“Sit,”

“Good boy,”

Seongwoo can't help but stiffen a little in his seat amidst his studying in the university library. Over the pages of his thick textbook, he cautiously eyes two students a few tables in front of him.  The girl of the pair is smiling fondly at the boy now sitting down next to her. She begins brushing her fingers through his hair lovingly and the boy flushes a rosy red while his lips tremble against a pleased grin.

Having grown up in an all-human household and neighbourhood, Seongwoo wasn't accustomed to public displays of hybrid behaviour. His small town high school mostly kept their hybrid population at a comfortable and admiring arm’s length.  

University, though, was definitely a whole other ballpark.

Pairs of students walked around campus with their hands tightly interlaced or their arms possessively looped around each other all the time. Seongwoo had to remind himself not to stare when he first got to exploring the university. It was…interesting, watching how hybrids acted around their masters.

The more notable displays were the ones involving gift-givings, both in big and small ways. Seongwoo saw a good few cups of coffee before a lecture begins. He remembered a passionate embrace with one couple after a boy was gifted a golden bracelet. The physical affection in a hybrid-master relationship seemed excessive to Seongwoo, but he can see that it was always done willingly and eagerly on both sides.

The command-praise systems are what Seongwoo takes notice of the most, probably because it makes him the most uncomfortable to witness. It’s the way a set of words and tones can compel a hybrid to do whatever their master pleases that unsettles him. What’s more unsettling is the sheer power a praise has over a hybrid after a completed command. Seongwoo has witnessed enough expressions of pure bliss on numerous hybrids faces over the months to understand that it’s almost a need, a kind of drug, for them.

He learned to get on top of that part, no harm, no foul. But he’s uneasy about what happens when a command is fought or done incorrectly. One reprimand from a master can cause both physical and mental harm to a hybrid. Seongwoo has witnessed a few hybrids flinch violently, most against their wills, before their bodies droop in a sort of surrendered sorrow.

It’s in their nature, Seongwoo repeats to himself in an attempt to soothe his own self-conscience. He understands it logistically, and can deal viewing it day to day. But that doesn’t mean he wants to play any active part in it. His friends may coo and caw over the possibility of snagging their own devoted hybrid partner, like what’s depicted in all the romantic novels, but Seongwoo is just fine on the sidelines.

Having that kind of control, that kind of responsibility, over another living being is simply something Seongwoo doesn’t want.

 

 

 

 

---

 

 

 

 

 

Seongwoo’s first year goes by without much excitement. He acquires a few new friends via his university theatre club, surprisingly both human and hybrid. Seongwoo can fake a good smile and joke around his nerves and insecurities better than most, but Jisung easily saw right through all of it. He then proceeds to slam Seongwoo’s defences down with his outlandish stories and hilariously distorted facial expressions. It reminds Seongwoo that although hybrids are unknown to him, he has no reason to be wary around them. They coexist peacefully and blend easily into the rest of the population.

The only thing is that Jisung shines a little brighter than most and lives to be under the attention of others. His reason for not actively looking for his master is because he’s very much satisfied with his crowd of adoring fans laughing with him.

“Why do I have to settle with just one person right now?” Jisung sighs with the twist of a smirk, “I’m still young despite what you freshmen say!”

Seongwoo nods good-naturedly, “I suppose we do say you’re old a lot.” Jisung exaggerates his offence with a gaping mouth and a hand slapping across Seongwoo’s shoulder.

Seongwoo can’t imagine Jisung crumbling under a master’s failed command, but he’s come to know that praise, from master or stranger, is enough to bring a smile to anyone’s face.

Second year kicks Seongwoo right in the face though. His course work doubles and his hand cramps from writing so many analytical essays. He thought he left Shakespeare behind in high school but boy, was he wrong. All he wants to do is be a screenwriter, but it’s a bumpy road filled with typed out pages and pages of analytical bull on books he’ll burn before reading again. Despite the long nights and aching fingers, Seongwoo gets through it mostly unscratched.

It's the same year when a friend from the theatre group suddenly becomes a master, and he just looks…happier. His new shadow is a petite girl with beady eyes surrounded in the longest lashes. She whines and tugs at the guy’s shirt for his attention so much that Seongwoo wonders who the real master between the two is. It’s kind of funny to watch them interact. The girl has her master wrapped her pinky, yet they’re both smiling for miles on end.

Being a master isn’t at all bad, Seongwoo recognizes this more and more with every passing day, but that still didn’t mean he ever wanted to be one.

But the third year happened.

 

 

 

 

---

 

 

 

 

 

Hybrids make up about 10-15% of the population, a decent size which makes them exotic but not completely unattainable. So, unattached hybrids are somewhat popular by default on university campuses.

So, Seongwoo knows who Kang Daniel is as soon as they meet. The pink hair is a pretty good giveaway, but the snickering grin that peaks through so often just confirms it. Kang Daniel, dancer extraordinaire, the perfect mixture of a y alpha male while still somehow being a cute and giggly puppy. Kang Daniel, the most desirable hybrid up for grabs.

Seongwoo meets him in passing for a gig he volunteered to MC for. They shake hands briefly backstage through a quick second-hand introduction before Seongwoo is rushed onto the stage. Seongwoo smiles his most charming to the crowd of onlookers. It’s a lighthearted dance competition of sorts, so Seongwoo jokes around and keeps the mood informal and fun.

He shares the mic with participants right before they showcase their talents and tries to crack smiles onto their obvious nerves.

“Our next contestant hails all the way from Busan,” Seongwoo begins before the crowd gets noticeably louder, “ahh, I have a feeling you guys already know who I’m talking about,” and when a few shrilly screams confirm Seongwoo’s statement, he continues, “well, you heard them Kang Daniel, come on out,”

Daniel bounces across the stage, waving with both hands towards the crowd, a wide smile scrunching up as the screams increase before he skids to a stop right next to Seongwoo.

“Hi,” Daniel says all perky, eyebrows lifting for a spilt second before his smile somehow widens even more while his eye-smiles focus on Seongwoo’s unsuspecting and unprepared self.

“Ah,” Seongwoo mutters out drily into the mic, “your reputation certainly precedes you,”

“Huh?” Daniel’s confusion is caught by Seongwoo’s mic while his smile turns confused and his head tilts. Like he couldn’t get any more endearing.

Seongwoo rolls his eyes and, with flourish, moves the mic toward the crowd. The crowd ever so abidingly responds by breaking some sort of sound laws with their volume.

Abruptly, Seongwoo pulls the mic back and brings it to his lips, “yes, thank you, thank you,” he bows to different areas of the crowd quickly, “let’s hope the point has been made to Daniel here,”

Daniel is laughing behind one of his hands at that, looking to the crowd briefly before turning his full attention back to Seongwoo and although he can’t hear it, he can read wow stretching over Daniel’s lips. Damn unwarranted cuteness.       

“So, Daniel,” Seongwoo nods once with a small smile of his own, “what are you planning to show us today?”

“A dance—,”  he answers, nodding and maintaining eye contact with Seongwoo. Funny thing is that Seongwoo wasn’t quite fast enough to catch that on the mic, and it’s only right when the device is in front of Daniel’s face does the guy realize that the question posed was more for the viewer’s sake than Seongwoo’s, “oh, uh, a dance that’s fun and cool. I hope you can all enjoy watching it as much as I had making it,” He flashes one more toothy smile towards the crowd and then one more to Seongwoo for good measure.

“Fun and cool?” Seongwoo nods along, “like you are?” It’s a jab, and Seongwoo means well with it, he means well most the time too. But he always realizes it too late with hybrids and he can’t forget that Daniel is one of them.

Daniel does look a little shock for a second before his snickers erupt between his head shakes and it’s kind of unexpected.

“Ah, well,” Seongwoo looks to the side, his fake uncertainty obvious and overdone, “let’s see the fun and cool performance you’ve prepared today, am I right?” And the crowd goes wild again.

Daniel takes the cue and jogs over to the centre of the stage, but not before lifting a hand in a weird grateful wave to Seongwoo as he goes. Considerate, yes, yet so bizarre.

