Sehun leans against his bedroom door and lets Jongin walk in after him, watching as Jongin’s eyes wander along the length of his room before landing on his window.

“This is so weird being in here,” Jongin says crossing the room till he’s standing directly in front of Sehun’s window. He opens the window and sticks his head out. “Wow, you can see everything.”

“Pretty sure our views are parallel,” Sehun teases, dropping his bag beside his desk and taking a seat, beginning his search for an old assignment.

“Maybe,” Jongin replies, “but this is still surreal.”

It takes a little longer than expected but Sehun eventually finds the notebook with the old assignment in it and he turns to face the boy that has suddenly become silent. His window is closed now, and Jongin is stretched across his bed, still staring at it. Sehun’s stomach does a weak little flip as he crosses the room and takes a seat on his bed, smirking down at Jongin. “You know this was only supposed to be a few minutes.”

Jongin lets out a loud yawn and turns to face him. “I think your bed is more comfortable than mine.”

“I don’t,” Sehun says without hesitance even as Jongin lazily shuffles over to make space for him in his own bed. His bed is wider, two growing boys can fit in his bed unlike Jongin’s even if they make it work. The space Jongin leaves him isn’t very large, he could move over some more if he wanted and still be comfortable. He doesn’t and Sehun doesn’t complain. When Sehun flops down beside him, Jongin takes his hand. They stare eye to eye, heads resting on Sehun’s pillows.

“Why don’t we do this more,” Jongin asks, and Sehun’s grin broadens.

“This,” Sehun teases, hand gently squeezing Jongin’s. “This,” he asks again, gesturing with his eyes towards his bed. “Or this,” he repeats with more emphasis, playfully wiggling his brows. Jongin laughs loud with his hand still holding Sehun’s.

“All of it,” Jongin replies, “but especially this .” It’s absolute nonsense but Sehun knows exactly what he means.

“You’re afraid of my aunt, remember?”

Even though he’s only joking, it’s apparently the wrong thing to say. Jongin gets this look in his eyes that he sometimes gets when Sehun brings up his aunt, or his parents, or Seoul. Like maybe he’s concerned or curious, like he wants to ask about it but he’s unsure. At these moments Sehun sometimes wonders if Soojung told him. It’s never a serious thought. He trusts Soojung and knows she would never do something like that.

“I’m not afraid of her,” Jongin exclaims sitting up and letting go of Sehun’s hand in the process. “I’m not,” he repeats in that petulant tone that causes his voice to get a little higher at the end. He’s nearly glaring as he looks down at Sehun with furrowed eyebrows and eyes filled with the heat of indignation.

“I believe you,” Sehun says, sitting up as well. They’ve been stuck somewhere between friends and something more since the last night Sehun slept over and Sehun thinks it’s on him to make the next move now. Jongin has grown bolder in showing his affection, from gentle touches to lingering stares. Sehun would need to be an idiot to not notice the change in behavior, and if he was honest, he kind of wishes he was.

“Hey, Jongin,” Sehun calls out after a moment. Jongin’s eyes are back on his window and from what Sehun can see he thinks he might be frowning. If he is, the frown is gone by the time he turns to look at Sehun. “Maybe we could do our homework here? My aunt won’t be home for a while and I‒” He pauses, swallowing thickly. “I’d like to tell you something after.”

Jongin quirks a single eyebrow but he doesn’t press and just nods his head, walking over to the backpack he’d dropped at the base of Sehun’s window in his early excitement.

******

Jongin is silent long after Sehun finishes telling his story. He doesn’t even act as if he’s heard the joke Sehun makes to diffuse the tension, not that it was good or anything. He’s just quiet, not even looking at Sehun.

Sehun had spent weeks preparing for this. Preparing for the worst that is, and he could say with confidence he was prepared for sympathetic eyes and some uncomfortable questions. He knew Jongin wouldn’t, but the little voice of doubt in the back of his head wondered if Jongin would look at him differently, wondered if he would not believe the story in the way he tells it, if he would assume he really was a creepy predator, after all Sehun did force an unexpected kiss on him. He’d been prepared for that conclusion as well as he could be. He was not prepared for this, for a long suffocating silence, for a boy that he liked to refuse to look at him again without even a word.

“I’m going to get us more water,” he tells Jongin when he gets tired of sitting too long in the quiet, and his throat feels impossibly dry. He bides his time, walking the distance to the kitchen as slow as possible, downing a glass of water on the spot before refilling his and Jongin’s glass, and walking the distance back to his room.

