#and i need that appointment for my job. but i work every weekday except friday. and they close soon after i get off my work on monday-thurs | Explore Tumblr Posts and Blogs

krackheadkulture · 5 years

Text

OUR MIDNIGHT

Pairing: OC X Han Jisung Word Count: 12k+ Genre: Fluff, Romance, Dance AU

[FIRST PERSON PERSPECTIVE]

My mother was not a smart lady nor was she one that was respected by many. People often looked down at the ragged clothing of hers whenever she was on the streets selling bread. However, she was the one who taught me many things that I needed in life more than what the schools could offer. When I first started working at the age of 16, she only gave me one advice without a look of concern or worry in her eyes: ‘If anyone dares try to hit on you, tell them that you have plastic surgery’. The 16 year old me would look at my mother as if she was crazy but after some tries, it did work like a charm! It was very helpful indeed for the next two years, especially since I started working at a small café near a university where male teenagers or young adults would visit often. It did work well, but no plan can ever succeed without a tiny flaw, and that was also how I met him.

It was a quiet Monday evening, finally ending the first week of working at the café. My job was easy in the evening since many people have ended school and have headed home or to the Internet cafes to play games. The café was partially empty, with only a couple of students huddling together to study quietly amongst themselves.

Since there were not many customers, instead of making coffees, I was cleaning the tables until I heard a quiet ring of the bell hanging just above the door to notify me that a customer had entered. I paused at my place and immediately headed to the counter to take the customer’s order on cue.

“Hello, welcome to Heaven’s café,” I greeted with a small smile as I looked up, seeing my customer for the first time. He was a boy around my age. His face was hidden behind a black cap, a black disposable mask and a pair of round thin gold-framed glasses. He was wearing a white t-shirt paired with a black leather jacket and black pants. “What would you like to order?”

The boy looked down at the menu and glanced at me. His brown eyes made a short eye contact with me before pointing to a beverage on the menu. “A tall iced Americano, please,” he replied. His voice was a little husky. I gave him another smile before noting down the order onto the register.

“One tall ice Americano,” I repeated. “That will be 3,000 won.” The boy nodded his head before handing me the money from his pocket. I quickly placed the money into the cash register and handed him the receipt. “Thank you. Please take a seat and wait while I get you your drink ready immediately.” I turned around to start making his coffee, filling the café once again with the bitter yet amazing aroma of the fresh coffee beans. It did not take long for me to finally make the cup of Americano and headed to the table that the boy was seated at. I made my way to the corner right of the café that was hidden away from many people’s eyes and settled the coffee in front of him with a smile. “There you go,” I said before turning around.

“Are you new here?” The husky voice asked, causing me to halt at my feet. I turned around and raised my eyebrow at the mysterious looking boy. “I haven’t seen you before,” he explained.

“Yes,” I replied carefully. “I just started a week ago.” “That’s why…” he replied with a nod. “You caught my eye for a moment.”

I raised my eyebrows. Was this a sign of flirting? I asked myself before deciding on my new response. “I had plastic surgery,” I cut in immediately, using my mom’s advice, which now forced him to look confused.

He stared hard at me for a couple of seconds, unhinged by my response before finally breaking down into a laugh. “What are you trying to say? Is… is this perhaps your way of rejecting guys that hit on you?”

My face reddened a little when he realized my method. I nodded my head reluctantly. “Yes,” I whispered.

“That’s a very interesting way of rejecting guys, I have to admit it but don’t worry, I was just curious because this café is the one that I normally visit,” the boy said. His voice sounded muffled through the mask.

“My mom taught me that,” I explained. “She’s nothing much but she is my role model.”

“Then I respect her,” the boy smiled. His eyes bent into crescents. It actually looked adorable on him.

“Me too,” I nodded my head, suddenly sadden as I thought of her but the sadness vanished almost immediately as I faced him. “But why would you ask? I didn’t know any customers that were interested in knowing the staffs.”

He gave me a quiet smile without saying anything. I glanced at him for a moment, observing him, and then the clothes he wore. I opened my mouth, almost regretting the words that came out of my lips. “But since… I told you a little about myself, let’s hear a little about you then. What’s with the mask and the… cover up?”

“I only asked you if you were new,” the boy laughed. “But I should return the favor then. However, if I told you, you might get shocked.” “Why?” I raised my eyebrow. “Are you… some kind of celebrity or something?”

Now it was his turn to raise his eyebrow. “How did you know?” He asked, finally pulling down his mask to reveal his face. His cheeks puffed up as he spoke. I shrugged my shoulders.

“I have… a way with things,” I replied shortly. Looking at him made me smile a lot because god, he was actually really good looking. His smile made his eyes brighten up.

“My name’s Han,” the boy finally introduced himself.

“Han? I’m Miyeon,” I replied with another smile. “Would I be seeing you anywhere on the news soon, Mr. Celebrity?”

He chuckled before shrugging. “Who knows,” he smiled and looked down at his fingers before slipping a ring out of his index finger, placing it on the table. “Well, let me know if you finally see me on the news.” He stood up with his drink and started to walk away.

“Your ring!” I stared at the ring and then back at him.

“Give it back to me once you see and know me,” he smiled and winked at me before disappearing through the doors. I wrapped my hand around the silver ring and stared at it, sighing. I was not even sure if there were any chance of me ever meeting him again.

I normally worked at the café every other day except for Sunday. During the weekdays, the working hours for me started at 4pm, an hour right after I finished school- that was enough time to fetch my brother from my neighbors whom kindly offered to pick my brother up from primary school back home- until about 11pm. Monday and Friday were the only days that I was able to finish work at about 7pm so I was able to do my own personal matters and that was mostly dancing. A few weeks ago, before I have even worked at the café, I had always enjoyed dancing and when one of my friends introduced me to this major dance competition, I thought it was finally a chance to live for what I loved and joined the competition. So the two days were always the only days including half the day of Sunday to practice.

However, after the meeting with the mysterious man, my mind was so distracted- filled with curiosity about Han- that it lead to me completely missing the appointed time with my dance partner by an hour. I cursed at myself once I finally looked at the clock, the first time I ever looked away from the silver ring in my hands. I quickly headed back to the staffs’ resting room and grabbed my bag from my locker before dashing out to the dance studio.

It took me about twenty minutes to reach the dance studio after spending the rest of my remaining energy running for my life. I took two steps at a time up the stairs to the second floor of one of the many blocks and barged through the glass doors of the dance studio’s entrance.

The receptionist tilted her head slightly at the door and nodded her head in acknowledgement when she saw me. She pointed at the corridor to her left side. “He’s waiting for you in studio 5. What happened today, Miyeon? You’re usually not late at all.”

“I got carried away by accident,” I explained, trying to catch my breath as I dashed past the receptionist to the studio that she had mention. “Thanks a lot, Miss Jang!”

As soon as I reached the dance studio, I pushed opened the wooden brown door that opened up to a gigantic space. Lights were lit everywhere in the room, making everything brighter. The large mirror that was on the opposite of the door reflected all the light illuminated and in the middle of the room, a boy about a year or two older than me sat on the polished wood floor.

The boy looked up from the ground to see me through the mirror. His hair was wet from the sweat and it covered his eyes, making his expression unidentifiable. “You’re late,” his voice echoed across the room. “What happened?”

“Sorry,” I tried to smile weakly as I closed the door behind him. “I… I got carried away.” The boy pushed his black hair away from his face and gave me a smile.

“It’s okay, Miyeon. I get it,” he explained. “You must still be thinking how being late might affect me since I have a tight schedule but don’t worry. Mondays, Fridays and Sundays are always dedicated to our dance practices no matter what my group has to do.”

“Thank you so much for understanding, Minho,” I said gratefully. “I just… feel bad for stealing you away from your group and your members.”

“Stray Kids can live even for a few hours without me,” Minho grinned before standing up. “And while you weren’t here, I took the initiative to order food for you because I have a feeling that you have not eaten.”

I smiled at my friend. Lee Minho had been my childhood friend ever since I was about 6 and him about 8. We met one another in a dance camp and we instantly clicked together as soon as we were placed in the same group. I watched him grew as he watched me grew as well. I knew how important dance was to him. He had gotten into a career out of dance, starting from being the backup dancer for BTS to breaking out of his shell to becoming a trainee of JYP. It had been so hard for him. He had been pushed down onto the ground and had spent his time at the lowest during the period of time but he remained strong and stayed determined and alas, finally debuting into his group: Stray Kids.

I did not knew Stray Kids well enough but from what Minho had told me, they seem to be really supportive for one another and have a lot of passion in what they did, which I truly respected. They were all so close that they treated one another as family members instead of just colleagues or friends, and that was definitely one of the beauty I saw in the group; they were able to sacrifice anything just to help their family.

I glanced at Minho’s face and smiled before looking at the food he had order. The floor was covered in different delicacies ranging from street food to restaurant-made, all which were my all-time favorites. “You didn’t have to,” I blushed. “You could’ve just gotten me a convenient store sandwich and I’ll be satisfied, happy and full!” I pouted.

“And make sure you’re malnutrition? Not on my watch, sister,” Minho said, earning a laugh from me.

“But how can we finish all of these food? You should’ve brought Jisung along! Did you not say that he couldn’t live without you? And from what I have heard from you, he loves to eat,” I giggled.

I have never met any of Minho’s members but I could grasp their personalities and characteristics just by hearing Minho’s stories about them. “Well, it’s true that he can’t live without me but I shouldn’t bring him here since today’s the day for just the two of us,” he wiggled his eyebrows at me, making me burst into laughter.

“Stop it!” I tried to stop myself from laughing more.

“You stop it! Hurry up! Finish the food and let’s get dancing already,” Minho rolled his eyes before pushing me onto the ground, in front of all the food.

“And vomit on the floor from eating too much and doing too much excessive exercises?” I raised my eyebrow again before earning a punch on my shoulder from the latter.

The days passed by very quickly as work and school started to pile higher, but there were no signs of the mysterious man. He stopped visiting the café and I realized I was starting to think of him more and more, so much more that it overtook my mind. I remembered every detail of his face, from his soft crescent shaped eyes that sparkled whenever he smiled, his smile that made his cheeks puffed up to look like a squirrel to his silky blond hair that was hidden behind the black cap. Everything about him was so interesting that I started to crave wanting to know him more. And because of that, I was late to the dance studio again.

I was dashing through the busy crowd at 7pm. Everyone was heading in different directions: some heading home from work, some hanging out with friends and many just returning from their tuition centers. “Excuse me,” I repeated as I swiftly passed many bodies crossing past me, trying not to bump into anyone. It was going rather smoothly, until I just had to hit someone’s shoulders really hardly. “Whoa!” I said, trying to remain calm as I stopped on my steps. “I am so sorry. I really did not see you and it is completely my fault-“

“It’s okay,” the person replied quietly. His grey cap was covering his eyes from my view so I could not see his face. His voice sounded familiar but I was unable to grasp it quick enough when he started to walk away and people started to fill up the empty space that he had left. But alas, he was completely out of my view and that was when I remembered that I was also rushing to somewhere as well.

It took me approximately 10 minutes to reach the dance studio quickly. I was completely out of breath when my hands touched the glass doors that lead into the dance studio. Minho had constantly called my phone to make sure that I was arriving, which was very rare. “I’m here, I’m here,” I chattered really quickly as soon as my phone rested on my ear for the nth time today, opening the door to the receptionist and giving a nod at Miss Jang who kindly pointed to the dance studio Minho was in.

“Hurry! I don’t think Jaemyeon wants to be with me,” Minho groaned at the other end of the call as I finally reached the dance studio and pushed the door opened, revealing Minho with a small boy clinging onto him. Minho turned to look at me and mouthed at me. “Get him off me!”

I ended the call and slipped my phone into my pocket before crouching a little and opened my arms. “Hey there little monster!” I smiled as I looked at the boy next to Minho. The boy turned around quickly and grinned as well, finally releasing his grip on the desperate looking Minho and ran straight to me, giving me a hug.

“Where were you, noona?” My little brother asked. His grip in the embrace remained firm. “I missed you.”

