Hongbin was up early, waiting for Taekwoon to get up again in the morning. He thought about getting started on making breakfast, but ended up deciding against it, not daring to on his own. He was hungry, and he wished Taekwoon would wake up soon and make food for them, but he also wouldn’t dare wake Taekwoon up just because of that.

He settled in the living room, where his attempts at learning the first few letters lay on the coffee table, still. He might as well spend the time until Taekwoon got up studying the letters some more. Unfortunately, though, he’d forgotten the sound of two of the symbols already. Or more like, he didn’t know which of the symbols stood for which sound.

He groaned, disappointed with himself, and rested his head in his hands, arms propped up on the table.

Why couldn’t he even remember a handful of letters for more than half a day? Why? Why was he so useless? He would never be able to learn how to read, he was wasting Taekwoon’s time trying to learn.

“Hongbin? Are you ok?” He jumped at the voice, sitting up straight and dropping his hands underneath the table.

Taekwoon was standing in the doorway to the hallway, peeking into the room.

“You didn’t react when I wished you a good morning… Is something wrong?” He explained, and Hongbin shook his head.

“I’m sorry… I was… thinking.”

Taekwoon hummed, stepping into the room and noticing the strewn about papers on the table.

“Hmm… Have you been studying already?”

Hongbin averted his gaze from the papers, tensing slightly.

“I… I think I should stop trying to learn… I’m just… wasting your time…” He admitted quietly, so quietly Taekwoon had to strain to hear. He frowned once he understood what Hongbin was saying.

“You’re not, Hongbin. You’re not wasting my time. Why would you say that?”

Hongbin bit his lip, shaking his head dejectedly as he slowly closed his eyes in a pained expression.

“I’ll never learn… I’m not… Not smart enough…”

Taekwoon sighed.

“That’s not true, Hongbin. You’ve only been practicing for a day. It takes everyone longer than that to learn all the letters, and you’re doing great.”

Hongbin shook his head no.

“No, I’m not… I… I can’t… I forgot…” He lowered his head in shame, and Taekwoon sighed, sitting down on his usual spot on the couch and looking at the letters strewn about in front of Hongbin.

“Which one did you forget?”

Hongbin barely looked at the papers before pointing at the two letters giving him trouble.

“I remember the sound, but… Not which is which…” Why, just why, why couldn’t he simply remember something that easy, just like everyone else?!

“Oh, right. Ae and eh. Those are hard, it took me ages to get those right, too. I still mix them up sometimes. There is no easy rule to follow as to when you use which when writing. It’s ok if you only know the rough sound for now, when you start reading words you’ll use the correct one automatically.”

Hongbin didn’t look satisfied with that arrangement, though, and Taekwoon sighed softly.

“Hongbin, that’s two letters out of nine that you mix up. It’s not even that you forgot. And they are the hardest ones out of all the letters. The fact that you remember the seven other ones says a lot more about how smart you are than the fact you mix up the two hardest ones. Please, don’t be discouraged by something so small. You are really doing great!”

Hongbin found that hard to believe, and Taekwoon sighed. There was no use trying to convince Hongbin of the legitimacy of his claim without proof, and he wasn’t awake enough for any of this yet, anyway.

“You don’t believe me. Well… there’s nothing I can do about that now. Anyway, I’m going to make breakfast now. Want to come help me?”

At least that was something Hongbin knew he could be of some use for, and he nodded, following Taekwoon when he got up and went to the kitchen.

Truthfully, there wasn’t much to help, but Hongbin was glad for every bowl or utensil he could hand Taekwoon when he asked for one. Eventually, Taekwoon had everything he needed, and Hongbin was left standing idly by as Taekwoon worked. That was, until Taekwoon had an idea and pointed at the milk carton standing on the counter between them.

“Hongbin, look here, on the carton. Is there any letter you recognize on it?”

Hongbin startled slightly, but picked up the carton, squinting at it. It didn’t take him long to find one. He pointed at it, saying the sound, and got it right. Taekwoon smiled at him.

“Good! Any others?”

Of course, there were, and Hongbin was soon engrossed in finding them, his mood growing lighter with every letter he got right. Eventually, he frowned, though, growing silent for a while.

“What is it?” Taekwoon asked, studying Hongbin’s frown curiously.

Hongbin blinked, then pointed at the carton.

“There are some letters… They look almost like the ones I know, but… They have one too many…”

Taekwoon raised a brow, peeking over at what Hongbin was pointing out, and smiled as he understood what he meant.

“Ah, that. That means the sound of the letter changes a bit. It’s the same change for all of them, though.” He went on to explain how the sound changed, and Hongbin tried for himself, finding more of the altered letters on the carton as he muttered to himself to test the sounds out as he went.

“So, this…” He eventually pointed at one of the larger printed words on the carton. “Does this mean ‘milk’?”

Taekwoon beamed at him.

“It does! Well done!”

Hongbin bit his lips, a light, swooping feeling rushing through his stomach and spreading in a pleasant tingle throughout his whole being. He’d managed to read his first word, all on his own! Granted, it wasn’t a big word, but it was a start. It encouraged him to try harder, passing the time until Taekwoon declared breakfast ready. Hongbin almost didn’t want to let go of the carton in exchange for food.

“I can show you more letters after breakfast if you want. But you should eat now, before it gets cold.”

That was all it took for Hongbin to leave the carton be for now and focus on the food. He ate sitting on the floor against the counter, plate balancing on his lap, while Taekwoon sat at the table. One day, Taekwoon mused, he would get Hongbin to sit at the table with him, on a chair rather than the floor; but, one step at a time.

Hongbin was first to finish his food; he always was, eating impossibly fast even though he was still getting used to using utensils. He waited rather impatiently for Taekwoon to finish eating, too, but tried hard to hide his impatience. Taekwoon did him the favour of not stalling and finishing up soon, not oblivious to his fidgeting. Still, Hongbin darted out of the room and to the living room as soon as Taekwoon put his dirty dishes in the dishwasher, sitting down at the coffee table littered with sheets of paper before Taekwoon even stepped out of the kitchen.

Taekwoon smiled fondly at his eagerness, joining him soon and pulling a blank piece of paper to himself to start drawing more letters. Hongbin paid close attention, trying his best to remember the sound of each of them as Taekwoon explained.

After a while of him trying on his own, Taekwoon decided to get up and take a shower, leaving Hongbin to it as he went. Hongbin barely noticed his departure, focused on the pages in front of him. He barely noticed his return, either, his eyes only flickering up shortly from where he was trying to draw the letters himself when Taekwoon sat down on the couch again.

