Index:

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A brief sigh escaped his lips as he looked out onto the city. He had done whatever needed to be done, so he was just simply taking in the sights that the city had to offer. Although he’s lived here for quite a number of years now, Daehyun couldn’t help but still be in awe by the city. It was much bigger than the small town that him and Jongup came from, so it managed to always bring forth something new and unexpected.

He begun humming to himself, watching as the people of this city went about their everyday lives. There were people just casually walking by, others whom were in a hurry, or people whom were on their phones. Then, there were the added expressions to each of these people, showcasing their emotions at the moment. Though, he did also notice that there were a number of couples out walking together. What was it like to be in a relationship where both parties actually cared deeply for one another?

This was something he wanted to know and hold onto. Of course, he did have to build his way up to that point. One couldn’t just jump into a relationship already expecting to love and be loved. Both parties had to work together in order to see if they were compatible. It may take a bit of time and effort, but if they were willing, then they would be able to work out any and all problems. He just needed to know how to start.

“Hey! What are you doing out here?” (JI) Looking to his right, he watched as Jin pulled up a crate next to him before sitting down. Daehyun smiled a bit as he turned his gaze back towards the city, thinking on what to say for a moment before responding.

“Just getting lost in my own thoughts.” (DH) Jin looked at Daehyun for a moment, confusion slightly floating around before he looked out at the city. What was Daehyun thinking about? Jin probably would have asked, but Daehyun quickly remembered something that he needed to do. “Oh, before I forget.. Do you want to go to a party next month?” (DH)

“A party? What kind of party?” (JI)

“Young Jae’s throwing a reunion party, but he said that I could invite anyone I wanted to. Do you want to go?” (DH) Jin thought on it for a moment as he quietly hummed to himself. Wasn’t a reunion party supposed to go by its name? After all, it’s called a reunion party for a reason. Of course, this did mean that his possible plans that he has yet to come up with could into fruition at this party! Plus, it’s a party. Why would he not go?

“Yeah! I’ll go! It’s sounds a little boring, but don’t worry! I’ll spice it up and add in something that everyone will love.” (JI) Jin bit his bottom lip as he smiled, placing his hands on the edge of the crate as he leaned forward slightly. He just had to make sure that whatever plans he planned to come up with could come into fruition! “Aren’t you excited? You’ll be near Young Jae the entire time!” (JI)

“Yeah..” (DH) Noticing Daehyun’s lack of enthusiasm, Jin looked at Daehyun to see him staring upwards a bit. Looking at where Daehyun was staring, Jin furrowed his eyebrows and pursed his lips as he tried to see if there was anything of interest in that specific location. Sadly, there didn’t seem to be anything interesting, so his second guess seemed to be coming into play here. Looking back at Daehyun, Jin grinned as he slightly nudged Daehyun’s arm to get his attention.

“You okay? You seem a little dazed.” (JI)

“I’m fine. Just.. thinking a bit.” (DH) Again with using thinking as an excuse! It was so obvious what Daehyun was thinking about. Ever since Young Jae came into the scene, Daehyun has either been grinning like a fool a lit more than usual, or he’s been lost in his own thoughts far too often. It made him either confusing and more entertaining or boring and depressing to be around.

“Ah.. It’s already obvious what you’re thinking about! You’re thinking about Young Jae, aren’t you?!” (JI) Jin chuckled a bit as he got to his feet before turning to look at Daehyun. Spreading his feet a bit, he placed one hand on his hip as he pointed at Daehyun. “You need to just woo Young Jae at the party and then, BAM! You two will practically be a couple before you know it! I mean, if you really like this guy, then it should work out no problem!” (JI)

A small chuckle escaped from Daehyun’s lips as he slightly shook his head. He was pretty certain that it didn’t work out that way. Just because someone really liked someone else, it didn’t always mean that they would end up together. Of course, Daehyun had begun to consider Jin’s idea. The party seemed like a good time to confess his feelings. All he would have to do is pull Young Jae off to the side where it would be considered romantic and then he could confess. Maybe Young Jae would confess too and then they could start dating and get to know each other better. Still.. there were always the problems that seemed to arise before that process could occur. “I’m not so sure that’ll work, but.. we’ll just see how things go, alright?” (DH)

