Thinking about Aphmau’s character design in late season 1. The flower crown, the purple maiden dress,
And the sword strapped to her back
War is coming. She’s not sure when, but it will. Zane is forcing other villages into submission. He’s creating an ultimatum: join the O’Khasis alliance or be considered an enemy. He holds villages hostage by kidnapping their lords, like she has seen with Bright Port and Pikoro Village. And he burns villages to the ground if they dare speak out of line, like back in the Eastern Wolf Tribe where the only survivor was a small wolf pup hiding underneath crates and boxes
Phoenix Drop is one slip up away from becoming an enemy to one of the most powerful city-states in Ru’aun. They have a good handful of loyal allies, and yet the village itself is still small. They are small and they are weak compared to the size of the O’Khasis army
So in this time of peace, she is preparing for war. In an act as simple as building a treehouse for her two sons, she’s thinking about the inevitability of violence. She’s imagining her two boys climbing up the steps and hiding themselves away. They will be safe up high where the soldiers can’t see them. They will be safe. That’s what she keeps telling herself
When Garroth joins them and the two of them play with the kids in the now finished treehouse, they enjoy the few moments of peace they have left. Aphmau, with her sword within reaching distance. And Garroth, who refuses to wear anything less than full armor
War is coming, and it’s only a matter of time
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silly little excuses (newneighbour!leehan x reader)
ch 1 • ch 2 • ch 3 • ch 4
synopsis: to make leehan feel more welcomed into his new neighbourhood, you give a little something to leehan. you realize a little something when he tells you of his hobby...
content: leehan’s love for fish, mild cursing(?), the bnd members <3, little eating scene, jaehyun is THAT friend, everyone is very nice
a/n: thank you for the wonderful reception for the first chapter!! i hope everyone enjoys this one, this will def solidify the characters a bit more but even more in the next chapter teehee. if you would like to be added to a taglist for this fic, please drop your @ in my ask box!
wc: 1572
taglist: @haechology @jenuinne @saintriots @badaspookie @yveol @yunextdoor @lailols @rawrbamgyu @amarecerasus @pandorahearts19
chapter 2: a housewarming as warm as it gets
Safe to say your mother raised you right, and new neighbours meant proper hospitality measures to make them feel welcome. Thankfully, living alone has allowed you to experiment in the kitchen, including a love for baked treats.
It was tricky to navigate exactly what new neighbours may like, so you kept it easy. Simple butter cookies, some dipped in melted dark chocolate. You made them so often and, allegedly, ‘not too sweet’, family and friend gatherings were in desperate need of your baking skills every time.
A day or two after Leehan had finally settled (as word from Taesan), you finished a batch of butter cookies and you packed them in a reusable tupperware container. Checking the time, 5pm, you figured it was a good time to pop over quickly, seeing a sliver of light come out of Leehan’s front door.
You’re uncharacteristically nonchalant as you rang the doorbell to Leehan’s door. “In a second!” His voice calls out. There was a scuffle behind the door for a few beats before your neighbour opens his door, and he freezes (rather cutely) as he scans your face and you politely greet him.
“Oh! Y/n right?”
“Yes! Hope I’m not disturbing you or anything?” You sheepishly say.
“No! No, not at all. Please come inside. Oh and don’t worry about your shoes, I haven’t had the time to clean.” He makes way in the doorway into the entryway, before he promptly takes the, albeit very cute, Pororo. tupperware in your hands.
“Those are for you by the way, just a little welcoming gift. I hope you like butter cookies.” You say, suddenly feeling shy as he sets the container on his dining table. As you expected the layout of his home was the same as yours: An entryway that leads to a small living/seating room on the left and a small kitchen on the right, and beyond the living room a dining table that comfortably seats two. Beyond the kitchen on the right of the dining table was a separate area for laundry and bathroom. In between the space of the dining table and the living room was a small hallway that leads to two bedrooms. Leehan gestures to you to sit on his couch as he starts a kettle.
“Do you have a roommate or is it just you?” You ask as you look around his apartment. You didn’t know why it didn’t catch your attention at first but there was a decent sized aquarium beyond the dining table which was (humouringly) larger than the dining table itself. You remember the buckets Taesan and Sungho were holding when Leehan had just freshly dropped everything off at his doorstep.
“Ah, it’s just me living here for now. The landlord gave me a discount for a few months before I try to find someone else,” He promptly places tea bags in two mugs as the water steams beside him, “plus, it takes a while to get used to everything new since I’ve just moved here too.”
You hum in acknowledgment as you can’t seem to take your eyes off the pretty aquarium. “By the way, your aquarium looks really cool. I’m guessing you’re really into that kinda thing, huh?”
