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#like 'okay and i wont do it again. but you lecturing me can't make me go back in time and NOT do it' type of thing
greghatecrimes · 4 months
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More Kutner love
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mydarllinglover · 9 months
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SafeHouse || Third Year - One
Masterlist
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September 1st 1993
"Oh my darling girl, I've only just got you back after four years and now you're going again, I've missed my baby" My mother, Molly Weasley, sobbed whilst she squeezed me in a bone crushing embrace.
"Mum! We're gonna miss the train" My Twin Brother, Ron Whined.
"Oh Hush Ronald, even if you did, its not like that would stop you from getting to Hogwarts" Mum glared at Ron as I stepped out of her embrace and she gave another hug to the other Twins, most likely threatening them if they misbehaved.
I snorted a laugh, remembering what Ginny told me about Ron and Harry's joyride in Dads car last year, but that was the best part as she caught me up of the events that occurred, I could only imagine how much that would've affected my little sister.
Ron shot a glare at me in a way of saying "you better shut up or I'll make sure you wont be able to find any of your class's"
"Ronald, you better look after Keira and help her, you should remember how hard it was for you on your first day at Hogwarts" Mum lectured Ron as Harry walked back over to us after having a chat about Merlin knows what with Dad, probably muggle related.
"Yes Mum, I know, but we really have to go!" my twin pouted, again.
"It's okay Mrs Wealsey, she has Harry and I to help her out as well" Hermione smiled as she gently nudged my side.
"Yes of course, off you go all of you and have a wonderful time, and behave!" Mum waved us off as we gathered up our luggage and made our way onto the Hogwarts Express.
"Wait! Ron! Don't forget Scabbers!" Mum called as she reached up with Scabbers held in her hands.
Ron reached through an open window to grab him from Mum, We then waved and shouted out goodbyes as the Train departed.
Percy was the first to leave us as he made his way to the Head Boy and Girl compartment. Then Ginny as she spotted some of her friends in her year and it was just Fred, George, Hermione, Ron, Harry and I.
Fred and George helped Carry some of my luggage as they were winking at some of the girls in their year, making a right show out of it as if they were big strong men, which they are not.
"Guys, come on, lets go find an empty Compartment" Ron nodded at us as he walked down the corridor full of students.
Fred and George had already left with their friend lee Jordan, when we eventually found a compartment at the end of the train, there was a man sat inside, he looked to be sleeping as he lent his head on the window, I noticed how his clothes were shabby wizard robes, he had scars on his face and light brown hair with specks of grey.
"Who'd you reckon he is?" Ron hissed as we sat down and Harry slid the door shut, Ron, Harry and I squashed up on the opposite seat, Ron making me sit at the window so he didn't have to sit right opposite the man, as Hermione took the other side, making sure to sit farthest from the window
"Professor R.J. Lupin" Hermione whispered.
"How'd you know that?"
"Its on his case dumb arse" I sighed as I smacked Ron across the head and pointed at the mans luggage.
"Ouch" Ron rubbed his head as he glared at me "wonder what he teaches"
"that's obvious" whispered Hermione "theres only one vacancy isn't there? defence against the dark arts"
"Oh yeah, Mums crush was the last one, wasn't he?" I joked "can't believe he obliviated himself like an idiot"
"well I hope he's up to it" said Ron. "He looks like one good hex would finish him off, doesnt he?"
"Don't be so rude, you don't look like you could handle much either" I said to him.
"Anyway ...what were you going to tell us?" Ron said to Harry, his back facing me.
Harry glanced at me before looking back at Ron and Hermione
"Sorry, do you want me to leave or something?" I asked him, feeling quite awkward
"Oh- n-no, its fine" He blushed.
He then went into detail about Mum and Dad's fight and what Dad had told him.
How bloody important was this kid? From what I've heard something has put his life at risk every year, was he made out of gold?
"Sirius Black escaped to come after you? Oh, Harry ... You'll have to be really, really careful. Don't go looking for trouble, Harry"
"I don't go looking for trouble, trouble usually finds me."
"How poetic." I said
"How thick would Harry have to be, to go looking for a nutter who wants to kill him?"
Well four for four, right?
"No one knows how he got out of Azkaban, No one's ever done it before. And he was a top-security prisoner, too."
"But they'll catch him, won't they? I mean, They've got all the Muggles looking out for him, too ..."
"I mean, Muggles hasn't exactly stopped him before" I thought out loud.
"Whats that noise?" Ron said
"your brain working perhaps? maybe its overheating" I said "Ow, I'm joking, wait I hear it too"
There was a faint whistle noise somewhere in the compartment.
"Its coming from your trunk, Harry" Ron told him. Standing up and Reaching into the luggage rack.
"Oh, I forgot you bought that" Ron had Pulled out the Pocket Sneakascope from Harry's Robes.
"Is that a Sneakascope?" Hermione asked
"Yeah ... mind you, it's a very cheap one,  It went hay-wire just as I was tying it to Errols leg to send it to Harry"
"I always knew there was something off with that Bloody pigeon, hes very suspicious"
"Were you doing anything untrustworthy at the time?"
"No!-"
"Mum said he couldn't use Errol because he doesn't do well on long journeys"
"How else was I supposed to get Harry's present to him?"
"Could've just waited until you saw him next, instead of putting Errol at risk"
"You just said there was something suspicious about him, and called him a pigeon"
"That literally proves nothing, what is your point?" I asked him
"Stick it back in the trunk, Or it'll wake him up" Harry said, pointing towards Lupin.
"We could get it checked in Hogsmeade" Ron said, sitting back down "They sell that sort of thing in Dervish and Banges, Magical instruments and stuff, Fred and George told me"
"Do you know much about Hogsmeade? I've read it's the only entirely non-muggle settlement in Britain-
"Yeah I think it is" Ron cut Hermione off
"Hey! don't be so rude" I told him off.
The three of them talked about the history of Hogsmeade, Honeydukes and how Harry can't go because of the stupid Dursleys. I zoned out until Ron had a fight with Crookshanks.
                                   •
We were all enjoying food from the trolley when our compartment door slid open once again.
Three boys occupied the space, the platinum blond with the side parting was clearly in charge as he stood in front of the two meaty boys, if I was being honest he seemed really handsome, but by the change of vibe in the atmosphere I could guess they were not friends of my brother and his friends, I looked up at them curiously as the blond boy sneered at Harry
"well look who it is" the boy said in a lazy drawl "potty and the weasel" his body guards chuckled like a pair of trolls, I could already tell I was going to hate this trio.
"I heard your father finally got his hands on some gold this summer, Weasley," he laughed again "Did your mother die of shock?"
My twin shot up like a rocket, resulting in him knocking Crookshanks basket to the floor.
Professor lupin gave a snort and we all snapped our heads to look at him
"who's that?" The blond asked as he took a step back
"New teacher" Harry said as I got to my feet in case I had to hold Ron back
"and who's that?" he asked again as his eyes landed on me
"I could ask you the same thing" I told him, still confused why he was here as it was apparent no one liked one another
"Malfoy, Draco Malfoy" he introduced himself "and now you"
"none of your business Malfoy, piss off" Ron spat at him causing me to grab his upper arms to hold him back and Harry standing to help me.
"Bond, James Bond" I said, which made Harry and Hermione chuckle, clearly getting the muggle reference from a set of books. But the others just stared at me in confusion
"your parents named you James bond? isn't that a boys name?" Malfoy asked, scrunching his face up as if he could smell something terrible.
"No you idiot" I deadpanned. 
Lupin made another noise
"whatever freak, C'mon" he muttered resentfully to his friends
"whats his problem?" I asked as we took our seats again
"Keira, He's a Malfoy, they're all the same, arrogant bastards" Ron glared and Massaged his knuckles "I'm not going to take any rubbish from Malfoy this year," he said angrily. "I mean it. If he makes one more crack about our family, I'm going to get hold of his head and-
"Ron," Hermione hissed at him.
                                   •
"We must be nearly there" Ron said, leaning on me to look out the window
"Get off!" I pushed him, the words barely left my mouth as the train started to slow down
"Brilliant" my brother cheered "I'm starving, I want to go to the feast"
"your always starving" I rolled my eyes
"Like you can talk much" he said
"we cant be there yet" Hermione furrowed her eyebrows "so why're we stopping?"
call it pathetic fallacy if you will but as the train got slower the rain and wind got louder and heavier. The temperature dropped to minus numbers and it got terribly icy.
Harry, being closest to the door, peered his head out, me and Ron leaning out to look down the corridor to see other heads poking out the compartments.
The train came to a halt and the luggage fell of the racks, something thing landing on me and Ron, the lamps and all source of light went next
"whats going on?" Ron asked from behind Harry
"ouch!" Hermione gasped "Ronald! that was my foot!"
Harry moved out of the way to sit down "do you think we've broken down?"
"dunno"
"i'm gonna go look, maybe find the trolley witch and ask whats going on" I told them as I stepped past Ron, halfway out of the door
"Be careful alright, come back soon" My Older brother by nine minutes told me.
"you worry too much" I shook my head as I felt around the corridor and reached into my pocket to pull out my wand and whispering Lumos, a small ball of light illuminating on the top of my wand, but anything was better than nothing.
something walked into me causing me to take a step back
"ouch, sorry" a boys voice spoke out
"its alright" I smiled at him and shone my light so I could see his face then stepped past him as I continued down the corridor, what didn't help was that I was in the dark and I had no idea who anyone was, I couldn't even spot; Ginny, Fred & George or even Percy.
Brilliant thinking, Keira!
I continued down the corridor until suddenly someone grabbed a hold of my wrist and yanked me into an empty compartment.
Hey no fair, where was this when we were looking for one earlier?!
I yelped in pain and shock as whoever the person was slammed shut the compartment door "hey what the hell-
"shut up!" a voice whispered as a hand was clamped over my mouth and my eyes went wide.
"now you don't look like a first year, and I would be confused why you would be associating yourself with, weaselbee, Mudblood and Saint Potter" I could tell by his voice this was the boy I met recently. Malfoy "so i'm going to ask you again, who are you?" he took the hand off my mouth but kept a firm hold on my wrists.
"whats it to you? I dont even know you" I furrowed my eyebrows in confusion
"because, if Potters got a new member of his little trio of hero's I want to know why a new student is joining Hogwarts to be there" he told me
"who I am and why i'm here, is none of your business or concern so just-
"Potters fainted!" I was interrupted as kids in the corridor started shouting as the lights turned back on and the train started moving once again.
I shoved Malfoy out of the way so I could go see what had happened.
Little did I know Malfoy was actually following me.
I pushed past the other kids to reach my compartment door and slid it open.
Walking in, I saw Harry lying on the floor and Ron & Hermione sat on either side of him, the boy who bumped into me on my way out earlier, Ginny and Professor Lupin
"What happened?!" I gasped
"Harry passed- Whats he doing here" Ron snapped ,when he looked up from Harry to see Malfoy stood Very close behind me
"what? I dont know, Malfoy piss off will you" I turned to look up at him, fuck Ron for getting all the height
"oh Merlin, Potter fainting, this is amazing" he laughed, looking down at Harry one last time, I assume getting mental pictures, then he brought his silver eyes up to lock on my blue ones it was like I was frozen in place and his stare was the only thing I could think o-
"buh bye Malfoy! horrible seeing you, make sure to not see us for a awful long time" my brother interrupted as he grabbed my upper arm and pulled me more into the compartment, sliding the door shut. "stay away from him, I mean it Keira!" he pointed a finger in my face
"piss off Ron, I will, hes a self centred prick" I ripped my arm out of his grip and sat next to the boy "Keira Weasley" i stretched my hand out to him
"W-Weasley? you and Ron are related?"
"Yeah, she's my little sister" Ron shrugged as he sat down next to Harry again.
"by nine minutes" I said, glaring at the back of his head, then faced the boy again "but yeah, we're twins, I transferred here from beaubaxtons
"oh, okay, hi, im Neville Longbottom" he shook my hand
I looked over to the corner to see my little sister shivering and letting out sobs, Hermione and I made our way over to sit with her and comfort her to make sure she was okay.
We arrived at Hogwarts ten minutes after. Apparently everyone in our compartment were Gryffindor, and were all expecting me to as well as they observed my black robes, no pressure.
"Of course she's going to be in Gryffindor, Keira's a Weasley after all" Ron told our friends, slinging an arm around my shoulders as we walked to the carriages.
"You're a Weasley?!" Ron and I turned around to see who shouted that, just to see Malfoy stood there with his jaw on the floor gaping at us like a goldfish
"Yes" I said in more than a question "Isn't that obvious" I said, pointing at my bright red hair.
"what how?!" His eyebrows shot up
"she's my twin sister" Ron spat at him "piss off Malfoy" then he turned us around and continued walking off.
                                 •
"Uh, so I have to walk in after the first years to be sorted? why cant i just do it in private, not in front of the whole school?!" I gaped at Professor McGonagall
"Its tradition" she deadpanned "now off we go, I think they're ready for you" she all but pushed me through the Great Hall doors, it felt like all heads were turning around to look at me, maybe it was just nerves, hopefully it was just nerves.
