#kevin from itaewon

[whysojiminimnida]

AND THEN JUNG HOSEOK SAID --

"Oh, Jimin left him at home." I DIED Y'ALL. SEVERAL TIMES. Also the entire photo section of this post will consist of pictures of my cat Yoongi and the shit he has gotten in the mail recently. Yoongi has a new toy named Jack. Make of that what you will. ANYWAY.

He's gonna burn it down, burn it all down. SO WHAT HAD HAPPENED WAS -- I was in Florida and I had a little emergency hospital visit which was unplanned. There was also a Jimin's birthday and a whole ass Busan concert and a Live and a military enlistment announcement which: I can't talk about that. I CAN'T. So don't ask me. And I had an otherwise lovely time and got home to one Very Cranky Oppa, Kevin having been informed of my "Oh Shit Here We Go Again With This Bullshit" thing. Man was mad. Like, hovering mad. All up in my business and stuff. We love Kevin From Itaewon, okay, and we are also being very, very kind to him and to his boyfie X FOREVER. Not just because Park Jimin was in X's apartment but also for that reason. And there was a day recently when Kevin called to grouch at me. There were all the days, really. He's been on his oppa shit for a solid month. But this one day it was midday my time so ASS O'CLOCK in Seoul. Kev was staying at X's because Kevin's place is in Itaewon and Very Awful Things have been going on there. You know I told you Kev and X maintain two residences? Turns out that has been one small blessing in that whole ass nightmare over there. But at Kevin's house you don't often hear the tinkling of a GIGGLING PARK JIMIN IN THE NEXT ROOM. And he was not alone.

When Jimin said my name I thought he said "Hello Jewelry" and I was about to offer him my grandmother's wedding set and my mom's tennis bracelet. But instead I said "Hi Jimin-ssi saranghaeyo" and "Hi Hobi-nim saranghae!" and they were very kind. And then I was asked if my dream came true (X was, in his defense, drunk, did I mention?) and I said, because I am an entire idiot,

"No." "No?!" "Next time bring Jungkook-ssi", says still reasonably formal but definitely insane person holding my phone. (It was me, I'm the insane person). LAUGHTER. UPROARIOUS, UNBRIDLED AMUSEMENT. There was a thump, which Kev said "Oh Jimin fell" and some choking and I swear before God, JIMIN SNORTGIGGLED AT ME and Hobi let out the horsiest, cutest guffaw, like, they may have all been tipsy is all I'm saying. Kevin was appalled, probably. I wasn't paying attention to him. "Oh, Jimin left him at home" said one Jung Hoseok. IN ENGLISH. I mean, I didn't know Hobi was down with past tense and grammar and shit but HE SAID ITJUST LIKE THAT. AND LAUGHED. And then Park Jimin giggled. HE GIGGLED HE SOUNDS LIKE AN ANGEL I LOVE HIM SO MUCH YOU GUYS OMG

And then Kevin said "say goodbye" and instead I said "daedanhi kamsahamnida" which is "thank you so so so much" but I said that too and Jimin said "very nice to meet your jewelry" and Kevin was like "girl I'mma call you back when you can breathe without crying" and ...that was it. That was all she wrote. It ain't all I'm gonna write but the conversation was over. And about twenty minutes later after I resurrected again I was like WAIT.

WHAT.

Because, like, I don't know what all X has told Hobi and or Jimin about me. But I feel pretty confident that HOBI MADE A JIKOOK REFERENCE and there are two possible explanations: 1. They were just drunk as fuck and messing with a known ARMY; OR

2. That man was not thinking and told the truth. Jimin left Koo at home to go out with Hobi. At HOME. At ostensibly HIS HOME. Where Jungkook may also reside, at least occasionally. One of those things is true. Unless you think I'm yanking your chain. Which: I have no proof I'm not, at least no proof I'm willing to share. What I will share is that Yoongi the cat (or possibly yours truly) has been receiving regular deliveries from Hybe ever since. Nothing major and mostly the stuff is readily available on Weverse. No notes in it or anything, just.... stuff.

Stuff I have not ordered or paid for and there are no packing slips or invoices to tell me who did. It doesn't show up in my Weverse app. It just.... shows up.

I was GONNA get the photobook I swear to God I had intended to order it but it just.... arrived. I pulled Taehyung.

SOPE IS REAL THIS IS MY PHOTO PROOF LOOK AT YOONGI KISSING J-HOPE Mostly it's been Hoseok-related. Kev and X disavow all knowledge. If one of you did it, please do let me know. But I like to think it's no coincidence that Yoongi is now the proud owner of an Arson candle and a Jack In the Box.

I mean. It's cute stuff and I super wanted all of it but let's be real, here. If you'd rather believe this never happened and I just made it up out of my head, I would not even blame you. No dates, no sources, no pics, no receipts, nothing that could not have been ruthlessly fabricated and/or preordered by me and expeditiously shipped. Right? RIGHT.

But if you wanna squeal with me I won't get mad at you, either :) And yes, I do think the Jeon-Parks are jeonparking. I also think Jimin had his wisdom teeth out but who the hell knows.

#kevin from itaewon #kev's boyfie x #kfi #kfi is its own thing now #jimin #there's always a hobi #someone is sending me cool stuff tho #he said what #must be 2022 in the jeon park house #just me on my bullshit again

[thebookofus-depravity]

Skinny Bone Jones

Skinny Bone Jones

Chapter 1 

Chapter 2 coming soon!

9k words

This is my baby Park Jaehyung and an AU in which y’all are dealing with the coronavirus together in LA. Jae grew up with Y/N and you were childhood friends. You stayed close but haven’t seen each other in ages. Now you’re both back.

 Teeth rotting fluff, possible smut in future chapters (lets see if I have the balls to post it), Y/N has a strong proclivity for a certain guitarists hands. And honestly, who can blame her? TW: Confrontation with a nasty old ex, Coronavirus,  Quarantine, overbearing parents.

...

This fucking sucks.

Closing your laptop, and shoving it off of your lap to the side of your bed, you are struck by exactly how warm the underside of your Netflix Machine was in contrast to the chilly room. Well, 3 hours of To Catch a Predator in, and sure, your old 2011 Dell dinosaur is going to be a little mad at you. I've got to do something today. Anything. 

Week 3 of your quarantine is coming to a close and on this breezy LA Thurs-Fri-Turday (who the hell knows anymore) you can feel the last tendrils of your sanity escaping with the setting sun. It just doesn't stop setting. And rising. And setting. And rising. Tortuously slow some days and before you can even get out of bed the next. Not that you get out of bed much.

Alright. That's it. I'm gonna do something. I have to. It's time to make some art, bake some cookies, go for a run, tell someone around me how much I value them, topple the patriarchy. I am going to get up and do something with my life and damned if I get in my own way again. I am unstoppable. I am formidable. I am inevitable. 

Rising from your rumpled bed clothes with the steadfastness of a slightly anemic Viking (whoa I’m woozy, I shouldn't have stood up so fast. Shit, when's the last time I ate?) you cross to the large bay window that faces the street. You throw your curtains open, ready to face the day, only to be faced with… stars starting to twinkle at you out of the inky blackness. Dammit. I'm gonna have to defeat systemic oppression tomorrow. 

Squinting from behind your glasses, you see that the stars are not stars at all but helicopters blinking down at you. You haven't seen real stars since your trip to Big Sur last summer. Although you moved to LA when you were 7, you have vague recollections of the Korea that you loved as a young child. Your parents had picked up and moved to the States after years of struggling through VISA's and citizenship red tape. Your mom and dad had originally meant to get married and have you in the US. The land of opportunity. 

You now chafed slightly under that blanket of opportunity as you are far too aware of the responsibility you have been given to make the absolute most of it. From the ripe old age of 8 you had been conditioned to follow your dreams to their fullest. As long as those dreams were to become a doctor, lawyer, or marry a CEO. Your parents cared about you greatly and you knew that. They only want security for you, happiness comes from security. Now 25, you can't quite remember the last time their overbearing nature had been quite this...potent. You were in your final year of medical school at USC and there was nowhere to run.  It was time for you to begin your foray into the 'real world' of residency. The same post-undergrad 'real world' that you had watched all of your non-premed friends crash land into. They had all distanced themselves from you, both figuratively and literally; intentionally and inadvertently. Divorced, Beheaded, Died: Divorced, Beheaded, Survived. You had watched you friends get married, have kids, sabotage marriages, buy houses, do well, do poorly. And here you were in some kind of bubble both safe and isolated from all of the uncertainty beyond the classroom. 

Jokes on you, Jessica, now we're all screwed, you find yourself thinking for the upteenth time over the past month. You had been watching the Coronavirus since December and knew exactly what was to come. You did all that you were capable of as a not-quite certified medical professional and tried to convince people of the reality of the threat, convince them not to panic, and to exercise a reasonable level of preparedness. Well, that didn't work. You found yourself sunk into a deep well of frustration and futility at the action and inaction that was being exhibited throughout the States. For the first weeks of quarantine you found yourself glued to your phone, helplessly watching the tragedy unfold and the stupidity that was ensuing. By week 2 your empathy had burnt out and you knew you couldn't watch that world anymore. K-drama's it is. After completely obliterating Crash Landing on You, Itaewon Class, and rewatching Descendants of the Sun for the eighth time just because it's so. damn. cute!, your parents started to get a little concerned. 

Your stomach growled and you realize you, in fact, haven't eaten since early this morning. As you consider what the consequences of emerging from your cave of a bedroom might have, you resign yourself. Five minutes later you are hovering in the kitchen with a bowl of leftover whateverthefuck in hand, you turn to see both of your parents at the bar stools staring at you with a look of concern that you haven't seen in years. Shit, I keep forgetting, they think I'm functional.  Your parents had shipped you off to Health Careers College Prep school, a boarding school in Sacramento, when you were 16. Upon graduation there with your high school diploma, nurses aid, and dental hygienist's certificates, you immediately started at USC premed. You hadn't lived at home since your Jonas Brother's phase. As much as your parents loved you, they didn't really know you. This had been overwhelmingly obvious when the USC campus closed and you returned home to open arms and your bedroom frozen in the clutches of 2009. Your parents had welcomed you home with tearful hugs and a new gift for your room. I know how much you love that Kevin- boy. And your room is so old. Come. Come. Already wary and wondering who the hell is Kevin? you allowed yourself to be led to your old room and set your bags down with a deadened thump. You tried so hard not to laugh, You really did.  They're trying so hard. But like, Where did they even find this monstrosity? You had been staring up at the largest poster of Kevin Jonas that you had ever seen every night for 3 weeks and it was starting to get to you. 

Regardless of the decor (purple fuzzy lamp shade included), there were so many parts of living at home that were so foreign to you.  Although everything was completely the same, you were worlds different and it was disorienting. Your bed seemed smaller, the walls shorter, the colors dimmer. Everything that made that house your home was still there, only you had changed. It was like you were in a coma and had just woken up, the rest of the world unchanged but with 10 more years under your belt. Your therapist would tell you that you were reverting into a childlike state because of trauma and surroundings. Hush, Mollie, I don't need that right now. I need food. 