“Did Minho hyung not treat you well?” I raised my eyebrow, looking at the older boy who was looking awkwardly at our short embrace.

“Hyung didn’t want to play with me!” He pouted, now looking at me. “All hyung wanted to do was to come here and wait for you!”

I laughed and patted my little brother’s head. “But he did fetch you from school, right? And also feed you, right?” I asked him and he pouted again.

“Fine! But I thought that I was going to be a boring kid if I become quiet,” Jaemyeon explained.

“Well, I rather you be a boring kid than be an exhausting kid,” Minho commented, walking to us now. He looked at me before awkwardly patting my brother’s head. “And since we’ll… be busy dancing, I brought one of my members along so that Jaemyeon here can be cared for and might also give us some comments for our dance.”

I raised my eyebrow. Minho had never ever introduced me to his members ever since he entered the company so it was weird that he wanted to show me them out of nowhere.

“Who is it?” I grinned. “Is it Chris? Is it Woojin? Oh! Is he Jeongin? You know maybe Jeongin is good with my brother since he has a little brother as well-“

“No, no,” Minho cut in, laughing. “It’s someone I’m sure that will take great care of Jaemyeon. So great that he can get a certificate for being one of the best ‘nannies’ on this world! And currently, he’s buying food for Jaemyeon since this little monster says he’s starving- don’t worry! I did feed him a couple of hours ago!”

“Don’t say it’s Changbin!” I took another guess. “Or would it b-“

“It’s me,” someone interrupted our conversation. I paused; startled at the sudden voice before turning around to find the same grey cap man I had bumped into. He held up the bags of food he was holding. “And I got food.”

I swear, at that moment, my entire muscles tensed up and my mind went blank. The moment my eyes finally met his eyes under the gray cap, I did not thought that it was possible that I finally met him once again.

“Han?” The name slipped from my lips before I could stop myself.

The boy gave me a tiny smile and nodded his head. “I see we meet again.”

“You two know one another?” Minho interrupted quickly, barging into the space between the both of us, turning to Han first. “Jisung, why on earth did you not tell me you know Miyeon?” And turned to me. “And you, Baek Miyeon, why was I unaware that you have befriended Jisung.”

“Wait,” I cut in. “Jisung? Isn’t this Han? He said his name is Han. Are you sure that’s not the boy you always mentioned about? Are you hallucinating?”

Minho raised his eyebrow at the other boy. “Did you really have to tell everyone your stage name?”

“Why not,” the other boy asked. “I thought it was easier to remember than Jisung.”

“Wait, so Jisung and Han are the same person?” I commented looking more confused than I was ever once again.

Jisung raised his arms and looked at me with a smile. “That’s me!” He said. “And yes, I had no idea you were the girl Minho mentions everyday but it’s a pleasure to meet you.”

“Jisung hyung!” The tiny voice that I had forgotten about erupted from behind me. The small figure rushed past me, heading straight into Jisung’s embrace. “You’re finally back!” Jisung laughed and ruffled Jaemyeon’s head before touching his nose softly.

“I was gone for only five minutes, did you miss me that much?” Jaemyeon glanced at Minho quickly before turning back to Jisung.

“Yes,” he said extremely quietly, earning another chuckle from the older boy and a protest from Minho.

“Now, let’s go eat your food at the back of the studio shall we, Jaemyeon? While we watch your noona and Minho hyung?” Jisung gently lead the small boy across the room to the back where they settled quietly and started eating. Minho glanced at me.

“Ready?” He asked, heading to the speakers and pressed the play button. And in a couple of seconds, the soft melody of our song started to play.

I looked up from the ground… to see your sad and teary eyes…

I quickly got into character as Minho approached me from behind and lifted my head up gently as his hand brushed past the space under my eyes before spinning me around to face him. Our steps moving in sync with one another as the next lyrics were sang.

You look away from me and I see there’s something you’re trying to hide…

My eyes quickly diverged from Minho’s, trying to look away. My legs dropped and he caught me by my arms and before spinning me around for the second time again. Our moves became more and more fluid, moving together as one and understanding one another’s feelings throughout the entire dance routine. I forgot everything around me, and was only focused on the boy in front of me as we moved and controlled our bodies to tell our story using the song.

The dance soon ended quickly as the melody started to slow down and down… and finally the last lyrics were sung.

It’ll… be alright…

Minho held my hand. His grip on mine loosened as I pulled away, walking away from him. The silent remained for a couple of moments before I heard applause coming from our two audiences that I had completely forgotten about.

“Bravo!” My little brother cheered as he started jumping up and down in joy. Minho approached behind me and trapped me into his embrace as he leaned his head onto my shoulders, all sweaty.

“Was it that good, kiddo?” He winked at the little boy.

“Ew, get away from me, Lee Minho! You’re sweaty!” I gasped as the sweat from his face dripped down slowly. I tried to escape his grasp but he refused to budge.

“How was it, Jisung?” Minho now diverged his attention to his friend who was still seated. I could see a slight smile from the latter.

“It’s… It’s great,” he replied quietly.

Minho grinned and turned me around, shaking me by grabbing my shoulders. “Yes! We have our perfect routine!” Minho cheered before enveloping me into a hug. “But as you know, we have to keep on practicing in order to make this work! We only have… how many more days?”

“Seven…” Jisung replied instead of me. My eyes widen when I realized how close the competition was from us now.

“A-are you sure?” I looked at the eyes beneath the gray cap. I could not read his emotionless face as he nodded quietly.

“Oh god,” Minho dragged me to the middle of the dance floor again. “We have to continue practicing and practicing if we were to win this entire thing.” I rolled my eyes at the energetic older boy, unable to protest as the music started to play again and I was drawn back into the world between the both of us, not realizing the audience that had remained there with us.

It was already midnight by the time we finally finished our dance practice. My legs were sore and I was panting. Sweat was dripping down from both Minho and I.

“Noona… are you done now?” A drowsy voice called me and I realized that my brother was still with us. “I…. I’m… I’m sleepy.”

“Myeon-nie!” I called out as the tiny boy came into my arms and wrapped his arms around my neck. “I’m so sorry! I forgot that you were here with me and how fast the time has flied!” I carried him in my arms and turned to Minho who nodded at me.

“Go now,” he said as he handed me my bag. “I’ll just hang in here for a while more.” I quickly slipped my bag onto my shoulders while carrying my sleepy brother and quickly headed out of the dance room, not realizing someone was following me until he spoke aloud.

“Are you going to go home alone?” The voice made me stop. I turned around to find Jisung looking at me quietly from the practice room’s door.

“I have my brother along. So I’m not alone,” I replied with a soft smile.

“Well, I’m not leaving the two of you alone to go back home. I’m following you,” Jisung said, approaching me as he carefully removed Jaemyeon from my arms and securely carrying him in his arms. “Let’s go,” he motioned me in his low voice as he started to walk down.

“Where are you going? You don’t even know my house!” I called after him. “What about Minho?”

“Then lead the way and… he’ll be fine,” he replied without looking back. I rolled my eyes and quickly caught up to the duo as the three of us took off through the darkened outside.

The journey way back home was quiet. Except for the rustling leaves that fluttered along with the wind, everything was still and silent. Our footsteps echoed along the concrete ground as we walked through the once busied streets of many stores. The way back usually took about 15 minutes from the dance studio but walking along with the once mysterious man made it thrice the time longer. My hands would play with themselves under the sleeves of my jacket out of awkwardness.

“Are you cold?” Jisung’s voice spoke out, breaking the silence between the both of us. I looked to my right to see his handsome face hidden under a black mask. “Your hands have been twitching ever since we exited the studio.”

Oh snap. He noticed as well, I thought, mentally smacking myself. “No,” I replied softly. “It’s not even freezing-“

“In the middle of December, yeah right,” Jisung cut in. Before I knew it, he removed my hand from my other hand and grabbed it in-between his large free hand that was not holding Jaemyeon. “You lied. Your hand is freezing.”

“It is?” I raised my eyebrow as I quickly removed my hand from his. I could feel heat rising up to my cheeks as I diverted my attention from him. “I… I didn’t… know that.”

“Do you mind taking my hot pack?” Jisung suggested, searching for his before handing it to me.

“Why would you even have a hot pack with you?” I asked before taking it quickly, placing the small pack in between my hands.

“Minho gets cold easily so I would carry one for him at all times despite the weather or the season we are in,” Jisung explained. “But he hasn’t been asking me because… maybe you have been the one supplying him with the hot packs?”

I grinned. “You’re absolutely correct but unfortunately, I forgot to bring one today.”

“You know, we share a lot of things in common because of that one guy,” Jisung suddenly changed the subject as the two of us continued walking down the street. He turned to look at me before focusing back onto the road. “You were basically the only person he talked about to us and… I admired you from the way he talked about you.”

“What did he say… so highly about me?” I raised my eyebrow.

“Nothing much, just how pretty you are and how talented you are,” Jisung chuckled. “And after seeing you for the first time, I actually agree with him.”

“I plead to object. How am I pretty and how am I talented?” I asked.

“And I decline your objection. You only see yourself with all your flaws,” Jisung explained. “And you shouldn’t, because you wouldn’t realize how amazing and beautiful you look. No matter what everyone tells you, you would only say negatively about yourself.”

“Like how you thought yourself as the most handsome until Hyunjin showed up?” I asked with a chuckle.

“Don’t tell me he told you that too,” he groaned before bursting into laughter. “But well, that’s an example! Be true to yourself no matter what.”

“But I do agree with you. You are handsome,” I smiled.

“Don’t I agree with myself too,” he commented with a nod, earning a groan and an eye roll from me. Our short conversation ended shortly as we continued to walk down the street. We passed many shops and restaurant and finally reaching a big park where he spoke again. “And you are talented you know…”

“How so?” I asked quietly.

“You can dance… you can… bake… you are a role model, you know that too? You take care of your brother while managing to balance between school and work,” he said. “Gosh, you can even rap.”

I groaned at that immediately as my face reddened for the second time. “Did… did Lee Minho secretly recorded me again?”

“With video… but your entire face was blocked,” Jisung added. “But you are good at rapping and acting as if you were on show me the money.”

“How about you, Mister Han? Don’t think Minho didn’t boost about you to me too,” I interjected. “I can even write a book about all the things you’re good at.”

“Let’s hear about them then, shall we?” Jisung challenged me with a chuckle.

I smirked. “Let’s see…” I started to think, looking at Jisung now. “You are good at rapping, GREAT at singing. God, you can literally sing the highest note I have ever heard of, you write your own songs and you have such a great cute smile-“

“I don’t think that’s something I’m good at but I’ll just take it,” he commented.

“I’m not done yet!” I pouted. “You’re also great at dancing and giving the best fan service with Minho. You also work nonstop and left your family just to train to be in Stray Kids and you are also the most awkward squirrel that drinks coffee I’ve ever known.”

“And maybe the only awkward squirrel you will ever know,” he cut in.

I rolled my eyes again and nodded my head. “Yeah, you’re correct,” I said.

“And is there anymore?” He asked, finally pulling his mask down to show me his puffed up cheeks.

“Your puffy cheeks?” I raised my eyebrow. He chuckled before pulling his mask up to cover his face again. I did not even know how much the time had passed after our second mini conversation until we reached a tall building. “Oh…” I drifted off. “We’re… here.” I turned to Jisung and motioned him to let me carry Jaemyeon now but he refused to budge. “I can bring him inside myself now.”

“No. How are you going to open the door while holding a kid? You’re going to wake him up.”

“I did it a lot of times before-“ I tried to say but was cut off by Jisung again.

“Let’s go up now!” He said stubbornly before entering the building. I stared after him and smiled softly.

“Wrong entrance!” I shouted after him before entering the apartment through the correct entrance with him trailing behind me as well.

We quickly entered the elevator to the fifth floor and reached the front of my apartment. I tried my best to allow myself to carry my brother but as Minho had said, Han Jisung definitely was very stubborn. So, I had to open the door so he could settle my brother into his bed in his room. He took off my brother’s shoes and tucked him nicely into his bed as I watched from the doorway. I was impressed at how familiar he was to do all those.