The music comes on and Daniel dances along with it. His movements are smooth with just enough sharpness to impress the crowd and Seongwoo alike. It’s sensual dance with moments of frenzied and desperate moves that are complex yet still pleasing to the eye. Daniel eyes the crowd appropriately with droopy and daring intensity. His lips in comparison twitch into mischievous little smirks, endearing in their own way, though it shows Daniel knows exactly what he’s doing to his audience. 

At the end of the show, Daniel is prized with first place to absolutely no one’s surprise.

Things continue to go according to plan until Seongwoo has to put the gold medal around Daniel’s neck. On an innocent impulse, a “good job,” is murmured as Seongwoo gets the medal past Daniel’s pink head of hair. After the words leave his mouth, Seongwoo can easily see a shiver and the hairs of the back of Daniel’s neck rise to attention. Luckily, Daniel doesn’t show any other reaction to the praise besides his eyes appearing wider when Seongwoo backs away quickly.

“T-thanks,” Daniel stumbles over his own words quietly, and then a grin is quickly stretched with his matching eye smiles, “yeah, thanks!”

Seongwoo glances to the side for a second to gather some bearing before he fakes a smile of his own and nods his head in reply.

They finally part ways and Seongwoo allows himself to let out a quiet curse backstage. He probably should have been a little more careful with his choice of words. Or maybe he shouldn’t read too much into it. Hybrids like praise, no matter the source. Saying good job was appropriate in that circumstance and Daniel was only a victim of his nature.

It’s fine.

Except it’s not because it’s halfway through the school year and Daniel was nothing but a ghost to Seongwoo prior to the competition, so why has Daniel decided to show up to the same random frat party as Seongwoo a few hours later?

It’s comical. The pink hair is like a flame for the moth-like university students. Men and women alike hover around Daniel, as he roars into laugher, slapping his knees for good measure. A freshman boy is pressed against him as Daniel elbow-jabs him continually while pointing to a student in the middle of a very dramatic story.

“Rare face I know, but Woojin Jr. got lost again,” Jisung pipes up, unfortunately noticing how Seongwoo was staring at the group, “Daniel helped him get here and was convinced to stick around, what a poor sop,”

Daniel on cue looks up and their eyes make contact. Seongwoo averts his gaze to Jisung quickly, who had raised an eyebrow. So Seongwoo promptly says, “shut up,” and takes a sip from his beer bottle, “like you don’t want to be him right now,”

Jisung makes a face showing his distaste, “no thanks, he can have his jail bait admirers,” Seongwoo unexpectedly laughs at that response and takes another swing at his beer.

Seongwoo makes his rounds around the frat, greeting people he knows and sharing the occasional shot with newly made friends. Networking was the excuse Seongwoo gave himself. Don’t burn any bridges yet to be built or whatever that saying is.

It’s a little over two hours since Seongwoo arrived and he’s already regretting not staying home. His stomach is unsettled and his mind is uncomfortably lingering between tipsy and drunk. He knew he shouldn’t have finished that last bottle of beer as he treks towards the kitchen of the frat house. Thankfully, it’s empty since most of the party-goers are more interested in the beer pong competition in the next room. Seongwoo isn’t quite sure what he’s looking for as he opens the cupboards but he eventually finds himself facing some glasses and decided that water was probably a wise turn of action.

“Ah,” echoes behind Seongwoo’s back as he reaches for a large cup with a cartoon character on it. In the process of looking over his shoulder, Seongwoo’s hand knocks the cup over and down it falls. It hits the ground, making Seongwoo even more thankful for reaching for a plastic cup, and it rolls until it meets an obstacle. An obstacle by the name of Kang Daniel, of course.

Daniel hastily bends down and picks the cup up, looking between the cup and Seongwoo a few times, “uh, are you getting some water? I mean—” Daniel pauses, looking at Seongwoo with wide eyes and then motions towards the fridge, “let me get you—”

In a matter of seconds and some fumbling on Daniel’s end, Seongwoo is handed a cup of water, with ice.

“Uh,” Seongwoo looks down into the cup before raising an eyebrow and nodding his head slowly, “thanks…you didn’t really have to get it for me though?” Because Seongwoo is not that drunk.

“No, no,” Daniel waved a hand a little awkwardly, “it’s the least I could do,” Daniel must have caught Seongwoo’s confused expression because he’s quick to add, “since you MC’d so well today, a bunch of the guys were saying how they’re not used to seeing the audience go so wild,”  

Seongwoo takes a tentative sip, and his throat is finally soothed from past burning shots thanks to the coolness, “I didn’t do much really,” Seongwoo mumbles, feeling a little awkward at the misplaced praise, “you were the ones that did all the work, so you only have yourselves to thank,”

Daniel shakes his head quickly, “but you—”

“Ehhh,” Seongwoo cuts him easily, “I said a few words while you danced a number that had soaked, so your humbleness is no longer needed here,”

Daniel noticeably flushes and scratches the back of his neck, “but—“

“No buts,” Seongwoo sighs, looking down into his cup again, “you’re a great dancer, get over it,”

“You think so?”

“Huh?” Seongwoo looks up, squinting his blurring eyes a little and notices the hand scratching the back of Daniel’s neck has frozen and Daniel’s eyes has lost all playfulness. That’s when it hits Seongwoo. A direct praise in a private setting. Oh darn?

“You won the competition,” Seongwoo averts smoothly enough, not able to meet Daniel’s eyes again, “that should be answer enough,”

Thankfully, Daniel doesn’t push. An uncomfortable silence fills the room, and Seongwoo figures he should like…flee or something. Instead, he does what he does best and opens his big mouth, “you here for something? Water?”

In a snap, realization straightens Daniel’s spine right up and he takes a quick breath in, “right! There’s this one guy in an upstairs bathroom,” he makes a face that tells Seongwoo all he needed to know, so Seongwoo moves to the cupboard again and grab another plastic cup.

“Not sure why you feel the need to take care of him,” Seongwoo hands the cup directly to Daniel, “but good luck with that,”

From there, Seongwoo walks off coolly, at least he sure hopes it looked that way.

 

 

 

 

---

 

 

 

 

 

It’s the middle of midterm season and Seongwoo is about ready to raise his white flag and surrender. He’s thinking he doesn’t need a degree after all. He’ll just live with his parents, collect his inheritance and die young. It’s a solid life plan, he swears. Except if he actually explained that to his parents, only one part of his plan would come to fruition and, hint, it doesn’t involve any inheritance.

So, Seongwoo is waiting in line at the library café like the rest of his nearly dead peers. His mind and body are putting around on the last bits of his morning coffee and he definitely needs another caffeine fix to continue the rest of the day.

So, it feels like the gates of heaven open up and graces him with the face of an overworked cashier who looks just as done as Seongwoo feels. With the largest smile he can muster, he orders the biggest Americano with an extra shot of espresso and pulls out his wallet from his back pocket. The cashier punches a few buttons and tells Seongwoo the total without so much as moving a facial muscle beside their lips. Impressive.

The emptiness of his wallet on the other hand, not so impressive.

Seongwoo opens and closes his wallet a few times, hoping the bills he thought were there would appear, but they don’t. Seongwoo knew he left his credit card on his desk back at his apartment because he ordered something online the night previous, and this is a bit not good.

Alas, a beacon in the form of the back of a pink head of hair appears a few meters away. Driven by a caffeine-less craze, Seongwoo yelps out, “Kang Daniel!” And immediately regrets the last few seconds of his life. Daniel’s head straightens up and whips around in Seongwoo’s direction.

“Sir, I need your payment,” the cashier drones in their monotone way.

“Yes, I know that,” Seongwoo waves a beckoning and frantic hand to Daniel, whose eyes widens and nearly stumbles in his haste to get to Seongwoo.

“What’s—“ Daniel starts but Seongwoo places a hand on his chest to stop him.

“Listen, I’m really sorry to ask this since I barely know you and all that, but can you spare me—” and Seongwoo looks to the cashier.

“…$2.45,”

“—$2.45, and my GPA and I will be eternally grateful,”

“So will the people behind him,” someone in line mutters and Seongwoo flips the bird in that someone’s vague direction without looking.

Daniel looks between the cashier, Seongwoo and Seongwoo’s hand a few times before he scrambling and stuttering, “y-yeah sure, just a second!” And Daniel pulls out his own wallet and pays without hesitation. Another minute and Seongwoo has an Americano in his hand and a Kang Daniel awkwardly standing next to him in the university quad.