Leehan was midway through filling half of his mug when the sound stops, and you look at him from behind the couch. He smiles before he continues, “Yeah! I’ve always lived by the seaside and my grandparents owned an aquarium shop back in Busan. I would spend my school vacation in that shop before my parents deemed I was responsible enough to own my own. And before I knew it, the things in the aquarium I once outsourced were being sold in my grandparents’ shop! So it got easier once I was in middle school, really.” He walks over to the dining table with both mugs, where the containers of cookies sat waiting.
You walk to the dining table and sit on the chair across from Leehan before blowing on your cup of tea to take a careful sip.
“So you brought all of this from Busan to Seoul?” you vaguely gesture to the aquarium set-up. Leehan nods proudly.
“Yeah, pretty much. It was hard to figure out but Sungho was really helpful in making sure everything fitted into the moving truck.” He glances at you as he averts his attention away from his aquarium. Your cookies sat in the container as you told him to help himself. With a sheepish grin, he happily takes a piece and takes a small bite. You see his eyes go wide as he momentarily stops chewing before he takes the rest of it in his mouth.
You couldn’t help but smile as he puts a thumbs up, a small “Are they okay?” leaves your mouth. He finishes chewing and he says,
“Okay? These might be the best cookies I’ve had in a while! Honestly, they’re not far off from the ones I ate back home, so I assure you they’re extra good.” He takes another one as you softly chuckle, embarrassed but flattered. You attempt to divert the conversation away from yourself as you ask Leehan,
“So how long have you had this aquarium for?”
And that was probably the last proper sentence you formed (minus the hums and ‘ahh’s of agreement) for the next 15 minutes as Leehan spiels about his pet fish, their plants, his first ever fish which died because he didn’t take care of them properly and how it prompted him to be a better owner.
It was oddly amusing to see how a stranger was so comfortably spilling his hobbies’ intricacies like it was their full-time job. Occasionally catching his eye as he spoke, it was a glimmer of passion and affection for his hobby, it almost made you jealous that someone could be this genuine, hospitable and passionate at the same time.
“Oh, I’m so sorry! I tend to get ahead of myself when it comes to my aquarium…” he sheepishly says, taking his mug to his lips that had considerably cooled down in his (adorable) ramble.
You laugh a little, “No, no it’s okay. It’s quite interesting really! It’s a unique hobby and you sound hella proud of it, so that makes it even better.”
“Well that’s enough about me. How about you? How’s your studies going?” Leehan leans forward tucking his elbows underneath himself as you relax back into your chairs, arms crossed.
You take it as an invitation to ramble about your interior design and what it’s all about. But it turns out Leehan already knows quite a bit.
“Oh, so that’s how you know the two?” Leehan finds out, referring to Taesan and Sungho.
“Yeah, we just ended up sticking together in our one common class and ended up doing most of the group work together too. I didn’t even know we lived in the same complex until our third class together, so that was a bit of a surprise.” You said as you fiddled with the tea bag’s string, your tea was a bit too bitter to drink now.
Moments later and a bit more chatter about your studies, when you felt like you overstayed your ‘welcome’, you stood and was about to bring your cup to the kitchen but Leehan decided to grab yours at the same time. His hand brushed yours slightly as you let him take it. He awkwardly smiles and clears his throat,
“Let me take it, it’s okay. And thank you for the cookies! I’ll bring the container back for you.” Leehan swiftly brings the mugs to the kitchen and walks you to his door.
“Thank you, Leehan. It’s nice meeting you! If you ever need anything, my door’s always open. I’m always happy to help. You know, as good neighbours are.”
“Can I extend that to include your baking then?” He says a bit too innocently for your liking.
“Hmm…” You pretend to think, “for you, an exception.” the boy fails to suppress a shy smile
He giggles and waves as he opens his own door for you to walk out. You say another ‘goodbye’ as you walk to your door across the hall, the sound of a door shutting behind you.
“Oh?” a familiar voice echoes as you are about to step into your house. You turn your head and see a familiar face.
“Jaehyun?” you say confusingly, “did I get the date wrong? I thought we were meeting tomorrow?” Jaehyun looks at you equally confused as the gears turn in his brain.
“What? No! No, no, it is tomorrow. I’m just dropping off something for Mr Newbie here from Sungho.” He points to Leehan’s door.
Odd, you think. “Oh, well. Okay then, see you tomorrow I guess?”
“On it! Right back at ya!” says an over enthusiastic Jaehyun, as always, as he whistles and knocks at Leehan’s door a little too loud for a weekday night.
You enter your door, and an oddly happy and calm wave washes over you as you thought about how nice Leehan was. It was nice to have someone who matched your energy. As much as you equally enjoyed Taesan and Sungho’s company, maybe a little calmness was what you needed. You spent your evening thinking about his fish rants and fell down a rabbit hole yourself on Wikipedia as you ate dinner, an occasional laugh from Jaehyun could be heard from outside.
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