Food was honestly what was keeping you sane and civil. Your parents own a pho shop just down the street that was still taking carry out and delivery orders for pho, crawfish, whatever they had lying around. You had been helping out in the kitchen and with deliveries since you had been home. As freeing as the drives have been, you really come alive in the kitchen. You had been watching your mom make pho and dumplings for years and although she sent kimchi to your apartment every month or so, you missed your moms cooking. And her kitchen. You immediately took to cooking just like you had when you moved off of USC campus and into an apartment with some friends. You had 12 burners! That all worked! A convection oven! Two of them! Kitchen Aid's! You had no problem opening up shop at 8am every morning to prep the dough and get the stock boiling and all of the other things that her mother and father had been doing for the past 20 years. 

Returning to your room after rinsing out your bowl and chopsticks, and exchanging goodnight's with your parents you sit on your bed and tell yourself to go to bed. You have to be up at 7am for the kitchen. You need to chop scallions for the pork and chive dumplings so it has time to coagulate. Come on, Go to bed. No phone. It was a pitiful attempt, really. You had been pulling med-school grade all-nighters since your junior year of high school and nothing was stopping you now. Turning on your side for easy access to your charger, you plug your phone and coast through Instagram, Youtube, Twitter, Tinder for an indeterminate amount of time before your eyes start to get heavy. Instagram was just filled with all of your peers from USC recklessly meeting up with friends for picnics and drives and all of the other things they thought they were free to do because they were young and healthy and beautiful. Fuck off. Youtube provided a lovely escape from the actual outside. Mikey Chen showed you around TaiPei's street food scene, Binging with Babish gave you a new hand pulled noodle recipe to try, Bon Appetit made you glad you weren't Claire Saffitz. Tinder was a joke but an adequately funny one. Instead of your bog standard USC fuckboi's you were able to talk to fuckboi's from Korea, Dubai, Indonesia, Guatemala, Brazil. How fun. You had downloaded it 6 months prior after yet another guy in your department was just 'too busy, i'm sorry' to make the date that you had planned. You generally tried to avoid Twitter as it was just an echo chamber of panic and 24 hour news cycles and didn't do much for your anxiety. See, Mollie? I'm being smart. 

You flick open the little bird app and scroll for just a minute. A particular notification picques your attention. Jae tweeted. Well, Day6 tweeted, but we all know who runs their twitter. Your throat tightens with nerves as the post loads. You worry about him more than you'd like to admit but with tours cancelled and travel suspended, you know how hard it can be for people whose livelihoods revolve around entertainment and travel. The post loads and you let out a sigh of relief to see Jae surrounded by his band mates and smiling. Brian starts speaking Korean and delivers his message about their newly acquired tiktok. Brian gestures for Jae to speak and Jae delivers the same message in English. Ah, he went back to blonde. It looks good on him. Wait is he- oh god, he's wearing a crossbody fanny pack. Jae, you're old. Stop. Shifting to get more comfortable, you let the video loop a few times before closing the app. Jae's okay. You roll over onto your side and set your phone to the side. Jae's voice echoes through your ears for the next few minutes but you resolve yourself against it. I'm not getting fucking tiktok. I'm a grown ass woman. That app is for 12 year olds. And Jae. Resolved, you burrow into your Jonas brothers duvet cover for the night. 

Sweating and on the verge of tears, you wake with a start. The dream was already slipping from your consciousness with a blessed haste but the uneasy feeling that the nightmare gave you seemed to coat the inside of your skull and taint it's entire contents. A thin light filters through your still open window and your eyes creak open. Morning? Sure, why not? Rolling over, you flick open your phone and are greeted by an all too unfamiliar, 5:17am. It's too damn early. Even for you. You still have an hour or so to kill before you have to get up but you didn't fancy the idea of trying to go back to sleep after that dream. Propping yourself up on a few of the approximately 67 pillows that litter your twin sized bed, you open your phone. 3 new emails from USC congratulating you on your graduation and asking for some documentation of something or another or evaluation of some class you hadn't thought of in weeks. Skip. 2 emails from residencies that you had applied to before the coronavirus urging you to reapply in the fall. Great. You couldn't even bring yourself to feign concern over the missed opportunity. 1 email from Twitter informing you that Jae had tweeted. Again. You follow the link to another video of his side project EaJ. You had been following his new releases and you were surprised by the tenderness and vulnerability that they showed. He was always such a funny guy, it was the only side that he really showed much to the media. Sure, fans got glimpses at concerts, but not many knew just how deep the well ran in that man. 

Today's Tuesday, apparently. The next episode of How Did I Get Here? comes out today. I'll have something to listen to while I food prep. You never admitted to yourself how pleased you were when he started the podcast. You missed hearing his voice on a regular basis. Hollered up into your window, whispered between giggles in the back-most church pew, hurled across crowded hallways. Of course, the voice was different than it is now. Pocked by pubescence and the LA accent, you remember a far squeakier Jae. He was the first person you met when you moved into the neighborhood at 7 years old. He was 9 so of course, he took it upon himself to show you exactly where you could and couldn't go and what taco trucks would give out fare for free to little kids on weekends.  You remember those years fondly as finally having the big brother you never had. Skinny Bone Jones, you called him. He stood up for you when the kids in middle school called you smelly for bringing kimchi in your lunch. He called you smelly just for being you. He was well liked in school and by extension so were you. You had the cool big brother. You were more than happy to play second fiddle and be his backup. Tagging along to parties, helping him record his yellow post-it note covers on Youtube, letting him know when his hair looked stupid.

 And so it stayed until Jae actually made it on KPop Star. As much as you loved him, you didn't think he would ACTUALLY make it. Sure, he could sing. He had a beautiful voice but that wasn't enough. The boy danced like a drunk chicken and was 6ft tall and 120lbs soaking wet. He didn't even know Korean. What was he thinking? He was thinking he was going to prove you wrong. And he did. You watched as Skinny Bone Jones transformed into Park Jaehyung with a perfect balance of immense pride and terror. You knew you wouldn't lose your friend entirely but during his trainee days he had very limited access to the outside world, and you just weren't a priority. Honestly,  you would've been offended if you had been. He has a mom, dad, an older sister, bandmates, college. It only makes sense that the steady stream of communication turned into a trickle. It wasn't until Every Day6 that you were more of an insistent presence in his life. You burrowed your way back into his inbox with the tenacity of the annoying little sister that you were. You were worried. You watched him on After School Club and in the deluge of content that Day6 was serving their slowly growing fanbase. He looked tired. You once again rekindled your relationship but it was different now. Instead of you leaning on him for social support, you became his confidant. He was struggling. Burnt out, and questioning so many things, he didn't want to go to his bandmates because he didn't want them to worry. His parents would pull him immediately if they knew exactly how rough his condition was, his 'friends' from college had proved fake. He now had Alpha Phi Omega blocked because they wouldn't stop asking for favors: Day6 tickets, Twice merch, Got7 tickets. He felt alone but you reached out and he was able to lean on you. The trials passed and he was happier than ever and Day6's growing popularity meant good things for his lobster funds. 

You stayed in contact over the years and shared with each other the going on's of your lives. You had even managed to go to the Gravity World Tour date in LA. Jae got you backstage and you were able to meet the rest of his bandmates that you had heard so much about. It was an act of God that you managed to keep your composure. I mean sure, he's just Jae but you're still backstage at a concert for the first time! Your cheeks still redden when you remember how Jae caught you ogling at YoungK. Heart in your throat, and voice barely above a whisper YoungK had walked directly over to you and asked what you were doing backstage. After a solid 15 seconds of pointing listlessly at your Press badge and making just the strangest of noises that were meant to approximate speech, Jae finally caught wind and rushed over, knocking your sense back into you and introducing you to the members. 

Oh! Y/N! It's so nice to finally meet you! Jae talks about you all the time, I'm so glad you were able to make it! Your cheeks inexplicably reddened further to a violent shade of pink but the boys slowly defanged themselves in your mind. They're truly lovely people and you're glad Jae has them. That being said, you still can't quiiiite look Brian in the eyes and Jae thinks it's hilarious. 

The Gravity tour feels like ages ago as you shrug on some jeans and a tee shirt for your walk to the shop. August 2019 at the Novo may have only been 8 months ago but it seems like a different reality. The Novo will be closed for the forseeable future and concerts are cancelled. That stings but not as much as the radio silence from Jae. First it was his tour schedule that rendered communication difficult and now the virus. You know he's busy and it's been a weird few months for the entertainment industry, but a 'Hey I'm alive.' would be nice. From his podcasts and twitter you've been able to keep some thread attached but you feel it stretching thin as the months stretch on. You really don't want to be annoying. You're sick of feeling like a fan. Yeah, you support Jae and Day6 and would call yourself a MyDay, but that's not all you are. You know him. You dragged him through the mud when he convinced you to try sledding down a muddy hill on a trash can lid. You set up his camcorder for his covers when he still had that stupid swoopy hair. You posed as his angry girlfriend when a crazy fan wouldn't leave him alone.  You're starting to feel like just a fan and not a friend and it's only exacerbated by the glee that you feel when you get the notification from dive studios that How Did I Get Here? has updated. I miss my friend. 

Not bothering to flip the sign on the front door from closed to open, you shoulder open the front door of the shop after fumbling with the keys. Tying an apron securely around your waist, and flicking on your noise cancelling headphones to a comforting thrum, you wash your hands and begin to chop the largest pile of scallions you've ever seen. Crunching through the pile, you start Jae's podcast and everything is gone but him. You can almost imagine him in the room with you, perched on the counter talking your ear off about the Mandela effect or how weird elbows are or something equally as ridiculous. Today he's talking about soul mates. As you listen to him joke and banter and pontificate, your eyes well up. It's just the scallions. You know damn well it's only partially the scallions. You miss Jae. And you're in the middle of a pandemic. And your family barely knows you. And you're not sure if you even want to be a pediatric oncologist. Fuck. Jae's words turn into white noise in your ears as you toss your headphones to the side and place the knife on the butchers block, perhaps more aggressively than necessary. You pause the podcast and let yourself sit in the feeling. You're lonely and sad. See Mollie? I'm letting myself feel things. Making room for every emotion. You cast your mind around and recall all of the little wounds that prick a little too deep today. You feel a squeeze in your abdomen and your eyes shoot open wide. Shit, my period. I've got to be PMSing. Even Jae recognized the trend in your emotions before you did. The week before your period, you were notoriously mushy and weepy and indulgent. Well, that's one mystery solved. I'll be okay. Mollie's voice echoed through your brain with her familiar argument that hormones only heighten the emotional distress, not fabricate it. These feelings are valid and aren't fake just because you're hormonal. You steadfastly ignore that point, wipe your eyes, and pull your headphones back on. You finish up the pile of scallions and a few other morning chores before the podcast ends. It's Jae's sign off that sends the bowl of mandu filling that you were holding clattering to the floor. "I'm coming to you from my childhood home, so if the audio is a little finnicky… blame Byron." Jae's home.

…

After sweeping up a pound of pork, beef, mirin, soy sauce, and chives and disposing of it, you stare at your phone- hands shaking slightly. Jae. What the fuck. You rip off your apron and your mind races. Should I call him? Should I go see him? I can’t believe he’s right here. 2 houses down. Fuck. Your rational brain knows that it’s okay to feel excited about Jae being home. But the sneaky little bitch that lives in the back of your brain is telling you that if he wanted to hear from you, he would’ve called. You feel a little bit of yourself fragment at that, but you push it to the side. You open up your phone and slide over to his contact in your phone. What greets you is your last text conversation.