“Thanks again, by the way,” Seongwoo says into the air, “and sorry, for dragging you away from whatever you were doing,”

Daniel shakes his head, “No, it’s okay. I’m on a break between classes right now anyways. And don’t take this the wrong way, but it looked like you really needed that coffee,”

Seongwoo laughs under his breath, knowing the comment was more than true. Daniel, on the other hand, looks as perky as ever which Seongwoo immediately envies, “and what’s got you looking like a spring chicken?”

Daniel’s little smile drops at that, and his eyes swerve to the side with confusion, “huh…” he murmurs, “I’m…not sure really, must be because we’re having nice weather,” and then the small smile is back along with his eyes meeting with Seongwoo’s.

Seongwoo can agree with that, liking how he can get away with wearing only a sweater outside, and he was about to vocalize this thought when Daniel’s phone blares a loud tune.

“Ah, sorry,” Daniel’s face drops that much more after looking to the caller ID and picks up the call while politely turning away from Seongwoo. Seongwoo can’t really make much of the conversation besides the fact that the caller is very loud and Daniel is looking more apologetic by the second. The call ends and Seongwoo can practically see the puppy ears droop with guilt.

“I, I’m sorry, but I have to head out and meet someone now,”  

Seongwoo crosses his arms and eyes Daniel critically before smirking, “you weren’t just between classes, were you?”

Daniel rightfully doesn’t choose to say anything and just looks bashful with a shoulder shrug. Seongwoo can’t help the smile and little laugh that comes out of him, just thinking how hard it must be to dislike the guy.

“Thanks again,” Seongwoo tries to make his words sound as sincere as he feels, “I’ll pay you back next time I see you, I really appreciate what you did,” with that, Seongwoo’s coffee free hand naturally reaches out and squeezes one of Daniel’s shoulder, like he’s his father or something.

Daniel certainly doesn’t seem to mind because his smile gets a hair bigger and his cheeks are a little more red. His eyes turns to the ground by his feet, “yeah, next time sounds good,” It’s so soft, in comparison to Daniel’s usually raspy tone. They sort of just stand there, Seongwoo still with his hand on Daniel’s shoulder. When it drops, Daniel sighs just a little bit before bidding his goodbyes and walking away. Seongwoo takes another swing of his Americano and shakes his head in exasperation as he heads his own way.

 

 

 

 

---

 

 

 

 

 

Now, Seongwoo may not be a Kang Daniel, but he has managed to acquire his own admirers during his time at university. For the most part, they only remain as such and Seongwoo is more than happy about it. However, a graduate student in his department was adamant about introducing him to an interested party. Seongwoo can’t do much to refuse, since he respected and liked the senior. One date, the senior had promised, and then Seongwoo could go from there.

About thirty minutes into said date and Seongwoo wonders when the “go from there” part can start, because everything that falls out of the girl’s mouth is garbage.

She’s a high class goddess, hair perfectly pristine and hands cleanly manicured. Her bag is an expensive name brand, and her heels are intimidatingly sharp looking stilettos. She has all the makings to be a kdrama villainous mother-in-law.

Now, don’t get Seongwoo wrong, he can look past the physical. What he can't ignore is how the witch treats the cashier and the wait staff at the coffee shop they decided to meet at.

It starts pleasant enough. Seongwoo feels only a little uncomfortable, since he only came in regular jeans and a navy button up shirt next to her glitz and glam attire. She didn’t seem to mind though because her smile is just as glittery and bright as her jewelry when she greets him. When they make it to the counter to order, the hits the fan. First, she curses the cashier out for not having a particular item on the menu. Second, she demands the obviously busy busboy to clean a table near a window that had one coffee cup on it. Once completely wiped down, she was finally sits down and the busboy passed Seongwoo with pity in his eyes. Third, she talks about herself all.the.time.  Seongwoo was very tempted to talk about how he survived off of ramen breakfast, lunch and dinner for a week when he misplaced his birthday money at the beginning of the year.

Despite how wonderful it would be to see the horror on her face, Seongwoo sees something even better. The door of the coffee shop rings as it opens and in comes Daniel with his bubblegum hair. His hair is unusually wet and his cheeks are more rosy than usual. Seongwoo watches as Daniel pulls his earphones out of his ears and makes his way over to the counter when Seongwoo realizes it. An escape.

“Ex-excuse me, I’ll be right back!” Seongwoo stutters out as he quickly scrambles out of his chair, flashing a quick smile to the witch who is appropriately startled. Seongwoo races over to Daniel who is about to reach into his back pocket when Seongwoo yelps, “Daniel!”  And his arm swings around Daniel’s (rather board) shoulders, “I got this, how much is his order?” Seongwoo asks the bewildered cashier who replies back slowly through their confusion.

“Uh,” Daniel lets out, eyeing Seongwoo and his arm after Seongwoo pays and leaves a generous tip, “hello?”

“Please help me,” Seongwoo hisses lowly through a fake smile, “spare me ten, no, five minutes,”

Daniel’s order is called and Seongwoo quickly reaches for it before Daniel can and gives him his most pitiful look yet.

“Okay…?” Daniel replies, tilting his head to show his confusion. A real smile peeks through Seongwoo’s fake one and a sigh of relief leaves him.

“Thank god,” Seongwoo whispers and hands the hostage caramel latte over, “just, follow my lead,” and Seongwoo puts a hand behind Daniel’s back and leads him to the witch.

“Jiyeon,” Seongwoo calls out and breaks the witch’s attention from her hot pink phone, “this is Kang Daniel, an old friend of mine,”

Daniel nods his head in greeting, giving his classic and charming bunny grin. Jiyeon, when she decides to look up from her phone, proceeds to gap and drop her phone onto the table.

“Daniel?” She says, almost in disbelief, “Seongwoo…you never mentioned you were friends with Daniel,”

“Uh, it never came up?” Seongwoo replies, thinking how the scope of Daniel’s popularity was no joke, “well, we better—”

“Please sit, both of you,” Jiyeon raises her hand with her invite.

Daniel, the fool, actually looks like he’s about to accept so Seongwoo quickly yelps out, “Don’t sit,” causing Daniel’s body to shudder into a full stop. Seongwoo ignores Daniel’s wide eyes and quirks a large smile, “you see, as much of a pleasure this has been, Daniel and I have so much to catch up on, we barely see each other these days, right?”

Daniel, who had risen back to a stiff and upright position, only stares at Seongwoo blankly.

Seongwoo awkwardly laughs, “ah, poor guy is a little shy in front of a beauty such as yourself,” Seongwoo turns to Daniel and widen his own eyes with a wordless plea, “why don’t you say something, Daniel?”

“Uh, sorry?” Daniel supplies, eyes darting between Jiyeon and Seongwoo cautiously. Seongwoo smiles and nods approvingly at that and proceeds to link arms with Daniel like the good old comrades they are pretending to be.

“Yes, we’re both so sorry to cut this meeting short, please do get home safely,” and Seongwoo drags Daniel away from the witch and out of the coffee shop. He continues a quick pace until they’re a few blocks away and then stops altogether. A second goes by and then another before Daniel bursts into a booming laughter, complete with snorts and a cute scrunched up nose.

“Do I even want to know what that was about?” Daniel asks once his laughter dies down and once Seongwoo isn’t feeling as mortified.

“Not really,” Seongwoo replies drily, “a word of advice though, don’t let your senior set you up, no matter their good intentions,” Seongwoo feels a tug from the arm he still has linked with Daniel and looks to Daniel in question.

All traces of humour has left Daniel’s face and his gaze is unusually sharp, “you…were on a date?”

Seongwoo, for whatever reason, felt a little offended at Daniel’s tone, “What, I can go on dates too,” Seongwoo replies, “I mean, I may not have the best dance moves out there like you but—”

“That’s not what I meant,” Daniel quickly rushes in, looking almost annoyed, “I just heard…you aren’t interested in dating hybrids?”

Seongwoo riles his head back at the unexpected statement, “where the hell did you hear that? What does that even...wait, are you saying that girl was a hybrid?”

