#june lee scenarios

[sol-tani]

⟡ : asking them for money

pairings. og members of hummingbird crew x gn!reader/fem!r

genre. fluff, established relationships, prank

warnings. cursing, nose bleed (dom), minu’s is the only one that uses gendered terms.

✶ jay (jahyeon) jo

✶ june (junsu) lee

✶ vinny hong

✶ minu yun

✶ dom kang

𖤓 – please let me know what you all think of this! I want to write more windbreaker content and this is to test the waters for more posts for the characters + I am almost caught up with the webtoon (I’m at pt.4 chapter 20 I think as of now) so perhaps more characters once I get closer to catching up.

© sol-tani — all content belongs to this blog, don’t steal, copy, repost, translate, or claim as your own.

[1-800-hwahui]

three men and a slut

member  |  seungcheol x vernon x chan x fem reader genre  |  smut word count  |  ~2,700 warnings  |  foursome, car sex, dom!cheol, sub!vernon, sub!chan, switch!reader, pet names (princess, puppy, baby, good girl), name calling (slut, whore), possessive cheol, fingering, oral (m receiving), exhibitionism, voyeurism, humiliation, degradation, a little manhandling, some choking, a teeny bit of objectification ?, masturbation (m), creampie (they don't discuss birth control so BE SAFE), no mentions of alcohol but it's kinda implied they're a little tipsy, they're still aware enough to consent though!!, there's no clear relationships but it's mentioned that cheol & reader used to hook up, this is just really rough and nasty car sex, if i missed any please lmk! notes  |  lowercase intended. this is technically the first threesome (well- foursome) i've written so feedback would be really helpful! also i don't usually write sub!idol just bc i personally am not experienced being a dom so that's why i usually write sub!reader, but for this i wanted to try writing it :) also don't laugh at my title i think i'm very clever and funny. this is written completely targeted at @duhnova i hope you suffer (lovingly) merry christmas heathen <3 please note since this was written with nova in mind it may have some things that not everybody enjoys so don't feel obligated to read if it's not something you're into! everybody has different tastes. for those that read it, i hope you like it hehe - 💒 june

minors dni - you will be blocked.

“chan will be here– soon,” you call behind you, stumbling over a crack in the sidewalk as you walk to go sit at a bench outside the club. 

vernon follows behind you, his jacket slung over his shoulder. “are you… coming back to my place?”

“mhm!” you giggle, sloppily pressing your lips against his. your tongue delves into his mouth as he whimpers, his hands falling to your hips and squeezing, pulling you against him so you can feel he's already half hard.

with public indecency charges the furthest thing from your mind, you’re almost considering undressing him right here and now, until a pair of bright white lights engulfs you and a shrill honk sounds behind you.

reluctantly you pull away from vernon, and he quickly reaches out to wipe the little bit of drool from your mouth as you turn towards the black suv.

“hiii, channie!” you sing out as you fling open the back door, vernon teetering after you.

he smiles, calling your name. "so where am i taking you now? your house, or vernon's?"

"mine," vernon says, helping you into the car with a grin before sliding into the passenger seat himself.

the drive starts out fine. until you look up at vernon in the front seat, hooded eyes watching the streetlights go by, and you begin thinking to yourself how pretty his face would be when you sit on his cock.

so you tell him so.

"you wanna… what?" he says, turning around in his seat to face you, his cheeks dusted with pink.

"well, it's not like i haven't before," you frown, scooching to the edge of your seat so you can lean forward to hear him better.

vernon sighs. "not in front of chan, though."

“you know i can hear you guys, right? i’m literally right here,” chan mutters, his eyes glued to the road. “now sit back in the seat and put your seatbelt on, or i’ll pull over.”

“well, you can join,” you sulk, but you slide back into the seat. “you don’t have to be so grouchy about it. do you want me to suck your dick? you probably have a really nice dick, too, would probably fit so nice in my mouth."

vernon whines about something in the front seat, but you can’t hear him, so you lean forward again to hear him. chan sees you out of the corner of his eye and glares at you, turning off at the next freeway exit and pulling into the first empty parking lot.

“can you just– do whatever it is you need to do so i can take you home safely?” he asks, exasperated.

“sure, if you don’t mind watching. or participating,” you say, already climbing up over the center console to sit yourself on vernon’s lap before chan can say anything.

you’re already starting to grind down onto him, but vernon stills your hips and looks over at chan, then back at you. “baby, we can wait til we get back home. don't make him watch if he doesn't want to."

you pout. “no, i want him to watch,” you whine, sliding your hands along vernon’s arms. “want him to see how good you make me feel.”

you look at vernon, and vernon looks over at chan. he coughs awkwardly, his face a bright shade of red that's only half visible in the moonlight. "i… never said i didn't wanna watch," he says finally.

"see! told you," you tell vernon, smacking his shoulder lightly. 

you turn back to face them, both their eyes watching you intently.

"so. who wants to do what first?"

while you’ve been caught up with the two men in the car with you, at the other end of the parking lot, seungcheol is just locking up at his closing shift.

the lot is empty, except for one car a few rows down from his, which is… odd, considering it’s after three in the morning. and when he looks closer, he notices they’ve got their hazard lights on. 

so of course, he can’t just leave without checking it out. somebody might be in trouble.

and somebody is in trouble. you, for cumming without permission, as vernon’s fingers are deep inside your cunt and you lean across the seat to bob your head up and down on chan’s lap.

“can feel you throbbing on my fingers,” vernon moans. he leans his head forward to kiss your hip, but it quickly turns into a bite, his teeth skimming over your ass as he sucks deep bruises into your skin. 

seungcheol is just about to knock on the window and ask if whoever’s inside needs help, when his jaw falls open at the sight in front of him. oh, the way his eyes go wide when he sees your ass, plastered against the passenger side window, your dripping pussy spread open on display with vernon’s fingers shoved into you for anyone who might walk by to see; your pretty lips wrapped around the driver’s girthy cock, spit pooling around the base of it from how hard you’re sucking.

you’re all so consumed with each other, drinking in how pretty you all look all fucked out already, that you don’t even notice your friend watching until vernon moans, rolling his head to the side and seeing seungcheol standing outside, face contorted with emotion.

vernon leans over to tap your shoulder to get your attention, then motions to the window, finally sliding his fingers out of you and wiping your wetness on your breasts.

you turn around, drool trickling from the corners of your mouth as you wipe your hand across your face, smearing it across your chin. you break into a grin and sit back onto vernon’s lap, reaching behind you to open his door. “hi, cheollie.”

chan looks up, breathing heavily as he struggles to recover from the feeling of your perfect, wet little mouth on him. “yo-you know him?” he pants.

“we… used to hook up,” seungcheol says, and if you weren’t so distracted by a million other things you might have noticed the cold tone to his voice. “looks like you’ve moved on, huh, princess?”

“and what if i have?” you giggle, raising an eyebrow daringly.

he tsks, his features morphing into a look you know all too well. “if i’d have known i’d see you tonight, i would’ve brought your collar, puppy,” he says with a sly grin that has vernon and chan’s mouths falling open in shock.

you sit back, placing your hands on vernon's chest. "well, you can join in, too. don't be a brat now, cheollie."

he scoffs. "princess, i think the only brat here is you."

you roll your eyes and point to the back door as you wrap your hand around vernon's cock, slowly beginning to move up and down. "door's unlocked. take it or leave it."

seungcheol just smirks, taking off his jacket and yanking open the door to slide into the backseat.

vernon whimpers as you curl your hand around him, the tips of your manicured nails gently scraping down his length as he bucks up into your hand.

you bring your other hand up to his cheek to kiss him. "you're the lucky one tonight, darling," you tell him. "you get to fuck me."

he groans, and he swears he'll cum on the spot, but then you're sinking down onto his cock and the car fills with his pretty sounds.

as he starts to find a rhythm, you lean back over and reattach your mouth to chan’s cock, painfully hard from so much happening all at once. precum drools from his tip, red and throbbing, and he sighs in relief when you finally begin to swirl your tongue around him.

cheol positions himself in the backseat, muscular legs spread wide as he watches three pretty little sluts whining in the front seat.

he's fine with sitting back and observing for now. he's fucked you enough times, had you in so many positions before, that it's almost nice to have the chance to see someone else ruin you.

but of course, both you and he know that no one makes you cum like he does; even these two cute men you have fawning over you every move, they can't make you scream their names like you would his.

so for now he sits back, patiently waiting for his turn, so he can show these two what it really means to give someone pleasure.

"i'm so close, bab–princess," vernon moans, correcting himself automatically after hearing the names seungcheol called you by earlier.

you clench around him, not used to hearing the familiar word on his lips.

"please, m'bout to cum, can i…" he pants, "…inside? please, i–"

"no."

the deep, stern voice that comes from the backseat is so unexpected, vernon's hips stutter, his orgasm falling away in a matter of seconds.

"you don't get to cum inside," cheol says, finally moving to unbuckle his pants and slip them onto the floor. "that's my job, and my job only." his hard cock slaps against his stomach, aching at the feeling of finally being freed from his pants.

"come on back here, slut," he says gruffly, motioning with two fingers. the same fingers you've had stuffed in your mouth, your cunt, every one of your holes, and that you can't help but imagine cumming on again– even after you've cum so many times already.

you whine but you comply, lifting your hips and letting vernon's cock slip out of you as he lets out a long, low groan.

he twists around in his seat, watching you climb back into the backseat.

"well, what are we supposed to do now?" he whines, gripping his cock with one hand.

"watch," seungcheol barks out, and to your surprise, vernon obeys, sitting back in his seat without complaining, his neck craned behind him to see what you're doing.

cheol grabs you by your shoulders and manhandles you into the seat on all fours, one hand wrapped around the back of your neck.

you wiggle your ass and he gives it a smack, so loud it cuts through the air.

"you ready, little brat?" he growls, rubbing at your skin where his slap left a mark.

"ple-ase?" you whimper, exaggerating the word. it's nowhere near as much begging as he'd usually require, but he's still a guest in this car, so he lets it go. if you ever call him for another late-night fuck, he'll be sure to make you beg twice as hard to make up for it then.

with one hand still grasping your neck, he uses his other hand to line himself up with you, finally pushing into you and bottoming out with one thrust.

he laughs at the way you whine, your hands gripping onto the edge of the seat. "forgotten what it's like to have a real cock in you, hm?" he teases.

you vaguely register vernon whimpering from the front seat, and out of the corner of your eye you can see his hand jerking up and down rapidly, no doubt building himself back up to the orgasm that cheol ruined just minutes ago.

cheol doesn't move, so you begin pushing your hips back against his, setting your own pace as he simply sits there, letting you fuck yourself on him.

but, as you're used to with him, he only allows you to do this for a minute or two before he's gripping your neck more tightly and thrusting into you.

you yelp at the sudden change of pace, your head falling forward as you hang onto the seat beneath you for dear life.

"you like it like this, don't you?" he groans, his hips slamming against yours so hard you're sure they'll leave your ass bruised when he’s finished. "my little whore, so greedy for a nice, thick cock, you'll do anything, won't you?"

you know he's expecting an answer, but his brutal pace barely allows you time to breathe, let alone speak. so all you can do is whimper in agreement, trying your best to nod but getting lost in the motion of his perfectly angled thrusts that have your knees shaking.

"three of us here with our own personal slut, to use however we want," he continues, giving your ass another hard slap that makes you clench around him.

with quite a bit of effort, you manage to lift your head to see how your other partners are doing.

vernon is still turned around, intensely focused on watching you, and he still has his hand around his cock, pumping furiously. his eyes dart back and forth between your cunt, where cheol is relentlessly fucking into you, and your face, where your features are probably scrunched up in pleasure.

chan must've just cum, and for a second you're disappointed you missed it– you would've loved to have seen the pretty faces he makes when his orgasm overtakes him. but then you see the way his head falls back against the headrest, his chest heaving as he tries to catch his breath, and you're just happy you get to see him like this afterwards. both his hand and the steering wheel in front of him are covered in thick, white ropes.

one particularly well-timed thrust brings your attention back to the man fucking you, your arms buckling and you fall to your elbows, back arched and ass in the air.

"are you gonna cum, little slut?" he coos, his voice deceivingly sweet. "go on, princess, cum all over my cock."

and like magic you feel your walls contract at his words, an orgasm you didn't even see coming hitting you with so much force you nearly fall off the seat. 

it feels like your high lasts forever, wave after wave of immense pleasure slamming into you as cheol fucks you through your orgasm, not once letting up.

he leans over you, wrapping one muscular arm around your body and holding you close. "you still want me to cum inside?" he breathes into your ear, and you nod rapidly, humming out a 'yes' as best you can.

"p-please, ch-cheollie…" you murmur, your eyes squeezed shut as you struggle to recover. "wanna f-feel you. wanna be f-full of you."

"good girl." you can feel him smile against your skin before he lets go, sitting back up and bringing both his hands to your hips, giving him more momentum to push himself into you.

every thrust starts hitting deeper than the last, a telltale sign he's getting close, too.

with a guttural moan he buries his cock in you one last time, pushing in all the way to the hilt before you hear him let go and you can feel each rope of thick cum that he pumps into you.

when he's finally finished cumming, he lets out a long exhale, his hands gliding over your body soothingly. he stays inside you for another minute before he pulls out, his cum already beginning to leak out of you, spilling down your trembling thighs. immediately you push your fingers into yourself to keep it in, and cheol grins. "mm. good, obedient whore," he coos, the sweetness in his voice no longer fake as he leaves one more playful smack to your aching rear.

you look up to see vernon, who came all over himself, his shirt stained with white as he sits in the passenger seat, eyes fluttering shut.

chan, having gotten over his orgasm earlier, is pouting in the driver's seat, complaining about how he's going to have to deep-clean his car again after it's been thoroughly covered in cum.

and finally, cheol. he slips his pants back on, struggling a bit in the cramped space, then opens the back door and hops out of the car.

he nods at the two in the front. "nice meeting you. now take good care of her."

vernon opens his mouth to say something, but quickly closes it, deciding not to. 

seungcheol waves behind him as he walks across the lot to his car.

"you know where to find me if you want me again."

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[junekissed]

figure skates & cocoa dates

day thirteen of junkissed’s winter wonderland event

member — bf!chan x figure skater!reader genre — fluff, humor word count — 2.3k synopsis — chan is a great dancer, but unlucky for him, his coordination doesn’t carry through to the ice. lucky for you, you know exactly how to teach him. warnings — chan is really bad at skating, lil bit of smooching at the end notes — lowercase intended. thanks so much for all the support on this series i love you all very much :) happy new year!

one reblog = one hot cocoa kiss

“i don’t know why i let you talk me into this.”

chan groans, gripping the railing for dear life with one gloved hand. his other hand holds firmly in yours, squeezing your fingers until they turn white.

“i’m just surprised we’ve never gone skating together before now,” you giggle. usually when you wanted to go ice skating you’d invite your friends, who, like you, have been taking figure skating lessons since before they could walk. helping your boyfriend learn how to skate for the first time is completely new territory for you both.

loud pop music plays over the outdoor rink’s speakers as couples holding hands skate past you two, bundled up in winter coats and mittens.

you try to hold back a laugh as he lets go of the railing for a split second before grabbing back on tight, arms flailing, desperately trying to regain his balance.

for being such a good dancer, he’s completely out of his element on the ice. it’s almost endearing how bad he is at it. but everyone has to be bad at something, you figure; you can’t come up with choreography to save your life, he can’t skate to save his.

he looks down at your feet as you keep your balance easily on the thin blades. you tug him along at a snail’s pace as he purses his lips and holds onto the side of the rink tighter, his legs wobbling uncontrollably.

“how do you do it so easily?” he says, guiding his palms along the cold metal railing. he watches as you skate around in front of him and keep your pace, guiding him forwards while you skate slowly backwards.

“years and years of practice,” you admit with a grin. “but i’ve always loved figure skating. when i was little i wanted to skate in the olympics.”

“you’d win a gold medal for sure,” he teases as he trips over his feet. his grip on your hands tightens and you catch him, using the railing to help pull him back up before he can fall to the ground.

“i’m not that good,” you laugh. you can do a few simple turns, sure, but anyone can do that with a few lessons and a lot of practice. it’s nothing compared to the triple and quad jumps and complex tricks real olympic athletes can do.

“better than me, that’s for sure.”

he clutches to the side of the rink, dragging himself along with every step. you sigh. if he doesn’t let go of the wall soon, he’ll never get to skate properly. everyone else at the rink was gliding across the ice, or at the very least, stumbling along holding someone’s hand. but then again, it probably wasn’t their first time at a couple’s skate.

and there was chan, who hadn’t taken his hands off the railing since the moment he stepped onto the ice. 

“let me teach you. please?” you say, slowing to a stop. “but you have to get away from the wall, baby.”

his eyes flick up to you. “not a chance,” he snorts. “i’m staying right here.”

you fold your arms over your chest and pout. “fine. i’m going to skate by myself, then.”

panic flashes across his face. “wait, no, you can’t just leave me here–”

by now you’d worked your way halfway around the rink, farthest away from the exits. there’s no way he’d make it back on his own.

raising your eyebrows in a challenge, you let go of his hand and skate away from him, just barely out of reach. his eyes grow wide as he starts to fall forward, but at the last second he catches hold of the railing with both hands and awkwardly pulls himself back up. 

you giggle and skate away, quickly moving to the center of the rink, picking up speed as you glide gracefully across the ice. 

you skate a quick lap around the rink, every so often adding a little turn or a spin. yeah, maybe you were showing off a little, but you were having a blast.

out of the corner of your vision you keep an eye on chan, making sure he hasn’t gotten lost somehow. but no, he’s still glued to the railing, not moved an inch since you’d left him. from the other end of the rink you wave at him, smiling proudly.

finally you decide you’re done torturing him, and you make your way back around to where chan is still standing, hugging the wall. 

“thanks for the show,” he laughs. “are you gonna help me now?”

you stay in front of him, just barely an arm’s length away. “no, not unless you get off the wall.”

he frowns, still not budging. “you can be so stubborn sometimes.”

you smirk. “look who’s talking.”

he rolls his eyes. “fine,” he huffs. 

gingerly he leans away from the rail, letting go with just one hand. instantly you move closer, holding out your hands for support. he grabs your arm, and finally lets go of his other hand. he was still less than a few feet away from the wall, but it was progress, and you’d take anything you could get. 

you weren’t even moving, yet his legs still wobbled like a toddler learning to walk. you stood still, waiting for him to get his balance without the help of the wall.

“see, you got it! no more railing!”

“wonderful.”

you knew it’d be easier once he started moving. his fear of falling was making him too tense, and the more afraid he was to fall, the greater the chances were that he’d actually fall. 

a triumphant grin begins to creep across your face. “ready to start going?” you ask.

he sighs. “ready as i’ll ever be, i guess.”

you give him an encouraging smile and slowly slide your right foot back, dragging your left along behind it a moment later. chan watches intently, trying to follow along with the movement. you move your thumb gently along his hand, trying to keep him calm. if he freaked out and started flailing again, he was guaranteed to fall and bring the both of you crashing down.

you glance down at his legs, spread far apart. his knees were shaking. 

“you– baby, straighten your legs a little,” you giggle.

he stiffens his legs completely, almost causing him to fall over.

you try to hold in a laugh. “okay, not that much! bend your knees, just a little– there you go.”

you move forward from his side so you’re facing him skating backwards again, and he holds onto your hands tightly. “bring your feet closer together and move them back at an angle, it’ll make you go forward.”