Once he was done, he exited Jaemyeon’s room. I smiled at him as he walked up to me. “How do you know to do all these?” I asked in a whisper. He raised his eyebrow in confusion. “I don’t see many people knowing how to settle a kid quietly into bed, but here you are, doing something else you’re good at.” He chuckled.

“My older brother settles me into bed like that as well… and maybe just because I always wanted to try being the older brother for once.”

“I’m impressed. Very impressed,” I commented before walking with him to the front door. “Well, thank you for today. Thank you for taking your time to walk my brother and I back to our home and for finally meeting you after so long. It has been long overdue.”

He grinned. “I’m just glad I was able to help. It was actually fun to talk you. Let’s be friends, shall we?”

“Aren’t we already friends?” I asked with a laugh. “I never know spending a midnight walking with you could be that fun.”

“Then let’s continue our midnight adventures, shall we?” He suggested.

I nodded and smile. “We shall.” With that, he waved at me and bid me a goodnight as he entered the elevator down and I closed the door behind me. However, the smile that was plastered on my face melted off as I remembered the one thing that I forgot to return to him.

The ring.

Jisung was nowhere to be in sight for the next few days, but there was no time for me to think about him anymore as the date for the dance competition neared. Minho unfortunately at that time was having a comeback so he got more busier that he was unable to make it to the dance studio, so instead, we spent the rest of our remaining time at the JYP building.

It was the third last day before the competition and I was getting a lot tenser. Minho was long gone from the vacant practice room that we had found since he was all tired from promoting and I was left all alone in the room, dancing and sweating profusely. I had long switched off the music to the song the both of us were dancing to and my sneakers squeaked across the polished floor, trying to rehearse through all the steps that I had went through with Minho, but it was too tiring.

Instead, I flopped onto the ground and quickly rubbed my sweat away from my face as I stared myself in the mirror in front of me. Reflecting from the other side was a sweaty little girl with her straight hair tied into two braids, her baby hairs stuck to her face but she did not seem to care. I crawled my way to a corner where my bag was sitting and grabbed my water bottle, gulping down the water quickly before fetching my phone out from the small purple bag.

I switched the phone on and the screen illuminated before me. 12am, my phone read. I quickly slipped it back into bag and stood up, walking back to the speakers where the song was supposed to be played. I was supposed to switch the song on but I had soon forgotten when another song attracted me. It was not coming out from the speakers in the practice room I was in. Instead, it was coming from a neighboring studio.

I took a step towards the door but stopped. Was it a good idea to check on the sound? Or was it safer to stay in the practice room instead? I asked myself, my inner self debating against one another. I was curious because the melody was so catchy and it attracted me a lot, but the only thing that was refraining me from going was the warning from the staff to not loiter around the building.

I took a deep breath before making my mind up immediately. I pushed the glass door open so I could slip out. Making sure there was no one around, I quickly darted around the corridor to look for the room the sweet melody was coming from and it took me no time to identify where it came from since there were less rooms on the corridor.

My head peeped a little to look into the glass door that was blocked by a long curtain. I could not see anything, so I tried to press my ear through the thick glass panel to only have the door swing open since it was not properly shut.

“Ah!” I screamed as I fell onto the ground. I closed my eyes and slowly regretted making my decision for coming after the sound. I realized that whoever was in the room realized that I was there as the melody they were playing stopped. “I’m sorry!” I immediately apologized as I stood up, my head hung down, trying to avoid eye contact.

“Miyeon?” The familiar voice that I had missed entered my ears. “What are you doing at this hour? Especially at JYP?”

“Jisung?” I lifted my head to find the same boy that I had met twice at the café and at the dance studio, sitting in front of a lot of computers staring at me. Unlike both time where he had a cap on and a mask that covered his face, he was sitting in front of me barefaced, his blond hair messy. He was so adorable I swear it could make my heart drop at that very moment immediately.

“Hi there,” he greeted me with a tired smile. “You haven’t answer my question yet but please do close the door before you answer.”

I quickly and quietly closed the door behind me and sat on the couch next to the door. “I… Minho couldn’t make it to the dance studio anymore so we decided to come here to make it easier for him, but he left and I decided to stay a little longer to practice.”

“It’s midnight already, you know. How long have you been practicing?” Jisung asked growing concerned slowly.

“Not long… I started at… 5pm,” I replied quietly.

“That’s 7 hours. Aren’t you tired?” Jisung commented, earning a shake from me. He sighed. “You have to rest, Miyeon. How are you functioning without rest?”

“I could ask you the same thing, Han Jisung,” I added in. “Why are you working now?”

He gave me a weak smile and ruffled his hair. “I was suppose to finish this a couple of hours but I fell asleep so now’s the best time for me to complete it.”

“And not get any sleep? Don’t you dare pull a Bang Chan,” I warned. “What are you even working on?”

“Nothing much… just some lyrics to this song,” he rubbed his eyes and tried to cover his yawn. “How did you even know I was here anyways?”

“You left the door ajar and the melody really captured my ears… so maybe, after seeing you here, I was thinking that I can… help you?” I suggested.

“I would appreciate all the help I can get since I’m stuck,” Jisung nodded his head. “I’ll just play you the track first and maybe you might have an idea?” He quickly pressed the play button and the song started to play. It was soft before it started to become more upbeat and happier. The song finished quickly and I was unable to hide my amusement at the boy in front of me after the end of it.

“Did…did you make that track yourself?” I asked. “Because that was amazing.”

“It’s… my first time,” he answered, feeling a little shy after saying that. “I was no sure if it was something that the company would want but-“

“Jisung, just try,” I smiled. “I love it and if I do, I’m sure everyone else would do too. Let’s get started shall we? What are we focusing on?”

“Thanks… for giving me such support, Miyeon,” he beamed. “I’m writing based on my real life experience.”

“What is it about?” I asked.

I could see his face flushed a bright red but he moved away so I could not see his face anymore. “It’s about something I never knew I would feel until a few weeks ago.”

“And that is?”

“Love,” he answered quietly. “I want to write my feelings down about this girl I have been thinking about.”

“Oh…” my face soon darkened without me realizing. I could feel my heart starting to beat slower and slower. “That’s… that’s great. I’m so glad someone was able to make you feel that way.” I refused to look into his eyes as I walked up to him, facing his computer. “Let’s get started shall we?”

For the next couple of hours, I started to share my ideas with him about how I felt and expressed love. I knew whatever I was telling him about was actually based on him. I did not know that as the time went past by us, the more I would become more intrigued in the boy sitting next to me. I never knew my heart would start beating quickly whenever I glanced up to look into his focused face… until now as he sat in front of me, talking about his feelings that I knew were never meant for me. But, we were done with the lyrics after these few hours that we had shared.

“And… we’re done!” Jisung smiled as he clapped his hands together. He reached over and patted my head, out of my surprise, still holding his smile. “Thank you for your hard work today, Miyeon.”

“I’m glad I could help,” I replied quietly. “But what are you going to do with it next? You can’t keep it in here forever! You need to let others know and acknowledge your skills and talent.”

“That’s a bit too fast, especially since it might sound crazy if I sang the song alone… unless, you want to join me?” Jisung suggested.

My eyes widen and I shook my head quickly. “No way, Han Jisung! Have you forgot how horrible my voice is?”

“And have you forgot not to doubt yourself?” He replied back with a small smile. “Come on, Miyeon! Just try it… for me? Once? I bet no one can convey the message in the song as well as you since it is also based on your own experience.” He wriggled his eyebrow at me. “Right?”

I could not help but burst out laughing. “I don’t help but for you… fine… only this once,” I said before earning a smile from him.

He jumped up from his chair and wrapped me in his arms, hugging me as tight as he could. “Thank you, thank you, thank you! Let’s head into the recording room now!” He wrapped his fingers around my wrist as he pulled away, dragging me along with him through another door that lead into another small room.

There was a microphone and a pair of earphones in the center of the room, and in front was the glass door that showed the room we were in. He carefully placed the earphones over my ears and lowered the microphone just so I could reach it.

“Heh, you’re short,” he commented with another smile before exiting the room, avoiding my stare. He quickly slipped onto the chair that he had sat and spoke into another microphone just in front of him. “Mic test. Are you ready, Baek Miyeon?” He spoke in a low voice that made me giggle.

“Whenever you’re ready,” I replied just as the sweet melody that I had remembered exactly from a few hours ago entered into my ears. I closed my eyes and parted my lips open as the words flowed out of my mouth fluidly, and I finally sang.

The song ended quickly and before I knew it, I heard applause coming from the other side of the room. “Bravo, Miyeon!” Jisung started clapping quickly with a smile plastered on his face. “Your voice is a gift itself!”

“Are you sure I don’t need a retake?” I asked the beaming boy that started coming into the room to envelop me into another hug, crushing me. I gasped for air and he immediately released his grip on me.

“A retake? I suddenly don’t remember this word after hearing your voice,” Jisung replied. I rolled my eyes and smiled at him too. Looking at him closer made my heart beat faster and faster than I realized. I was staring into his eyes, and his smile. He was just too perfect, but he was in love with someone else. I quickly diverted my gaze from him and took a step back.

“I… I’m flattered,” I stammered. “Thanks… for giving me your support.”

“And thank you for agreeing to sing with me,” he answered, still keeping the smile on his face. “Your voice… you shouldn’t keep it from everyone.”

“I can say the same about this song,” I replied before smiling softly as well. “Thanks for allowing me to help you with the song…” I drifted off as I felt my phone vibrating in my pocket. I glanced at Jisung who realized the situation, remaining silent. “Hello?” I placed my phone onto my ear.

“Noon…Noona? Where are… you?” A drowsy voice greeted me from the other end. “Are… are you not back yet?”

Oh no! I mentally scolded myself. “H-hey Jaemyeon, noona will be home soon! Go back to sleep, okay?” I tried to keep my facial expression blank but hearing my little brother’s voice made me concerned. I quickly ended the call and shoved my phone into my pocket once again. “I’m sorry, Jisung,” I apologized. “I have to go now, I forgot I-I left Jaemyeon alone at home. How long have I been here?”

Jisung glanced at his phone. “Three hours,” he said as I started to walk out of the room we were in to the practice studio where my bag was, with him tailing behind me. “I-I can accompany you home.”

“Jisung, you’re too kind already,” I turned around to face him, not realizing how close we were standing next to one another now, so I took a step back. “But you have been awake since… maybe 5am and I don’t know how you’re still functioning but please, go back to your dorm instead and rest instead of accompanying me or staying up late again to record it.” I placed my hands onto his shoulder and gave him another smile. “Han Jisung, you’re one of the most hard working person I know and I would hate to see you tired and not resting at all.”

He kept quiet as soon as I finished what I wanted to say. He tried to read my expression but soon retired. “Fine,” he sighed with a pout. “I… I’ll go back home to rest… just for you.”

I smiled before wrapping my arms around his neck to pull him into another hug. I had to tiptoe to reach his neck. “Thank you,” I whispered. “And I’m still sweaty.”

He chuckled. “It’s fine by me. Thanks for spending another midnight with me.”

“It’s always my pleasure,” I replied before walking to the door, turning around to look back at Jisung who was still standing there. “I shall see you again.”

How time flew fast. It was finally the last day before the dance competition, and being the stubborn person I was, I decided to stay back in the practice studio after the promised hours set by Minho and I. This time, Jaemyeon was staying with Minho and his members for a while so I did not have to worry about anything as I continued to practice and rehearse. It was already 11:45pm when I rehearsed the dance moves for the tenth time. It was frustrating; to dance to the same song over and over again but it was annoying to constantly get it wrong when your partner is not present.

“God! Why do I always need Minho here to get this move correct?” I groaned, sitting on the floor now. I wanted to give up but I knew it was never an opinion.

“Why would you need Minho? Minho’s mine, you know,” the same familiar voice that I could recognize from far away asked. I shifted my body so I was facing Jisung. This time, he was wearing a red flannel over his plain white shirt with a pair of black jeans. His blond hair was parted in the middle.

“To dance?” I rolled my eyes, brushing my hair to the back of my head as I groaned again. “I don’t even know why my arm is in a weird angle whenever I try to practice alone.” I pouted and covered my face in my hair in frustration. I could feel his footsteps coming closer to me but I refused to move. They died as soon as he stopped right in front of me and crouched down so he could see me eye to eye.