Jae: I’m so glad you had fun, Y/N! But if you ever look at Brian like that again, I might have to put a ban on you at our concerts. His head was way too big.

Y/N: Look at him like what?! I didn’t do anything and you know it! 

Jae: Of course you’re didn‘t. You totally weren’t drooling over my bassist. 

Y/N: Fuck off.

Jae: Gladly, love. ;)

8 months ago. Sure you’d DM’d quite a bit since then and called a few times. But it just seemed so sparse. You don’t want him to just humor you. You’re an adult and perfectly capable of being alone. You’re not going to text him just yet. 

You finish up your morning chores and head back to your house, pausing for perhaps just a little too long in front of the sandstone house with the tan shutters and shoes out front. You knew that house so well. You knew how much weight the tree outside the upstairs bedroom window could hold. You knew where the kimchi refrigerator was tucked away in a back corner of the garage. You knew there was a blonde boy in there that you wanted nothing more than to run inside and get a hug from. 

You shower and let the hot water run over you, hoping it will relax the knotted up muscles in your back. It’s not like I can go see him anyway. We’re in quarantine. He probably just got back to LA and just hasn’t gotten the chance to-. You run the same conversation over and over in your head until you can’t take it anymore. You need someone else’s voice in your head. Curling into your covers, you sigh and go to the App Store. A few short minutes later and you hate yourself more than you ever have. Tiktok. Here we go. You watch the video of Day6 introducing themselves to the social networking platform once, twice, three times until your eyes start to ache. All of a sudden you’re met with a new post that pings up. Your breath catches in your throat as you see Jae standing in his living room, attempting to keep up with Amber Liu’s dance challenge. You can’t help but giggle as he flails to the left, to the right, oversized black hoodie always falling into his face. BM would be proud. Express not impress. You find yourself shocked at the weight that he’s gained. He looks healthy and happy. You remember the conversations in middle school about how much he hated being skinny. The evenings in the weight room in high school. Failed doctors appointments. He looked good before but you see that in recent months his chest has been swelling and not just with pride. His shoulders sit a little bit broader than you ever remember in the past and you’re happy for him. Good for you, Jae. 

You like the tiktok and let it loop a few more times before sighing heavily and opening your messaging app.

Y/N: I got TikTok for you, ya little shit. 

You chuckle but leave the text unsent. You’ll think of something better later. You toss your phone to the side in the face of the mountain of laundry on your bed that needs to be taken care of. As you hang the last of your shirts, your phone pings. You pick it up to a notification from Jae.

Skinny Bone Jones: Language! 

Skinny Bone Jones: Do you think Amber approves? 

You feel a flare of indignation wash through your limbs at the mention. Apparently it had sent. Oh well. As the thrill of a reply ebbs out of you, it is replaced by a rising indignation. How dare you?! Not tell me you’re in town and pretend like you didn’t?! Really?! 

Y/N: I don’t really care what Amber thinks.

Maybe that was a little snippy. You love Amber, truly. But how can he have time for TikTok but not me?

Skinny Bone Jones: Yeah? Do you still care what I think? 

Your heart catches in your throat. So he’s caught on that you’re pissed. 

Skinny Bone Jones: Y/N, can I call you? 

You swipe up to the phone icon and call him on auto pilot. Talk to me, Jae.

“Y/N?” you hear Jae’s voice.

“Jae.” Your voice comes out whispier than you meant it to. You try again.

“Jae! How are you?”

“Oh, y’know, just got off a plane that smelled like bleach and got to my house that isn’t really my house anymore, left my guitar to be sanitized, was “strongly encouraged” to make a TikTok by my company, and then got my head bit off by my best friend. Just quarantine things.” There is a touch of acid in his voice but Jae mostly sounds tired. Your empathy comes surging back and you sigh.

“I’m sorry Jae. I just- I didn’t know you were in town until I listened to your podcast this morning. I was a little hurt that you didn’t call or anything.” 

“Look, kid. I just got home. I’m a diva. You know I require at least an 18 hour period of naps and boba to function properly. I’m a KPop Star now.” You laugh at the callback to your irate spiel a few years ago about how fame had changed him and he was a diva and  just ‘wasn’t the Jae you knew’ anymore. It wasn’t his fault he was allergic to everything and turned down all of your food suggestions.

“Jae, you’ve been a diva since day one.” You quip back, tension resolving as you fall back into a familiar playful banter. 

“And don’t you forget it, Y/N.” There's a slight pause before Jae continues, 

“This diva is really sorry he didn’t call you. It’s just been a lot the last few days. The tour just got cancelled. And our album comes out in a few days. Our team has been going crazy trying to figure out how we’re supposed to publicize in this climate and I just-“ 

“Jae. Chill. When I preordered mine last week, it was the most popular album on the site. It’s gonna sell. Don’t worry too much.” There’s a beat of silence in which you can hear the air whoosh out of Jae’s lungs.

“You-You preordered Demon?” Jae sounds shocked but endeared at your admission and you laugh. 

“Of course? I’m really pumped to hear that sexy, soothing voice of Wonpil’s. Maybe I’ll even get a Dowoon photo card this time! I keep getting Jae ones in my other albums and I give them to my little cousin.” This isn’t entirely true. You have 3 of Young K, 2 of Dowoon, and 1 each of Wonpil and Sungjin. You’ve been waiting for a Jae photocard for ages. You would die before you told him that, though.

“You little shit. If you don’t want to see my face, why are you following Day6 on TikTok?” Jae ribs back.

“Brian. Duh. He’s fine as hell.”

“Yah! Haven’t you found a boring ass Orthopedic surgeon or some shit, yet? Why do you have to terrorize me like this?” 

“Why? Haven’t you found a Twice member that’ll marry you yet, Skinny Bone Jones?”

“I’ll have you know, I gained 10 pounds the past 8 weeks! I’ll be big as BM soon!” You can picture the expression of childlike pride in his face even if you can’t see it. 

“You look really good, Jae. I’m proud of you. You’ve been working really hard.” The sudden sincerity catches the both of you off guard and you clear your throat.

“Thanks, Y/N. That means a lot.” A comfortable silence is followed by a lengthy conversation recounting the previous weeks, the various states of the other members, your own eviction from college, and the status of the shop. 

“You know, Y/N, if you or your family need anything I’m more than happy to help. I mean I know how hard it can-“ You cut him off before he can go any further.

“We’re okay Jae, honest. I know you’d be good for it but we don’t need anything right now. Business is good at the pho shop and we’re okay.” 

“Okay, okay. Just know I’m here.”

“I mean NOW I do, no thanks to youuu,” you wheedle, whining about his failure to let you know he was in town. 

“Come on, Y/N, I said I was sorry!” He laughs but you can hear the desperation of sincerity in his voice.

“I know, Jae. I’m just kidding. I just really missed you.” 

“I missed you too Y/N.”

You get off the phone upon the realization that you needed to go to the shop and prep for the dinner deliveries. Sometimes you abhorred that you were “essential”. You run downstairs and tell your parents the good news about Jae and inform them you’ll be back soon. 

“I know you’re excited, Y/N, but remember we can’t be going and visiting people like that. Only essential work.” You roll your eyes slightly but assure them that you know. As if you hadn’t been telling them the same thing for weeks. I had to convince you not to go play mahjong in the park, eomma. You might be excited, but you’re not stupid. 

You had just started filling the mandu when you hear the bell over the door chime. Pardon me, are you stupid? We've been closed for weeks, why do you think it would be okay to just walk in? You wipe your hands on your apron and start to walk to the counter.

"Hello? I'm sorry, we're only open for call-in deliveries." You round the corner and lift your head from your hands to see the form of the gangliest, tallest, loveliest man you've ever seen in your life.

"Special delivery." Jae remarks smoothly, arms open wide in invitation and head cocked to the side as if he was bracing himself for the crash landing that was to come.

"Jae!" you yell, and launch yourself from behind the counter and into his arms. His arms fold around you and everything else melts away. Your face burrows against his chest and you inhale. He smells like home and cinnamon. You can feel tears welling up in your eyes with the tide of emotions that wash over you. Jae's hand cups the back of your head into him and he hugs you just as tightly as you hug him. You press yourself into him with everything you have and in the deafening silence and warmth all that you can think is I love you.

"Y/N" He whispers, not loosening his grip on you.

"Mmph." you respond weakly.

"My shirt's wet." You jump back from him a bit and see that he's correct. Your eyes are leaking. All over his white shirt. Oops.

"Oh! I'm-I'm sorry." You laugh a bit and swipe at your eyes before patting at his shirt in futility.

"It's okay, love. Come here." He welcomes you back into his arms and you wrap your arms over his neck this time. 

"I missed you." You whisper, voice cracking a bit. 

"I know you did." You jump back from him. Bitch.

"Hush. I missed you too, you idiot. Why else would I be standing here right now?"

You cast your eyes around in a panic. He's here. He's right here. In the store. Here. He shouldn't be here. He should be in quarantine with his family. You're unessential to him. 

Sensing the realization in your eyes,  he pushes past you, walking to the back and puts on the latex gloves hidden behind the counter. 

"I figured it was about time to get a 'real job' like everyone keeps telling me to." He smiles smugly and picks up the knife to start chopping the bok choy. You stand there in shock for one second, two seconds, three seconds until you realize he’s about to cut his fingers off. 

“Jae! Stop!”

“Look, Y/N, I don’t care what you say, I’m going to do this. I want to help. And I’ll be damned if I’m not allowed to see you in the time I’m finally here-“ 

“No, Jae. Stop. I know I can’t argue with you. I’d be thrilled if you’d work with me. But Brian is gonna kill me if I let you cut your damn hands off.” 

“I… what?” 

“You’re a guitarist Jae. We can’t have you cutting off your pretty little fingers. And if you keep chopping it like that, that’s exactly what you’re going to do.” 

Jae looks down at his hands and stretches his fingers wide as if considering them for the first time. 

“Pretty?” 

You roll your eyes, but unbidden, your eyes are still trained on his hands. They really are pretty. 

“Just. Let me show you.” You show him how to tuck his knuckles up against the blade and chop in smooth rocking motions so as not to take off his fingertips. 

You work in relative silence for the next hour, packaging meals and portioning combos as your mom and dad peek in and out to pick up the orders. You can feel a warmth flowing through you as you take in your surroundings. The loneliness of the past weeks leeches out of you and dissipates into the warm atmosphere, homey smells, and murmur of conversation. It’s almost as if your limbs wake up bit by bit, like a tree waking up after a long frigid winter. You feel yourself stretch and shine and the bubbles of contentment flow through you. By the time the last combo is out the door, you find it really difficult to take the smile of your face. 

Jae seemed to be in the same boat. On more than one occasion you caught him staring at you. Every time you caught him he just shook his head and laughed in that infuriating way of his. But you really couldn’t be irritated at him. It was impossible. He was your happy fairy, even if you wanted to kick him in the shins every two minutes for saying something dumb. Mom and dad said goodnight to Jae in the same way they have been since he was 10. “Tell Mrs.Park I say hello and don’t be a stranger.” Right after they leave and you’re washing the last dish, while Jae sits on the counter telling you about production for Day6’s new album, the phone rings. Before you can tell Jae not to answer it, he’s already taking the man's order. Fine. One more can't hurt. You weren’t anxious to end this day and return to bed alone, so you welcome the post-closing distraction. Cobbling together a plate from the leftovers you were about to bring home, you grab your keys and beckon Jae to follow you. 