“You’ll just see how things go?!” (JI) Jin let out a rather loud groan as he threw his head back and threw his hands up into the air. Why was Daehyun so passive at a time like this?! Wait. Since when has Daehyun been the passive type anyway?! He was usually the guy who knew exactly what he wanted and with careful consideration, would go after it when he felt the time was right. Wait once more. That meant that Daehyun would actually go about with chasing after Young Jae, but he was being too slow with it! Looking back down at Daehyun, he sighed as he furrowed his eyebrows. “That’s so boring! You have to sweep Young Jae off of his feet in a heartbeat! Show him how romantic you can be! I mean, he likes romance, right? There has to be a way for you to sho-” (JI)

“JIN! DAEHYUN! WHERE ARE YOU TWO?!” Daehyun instantly jumped to his feet as the two looked back at the store with wide eyes. Daehyun was, technically, on break, so he had an excuse for being out there. Sadly, since Jin had decided to abandon his station while he was still on duty, both of them would get into trouble. The two looked at one another before Daehyun put his hand behind Jin’s shoulder and pushed him back into the store. He then quickly followed after the stumbling Jin, quietly laughing to himself as he watched Jin barely regain his footing. Hopefully, they wouldn’t get into too much trouble for not necessarily watching the inside of the store.

While Jin stood there, enduring the wrath of their manager, Daehyun went back to work. He would glance every now and then at Daehyun as he became a bit worried for Daehyun’s love life. There had to be a way to get them together, right? It shouldn’t be too hard! So, maybe he would have to talk to Jongup about this and come up with a plan that way. “HEY! Are you even listening?!”

“Y-Yes! I am, sir!” (JI)

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A few hours had passed and it was now around late afternoon. Class had just let up for Jin, to which he was rather grateful for. Any longer and he probably would have pulled his hair out. Why did there have to be teachers that were boring enough to put them to sleep and yet, if any of their students weren’t paying attention, they’d get hit on the head with a ruler?! That kind of stuff should be illegal, but apparently it was definitely something that existed! Just a few more months to go, right? Wow.. that definitely didn’t sound all that comforting whatsoever.

Stepping out of the campus building, Jin looked around for a moment as he smiled for a bit. The sun was shining, the clouds were out and providing some sort of shade for everyone, and the wind was blowing quite nicely to keep everyone cooled down. A person could get used to something like this, but sadly, it was already known that the weather wouldn’t stay like this for too long. Sooner or later, it was going to change either for the better or for the worse and it was usually the latter of the two choices.

As he walked down the path, he soon decided to keep an eye out for Jongup. Where was he, exactly? Well, assuming Jongup was still on campus, then he should still be at the spot that he normally sat at. Making his way to the tree, Jongup let out a small sigh as he stopped for a moment. Was Jongup not here? As he looked off to the distance, Jin began making his way around the tree while barely sliding the tips of his fingers along the tree. He was keeping an eye out for Jongup, but the second he felt his foot collide into something, Jin let out a relatively loud yelp as he soon found the world turning onto its side.

Shutting his eyes, Jin quickly felt himself come into contact with the soft grass that had once been below his feet. Sadly, even if the grass was soft, that didn’t necessarily mean that it couldn't hurt him. Letting out a small groan, Jin had just started to push himself up when he soon heard a voice from somewhere behind him on his right side. “Jin? Are you alright?” (JU)

Turning his head, he could see Jongup sitting comfortably underneath the tree with his legs spread out in front of him. Looking to where his feet were still currently located, he could see that he had tripped over Jongup’s legs as opposed to an exposed tree root or something he had assumed had tripped him. In a way, he was rather annoyed that he had tripped over Jongup instead of the tree. At least if it had been the tree, he could have kicked the tree for being a total jerk. Furrowing his eyebrows a bit, Jin moved until he was now sitting on Jongup’s lap with his knees bent, his legs on either side of Jongup as he placed his hands on Jongup’s shoulders. “Jongup! Why didn’t you say you were here?! I tripped because I didn’t see you here!” (JI)

Okay, so it was technically his fault for tripping over Jongup. He wasn’t paying attention whatsoever and thus, it was should have been completely his fault for tripping over Jongup. However, because he didn’t want to be completely at fault, Jin had decided to put at least some of the blame on Jongup. Jin had even straddled Jongup to make it evident that Jongup was also at fault, but it seemed like Jongup didn’t quite understand the kind of position that they were currently in. “Well?! Aren’t you going to apologize or something for tripping me?!” (JI)

