readsagain | INBOX (labyrinthum)

[ ... it's weird, living in one place. Not constantly moving around for safety or necessity or both. The apartment, though it's small and cramped (especially with Suyeong unnie in the same space), doesn't bother her. If anything, she's quietly ecstatic that she gets to live with him at all.

It means she can keep an eye on him. It means she can wake up seeing him. It means he's safe.

Until it doesn't.

She hovers when Dokja first falls asleep, anxiously refusing to leave his side until Suyeong finally manages to shoo her away. Without any oversight whatsoever (and why would she need it?), she spends the time exploring the city, but rather aimlessly.

Yoosung hates, hates, not being able to do anything to help. It makes her restless. (She ends up covering a lot of ground...)

Once he's awake—well, really, once Suyeong lets her—she returns as if directly summoned. Fizzing with agitation she keeps under her skin, because this isn't about her. ]

... ahjussi?

[ Is ... he okay?

What happened? ]

[ When Yoosung is allowed to see him again, he's not sleeping. He's already redressed himself into his regular clothes, sitting on the edge of the bed. He looks up when she enters and smiles reassuringly.

... It's probably not a familiar smile. He also holds himself differently; there's an underlying anxiety he's been carrying that seems to be missing now, some weight lifted from his shoulders. His eyes are as bright and starry as ever. ]

Shin Yoosung.

[ He offers both hands out to her - an offer for a hug. ]

Come here. It's been ages since I've seen you.

[ She's younger than he remembers; it takes a moment for his memories to remind him that she was from the same scenario he had been when he was here. ]

[ Oh.

That ... smile.

Yoosung actually pauses, rather than flying immediately into his arms.

It's not that he looks different or anything. Even his eyes are the same as always. But... something about him...

She suddenly, with desperate, anxious, ashamed chagrin, misses their connection with all of her heart.

If she could sense him... if she could feel the ghost of what he feels...

... then again, would even that be enough?

She has this haunting feeling like she's looking at someone else entirely.

A tentative step forward, and then another.

And then she throws herself into his arms, clinging as hard as he'll let her, eyes slipping shut. ]

How long's ages? [ Her voice is soft; it's an idle question, one she expects him to evade or lie to. She doesn't mind. ]

Edited 2025-09-17 04:36 (UTC)

[ She clings tightly to him, a familiar action. Even when she's older, she'll always hold him the same, and that's reassuring. ]

It'd be hard to explain. A very long time nonetheless.

[ He isn't lying, this time. It'd be hard to chart how the time passed while he was away, or if it had ever passed at all, given his perception. He squeezes her gently.

He knows she's not the same person she saw before. The same way he wasn't Han Suyeong's Dokja until he'd reached the same point in time as her. Damn that author for being right about experiencing something not being the same as knowing. ]

[ she pulls away just enough to look at him.

with the impetuousness only a child can possess, she wriggles free just so she can sit beside him instead, leaning into him with her arms wrapped around his middle. ]

Did you ever find it, ahjussi?

The ending you were looking for.

[ He looks down at her for a minute before he does something that might seem a little strange: he smiles again. This time. there's the glitter of tears in the corner of his eyes, but he desperately doesn't acknowledge them. ]

I did.

[ His voice is gentle, and he reaches out to brush a hand through her hair. ]

And afterwards, we ate pizza and Cola by the Han River, just like we promised.

[ ...

she holds him a little tighter, anxious for reasons she doesn't want to think about. ]

You promise? You really, really mean it?

I really mean it, Yoosung.

[ He's not even technically lying! ]

It'll take us a while, of course. You'll be older, but there will be a happy ending.

... for you, too, ahjussi?

Are you part of that happy ending, too?

[ It wouldn't be happy without you. ]

I'm a part of it. I told you we have pizza by the river! I have to keep my promise to Gilyeong too, for chicken by the sea.

[ She'd be forgiven for thinking he's holding something back from her, earnest as he's being. He leans in a little. ]

You might not believe me, but Junghyeok makes the pizza for you, too.

[ Caught. Well, more like he caught her trying to catch him. She makes a face, barely, her gaze skittering guiltily off to one side before focusing on him again with a blink.

......... ]

No way, [ she mumbles, making an actual physical effort not to laugh at the mental image of Junghyeok in a chef's apron. ]

[ Dokja grins at the sight of her trying not to laugh and launches into a description of Junghyeok's cooking. Is he exaggerating how good and what he did during it? He might be, he might not be; such is the price of being a good liar.

He hopes it distracts her from asking any more questions. ]

INBOX (labyrinthum)

WAVES HANDS VAGUELY HOPEFULLY THIS WORKS

watch as i try to not spoil u

laughs at ur pain GLHF :')

no subject

I'm sorry about this

yells at you this is the one not-spoiler you get

i lied im not at all sorry

knew it

no subject

no subject

no subject

we can wrap here if you want or she can poke at him more