Daniel sighs and avoids Seongwoo gaze as he nods. They’ve now begin to take slow steps forward on the sidewalk they were on, Seongwoo supposes they’re both heading towards campus.

“B-but she kept bragging about her car and big house,” Seongwoo stutters out in disbelief, “my senior didn’t say anything about her being one and she’s really not like any hybrid I’ve met before,”

Daniel’s expression only gets more sour, “hybrids like to provide for their masters too, you know. What did you say when she mentioned those things?”

“Nothing too big, just the usual ‘ah, how nice’ sort of thing?” Seongwoo found himself hesitantly replying, feeling but not really understanding Daniel’s frustration.

“So, you encouraged her to continue sharing what she could offer you then? Because that’s how hybrids would interpret that,”

Damn, Seongwoo never thought of it that way.

“I guess…I just don’t know much about hybrids,” Seongwoo adds weakly, frowning, “sorry?”

Daniel sighs while darting his eyes to his feet as they continue walking, “not knowing isn’t something to be sorry about anyways,” there’s a small pause and Seongwoo looks over to see Daniel’s expressions twitching as if he’s at war with himself.

“What?” Seongwoo nudges with his linked arm. Daniel’s eyes flash towards Seongwoo, discomfort and uncertainly evident as his shoulders broaden.

“I…is that why you don’t date hybrids? Because you don’t know much about them?”

The scoff that erupts out of Seongwoo is fast and unexpected, which causes Daniel to tense up even more and make Seongwoo feel like a piece of , “sorry, I was just thinking…how the hell did that rumour start?” 

“So, it’s not true then?” And like magic, Daniel’s posture relaxes and Seongwoo can almost see imaginary puppy ears perk.

Seongwoo smiles something small at the sight but it drops pretty quick as Daniel’s questions settles, “It’s more…I don’t know if I can be a master,”

“W-what?” Daniel stops their walk abruptly but continues his sputtering, “b-but why? Why not?”

The imaginary ears are drooping again and Daniel is looking almost helpless. Seongwoo doesn’t really understand and his eyebrows knit together in his confusion, “I just, I know hybrids, like you, aren’t that different from everyone else. But, I…the responsibility masters have over hybrids, it’s intimidating. I’m worried I won’t give a hybrid what they need, or that I might accidentally manipulate them, all rolled together with the fact I know so little about them, it seems risky,”

Daniel looks to be at war with himself again, gazing to his feet and then to the sky as he collects his words. His jaw sets stubbornly just before he meets Seongwoo’s stare, “did you ever think that, maybe, you being worried about those things would make you a better master than most?”

The tone Daniel delivers his reply is blunt with its pressure, an unexpected reprimand that Seongwoo can practically taste. Seongwoo can feel his defences rising automatically and then he blurts out, “isn’t being a master something that comes naturally anyways? Would you even want a master like me?”

As soon as the words hit, Seongwoo can visibly see the red making its way up Daniel’s neck and face as his eyes bulge in shock. Seongwoo wants nothing but the last words out of his mouth to have never left it. He may not know what was so wrong about what he said, but it’s bad enough that Daniel violently rips his linked arm away from Seongwoo and shuffles away.

“I…I forgot something at my, I mean the studio I practice at,” Daniel says over his shoulder, ing a thumb towards the way they came as Seongwoo looks on, “see you at school,” is muttered just before Daniel rushes off and becomes a speck in the distance.

 Well, .

 

 

 

 

---

 

 

 

 

 

The next day, Seongwoo has a scheduled platonic lunch date with Jisung and an underclassmen, Park Woojin Sr. Luckily both of them are hybrids and after poking their brains a bit, maybe Seongwoo will understand whatever he did that pissed off Daniel so much.

They’re halfway through their lunches when Seongwoo casually mentions, “hey, is it too personal to ask about hybrid’s master preferences?”

There’s an awkward pause between them as Jisung and Woojin exchange a glance with each other before turning to Seongwoo again.

“Uh, what?” Woojin tries asking, clearly taken aback.

“Yeah,” Jisung adds, “wanna tell us where did that come from?”

“I’m asking for a—”

“If you say you’re asking for a friend, I will slit your throat,” Jisung cuts him off, deadpanned, while lifting one metal chopstick.

“Because you don’t have any friends, aside from us,” Woojin adds before taking a sip of his soda.

Well, rude.

“Okay, let’s say, and I mean this hypothetically, I asked a hybrid if they would want me as a master, would they get mad?”

Another pause and shared glance goes between Jisung and Woojin before they both snort and shake their heads.

“Okay,” Jisung starts, straightening up on his lunch bench, “everything about that sentence needs explaining,”

“And we mean everything,” Woojin knits his fingers together in front of him on the table and broadens his brow, “like since when have you been interested in whether a hybrid would want you as their master—”

“Who is this hybrid anyways—”

“And what exactly did your big mouth say to piss them off?”

Seongwoo finds himself scratching the back of his neck awkwardly as he replies, “I should have known not to ask you two,”

“Like you know any other hybrids,” Woojin snorts again.

Seongwoo finally sighs and looks between them, “fine, for the sake of this hybrid’s privacy, they will go unnamed—”

“But—”

“No buts,” Seongwoo cuts off, pointing to Jisung, “Anyways…I may have insinuated that I would have been a bad master to a hybrid--”

“What—”

“And then proceeded to ask this unnamed hybrid whether they would want me as their master,” Seongwoo finishes with a flourished arm movement as he leans back.

“And then?” Jisung adds, waving a beckoning hand, “what did this unnamed hybrid have to say that?”

“Nothing really, they just got really red and ran off, they were kind of frustrated to begin with, so I figured it was the last straw…?”

“But why were they frustrated in the first place?” Woojin asked, confusion showing as he tilts his head, “I know some hybrids can be a little sensitive about master talk, especially when they’re unattached, but getting angry with you seems a little extreme,” Jisung nods back with his agreement as they continue to stare at Seongwoo, imploring for more information.

“I guess it was because of how I acted with another hybrid?” Seongwoo replies hesitantly, recalling how Daniel chastised his carelessness with the witch/kdrama villain, “he was kind of scolding me?”

“So the hybrid’s a he!” Jisung exclaims pointing a finger with a smirk.

“Eh, that still doesn’t give us much to go on,” Woojin whines, smacking Jisung’s finger down, “but, knowing you and your lack-of-filter, you probably deserved whatever this guy dished you. So, there’s only one thing left for you to do,”

Jisung and Woojin look to each other and chorused, “apologize,”

“And do it quick, if this hybrid considers you a friend, his anger is probably still simmering,”

From there, Seongwoo is promptly ignored and shooed. Seongwoo huffs out his own frustration as he picks up his lunch tray and disposes of it accordingly. One more look over his shoulder and Jisung along with Woojin continue their shooing hand motions in unison.

Now, Seongwoo has absolutely no idea where Daniel could even be at that time a day. He doesn’t have any way to contact him and doesn’t even know who are their mutual friends are either, if they have any. So, he whips his phone out and does some good old detective work.

Luckily for him, Daniel has some very active social media profiles. His instagram is full of cute pictures of cats and some goofy selfies showcasing his bunny front teeth. From there, Seongwoo finds the jackpot, Daniel’s twitter. He checks the latest tweets and groans over how vague they are or the amount of cat videos he has to scroll past (okay, he may have watched some). Finally, Seongwoo does find out is that Daniel is a performing arts major via a tweet reply of a follower. So, Seongwoo hikes his bag more comfortably on his shoulder and makes his way over to the performing arts building to try his luck.

It’s a short walk to the front of the performing arts building where a large staircase leads to its main entrance. Seongwoo considers some options before he decides to park his onto one of the steps and starts keeping an eye out for a pink head. It’s nearing the end of a general lunch time, so he figures Daniel would be either leaving or entering the building soon.

Seongwoo is about five songs into his recently added playlist when he thankfully sees the pink head of hair he was waiting for. Daniel is walking towards the building, keeping to himself with his own earphones in. Seongwoo stands up after a moment of hesitance and just kind of… stares at Daniel. It doesn’t take long for Daniel to notice him in the flurry of moving students. Their eyes connect and Daniel’s pace falters slightly as his eyes widen in surprise. His face then tightens with uncertainty as he gets closer to the building. Seongwoo bites his bottom lip nervously and nods in greeting. When Daniel nods something back, Seongwoo takes it as a go-ahead to approach.