"ah yes, our final student to sort for the night, transferred from Beauxbatons Academy. Weasley, Keira" announced McGonagall.
I turned around to look at McGonagall who was just talking to me.
In confusion I walked up to the stool and sat down, gulping as all eyes were on me, some whispering about who I
was, why there was another Weasley and some jokes along it.
I tried to drown it out and looked over to where all my brothers and my sister was sat as they smiled up at me in encouragement.
McGonagall placed the hat on top of my head, it quickly falling down past my eyes.
I took deep breathes as the Hat spoke "Another Weasley, mhm, it should be Gryffindor, But, you're different, your ambitious, yet courageous, witty and loyal, determined and creative, cunning but kind. Well well well, it ought to be SLYTHERIN!" the hat announced.
I sat there in shock as my eyes went wide, I was the first and only weasley in slytherin, Gryffindor erupted in cheers until they had heard what the hat had actually said and they all froze, especially my siblings, everyone looked confused and surprised.
I took the hat off my head and placed it on the stool, with legs like lead I slowly and carefully made my way down to the Green table with all eyes still on me. Sitting myself down the furthest from everyone.
Professor Dumbledore gave a speech but I didn't hear a word as I kept my eyes on a loose thread on the table, hearing the whispers and mentions of being a blood traitor and that I didn't belong here.
It was a while after everyone was eating and I could still feel Malfoy and his friends eyes on me, when I felt a hand grab my upper arm and all but drag me out from the table and to the doors of the great hall, It was Ron, with Harry and Hermione in tow, we were in an empty corridor when he finally let go
"Ron what the hell?!" I snapped at him
"Slytherin?!" he barked
"what was i supposed to do?! I didn't ask for that!"
"You could of said no! Harry did" he pointed at Harry
"hey leave me out of this" he put his hands up in surrender making us both glare at him "wow you really are twins" he mumbled
"Keira you cant be a slytherin, You're a Weasley, we're not Slytherins!"
"well maybe im not like you Ronald!"
"you're gonna turn out just like them, their all evil-
"Ron!" Hermione warned him
"not a single one of them are good, and your going to be the same"
"Ron" I gasped, hurt visible on my face
"whatever Keira be careful" he turned back to the hall and shook his head.
Harry and Hermione both looked at me with sympathetic faces, then walked off to follow my brother.
I stared at the spot he stood for a while thinking about what Ron had just said.
I didn't have the energy to go back in the Great Hall, my first day at Hogwarts turned out to be horrible.
I wondered around the castle for a good few hours as I tried to find anything that would give me a sign as to where the slytherin common rooms were to find my dorm.
I should of took Hermione up on her offer of giving me a tour and quiz. I was sure I was going up completely the wrong way as I walked up to where I guessed the astronomy tower was as I found myself on a balcony at the top of the castle.
It was beautiful, and peaceful. I gave up on ever finding where I would have to go and decided to lie down, staring up at the stars.
                                      •
"What are you doing?" A voice startled me, causing me to sit up and look at the person, Malfoy.
"Lost" I said as I lay back down
"so why are you here?" he sat down next to me
"were you following me?" I looked up at him with a raised brow
"no"
"is it true?" I asked him
"whats true?"
"is everyone in slytherin a bad person, will I turn out to be a bad person?"
we sat there in silence, neither of us saying a word, until Malfoy stood up and reached his hand out for me "come on"
"what?"
"its past curfew, we have got to go to our dorms" he told me "before Filch the caretaker, and a squib, catch's us."
"Oh, okay"
He led me to the dungeons and to the entrance of our common room as he muttered a password.
"Salazar"
we walked in and he steered me up to where the dorms were, pointing at a specific door.
"Look for the empty bed, that is most likely yours, Good Luck Weasley". he said before entering the door opposite the Girls dormitories, I'm guessing thats the boys.
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kamisama-spoops · 2 years
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a lil bulletpoint hc request. maybe try nanami, tomoe and suirou w a non binary s/o who has many scars on their body? like, most of em come from them bein a fool and tryin to pet a stray cat or jumpin down the stairs for no reason? how would they react to their s/o doin sumthin dumb that results in gettin a scar and sayin 'i wont hessitate to do it agian, dont test me'
stay safe, drink water and dont choke on it🌸
—Reckless s/o with a lot of scars
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Character(s): Tomoe, Nanami and Suirou
TW: Scars/ scar mention, injury mention
Notes: Non-binary reader || As a person with a lot of scars from a lot of stupid things that I maybe shouldn't have done but would definitely do again: Yes✨ || Not my clownish self forgetting I had this in my drafts 😭😭
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Tomoe
Oh God, someone please give this man a break, he already worries about you so much already
He internally panics like the world is ending when he first sees your scars, mildly confused that they don't seem to bother you at all, yes, but also extremely concerned
His mind is already jumping to a bunch of worst case scenarios over how you go got them
Where you a danger magnet even before he met you???
He knows that you're reckless and somewhat very stupid and can see that the scars are a little old though there are some that seem to be more recent than others so he's checking over you immediately
He'll call you an idiot and tell you not to be so reckless once you tell him where all of the scars are from but you might just miss the way that he keeps a better eye on you, dragging you away from dangerous situations, especially if it's a cat
If you want to pet something so badly, he'll just let you pet him
Only this once though so you hopefully won't try it again
You don't though, as per your words the first time that he had to destroy away from such a situation
Fine then, if you'll be like that, then he'll confine you to your room until you're dying of boredom, that'll stop you from doing stupid things
It does not though and his hair would be graying by now if it wasn't already white, what do you mean you would try to pet a stray cat again, didn't that end badly enough for you the last few times???
"Your ears aren't as soft as a cat's and you don't do that cat thing when I pet you."
"I'm insulted that you're comparing me to some mangy feline and in what world is that sound reasoning to do something like that?! Multiple times?!"
Nanami
Oh no, she's panicking
Now, she's no Tomoe, but the lecture that you get from her-
She's all over the place, not really sure if what to do when she first sees your scars
Like, are you okay? What happened? How did you get hurt?
You're bombarded with questions almost immediately but you can't really blame her, the girl doesn't know how to react
She'll order Tomoe to watch over you when she isn't around because she knows that you're reckless but doesn't know how far this recklessness goes so she isn't taking any risks
Tomoe would watch over you regardless because he does not want to have to deal with her yelling at him but she makes sure
He cannot however do that while you're in class with her, bored out of your mind and already too eager to leave the classroom by the time the bell rings
You stop at the top of the stairs for a second and she watches you stare at the 7 or so steps that lead back to the ground
She isn't fast enough to stop you from catapulting yourself over them, only reaching the 6th step before falling right into the 7th and then down to the ground
Oh my- you are going to give the poor girl a heart attack
It's straight back to the shrine with you and a very long lecture from both Nanami and a few snide comments from Tomoe
"Why would you just jump down the stairs like that?!"
"It got me down the stairs faster."
"Why would that be a good reason to jump down the stairs-?!"
If not for the fact that she didn't want to baby you, you would never be allowed to leave the shrine without first promising her that you won't do something stupid again
Suirou
His touch is so soft when he's checking over your scars to make sure that they haven't healed wrong or something that you would probably think that you're a piece of glass that he's scared to break
His mins immediately goes to the worst case scenario possible, he wouldn't put it past any species to hurt someone but the way that he just silently stares at you for a moment when he finds out that the reason you have so many of these scars is because of your own reckless idiocy is almost funny
Had you not been his s/o he may have made a discreet insulting comment about how clumsy you are but when he calls you clumsy and a little bit daft, it's laced with worry and a tired kind of concern
He doesn't expect you to actively get yourself into situations like those though
Like, why are you climbing into that tree???
Can you not see that it doesn't have footholds???
You can't just ignore how gravity works- oh, never mind, it's too late
You're already falling out of the tree before he manages to get to you and he's so confused that he can't even being himself to help you for a second
He can already see the injury and rushes you off to patch you up, knowing already that there isn't a lot to stop it from scarring
"Youre going to have a scar from this..."
"And I'd do it again without hesitation."
How are you somehow more of a handful than the kids on the mountain?
Tags: @a-chaotic-dumbass @rurifangirl @damnfoxx
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Text
A Way to Learn a Lesson
written by:
@burningcowboyhoagietaco
illustrated and edited by the amazing, the one and only:
@lenle-g
Before I publish the story id like to thank @lenle-g from the bottom of my heart for being patient with me, being nice to me the whole time, and for making my story even better and more exciting. Without her I would have stayed in my normal, not that good English story. so thank you for everything!!! <3<3
And here's my part at @tagminibang submission:)
☆☆☆☆☆
Scott, no!!! No way! I am not going to give any lectures to anyone." John's voice comes out tight. "Especially not in front of a crowd. No way."
"Why not?" Scott raises a brow, his voice honeyed with ‘big brother wants something’. "It's not like you're gonna get executed by some children just for talking space at them, right? You love talking about space. It's all I've heard since you were, like, seven."
"No, that's not it." There's a sharp shake of the ginger’s head, "Scott, come on!" John knows for a fact that his oldest brother knows he's the most socially awkward person to have ever lived on Tracy Island (and maybe the entire planet). "You’ve lived with me long enough to know how much I hate social.... anything." John complains. "Why would you ever think I'd want to do this?""
"Well, yes, I know that," Scott shrugs, "I've seen that look you get on your face when there's a lot of people around." He’s well aware that his brother is an introvert who hates socializing with anyone, so he quickly changes the subject to try and make his younger brother feel a little more at ease. "But hey... everyone knows how much you like it when anyone talks about space or anything about astronomy. You'd be amazing at it."
"That's a different thing." John says flatly. Flattery, it seems, wont get Scott very far. "It's like, whenever you guys ask me anything about space, I like to answer them for you, but from random people…? And in huge crowds? I just simply can't." Surely he doesn’t have to explain himself much more than that?
"Oh trust me, everything is going to be fine." Scott was a flippant hand around, talking without really thinking, because all he wants is for his brother to get out of Thunderbird 5, to visit Earth for a little bit, to mingle with people a little. It can't be that bad. "If anything happens, Gordon and Alan'll be in Thunderbird Five doing Space Monitor duty, me and Virgil are gonna keep an eye on everything, and you’re in safe hands with Lady Penelope and Parker. It's all set up, so please go have some fun for once and teach the children something cool."
"My answer is still no." John says persistently, without hesitation. He's pretty sure it'd be worse than being in the middle of a hurricane, or testing one of his Grandma's new cooking experiments. It’s lucky Scott misses his involuntary shudder.
Scott, though, is so done with him at this point, that he's pretty sure there's no choice but to use plan b and hope that that works instead on his unwilling, stubborn, red haired brother. They've got to get him down from orbit and to that lecture somehow. Scott's just not going to stand for anything else.
"Are you sure that's your last answer?" Scott asks, with a heavy sigh, already planning the best way to call in the big guns.
"Yes," John scowls, arms folded. "Yes, it is."
They'll see about that.
...
"Is everything ready?" John adjusts his sleeves, smoothing down his vest and putting the last touches on his collar. Neat, simple, formal. Can't go wrong. "My presentation papers, laptop, and my mini simple dimple?”
"Yes, all in the bag." Scott calls back, rapidly checking everything, "But do you really need that little fidget thing of yours?" He picks his younger brother's old toy up between forefinger and thumb to examine it, remembering the day John made their Mom buy it for when he gets stressed.
"What fidge- oh, yes I need it." The look on John's face leaves no doubt about that. "I've used it ever since Mom bought it for me."
"Hey… Mom would've been proud of you, you know?” Scott tells him, in a quick flash of brotherly pride. “For, you know, going out of your safe zone for a little while and teaching the children and all that."
"Yeah, I know…" John finds him a nervous smile, "But I'm not doing this voluntarily, you've forced me with that plan b of yours."
The second John says that Scott's cheeks dimple, the corners of his eyes crinkle, and he grins victoriously, his teeth a bright white in the earliest rays of morning sun.
“All I had to do was make a call." He shrugs, "Lady Penelope did all the talking and somehow convinced you to go." Scott got a little more excited. He took a couple of steps forward, slightly standing on his toes reaching John's level asking"How did she convince you?" Clearly waiting teasingly for an answer to come out of John's lips
"Huhhhh." John exhales loudly, a little despairing. "She promised me we'd go to the Pagasa Astronomical Observatory after I finish the lecture with the children." He shrugs, keeping his eyes down, embarrassed.
"The what now?" Scott stares at him, thoroughly confused.
"The Pagasa Astronomical Observatory in the Philippines.” John says, like that was obvious, “It's equipped with a 45-cm computer-based telescope. It's so powerful that astronomers and astronomy enthusiasts can now conduct effective observations of stellar bodies and other distant space objects! Scott, it’s been my dream to go since I was, like, 17."
