.
“Himari didn’t mention anything was taken,” you murmur.
“I don’t like it,” Seungjoon states. It seems obvious enough, given the circumstance. But there’s a heaviness to his tone that suggests he means more. His eyes meet yours, and his voice lowers. “Like it’s starting already.”
“What?” Yuto questions, glancing between you and Seungjoon.
The opportunists, you think. But the tram feels too crowded to voice it.
Others murmur on around you three. It’s so easy to imagine no one on board cares what you might have to say. A good handful, surely, are only eager to get off to go home, or to the tavern. Your chatter is just that to them. Unless it isn’t. You and Seungjoon have been conscious of onlookers before, but only for the sake of your reputations. This is beyond whether you’re considered proper. A line too delicate to risk being crossed.
Yuto’s face only becomes more puzzled. You shake your head at the same time that Seungjoon tells him, “Another time.”
It doesn’t satiate Yuto’s curiosity, but he must sense there’s a reason for you both turning quiet. He changes the subject. It isn’t enough to stop the worried buzz that has begun in the back of your mind. Starting already echoes in your head.
How is it that you hadn’t noticed Lenna's absence from the tram this morning? She was not your favorite company of your typical morning routine, but she was a constant. An odd guilt stirs in your chest, an itch at the back of your neck.
You nearly forget to move towards the exit when the tram slows next.
“Stay with me tonight?” Seungjoon implores after you’ve both descended at your usual tramstop.
“What, all night?”
“You don’t have to.” He links his hand with yours once you’ve turned off the main road, and stone becomes dust beneath your feet. “But... I’d like to.”
Perhaps it has something to do with when you’d expressed not caring if your mother saw you kissing him. It was another thing altogether to spend a night at his home. There’s something else in his gaze when he glances over to you, though. Usually he wears some kind of smile when he proposes anything that would give an opportunity to be alone. Not so this time. An uncertainty hangs in his eyes, and all at once you miss their usual brightness; the warmth, the hint of mischief that creeps in at his more playful bouts.
You pull your lower lip between your teeth. Your steps waver, arm outstretching to keep your fingers intertwined with his.
“I can walk you home instead,” Seungjoon offers.
“No,” you are quick to reply. Your footfalls weave closer to his once more. “I’ll stay.”
“You’re sure?”
If you hadn’t been, the way his voice lilts up - like a comfort has already been found - would have done it.
The evening is laced with an undercurrent of uneasiness. Within their kitchen, the two of you tell Changyoon about what had happened to Lenna Kask. How it feels like the first indication that Seogholde has reached a turning point once more. He interrupts when Seungjoon mentions Yuto’s report of the store’s robbery.
“It was Sorensen who said that?” Changyoon waits for a nod before he runs a hand through his hair. “Fuck.”
“What?” Seungjoon presses.
“I don’t know.” He shakes his head. “I mean, well, maybe it means nothing but, this morning... Ms. Sorensen, she came by today, at the hangar, and she bought a few tickets for the Albatross’ next voyage back to the city. I just thought it was funny, after that talk at the tavern.”
“She got word of Lenna’s attack fast, to get there this morning,” you mutter. Seungjoon and Changyoon both look at you.
“Do you suppose they always kept enough money saved up to leave, if they saw things turn worse here?” Changyoon wonders aloud.
It’s a question that goes unanswered.
Or perhaps the two of them come up with an answer of their own, after you head up the steps alone.
Seungjoon joins you in his room not long after. At the sight of you sitting at the end of his bed in only your gauzy shift, he closes his door quickly before leaning his back against it. “What if Changyoon had been the first one to come up?”
You nearly laugh. “Does he make a habit of coming into your room?”
“He might if he knew what I know,” he jokes, the side of his mouth curving up.
“Oh?” Standing from his bed, you drift over to where he stands. “And what is it that you know?” As you reach his space, your hands come to rest upon his shoulders. In a mirror of you, Seungjoon places his arms around your middle.
The fingers of one hand curve around the rough material of his suspenders and skim down the length on one side of his chest. His lips come into a pinched line as he feigns contemplation, humming dramatically.
“That you’re trouble,” he concludes.
You gasp with mock outrage. His suspender nearly snaps as you let go of it suddenly. “What trouble?” you exclaim. There’s a glint in your eyes and a grin that gives away how far from offended you are. Before you can step away from him to further a charade, he tightens his hold and pulls you flush against him, making you let out a startled yelp.
“You, trouble!” he repeats. “Absolutely!” Together, you both stumble slightly, meaningless laughter erupting. Your steps sway across the floorboards, creaks barely heard by either of you.
In a tumble and a huff of air, the two of you collapse onto Seungjoon’s bed. Breathlessly, with one cheek pressed to his sheet, he adds, “Isn’t this trouble?”
Beside him, you suppress another giggle with little success. You turn onto your side and look at Seungjoon. The way his legs hang off the edge of the mattress from the knee down. A heavy rise and fall of his chest as he catches his breath from your shared silliness, his shirt wrinkled and bunched beneath suspenders as further proof. And the broad curve of his smile set below dark, adoring eyes.
“If it is,” you begin, and pull at the light fabric of your underdress to keep from getting caught on it as you shift to straddle him, placing a hand on either side of his head, “It’s not nearly enough.”
Hovering over him, Seungjoon looks up at you with a grin. He touches one of your arms. Delicately, he lets it run up your skin until his hand comes to rest at the back of your neck. His fingertips curl slowly, blunt nails tickling ever so slightly at your skin. Any play at dispute is over now. The space between you is replaced with quiet intimacy. A comfort and certainty that makes everything around him become a blur. There is nothing but Seungjoon and the bed beneath him.
You dip your head down to connect your lips to his. The kiss begins barely there, a graze of your mouth against his own. He lifts his head off the mattress a fraction when you pull back after so little. Before he can complain, or utter a compliment, you close the small space and continue to kiss him. It lingers this time before deepening. You shift down, supporting yourself on your elbows instead of hands. A hand is in your hair, nearly massaging as it moves to a rhythm shared in secret between your bodies. It’s unclear how it is that heart, and lips, and lungs, and touch can all feel to fall in sync. Yet they do. Perhaps as some sign that this is where you should be.
With a tilt of your head, you begin to kiss down the skin of his neck, appreciating the way his breath shifts into low rasps of enjoyment. His fingers still upon you, allowing himself a moment of simple pleasure.
“Ah, it’s you,” he starts murmuring, “you know, right?”
You give a questioning hum. The vibration enough to tickle at his skin, given the small, gasping chuckle. He brings a hand to your face and encourages you to look at him with a thumb gentle upon your jaw.
“You’re it for me.” A seriousness cuts through the usual desire his voice would have in a moment like this. That, more than his words, is what catches you off guard. “Really,” he adds, smiling up at you, “I’m so glad I know you.”
A corner of your heart suspects there’s a reason for him to say this now. That it might be one veiled in worries he’s less forthcoming with. Carefully, you brush a few strands of dark hair on his forehead. “I love you, too,” you say. His eyes close with a grin, and he lifts his lips to yours.
His kiss urges you to forget any concerns. Sure enough, you both allow your hands to roam, undressing and letting conversation fall away to murmurs of ardor.
Those words make it all the more puzzling when you wake the next morning.
Your place on his bed is just unfortunate enough for a slat of sunlight to come through the shutter and hit your face. At your family home, the only windows in your room face west. Being woken by warmth and light is new, and enough to make you groan. You shift out of the beam of sun, but soon a realization wakes you further than the light can.
You’re alone in Seungjoon’s room.
Sitting up, you run a hand over your hair and down the front of your shift. A scan of the room gives you little help. All the clothing left scattered on the floor last night has been picked up. Your own slung over the back of the wooden chair beside the window.
There’s noise from downstairs, but no conversation. Going down yourself, you pause on the last step, still fastening the last button on the front of your dress. From where you stand, you can see Changyoon standing at the counter.
“Good morning,” you greet lightly. It startles Changyoon still, nearly causing him to drop his breakfast.
“Hi,” he says after composing himself. “Sleep well, I hope?”
Coming into the kitchen, you answer him with a small nod. “Where’s Seungjoon?”