“Hey,” he sighs out, almost cautiously when Daniel and him meet and remove their respected earphones.

“Hi,” Daniel replies, eyes skirting at the people around them. There’s an awkward moment of silence and just as Seongwoo opens his mouth, Daniel cuts him off with, “I’m sorry!” And that effectively derails Seongwoo’s train of thought, “I’m sorry for leaving you like that, I know it was sudden and I just, sorry for being weird,”

“What are you talking about?” Seongwoo hurriedly replies, “I should be the one apologizing, I was the one who made you uncomfortable... and I’m sorry about that,” his body slumps with something like resignation and helplessness at Daniel’s unexpected words. Shouldn’t Daniel still be angry with him?

There’s a moment of silence and then Daniel bursts into laughter, “man, what the heck?” He says between his laughter, “are we both apologizing over nothing then?”

“What?” Seongwoo asks, incredulous over Daniel’s sense of humour, “weren’t you upset though?”

Daniel shrugs and a small smile says, “maybe a little, but it was unintentional and you can’t help what you don’t know,” which is a fine and nice reply, but Daniel gives Seongwoo a meaningful look at the last part that he doesn’t quite understand.  

“I guess,” Seongwoo murmurs, unsure with a raised eyebrow, “are you—”

“Hey, you Kang Daniel?” someone hisses from behind Seongwoo. The venom behind the tone surprises Seongwoo to say the least, because he didn’t know anyone could address Daniel, Mr. Nice Guy, like that.

“Yes?” Daniel replies, nodding his head while sharing a glance with Seongwoo. The guy behind Seongwoo is pretty big and looking like he’s running a little hot on his anger.

“Wanna tell me what the hell you were doing with my girlfriend?”

The air around them suddenly grows stale and Daniel’s jaw drops while his eyebrows meet, “uh, I’m sorry but who—”

“Oh, you know who,” the guy hisses again, taking a step forward, “she keep going on about you, ‘oh, be more like Daniel, Daniel would do this, Daniel would do that’, and I’m ing tired of it, so you better start leaving her the alone,”

Daniel only looks more confused, “I really…don’t know who you’re talking about?”

“Oh,” the guy snorts, “so you’re telling me you have a few on the go then? Should have known—”

“Wooow,” Seongwoo says loudly, catching the guy’s attention as Seongwoo steps more directly in front of Daniel, “I’d never thought I’d meet a guy like you in person,” 

“What? Who the —”

Seongwoo can feel Daniel gripping his forearm and pulling lightly as he whispers his protests, but that.

“I never thought I’d meet that guy from those C-rated movies, the ones who are so insecure in their relationships that they blame others when they should look at their own shortcomings. You know what I mean?”

Both the guy and Daniel choke on their surprise, but Seongwoo keeps his face passive, even when the guy snaps back angrier than before.

“Just who the do you think you are?” the guy spits while getting closer, but Seongwoo coolly takes a step back while his face distorts into disgust.

“Okay, gross. Ever heard of say it, don’t spray it?” Seongwoo sasses on back, and he can feel Daniel tugging on his arm even more insistently.

“Come on,” Daniel murmurs, “let’s just go,”

“No,” Seongwoo says firmly and sharpens his gaze for a moment on Daniel, “we’re staying right here,”

Daniel stiffens a little but finally drops his hand with worry across his face as he looks to the angry guy.

“Okay,” Seongwoo turns back, “here’s how this is gonna work: first, you’re going to leave and never approach Daniel again. Second, you’re going to go back to your girlfriend and tell her that you, or any other guy, will never be Daniel and if she can’t accept that, that’s her and your problem and not Daniel’s, capiche?”

“But that er—” the guy points to Daniel but Seongwoo quickly cuts him off.

“—is a nice guy who would give up his left kidney if you asked, and most importantly has no idea who your girlfriend is and probably never even met her, so shoo,” and Seongwoo waves his hand in a shooing movement, “go save or end your relationship the responsible way,”    

The guy’s brows come together even more while his mouth gaps open and close for a quick second before he huffs, turns, and leaves in a hurry.

“Holy ,” Daniel whispers from behind Seongwoo.

“Holy is right,” Seongwoo groans back and feels his legs weaken. He allows his body fall back and he rests his back against Daniel’s chest as a sigh escapes him, “are angry boyfriends potential hazards to every performing arts major or something?”

“Not really,” Daniel mumbles next to Seongwoo’s ear, reminding Seongwoo just how close they were. So, Seongwoo attempts to smoothly draw away.

“Sorry,” he finds himself murmuring back anyways, “was getting over the fact I almost had the daylights punched out of me,” and he turns to face Daniel straight on and flashes a convincing smile.

Daniel, on the other hand, looks stormy, “what?” he says, “that—I would have never let that guy even touch you,”

Seongwoo snorts, “you? Violence? I don’t think—”

“I would have done what needed to be done,” Daniel insists, serious as he takes a step into Seongwoo’s space.

There’s a small moment of silence as Seongwoo looks into Daniel’s heated gaze as they search his. Seongwoo breaks the eye contact awkwardly by coughing into his shoulder, and patting a hand on Daniel’s shoulder, “okay, thanks, I always wanted my own pink haired knight in shining armour,”

Daniel finally cracks a smile at that and the good old bashful Daniel is back in a blink, “ehhh, not sure where I’ll get the armour, but I do have pink hair,”

“Guess you’ll have to do then,” Seongwoo teases back and the rest of the interaction becomes a blur until they part ways, both with a newly acquired phone contact on their respected hand phones.  

 

 

 

 

---

 

 

 

 

 

It’s a Thursday and that means Seongwoo has a day off. So, Seongwoo is appropriately using this time to eat corn chips in his comfiest sweats, watching a mind-numbing rom-com on the tablet in his lap. Life is good.

That is, it was until his roommate arrives back from his classes and ruins the day with his mere presence.

“Did anyone tell you your spirit animal is probably a sloth?” Jaehwan mutters as he drops his school bag next to the couch and plops down next to Seongwoo, “never mind, yours is probably a peacock, you like attention too much,”

“ you very much,” Seongwoo chirps back through his corn chips-filled mouth, “don’t be jealous because I have better hair than you, you hyena,”

“Speaking of spirit animals,” Jaehwan turns to Seongwoo and snatches his tablet away, but before Seongwoo can gasp out and throw curses, Jaehwan smirks something dangerous, “I heard you acquired a puppy of your own,”

“What are you—“ Seongwoo starts and easily snatches the tablet back because Jaehwan is a weakling, but then it hits Seongwoo who Jaehwan might be talking about, “Wait, you talking about Daniel, Kang Daniel?”

“Uh, yes, unless you have another hybrid hanging around that I don’t know about,” Jaehwan nonchalantly reaches over and grabs a handful of corn chips while Seongwoo is distracted by Jaehwan’s insinuation.

“Just so this is very clear, Daniel and I are friends and friends only,”  Seongwoo firmly glares at Jaehwan as he chops down on his corn chips, “we just happen to get on well and meet each other at events often,”

Like, one time, Seongwoo hinted that he was MCing at a charity BINGO event a few weekends back, and behold, there was Daniel sitting near the front of the stage with three bingo sheets and a hot pink bingo dabber. It wasn’t long before Daniel was surrounded by fond auntie-types as Seongwoo calls out the numbers with charm. Daniel didn’t win anything, but a woman gave him a small tea set that was her second prize of the night. A few days later and Daniel insisted Seongwoo had to visit his apartment so he could serve him tea using it.

Or, recently, Daniel asked Seongwoo to show up to his latest showcase. It wasn’t really out of the way for Seongwoo to go, so he went. Through some connections, Seongwoo greets and offers his encouragement to Daniel backstage before he’s set to go on. Daniel gets all bashful as he does until it’s crunch time. Daniel then demands that Seongwoo not be backstage and to head to where the rest of audience sits, so Seongwoo can ‘enjoy the performance from the best angle’. Seongwoo rolls his eyes but does as he’s told. As much as it pains him to admit it, Seongwoo really does get a better view when Daniel flashes his abs nonchalantly and moves his cute yet y self across the stage impressively. They meet afterward and Seongwoo treats him to ramen as a reward for coming in first place again. What? Seongwoo isn’t made of money. 