Taekwoon waited until he’d finished a row of H’s before interrupting him.

“Want to try reading again?”

Hongbin’s gaze snapped up, not all the way to his face, but far enough to guarantee Taekwoon he had his attention. Once again, Taekwoon took a blank piece of paper and strung a few short rows of letters together in simple words for Hongbin to decipher. He hesitated before handing it to Hongbin, though.

“Hongbin, I’ll have to leave for work soon. Will you be ok?”

Hongbin nodded absentmindedly, and Taekwoon sighed.

“I don’t know when I’m coming home yet, it might be late. Please don’t get worried, ok? I promise I will come back, even if it’s late. I’ll leave you lunch and dinner, too. Make sure to eat when you get hungry.”

Hongbin’s attention became more focused on Taekwoon, and he followed his next nod up with an “Ok.”. Taekwoon handed him the page he’d been writing on and got up again, leaving for the kitchen to make good on his promise to prepare lunch and dinner for Hongbin.

He was so focused on his task, he didn’t notice Hongbin appearing in the door, holding the page somewhat nervously, for quite a while. In fact, it took Hongbin making a noise for him to realize he was there.

“Oh. Yes?” Taekwoon stopped mid-movement, ladle dripping soup on the counter as he turned to face Hongbin.

“I, uhm… I don’t know… This letter, I haven’t seen that before…” He rose the page shyly, and Taekwoon dropped the ladle back in the pot, wiping his hands on a towel as he went to come stand next to Hongbin and see which letter he was pointing at. And really, it was one Taekwoon hadn’t shown him before.

“Oh. I’m sorry, I forgot I hadn’t shown you that one yet. It must have snuck in. It’s a ‘B’.”

“B?”

Taekwoon nodded.

“Like in Hongbin.”

Hongbin’s eyes widened, and he nodded in understanding, taking a few steps back and towards the living room again. He hesitated, though, and Taekwoon could sense he wanted to ask something, so he waited patiently.

“Can you… Can you show me… how to write my name?”

Taekwoon’s patience was rewarded with that hesitant question, and it elicited a soft smile from him.

“Of course. Bring me a pen and paper and I’ll write it for you.”

Hongbin all but flew to the living room and back, holding out a pen and the sheet of paper for Taekwoon to write on. For once, Taekwoon actually made an effort to write prettily, as he wrote Hongbin’s name.

Once Taekwoon returned the page to him, Hongbin stared at the word in awe. Taekwoon left him to it after a moment, focusing back on finishing cooking the food. He noticed out of the corner of his eye when Hongbin returned to the living room, still staring at the page in his hands.

He was still practicing the letters avidly when Taekwoon was done cooking and got ready to leave for work.

“Hongbin? I left the food on the stove. Once it’s cooled off, can you put the leftovers in the fridge, please? I have to leave now.”

Hongbin’s head shot up, the letters forgotten as he stared at Taekwoon fearfully. He looked like he wanted to say something, but didn’t, biting his lip so hard Taekwoon feared he might pierce it with his sharp teeth.

“I’ll be back later today, Hongbin, I promise. It’s just for a few hours.”

Hongbin took a shaky breath, nodding, but Taekwoon had an inkling that he didn’t fully believe him. There was nothing he could do about that, though, and after reminding him not to forget about the food, he eventually left.

Hongbin had followed him when he went to the front door, peeking around the corner of the living room door into the hallway and watching how Taekwoon slipped on his shoes and coat and left, locking the front door. A cold feeling spread in Hongbin’s chest as the door closed behind Taekwoon, and he gripped the frame of the door he stood in tightly to steady himself.

He promised he’ll be back, he promised he’ll be back, he kept repeating to himself, forcing his breathing to calm down again, too, after picking up as the door fell shut. Now all he could do was trust Taekwoon and his words. Even if he wasn’t sure if he could; or rather, should.

Slowly, he returned to the living room and the pages spread across the table there, but he didn’t feel like practicing anymore. Gingerly, he started sorting the pages into piles; one for the letters Taekwoon had written, one for the pages he’d used to practice writing them himself, and one for pages with words. He wasn’t satisfied yet, and decided to sort the piles into smaller piles again, according to how well he knew the letters already. It did nothing to calm him, though, and he ended up putting all piles together on one hastily built but neat pile in the middle of the table before getting up and starting to pace.

He paced in the living room only at first, but eventually extended his route to the hallway, all the way to his room and back. Still, he felt antsy, pacing alone not enough to take his mind off his fear of Taekwoon not returning.

His feet brought him to the kitchen, and he spotted the food on the stove. His stomach was in far too tight of a knot for him to be able to eat anything at the moment, but the kitchen still caught his attention.

It was messy.

He took a deep breath, stepping into the room and looking around. It was really messy. Neither he nor Taekwoon had cleaned in there the day before, nor today. Dirty dishes were everywhere, rests from cleaning vegetables in the sink, used utensils on the counters, spilled soup on the stove.

The itch under his skin from being surrounded by such a mess didn’t leave enough room for the anxious feeling of perhaps having been abandoned by Taekwoon. But, contrary to the latter, he could do something against the former, and that was exactly what he did.

Cleaning took his mind off things, his thoughts focusing on every task at hand instead of random thoughts. He worked methodically and meticulously, sorting trash into the respective recipients, cleaning spilled food and liquids away, sorting dishes into the dishwasher, storing away leftovers. He even wiped down the fronts of the cabinets and polished the handles on them after wiping the floor, until the whole kitchen was sparkling clean again. From there, he moved on to the rest of the apartment. The hallway, the living room, the bathroom, his room. He didn’t dare touch Taekwoon’s rooms, neither his bedroom, nor his office, or the two unused rooms. But the rest, he cleaned and picked up neatly.

It helped make quite some time pass, and by the end of it, he was exhausted and hungry enough to eat some of the food Taekwoon had left for him. It was delicious even cold, and he ate quite a bit. Afterwards, he was even more tired and really felt like taking a nap, but didn’t dare out of fear of missing Taekwoon coming back.

Had he been thinking clearly, he would have realized that logic didn’t make sense, but to his tired brain it made all the sense in the world. And so, he sat down at the coffee table again, tackling the letters and words once again.