Changyoon tells you that he had to leave early this morning. Something urgent, he guesses. There had been no mention yesterday of Ms. Giroto needing him any earlier than usual. It isn’t unheard of, either way. With a glance out the window, you sigh.
“Well, I should head to the apothecary, I guess.”
It’s strange to be here without Seungjoon. You suspected Changyoon felt the same. Though he’d be too polite to mention it. Or, at least, too polite to mention it unless he could joke about it in front of Seungjoon.
He surprises you, though, and calls your name once just as you’re turning to gather your things.
“You matter a lot to Seungjoon,” he says when you turn back to him curiously. Your lips part. There’s an overwhelming sense inside you that you ought to reply, but his sudden declaration on Seungjoon’s behalf has you stunned silent. Changyoon manages a smile. “Don’t hurt him, alright?”
You nearly laugh. “Of course. You know I wouldn’t, don’t you?”
He looks you over with a half-smile and shakes his head. “Ah, I just -- nevermind.” Changyoon waves a hand in the air. It’s exactly the response to make you stay. Your footing changes, turning to his directly fully.
“No, it’s okay. What is it?”
Changyoon lets out a sigh and leans back against the counter. His shoulders slump, and then shrug. “I don’t think you’d want to hurt him,” he attempts to explain; his focus on some spot on the floorboards rather than you, his hand moving in supplementation, “But it doesn’t mean you wouldn’t. Just, you know, just because it’s easy to do, when someone cares about you.”
Your arms fold. A defensive posture coming to you despite his efforts not to make it sound like a sign of distrust.
“I mean, even something unintended, putting yourself in harm’s way,” he elaborates, “...Would, in a way.”
“I’m an apothecary’s apprentice, not a miner,” you remind him. “I don’t think you have to worry about me and harm’s way.” There’s a reticence in Changyoon’s gaze that keeps you from smiling. “But I appreciate you saying so,” you add after a moment, tone lowering. “Speaking of, I really should go. Thank you, though, Changyoon.”
“Yeah. I’ll see you later?”
“I guess so.” You pause a moment more before you go. “You know, you matter to Seungjoon, too,” you remind Changyoon.
“I’ll stay out of trouble then.” His voice teeters on playful. It isn’t much relief, but it allows enough for you to be able to take your leave without too much worry nesting in your head.
You arrive at the apothecary at the same time that Marwa is leaving. When you ask Valeria, she sighs and shakes her head. It was the same pickup as she’d been doing for a while now. No word of recovery, and Marwa hadn’t been forthcoming about how much worse her father may be doing either. Karim, overhearing the two of you, calls for you to join him in the workroom.
“Isn’t that the same dress you wore yesterday?” Valeria asks as you come around to her side of the counter to head back and join Karim.
You look down at yourself. Heat tickles at your cheeks and ears, but you hope Valeria won’t take note of it. “Is it?” you feign surprise. The embarrassment of your smile is genuine, at least.
The backroom is small and thick with the warm scent of herbs as you work. Karim’s thick reference book is open beside you on the table. A medicinal perfume lingers in the air. When you first began your apprenticeship, you hadn’t believed Karim when he said you would get used to it; that it would someday bring a sense of comfort.
He doesn’t look up from his bookkeeping when Valeria can be heard greeting Seungjoon with surprise in the afternoon. The mention of his name, followed by the sound of his voice, has you retraining yourself to stay seated.
“Isn’t he here for you?” Old Karim asks just before Valeria calls back for you. You try to recall if you’ve ever mentioned Seungjoon to him before. But it isn’t a thought you linger on long. A smile and a nod from the apothecary is all the encouragement you need to step away from what you’re doing.
Valeria gestures, and says Seungjoon is here as you come out from the backroom.
There’s a seriousness hanging to Seungjoon’s presence that keeps you from smiling when you see him. His hair is slightly disheveled, as though from running. The look of him alone sets concern ablaze inside you.
“Why aren’t you at Giroto’s?” you ask him, coming around the counter to him.
“Can I talk to you?” His gaze goes past you to Valeria. “Alone?”
“Seungjoon, what’s wrong?”
“Nothing,” he tries, and takes hold of your hand as soon as you’re within reach. “I just want to talk with you.” It’s an obvious falsehood. Agitation clings to his every word, as clear as rain after coming in from a storm. The trouble is only that you don’t know what invisible storm he’s coming from.
You look at Valeria from over your shoulder. “I’ll be right back,” you promise her. Turning your attention back to Seungjoon, you give him a nod and start for the door.
Outside, the sun has reached the right spot to make the stores on the apothecary’s side of the street cast shadows on the cobblestones. In the distance, an exhale of steam can be heard from the tram as it carries on its route. Down the way, at the stop where Seungjoon must have just gotten off at, there’s a few figures beginning to walk their own way; conversations light and indistinct from where you stand. Lenna Kask’s store sits silent and dark; the window’s curtain drawn and a sign apologizing for closure hanging at the door.
Seungjoon leads you just out of sight of the store’s window. “Listen,” he begins quietly, gravely, “I bought you a ticket.”
“A what?” Influenced by his own tone, you barely breathe out the question.
“The Seventh Albatross. Tonight.”
You nearly recoil, crossing your arms. “For the city? Why?” Already sensing your opposition, he places his hands just beneath your elbows and moves a step closer.
“Please. I know it might sound crazy, but Changyoon, last night -- he said there was a change in the schedule for the cargo airships. They’re keeping the hangar and mooring towers empty after the Albatross leaves. Something’s happening.” He says it all so quickly that you wonder how it was he kept this information to himself at all before. Your hold on yourself slips, arms staying half upright from his hold.
“What’s something?” you stammer, despite his franticness already telling you he doesn’t know. “How come neither of you told me this, last night?”
Seungjoon shakes his head. “I don’t know. I was going to. But then, you…” He doesn’t finish the sentence. His gaze softens, a bittersweet smile ghosting across his lips. “I’m sorry,” he says, expression turning serious once again, “I should have.”
“How did you even afford two tickets?” You move on quickly to the next question. He makes no move to speak. “Seungjoon?” His eyes fall from yours. Dread thumps into your heart suddenly, and sinks to the pit of your stomach, heavy as a stone. “Seungjoon, tell me you’re going too.” He reaches into his pocket and pulls out an envelope and the ticket to hold them out to you.
“No.” Your voice has a renewed force. “If the city’s the one making room in the hangar… No. Why would you want me to go there alone?” Your throat dries out on you as you speak.
He shakes his head, moves the envelope to the top in his hands and presses them closer to you. “You won’t be alone. I swear. There… Hyojin, you remember? He left with Karim - young Karim, when the Albatross started again.” His fingers look to tremble as he pulls the paper out from the envelope. “I wrote you directions, here, and a letter for him. See?” Seungjoon looks into your eyes again, and it knocks you breathless to see them glossy already. “He’ll help you. I know it.”
Still, you shake your head quicker. Your hands move to his wrists to try to push the papers back to him. “I won’t go without you.”
“Please,” he repeats. The papers still between his fingers, his hands came up to you cheeks; the wrinkled envelope, reused and perhaps the only one Seungjoon could find, is rough against your skin. “I swear I won’t be far behind.”
“How? You already said --”
“Come on.” He smiles desperately and presses his forehead against yours. “You really think I won’t find a way back to you?”
That whisper makes you close your eyes. Your mind already knows it must be a baseless, optimistic promise he wants to make just to make you go. Your heart is far more convinced; so certain of your love that you can’t fathom the universe would really part you from him.
You don’t know what Seogholde looks like from above. Only that maps show the mountains and the valley that sit between it and the closest city. Lines and colors that mean nothing but a distance you’ve almost always considered insurmountable. To change that is a lot to ask. A shiver runs through you, despite the afternoon sun and the body heat radiating off Seungjoon’s fretful form. You know, in a quaking moment, what your answer is -- if only to spare him some fraction of fear.
Seungjoon presses his lips against your forehead and your temple, murmuring small pleas and promises as you stand there. Your throat feels small and dry; your eyes sting with the threat of tears. “I’ll see you there… You just have to go first. Okay?” His voice ghosts over your skin. “Promise me you’ll go. Please?”