“Hey,” he released the grip of my hands to my hair and pushed my chin up so I was looking at him. “You know, I can help you if you want.”

“It’s not that easy,” I replied with a pout. “Well, I wished it was that easy…”

“Hey! If you helping me with the recording was considered hard, then dancing with you will be a lot more easier!” Jisung argued.

“How is it easier? There’s too many moves… and you can’t even remember them at all,” I pouted.

“Ah… I see you have forgot that I am Han Jisung, the best friend of Lee Minho. Do you think he doesn’t practice in the dorms without you? Well, he does. He uses me as you and explained the dance to me so I would move as ‘fluid’ as you would,” he groaned as he remembered what he had done. “And not to forget, all the times I’ve watched the two of you dance. I think it’ll be easy!”

“Well, why didn’t you say so?” I asked him, now beaming. He chuckled and pulled me up from the ground. “Let’s get dancing now shall we?” And it did help.

Dancing with Jisung for only one time immediately made me realized my mistake compared to the multiple times I had tried alone. And it did surprise me, how good he was at dancing and at knowing the steps to the entire routine just from our one dance.

“Keep your arm straight, Miyeon!” He called out at the mistake that I had repeatedly messed up. “Yes!” He shouted in delight when I finally understood what he meant. “You’re a natural!”

“I am a dancer just in case you forgot,” I reminded him with a chuckle as our legs moved in synchronization. Our feet tapped across the polished floor above the music that played softly from the speakers.

“And I’m Minho’s dance partner when you’re not here,” he joked as we continued the routine. I rolled my eyes as I focused on our routine. “And here comes the hard part, do you think you can do it?” I twisted my face so I could see him as I remembered the routine we were going to do soon. “It is hard and you need a lot of strength for it-“

Jisung smirked. “I am Han Jisung! What can I not-“ And he could not do it. As I jumped high up into the air, he was supposed to catch me but instead, his arms missed my entire body flying right to him and I knocked him straight onto the ground. I fell on top of him with a groan, my arms pressed against the floor to decrease the impact the both of us were going to experience.

“Jisung!” I groaned, trying to roll away from the boy but it was impossible since pain was spiking up from my arms. “You said you could do it!”

“Well I thought I could but you should’ve given me a word of war- whoa,” he cut himself abruptly.

“What is it?” I asked, looking at him now, only realizing how close our faces were. I held my breath immediately as I tried to move away but it was impossible to since the pain started to numb my arms, preventing me from moving around. “I… I can’t move… I’m sorry.”

“Has anyone ever told you how your eyes were so pretty that they sparkle?” Jisung asked out of nowhere.

“W-what?” I looked at him again, just to divert my attention from his. “Why are you even ranting about? Can you just push me off you-“ In a heartbeat, I was rolled away from Jisung. I wanted to say my thanks for his help when he suddenly rolled on top of me, cutting the words that I wanted to say from my lips. My eyes widen as I glanced at him. “W-what are you doing now?” I asked him quietly. “This is not funny, Han Jisung. Have you not heard of personal space?”

“Let me tell you something, should I?” He ignored my question and my request. “It’s so funny that no matter how much I stared at you, I keep thinking of how you would doubt yourself. Have you seen your face before? It’s beautiful.”

“And since my face is so close to you, can you not see all the scars and pores on my face?” I asked.

“And that is what made me realized that you are so much more beautiful,” he concluded.

“Why are you even talking about this?” I asked, finally looking into his eyes. My voice had long disappeared into a thin whisper. “Jisung, don’t scare me.”

“I actually knew you before I came into the café,” he suddenly confessed, using the same tone I was talking in. “Minho has been talking about you for such a long time that I could not help but see you for myself. I know he wouldn’t like it but my temptations were too hard to resist. When Minho went to meet you, I could not help but follow him and that was when I first recognized you as the girl that was from my school. I didn’t know you were the girl that Minho talks all day about because I have never seen you. But as the time goes by, I started to notice you and relate you through the stories Minho had long told me… Remember that day when someone handing you an umbrella when you were heading home from school and it started raining? That was me. I couldn’t stand watching you there planning to run under the rain and get sick.”

My mind travelled back to the time that he had especially mentioned. It was the memory that I was the most fond over. It was the last day of school, the last Friday when it started to rain harshly. I stared at the rain dully and turned to my bag, trying to find the umbrella that I had kept all the time in. However, instead of finding the umbrella, I found nothing in the solid five minutes. I glanced at my phone and frowned. I was going to be late to fetch my brother if I waited for the rain to stop. I glanced around and found students streaming out of the school one by one, some holding umbrellas, others wearing raincoats… there were even some that were running in the rain, all except for me, rushing out of the school altogether. I sighed and shoved my hoodie above my head, preparing to run in the rain to fetch my little brother. My legs started to take off but I was stopped when a hand grabbed my wrist, forcing me to stop.

“W-what?” I turned around to find another student in front of me. His pink hoodie and black mask covered his face.

“Here,” he replied in a low voice, handing me a transparent umbrella. “Don’t get cold.” With that, after he left the umbrella in my hands, he ran off into the rain and disappeared through the thick rain and fog.

“T-that was you?” I stammered. “You never gave me a chance to thank you…”

“You didn’t need to because seeing you already made me thankful enough,” he replied softly, giving me a slight smile. “And I could not forget the day where everything went downhill… the day before Christmas last year…”

At the reminder of the day, my face started to harden. That day was the hardest for me through the year. I only remembered crying and crying over and over because of that day. I had so many negative thoughts going on in my mind. However, the only thing that kept me going was the soup Minho had sent me…

“It was you,” I whispered, realizing everything now. “You were the one who made the soup… not Minho.” Jisung gave me a weak smile as he nodded.

“Bingo,” he whispered. “You were without a mother’s embrace and was I going to allow you to suffer through? I stopped seeing you in school after a few days and Minho finally told me what had happened. He didn’t want you to see me yet but he knew I wanted to help so he gave me your address to deliver the soup.”

A tear accidentally slipped from the corner of my eyes as I started to recall everything that had happened the past year. “Then… why have you decided to tell me all these? Why did you keep them from me before?”

He gave me another weak smile. “Because I was afraid… the all-mighty Han Jisung was afraid… afraid that I would never have you to myself when Minho’s the only one who was there throughout your life. Who was I to suddenly enter into your life and take you all to myself?” He whipped the tear away from my face. “The reason why I have finally told you after so long is because Minho decided to finally introduce you to me and since we were so closed to one another just now… or now, I thought I should take this chance to tell you instead of waiting until the opportunity is gone.”

“Jisung…” I started.

“Oh, god. You must hate me now for suddenly confessing my feelings,” he said, diverting his attention from me and pulled away from me. “I- I’m sorry.”

“Jisung…” I said again, trying to call him but he refused to look at me. “Look-“

“I’m an idiot right?” He asked abruptly, looking at me.

“No! When are you ever an idiot?” I stated. “Other than right now where you are saying you’re an idiot, Han Jisung, you are the smartest person I ever know… and… to be very honest, my heart beats too fast when I’m around you. It’s not as if you have some superpowers or anything but you’re just… you.” Unknowingly a tear started to fall from my face as my voice continued to break. “But you… you just can’t be with me. You’re in love with someone else.” “I-in love w-with someone else?”

Jisung’s eyes widen. “The only person I had ever had my eyes on were-“

“Save it,” I whispered. “Nothing matters now.” With that, I pushed him away from me, quickly grabbing my bag and headed out of the company. Oh God, so much for breaking down right before a competition.

“Are you ready?” Minho stood next to me as he rubbed his hands in between one of mine, creating friction that warmed my hand up.

“If you count ready as in not sleeping at all, yeah!” I covered my mouth with my palm to conceal my yawn. Minho rolled his eyes and flicked my forehead.

“That’s because you spent the entire night thinking about Jisung,” he replied quietly.

“Yah!” I slapped his wrist and sighed. Well, yes, I did tell my best friend everything about what had happened the night before because it was comforting. “Why did you not even tell me about Jisung at all? Why does he even look out to me?” I pouted and quickly turned my attention away from my best friend, trying to look crossed.

I realized he wanted to say something to me but instead; he closed his lips and said nothing. It was silence for the next couple of minutes as we waited for our turn to get on stage. Minho held my hand in his quietly, fiddling and playing as the two of us continued to sit in the waiting room with many other dancers, all either rehearsing their routines again or praying over and over again, started streaming out of the room one by one.

“Lee Minho and Baek Miyeon?” A producer entered the room, holding a clipboard as she read the name out. The both of us stood up immediately, with Minho still holding onto my hand. “You’re up next,” she said as she retreated out of the room, with the both of us following her closely. She brought us down the corridor into another room that only had a curtain and a couple of stairs. “Wait here until I signal you to go to the stage,” the producer said as she stopped in front of the stairs. I closed my eyes. My hands gripped onto Minho’s tighter.

“It’s finally here,” I whispered.

“Yes it is,” he replied. “But don’t worry. I’m here for you, so you don’t have to get scared. You got this.”

“Lee Minho? Baek Miyeon? You’re up now!” The producer broke our short conversation and motioned us up the stairs and through the curtains.

We quickly went up the stairs onto an empty plain stage up in the dark. I could hear the soft murmurs in the crowd. I looked around quietly as I stood in my position. I felt a cold small metal object on my palm. “Take it,” Minho said before I wrapped my hand onto the object. I opened my palm and found a ring, hanging on a long and thin metal chain. I realized what it was: the ring that Jisung had given me in the café. I felt my heart beating quickly as I looked at the small metal ring before I decided to quickly wear it around my neck as the stage lighted dimly. As the light shone gently, my eyes could not help but fall on the boy that sat right in front of me. His familiar face forced me to freeze up. “He’s here for you too,” I could hear Minho’s whisper in my ears as he drifted off, walking to his position.

My face reddened a little as I looked up into his face beneath the black cap he had on. The cap… it was the one that he had wore when he first talked to me. I stared at him for a couple of seconds as he maintained the eye contact with me.

“Good luck,” I could see the words formed on his lips as the lights dimmed down again and the spotlight appeared in the center of the stage. I could not help but smile at the small word of encouragement even though I knew it was going to hurt eventually and with that cheering me on, the music played and I got into my character, slowly dancing into chemistry with Minho by my side. I was not afraid or nervous anymore because I knew, he was there by my side, watching me like a guardian angel.

The song went on and I was so shocked at myself for being a lot more focus than last night. My mind played the parts where Jisung had helped me in and executed the dance moves perfectly and it was not long until the performance ended. It was quiet for a couple of moments before the entire audience ended in applause. I took a deep breath and looked at Minho, embracing him into a hug.

“We did it!” He smiled as he ruffled my hair. I broke the embrace and looked over my shoulders to find Jisung standing at his seat, smiling as he continued clapping along the audience. I could feel the heat rising up my cheeks so I diverted my attention away to Minho who pulled me to the end of the stage as more performers filled the stage. And that was when I realized; we were actually the last to perform.

As everyone was arranging themselves onto the stage, I stared at the small ring hanging above my collarbone and touched it gently. “Where did you find this?” I asked quietly at the older boy standing next to me. “It’s in my house and you have never stepped into my house at all these few weeks.”

“I know,” he replied. “It wasn’t hard for Jaemyeon to find it since you left it on your vanity table, exposed to so… so many dangers!”

I rolled my eyes and nudged him. “How did you know about this then? And why did you give me this?”

“Because Jisung asked me to? I knew where you would put if I were you and asking Jaemyeon for help was as easy as getting Changbin to do aegyo,” he explained.

“But I don’t get it,” I frowned slightly. “Why… did he ask you to do it? He likes someone else, that someone else is suppose to be the one to get this ring instead… of me.”

“You’re an idiot, Baek Miyeon,” he whispered, leaning his head on my shoulders. “Tell me, do you like him?”

“Why is this topic suddenly about me now?” I asked, refusing to have eye contact with him. My eyes searched for Jisung instead in the crowd. “He doesn’t even like me.” To that, Minho rolled his eyes.

