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cantusecho · 5 years

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(Episode 5 thoughtsssss.

OKAY. I took forever to write this one up since I couldn’t process my thoughts correctly, and still can’t. But going to try!

Episode starts with the government taking over S.O.N.G headquarters.

Thing about this is, it’s clear that Fudou is using his power and influence to stop them, but why? That’s at the end of the episode it seems and the reason I think is hinted here;

Honestly, the second he said this, it made me think of him wanting to make it into a sword for Tsubasa to use it. However, she clearly shouldn’t be able to handle it since she can’t wield divine power? Maybe Fudou thinks he can wield the power instead? He’s crazy strong, but does he believe he can handle it? It’s possible he does but his exact ideas/plans are still fairly in the dark.

And Noble Red really are just pawns for him. So, if they didn’t agree to his terms, then they would die since that blood is the only way they could live. Basically, this humanizes our villains, as to be expected, since they’ve been abused and experimented on against their will.

However, I’d still be happy with them not being forgiven for their actions (Millaarc especially) because of how much it’s effected everyone, especially Tsubasa. But that’s later on in the episode.

(also it’s interesting that they’re hiding within the remains of Carol’s Chateau)

Now the scene between Genjurou and Yatsuhiro is actually really really nice. It’s nice to see the two of them interacting more, but they’ve also come to a conclusion that it’s pretty much clear that Fudou may be behind Noble Red’s actions. Yatsuhiro says that they can’t jump to conclusions just yet despite being suspicious. Of course WE as the audience already knows that Fudou is behind it. But in terms of the characters, who don’t see what we do, it makes sense.

Also heard a small tidbit about this scene on twitter; according to people who actually know Japanese, one of the documents on Yatsuhiro’s desk is basically hinting to another name in the Kazanari family. The people who could read this made all the connections about Genjurou and Yatsuhiro’s names (they have characters in their names that mean numbers? I can’t remember them offhand but I think Genjurou at least means ten) and said that it’s very possible that Fudou has like...ten+ children. LOL.

Like, he had sooooo many kids, probably hoping one would fight for him, until Tsubasa was born. I can’t find the twitter posts that actually explain all this in much better words so yeah, sorry. Just some interesting stuff.

Moving on! Because of all this investigation stuff, all the Gear users are on standby and are literally left with nothing to do whatsoever.

Eventually, this gives everyone the idea to at least take a break. And so what Hibiki decides to do is invite Tsubasa, as well as Elfnein, to have fun in the town. This is really just a huge callback to S1 episode 9 where Hibiki and Miku take Tsubasa on a date. Lmao.

What’s cute about this is that Elfnein ACTUALLY TAKES A DAY OFF LOL.

AND SHE SINGS. ABOUT CAROL PRETTY MUCH.

But what’s clashing in this scene is that while Elfnein is singing and literally having fun, Tsubasa finally opens up and admits how she’s been feeling lately.

This is particularly sad because she literally said in episode 2 how much she loves singing. Before all the chaos in the concert and Fudou tearing down something she loves doing, Tsubasa was happy to sing and enjoy herself by spreading her music throughout the world. It’s taken a long time for Tsubasa to get to this point, even after the Zwei Wing disaster. So for her to feel this way is just really sad to hear and see.

And this sets up the brief argument between Hibiki and Miku.

Now my feelings on this scene is a lot but I’ll try to be brief as possible; personally, I don’t think Miku was in the wrong. This has been building up within her ever since season 1. However, was her outburst at the best time? No, it wasn’t. Miku isn’t a perfect person (in my opinion), no one is, but that’s what makes her interesting to me.

Even before S1, she’s been dealing with this guilt of hers for so long, so many years. And because she related to Tsubasa’s feelings of guilt and fear, it all came bursting out all at once...so she calls Hibiki selfish. I can see if people think this is rushed or literally came out of nowhere, or Miku’s wrong but it’s not as if Hibiki hasn’t done things wrong too.

Hibiki’s heart is always in the right place, yes, but she’s not perfect either. Normally, pulling people into her rhythm or ideas is fine and ends up working out really well. Her energy is enough to brighten those around her...but not all the time. Sometimes pulling people into doing something you think might help might end up hurting them instead. If you ask a person how they feel, maybe that way you’d be able to figure things out more.

But Hibiki didn’t ask Tsubasa. This isn’t to say that Hibiki doesn’t care about Tsubasa’s feelings, she cares deeply for Tsubasa, but she technically pulled her along into something that’s really only reminding her that she can’t enjoy songs. It’s hard to explain what I mean haha.

So even though Miku calls Hibiki selfish, which is debatable within itself but I don’t have time to explain it all lmao, I can kinda see her point. I don’t think Hibiki nor Miku are right or wrong here. It’s really just a clash of emotions and miscommunication. At least in my opinion.

And then having Hibiki ask her this question finally gets Miku to openly admit how she’s been feeling for years.

Can I say as a side note how crazy it is for Hibiki to raise her voice back, like she’s actually frustrated so she stresses the words? It made me feel so uneasy, no joke haha.

Moving on, Miku finally admits her guilt, and I think it’s a legit worry. A lot of things wouldn’t have happened in Hibiki’s life if she didn’t invite her to that concert. She wouldn’t have almost died. She wouldn’t have been harassed. Her family wouldn’t be as broken as it is. She wouldn’t nearly be dying all the time from fighting. Hibiki probably wouldn’t be fighting at all.

