“L! That’s not fair; we watched what you wanted to watch for the past week! It’s my turn!” JoKwon whined at L, who was stretched out over an all white couch. 

“I would be willing to watch what you wanted to, if it was something less mind-numbing than The Jersey Shore and Gleam or Gleek or whatever that shows called.” L sighed, his eyes not leaving the screen.

“It’s ‘Glee’, and I think those shows are very interesting! And less depressing than this ‘Bones’ show you’re watching. This is all about dead people— at least mine are about living people!!”

“The scientists and FBI guys are alive. And are you sure The Cast of the jersey shore count as people? I always thought they were more like animals.” L suggested out his eyes still glued to the TV as he unwrapped a lollipop and plopped it in his mouth.

JoKwon crossed his arms and glared at the screen, too mad to speak. On the TV the image of a badly decomposed corpse appeared and he quickly turned away.

“I can’t believe you can eat while watching this.” He shivered.

“I can’t believe that you have brain-cells after watching your shows.” L countered.

“What exactly do you think you’re doing??” a loud voice boomed from seemingly nowhere. Both JoKwon and L stiffened at the sound.

“Wellllllll? The voice pressed. JoKwon gulped audibly and he and L exchanged nervous looks.

“Um, research?” JoKwon squeaked uncertainly.

 “You believe that ‘Bones’ will help you with your tasks? How?” The voice inquired, still angry but at least slightly amused.

“It’s is about human interaction. There is a lot of sociological merit to it.” L stated coolly

“Your task is not about sociology, your task is about romance!” The voice exclaimed. Then sighed a large sigh before speaking again. “I would suggest VERY strongly that you complete your tasks in the next two weeks. I would also recommend that you start NOW!” The last part was blasted all throughout the all white apartment and JoKwon and L covered their ears in an attempt to keep their ear intact

“I guess that means that we should get to work.” L sighed, standing up and grabbing his all white jacket as JoKwon put on his all black one.

 ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

A young man with brown hair walked quickly through the streets of Seoul, his breath coming out in visible white puffs. It was February and he was in a hurry to get home to his heated apartment.

“James—James, wait up!” a familiar voice called from behind him. He turned around to see a young woman with mid length black hair and dark sparkling eyes. She was out of breath from running to catch up with him, but smiling none-the-less.

“Mai, what are you doing here?” he asked, his expression was one of pleasant surprise.

Mai took on a look of faux shock, “Did you really think I was going to let my twin walk home alone on his birthday?”

James grinned widely and hugged Mai tightly. “Thanks,” He chimed “But you’re a little late…” He said gesturing to the tall brick building with the words ‘BCS Apartments’ in large white letters on the side.

“Not all of us ran track in high school, you know.” Mai pouted. James just laughed and he and Mai walked up to their home, their intertwined hands swinging back and forth like little kids.

“Noooonaaaaa, we’re hoooooome!” Mai shouted as she and James took off their shoes.

“I’m in the kitchen!” an alto voice cried back. As they advanced towards the kitchen the smell of burnt flour and a bellowing dark smoke greeted them.

“Ummm, Nona? What caught on fire?” James asked clearly bewildered by the strange welcoming committee.

“What, besides my nerves?” Nona replied tersely, a nine-volt battery that belonged in the smoke detector in her hand.

“Yes?” James questioned, still befuddled.

“Well, you see, Lilly convinced me that I should trust her with making your birthday cake and…” Nona gestured to the smoke and a cake pan containing a very black object that probably used to be a cake.

“Where is Lilly anyway?” Mai inquired with a casual tone.

“She’s out buying a cake from the store and avoiding my wrath.” She said, opening the window allowing the smoke to dissipate.

“Wise.” James commented before walking over toward the stove. “What’s this, Nona?” He asked pointing to a pot of what seemed to be boiling broth”

“Seaweed soup—you’re gonna have a traditional US and a traditional Korean Birthday feast.” She smiled.

“Sounds good to me.” He returned her smile.

“It’ll be a little while though since I can’t serve it till Lilly’s back. Would you like me to make some tea?” Nona stated, her motherly instincts showing through.

“Yes, Please!” Mai and James said in unison and Nona grinned at her twin-like friends.

“I’ve got some papers to grade, so I’ll have mine in the living room, okay?” James added.

“Sure thing, Birthday boy!” She chimed, turning happily to begin making then tea.

“Is that your task?” L asked as he and JoKwon walked into the smoky apartment.

“What the smoke?” JoKwon questioned as he and the taller man made their way into the kitchen.

L rolled his eyes at JoKwon’s assumption. “No, the boy.” He said gesturing to the boy with brown hair.

“Oh… yeah that’s James. He’s my favorite assignment yet—sometimes I feel he’s me in human form.” The shorter man smiled contentedly.

“Sounds like a nightmare.” L grumbled, throwing his lollipop stick onto the floor.

“You shouldn’t liter.” An all too familiar voice chided. L quickly picked up the stick and turned around to face the man who had addressed him.

“SiWon! What are you doing here? We’re working like you told us to!!” JoKwon exclaimed, trying to sound calm but failing.

“Just because I’m your boss doesn’t mean I don’t have my own task.” SiWon said, using a large hand gesture to indicate the girl with very long brown hair standing in front of the stove.

“Is that your Junior?” a man with short black hair asked as he walked towards them.

“Yeah. But what are you doing here, KiBum?” SiWon inquired.

“Just because I’m lazy doesn’t mean I don’t have my own task.” He echoed his friend, even repeating his gesture, only towards the girl with black hair.

L chucked, receiving a death glare from SiWon.

“Yah, junior, I wouldn’t recommend laughing at a senior. Specially not when you have an ‘exchange student’ with you.” KiBum interjected.