Jongin is looking at the door when he gets back, and Sehun falters in his steps for half a second before recovering and placing Jongin’s glass of water in front of him.

“When will your aunt be back,” Jongin asks. His voice is hoarse. It reminds Sehun of when he usually wakes up in the morning, scratchy from a long period of disuse and deeper like the rumbling of thunder.

Sehun shrugs, taking a seat on his bed and looking at his phone for the time. “Soon-ish,” He chances a glance at Jongin, noticing the frown on his lips and the way his eyes are set in a look of deep thought. It’s so very different from anything Sehun’s used to, it makes him look older and colder.

"What will she do if she finds me here," Jongin asks next and Sehun shrugs again

“Nothing,” Sehun says. “I don’t think she’d do anything at least not till you left. She might say something once you’re gone, but she’s not… She’s not mean to me or anything. She gives me these looks most of the time, and that’s about it.” He doesn’t bother adding that the looks are mostly directed at his forehead or his ear and never truly at him.

Jongin’s silent again and Sehun uses his foot to nudge him, frowning dramatically to get his feelings across.

“Remember what I said that night you came out to me,” Jongin asks.

“Yeah,” Sehun says, even though all he remembers is Jongin saying he’ll still love him.

“That hasn’t stopped being true.”

That stumps Sehun, leaving him speechless, Jongin ends up asking a few more questions, each one spoken with a halting hesitance as if he himself is unsure of the question until it’s finally spoken.

“Did you regret it,” Jongin asks after Sehun has just finished telling him that the boy from all those many nights ago–the night Sehun kissed him–is the same boy from his story.

Sehun pauses and thinks over the question and everything that’s happened since that night and everything he’s ever felt as a result. There’s been bad, so much bad. His aunt can’t look him in the eyes, his mother always looks like he’s failed the SATs, like maybe she was disappointed but mostly just concerned and fearful, and he hasn’t been in a room with his father for more than thirty minutes. That’s only a portion of the bad, but it could all have been so much worse.

Despite it all, there’s been some good mixed into it. Now he knows himself, he’s no longer confused and scared. The boy sitting on his bedroom floor that still hasn’t hightailed it out of his room and life, even after Sehun explained that the therapy jokes from those early days of summer weren’t really jokes. Even after explaining that he’d seen a child psychologist on and off through his life because he was too withdrawn at ten, and because at eighteen he’d dyed his hair blond in response to being accused of forcing himself on boys, in response to liking boys.

He his lips nervously and shrugs a little. "If I could do it all over again, I'd probably pick a different person."

Jongin asks him to walk him home as if he doesn’t live less than twenty feet away. Sehun does it anyway.

Even as they leave Sehun’s place, Jongin remains in pensive silence despite the questions. Sehun figures he wants to ask more. There’s a question that hasn’t been spoken that he’s sure is on Jongin’s mind, that he knows will make him squirm if he asks, and maybe that’s why Jongin doesn’t ask even if it’s one that deserves an answer for. If Sehun’s honest, he’d rather Jongin ask than come to his own conclusions.

“Do you want to stay the night,” Jongin asks when they’re standing outside of his home, and Sehun can’t help the smile that blossoms on his lips.

Another of the good that’s come from a bad circumstance was finally having people that cared about him enough to open up their home for him, because he knows that Jongin would do everything in his power to have him stay as long as humanly possible if Sehun said he didn’t want to stay with his aunt; that Soojung, Jinri, and even Kyungsoo would do the same.

“It’s a school night,” he teases, feeling a lightness take over him at the glare Jongin gives him. They’re in the middle of the street. They’re in front of Jongin’s house for all to see. His aunt could be walking up the street at this very second. He’s got one-hundred reasons going through his head on why it’s a very bad idea to hug Jongin right now, but he’s never been the best at self-control.

In the past, Sehun has found one million and one ways to get Jongin in his arms and himself in Jongin’s. Those times have always been brief and playful. This time Jongin holds him in place, arms wrapped firmly around his lower back. It’s nothing new, the solidness of Jongin’s build against his own, the smell of the fabric softener Jongin’s mother uses, and the mint-scented shampoo Sehun has borrowed on more than one occasion. And, maybe it’s not romantic, but all Sehun can think at the moment is ‘I love this boy,’ and that scares him.

“Thank you,” Sehun says, the words getting stuck in his throat as he pulls away. Jongin’s watching him with that look from earlier, the one that makes him seem so grown up. “You should get inside.” His voice catches again as he looks towards Jongin’s house and not the boy beside him.