It may sound unreasonable for Miku to blame herself for all of this, but I can understand that blame somewhat so I guess I’m a bit biased in that regard lol.

Hibiki, who didn’t see all this guilt Miku’s been having, is surprised by her admission. Again, I don’t see anyone in the wrong for this exchange because of the miscommunication; Miku was too afraid to admit her feelings because she thought it would be a burden.

Hibiki, in my opinion, never once blamed Miku for the incident or never saw it in that light before, so she didn’t think Miku would have feelings like this.

I don’t intend to ever write Hibiki doing things right all the time. I enjoy writing her making mistakes and learning from those mistakes.

So I’ll leave it at that. After this, there’s Alca-Noise summoned into the city, so everyone separates. Hibiki tells Miku they’ll talk later as Miku takes Elfnein and herself away to safety.

Now this whole fight just shows how unstable Tsubasa is and possibly what that ability Millaarc used is effecting her still.

Side note: her song and transformation are REALLY good. Tsubasa’s transformation is really high if I had to rate them because it’s so beautifully animated. I love how special each transformation feels for each character this season. They’ve always been special and unique, but these intensify that to the max and I love it.

ALSO, during this scene, Hibiki makes a comment of thinking that the Alca-Noise are possibly a distraction. However, due to these other people from the government that took over, they don’t take her gut feeling seriously, which I think plays a part in the end. My child was being smart for once and they didn’t listen FFFFFFFFFF

Okay, but Tsubasa fighting.

She starts seeing Millaarc as her and Hibiki are fighting the Alca-Noise.

This is where Tsubasa starts attacking relentlessly.

Tsubasa is the most experienced out of them all, and to see her lose control over herself and nearly do all these huge attacks that start destroying the town instead is really the thing to see.

And all it really is is Tsubasa seeing the Alca-Noise as Millaarc. This is concerning because what if she ends up seeing one of her friends as Millaarc instead, and possibly ends up hurting them? I honestly was really worried that she would end up hurting someone with all these attacks. Luckily not. And she created a lot of damage to the city because of this.

It really feels possible that Tsubasa will have to sit out of fighting for a while. Not sure if they’d actually do that in the show, but it seems fitting. It may not make her feel any better though.

Now the cliffhanger;

Miku and Elfnein are still making their escape before being cornered by Millaarc and that same government man from earlier. Their goal was clearly to get Elfnein out of HQ so they could take her. I could be wrong, but I assume it’s because Fudou needs her help possibly to help turn the Vambrace into a sword? Or whatever else he wants done to it.

But they didn’t come for Miku, and Millaarc wonders what she should do with her before getting a “call” from Vanessa.

There’s no telling what Vanessa told her until probably the next episode I assume, but it ends on a large geyser of blood, making it seem as if Millaarc killed Miku.

I HIGHLY HIGHLY doubt this for multiple reasons; ---It’s just like episode 8 in G where people probably thought Miku died when the explosion at the tower happened. ---That random dude was there and it’s more than likely him being killed and seems the most obvious choice. ---Killing Elfnein seems pointless (unless she ran out in front of Miku even though Miku was protecting her at first) because they needed her. ---Would they really kill a main character only 5 episodes in?

I think that if Miku got hurt, they wouldn’t be showing so much blood coming out because that seems excessive. Or if she was actually hurt, I think it would have been sooooo much better if they actually showed Miku getting hit. That would make for a better cliffhanger in my opinion. But oh well. If they actually hurt Miku, I’ll be surprised. But for right now, unless the episode proves me otherwise, I don’t believe it at all.

What happens after this is a mystery; because if it’s actually the dude Millaarc killed, then what does that mean for Miku and Elfnein? Will they still hurt Miku another way? Possibly take her with them or just Elfnein? Would they get away?

I kinda doubt about them getting away because Hibiki literally saying “we’ll talk later” feels like “We’ll try to talk later but we won’t really because shizz goes down to prevent us from talking for a while” LOL.

But yeah, two more days until the episode to see how it all went down. Preview will be tomorrow so that can help stir some thoughts.

That’s really all I got haha.)

#ooc #(I wonder if I explained myself well enough in this; I feel like I wasn't but lol my bad)

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ethicallysourcedhumanmeat · 7 years

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Coming Clean: 2

[Masterpost]-[AO3]-[First] 6600 words - Warning for Biphobia and homophobia

Yoosung had been wrong about how often they’d have to see his mother. It became clear around the third time they made excuses that she was suspicious but Yoosung did not want to relent. He agreed to the next invitation but made excuses at the last minute, the next time he tried his father offered to call her family, invite them all to the house for dinner.

It sounded more like a threat than an invitation.

So they accepted the next few invites, Yoosung’s mood always sour the following day. Both showering Seven with affection but also on edge, any small thing that went wrong would elicit either tears and apologies or a long rant. Seven let him be, it only ever lasted a day and he was back to his normal happy self.

They ended up finding a schedule that kept his mother happy, less suspicious, but she never failed to bring them down in their happiest moments.

“—‘s a very nice girl, Yoosung,” he could hear Mrs. Kim on the other line when he slipped into Yoosung’s apartment, a combination of the way she spoke and the volume of Yoosung’s phone carrying the other half of the conversation through the small apartment.

“Yes she is Mom,” Yoosung said through gritted teeth, exams were over and he was ready to reclaim his LOLOL title, finally number one with the retirement of the mysterious HackerGod. Seven could see him mouse-ing over his characters waiting for the call to end.