“Ladies and gentlemen,” the speakers blared out, cutting short of Minho and I’s conversation. “The judges have finally made their decisions after a couple of minutes discussing and we finally have a winner!” I could feel everyone’s breath was held and as for mine, my heartbeat started to increase. “We would like to welcome to the middle of the stage our fifth annual Korea’s dance champions!” The host was saying. “Please welcome…. LEE MINHO AND BAEK MIYEON!” At the cue of the announcement of the winners, a couple of poppers exploded, welcoming confetti.

I screamed in joy as I wrapped my arms around Minho’s neck, jumping in joy as the both of us started to make our way to the middle of the stage where they presented us both with a crown each and a bouquet of flowers, along with a cheque of 5,000,000 won.

“We did it,” I breathed as I smiled at Minho. A celebrative song was heard as everyone started talking to one another, hugging and taking pictures with one another. Even though none of them won, they were still happy. I turned around to find other dancers approaching me, talking and complimenting me as I started to talk to them as well, until I felt a tap on my shoulders that made me turn around. In front of me was the same person whom I had first ‘officially’ met at café, wearing the exact clothes as I had seen him entering the café.

“Hey,” he smiled softly as I finally looked at him, still grinning. “Congrats… I- I knew you could do it and… I see your wearing the ring that I left you…”

“It’s all thanks to you, you know that?” I asked, tilting my head. “And… Minho found the ring instead of me after constantly forgetting it for the longest time ever.” My face fell into a frown. “But… why did you ask him to give me the ring instead? Don’t… don’t you want to give it to someone else? Have you forgot about the person you liked?”

“I don’t have to,” he said. “Because that person is standing right in front of me.”

My eyes widen. “Me?” The words escaped my lips as I continue to stare at him with disbelief. “The person…. The person you… like… it’s-“

“It’s you. It has always been you. There was no one else that could ever replace you,” he whispered, taking a step closer to close the gap between us. “You were the crazy one to not see that I am falling hard for you that it hurts so, so much.”

I let out a soft chuckle. “And all this time, I thought I was the one crazy in love with someone who doesn’t like me back…” I stared at him again. Looking at him really gave my heart a lot of abnormal conditions. He was the only one who managed to make my heart race crazily, the only one who made me smile despite all my troubles, the one who has always been there to help me through all my struggles and troubles without me knowing, the one who I was happy to spend midnights with… That person was Han Jisung all along. I glanced down at the ring hanging on my neck and held it between my thumb and index finger. ��This ring… I think it’s time for it to be returned to its rightful owner now,” I whispered, slipping the ring off my neck and handed it to him.

“You’re wrong. I have always loved you… and you’re still wrong about the rightful owner,” Jisung said and wrapped my hands around his. “The rightful owner of the ring is you. Because you have taken a part of me when I first saw you and I would so desperately want to call you mine… if… if you want.”

“Han Jisung… was there ever a time where I stopped thinking about you?” I asked. “You are the source of my happiness. You brighten up my day immediately especially during midnights when I’m struggling. Is it crazy to say yes because I am so in love with you and I want to know you so much more?”

“Is it crazy to say no to your craziness, because I also can’t stop thinking about you and would be so grateful for you to say yes?” Jisung asked me back and I laughed.

“Han Jisung, I’m all yours… all yours from the first time we met,” I whispered before wrapping my arms around him, bringing him into my embrace.

“Oh god… I’m so relieved,” he sighed as he wrapped me tighter in his arms. “And is it crazy if I say I want to kiss you that badly?”

I smirked. “No,” I replied before quickly pressing my lips to his soft ones and that was the only moment I needed to feel whole again. He was the one who I had always wanted and I finally had him.

“Thank god you finally know who Han Jisung likes now,” Minho interrupted us as we moved apart from one another. I glanced at Minho and found the rest of the boys with him. Some jumping in joy, some closing their eyes and some smirking.

“That’s great and all. Miyeon, congrats and as for you, Han Jisung, you’re in trouble for not telling me about you liking Miyeon,” another boy commented and I recognized him for his very pale blond hair as Bang Chan.

“And maybe it’s time for you to realized that everyone except for you knows about Jisung’s little crush… or as I would like to put it, MAJOR crush,” the boy next to Bang Chan replied before earning a couple of laughter from the other boys.

“Wait… all of you… know about this already?” Bang Chan’s eyes widen as he stared at his band mates again and groaned. “Fine! I am outdated! But as for you, Han Jisung, YOU’RE GROUNDED!”

“Is he always like this?” I asked Jisung before earning a nod from the boy.

“Yes,” he chuckled before pressing another kiss onto my lips. “Now let’s get out of here before they realized we’re gone by the time their bickering end.”

“You don’t have to tell me twice again… Han,” I chuckled as he pulled me away from everything else so that only the two of us were finally alone.

A/N: Hello guys! This is my first ever story on Tumblr and I hope all of you enjoyed it! I am new to posting on Tumblr so if you have any tips or tricks to posting stories, please do tell me because I spent almost an hour trying to put a space every paragraph so yeah. Anyways, I hope all of you have a great day ahead of you and stay safe! <3

-Xin

#stray kids #hanjisung #han jisung #stray kids imagine #bang chan #lee minho #seo changbin #hwang hyunjin #lee felix #kim seungmin #yang jeongin #stray kids au #stray kids imagines #straykids

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thewarlocksbitch · 7 years

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I will be your: hands, eyes, heart

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word count - 8.6k

thank you to chloe for beta editing

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Ronan didn’t show up to physics class Friday morning. Probably he was too wealthy to think of school as more than a pastime. A little annoyed, Adam flicked his pen in irritation – an unjustified and irrational irritation, he realized – and opened his book to take notes.

After physics was speech, and then chemistry. As soon as chem was dismissed Adam headed back to his dorm. Noah had said he would be at an all-day party - or it may have been a meditation club meeting, Adam couldn’t remember - so the dorm was empty and quiet when Adam got there.

It was lunch time, but Adam was too tired to make himself anything or to bother going to the cafeteria. He set an alarm to wake him up in a few hours and fell face first into bed.

When the alarm went off he got up and made himself a bowl of cereal, then sat cross-legged in bed, his notes and homework spread out in front of him, the cereal box at his knee. He only had a few hours before work, so he munched cereal and got as much done as he could.

The parlor was as busy as usual on a weekday evening, and Adam passed the time with ease making coffee runs, working behind the counter, and chatting with his co-workers. He’d just finished a short coloring job when a familiar man walked in.

“You’re just on time,” Adam told him. He set down the design he’d been idly working on and turned for the back. “Follow me.”

Ronan waited in the lobby for a while, and he wasn’t sure why he did. If he’d known Gansey would be so excited to make friends with Adam, he would have turned around the second he realized Adam worked here.

When it was Gansey and Ronan, it was GanseyandRonan. Nothing and no one had threatened that since high school. They were brothers, comrades in arms, a king and his gallant knight.

Ronan should have expected that Adam would be able to find his way between them. He was too smart, too kind, too interesting to not have caught Gansey’s eye. He was calculating where Ronan was impulsive, genial where Ronan was cruel. No wonder Gansey had been so badly impressed.

And it hadn’t taken any effort from Adam at all. He probably hadn’t even been aware of what he was doing.

Ronan checked his watch. It would have been more sensible to have gone to class this morning and talked to Adam there, and he regretted now the time he was wasting and the work he would have to make up. Ronan was about as adept at physics as he was happy about the prospect of studying it.

Finally, Adam emerged from a door in the back, an older man behind him. The man clapped Adam on the shoulder, his hand spread wide over Adam’s narrow frame, and Adam flinched.

Ronan took a step towards him, then stopped.

He watched as Adam slowly leaned away from the stranger until the hand fell from his shoulder and he was safely at his place behind the counter. His mouth drew down a bit when he saw Ronan waiting in the lobby.

“What’re you doing here?” he asked.

Ronan walked up to the counter and leaned on it with all his weight. A small, unhelpful part of his mind noticed that Adam was in work clothes today instead of what Ronan had taken to be his school clothes. Where Ronan had expected tattoos, his white tank revealed nothing but dark skin and freckles. “Gansey sent me. Who’s that guy?”

Adam’s frown deepened. “A client.”

Ronan looked over his shoulder and watched as the man left. “I didn’t know you could give guys tattoos in alleys,” he said. “And without your kit.”

Adam bristled. “Gansey sent you?”

Ronan shrugged and scratched at the leather bands around his wrist. “He thinks you’re nice and he’s tired of my antagonistic attitude. Plus, you showed interest in his king, so there’s no getting out of it now.”

Adam’s fair brow furrowed in distrust. “’It’?” he said.

“Pizza. Downtown. Greasy.”

Adam glanced at the monitor, uneasy or reluctant. “I… need to log in one more appointment before I leave,” he said, not quite looking at Ronan.

Ronan looked behind him. The lobby was empty; the only customers in the shop were already under the needle at the hands of the other artists.

“Just one more?” Ronan asked.

“Yeah.”

Ronan looked down at his new tattoo. It was still a little red around the edges, but a little more poking wouldn’t make it much worse. “I guess you can color in the petals on this.”

“What?” Adam said. “Are you serious?”

Ronan dug his wallet out of his pocket and handed Adam his card. “Yeah. It won’t take long, will it? Gansey wants us to meet him in half an hour.”

Adam looked ready to bristle again. His already tense posture and thinned lips showed this was probably something he did often. “It’ll take a few minutes.”

He was holding Ronan’s card between his thumb and forefinger like it was something nasty he’d picked up off the ground. Ronan glanced from the card to Adam’s face to the monitor. “What?” he said. “Can’t you go ahead and charge me before you do it?”

“That’s not…” Adam said, but he didn’t look interested in carrying the conversation any further. He quickly typed something on the keyboard, swiped Ronan’s card, and handed it back to him. He stepped out from behind the counter and glanced at Ronan over his shoulder. “Come on.”

Ronan followed Adam to the same chair he’d sat in last time and watched while Adam got his things ready. He shook his head at almost every color Adam showed him until finally Adam decided on white, a soft yellow, and the exact pink of Ronan’s work apron.

“Funny,” Ronan said.

Adam tore open the antiseptic wipe packet with his teeth and scooted closer on his stool. “Give me your hand,” he said.

Ronan looked around the parlor as Adam scrubbed the raw skin on and around his tattoo with more attention than Ronan thought was necessary. This was another reason why Gansey liked him; he was a meticulous worker. He had the hard-earned charm Ronan refused to acquire.

Most of the parlor’s space was overtaken by randomly placed stools and chairs that went mostly unused. It was a small area to begin with, made smaller by the dim lighting and the illusion of privacy. Ronan’s eye caught on a calendar across the room featuring tanned, beautiful women and expensive, more beautiful cars. He smiled. He’d given Gansey the same calendar for his birthday, once.

Ronan heard Adam’s gloves crinkle and looked over as he turned his pen on. It gave a happy whir and this time Ronan didn’t look away. Adam bent his head close over Ronan’s hand and air-traced the petals of the flower before picking one and pressing down. Ronan’s thumb twitched. Adam held it down with his own.

Adam was silent as he steadily colored in each petal, pausing as he was done with each to wipe away small pinpricks of blood and excess ink. When he was done he let Ronan look at the tattoo and nod his approval, then quickly wiped and wrapped it before Ronan could pull away.

Ronan debated tearing the bandage off, but instead he watched Adam put his things away and then lead him outside to the BMW.

“Wait,” Adam said when Ronan pulled open the driver’s side door. Ronan dropped his keys in the driver’s seat and looked back to see Adam standing at the rear bumper, his grip white-knuckled on the handlebars of a crappy looking bike. “Where can I-?”

“One sec,” Ronan said. He leaned in to pop the trunk. “Just throw it in the back.”

Adam’s long look into the back of the car had Ronan thinking it was full of hiking equipment or something else of Gansey’s the Pig didn’t allow, but when he went to Adam’s side and peered in he saw it was empty.

Adam made no move to put the bike in the car, so Ronan grabbed it from him. With some maneuvering and a lot of swearing, he got it secure.