It’s really nothing.

At least until Jisung and later Woojin Sr asks if something is going on with Daniel.

Seongwoo throws his arms up in exasperation just as the bartender at the school pub places his pint in front of him. Woojin’s eyes widen and his hands go up defensively, “sorry man, just asking,”

“Well, you’re the third to ask and I just don’t get it,” Seongwoo mutters and takes a sip of his pint, “Daniel and I hang out, big deal,”

“Dude,” Woojin replies while shaking his head, “sorry to say, but it’s a big deal because it’s Daniel,”

“So what it’s Daniel?” Seongwoo shoots back, “he’s just like everyone else,”

“Yeah, you know that, I know that, but a lot of others don’t and will imagine whatever they want about him since, as far as they know, he is an attractive and unattached hybrid in the peak of his searching season,”

“ that,” Seongwoo murmurs weakly and gulps down another bit of his pint.

“Have you thought about it though?” Woojin asks lowly after a few moments, eyes curious.

“Thought about what?” Seongwoo sighs, at the condensation building on his glass.

“Maybe…being Daniel’s master?”

And that’s when Seongwoo chokes unattractively on his own spit. He turns his wide-eye stare to Woojin but Woojin’s face is stone cold without hints of humour Seongwoo hoped to see.

“Well, no,” Seongwoo stresses, “Can’t Daniel have friendships with people who don’t have ulterior motives?”

“Of course, but that’s not really what I’m asking,” Woojin pointedly raises a brow.

“What are you asking then?” Seongwoo comes short of wailing and takes another sip of his beer, hoping the alcohol will make the conversation easier.

“Come on,” Woojin sighs right back, “What you would do if Daniel asked you to be his master?”

Seongwoo’s memory shows flashes of a frustrated Daniel with a street background right before he storms off. An uneasy feeling swells in his stomach inexplicably right then, “he won’t ask,”

“And why not?” Woojin presses, leaning in closer.

“Because I may have told him that I wouldn’t be a good master,” Seongwoo admits and then promptly blames the honesty on the alcohol, that good for nothing alcohol.

Woojin riles back a little at the response, baffled, “wait, what? Did he already ask you or—”

“No no,” Seongwoo is quick to cut in, waving a hand nonchalantly, “he asked if it was true I didn’t date hybrids and well, we ended up there,”

Woojin rubs his brow, looking a little like Daniel did in his frustration before concentrating back on Seongwoo, “okay, so aside from confirming Daniel was the hybrid you asked Jisung and I about earlier and all that stupid self-worth you’re sprouting, you’re still avoiding the damn question,” Seongwoo looks at Woojin after a moment of silence and Woojin throws his arms in the air, “ing, Seongwoo, in the event Daniel asks you to be his master, what do you do?”

“I don’t ing know, okay?” Seongwoo nearly booms, frustration now colouring his own mood. He finishes his beer and smacks it on the counter along with some change, “I gotta go,” he mutters while gathering his things.

A hand grips at his arm right before he leaves and Seongwoo decides to indulge Woojin for one more moment, “Seongwoo,” Woojin says lowly, “stop avoiding and think about it.”

Seongwoo is only let go when he offers a weak nod and an awkward second goes by before Seongwoo finally turns and leaves.

Woojin didn’t need to leave those departing words with Seongwoo because what-if scenarios are all that fill Seongwoo’s mind as he walks away from the pub. It’s too easy, imagining different grins Daniel would show if he asked Seongwoo to be his master. Would his cheeks and neck flush redder than when he was frustrated with Seongwoo? Would he corner Seongwoo and give him those hard yet sincere eyes like he always does when he means what he says? Most importantly, what would Seongwoo say back? What would he do?

That’s when imagining isn’t so easy. Seongwoo can daydream an asking Daniel in a million different circumstances but he can’t see anything past that. Seongwoo’s hesitancy has him shaken. Once in the comforts of his bed, Seongwoo thinks of accepting the offer. And then that’s all. He can’t see himself cooing over Daniel any more than he already does, truth be told it’s a decent amount but that boy needs to stop being so humble. He can’t see himself firing out demands for Daniel to follow, mostly because he knows Daniel isn’t a pushover and can fire back when necessary. Seongwoo, unfortunately, can imagine a Daniel wincing back harshly and drawing too far into himself.

Seongwoo…Seongwoo never wants to see that Daniel come to reality. So, here he is, back to square one.

 

 

 

 

---

 

 

 

 

 

Next time Seongwoo sees Daniel, things are actually okay. Seongwoo is a master of compartmentalizing when he needs to be and he’s 100% actively using said skill as soon as he comes within close distance of Daniel.

Daniel is giving Seongwoo his usual goofy grin while lifting a plastic bag with what Seongwoo knows to be beautiful, beautiful fried chicken from the shop a few streets away from the university.

“God bless you,” Seongwoo grins brightly, making grabby hands at the plastic bag, “my lunch time saviour,”

Daniel hands the bag over willingly while laughing at Seongwoo eagerly peeking into the bag, “hello to you too,” Daniel motions over his shoulder with his head before smirking, “come on, I saw an empty picnic table over there worthy of your worshipping,”

Seongwoo nods sharply, “lead us on our pilgrimage, kind sir,” and Daniel laughs again before leading them away.

They make small talk on their trek and Seongwoo can see the empty picnic table in sight when a small voice comes from behind them.

“Kang Daniel?” asks a shaky voice that Seongwoo totally does not startle at.

The voice belongs to a remarkably attractive young man, cute and compact in his size and facial features. His eyes are shining with determination but his hands grip his bag strap so tightly his knuckles are coloured white.

“Yes?” Daniel replies, turning to fully face the boy like the polite guy he is.

“Can I…have a word?” the boy switches his gaze to Seongwoo for only a moment, but Seongwoo can see that flicker of something upsetting when the boy looks to him.

Daniel mouth gapes with uncertainty, looking between Seongwoo and the bag of chicken for something, so Seongwoo throws Daniel the bone.

“I’ll head to the table, take your time,” Seongwoo lifts the bag, nods his head to the boy with a small smile and walks away with what he hopes to be an even pace.

The picnic table is angled in such a way that Seongwoo can’t help but see Daniel and the boy in the corner of his eye. Seongwoo tries to look occupied by his phone as he waits, but he can’t help but watch the interaction between the two.

The boy had turned various shades of pink, but Seongwoo can see he’s looking at Daniel with a hard gaze and it doesn’t appear like he’s stuttering. Daniel, on the other hand, looks like he’s been hit with something as his body sways backwards while still having his feet planted. There’s the telltale signs of shock and Daniel is doing that nervous back of the neck scratching thing he does. He’s also appears to be stuttering, badly. The boy takes a step forward into Daniel’s space and Seongwoo feels his hackles rising until Daniel takes a step back. He bows his head deeply and then turns away and towards Seongwoo. Seongwoo is quick to tap at his phone and scroll down uh….instagram, once he recognizes the interface.

“Sorry for the wait,” Daniel sighs as he plops down and then gets busy opening the plastic bag.

“It’s nothing,” Seongwoo replies softly, watching as Daniel opens the box of chicken, places napkins and Seongwoo’s favourite soda open in front of him, “what was that about?” he, of course, blurts out.

“Huh?” Daniel looks up for a second, “oh, it’s nothing,”

Seongwoo begs to ing differ.  

“Didn’t look like nothing,”

Daniel takes a bite of a chicken wing and sees that Seongwoo hadn’t reached for his own piece, so he places a drumstick down on a napkin for Seongwoo.

“You were watching?” Daniel teases, obviously trying to brighten the mood but Seongwoo’s mood can’t manage to rise to it.

“Yeah,” he admits, looking down at the innocent piece of chicken on the napkin, “I was curious,”

“Eat up,” Daniel replies gently, dismissing Seongwoo’s cue but Seongwoo doesn’t want to let up.

“What did he want?” Seongwoo tries again, looking up to Daniel whose eyes are elsewhere.

“It’s not important,” Daniel quickly says, opening his own can of soda and taking a sip, “eh, didn’t you say you were hungry in your text?”