“It’s just that I worry when I see you spending time with that boy.”

Seven’s ears perked up, they were very careful, there was almost never pictures of him on the internet anyway, even on the facebook account he maintained his face rarely appeared. He only every allowed it for—

“That was an RFA meeting Mom.”

“I realize that sweetie but is it really a good—”

“I can’t control who’s a member Mom,” Yoosung growls his cheeks hot as he glances back at his boyfriend pulling out his own laptop.

“Perhaps I could speak to that nice man in charge, that Jumin Han, he seemed so nice last time I spoke to him.”

He lets out a sharp breath and sets his computer down on the beat up coffee table. He can almost hear Yoosung’s teeth grinding while he tries to form a reasonable excuse for her not to. Seven walks over to him and rests his hands on Yoosung’s shoulders pressing kisses to the top of his head and then across his forehead when the blond boy leans back and looks up at him. He smiles and Yoosung forces himself to smile back.

“Mom, Seven works very hard for the RFA, you could just trust me,” he presses his lips together before he forces himself to say, “I love Sae now, it’s fine. Everyone is fine Mom.”

“I may call him anyway, just in case, you have another of those parties coming up don’t you, are you going to take Sae?”

“It’s work Mrs. Kim,” Seven calls out, his voice pitched slightly up, “Yoosung won’t have any time to dance with me so I refuse to go.”

He can hear her on the other end, flustered and apologizing, but he’s smiling his goofy smug smile when Yoosung hangs up and swivels in his chair to look at him. “What?” He pouts, adjusting his clips where his phone had pushed them askew.

“It’s at least good that she thinks we’re two different people right?”

“That’s what you took away from that?” Yoosung snorts.

“I’m thinking about retiring from IT and joining Zen on the stage,” he says dropping into Yoosung’s lap. “Maybe Sae could be my alter ego, and when you break her heart and go back to you filthy man loving ways she can date Zen!”

Seven erupts into a fit of laughter as Yoosun shoves him off his lap, but he’s laughing too. It’s been Six months since Yoosung’s parents had met him, almost a year since he’d admitted to Yoosung that; No Babe, friends don’t actually practice kissing with one another outside bad teen films, almost a year since Yoosung had said thank god because I think I love you.

No one had been surprised when they started dating. Seven’s attempts at romance were kindergarten level, they could all tell why he picked on Yoosung, they were just waiting for Yoosung to figure it out. Yoosung had seemed disappointed by the reaction.

“Did you bring them,” Yoosung asks from his computer desk, already logged in now, not even glancing back at him.

“Bring what?” Seven asks innocently as he starts up LOLOL.

Yoosung snorts, he reaches into the little cube fridge on his desk and tosses a PhD Pepper to him without looking. Seven smiles, god he loved this tunnel vision nerd. “You know what,” Yoosung says with a wave of his hand that Seven knows means get on with it.

“Condoms?” Seven asks logging his character in, HackerGod may have retired but that didn’t mean he couldn’t help Yoosung keep his hand-me-down title.

“Saeyoung,” Yoosung whines.

“Yes I brought them,” Seven chuckles, knowing Yoosung means Honey Buddah Chips, but still liking to tease him. “They’re in my trunk but you have to get them yourself, I feel like your dealer, it makes me feel dirty.”

“Aw really?” Yoosung turns now, puppy dog eyes engaged, big fake pout.

“Yes really,” Seven nods, he’s going to be firm today, he’s not going to fall for the puppy eyes.

“Please?” Yoosung swivels his chair and bats his eyelashes.

“Babe,” Seven says, trying not to laugh. If he laughs Yoosung will win, and Yoosung won way too often these days.

He pouts and he brushes his hair out of his face, flashing his best sad eyes at his boyfriend before he heaves himself out of his chair with a groan. He shuffles past Seven on the couch, another pout carelessly tossed in his boyfriend’s direction before he slips his sneakers on and opens the door.

“Hey,” Seven calls from the couch and Yoosung turns, a big smile on his face turning confused when he hears the jangle of keys. “You need these to open the trunk, Yoosungie.”

He struggles to catch them, managing mostly to bat them out of the air and straight to the floor. He grumbles when he has to pick them up. When Yoosung is out the door Seven sits down at his computer, giving one playful spin on the protesting swivel chair before typing in a few commands to make Yoosung’s character effectively unkillable.

He’s sitting back at the couch looking bored when Yoosung lumbers through the door. He drops the keys on the table next to Seven’s laptop and sits heavily on the couch with the box in his lap. It’s covered in stickers, and Yoosung can’t help the smile, a combination of animal and medical themed stickers decorate it with little heart doodles. Seven always decorated the box.

“You want a bag?” He asks, carefully opening the box.

Seven shakes his head and produces his own bag from his backpack. “Brought my own Cutie-Pie.”

“You’re a jerk,” Yoosung laughs and reaches into the box.

Seven turns to him. “You should reach to the bottom, I bet those bags are fresher,” he smirks.

Yoosung cocks an eyebrow but he does what his boyfriend says.

It’s easy to find the surprise at the bottom of the box, the hard metal box beneath crinkling bags full of air and chips. Yoosung pulls it out and sets the big box on the floor with a curious glance at his boyfriend. Seven is suddenly very busy sorting his inventory on LOLOL.

“What’s this?” Yoosung asks softly.

“Did you know,” Seven says lazily, but Yoosung can hear the nerves in the way he tries to joke, “that the next party is on our anniversary.”