A few seconds later Ronan was in the driver’s seat and Adam had carefully and silently buckled himself into the passenger’s seat. Ronan noticed Adam looking at his CD’s, but Adam kept his hands still in his lap. Ronan pulled the car out of the parking lot in a messy, rough slide and got them on the road. He didn’t mind the silence.

Ronan’s driving skills were, objectively, acceptable. He got Adam, himself, and the other contents of the car to a small diner in one piece.

Said diner was neon-lit, set far back from the street between an abandoned barbers shop and a laundromat, and extremely obvious in its attempt to seem shabby and secluded.

Ronan pulled in alongside an old orange Camaro Adam would have recognized as Gansey’s even if Gansey weren’t leaning against it. Gansey was dressed the same as he had been Monday, except tonight his polo was peach instead of aquamarine and a pair of ancient-looking wireframes sat low on his nose. His head was bent over a large, leather-bound journal in his hands, and he was so immersed in it he didn’t notice Adam and Ronan’s arrival until Ronan flicked his ear.

“Ouch,” said Gansey dispassionately. He shut the journal against his chest and slowly raised a hand to cup his ear. Then he noticed Adam and immediately put on his brightest smile. It was only a watt or two down from the presidential smile he’d given Adam the first time they’d met, but Adam thought it was an improvement nonetheless.

“Adam!” Gansey said joyfully. “Thanks for coming.” He held out a fist to Adam and after a moment Adam did the same. Ronan snickered as they shyly bumped fists.

“Lynch,” Gansey said, gesturing to the door. “Lead the way.”

As Ronan preceded them into the diner, Adam watched him and Gansey and their undeniable closeness, noticing the looks they shared every few seconds like they couldn’t enjoy anything without involving the other. Adam had previously thought it would make more sense to befriend Gansey rather than Ronan, but it was becoming clearer and clearer to him that he couldn’t have one without the other.

Adam slipped his hands into his pockets and looked around for an identifying sign or feature, but the diner seemed intent on keeping its interior obscure as well. Single paned mirrors hung over every checkerboard-print booth and flashy linoleum table, reflecting Ronan’s expensive watch and Adam’s own dusty reflection.

Adam found himself in the center of a booth seat, facing Ronan and Gansey and trying to remember the last time he’d gone out with people his age.

Elementary school had been a blur of uncommitted friendships that started and ended on the school bus, and middle school was one friend after another turned off by Adam’s reluctance to visit for too long and his inability to have anyone over. By the time he reached high school he hadn’t had any time for friends at all.

Now he didn’t talk much with anyone except for Noah, but Noah wasn’t here. Adam wished badly he could have invited him; his own social clumsiness would have been overshadowed by Noah simply sitting there.

Luckily, Gansey didn’t wait for him to strike up an interesting conversation. He set his giant journal on the table and flipped through it in chunks, giving Adam half-glimpses of diagrams and latin phrases and sketches of birds until he settled on a page entirely filled with cramped, urgent handwriting.

Ronan propped his head in his hands and stared at his reflection as Gansey turned the journal around to face Adam.

“After you mentioned Vortigern, I couldn’t get rid of the feeling that I’d read more than just a mention of him before. So I went through my books again and I found this. He was a few centuries before Glendower, but look here-” Gansey jabbed at the bottom of the page, where he’d underlined Vortigern and believed to consult with the Fae and put in parentheses the Fae here are to Vortigern what Glendower’s magicians are to him?

“Ronan and I found a faerie ring on Friday. I heard what I think may have been voices when I held my arm over it. Voices of faeries,” he paused, for emphasis or to gauge Adam’s reaction, but Adam very decidedly kept his eyes on the journal. Gansey went on, “Vortigern was said to take advice from faeries and traveled with them in the same way Glendower did his magicians. They both used the ley lines. It can’t be a coincidence, don’t you think?”

A waitress showed up then, saving Adam from having to answer. She wore an apron tied at the waist of her loose jeans and a brown tee reading LADY PRESIDENT. She was attractive in a way Adam couldn’t help noticing, even as his mind reeled from everything Gansey had just said.

“Hi, I’m Blue, and I’ll be your server tonight. Can I get your drinks?” She asked, in an accent that was unmistakably Henrietta. Her eyes skipped from Gansey’s fancy clothes to Ronan’s pissy expression and finally settled on Adam.

“Water, please,” Adam said, trying to figure out if he remembered her from somewhere or if it was only her accent making her seem so familiar. She definitely looked his age with her spiky hair and round, chubby face. Perhaps he’d seen her in passing on campus.

“Coke,” Ronan said to her reflection. He was staring at his tattoo in the mirror; he’d taken the wrap off his hand at some point and his reddened skin almost hid the new pale colors on the petals.

“Coffee,” said Gansey distractedly, his attention focused on his journal. “With a lot of sugar, please.”

Adam watched Blue walk away. She was very pretty, but there was no way he’d try talking to her when he hardly knew the two boys he was with.

Gansey had again lost himself in his journal, which he seemed to be somewhat successfully reading upside down. Adam tried prompting him back to reality with, “Why are you looking for Glendower, exactly?”

Gansey looked up to meet Adam’s gaze. “Do you believe in coincidences, Adam?”

“I guess it depends,” Adam said carefully.

“I told you about the legends of sleeping kings, and I told you that I think, after he disappeared, Glendower became one of them.” Gansey’s gaze became heavy, measuring. He glanced at Ronan, then seemed to decide something. “I don’t mean this as a metaphor, Adam. I truly believe that Glendower is still alive, sleeping underground. And I believe that it’s my responsibility to find him.”

“You believe he’s been sleeping for centuries,” Adam said. “Actually sleeping. Kept alive by magic.” He couldn’t think of anything but to repeat Gansey’s words. They were unreal. Impossible. Laughable.

“Yes,” Gansey said, his eyes alight like they had been back at the parlor. “And I believe that when I find him and wake him up, he will grant me a favor.”

“And he’s on a-” Adam faltered. He looked from Gansey to Ronan, waiting for one of them to laugh, waiting to be made fun of. But Ronan was checking his teeth in the mirror, and Gansey’s face was still terribly earnest.

“What exactly are ley lines?” Adam asked.

Ronan leaned against Gansey and into Adam’s space. “They’re energy lines that run beneath the ground. Gansey followed them to find clues on Glendower in Henrietta, but here they’ve only led to rocks and fucking faeries.”

“We think the faeries are taking energy away from the lines,” Gansey said hurriedly. “The energy from the ley lines concentrates so strongly around the ring that I can’t get readings on anything else.”

Again Adam waited for one of them to laugh at him. Again Ronan checked his teeth. Again Gansey looked earnest. “You think faeries are taking energy from a sleeping Welsh King?”

“He’s a scientist,” Ronan told Gansey, “you’re going to scare him off.”

“Right,” Gansey said importantly. “Adam, come with us to the forest. You can see the energy readings for yourself.”

Blue showed up with drinks, again saving Adam from having to immediately answer Gansey, and because Adam had been watching Gansey he saw the minute widening of his eyes.

When they ordered their drinks, Gansey had been too absorbed in searching his journal for notes to notice Blue at all. Now he was staring.

Blue set all of their drinks down. She took out her notepad and caught Gansey’s eye. “Yes?” she said.

“What?” Gansey managed to stammer the single syllable.

Ronan made an unkind sound.

“Are you ready to order?” Blue rephrased, arching an eyebrow.

“Of course,” Gansey said quickly. He pushed his wireframes up on his nose and glanced down at the menu, then at Adam. “Are you okay with sharing a pizza?”

Divided between them the cost would be pretty cheap. Adam nodded.

Blue tucked her notepad back into her apron. “It’ll be right out,” she said. She turned for the kitchen.

“Excuse me,” Gansey said, a little too loudly. Blue looked back at him. Her eyebrow was definitely arching higher by the second. “What’s your name?” Gansey asked.

Blue didn’t roll her eyes, but it was a near thing. Ronan laughed. Again Gansey looked extremely embarrassed.

“It’s Blue,” she said, and walked away.

“Does she not like me?” Gansey asked Adam and Ronan, a little hectically. “Blue. That can’t be her real name, can it? That’s a… color. Was she lying?”

“I think she was offended,” Adam said delicately, “because she already told us her name. Earlier. When she took our drink orders.”

Gansey dropped his face into his hands, skewing his glasses. “Oh, god,” he said.

Ronan looked away from the mirror to punch Gansey in the arm. “Shit, man,” he whispered. “Are you blushing?”

“Shut up,” Gansey muttered.

Adam was very glad he’d kept quiet about his attraction to Blue. He was also glad to see this boyish, embarrassed side to Gansey.

“Faerie hunting,” Ronan said to Adam. “Magic shit. Tomorrow. You in?”

“Are you really serious?” Adam asked.

“Yeah,” Ronan said. “And you gotta make sure you bring garlic, in case they get testy.”

“That’s vampires, asshole,” Adam said, and Ronan laughed.

The laughter surprised Adam. He glanced at Gansey and saw that he was smiling. Loosely. Lazily. Looking between Ronan and Adam. And Adam felt that maybe this was what he had been lacking.

They didn’t say anything about it, and Gansey filled the comfortable lull in conversation with random facts about Glendower and ley lines until their pizza arrived, and then there was much more eating than talking.

Finally the pizza was gone and paid for - with a rather heavy tip left by Gansey - and Gansey was discreetly watching Blue walk away as he finished off his coffee. Ronan hit him over the head when he was done and pushed him out of the booth.

Adam got his bike out of Ronan’s BMW himself and bid the two boys goodbye while Gansey was distracted with something in his Camaro and Ronan was busy leaning into the car but being otherwise unhelpful.

Adam walked his bike around the corner of the restaurant and stopped. Because Blue was standing there, not smoking or on her phone but looking up at the stars. Adam’s bike creaked as he walked up to her.

“Hi, Blue,” he said.

“Hi,” Blue said uncertainly.

Adam stuck his hand out. “Adam,” he said.

Blue shook his hand, then peered around his shoulder. “Where are your friends?”

“Driving home, I guess. I live on campus so I’m going the other way.”

Blue accepted that without comment and looked away. She didn’t seem to be annoyed with Adam, but she did seem very annoyed.

“I’m sorry about Gansey,” Adam said. “About him not remembering your name. I don’t know him well, but I think he’s a good person. He felt bad about offending you.”

Blue smiled, a little. She dug her hands into the front pockets of her jeans and rocked forward on her heels. “Rich boys should have enough sense of responsibility to apologize for themselves,” she said.

Adam couldn’t say he didn’t agree with her. “I know. I think he just didn’t want to bother you any more.”

Blue shrugged. “Thanks.” She looked past Adam’s shoulder again, but neither Gansey nor Ronan appeared.

“Well,” Adam said, “It was nice meeting you. Have a good night.”

“Wait,” Blue said, stepping closer. “I overheard…were you guys talking about ley lines?”

“Oh,” Adam said, surprised. “Yeah, he was. Gansey, I mean. He’s using them to find a Welsh king, but I don’t know much about them.”

“Oh, okay,” Blue said. She toyed with a patch on the thigh of her jeans. “That’s interesting. Well, thanks for apologizing, even though you shouldn’t be the one apologizing.” She pointedly glanced at the watch on her wrist - a plastic one like Adam’s. “My break is over, so, bye.”

Adam waved. “Bye.” He watched Blue walk away for a moment, then climbed onto his bike and pushed off the sidewalk. He wanted to be in bed already with the lights off. He needed some quiet to think. His head was full of fanciful things - magical energy lines and faeries and sleeping king’s miles underground - rather than the history homework he wasn’t yet finished with or the money he needed to make by the end of the week.

Adam’s bike bumped onto the sidewalk. He almost couldn’t focus enough to keep it in a straight line. No one could sleep for centuries. Faeries were nothing more than a children’s tale. Any energy running beneath the ground was either manmade or scientifically explainable. Adam was hard-wired not to believe in anything without science and proven facts supporting it. He couldn’t start accepting things at face value after an entire life of never believing anything without proof.