Jongin doesn’t say anything, and Sehun can only shove his hands into the slacks of his uniform trousers to distract himself from chancing a glance towards him. If Jongin sees his face he won’t go inside, or he’ll make Sehun go with him, and that’s far from what he wants.

“Good night, Sehun,” Jongin mutters. Sehun doesn't look up even as he mumbles his own goodbye.

He wipes fruitlessly at his eyes. A few minutes ago he thought hugging the boy he liked was the worst he could do in the middle of the street, but as he takes small steps back home with his head bowed he realizes quickly he was wrong. That crying in the middle of the street was about as bad as it could get.

******

Sehun holds the convenience store’s door open for Jinri and follows her inside. Today, the four of them are studying at Jongin’s house and after a game of Rock, Paper, Scissors , Sehun, and Jinri have been assigned the task of snack buying. They could have all gone together, but Soojung had asserted that she’d won fair and square and it wasn’t right to void it just because the punishment was technically doable as a group. It truly didn’t matter to Sehun either way and from the way Jinri had laughed and girlfriend, Sehun didn’t think it mattered to her either.

Kyungsoo isn’t working today, but Sehun’s met his co-worker a few times even if Sehun can’t remember her name. She’s nice though and smiles at them as they enter. It doesn’t take long to grab a few light snacks and drinks, and they’re out of the store in under ten minutes.

“Are you and Jongin together yet,” Jinri asks, taking the lighter bag out of Sehun’s hands when he passes it to her.

“I have no idea what you’re talking about,” Sehun retorts.

“Don’t lie,” Jinri pouts. “I need you two to date so Soojung and I can stop worrying. Seriously, our Jonginnie is a good boy, but he’s not the brightest sometimes and he’s even worse with emotions. If it’s you, we can rest assured.” Her pout transforms into something much more dramatic as she pauses in the street and grabs his hand into both of her own.

“Son-in-law, please look after our only child, I fear my indulging his idiocy may have made things difficult for you.” She can’t keep the pleading tone for long and bursts into laughter by the end of her words.

“You watch too much TV,” Sehun tells her, doing his best to make himself sound disapproving despite the grin on his lips.

“You’re waiting on him, aren’t you,” Jinri asks. Sehun doesn’t answer and she continues. “You know, Soojung told me what happened. Not all, but like the gist of it. She said you told her it was okay?”

“It was..err..is,” Sehun says shrugging a little despite stumbling over his words.

Jinri nods and continues to speak, “you know, before either of us got together, Soojung kissed me. She had already had her first kiss that year and that bothered me so much. At first, I just thought it was because that meant she was maturing faster than me, and I worried that she would leave me behind, but I was obsessed. I even almost kissed Jongin because of it, just to say I’ve kissed a boy too.

“I remember it was like six months later and I was watching a drama at her house and the lead couple had accidentally kissed and it was a big deal because it was their first kiss. I complained at the time like ‘what’s so special about a kiss’ or whatever and she said she’d show me and she kissed me. It was so nice I cried.” Jinri’s lips have a melancholic twist to them. “I was still working through the thought of liking girls at that time, liking her at that time, and it overwhelmed me. Anyway, we stopped talking for a while, like you and Jongin, and when we finally did talk again I inadvertently confessed to her.”

Jinri looks over to Sehun and gives a little smile. “Basically, what I’m saying is that I understand why you’d want to wait for him to confess. You’ve made the first few moves and you’ve got a history and experience and I know you think if you told him yourself you’d be pressuring him, but like I said our Jongin is a bit of an idiot and he’s new to this which makes it worse. I’m worried you’ll end up waiting a while if you want him to confess.”

“I don’t mind waiting,” Sehun admits, “but thank you for looking after me, Jinri.”

“Of course,” Jinri replies, perking up and giving him a giant grin. “You know I love you, right?”

The corners of Sehun’s lips involuntarily quirk at the question as Jinri speeds up to step in front of him and block his way.

“You guys really love to say that don’t you?”

“We’re not afraid of our emotions,” Jinri retorts, embracing him tight and walking backward. “Feel the love!”

“Fine,” Sehun sighs dramatically after they both break into laughter. He wraps an arm around her to keep her steady. “Fine, I love you too.”

“You do,” Jinri asks as if she doesn’t already know. “This is better than my birthday.” She pulls away with one final squeeze and they resume the walk back to Jongin’s house, laughing and joking along the way.