“I-I’m sorry...?” (JU) A rather loud sigh escaped from Jin’s lips as he lowered his head a bit. Why did Jongup have to say it like that? It just showed how confused Jongup was about the situation, but, none of that mattered anymore. At least he got an apology out of Jongup, so there was no point in prolonging the situation any further. Looking back up at Jongup, Jin grinned as he reached up and lightly pat Jongup’s cheeks a few times before moving to where he was now sitting next to Jongup.

“Jongup! I have a plan. A plan to get Daehyun and Young Jae together. Wait. I don’t have a plan, but I plan to get the two together! Will you help me in this seemingly difficult quest?!” (JI) Jin looked back at Jongup, whom was staring with slight confusion. It seemed like Jongup was taking the time to think before he finally nodded.

“Okay. I’ll help, but.. can’t we just get Young Jae to come over when Daehyun’s working or something so that they’re together?” (JU) Sadly, unlike Jin, Jongup didn’t quite know that Daehyun was leaning that way despite how much Daehyun talked and thought about Young Jae. Jin practically smacked his own face with the palm of his hand before slowly sliding his hand off of his face. Looking back at Jongup, he let out a small sigh before putting a hand on Jongup’s shoulder.

“You do realize I mean actually setting them up so that they end up dating, right?” (JI) The two stared at one another before Jongup’s mouth hung agape and his eyes widened with surprise. Jin was practically baffled that Jongup didn’t have any sort of idea about the feelings that the two older men may have for one another. “Did you not know?!” (JI)

“They’re gay?! I didn’t know that! No one told me anything!” (JU) Jin sighed as he slightly shook his head. It was just interesting how Jongup didn’t seem to know a thing, but that didn’t matter. Now that Jongup knew, that meant that they could continue along with the planning stage. Maybe they could even get additional help, but who could help with that..?

“Annnnyway... How should we get those two together? What do you think?” (JI) Jongup blinked a few times as he finally closed his mouth. He was still a bit surprised, but if it meant helping his two older brothers in some way, then it should be worth the surprise! Sadly, he didn’t really know how to get them together. Heck, he, himself, hasn’t been able to get a date of any kind. Daehyun has been on a few dates before, so why did he need their help now?

“I don’t know.. Can’t we just let Daehyun ask Young Jae out?” (JU)

“No! Daehyun’s too shy to do it right away. That’s why we have to do it ourselves.” (JI) Jin nodded in approval of his own words, but Jongup wasn’t exactly convinced. Since he’s lived with Daehyun practically his entire life, then he knew that Daehyun was capable of asking Young Jae out himself. Though, there wasn’t any harm in giving him an extra.. push towards Young Jae’s direction.

“Well.. Okay.” (JU) As long as Jin was certain that they both liked each other, then it should be fine, right? Still, that meant that they had to come up with some sort of plan in order to get them together. That alone was going to be difficult to get things started. Luckily, it seemed like one other person was interested in what they were doing.

“Hey! What are you two doing? Making out?” (BH) The two looked up as they watched Baekhyun sit down. He was grinning, his curiosity causing him to look between the two as he tried to figure it out. It was evident that they were up to something when the two were just staring at him like this. It was kind of creepy, especially when a number of seconds had ticked by. “What? Why are you just staring at me?” (BH)

“Baekhyun! You need to help us get Daehyun together with Young Jae.” (JI)

“Who’s Young Jae..?” (BH) Well, he should’ve known that Baekhyun wouldn’t know who Young Jae was. Heck, Baekhyun wasn’t even all that close with Daehyun. He just knew who he was and that was that. Although it wasted time having to explain, it was still better than having Baekhyun going around and questioning everything.

“He’s Daehyun’s long lost love from childhood! That’s who he is! Now, will you help us or not?” (JI) Baekhyun took a moment to think. The few times that he had been around Daehyun, Baekhyun thought that he was a pretty cool guy and he was pretty nice as well. So, might as well help him out, right?