And then there was Gansey. Adam was not in the business of giving people chances, as people tended to disappoint him, but there was something about Gansey that rubbed him the wrong way. Or, rather, the right way. There was something admirable about believing in magic just because you really wanted to.

Just as Adam reached the end of the sidewalk and paused at the stop sign, headlights - from behind him, not from the street in front of him - illuminated his path.

Adam looked over his shoulder just in time to see the orange Camaro give a wet cough and stutter to a stop in the middle of the road. The shark-nosed BMW behind it honked and nudged its rear bumper. When the Camaro was unresponsive, the BMW pulled to the side of the road and its engine cut off a second later.

Adam waited to see if Ronan would get out to help Gansey, but he remained hidden behind dark tinted windows. The Camaro shuddered again. Adam turned on his bike and pedaled over to the passenger-side window.

Gansey rolled down the window at Adam’s approach. “I was going to drive up behind you and offer you a ride home, but,” he gave a short, self depreciating laugh. Then he slowly leaned forward until his forehead was pressed to the thin steering wheel.

Adam looked in at the interior of the car and then at the steaming engine. It wouldn’t take him long to figure out the problem. Daringly, he asked, “Do you want me to fix it for you? I know a bit about cars.”

That laugh again. Gansey ran one hand over the dashboard, slowly, like he was paying attention to its every detail. “I’ve had this car for four years and I still have to call a mechanic every time it breaks down. Could you teach me how to fix it instead?”

“Yeah,” Adam said as Gansey got out of the Camaro. “Sure.”

Together they wrestled the car to the shoulder, taking turns pushing and steering. It wasn’t until the car was completely over that Adam heard the door to the BMW slam shut. A second later Ronan had taken up post at the Camaro’s side. He didn’t say anything but stared Adam down to the point it was uncomfortable. Adam leaned his bike in the grass beside the Camaro’s back tire and followed Gansey to look at the engine.

“You said this happens often?” Adam asked.

“It does,” Gansey said, his voice fond. “Back at home I’m on a first name basis with every roadside mechanic there is. Since moving up here the Pig’s breakdowns have been quite unpleasant.”

Adam thought perhaps they had been quite unpleasant because Charleston’s locals were by nature wary of rich college boys in bright polos, but he wasn’t about to tell Gansey this. Spotting what had most likely lead to the Camaro’s demise, he leaned over and reached in. The smell and feel of gasoline and grease was at once comforting and tiring.

He wasn’t ready yet to say Aglionby, so he didn’t know why he said, “You and Ronan went to Aglionby Academy, right?”

“Yes, we did. What about you? I don’t think you mentioned it the other night.”

“Mountain View,” Adam said. Then, in a rush, “Actually, I went to Aglionby for freshman year. I was on a partial scholarship, but I couldn’t pay for a second year.”

“You paid your way through a year of Aglionby on your own, too?” Gansey said.

There was no judgement in his tone, only curiosity; and maybe, if Adam wasn’t imagining it, respect. After a moment Adam nodded. “I worked three jobs. One was as a mechanic.”

Gansey made a sort of awed sound, his smile wide as he looked at Adam. “It’s amazing that we’re just now meeting. It’s amazing that we’re meeting at all, really.”

Ronan gave a dry huff of a laugh. “Gansey doesn’t believe in coincidences,” he said.

Gansey pointed a meaningful finger at Ronan, then said to Adam, “You’re some sort of genius, from what I’ve heard from Ronan. You could help him study sometime, if you were feeling charitable.”

Adam glanced at Ronan and got a sour look in response. “Would anyone actually volunteer for that?” he asked.

Gansey laughed. “Maybe not. I might end up having to hang up flyers. My Latin isn’t the best.”

“I don’t need help in Latin,” Ronan growled.

Adam showed Gansey what had clogged the Camaro’s lungs and how he’d temporarily fixed it. “You can probably get home with it the way it is, but you need to get it to a shop as soon as you can.”

“Thanks, Adam,” Gansey said warmly. “I don’t know what I would have done if you weren’t here.”

“You probably would’ve had to beg a mechanic to put up with you long enough to fix it again,” Ronan said.

“Thanks,” Gansey said to Ronan. He closed the hood and turned to Adam, his hands on his hips. He didn’t seem to notice he was staining his polo shirt with grease. “I’ll give you a lift home, since Ronan is preoccupied.”

Ronan shook his keys at Gansey. “Don’t get all pissy.”

“Don’t murder your car,” Gansey replied.

“Bye Dad,” Ronan said happily, “don’t wait up.”

Adam and Gansey waved Ronan down the street, then folded Adam’s beat-up bike into the Camaro’s beat-up trunk. Gansey didn’t have a wide collection of CD’s like Ronan, and his radio didn’t seem to work, either. Adam looked out the window and watched the dim streetlights and half-lit storefronts as they drove by.

The short car ride was mostly silent, broken up by random Glendower trivia from Gansey and coughs from the Camaro that made them both hold their breath.

Gansey drove through campus and dropped Adam off right at his dorm building. He was smiling, fidgety, his wave too enthusiastic when Adam got out of the car. Adam got his bike out of the trunk himself, knocked on the hood, and turned for his dorm. The Camaro gave a happy honk at his back and ambled away.

Adam chained his bike outside the door and silently made his way up the stairs. He was confused. Excited. Nervous. He didn’t understand how a person like Gansey could spend years obsessing over a dead Welsh king and he didn’t understand how a person like Ronan could spend years enabling him. He wondered what he would see when they took him to the forest. He wondered if Gansey and Ronan were just crazy. He wondered where Ronan had gone.

Noah wasn’t home. Adam left the kitchen light on for him and fell into bed without even taking his shoes off.

Early the next day Adam found himself waiting outside his dorm building, already shivering in his thin t-shirt. Virginia summers stretched themselves languidly over the calendar with hanging humidity and persistent sunshine - today would definitely be too hot for comfort - but he was feeling jittery nothenless.

Before long the Camaro noisily rolled up, looking somewhat aggrieved to be living another day. Ronan had an arm hooked over the passenger window and expensive looking sunglasses perched on his nose.

“Get in, loser,” he said. “We’re going Faerie hunting.”

As Adam clambered into the back of the Camaro, he heard Gansey ask Ronan, “Did you really just use a ‘Mean Girls’ reference?” and Ronan reply, “No the shit I did not.”

“You did,” Gansey insisted. He grabbed his headrest and wrenched himself around to face Adam. “Adam. Good morning. I wrote down what we know about the faerie ring so far, if you want to take a look,” he handed Adam the thick leather-bound journal he’d brought to dinner last night, already open to a page full of handwritten notes.

Adam skimmed through the notes. They were mostly a repeat of what Gansey had told him last night, if only more organized and with more quoted sources. The page on faeries was the furthest back and one of the few that was covered entirely in Gansey’s writing; the rest of the journal was glued together and folded over with newspaper clippings, taped in old photographs and letters and brittle, yellowing paper.

He ended up paging idly through the journal, his eyes skipping over drawings and diagrams and randomly cut and ripped pages without taking anything in. There was no point in reading any of this without having proof that it was true, and Gansey would tell him anything he wanted him to know anyways.

Adam closed the journal and set it down on the seat beside him. He leaned forward against his seatbelt. In the rear view mirror, Gansey was sunny and smiling, the picture perfect model for a summer catalogue or a relaxed family portrait where everyone wore matching outfits and the easy confidence of old money.

One arm still hooked over the open window, his eyes closed against the breeze and sun, Ronan looked much more human and real. He was sweating and very clearly pissed off, though Adam didn’t know if that was because of the sweating or something else entirely. Probably it was both.

Adam looked down to where Ronan’s jeans creased at his thigh. His hand hovered over something there. Something that tilted its head towards Adam when he made a startled noise.

“Gansey,” Adam said. “Ronan has a bird.”

“What?” Gansey said, loudly to be heard over the engine. He was looking between Adam and Ronan like he expected them to be fighting and seemed confused that Ronan was, for all appearances and purposes, dead to the world. Gansey shut off the air co to hear Adam better. Immediately Ronan groaned and opened his eyes.

“Ronan has a bird,” Adam said. “A raven?” The bird ruffled its feathers and turned its head from side to side, peering at Adam with both eyes.

“Raven,” Gansey confirmed. “She’s Ronan’s. Her name is Chainsaw.” He frowned at Ronan. “You haven’t introduced them yet?”

Ronan gestured irritably between Adam and the raven. “Adam, Chainsaw. Chainsaw, Adam. It’s balls hot. Turn the fucking AC back on.”

Gansey did and the wheeze of overworked vents again joined the rumbling of the Camaro’s engine. Ronan didn’t close his eyes again. Instead he stared out the window, the furrow to his brow complicated. Chainsaw made a raspy noise and ruffled her feathers. Ronan laid a hand over her head and she was quiet.

“We’re almost there,” Gansey told Adam, his smile lifted to the rear view mirror.

“There” turned out to be a fork from the main road that, after a few miles, became a dirt path, and, a few miles after that, became a dead end.

Adam, Gansey, Ronan, and Chainsaw emerged from the Camaro as a single entity. Immediately Chainsaw hurtled herself into the air. Adam watched Gansey and Ronan tilt their heads back, back, back. They both looked extremely pleased, fully in their element with the Camaro gleaming at their backs and the forest stretching out in front of them, waiting to be explored.

Adam looked up to see Chainsaw circle the sky once before gliding down to land on Ronan’s shoulder. She pressed her body to the side of Ronan’s neck and rubbed her beak against his ear, either in apology for taking off or some other reason Ronan seemed to understand.

Gansey caught Adam’s eye and beckoned him over. He was holding a gadget Adam had never seen before in one hand and his journal in the other.

“This is an electromagnetic frequency reader,” Gansey said. “It measures the energy along the ley line. Here. I want you to hold it. That way you can see for yourself how the energy acts on and off the ley line. And especially how it acts near the ring.”

Adam took the EMF from Gansey. It was already on, and it blinked unsteadily between two red and orange lights. A wavelength spiked on a thin screen between them.

“We’re directly on the line right now,” Gansey said. He pointed to Adam’s feet. “Move over. Just two feet to the left.”

Adam did. The readings fell to orange. He stepped two feet to the right. They blared red.

Adam was acutely aware of Gansey watching for his reaction, though he wasn’t sure what to think yet.

“This could be picking up from anywhere,” he said.

“It only picks up electric and magnetic energy,” Ronan said, suddenly at Adam’s back. He reached over Adam’s shoulder and tapped the screen. “What else could it be picking up? We’re in the middle of nowhere.”

“No power lines within ten miles,” Gansey said, sounding supremely happy. “No buildings. Nothing but us and the trees and the things in the trees. Come on.”

Adam followed the two boys and Chainsaw into the forest. Early morning sunlight filtered through the trees, turning over motes in the air and blinding Adam. He averted his eyes. In front of him, Gansey was walking parallel to a stream like a tightrope, putting one foot directly in front of the other. At his side Ronan swore at the uneven terrain and stumbled as the path became increasingly steeper.

The light dimmed the farther they walked. After twenty minutes of trekking Adam looked down at the EMF. He slowly let himself zone out. It was easier to pay attention to the device in his hands than the others. Easier to adjust his direction when the energy fell on either side. It kept him in an almost perfect straight line, right on the rockbed.

Ahead of him, Ronan and Gansey stopped suddenly, Chainsaw flapping uncertainly above them. They had reached the edge of a cliff that would take some maneuvering to descend. Gansey caught Adam’s eye, then pointed to where the stream they’d been following suddenly veered below them, cutting off the path.

“Make sure you watch the readings when we cross that,” he said, “they’re going to rise considerably.”

“Your cell phones,” Adam said suddenly. “What about them?”

“Hmm?” Gansey said pleasantly, understandably unable to follow Adam’s trail of thought.

“Couldn’t they register on the frequency reader, and the readings could have been consistent this whole time just because they’re in your pockets?”

“The signals from them aren’t strong enough to register,” Ronan said. “Besides, my phones in the car and Gansey shut his off.” He jumped down the cliff side and skidded the rest of the way down the path, either not understanding how physics applied to his body or he just didn’t care. Chainsaw screeched “Kerah!” and flew after him.