When you nod, the two of you are so close that he doesn’t notice it. He carries on coaxing until you summon the will to say it out loud: “I promise. I’ll go.”
He moves a half-step back so he can look you in the eye properly. From his expression, you fear there’s a hundred more things he wants to say to you. He thanks you, and holds the papers out for you.
Passage to the city in hand with his letter to Hyojin, you blink to try to keep crying at bay. “Will you be there?”
He nods before kissing you.
It feels like the last time.
Some part of you wishes for rain, as heavy as the last storm that had raged through this town had been. But the skies are clear, the air dry, and the Albatross will sail tonight.
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Homework
Seoham x Reader
Fluff
Summary: Seoham came home late from practice to find you still up.
When Seoham came home, he didn’t expect to find your office light still on.
“Hey babe.” He smiled as you jumped. “Why are you up this late?” He pulled your chair away from the desk.
“I was just finishing some work before I went to bed.” You said, yawning into his shirt.
“Come on, lets go to bed.” And picked you up, taking you both to your room. He handed you some clothes, that you later realized was his, and hurried and put them on. When Seoham came in he found you face down on the bed, over the covers. He laughed, pulling the covers over you before climbing in. You immediately attached yourself to him.
“Goodnight darling.” He smiled as you nuzzled into his chest. “I love you.”
#knk#knk imagine#knk imagines#knk drabble#knk drabbles#knk fic#knk fanfic#knk fanfiction#knk fluff#knk seoham#knk seungjun#seoham#seungjun
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Proposal | Seungjun
Hello! I apologize for not doing the smut, I hope you understand that I’m just not good at writing it >-< Maybe once I practice more, I’ll be comfortable enough to write one ^-^ anyways, I hope you like it~
-Admin Nova (P.S. I totally understand those hyung line feels)
Word count: 567 its so short I’m sorry
Genre: Fluff
Pairing: Seungjun x Reader
It was a pretty normal day. You had just returned home from work, and Seungjun was at your apartment already, watching Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban for the hundredth time. Despite him being childish and a tad dorky, you still love him more than anyone. Not only is he your boyfriend, but he’s your best friend too.
“Hey Y/N! How was work today?” He asks, beaming at you with obvious adoration. You return the smile, taking a seat next to him and laying your head on his shoulder.
“Same as usual.” You reply.
He’s skeptical of this statement. He wants a good answer.
“Really? Not one thing happened today that was different from other days?” You can’t help but to laugh at how seriously he’s taking this. That’s one thing about Seungjun that you are particularly fond of, he never wants dull. Everything about him is unique and colorful.
“A new shipment came in? It’s not really anything special or exciting.” You worked as a manager at River Island, a clothing store you fell in love with as a teenager. After working there for a little over a year, you were promoted to manager, and its been your job for 2 years now. That’s why things like this aren’t very exciting, new shipments come in every 2 months.
Seungjun, however, is very interested.
“Do you like the new clothes? Are there any for men?” You smile, shifting yourself so that you’re laying on his lap. You mainly wanted to look at him while you guys were chatting, though.
“Yeah, they’re pretty nice. I might get myself a few things. And yes, but you aren’t going to shop without me.” Seungjun is handsome, but his fashion sense is very questionable. It’s gotten better, but that’s because you buy all of his clothes and help him pick what to wear.
“Alright... I have another question for you.” Seungjun begins to regret it immediately after saying it, he doesn’t know if he’s ready, or if this is a good time at all.
“Hm?”
You notice his expression turn more serious, showing nervousness even. It’s a rare sight, and it worries you.
With a deep breath, Seungjun pulls an object out from the couch cushion. His other hand goes brush your hair out of your face.
“I’ve been planning this for a while now, I actually went out and bought this today,” The object turns out to be a black velvety box, and your heart commences a faster rate.
He opens the box promptly.
“Y/N, will you marry me?”
You sit up, so you can stare at the ring in utter disappointment.
Only Seungjun could manage making something so anticipated seem like a joke. Really? A ring pop?
“Are you kidding me? Seungjun...”
He grins, reaching into his pocket and pulling out the real ring.
“Sorry! Let’s try this again. Y/N, I love you so much. You’re the only person willing to put up with me, that means you must love me a lot too, right? With that being said, will you marry me for real?”
You can never expect him to do this kind of thing romantically, but who said you wanted that? You fell in love with a goofball, and no matter what stupid thing he does, you will be by his side for as long as you two are together.
“You idiot... Of course I will.”
#seungjun#Park Seungjun#seungjun scenario#seungjun fanfic#seungjun x reader#KnK fanfiction#Knk gif#knk fic#knk fanfic#seungjun fanfiction#kpop#kpop fanfic#kpop fanfiction#kpop scenarios#knk
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The Fallen Star
Ft. Park Seungjun
| 1 | 2 |
Sypnosis: When Soo Mi finds the naked body of a man washed up ashore, she didn’t expect to take him in and nurse him back to health. But as the days go by she notices the strange way the man behaves, leading her to believe there’s something more mysterious than the weird tattoo like markings on his back that move.
An ebony canvas lays above me as I trace my fingers over the strings of white dots scattered across the darkness. Stars, hundreds, thousands if not more gleaming in the night sky. I begin to trace the outlines, connecting them one by one as I call out the names of the constellations my grandpa had taught me when I was younger.
Aquarius, Aquila, Canis Major, Leo and my personal favourite...Orion.
It was a hobby I had picked up from our countless late night sessions, where we would stargaze under the universe, feeling insignificant in size compared to what could possibly lay outside of our world. Space, was much more vast and the unknown intrigued me. The thought of what could possibly lay outside our universe excited me.
But all things aside, it had been a long time ago. It had been three years since I had sat on the front steps that lead to the wrap around porch of the small farmhouse I had grown up in. The crazy amounts of times I had ran up these very steps seemed so long ago now that I found myself sitting on them alone. It almost felt wrong to do so, since this had been the place grandpa and I used to sit on those hot summer nights and admire the wonders above us.
It had been three years and a day since grandpa had passed away, leaving me the old farmhouse in his memory. It was the only thing I had left of him to hold on to. He was the only family I had ever known after my parent's had passed away in a car accident when I was younger. I felt guilty for suffering more during his loss than I did with my parent's. But the truth was, I was very young when my parent's died that I actually couldn't even remember what they looked like. Now, the harsh realization that I was truly alone in this world was every bit terrifying.
Trying to juggle the ridiculous idea that sounded ludicrous to even say out loud, I search for comfort in the thought that perhaps somewhere up there in the vast sky, he is watching over me. It's a silly idea but it brings me much comfort, enough to want to get out of bed every morning and not let the old farmhouse fall apart. Even though at times, I felt like that was all I wanted to do. But instead, I made sure to listen to my grandpa's last wish: To continue on living happily. Whatever he meant by that.
Hundreds of white streaks begin to adorn the sky as they wisp by so rapidly, they vanish towards the horizon. Shooting stars weren't rare this time of the year, but it was the first time I was seeing them on such a clear night. Amazed by the phenomena above me, I stand up in excitement as I watch them wisp by in the blink of an eye. The view is astonishingly beautiful and otherworldly. If grandpa was still around, I bet he would have loved seeing this.
Even though I was tempted to make a wish upon the shooting stars, I stopped myself for fear that The Great Foolish Warrior might be listening. It sounded crazy but, The Great Foolish Warrior is a true story, or so my grandpa claimed it was. It also happened to be my favourite one he ever told me,
Billions of years ago there had lived a warrior by the name of Orion that was so brave and strong, no one could measure up to him. His kingdom loved him and worshipped him, they had even decided to make him king. His grandeur was admired by many, even thousands of years of battles, he never lost a single one. Everyone knew of him, he was a kind hearted king that cared for his people but then one day he heard the cry of help from a girl of a far away kingdom. He was conflicted about the situation, he didn't know if he should leave his kingdom to help the girl but he felt it was the right thing to do in his heart and so he left his kingdom. It took him a very long time to get to the girl, but when he did he met with a beautiful human girl and he fell helplessly in love with her. She became his muse, he loved her so much there wasn't anything he wouldn't do for her. Some would argue that she became his weakness, and that he was foolish because in the end he gave up his life to save the very woman who had betrayed him. The people of his kingdom were devastated at the loss of their great warrior. But their love and loyalty towards him was much greater that they even dedicated a spot in the sky for him. Now as the legend goes some people say that it was his punishment for turning his back on his people, but others argue that it was out of respect that he now rests in the sky, and has become known as The Great Foolish Warrior, Orion.