“is this what they teach you in the olympics?” he jokes, a nervous look on his face. you knew he was trying his best, despite his aversion to skating, and you appreciated the effort. this would probably be the last time you go skating together, but it’s the thought that counts.

you laugh, squeezing his hands. “oh, yes, it’s a very advanced technique. you should be honored i’m teaching you all our secrets.”

as you start to move backwards, chan straightens slowly, watching your legs and mirroring your position, keeping his knees bent slightly like yours. 

“you got it,” you say, trying to encourage him. you smile. “you’re doing great, you know. better than i was the first time i put on a pair of skates.”

“okay, well, now you’re just lying to make me feel better,” he says, looking back up at you.

you laugh, raising an eyebrow. “is it working?”

he teeters forward, and you pull him back upright. he gains his balance again, faster than he had before, and he grins. “you know, i think it is.”

when you finally reach the other side of the rink, having completed a full lap, chan decides he’s ready to try skating on his own. 

“are you sure?” you ask, surprised.

“might as well,” he chuckles. “if i fall, then i fall. can’t avoid it forever.”

you grin. this is exactly what you’d wanted him to realize. “okay. i’ll be right here the whole time,” you say, skating back to his side and holding out your arm.

slowly he lets go of your hand, then the other. you keep them close for support, but now he stands fully on his own. he wobbles forward, awkwardly shuffling his skates back and forth, but he manages to keep his balance.

he makes it forward a couple feet, and he turns to you, grinning. “i got it!”

but as he turns to tell you his accomplishment, he trips and reaches out, swinging his arms, trying to regain his balance.

your hands shoot out to try to catch him, but he’s moving too fast for you to yank him back up. he falls flat on his ass, pulling you down with him, and you land between his legs, tangled up in a mess of arms and legs.

you burst out laughing, still holding onto his hands. his worried expression lifts, seeing that you hadn’t been hurt by his clumsiness. “sorry,” he says, choking out a laugh. 

“it was gonna happen, sooner or later,” you say, giggling as you pull yourself to your feet. you stick out a hand to help him up. 

“did you see me, though?” he asks proudly, taking your hand. 

“i did! you were doing great,” you grin, grabbing his shoulders and turning him so you can dust the ice off his backside. 

the music changes suddenly, a slow song coming over the speakers. the strings of lights around the edge of the rink change color, dimming to a deep orange. 

“couples skate only,” the dj hums into the microphone. “if you don’t have a partner, time for you to get off the ice.”

chan turns to you, a smile spreading across his face. “may i have this dance– er, skate?” he asks, holding out his hand. 

you grin and take his hand. “i would love to.”

he leads you out farther out into the center of the rink, still fairly close to the wall but a lot farther than he’d been before. you raise your eyebrows at him, and he winks at you, slowly starting to make loops on the ice.

it’s still far from perfect; he trips and loses his balance a few times, but you don’t fall again for the rest of the night.

once the song ends, you skate together for a little while longer, but you’re both exhausted. it’s finally time to go home.

“see, you weren’t that bad,” you say as you skate towards the exit, still holding his hand.

he laughs, his expression doubtful.

“and i’m not lying this time!” you add.

when you finish unlacing your skates and putting your outdoor shoes back on, you walk into the small cafe tent set up next to the rink. the inside of the tent is lined with heaters, and small tables and chairs are scattered around the space. strings of colorful lights hang from the top of the tent, giving the cafe a warm glow.

you buy paper cups of hot chocolate and walk back to the car to sit, a much more private spot than the tables. chan turns the key in the ignition, quickly cranking the heater up to the max. soon, the car warms up enough for you to shed some of your layers of clothes.

you relax back into the passenger seat, sipping your drink. he reaches over the center console, resting one hand on your thigh. you cover his hand with yours, absently playing with the cuff of his sweater.

“i had a lot of fun tonight,” he says. the atmosphere in the car is quiet and calm. “i didn’t think i’d be very good at it, but i did have fun.”

you smile, lacing your fingers through his. “ i knew you would. or if you didn’t, at least it’d be funny watching you fall,” you tease.

he rolls his eyes, but he’s smiling.

you set your cocoa in the cupholder and lean across the seat, cupping his head to press a gentle kiss to his cheek. 

he leans towards you, meeting your lips halfway. his fingertips on your jaw are ice cold, but his lips are warm and sweet. you smile into his mouth, tasting the chocolate on his tongue. or maybe it was your own hot chocolate you were tasting. either way, you love the feeling of his lips on yours, light and soft as freshly fallen snow. 

finally you pull away, running your hand along his head and tangling your fingers in his hair. he presses one last chaste kiss to your lips before leaning back into his seat.

“next time, i’m taking you snowboarding,” he says. 

you frown. “you know i’m not good at it,” you say, imagining yourself tumbling down the side of a mountain. 

“i’ll teach you.”

“there’s no rails on a mountain. what if i fall?”

“you can hold onto me, then.”

he looks excited about the idea, you don’t have the heart to say no. it was only fair; he’d tried what you liked, so the least you could do is try snowboarding with him. “fine. but only because it’s you. if anyone else asked, i’d say no.”

he smiles, letting his hand fall back to your lap. “even if you don’t like it, it’ll be funny watching you fall,” he teases, grinning.

“chan!”

“kidding, kidding. you know i love you.”

you pretend to pout. “do i know that?”

he reaches over and angles your chin up, pressing another long, affectionate kiss to your lips. “now you do,” he says, pulling away. 

“you’re so mean,” you mutter, but the wide smile on your face reveals how you really feel.

you can only hope this snowboarding date will go as well as your skating date went.

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[sohnric]

millennium bug – e. sohn

pairing: eric sohn x fem! reader

genre: 90s au, twenty-five twenty-one au, brother's best friend au, childhood friends au, fluff, slice of life, coming of age. older brother! sunwoo. essentially just eric being baek yijin. oct-nov scenes inspired by weak hero class 1. no plot just vibes im sorry

warnings: minimal swearing and thats all lol

word count: 19k

a/n: posting a fic for a new fandom is always so scary pls be nice to me deobiblr bc im literally abt to cry. also yes i am calling this a 2521 au bc the plot is so heavily inspired it might just be one. a special thank you goes out to @csenke for dragging me into stanning this group i am enjoying myself 🤞

there are some pros and cons to not having friends growing up. cons: you're always forced to tag along with your brother and his group wherever he goes. pros: his childhood best friend is kind of hot.

JUNE OF 1999

Being Kim Sunwoo’s younger sister is no bed of roses sometimes.

Sure, you get the occasional excitement of having him bring you rollerskating with you down the hill or the ever so rare moments of him defending you in front of your mother when you two have done something wrong (while never saying he was in on the bad act as well, of course), but more than often, you are met with his disgusted looks and insults whenever the two years older boy passes by your room and casually bangs at the door just to spite you.

His snarky looks are especially ones to remember. Maybe it’s because he offers them to you often– much like in this very moment, completely unprovoked, and completely not by your fault.

“But mum–”

“I already told you, Sunwoo,” your mother looks at him with a stern look in her eye, the one that makes chills run down your spine, “you can go if you take Y/N with you.”

“But nobody’s bringing their sister! Mum, come on–”

“Take it or leave it, young man.”

And see, your brother may be 19 years old, but he’s still in need of getting permission to leave the house if it includes an overnight stay. It’s an unspoken rule he always follows, since he’s usually granted the right to leave, but the result of his conversation was different than what he expected this time. And see, you may be just two years younger than him (one year left until you are an adult), but even though your mother is too busy to take care of you and entertain your slowly adultling self on most days because of her highly demanding job, she always makes sure that you don’t stay alone for long, and that’s exactly why (you realize, contrary to your brother) she insists on making you tag along on Sunwoo’s trip to the beach house with his friends.

The male grunts and turns on his heel, not giving your mother another response– and with this, you know she won. And that means you’ll have to pack your bag soon, because you know that there’s no way Sunwoo would miss going to the beach house with his friends– even if it meant making his little sister tag along.

And sure enough, Lee Juyeon’s minivan pulls up into your driveway only a few hours later, and the sound of the honking outside is enough for your older brother to aggressively drag you outside of the house, shutting the door behind you and hollering an angry “Bye mum!” to your mother. Your figure is handled with the least amount of care possible as you’re thrown towards the white van, the door opened and 5 heads already peeking out with expecting eyes, waiting for your brother’s arrival.

“My mum made my stupid sister go with me, so I hope we have space for one more,” Sunwoo huffs as he throws his bag into the trunk, slamming it with more force than was necessary (boy does he know how to throw a scene), an encouraging voice of none other than Juyeon– the driver himself– landing in your ear. 

“Sure, just hop in!”

With that, your feet finally unglue themselves off the ground and bring you into the vehicle. You’re familiar with his friends– since a scenario like this hasn’t happened for the first time and you had to spend your fair time with Sunwoo’s circle growing up, mainly because you never really had many friends yourself. You’re not close with any of them, though, and you’re sure you haven’t seen half of them for ages. 

Lee Juyeon is the responsible one of the group. You’re comfortable with the fact that he’s the driver, since you’re not entirely sure if you’d trust any of the other men in this space behind the wheel (you fear the day your brother gets a driver’s license. You'd bet a million dollars that he’ll die while driving recklessly one day). Next to him on the passenger’s seat is Choi Chanhee, his best friend, carrying a map in his hands and twirling it in all possible directions to get his friend on the right track. In the three-seat behind those two is Ju Haknyeon, Ji Changmin and your brother himself, and in the very back of the whole van, almost in the trunk, you’re sat next to Eric Sohn– your brother’s childhood best friend.

“Hi guys,” you offer a greeting to all of them, settling into the uncomfortable leather seat (that’s peeling off, just by the way), watching as the rest of the men pay you no mind and ignore your voice, falling into a comfortable conversation with each other.

Sighing, because this always happens– your brother gets too annoyed because he has to bring you with him all the time, and you imagine his friends aren’t fond of the fact either– you settle deeper into the seat and cross your hands on your chest, looking outside of the window. You can’t imagine enjoying your trip now, since you feel like you’re a nuisance, a child they have to take care of (yes, it embarrasses you just the tiniest bit, you have to admit. Although, you do enjoy getting out of the house from time to time), and the fact that your feelings were probably more than justified and also true has you pouting, an unsatisfied feeling weighing at your lungs.

“Hi,” a voice resonates from your side, the sight of a smiling Eric peering at you taking you off guard. You didn’t expect anyone to react to your greeting– not so delayed anyway– and the sight of your brother’s best friend carrying on in the conversation with you has you shocked beyond belief. “Excited?”

Finding yourself hum in agreement– how much you are still excited for the pool and for the sun, you’re not really sure– and although you are upset, something about his open and nice demeanor has you visibly relaxing, the sparkles inviting themselves back into your eyes. “I’ve never been to the beach,” you admit, seeing Eric gasp at you in surprise.

“Really?” he asks. “I go every year with my parents.”

“Well,” you hum, “you know how my mother is…” you sigh, chewing on the inside of your cheek. It’s easier to joke about it than to actually let the fact get to you– with your mother being the main news anchor, she is too busy to actually go on trips and form bonds with her own children sometimes. That’s why you spent most of your childhood at Eric’s family’s house in the first place– this is what made you the closest with Sunwoo’s same aged friend. His parents were nice enough to let you stay over and have sleepovers whenever your mum had to leave suddenly and take week-long trips abroad, or have emergency shifts during late evenings. 

Eric hums, sympathizing with you. “Well, at least you get to experience it now!”

“Yeah,” you awkwardly nod, playing with the hem of your jean shorts. It’s the shorts you made yourself by cutting the legs off your favorite pants after you grew out of them and they got too short, and they’re starting to look a little worn-out now. Maybe you should beg your mum to get you some new clothing.

The conversation between the boys grows in volume, doing nothing to help you to relax in the crowded vehicle. You can’t really find a place to fit yourself in and talk, the topics too unfamiliar for you and the feeling of not even being welcome in the discussion sitting heavy on your chest, when a finger bears itself to the flesh of your thigh, making you snap your head around to gape at the source of the contact. Eric looks at you with a boyish grin, sparkles evident in his eyes.

“Wanna see something?” he asks.

“Sure.”

The male digs around his backpack, hands searching through the contents of his bag for only a couple of seconds– since he’s the neat one, contrary to your messy brother– before he takes out a small gadget: a square with a little screen on top, a silver, circular button space sitting big in the very middle of the device. Eric throws the thing into your lap, smiling when you take it into your hands and examine it with curious eyes.

“Have you seen one before? My dad got it for me last week,” he boosts, satisfied with your reaction to it. 

Your mother’s job pays quite well– meaning that you usually have the latest gadgets, the latest trends– but if you’re being honest, you haven’t seen one of these in real life before. Yes, you caught a glimpse of an ad for it in the town center, on one of the big billboards while passing by to get to school in the morning, so you know that it’s an MP3 player, but still; this was your first time touching one and examining it in real life. 

“How does it work?” you ask, watching as the boy scoots from his seat to the middle one, so he is now sitting directly next to you, before he takes out wired headphones from the first department of his backpack and turns the little square over in his hands, finding where the jack goes.

“You put those in,” he says, plugging in the headphones, “and then you press this…” he explains, taking the device out of your hand and pushing on the power button for a few seconds, “and then it should play.”

Watching him with expecting eyes, the boy finally puts the MP3 player back into your hold. Then, his fingers swiftly put the respective earphones into your ears– like you’d do to a little kid that has no idea how they work, making you a little flushed at the action– and after that, you’re left with the sound of an unfamiliar song playing in your ears, making the sound of the chatter in the van completely tune out. Eric keeps on watching you, a sense of pride in his eyes as you nod at him, all excited with the new explory, before he takes one of the earphones out of your ear, grinning.

“Cool, isn’t it?”

“Yeah,” you nod. “The song is good,” you dumbly say, watching as the boy next to you pridefully nods at the compliment, resting his back against the car seat. 

“It’s the H.O.T album. My dad says they’re good,” he mumbles, moving the headphone he took from you and placing it into his ear, making you nod at him in acknowledgement. The action has your insides bubble with disappointment, thinking that the fun is over as you reach for the other earphone as well, offering it to the male.

Eric looks at you with a shocked pout, shaking his head. “No, we can share!” he says, pointing towards your ear. “If you want, of course.”

The action has you smiling, a shy nod escaping out of you as you reach and put the earphone back into your ear, letting yourself fall deeper into the car seat, listening to the song from Eric’s MP3 player. You’re grateful for his presence– he didn’t have to keep up a conversation with you. He could ignore you, just like the rest of his friend group always has. Maybe it was something about the two of you growing up together that always made the boy at least a bit more affectionate towards you than the rest.

You spend the car ride to the beach house with Eric leaning on your side, listening to music and his occasional blabbering about how his previous days went. 

Somehow, you're glad the seat beside him was the only vacant one when you arrived to the vehicle.

YOUR SEVENTH BIRTHDAY, 1989

You don't quite remember when you met Eric for the first time, if you’re being completely honest. The first memory you have of him is of your seventh birthday party, although you’re almost certain the boy’s been present at some point of your life before– at one point, you think you saw a picture of him and Sunwoo, two chubby toddlers, watching you as you laid on a blanket on the ground somewhere in your photo album. As far as you’re concerned, he may as well have been there when your mother brought you back from the hospital– although you think he must have been too young for that back then.

The first memory you have of Eric Sohn is the day you turned seven– a gloomy, sad day that in the moment, you prayed you wouldn’t have to remember in the first place.

It was already established that while your brother is the social butterfly, you don’t have a big friend group. Actually, you could count the number of your friends on one hand, and since the amount wasn’t as big, your mother allowed you to invite them all over to your house to celebrate your birthday with you. 

She baked a cake, she decorated the living room, hell, she even took a day off from work– something you deemed special, for it doesn’t happen often– and as you sat on the floor of your living room, the cake standing proud on the small coffee table, waiting for your friends to arrive, you hummed a song under your breath, the clock slowly passing the time you agreed for them to come over and celebrate.

At first, you didn’t mind it– everybody gets late sometimes, it’s okay. It was just a birthday party, and you had a lot of time. Not everything had to be set on schedule.

But the closer the clock moved to being one hour, than two after the time your friends were supposed to come, you grew worried. Your mother’s nervous pacing around the living room and her heavy sighs as she sat next to you on the floor, smiling at you in what you can only explain as sad way made you more and more anxious about the fact that you only had three friends, but all three of them seemed to not care enough to come celebrate your birthday with you. And as your mother finally took the final bow in the form of a soft hand on your inner thigh, her tone gentle as she called your name– “Y/N, I think we should light the candles,” you began to tear up.

You were supposed to eat the cake with your friends. You were supposed to hear them sing the birthday song to you. You were supposed to turn on the radio and dance around with your classmates, eat the sweets and unwrap the cheap, but heartfelt gifts they brought along with them to celebrate your birthday. 

But none of these scenarios were happening, and you felt incredibly, incredibly lonely and sad. Forgotten, if you will. Not cared for, definitely.

Hiding your face into your hands, you started to cry. This disappointment was too big for your small heart to take, and you no longer cared about the cake, the candles, the seaweed soup your mother cooked for you to celebrate, the gifts, or the party. All you wanted to do was hide in your room and never come out– something about the whole situation felt deeply embarrassing, and to this day, the moment before the whole day turned around still makes you feel a bit ashamed of yourself. 

Too busy crying, you didn’t notice your older brother watching you with big bambi eyes, a worried glance sent your way each time your sobs grew louder and louder. And maybe the boy only wanted to taste the cake (he’s been bugging your mum about it since the very morning, but he was always sent off with a scolding look telling him that he’ll get a slice when everyone arrives), but no matter what his true intentions were, his actions still managed to pull your seventh birthday party together in a way you never imagined.

The sound of the front door faintly resonated in your brain somewhere in the middle of your aimless sobbing, but you paid it no mind, thinking it was just Sunwoo going out to the yard to kick the ball. See, your older brother had never really known what to do when you cried growing up– it didn’t matter if he was the reason for your tears or if anyone else was. If he was the reason for your emotional outbursts, he tried to shut you up with his palm and get you to stop crying before his mother found out and gave him a scolding, but if someone else was, the small boy sometimes turned angry at the source. Kicking his classmate that once made a snarky comment about you and made you tear up or punching his friend when he was too harsh with you was all he knew to do in these situations, so he wasn’t the one to comfort you with words or hugs. It was only natural for him to escape in this situation.

You were brought to a state of shock and surprise when a hand landed on your shoulder, a familiar voice breaking you from your emotional turmoil.

“Why are you crying? We have to eat the cake!” you heard, your big, sad eyes meeting the small figure of the boy living next door, your brother nervously stepping from one side to the other right behind his best friend. “Can you light the candles, Mrs?” Eric politely asked your mum, pointing towards the cake waiting sadly at the coffee table, the figure of your mother leaving your side only shortly to get the matches from the kitchen and illuminate your face with the small flames.

Confusion mirrored your features as you watched your brother and his best friend sing the birthday song to you while your mum lit your candles, both boys clapping and dancing around, acting silly just to get a laugh from you. You didn't know how Eric got there, but you guessed there are some good sides to having him as your neighbor. The energetic boy did his best to brighten up your mood a bit, and when you blew out the candle, making a wish, Sunwoo even went as far as smashing your face into the cake to bring in the full birthday authenticity.

That got him a slap to the back of his head from your mother, as well as made you stand up from your position– no longer making you look like a disappointed bulk of pity– and chase him around the room, icing falling off your nose to the laminated floor. You got your revenge and smeared the chocolate all over his forehead (he let you chase him down only because it was your birthday and he really, really hated to see his sister cry, but he won’t ever tell you that) and as the three of you sat back down to the floor, watching your mother slice the cake and offer it to you on small white plates, you realized you suddenly weren't as sad anymore.