Scott always knew how much of an astrophile his younger brother is; he never cared about his physical appearance, nor his poor eating habits and he always used to make excuses to read his books alone, yet no one has ever interfered in his personal life.
"Okay okay space lover boy,” Scott grins at him. He'd expected Penny to be persuasive, but resigning herself to hours stuck with John in full excited-about-space mode would hardly be in his top ten. Either he's gonna owe her one, or Penny's more resilient than him. “You can go, no one is holding you back."
The short silence between them was broken by a ringing sound from a nearby table, which John answers.
“...Mhm, yes? Oh, the lecture." It must be Penelope calling, "Yeah, I'm ready, I'll head out now." John grabs his bag, wandering toward where the FAB1 must already be idling on the Tracy runway. "Time to go."
"Mhm,” Scott makes an agreeable noise, watching him go. “Please stay safe and please don't make an idiot of yourself." He's teasing… mostly.
"Yeah yeah," John waves at him over his shoulder, not even looking back. "I won't."
"Are we there yet?" Despite the consistently amazing views out of FAB1’s windows during the flight, John’s found himself mostly looking down, fidgeting with his fingers. He’s worrying, just a little, about what awaits him in the Philippines - a whole different tropical island to his own, though still in the South of the Pacific Ocean.
"Just give Parker ten more minutes, darling,” Her Ladyship smiles at him, “We'll arrive in no time."
There’s a moment of silence before, unexpectedly, it’s broken by a call flashing up from, of all places, Thunderbird Five. There’s a prickly sense of discomfort as John realises that, of course, it’s not him calling. Gordon must be trying to reach them.
"Heeeeey Lady Penelope,” The kid greets, as Penny flicks it on, seemingly a lot less bothered by the change than he is. “Oh, and Mr. Tracy.” There’s a huge smirk on his face. “How's our newest teacher holding up?"
"Firstly, my name is John.” John points out, flatly, “Second, I'm not your teacher so please don’t call me Mr. Tracy ever again. Thirdly…” He concedes, quirking an eyebrow, “Yeah, I'm good for now, but fourth… How are you holding up, up there in my Thunderbird? She’s not much like Four, is she?"
"Ooooooooo that's a good question,” Gordon looks half like he’s considering it, half like he’s really missing his own ‘bird. “I'm holding up pretty well thanks to Alan. He’s taken all the Monitor duty stuff, so all I gotta do is keep an eye on you guys." He sounds a bit… sarcastic about that. “It’s pretty boring, honestly. How do you survive up here without a pool?”
"Young Master Gordon, are you quite done talking?" Parker glances, unimpressed, at the little floating hologram of John’s brother in his rearview mirror, "Because we're about to arrive at our destination."
"Huh… oh yeah,” Gordon doesn’t seem too bothered about that, but he waves merrily at them all the same, “Okay bye and John, please have fun, you too Lady Penelope, okay bye guys."
It’s only a few moments later that Parker opens his mouth to tell them that they’ve arrived at Chino Roque Theater, pulling up out front to let them both climb out.
John's eyes widen: it’s nothing like what he saw on the internet. It was more enormous, more luminous, more spectacular than anything he’d seen or read online. All he remembers reading is that it's a sphere shaped building located in the Philippines, in Anilao Hill, but the pictures on the webpage didn’t do it justice like being there in person does.
The building was smooth and round; the auditorium shaped like a massive egg nestled in amongst the other buildings. They were early enough that the sun was just cresting the horizon, colouring the sky with reds and oranges, visible through the geometric front of the building - where giant triangles of glass intersect together to give the people inside an amazing view of the sky at night.
"M'lady, you and John can go ahead. I'll park FAB 1." Parker said, before going to the parking lot - unaware just how tiring and long his journey to find a place to park is going to be.
They both head inside the building, admiring the sweeping glass fractals of the roof high above them. It’s incredibly beautiful, really a feat of engineering. So much so, that John almost forgets why he’s even there, until he spots a couple of buses arriving on the other side of the building, and the panic sets in. He was expecting to be a little bit anxious, but this feels like his heart is going to beat right out of his chest. He presses a hand hard against it, trying to calm his racing pulse and stop the sudden shake of his fingers, and Penny must notice, because a little hand settles, ever so lightly, on his shoulder, drawing his attention to her.
"Hey John," Lady Penelope looks him steadily in the eye, projecting warmth and reassurance. "They're just a small, mixed group of children and teens. They can’t possibly hurt you, now can they? They just came to have a small lecture because all of them like space and astronomy just like you. Imagine yourself at their age, meeting a real life astronaut.” John tries very hard not to remind her who, exactly, his Father was, as she goes on - trying to visualise being a kid that didn’t get ‘take your son to work days’ at NASA’. It’s a pretty horrifying concept. “Most importantly,” Penny adds, “it's only for an hour or so, so you don't need to worry so much." She had to smile just to reassure him. “You’ll have filled their heads with space facts and be out before you know it.”
"O-okay,” John takes a deep, steadying breath, “I don't know if I'm supposed to trust you on this, or whatever, but I really don't have any other choice." He also wants to add that they forced him to go, but at the last second he remembers that they never forced him - he agreed to go because Lady Penelope promised him a trip to the observatory.
It seems like a pretty weak reason, now that he’s outside the stage door, knees shaking.
"Mhm, I think it's time to go inside.” She nudges him callously in the right direction, and John’s palms meeting the solid metal of the double doors is the only thing that keeps him from following gravity’s call and landing on his face. “Again, if anything happens, I'll be at the back of the room and I have a plan b if things get too much." John, pretty shocked by just how many plan b's the Lady Penelope might have prepared for the day, can only shake his head, bemused. “So stop worrying and get out there!”
She vanishes off into the atrium, and John can’t help the loud exhale that escapes his mouth before he musters up all the courage he can, and enters the room.
Bright lights startle him for a moment, and he’s pretty sure he does an awful, awkward impression of a blind baby giraffe as he stumbles out onto the stage and freezes as he notices the first smatterings of audience are already taking their seats.
The moment he placed his foot on the smooth wooden floor, his heart had started to beat faster, his hands began to sweat, the more steps he took forward the more he felt anxious. It was, he’ll think later, one of the toughest moments of his life, and he’s been to space. Multiple times.
Come on John. He tries to straighten up, shake off his anxiety, This can’t go worse than your first EVA.
Taking another deep breath, John waits patiently for all the attendees to take a seat inside the room. Waiting doesn’t help his anxiety levels at all, and he can feel them increasing by the second, but, determined, John doesn’t let it stop him from starting his lecture.
"H-Hello everybody,” He starts, incredibly conscious of the hushed silence that falls across his audience. “I'm John Tracy, M.Sci, PgDip, B.Lang Hons,” he rattles off his credentials, his nerves almost blurring them together, “I worked with NASA as an astronaut for three years before going… uh… solo in my astronomical studies, and I'll be your guest lecturer for the day.” He swallows around the lump in his throat, as a ripple of hushed oohhhs and ahhhs goes through the crowd. John’s pretty sure his face has gone bright red. “Thank you for having me at the Chino Roque Theater,” He goes on, before his embarrassment can bet the better of him, “I hope everyone’s had an amazing day so far. We'll be spending the next hour or so talking about astronomy and space physics, so shall we get started?" John thought it was a good opening, and yet his back was really wet from all the people's eyes on him. Glancing offstage, Penelope throws him a thumbs up, and he feels a little better.
"Um,” He blinks. “So does anyone here know how old the universe is?" John ventures, only to be surprised as almost everyone answers at once;
"Almost 13.8 billion years!"
"Yes,” The edge of a smile works its way onto John’s face. Clearly this was going to be a shout out the answer kind of lecture. He can work with that. “That's correct, now does anyone know how the universe started?"
"The Big Bang!" Most of them answer, and John feels a surge of relief. These guys really are into space.
"Okay, okay, not bad at all." He nods affirmatively at them, and the screen behind him lights up with an artist’s rendition of the Big Bang happening. "Now if I were to go and search ‘how old is the universe’ in, say, Google, the answer would be 13,772 billion years. It’d be the same thing if we looked at NASA, or even Wikipedia - so how did people get to know the age of the universe? How do you even start calculating something that old? Well I'm going to explain it for you in two ways: the good, nice way, and the kinda not that good and not that scientific way." There’s a bit of an awkward pause as John wonders whether or not he’s explained that well. When only silence greets him, he very quickly realises he needs to press on.
"So, uh, the good way.” He folds his fingers together behind his back, trying to resist the urge to fidget. “Well, in the middle of the previous century, as telescopes developed, we noticed something strange. We found that stars in very distant galaxies tend to look red… Umm, which is something that’s not supposed to happen.” A chuckle escapes John and, to his relief, the audience laughs with him. Scott never gets his space jokes. “So why’s that?” He asks, “See, if a chemical element gains or loses energy it’ll emit light in certain frequencies, thereby creating certain colors.” A small movement of his hand signals the slide to change, and a picture of the visible section of the electromagnetic spectrum appears, colouring the room with rainbow light. “For example,” John goes on, bathed in blue and violet, “Consider something like… a desk lamp, as like an element. If you give a lamp electrical energy, it’ll release that energy in the form of heat and light, yeah?" There’s a murmur of uncertain understanding in the room. “Electricity goes in, the bulb gets hot, and it gives off light. Well, we know stars do pretty much the same thing - only powered by nuclear fusion rather than a nine volt plug.”
"From studies of the sun and stars that are near Earth, we know that they’re made of helium and hydrogen, yes?” There’s another murmur of agreement in John’s crowd, “Well, hydrogen and helium can create red light, but they don't have the ability to create these shades of red that we see in deep space." The slide behind John clicks to a comparison of the two shades, on two different stars - making the difference clear.
"So, if stars are made of helium and hydrogen then why do distant stars have different colours? Are their compositions different?uh, well It’s possible, but not likely. The strongest explanation is that the color difference is due to the movement of the stars." The room gives a soft gasp at this news, and John knows he’s onto something good.
"So there's something called the redshift and blueshift phenomenon that says that if an object radiates light and approaches you, the color of the light begins to turn blue, and if the object is moving away from you, the color will turn red. This happens because the wavelength of light contracts and expands with movement meaning that something stretching equals red and contraction equals blue."
"And the strange thing is,” John adds, his audience listening raptly, “That most, if not all, stars show the same behavior, so, if we think about it, if all stars are moving away from us, that means that they were close to us at some point, and if we follow their path, we find that everything in space meets at a point named ‘singularity’."
"It was believed, in the past, that everything in the universe, or at least in the visible part that we have observed, that is to say,” John flicks to a graphic on his next slide. “All the galaxies, planets and stars, were all gathered at one point - the singularity. The theory is that this point exploded in what we call the ‘Big Bang’, and from that time onward, the universe has been in constant expansion.”
"So it’s with data from this knowledge that we can calculate the age of the universe:” With a wave of his hand, John puts a series of bullet points up on the screen behind him, then reads them aloud.
“One, the universe began as a very small, single point.” He reaffirms, “Two, the universe is constantly expanding outward from that point, and three, from these we have the ability to calculate the expansion rate of the universe, by calculating the speed of the stars that are moving away from us. If we take the furthest accelerations and enter them into this equation,” John’s board merrily does it’s thing behind him, “Then, we get the age of the universe."
"And, so we don't forget, all this talking was about the good way. There is another way to calculate the age of the universe, the, uh, not as good way, or, more specifically, the less scientific way.” A ripple of laughter goes through John’s audience - and he relaxes a little more. Maybe Scott was right. Maybe these are his kind of people. Scott’s never laughed at a space joke for sure. “There's no problem with it,” He quietens them again with a gentle gesture, “and it does support our theory and calculations, so I guess we should talk about it."
"Since ancient times, humans have been looking at the sky, watching the stars, and giving them names like Cygnus, Canis Major, Orion.” All names any young astronomer in the Southern Hemisphere would recognise, and be able to enthusiastically point out in the night sky. “In those days, there wasn't the internet so they were looking up at the stars instead.” Much like John himself, when he’d been a boy.
“As a way of calculating the age of the universe, astronomers set out to search for the oldest celestial bodies in space.” He goes on to explain, “The idea was that if we find a star whose age equals X, then the age of the universe must be greater than the number X. So we pointed our telescopes up there and started trying to find out their ages from birth, to youth, to their old age until their end."
"Can anyone guess the age of the oldest star we've found?" A lot of answers were guessed, some of them were pretty close, but some, amusingly, were way too far. "Ok, ok…” John puts his hands up to pacify his excited crowd, “Umm I see there are a lot of answers, but the oldest star people discovered was actually estimated to be 13.5 billion years old. The HD-140283, or as you might know it, the Methuselah Star. That number is very close, you’ll notice, to our estimation of the age of the universe."
"But if we found a star that is 13.5 billion years old today, then we could find an even older star next week and that would ruin all of that,” He chuckles, mostly to himself, “We also should note that this method alone isn't suitable for determining the universe’s age, but as long as we have two methods with corroborative results, we can be reassured that the estimate is correct.” He pauses for a second, “So, does anyone have questions?" A couple of hands raised, and John found himself suddenly answering a lot of questions - but he managed all of them despite his fear of the huge crowd.