Even though it's just a story, I never once made a wish on a shooting star for that very same reason. I felt bad for him, for having the woman he loved so much betray him like that. But that's the way tragic love stories end. I sigh, admiring the sky above me as I trace my fingers along Orion. The poor foolish old man.
Hours go by before I realize that I have been sitting outside for too long. It must have been just past midnight when I decided that it was time to go to bed since I had to be up early to feed the animals. I stood up from the creaky steps, dusting myself off, I looked back up at the sky but stopped in place when I noticed something bizarre in the sky.
An orange blazing light is flying in front of me, and just by looking at it I can tell that it's different from all the shooting stars I had just seen. It flies differently, as it seems to be a lot closer than the rest. I quickly reach down to grab my binoculars to get a better look but i'm too slow. The strange orange light dashes into the horizon before lighting up the whole sky in shades of yellow and orange. How peculiar. I had never seen something like that before in my life. I wondered if perhaps it was debris of some sort that had decided to call Earth it's final stop.
One last look at the night sky, I offer the foolish old man an innocent smile before running up the front steps and into the house.
__________________
By the time I opened my eyes again, I could already see the sky being painted in hues of light pink and orange as the sun was beginning to wake up. It must have been the crack of dawn when I got out of bed and readied myself to go outside to feed the animals.
The morning was much chillier than I had expected it to be, the sweater I had decided to wear was proving to not be enough so I made sure to be quick. I wasn't necessarily ready to freeze to death. I made my way over to the small pen where the goats and sheep were and changed their water for them. Half of them laid lazily on the pasture, still dozing away in dreamland. I was almost envious of them. It must be nice having someone to look after you. Not that I knew what that was like now a days.
At the beginning it had been a job I hated doing, I wasn't a fan of waking up before the sun, but over time I realized that the animals depended on me. After that day, it sort of stuck and I got used to it.
I walked around, cleaning out the chicken's coup before heading over to the washing station to rinse my work boots free of mud. The sun was now shy of being above the sky, I figured it must have been around seven in the morning or so now. Which was the time I always went to the beach for my daily morning run. I quickly changed out of my work clothes and sprinted my way down to the sandy beach.
The cool salty breeze entwines its way through my hair, making it become tousled but it didn't bother me. I liked coming down here in the mornings for runs, it had been an advice the doctor had suggested would help me deal with my depression and he had been right. Since I had started coming out here in the mornings, I noticed that my depression had improved significantly. I hadn't cried in a long time, and each day I felt like I was able to deal with things better than I first did when grandpa passed away.
I had held a lot of resentment towards him, I had been very angry that he had left me behind but I accepted the fact that it wasn't grandpa's decision and it was bound to happen sooner or later. Each day had become a step closer at living life normally, no matter how hard it had originally seemed.
I stop by the old log to start my stretching before my morning run. Raising my arms over my head, I gaze into the distance with the sun momentarily blinding me. I squint my eyes when I notice something in the distance. It's bulbous and on the shore, seconds turn to minutes as I try to make out what it could possibly be. Slowly, my vision adjusts itself to the light and I take the shape's in little by little, every single dip and curve, it doesn't take me long to realize that it's a body.
Panicked, I search around the beach, finding it strange for there to be a random body since the property is private and no one ever came down this way. I nervously walk towards the body, getting closer and closer I become alarmed when I notice that it's a human's body. An unconscious man lays washed up ashore and.... naked. I look around him for any signs of his belongings thinking that perhaps he is one of the town's folk who had a rough night drinking and passed out on the beach but there isn't any sign of his belongings anywhere.
Worried, I kneel down beside him. Now getting a better look at him, I can tell that he is young, perhaps in his early twenties. I bring my face towards his, searching for any sign that he is breathing, I feel relieved when I hear him breathing quietly and shallowly. I quickly grab a hold of his wrist to search for his pulse, but immediately let go when I'm greeted by his body temperature. The young man is burning hot. He has a fever.
I look back at the man, realizing that I need to get him inside where he can rest. I estimate the distance from here to my house, figuring out that I'll have to carry him or drag him to get him there but it's something that I have to do. I can't leave the man out here by himself, not when he's like this. I brace myself, getting close to him, I tap on his shoulder to see if I can get him to respond but there's nothing. Growing frustrated I grab a hold of him and sit him up, although he's thin in shape, he weighs like a ton of bricks. I bring him towards me, letting him fall on my shoulder and expose his back to me. I freeze in place.
Something peculiar has caught my eye. Strange markings on his right shoulder that look a lot like a tattoo move around. I stare at it puzzled, thinking that it's ant's or something I try to get it off off him but it doesn't budge. I feel the young man begin to regain some sort of consciousness when he moves around in my arms. He begins to cough, slow but painful sounding coughs before he opens his eyes and gets a look at me.
My eyes are met by a pair of light brown ones. He opens his mouth but nothing comes out, instead he passes out again. His fever keeps raising as the minutes go by and I force myself to power through it and get the man to my house. I'm up and struggling with his weight on my shoulder as we leave the beach and make our way to the house.
____________
“Do you know him?” The doctor asks as he shines a flashlight into his eyes.
“No” I answer.
I lean against the far wall to stay out of the way of the doctor as he examines him. I had gone to fetch him the moment I brought the young man into the house. I was glad he hadn't hesitated even for a second. He was the only doctor within a five mile radius of me. That was the bad thing about living out in the middle of nowhere. Everything was far away.
“You just found him on the beach?” He asks again.
“Yes”
I watch as he steps away from the young man and sighs. Taking off his glasses, he look at me with a disappointing look.
“His fever is very high, it seems like it's knocked him right out”
“What should we do?” I ask him.
“Well, he will probably be knocked out for a couple of days. If it's okay with you, he could stay here until he regains consciousness. We can then figure out what happened to him and why he's....” The doctor pauses as he looks over towards the young man on the bed. “not decent” .
I pause, momentarily thinking over his request and nod.
“That's fine. Should I keep trying to lower his fever?”
“Yes. Call me if it gets worse or if he wakes up. I'll stop by in the morning to check on him anyway” He says.
I nod.
I watch as the doctor packs up his things and heads out of the room. Following behind him, I lead him out of the house. Feeling thankful to him that it's nothing more serious than just a fever.
“Thank you so much for coming to check on him” I say.
“No problem, what kind of doctor would I be if I didn't?” He answers.
I smile, offering him a wave as he gets into his car and drives out of the driveway.
I make my way back into the room. Sitting on the edge of the bed I run my hands through the young man's messy dark hair. He hasn't moved since I brought him inside. With his eyes still closed, I notice how long his eyelashes truly are. It was the first time I was actually getting a good look at him. He looked very sick and weak. It reminded me of the last few days I had spent with grandpa before he passed away. I had taken care of him since he decided he didn't want to be in the hospital but rather at home.
I felt motherly towards the young man in front of me, even though we were probably around the same age, I felt like I needed to protect him. He needed me and I was all he had at the moment.
“Don't worry. I don't know know what you've been through but I'll be here to help you” I whisper as I run my hand along the side of his face.
___________________
I didn't get much sleep that night since I was up pacing back and forth between my room and his room. I was so worried that I constantly kept checking on his temperature to make sure it wasn't getting worse but I was comforted when I checked on him and it seemed that his fever was subsiding.
I sat by his side all morning, making sure to quickly do any housework before coming back to being by his side incase he woke up. I wandered what he could have possibly been through. How he had ended up on the beach, it was almost crazy to think that he had washed up ashore. Perhaps he had been on a boat near by and it sunk, that was the only logical reasoning I could come up with since I held no actual answers. But it didn't explain why he was nude.