“What did you wish for?” Eric asked you, mouth full of cake and face messy with chocolate.

“I can’t tell you,” you hummed, eyebrows furrowed. “Then it won’t come true.”

“You probably wished for that doll you saw in the store the other day,” Sunwoo snickered as he swallowed, having you glare at him and send a sharp kick to his shin, unwatched by your mother (thankfully), as the boy fought you back, having no mercy.

Music suddenly filled the room as Eric stood up and put the radio on, his 9 year old brain smart enough to know how the device worked, his small figure dancing away to the songs playing on the single radio station you could play without carefully sorting out the antenna so it faced the north, and truly, you didn’t know how it happened, but it had you standing up and dancing around, exactly how you'd imagined doing with your friends from school.

The day wasn’t ruined– quite the opposite, really. It was one of your favorite birthday parties, and ever since then, Eric was invited to every single one you had after. And while Sunwoo may act like he doesn’t hate anything more in this world than having a younger sister, every time you feel like a burden to him, you remember this very afternoon.

You will never tell anyone what you wished for that day– but just to let everyone in on the secret, 

it was to somehow, just like Sunwoo, find someone like Eric for yourself as well. 

JUNE OF 1999

Standing at the side of the pool, eyes squinting from the inevitable force of the sun, you’re starting to regret your decision of coming along just a little. See, you usually don’t protest whenever Sunwoo aggressively drags you around and brings you everywhere he’s supposed to, because even though you love to see your brother angry (especially when you’re the reason behind the emotion), you’d also hate to see him miss out, but now, as the scorching hot sun is having no mercy on every exposed inch of skin– and believe me, there’s a lot of it, since you’re wearing your swimming trunks– and the sweat on your forehead is no longer culminating in beads, but rolling painfully slowly down your forehead, you do admit you’d be a little bit happier in the shade of your little room than here, watching the guys play volleyball in the comfort of the freezing cold pool.

And as the only female around the house, you settle with the patriarchy and bring out a small folding chair and a camping table alongside with a big, sharp knife, struggling to hoist up the giant watermelon you got in a grocery store on your way to the beach house, with the intention of cutting it and serving it to the guys later. Who knows, maybe they’ll like you a little more after that. 

The knife sinks into the thick green skin of the watermelon easily, and so as you accompany yourself with the excited (and not so excited screams coming from the losing side of the game– mainly your brother himself), you cut up the fruit into halves, then quarters, and as you stare at the moon crescents settled on the camping table, you decide to play nice and cut up the fruit into smaller triangles as well, to really get on everyone’s good side.

The yearning for male validation awakes in a woman pretty early on in life. It’s an inevitable misfortune.

“Told you Sunwoo’s all talk but no game!” you hear Haknyeon yell out as the game seemingly ends, the younger boy lunging at him in the pool, fighting him for the truthful words. Glancing at the commotion, you notice the guys slowly getting out of the pool, making you heave out in victory– you’re finally gonna have your turn in the pool. Well, if they don’t decide to occupy it again before you even get a chance to get in.

“Y/N! You cut up the watermelon?” Eric asks a very obvious question, walking up to you with beads of water all over his half-naked body. His dark hair is damply sitting against his forehead, making him look like a wet puppy, but as the male gets closer to you, he drags his palm through the locks and pushes them back, revealing his forehead– a sight sweet to your eyes, but you refuse to pay it much attention in the heat of the moment. It’s just the sun making you delirious as the idea of finding him attractive flashes through your brain, that’s all. 

“I did! Take one,” you smile, watching as the rest of the guys walk over to your little stand– while also obnoxiously swatting out water out of their hair like dogs, refusing to use towels like normal people– and finally, there it comes: appreciative smiles appear on their faces as they each take a piece, biting down on the fruit with delighted sighs.

Sunwoo walks up to you with a surprised look on his face, sighing as he messes with your hair. “If I knew you’d be our servant, I wouldn’t have even minded you going in the first place.”

“You do something nice for people and they jump on the chance to exploit you,” you hum, shaking your head in disbelief. “That’s just like you, Kim Sunwoo.”

“No, that’s just me having older brother privileges.”

“I hope you choke on that, you know,” you bite at him, pointing towards the piece of sweet watermelon in his hands, the smile on his face turning bitter. There’s a satisfied look on your face when your brother does, indeed, choke on a watermelon seed a few seconds later– and they say dreams don’t come true.

“You didn’t have to,” you hear Eric speak up from the other side, your head turning to face the male, his features appreciative and warm. “Thank you,” he beams. There’s redness on the tip of his nose and his forehead, signaling his quickly approaching sunburn, and you can’t help but laugh out at his clueless, Rudolph the red nosed reindeer self. 

“What’s so funny?” he asks, furrowing his eyebrows at you in question.

“Nothing,” you peep, “you just look like you forgot to use sunscreen,” you mumble, watching as the male gasps and touches his face, a horrified expression overtaking him when the skin under his fingertips burns to the touch. 

“I didn’t forget! It must have rubbed off in the pool,” he mourns, “I must look stupid!” 

“Only a little,” you tease, a grin overtaking your features. See, there’s something about the fact that you’ve known Eric for the entirety of your whole life that makes you more prone to teasing him– you’re familiar with your dynamics and just how far you can go, so his next actions startle you just the tiniest bit as the male looks sternly at you, throwing the half-eaten watermelon slice to the camping table. You thought you had the risks calculated– apparently, you didn't.

“What did you say?”

Examining his features, seeing no signs of anger– just the stoic, fakely-offended face of your brother’s childhood best friend– you shrug. “That you look a bit stupid with your face like that.”

“Oh, okay,” he nods, “you’re going down for that.”

“What do you mea–”

Your words are cut short when the male lunges at you, his arms enveloping your thighs and holding you up. The contact of his cold skin from the pool and your heated figure makes goosebumps appear all over your body, your hands instinctively reaching around him to support yourself as he walks closer to the pool– his intentions are suddenly painfully clear and you start to panic. 

“This will teach you to respect your elders,” Eric huffs, the turquoise surface of the water slowly coming into your point of view.

“Stop! Stop-stop-stop,” you squirm, kicking your feet and trying to take down the predator, “I’m sorry! I’m sorry, alright?”

The male takes a halt for a split second– making you foolishly believe he’ll let you off– before he breaks out into a devilish grin and continues to walk to the edge of the pool. “Too late.”

“Eric!” you scream, the volume of your voice resonating through the whole beach, your heart thumping wild against your ribcage with the awaiting process. You’re not even sure what you’re scared of anymore– you can swim and you bet the water will feel nice against the scorching sun– but still, you’re absolutely terrified as the male has no mercy on you, carrying you steadily towards the water. “At least let me tie my hair first! You can dump me in after, I promise,” you mourn, trying to buy yourself more time.

“Alright,” he nods, waiting at the very edge of the pool, leaving you to take the purple scrunchie off your wrist and gather your hair together, preparing to tie it into a bun so it doesn’t get in your way when you’re in the pool. The hair tie is just at the tips of your fingertips, the first loop over the hair ready to be done, when a scream cuts out of your throat.

The feeling of falling suddenly overtakes your body, leaving you no time to prepare yourself for the impact of the cold water against your skin and all up in your nose, since you didn’t pluck it when you were dumped into the pool. The fall only lasts a split second until you’re below the water, the force of it resonating in your ears, and when you finally act on your instincts and stand up in the pool (it wasn’t even that deep in the first place, only reaching to your upper stomach), you cough out all the water and pray to gods you don’t throw up chlorine into the freshly cleaned pool. After you’re done catching your breath and getting oxygen into your lungs again, you do your best at getting all the hair out of your face. 

There is laughter landing into your ears as soon as you manage to get all the water out of them by leaning your head to the side and violently slapping each one, and when your eyes look up, you see an amused Eric Sohn bending over in his waist at your disheveled appearance. 

Grunting and pointing a finger to the criminal that almost made you drown, you huff out. “I’ll kill you! Just you watch.”

Your scrunchie nowhere to be found, forever lost somewhere outside of the beach house, you think, as it flew off your hand in the impact of the attack, shock makes your figure shake alongside of the coldness of the water, making you audibly sigh. 

Yes. You do regret coming along just a little.

JULY OF 1999

Somewhere along the way, Eric Sohn starts acting as if he’s your second older brother. Sure, you’ve known the male your whole entire life and he’s seen you grow up, but it took him 17 years of your life to come to a point where he gives you equal amount of attention whenever he’s over at your house than he does to your brother, and even asks Sunwoo if you’re coming along with them whenever they leave to hang out somewhere else. It’s a change that comes naturally and slowly, and you welcome it unknowingly– the revelation shocks you on a hot summer day, though, when the idea finally comes to you in full force.

You would even argue and say Eric acts more like your brother than your actual sibling does– he asks if you’ve eaten and listens to you when you talk (which Sunwoo never does, well, except from when he’s arguing with you). Eric even compliments your outfits sometimes and lets you borrow his MP3 player from time to time– Sunwoo would never share his things with you, no matter how hard you pleaded and threatened to tell your mum. Yes, your brother's an adult and you’re one year away from becoming one– you still resolve your conflicts through your only parent, though. Some things, you never grow out of.

“I wanna try using the skateboard now, Sunwoo,” you order sternly when the boy finally reaches your destination. You’ve been sitting on the sidewalk for quite some time now, since your brother and his friend decided that they’re gonna try out their new skateboards on the hottest day of the year. Your town doesn’t have fancy skateparks and ramps like the ones you’ve seen in the music videos on TV, so you don’t really know what initially made the two buy those things, but you do admit that even driving up and down the road in front of your house does seem a little fun– so much you’d love to try it.

“What a shame we all wish for things we can’t have,” he shrugs ironically, shaking his head at you from his position above. The male reaches down for his bag, taking out a water bottle and putting it against his plush lips, all while you glare at him from below, still seated in your initial position. Eric comes up to you two, squishing at the soft plastic bottle in Sunwoo’s hold, making the water splash your older brother in the face, leaving a winning grin to be shared between you and the shorter boy, an expression that makes you all warm on the inside. See, at least Eric always has your back.

“You can try mine, if you want,” the latter shrugs, offering you a smile.

“Really?”

“Yeah,” he nods, “why not?”

“I don’t know,” you shrug, “I just didn’t expect you to offer, since as you saw, my dear brother just refused when I asked…” you mumble, standing up from the sidewalk and taking the skateboard into your hand. Eric offers it to you with an outstretched arm and watches as you put the board on the floor, squinting at it with much examination.

“Do you know how to ride it?” he asks.

“No,” you shake your head, “but I mean, if Sunwoo can do it, how hard can it really be?” you joke, seeing as the said boy glares at you, finally finishing his water and dropping the bottle to the ground. 

“I’ll remind you of that statement when you eat shit on the pavement,” he shushes you, rolling his eyes. 

Not paying more attention to the grumpy being that is your own brother, you relocate your attention back to the skateboard on the heated road. You’re lucky you live on a street where cars don’t often drive by, since your neighborhood is on the very edge of the town, so you don’t really fear being run over by a pickup truck. What you do worry about, though, is your lacking sense of balance, which you discovered when you learned how to ride the bike for the first time. While your brother was a professional in no time, it took you weeks to get it right, and so with the idea of riding a board that provides you zero sense of security, you get a bit worried for your own life.

Dragging your hair out of your face and aimlessly trying to tuck it behind your ears– there’s no use in trying though, as the strands slip out just as fast as they found their place– you keep staring at the board only a few centimeters away from your feet, mentally calculating your next move. There’s a noise of a backpack being opened and rustling around in the background of your miserable thoughts, and when you look up to see what’s going on, you notice Eric offering you a small, purple bundle of fabric. 

“What’s that?” you ask, even though the answer is clear as the day– you recognise your own scrunchie with no problem. You’re just surprised to see it in his hold. You thought it was forever buried somewhere in the beach house, since you weren’t able to find it after you got out of the pool, no matter how hard you tried.

“Oh,” he shrugs, amidst a little too nonchalantly, “I found it and figured it was yours, but I forgot to give it back to you then… it seems like you need it now, though,” he offers you an explanation, lips pressed into a thin line that slightly signifies a smile.

“Ah,” you gasp, nodding as you take the hair tie out of his outstretched palm, gathering your hair into a bun and tying it up on the crown of your head– the staring contest you’ve been having with the board is much clearer now, when you don’t have your messy strands in the way. The idea of Eric keeping your scrunchie after finding it at the beach house makes your stomach do a weird kind of turn– you guess it made you a bit weirded out, if you’re being honest.

“Want some help with that?” he asks, pointing towards his skateboard.

Nervous, cracking your knuckles as you meet his eyes– he looks a bit amused, but still genuine– you nod, admitting defeat. There’s no way you’re getting on top of that board without help and not falling down. It’s always better to be safe than to be sorry, and so when Eric laughs airly at your composure and takes a few steps closer towards you, you let the male lead you, finding comfort in his secure words and actions.

Eric offers you his arms to hold when you try to get on the skateboard. He is peering at you from under his eyelashes when you put one of your legs onto the wood, his grip on your forearm getting firmer when you try to get your other foot on as well– and you must admit that you suddenly don’t feel like you might die anymore when there’s someone holding you and standing by your side. 

“See? It’s not that hard,” Eric mumbles, his voice low and reassuring from the proximity. You notice your hands sweating a little when his palm envelopes yours– damn the sun and its unbearable heat making you embarrass yourself– but he doesn’t mention it as he firmly holds you and meets your eyes. “I’m gonna drag you around a bit so you get used to it before trying yourself,” he says before taking a few steps forward, preparing to be your own type of personal driver.

Having him instruct you and help you around makes you feel more comfortable on the board. Sunwoo would never do such a thing for you– he’d enjoy watching you fall down and break your neck and possibly die– so you’re more than happy to have someone in your life that takes care of you in ways your older brother refuses to. 

The skateboard moves forward a little, starting slow, but then picking up speed as Eric jogs a little, making you laugh at the action. He does not have to go above and beyond, but he still does– but you guess it’s good for him to let out his energy somewhere. After a while, he looks back at you and meets your eye with a warm gaze, making you nod at him reassuringly and hold up a thumb of the hand he’s not holding right now, signaling that you’re okay and enjoying yourself. That has the male let go of your hand and let you take the road with the laws of physics, moving forward by yourself with the force he created. 

It’s nice. It’s fun. 

Yes, you totally understand why Eric and Sunwoo wanted skateboards after seeing them on TV. Hell, you want one now.

“Try it yourself now!” Eric encourages you as the board naturally comes to a stop under you, and his smiling face is enough for you to take initiative and nod, relocating one foot off the wood and placing it on the floor, then kicking it and making yourself move on the simple vehicle.

A moment of surprise envelopes you like a warm hug when you manage to not fall off and keep your balance, the joy of it making you try to go faster on the board, kicking once, twice against the pavement with the sole of your old, beaten up shoe. “I’m doing it!” you yell, glancing back at Eric standing on the sidewalk, watching you with excited eyes. The male offers you a victorious holler, something that makes you break into a laugh, makes your confidence blossom in marvelous ways.

Confidence rises in you so much you try to take a U-turn and go back to your teacher– perhaps showing off that you really got the hang of it now, or something– but as you try to maneuver the board and turn right, there it comes: the moment where you realize that you were, once again, too overly-confident in your abilities that are, sadly, very poor. Your body sways from side to side, your poor balance laughs at you and points an accusing finger at your attempts, and, well, to put it frankly, your whole life flashes in front of your eyes and the moment plays in slow motion as you lose the board from below your feet– the wood flying somewhere to the opposite side of the road, not at all where you meant to go in the first place– and your body inevitably comes crashing to the ground.

Awaiting the hard pavement meeting your nose and breaking it, you brace yourself with palms outstretched in front of you, the last remains of self-perseverance entering the sane parts of your brain in what you think are the last seconds of your miserable life. Another moment of surprise greets you when your yelp is muffled against something soft and your hands don’t hit the hard pavement, your ears filled with a grunt that belongs to another human swiftly chiming in and catching you before you fall.

Firm hands hold your waist– the touch somehow familiar, enveloping you in a strange sense of deja vu– and even though your body goes limp in terror, the male has you back on your feet in no time, his palms on the exposed skin of your stomach. The realization has you burning up as you look up and meet Eric’s eyes, gasping at the closeness of his face to yours. 

“You okay over there?” he asks as you unconsciously study his face– you never noticed his nose looked this nice up close– before you wake out of it and nod urgently, breaking away from his hold. You’re not gonna try to calculate the effort he must have put in just to chime in and catch you from where he was standing in such a short moment, but something about the passing thought of it has you weak in your knees from gratefulness. 

“Uhm- yeah,” you nod, kicking the pavement with your stained shoes, “I just… miscalculated my skills, that’s all,” you sheepishly hum, hearing the boy snicker at your shaken-up composure.

Watching him take off and retrieve his skateboard from where it wandered off against the curb– much to his golden retriever energy– you sigh and prepare to go sit back on the sidewalk, having enough of new experiences from the shock still lingering in your fingertips. You take a glance down the road, seeing your older brother cruising on the street– when and how he got there, you truly have no idea– when you hear Eric, who seemingly has different ideas for your next actions, call at you from the middle of the pavement.

“Where are you going? Come back!” he asks, having you look at him in surprise, mouth agape and eyes big, staring at him. He now has the board under his shoulder, but puts it back on the road and points at it, shrugging to himself. “I’ll push you down the road, it’s gonna be fun!”

“Eric, I’m literally going to die–”

“No, you’re not. Come on, I promise,” he says, but still, he doesn’t have you convinced. Your feet move against your best conclusions, though, and when you come to a halt right in front of your companion, he offers you a boyish grin. “Sit down on it, that way you’re more balanced. I swear you’re not gonna fall off, okay? I got you.”

“You promise?”

“Yes,” he nods, determined.

“Pinky swear,” you mumble, holding up your pinky finger– all thoughts of seeming childish pushed to the side in the desperate moment– and the male in front of you shakes his head in disbelief, breaking into a laugh.

“Cute,” he huffs, “yeah, okay. Pinky swear,” he nods, interlacing your pinky with his and bumping his thumb against yours, the seal foolishly making you feel more secure as you follow his order and take a seat on the skateboard, your hands gripping the bottom of the wood so hard your knuckles turn white.

“Okay, ready? 3, 2, 1–” he chants as he pushes you, two steady hands coming in contact with your shoulder blades, force making you move on the board, wheels taking you down with gravity. The sound of Eric’s shoes hitting the pavement fills your ears as you go faster, and as you finally get to the part of the hill that takes a downwards slope, he offers you a final push, sending you down the road. 

Wind makes your hair fly back, your surroundings blurring as you yelp and scream, but you can’t say you’re not enjoying the ride. Eric was right– it was fun, you liked it, and something about the gesture had you all warm on the inside. The breeze has you cool down a little in the summer heat, and the board continues to move even as you pass your older brother standing at the bottom of the slope, away from your trajectory. 

Body relaxing when the skateboard finally slows down, you let out a heartfelt laughter. Turning back and seeing Eric jog down the road with a humongous grin on his face, you offer him two thumbs up above your head, watching as he returns the gesture and makes his way back to the two of you on the bottom of the small hill.

The truth is, this was the day you realized Eric Sohn has always found his way to make you feel included and safe. 

You can’t help but feel grateful.

AUGUST OF 1999

“Sunwoo, you have to tie a knot here and then– no, you dumbass, you’re doing it completely wrong,” you mourn as you watch your older brother with a mess of thread in his lap, a focused scowl on his face. There’s a fan standing across from you, blowing cold air into your face, but you still feel yourself grow heated with frustration as Sunwoo just can’t help but not understand the art of making friendship bracelets. It’s not like you’re forcing him to do them– he was the one that asked you to show him how to, muttering something about offering one to his classmate Yeji once he’s back in school– so in theory, he should be putting in effort, no? 