Silence.

And then Yoosung is pressed against him, arms wrapping around him pressing kisses to his cheek, his nose, his temple, and his hair, he hasn’t even opened the box yet. “I didn’t,” he starts nervously toying with the smooth metal case in his hands, “I didn’t realize we had one of those.”

Seven laughs.

“I mean the way it happened, it’s not like one day we were friends and the next we were boyfriends,” Yoosung whispers.

He nods, “I just sort of picked a day in the middle,” it’s a lie. He picked the day Yoosung had said he thought he loved him. “I thought you’d want to celebrate but I didn’t want to make a fuss at the party.”

“You’re a liar,” Yoosung chuckles, “you’re dying to make a fuss at the party.”

Seven laughs, “Okay, you’ve got me but you know we can’t.”

They’re quiet for a moment. Mrs. Kim had infiltrated almost every second of their lives. Making an effort to not even be seen standing too close to one another in the background of someone else’s photos. Now she was infiltrating RFA meets via Instagram and harassing Yoosung. He’d love for it to be over but he knows how badly Yoosung wants to rely on himself after this and he respects that.

Yoosung swallows, he presses his arm against Sevens and opens the box, a little gasps escaping his lips. “Saeyoung.”

“Do you like it?” He knows he’s blushing, Yoosung hadn’t exactly asked for a watch and he’s worried he’ll have an idea how much money he’s spent on it but he pushes forward turning it over in the smaller man’s hand. “Look I had it engraved. I thought it was something you could wear in front of your Mom without making her suspicious.”

1011000011 is engraved on the inside of the watch.

“Wow,” Yoosung breaths, “it’s, wow.”

Seven smiles, “You like it?”

He nods, “But I don’t know what it means,” he says, his voice still low.

“707.”

Yoosung doesn’t realize just how expensive the watch is until he wears it to the party. Seven expects it to be Jumin to break the news but he’s surprised when Zen whistles through his teeth and takes Yoosung by the wrist. “Damn, he’s really fallen for you huh?”

Yoosung pulls his arm back and shrugs with a goofy grin on his face. “I dunno, probably.”

Seven chuckles as he follows Jaehee behind the stage to fix some small technical problem she’s claiming is the end of the world. He’s almost done when Yoosung pushes the curtains aside and stomps towards him.

“How much money did you spend on this?” He demands.

“That’s rude,” Seven chuckles frowning at the computer screen.

“It’s too much Saeyoung.”

Seven shrugs. “It’s fine.”

“I can’t, it’s too much,” Yoosung has the watch in his palm holding out towards Seven.

“I can’t return it, Yoosung,” he smiles closing his boyfriends hand over the watch, “not with the engraving.” He didn’t know if it was true or not and he hoped Yoosung wouldn’t either.

Yoosung sighs. “Why would you spend so much on me?”

“If you don’t like it,” Seven smiles and kisses him on the cheek, “you could always sell it, doesn’t matter to me.”

It takes Yoosung a full minute before he realizes what that means. “You’re impossible,” he says putting the watch back on.

Seven shrugs. In retrospect that was probably the moment it happened.

“I’ve been told,” he chuckles as Yoosung struggles with the curtain behind him.

“I can’t, you, ugh,” Yoosung groans and hooks his arm around Seven’s.

“It’s your choice, I don’t mind either way, you could sell the watch and you’d have next semester’s tuition if you need it, or you keep it and you have a very nice watch.”

Yoosung whines again and buries his face in Seven’s shoulder for a moment before they step apart, the first few guests of the night filter in and they begin the ritual of being separate in public.

It’s weeks later when Yoosung gets a call from his sister.

“Yoosung,” she says, and he sets his controller on Seven’s coffee table gesturing for Saeran to turn the TV down.

“You sound worried what’s wrong.”

The twins turn to look at him.

“You sound fine,” she says carefully, “so you haven’t talked to her yet.”

Yoosung’s face falls and the twins mouth what’s wrong at him in unison.

He shakes his head and walks away from the couch. “Why,” he asks. They’d met his parents for lunch in the city a few days before, nothing had seemed off. His mother had even seemed more relaxed, he hadn’t even been as upset afterwards.

“You know your party was in the paper right?”

Yoosung shrugs and makes a non-committal noise. Jaehee had mentioned it but he hadn’t really thought about it, he didn’t get the paper and he hadn’t considered looking. It wasn’t the first time, it had been years since they started, and this was at least the third party since Jumin and Kit had taken over.

“Yoosung,” she says, “there’s a picture of you with your boyfriend.”

“That can’t be right,” he says, he felt so calm.

“Yoosung I’m looking at it,” she says softly.

“It’s just a group photo right,” he says, he knows he should be panicking but everything seems to be slowing down. Kit showed them all the official photos from the party, the whole group approved every photo they’d sent to the press. “I think Jumin stood him behind me? Jumin has this—”

“Yoosung you’re standing on a stage holding his hand,” she says.

“No,” He says with a bit of a laugh, “no I don’t think so, I don’t think that happened.” He’s still so calm, he feels like he’s floating. Maybe he’s died, he considers, maybe his mother killed him with her mind and he’s dead.

“Yoosung I am looking at it,” she stresses.

He chews the inside of his cheek. “Does she know?” He asks softly, grabbing the back of a chair, his chest if tight now and the calm floating feeling starting to dissipate. The twins are behind him and somewhere underwater he hears Seven’s phone chime.