“No need to bug mom and dad, we can take this one.” 

As you walk outside toward where your little yellow bug is parked, you feel Jae move behind you. You can feel his body close to yours and you stiffen instinctually. You’re not used to skinship anymore and you can feel the blood in your veins carbonate as Jae’s breath ghosts across the back of your neck. You stop dead in your tracks, eyes wide, flush creeping up your neck as you feel his hands- those damn hands- ghost along the side of your left arm. You squeak when his fingers brush against the back of your hand, lacing his fingers with yours. Your world spins. Fuck is he holding my hand? Do I want this to happen? He’s so close to me. Can he hear my heartbeat? 

“Jae-“ you begin to say, with absolutely no idea as to where the statement would go after. 

Luckily you don’t have to think of any sort of decisive move because Jae immediately snatches the keys from your now limp left hand with a cackle, running ahead to the car. 

“I’m driving!” You little fucking- oooh! 

You’re thankful for the cool evening breeze and dim street lights or you were sure to get a ribbing for the blazing red cheeks that you were sporting. You climb into the passenger's seat with the food on your lap and do your best to sink into invisibility. It doesn’t work. You’re convinced that he can hear your brain jackhammering away at the night's events. 

Did I want that to happen? Did that happen? He was so close to me. He felt so warm and the way he touched me. Running your hands over your arm, you could feel his touch like it had raced a burning path down your whole left side. Do I… like Jae? 

You glance over at him now and again as he puts the car in drive and begins the route to the destination. Jae, of course, is jabbering away about how everything has changed since he’s been gone and, “Omigod, is that ANOTHER pinkberry?” You find yourself nodding along passively while actively trying to figure out what the hell was going on in your brain. Much like his podcast, his voice became white noise by which you asked yourself questions you weren’t sure you wanted the answers to. Of course I love him. But do I like, like him? Never in your life have you felt more like a horny, confused teenager but as you glance over and watch Jae with one hand on the steering wheel, wind blowing through his hair, you know one thing for sure- Jae isn’t a kid anymore. And he isn’t your brother. 

It isn’t until you pull into a neighborhood about 10 minutes later that you remember that you’re here on a delivery. Yanking yourself from your reverie, but with unease still firmly lodged in your thoughts, you address the task at hand. 

“Jae, where are we?” 

“Uhhhh, 3051 Driver Rd.” 

Driver Road. You know this neighborhood but you can’t quite place where. If your previous safari into your possible romantic interest in Jae wasn’t jarring enough, you feel panic rising through your system like so much bile. Why do I know this neighborhood? Jae, unaware of any turmoil on your part, pulls up to the house in question and when your headlights wash over the yard your heart sinks into your throat. You’re going to be sick. 3051 Driver Rd. This is where Sean lives. 

You had met Sean Avery in your sophomore year of premed and had fallen head over heels in love with him. He was tall, attractive, ambitious, and he wanted you. You were star struck. It wasn’t until a year of ‘dating’ later that you unearthed the whole messy truth of his long string of side pieces and general douchebaggery. If that wasn’t enough, in the past year you heard the report of him almost catching a case with a high school senior in the area. You knew now that he was nothing but a predator and a coward. You had managed to avoid him since your explosive breakup but now it seemed you had very little choice.

“Sean fucking Avery” you seethe in the seat next to Jae. 

“What did he do to you?” Jae asked, taken aback by your sudden vitriol. 

“Shit, that wasn’t in my head was it?” Jae laughs a bit but sobers up quickly at your expression.

“Y/N you look really pale, are you okay? I don’t know your history with this guy but hey, you don’t have to deliver this. I’ll do it. Don’t you worry, love.” Jae places his hand on the top of your head and ruffles your hair a bit in an attempt to be comforting. The attempt helped. Your heart pricks up a bit at Jae’s term of endearment but it feels more deadened than it should. You’re sick of feeling like this. Of letting Sean steal your joy from you. It’s been too long for that shit. Pulling yourself together a bit, you shake yourself out of your head and steel yourself. 

“No, Jae, I’ve got this.” Jae looks at you with slight concern but shrugs nonetheless.

“Alright, well, I’m going with you okay? This dude really must’ve done a number on you if this is your response. And I’d like to see the bastard.” Jae’s eyes glinted with something dangerous that you’ve never seen in him before and it causes the same fire in you to spark. Let’s do this. 

With Jae by your side, you march up to the door with the delivery order and set it on the front steps. The doorbell is deafening in the still night and you have to remind yourself to breathe. You jump as the door swings wide and a pathetic looking man sporting a robe and a beer belly peeks from the inside. All of the breath that had been waiting in your lungs released and you feel your head go a little bit light with the realization that this was the man that you were in love with. 7 years later, gone was the debonair gentleman who could sweep you off your feet. In his stead stood a balding, fat, stiff man in boxers and a moth eaten robe. He grunts in acknowledgment of  the presence of other humans but it’s obvious that the Neanderthal hasn’t recognized you. He retrieves his food and goes fumbling in his robe pocket for his wallet. He fishes out a card and hands it to you. You take it from him and process the payment. 

Declined.

“Sorry, Sean, your card- it declined.” 

He huffs and makes a sound in the back of his throat that you can only describe as gross as you hand it back to him.

“It what!? What do you mean declined?” He stumbles forward a few steps and you automatically flinch backward into Jae. Jae’s hand comes up to your shoulder to ground you, a reminder that he’s still there. Sean’s movement wafts a smell of body odor and brown liquor. He always was a mean drunk. You decide to cut your losses while you can and keep the transaction as minimal as possible. No games.

“Your card, Sean, it declined. Do you have an alternate form of payment?” Sean whips open his wallet and roots around for a minute before retrieving a few crumpled up bills. He extends the cash but before you can swap his card for cash, his arm whips back. Looking at you sideways, suspicion drips from his slurred speech,

“How do you know my name?” 

Shit. Fuck. Dammit. 

You watch helplessly as the cogs turn in his inebriated brain and recognition washes over his face.

“Y/N! It’s you! What do you want from me now, bitch? Trying to take my money now too? Get out of here!” His voice steadily rises in volume and you can feel the walls of your panic closing in on you. Suddenly Jae steps in front of you, arm outstretched to the belligerent man. 

“You’re talking to me now. You’re done with her.” Jae holds himself with a confidence that you had only seen from him onstage. 

“Just pay for the food and we’ll be going.”

“And who the fuck are you?” Sean spits back, as if Jae were something distasteful that he had found on the bottom of his shoe.

“I’m Jae. Y/N’s boyfriend. Now I’d really love to take Y/N home tonight before it gets too much later. So if you can just pay for your meal, we’ll get going.”

Sean crumples up the bills and throws it into Jae’s chest. 

“Good luck with that bitch, kid. You’re gonna need it.” And with that he retreats inside and slams the door shut behind him. 

Jae immediately rushes to your side and wraps you in a big hug. Although similar in mechanics to the hug earlier that day, this one was far different in intent. You could feel it in his soul, that hug was meant to squeeze all of the fragmented pieces of you back together again and hold them until they stuck. You can feel your heartbeat slowing to match his and your breathing slowly regulates. 

Mollie is gonna have a lot of fun with this one.

Jae escorts you back to the car and there’s a thick silence that you can’t quite bring yourself to cut as he puts the car into drive. You know he is forming his own story of what happened between you and Sean in his head and you can’t tell if that’s better or worse than just reliving it and telling him the whole story- cops and testifying and court and all.

Once out of the neighborhood, Jae heaves a sigh and chuckles a bit. 

“Well he seemed lovely.” 

“Uh huh. He’s a real peach.” 

Jae looks over at you with an expression of dual concern and amused what-the-fucker-y. Did that really just happen? 

There is a beat of silence and solid eye contact before you both start cracking up. Unable to restrain yourself any further, you both dissolve into a kind of healing, deep belly laughter that shakes the entire car. Pulling up to your house, Jae throws the car into park and then turns to face you. 

“You don’t have to tell me anything, you know? It’s not my business. You’re my business. But asshats like him aren't. Just that I’m around to keep them away from you.” 

You sigh deeply, still recovering from the laugh attack, before giving him a brief bulleted list of the sheer shenanigans that Sean had pulled on you all those years ago. You watched as Jae’s face contorted over the course of the story, hardening into yet another study in fierceness that you were yet to see from him. 

“I really am okay, though Jae. He had me pretty fucked up for a little bit but honest, I’m okay. I did the therapy, I fought my battles. I just hadn’t done the last closure step of actually looking him in the eye and saying goodbye and good riddance. And I probably never would’ve if it weren’t for tonight.” You reach out and grab his hand instinctively. 

“Thank you, Jae. I really appreciate you doing that with me. I don’t know what I would’ve done without you.”

“You would’ve gotten your ass handed to you is what you would’ve done.” Jae states, deadpan.

“Jaeee!” You laugh, hitting him on the arm. 

“Oh, so now you can throw a punch? Okaaay, nice.” This little shit. 

Banter aside, Jae takes the key out of the ignition and gathers his things to get out of the car. As he closes the door, you hear him mutter “You need to pick better guys. You’re too great to end up with someone like that.” 

You don’t have any kind of answer to that, but you feel a lightness in your chest as his eyes burn into you. Jae walks you to your front door and all you can hear in your head is an echo of Jae’s declaration of “I’m Jae, Y/N’s boyfriend.” Is that what I want? 

You end up at your front door far too soon and the twinkling of the helicopters in the sky signals to you that it’s more than time for Jae to go home. Your heart sinks into your stomach at the thought of him leaving and you inwardly groan. 

Jae gives you one last hug goodnight and you know before he even releases you that this isn’t enough. Not even nearly. Your feelings, whatever they may be: love, like, general affection, haven’t been correctly quantified and expressed. This has been the best day you’ve had in months, and he was the deciding factor. You were grateful to have him there on your front door step, in his arms. But maybe, just maybe, if you’re able to express to him exactly how you feel about him in this moment, he’ll be able to help you out and translate exactly what this feeling means for your future together. Without thinking about it too much, you retreat from the hug and angle your face up to his so that your noses are almost touching. You sit like this for just a second. That sickening second that would allow him to retreat and tell you you’re an idiot for even thinking it. But he doesn’t retreat. Instead, your lips are brushing against one another in just the barest of whispers of a kiss. His lips are so soft. It’s over in an instant and as the chilly night air cuts between the two of you, you are all too aware of how disproportionately warm your face and neck have become. You smile up at Jae and he carries a similar, if not slightly more shocked, half smile. 

As if reading one another’s minds, you both understand that it’s wise to let one another think about the night's proceedings before any further rash decisions are made. In an attempt to preserve the spell of the night sky and the kiss and the chirping cicadas, neither of you say another word to one another but instead exchange content smiles that convey more than a goodnight ever could. With a slight bow of his head and a glide of his hand down the length of your arm, Jae walks backwards down your front steps and slips into the night, shaking his head slightly, trying and failing to conceal his smile. You watch him from the porch as he skips up to his house, before slipping into the warmth of your own home.