He’s starting to feel more than a little overwhelmed.
"Umm… W-well that was a lot of questions,” John tries to pull it back in, his allotted lecture time ticking away on the big clock at the back of the hall. He feels a little panicky from the bombardment, and his palms have gone sweaty. “We’d better move on.” To distract himself from the people, as much as anything, “Our next topic is the theory of relativity, so l-let's get started on that."
Lady Penelope, from her fold-out seat at the back of the room, frowns. It’s clear John’s terrified and she wants to use plan b, but as long as he’s still standing on his feet, and giving the lecture, he's probably fine for now. If anything, it’d cause more of a disruption to drag him away now.
"Umm,” John takes a breath, trying to centre himself in the science of it all. “Let's start with a supposition, a hypothesis if you like, and consider it together. Okay, you’ll have to bear with me on this one, but let us suppose that we were all asleep, and the universe suddenly inflated by a thousand times.” There’s a murmur in the crowd at how odd everything abruptly getting that much bigger sounds, “Your bed, your pillow, your desk,” John extrapolates, “even the meter we measure stuff with. If humans became a thousand times bigger, when we woke up would we feel something strange? Would we even notice anything had changed? You’d think so, but no.” John’s settling back into his rhythm now, “So why is that? Because the bed and everything became a thousand times more inflated and our bodies also inflated a thousand times, with everything scaling in parallel relation to each other so that this percentage, this scale, was preserved throughout the room. You’d never know the difference."
"Henri Poincaré, the well known mathematician and theoretical physicist, says that we will never be able to discover that something like this has happened, even if we use all the mathematics and calculations ever invented.” John drives the point home with another illustrated slide, “This hypothesis is called the Poincaré hypothesis, and simply, because the meter with which we measure things will have also expanded a thousand times, there’s never going to be any equation or calculation or any analysis possible that could lead us to the truth, because the ratio is preserved in all parts."
"Now, this is important, because the same thing also happens with time. If everything suddenly got a thousand times faster, we’d still never feel anything different. Why’s that?” He asks, rhetorically, “Because time is also a thousand times faster, your heartbeat is also a thousand times faster, your body would function a thousand times faster to keep up with it all. As long as everything is increased by the same amount, the ratio is preserved, and none of us will be able to detect any change."
"So Poincaré asked the scientific community; is there no way to know that time increased or that things inflated?" John tells the room, "Well, it was Albert Einstein who answered him, deciding that the one and only way to tell, would be to have someone observing what happened to the world from another galaxy, from another world, lightyears away. For someone to point a telescope in our direction, and look through it at us, and say what happened to the Earth? Why are humans walking a thousand times faster than in the past? But this person who realized the situation,” The astronaut waves a flippant hand, starting to feel much more confident again, “would have to be a person standing on a fixed external platform in a different world, so that what happened to us was not also happening to him."
"But, as Einstein commented, this hypothesis is impossible for a simple reason and it's that there is no fixed platform in the universe - the entirety of it is in constant, turbulent motion. For example, the Earth rotates at a speed of 460 meters per second, revolving around the sun at 30 kilometers per second, and at the same time, the sun and it’s planets and dwarf planets and moons and asteroids, all revolve around our galaxy, The Milky Way, at a speed of 300 kilometres per second, and so the whole universe revolves. That's,” John takes a deep breath, finding himself out of air after so much explaining, “why it's impossible for us humans to completely accurately judge the motion of any astral body."
"Because there is no fixed berth, we can only offer relativity. This is the first part of the theory that Einstein came up with, in summary; it cannot be said that the monotony of a body is absolute motion."
"Another thing he said was that, because of the vastness of the universe, it’s impossible to synchronize, what does that mean? Well, I will give you an example.” He flicks his slide, “Say I’m a person in the Philippines, and I'm talking to someone from the United States. We synchronize, and hear each other in real time, because we have a method of fast communication. I can hold my device and say; hello, how are you?” John holds up the slim, sliver slice of his phone to show the audience, “How’s the weather there? And they’d answer me with something like; I’m fine thank you, it's night here so it’s a bit hard to tell what the weather’s doing! What’s the weather like there? And I’d answer them; it's daytime, and maybe ask them something like, what are you eating? They’d answer me; a burger, and then I’d tell them that I'm eating kaldereta, and it’s much better than a burger."
In the audience Penny quietly hopes that Gordon, who's probably listening in with the rest of his brother’s, missed the fact John was making jokes on stage. The poor little bugger’ll never live it down otherwise.
"These two events, each person talking to the other, are compatible.”  John goes on, absolutely oblivious, “It’s possible because the two wireless devices, be they mobile phones or more sophisticated comms systems, are on the same globe, creating a fast means of communication.”
"But,” John postulates, “If I was talking to someone from another galaxy and I used the same means of communication to make a call, do you know how long it would take to get to them? It would be about five to six thousand years until my signal reaches the phone of our friend, and they’ll have married, had children and died, and their children would have married and had children and died, and so on, for thousands of years before then."
"And that's why it's impossible to synchronize between the ends of the universe,” John balances his palms like he’s weighing two invisible ends, “It rather puts a damper on our chances of finding and communicating with extraterrestrial life, for sure, but at least it’s possible to synchronize within one system, like the system of the Earth. "
"This is a thing that also applies to light, for example: any star you could look up and see now, the light emanating from it may be coming from thousands of years ago. This means that it’s possible that the star you see shining could have exploded and disappeared, and hasn't existed for a long time. Why? Because it takes a couple of thousand years for the light from that explosion to reach us."
"There isn’t any proof for the hypothesis that the universe is linked by time, but the thing that happens that we’re sure of is that the universe is made up of, sort of, separate islands of different times that have no connection between them. The connection between movement and time in space is something we all know about, for example, a day on Earth equals twenty-four hours, yes?” There’s a chorus of agreement from the audience, “But on Saturn, a day is ten hours because it rotates faster. Astonishingly, a day on Mercury is the same as fifty-eight whole Earth days, which, infact, is also a Mercurian year, because the planet revolves around the sun for the exact same period as it revolves around itself."
"Okay, so, to what extent is movement related to time?” John asks, well and truly into this whole teaching thing now, “Well, Einstein was the first person to discover the connection between them and suggested that; suppose you’re on board a very fast rocket, 100,000 miles per hour for example. The mechanical watch on your wrist would be delayed over the flight, but you wouldn’t feel like time is being delayed. Why’s that? It’s because the rhythm of your heart would slow down - all of the vital processes in your body that are inside the rocket will slow down."
"As you move more, something called the dilation of time will happen.” He steps to the side, as if to illustrate the point, only to find himself stumbling a little, like if the ground beneath his feet had moved. “T-Time slows down,” John tries to recover it smoothly, but everything’s starting to feel, weirdly, like it’s shaking, and he doesn’t think it’s the anxiety anymore, “and that's-"
John doesn’t get to finish his sentence because there’s an abrupt shift and a loud cracking from under him, and getting off the stage suddenly seems like a good idea. Someone screams outside, and the volume in the room skyrockets as the children start panicking. John’s one hundred percent sure this wasn't anything planned.
He knew he shouldn't have come.
Earthquake? He wonders first, then; Tsunami? Ground slip? Hurricane? Whichever it is, John has to prioritise calming the people and evacuating them out of the building. The giant glass panels above them are trembling with the force of the shaking, and, as a professional at this sort of thing, Thunderbird Five’s Space Monitor doesn’t like the look of it one bit.
"Everyone calm down,” He has to shout to make himself heard over the roar of people, even with the microphones pointed his way, “This is a normal thing. All we have to do is evacuate immediately, as calmly. as. possible. I don't want anyone crowding the exits, do you all understand what I just said?" The front rows, white faced with fear, nod encouragingly at him, and he watches as they begin to lead the way toward the glowing green signs that signal the emergency exits. Immediately after making sure the crowd is moving, John pulls up his comm to contact Gordon.
"Gordon, are you on the line?” John’s a little breathless and he climbs down from the precarious stage, into the throng of terrified bodies, “We have a situation in here."
"Let me guess, you caused it?" Gordon seems so excited to hear something other than his brother's boring lecture that humour has outweighed his professionalism.
"Gordon,” John grits his teeth, “I'm being serious right now, there was a huge movement in the ground beneath the Chino Roque Theater, and it's still ongoing. Tell Alan to do a check on what's happening beneath us using the Ground Penetrating Radar." He orders.
"F.A.B." Comes the far more serious response, before Gordon clicks off the line to do just that. Squashing down any fear he’d about the now swelling, shuffling crowd, John opens his arms wide and walks toward them, the motion sort of like he’s trying to herd sheep, as he tries to evacuate the people safely out of the building.
He’s not exactly an expert at being on the scene during rescues.
"John, there's a landslide going on right now,” Alan’s worried little voice comes ringing out of his comm speakers, “Right next to the theatre. You’d better get out of there. I’m monitoring the situation, but it’s looking like you’re going to need International Rescue to get you and the people out of there. The debris field is spreading fast." John would do almost anything to be up there instead, at his own screens. “I've contacted Virgil and Scott, I’m patching them through now.” Alan clicks Scott and Virgil, both clearly just finishing their suit up sequences, into the conversation. It seems important to keep them up to date with John's developing situation.
"Hey Mr. Tracy, how are you holding up?" Scott jokes over the roar of his launching Thunderbird, the sound filling the background of the call with white-noise, "Oh, and how was your lecture?" John thinks he sounds far too casual in contrast to the impending danger all around him.
"Oh my God, Scott, is now really the time?” John groans, and a kid with mousey blond hair not dissimilar to Alan’s looks up at him, very confused, before the astronaut waves him on, “You are an adult person,” He reminds his big brother, “Please don't be like Gordon right now. He’s practically still a child."
"Hey!” Gordon had clearly overheard the conversation between his brothers, and springs up to defend himself. “I'm only two or three years younger than you!" He complains, not about to do the math.
"Gordon, we don't have time for arguing about that now,” John frowns, “and Scott, I'm holding up alright at the moment. Please don't ask me anything about the lecture until I get back home." If his voice cracks a little on that last bit, he’ll never admit it.
"Okay, okay I won't ask anything about that,” Scott reassures him, his amused, big brother grin very much in place, “Keep on evacuating the people safely until we arrive John, you’re doing great. It won’t take us that long. ETA at 15,000 mph is sixteen minutes.” He reassures, “We’ll be there before you know it."
"F.A.B. Scott." He reluctantly signs off. Now that he’s finished talking with Scott, John’s pleased to see that a lot of people have already made their way out of the atrium’s three sets of double doors, evacuating the building to get as far away from the landslide as possible. His fingers itch to pull up the schematics from Thunderbird Five on his comm, no matter what the people around him might think. He quickly caves, and it feels worth it to be able to see the incoming tide of slipping land.
They don’t have much time.
“Let’s go!” He shouts, chivvying. He’s a little breathless with the tension, so he keeps things short. “Come on! Let’s move guys!”
From his vantage near the crumbling stage, John can make out Lady Penelope and Parker by the main doors, ushering people through, and the sight of them fills him instantly with immense relief.
“Okay, that's a good amount of people out.” John has to jog to catch up with them, skirting around a little old lady with a zimmer frame and taking a second to correct her course, “Lady Penelope, Parker, I think you should go and check on the people who’re out. They could have minor injuries from the stampede, and International Rescue are still ten minutes out. I'll make sure the last few stragglers exit safely."
Penelope just nods, pale and worried. Her blond brows are all pinched in together, nervous and Parker looks practically haggard as he claps a reassuring hand on John’s shoulder, her faithful old companion following her pink shape dutifully out the doors. Hopefully they’ll go make sure that no one was badly injured in any way.
Turning back to the slow cascade of cracking rubble behind him, John finds the stage area has been all but obliterated, and his heart aches for the patrons of the Chino Roque Theater who’ll have to rebuild from scratch when this is over. He imagines the Tracy fund can contribute a significant amount toward that though. They often do for worthy causes.
John pushes the damp curl of his slightly sweaty bangs out of his eyes and climbs over what looks like a twisted piece of ceiling girder toward the sound of people, possibly trapped stragglers, who are calling for help.
"I miss Thunderbird 5 so much,” John mutters, keeping it under his breath so that no one hears him, as his palms are scraped raw against the concrete he’s trying to clamber around. There’s a rippp of fabric on a jagged piece of metal and the knee of his previous pristine brown jeans meets much the same fate as his poor, scuffed hands. “Oh, come on!” He’s having no luck today, “I'd so rather be assisting the situation from space. I can’t believe I’m stuck here." John grumbles, to no one in particular. He’s just not built for this kind of thing. Heavy labour and getting sweaty pulling people out of scrap heaps is what his other brothers do. At least rescues in space don’t have all this… gravity to contend with.