“She, I, Yoosung I don’t know. She told me to get the paper, I think so,” his sister sounds nervous. “But she hasn’t called you.”

He shakes his head and then he swallows, “N-no, I, no she hasn’t.”

Seven’s hand is on his elbow and he doesn’t hear what his sister is saying because all he can hear is “—ext week Mrs. Kim? I don’t really know you should probably call Yoosung, ab— s-surprise him?”

Yoosung turns and his eyes meet Seven’s, he looks as confused as Yoosung, all he can do is nod.

“—ung, Yoosung,” his sister is almost yelling.

“Sorry, I’m here,” he turns from Seven back to his own conversation.

“I’m in the city right now, are you busy? Can I buy you lunch.”

“Fuck,” Yoosung groans. Things had been going so well, she wasn’t on his case he was hoping to get through Christmas. Christmas money could have been put away with the bits he’d managed to save here and there, a few months rent at least. His grades were back up but he’d had to work so hard, could he do the same with a job.

Could he sell the watch?

“Yoosung, remember that place Dad used to take us when we were kids, right before school started every year when we’d come into the city for our school supplies?”

“I can’t,” he tries and swallows again, “I can’t afford to buy lunch, not—”

“I’m buying Yoosung, bring your boyfriend.”

Yoosung fills Seven in while he grabs his things, and throws a sweater at Seven while apologizing to Saeran. He’s a nervous mess in the car on the way to the restaurant, he doesn’t stop and wait to be seated, and it’s Seven who apologizes to the Hostess as he’s dragged behind Yoosung to the corner booth near the kitchen where a pretty woman in her late 20s , by Seven’s estimate, smiles at them. The same Lavender eyes as Yoosung staring out from beneath golden brown bangs.

“I already ordered,” she says and the smile on her face starts to fade and she sizes him up, “so you’re my brother’s boyfriend.”

Seven nods as Yoosung slides into the bench across from his sister.

“Does he talk?” She laughs.

“I normally can’t stop him,” Yoosung glances at him and Seven slips in beside him.

“Sorry,” Seven says softly, “you two look a lot alike.”

They both blush.

“Mom hasn’t called you yet?” his sister asks.

“I, no Yuna, she hasn’t called me,” he says looking at Seven.

“She called me,” he nods, “but she didn’t say she knew, she wanted me to bring you to dinner Friday, s-she said to surprise you.”

He squeezes Yoosung’s hand in his own while they look to his sister.

“She invited you, to bring Yoosung to a surprise dinner?” Yuna frowns, and Seven watches as her face contorts into the same expression Yoosung wears while studying. “Why wou—”

“She didn’t know she was inviting Seven,” Yoosung cuts in, like he’d only just remembered.

“What?” Yuna asks, her frown deepens.

“Sae, she was inviting Sae to dinner to surprise me,” Yoosung finishes. “Seven is Sae.”

“Wait,” Yuna covers her face and they all sit back as a waiter places drinks in front of them and apologizes to her about the wait for their food. She forces a smile and waves him off. “Yoosung what do you mean he’s Sae.”

Seven laughs, they both pull out their phones and pull up photos. “She’s just me in a wig,” he shrugs.

“And Mom hasn’t noticed?” Yuna covers her mouth, but the giggles spill out anyway.

Yoosung shrugs, “She made comments about how I better not break that girl’s heart the couple times Seven and I were too close to each other in the background of Zen’s selfies so I’m pretty sure she hasn’t.”

“I don’t think you’re parents looked too closely at me when they met me,” he says and Yoosung hugs his arm.

“What is she doing,” Yuna groans.

Yuna pulls a newspaper out of her purse and lays it down in front of them and Seven sends a photo of it to Jumin while the siblings frown at each other.

“She didn’t invite you to dinner though?” Yoosung asks and Yuna shakes her head.

“Normally Father Park would be coming to dinner and with Joon not being Catholic she doesn’t normally invite us.”

Yoosung and Seven glance at one another. “So she’s inviting Sae and I to dinner with Father Park?” Yoosung says slowly.

“Oh,” Yuna covers her mouth.

“Is he all, you know, fire and brimstone?” Seven asks. He’d always been careful to find services held by more moderate priests.

“I don’t know,” Yoosung looks to Yuna but she shrugs, “he’s new, since I left for school.”

“Father Rhee was brimstone,” Yuna adds, “he suggested Mom disown me until Joon converted but I guess people probably just assume he’s catholic when they see him, or you know normal people don’t even care.”

“More convenient that, than being the wrong gender right?” Seven snorts.

“You know she had the girls baptized while I was having my appendix removed?” Yuna chuckles.

“S-she said you asked,” Yoosung stammers.

“You were there?” Seven frowns.

“I was visiting over summer break because Mom needed a hand with the girls.”

“Yoosung is a godfather. When she kills me for taking his side are you prepared for that responsibility?” Yuna laughs. “It’s not a big deal, I mean I go to church when we visit but we’re not really anything, so she splashed some water on their heads. At the time I was mad but it’s one less guilt trip so I let it go.”

“Is that what I should do,” Yoosung sighs.

“What?” Yuna and Seven almost shout.

“No, Yoosung, of course not.” Yuna shakes her head. “She’s passed far beyond harmless infuriating bullshit.”

Yoosung shakes his head.

“Are you going to be ok without the money?” She asks.

“I have a little saved,” he says quietly as their food is set in front of him, “and I’ve got my grades back up, I don’t know how I’ll deal with a job and classes and having to be in the clinic again next semester.”