Or maybe he is. Maybe he’s just… incompetent.

“I don’t get it,” Sunwoo hums under his breath, sighing as he leans against the sofa in your living room, the two of you sitting on the floor accompanied by his best friend squinting at you from the opposite side, a comic book in the latter's hand. The myth of men not being able to multi-task is quickly thrown into the bin as you watch Eric pay equal amount of attention to the comic book and the dialogue between you and your brother, and when Sunwoo seems to give up on the art of making friendship bracelets, his best friend can’t help but laugh.

“You’re giving up already? This is how you want to get a girlfriend?” you poke your brother to his side and take the threads off his lap, examining the mess of a safety pin and meters of yarn, all knotted up and not coming along in the shape you taught him to at all.

“It’s not to get a girlfriend, I just-”

“Sure,” you roll your eyes, huffing as you roll his poor attempt at friendship bracelet into a ball and throw it to the corner of the room, making a mental note to pick it up and throw it to the bin later. “You know what, just give her this one and pretend you made it,” you mutter, taking a bracelet you'd already made to demonstrate in between your fingers and throw it into Sunwoo’s lap, the older one catching it and examining it under his nose.

“That looks pretty good,” he hums, making you snort at his appreciative comment. The bracelet is pink and red, the colors just screaming romance and cute energy, which is exactly what a girl needs to be swayed by your brother. You can’t really believe a bracelet will make her swoop into his arms, because truthfully, with your brother’s face and manners, every living thing is keeping a fair distance, but hey, it doesn’t hurt to try, does it? Maybe his classmate is… majorly blind? That might do it?

“Of course it looks good,” you scoff, “that’s because I made it,” you nod, averting your gaze towards your lap, threading your fingers through the yarn you attached to a safety pin on your sweatpants to keep the growing friendship bracelet in place. 

“Then why is the one you’re making right now so ugly?” Eric asks, pointing towards the creation. 

Glancing up at the male slowly, mentally throwing all different kinds of curses at him for daring to talk badly about your craft, you huff. “What do you mean, ugly?”

“The colors… they don’t… they don’t really go together,” Eric sheepishly admits, scratching the back of his neck, quickly averting his gaze from you and gluing it back into his comic book. You think that if he doesn’t stop being a smart-ass and throw jabs at your artistic choices, he’s gonna have to protect his comic book with his own body– and you bet he’d do that, because he borrowed it from the library. The fees for damage are high.

“That’s just… not true at all,” you muse, but groggily take a look at the creation once again, but now, thanks to the remark, seeing it in a completely different way. Shades of orange, brown and purple stare back at you amidst a little disappointedly, and as you thread the yarn and make a couple of knots to end the bracelet, you can’t help but feel a pout growing on your face from the realization. Eric might be right. It does look a little bad…

“Whatever. Your taste is just bad,” you snap as you finish off the craft piece, unclasping the safety pin and sliding the bracelet off the inside, freeing it from the hold. Eric laughs a little at your frustrated state– similarly to what you do when you manage to get Sunwoo upset– and with that, you sigh and put the bracelet on the coffee table.

“I’m going out to the store to get some chocolates,” you say as you stand up, goal clear in your mind, “have fun, losers.”

“You’re still collecting the stickers from these?” Sunwoo asks, a mischievous smile growing on his lips. The teasing is inevitable and coming very soon, and there’s nothing you can do about it– you’re fully aware, which only further makes you want to escape the situation more quickly. Rolling your eyes at your brother’s antics, you move towards the door. 

“Yes, Sunwoo, I am. They’re cute and make me happy, do you have a problem with that?” you point an accusing finger at the male, having him shrug, tongue poking the inside of his cheek.

“You’re such a kid,” he huffs, averting his gaze from you when he lands the comment, the jab coming straight at your fragile heart.

“Okay, then,” you note, “I’ll just have my pretty and cute bracelet back, and you can get your girlfriend something else-”

The male quickly regains his previous composure, swatting his hands in hurry just to make you halt in your sentence. His eyes are big and his mouth is a little agape in terror as he tries to save his ass, plea written all over his face. “I was just joking! Don’t be so petulant… go get your cute stickers, they’re so fun!”

Humming to yourself, your face is tugged up into a victorious smile. “That's what I thought. So, as I was saying, have fun, losers.”

“Wait!” Eric suddenly calls for you, making you turn on your heel in the middle of your escape, eyes peering at the male. “Don’t I get a bracelet too?”

The request catches you off guard. There’s a certain kind of spark in Eric Sohn’s eyes as he asks the question, and you can’t really place it in any category, but it has you nervously shrugging at the preposition. You’re not really sure why Eric would want a bracelet from you, but to avoid confrontation and also the weird leap of your heart surely leading you into cardiac arrest, you only shrug and move back inside of the living room, chewing on the inside of your cheek as you scan the surroundings, searching for something.

“Sure,” you nod, taking the ugly bracelet off the table and offering it to him, “you can have that one.”

You hold a staring contest with the older boy for a couple of seconds, his head undoubtedly swirling with arguments and comments about the apparel of the friendship bracelet, but he’s smart– he must know the survival of his beloved comic book must be at stake. So, he only nods and smiles at you, outstretching his hand to you and nudging his head in its direction.

“Okay,” he hums, “tie it for me?”

A second comes by– a heartbeat, really– in which you chew on your bottom lip and gasp at the request, but still, you nod and come closer, crouching down to be at his level and taking the thread into your fingers. You wrap the bracelet around his wrist, making sure to leave a bit of wiggle room before you tie a knot, bringing the ends together, all while feeling the eyes of Eric glued to your face, watching every micro expression flash through your unsettling composure.

When you’re done, making a move to hide your hands behind your back and standing up, your limbs bump into each other and send an unspoken sense of electricity all through your body. The sensation is so strange you don’t meet anyone’s eye before you leave the room, yelling out a goodbye as you hurriedly open the front door and run out to get fresh air (it’s August, though. The air is humid and only makes your head spin more).

You clear your throat before you take off to the grocery store. It's only when you're halfway there that you realize you'd forgotten to bring your wallet with you. It's okay, though– you take this chance to walk around, regaining your casualty.

You bet Eric will take the bracelet off in a matter of a week.

SEPTEMBER OF 1999

The leaves start turning orange and the weather a bit colder when you become hyper-aware of your shifting composure whenever Eric Sohn is around. The way you feel heat rushing to your cheeks whenever he calls you cutie, a nickname he’s had reserved for you since you two were little kids, the way you feel weak in your knees whenever he casually brings his arm around your shoulders or when he bends down to tie your shoelace in the middle of the sidewalk. You don’t really know what those sudden changes are, yet, you feel a bit embarrassed by them whenever they take place. You don’t think it’s normal to feel this way around your brother’s best friend, and the more you hang out with him, the more you wish you read less books as a child– because now, you’re also hyper-aware of the title those feelings may have. 

Still, it only comes to you on one September afternoon– you wake up from blissful unawareness and jolt with the quickly opening pit in your stomach at the strange revelation.

“Eric! Sunwoo isn’t home, though?” you mumble, confused as you notice the boy standing on your doorway, a plastic bag in his hand and a red Nike jacket enveloping his frame.

“I know, he said he’s hanging out with Juyeon hyung today,” he nods, “I brought you something, though,” he says, holding up the bag and making sure you get a chance to see it, offering you a boyish grin.

“Oh?” you gasp, furrowing your eyebrows at the male. When you do nothing to invite him inside, he does so himself– slightly nudging you in your side as he passes your figure and enters your house. He acts like he owns the place, and by the amount of time he’s spent in your home, you’d think he does– he doesn’t, though. The only thing he owns is just a lot of audacity.

The male takes off his shoes in the entryway and walks his way over to your room– a surprising act, considering he’s spent the least amount of time in this very place– and when he’s sure you’re following his every move, he empties the contents of the bag to the middle of your freshly made bed. Watching as approximately ten items fall out of the plastic, your eyes widen with surprise as you recognise your favorite chocolate– the mini bars with stickers inside, the ones you collect and stick into your journal and look at in the middle of the night, giggling to yourself and kicking your feet at the adorable pictures in your make-shift collect book.

“Woah,” you gasp when the male looks at you, seemingly awaiting your response, and when he gets the wished outcome, pride overtakes his features, shrugging to himself.

“My mum got some for free because she bought a lot of cabbage for kimchi yesterday,” he explains, “I thought of you when I saw them, so I bought you some more.”

“I- you-” you stutter, emotions too big for your own good swelling all inside your fragile, little self, hands running into your hair and tugging at the roots to wake yourself up from the dream. “You didn’t have to!”

“We got them anyway, and I know you like the stickers,” Eric shrugs, scratching the back of his neck, completely ignoring the fact that he said he bought you some more, your heart skipping a beat at the sentiment. Clearing your throat, you tentatively take a step closer to your bed, gathering a bar of chocolate into your hand and opening it, taking a bite.

“You can have the stickers if you give me some chocolate,” Eric says close to your ear, almost as if he was creating a masterplan, to which you eagerly nod and plop onto your bed, moving the bars of sweets into one pile. As you continue to munch on the first one, you unwrap the sticker and look at it, praying to yourself as if you were checking if your lottery ticket was worth any cent– hoping you get a sticker you don’t own yet.

The image of a cute panda would cheer anyone up even in their darkest moments– not you, though, as you mourn and sigh, disappointment clear in your features. 

“What?” Eric asks, eyes big pools of worry.

“I already got that one.”

“Ah,” he nods, seemingly understanding– much to your surprise, “well, we got 9 more tries, let’s get to eating.”

Wrappers are rustling in your bed sheets as you and Eric eat the concerning amount of chocolate, gathering the stickers in a little pile on top of your notebook, promising each other to not look at the stickers as you go and just make a grand reveal at the end. Eric’s full cheeks are a sight you enjoy, telling him he looks like a squirrel– to which he sends a light flick to your forehead, telling you you don’t look much different– and soon enough, the nine bars left disappear from your plain sight (you only had 3 and Eric ate the remaining 5. He’s a growing boy, though, so you understand. He needs to get his undying energy from somewhere.).

“Ready for the reveal?” you ask, locking your gaze with Eric.

“Ready as I’ll ever be.”

With that, you get to the pile of stickers in the middle of your bedsheets. Looking at the first one, there’s a happy squeal cutting out of your throat, the image of an adorable yellow duck warming you up with euphoria. 

“You don’t have that one yet?”

“I don’t,” you nod, “this is just perfect.”

Eric nods and watches you with a certain kind of warmth in his gaze as you open up your notebook and stick the newest addition to your little sticker farm– or a ZOO, however you wanna call it. The next sticker from the pile is added as well– a brown, big bear– and the next one too, the most adorable colorful parrot slapped to the corner of your page. 

The rest of your stickers are the ones you already own, though– a displeased look takes over your features at the knowledge, but still, you can’t help but beam at the fact that you have 3 new additions to your collection, and they were a gift from Eric Sohn himself. Someone who doesn’t make fun of your childish habit. Someone who feeds your little interest, watches you with excitement in his eyes as you indulge. Someone not like your brother. 

Someone you could never see the way you see your brother.

“What do you do with the duplicates?” Eric asks, pointing to the sad pile on the top of your notebook. His figure is closer to you now, since he wanted to watch you stick the animals into your notebook, his crossed legs almost pressed against yours on the small bed.

“Well, usually, I just throw them out,” you shrug, “but since you’re here…” you muse, the idea plopping into your head like the newest discovery you should probably patent, peeling the back of one of the dog stickers off and swiftly turning towards your companion, mischief sparkling in your eyes.

You put the sticker on his left cheek, making the boy jump. “Hey!”

Giggling, taking another one of the stickers and pressing it to the middle of his forehead, Eric starts to fight you, your bodies wrestling on the bed. You don’t think he puts much effort into getting you off him– that, or he’s insanely weak– and in no time, his face is adorned with all different kinds of animals, his hair messy from tussling in your bedsheets. The image has you laughing before you realize you’re basically straddling him on your bed, his big eyes gaping at you from below, his appearance enough to make something in your brain short-circuit and make you leap off him, clearing your throat.

Heat rushes into your cheeks as you take a seat next to him, playing with your fingers. You pray for anything to come and ease the awkwardness you caused, and sure enough, today must be your lucky day. “Hey, look here!” 

You call for the boy as you swiftly take your polaroid camera off your bedside table– the one that belonged to your dad, the one you fought with Sunwoo about, the one your mum said was yours because Sunwoo is too careless with his things to keep it safe– and snap a picture of the puppy-like boy, laughing at the fact that now, you have the image of him looking dumb and covered in stickers forever. Or at least until he doesn't take it away from you– which he attempts quickly.

“Hey!” he yelps again, huffing as he lunges at you, trying to take the picture out of your grasp as you drop the camera into your soft sheets. Your feet take you to the living room, navigating through furniture, and when you don’t hear footsteps follow you, you think you’re safe– Eric does have a lot of energy, but chasing you around gets tiring for him quickly when he knows you'll never let him win.

Entering your room once again, prepared to find him on your bed like before, you’re taken by surprise as a shutter sound goes off right after you open the door, a polaroid picture taken of your face making you temporarily blind at the flash.

“Eric!” you whine, hating that there’s a picture of you standing shocked at your doorway now forever in the universe– not really caring that the boy just got you back with the exact stunt you pulled on him just a few minutes ago. Before you get a chance to blink out the blind spots in your vision caused by the flash and run after him, though, you feel him gently press you out of the doorway and slip outside, the sound of the front door opening and closing after him resonating along his slowly disappearing, amused laughter.

Serves you right, doesn’t it? 

Sighing, you shake your head and take a seat on your bed, the picture of the boy still in between your fingertips. You only take a look at it when your vision comes back to normal, and as the image of Eric covered in stickers, hair messy and cheeks rosy below the animal print comes into your sight, the revelation arrives the same second a starstruck smile plays with your features.

And with that, you’re absolutely terrified. 

Throwing the polaroid picture onto the bedside table and lunging yourself into the sheets, you scream into your pillow and wish for the feelings to disappear– because in what world does a crush on your brother’s best friend ever come to a happy ending?

OCTOBER OF 1999

Once October hits, you find yourself home alone more often than you’d like. Sure, you don’t mind having some me time to read comic books or watch the TV uninterrupted in the living room, but still– alone turns lonely pretty quickly, and somehow, you start to regret the fact that you’ve been relying on your older brother and his friends for so long instead of making some connections on your own.

Sunwoo started to play soccer at school– something is telling you that he might go far if he keeps it up– and that’s why he’s been stuck at practice every single day, coming home late in the evening all tired, but happy, so you’re not really complaining. Eric works in the little bistro downtown now, since he wanted to make some money and not rely on the allowance Mrs. Sohn gives him every month, and it’s not like you were that close to begin with, but the fact that the boy is now too busy to meet you is making your spirit fall just the tiniest bit. And with your mother always being at work, you find yourself alone in your room, laying in your bed and staring at the ceiling. 

Sometimes, you journal. About anything and everything, really. You don’t really think you’re ever gonna read back the entries once you’re older, since they would just be a reminder of how miserable and boring your teenage years really were, and that’s why you allow yourself to be authentic. On most days, you write about your assignments for school. Sometimes you bad mouth a classmate or two– gossiping with the diary pages, because you don’t really have any human beings to do so in real life– and seldom, you allow yourself to get into topics that evoke the slightest bits of existential crisis in you.

Topics like college. Growing up. Your lack of hobbies and social interaction with the outer world. The newly found crush on Eric Sohn…

Okay, maybe you do write about the boy with brown hair and dark eyes a little too often. You can’t help it, though– when he’s not giving you any new interactions to dwell on, you have to just pick apart the old ones. You think it’s a natural reaction.

And that’s exactly what you’re doing one October afternoon, the lamp in your room on, since the evening comes faster when the weather is colder, as you’re laying in your bed and kicking your feet back and forth, chewing on the end of your pencil. The sound of your doorbell resonates through the house suddenly and startles you, making you jump awake from your delirious delusions.

Mentally going through the list of possible visitors you could have– because it can’t be your mother or your brother, since they never forget to carry their house keys– you’re lost, not really finding any fitting candidates. Furrowing your brows, lost in thought and frankly, a bit confused, you plant your socked feet onto the wooden floor and walk over to the front door just in time for the bell to ring again. Scratching the back of your neck in nerves, thinking of precautions you could take for your own safety– since your front door doesn’t have a peep hole and you don’t want to open the door to a complete stranger– you clear your throat and yell over the door.

“Who is it?” you ask.

“Delivery!” a voice calls through the door, making you huff. 

“I didn’t order any food?” you yell back, confused. “Sir, there’s another house behind ours, sometimes the mailmen get confused and we get their mail. Maybe try there?” 

“The address is right, though?” the voice calls again, and somehow, it sounds kind of familiar… no, it can’t be, you dumb goose. You’re just imagining things because you’ve spent the last 20 minutes writing about the curve of his nose into your diary.

“There must be a mistake-”

“Come on, Y/N, open the door,” the voice on the other side mourns, the mention of your name making you jump, completely startled. The tone the man says it in is sweet like honey, though, so familiar in your ears, that you mentally want to slap yourself– so you weren’t dreaming. It is him.

Dragging your hand through your hair to smooth it down, praying you look at least a little presentable– although in your stained sweatpants and the Pokémon shirt you inherited from Sunwoo when he grew out of it, you doubt that’s even possible– you open the door and try to offer Eric a warm smile. “What are you doing here?”

“Food delivery,” Eric shrugs, pointing with his thumb in the direction behind his back, where his bike undoubtedly stands up against your gate.

“Oh…. but I already told you I didn’t order anything,” you mumble, confused. Studying his face– because a girl can indulge when she has the opportunity, am I right? – you notice his hair has grown a little longer, falling into his eyes. You bet it’s hard for him to see, but you must admit it looks nice, and you almost tell him, before you catch yourself and break away from the sentiment. 

The male snickers. “I know, I was just joking,” he says, “I did bring you food, though.”

“Why?” you ask, confused when he bends over and picks up a plastic bag off the ground, a container of food inside, the warmth of the contents making condensation appear all over the red sack. 

“We made this by mistake and it was just gonna be thrown out if nobody took it,” he shrugs, “and I figured you haven’t eaten yet– or if you did, you just had those cold kimbap rolls from the store– and I wanted to get some warm food into your stomach.”

“Ah,” you gasp, nodding at the explanation. It does explain the source of the food really well, but truthfully, it explains nothing about the fact why Eric thought of bringing you the food instead of taking it home with himself– he’s a foodie if you’ve ever seen one. The idea of him worrying about if you were fed or not is equally as strange and interesting in your head– still, you clasp your hand around the bag and take it, the smell making you involuntarily hungry. “Thank you.”

Eric only nods at you, a smile beaming at his face. “Well,” he sighs, “I’d love to stay longer and hang out, but I’m still on the clock, so…” he mumbles, taking a hesitant step backwards towards his bike, eyes never breaking contact with yours.

“Oh, right,” you nod, “that’s okay. Have a fun day at work!” you muse, watching him as he grins and finally retrieves back his bike, opening up the gate to your property and escaping, waving at you as he gets on.

“I’ll see you soon!” he calls as he rides off, your eyes following him until his figure disappears behind a corner, your ears buzzing with excitement and your lower lip trapped between your teeth with the innocent promise.

Walking back into the house, you grin as you close the front door behind you and carry the food into the kitchen. You quickly get the containers out of the damp bag, putting them onto the wooden table, and gasp when you find a sticky note on the very top one, a messy handwriting scribbled in a rush, but stuck to the food with care.