"John?” The crackle of a comm cut’s across his complaints, “What’re you still doing in there?” Gordon’s voice breaks him from his thoughts, little brother’s tone heavy with concern. “The building could fall any moment! You're so lucky the landslide isn't moving very fast, but it’s not gonna stay that way forever." Gordon was really worried about the fact that his older brother was still inside. “It could engulf the building! You need to hurry it up, bro.”
"I'm evacuating the people as fast as I can,” John gets both hands under the armpits of a boy who couldn’t be older than seven, and swings him above a pile of rubble toward safety, “I'll be out in no ti- Ah!"
John’s voice gets cut off with a startled cry, and it takes Gordon a second or two, time John might not have, to remember how to breathe so that he can yell in any way coherently into his comm. His eyes are wide, his anxiety levels through the roof as he tries, and fails, to rouse his brother on the other end.
"SCOTT! You need to get there now.” Gordon’s aware that he’s totally losing his cool, panic creeping in over his weak layer of professionalism, “I just lost contact with John.” He gasps, “He was evacuating people and I heard him yell and now he’s not responding! And- and it's not just him. There were other people he was trying to get out."
"Hey Gordon,” Scott tries to keep his voice steady to inject some kind of stability into the conversation, “Don't lose your cool yet. I'm sure nothing that bad happened to John. Just stay your positive self, okay? I’m arriving right now and Virgil isn’t far behind me."
Thunderbird One is panning over the city, low enough to ruffle the hair of people looking up, but it’s not a problem until the usually so sure and steady pilot finds his hands nearly slipping off her controls as Scott catches his first, horrific glimpse of the building that he knows his younger brother is inside.
“What the…?”
The Chino Roque Theater is almost flat.
"Virgil,” Scott swallows hard to try and remove any of the tremor from his voice, “A-Are you seeing what I'm seeing right now?" He almost succeeds.
"Scott this isn't a joke, it looks like half of the building has come down with the landslide! John’s in there!" Virgil sounds more terrified than Scott thinks he’s ever heard him. What scares him the most is that the exit was on the side that has fallen in, which means that a lot of people are trapped under it, their John included. "Scott, we need to help them right now.
"Okay, here's the plan,” Scott’s hands tighten white-knuckled on the steering yoke, “You wear your exo-suit and go clear the debris out of the way so that we can save them, and I'll get rid of that roof with Thunderbird One and check for life signs. Remember that saving lives is our top priority, got it? No matter what’s happened to John."
"F.A.B." Virgil sounds incredibly tense. He lands Thunderbird Two as fast as he can in the crowded, limited space. Local people are beginning to make their way out of their houses to see what all the commotion is about, and the cramped city streets aren’t ideal for International Rescue’s four hundred and six ton workhorse.
Two’s pilot struggles into his exo-suit, rushing to get the Jaws of Life prepared despite Scott’s insistence that he focus and take things slow and sensible. It’s not long until he finds himself digging among the debris looking for buried people and, in the white rush of it all, Virgil’s not even sure how he got there.
"Scott,” he presses on his comm, “Please tell me you’ve got something?"
"Fortunately and thankfully yes,” It’s hard to find the hopefulness in big brother’s clipped Mobile Control voice, but it’s there to Virgil’s expert ear, drizzled in nervous relief. “I've got a whole cluster of life signs,” Scott reports, “BPM signalling in the green. "I think they’re just trapped under the debris." Alan’s echolocation report came back suggesting that there’s a big space under what could be folded sheet metal from the ceiling, that they’ve huddled in. I'm really sure there's nothing that bad, but still we have to continue otherwise it will take a bad turn for us and the people in there."
“I can use the grappling cables in Thunderbird One to take the strain off the roof,” Scott adds, “But I need you in there to get those people out.”
“Already on my way,” Virgil ducks under some rebar, skirting around the rubble and pulling away loose debris as he goes. His heart is loud in his own ears, and Virgil hopes the creak and groan of metal and concrete above him is Scott lifting the weight off the roof, keeping it from collapsing any further onto the people below, and not anything more sinister. Virgil gets peppered by a slide of small stones, but the roof holds steady.
He presses on until he catches sight of the cluster of around forty people, all huddled together around a tall, central figure with a shocking amount of rubble dust smeared over his face, and powdered through his ginger hair.
“John!” Two’s pilot makes a beeline for his brother, despite the fact three of the people are stuck under rubble. Clearly John’s in control of the situation here, and he’s never wanted a mission update from their Space Monitor so much in his life. He can’t help but hone in on the fact John's left arm is crudely wrapped in a piece of cloth from his sleeve, which he must’ve ripped off in order to tie it.
"You have to tell me exactly what happened,” Virgil drops the controls for the Jaws of Life, and grasps his brother’s biceps in both hands instead, resisting the very strong temptation to pull the spaceman in for a hug. “And what happened to your arm?!?" There’s a river of blood seeping from beneath the make-shift bandage, but John, it seems, isn’t bothered by it in the slightest.
"Not now Virgil.” His concerns get thoroughly dismissed, “We’ve got to get these people out of here, and then I'll tell you everything." Virgil didn't like the idea that something happened to his brother and he's silent about it, but after all John was right about saving the people first since his arm is under control for now.
John crouches by the nearest injured person; a pale, skinny teen with a sizable piece of rebar keeping him pinned.
“You’re gonna be out of there in just a second, Lito.” Virgil watches him reassuring the young man for a long moment, “Uh, Virgil?” John prompts. “Any time?”
“What?” He blinks, “Oh, yeah!” His brother is clearly waiting expectantly for him to use the Jaws of Life to get the poor kid out. "I’m on it, but you better tell me everything after we're done saving them." Virgil demands. “But, uh, Scott’s kind of holding the roof up right now, so you’re probably right.”
"Okay,” John literally rolls his eyes, busy stealing a pair of blue rubber gloves from the Med Kit Virgil brought with him, and snapping them on to protect his hands and the fine cuts he’d gotten from climbing over rubble. “I promise I'll tell you everything, but can we start actually rescuing them now?" Rolling his eyes right back, the bigger man uses his exosuit to heft the rubble off Lito, before John swoops in to apply pressure to his injuries.
“Give me the fold out stretcher from your sash.” He orders, hands bloodied “Then go get the next person out. Efifania, Sergio?” John beckons a pair of nearby dad’s in closer, clearly having singled them out as capable stretcher bearers. “Think you can manage Lito here for me?”
As Virgil starts removing the rubble from above the other two trapped people, a middle aged man and a younger woman, it becomes immediately obvious that both of them have more severe wounds than young Lito. They both need medical treatment immediately.
“I’ll carry one of them.” Without the three extra sets of hands he’d need, Virgil has to leave a couple of crowd members applying pressure to their wounds, as he moves back to where John is helping Lito unsteadily to his feet. “Think you can walk, young man? We’re gonna need that stretcher for the big guy.”
“I won’t let you fall.” John promises, and Virgil feels a real swell of pride at how well his brother is handling the situation whilst being outside of both his space station and his comfort zone. It looks like having a rescue and a job to do really gives him no time for anxiety. "I agree that that's our best plan.” He adds, nodding, short and sharp, to confirm it, then John turns, an arm around Lito’s waist and the kid’s arm slung over his shoulder, to address the crowd.
“Anyone not so severely hurt needs to help get the injured out of here.” John instructs, the small crowd listening raptly. The look on the faces of these scared people is one Virgil is all too familiar with, but he knows John has far less experience of in person. They’re really looking to him as their saviour. “Virgil here is going to lead us through the path he just made.” Which is news to Virgil, but does seem like the best plan. “International Rescue will then be able to take us all to the hospital to get checked out, and then I’m sure you’ll be released to go home to your families before you know it. Got it everyone?"
In that moment Virgil finds himself struck with amazement at how John seems to have become almost as fearless as Scott, as they started carrying the two injured people out to safety. It was really a new side to him that Virgil doesn’t think he’s ever seen before.
"Virgil… I need you to check on Lady Penelope and Parker.” John’s keeping pace at his side, helping the boy they’d dug out along as he goes, “I told them to check to see if anyone was hurt."
"Hmm, yeah you're right.” Virgil frowns. If Penny and Parker have any more injured party members, even minor ones that just need a check up, Thunderbird Two will need to evacuate them to the hospital as well. “Have you got any idea where they might be?"
"Well, I told them to get somewhere away from the landslide,” John frowns, as their limping, shocky party stumbles out into the bright light of day, to be greeted by the roar of Thunderbird One’s engines high above them. “They should be near here.” He yells over the sound of it.
As usual, it turns out that John is completely right. Penny and Parker are waiting for them, but neither John nor Virgil find the look on Lady Penelope's face all that reassuring.
"JOHN!” She rushes toward the battered, bloodied spaceman, her arms outstretched. Virgil very quickly and carefully finagles poor Lito out of the way as his brother gets ambushed. “Are you okay?!?” Penelope demands, frantic, “What happened to your arm?” She reaches for the bloodied bandage, and John winces, “I'm so sorry,” All of John’s carefully constructed rules around personal space are shattered as she cups his cheek, inspecting his face for injury. It’s lucky that John is by far the most patient of the Tracy boys. “I shouldn't have left you there.
"She’d been so terrified, perhaps more than anyone else here. The horrific view she’d seen with her own eyes is going to haunt her for a long time yet. One second she was getting out of the building to reassure and check up on the people, and the next she was watching half the structure collapse completely, with John under the side that fell. She still feels a little sick.
"I'm so, so, so sorry John,” She repeats, before he can get a word in edgeways to reassure her, “Please, you must tell me if there's any way I can make it up to you. Ask me anything and I'll do it."
"Okay guys,” Virgil chuckles, “while you talk things out I'll go to get the injured people aboard Thunderbird 2. Make it quick though, we’ve still got people who need immediate medical treatment, got it?"
"F.A.B. Virgil.” John nods, “We'll be quick. Penny, I..."
“I’m so sorry.” She repeats again, and pulls his good arm over her shoulder as if to steady him as they make their way at the back of the crowd toward the big green Thunderbird.
"No no no, Penny, please stop apologising.” John’s fingers tighten for a quick moment on her shoulder, in brief reassurance, “I'm not going to ask you for anything because it was never your fault.” He insists, “It was just some bad luck, that's all. Fortunately I, and most people, got out safe with no severe wounds. These things happen.”
“Your arm.” She points out softly, hoping that all that blood looks worse than it is, “John I can’t believe you stayed behind like that, it’s so...”
“Tracy?” He grins, amused but very weary.
“Scott Tracy.” She corrects, scowling a little as she holds on just that little bit tighter around his waist as his adrenaline from the rescue starts to flag. “I thought you had more common sense.”
“Hate to disappoint.” She feels the warmth of him chuckling, “I’m lucky it was nothing worse than his cut from some shattered glass that fell on my arm while I was helping one of the guys who got stuck. I don’t think any arteries or anything have been damaged, but it is... kinda deep." And he might be getting a little lightheaded from the blood loss. Still, he really wants to reassure her, just like she had reassured him before he’d gone in to give the lecture.
"Hate to interrupt your moment, but are you guys done?" Scott pops up from who-knows-where amongst the crowd to yell at them. He’s clearly joined the relief effort. "Virgil’s just finished getting everyone aboard Thunderbird 2, and he's ready to launch." He adds, squinting at the pale, wobbly mess of his brother. "And you really do need to check your arm. That looks nasty.”
"Yeah Scott,” John wipes a tired hand over his dirty face, dislodging dust, “We're done. Don’t let Thunderbird Two wait for me, I'll hitch a ride with Lady Penelope, uh,” He turns to her, bashful, to check, “If that’s okay?"
“Of course,” Her Ladyship concedes, “Scott?” She is mildly concerned that big brother might want to have the injured member of his flock under his wing so he can smother him.
"Yeah sure, ride whatever you want.” Scott flip flops a dismissive hand at them, “You can ride a pod, I won't care as long as your destination is the hospital."
"How about you, Gordon?” John knows his little brother is still on the line, probably sulking. “Is it okay if I take the ride with Lady P?"
"W-what do you mean by that?” Gordon sounds confused and maybe a little embarrassed, like he’s been caught out. “Scott already said you should go, why’re you asking me?"
"Well, she's your girlfriend.” John grins, teasing, as Penny helps him into the back of FAB1. “Of course I have to get permission from her boyfriend.
"Penny swats at him for that, amused, but careful not to hit his injured arm. She doesn’t need anyone’s permission to do anything, but it is fun to see Gordon squirm - especially as Scott and Virgil both crack up, and even Alan in space starts teasing him.
"What?!?” Gordon’s face, bless that darling young man, has gone bright red. “J-Just go already." He ducks off the comm screen to try and hide his embarrassment, but it’s far too late for that.
He’s lucky that Penelope finds it incredibly endearing.
"John,” She nudges him, as the Tracy’s all click off the line to go do their actual jobs. She’s a little concerned that he’s looking a bit spaced out, if you’ll excuse the pun, and it’s probably a good idea to keep him talking. “You know we're still going to The Pagasa Observatory, just like I promised you, right?"