The doctor came by around lunch time to check on him. He had seemed happier with the results of his fever going down. He had told me to keep on doing what I was doing, to let him rest because his body needed it. To try and keep him hydrated whenever I could and to keep trying to cool him down. So I did just that for the next couple of days, it became a routine for me. By the second day his fever was basically gone but he showed no sign of consciousness. It worried me a bit but the doctor reassured me that he would wake up soon. His body was just resting and regaining it's strength.
I almost had developed an obsession with the mysterious boy in the guest room. It wasn't because I was in love with him or anything like that, but it was a motherly instinct I had towards him, even when I was outside doing work, I'd occasionally glance towards the back window wondering if he was ever going to wake up, or if he was already awake and looking at me. It was a bunch of silly fantasies that pestered my mind, but it was all innocent.
Around evening time, I found myself in the kitchen, washing up the freshly picked vegetables I had gathered from the garden for tonight's dinner. I could already see the last bit of sun sneakingly hiding behind the horizon. It was unusually quiet this evening, it wasn't like other evenings when the crickets would be outside playing their usual orchestra. Instead, I was greeted by the crappy sound coming from the old radio I had in the kitchen. I often forgot how incredibly lonely it felt to live out in the middle of nowhere by myself, even with company whether he was unconscious or not didn't help. I even found myself debating whether it would be a good idea to get myself a dog as a companion. I had heard it from several people in town about how it was dangerous for a young girl to live by herself out in these parts, but the truth was I had never felt unsafe here. Nothing unusual or unsafe ever happened here.
Bending down to get the cutting board, my ears are met by a strange static like sound coming from the radio. Annoyed by the disturbance over the song that was playing, I got up and walked towards it. Giving it a good old smack, I got it to stop but only for a second before the old radio started acting up again. How strange, I thought to myself. This had never happened before, it almost sounded like something was trying to get through or was interrupting the radio waves. The sound became so loud, it was practically making my eardrums want to burst. I bring my hands to my ears, not being able to withstand the frequency that is coming through the speakers. Quickly allowing myself to suffer for a split second, I yank the cord out of the wall socket and I'm glad when I'm greeted by silence.
With my heart now pounding like a jackhammer, I let myself relax for a second before i'm on edge again. The hairs on the back of my neck stand on end when the sensation of a pair of eyes are studying me. I stand frozen in place, trying to get myself to look behind me I slowly allow myself to turn. Someone is standing in front of me, but it's not just a random stranger, it's the young man who had been unconscious for the past few days.
Relieved that it's him and not some strange deranged weirdo who had broken in, I let a small nervous laugh escape from me as I bring my hand to my chest.
“Oh my god!” I cry out. “You scared me! I thought someone broke in and -”
I pause. Momentarily studying the young man in front of me and then I realize that he is standing before me without any clothes on. I gasp, bring my hand to my mouth, I quickly close my eyes.
“Could you please put some clothes on!” I yell but it's no use. The young man stands in place not uttering an 'excuse me' or an apology. I momentarily peak through one eye.
He stands in the middle of the door way, just looking at me with the most intrigued look I have ever seen on a person. He cocks his head to the side as his eyes leave me and now begin to take in the room he is standing in. I swallow nervously, wondering why he's just standing naked in front of a girl or not saying anything. I quickly look away, feeling uncomfortable with the situation I glance towards the kitchen table, the old floral table cloth my grandma had made stares at me right in the face. I bite my lip, regretting the decision i'm about to make.
Without a second thought I walk to the table and pull the cloth off it. With my face looking away from the young man, I walk towards him holding the table cloth in front of me. I stop before him, hands in the air with a cloth that remains unattained, I bring it closer to him and press it against the boy's very hard bare chest. He stares at it, before looking at me. He doesn't seem to understand that I want him to cover himself up. I sigh in frustration, was this man for real? I quickly wrap the cloth around his finely chiselled waist, tying it on the side and stepping away from him.
I'm sorry grandma, If you're out there listening, I hope you can one day forgive me.
“The least you could do is cover yourself in front of a girl” I mumble but he show's no reaction to the gesture. He gawks at me with those light brown eyes of his without saying a word or a thank you.
Now growing worried as the silence extends, I wonder whether the man is some deranged weirdo who is trying to freak me out or if indeed he can't actually talk. I cross my arms in my attempt of closing myself off from him and walk towards the counter where the knives are incase he decides to attack me, I'd have a weapon of defence. But as the seconds turn to minutes, he remains in his original spot, not uttering a single word.
“Listen, you're probably confused” I finally speak up, and wait for a response from him but nothing ever comes. No “Where am I?” or “Who the hell are you?” questions ever left his mouth. Which made me wonder if the boy was actually...mentally okay.
I wipe my hands on my jeans and walk towards the boy, grabbing his arm I walk him over to the dinner table and sit him down. He obeys my command. He sits in front of me, looking at me like a lost puppy, with those large eyes of his. He almost made me feel sorry for him.
“You're probably wondering why you're in my house” I begin. “I found you unconscious on the beach just down the road from here. You weren't decent and well when I found you, you had a very bad fever. I didn't know who to contact apart from the doctor down the road from me and let you stay here until you woke up”
Still no reply. Weird.
“Anyway, I'm glad you're awake now....Do you want to tell me what happened?” I ask but to my luck he just sits there in absolute silence.
“Did something bad happen to you? Do I need to contact the authorities?” I ask, growing worried that there was more to his story that met the eye, but still nothing.
Growing frustrated with him, I exasperate a loud and long sigh.
“Listen, i'm here to help you. If someone did something to you, you can tell me. I will help you” I try for the last time but still not a single squeak from the young man.
I look at him, and decide that perhaps if I act motherly towards him he might decide to open up. I crouch down before him and put my hand on his knee, looking at him straight in the eyes I offer a friendly and welcoming smile.
“Do you have a name?” I ask but there is no answer. I decide to break the barrier and try to make him feel comfortable. “I'm Soo Mi”
But still, nothing. He just stares at me.
I try to fight off the frustration I am feeling right now. It's almost as if I'm talking to a two year old, but even a two year old would be more vocal than him. I close my eyes as I can't believe that I'm about to go me Jane you Tarzan on him.
When I open my eyes I find him in the same position, bringing my hand to my chest, I point towards myself.
“I'm Soo Mi” and now pointing at him “And you are?”
It's still no use. Frustrated I groan and stand up, throwing my hands up in the air I announce it to the world that I have given up in my attempts to get the young man to talk. A few minutes go by as I still find myself studying him, but he is no longer interested in me but instead is too occupied and fascinated by the salt shaker on the dinning room table. I watch as he cautiously touches it, grabbing it in his hand, he begins to shake it. Puzzled by the action, I decide to make a call to the doctor to come check up on the boy.
“Stay put, I'll be right back” I tell him, feeling the need to treat him like a little kid.
He seems to be too distracted by the object in his hand to even pay attention. I walk out of the kitchen and into the hallway to where the phone is and quickly begin dialing the doctor. I wait impatiently as the first ring goes through and then the second and lastly I hear the sound of shuffling on the other end.
“Hello?” A voice comes through the speaker and I let myself relax.
“Hi Doctor, it's me. He's woken up” I announce.
“Great! That's great news!” He yells through the phone.
“Yeah” I answer, wondering whether I should tell him what I've seen. But decide that it's probably for the best. “But something's wrong” I add.
“Really? What's wrong?” He asks with concern.
I sigh, letting all my worries eat me alive as I reminisce about what just went down in the kitchen.
“Well, he doesn't seem to want to talk. I tried to get him to talk but he won't answer. I even tried approaching him like a mom and still nothing. He seems kind of child like in mentality” I reply.
There's a long pause before I hear a sigh come through.
“I wouldn't worry too much Soo Mi, his fever was really high. There's a possibility that he's suffered from temporary amnesia”
“Amnesia, what? Are you serious?” I ask suddenly realizing that this could become a huge burden for me.
“Yes, but in this case, I don't think it should last for more than a couple of days. Do you think you can keep him with you until then? Or would you like me to get him to stay at my place?”
I pause and think about it for a minute. Looking back towards the kitchen, I feel a pang of sadness hit my stomach as I wonder what the poor young man must be feeling, he's probably scared and he would be more freaked out if he went to a place he didn't recognize or had gotten comfortable with. I close my eyes and pinch the bridge of my nose because I can't believe what I'm about to bring myself to say.