He didn’t notice when he fell asleep, but when he woke up, half sprawled across the coffee table, the pages with his letters were out of his reach and his head was resting on a pillow. He frowned as he blinked sleep out of his eyes, and winced at the crick in his neck and back from sleeping in that slumped position across the table. A small chuckle from somewhere next to him woke him up fully, and he sat up quickly.

It came from Taekwoon, who was lounging stretched out on the couch with a book in his lap.

“Good evening, Hongbin. Had a nice nap?”

Hongbin nodded reflexively, still disoriented.

“I figured you were. You didn’t wake up when I came in, or when I took the papers out from under you and gave you the pillow. You must have really exhausted yourself cleaning the whole place. Thank you for that, by the way. I’ve never met anyone who cleans as nicely and thoroughly as you do. I’m very impressed and very grateful for that.”

Hongbin felt heat rise in his cheeks, and he lowered his head to hide the blush Taekwoon’s compliment summoned on his face.

“Have you practiced a lot?” Taekwoon asked then, changing subjects as he nodded at the stack of papers with letters on the table.

Hongbin shrugged, not knowing how much ‘a lot’ was. Did he practice a lot? How much had he practiced before falling asleep? He didn’t remember.

“Did you manage to read all the words?”

To that, Hongbin could give a clear answer; a firm nod.

“Nice! Want to show me?”

Hongbin’s heart leaped, beating faster. He did want to show Taekwoon, he knew all the words earlier, that was something he could do to prove him he wasn’t useless!

“It’s ok if you don’t want to, too. I won’t make you, and won’t be disappointed if you’d rather not…” Taekwoon reassured him, but Hongbin shook his head vehemently.

“I want to!” He declared, not loudly, but his voice was still firm, and he reached for the pile of pages to find the right one.

His heart beat all the way up in his throat, and he had to clear it before he could read the first word on the page. Taekwoon’s hum of approval brought that swooping sensation in his stomach back, spurring him on for the next one.

The words were simple, some only one syllable long, some two, all written with only the letters Hongbin had learned so far, but Taekwoon was still impressed that Hongbin managed to read them all correctly, even if it took him a while to decipher them. His practice was really paying off.

“Well done, Hongbin! Wow, I’m impressed! You’re learning so fast!”

Hongbin bit his lip, lowering his head again to hide the blush dusting his cheeks and breathing through his nose in an attempt to calm his swooping stomach.

Taekwoon chuckled to himself, making sure not to let the sound escape as he watched Hongbin. His reaction to praise was so cute! Taekwoon wanted to keep praising him forever, if that would be his reaction all the time.

And then, he felt gross; well actually, he felt like he was turning into Hakyeon, and stopped that train of thought right then and there. Why was he becoming just like his best friend? Must be too much time spent in his company finally rubbing off. He needed to get a grip on himself!

“Have you eaten yet?” He changed the topic, away from him being like Hakyeon and possibilities why that he didn’t want to analyze further.

Hongbin nodded lightly.

“Earlier, before… before I fell asleep.”

“But after cleaning?”

Hongbin nodded again.

“Oh. Ok. Are you hungry again?”

When was he not hungry? Or at least ready to eat something again. He nodded.

“Ok, I’ll heat us something up. Want to clear the table in the meantime?”

Of course, Hongbin nodded, gathering the pages and making room for the plates while Taekwoon disappeared in the kitchen.

They ate in relative silence, but Hongbin was fidgety. Taekwoon didn’t comment on it, giving Hongbin the chance to come forward with what he wanted to say at his own pace. He didn’t manage to do it while they were eating, nor while Taekwoon carried their empty plates to the kitchen and cleaned up what little mess he’d made there while heating up the food for them.

His restlessness increased when Taekwoon returned to the living room afterwards, bringing with him a mug of tea for Hongbin and a hot chocolate for himself, which he set down gently before sitting down on the couch. By then, Hongbin was almost unable to sit still at all anymore, and Taekwoon eventually addressed his state with a quiet cocking of his head and raised eyebrow.

Hongbin froze where he sat, seeing the look Taekwoon gave him despite never looking at him directly. Still, Taekwoon didn’t ask outright, and yet to Hongbin it felt as if he couldn’t possibly withhold what he wanted to say any longer.

“Is there no letter for S sounds?”

Taekwoon blinked in confusion, that question not having been anywhere near of being on the long list of possibilities of what could be bothering Hongbin to the point of making him that restless.

“Uh… Of course, there are…” Taekwoon leaned back in his seat, rubbing the back of his neck a little awkwardly.

“Oh…” The sound was small as it left Hongbin’s lips. “Can you… can you show me? Please?”

Taekwoon smiled lightly. To be honest, he thought, he should have expected this turn of events.

“Sure… Do you still have empty pages here?”

Hongbin nodded enthusiastically, reaching under the table and holding out a stack of paper and a pen to Taekwoon, who took them with a small “Thanks.”.

“Alright… S sounds… There are a few s sounds, and they have different letters each… Here…” He started explaining, drawing the different letters for Hongbin, who watched with a frown of concentration.

Hongbin immersed himself in a deep study of the letters drawn by Taekwoon as soon as the latter handed him the pages, but more often than not he was seen shaking his head as he stared at the letters, the frown on his face intensifying.

“Is this the ‘J’ sound? Or the ‘SS’ sound?” He asked eventually, a sliver of frustration in his voice as he put the page down on the table for Taekwoon to see.

“J.” Taekwoon answered, and Hongbin bit his lip. Taekwoon could have sworn he heard him swallow a sigh, motivation slipping out of him at the failed letter.

“So, is this the ‘SS’?” He asked, putting down another page, but Taekwoon had to correct him.

“That’s ‘ch’.”

Hongbin’s face fell further, and Taekwoon reached for the pages and pen again.

“S sounds aren’t easy to memorize, there is no shame in not getting them right immediately. I still confuse them myself sometimes. But, here, maybe this will help…”

He started drawing on the page again, in the vast blank space surrounding the letter. Hongbin stared at the lines appearing on the page in fascination, but also confusion. Lots of confusion.

“What… is that?” He eventually asked.

“Try to guess. It’s an animal with that letter in its name.”

Hongbin stared at the drawing for a while, confused. He had no idea what it was supposed to represent.

“Is it a… a dog?”

Taekwoon’s eyes widened.

“A dog? No! No, look, here, it has wings. Also, the word ‘dog’ doesn’t have that sound in it, does it?”

Hongbin shook his head, even more confused than before. Wings? What four-legged animal he knew had wings? None of them.

“I… I don’t know that animal…”

Taekwoon sighed softly.