“We’re almost there,” Gansey told Adam, smiling. “You’ll see.”

Adam and Gansey picked their way down the cliff, then followed the ley line to the stream. The readings spiked as Adam picked his way across the stepping stones, but not so much that Adam would have noticed if he hadn’t been watching for it.

Adam wondered what kind of person Ronan really was to so loyally follow Gansey on his search.

Adam’s feet hit solid land and he opened his eyes; he didn’t remember closing them. Gansey had stepped aside so Adam would have an unobstructed view of the clearing in front of him, but Ronan had gone all the way to the edge of the ring.

It was clear now to Adam why Gansey believed the ring to be magical. Right next to Ronan’s scuffed boots, set up in a perfect circle like they’d been put there with meticulous care, were round stones and fungi, all bathed in the gentle light.

Adam stepped closer, and he let the electromagnetic frequency reader drop to his side. He was too bothered by how perfect and out of place it looked to focus on the readings, too shaken by his own pulse suddenly pounding in his ears.

He walked past Gansey. Something in him spasmed as he went to Ronan’s side, just outside of the ring. Then the line went dead under him.

Adam hadn’t named the energy he’d been feeling since stepping into the forest. He hadn’t wanted to. But now that it was gone there was no doubt that it had been there.

Gansey murmured something at Adam’s left side.

Adam turned to face him. “Sorry,” he said. “What did you say?”

“Check the frequency reader.”

Adam did. He wasn’t surprised to see that the readings had gone dead.

“Now,” Gansey said excitedly, “hold it out past the ring.”

Adam did. He was aware of Gansey watching him, and he was aware of Ronan going tense. Something whispered inside his deaf ear, but it was too quiet for him to make any sense out of it.

Adam handed the EMF back to Gansey. Then he stepped into the circle.

Ronan snarled something, but he was too far away for Adam to hear. Adam’s hands became heavy. He looked down at them. A single blackberry had fallen into each of his palms. Or had they appeared?

“Your friend,” a voice whispered in his deaf ear again, only it was clear now. Adam closed his eyes. He let the berries fall from his hands. The sound of them hitting the leaves at his feet was too loud to seem real. “The dead one. Where is he? He was just here.” It wasn’t a voice; it was voices. They were high and fluting, inhuman. They screeched something, and then they were dancing around Adam, their flimsy nails scraping over his neck and shoulders, their chalk-like feet beating an invisible dance around him. It was too much, too loud, too real.

“Stop,” Adam said. He opened his eyes. His heart was beating too fast. His own hands were wrapped around his neck. Gansey was standing in front of him with his hands around Adam’s wrists.

“Adam?” he said. Sweat was shining on his upper lip.

Adam allowed himself to be pulled out of the ring. “This has happened before,” he said. “In Henrietta. I haven’t heard the voices before, but I’ve felt this.”

Ronan made a sound like a bark. “What do you mean? Feel what?”

“The ley line,” Adam said. “Except I didn’t know it was the ley line last time.”

“Really? Where were you last time?” Gansey finally let go of Adam. His eyes on Adam were hungry, excited. Behind him Ronan’s expression was unreadable.

“It was some forest, I don’t know where. I was lost and it started to storm and I couldn’t see, but I could feel energy beneath me. I followed it to the main road. I’d convinced myself that I’d imagined it by the time I got home.”

“What does it feel like?” asked Gansey in a rush. “Tell me exactly.”

Adam had to remind himself that Gansey was earnest, not demanding. The look on Gansey’s face made him want to be careful, made him want to consider his thoughts before he let them take shape. He focused on the energy beneath him again and struggled to explain, “It’s like a pull. It’s like when you lick a battery, or… how you can tell if a hose is running by touching it. I don’t know. It’s hard to explain.”

“You heard voices?” Gansey asked. “Could you tell what they were saying?”

“They… asked about my dead friend? They wanted to know where he is. They said he was just here.”

Adam had closed his eyes again while focusing on the line without realizing it. He opened them to see Gansey furiously writing in his journal.

“Strange,” Gansey said, tapping his pen too many times at the end of a sentence. “Last time, and just now, too, when I was inside the ring, I couldn’t hear any definite words. I don’t understand why you can.” He was quiet for a moment, then pointed a very serious finger at Adam and asked, “You’ve never been struck by lightning or anything, have you?”

“I… haven’t,” Adam said cautiously.

Gansey nodded as if Adam had said something exceptionally intelligent. He wrote in his journal for another minute, then stared at it for a few minutes more before looking up at Adam again.

“I don’t remember if I told you this,” he started, “but the fae are believed to live on a separate timeline, or in a parallel universe, even, to us, and faerie rings serve as a sort of gate to the human world for them.”

Gansey stepped away from the ring and began to pace between Adam and Ronan.

“Ley lines mess with time,” he said. “If you say something while standing on the line, you could hear it echoed back to you years later, or even years before you said it. I think you’re connected to the ley line somehow. That’s why you can feel its energy, and that’s why you can hear the voices.”

Gansey stopped pacing and crossed his arms. He stared at the ground and pressed a pensive thumb to his lower lip.

“I think they were talking about Glendower,” he said suddenly, looking up at Adam and Ronan. “I think they know where he is.”

“They said dead, not sleeping,” Ronan said. He was beginning - no, continuing - to look very pissed off.

“They might consider sleeping to be basically dead,” Gansey argued. “Some legends say he isn’t truly alive, but will live again when he’s woken.”

“None of this makes sense,” Adam said. “I’m not denying that I can feel the line or that I heard voices, but how do you explain this?”

“I can explain some of it to you,” Gansey said. “But most of it you just have to believe is real.” He looked at Ronan. His eyes were full of a fierce and uninhibited joy. “You found Glendower’s magician.”

“I beg your pardon?” Adam said.

Ronan gestured animatedly with his hands. Chainsaw flapped indignantly on his shoulder. “Gansey doesn’t actually think you’re the reincarnation of some long dead magic freak,” he said. “So don’t get all sweaty. He’s just excited.”

Adam ignored that with all the good grace he could muster. Again his thoughts were spinning too fast, but now that there was proof behind them it wasn’t as overwhelming.

This was just a different kind of science.

“What now?” he asked.

Gansey grinned. “Now we find Glendower.”

Later, hours later, Gansey was tired.

In the time after the forest, after the faerie ring, after writing everything down and running it over in his head until it made him sick, Gansey could not find it in himself the feeling that he deserved this.

He had searched for so long. In Washington, in Wales, all over the world, but it had never been enough. It had never been close to enough.

And then he found Henrietta, and Ronan, and something had settled itself comfortably in the cavity of his ribs, but still the longing had remained. Henrietta had been home - Henrietta was home - but it wasn’t the means to an end. It was small clues and finds, days spent exploring and nights spent researching. He had known it wasn’t where he would find Glendower.

He didn’t find Glendower, and then he and Ronan finished their last year at Aglionby, and it felt a little like the world was ending. Gansey had felt sick leaving Henrietta. He hadn’t expected to find anything in Charlottesville.

He couldn’t stop replaying the day’s events in his head. He couldn’t decide if Adam himself was magical, or if the forest was only enabling him, and he couldn’t decide whether it mattered. Again he considered Adam, the constant furrow to his fair brow, his specific way of moving and speaking. Gansey couldn’t believe a person like Adam had found his way into his life. He couldn’t believe that Ronan was the one that had found him.

Gansey leaned forward on his bed, accidentally causing his phone to fall to the floor. He ignored it. He flipped through the book in front of him, desperate to research, to take notes, to find a new lead.

But there was nothing. Nothing about faeries, at least. He’d have to order some books tomorrow. He’d have to convince Ronan to go to class, and then convince him again to do his homework. He’d have to ask Adam to go to the forest again. He’d have to, he’d have to, he’d have to.

Gansey shut the book and leaned back in bed. Maybe he wouldn’t have to ask. Maybe they were already friends.

He hadn’t wanted to wait. He hadn’t wanted this space of unsureness. Of not knowing whether Adam liked him, whether Adam believed anything he said. He had wanted to take Adam back to the apartment immediately after the forest, to show him more, to give him the proof he needed, but Ronan had punched him on the arm and said, some people have jobs, Gansey.

Gansey pulled a mint leaf from the plant beside his bed and put it on his tongue. He could hear Ronan in his room, the restless creak of his bed as he rolled in it, the dull beat of music from his headphones. Gansey thought to check the time, then thought better of it. He scrubbed a hand over his eyes and readjusted his glasses.

Ronan’s door scraped open, and a second later Gansey heard the sounds of approaching fiends: the quiet taps and flaps of Chainsaw’s wings and claws, the carefully careless thuds of Ronan’s bare feet.

Ronan appeared in the doorway, naked except for his boxers and the headphones wrapped around his neck. The darkness made his sharp edges look less like warning signs and more like the parts of Ronan that were just a little harder to understand. It complimented his tattoo, disappeared the thin line of his mouth. He was already a terribly handsome boy, but the darkness made him all the more terrible.

He looked more like the current, dangerous version of himself than ever, but maybe if Gansey took off his glasses he would be able to see some of the old Ronan. Maybe there would be some of the old softness in his aura, or in his eyes as he looked down at Chainsaw. Maybe the flower tattoo on his thumb would seem brighter.

Ronan knocked softly. The wires from his headphones were tangled together below his neck, looking like a mockery of the ties he had knotted with so much contempt back in their Aglionby days.

There was a phrase to be remembered here, Gansey thought, one his father liked. A loose tie shows loose morals. But Gansey couldn’t remember when it had ever applied to him, or his ability to properly tie a tie. Ronan would laugh at him if he ever said it aloud.

“Hey,” Ronan said. He shut the door behind him and went to sit at the foot of Gansey’s bed. Chainsaw chirped happily as she started for Gansey’s dirty laundry.

“Can’t sleep?” Gansey asked, more to keep with tradition than anything else.

Ronan shrugged. He took the book Gansey was reading from him and paged through it, quick. He was obviously trying very hard to seem unbothered by whatever was bothering him, which was strange enough that Gansey let him pretend instead of calling him out on it. Ronan pushed the book away and grabbed Chainsaw from the floor. She allowed him to pet her beak and the sides of her face.

“What do you think of Adam?” Ronan asked.

Oh, Gansey thought. He didn’t think they’d be having this conversation so soon. He shut his book and set it aside. “I like him,” Gansey said. “He’s nice.”

Ronan looked up. “Just nice?” he asked.

Gansey shrugged. It wasn’t an eloquent thing to do, but it was late, and he was out of eloquent things and thoughts. “You know what I mean,” he said. “He’s good people.”

He thought about Adam. About his presence. The realness of him. The way talking to him felt more like talking to Ronan than talking to another student, another peer. He thought about the way Adam watched him and Ronan, and he thought about the way Ronan watched Adam.

Gansey knew what Ronan was like around people. He knew how Ronan would react to a new professor, or one of Gansey’s rare new girlfriends. He had enough experience to predict what Ronan would do before someone got hurt. But he didn’t know how Ronan would react to Adam. Because he didn’t know what had so easily convinced Ronan that Adam was different in the first place.

Ronan had been the one to introduce Adam to Gansey, after all. To really introduce him, to allow him past the barrier of casual acquaintance. He’d let Gansey invite Adam to dinner. He had to like him to do that.

But Gansey could see Ronan’s jealousy, even if Adam couldn’t. He could see where problems might start to appear.

Ronan looked angry. And tired. Gansey rubbed his eyes again.

“Don’t you think so?” he asked Ronan. “Magical inclinations aside, he’s a person worth knowing.”

Ronan shrugged, unsure. “I mean, we don’t just talk to people.”

“You don’t,” Gansey said.

Ronan traced his new tattoo. It was the most colorful thing in the room. Gansey let his eyes go out of focus as he stared at it.

“I mean,” Ronan said again, with feeling, “that we don’t have any other friends. Not any one real. It’s been just us since Aglionby.”

Gansey closed his eyes. “Maybe it’s time for a change.”

#pynch college au #pynch fanfiction #trc #trc fanfiction #the raven cycle #vv #posting this before class and gym yay!!!! hope u guys like it this chapter starts getting more into what the plot actually is

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