Eat well and don’t skip meals, Y/N-ie!! – Eric x

Not being able to battle your smile anymore, you decide to open up the containers and stuff your mouth with the food instead– only to find your favorite dish inside, staring back at you in what seems to be a dream that’s too good to wake up from. 

And sure, you are delusional, but are you delusional enough to believe that this wasn’t all a coincidence? You’re not so sure.

Still, you eat the food with feet kicking back and forth as you sit in the silent kitchen, the empty house no longer feeling so lonely. When you’re done, you throw the trash out– everything but the sticky note, which you glue into your diary a few minutes later, hoping to keep the memory forever.

NOVEMBER OF 1999

The world around you is dark as you step outside of cram school, your eyes are tired and your skin is prickled with goosebumps in the chilly air. You despise going to cram school, but your mother told you you have to– since you didn’t have any athletic features that could get you far in life like Sunwoo, you had to be good at studying, or else you won’t get into university. There was a lot of work ahead of you, but since you didn’t really have anything else to do in the day, you didn’t protest and went anyway.

The days are usually very long and you get off very late, resulting in you being tired almost all the time. When you get home, you undress yourself and change into your sleep clothes and doze off until the morning, when you have to wake up and go to school again– it’s an exhausting cycle, but you know you have to endure it for your own sake.

Walking down the steps that lead out the cram school building, you stretch your body and huff, cursing at yourself for the fact that you didn’t bring a jacket– you forgot that evenings get really chilly, and frankly speaking, you didn’t have much time to think when you were rushing to get ready in the morning. You’ll just have to get through it, you think to yourself as you walk in the direction of your house– the last bus to your neighborhood already left an hour ago, when you were in the middle of revising division– your sneakers kicking the stray rocks below your feet as you tug the sleeves of your hoodie lower, desperately trying to feel more heat.

“Do you never watch where you’re going? That’s gonna get you in trouble one day, you know,” you hear a familiar voice say, the joking tone making your heart skip a few beats as you place the owner of the saccharine voice to its face. Looking up, slightly alarmed at being caught in such a distressed state, you gasp.

“I was… watching my step, I guess,” you shrug as you come into a halt in front of him, shivering both under Eric’s gaze and the cold weather at once. “What are you doing here? Deliveries?”

“I just got off,” he says, “so I figured I could stop by. Sunwoo said you’re going to cram school, I thought you might enjoy some company on your way home.”

Gaping at his explanation, you nod, completely startled. The idea of your brother talking about you in front of Eric, the boy you have a very embarrassing, very big crush on scares you, to say the least. See, it doesn’t really matter that the boy grew up with you, pretty much seeing you at your lowest whenever he was around over at your house when you were both just little kids– the image of Sunwoo telling Eric about finding you sobbing at your comic book (the scene got too sad, nobody can really blame you) or about how your favorite jeans ripped right before you had to go to school one morning is terrifying. You don’t really want him to know about these things. He may act like your brother sometimes, but you never really saw him in that light in the first place.

“Well, then,” you clear your throat, “it’s… it’s good to see you,” you say. Eric shows you his boyish grin as your lips utter out the words, and you can’t help but mirror it, your eyes locking with the male. As if you just took a step back, your eyes see him in a light you’ve never seen him before– as if this was your first time meeting your brother’s best friend– and something about the sentiment has your stomach feeling all uneasy, heat rushing to your face. His hair is styled in a way that tells you that he didn’t really style it (or if he did, it looked truly effortless in your eyes, so props to him), pushed back a little and revealing his forehead, a few of the strands carelessly falling into his eyes. His jawline is sharper than how it was when you first met the boy, and with the realization of a foolish teenage girl, you have to admit that Eric Sohn grew up to be a very attractive, attentive man.

“You’re cold?” he says, although the sentence sounds more like a statement rather than a question, before he shakes his head at your antics and heaves out a sigh. “You should’ve taken a jacket with you when you went, you know it gets cold in the evening,” he scolds you. In those times, he reminds you the most of your brother– because although you and Sunwoo act like you hate each other sometimes, you know the older male still cares about you. He just hates showing it, which translates in his scolding tone whenever you do something wrong or against his wishes. 

In those times, Eric reminds you the most of the way your brother treats you, and you somehow hate it. You despise the fact, because that means he must only see you as someone like his younger sister– he never had one, so maybe he just likes to compensate for it by taking care of you all the time. Maybe he feels responsible to do so because of Sunwoo. The thought makes you equally as nauseous– you’d never want him to hang out with you just because he feels like he has to. 

“I didn’t have time in the morning,” you grunt, rolling your eyes at him. You avert your gaze from the male, for it makes you slightly uncomfortable after your previous thoughts, so when the noise of a zipper being pulled down and the weight of fabric on your shoulders brings you back to reality, you snap your head around at him all alarmed. 

“What? Wear it,” he says, head shrugging towards the direction of his jacket on your figure. “You’re gonna catch a cold if you don’t.”

Trying to wrestle out of the red material, you squirm in the hold of the windbreaker– Eric’s hands gripping each side of the jacket, as if predicting your next moves, making sure it stays on you and doesn’t fall down. His strong arms tug you closer to him to make your fight more difficult– and he’s successful with his efforts, because the proximity of him and his smell engulfs you and unarms you, heat rushing to your cheeks as you halt in your movements.

“Stop,” you mourn, “I don’t need it.”

“Yes you do,” he insists, “so stop being a baby about it and wear it.”

Staring into his eyes, as if to mentally tell him to stop what he’s doing– to stop how he’s treating you, how he’s making you all weak in your knees and sleepless at nights because of how much you think of him and hope he’s doing well each day, to stop being so gentle with you and taking care of you, because it brings all sorts of both doubts and delusions into your head– but he doesn’t back down. You’ve known him for quite some time, you should already be aware of just how stubborn he can be.

“Arms in,” he hums, holding on to the jacket and waiting for you to wear it properly. One thing about you– you can always admit your defeat. So, with a sigh, you put your arms through the sleeves of Eric’s red windbreaker, shrinking a little under his firm gaze. He looks at you with a look full of something you can’t decipher, and it’s all making you so, so insanely lost in the many thoughts and feelings swirling around your head, not helping your current state.

“I already have a brother, y’know,” you mumble in a moment of weakness, looking at your feet– your dirty white sneakers almost touching his from how close you are standing right now, “so you should stop treating me like one.”

A moment of silence overtakes you two, and you suddenly feel like you’ve done something wrong. Still, Eric’s hands are holding on to the sides of the opened jacket, keeping you close to him. “Hm?” 

Clearing your throat and shaking your head, you snicker to yourself. “Forget it.”

“No- I mean,” he blurts out, tone of voice a little nervous, “do you see me as your brother figure?” he asks, tone of voice more quiet now, more gentle.

Breathing in the crispy air, taking a moment before you reply, you shake your head in disapproval. “No,” you say, “no, I don’t. I- I don’t think I do,” you say, scared of what your answer will bring out of him. You don’t really know why, but at this moment, you feel insanely fragile– as if any bad move could make you break in his hands, waiting for him to glue you back together. 

Metaphorically, he does just that. “Good,” he nods, leaning down towards you, hands gripping the zipper of his jacket and zipping it together, making sure no cold can get to your bones as his fingers tug it up towards the very top, under your chin. “Because I’ve never seen you as my sister either.”

His answer once again startles you– but when you take a step back from the situation, you think it was in a good way. His hands grip your shoulders for a second as his eyes meet yours and he offers you a warm smile. “Come on, let’s get you home,” he says, tugging you towards the fence where you find his bike, his motions guiding you like a rag doll sucked out of all life.

“Hop in,” he motions towards the back of the bike, where the basket would usually be– Eric moved it towards the front, though, leaving enough room for you to sit at– and as you do, he takes a seat in front of you and looks back at you over his shoulder. “Hold on tight so you don’t fall.”

Like in a trance, your arms sneak around his middle– this was the first time you had this kind of physical touch with him, and just the thought of it makes you want to scream your throat out– before the male takes off on the bike, riding towards your neighborhood. With the cold wind slapping your face, you foolishly rest your cheek on his shoulder blade and close your eyes, enjoying the closeness of his body keeping you warm. 

If anyone asked you about the action, you’d tell them you were just tired.

DECEMBER OF 1999

Socked feet make their way through the room, the sound of footsteps resonating on the laminated floor, as the short male comes up to you with a bowl of potato chips in his right hand and a bottle of soda under his left arm. Eric Sohn sighs at you, shaking his head in disbelief, before he places the items onto the coffee table and takes a seat next to you on the floor, opening up the bottle and pouring the three of you drinks.

“Can’t believe I’m spending New Year’s Eve with you losers, of all people,” Eric snickers, having you roll your eyes at the male and grumpily furrow your eyebrows at his sentence.

“No one’s stopping you if you wanna go, y’know,” you grunt as you take the filled glass off the table, taking a sip of the sweet drink and sighing at him. If he’s gonna take a leap into the new year with you while making you annoyed, he may as well leave now and do whatever his initial plan was– once again, no one’s stopping him if that’s what he wants to do.

“I’m just saying,” he shrugs, “it would’ve been so much more fun if we all went to Juyeon hyung’s. Everyone’s there celebrating, but we’re stuck here in your room.” 

“Well, Eric,” your brother smiles ironically at him, shrugging to himself, “it’s not like it’s my fault you’re not over at Juyeon hyung’s right now. You chose to spend the new years here with me. My mother prohibited me from going there, not yours.”

The argument has the male shrug, his eyes averting your brother’s gaze once his comment gets a bit too honest and realistic. It’s true and he’s right– it’s not like Eric’s mum told him he can’t go celebrate with his friends, because she didn’t. Eric’s mum trusts him and wants him to have fun and do what all the kids his age are doing. Your mum, on the other hand, is making you and Sunwoo stay home for New Year’s Eve to celebrate with your family, because, as she quoted, New Year’s Eve the only time she gets time off work, and she wants to spend it with her kids– forget the fact that you’re currently sitting locked in your room with your friend, protesting the family time just because you can– and when Sunwoo told her she has to stop treating him like a little kid, she told him she has all the right to do so, because he is her kid. And that’s how the party he was supposed to attend with Eric (the party you foolishly thought you’re gonna have to tag along to, not hating the sentiment as much as before now) got canceled from your brother’s plans.

“Well,” Eric chews on the inside of his cheek, “I did it for you two. Be grateful.”

“Whatever,” you hum, “let’s turn on the TV. I bet there’s some variety show on.”

Eric heaves out a sigh as he reaches for the TV remote, clicking the power button and making the boxy device in front of you light up. Your mum got you a TV in your room when you complained about being too bored one November day, and although the box of entertainment didn’t really help like you imagined it to, you’re glad it’s of service at least today. Instead of the expected variety show, though, there’s news on– the face of the old announcer looking at you with a serious look on his face, the professional tone making chills run down your spine, for he reminds you a bit of your mother when she scolds you. You think that’s a common news announcer trait. 

“As the year 2000 approaches, computer programmers realize that computers might not interpret the 00 in the software as 2000, but 1900. The softwares currently running only use a two-digit code for the year, excluding the 19. The data was excluded because the data storage is costly and takes up too much space. Activities that were planned on a daily basis could be damaged or flawed,” the announcer says, making the three of you look at the screen with interest. Maybe it’s true that when you get older, you get more interested in news– you think it’s good to know what’s going on around you, although the topic discussed right now might not even concern you in the slightest.

“Banks, which calculate the interest rates on a daily basis, could face real problems. Interest rates are the amount of money a lender, such as a bank, charges a customer, such as an individual or business, for a loan. Instead of the rate of interest for one day, the computer could calculate a rate of interest for minus almost 100 years!” 

“Oops,” Eric lets out next to you, a reaction so far away from what a real adult would think of the situation. See, you are all just kids, after all.

“Centers of technology, such as power plants, are also threatened by this issue. Power plants depend on routine computer maintenance for safety checks, such as water pressure or radiation levels. Not having the correct date could throw off these calculations and possibly put nearby residents at risk,” the announcer continues, the information coming out of his mouth suddenly making you hyper aware of the reality you’re experiencing right now.

“Do we have a nuclear power plant nearby?” you ask in a hushed whisper, watching as the men next to you almost comically widen their eyes, shrugging.

“I’m not sure,” Sunwoo peeps.

“The worst of all, this software and hardware issue could cause such a big problem in nuclear energy facilities, where nuclear bombs and missiles could be set off, causing the world to go into utter chaos, or worse, an end,” the announcer concludes, the last word making you gasp in terror. 

“An end?” you chirp, sitting up straight in your seat as you look at the two men, now equally as terrified. There’s something in Sunwoo’s gaze that makes chills run down your spine, the reality crushing down on you with heavy measures. 

“I knew I shouldn’t have fought with mum. What if the last words the two of us exchanged before we die are the harsh words I had said yesterday?” your brother mourns, seeing as his best friend chews on his bottom lip, lost in thought.

“What did you say to your mum?”

“That- that I’ll never forgive her for ruining this for me,” he mumbles, his voice breaking at the end, “and… other things,” he adds, the hint of incoming panic making his best friend frantically wave his hands around and try to make your brother relax before he has to deal with the breakdown. If the world is ending, this is not how any of you want to go.

“It’s okay, don’t worry,” Eric says, clearing his throat and pointing to the TV, “look! The show is on, we should watch before the year ends,” he proposes, taking the remote into his hand and turning the volume up to hopefully drown out Sunwoo’s thoughts and have him focus on something else. And it works– noting that your brother has an attention span of a 5 year old– he can hardly remember what he was worrying about just 30 seconds ago.

Still, the thought keeps bouncing around your head like a child in a bouncy castle. The words of the news anchor keep repeating in your brain, making your ears ring as you look at Eric from the corner of your eye, watching his angelic face. Oh how you hate disturbing the peace now that you’ve all calmed down– but still, you can’t deal with the worries alone. Checking the clock hung above the TV, noticing there’s at least 5 minutes left before midnight, you clear your throat, feeling your whole body on fire.

“Do you really think the world is gonna end?” you ask, cracking your knuckles in a nervous manner. Looking at Eric, pupils shaking, you find your brother’s best friend seemingly lost in thought. The music of the variety show program serves you three as a background sound now, none of you paying attention to the TV anymore, instead, focusing on all the things you've done wrong in your life and how somehow, this feels like karma for all of it.

“I dunno,” Sunwoo shrugs, “I mean- they said it’s possible! It was on the news, and they wouldn’t lie on the news…” he nervously mumbles, scratching the back of his head. 

“That’s what’s worrying me,” you sigh, “we shouldn’t have turned on the TV.”

“It was your idea in the first place!”

“And I’ll carry the burden into my grave,” you admit, gulping as you press a forced smile onto your lips.

Momentarily looking back at the TV, you desperately want to keep the thought of the world being over out of your head before you spend your last minutes on this earth going crazy– but now that you started, you can’t keep thinking about it. “Man, the world can’t end yet. There’s so many things I haven’t tried yet! I’m too young to die!”

The men don't reply to that– you presume they’re too busy trying to find other things to occupy themselves with instead of the inevitable– which has you dissatisfied as you throw your body back into the sofa, heaving out a sigh. Seconds go by painfully slow but also painfully fast at the same time, given the circumstances, as you listen to the cheerful song playing in the background and nudge your friend into his upper arm with your pointer finger, feeling his arm encircle your shoulders and pull you closer to him. The contact of his fingers on your upper arm makes you squirm and break out into a smile, feeling a particular lightness in your stomach at the action, a sensation that has you in shock. 

“I’m gonna talk with mum before we die,” Sunwoo suddenly calls as he stands up from his seat on the floor, sighing to himself, “I can’t go with the thought of her being upset with me,” he sentimentally adds before he’s out of the door, rushing towards the living room.

The space falls into momentary silence now that your brother is gone, having you chew on your bottom lip with nerves. You think now is the time to beg for forgiveness with the higher forces– I'm sorry for not studying well. I'm sorry for being rude and ungrateful towards my mum. I'm sorry for being greedy– when the sound of Eric’s voice resonates through the place as he speaks up again, waking you up from the anxious slumber, the clock now striking 2 minutes before midnight. “What would you wanna do before you die?” he asks.

The question is simple. You presume he wants simple answers– things like getting into college, getting a good job and making a lot of money, growing old– but as you lean away from him and get back to your place on his left, your eyes locked with his, you’re left clueless. There are so many things you have yet to achieve, and the idea of not being able to pushes a burden to your chest, but at this very moment, you can’t really name one. 

Shrugging, you chew on the inside of your cheek as your eyes scan his face. His firm eye contact has you a bit flustered, making you shrivel in your seat, and as the sound of the TV morphs from the song into a countdown from 55, you’re overwhelmed with the thought that your friend is insanely pretty– and he always has been, you just hated admitting it to yourself for the past few months, despite still being fully aware– and that now, when the world ends, you’re dying unkissed and alone.

Well, not completely alone, since Eric’s here. And he’s always been here– your whole life, since you can remember, and he’s here now as well, even though he should’ve been at Juyeon’s house. As the clock strikes 30 seconds away from midnight, your eyes involuntarily travel down to his chapped lips, all air knocked out of your lungs, the thoughts in your brain picking up on speed the closer you come to the end.

You’re dying soon. You’re dying in 30- now 29 seconds, and you’ve never kissed anyone before. You’re dying before you get a chance to hold hands with someone and have a partner, and you’re dying before you get a chance to tell Eric how you feel about him. There’s 28 seconds left until the end and you’re just staring at him like a coward, because you don’t really let yourself indulge in the silly warmth of your heart whenever you’re around your friend, but god, you can at least admit it to yourself before you die.

And as the clock gets closer and closer to midnight, now only giving you 20 seconds before it all ends and a missile lands on the top of your house, blowing up the whole town and making you all disappear, Eric’s question repeats itself in your brain. What would you want to do before you die?

The answer is suddenly painfully clear as you take action– leaning towards the boy on your right, face closer to his than it’s ever been before, your eyes counting all his eyelashes and focusing on his surprised, yet unmoving face– and as you hear the countdown reach 15, you close your eyes and press your lips against his. 

The contact makes you weak in your knees as your hands reach to his face to steady him, your own firework show erupting in your stomach, and suddenly you’re completely content with dying tonight– because at least you’re with Eric, at least you did something. You kiss your friend with something close to an unsaid confession, your lips staying on his throughout the rest of the countdown, the taste of soda you’ve both been drinking the whole evening mixing in the contact of your skin. You’re not sure you’re even doing this right– again, you’ve never kissed anyone before– but it doesn’t matter to you much as you let go of your worries, aware of the fact that in a few seconds, nothing will matter anymore when neither of you are going to be around to say anything to each other after the kiss is over.

The countdown rings in your ears– coming down from 5 as you scoot yourself closer to Eric, 4 as you run the pads of your thumbs along his cheekbones, 3 as you still in your movements, 2 as you notice your knees bumping into each other on the ground and finally, 1 as you get ready to die, kissing your first and only love– when the sound of cheers and fireworks from the TV fills your ears instead, the world around you stilling and completely unchanged.

Your kiss started in 1999 and ended in 2000. Your love for him passed a century.

Eyes fluttering open and your mouth letting go of his, the image of the boy with his lips slightly parted, eyes closed and cheeks rosy comes to you in the yellow light of your room, making your heart fall down to your stomach. He looks absolutely angelic, his hair slightly messy and the fabric of his shirt a little disheveled in the front, and even though you’d love to indulge in your foolish desires and kiss him some more, you’re quickly taken aback with the noise of the door to your room opening and making you jump away from Eric, your brother appearing out of thin air in the presence of your room. It serves you like a weird kind of reality check, Eric’s eyes opening and looking at your brother, and even though you two haven’t been caught, the male clears his throat and bites down on his lower lip, looking almost guilty.