When they finally get to their destination, Soojung is stretched across the sofa and Jongin is nowhere in sight.

“What took you guys so long,” Soojung pouts, grabbing the first bag from Jinri’s hands and rummaging through until she finds her favorite snack.

“I told Sehun about our first kiss,” Jinri fake whispers.

“Ugh,” Soojung grimaces, folding her legs under her so that Sehun can take a seat on the sofa. “Why would you tell anyone about that.”

“Support, I figured it was only fear to trade a secret for a secret.” Jinri perches herself on the arm of the sofa, letting Soojung lean against her thigh. “Where’s Jongin?”

“Soojung gives a lazy little shrug and turns her attention back to the television. “Sulking somewhere maybe, I don’t know.”

Jongin returns to them around six minutes later, having traded his uniform for his favorite pair of track pants and a white tee.

“Why were you off sulking,” Sehun asks, watching Jongin bend down to take his snacks out of the bags on the coffee table.

“What,” Jongin asks, tilting his head back and frowning up at Sehun, his hair falling into his eyes at the shift. “I wasn’t sulking.”

“Soojung says you were,” Sehun says, running his fingers through his own hair to stifle the urge to do the same to Jongin.

“Soojung is a liar,” Jongin retorts, sitting properly on the group and reaching for his backpack.

They’re still studying when Jongin’s mother returns home, and they greet her so loud and in unison as if they practiced beforehand, that she laughs in delight. She invites them to stay for dinner and they all agree, the snacks doing very little to stifle the hunger they’ve managed to work up.

“Sehun’s sleeping over,” Jongin tells her before she can walk off.

“What,” Sehun gasps, glaring at the boy sitting across from him. For the last few weeks, he’s been spending days on and off at the Kim residence to appease Jongin, after having him become much more determined to minimize Sehun’s interactions with his own aunt. “I’ve never–”

“Please stay tonight if you can,” Jongin’s mother says, interrupting Sehun. “Jongin still hasn’t gotten used to his brother being away at college and every time he’s alone with us he gets a little sulky.”

Jinri crackles loud, covering with both her hands and dropping her head into her textbook to muffle the sound.

“That sounds like Jongin,” Soojung sweetly adds, looking over to the boy. At first Jongin’s jaw had dropped dramatically at his mother’s words, but now his mouth has closed into a full exaggerated pout and he keeps shooting looks of betrayal at his mother.

“I guess I could sleepover again,” Sehun says, looking from Jongin to Jongin’s mother. “And, save you all from a sulky Jongin.”

“Why does everyone say I’m sulky,” Jongin complains, burying his face into his textbook the way Jinri had just done. “I’m not sulky.”

******

Jongin is staring at him again, and honestly, Sehun should be used to it by now. He’d do it every now and then when they first became friends, and then he did it a little bit more after Christmas and the New Year when Sehun finally stopped avoiding him. Now it feels like Jongin is hardly ever not staring at him since Sehun told him his story.

Sehun doesn’t hate it, not really, even if it makes it difficult for him to do his own staring. He just can’t stand not knowing what’s going through his head. Jongin is so emotive in nearly all situations from the set of his jaw when he’s determined to the way his eyes flit about when he’s nervous, but when he’s staring his eyes are so full of an unnameable intensity that it frustrates Sehun.

“I know I’m handsome, but it’s really rude to stare,” Sehun teases, flopping down on Jongin’s bed. They had walked the girls to Jinri’s house because it was closer, and then stayed out a little longer with the dogs before returning to Jongin’s and showering. Now, it was much too early for either of them to go to sleep and Sehun was attempting and failing to play a game while Jongin was staring.

“I’m not staring,” Jongin says as Sehun gives up the charade and turns to face him.

“Oh,” Sehun replies, “then what is it called when one’s eyes are on another for a long period of time.”

“Observation,” Jongin asks himself. “...I was thinking?”

“About me?”

Sehun flutters his eyelashes and Jongin laughs into his arms, giving his head a slight shake when he lifts it again. “You’re ridiculous.”

“So, it’s not about me,” Sehun frowns dramatically. He reaches out and pokes gently at Jongin’s cheek. “Tell me what you were thinking about.”

Jongin grabs his finger and maneuvers it so that they’re holding hands. Sehun hates him a little for how smooth it is, and how quickly his heart starts to beat because they’re holding hands. He’s technically an adult now, for Christ’s sake. “Are we going to stay at a hostel or a hotel? Soojung wants to rent a place, but I think the cheaper the better. It’s not like we’re going to do much there besides sleep.”