“It’s a bird. A sparrow, to be exact.”

Hongbin made a sudden choked sound, startling Taekwoon. When he turned to give Hongbin a questioning look, he saw the boy biting his lips, both of them, but his eyes shone with a new emotion.

“What?” He asked, having a suspicion about the meaning of Hongbin’s expression.

“Uh… Sparrows… Uhm… They only have two legs…”

Taekwoon frowned.

“Yes, of course, I know that, why-…” His eyes fell onto the page in front of him. “Oh… oh. Ok. Well, I must have gotten carried away. I mean, four legs isn’t a bad look for a sparrow, either…”

Another of those choked noises came from Hongbin, and this time Taekwoon caught the expression on Hongbin’s face before he could bite his lips; or hide behind his hands, as he did this time. He huffed, amused.

“Hongbin. Are you laughing at me?”

Hongbin’s face turned to stone instantly, his amused expression vanishing in the blink of an eye.

“N-no! I’m not. I’m sorry, I didn’t- didn’t mean to- I-…” He stuttered hastily, fear lacing into his voice, and Taekwoon sighed quietly.

“It’s ok, Hongbin. I wasn’t chastising you. You can laugh all you want, I know my drawings are ridiculous.”

Hongbin shook his head, his hands shaking as he kneaded them in his lap.

“N-no, no, it looks g-good. Really. I wasn’t-… I didn’t-…”

“I drew a sparrow with four legs, Hongbin. It is ridiculous. I want to laugh at it myself, it’s so bad.” He looked at the drawing, chuckling. “Goodness, I put both eyes on the same side of the head, too! I’m sure a five-year-old would do better than me!” He shook his head, sighing, and pushing the page away from himself.

“Well, looks like that didn’t work out. I’ll try again. What do we have here? Ah…”

He pulled another of the pages close and started drawing, while Hongbin slowly relaxed again as he watched him draw yet another monstrosity. That one, he at least recognized, if only for the black spots and the horns.

“A cow?” He guessed as Taekwoon was drawing the final details on the picture.

Taekwoon beamed, pushing the drawing into the center of the table, next to the other one.

“Yep!”

Hongbin looked skeptical for a moment.

“It doesn’t have ears…”

Taekwoon frowned, pulling the page back to him.

“It doesn’t have ears-… It doesn’t. Oops. There…” He drew the ears quickly, but Hongbin kept looking skeptical.

“Cows don’t have pointy ears…”

Taekwoon scribbled out the pointy ears, drawing floppy ones instead, to which Hongbin didn’t say anything, but didn’t look appeased anyway.

“It doesn’t have a tail, either…”

The tail Taekwoon drew might have been fit for a beaver, but never a cow. It made Hongbin’s lips twitch enough that he had to bite down on them to stop them, though, and Taekwoon considered that a success. He wished Hongbin would just give in to the urge to laugh. Maybe it was too soon for that, and he shouldn’t expect too much, but he still hoped he would end up laughing at one of his drawings eventually.

“Ok, cow is done. All you need to know is that it is a cow and the sound of the letter is in the name. Next one. This… Uh…”

He started drawing again, Hongbin’s eyes following the lines he drew on the paper closely.

“Is it… A helicopter?”

Taekwoon laughed, shaking his head.

“No, it’s still an animal.”

Hongbin frowned.

“An animal? What animal looks like a helicopter?”

“It’s an insect.”

Hongbin looked dumbfounded, and Taekwoon took pity on him.

“It’s a dragonfly.”

Hongbin looked none the wiser.

“What is a dragonfly?”

“Ah…” Taekwoon found himself at a loss of how to explain, and ended up pulling his phone out to search for actual pictures of the insect to show Hongbin, who peered curiously at the device in Taekwoon’s hands. Eventually, Taekwoon found a good picture and turned the phone to show Hongbin.

The boy’s eyes widened.

“Oh… Oh! That one… You drew it really well!”

Taekwoon smiled.

“Thank you.”

Hongbin kept staring at the drawing, then the picture on the phone and at the drawing again.

“What… what was it called?”

“Dragonfly.”

Hongbin repeated the word under his breath, staring at the drawing.

“I think I won’t forget, like this…” He eventually muttered, quietly.

“What about the others? Any other letters you want drawings for?”

Hongbin bit his lip, shyness evident in his expression as his eyes flickered to the pages holding the other letters.

“Can I… Would you draw more?”

“Sure.” Taekwoon offered, and Hongbin could barely hide his excitement as he fished another letter out of the stack and handed Taekwoon the page with shaky hands; this time, they weren’t shaking out of fear or apprehension, though.

Taekwoon didn’t call it quits after that next letter, either, encouraging Hongbin to hand him the other pages as well, illustrating every single one of them with his terribly drawn animals. Hongbin’s lip suffered a lot from being bitten down on so hard so many times that evening, but he managed to keep his laughter at bay, even if it was hard sometimes, given Taekwoon’s drawing skills.

It was getting late when Taekwoon finished the last drawing, capping the pen at the end of it.

“Now, this is a dog, though. Right?”

Taekwoon smiled indulgently.

“Yes. This is a dog.”

Hongbin nodded solemnly, looking at the dog for a long time, until Taekwoon’s yawn startled him.

“Sorry, didn’t mean to startle you. I’m going and heading on to bed now; it’s late. Are you going to try and sleep soon, too?”

Hongbin nodded, gathering the pages strewn across the coffee table and stacking them neatly before putting them under the table so they didn’t take up too much room.

In the meantime, Taekwoon got up, stretched, and brought their empty mugs to the kitchen. A small smile danced on his lips as he thought back over the past few hours.

Hongbin might not have outright laughed or even let his lips curl into a smile, but the emotion had been there. He could tell how amused Hongbin had been at his drawings, and he’d made them extra ridiculous at times to amuse him even more. The way Hongbin’s eyes shone with happiness and hidden laughter over his hideous drawings would be reason enough for Taekwoon to never even try to draw something properly ever again, if only it brought that sparkle to the boy’s eyes.

*#*#*#*

“What are you doing on my desk?” Taekwoon sighed as he stepped into his office, having just come out of a brainstorming session with that rapper, Ravi.

Jaehwan grinned at him.

“Sitting.” He answered, smug, but had the sense to hop off the surface and flee once Taekwoon came closer.

“What even is your issue with people sitting on your desk? Everyone does it.” He whined, but it had no effect on Taekwoon.

“You can sit on your own desk, but I don’t want anyone’s anywhere near the same surface I put my snacks on. That’s gross.”