...

GIVE IT A LIKE IF YA LIKE

FEEDBACK IS MY LOVE LANGUAGE

#kpop #day6 #day6 jae #park jaehyung #slow burn #fluff #kpop fanfiction #day6 fluff #day6 au #fanfiction #skinny bone jones #friends to lovers

[studylustre]

Hi! I want to get to know you better! So if you are bored what's your top 5 of: songs, Korean songs, novels, poetry (poems or books) , TV shows, K-drama, food, recipes, movies, animated movies, anime, dream destinations, places you've been, monuments, desserts, pretty words...

hi hi!! this is cute 🌷 there’s quite a lot here that tbh i’m not even sure about myself haha, but here’s my top 5 for the ones i know!!

top 5 songs of the moment (pretty much also top 5 korean songs of the moment)

like me - ph-1

moon blue - gray

what about you - ravi x ailee

1 billion views - exo-sc

right here - keshi

novels

i,, actually can’t think of 5?? i don’t read as much as i used to when i was younger sadly, but these are my top 3 novels of all time:

a thousand splendid suns - khaled hosseini

norwegian wood - haruki murakami

crazy rich asians - kevin kwan

poetry

salt - nayyirah waheed

the sun and her flowers - rupi kaur

모든 순간이 너였다 - 하태완

the universe of us - lang leav

whiskey words and a shovel, part 3 - r. h. sin

tv shows

i actually don’t watch that many, so i only have a few!!

parks and rec

terrace house

queer eye (i recently started watching and i want to be jonathon’s friend so bad)

kdramas

weightlifting fairy

signal

what’s wrong with secretary kim

suspicious partner

crash landing on you

also recently started watching itaewon class and i’m enjoying it a lot!! fight for my way is also up there for me

food

sushi

oxtail soup / beef short rib soup

oyakodon

congee

gyoza

anime

i’ve only recently started watching anime again so i only have a couple of faves!!

haikyuu

demon slayer

also started watching a bit of sword art online and i quite like it from what i’ve seen so far!!

desserts

mochi

banana bread

tiramisu

bubble waffles

matcha soft serve

#answered #anon

[eojetbam]

「  $DALLA’s  SCANDALS  」

→   JANE

   ▶   triple x hiatus and coming out ;;  when she was still living as kevin, jane was a very popular member of the boy group triple x. news of kevin not taking part in the promotion of their comeback were not received well. fans were unhappy when empire music kept ignoring questions about why kevin was on hiatus. months after the hiatus announcement, empire music revealed that kevin would be leaving the group because she would finally be living as a woman. many were surprised (and not pleased) to hear that jane would remain with empire music, just not as a triple x member anymore.

   ▶   dating scandal  ;;  rumors that jane and triple x member king were dating starting to spread not long after jane came out. empire music was quick to deny the rumors, and both jane and king confirmed that they were just friends.

   ▶   rude to $dalla members  ;;  knetizens heavily criticized jane and asked for her removal of the group because of the way she teases members. jane was quick to speak up about the fact that nobody ever complained about her teasing triple x members the exact same way when she was still a member of the group.

→   HYEBIN

   ▶   twct member  ;;  when hyebin’s older sister, yubin, was forced out of empire music after her own scandal, hyebin was announced as yubin’s replacement in the twct co-ed sub-unit project. many fans thought it was a really cheap move and that twct should have just never debuted because hyebin didn’t have what it takes to replace yubin.

  ▶   relation with yubin  ;;  for a very long time after the hongdae scandal, hyebin refused to acknowledge yubin as part of her family. even netizens who stopped supporting yubin after it was revealed she is gay thought that hyebin was a bad person and an even worse sister who didn’t deserve to stay with empire music. and now that the sisters get along again, people are quick to say that hyebin is just interested in the attention yubin has been getting since her re-debut with phoenix.

   ▶   dating scandal  ;;  the rumors started when triple x member kyungwon posted a selca with hyebin. more pictures of the two of them together started to appear. it was later revealed that they were childhood friends and had been working on a collab song together and that the selca was taken on set of the mv.

→   YULHEE

   ▶   dating scandal  ;;  before $dalla debuted, yulhee was spotted on a date with triple x’s cross. cross was the first one to speak up about it and admit that they were indeed dating. empire music revealed, not too long after, that the two broke up because “the timing wasn’t right for them”. yulhee and cross both confirmed that.

   ▶   criticizing management  ;;  not too long after debut, netizens started to call yulhee disrespectful and ungrateful after a comment she made about management and empire music, mostly because of how ahri was treated for years and the way the itaewon scandal was handled. others thought she was right, but too bold for a rookie.

→   AHRI

   ▶   bullying rumors  ;;  many knetizens wondered why it took empire music over ten years to debut a trainee as talented as ahri. a few weeks before $dalla’s official debut, the rumor that ahri was a school bully started to spread and many assumed that empire music’s ceo and management wanted to keep ahri away from attention as much as possible until they could get rid of any proof of bullying. the person who first posted about ahri being a bully admitted that they had lied because ahri had rejected them.

   ▶   lesbian rumors  ;;  what started as a joke because of ahri’s obsession with girl group grew out hands when people found more and more quotes from ahri about how amazing girls are and loving girls. the rumor is still going around because neither ahri nor empire music bother addressing it in any way.

#kpop oc #fake kpop group #oc kpop group #kpop!oc #idol oc #*$dalla

[asianamsmakingmusic]

May 2017 - Happy Asian Heritage Month!

Recorded and mixed in Ottawa by Mike Kuehn

Gloria Guns - vocals, guitar, hand claps Dannik Curley - vocals, bass, hand claps Tiffanie Tri - vocals, keys, hand claps Kevin Ledlow - drums

Guest tambourining by Mike Kuehn

Lyrics: you saw me at the bar where you were drinking with my black hair and my exotic being you reeked of cheap cologne and Asian fetishes you hit me with your gaze, so male and colonialist

you asked me where I'm from, I said Waterloo my honest answer wasn't good enough for you "tell me where you're from, where you're really really from?" I'm finding your stupid seduction burdensome

and I’m not impressed by your Japanese mainly because I’m not Japanese

so take out your foot from your mouth keep your mouth shut

you told me once you spent eight months hanging out in Itaewon singing karaoke and drinking soju with other English teachers like you

now you think you know everything about the world that I live in

so take out your foot from your mouth keep your mouth shut

you don’t know it but I heard you throwing around those ugly words but you’re not racist you assure me you hooked up with an asian once in university

so somehow your sexual history makes you entitled to insult me

so take out your foot from your mouth keep your mouth shut I don't want to hear it

surprise! the object speaks against your narrow narratives of the periphery tired of your tedious talk, reducing me to your exotic other designed to stroke and fodder your superiority passed down by your forefathers defined to mock and smother my identity

so take out your foot from your mouth keep your mouth shut I don't want to hear it

I’m more than a language or some kind of symbol food from afar I’m more than a costume that you want to dress in just for a lark

#2017 #Scary Bear Soundtrack #Asian Fetishist #twee #tweepop #Pop

[tiastravels]

Seoul, South Korea.

After our little trip to Hong Kong, we decided to go to South Korea for a few days. I was a little worried about travelling here, mainly due to the fact they use a lot of wheat in their foods just like China and Japan but I didn’t want my allergy to affect how I lived my life so we bit the bullet and booked it.

Turns out, I was right to be worried. First evening in and looking for gluten-free restaurants... definitely a task. We looked on TripAdvisor and found some restaurants nearby and decided to go for Mexican because when in Asia, eat every single food that isn’t Asian right? Turns out it wasn’t a great choice as the only gluten-free options they had were salad and corn tacos so I just went for a salad, plain but simple, and also able to give me food poisoning. I spent the evening curled over a toilet with my head in the bowl. Nice.

Supermarket shop seemed like the only option. We headed down to Seoul Station where the big Lotte Mart was and decided to give it a shot. The food choices were incredible, it was the size of a Debenhams or another department store, but packed full of food. One thing they don’t mention is that it is like a free for all. Think of a market on a Sunday or a night market abroad. “Try this” “Eat this” “Kimchi?”

People were screaming and shouting and there were bells ringing and sirens going off. It was manic. I think we went around the whole supermarket like ten times just to figure what on earth was going on. Best way to do a food shop in Seoul? Know what you want and just go in for specific items because we spent about twenty minutes looking at the organic foods trying to figure out what ingredients were in it. But, it was a good shout because the fruit and vegetable options were terrific. Know that you will be digging into your pocket more than back into the UK as fruit and vegetables are five times more expensive than back home.

Apart from the food choices being a complete disaster for a coeliac (was expected so can’t really complain), everything else was great, well, mainly.

We went to two cooking classes FOR FREE, one in the day at a cookery school and the other on our hostel rooftop during sunset. It was so much fun to see how they make their foods and learn how to make traditional Korean foods even though I had to watch everyone eat it all after.

We went out with a group of people in our hostel and went for drinks. It’s safe to say that Korean’s know how to party. Itaewon is the place to be, so it seemed, especially popular with a younger crowd. One thing we did learn, thanks to a guy called Kevin who was staying at our hostel and works in Seoul, was that the hookup culture in Korea is a lot higher than in the UK. Apparently, around 90% of people on a night out are looking for a casual hookup, the other 10% are out with boyfriends or friends just for fun. We were also told that there are more hookups than actual relationships. This shocked me and I’m not entirely sure why. I guess because I didn’t realise just how bad the hookup culture had become in our society, mainly because I have never seen the appeal. Kind of sad — but that’s an opinion for another day.

We also visited the Changdeokgung Palace which was very cheap entry and a nice cultural day out. It was lovely learning about the history of Seoul and their royalty. I always have enjoyed learning about the past and how times have changed, and what is different in other countries compared to ours. I think it’s so beautiful learning to understand how others live, that’s what travelling is all about really. It was also very beautiful to have some sun during our time in Seoul, was getting a little frustrated with all the rain and thunder and lightening.

All in all, Seoul was something special and I think it’s actually taken a piece of my heart. I never thought I’d enjoy it as much as I did but it’s funny how things work like that, isn’t it. The people were friendly and smiley and always happy to help, and the city was quiet and relaxed and peaceful. It was like being in the countryside in the middle of a city. You never had to worry about being pushed in the street or kept up at night due to loud noise. It was calming, a nice change from being in Hong Kong.

So, would I go back? Most definitely.

Would I recommend? Absolutely.

Does Seoul have my heart? Sure.

#travelling #traveller #travel blog #travel #travel blogger #travel blogging #travels #blogger #asia #seoul #southkorea #life #lifestyle #lifestyleblogger #travelbug #traveltheworld #traveltheglobe #coeliac #glutenfree #gluten free #no gluten #nightlife #food

[whysojiminimnida]

Fun With Fan Art ft. X, Hobi and JeiKei

... and our dear @lauvamp of course, she of the insanely lovely prints. I said I was gonna post about it and so I am, I guess, don't shoot me. The prints in question:

and

I am a little shit, really.