"Wait really?” John’s head tilts, a little floppy, towards her from where it had been sinking into FAB1’s luxurious headrests. He’s looking a little grey, but it’s good to see his eyes open. “After all that happened?” A ginger eyebrow quirks, “Are you sure there's time for that?"
"Well, we’re on our way to the hospital now, but there’ll be plenty of time this afternoon.” As long as the medics give him a clean bill of health. “You can change your clothes after we're done checking your arm then there should be time for you to go see that big telescope you've been dreaming of visiting. After all, I did promise you we’d go there after we're done."
"Well, that sounds good to me!” John smiles like there’s a supanova fuling him, “Penny you’re the best."
They reach the hospital a little after International Rescue has dropped off the fourty or so injured people, and so there’s quite a wait for a Doctor to be free so that they can have a look at John’s poor, sliced arm. Penny seems to be doing a worried hover at his side, while he waits, shaky from blood loss, and though he’s not used to having so much company, John has to admit it’s nice to have a chance to catch up with his old friend with no rescue alarms blaring.
Alan reports in that the two worst injured in the landslide have been hospitalized as fast as possible, that they were stable - the doctors have said their prognosis looked good. He also tells him that Lito’s family had been asking after the redheaded lecturer who’d helped him out of the rubble, and that John Tracy, M.Sci, PgDip, B.Lang Hons, should probably expect a gift basket in the mail quite soon.
John gets quite flustered about that. He’d just been doing his job.
The spaceman's arm was eventually treated, and Scott calls in to ask what actually happened to his arm. It still hurts, a properly bandaged throb just under his elbow, but not like before. The painkilling injection and little bit of morphine they’d given him when they stitched it up had probably helped with that.
Alan’s reports dug up that the landslide had been caused by a water main leaking under the building, and destabilizing the soil. Over time, water can do a lot of damage, washing away vital infrastructure if it’s not been properly reinforced during construction.
As the Chino Roque Theater was a new build, there must have been a mistake in the installation of the pipes during construction.
Someone was getting a big lawsuit heading their way, and Tracy Enterprises will be more than happy to fund the lawyers for the theatre.
As Lady Penelope promised him, they found John a change of clothes and went to the Pagasa Observatory. Penny’s quite sure she’s never seen anything as wholesome as the moment John sees the telescope - his eyes went all shiny, and the smile on his face was massive.
"Lady Penelope, Parker come take a look at the stars!!!” He calls, over his shoulder, with the enthusiasm of a boy half his age, “They’re really beautiful from here!" With such a high-powered lens pointed up at the cosmos, it rivals even his view from Thunderbird Five.
"Indeed, they are." Lady Penelope and Parker both step up to take turns, but John was the one to look through the telescope the most. With all the stealth her years as a secret agent offered her, Lady Penelope took a picture of him.
"Parker, come take a look." She whispers, beckoning her old companion gleefully over. "He looks so happy and innocent in this picture. Wouldn’t it be lovely to see his face like this always?"
"We still have some time before they close,” Parker points out, a sly grin creeping onto his nosey old face. “How h’bout we leave him like this for a little longer?"
"That, Parker.” she smiles, “Is an excellent idea.”
The End
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one-abuse-survivor · 2 years
Note
hey so my friends say some things my mom does are abusive but i dont think so? i wanted to get your opinion since you seem to know a lot about that sort of stuff
my mom loves me very much and is very proud of me, she wants the best for me, tho i dont think she knows what is actually best for me. for example, she criticises some clothes i wear that i really like and makes me want to wear them less around her, or sometimes insists that i should change clothes to smth “nicer” or “more appropriate” until we are arguing and most of the time i give in, but she says its because she wants me to look better. she does also keep telling me i should grow out my hair again, even after i told her im trans (point that will be brought up later), she was really bothered when i first cut it short and even told me she had a nightmare i was lesbian, in her words
she does try to get me to spend a lot of time with her even when i dont want to, but thats because i live in another country so i dont see her much. some time recently we were playing a board game (that i didnt want to play and they knew this) and i gave a time when i was going to sleep, the time passed but my family didnt want to let me go up bc the game was almost done according to them, so i was stuck there complaining bc i knew i would get lectured if i left (i got lectured for being selfish and complaining, regardless)
back to the trans thing, shes very transphobic but that has nothing to do with abuse, since i came out she has told me about how stressed she has been and how im not trans because she knows me and all that and basically asked me to fly back for two weeks so she could see me and hug me (oh yeah, i dont like hugging people much either but she sometimes makes me hug her and wont let go until i hug her “well” and gets hurt that i dont want to hug her) as well as see a psychiatrist for depression or smth, which is where im at now
she also keeps asking me to turn on find my friends again because she gets anxious with me having it off (despite the fact that i dont live in the same country) but i hate having it on so i keep fighting her about this
but my mom does really love me and idk i feel like im exaggerating stuff bc my brothers dont seem to have an issue with her
Hi! I do know quite a bit, but remember I'm not a professional, just an abuse survivor, and all I can give you is my personal opinion :)
I want to start off by saying that parents can be proud of us and want the best for us and still be toxic or abusive, or just really hurtful. Both things aren't incompatible. Sometimes, they're so preoccupied with their own needs (like knowing where we are or having the kid they always expected to have) that they don't see their words and actions toward us as unfair or abusive, because they don't even think to put themselves in our skin. Sometimes they think they're helping us by doing the things that hurt us the most. And there's a million other reasons parents (and people in general) might reach the cognitive dissonance of hurting us while loving us. But that doesn't erase the hurt. It doesn't make their words or actions okay.
Just from what you shared in this ask, I can't tell you if she's abusive, but I can tell you the way she treats you is not okay, and sounds really hurtful, selfish and toxic, even if she doesn't mean for it to be. And you're absolutely not exaggerating. You're simply listening to your body when it tells you that she's hurting and upsetting you. There's nothing wrong with that. You deserve to process the emotions she's putting you through. You don't deserve to brush them all away and minimise your own pain just because she doesn't have bad intentions when she hurts you.
She's prioritising her needs over yours and lecturing and arguing with you when you try to set boundaries. It's not okay for her to punish you in that way any time you have a boundary that inconveniences her. You have a right to choose what you wear and what your hair looks like. You have a right to say no without fear and to be taken seriously when you say it. It might seem like not wanting hugs or wanting to go to bed at a certain time are "minor" things, unimportant boundaries, but they're not. They're a part of your bodily autonomy as a human being, and they matter. Every person deserves to have control over their body.
And, regarding "find my friends", every person has a right to privacy as well. She might have the need to know where you are, but that doesn't negate your need to privacy about where you are. That doesn't take away your right to keep it turned off if that's what you want. You don't owe it her to self-sabotage your own needs and boundaries just to please her. Parents' needs do not come before boundaries.
And, hey, I know this is hard to believe sometimes, but transphobia and abuse are not incompatible. Abuse can be transphobic abuse. And the whole thing with her telling you how stressed she feels about the fact you're trans—and trying to convince you you're not because she knows you better than you know yourself—are red flags of abuse. Saying things like "look, look how much I'm suffering because of this thing you're going through!" is guilt-tripping, and trying to convince another person that you know them better than they know themselves and they should trust you over their own perception is gaslighting. Yes, these things are transphobia, but they can definitely also be abuse.
Gosh, the fact that she told you she had a nightmare you were a lesbian... It resonated a lot with me, because my mother said something really similar when I came out as nonbinary to her (she said her worst nightmare was to see me with a beard). It's such a horrible thing to hear from a parent when all you're doing is trying to be your authentic self. It's not okay. I'm really sorry you had to go through that.
I hope some of this helps to hear. Even if I can't tell you just from your ask whether what you're going through is abuse, I can tell you it's not okay, it's not healthy, it's not something you should have to put up with, and the red flags are definitely there. She can want what's best for you and still walk all over you. She can be proud of you and still overstep all your boundaries and affect your mental health. You can acknowledge that she loves you and still believe that you deserve better than this, because you do. You don't have to feel guilty for wanting better for yourself.
If therapy is an option (because you want to, not because she said so), I think it could really help you navigate all these feelings. Also, please keep being you inside and out! If she likes long hair that much, she can keep her own hair as long as she likes.
Sending a big virtual hug ❤
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jumoonjae · 3 years
Text
Feelings
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Pairings: Reader x Hyunjae x Q
Genre: Angst x Fluff
Warnings: None
Summary: A story of a love triangle (not really)
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Having a guy as your best friend can really be tricky sometimes because when you're both single, you spent almost every time together and you somehow unconsciously developing feeling for him. It get worst when you enrolled to the same college right after high school. It was okay at the first two or three semester, you had each other by your side through thick and thin, knowing more every little thing about each other just like the back of your hand which resulting you to fell harder for him. Your biggest mistake was you were sure he'll never slip off from your finger.
But he did.
And you let him.
You felt the painful prick inside in every flesh of your heart just by the sight of his beautiful glimmering eyes every single time she walks by. You swallowed the pain that is in the form of a thorn and pretend you're not affected by it at all, and you thanked heaven for blessing you with the art of hiding your true feeling for him. You even encourage him to make a move on her just to make you facade more believable.
What a fool.
Because it was the only way for you to keep him as your best friend at least, just to keep him close to you even if he doesn't like you the way you like him. But how wrong you are.
He made a move to talk to her and she seems to be interested too. But then again who doesn't, Changmin is one of the most talented and charming person in the campus, everyone loves him even the lecturer. In no time, they were together, they were lover and you had to watch every single day he hold her like the way you always crave for, the affection, the looks and the kiss. But you smiled anyway, each time you met his eyes, or hers. She became your friend too, you couldn't hate her at all.
“I’m fine.” You lied one day when he hesitated to run straight to her or stay with you by the time she came into the view at the cafeteria.
“Go ahead spend time with your girlfriend.” You said nudging him with a smile.
“I’ll call you tonight.” He ruffles your hair with an apologetic frown which you shake your head to and he run to her while she waved at you so innocently and you waved back with the sincerest smile you could pull even when your heart dropped down to your stomach leaving it's place painfully empty.
He didn't call that night. Or texted. The frequent chatting and long conversation between you two started to die down until he barely contact you anymore. You missed him, but there's nothing you could do to have him back. There is nothing you can do.
Each day he spend his free time with her and barely had any time with you anymore. but you didn't want him to feel bad so you started to hang out with other people even if its never the same like when you're with him, it will never be the same. but you need to accept the fact that you couldn't keep him for yourself anymore, you want him to be happy even if its not with you, even if his happiness breaks your heart.
You need to let go because all those late night conversation that you both been sharing, all his problems that you can't fix for him, all his inner battle that never seems to settled. You think maybe she could help to put it to ease because you know you can't. if you could, you wouldn't have heard the same ranting every night. So you keep your distance with him just so you wont break his relationship, so you wont take away their happiness.
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“That’s nice.” You heard someone spoke from your back as you done putting up the pictures you took as told by your mentor at the bulletin board where all the art student displayed their work. You look back and saw a tall guy admiring your work and you step back a little to stand next doing the same thing. It was the picture you took at the Han river during your night walk alone.
“Is this yours?” he asked pointing to the picture glancing at you then back to it.
“yeah.” You answered simply, looking at the still picture of the city lights taken by the bridge with blurry passer by.
“It feels so lonely, but peaceful at the same time.” He spoke and you smiled looking down, it was true what he said, you felt so lonely but is somehow made you feel calm that you thought maybe letting him go was the right thing. He's never been yours from the start.
“I'm Hyunjae by the way.” He held out his hand and you look up to his face which had the sweetest smile on that made you smile back and took his hand.
“I’m Y/N.”
Hyunjae took no time to be your friend, he was easy to talk to and you love his company. Slowly, you manage to bury your feeling for Changmin deeper day by day and Hyunjae did so much to replace him. Somehow he did it, he didn't have anything in common with Changmin but you like the challenge of knowing him anyway, it was always new thing every day, a pleasant surprise.
“Y/N.” Hyunjae chirped startling you in the process and he laugh at the way you flustered making you hit his shoulder lightly.
“What are you doing?” He asked taking a seat next to you at the cafeteria.
“Nothing, just editing these.” You pull the side of your laptop a little to show him your work and he lean over to take a closer look.
“You really are a talented photographer.” He complimented making you pushed his shoulder bashfully.
“hey i was wondering.” He leaned back to his seat pondering with his words, looking down to his hands while you paid full attention to him.
“I've got ticket for next week music festival.”
“Really? I didn't manage to get mine though, they've sold out weeks ago.” You frowned
“I got two ticket you know. So.. maybe.. you want to come with me?” you laughed at the way he adorably dragging his words and he grinned sheepishly.
“I’d love to.” You smiled and he did too staring into your eyes for a while before looking away bashfully. He had completely filled the void and help you put back you heart into its place, ready to love again. But you wait. You wait for it to heal perfectly so you can love Hyunjae with all of it without having Changmin ever crossing your mind anymore.