Oh no. What have you done?

Suddenly, you feel insanely silly.

JANUARY OF 2000

“You’ve been awfully quiet the whole day,” Sunwoo mumbles from beside you, his whole body engulfed in a pile of snow, “not that I care, but are you okay?”

“I thought you liked it when I don’t talk,” you mutter, playing with the frozen white all around you, seated on the red plastic sled at the top of the hill. You got tired after dragging it up from the bottom, and when you noticed that the rest of Sunwoo’s friends– Eric included– are still on their way up, you figured you could use up the time to relax and sit around for a while. It’s been quite some time since all of Sunwoo’s friends gathered to hang out at the same time, which made you surprised to see that your own brother invited you to tag along with them as they decided to go sledding on the second day of January, using up their break to best of their abilities. Which is also why you didn’t say no to the invitation– you thought sitting at home and moping around wouldn’t help you much.

“I do,” he says, nodding, “that’s why I’m asking what’s up– so I know what to do when I need to shut you up later,” Sunwoo hums, making you roll your eyes at the masked worry.

Shaking your head in disbelief, you scoff. “It’s nothing.”

“Sure,” he shrugs, “so you’re just going through puberty?” he teases, to which you take a handful of snow into your palm and lunge the white at him, satisfaction running through your veins when the snowball lands into his unsuspecting face, the male coughing and swatting his arms around to defend himself.

“Hey!” your brother screams at you once he gets the ice out of his eyes and his mouth, his body jumping into a standing position before he chases you around, the bubble of a laugh escaping your throat for the first time these days– they’re not wrong when they say malicious joy is the best kind of joy.

Running at the top of the hill, not really looking where you’re going– instead looking over your shoulder to see Sunwoo’s actions, preparing yourself to duck if he decides to turn your small quarrel into a snow fight– your legs get tangled with the red sled you left before you started a war with the angered man, a yelp cutting out of your throat as you get prepared to fall over and knock your teeth out.

Your body comes in contact with something half-firm, half-soft, and as your feet slip and the snow-covered ground disappears from below your legs, two arms wrap around your waist and steady you, making sure you don’t get hurt.

Turns out Eric Sohn is there to catch you every time you are about to eat shit. You hate this kind of deja vu.

As you open your eyes (that you had closed on instinct, not wanting to see your own death) once you’re sure you’re safe and sound, the world around you invites itself into your ears in an overwhelming noise. The laughter of Sunwoo’s friends– some hollering at your fall, some at the redness and last remains of snow covering your brother’s face– and the hushed arguments over who’s going down first– with Haknyeon screaming that he’s stealing Sunwoo’s (yours) sled and Juyeon following him. After all those happening in the matter of a few seconds,  you realize you’re left on the top of the hill alone with the male, terror shaking through your insides.

Clearing your throat and taking a step back from him, you tuck your hands into your pockets and avert your gaze from Eric. You two haven’t spoken since you decided to kiss him on New Year’s Eve, and with the awkward tension in the air, you don’t feel like doing so ever again in your whole entire life. 

“Thanks,” still, you hum.

Eric seems a little more light-hearted than you, shrugging as he replies to you. “Haven’t I told you to start watching where you’re going?”

“I’m not good with listening sometimes,” you mutter, huffing. Taking a look around yourself– noticing that there are no sleds left on the top of the hill, therefore, if you wanted to escape the situation, the only way down would be to roll around like a human version of a snowman, you once again admit your defeat, standing around nervously and shifting your weight from one foot to the other.

The silence is uncomfortable. It makes you want to dig a hole in the snow and bury yourself alive, to suffocate under the weight of the icy cold and never see Eric’s face again. You know that you ruined whatever friendship you had with the male– by being stupid and foolish, not really thinking about consequences (because there were supposed to be none and you were supposed to be dead), and the weight of the guilt makes you want to puke and hide away. 

Still, Eric comes out of his way to talk to you. Honestly, you’re kind of surprised– he should be disgusted with you. Realistically, he should be the one avoiding you, not the other way around.“They’re gonna take long to walk back up,” he notes, “wanna get hot chocolate with me?”

“I’m good, thanks,” you shake your head, not once breaking eye contact with the overwhelming white of the hill.

“Come on,” he sighs, “it’s just around the corner. They built a hot chocolate stand because they knew kids would come sledding here. Honestly, it’s an astute business tactic, but I promise the hot chocolate actually tastes nice,” he says, nudging you slightly with his arm, as if to make you look at him and change your mind.

“Thanks, but no,” you definitely say, chewing on the inside of your cheek.

“Are you avoiding me?” he asks, tone of voice casual– as if it was the most normal thing in the world, as if nothing ever happened and he was genuinely curious about the reasoning behind your actions.

“I’m not, I just don’t really like hot chocolate,” you sheepishly mutter, trying hard to avoid the topic.

“So you are avoiding me,” he hums, as if it wasn’t obvious before– and not only because you’re a bad liar. Plus, you love hot chocolate. Somehow, you think Eric knows.

“Look, Eric,” you sigh, running your hand through your hair, “can’t you just drop it?”

“No,” he shrugs, shaking his head, “and that’s why we’re talking about the reason why you’re avoiding me over a cup of hot chocolate. Let’s go.”

His persistence is terribly overwhelming sometimes. You wonder how the male does it. “I already told you-”

“You owe me for the stickers and the meal and everything,” he corners you, and you know you can’t argue with that. He’s kind of right, you suppose– you never paid him back for all the chocolates or for the free meal he brought you that one evening. And that’s exactly why you find yourself sighing as you follow him, mentally preparing yourself for the talk.

You hate how he can always get his way. Walking up to the stand, you crack your knuckles in the pocket of your jacket, nervously coming up with possible arguments to tell him. I didn’t kiss you on purpose, it was an accident. I only did it to know how it feels. We are both supposed to be dead, it’s not my fault the world didn’t end like it was supposed to! Each sentence sounds more stupid than the previous one, and so with that, you shake your head, wiping the thoughts away, smiling at the elderly lady in the stand. You’re just gonna have to be honest, you figure. 

“Two hot chocolates, please.”

Rummaging through your pockets to find your wallet– you do owe Eric, so it’s only natural for you to pay– you’re caught off guard as the male next to you swiftly takes out his own and unzips it, preparing to pay for you. 

“I thought I owed you?” you mumble, hand reaching to tug at his forearm to stop him, to which Eric only grins at you and sighs.

“Yeah, but that doesn’t mean you have to pay,” he says.

“I think that’s exactly what that means.”

“Just take it,” he huffs as he brings out a note from his wallet, the force making something else fly out and fall to the ground with it, having the boy swiftly crouch down and pick the item up, attempting to hide it before you get a chance to see. And now, you don’t have 20/20 vision, but you recognise your face when you see it– that, and you also recognize the small white sheet to be a polaroid picture, and as far as you’re aware, you’re the only one who has a camera in his circle.

The boy hands you the drink with red-tinted cheeks. The idea of him carrying a picture of you that he took back in September makes you flush as well, and when your gloved fingers accidentally meet as you take the cup from him, he forces out a laugh. “We can talk about that after you tell me why you’re avoiding me.”

His nonchalance has you relaxing only for a few seconds. The boy walks with you as you try to heat up your cold hands on the boiling surface of the cup, and when you see a bench a few meters away from you two, you instinctively take a seat.

“So?” he becomes you, eyebrows rising as he takes a sip from the melted sweetness.

Sighing, you try to come up with the best way to go around this. Do you apologize? Do you promise to never do it again– and you won’t, even though you want to so badly and his lips look surprisingly soft today? Furrowing your brows at the war in your head, you place the cup on the bench next to you and put your head into your hands, hiding away from him when you realize the only way to do this is to be completely, utterly honest.

“I’m just so embarrassed, Eric.”

The only noise meeting your eardrums in the moment is the faint yelling of the crowd sledding in the background, your companion remaining quiet for a bit. When he sees you won’t explain yourself, he goes ahead and asks the question. “Why?”

“Do I really have to spell it out for you?” you sigh, not believing his so casual composure.

“Maybe,” he laughs, the airy sound taking all breath away from your lungs.

Well, not all of it, since you have enough oxygen to go on a tangent, it seems. “Because I kissed you, goddamnit. And- and I don’t even know why I did it, honestly, I’ve never thought of kissing you before! It���s just- when I heard the world is ending, I realized I hadn’t had my first kiss yet, and that just felt like such a miserable way to die, and then you asked what I wanted to do before I die and I couldn’t think of anything else,” you say, progressively taking out your head from your hands and facing the male, big eyes staring into his soul. 

To your surprise, he doesn’t seem mad. Or disgusted. Or any of the reactions you expected, really. Eric stares at you with a soft, but amidst a little star-struck look in his eyes, and you’re suddenly painfully aware of every slight shift in his composure.

“Did you kiss me because you wanted to kiss me, or because you thought the world was gonna end?” he asks, awaiting your answer.

And if you’re being honest, 2 days after New Year’s Eve, you do admit the thought of the world actually ending sounds a bit stupid. Why did you even believe that theory? Why did they talk about it so seriously on the news? They tricked you into ruining your own life. 

But still, nothing can be done about it now. “Both,” you admit, shrugging, “I… I kissed you because I really didn’t want to die unkissed, but also… I wanted it to be you, y’know? Like… I thought we were really going to die, and so I thought kissing you might be a nice way to go. I really wanted to spend my last moments with you, I guess,” you sheepishly say, averting your gaze from the male.

Eric offers you his silence again after you’re done explaining. While you do admit you feel a little tense to hear what he has to say, you also realize you feel lighter now that it’s out in the universe and out of your system. A major weight was taken off your shoulders with the confession, and suddenly, you’re kind of glad that your friend was so assertive and insistent on talking about this– who knows how long you’d go before managing to face him. You think you could honestly go on… forever.

Taking a sip of the luscious liquid, you feel your body warm up once the anxiousness slips away from your bones. The boy next to you hums, making you face him with expecting eyes. “Then why were you avoiding me?”

Sighing, you shake your head. “I just told you. I’m starting to think you’re the one that’s bad at listening.”

“No,” he laughs, “that’s still you. Because if you were good at listening, you’d remember me telling you that I’ve never once seen you as my younger sister.”

Shrugging, kicking the pile of snow in front of you with the tip of your winter boots, you’re not quite following. “So?”

“So you should’ve realized that I’m not doing all of this,” he theatrically swings his arms around, “for nothing, you know?”

“All of what?”

“Taking care of you. Feeding you, helping you collect those stupid animal stickers, walking you home…” he mumbles, sighing. “Keeping your picture in my wallet,” he adds with a playful tone, making you smile.

“I thought you were just being a good friend,” you shrug.

“I don’t keep a picture of your brother on me at all times,” he says, tugging off his gloves. The sleeve of his jacket rides up a little as you watch him take his cup of hot chocolate off the bench, surprised (and flooded with warmth) to see the ugly friendship bracelet you made still adorning his wrist.

Grinning to yourself, excitement welcoming itself into the tips of your fingertips, you shrug. “So?” you mirror your own question from a little while ago, wanting him to say it to you instead of relying on your own brain– you think there’s still a possibility of you just being too delusional to see the reality for what it really is. You need to make sure you’re not imagining things.

“So,” he starts, sighing to himself as he turns a little in his seat to face you, “you should stop avoiding me, because I liked the kiss. And you. And we should probably do it again, because I didn’t get the chance to kiss you back the first time,” he says, once again taking all oxygen out of your lungs with the casualty of his preposition.

Locking his eyes with you, having you two staring at each other like two rays of sunshine warming up the cold January, he grins. “How does that sound?”

“Good,” you breathe out, “very good.”

The male takes it as an invitation as he scoots himself closer to you on the bench, his body turning a bit to face you. His free hand cups your cheek, leaning closer to lock his lips with you like he asked you to, your eyes fluttering close at the proximity, the fuzzy feeling in your stomach already expecting to kiss him again. The situation feels a little too idyllic to be real, though– you should’ve expected it to get ruined again.

Something cold and wet comes into contact with the side of your face, and when you sharply open your eyes, you see Eric staring at you with shock and terror in his eyes, the snow dripping down the side of his face as well. Whoever threw the snowball has good aim, you think– managing to target two people at once (even though your faces were that close to each other that it probably wasn’t even that hard), and before you get a chance to look around and see who cut off your kiss, there’s a scream coming from the left side of the two of you, the sound of feet quickly darting in the snow landing into your ears.

“Eric Sohn, what the fuck do you think you’re doing with my sister?” the voice hollers, and before you get a chance to react, the said male fastly stands up from the bench and runs to the other direction, laughter resonating all throughout the place as Sunwoo and his friends chase their shortest friend down.

Snow starts falling as you watch your brother tail his childhood friend, and with a foreign sense of warmth, you get reminded of the birthday wish you made while blowing out the candles on your seventh birthday.

You wished for someone just like Eric. You didn’t know the universe would be so kind to give you him instead.

[unreleasedwrites]

May I request Gen 0 + 1 (plus Gun and Goo) when they have had a crush on somebody since highschool (highschool sweetheart)?

Thanks!!!! (keep up your good work)

drabbling about lookism characters with their very own highschool sweethearts and highschool crushes

pov: lookism characters having a crush on you during and since highschool; and as highschool sweethearts

character(s) included: Gapryong Kim, Elite, Jinyeong Park, Tom Lee, Baekho Kwon, Beolgu Lee, Mujin Jin, Gitae Kim, James Lee, Jichang Kwak, Taesoo Ma, Gongseob Ji, Jaegyeon Na, Seongji Yuk, Park Jonggun, Joongoo Kim

cw: my opinion, they’re all in their prime / highschool, mentions of teasing, stalking, some parts are female reader, 3 variants per scenario, red flags, hints of yandere for the last variant, most characters are repeated on purpose (because it really depends on how you view the character hehe)

unwrapped on: Friday Midnight, June 28 2024

wrapped up on: Sunday Midnight, June 30 2024

published on: Sunday Morning, June 30 2024 (at around 11 am)

As A Current Crush

tries ignoring his feelings

This man is in DENIAL. Or even if he’s reached the point where he is no longer in denial, he still refuses to let you know about it. At first, he would notice how much he genuinely likes spending time with you. Until it slowly progresses, he starts taking mental notes of all the little things he’s picked up on you. From how you get to school or what you typically drink in the morning, to how you usually spend your evenings. But he wouldn’t drop hints of his little crush on you. Nonetheless, he would do his absolute best to continue spending time with you as mere friends— putting aside his growing feelings for you.

James Lee, Jichang Kwak, Taesoo Ma, Seongji Yuk, Jaegyeon Na, Park Jonggun

will confess after little to no thought

Oh this man is CONFIDENT. He’ll let his feelings sit with him for a while until he can’t take it anymore. The constant reminder he gets of you wherever he goes is slowly driving him insane. Given his ego, he can’t bare to crumble over some girl who most likely doesn’t care about him. He’ll have to confirm with himself first if he really does like you that much, then once he can finally bring himself to accept that he does like you, he’ll confess his feelings in high hopes that you wont reject him. Which, considering his experience with girls, he likes to think that you most definitely won’t and couldn’t even.

Gapryong Kim, Jinyeong Park, Tom Lee, Beolgu Lee, Mujin Jin, Gitae Kim, James Lee, Gongseob Ji, Jaegyeon Na, Joongoo Kim

avoids you at all costs

This man doesn’t want anything to do with you. He will bluntly push you ASIDE. It doesn’t matter who or what you are to him, he’s got better things to do and bigger plans that doesn’t have you in it. Sure, it might also be that he isn’t ready or is unsure, but for the most part— which he would never admit to anyone, he simply doesn’t want you getting involved in the shenanigans he’s involved in. He knows he’s either got a bad reputation or a torn image on many, so he’s also realized that you’d be put into danger if he were to grow close to you. Which is why he ignores you, avoids you, and shows no signs of liking towards you.

Elite, Jinyeong Park, Baekho Kwon, Mujin Jin, James Lee, Jichang Kwak, Seongji Yuk, Park Jonggun

As Current Highschool Sweethearts

loyal and caring

Some might think that this guy enjoys bouncing from girl to girl, flirting with every lady he might come across, and spending his nights with every girl that lets him, but he’s not. Stereotypically, it might make sense but if in this scenario, he genuinely thinks that you’re for keeps, he wouldn’t want anything bad to happen to you. He may seem pretty distant publicly but he’s all over you when you two are alone. This is partly because he doesn’t want you becoming a target in his dirty work, and partly because he’s not into pda. But nonetheless, he would do his very BEST in the relationship to make sure it lasts and you’ll be his only one.

Elite, Baekho Kwon, Mujin Jin, Jichang Kwak, Taesoo Ma, Jaegyeon Na, Seongji Yuk

keeping it lowkey

This guy simply doesn’t want people knowing about the two of you. He acts so distant in public that no one could ever assume that you two are actually such sweethearts in private with each other. Just like the others, he doesn’t want you getting involved in his fights and becoming an easy target for whoever is against him. But he also just doesn’t want to publicly display your guys’ relationship YET, it’s not in the way that he doesn’t want people thinking you’re together but he simply doesn’t want any rumors and bad news to stem from the two of you— due to his reputation of course. But dw, he is loyal and caring!!

Elite, Jinyeong Park, James Lee, Taesoo Ma, Jaegyeon Na, Seongji Yuk, Park Jonggun, Joongoo Kim

cheats on you

Why would you even say yes to this idiot..? He’s a ladies man for who knows what reasons. Has never heard of commitment and what a real relationship is supposed to be like. He likes to think that because he’s in highschool, he’s still young and he’s meant to enjoy every last bit of it— which is why he spends it with any girl he can. It’s probably already known that he doesn’t want to hold a relationship but if he seemed sincere to you and you fell for that, then you’re in for a one day or maybe even a one week relationship with this guy. Doesn’t care about the aftermath or what’s bound to happen, he’s just there to have a good time.

Gapryong Kim, Tom Lee, Beolgu Lee, Mujin Jin, Gitae Kim, Gongseob Ji, Park Jonggun, Joongoo Kim (gun and goo are red flags girlies, we gotta face it 😭)

As a crush but never a thing since highschool

watches you from afar

This man will STALK you. Now that you two are adults and are no longer in highschool, you two have lost all contact with one another, or so you thought. He knows your life better than you do from subtly being in the same place as you or having some other people do so. He would never want you to recognize him though, which is why he does his best to stay hidden. He’ll rely on whatever information he can get out of your socials, until he finally finds you and has your complete address, workplace, all of your friends and family, and information of yourself that you didn’t even know about.

Gapryong Kim, Elite, Tom Lee, Mujin Jin, Gitae Kim, James Lee, Taesoo Ma, Gongseob Ji, Park Jonggun, Joongoo Kim

will suck it up and finally confess after all these years

He HATES himself for not doing this sooner. All the wasted time you two could have spent together. But he isn’t even certain on whether or not you’d reciprocate his feelings. Of course, theres only one way to find out— he’s got to finally tell you. He had his reasons for not speaking up about it sooner and he was hoping that he wouldn’t feel this way anymore after all of the years that has passed. Yet, his feelings are still here, he has liked you since high school and he’s hoping you might have been in the same situation as him. He’ll go all out without making it too big of a deal in confessing.