But what had HAPPENED was that right around the whole JITB party, when I was on an unhealthy amount of various medications I... ordered a metric ton of fan art from LAU. It's beautifully done, I adored the color work, and she was very patient with my sick, medicated ass while I hit buttons and then forgot I'd hit them. Repeatedly. I finally got the pieces ordered and they arrived and I was SO HAPPY. I had to show them off. DAYS before I even posted them on this blog I was raving at X about them and he wanted to see them so I sent over some shots - basically the ones I posted. X was impressed but was not the only one. He showed the pics to one Jung Hoseok. X fancies himself something of a visual artist, I suppose, and he decided he'd just show off the pics at a thing he was at with some people he was with shortly thereafter. X is a bit of a flamboyantly loud personality, not unlike if Hobi and Jimin had a baby - same "happy outside dark brooding inside" type of vibe, and they enjoy each other's company as nearly as I can tell. NOT THAT HE TELLS ME SHIT but that's just how it looks from here. So anyway X got all super-secret-handshaky and asked me for prints. Said something about how Hobi and Jungkook would like to have them. Which: I Fed Exed a bitch some prints because what was I supposed to do? Tell one-degree-from-3J NO? I got permission from LAU of course, like one does, and then I Fed Exed 'em.

Within 36 hours X had prints in hand. I may have sent him the largest available size of the tattoo piece. At no time did I say "see that they get them" or anything like that. I sent prints to X to do with as he liked. HE GAVE THEM AWAY. He gave both of them away. Hobi got a Hobi and ... JeiKei got a very pretty tattooed hug. If it matters X had planned on giving that piece to Jimin at first but Jimin wasn't there and Jungkook was and X decided it was gonna end up in the same place anyway - some of the members apparently keep special boxes and albums specifically for fan made letters and art and such. And so... yeah. That happened. I have been told that Hobi LOVED both pieces and JK was particularly pleased with the hug piece and admired the accuracy of the tattoos. I have not heard what Jimin thought but we now know (thanks, Weverse Live) that he does look at fan art from time to time. It was really cool for me to hear that my favorite fan artist might have a new fan or two, or three. That's all it was. Which: okay I spilled on it, Lau, don't kill me :)

#fan art #lauvamp #hobi #the jeon parks #x from itaewon #kfi is gonna get overshadowed by his boyfie so fast now #kevin from itaewon #kev ain't care he likes his man and his me to be happy #we over here bonding over six degrees of bts #sun and moon duo #jungkook tattoos #jimin's moon tattoos #jitb

[whysojiminimnida]

Hi auntie, can you explain something? People keep saying they think bts will all enlist together. I have a sad time thinking about the group being partial for many years but isn't it impossible business that they all enlist at once? There is too much money opportunity. Sorry to be crude but jungkook is too valuable to lose 2 years now when he could enlist at 30 when the group is probably not together. It's hard for fans to see them all split but the maknaes all are too popular, and the company makes financial decisions. Thank you

Hi sweetie! I did not want to answer this, especially not today, but new info is important. I have a sad time thinking about it, too. But Seokjin is required to enlist - and his paperwork was due two weeks ago. So even though you sent this ask a couple of months ago I've been holding it until I could address it properly.

I THINK - I don't know for sure - that if Jin enlists, some of or all of the others may go ahead and do it too. Here's why. 1 - If they all go in together, it is very likely that their service will get shortened. Like, it's supposed to be 20 months. Some people get out in less time if their absence causes issues for their work OR if they have enough money and influence to get it shortened. BTS is a perfect candidate for a shortened term. The way Kevin From Itaewon explained this to me is that some kids of government officials get out in just over a year. Because the Korean government is not immune to favoritism, and if there is enough money involved for campaigns, etc., well. It's not unlike the US, that way. And who has more money and influence in Korea than BTS?

Kev told me that he knows one guy who, several years ago, got out in EIGHT MONTHS. The new President, Yoon Sukyeol, is very, very conservative. Like he's right of Trump levels of conservative. And everyone would be watching BTS so it would not be good press to let them out too early, but a token member or two enlisting might be enough to exempt the group if their absence causes enough uproar in Korea. 2. With the already-announced hiatus, we know that the comeback will be incredible, will make huge bank, the tour would sell out of course, and they could have a genuine return instead of years and years of rolling enlistments and less-than-OT7 content. If they wait until Jungkook is thirty, Jin will be 35 years old - not ancient but dang how long do we want the man to wait to have his own life? Same for Yoongi, he's the same age nearly.

3. As of yesterday there is some new info which says there will be a video statement from the members re: enlistment within the next ten business days. Probably it will be released next week. Much like yesterday, the members will tell us what we need to know. I don't think I like it, if that info is true, but I have no reason to disbelieve it as it has now hit K-media in the last 12 hours.

My information before yesterday was that decisions had been made but would not be released much before actual enlistment. So Seokjin and maybe Yoongi might actually be going in ahead of schedule. Hobi and Namjoon would have another full year to get that exemption. None of them would make it to a new President - in Korea they serve a single five year term with no re-election - but they could make it to new legislation, possibly. Unfortunately, the exemption bill is dead in the water and the new legislative term doesn't even start until September.

One thing I hadnt really thought of is that some of the members might WANT to honor their country by completing their service. They've never said, specifically. We want them exempted of course, but none of them need more money. The company wants more profits, but they can't go around the government.

And the government has interests both ways. I guess we'll hear - or not - sometime in the next week.

#thanks nice anon #i think we're all worried tbh #i hope it works out however is best for all of them #obviously to me that would be exemption but they might find that less than honorable idk #we shall soon see i think #ot7 #enlistment #korean military #president yoon #deferment #tbh we dunno yet #bts #hiatus #jin #yoongi #kim seokjin #min yoongi #suga

[whysojiminimnida]

So About That Instagram Thing...

I asked my gay-ass Korean oppa about it and Kevin had this to say: "Well some ARMY is like 'I really wanna kidnap Jimin, can I' and Jungkook says 'sure", like, 'give it your best shot' but maybe less threatening and more jokingly." I asked Kev to explain further in Middle American White Girl language and he said "Look, this is sassy gay possibly buzzed black belt Jungkook trying to be cute and funny but also letting you know that in no way is that ever happening. See any airport photo for illustrative purposes."

SO I DID

And well, yes, it does look like we have at minimum TWO black belts, not counting the WHOLE ASS SECURITY TEAM but the point was, was Koo serious, and Kev's answer was "NO. FOR FUCK'S SAKE, Jaya-ah. Are you, like, TEN YEARS OLD?"

I MEAN, MAYBE? It's been a long couple of weeks okay GET OFF ME KEVIN DAMN. So I double down on the crazytown and I go "but insert delusional thought processes here tho" and he goes, and I quote:

"That's precisely the problem, isn't it? These virgins and children and conspiracy wackjobs don't listen to Jungkook all the times he says outright that he loves Jimin. They don't listen to Jimin all the times he says that he loves Jungkook. They pay no attention to the things they're shown. They don't listen to Taehyung when he tells them to step off. They didn't even listen to Jungkook's mother when she addressed Jimin like she would her own son, and said that she loved him. So WHY ON EARTH would you think they were capable of understanding humor?"

So I allowed as how if Jungkook wasn't really really joking then maybe I actually have a shot at the whole I'd Like To Borrow Your Jimin One Time Real Quick thing and Kev sent me this picture

And said, with no trace of irony or sarcasm, "I'd really like to see anyone, ever, try it." WELL OKAY THEN.

#challenge not accepted #kevin from itaewon #kfi #kfi is a tag now #jungkook instagram #jungkook #jimin] #jeon parks jeonparking #jikook just jikooking nbd #jungkook just jungkooking nbd #jeon jungkook does what jeon jungkook wants goddammit #meanwhile jimin #jimin can just exist and incite insanity #jungkook not keeping jimin's name out of a damn thing thank you #jikook #kookmin #minkook #mingguk

[whysojiminimnida]

https://youtu.be/kd9fLqQul-Y

At 34.35 did jimin really say to jk that call me brother???

Nope. Not the way you mean it. It's a bit of a mistranslation that gets tossed around because there is not a good equivalent term in English. We don't use age-system honorifics. They do. See, the Korean "hyung" does not translate exactly. The closest we have is "brother" but it doesn't mean biological brother, which is why translators often shorten it to "bro" - another word that doesn't mean actual brothers. It's... closer. But it's not there. And this causes Westerners no end of headaches because people do just what you did and use "hyung" as "biological brother" exclusively, when it is used between brothers but also between friends - and lovers.

Hyung" is used between people who are close. It's a casual honorific. It's used between men only. Older men to younger men can, but don't have to, use the gender-neutral suffix "-ah". So, correctly, because they are close, Jungkook should call Jimin "Jimin-hyung" and Jimin should call Jungkook either just Jungkook or "Jungkook-ah". That happens maybe 50% of the time.

Big dongsaeng energy with bonus honorifics

My friend Kev's boyfriend of several years refers to him as "Kevi-hyung" or even "Kevi-ssi". And I assure you they are very much a couple. The word "hyung" or the honorific -ssi does not negate romantic involvement. In fact, it is unusual (I'm told) for a younger partner - even a romantic one - to use complete banmal (casual) speech. According to my guys, Kev uses hae-che speech with X - but X uses haera-che banmal (with "you" but without dropping the -hyung) with Kevin. Confused yet?

That whole -ssi thing is an entire other issue but it's adorable. Jungkook uses haera-che (half casual) speech with members pretty often because they're friends. But he uses hae-che banmal (completely casual) speech with Jimin quite often. AND THAT'S WEIRD.

Not just the -ah suffix but the "where are YOU going" was banmal, here. In public. And I'm told that everyone there would have known what that usage meant. (It means "we banging" in case you weren't sure).

The only time it is acceptable to drop honorifics with your elder is if you are in a romantic, established relationship with that person AND/OR the elder party has allowed it.

Literally, if you are dropping honorifics you are assumed to be and very likely ARE having sex with that person. That's nearly the ONLY TIME IT'S DONE unless the elder party has suggested it. And Jimin never seems to suggest it - if anything, he teases back with the "be polite, call me hyung" thing. So instead of getting hung up on the translation of the word "hyung" maybe pay attention to when it ISN'T used.

Jungkook uses banmal here. Basically, "hey you". RUDE LOL Kevin explained it to me by saying it would be like me walking into my boss's office and instead of calling her "Doctor", I said "Hey you, babe." THAT WOULD NEVER HAPPEN. Not if I wanted to keep my job. But Jungkook does it often. He does it in public. And what's more, he GETS AWAY WITH IT. Look at him grin when Jimin calls him on it here:

"That's not how you address your elder", or, basically, "be polite" - and Koo just gives him a shit-eating grin and says "well how else do I say it", with all that implies. He might as well have said "what should I call you then, baby", because that is exactly what he meant. LOOK AT THAT BRATTY FLIRTY GRIN.

And Jimin, well aware they're on camera in public, says, "Call me hyung" And Jungkook goes, sassy AF, "Okay, hyung" That little shit. I love him. I love them both. ETA AND WELL SHIT KEV HAS CORRECTED MY ASS. I got haera-che and hae-che speech mixed up. THIS IS WHY YOU WANT A NATIVE SPEAKER KIDS. Okay so it is now edited and correct but if you reblogged me on the first run, might wanna make a note. Haera-che is the half-casual, less formal (6th on 7 levels of speech). Hae-che is level 7 or complete banmal. DAMN KOREAN IS HARD.