“Do they do like, apprenticeships?” Yuna asks, “Can you get your clinic hours in and get paid?”

“I-I don’t think so,” Yoosung shrugs and fiddles with his watch.

“There’s always Jumin, he could probably hire you on as a temp at C&R,” Seven smiles.

“I don’t know if I could work for Jumin, especially now that Jaehee isn’t there.”

Seven chuckles. “You know I bought you that watch just for this reason.”

Yoosung sighs. “I know but, I don’t want to sell it just for me.”

“A watch?” Yuna cocks an eyebrow at them and Yoosung holds out his wrist.

“You know,” Seven smirks, “I could always just hack the school, if you lose your scholarship.”

“No!” Yoosung squeaks, “I don’t want that, I don’t— I appreciate you offering all of this but I want to do it myself, if I sell this watch I want it to be for something us not for me. I don’t want you to hack for me, it’s bad enough you’re still doing it for Jumin.” He starts aggressively shoveling his lunch into his mouth as if to end the conversation and both Yuna and Seven laugh.

Gradually the conversation turns more casual. Seven loosens up and eggs Yoosung on to tell stories, Seven’s favorite being the time Yoosung had been volunteered during a livestock lesson to aid in a birth. Yeah I’m still confident in our relationship, Seven liked to joke, who hasn’t been shoulder deep in a vagina in this day and age.

Yuna had cackled and Seven had blushed.

“You were kind of quiet,” Yoosung says on their way back from lunch.

“You told me to shut up three times,” he laughs.

Yoosung sighs, “You know what I mean.”

“I just,” he adjusts his glasses, “I wanted to be sure she was really on your side. Mom used to play Saeran and I against one another. I didn’t want to see you get hurt again.”

He waits for Yoosung to get defensive but all he does is laugh. “But she passed then, she’s safe.”

“I’m gonna have to run a background check just to be sure, check her credit, see if she has any shady underworld connections.”

Yoosung laughs. “God, you know Mom could be thankful, at least my boyfriend is Catholic.”

They both laugh.

“What was Yuna like when you were little?” Seven asks quietly. “You never really talked about her before.”

“I didn’t really know her before,” Yoosung shrugs. “She’s a lot older than I am. She was nice to me, except when she wasn’t but I think it was all normal sibling stuff. She moved out when I was nine or ten.”

Seven takes him home and he’s waiting for his bus when he gets the call from Jumin.

“Yoosung I wanted to let you know that Kit and I have spoken with the Newspaper, Seven has mentioned the photo has caused some trouble he was not specific.”

“I-It’s fine Jumin, we’re uh dealing with it,” Yoosung tries. He doesn’t want to think about the photo or the weekend right now.

“Never the less, we had provided images to a number of publications, had this been a questionable photo of Zen or myself, or had it shown more of Seven’s face, we make these arrangements for a reason, it’s a breach of contract. I wished for you to know that I am not taking this lightly.”

“Thanks Jumin.” Yoosung drops into a window seat.

“Yoosung,” he can hear the tone of Jumin’s voice change and he braces himself, “Seven did not provide me with details of your trouble but I have to wonder, is this to do with your scholarship? Have your grades slipped again?”

He groans, it was not what he was expecting but it was just as bad. “No Jumin, I’m doing a lot better in school, you know since everything. I don’t know it’s been better my grades are fine.”

“Hmm, that is good to hear. I had thought perhaps that had been his reason for buying you such a extravagant watch.”

“My watch,” Yoosung coughs, “how does everyone know about this watch but me? What about my watch?”

Jumin chuckles. “Seven had asked me to recommend a watch that would be worth a semester at university, he was not subtle, Yoosung.”

Yoosung sighs and sips at the coffee in the thermos Seven had given him. He stares at the stainless steel cup and wonders if this is another mystery investment gift.

“I had simply wondered,” Jumin continued, “if you do find yourself in need of a job you need only ask, I hope you know that. I would certainly make concessions for your time similar to those I’ve made with Seven. I would make sure not to impact your school work, perhaps find something you could do remotely.”

“I-uh, thanks Jumin, if it comes to—thanks.”

The only times Yoosung feels at ease that week are when he’s working with animals and when he’s alone with Seven. Even when they discuss what kind of things that might happen this weekend Yoosung feels calmer just knowing Seven has his back.

“What if they want to send you to one of those camps or whatever?” Saeran says giving his brother a shove the night before the dinner.

Yoosung chews on his lip. “I don’t think, I mean I’m an adult they’d have to have my permission right? We’d just leave.”

“Yeah?” Saeran says leaning forward, “What if you can’t just leave.”

“Then I’ll come get him,” Seven frowns shoving his brother back. “Got you back didn’t I?”

Saeran snorts. “And I don’t even suck your dick.”

“Jesus, Saeran,” Seven laughs hitting his brother with a pillow while Yoosung hides his face.

They get up early the next morning. Seven wrapping himself around Yoosung and burying his face in his hair, he whines when Yoosung tries to drag them both out from under the blankets, holding on tighter while his boyfriend laughs and struggles.

They shower together, laughing at one another as they brush their teeth in the shower to save the time Seven had wasted in bed. Seven makes exaggerated sex noises while Yoosung washes his hair and then he pulls the smaller man closer to him and kisses him softly when he sees the blush on his face.