Jaehwan rolled his eyes and plopped down in the armchair instead. The squawk coming from there was the first indication Taekwoon got that Jaehwan wasn’t the only person waiting in his office for him.

“Hakyeon? What the hell are you two even doing in here? Don’t you have rooms of your own?”

Jaehwan was already opening his mouth to tell him no, he hadn’t, when Hakyeon covered it to shut him up and avoid getting into a lengthy discussion about that.

“Even if we had, you wouldn’t be coming there, and we wanted to see you. Catch up with you.”

Taekwoon frowned.

“We caught up two… three days ago?”

Hakyeon rolled his eyes while shoving Jaehwan off his lap and ignoring the younger’s resulting pout.

“But not properly. Also, it’s been three days already. So. Any news?”

Taekwoon blinked.

“What news should there be?”

Hakyeon rolled his eyes.

“You abruptly cancelled a meeting the day after your birthday. You never cancel. What happened?”

Taekwoon sighed, finally sitting in his desk chair and leaning back.

“It’s something to do with Hongbin, right? Is he ok?”

Taekwoon nodded.

“He’s fine. I think. He’s recently developed abandonment issues, I guess.”

“What?”

Taekwoon sighed again.

“That night I came home late. He was completely beside himself with worry that I had abandoned him.”

Jaehwan frowned, interrupting the conversation.

“But you said you’d left him a note?”

Taekwoon nodded.

“Turns out, Hongbin can’t read.”

“.”

“Yeah.”

“So that’s why you cancelled that day?”

Taekwoon nodded.

“I didn’t want to leave him all alone all day again when he’d spent the whole day before freaking out. Also took the chance to start teaching him how to read.”

Hakyeon smiled.

“How’s it going?”

Taekwoon shrugged.

“As well as it can, I guess. He’s quite good at remembering the letters, as far as I can tell. But we haven’t been doing that much yet. Well, he’s been practicing when I’m not home, but there’s only so much he can do without someone helping him when he draws a blank.” He smiled to himself. “Last night we spent quite a while figuring out animals to go with the letters to help him remember the sound of them. He seemed to have a good time there. Possibly the best so far since he’s been staying with me.”

“I doubt that’s going to help a lot, knowing your drawing skills. He was probably just having a good time mocking you, too.” Jaehwan laughed, and Taekwoon threw a balled-up piece of paper at him.

“I’m well aware of that, since I made sure he had every reason to. Doesn’t mean you are allowed to mock me, too. That’s a privilege you don’t get.”

Jaehwan laughed again.

“I don’t need to be given that privilege, I’ll just take it. But seriously, drawing animals with the letters is a good idea to remember them… I could probably draw them properly for him to use to learn, if you tell me which animal you used for which letter.”

Taekwoon thought about it for a moment, conceding it wasn’t a totally bad idea.

“If you get to give Hongbin something, I want to give him something, too!” Hakyeon interjected when Taekwoon started writing down the list of animals he and Hongbin had chosen the day before.

“You already helped get clothes for him, though!”

“That was ages ago and he probably doesn’t even remember! It was when he was still withdrawn a lot!”

“I’m sure he remembers… He remembers more details than you’d think possible…” Taekwoon mumbled, more focused on the list than the banter between Hakyeon and Jaehwan.

“It still doesn’t count, because it’s been so long ago. I want to get him something, too!”

Taekwoon sighed, finishing the list.

“Fine, if you want to. Keep it simple, though. He’s easily overwhelmed and most likely going to suspect ulterior motives behind a gift if it’s too much. And his definition of too much is vastly different than ours; keep that in mind!”

Hakyeon was already on his way out as soon as Taekwoon uttered the word ‘Fine’. He turned around in the door to listen to the rest, though, and gave Taekwoon a blinding smile.

“I know just the thing, don’t worry!”

Taekwoon furrowed his brows, Hakyeon’s determination making him worry all the more.

“Simple, Hakyeon. Please.”

Hakyeon rolled his eyes.

“I know. It is simple. Promise. I heard you the first time.” With that, he left, and Taekwoon could do nothing but shake his head at him.

“Are you done with that list? I don’t have a lot to do today, I might be able to finish it before tonight.” Jaehwan interjected, pulling him out of his thoughts, and Taekwoon handed him the list. Jaehwan was quick to storm out of his office, too, as soon as he had the list, and blissful silence encompassed Taekwoon. Finally.

He took out the lunch he’d packed for himself, cringing when he remembered Jaehwan had been sitting on his desk, where he wanted to put his food now. It wouldn’t do, he had to wipe it down first.

He was lost in thought as he cleaned his desk and then ate, wondering if Hongbin was eating, too, at home, and how long it would take before he felt confident enough to start using the microwave or stove to heat his food up instead of eating everything cold when Taekwoon wasn’t around to warm it up.

He was so lost in his thoughts, he almost missed the knock on the door.

“Huh, uh… Come in!” He shook his head, sitting up straight. It was Ravi, and he pushed the rest of his food aside.

“Oh, Ravi, come in. Have a seat.”

Ravi didn’t, preferring to keep standing.

“Hey, uhm… I just wanted to tell you personally, so… I already talked to the big boss, but I feel like I kind of owe it to you to tell you personally. Something came up, and I won’t be able to come over here for a while, so… We need to postpone our project somewhat, I fear.”

Taekwoon blinked.

“Oh… ok. Everything alright with you, though?”

Ravi shrugged slightly.

“Yeah… well… Kind of. I’ll be alright. I’ll keep working on everything while I’m not here, so, let’s keep in contact, ok? I’ll be back, I promise, I won’t let this project die.”

Taekwoon nodded slowly, brow furrowed.

“Ok… ok. I’ll keep working on it and stay in contact with you, too. But… Whatever’s going on, good luck with that. Don’t worry too much about our project, we have all the time in the world, ok?”

Ravi smiled at him, small, fleeting.

“Thanks. You’re very kind, Taekwoon. And so is your boss, too. I’ll try to come back soon, promise.”

Taekwoon nodded, a little flustered, but ended up just wishing him well as he made to leave the room.

“Oh, and, Taekwoon? The boss wanted to talk to you. Almost forgot to tell you that.”

With that, Ravi left, and Taekwoon got up to go over to Eunkwang’s office.

Eunkwang was already waiting for him.

“Hi… So, Ravi talked to you?”

Taekwoon nodded, sitting down in the usual armchair he took whenever he visited Eunkwang in his office.