#hyung #that damn hyung thing again #are we still using the brothers argument #because that is old and tired just like me #jimin-ssi #jungkook-ah #jimin-ah #banmal #honorifics #korean #age system in korea #kevi-hyung #kevin from itaewon #and his boyfie x #jikook just jikooking nbd #jeon parks jeonparking #jimin #jungkook #anon #ask

[whysojiminimnida]

I can’t call you Auntie Jaya because I think we’re the same age, maybe Cousin Jaya? Anyway have you heard anything from Kevin about the reaction in Korea to days 1 and especially 2?

Funny you should ask, @amatann 😉

Bros don’t bridal carry bros, it turns out. "Go find me one serious instance of any other member of BTS just randomly bridal carrying another member around like that," Kevin From Itaewon says. I could not. Especially not after the carrier got a hickey from the, er, bride.

And certainly not while princess-waving and grinning like that.

But bros DO occasionally indulge in a little dongsaeng-hyung style lapsitting. That’s not out of the realm of normal bro skinship.

Especially given that there is no leaning in by Tae and no leaning back by Jungkook. The lack of eye contact, softness or smiles also makes it more “normal skinship” and less “oh this is a thing”. It is nice that their friendship seems to be back on track but that’s all it is, Kevin says. AND HE'S RIGHT. This is the least romantic lapsit I have ever seen and I can't understand why it's being used as A Moment at all. Kev agreed. This is what normal bro skinship looks like.

And then there’s what Kev called the “ass man cometh for Jimin-ssi”. Slaps are normal bro shit and widely done and accepted. The caress-and-squeeze is something else.

I allowed as how Jungkook does love to grab a random ass cheek and Kev goes "yes, but does he just... pet them like that?" and I had to say well, he slaps. he does the squeeze. I dunno if he'd pet them, his other asses don't usually stay put that long and Kev goes "Honey. Jimin is WALKING. Jungkook is just FOLLOWING THE ASS SO HE CAN PLAY WITH IT MORE." I snortgiggled ...but he was not wrong.

With me so far? Oh good because KFI was on his Boyfriend's-Been-Gone-Too-Long faggotry shit today so we had to have a nice long talk about the price of California real estate and HOW GAY THE Jeon-Parks ARE which is, apparently-- SO GAY. Like they could not be gayer unless they had two shared homes, one for vacations, and a marriage license and even then, Kev says, it's only paper they can certainly be just as gay without it. He should know. He's been gay without it for twenty years but he might be just about to be gayer with it, since he and X are talking about partial relocation and super gay beach weddings.

So yeah that was the extent of the How Gay Are They convo and the answer was THEY'RE SO GAY AND IN LOVE IT'S ADORABLE.

#thanks @amatann #ptd vegas #jimin #jungkook #jikook #the jeon parks #must be 2022 at the jeon park household #jikook gay #jikook just jikooking nbd #kookmin #jmjk #mingguk #ptd in las vegas #kfi #kevin from itaewon #how gay are they #they're so gay #normal skinship vs wow that's gay

[whysojiminimnida]

We Out Here Couple Blogging Now

Not Jikook. Zip it. Nope it's me with your man Kevin From Itaewon and although this will get posted later in the day it is right now 6 AM in my world and 9 PM Seoul time. Away the fuck we go. Me: Hey bitch. KFI: and the horse you rode in on. Lovely to see you, darling. Me: We posting selfies? I am so posting that Christmas card pic. KFI: Not just no but hell no, dear. I have a job. You texted about the don't ask don't tell culture here in Seoul. Me: Please elaborate for edification and education reasons. Also I'm blogging this. Hey did you know you don't look Korean? KFI: Okay. What do Koreans look like? We've talked about the "we don't talk about that" culture here, but it's not just about the queer community. Me: Explain. I think your eyes are supposed to be slantier and you should be less pale, maybe. KFI: I didn't get a lot of sun in the 90s. Have you met my dad? What I mean is that most people simply don't go around shedding light on things that should be private. Finances? Private. Religion? Eh, semi-private. Relationships of any sort? Depends on the relationship but there's a disconnect between public and private information. I'll ask my friends if their families are well. How are the kids, are your parents keeping well, etc. But not "how's the wife", because there is a bit of a line from polite conversation to intrusive behavior there. Why are we talking about me not being Korean again? I'm 75% Korean ethnically. Behave yourself. Me: Just blog stuff. Anonymous people. Make this make sense for me, oppa. Because you and I have seen some things together. We've covered some road, right, and we've had very deep philosophical, religious, even medical conversations, but I don't know if your boyfriend is even the same one from five years ago. Dude that is weird. You're weird. KFI: No, you're my dongsaeng. You're also a pain in the ass and you talk too much. You ask too many questions. As oppa I will always be here and give you whatever advice you ask me for, and will offer some if I feel it will help you live better or be happy. Because I do adore you and want you to be happy. (In re: boyfie) If you lived here and we were in a position to go out you would end up having a good friendship with him. He likes you, anyway. And yes it's still X, he said to tell you. You knew that, don't act like you didn't, you're in his phone (Laughs)

Y'ALL THIS IS A GUY I TALK TO ONCE A WEEK ON AVERAGE OKAY IT'S NOT LIKE WE MET SIX MINUTES AGO. Me: Kay but would I get to hang out at your place though? KFI: Yes, you would, but not uninvited. For you to drop over would be rude. You could come for game nights or dinner nights if I invited you first. Or of course if X invites you which he would. You really should visit, we have some nice hotels close by.

Me: But you could show up at my door anytime so that's kinda bullshit.

KFI: Also not really. I mean, we might negotiate that because it's us. But honestly? Your neighbors would think it was odd if I came by and you weren't home. I'm a man, you're a woman, neither of us appears married, so that would be impolite on my part. Me: So how's your boyfriend? KFI: You are insufferable and he is great. We're good. Be nice. Me: (sticks tongue out because I am Mature Like That) Me, again: Okay so we've been talking about the glass closet/golden closet situation and you've said that for Jungkookie there isn't one really. KFI: There isn't really one for either of them. Jimin isn't hiding either. Jungkook is more obvious here to me because of his flouting of social rules, but that Jimin lets him do it and also engages in that reversal is a huge signal. That none of the members seem to notice it most of the time tells me that it's standard procedure for them as a couple. Heirarchy is not important to them because their relationship is intimate and long term. They behave like spouses more than anything else. And that's why nobody asks the big questions, here. We don't have to. It's obvious to Koreans - at least gay Koreans, we don't need declarative statements. Me: Yeah because I always kinda thought Jimin was louder, more affectionate, especially in the early years. Koo seems like a Big Gesture guy - tats, possibly, ear sucking, showing off the hickey... KFI: OH yes. That... was a thing. Me: Which?

KFI: That so-called neck bite story was terrible. Even if it was partly true it was just awful. And that BigHit chose to let it run that way was akin to a flashing neon sign that said "Meet Our Married Gay Idols". At this point there is no closet any more. Even a year ago, yes, a closet existed, but now all that is left is just a public coming out statement. Me: I don't think we're gonna see that soon though. KFI: I agree with you. Everyone who needs to know, knows. The coding is so blatant that they might as well just wear couple outfits and celebrate anniversaries. Me: Which, uh.... US: THEY DO. Me: So I get why the hickey was a thing for us in the West but does it have that same connotation over there? KFI: Possibly moreso, actually. Marks like that are not acceptable socially. Certainly it should have been covered, at the least. That it wasn't was a deliberate statement. Me: Would you go so far as to call it fanservice or to say that maybe Jimin took the fall for something he didn't do, there? KFI: Absolutely not. That was in no way fanservice. I really see fanservice, by the Korean perception, as more along the lines of what you see Jungkook do with, say, V, or Jin. It's fun, it's cute, there's some aegyo going on, but it's not blatantly sexual like the subtext you get with Kookmin. Me: I keep saying the chemistry is entirely different. KFI: Even with Jimin and V there is some borderline flirtation going on but if you look at it honestly, it's affection, it's skinship. It's not sexual. The only two people in BTS who are sexually involved and telegraphing that are Jimin and Jungkook. Even down to the peace signs. Me: They all do peace signs, what the hell are you on about, oppa? KFI: I don't remember it being a thing over there but here peace signs in photos are often seen within the community as code for "I'm in the closet". Not always of course but that Jungkook and Jimin do them so often is just something I noticed. They seem to do them together a lot, too.

Me: I was pretty sure that was finger guns. KFI: You're bi, of course you would think that. Me: (shoots finger gun) KFI: I did look at the pics you sent of Jungkook's shoulder grip, too. (I sent him pics of that grippy thing Koo does at Jiminie's collarbone). That's not something I'd caught before but, wow.

Me: IKR?! KFI: Yeah. Yeah. I understand that these guys were basically raised by each other, very Lord of the Flies, K-idol style, but wow. That's very proprietary. And very forward. Do they both do that, or just Jungkook? Me: I see the neck touches more with Jimin, but there's that height thing. Like I couldn't easily just reach around you and push my fingers into that spot, on you, but Jungkook is the you here, he can reach. I think I've seen both of them do it though. KFI: Huh. That's rather versatile of them. Me: Explain it for the hets in the back, I'm blogging this. KFI: Oh, my. Really. Okay. The light pressure Jungkook puts on Jimin's collar bone, so close to the neck, is... loud. Very loud. It's sexual, because that area of the neck and shoulder is an erogenous zone to begin with. To locate those nerve endings and press in on them is a very sexually dominant gesture. It's nearly ownership. I can't see a logical explanation for that hold other than they are sexually intimate and Jungkook is actively topping when he does it. Me: That doesn't mean Koo is always topping. KFI: Of course not, certainly Jimin has very dominant moments. But that move, that is a top move and not a subtle one. If I did that to someone I would expect him to be immediately obedient and to be paying close attention to me. Me: And if someone did it to you? KFI: We're not here to talk about me. Don't be crass. Me: say bye to the Tumblr kids. KFI: Merry Christmas. You're not seriously blogging this, are you? Me: What? No. Of course not, oppa.

#kfi is just who he is now #kevin from itaewon #we just talk shit and he plays the oppa card #we talking about the jeon-parks jeonparking #jikook jikook they jikooked they out here jikooking the jikookery #mingukkie supremacy #mingguk

[whysojiminimnida]

So...you really have Korean friend who is gay? Heh. Please if it’s not too personal can you share what his opinion about jikook too, maybe some moments that stood out to him or just in general what he is saying about them...it is so interesting..