“Sure, why not? I have a boyfriend that I can call to get whatever we need.” (BH) Baekhyun folded his arms as he smiled smugly. He was certain that his boyfriend would definitely help them if he asked for it, though it seemed like the other two were more focused on what had just been said as opposed to the problem at hand.

“Who’s your boyfriend? How come you haven’t introduced us yet? What, we’re not good enough friends for you?” (JI) Jin was attempting to play the guilt card, but Baekhyun wasn’t about to fall for it. After all, he basically knows every card that Jin plays at this point.

“Doesn’t matter, okay? You MIGHT be able to meet him later, but let’s just focus on the problem at hand, eh?” (BH) He was fairly suspicious that Baekhyun might be making up this boyfriend of his, but he was definitely right. They do need to focus on the problem and figure out a plan that was practically fool proof!

“Okay.. So.. Where do we begin?” (JI) 

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Daehyun let out a small sigh as he set a box down. The bookstore that he worked at during the afternoons had just received a new shipment of books and sadly, he was going to have to stock as many of the books as possible since the morning crew had registered and put all the prices on the books. He was fairly surprised to see how many books that they had received since it wasn’t that big of a bookstore, but at least it increased the amount of variety for the customers to choose from.

While Daehyun was busy placing the books onto their respective bookshelves, an unexpected customer soon entered the bookstore. Looking around, Young Jae pursed his lips a bit as he tried to figure out where the book he needed may be located. Once he spotted the section that it may be located in, Young Jae began walking towards it. He placed his hands into his pocket, humming as he passed a few aisles before pausing for a brief moment. For some reason, he felt like he saw something that he normally thought he wouldn’t see, so he took the moment to look down the aisle that he was currently standing in front of.

Instantly, his eyes widened as he quickly hid behind one of the bookshelves. What was Daehyun doing here?! Taking in a deep breath, Young Jae slowly built up his courage before peeking down the aisle. There he was, taking books out from a box and setting them up on the shelves. Did Daehyun work here as well? He couldn’t remember exactly if Daehyun had mentioned how many jobs he currently had, but three was quite a lot already. Did he ever take a break or did he work every single day?

The second that thought crossed his mind, Young Jae quickly shook his head as his face reddened. Kyungsoo must have been getting to him or something because there was just no way that he was gay in any sort of way! After all, he’s dated women before and he’s found them quite attractive. Sure, he hasn’t exactly found any of the women he’s dated all that interesting after a few dates, but that didn’t mean that he wasn’t interested in women.

Wait! Why was he even thinking about any of this anyway?! Him and Daehyun were just friends and that was it. There was no romantic interest between the two whatsoever and even if there was, it was definitely not coming from him. Letting out a small sigh, Young Jae pressed his forehead against the wood of the bookshelf before jumping at the sound of someone clearing their throat. Quickly turning around, he soon found himself face to face with another employee. “Do you need assistance..?” (K)

“I, uh.. Sorry, but uh..” (YJ) Young Jae’s eyes widened as he quickly looked down the aisle once more. Noticing that Daehyun didn’t seem to notice a thing, Young Jae let out a relieved sigh before looking back at the employee in front of him. The employee seemed rather neutral, maybe even a bit bored, but his eyes practically gave away the actual emotion that he was currently feeling. “Are you.. okay?” (YJ)

“Yes.. I am. I.. just wanted to apologize for scaring you earlier. Are you sure that you don’t need any assistance?” (K) Young Jae smiled a bit, causing the employee to give a small smile of his own. Looking down at his name tag, Young Jae quickly read what the employee’s name was before looking back up at him.

“Uh.. Jongin. Do you know how long Daehyun’s been working here?” (YJ) Young Jae hoped that it wasn’t a weird question to ask, but he wanted to know. He would have felt awkward if he directly asked Daehyun, so it was probably best to go around to the other employees that have been working with him. It took a moment for Jongin to think, but it seemed like he knew the answer to Young Jae’s question.