“Did he tell you why he had to leave?”

Taekwoon shook his head.

“Me neither. I didn’t press, though… I mean, he probably knows for himself that leaving suddenly at the beginning of a project with a new company doesn’t leave the best impression, so if he’s doing it anyway he probably has his reasons… I’m curious, though.”

Taekwoon shrugged. He couldn’t say he was too curious himself. He didn’t know the dude well enough to want to pry into his life. All that concerned him was whether or not he came back eventually for them to continue working on their project.

“Did you find out anything interesting while working with him?” Eunkwang continued to pry, and Taekwoon shrugged again, this time accompanied with a sigh.

“Not really. He works hard and diligently on his music, and is very talented. He has a great ear for music and a deep understanding of it. It’s nice to work with him. But he’s very reserved and never talked about himself. I mean, I don’t do, either, so… I couldn’t figure out anything personal about him. Not even his real name, only that Ravi is not his given name.”

Eunkwang nodded solemnly.

“We only signed a collaboration contract with him, which doesn’t require his real name, so I don’t know that, either. Heck, I don’t even know his age!”

Taekwoon shook his head.

“Me neither. All I can say about him aside from his skills as musician is that he’s always been quite polite to everyone as far as I could tell. Distanced but polite. With no exceptions.”

Eunkwang sighed.

“That’s lovely, but doesn’t bring us closer to making a decision. Well, guess we’ll have to wait until he comes back; if he comes back. If not, that issue is off the table anyway. What are you going to do now, now that that project is on hold?”

Taekwoon shrugged.

“I still have a good twenty unfinished songs to work on. And then there’s that musical project I wanted to try out, for next year. Could get started on that.”

Eunkwang nodded pensively.

“Would you consider writing more songs for our SeeSun boys?”

Taekwoon grimaced.

“Do I have to?”

“Only if you want. We can assign a different producer for them. But your work fits them splendidly. Their debut was a great success; did you know that?”

Taekwoon shook his head.

“I didn’t follow it once the songs were out of my hands. I had other things to worry about.”

Eunkwang hummed understandingly.

“And how are those other things?”

Taekwoon smiled softly.

“Doing better. Hopefully not worrying all day long that I might not come home at the end of the day.”

“Abandonment issues?”

“Quite terribly so. If he was one for being touchy, I’d have half expected him to cling to my leg when I tried to leave this morning…” He sighed. “It makes me feel terrible having to leave him alone all the time for hours on end. He must be bored out of his mind, too. There isn’t much he can do, either, since he refuses to touch any electronics and can’t read yet.”

“Are you teaching him?”

“Hm.”

“I think we still have some books at my parents’ home from when I and Sungjae first learned to read… And do maths and all that stuff. If I find them, you can have them. Might help somewhat; they were quite good, as far as I can recall.”

“Thanks… Might be worth a shot.”

They sat in silence for a moment, until Eunkwang broke it again.

“Are you in on whatever it is Jaehwan is plotting these days?”

Taekwoon’s heart stopped for a second.

“So, you are. Is it dangerous?”

Taekwoon shook his head.

“I didn’t say I was in on anything.”

Eunkwang huffed.

“If Jaehwan is up to something, there is a 99% chance you know about it. You and Hakyeon. I’ve known all of you long enough to know that much, and you long enough to read your face. So, is it dangerous?”

Taekwoon sighed.

“Possibly.”

“For whom?”

“Everyone involved.”

Eunkwang inhaled deeply.

“Who’s involved?”

“As few as possible. We won’t bring danger to your doorstep, I promise, Eunkwang.”

“I find that hard to believe when you are sitting on my couch already. Tell me if you need my help, ok?”

Surprise flickered in Taekwoon’s eyes as he looked at Eunkwang.

“You don’t even know what it’s about.”

Eunkwang shrugged.

“As I said, I know you. I trust you. So, if you need help, come to me. But… Please, leave Sungjae out of it, ok?”

Taekwoon nodded.

“We’d never drag him in to this. But if you know something’s up, it won’t be long before he suspects something and sticks his nose into it as well. You know him, too, after all.”

Eunkwang sighed, leaning back in his chair.

“Damn right I do. That bloody kitten; I’ll go grey well before my time because of him…”

Taekwoon chuckled.

“You should trust him more, Eunkwang. He probably has more means to stay safe than you give him credit for.”

“I know. That’s what worries me most, because for every safety measure he comes up with, he comes up with two more things with the potential to fry his .” He sighed, getting up. “Alright, then. I gotta go, I’m meeting up with Minhyuk. And, please… think about what I told you. About producing, for SeeSun. I’d love for you to keep working with them.”

Taekwoon groaned, getting up, too.

“I’ll think about it. Tell Minhyuk I said Hi. And… thank you for your offer.”

They parted ways at the door, and Taekwoon wandered back to his office. Maybe he should check out how the kids had been doing for their debut; he was curious now.

Before long, he was lost in watching their stages and reading articles and reactions to their debut. They had really been doing well.

“Their dancing is great, isn’t it?” A voice interrupted Taekwoon eventually, and he looked up to see Hakyeon strolling into his office.

“Yes, Hakyeon, you are the best the choreographing world has ever seen.” He commented drily as he rolled his eyes, pausing the video to read the comments underneath.

Hakyeon huffed, rounding the desk and pushing Taekwoon’s chair back enough so he could wedge himself onto it, too. Taekwoon merely groaned but let him stay as he took over the keyboard and his computer and opened another video in a new tab for him.

“Of course I am. Took you long enough to notice. Here, this is what you’ll want to see. They are actually great.”

It was a dance practice video, complete with a capella vocals. It was incredibly good.

Taekwoon was still processing what he’d just seen and heard when the video ended, when Hakyeon punched him in the shoulder.

“And you, idiot, don’t want to work with them anymore! You know at least half of the success they had until now is thanks to you, right? We’re doomed without you…”

Taekwoon rubbed the offended spot, glaring at Hakyeon.

“You act like you’re part of the group and I’ve personally offended you…”

Hakyeon huffed.

“As their choreographer and dance instructor, I am part of the group. And I’m not ditching them. Unlike someone else.”

Taekwoon groaned.

“I didn’t say I’m ditching them.”

“You also haven’t agreed to working with them again.”

“So? I do have other projects to work on. Projects that actually fall into my area of expertise.”

Hakyeon huffed.

“Says the one who’s technically just had a major success outside of his so-called area of expertise. Isn’t that enough to make it part of your area of expertise?”