“Not a hostel,” Sehun says with a shake of his head. “I don’t really want to meet people, I want this to be a trip focused on the four of us, and it might be nice to give the girls a chance to be themselves without anyone else’s eyes. There are some pretty cheap hotels and places to rent, I think we can find something.”

“That wasn’t what I was thinking about,” Jongin states after a moment of silence with Sehun staring and Jongin steadily meeting his gaze. Sehun lifts a brow and Jongin continues. “You’ve been really honest with me so far and I wanted to do the same, but I–,” he pauses and shakes his head again. “It’s not easy, even though it should be after everything.”

Sehun freezes, his heart that has only just begun to calm down speeding up once more. He tries for a smile of encouragement, but ends up with an expression he can only assume is more so a grimace from the way his face muscles seem to tense and twist. “Hard things get easier to say once you start,” he says dropping the smile and giving a little shrug.

“I like guys,” Jongin mutters so softly, Sehun hardly hears him. By the time his brain can process what’s been said Jongin’s speaking again. “I’ve been nervous about telling you because I didn’t want you to think I’m confused or that I’m…. I don’t know, that I’m using your story to fit my own or something.”

He’s no longer looking at Sehun as he tries to work through his thoughts. All Sehun can do is hold is hand a little tighter, watching as he pauses and finally tilts his head towards Sehun even if his eyes refuse to meet Sehun’s. “Is this a new development?”

“Yeah,” Jongin breathes. “I mean I’ve known for quite a few months now, and it might have taken Soojung to knock some sense into me, but yeah it’s… new.”

“You know it isn’t strange,” Sehun says after a moment, idling drawing shapes with his thumb into the back of Jongin’s hand. “If a boy talks about kissing boys or liking boys and you imagine yourself in that situation and find that’s something you want to do, or it all just suddenly makes sense, that’s normal. Sometimes people don’t even realize that it’s a possibility until they’re told it’s a possibility.”

“Yeah,” Jongin says. “I didn’t even know that was a real possibility. I was so deeply in denial and stubborn I nearly lost my friendships with Soojung and Jinri because of it.” He grimaces then as if the thought of his past self is like a bad taste that won’t go away.

“But you accept it now,” Sehun asks.

“Yeah, it was almost losing my friends and spending a lot of time alone with my thoughts, and being told my family would love me regardless of who I loved. I‒ I don’t know how true the last one is, but It feels true and I want to believe it is.”

Sehun doesn’t know what to say to the last line, he’s not really a shining example of what it’s like to come out and be accepted by his parents, but he thinks from what he’s seen that maybe that statement isn’t wrong for Jongin. That if anyone were to accept a gay son, it would be Jongin’s mother and father.

“You know,” Sehun begins. “You don’t have to feel ashamed telling me the bad parts. That at first you hated the thought of it, or you felt it was unnatural or wrong or whatever. I didn’t hate it at first, even though it felt a little taboo sneaking around like that and all, but when I got caught I hated it. I wanted to be normal . Now, I know you can like a boy and it doesn’t really have to be taboo or make you feel wrong.” He grins and meets Jongin’s eyes. “That realization is also a new development by the way.”

“I did think those things at first,” Jongin admits, “but I think the same as you now. That there’s nothing bad about liking someone just because they’re the same . I don’t feel ashamed about it.”

******

The days move much too fast for Sehun’s liking and before he knows it, it’s the end of the school year and the countdown to graduation has begun. When they aren’t talking about their trip to Japan, they’re talking about the time after. Sehun’s going to Paris in August, that plan hasn’t changed. After, when he returns, he’s going to rent an apartment in Seoul. He wants to go to school with Jongin the year after his gap year. Although it had started out like a joke, the more he thought about it, the more he liked the idea of becoming a doctor.

The girls have already begun apartment hunting, every day they’re leaned over their phones with a tiny notebook open, writing down phone numbers and addresses of the apartments they like. Jongin and Sehun have both accompanied them to apartment viewings in Seoul.

It’s bittersweet in Sehun’s eyes, having just made good friends, only for them to go their separate ways, and although he knows that they won’t stop being friends, it’s admittedly a little scary looking into the future.

Sehun’s laying in his bed, too lazy to do much besides lounge about and listen to music, when he gets a text.

[17:32] Jongin: You home?