Seven is still in the bathroom with his towel around his waist staring into the mirror when Yoosung is finished getting dressed. “Not that it matters,” Yoosung tries to laugh, “but we’re going to be late.”

Golden eyes turn lazily to him and Seven smiles. “I know I just can’t decide how far to take this today.”

Yoosung looks at the makeup brushes and pencils sitting on the bathroom counter in front of him, next to a new package of daily contacts.

“Wear your glasses,” Yoosung shrugs. “It’s not like it matters right?”

“Are you sure Yoosung? What about—”

“And eyeliner,” Yoosung adds with a smirk, “not for her, I just thinkitscute,” the last few words run together as he loses his nerve.

Seven reaches out and pulls Yoosung against him again, tilting his chin up and staring down at him. “Cutie pie,” he coos and Yoosung can feel himself melt as Seven’s tongue slips into his mouth.

He lets out a small whine when Seven pulls back with a smile.

“We don’t have to go,” Seven smirks, “you could tell her off on the phone and we could spend the day in bed, test out Saeran’s noise canceling headphones?”

Yoosung can feel his ears turning pink and it takes considerable effort to bring himself to push away from his boyfriend. Of course Seven could have simply asked him to sit on his couch and watch him field C&R IT calls for 8 hours and if would have sounded more appealing than whatever they would be walking into at his parents.

“Have you tried turning your boyfriend off and then on again?” Saeran grumbles shoving Seven out of the bathroom.

Seven laughs and grabs the eyeliner off the counter before stumbling into his blushing boyfriend. “Come on,” he laughs, “I could put this on and we could go back to bed.”

Yoosung groans. “No I wa-need to do this. We need to see it through.”

“I guess I did promise Yuna that I’d send her a picture of your Moms face when I took the wig off.”

“What? When?”

“She called yesterday while you were in the bathroom, she also promised to send me baby pictures.”

“What!”

“Cute little Yoosungie baby pictures,” he giggles as Yoosung throws a pair of pants at him.

“Hey,” he laughs falling over, “what am I wearing this for, I thought you wanted her to be surprised.”

“That was past Yoosung,” he frowns digging through Seven’s dresser. “Now I just want to get this over with.”

Seven had spent the evening before carefully braiding the purple wig in case the opportunity arose to be as dramatic as possible and once he’s dressed Yoosung helps him pin the wig on instead gluing it like he normally would.

The two hour drive to Yoosung’s parents house is quiet. Neither of them really know exactly what they’re driving into, Mrs. Kim had asked Sae to surprise Yoosung but it’s not as though Yoosung would still be surprised by the time they got to the house, and Yuna had said they invite their priest to dinner, apparently many of the congregation did this.

Yoosung worried about what Saeran had said, about what would happen if they were prepared to try to force anything on to him.

Seven worried about his temper, and he worried about Yoosung. He could handle how messed up his own family was, and he could handle Yoosung’s parents but he was used to shitty families. Yoosung had grown up thinking his parents were old fashioned but basically good people and now he was watching that dissolve at a terrifying speed. Yoosung had always had his family to fall back on, and Seven hoped that he could pick up the slack.

There was a period where he could see Yoosung staring wide eyed ahead that he wished he’d asked someone else to come with them. Maybe his brother, or Zen. Maybe he could call Jumin and have the entire RFA ready to storm Yoosung’s parents dinner and prove just how perfect he was. Just how fucked up they were for doing this to him.

The Kim’s are waiting for them when he parks the car in front of their house. Yoosung had insisted he bring the Red one, just like he’d insisted that Seven wear his glasses, and dress less femme. Seven wasn’t sure if he was seeing how many boundaries he could push before they burst this bubble. Or if he was proving to himself how little interest they’d taken in Seven so that he could rip the bandaid off easier.

“Father Park,” Yoosung’s mother is introducing them to the man in the sweater vest before they’ve even gotten their shoes off, “this is my son and his girlfriend. I’m so sorry they’re late. Yoosung has never been punctual; I don’t know where he gets it from.”

Seven is pretty sure he can hear Yoosung growling under his breath.

Aside from glances the priest gives them, and the sad look Mrs. Kim has on her face when she thinks Seven can’t see her, there’s nothing particularly unusual about this dinner. Yoosung’s father asks if he’d been surprised but Yoosung shakes his head.

“Sae doesn’t know anyone here, it was pretty obvious where we were going.”

The priest chuckles.

Seven takes as many chances as he can, he asks a number of questions of Father Park, all resulting in mostly moderate, largely open minded answers. He has no idea where this dinner is going or why they continue to get pitying looks from this man. Until they’ve finished dinner and Yoosung is helping Seven clear the table.

“Yoosung,” his father says in that tone he associates with their good cop, bad cop routine, “your mother was not entirely honest about why she asked Sae to bring you here.”

Suddenly Father Park looks very uncomfortable.

“Mom,” Yoosung starts, and Seven can hear how tired he is. It’s kinder than he’s been when speaking of, or to her in weeks. “Mom,” he says again when she doesn’t look at him. “Why don’t you sit down Mom.”

“I am fine Yoosung,” she says with a frown.

“Mrs. Kim it was kind of you to have me for dinner,” Father Park forces a smile, “I believe we discussed this.”

“I understand Father but I think we should all sit down and have this out in front of god and—”

“If Yoosung, would like to talk with me about anything, I would happy to offer him direction but this is—”

“No this is fine,” Yoosung says shaking his head. “It’s alright Father, if my mother wants to do this I’m ok.”