“Hakyeon, please…”

“No, Taekwoon. I am the one pleading here! Please don’t make me work with sub-par music again. If you don’t care for the kids, at least have mercy on me and give me good music to work with. For me. Please.”

Taekwoon groaned, finally dislodging Hakyeon from his lap.

“Your is hard, get off me. I never said I don’t care about the kids. Leave me alone.”

Hakyeon huffed, getting up.

“What did you come here for in the first place, actually? Just to annoy me?”

Hakyeon narrowed his eyes at him.

“Isn’t that a good enough reason?”

Taekwoon gave him a dry look, and Hakyeon rolled his eyes.

“Actually, I came to give you this. For Hongbin. Something simple, as you said.” He handed Taekwoon a wrapped gift.

“What is it?” Taekwoon questioned, suddenly curious, as he took the present from Hakyeon.

“Wouldn’t you like to know, Mr Nosy, huh?” Hakyeon teased, but upon not getting the desired response from Taekwoon, he rolled his eyes and sobered. “Fine. It’s a journal. I figured it might be nice for him to practice writing, if he wants. Instead of on loose pages.”

Taekwoon smiled softly.

“Thank you, Hakyeon. That’s a great gift for Hongbin. I’m sure he’ll like it.”

Hakyeon smiled softly in return.

“I hope he will… I want to help spoil him.”

Taekwoon chuckled.

“I’m sure you do. Maybe sometime later, when he isn’t overly suspicious of every single act of kindness anymore.”

“I’ll hold you to that. I gotta go now. Are you going to stick around a little longer?”

Taekwoon nodded.

“A little.”

“Alright. I’ll tell Jaehwan to hurry up!”

Hakyeon left, and Taekwoon returned to his computer. Maybe he would keep composing and producing for their idol group, who knew. He wouldn’t tell Hakyeon until the very last moment, though, if he did. Sure, he could stop Hakyeon from pestering him if he told him, but where would the fun be in that? He smiled to himself as he went through the music files he had stored to be used later on. Maybe if he changed a little in this one…

Time flew until the end of office hours, and he was about to leave when his door slammed open.

“Oh, thank , I was afraid you’d already left!”

Jaehwan stood in the doorway, panting. Taekwoon rose a questioning eyebrow, finishing wrapping his scarf around his neck.

“Almost. But I’m still here.”

Jaehwan nodded, handing him a rolled-up sheet of paper.

“There. For Hongbin. I did numbers, too, in case he doesn’t know them yet.”

Taekwoon’s eyes widened shortly.

“You did? Thank you! Can I see?”

Jaehwan nodded.

“Go ahead.”

Taekwoon unrolled the two pages, and his eyes widened again.

“Wow. Those are amazing, Jae. Thank you.”

Jaehwan beamed.

“No problem. If he’s to ever learn how to read he’ll need proper letters to learn with, and well, we all know the disaster that is your penmanship…”

Taekwoon groaned, moving to kick Jaehwan halfheartedly while he jumped out of the way, laughing.

“You’re such an .”

“You love me.”

“Debatable.”

Jaehwan danced towards the door, but Taekwoon called him back.

“Oh, by the way, Jaehwan…”

Jaehwan turned around, lifting a questioning eyebrow.

“Eunkwang caught wind that you are plotting something.”

Jaehwan froze.

“You have to be more careful; if he caught on, chances are others might, too. And he asked that we leave Sungjae out of it; I know we agreed to leave all hybrids out of it, anyway, but… just passing on the warning. But he offered his help should we need it.”

Jaehwan bit his lip.

“I’ll talk to him tomorrow… I don’t want him to get the wrong idea.”

Taekwoon nodded.

“I need you to update me on what you and Hakyeon have been doing recently soon, too.”

“Will do. Meeting this Sunday at Hakyeon’s?”

“Ask Hakyeon.”

Jaehwan rolled his eyes, bid Taekwoon good bye and left. Taekwoon followed shortly after, a smile tugging on his lips as he thought about giving Hongbin the gifts from his friends when he came home.

*#*#*#*

Hongbin lay sprawled out on the fluffy living room carpet, staring at the ceiling and listening to any noise his ears could pick up. He was waiting for one noise specifically, but wouldn’t admit that even to himself.

What he would admit to was that he was bored, though. Terribly bored. He didn’t know what to do with himself. Not too long ago, he wouldn’t have had a problem just sitting around all day doing nothing, and with nothing happening all day long. Nothing happening meant nothing was happening to him, too. No pain, no punishment, no stress.

Now, nothing happening simply meant that nothing was happening, and it was boring. He’d been studying the letters in the morning, having almost as hard a time remembering what animal was supposed to be next to the letters as the sound of the letter in itself. That was ok, though, because it kept him busy, and reminded him of the night before, which had been nice.

He could barely remember ever having felt like he had the night before, but he still did remember some of it, distantly. From when he’d been in that blinding white place. And he recognized the feeling from what he saw on Taekwoon sometimes.

Amusement. Happiness.

Confusing emotions, but nice ones, too. Even nicer was that they hadn’t been followed by a rough awakening. He’d simply been able to go to sleep and slept quite well that night.

The fact that Taekwoon had to leave that morning didn’t count as rough awakening, he knew that would happen before and didn’t count it as a rough follow-up to the happiness. Even if he felt quite the opposite than the night before when Taekwoon left, some of that amusement still resurfaced when he looked at the drawings Taekwoon had made for him.

It only lasted so long, though, since all these letters together made him dizzy and he couldn’t focus for too long on them. He had nothing else to do, either, though, having cleaned so thoroughly the day before.

So, he mostly stayed laying on his back in the living room, waiting for Taekwoon to come home. The day dragged on slowly as he lay there, and he knew Taekwoon wouldn’t come home yet all this time. He’d only be back after dark. And not immediately after dark, but a while after dark.

Finally, after what felt like a lifetime, the sun set, and darkness came. But it would still be a while before Taekwoon came back. How long, though? Hongbin had no idea, and as time stretched, he became fidgety. Still, he forced himself to stay where he was. There was nothing for him to do, and getting up would lead to him pacing. And pacing would lead to panicking. And he didn’t want to panic. It would worry Taekwoon, too, if he panicked, and he’d feel bad. He didn’t want Taekwoon to worry and feel bad. So, he stayed where he was, listening for the sound of the elevator in the hallway. The sound of the ding that signaled if it stopped on this floor. Footsteps that came closer. Keys that jingled against the door.