“Tell me what he said,” Seongwoo can’t help but press again, frustrated with Daniel’s deflecting.

Daniel is frozen for a moment, staring intently at the picnic table’s surface before he replies, “I don’t want to,” And then Daniel’s knees jerks into the table, causing him to curse out in pain and hunch forward to grasp it.

Seongwoo is a little worried as Daniel’s eyes squeezed shut tightly and his hand rubs at his knee. But he bounces back quickly enough with a straightened back and begins saying, “wow, that hurt—”

“Why won’t you tell me when it’s unimportant and nothing?” Seongwoo’s mouth runs off again, and he can’t believe he’s survived this long with this sort of impulse control.

Daniel flinches, Seongwoo sees it and wonders if his tone was sharper than intended. It must have been. .

“Neve—”

“He asked if I would consider him as a master,” Daniel says so quickly, and then stuff his mouth with chicken. He looks so upset that something in Seongwoo shifts into place and he immediately regrets just about everything.

“S-sorry,” Seongwoo nudges further into the table, his tone shaky, “god, I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to push, well I did, but I shouldn’t have and—”

“I told him no,” Daniel cuts Seongwoo’s babbling off, sounding just as upset as his expression suggests. He can’t even look at Seongwoo, “I told him I can’t,” A thousand questions whirl in Seongwoo’s head right there, most starting with why, but Seongwoo has had his inquiring mind get him in enough trouble with Daniel today.

“Okay,” Seongwoo replies quietly, “okay, thanks for telling me.”

“I said I told him I can’t,” Daniel stresses, taking another swing at his pop, still not looking up at Seongwoo.

“Okay,” Seongwoo says again because what else is he supposed to say.

Seongwoo reaches for the waiting drumstick on the napkin in front of him and eats it. They eat in silence after that. Seongwoo slowly taps at his phone on the picnic table after a few minutes and plays a playlist he made for Daniel a few weeks back to fill the damning silence.

From there, they bob their head and murmur along with the lyrics. It’s just enough that when they gather their trash after eating, Daniel offers Seongwoo a small and slightly unsteady smile with a goodbye on his tongue.

Just when Seongwoo thinks he has too many questions about Daniel, he keeps finding himself surrounded by more.

 

 

 

 

---

 

 

 

 

 

Seongwoo rarely dreams, at least he rarely remembers them.

Seongwoo is about to hit the call button on his phone before his half-awaken and shaken self realizes he’s in his bed and his supposed reality was actually a very surreal dream. Seongwoo nearly pelts his phone across the room with a yelp and hides under his covers in his embarrassment.

Seongwoo’s mind is fading the dream and fast, but he still can clearly remember Daniel walking hand in hand with that boy from days earlier. He knew Daniel and the boy were a new master-hybrid pair and dream-Seongwoo was beside himself as Daniel flashes grins to the boy that Seongwoo, both real and dream Seongwoo, was used to see being directed at him.

There’s this monster that boiled in him, bubbling up with envy and greed for Daniel’s attention. But, Daniel doesn’t answer when dream-Seongwoo calls out to him. Daniel only cuddles closer to the boy, letting him play with his hair. Magically, a collar appears around Daniel’s neck and a chain hangs from it and leads into the boy’s hand. The boy smiles as he tugs Daniel along, more forceful than necessary and Seongwoo is furious. Daniel may look happy but he winces with every tug and dream-Seongwoo is not okay with this. This boy is not good enough for Daniel. Seongwoo has to do something. Dream-Seongwoo scrambles for his phone and goes to call Daniel as a last resort since Daniel can’t see or hear him, and that’s when Seongwoo wakes up.

Seongwoo, reality Seongwoo, thinks and maybe admits…he has a small problem.

 

 

 

 

---

 

 

 

 

 

The next week is pretty foggy for Seongwoo because he’s too lost in his own Realization™ to make sense of anything else.

Which means it’s no surprise Seongwoo runs head-on into an unsuspecting victim in one of the university hallways.

“Sorry!” Seongwoo is quick to rely, looking down to a pretty boy with doe eyes and an aching shoulder if the way he grasps at it means anything.

“It’s fine,” the boy lets out a small laugh through his nose, though Seongwoo is like, 100% sure he’s lying.

“You sure? I really rammed into your shoulder there,” Seongwoo inches closer, slightly worried because he can barely pay to feed himself, let alone pay for someone else’s hospital bills. 

“It’s okay, I’ve done far worse,” the boy reassures as he rolls his shoulder, as a proof or something. He then eyes Seongwoo, looking up and down a few times with a considering gaze.

“What?” Seongwoo asks, looking down his front and back up at the boy.

“You’re…Ong Seongwoo, right?” The boy’s mouth quirks into a smirk and his doe eyes practically sparkle.

“Uh, who’s asking?” Because this is getting weirder by the second.

“Park Jihoon,” the boy nods with a brilliant and perfect grin, “performing arts major and friend of Daniel’s.”

A spark of recognition hits Seongwoo because Daniel has mentioned this guy a few times. More than a few times actually, because Seongwoo is pretty sure Jihoon is a, and maybe the only, really good friend of Daniel’s he has heard of.

“Ah, hello,” Seongwoo nods back politely, offering an awkward smile, “it’s nice to meet you, though I’m thinking you might have a different sentiment right now,”

“Ha,” Jihoon snorts back, “no, not at all. It’s nice to meet you in person since I’ve only seen you from the numerous selfies on Daniel’s phone,”

“Yeah, about that…” Seongwoo trails off, because he doesn’t have much of an excuse. Seongwoo somehow started making it a game to unlock Daniel’s phone whenever he wasn’t looking and switch his lock-screens to a new and different selfie every time. Daniel always laughs with pleasant surprise whenever he notices a new one, so Seongwoo kind of kept at it.

“No worries, they’re cute and Daniel likes them,”

Wow, things are just getting more and more awkward, aren’t they? Does Seongwoo have hey, I have undefined feelings for your friend across his forehead or something?  

“You know,” Jihoon perks up, tilting his head, “Daniel is really dedicated to dancing, he would practice for hours on end, never seeing or talking to anyone,”

“Uh yeah, I could see Daniel doing that,” Seongwoo replies, trying hard to follow whatever Jihoon’s drift was.

“I was worried for a bit, since he was cooping himself up for longer and longer,” Jihoon looks off to the side, almost like he’s reminiscing or something, “but that’s changed this year, and I’d like to think that’s because of you, so thanks.”

Strange guy, that’s for sure, if this is how he shows his gratitude but Seongwoo accepts it with a stern nod, “it’s nothing to thank me for, Daniel’s a nice guy and all,” because it’s not like Seongwoo goes out of his way to hang out with Daniel, it just sort of happens.

“No no, you’ve really…taken care of him,” the way Jihoon eyes Seongwoo makes his skin crawl and itch, and his words don’t sit right with him.

Seongwoo’s gaze sharpens, sensing something was up as he replies, “I suppose, but Daniel is capable of taking care of himself too,”

A quick laugh erupts out of Jihoon, shocking Seongwoo a little as he speaks through it, “I think I can see what Daniel’s going on about,” Jihoon nods to himself, like reaffirming something to himself, “anyways, you’re right, Daniel can take care of himself…but there’s a part of him that needs help, you know what I mean?”

No.

Seongwoo doesn’t and before he can ask for clarification, Jihoon waves to someone over Seongwoo’s shoulder happily and pats Seongwoo on the shoulder, “nice to meet you Seongwoo, but I gotta go and all that, so see you next time!” And off Jihoon flew, shouting to someone Seongwoo can’t recognize.

So, there Seongwoo stands in the corridor, with a huge figurative question mark over his head because Jihoon is…weird as .

Oh well, Seongwoo thinks and shrugs his shoulders as he continues on his day.

 

 

 

 

---

 

 

 

 

 

It’s a holiday and Seongwoo has his apartment all to himself while Jaehwan is off doing family things or something.

It’s nice the first day but the second day kind of drags, so Seongwoo texts Daniel in his boredom. He swears he didn’t start the conversation with the intent of inviting Daniel over, but it still ends up that way and Daniel within the hour is sitting at his kitchen table while Seongwoo makes some tea.