“Okay, that's fine. He can stay here for a few more days” I answer.
“Great! Make sure he eats to regain his energy and give me a call if anything else happens. I will try to come by later to give him a check up” He says.
“Alright. Thank you so much Doctor”
I hang up the phone and stand in place for a second. Not believing that I'm allowing a conscious strange man stay in my house. It took me a couple of seconds to get over it and walk back to the kitchen. I should probably explain the situation to him, so he has an understanding of what is happening. I mean after all, he did say it would be temporary, I could deal with the man for a couple of more days right?
Setting foot into the kitchen, I freeze the moment I notice that the man is no longer where I had originally left him. The backdoor from the kitchen is wide open and the floral table cloth he had been wearing now lays on the floor. The young man is gone and is in the nude.
#knk#keunakeun#park seungjun#seungjun#youjin#jihun#heejun#inseong#knk fan fic#keunakeun fan fic#seungjun fanfic#knk fanfic#keunakeun fanfic#seungjun fan fiction#the fallen star chapter one#my fanfic
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Daddy ❇KNK (en Wattpad) https://www.wattpad.com/story/108252185?utm_medium=tumblr&utm_content=share_inline_media&utm_source=android Daddy KNK ✔KNK Couple ✔Contenido explícito ✔Imagenes ✔Gif |Se aceptan ideas para capítulos|
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KNK just Being KNK Part 7 b>
KNK finally uploaded which thank god…… Okay I’m gonna stop rambling. PLEASE ENJOY.
#i dont remember what part i left on#anyway please enjoy some knk#i missed them alot#they finally uploaded some good content#knk#knk inseong#knk heejun#knk seungjun#knk youjin#knk jihun#knk tinkerbell#knk fanfic#knk icons#f: knk#knk ships#knk scenarios#knk imagines#knk kpop#bangtang boys#got7#seventeen#jbj#monsta x#exo#blackpink#gfriend#red vevlvet#ikon#winner#knk edits
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100 KISSES
genre. fluff. sickfic.
warnings. description of illness and medicine. written on a plane and not proofread.
pairing. j-us x fem!reader.
wc. 735.
a/n. aaaaaa guys im writing for onf 😭 IM SO EXCITED YDEK LIKE???? my lovely lovely boys 🫶 ik it won't get much attention but im so over the moon about this!! also this was a request from my best best friend @ddeonudepressions 🧡🧡 dia i know it took a rly long time but i didn't forget about sick juice u wanted 🫶 i hope you like it ☝️
“Y/n…”
“What?” You sighed, probably for the thousandth time, glancing up from your phone to pay attention to your sick boyfriend. Headache, sore throat, coughing, sneezing, runny nose, ringing ears, or neck pain, you name it, Seungjun was suffering from it.
You had to admit he did look pretty cute with his bright red nose and puffy face, but if you said anything he would get 10 times whinier than he already was.
He currently couldn’t decide whether he wanted to cuddle or wanted to keep his distance to not get you sick. You tried to tell him that you had a good immune system, but he just wouldn’t buy it. You tried to tell him that you were probably already infected from taking care of him for the past 2 days, but he wouldn’t take that answer either.
“I miss kissing you.” He mumbled along with an over-dramatic sniff.
You smiled a little, “You really won’t take the risk, huh?”
He shook his head vehemently, frowning, “You’ll get sick too.”
“What if I wanted kisses too?”
Seungjun paused, contemplating the question before shaking his head again, “Even if we both want kisses, we shouldn’t.”
“Is your throat still sore?”
“Mhm, it feels so… dry.” He coughed.
“I told you to use the throat spray I bought. It’s foul, but I promise it works.” You urged.
“It’s really nasty, though.” He shuddered.
“You might be able to get kisses if you use it.” You coaxed.
Seungjun bit his lip, head falling back onto the couch. You giggled at his antics. He was dramatic even when he was healthy, but no one could ever beat the melodrama that came with a sick Seungjun. He didn’t say anything for about 10 minutes, and you thought he had fallen asleep.
“Get me the throat spray.” He mumbled just above a whisper.
“Knew it would work.” You giggled.
//
“You feeling any better?” It was hours later, and you were just slipping under the covers after brushing your teeth, joining Seungjun who was hugging a pillow.
“A bit?”
“Still probably not enough for my goodnight kiss, then?” You pouted. You had already gone 2 days without one and a part of you was really hoping to sneak just one peck in before bed.
“I’m sorry, baby.” Seungjun whispered and held out his arms. “All I can offer is hugs right now.”
“You owe me at least 10 kisses once you’re better, got it?” You said seriously, settling so your head rested on his chest and he could wrap his arms around you.
“I’ll give you 20 kisses once I’m better if you want.”
“30.”
“50?”
“100.” You giggled.
Seungjun tried to stop himself from laughing since it usually ended in a coughing fit, but he ultimately failed.
“You sound ugly when you cough.” You joked.
“Can’t really help it.”
“I miss you singing me to sleep.” You sighed, tracing little shapes on his shirt with your finger.
“I miss it too, but my throat is really out of commission.”
“I know…”
“I thought I was whiny, but you know, you’re pretty whiny too.” Seungjun smiled.
“Maybe if my boyfriend wasn’t sick for so long, I wouldn’t be so whiny.” You countered.
“So it’s my fault, huh?”
You nodded.
“I like it when you’re whiny, though. It’s cute.”
“Shut up.”
“You think I’m annoying when I’m whiny, though, don’t you?” He didn’t say it in his usual teasing tone where you knew he was joking. He rubbed your arm as he spoke, his breath coming out a soft tone that you rarely got from him.
“Do you want an honest answer?”
“Hm?”
“Usually I would just say ‘of course, you’re the most annoying person I know’, but I feel like I shouldn’t tease you while you’re sick.”
“How thoughtful of you.” Seungjun mumbled, voice coming out softer and softer as he teetered on the edge of drifting off into a slumber.
“I don’t mind when you’re whiny. It kinda reminds me how much you love me, and that you would even want to put in that much effort just for my attention… So, I guess I like it too.” You glanced up only to find Seungjun already asleep, softly breathing while still holding you close to his chest.
“Why’d I even say all of that if you were just going to fall asleep on me?” You muttered. “…Sleep well, baby.”
↳ onf taglist: open!!
#﹒fics 𓈃 ⵌ#k-labels#j-us#lee seungjun#seungjun#onf#onf j-us#onf seungjun#onf lee seungjun#j-us fluff#j-us fic#j-us fanfic#seungjun fluff#seungjun fic#seungjun fanfic#lee seungjun fluff#lee seungjun fic#lee seungjun fanfic#lee seungjun x reader#seungjun x reader#j-us x reader#j us#j us fluff#j us fic#j us x reader#onf x reader#onf fluff#onf fic#onf fanfic
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Kindergarten Teacher AU
KNK as Teachers
Youjin
10/10 would be the head teacher
has a boring class in general
but it's ok because he has a nice voice and he is handsome
the kids have a crush on him for the whole school year
but they get their hearts broken when he decides to bring his spouse to work
he probably takes his class out to boring field trips
like a museum
or an old library
but it's ok because it's a field trip
Seungjun
loves teaching science
makes science fun because he's always making slime
and they do a lot of hands on activities
tried to bring in a chem set but got turned down by the head teacher because they're CHiLDreN
plays bill nye every wednesday
they go on field trips once a month
probably somewhere like the han river
they draw the leaves and different bugs
is well loved by students and other teachers because he's so nice and cute
Inseong
is a well balanced teacher
has pictures of his students on the walls
if a student is ever hungry, he has a closet full of snacks
cares a lot for his class
is always prepared for the one student that doesn't have a pencil or a sheet of paper
probably ordered in food on the last day of school
friday is a free day so they watch movies any play games
him and his class eats lunch in their room while watching cartoons
Jihun
an art teacher
does projects like finger painting
or drawing your dream house
hangs the best artwork on the wall behind his desk
which is basically all of it
so there's just a wall full of papers with splashes of paint and poorly drawn people
lets students draw on the whiteboard
enters the best student in the art show at the after school club
draws out caricatures to students with A's
probably walks around with paint in his hair
Heejun
the physical education teacher
likes watching kids run around
probably wearing sunglasses with a whistle in his mouth
holding a rubber ball under his arm
likes teaching different sports
probably plays kickball every week
or dodgeball
watches the supersize me documentary every month
loves teaching the origins of multiple sports
gets excited when he's finally able to teach volleyball
it's probably his favorite sport to teach
when he gets permission to chaperone a field trip
it's like he is a child
a 5'11 child
claims it's because he doesn't go out alot
#knk#knk fanfic#fanfiction#knk imagines#teacher au#seungjun#youjin#jihun#inseong#heejun#knk scenarios
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KNK Reacts: “stop teasing me! I fucking need you!”