Mrs. Kim narrows her eyes. “Does your girlfriend know, Yoosung?”

“Does my girlfriend know what Mom, come on.”

“Does she know you’re a homo,” his father finishes. The room goes quiet but his father only shrugs. “Or whatever the term is, however you called yourself.”

Seven watches the way Yoosung’s face contorts as he tries to find the words. He watches the way his parents’ eyes narrow on him waiting for his answer. He sees the way the priest is trying his best to avoid eye contact with anyone.

“I don’t have a girlfriend,” Yoosung says quietly. “I’ve never had a girlfriend.”

Seven freezes, is this the moment, is this when he pulls the wig off and shouts something witty and eye opening? But Yoosung isn’t looking at him; he’s staring daggers at his parents.

“Yoosung,” his Mother speaks firmly, “does she know?” She repeats.

“It’s obvious she cares quite deeply for you,” his father continues.

“Did they tell you,” he turns on Father Park, “that they invited me here to, I don’t even know, out me to a person who doesn’t even exist.”

Father Park begins to talk and then stops, they all look at him and suddenly every smart ass comment he’s ever made in the history of his life was gone from his head. So he smiles sheepishly and carefully pulls the wig off, stopping and pulling out the pins that stick. He sets it on the table in front of him and runs his fingers through his hair.

“I look like I care deeply, because I do,” Seven says. “Just like the day I pretended to break his heart so I didn’t have to watch you disown him.”

Yoosung swallows.

“They don’t even feel bad about it.” Mrs. Kim spits.

“I think I should go,” Father Park shakes his head, “you boys should leave too.”

“Is that all you have to say to them?” Yoosung’s mother turns on the priest.

“Mrs. Kim, I am aware some priests hold strong opinions on same sex relationships, I hope that I have never given that impression to my congregation. Love is love and my God respects and cherishes all love.” He turns to the boys, “I can’t exactly say I approve of this elaborate lie but I can respect you doing what you need to do to keep yourself safe.”

“I, t-thank you,” Yoosung stammers, more from shock than anything else.

A flash goes off and everyone looks at Seven. “For the scrap book,” he smirks.

“Do you boys have somewhere to go tonight?” Father Park asks as he puts on his Jacket.

“No thank you, Father,” Seven says, feeling lighter for the affirmation.

“Yoosung,” his mother almost growls as the door closes behind the priest, “this isn’t over; you don’t think we’ll continue to pay for your apartment. I’m going to phone Mr. Han, your charity group should be aware what kind of people they allow in, I’m goin—”

“You were the last person I had to come out to Mom,” Yoosung interrupts her. “Jumin has already offered me a job if you cut me off, Seven and I are founding members of the RFA, and they’re like family, they knew before we knew.” He fumbles with the clasp of the watch and sets it on the table. “This is my tuition if I need it, my boyfriend owns a house if I need a place to stay.”

“Everything seems so simple when you’re young and know everything,” his mother throws up her hands.

“Your mother and I are just concerned about you Yoosung.”

“You’re not concerned about me,” Yoosung shouts. “None of this has been about me, or you would have paid enough attention to the boyfriend I brought home to recognize when I brought him back in a wig. You didn’t recognize his glasses or his car today. You could see a tuft of his hair in the corner of an instagram photo but you didn’t see him sitting right in front of you.”

“We just want you to be happy,” his father tries again.

“You don’t want me to be happy,” his voice is shrill and he manages to laugh before he continues, “I am happy.”

“You’re a shining beacon of happiness,” Seven says carefully stepping up beside him, “that’s why I keep you around.”

Yoosung’s eyes narrow on his parents as he reaches for Seven’s hand. “It’s never been about me,” he says quietly shaking his head and squeezing Seven’s hand so hard it almost hurts, “it’s about what people will think of you. What the ladies at church will say behind your back and that’s not my problem.”

“Yoosung you need us,” his mother says weakly, sitting at the table, “we’re family.”

“You’re not my family,” Yoosung shakes his head, he doesn’t sound sad anymore. Seven hasn’t ever heard Yoosung like this before. Resolved, and confident, “I have Yuna and Joon, and I have Seven, and his brother and the RFA, I have my friends at school, I don’t need you.”

He starts to tug Seven out of the house but Seven stands firm.

“Come on, I want to go,” Yoosung says, not turning around.

“Hey Babe, just a minute,” Seven smiles at Yoosung’s scowling parents and waits for the blond to turn. “I was going to wait until finals but I dunno? I feel like spoiling you to prove a point.”

Yoosung laughs, a genuine laugh.

“Hold out your hand, Babe,” Seven smiles and when Yoosung does what he’s told he drops the Keys to the red car into his palm and closes his fingers around them. “Now you can get to work without the bus, if that’s what you want to do.”

“Saeyoung,” Yoosung whispers letting the taller boy pull him into a hug.

“She was my first car and now she’s yours,” Seven glances at Yoosung’s parents, “I would give you anything in my power to see you safe and happy, I just ask,” his voice cracks a little and Yoosung twists a little to loosen his grip so he can look at him, “I ask that if you want to sell her, you sell her to me.”

Yoosung laughs and shoves him a little. His parents are doing their best to ignore this little display and when Yoosung tugs Seven along behind him to leave Seven stops one last time in the door way to call out jovially, “Thanks for supper Mom and Dad, can’t wait to do it again next week.”

#YooSeven #Luciel Choi #mystic messenger 707 #Yoosung Kim #coming out #mystic messenger

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