“—and I told Samuel to tighten the collar, but nooo, he decides not to listen to me and ends up running after the dog for a half hour,” Daniel explains, hands waving as his elbows rest on the table.

“Should have known his dog would be an escape artist,” Seongwoo laughs, placing a mug in front of Daniel and takes a seat when he remembers something, “ah, by the way, I met Jihoon a few days ago, pretty sure you’ve mentioned him before?”

A deer caught in headlights had nothing on Daniel right at that moment, “what?” Daniel says in a slightly higher tone than usual, “you met…Jihoon?”

“Yeah,” Seongwoo nods, wrapping his hands around his own mug of tea to warm them up, “weird guy, that one,”

“Why?” Daniel fires back quickly, “what did he say? What did he tell you?” With every word, Daniel inches further up and out of his seat, startling Seongwoo.

“Nothing!” Seongwoo shoots back, “god, sit back down,”

And Daniel does, rather abruptly too. Daniel stays silent from there, just…staring at Seongwoo with unnerving eyes.

“You okay?” Seongwoo asks hesitantly, “you seem a little on edge,”

Daniel’s stare finally breaks and then his eyes are flying across the room as his hands fidget, “nope, just fine,” his hands then find his mug and Seongwoo gapes in horror as Daniel takes a giant gulp of what Seongwoo knows to be very hot tea. Very hot and not quite ready to drink tea. Daniel spits and sputters the tea right back into his mug and proceeds to string curses together.

“Lord help you,” Seongwoo says as he stumbles to get up from his seat to grab a glass with ice and cold water quickly, “sit down, I got this,” Seongwoo is quick to say when Daniel starts to stand after Seongwoo and Daniel, once again, in almost wood-like fashion sits back down, eyes wide as they look to Seongwoo.  

There’s this…thing, a thing that’s starting to pierce into the back of Seongwoo thoughts. It picks away with every second as Seongwoo gets the cold water ready. Seongwoo processes this thing, this farfetched idea as he slowly gets back to his seat at the table and slides the glass across the table. Daniel sheepishly takes the glass offered and drinks about half of it in one gulp. When Daniel places the glass back down, and his eyes look to Seongwoo with something that feels like an expectation.

“You good?” Seongwoo asks, unusually monotone.

“Yeah, thanks,” Daniel replies back easily and casually before turning his stare to the table. Seongwoo can’t see them but he knows Daniel is fiddling with his fingers in his lap.

“Your throat feeling okay?”

“Yeah, just fine.”

“Daniel,” Seongwoo says, and there’s this pressure pushing behind his eyes and squeezing at his heart, “Drink,”

Seongwoo watches how Daniel’s hand appears from under the table and grabs at the glass of water. Daniel gulps and gulps it down until there’s no more and smacks the glass on the table.

Daniel’s jaw is clenching tightly from there and his eyes are unfocused on the table.

“,” he says.

“You know,” Seongwoo continues, his heart now racing to a speed he never knew possible, “the first time I saw you dance, you did a headstand during your choreography and oop, there were your abs, like what the , show off much?”

“Only a little,” Daniel says quietly, his eyes growing red while refusing to look at Seongwoo.

“Hey, Daniel,”

“What?” Daniel finally looks to Seongwoo with a desperate plea in his gaze.

“Do a headstand for me, like right now,”

Daniel continues to stare at Seongwoo in disbelief. But his chair scratches on the floor not long after and then Daniel is doing a ing headstand in the middle of his kitchen tiled floor. A few seconds and Daniel plants his feet back on the floor and sits back down in his chair with a slump.

Seongwoo is trying so hard to school his expression into something calm and collected but he’s anything but. So, he falls back on his usual defence mechanism: his mouth. Unfortunately his mouth decides that honesty is the best policy when he asks, “why did you do a headstand?”

“Why do you think, Seongwoo?” Daniel fires back through gritted teeth, eyes glaring to the table.

“I think it was impressive then, and it was impressive now, so thank you…for doing that for me,” Seongwoo replies, strangely steady and soft. As soon as the words leave his mouth, Seongwoo can see the shiver run through Daniel and pink tinting his ears a little.

Finally, Daniel slowly looks up from the table and Seongwoo can see the hope in his eyes, “yeah?” Daniel asks weakly.

“Yeah,” and Seongwoo nods once with a small smile stretching because due to Seongwoo’s reassurance, Daniel finally looks relaxed.

But then reality hits.

“Oh my god,” Seongwoo’s mouth betrays him and hands fly up to cover his blushing face as he groans, “what the actual , Daniel?”

“W-what?” Daniel asks hesitantly now.

“Oh, you know what!” Seongwoo exclaims, hands flying away with his dramatics, “why didn’t you say anything? Am I your, your master now or something? Was I before? Like, what’s actually going on here?”

“How could I say anything?” Daniel is quick to blurt out, looking like a tomato, “you made it pretty clear that you didn’t want to—”

“I didn’t say that!” Seongwoo argues before quickly adding, “—exactly, I didn’t say that exactly,”

“Close enough to it, Seongwoo,” Daniel deadpans back, “was I supposed to tell you, oh hey, I know you don’t like the idea of being a master but want to be mine anyways?”

“I-it’s different though!”

“How?”

“It’s different because it’s—” and Seongwoo clamps his lips shut, because if there is a daily embarrassment quota a person can endure before combusting, Seongwoo has reached that point.

“It’s what?” Daniel pushes, a smile now wiggling and threatening to take up his whole face.

“It’s different because it’s you, you stupidly loveable yet off-puttingly y puppy of a thing,”

Daniel’s smile finally fully shines through before he tilts his head cutely, “okay, but are you saying you’re all right with me being your stupidly loveable yet off-puttingly y puppy of a thing?”

“Oh my god,” Seongwoo groans again and then proceeds to fold his arms on the table and hide his face in it.

“I go by Daniel usually,”

“Oh my god,” Seongwoo says louder and then swings his head back up to see Daniel smirking mischievously, “am I your master or what?”

“I don’t know, are you?”

“Stop, this is not funny,”

“You made me do a headstand to prove a point, let me have my fun,” Daniel shrugs, practically beaming.

“What do I do though?” Seongwoo’s arms flail into the air again, almost as if he’s trying to grasp at some sort of sanity.

“Just be you,” Daniel answers, sincere and reassuring, “that’s all I want,”

“I…can do that,” Seongwoo nods slowly, his heart finally coming down from its high, though one look at Daniel’s soft smile and it lurches again.

“Hey, Seongwoo,” Daniel says after a minute of them just looking at each other.

“Yeah?” Seongwoo answers, cautious.

“Tell me to kiss you,”

And Seongwoo’s eyes nearly leave his eye sockets with the shock Daniel hit him with.

“T-that was pretty bold of you,” Seongwoo stutters out, unable to look at Daniel. He knows his own cheeks are basically on fire now and his ears aren’t fairing much better.

“Yeah, desperate calls for desperate measures and I’ve been desperate for months,” Daniel leans forward on the table a little more and Seongwoo can’t help the hitch in his breath.

“You have no shame,” Seongwoo finds himself saying.

“Come on, Seongwoo,” and Seongwoo doesn’t need to look at Daniel to know he’s using his puppy-dog eyes.

“Fine,” Seongwoo sighs out and looks up to Daniel, who looks like a dream despite his goofy grin, “will you kiss me?”

Instead of leaning forward, Daniel laughs through his nose for a spilt second, rolling his eyes before he turns a fond gaze back to Seongwoo, “nice, but try again,”

Seongwoo gapes because what the , Daniel is shamelessly begging Seongwoo for a ing kiss so Seongwoo blurts out, “kiss me, damn it!”

“Better,” Daniel says and then he’s out of his seat. Hands reach forward and gently angle Seongwoo’s face slightly to the side before a pair of warm lips land on his. The lips push lightly, opening and tasting at Seongwoo cautiously for a few seconds before they back away. Daniel gasps and lets out a small noise from somewhere deep in his throat and goes back in for seconds. They come up for air much later and Seongwoo can’t help but say,

“Good boy,”

Daniel snorts cutely before proceeding to snicker into Seongwoo’s neck.

Seongwoo’s still not sure how this master thing is going to work, but if it means he’ll be the one in charge of keeping a smile on Daniel’s face, he think he’ll be just fine.