Jinyeong Park, Baekho Kwon, Mujin Jin, Jichang Kwak, Taesoo Ma, Gongseob Ji, Jaegyeon Na, Seongji Yuk, Joongoo Kim

would slowly start isolating you from other people

He has thought about doing the last two. But he still prefers his own idea; keeping you all to HIMSELF. Without your knowledge— he has actually been watching you ever since highschool was finished. He specifically planned to “suddenly run” into you and strike a conversation just after you finished your shift. And you, thinking you just ran into an old classmate, fall for all of his little tricks. Not knowing what you were getting yourself into. He and you eventually start dating and he slowly “shelters” you from the outside world. He promises he’ll keep you safe, he’s all you’ll ever need and that anywhere without him is far too dangerous.

Elite, Gitae Kim, James Lee, Park Jonggun, Joongoo Kim

notes: i didn’t include every single character in those gens because we didn’t know much of anything abt them and i didn’t think anyone would want them 😇🤨 i also didnt know how to write this in a diff way so i made it into a drabble because its just so much people 😇 But either way, I hope the anon who requested this still likes it 😓

also tysm to the anon who requested this!! 😭😭 I’m so used to writing for gen 2 only so this was a fun experience 💝

This has been sitting in my inbox for a while now so i apologize 💔

- With or without proper credits, please don't try to steal or claim any of my works as your own

I genuinely appreciate any feedback like comments, likes, reblogs, and requests

Once again, I hope this isn't too bad and I wasn’t sure if this anon wanted a drabble or something else, so im sorry !! 😭

[scarletwinterxx]

lee and lily - haechan dad scenario

hello!! just wanted to write a quick haechan fluff. haechan as a girl dad, i just know he'll be the most gentle and caring and whipped dad 🥺😭

if you have a request or scenario you want me to do, just send me a message I'll see what I can do😊💌

For my other works you can check them out here, and for my other story series’ you can check them out here.

and if you want, u can buy me coffee(totally optional but any donation is very much appreciated!) thank you🥺💛

All works are copyrighted ©scarletwinterxx 2023 . Do not repost, re-write without the permission of author.

(gif not mine, credits to rightful owner)

"Honey, I'm home! oh what are you doing there, angelbug?"

Haechan stops by the doorway when he spots his daughter sitting on the bottom step with her arms crossed and a frown on her cute little face

"Time out" his daughter answers with a pout, Haechan had to hold back his laugh just in case you're around watching. He tries not to get in your way whenever you discipline your 4 year-old daughter, he did it once and he ended up in trouble with you too.

You always tell him she's too spoiled, how can he not spoil her though?

Lee Nari, you and Haechan's first born. Baby girl was born on June 06, yes the same day as your husband. The two of you were enjoying his birthday dinner at home with his family when it happened, it was to say the least a very dramatic way of entering the world. Little Nari knew how to announce her entrance, a few hours later she was born.

Since then she's been yours and Haechan's world. You can control yourself when it comes to giving her what she wants and teaching her how the real world works but her father is a whole another story.

If Haechan could, he'd give Nari the world on a silver platter. When she was a newborn, she would make the slightest little baby noise and Haechan would be on his feet checking on her.

You adore it. You love how he loves his daughter. There's no doubt she'll have one man loving her truly for the rest of her life. As long as Haechan is around, Nari would be loved and cared for and protected.

Walking towards his daughter before crouching down to meet her eyes,

"Did you do something that you weren't suppose to?" he asks

"She drew on the wall with markers, then when I asked her if she did it she said Uju did" this time Haechan let out a chuckle when he heard your explanation, looking up the staircase to see you standing with a rag and bottlespray in your hands. Probably cleaning up the mess little Nari made.

"Who knew our dog was an artist" he jokes, he stands up before cupping his hand over Nari's ears "How long has it been?" referring to her being on time out

"Like 5 minutes, atleast talk to her Hyuck. She's getting cheekier and cheekier by the day, and you're not helping" you told your husband, walking down the stair

"I do help" "Yeah, help her with getting away with things" you counter

"Okay, you're not wrong. Not my fault I can't say no to our baby, she can do no wrong in my eyes" he says, you give him a pointed look. One he understood even without words.

"I'll talk to her" he tells you before looking down to Nari

"Let's go, Nari. We'll help mommy clean up, okay?" he says as he picks up his daughter in his arms.

Before the two Lee's make their way upstairs, Haechan speaks again

"Now, what do we say to mommy?" he asks Nari who is currently playing with the button on his shirt

"Sorry, mommy" Nari mumbles

"Doesn't count if you don't look in her eyes. Now try again" he tells her gently.

You don't talk, just stood beside the daddy and daughter duo. Haechan has always been the energetic, all-out type of person. But when he's with his little girl, he's the most gentle man.

The little Lee looks up and look at you with a small pout on her lips, "Sorry, mommy"

Haechan looks at you, waiting for you to succumb under her powers just like he always do. Like he had when he first held her in his arms. Like how he'll always be for the rest of his life.

"Don't do it again okay, and don't lie to mommy when I ask you. I forgive you" you tell her with a small smile. Leaning over to give her a kiss on the head

"Hey, where's my kiss?" Haechan says, earning an eye roll from you but you comply nonetheless.

After all, Nari isn't the only Lee who has you wrapped around their finger.

Giving Haechan a quick kiss on the lips before passing the rag and spray bottle to him. "Goodluck, love you" you tease him, lightly pushing him upstairs.

"You see angellove, there's this thing in your playroom. The coloring books and canvass I got you, you can paint and draw on them all day so that you and I don't have to clean. And mommy won't get mad, she's scary when she's mad"

"Lee Donghyuck!"

[hyobros]

Cheritz's changes in staff over the lifetime of The Ssum

I wanted to write a post about this because it was the nail in the coffin convincing me that The Ssum won't get better. I really want to be optimistic, I was for the first year of the game's release. But with how hard they're fumbling June's route, and having some context by seeing the dramatic changes that happen behind the scenes, I don't have any hope for the game's future in its original concept.

So here's a big fat list of credits, comparison of them, and my own stupid commentary.

A comparison of the beta OPs credits (2018) vs the new OP credits (April 2022)

Project Directed by-

Sujin Ri (this stays constant)

Project Managed by-

Heinrich Dortmann (this stays constant during the time periods I'm comparing- we'll come back to this later)

Character Model by-

Yuseung An (this credit never appears again so uhhhh)

Game Designed by-

Yoonji Shin, Haeyoung Go (this credit also never appears again)

Project Assisted by-

2018:

Youngtak Lee, Heetae Lee, Yeonwoo Jung, Kyungha Kim, Kyungho Kim, Jihyun Jang, Hyejin Hong, Daniel Hong, Seungiim(?) Hwang, Dakyoung Lee

April 2022:

Heetae Lee, Junghee Choi

Art illustrated by-

2018:

Ilbo Sim, Jinhee Lee, Jihyeon Choi, Hyunju Na, Juhul Kim, Jaehee Hwang, Mirae Kang

April 2022:

Ilbo Sim, Jihyeon Choi, Minji Kim, Mirae Kang, Youngjoo You, Yura Lee

Programmed by-

2018:

Mansu Park, Marcos Arroyo, Rachel Tay, Soonyong Hong, Seungjin Lee, Myungjun Choi

April 2022:

Gunsoo Lee, Kukhwa Park, Moonhyuk Jang, Myungjun Choi, Seungjin Lee, Wonbok Lee, Youngkwon Jeon

Scenario Written by-

2018:

Jinseo Park, Minjeong Kim, E Hyun Kim, Eunchong Jang

April 2022:

Jinseo Park, Lilly Hwang, Minjung Kim, Saerom Shin, Summer Yoon, Youngran Moon

Language Localized by-

2018:

Sunhee Moon, Minkyung Chi, Sungjae Choi, Junhee Kim

April 2022:

Minkyung Chi, Pilhwa Hong, Saenanseul Kim, Sorim Byeon

Sound Resourced by-

2018:

(N/A)

April 2022:

Songhee Kim

Customer Service/Communication with Users by-

2018:

Sunkyeong Yun, Hyeseon Yang

April 2022:

Donghee Yoon, Joyce Hong, Sanghee An, Subin Kim

Credits from 2019

These are in the lyric booklet included in the Teo Love Bundle. Strangely enough, I'm already seeing differences between the 2018 credits and 2019. Uh oh?

As of release + a few months

These screenshots don't feature all the credits, unfortunately. I'm relying on screenshots someone else took because I'm not proactive but hindsight is 20/20.

Changes: Project is no longer managed by Heinrich Dortmann, instead by Juho Woo. Scenario team cut down to 2 people, one of which is a new name (Jooyoung Lim). Art team also cut down to 2 people. Sound is no longer resourced by Songhee Kim, but Jaeryeon Park and ROGIA. All new team of directing assistants as well, it expanded to 4 people but they're all new names. 2 fewer programmers, only one of the listed names was already working.

October 2023 (June's release)

Here's where it somehow gets worse lol.

Changes: A lot. Directing assisted by 1 person. They were not a part of the team credited in the OP. Down to 3 programmers, only 1 being in the OP. Entirely new art team! It's up to 4 people, but all of them are new, even compared to only a few months prior. Down to 1 scenario writer pobrecita (but we're coming back to that). Since I don't have screenshots of the project assistant credits from launch, can't say anything for that, except that Gui Zhenghao is new compared to the OP but the number of staff there remained the same. Flaming Heart is gone for the BGM! He's been working with Cheritz for forever but is gone now. One person from the communication team left, so they're down to 2. That would explain why emails have been slower since October. Only 1 translator, though Cheritz is now looking to recruit new ones.

Important note:

According to Cheritz's post acknowledging their use of gAI, Sujin Ri was not involved in writing season 1 of the game, but IS the main writer for season 2. I won't make a rant about how much I hate what she's writing cuz this isn't the post for that, but it explains why season 2 is so vastly different.

The fact that only a few people (like, in the lower single digits) remain even from 2019/early 2022, let alone who's still around from 2018, is really frustrating for the game. The game started with one vision, but now it's being turned into something completely different. Even the app's functions are inconsistant between season 1 and 2 (and a little so between Harry and Teo). According to an email I got from Cheritz, season 2 takes place a few years before season 1. Just sit with that knowledge for a bit :P. It's like the current people in charge of The Ssum (*cough Sujiin Ri*) couldn't be bothered to keep the original concept in mind, let alone how the timeline would work.

This post was a long time coming, I was caught up in just how bizarre this all is and finding tons of stuff that I haven't even included in the post. Writing this has taken about 3 hours (including the time I spent on a post ONLY FOR TUMBLR TO NOT WANNA WORK PROPERLY WHEN I TRIED TO POST IT SO IT GOT DELETED) and uhhh yeah. Now I gotta wait a few years to ask former staff if their NDAs are expired yet LOL

[zuko-always-lies]

Yeah, I know the last few are a bit far out, but I had to include them for the sake of completeness.

Note that I did not say who the Firelord is in this scenario...

Please put your reasons for voting as you did in the tags!

[fairyniceyeah]

ABOUT ME

Hello there^^

You can call me fairy 🧚🏻‍♀️

ao3: fairyniceyeah

Fun fact: If you say my username out loud it sounds familiar to SEVENTEEN’s VERY NICE which is why I decided to switch to this name! 

I had a different username (same as my ao3) before, the explanation why I decided to change it you can find here.

MASTERLISTS

Fairy's Full Masterlist Fairy's Masterlist - ATEEZ Fairy's Masterlist - SEVENTEEN Fairy's Masterlist - Stray Kids Fairy's Masterlist - The Rose   Fairy's June of Doom 2024   Fairy's Sicktember 2024

REQUESTS ARE OPEN

Request list for Fairy

Please send some requests or (personal) questions or whatever you like! I am a pretty open person and am happy to share stuff about my writing process or things about myself or whatever you would like to know😊

I love to have a full inbox and I promise I will do my best to get to the fics even if it takes some time!

I currently feel most comfortable writing ATEEZ, SEVENTEEN and THE ROSE though if inspiration strikes I might get back into writing STRAY KIDS more often.  Honestly I don’t know how to specify what I write – it really depends on the requests. Worst case scenario is that I thank you for the requests and will kindly tell you ‘no, I can’t’ or refer you to a different blog! For each group check out the members I will write for below – members in (brackets) will probably only appear as sickies if you request them! Please be patient with me though! I may not get to your request for some time but I will try my best!

If you want to know about me feel free to ask but for now let me tell you a bit about myself:

I am from Germany and was born in 2001

I have only been a K-Pop fan since early 2023 when I accidentally stumbled upon a Stray Kids sickfic on ao3

I switched to tumblr now because a) some friends have my ao3 and I feel weird posting there and b) the K-Pop community is more active here and I feel so thankful for every like and comment and interaction I receive here since it doesn’t feel like I am writing into the void now <3

I honestly love talking about my interests so hit me up in the chat or asks

I  finished my studies and am now officially a social worker!

Groups I stan:

⌛ ATEEZ ⌛

I discovered ATEEZ through Kingdom: Legendary War and fell in love with their concept and Hongjoong’s long hair lol

my favorite songs are: Star 1117, Wonderland (Symphony No. 9), The Leaders, MATZ and Empty Box

my biases are: Hongjoong (ult. Bias), Jongho and Yunho

will write for: Hongjoong, Seonghwa, Yunho, (Yeosang), San, (Wooyoung) and Jongho

💎 SEVENTEEN 💎

let’s say it’s all @sickiecloud's fault:)

I saw them at Lollapalooza Berlin and I am awed!!!

I am not yet confident with all members so please understand if I will hesitate with requests

my favourite songs are: MAESTRO, Circles, God of Light Music, Super and Headliner

my biases are: Woozi and Seunkwan

will write for: S.Coups, Jeonghan, Joshua, Hoshi, Wonwoo, Woozi, Minghao, Seungkwan, Vernon -> all, honestly, depends on the ask

🧭 STRAY KIDS 🧭

are my first K-Pop love but I am not a hard-core stay

my favorite songs are: Hellevator, Thunderous, #LoveStay, Fam and Lonely St.

my biases are: Lee Know and Seungmin

will write for: Lee Know, (Hyunjin) and Seungmin

🌹 THE ROSE 🌹

I know they aren’t really K-Pop but I adore them and their music so much I went to two concerts (drove 2 and 4 hours respectively) and got up at 3AM for the Coachella livestreams

my favorite songs are: Sorry, Cosmo, Eclipse, Back to Me and She’s in the Rain (it was so hard to decide, they are all so good!)

my bias is: Hajoon

will write for: all of them

I occasionally listen to Day6 (Zombie, Congratulations and Love me or Leave me) and BtoB (Beautiful Pain, Pray and The Song).

Fairy's Ten Writing Tips

Emeto Cheat Sheet

Warnings and disclaimer below cut

I am very reluctant to assume anything about our favorite idols. However, in my writings – though I do my best to stay as true to their personalities and characteristics as possible - I think of them of "just another character" not a reflection of the real person. Remember that nothing they think, do or say in fanfictions might be what the actually would think, do or say. Remember that these fanfictions are fictional works and do not reflect the real-life idols.

[tasteless-lemonade]

Today is June 6, 2024. It's the five-year anniversary of the movie X-Men: Dark Phoenix.

It's not the best movie, it makes no sense considering the other Fox X-Men movies, it's a bad adaptation for the Dark Phoenix Saga. But this is not about the movie.

Five years ago, this movie went to the theaters in Brazil. I wanted to see a movie, and I knew the X-Men. I had seen their cartoons in the past, but so long ago I forgot most of their story. The visual effects looked cool. I went to see Dark Phoenix.

It wasn't good. I didn't knew anything about the original story but I didn't like the movie. The script just felt weird. After the movie, I went to the internet to see the reviews and found many people saying "The comics are better!" "The comics have a better story!"

The comics. I read some comics. My father collected many comics since before I was born and I would read it when I was a child and bored. However, I didn't actually get into comics and was more reading to pass the time.

I decided to read the comics. Those X-Men seemed interesting. "Where do I start?" I thought. I didn't look at read guides or readlists. I went to the beginning, and it was The X-Men #1 (1963)

5 years ago I read my first X-Men comic and it was the first of all.

My reading of the X-Men was messy and confusing. At first, I was scared of the 500 issues of UXM and it took me some time to start following readlists and read important issues with more logic.

Why did I like the X-Men so much? I entered comic world and read about heroes other than X-Men, I rooted for a variety of teams and loved many other stories. But none of them were like the X-Men. Why? Why where these weird people in peculiar clothing more special than the other weird people in peculiar clothing?

I don't know

Maybe it's the mutant metaphor and how these stories helped me accept my differences when it was making me feel wrong and sick. Maybe it was the giant cast full of characters to meet, love and hate. Maybe it was the fact that a school was a major scenario in these stories and I come from a family where most people are teachers. Maybe it was the found family stories about people who accept you, even when you're uncanny, stories that I read when I thought I would have no friends as people would always find me weird. Maybe it was just the feeling upon seeing the first issue.

I read many good stories about those X-Men, I read many bad stories about them. I loved a lot of these characters as some of my absolute favorites, and some I really hated. I kept reading some of these damn books even when I disliked them so much.

I started reading X-Men five years ago. My life changed a lot since, even if not related to comics, I weirdly feel like my life has become... better.

I know I will see what the X-Men are doing in their comics when new stories appear next month. I am sure as this, sure as I am that Jean Grey will rise from the ashes everytime she dies.

I just wanted to thank mostly (some of them didn't make a really good impact) of the writers and artists who made these books that entertained me for so much time. Special thanks to the original X-Men, by Stan Lee and Jack Kirby.

I saw how it all started with 5 uncanny students and a teacher in a wheelchair. I see what it is now. It never ceases to amaze me, honestly. I can't explain why I like these stories, but do I really have to? It just feels good.

Well, happy five-year anniversary, X-Men: Dark Phoenix!

[pinkbrries]

• 𝐌𝐀𝐈𝐍 𝐌𝐀𝐒𝐓𝐄𝐑𝐋𝐈𝐒𝐓 •

Lee Minjun (in hangul: 이민준), known professionally as June (hangul: 주네), is a british-korean singer, rapper, song-writer, model, dancer and former fencer born in London, United Kingdom on October 14, 2001. She is best known as a member, main dancer and main vocalist of co-ed idol group Enhypen, who made their debut in November 30, 2020.

scenarios are in chronological order.

profile | learn the alphabet with minjun | facts about minjun | minjun’s wardrobe | minjun’s celebrity crushes | idols crushing on minjun | what’s inside minjun’s bag? | minjun secret twt acc | just minjun things | her relationships with:

HYUNG LINE

MAKNAE LINE

relationships inside HYBE | relationships outside HYBE

june and her ‘01 liner friends

#PREDEBUT

A new friend | The Debut | When realization hits

— D R A B B L E S —

tba.

#2017–2020

tba.

— D R A B B L E S —

tba.

#2021–PRESENT

tba.

— D R A B B L E S —

tba.

#ENHYPEN&HI

↳ find the main masterlist here

#EN-O’CLOCK

↳ find the main masterlist here

#EN-LOG | #EN-NOTE | #OTHER CONTENT

#I-LAND: BEHIND THE SCENES

I-BLANK INTERVIEW WITH JUNE

T.M.I WITH JUNE

#I-LAND: THROUGH JUNE’S EYES

↳ find the main masterlist here

#ERAS

↳ 𝐈-𝐋𝐀𝐍𝐃 | 𝐁𝐎𝐑𝐃𝐄𝐑: 𝐃𝐀𝐘 𝐎𝐍𝐄 | 𝐁𝐎𝐑𝐃𝐄𝐑: 𝐂𝐀𝐑𝐍𝐈𝐕𝐀𝐋 | 𝐃𝐈𝐌𝐄𝐍𝐒𝐈𝐎𝐍: 𝐃𝐈𝐋𝐄𝐌𝐌𝐀 | 𝐃𝐈𝐌𝐄𝐍𝐒𝐈𝐎𝐍: 𝐀𝐍𝐒𝐖𝐄𝐑 | 𝐌𝐀𝐍𝐈𝐅𝐄𝐒𝐓𝐎: 𝐃𝐀𝐘 ���� | 𝐃𝐀𝐑𝐊 𝐁𝐋𝐎𝐎𝐃 | 𝐎𝐑𝐀𝐍𝐆𝐄 𝐁𝐋𝐎𝐎𝐃

↳ 𝐃𝐀𝐑𝐊 𝐌𝐎𝐎𝐍: 𝐓𝐇𝐄 𝐁𝐋𝐎𝐎𝐃 𝐀𝐋𝐓𝐀𝐑

#MISC.