He heard the elevator quite often, but only once did it stop on this floor, and no footsteps came closer.

It took a while before he heard the ‘ding’ again, and footsteps afterwards. He stayed still, not breathing as he listened. The footsteps came closer, but he didn’t sit up yet. He heard keys jingling, and his fingers dug into the carpet underneath him, his whole body tense. And then, the scratching of the key in the keyhole, and his heart leaped just before he did. He bolted to the door to the hallway, catching himself against the frame, and watched as the door opened and Taekwoon stepped through. Only then did he take a step into the hallway.

“Hey, Hongbin!” Taekwoon greeted him with a smile.

Hongbin bit his lip, trying to hide how breathless he was. “Hey.”

Taekwoon kicked the door shut, locked it and started taking off his coat and shoes.

“How was your day?”

Hongbin shrugged. There was nothing to say about his day.

“Sorry I’ve been out so long. I brought something for you, though.”

Hongbin’s eyes widened.

“Well, I brought it, technically, because I carried it home. But it’s actually from Hakyeon and Jaehwan.”

Hongbin’s eyes widened further, and Taekwoon directed a soft smile at him as he picked up his briefcase.

“Let’s go sit down, alright?”

Hongbin hurried ahead, sitting in his usual spot and waiting for Taekwoon to sit down, too.

As soon as he sat down, he opened his briefcase and pulled the rolled up sheets of paper out, handing them over.

“This one is from Jaehwan. I mentioned how hard you were working to learn how to read, and he wanted to help you. Especially since he claims my drawings aren’t good enough!”

Hongbin took the pages hesitantly.

“I… I like your drawings…” He mumbled, quietly, but Taekwoon heard him anyway.

“Thank you. I know they aren’t very good, though. Anyway, go ahead, open it!” He encouraged Hongbin as he still hesitated to unroll the pages in his hands. With Taekwoon’s encouragement, he finally did, though, and his jaw dropped as he saw the drawings on the page.

Taekwoon smiled softly.

“Jaehwan can draw really well. He was really excited to draw this once I told him about the drawings I did last night. He doesn’t get to draw often these days, and I’m sure he had a lot of fun with this today…”

Hongbin couldn’t stop staring at the page, studying the details of every animal on it, and Taekwoon gave him some time to do so before continuing.

“There is a second page, too. I don’t know if you know how to count, but… just in case you don’t and want to learn that, too, Jaehwan made a chart with the numbers, too. You should be able to read the names of the numbers by now, since they are quite simple.”

Hongbin pulled the second page to the front, studying it.

“I can count… a little. Not all the numbers, but… I know which ones are a lot and which ones just a few.”

Taekwoon nodded solemnly.

“And with this chart, you can learn to count all the numbers, in time.”

Hongbin swallowed thickly, staring at the two pages in front of him with a mixture of disbelief and uncertainty, and Taekwoon sensed something was bothering him.

“Hongbin? Are you ok?” He asked quietly. Hongbin swallowed thickly again.

“Why?”

Taekwoon blinked, confused.

“Why, what?”

“Why did… why did your friend make these… for me? Are they really… for me?”

Taekwoon smiled softly.

“Yes, Hongbin, they are really for you.”

“But… why?”

Taekwoon shrugged.

“Because he wanted to give them to you. You see, Jaehwan likes to give things to everyone he cares about, all the time. And you… he doesn’t know you, but he knows I care about you. And he cares about me. So, that means he cares about you now, too. And that’s why he made these for you.”

Hongbin needed a moment to digest that information, and only when he seemed to accept it did Taekwoon introduce Hakyeon’s gift.

“Now, remember I said I brought you something from Jaehwan and Hakyeon? These here are just from Jaehwan. But this, this is your gift from Hakyeon.”

Taekwoon could see Hongbin’s nostrils flaring slightly as he caught a whiff of what must be Hakyeon’s scent on the wrapped gift as he took it.

“You remember who Hakyeon is?”

Hongbin nodded.

“He helped choose the clothes… And came to tell me you’d be home late that one day.”

Taekwoon smiled.

“I knew you’d remember. Hakyeon wasn’t sure you would, so he insisted to get you a present, too, when Jaehwan said he’d do the drawing. Go on, open it. You can tear the paper.”

Hongbin didn’t tear the paper, but instead peeled the tape off carefully where it held the edges of the paper together until he could unwrap the gift.

“A… a book?” He asked, timidly, and Taekwoon shook his head.

“A journal. You can use it to write in it, or draw, or paste things into it… whatever you want. The pages are blank, and just waiting for you to fill them with whatever you want.”

Hongbin opened the journal carefully, peeking between the pages.

“Whatever I want…?” He asked, uncertain.

Taekwoon nodded.

“Whatever you want.”

*#*#*#*

It was late at night when Hongbin sat on his bed and stared at the journal in his hands in the light of the bedside lamp.

Whatever I want.

He wasn’t sure what that meant. What did he want? Or better yet, what should he want to do with this journal?

Probably practice writing. But he did that just fine on the other pages. This journal… It was too nice for him to ruin it with his first attempts at writing. And he couldn’t draw, either. At least, he’d never tried. So, what should he use it for?

Taekwoon had mentioned pasting things into it. Things like… Things he liked? Things he cherished?

He chewed on his lip before reaching into the drawer in the bedside table, pulling out a piece of paper and holding it against the first page of the journal. It would fit in there. Maybe he could cut it out with the kitchen scissors a little to make it fit even better tomorrow, and then ask Taekwoon for glue later so he could paste it in here.

It was a worthy thing to paste onto the first page of his first own journal, he thought as he traced the bold letters on the piece of paper; they weren’t perfect like the printed ones he saw everywhere, but they were pretty just the same because of the hand that had drawn them just for him.

H… O… NG… B… I… N.

If there were any letters he was sure he wouldn’t forget ever again, those were the ones. Especially written in Taekwoon’s handwriting.

-----

A/N: Hi... and sorry for the unnanounced hiatus. Life derrailed a little bit and this story was not a priority for a while, while I was busy sorting things out and writing things in between that didn't require as much attention to detail and focus. I'm sorry, again, and I'll try to prevent this from happening again, since I believe this year I'll be able to have my life under better control.

If you're still sticking around for this story, rest assured that upvotes, subscriptions and comments are still the lifeblood that keep me motivated to... do everything, basically. If you happen to like this story enough to want to support my materialistic greed for food, you can support me here, too. I'll love you all forever, even if you just read, though. <3