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“You’re going with who?” 
Changmin voice raised a little when you told him you're going to the music festival with Hyunjae. Its been a while since you both get to spend time with each other, you were finally feeling genuinely fine by it now that you have Hyunjae by your side. Its already the music festival week and Changmin probably didn’t want you to feel left out so he ask you to come along with his girlfriend. But when you said you already have a date, he was a little mad making you wondering, giving the sparks of feeling for him that you buried deep down a light. A dim light, but enough for it to slowly crawling back to the surface, but you ignore it.
“Why?” You asked, still walking a step ahead from him to the cafeteria.
“Since when do you became close with him?”
“Just recently, wait. It think its been two months.” You shrugged and he exhaled.
“Do you like him?” He asked suddenly making you stop on your track stepping a little to the side before turning back to look at him questioningly. You were actually asking him mentally ‘Are you jealous?’ but another word came out instead.
“He's a nice guy and what's wrong with that?”
“Be honest, you hang out with him just because i started dating aren't you?” you were taken aback a little by his words. It was true at first, you were hanging out with Hyunjae so you didn't feel empty anymore. But when time passed, he's been growing so much in you and you're started to fall for him. 
“What? No Ji Changmin, as far as I could remember I have the right to date anyone I want my friend.”
“What?” He raised his voice again and you hissed at him playfully rolling your eyes.
“Hey.” You heard Hyunjae from the back snaking his hands around your waist pulling you close to him until your back touches his front and you look up to him instantly with a big smile.
“Hey you.” You coos ignoring Changmin who was crossing his arms on his chest in annoyance by the sight of Hyunjae hands casually touch you.
“I’ll pick you up tonight at eight okay.” He smiled sweetly making the butterflies inside you to rise full with pride.
“Alright I see you tonight.” You touch his shoulder trailing your hand down to his chest as he peck your cheek before letting him run to his friends. You look back to Changmin who was raising his eyebrow.
“What?” you chuckle continue walking to the cafeteria.
“I don't like him.” He stated
“that’s not nice Changmin, you barely know the guy.”
“its just been two month and he already being touchy with you and you let him kiss you.”
“It just a peck Changmin. Stop being over protective.” You shake your head trying to laugh him off.
“And besides, two month is enough even for us to sleep together.” You shrugged making his eyes widen in pure shock at your words.
“You what?!”
“I was just kidding you idiot.”
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It has been full three month since Hyunjae first talked to you and you decided to confess to him. Your feeling for him was crystal clear and you had no doubt about his feeling for you. He had untie the tight knot that was constantly pulled every time you saw Changmin with his girlfriend until you felt nothing but happy for them. 
In those three months, Changmin had slowly fades from you even when he was right in front of you or when they were standing in the same room, the first who catches you attention was no longer Changmin, it was Hyunjae. You were lying if the feeling for him had completely gone, but your feeling for Hyunjae were much more prominent and you were happy
“Are you going to the trip to see the cherry blossom?” Hyunjae asked when you both were having lunch at your usual spot at the cafeteria.
“I think so.” You answered still checking the picture you took leaving your food untouched.
“Yah, enough with the camera.” He whined attempting to take the camera away from your hand but you saw what he was going to do and turn your back on him with a giggle.
“Wait, I need to delete some picture first or else I’m going to forget which one to delete.” You reason out stopping him from taking it away.
“let me see then.” He leaned his chin on your shoulder and you showed it to him one by one.
“No don’t delete that, its beautiful.” He pointed out at the picture of the blurry crowd you took while you both was walking down the Itaewon streets and you looked to your side until your lips almost brushed his cheek, but he backed away just enough to give you space to turn your body.
“Its kind a blurry don't you think?” You showed a few picture with the same scenery until your head bumped into each other when you lean in trying to show him and you both laughed. his hand caressed the spot where his head had bumped.
“You always took a blurry picture and its nice, its your style, or signature.” He said while patting your head and you smile at him, thanking him for his sweet words.
“You want to go with me?” He asked again since you didn’t answer him yet, and you chuckle looking up to him, he was smiling like an angel waiting for you to answer.
“Who else am i going with.” You smiled and he smile back giddily crushing you with his bear hug.
“But why did you sounds like i am the only option? What about your friends?” he asked pulling his body away for a little with a frown.
“If you want me to go with them, then i’ll go with them.” You shrugged making him whined.
“no. I was just asking.” He pulled you back to his hug and you giggled ruffling his hair.
“I’m planning to take my mom’s car so we wont have to rush the bus and trains.” He let you go, pulling your food closer to you gesturing you to start eating and you complied by placing your camera on the table.
“What? Its going to more exciting taking trains and bus with other students don’t you think?” you suggested, imagining you taking picture of people having fun in the train.
“Hadong is a huge place, the last bus going to leave at six. You think its enough time? Besides i want to watch the stars from there, they said the sky is the prettiest there during the night.”
“We can spend the night there and catch the bus next morning.” You suggested making him stop mixing his rice looking at you all flustered.
“What?” you teased bumping your shoulder into his.
“If you okay with it then why not.” He scratch the back of his head nervously and a big smile creep on your face just by the sight of his giddiness. You turn back to your food and ate in silence with him doing the same. He really had been growing so much in you.
Far back from the corner of the cafeteria, there stood Changmin witnessing everything that tug something painful inside of him. He shake the feeling away and walked to the opposite side of your spot sitting with his back facing you and Hyunjae trying so hard to ignore the growing pain inside of him.
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The long ride to Hadong was fun just like you imagined, all the students starts singing out of no where using anything as an instrument and you had a good laugh when some of then cracking the most stupid joke. You took some picture here and there and the result came out well. You and Hyunjae took extra clothes just as planned to spend the night and you really excited to see the whole thing.
It was beautiful, the place was filled with pink cherry blossom blooming beautifully and the way the flower flew when the wind blow just like a snow. Cherry blossom snow. It really felt like a movie with you standing under a cherry blossom tree with Hyunjae holding your waist while you taking picture. He will rest his chin on your shoulder everytime you show the result to him. If you had to describe how your feeling for Hyunjae, you will call it a blooming cheery blossoms. 
“watch your step, there’s plenty of rocks and pebbles along the way.” He said handing you your twisted potato after helping you settles on the bench not far from where you both were standing.
You both walked until the end of the cherry blossom path where you saw a river and there's a kayak booth which you pull Hyunjae sleeves running a little in excitement, wanting to give it a try with Hyunjae giggling while being dragged by you.
But a voice stopped you from running, it was a familiar voice. You look back to see Changmin and his girlfriend rushing to both of you.
“What in the hell are you doing?” he huffed annoyingly at you not even sparing any look to your boyfriend and you were offended by the way he spoke.
“What does that supposed to mean?”
“you missed the bus.”
“And you're not?” You spat back annoyingly taking a step forward, your eyebrow twitched and he scoffed at your response thickening the tension between both of you.
He was beginning to get into your nerve since you started to date Hyunjae. 
“We were there at the bus but he insisted waiting for both of you.” His girlfriend explained and you couldn't help to feel bad for her.
“We were planning to stay the night.” Hyunjae stepped forward pulling you back closer to him and you noticed the frown on Changmin's face when he did that. Was that jealousy? Had he figured that he had feelings for you too? But Hyunjae's grip on your arm pulled you out from that thoughts and you look back to him pressing your lips into a thin line, forming a smile.
“We will take the first bus tomorrow morning.” You said to Changmin's girlfriend trying to assure her by rubbing her arm and she nod with a smile.
“Okay where are you going to crash for tonight?” changmin spat with his annoying tone that really got into your nerve.
“I’ve booked a place for us, but i'm sure they have more place.”
“We should stick together.”
“Fine.”
For the first time in your life, you feel annoyed by Changmin's presence where he constantly interfere any attempted affection that you and Hyunjae trying to make while he trying to show off his own with his girlfriend which end up annoying her too.
“We should stop by the store first.” Hyunjae suggested and you nod while waiting for the bus to the motel.
“I'm tired, can we just go straight to the motel.” Changmin whined and you rolled your eyes shooting him an annoyed look and he just shrugged.
“you two can check in first, they had some place for barbeque at the garden by the hotel and we were planning to have one while watching the stars.” You told his girlfriend and she looked excited.
“So romantic.” she coos and you lean your shoulder to Hyunjae who was smiling at you.
“They said the night sky are the best here.” He throw his hand on your shoulder pulling you closer to him letting you snuggles to his chest.
“You can join us if you want.” he suggested to Changmin and his girlfriend which you shot him a look with a frown.
“What? Its going to be fun and i can get to know your best friend more.” He whispered and you melted at the way how hard he tried to get close to your best friend.
“Thank you.” You caress his hands with your thumb smiling up to him and he smiles back like he always did. 
The night went well, but the conversation was mainly between you and Hyunjae while Changmin and his girlfriend seems to fall into silence only talk when being asked. You stop Hyunjae from trying to get close to Changmin by snuggling with him under the blanket where you brought just for the occasion while watching the stars.
You admired him while he was admiring the scattered stars up in the sky, looking at it like he was in love with it just like you're in love with him.
“Y/N can you walk me to my room for a while?” Changmin snaps you away from the most beautiful view and you sighed. He was tipsy from drinking a little too much and you could tell.
“Its okay, I'll clean this up and meet you at the room right after.” Hyunjae said helping you getting up and you nod letting him peck your forehead before leading Changmin into the building.
“Are you going to sleep with him?” Changmin asked suddenly after you both were inside the building.
“Yes.” You answered in a heartbeat even if you don't know whether Hyunjae is having the same idea with you, but you admit it anyway just so Changmin will stop bothering you.
“If i told you not to would you listen to me?” he stop walking making you stop turning your body fully to face him.
“Why?”
“Because I love you.” He said, petrifying you with his words, it was the word you had been waiting for years, a words that you always pray for so he will uttered it to you one day. a word that you’ve been dying to hear. 
But that was before, that was you dream before Hyunjae and you were glad that it doesn't affect you like the way you thought it will be.
“I know you love me too. I know you love me since so long and i'm sorry for pretending that i didn't see it.” He took a few step closer to you but you didn't flinch. There were disappointment, but it doesn’t matter to you anymore. you didn’t care why he didn't do anything about it and keep it to himself. but you were curious.
“Why did you date her if you knew?”
“Because i thought i didn't feel the same way.” You exhaled at his answer looking down not knowing what to say or what to do with that information. But then he lift your chin with his index finger and leaned closer to kiss you.
You let him kiss you not knowing there's a pair of eyes that has been witnessing everything. When you kissed Changmin back, he shut his eyes only to see you smile to the kiss the moment he open his eyes. Couldn’t bear the pain in his chest anymore, he walked away from the scene.
“Changmin we had our chance.” You slowly push his body away from you, pulling yourself away from the dizzying kiss. It put your mind into a great mess, that your mind keeps buzzing like a static radio. but when other thing was blurry and hazy, one thing that stood out so clear, just like the picture you always took. it was your feeling for Hyunjae.
“Y/N please.” He took your hand placing it on his chest.
“You had your chance in all those years to confess but you didn't.” You let go of his hands holding your own.
“I'm not blaming you entirely because its my fault too for being a coward. But we had our chance Changmin, and we blew it.”
“and i'm in love with somebody else.”
“i’m in love with Hyunjae.”
“He saw us kissed.”
“No.”
“He just left.”
“You asshole. It was intentional wasn't it?”
“I just had to.”
“Hyunjae.” You called softly after entering the room that you both shared. He was sitting on the edge of the bed, looking down to his hands. Nervousness starting to creep inside you by the sight and the silence from him. You stood there by the door looking down at your feet, hands fidgeting with the rim of your dress.
“You should sleep, we need to catch the first bus in the morning.” He said standing up with blanket on his hands walking to the couch just right next to the bed without looking at you. But you didn’t budge, still looking down like a kid getting scolded by their parents for causing a big trouble.
You bit your lips hard when tears starts to brimmed in your eyes. You didn’t even dare to blink, not wanting the tears to fall.
“I’m tired, can you turn off the light please.” He said and you look up to where he already lay down, covering his body using the blanket, his back facing you. You hold your sniffles and do as told leaving the room in pitch black.
“Hyunjae.” Your voice cracked and you swallow hard to make it easier your you to speak.
“I-I am so-”
“I’m tired Y/N. Please, let me rest. Its been a long day.” He cut your words, but not sharp enough. But it still hurts you. It hurts you because you hurt him and you didn’t even know how to explain.
With the help of the lights peeking through the window, you slowly walked to your bag and take your clean clothes and toiletries.
You turn on the shower letting the warm water run down your skin while you stood there looking into spaces not long before you break down, covering your mouth not wanting to be heard by him. It was the longest you ever cried, longer than the day Changmin asked his girlfriend out. It was even longer than when you bid your goodbye to your parents at the airport.
God, how much you love him, and now you’re losing him.