You don’t really know how limits work. Especially with your boyfriend. You haven’t seen each other in weeks, and he desperately needs your body. Instead though, you decide to tease him. Not letting him go all the way.
Seungjun
“I’m not playing these games tonight.”
“If you don’t want to play nice, I won’t either.”
Inseong
“Jagiah please”
“I can’t take it”
Jihun
“haha oh kitten... you’re so cute when you think you’re in control.”
“I hope you didn’t like this outfit. It’s about to be in fucking shreds.”
Youjin
::silently sits back and watches. glaring at you::
“I’m just waiting for you to realize how serious I am right now. Cut the shit.”
Heejun
“BABY”
“I’ve been waiting for longer than I can possibly handle... PLEASE”
#KNK#knk fan fic#knk Reacts#knk reaction#kpop#kpop reactions#kpop fanfic#knk smut#kpop smut#Seungjun#knk inseong#heejun#jihun#youjin
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KNK Scenarios - Last Summer Swim
Requested: Yes from a super sweet anon 💕(sorry for the super late post)
Well it was sad to say but it was the last day of summer and it was a very cool day. You hoped that maybe there would be one more week but by the looks of the forecast next week the looked like a plummet in weather. You sighed as you tried to figure out what to do with your last vestiges of summer. It didn’t take long for someone to came knocking excitedly at your door. You already knew who it was but you decided to be difficult.
“Who is it?” you asked in a coy matter.
“YOU KNOW WHO IT IS OPEN THE DOOR WE NEED TO GET OUT OF HERE” Inseong was much too excited for his own good. You laughed at his crazed enthusiasm.
“And why do we need to get out of here?” still playing around just to see how he’d react.
“Come on! We have to go swimming one last time before it gets cold!”
“Alright, alright. I’m coming let me get all my things.”
“Yes! We’re all waiting in the living room for you!” Of course they were all waiting, Inseong probably strong armed all of them into going with his puppy dog look on his face. You pack up some sun screen and towels. You finally get to put on the new swim suit your friend got you to “impress those cute, tall boys you room with.” You always tell her it isn’t like that but that wasn’t entirely true either. Only one of them truly caught your eye. Youjin was incredibly cute and his sense of humor matched your own. He was always super attentive to you and your needs. He was very shy but it just made him more approachable.
You decided to conceal your swimsuit under a wrap and some shorts. You really wanted to make it a huge reveal. You came out into the living room to see Jihun on the floor laughing and Heejun with a towel on his head pretending to be a ghost. You couldn’t help but feel a little embarrassed. Youjin walked over to you and put his hand on your shoulder.
“They’ve been doing this for about 10 minutes. I’m just ready to actually get out of here so they have something to occupy their minds.”
You laughed and he smiled really wide at you. The other’s heard your laugh and got up and walked over.
“Sorry we didn’t hear you come in cause Jihun was laughing so loud.” Seungjun said giving you a big bear hug. You patted him on the back and laughed so more.
“Let’s just get out of here and go swim before the weather gets cold.” They all simultaneously yelled yeah. As we head out to the public pool down the street. On the way, Seungjun and Inseong got some snacks for everyone. When we got down there it was time to figure out who had to stay out of the pool and watch our stuff for the first shift. As always it was a rock, paper, scissors competition. In the end Youjin lost hard, but it didn’t appear to register on his face that he lost. He just calmly sat down with all of our stuff at one end of the pool.
You thought this is moment and you got very shy suddenly. You slowly untied your wrap and let it fall to the ground and took off your shorts. You could feel the stares coming from every angle. You felt so exposed that you instinctively tried to use your arms to cover yourself. It wasn’t until Inseong shouted so loud that everyone looked at him that you were able to quickly make your way to the shallow end of the pool to step in.
“WOOOOOOOOOOO LOOK AT HOW PRETTY YOU ARE!” Inseong meant well but you felt so embarrassed. Everyone suddenly chimed in with their own compliments expect for youjin who kinda just stared at you intensely. You could feel your cheeks get warm and you felt shamed like you wanted cover back up. You had barely stepped into the water so you decided to turn around and grab your wrap to cover up again. You walked past Youjin to your things and pulled out your wrap. Youjin came up beside and grabbed your hand holding the wrap.
“You look beautiful you don’t need to wear it. I know He embarrassed you a bit but, you have nothing to be embarrassed about.” You smiled really wide and looked up at him. He was looking at you longingly and you put the wrap back in your bag. “It’s Jihun’s turn next to watch our stuff. I’d like to sit next to you at the shallow end if you wouldn’t mind.” You nodded and you knew it was going to be a great last day of summer.
#knk scenarios#knk reactions#knk fanfic#knk imagines#knk#youjin#seungjun#inseong#jihun#heejun#tinkerbellsnet
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I-i’m not scared...;
Summary: Where KNK Seungjun enters a haunted house with you, but it turns out he’s more scared than you.
that gif is so cute wtf
Rating: Fluff >.<
I’ve noticed there aren’t enough KNK fanfics so we bout to start now!
You don’t understand why Seunjun agreed to come with you to the new haunted house. It just opened last week and you were so excited and you asked Seungjun to go with you as a joke. But he actually said yes. Even though he and you knew he was scared of even scary movies, he insisted on going with you.
You were in line waiting to get a ticket and you could already feel Seungjun jumping at every noise something made. He grabbed your arm and clung to you like his life depended on it. You smile and pat his head. He shrugs your hand off and loosens his grip on your arm.
“I am a man. I am not scared. I’m a man. I am not scared. I’-” He repeats this to himself under his breath. You giggle at his nervous state. It was adorable. He would jump at the slightest noise, squeal, and then compose himself to be a ‘man’. It was now your turn to get your tickets. While taking out the money you needed, you turned around to see Seungjun looking around for you. You whistled at him and he came running towards to you so fast he almost tripped.
You burst out laughing at his form and he gives you a small hit on your shoulder to shut you up. You pat his chest and say, “What a man.” He scrunches his nose at you and starts entering the entrance ahead of you.
“Wait for me baby!” You run after him bumping into people dressed up in funky Halloween costumes. You giggle at yourself imagining Seungjun in a night before Christmas Jack costume. You scrub that image from your mind and hook your arms together.
“Are you ready?” You ask his jittering form. He gulps and then nods and takes a step into the house. Instantly you hear spooky ghost noises. You feel goosebumps on the back of your neck. You look over at Seungjun and you see his fingers are plugged into his ears.
As soon as you were going to confront him in why he was covering his ears, but before you could ask a clown pops out from around the corner, scaring Seungjun. He pushed the clown to the ground and runs forward, leaving you to chase after him.
“Seungjun! You can’t leave me here!.” You apologize to the clown and run after your adorable boyfriend. As soon as you turn the corner you see Seungjun huddled in a corner covering his eyes and ears. You say his name to alert to Seungjun that you're there so you don’t end up like that clown.
You come up to him and pat his head and coo at him.
“Baby, if you didn’t want to come you should have said so,” you say as you rub his back. The height difference was weird so you were basically in his chest, rubbing his back. He whimpers in your ear and clings to your body.
“Can we leave? I want to go home.” He nuzzles his face into your neck squeezes you tighter. You can feel him shaking.
“We can’t leave the way we came, honey. But don’t worry I’ll shield you from all the scary monsters.” You were happy he finally broke down and abandoned that facade he was putting on. You helped him off of the floor and held him close to you.