I do. Kevin from Itaewon is a real person. I have known him for about 25 years. He grew up with his Korean parents here in America (hence his American name - I will not use his Korean name here). And yes - Kevin is gay. He came out to me about seven years ago. That means that I knew this guy and considered him a good friend for OVER A DECADE BEFORE HE CAME OUT. That's an important point, kids. Being Korean and gay is not the same as being Western and gay. It's just not. We like to speak on culture but the best way I can describe it to you is that even in close friendships some things are not assumed or discussed for YEARS. Being open like Holland is highly unusual. People know. People aren't less gay there. There is still a strong network - but it looks more like the New York or San Francisco of the 1960s-1980s than it does like anything we have in the US or UK. Okay? So in talking about the Jeon-Parks in particular, Kevin had this to say: "I think they're very lucky. They have friends who understand and their company seems to be okay with them. Their co-workers seem to also be supportive or also part of the community. From what we know here vs. what you guys (in the US) are told, we know that their private relationship is clear, it just isn't discussed. That's a Western thing, thinking it's okay to just talk about your private life. We don't do that here." So I go, because I am a voyeuristic little snotrag: "What you're telling me is that everybody been knew and nobody's saying shit." He says: "Be a lady for five seconds, I beg you. But yes, you voyeuristic little snotrag." OKAY THEN BITCH DAMN. He loves me. I'm adorable. Kev is also practically a whole Namjoon of a person, really. BUT HE CONTINUES: "So maybe there's hope. Some of us think that if one couple can come out publicly that would change things here but that is too much to ask of anyone. The ramifications would be huge. So maybe it's better if they stay like they are until things change a little more." SAY IT LOUDER FOR THE KIDS IN THE BACK. I've been telling y'all this for months. They will not come out in public maybe ever. That doesn't make them less real. Here have some cute pics I stole off the internet:

#anon #ask #Kevin from Itaewon #glass closet #wbk #jikook #kookmin #spot the couple

[whysojiminimnida]

Ive never heard Jk talk about kids before… I know Jimin always wanted to be a dad.. as a queer person myself ( very homophobic country) I feel for them. I know it’s possible to have kids as a queer couple.. there are ways in which you can achieve this..but it is so much more difficult. Can you imagine.. seeing them as dads.. raising a family together? How cute would that be!! Ugh my heart 😭😩 little parkjeons running around .. I’ll just stop

AH THANK YOU WISE ANON you showed up at just the right time. Opiates for butthurt are inappropriate use of opiates is all I'm gonna say about that but in fairness my sciatic nerve had one too many people STANDING ON IT so here have some love and appreciation

I'm not sure about that second one just go with it. ANYWAY YES. OMG. So Kev and X and I have this new thing where they hover and I allow it and one of the many things we discuss is kids. In Korea gay parenting is nearly impossible, especially under the current administration. It would just involve too much lying and that's not okay to do to kids, assuming kids can be found (girls can, and money works, but.)

So they don't have kids. But they will. It's one of the big reasons they're moving to the US part time. Roughly half the year is the plan and they intend to marry here. They will maintain one property - the largest home, for the family - in Korea. One in the US. The dream to is have the children back in Korea full time by high school and that seems... optimistic, but maybe? We can hope.

And the kids will be by necessity adopted, or possibly a surrogate will be utilized because Kev very much wants to be a biodad. X really wants to adopt, they may end up doing both. And I want to be there for that kid or those kids or all the kids. Auntie Jaya at your service, for real. And I imagine the Jeon-Parks have already talked about this. There may even be a plan in place, for later. Maybe much later.

Gay parents are, in my experience, AMAZING parents. Because it is hard, it is expensive, it takes years usually, and it is a CHOICE. A very conscious choice.

I want that for the Jeon-Parks, if they want it. And I think they do.

#thanks nice anon #i needed this #gay parents #jeon parks jeonparking again #or still #the jeon parks #jikook #why people think you have to be straight to have kids i do not understand #that is like so weird #kevin from itaewon #kev's boyfie x

[whysojiminimnida]

Hello YSJ! Love your blog! Would love to hear your opinion on why JM and JK wrote in English on each other’s b-day cakes rather than in Korean.

That is an excellent question. And I have opinions. OF COURSE I DO I ALWAYS HAVE OPINIONS ARE WE EVEN SURPRISED NO, NO WE ARE NOT SURPRISED But first, illustrations:

So I thought, WELL. We must have some amazing Magic Gay Code happening here. If it isn't in Korean maybe they're sending us a message. Maybe this is a Rainbow Connection Moment of some type. So I went LOOKING. And found:

So I was like

"Well we cannot use the queerness or lack thereof of BTS as a guideline because we're all a little bit gay here we have not been properly informed as to the gayness level of most of these men SO I BETTER GO LOOK FURTHER

And at several higher-end Korean bakeries I found

OKAY. Google was, I will have you know, ZERO HELP. So I did what any God-fearing American White Girl would do and I shot a message a couple time zones over to my friend X, who just so happens to be stateside on business right now. (And also possibly looking for houses but that's another post).

"WHY KOREAN BIRTHDAY CAKES IN ENGLISH" I asked articulately. Leave me alone it was a couple nights ago and I was on morphine derivatives and muscle relaxers. So if I missed anything in this conversation that's why. "HI I'M VERY DRUNK RIGHT NOW" X replied loudly. It felt loud because he was in a club or something. It was loud. I allowed as how I was gonna call Kev in Itaewon to get answers and X said TEXT ME BITCH and I said YOU DO NOT NEED ALL THE DETAILS ANYWAY

Drunk X said that actually, it's... just trendy. Literally, that's why. Because "candles in Hangul really are kinda hard to make work" which makes sense and also that "Korean cakes aren't as elaborate as the ones here" and "English denotes a little higher class, like you're cool enough to read your decorations" whatever the hell that means.

He says you go to the bakery and there are English phrases you can choose from, or someone probably knows enough English to get the job done or if you are very personalization-oriented they will give you an icing sleeve thingy and you can do it yourself at some places. THAT'S WHAT THE GAY KOREAN MAN SAID IT'S MY ANSWER. So I go "no gay coding then" and he said "only in the way that gay people buy better cakes." I guess that's why, then. We stan our world-citizen metropolitan extra cool English-cake-deco kings.

#thanks nice anon #korean cakes #why are they decorated in English #because it looks cool #that's it that's the reason #jimin #jungkook #jikook just jikooking around with cake #it's not their first time #it's not their first time with tape now either #jimin the cake fairy #trendy cakes #stan a cake fairy king #jikook #bts #kevin from itaewon #kev's boyfie X

[whysojiminimnida]

OKAY SO DON'T CALL YOUR KOREAN FRIEND AND ASK HIM IF HE CAN HELP WITH MATH

Unless you're me and your friend is Kevin From Itaewon and you already know he's already taken the whole week off work to get older and eat rice cake soup with brisket of all things. So it went kinda like this:

Me: Kev hey Kev oppa, I need a proper Korean, can you help me with some numbers and shit? KFI: You want help with MATH because I'm ASIAN?

Then this happened, metaphorically:

But after I recovered from being facepunched over FaceTime and Kev allowed as how he is actually very good at numerology type things (and also math but that's NOT RACIST I DIDN'T MEAN IT LIKE THAT IT WAS A CULTURAL QUESTION OKAY DAMN) I explained about the whole furor over Jungkook's cover... sort of thusly:

Me: NO BITCH BUT I need numerology help with this Jungkook cover because apparently KARMY in your local area is all atwitter.

KFI: OH god, you're on the bird app again. I told you to stay off the bird app.

Me: X is on the bird app is he home?

KFI: IT IS ONE IN THE MORNING YES HE IS HOME AND NO HE IS NOT GETTING UP TO HELP YOU WITH THIS.

X, kind of blearily, walks up behind his man and waves. Y'ALL X IS SO CUTE HE'S KIND OF LITTLE AND JIMIN-DORABLE

Me: Oh hey X sorry, I suck. I'm bothering oppa about numerology as it relates to the Jungkook cover of "I Hate Everything" At this point Kev gets up to make his boyfie some tea and X and I chatter about the Jeon-Parks and Jimin's unfortunate erstwhile appendix and how COVID sucks and X allows as how Jimin will probably stay in hospital until the weekend because HE HEARD that Jimin's COVID was complicated. Probably due to the appendix. We have no receipts, this is just on the ground gossip. (Apparently HIPAA does not exist in Korea but okay).

ANYWAY tea is served and links are shared and X is working but only tomorrow afternoon for a few hours (today) so he decides to join us for a bit. I like having X around and actually being allowed to talk to him so I try VERY HARD TO BEHAVE MYSELF AND FAIL. MISERABLY. Like I do. We'll get to that later or not. Anyway I bust out the numbers like so: Me: So the video was cropped to 1:18 and 11/8 is the date of GCF Tokyo and this seems to be IDK kind of a thing. Is it a thing?

KFI: It might have been an accident, but I doubt it. If he did it on purpose it is definitely a thing. Did he do it on purpose? Me: I have no idea, oppa, do I live in the man's brain? But is that something that would, like, get done on purpose? Because KARMY seems to think that these two are always up in secret number code land doing secret number code things. X: That's true, they do! It's very popular here with couples. Kevi-hyung doesn't fully get it because he was raised in America. When we had our 2000 day anniversary I folded him 2000 origami swans and all I got was a week in Guam. Which was nice, but it wasn't TWO THOUSAND SWANS. Y'all I wish I had pictures of Kevin's face I feel like this is a thing that has come up more than once. I may have laughed out loud. KFI: .... Anyway. It might. Has he done things like this before? X: Kevi-hyung remember? I was telling you about this.

Me: Abouuut?

X: Just recently, when Jungkook did the Keep It On The Low cover!

Me: OH HOLD UP I HAVE A THING!!

And I did, I had this in my inbox from @kkhluvsbts from WEEKS AGO that got hung up in piles of crazy anons (and I apologize):

X goes: YES! That’s it!

And KFI goes: Oh. That’s very specific and a 1000 day or 1500 day anniversary is very significant. That Tokyo film is very romantic, I've seen it several times.

Me: SOOOO?!

KFI: I think that Jungkook must put thought into everything he does. A man who believes so strongly in destiny is very likely to do all those things on purpose, and their special numbers are clearly very important to both of them.

X: OMG Kevi-hyung we talked about this …

KFI: Sorry, I thought this whole thing was going to be about Life Path Numbers. Did you know you're a Life Path 4 with a Master Builder Number 22? Me: No. I don't know what that means. I DIDN'T GO TO SCHOOL FOR MATH OKAY X: You ARE? Hyung never told me that! Here, do Jimin and Jungkook! It devolved from there. And if it's important to you Jungkook is a 9 and Jimin is a 2 with a Master Number 11 and I still don't know what it means except I haven't reached my full potential as a person. ANYHOO VERY LONG STORY SHORT (this turned into a two part call)... WHAT WE LEARNED IS THAT: If you are a native Korean AND you were raised in Korea, number code is an actual thing that gets actually used and therefore probably none of this is a coincidence. The Jeon-Parks DO THIS SHIT ON PURPOSE. If you are Kevin and were raised in America you're more like I-ARMY in that way and it takes a minute to click. We also learned that X is more fun than Kevin when it comes to stanning BTS in general and the Jeon-Parks in particular, he knows how to fold a lot of swans, and I still don't know what Life Path numbers are. And that I just wrote a really long post for what is, essentially, information y'all already knew. SEND HELP IT'S GONNA BE ANOTHER LONG DAY

#kfi is a tag now #calling kfi #kevin from itaewon #and his boyfie X #stan you a couple in a long term relationship like the Kev-Xs #the one about 2000 origami swans #jeon jungkook is a romantic man #none of this is coincidence #jimin's erstwhile appendix #covid 19 #X calls Kevin Kevi-hyung and it is adorable #i'm entirely too single for this world #also a whole park jimin exists #and a jeon jungkook #must be 2022 at the jeon park household #jeon parks jeonparking again #jikook be wildin again