The pair hadn’t walked home together, Sehun had waited outside of the school with Soojung until Jinri had come over and told him that Jongin would be staying behind and said that he should head home first.

[17:32]: ?? Yeah

[17:33] Jongin: Is your aunt home?

[17:34] No, she’s coming home late ??

[17:34] Jongin: Open your gate.

Sehun heaves a tired yawn but gets out of bed to do as Jongin asks him. Jongin is shifting from foot to foot, his hands in the pockets of his uniform trousers when Sehun opens the gate and steps aside. Sehun had initially planned to ask him why he had to stay late at school and invite him inside because there was something magical about Jongin in his room, but now he can only frown in concern.

“What’s wrong,” he asks, tilting his head a bit.

Jongin stares at him a little before opening his mouth to speak. “Last summer we were given an assignment. Write what we would tell our past selves. It was the last day of school and the day I met you. I wrote something stupid at the last minute because my summer was so filled with you I completely forgot about it. If I could do that assignment over, if I could really talk to my past self, I would tell him that: the summer before your senior year you will meet a boy you think at first is an idol with his hair so light it might as well be white.

“He’s going to make you tongue-tied from that very first ‘Hi’. He’s going to barge into your life and make you question everything, and make every day feel like an adventure. You’re going to want to draw him at every chance, but find yourself drawing his smiles, his eyes, and his stupid window like a crazy man. He’s going to turn your world upside down and you’re going to love it and fear it and hate him a little for it and you’re going to hate yourself a lot more for hating him and allowing things to get like that. You’re going to fall for a boy from Seoul named Oh Sehun and you’re going to be ok.”

Sehun can’t think at first, let alone articulate anything in response. He can only stare and blink like an idiot, watching as Jongin’s fidgeting gets worse at the disconcerting silence. “Say something,” Jongin pleads.

“I,” Sehun begins, looking Jongin in the eye. “You thought I was an idol when you first saw me?”

Jongin flushes the reddest he’s ever been. It looks good on his tanned skin even if he shouldn’t be the one blushing. From the heat of his face, Sehun knows he’s just as red as the boy across from him.

 “Not that,” Jongin whines. “Seriously?”

“I don’t know what to say,” Sehun whines. “That was so cheesy.”

“You liked it,” Jongin claims. He’s no longer fidgeting but he refuses to meet Sehun’s eyes.

“I’m not a girl,” Sehun scoffs.

“Don’t be a jerk,” Jongin says. “You like cheesy things. You love romantic comedies.”

“I don’t know what to say,” Sehun says again. “How do I live up to that?”

“Do you like me,” Jongin asks.

“Of course I do,” Sehun replies. “Isn’t that obvious? I kissed you.”

“Can you kiss me again,” Jongin asks. Sehun flush deepens even more as he walks the small distance between them to stand in front of Jongin. Jongin’s face feels warm under his fingertips thanks to the blood that’s rushed to it.

He swallows deeply and leans forward, Jongin meets him halfway, wrapping his right hand around Sehun’s wrist and his left arm around Sehun’s waist, holding him close. He’s never been kissed like this before, never kissed like this before, slow and unhurried, and learning the shape of Jongin’s mouth by lips alone.

When they pull away Sehun still wants to run a little, but he forces him to look into Jongin’s clear eyes. “I like you too.”

AUTHOR'S NOTE:

OK guys!!! After nearly three years (it feels longer tbh) We've finally reached the end. How'd you like it? I had that ending ready before I even really had the plot finished. I'm sure there are some that might get disappointed to see that they don't really get together until the end and I'm sorry.

Anyway, I wanted to give a quick thank you to all those that have read from the beginning and continue to read. I know it's been difficult dealing with my lack of update schedule. I'm sorry. I wanted to thank those that came in the middle, those that came at the end, and anyone that comes after for taking to the time to read my humble little story. THANK YOU ALL <3

Finally, I know it says completed and you're thinking this is the end, but rest assured it is not! A lovely reader named NoorKyra asked for an epilogue and I have enough material that an epilogue wouldn't be out of place or feel forced.. Second, I have another fanfic in production it's not coming out very soon, but I've been plotting and planning and I would love some feedback if you're willing! All of these things will come around the same time (either next week or the week after if I can get the time) and all in one big update so you're not getting mutliple notifications for updates that aren't really updates. I think this is one of my most straightfoward fanfics but if you have an questions about the story, how I came up with the plot or really anything, you can ask me. once again THANK YOU.