#ARTICLES

#SOCIALMEDIA

#WEVERSE

#VLIVE

#VLOGS

#SCANDALS

#DRABBLES

#ASKMINJUN

#INCORRECTQUOTES

#FANEDITS

#VIDEOS

↳ comparing heights with

hyung line | maknae line

[missamyrisa2]

Recently, Miss Amy, I have been pondering the idea of eldritch beings or more specifically tickling eldritch beings. And in reading all of your fantastically worded teases (as I often do, nearly daily) I notice many people (for understandable reasons) type to you anonymously.

So, my brain got to thinking, and a thought crossed my mind of “What if every anonymous typer was actually one being with dozens of tickle minds?” Dozens of lee’s and ler’s sharing one body, yet are always thinking of ways they wish to be tickled and ways to tickle us all. And then another thought burgeoned from my feather strewn mind palace… “What would it be like to tickle them, or be tickled by them?”

The idea that this Anonymous being could drag a single finger along your sides and it feels as if there are a thousand delicate digits designed to extract as much laughter as possible from a person. Could you imagine it swirling a finger in your navel, or digging into the dips of your hips, and it feels like 30 devious ticklers all at once?

And tickling Anonymous? A single swipe of a feather over their royal tickle buttons and the sound of 20 giggling lee’s usher from their lips, or a blushy tickle kiss on their neck causing at least a dozen gigglemoans to fill your ears, enticing you to explore each minds fantasy of ticklish subjugation on either themselves or in perhaps you, trading hands with an uncountable amount of tickle obsessed thoughts driving a single force of gargalesis and tickly pleasure for eternity…

Just a thought I thought you’d find interesting.

I love thisssss because I of courseee have thoughts in this realm~ I've been fixated on this scenario ever since seeing Hellboy where there's this scene of stumbling into ancient cosmic horrors through the portal and I just endlessssyy think about what if this being onlyyyy existed to bring entire civilizations to ticklish dooooom~

Alsooo there's that legion boss from various Castlevania, the big balllll of screamers that could be a big horrible ball of ticklersssss or tickleeees just stuck together endlessly tickled by that wicked core~

oh gosssh it's June and I'm going hard into horror tickles~

But my gosh yessss that idea~!! I love it soooo soo much and it tracks so perfectly with my constant trail of anonymous askssss just imagining it allll coming from one multiminded being soooo wantttyyy so neeedyyy that it needs allll my ticklesss~ like the only ticklee who can keep pace with my insane mind of nonstop tickle thoughtssss~

And my dearrrr you've kind of described what it's like when I get tickled by someone who knowwsss how to play my bodyyy~ like mmmhhh I've been tickled on my feet by someone with those acrylic nails and I still swear it was five thousand fingerssss alll going up my socked sole at once like my mind exploded unable to comprehend the multidimensional tickles which were soooo casually being delivered by those scrunchy fingerssss~

[emiefluff]

‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ Navigation.org

Introduction.exe

Rules.edu

Tags.gov {here}

Fandoms.jpeg

Masterlist.wav

Other.net

‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ Tags.gov

‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ Below are some tags that I will be using for my posts, listed from top to bottom of most important to just shitposts.

‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ TagsList.mp3

‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ❥‎ring ring- Most important posts will be tagged with this, usually my PSAs, safety awareness posts, and reblogs about anything important.

‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ❥‎navigation.org- Any of the posts that give important information about my blog like the introduction post, and my rules will be tagged with the navigation.org tag.

‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ❥‎emie is delivering- Any of my fics or written scenarios will be listed under this tag.

‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ❥‎kailyn's dissolving- Any of my headcanons will be listed under this tag.

‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ❥emie's mushy brain- Any of my art posts will be listed under this tag.

‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ❥‎secret life of kailyn- Anything relating to my personal life such as face reveals, school related posts, and etc.

‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ❥‎ted talks with kailyn 101- My thoughts and opinions will be listed under this tag.

‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ❥‎sam the loml- Posts about my gf Sam/@justaposibblytransgirl will be tagged as this.

‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ❥‎my bestie westie py <3 /p- Posts about @pink-tk-a-latte will be tagged as this.

‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ❥‎meetup hour feat. floffies- Posts about @nekoma-not-lee will be tagged as this.

‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ❥‎christyn w/ her positive vibes- Posts about @tea-twords will be tagged as this

‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ❥‎zin is still the sanest rui fan i know- Posts about @kandislabofdoom will be tagged as this.

‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ❥‎seal? no. ciel? yes!- Posts about @cnidarianrui will be tagged as such.

‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ❥‎big sister ginger ale >>>>> you /lh- Posts about @gingerlee-holds will be tagged as this.

‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ❥‎mootie cutie patooties!- Posts about my mutuals will be tagged as this.

‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ❥‎protected by mizuki akiyama- My tag that indicates only SFW and positive interactions on this blog since I am a minor.

‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ❥‎no beta we die like mafumom- My fics, written scenarios, and headcanons that aren't beta/proof read.

‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ❥kailer moment- My posts where I'm in a ler mood.

‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ❥kailee 25/8- My posts where I'm in a lee mood.

‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ❥‎sleep deprived and alive- Things I post during the middle of the night, or while I'm tired.

‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ❥‎surviving and thriving off of serotonin- Same as the previous tag.

‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ❥shit up emie- My shitposts will be tagged as this.

‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ❥kailyn's recommendations- Fics, headcanons, games or literally whatever the fuck I reblog that seems interesting and I want people to see/read/hear i don't know.

‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ AuthorsNote.m4a

‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ❥Updated with a new tag as of May 9th, 2024 - 8:54pm EST

‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ❥Updated with new preferred names, new tag, and theme change as of June 15th, 2024 -

[lovelymessybubbly]

I posted 369 times in 2022

That's 366 more posts than 2021!

279 posts created (76%)

90 posts reblogged (24%)

Blogs I reblogged the most:

@skribblz

@sleepysheepytea

@ticklishfanart

@tickly-oni

@otomiya-tickles

I tagged 367 of my posts in 2022

Only 1% of my posts had no tags

#tamakucha shaberu - 245 posts

#egg talk - 244 posts

#tickling - 126 posts

#tamaishiteru - 60 posts

#tamabijutsu - 44 posts

#thorn-chan - 25 posts

#kusugutama - 20 posts

#mha tickling - 16 posts

#scribblz - 15 posts

#sleepysheepytea - 15 posts

Longest Tag: 131 characters

#i just would like to add for the record-i love love my boyfriend and it is not just because he tickles me a lot. thats just a bonus

My Top Posts in 2022:

#5

hello tamadachi ! (*¯︶¯*) here’s something fun for you all in between requests. a handful of olddd drawings i dug up. these were from before i even considered sharing such things (//ω//) please enjoy !

(there are a few, how should i say, more “intense” scenes under cut (ノ*°▽°*) nothing nsfw but not quite as playful as what i try to stick to here. so please steer away if that is not your thing !!)

See the full post

252 notes - Posted June 2, 2022

#4

good evening! i was hit with a random burst of inspiration so i drew this quickly ( ˙꒳​˙ ) midoriya is hatsume’s willing test subject for her newest machinery! although, he may be having a few regrets... (￢‿￢ ) those trapped peets are sure getting worked over! i don’t think he can stand it! ufufu, how cute! (´꒳`)♡ please enjoy!

261 notes - Posted September 24, 2022

#3

flat color commission done for @happyandticklish ! i was so pleased to have the opportunity to do this because tamaki is my favorite host (─‿‿─)♡ he is just like, totally my type ! (/▽＼*)｡o○♡ so it is quite tempting to bully him.thank you for supporting me in this way !

267 notes - Posted July 26, 2022

#2

hi! love your blog! May I request a ler zelda lee link pic with their amazin botw designs? with zelda using tickling to get link to talk

here is the lovely couple ! (ღ˘⌣˘ღ) zelda is soooo pretty. such a delicate and beautiful flower Σ>―(〃°ω°〃)♡→

i'm sure link let's her get away with a lot, haha.

353 notes - Posted May 21, 2022

My #1 post of 2022

IT IS COMPLETED ! (╯✧▽✧)╯I worked very hard today after work to finish this, so I truly hope you all enjoy!it’s kenma and kuroooo !! kenma is a bit clingy like a kitten, so I always imagined them to be cuddly together when alone (─‿‿─)♡this scenario is based off of something my boyfriend does to me verrryy frequently (///￣ ￣///) where he will stick his finger into my navel but not actually tickle. this is still very ticklish, however! so he likes to tease me this way. (￢_￢;) he behaves mischievously a lot, but i suppose it can’t be helped ┐(￣∀￣)┌more to come ! let me know who you would like to see next ! 。.:��*:･’(*⌒―⌒*)))

950 notes - Posted April 27, 2022

Get your Tumblr 2022 Year in Review →

[w2writesstuff]

What W2 Wrote in 2023

Considering that I'm prrrrrobably not going to manage to put out anything else this year, yeah, let's do a roundup now while I've got a moment. (Note: Only includes fun stuff; no professional shit here.)

January

I can't even remember January. Nothing happens in Januaries.

February

to the beat of your heart, ch. 3 (MDZS) The ongoing adventures of a self-indulgent happy-ending everybody-lives-and-also-bones WangXian canon-divergent AU; a joint project between my wife and me.

It’s Hard to Say “I Do” When You Don’t (@shousetsubangbang) Original story about a guy whose long-time crush asks him to pretend to be his boyfriend at a family wedding. Fake dating ensues.

March

Kintsukuroi (DMBJ) This heihua piece may be the best thing I've written all year? Look, I'm just very proud of how I made it exactly what I wanted it to be.

April

Head (@shousetsubangbang) This was a last-minute fill because the story I wanted to write failed to make itself writeable. Oh well! Still a funny and cute blowjob.

May

to the beat of your heart, ch. 4 (MDZS)

I want to be where all the stupid shit I say sounds so romantic and true (Guardian, WeiLan) Someday I will write a longer and more complicated series of Guardian sex pollen shenanigans, but until then, enjoy this one.

The Rightful Ruler (The Blood of Youth, Lei Wujie/Xiao Se) Still the only English-language story on AO3 for this pairing! Includes maybe the funniest line I wrote all year? You make the call!

The Doctor is In (Psych-Hunter) I know nobody watched Psych-Hunter, and with good reason, but I did, and I think Jiang Shuo should get to spy on the sexy gay doctor if he wants to.

June

A Single Explosion (DMBJ, Pangxi + Xiao Ge) For PingPang Week, with @pangzi in mind. Here's the missing part of Ultimate Note, where Pangzi takes care of Xiao Ge in the hospital.

Dog (The Disguiser, Ah Cheng/Ming Lou) This was actually written before I saw the post going around about how the sexiest thing one guy can be is another's dog. But it's true!

And I am green, and you are wood (DMBJ/Mystic Nine) Another exchange fic, where Liang Wan gets a chance to meet all of Zhang Rishan's old (boy)friends, especially Ba Ye.

Reverse Cowgirl (Not Gay as in Take Off Your Pants and Jacket, Queer as in Dude Ranch) (@shousetsubangbang) Is this the hottest thing I've ever written for SSBB? Might just be. Lesbian ranch hands recruit a city girl.

July

Stay (Beyond Evil, Oh Jihwa/Yu Jaeyi) Because you know what that show needed? Small town lesbians.

Little Spear (The Blood of Youth, Sikong Qianluo/Xiao Se) This show has some cute het, but how it would work in bed is another matter entirely; or, two gay people try to have straight sex.

动须相应 (live-action Hikaru no Go, Yu Liang/Shi Guang) It's hard to get much gayer than the actual show without adding explicit sex, so ... here you go! Post-series boyfriends.

One Quiet Night (Kingdom, Seobi + Lee Chang/Yeongshin) This is the other thing I'm really proud of, because it too came out pretty much exactly the way I envisioned it. A nurse, a prince, and a scrappy piece of shit more or less all fall in love.

August

Hooks in My Sides (Beyond Evil, JWDS) This certainly was the most popular thing I've written all year. It's unfortunately easy to write poor Juwon having a gay meltdown.

A World Made Up of Silver and Copper (@shousetsubangbang) A prince-and-pauper scenario, this time focusing on the prince's adventures in being mistaken for himself. (Hint: they are sexy.)

September

...Funny how the first months of each semester are usually a complete wash for me creatively, huh?

October

to the beat of your heart, ch. 5 (MDZS)

Over My Dead Body (@shousetsubangbang) Nothing like the romance of possessing a corpse only to find he's not actually dead. (Note to DMBJ fans: This should taste like heihua.)

November

A fair amount of November was spent writing something that I just couldn't finish for December's SSBB, once I realized how long it'd have to be and how little free time I had. Maybe next year!

December

Antivenin (@shousetsubangbang) A mean bisexual and an even meaner lesbian team up to distract their gay boss from his terrible crush.

-

And that's it! It always feels kind of weird to see it all gathered in one place, like ... wow, that's not nearly as much as I thought it was. But at the same time, it involves a couple of pieces I feel very good about, so overall I'm going to take the win.

The most fun I had was doing my Small Fandom Summer thing, where I wrote fic for fandoms that had <1000 English-language works on AO3. Maybe I'll do that again next year!

Anyway, if you do wind up reading something, especially the original stuff, thanks. A lot of this can be a very lonely process, especially when there's not much of a built-in audience. Saying you liked something makes me feel a little less like I'm screaming into the void.

Onward to 2024!

[thislovintime]

Peter Tork and James Lee Stanley promoting Stranger Things Have Happened at Costa Mesa’s Tower Records on December 2, 1995. Photos by Pat Smith.

“He plays ‘em, and he sings the songs [on Stranger Things Have Happened]. Backing him on the album are Dolenz, Nesmith, ex-Eagle Timothy B. Schmit and his current music mate/opening act, acoustic guitarist and yarnspinner James Lee Stanley. ‘I want some ambiguity — not straight moon-June-spoon-lovey-dovey,’ Tork says of his music. He delivers that straightaway in the title track [listen], a world-beatish ditty that explores love through the metaphor of Mao's Long March. ‘The inference to be drawn is that once you've fallen in love, then the work begins,’ he explains. ‘Everybody wants to think you fall in love and that's it, like in movies and pop music. The truth is that's not the truth. The bloom of infatuation always wears off. Then what?’” - Chicago Tribune, January 19, 1996

“Songs on the album span from hard rock and reggae to classical. ‘The music is eclectic, very broad-based,’ Tork said. ‘Peter is a multi-faceted guy,’ [James Lee] Stanley said. ‘He is largely influenced by reggae.’” - The Defender, February 21, 1996

Q: “Why, after all this time, do we finally have the first Peter Tork CD?” Peter Tork: “I don’t know. Shouldn’t I have ever put one out? Oh, you mean why did it take me so long? I don’t exactly know… I needed James and he couldn’t help as long as I lived in the San Francisco Bay area. That’s one thing. I suppose, too, that until recently, I wasn’t equipped psychologically.” [...] Q: “How did you come to work with your producer, James Lee Stanley?” PT: “James is about my oldest friend. No, make that my friend of longest standing. I worked with him once before, in my early days, and I thought, as a result of that experience, that it would be very good for me to work with him again. Plus, he was in the neighborhood.” Q: “How did you pick the songs?” PT: “Each one differently. Some of them I’ve had on my mind to put [on] my record for a long time. Others we just sort of played and started to record.” [...] Q: “Why didn’t you put Long Title on Stranger Things Have Happened?” Peter Tork: “We tried, but it’s how these things go sometimes. We weren’t happy with the way it was turning out, so we dropped it. Maybe the next solo album.” Q: “How do you write a song. What starts you off.” PT: “Pretty women start me off, and there’s no one way to write. Sometimes someone says something that sounds interesting, and you jot it down. Sometimes you find yourself humming something that you realize you haven’t exactly heard before. The hard part is ‘asking’ for the inspiration to get the other parts, other verses, bridges, if any, etc.” - Beachwood Confidential newsletter, 1995

“‘It’s kind of middle-of-the-road, up pop,’ [Tork] says. ‘Micky and Mike Nesmith sing backup on a couple of songs. If it isn’t available in your local record store, you can get it by calling 1-800-Not-Ribs-0!’” - Los Angeles Times, November 12, 1995 (x)

“That’s another reason that we were friends for life, because I saw him shine when, you know, there were no Monkees, the Monkees idea wasn’t even on the horizon. And he was a wonderful performer and a wonderful musician, and I saw him like that. And I think the fact that he got that from me, that kind of respect all through that period, probably helped the bond as well. 
And I remember that, after The Monkees’ resurgence, I think it was about, it might have been ’90, ’91 or something, and I said, ‘Peter, why haven’t you made a record? All these guys have made solo records, and you haven’t.’ And he was so humble, he just said, ‘Well, you know, no one has asked me.’ And I said, ‘Jesus, Peter, I have a studio, I have a record label, I have distribution.’ I said, ‘Why don’t we, at some point, make you a solo record, and we’ll shop it, you know. And the worst case scenario, if literally nobody likes it but us, we can put it out on my label, which is distributed by Capitol. So we can’t lost, you know.’ And, you know, I just, I just said, ‘Let’s just do that.’ And I, I must admit that my vision of the first album, because I had seen him perform this organic acoustic music, I wanted to present him doing those, those banjo things. I wanted to make, essentially, an acoustic record, so that I could demonstrate that there was no… no phony stuff behind him, that he was the guy doing this stuff. I wanted to present that so it would shift peoples’ conception of him. Yes, he’s a Monkee, and he was famous and he was a teen idol. He was also always this musician, he played the acoustic guitar — he really played the guitar, he really played the banjo, he really played the piano. And I wanted to do that. But he said, ‘James, you know, I’m not that guy anymore. I want to do a rock ’n’ roll — I’m a rocker, I want to do a rock ’n’ roll record. And I wanna do, I like all these synths and stuff.’ So I said, ‘Okay, well, I mean, let us… let me see what I can do to help further your vision.’ One of the things I’ve always done as a producer is try to figure out what the vision of the artist was, and then serve that. And I learned that from reading about George Martin, who never discouraged The Beatles. He never said, ‘That’s a stupid idea, we can’t do that.’ He always tried to help bring to life whatever the vision was that the artist had. So that’s what I tried to do with Stranger Things Have Happened. Tried to just assist him in realizing that vision. […] [With the 7A re-release] I went back and revisited the record, and I’ll tell you the truth, I liked it a lot. I was, I was genuinely surprised by how much I liked it. I mean, it was Peter’s thing, not mine, and it sounded like a Peter record. It didn’t sound like one of my records; if you listen to my stuff, it’s much different than that. But I liked it, you know. I thought it was very inventive and very varied. [...] [As a songwriter, Peter] was always trying to do something which you hadn’t heard. Which is pretty rare, because many of the hit songs that you hear are derivative, they sound like some other hit song. Peter always wanted to write something that you hadn’t heard before. [...] I mean, his writing was interesting, you know, and fun to play. Always surprising.“ - James Lee Stanley, The Monkees Pad Show