“About.. three years, I think. I’ve been working here longer, so.. I think it should be three years.” (K) Jongin wasn’t necessarily certain, but it sounded correct to him. Though.. he did wonder why this person was curious about that in the first place. What was his connection with Daehyun? He probably would have asked, but he felt like he would be invasive if he asked this man why he wanted to know about Daehyun. “Is there.. anything else you’d like me to help you with?” (K)

“Hm? Oh! Uh.. no, that’s all! I’ll just, uh.. look for the book I need now. Thank you!” (YJ) He instantly turned around before stepping into the aisle to the right. He pretended to look through the books currently on the shelf, waiting patiently for Jongin to move along. Sadly, it seemed like Jongin had decided to stay nearby as he merely moved off to the bookshelf that was by the front window, which wasn’t that far away. It was a bit frustrating, but he would just have to wait patiently until there was an opening for him to watch Daehyun again.

As he somewhat scanned the titles that each book had to offer, Young Jae’s thoughts began to roam back to Daehyun once again. The more he thought about Daehyun and his situation, the more he felt bad for Daehyun. There just had to be some sort of way that he could help Daehyun financially, right? If he could do that, then he could feel better knowing that at least Daehyun and Jongup would be living an easier life, but how was he going to go about doing that? Daehyun already rejected his offer to help him with his financial status before, so Young Jae doubted that Daehyun would change his mind this time.

Well, for now, he could just continue to spy on Daehyun. Sure, it wasn’t exactly the most normal thing to do, but that didn’t mean that he wasn’t allowed to do so if it meant that it would help Daehyun in some sort of way, right? In a way, he was rather glad that he didn’t get one of the servants to retrieve the book for him. If he had done that, then he would have probably never found out about Daehyun’s second, or rather.. third, job! Did Daehyun have anymore that he didn’t know about? If that was the case, then maybe Young Jae should have someone tail Daehyun for a while.

Making his way back around the bookcase, Young Jae slowly and carefully peeked from behind the bookcase before sticking his head out a bit more. He furrowed his eyebrows and pursed his lips as he looked down the aisle. Where did Daehyun go? The boxes were still there, but the person he was looking for wasn’t. In an instant, Young Jae shivered and wiggled around in a weird fashion the second he felt someone shimmy their fingers up and down his sides. He was smiling, trying hard not to laugh, but he quickly pulled away before turning to face whomever his assailant was. “D-Daehyun?!” (YJ)

“What are you doing here? Are you looking for something?” (DH) It’s not like Daehyun wasn’t happy to see Young Jae here or anything. It was just a bit... weird to see him here. Was Young Jae following him? In a way, Daehyun was almost happy if that turned out to be the case, though still a bit creeped out. Either way! That would have meant that Young Jae at least wanted to see him, right? In a way, Daehyun was somewhat right, but not quite. Young Jae mentally panicked, his eyes wide as he tried to come up with an answer to give Daehyun. With little to no other plans to get out of this situation, Young Jae quickly ran past Daehyun as he made his way towards the aisle where the book he needed was located. Despite the fact that Daehyun was calling out to him, Young Jae made no attempt to slow down to see what he wanted.

Quickly scanning the books as fast as humanly possible, Young Jae spotted the book he needed before swiping it. He turned to go to the cash register, but his eyes widened the second he saw Daehyun making his way over to him. Why was he following him?! If he had wanted Daehyun to tag along, he would have said so earlier instead of trying to avoid the male! “Young Jae! Wait a minute!” (DH)

“S-Sorry, Daehyun! I have to get going!” (YJ) This was enough to get Daehyun to slow to a stop as he watched Young Jae disappear around the corner. He was a bit disappointed that Young Jae didn’t have time to at least have a small chat with him, but if Young Jae was in a hurry, then he didn’t mind just seeing him for even a brief moment. Plus, at least he found out that Young Jae was ticklish or at least... it looked like he was ticklish. It was either that or Young Jae wasn’t expecting him to do something like that.

With a small sigh, Daehyun soon went back to work.

Meanwhile, Young Jae had made certain to purchase the book as quickly as possible before running out the store. He may look rather suspicious while running out of a building and he may have just embarrassed himself in front of Daehyun, but at least he was finally out of there! Leaning against the wall right next to the bookstore’s building, Young Jae took the time to catch his breath. Daehyun wasn’t chasing him anymore, right? If he had been doing so, then Daehyun would have caught up to him when he was buying the book at the cash register.