Every time something jumped out at you, you made sure he was okay and assured him you would be out quick. When you finally got through the haunted house, you turned him towards you and squished his face. His eyes were red from crying and he was still shaking a little bit.
You gave him a big hug and he returned it just as tight.
“Next time don’t try to be something you're not. If you’re scared just say you're scared.” You grab his hand and begin walking to the car.
“Let's go home!” You skip to the car with his hand in yours and he gives you a toothy smile.
“Have I ever told you how much I love you Y/N?” He ruffles your hair and kisses your cheek.
We all know Seungjun is a little baby that needs to be protected. I made this while watching KNK Tv and saw how cute he was acting on his mission. He was absolutely adorable and I actually started to cry. I love knk so much I’m gonna kms.
Admin Minsoo~
#knk youjin#knk seungjun#knk inseong#knk heejun#knk jihun#knk fanfic#knk fancam#knk fluff#knk smut#knk angst#knk knock#knk kpop#knk cute#knk sexy#youjin#seungjun#inseong#heejun#jihun#knk fake texts#knk fake snaps#knk fake quotes#knk fake subs#knk memes#kpop fanfiction#bts fanfiction#bts jimin#bts jungkook#bts angst#bts fluff
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let’s make a deal
j-us x reader
word count: ~ 1430
warnings: none (excluding me still being new to writing onf)
a/n: coworkers!AU; anon requested 7 or 14 from the 100 ways and i kinda did both bc what are decisions ??? requests for onf are still open
Seungjun woke up early for you, so a little bit of nonsense is just the price you have to pay.
Normally at this hour, you could only be grateful for a cup of coffee. Unfortunately, the brew at this corner cafe is too bitter to gulp down as you normally would. It leaves you sitting with your elbows propped up on the table, watching the steam rise and curl in the air. You should’ve ordered something else. Then again, even just the thought of anything sugary makes your stomach tense up a bit more. Nerves truly are the worst.
On the bus you’d made a promise to yourself not to think about work at least until Seungjun got here. The anxiety creeping through your muscles says you’ve failed at that. With a sigh, you lean down and zip open your bag. There’s no need to rummage; the bundle of index cards you’d finalized last night were right on top of all your other supplies. Bound together with a red rubber band you’d done and undone six times checking that you hadn’t left one of the cards out of place.
When you place the cards on the table, it’s with a heavy enough hand that it wobbles, and coffee threatens to slosh over the brim of the mug. It doesn’t have to happen for you to already feel a touch of panic over hypothetically soiling your presentation notes. Your finger digs in to one flat edge of your stack of cards. You remind yourself to breathe and focus your gaze on a patch of ceiling just left of one of the overhead lights.
This is a good opportunity. You’ve prepared. You shouldn’t be so nervous. Though if you mess it up, who knows when you’ll get another chance.
“Hey. Sorry I kept you waiting!” The voice and the body slipping into the chair across from you pulls you out of your worried thoughts.
You straighten your spine and summon a small smile for Seungjun. He looks nearly ready for work. He’s yet to finish off his outfit with one of the usual ties and his hair still looks a small touch damp. There’s more than enough time left before the office opens for the latter issue to fix itself. And unless Seungjun had been particularly rushed getting here, you imagine there must be a tie stuffed somewhere into the backpack he’s dropping onto the floor.
“No, don’t worry,” you tell him, “Thanks for meeting me.” The second half of your words comes out with less vigor. Not for a lack of appreciation, but from the part of you that very much wishes you could back out of giving a presentation at work altogether.
Seungjun’s eyes catch yours. There’s a distinct something in his gaze that says he can already see that hesitancy in you. He smiles like he doesn’t. “I’m sure everything you prepared is fine. But I don’t mind being the test run.”
You snap the rubber band against the first card in the pile nervously. “I don’t even know why I’m doing a project proposal.”
“Hopefully because you have an idea worth proposing.” His good-natured grin falters when you sink down in your seat. He rushes to amend it, “We both know it’s a good idea. You just have to present it confidently. So, come on. Let’s do a runthrough.”
The first time you go through your plans of what to say, Seungjun is nothing but encouraging. Despite the early hour, he summons smiles and nods and agreements that soothe some of your worries. Once you’ve bent a corner on the last index card of your stack, he begins with reassurances that it’s a presentation worth giving. That it’s not going to be a mistake. And that he has a few ideas on how you can smooth everything out in what you’re going to say.
He wouldn’t have been the one you called if you hadn’t wanted advice. Sticking to positivity first was his way of easing into the criticism he did have. You trust his judgement, though, and decide he wouldn’t nitpick if he thought the proposal would simply flop either way.
You lean forward in your chair, angling your arms so you can show him your notes as you start from the top again. He stops you here and there, with clarifying questions or suggestions on stronger wording.
By the time you’re done, there’s whole cards that have been put aside in favor of a more concise presentation. And Seungjun’s hair has finished drying in the cool air of the cafe.
“What do you think?” he asks as you eye over the altered notes, “Feeling ready?”
“I guess so.” It may not be as definitive as either of you would wish, but it’s better than where you’d started this morning. Carefully, you tap the cards together on the tabletop to even out the edges before wrapping the rubber band back around the reduced pile. “Thanks again.”
He shrugs and gives a wave of a hand. As if he hadn’t gotten up far earlier than usual just for you. You bend to put the notes back in your bag, and find yourself pausing just as you set them atop your wallet and notebook. You probably should have asked for his advice earlier. That way you’d have more time to practice with the changes made. It feels like such an obvious misstep now that it’s occurred to you. You straighten back into your chair and check the time. There’s no getting around the fact that you’ll have to head out to the office soon.
“Did I tell you?” Seungjun cuts into your spiraling thoughts for the second time this morning. You blink your focus onto him and let out a puzzled ‘huh?’
“I just remembered, I dreamt about you last night,” he tells you. It only adds to the confusion on your face. “Yeah,” he insists before you could get out any kind of doubt. “It was at, like, this fancy ball kind of thing. Fancy clothes and strings playing and all. And I think I must have been a prince or something, because you looked just shocked when I came up and asked ‘can I have this dance?’” As he quotes his dream-self, he changes his tone and holds out one hand to you over the table; palm up in some kind of reenactment.
A feeling that you try to keep locked away wriggles its way out of its cocoon. You do your best to withhold a smile as you say, “You’re so lame.”
Seungjun’s barking laugh might as well be an admission of as much. Still, he insists, “am not,” through his amusement. “I thought it was a good dream!”
“Because you were royalty?” You refuse to let yourself ask about it being because you were in it. That’s the last thing you need to start thinking about before giving a project proposal.
“Well, there is that.” He grins, and the thought of standing in front of your bosses in boardroom escapes you almost entirely. “But I mean I think it was a good omen kinda thing. For you. Like we’re gonna have a reason to celebrate some time soon.”
You are not entirely convinced that’s how anyone would read that dream. Or even if that’s how he thought of it before this moment. All you muster in reply is a simple, “Maybe.”
“What do you say -- if they take up your project, you and I go out dancing?”
This time you’re the one guffawing. Your laughter might be from your most insecure parts, unable to picture your proposal going half as well as that. Or else from a whole other set of doubts at the thought Seungjun may have just asked you out. Albeit on conditions you find unlikely to come true.
“Why would we do that?” You try not to think about whether or not it’d be date if it did happen. And pray that your face hasn’t betrayed you by flushing at the notion.
“Because of the dream!” Seungjun declares, as if it were only natural. “And so you know I really think your presentation will go well.” Before you can try to unravel what implications might be behind that, he’s holding his out to you once again and asking for a decision. “Deal?”
You eye him over once and let out a small sigh as you place your elbow on the edge of the table. Your pinky locks with his as you answer, “Deal.”
Maybe thinking of his smile during your meeting will help relieve your nerves. Or at least give you something other than your proposal to be nervous about.
#onf scenarios#onf imagines#onf fanfic#lee seungjun x reader#lee seungjoon x reader#i use(d) the spelling 'seungjun' bc thats the romanization he used on his studio tap application thing#but it seems like people use 'seungjoon' more commonly#also on the same form etion wrote his name as 'changyun' which i dont think i've seen fuses use ever ????#idk basically catch me shrugging all over the place with this
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