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Hyunjae haven't spoke a word to you since the bus ride back to the city and you didn't dare to speak to him either. The ride was awfully silent and you could hear Changmin and his girlfriend giggled from the back seat. You couldn't help to think that they were mocking you both but you know they weren't. You suddenly feels empty without Hyunjae's constantly touching you like he always did when he's being excited over something or just feeling like touching you, or teasing you. He didn't even whined when you too immersed into the picture you took with your camera. You felt emptier than the time Changmin left you.
You didn't blame him for cutting every connection between you two after breaking up with you over a text and let you fall back to the loneliness. You didn't blame Changmin for not even consoling you after he heard the news of your break up with Hyunjae. You blame yourself for being you, you blame yourself for existing, for hurting people who had no other intention but to love you and you deserve the resentment that you get from him. You blame yourself for not figuring out your feelings for Hyunjae and didn't try hard enough to make him stay.
You were back to zero, alone at the cafeteria watching people and love birds walking around then get back to your pictures on your laptop ignoring the painful void inside of your heart.
You bumped into him the day after the break up, you didn't look away when you both walk past each other at the hall, neither did him. But he seems to had those indifferent look as soon as his eyes laid on you and you try hard not to show too much emotion when he's around. But it was hard, because you always saw him even when you’re not looking.
“Y/N, the portfolio that you emailed me. It was perfect. The four season portfolio.” Your mentor spoke when he saw you just about started to pack your things while your other class mate had already left. Its your routine since the break up, so you wont bumping into Hyunjae because your afternoon class always ends at the same time as his.
“It wasn't complete yet Mr Yoon. I was waiting for your feedback for anything that i should fix or re-edit.” You look up to him slinging your bag on your shoulder.
“I’ll send you my feedback later.” He said and you give him a bow. 
“Y/N, I was wondering.” Mr. Yoon voice stopped you from turning on your heels and you look at him. waiting for him to finish his sentence.
“have you been fine these day?” He asked leaning his back on the desk, crossing his arm on his chest.
“Yes. Why do you ask Mr.Yoon?”
“I knew you're running a photography blog for a long time, i have to admit it was wonderful and i even think that some of the photo you posted there should have come in with the portfolio. But you recent photo, they seems lonely.” He stop when you looked down. He must have seen your blog update, but you didn't know that it was obvious. He's your mentor and also one of the psychology professor that taught about behavior, of course he could see it.
“I’m fine Mr.Yoon.” you finally look up to him with a forced smile. “Its just life-” your breath hitched and you swallowed hard trying not to choke on your own words.
“Its just life, those ups and down.” You inhaled looking back down avoiding his gaze.
“Don’t let yourself dwell too long in it Y/N. Its okay to look back sometimes, it hard. Even if our shoes don't fit, we had our own obstacle in life, we have our own way to move on. But i hope you'll cope.” You smile to his words before bowing to him as he bid you goodbye.
You went to Itaewon alone that night taking the path that both of you and Hyunjae had been taking, tracing back all the fond memories that you shared. You even went back to Hadong alone on the weekend doing the same thing you did with him, taking picture of empty spot where it used to be filled by him. It was sad. But you need to cope. Once you had your best friend, then you have Hyunjae. But when they both left, you had nothing. Only their memories. But the most prominent one is Hyunjae's. You want to relive them for the last time before moving on.
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Its the hardest every time he saw you smiling and laughing at your friend's joke. He missed that and he still want to be the one who make you laugh. He hate you for being happy right after the break up, did you really moved on that fast? Did you really don't have any feeling for him? Or did you really using him to get back to Changmin?
But there were also time when he saw you sitting alone at the cafeteria, watching people walks by with sad eyes before going back to your laptop or your camera leaving your food untouched and it made his stomach sinks in guilt. The sight take him back to the night where he heard your sniffles echoes inside the bathroom that the sound of the shower couldn’t hide.
You loved someone else and its no point to keep you if your heart is unobtainable from the start.
“Hyung, why did you break up with Y/N?” Juyeon asked when he saw you walk into the cafeteria alone with your hands full with books and headphones on. He didn't want to answer that question. He's been dreading to answer when everyone asked, he's tired of hearing people saying that you both look good together and all.
“We're taking a break.”
Its the only thing he could came up with without humiliating you or him. Its sounds like he was expecting you to come back to him, it was an open answer, it was a message for you maybe one day when you heard what he said regarding your relationship, maybe. Just maybe you change your mind and come back to him.
It was pathetic and he know it, but the romance was short, so short that he wanted more. While he was trying to look away from staring at you, he saw Changmin seated a few table away from where he was and he was expecting Changmin to get up and help you with the pile of books on your hand.
But instead, Changmin didn't even look up from his phone and you didn't even spare him a glance, just walking straight to the far corner of the cafeteria settling your stuff on the table, sitting down and played with your phone without looking around.
“Hyung?” Juyeon snaps him away from staring at you and stammered at the younger guy.
“Get back with her if you want to keep looking at her like that.” He stated and Hyunjae just shrugged him off.
‘Weird' he thought, he swears he saw you kissed Changmin back that night. You even smiled to the kiss, but why are you both giving each other a cold shoulder. Why aren't you both together when Changmin said he loves you and he said you love him too. It hurt him when you didn't even denied it, he hate you for kissing him when you were his girlfriend.
He heard your voice in the art studio after helping a random girl who was carrying too much of a canvas for painting she said. He stood there just like the other day when you were talking to your professor.
“Is it true that everybody dies alone?” You asked, you sounded so weak, the light in your eyes faded by each passing day. At first he thought you were still saddened by the way Changmin still with his girlfriend but when he confront Changmin one day.
“We had our chance but I blew it. She's in love with someone else.” -changmin
But that is all what he get from the guy, Changmin still didn't want to talk to him. He started to think that you love him, not Changmin. But he wasn't really sure either, if your relationships mattered to you, you should have talk him out not ignoring him, so he did the same. Ignoring you even how painful it was knowing the truth that you love him.
“Does that scares you?” Kevin asks taking your attention away from the window where you both propped your chin on your palm on one of the table nearest to the window while sitting down watching the sun sets.
“I don't want to be alone.” You whispered under your breath but it was clear, so clear that it hurts Hyunjae at your words.
“You missed him?”
“I do. So much that it hurts.”
“Why didn't you tell him the truth?”
“He saw me kissed Changmin back. If you're at his place would you listen to me when I try to explain?”
“No.”
“I’ve made myself a fool enough by kissing Changmin back.”
“Why did you kiss him back?”
“You know how I feel about him before. It was a dream to kiss him.” you chuckle while Kevin scoffed at your words.
“But the thing is, when i kissed him, i was thinking about Hyunjae as soon as i closed my eyes.” You smiled.
“Its just that, i finally know that love doesn't feel the same way with each person.”
“What do you mean”
“when i was in love with changmin it felt like home every time im with him. Maybe Its because he provides me one when i move back here during high school, he gave me something to rely on when i had no one, or when my brother was too occupied by his baseball. Then Hyunjae came when there’s a hole in my chest, my heart that once there was gone when Changmin left, Hyunjae starts to fill it again, slowly but in a beautiful way. He made me feel alive again. At first i thought it wasn't love because it felt so different from Changmin’s. But i get it now, love doesn't come with one specific shape or sizes.” You sit straight stretching your limbs leaning back to the chair to ease your back.
“Love is an abstract, you can't see it, you can't feel it but you know its there, you know it exist. it changes through times. Its like painting, you put down whenever comes through your mind freely on the canvas, sometimes it look nice and sometimes it doesn't. people might don't understands what we're trying to convey but it doesn't matter, as long as we knew what is it, what it means to us.” You smiled looking down staring at you clasped cold hand before glancing to your friend next to you and he looked disgusted, making you giggled at his expression.
“You are disgustingly in love. Tell him you idiot.” Kevin throw his head back with a grunt and you laugh him off.
“I don't know Kev, I’m just scared. I'm afraid because what I did was wrong. Its wrong kissing someone else just to figure out who do you love. Its pathetic. Stupid.” You exhaled looking back to the dark outside world, wondering what is he doing right now. Who is he with, did he replace you yet, or did he suffers just like how you did. You chuckled to the last thought thinking why would he suffers for the one who treated him just like you did.
“He probably don't like me anymore.” You wanted to say hate, but 'like' probably could hurt less when you said it out loud.
“I never said that.” You and Kevin eyes snaps wide open when you heard another voice instead of both of you echoes from the silence. You know that voice and when you saw Kevin eyes were fixed to someone at your back, you didn't dare to look back.
“Okay imma go.” Kevin took his bag and phone, standing up and was about to leave you, but you manage to get a grip on his wrist.
“Don’t you dare.” You warned but he just smile and wiggled his wrist away from your strong grip and when you let go, he pat your head with an assuring smile.
“This is your chance, don't waste it.” He stroke your hair softly, smiling to Hyunjae with a curt nod before walking to the exit leaving you both in the studio in silence.
“Sorry i didn't mean to eavesdrop.” He said voice coming closer with his footsteps and you still didn't dare to look back. Your body numbed while your heart pounded so hard that you were sure your chest could explode anytime.
“Y/N.” He called softly when he appeared in you peripheral view, kneeling right next to where you were seated, you shut your eyes tight not dare to look at him.
“Sorry I didn't give you any chance to explain.”
“Sorry.” He repeated again but you still too scared to look at him.
“would you please look at me.” You felt his touch on your cold hand and you turn your head slowly, meeting his beautiful gaze. It was different from the past few week where they were cold and uninviting. But right now, his gaze was soft, warm and pleading.
“Hyunjae.” You whispered, holding his hand and he hold yours tighter.
“Can we please start over again?” he said, almost pleading melting you
“Even after what I’ve done?” you tilt your head to the side and he smiles wider bringing his one hand to your cheek, caressing it slowly with his thumb.
“As long as you love me.” He said and if your muscle wasn't strong enough, your heart could probably explode from the happiness.
“I do.” You crashed your body into him so hard that he almost stumbled back but manage to balance his body.
“I love you so much Hyunjae and I'm sorry for being an idiot. You can kiss other girl once and i dont mind.” You pull away, with your hand still rested on his shoulder, kneeling in front of him.
“Why would i want to kiss other girl?” he frowned and you stuttered.
“Just so we can even out or-“ he didn't let you finish by capturing your lips into his own and you kiss him back in a heartbeat feeling his lips moulded perfectly into your own into a long kiss.
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“Let me kiss that pretty lips everyday and we're even.” He said after pulling away to catch his breath and rest his forehead on yours and you smiled breathlessly.
"Anything for my amazing boyfriend."
A/N: This was written before ‘Kevin Moon’ and it was meant for Changmin baby but I just cant hurt my Hyunjae, I’m so sorry. Things really had been hard on me lately (mentally) but i’m trying to get back on track (writing). This is not my best work and i am not in the best shape but i hope you enjoyed this one. thank you. 
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I'm thinking of going to one of the universities in Winnipeg (either UoM or UoW) after I graduate (in like 2yrs) and I was wondering how are teachers/professors when it comes to attendance? I imagine not all are the same but I was wondering if you could give me an idea bc right now I miss school/certain classes sometimes because of mental illness and my high school always tells me I can't do that in university
hey!! congrats!! im at UofW which means we should be buds!
anyway
okay so first off university is like, nothing like high school so dont even stress
classes at uofm are bigger than uofw. my average class size is like 30, closer to 60 for first year classes and as small as 12 for fourth year honours classes. That being said, ive only had like, 2 classes, ever, that have taken attendance. it really depends on what you take and who you take it with.
Ratemyprofessors.com is a GREAT way to plan your classes in advance and find out with a professor is worth taking a class with and sometimes itll mention whether or not they take attendance
AND even if you do miss classes, most professors are super accommodating. most of the time, class lectures or outlines are posted online through the university website, and most classes have readings that follow the same general layout of the class material anyway. 
not to mention the 10thousand online classes available that you can take
if it helps, everyone misses classes all the time im university and chances are, certainly for 1st year classes anyway, that your prof wont notice. the only thing is it’s ENTIRELY up to you to get notes from someone else if you need them or make it up with readings.
profs also like it if you email them in advance if you know you’ll have to miss a class. a simply “hello Dr Whatever, I’m not going to be able to attend class on Whatever Day and I was wondering if there are any handouts or anything that i’ll be missing. Thanks in advance, Name, Student number.” is perfectly fine. Even if you say “the reason i cant come to class today is mental health related” or whatever, its probably fine
its harder if you miss every class for a month, mind you, but now and again is like, literally not a big deal. 
also, im a keener so i nearly never miss class so by the end of the year im usually familiar with the people in my classes, and come exam day 50 people ive never seen before in my life show up and write anyway. so, obviously attendance really isnt as much of a thing in college or university as it is in high school 
NOTE THIS ISNT ME BEING LIKE “LOL SKIP SCHOOL ITS FINE” PLS GO TO CLASS IF YOU CAN LEARNING IS IMPORTANT COLLEGE IS EXPENSIVE
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