Taking in a deep breath, Young Jae slowly leaned to his left as he tried to look through the window. So far, all he could see were the bookshelves and the front counter. There weren’t any signs of Daehyun just yet, bu- Nope. He spoke a bit too soon as he soon spotted Daehyun back in the same aisle as before. This time, however, he was closer to the window as opposed to near the middle aisle. Letting out a small sigh, Young Jae turned to where he was now leaning comfortably on the wall while staring at Daehyun.

He wasn’t necessarily certain if he had come up with this idea earlier at some point, but an idea did seem to pop up in his head. The longer he stared at Daehyun, the more certain Young Jae became with this idea. Young Jae couldn’t help but bite back a smile that was threatening to show just how excited he was with the idea. Sure, there was a possibility that the money wouldn’t even reach Daehyun, but that was a risk he was willing to take.

Since he was lost in his thoughts, he didn’t realize that Daehyun had turned around to ask another employee something. Maybe he was enjoying his mental scenario a bit too much because the next thing he knew, he found himself jumping the second he heard a knock on the glass. Looking at the source of the knock, his eyes widened and his face reddened as he saw Daehyun standing by the window with a smile on his face while waving at him. Young Jae stared for a few moments before waving for just a brief moment. To keep Daehyun from coming out to greet him, Young Jae quickly turned and began running.

Why was it that he was running so much today?

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Silently, Baekhyun followed after a male a good distance ahead of him. They weren’t supposed to make their relationship known, so that’s why he was following after him. Of course.. Baekhyun didn’t really like this kind of relationship. He wanted to bring their relationship out into the open so that he didn’t have the burden of having a secret like this. However, it seemed like his boyfriend didn’t want it that way. Well.. at least, he called him his boyfriend. They went on dates from time to time, though sometimes they would sit at different tables that were right next to each other. Plus, Baekhyun would sometimes have to hide whenever he wanted to hold his boyfriend’s hand or even talk to him whenever they were in public. He already knew that this kind of relationship isn’t healthy, but he loved the man too much to leave. Who knows? Maybe his boyfriend would change his mind about all of this one of these days and openly admit that they were dating.

Until then, he would wait patiently.

Baekhyun kept his head down, glancing up every now and then to make sure that his boyfriend didn’t get too far ahead of him. Every now and then, his boyfriend would turn a corner, forcing Baekhyun to run after him to make certain that they weren’t separated. Even when they crossed the street, Baekhyun ran as fast as he could just to make it before the light. Whenever they specifically did this, Baekhyun had to make certain to keep up, otherwise he wouldn’t know where to go. His boyfriend always chose a location unknown to him, so it made things difficult for him specifically. Even if he ended up getting lost, his boyfriend didn’t care. If he didn’t make it to the location before daybreak, then his boyfriend would leave and head home. Sometimes, Baekhyun would end up wandering around town for hours and yet, not a single phone call from his boyfriend to help him navigate his way. He wouldn’t even get an address or a name of any kind!

Why was he blinded by love? Was this even true love? Baekhyun wanted to be with him, but.. if their love life was going to end up like this for the rest of their days, then maybe.. he shouldn’t be patient after all. Tomorrow. He needed to bring it back up tomorrow and stand firm on the situation. If he didn’t receive the answer that he wanted, then.. he would wait just a little longer before finally breaking it off. After all, his boyfriend was just.. uncertain how the rest of the world would take their relationship. One day, he could possibly gather up his courage to face those fears, right?

Once his boyfriend entered a building, Baekhyun made certain to follow into the same building. He snuck off to the side once he was in the main lobby, making certain that the person at the front desk didn’t see him as he carefully made his way towards the hallway with the elevators. Pressing the button, he waited patiently as he took the time to make certain that the coast was clear. Once the elevator arrived, he stepped on and had just turned to face the elevator controls when a hand carefully kept the elevator doors from closing. The second the person stepped into view, Baekhyun smiled as his boyfriend soon stepped in.

There was practically no time for words. The second his boyfriend pressed the button for whichever floor the room was on, they wrapped their arms around one another as their lips were pressed against each other. Sadly, while one was kissing out of pure love, the other was doing this simply out of lust.

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[[ My Own Thoughts:

Okay~!
I don’t really remember what I typed for this chapter..
BUUUUT I hope that it was at least enjoyable to read. xD

Comments are loved x3
I love to know what everyone thinks of the fanfic so far >3<..
Plus, knowing where to improve and such is always nice to know as well. x3 ]]