L apologized, and held his laughter; his grin, however, was still evident.

The group’s banter was interrupted by another of their colleagues rushing into the house out of breath and panting. JoKwon’s eyes widened to the size of vinyl records. In his stay with the Blanks (they called themselves ‘Blancs’) he discovered that they interacted with each other a lot more than the Noirs did, but five agents in one place was an unbelievable anomaly for him.

“Woah, there. Steady WooYoung. What’s the matter?” SiWon asked his junior comfortingly.

“I swear that girl is an accident waiting to happen. It’s like she can’t walk without finding something to stub her toe on!” WooYoung complained. “Today I had to keep her from burning the house down!” He looked exasperated, yet in his tone there was a hint of affection for the supposed klutz.

Suddenly a girl with mid-length hair bustled in after managing, just barely, not to stub her toe on the door frame by the grace WooYoung’s quick actions.

“Lilly!” Nona cried, after noticing her friend’s scrapped wrist, “Are you okay??”

“I swear I only fell once, and it was before I got the cake so it’s fine.” Lilly explained, raising her hands as though she were confessing to a crime. Nona just shook her head a grabbed the cake taking it into the kitchen with her.

Thirty minutes later the cake was on the table, the lights dimmed leaving only a soft yellow glow shining on the faces of the four friends.

“Sengil chookha hamnida! Sengil chookha hamnida! Saranghanun oori James, Sengil chookha hamnida!! Happy Birthday to you! Happy birthday to you! Happy birthday dear, James! Happy birthday to you!” They sang out joyously. James’ smile reached is eyes and they all cheered him on as he blew out the candles.

“So what did our James wish for?” Lilly wondered aloud, as Nona began to cut and serve the marble cake.

“Mhm, I bet it was for the picture of Nana that he has in his desk drawer to suddenly come to life and be the real Nana.” Nona teased as she handed James his piece of cake.

“Nana… why does that name sound familiar?” JoKwon asked innocently touching his finger to his chin.

“She’s my task.” L responded. The start-up jingle played in JoKwon’s mind and he touched L’s hand.

*I think our tasks got a lot simpler.* JoKwon thought in their now shared minds

*I agree, but I think this means our paths are going to cross more often.* L thought back.

*That’s not so bad—in the two weeks before I go back to the Noirs we could become friends.* JoKwon thought hopefully.

James and Lilly’s classes the next day were canceled due to snow. However, Nona and Mai still had to go to work, and Nona had convinced Lilly to come with her as she was going to be going book shopping afterwards (though Lilly told her that if they got stranded in the snow she was going to kill her). This left James alone and very, very board. He looked out at the soft cotton like snow wistfully. Having grown up in Northern New York the snow reminded him of home and of the times when he was little when he used to go out and frolic in the snow.

He felt someone whisper in his ear “you’re never too old, you know.” He turned around to see who it was and saw only the empty room. However, he decided to follow the voices’ suggestion.

“How can we cancel for snow?” Uee asked After School’s manager upon hearing that their fan meet had been snowed out.

“Simple—announce it. It’s not like the fans want to be out in this.” The manger replied while texting with the speed of cheetah on her iPhone.

“Still Unnie, I feel bad for the fans.” Raina sighed looking out at the little white flakes of snow.

“Well that’s all fine and good but you are to stay here SAFE in your dorm, understood?” She said putting her iPhone in her pocket and picking up her purse. “I’ll check back up on you guys at supper time, I’ll bring some take out.” And with that she walked out the door.

1 hour.

2 hour.

“I’m bored.” Nana said to no one in particular after she finished reading her manga. She looked around the room and saw that all of her Unnies were engaged in their own activities and sighed. She walked over to the window and pulled back the pink curtain. The snow looked peaceful, and she felt and insatiable desire to go out there and energize it. A snowman, a snow angle, a snow ball fight… anything!

She shivered slightly and felt someone put their hand on her shoulder.

“So go and do it—no one’s watching anyway.” She heard a deep male voice say. She looked around to see where the voice had come from but saw only her unnies, who, as the voice had said, weren’t watching her.

She walked over to the coat closet and grabbed her purple fuzzy animal jacket, put on her comfy boots, and snuck out the door. As she rushed down the street her heart beat erratically. She had snuck out! She had done it! She gave a little cheer.

The world was like one giant snow globe. The entire sky was a grayish white, the ground was soft, the air was still, and the snow that fell muffled the sounds of the outside world. On top of that, the streets were so empty! She wondered if she was really in Seoul.

“Watch out!” she heard a tenor voice call, but a few second too late. A snow ball smacked her straight in the head. It didn’t hurt particularly, and she felt her heart leap for joy, this was exactly what she had been thinking of. She excitedly bent down and gathered up some of the snow into a ball and looked around to see who had thrown the one that had hit her.

She cried out in surprise when she realized that he was only two feet away from her.

“Are you okay?” he asked in slightly accented Korean.

“Yeah, I’m fine you just shocked me that’s all.” She replied, slyly hiding the snow ball behind her back.

When he got a clear look at her face she saw a glint of something in his eyes, but it was gone before she could identify what is was and what it signified. She wasn’t afraid of him recognizing her, if he was a fan boy he would have started spazzing out and begging for a picture, plus he was a foreigner, so she felt safe.

As he turned around to walk away she took the snow ball out from behind her back and threw it at him. He turned around shocked.

“Well this is going well!” JoKwon exclaimed dancing around in the snow as the two fought, sometimes misdirecting their snow balls if one or the other was going to get hurt.

“Yeah, it is, except we can’t keep everyone away from them forever.” L sighed floating inches off the snow.

“Why would that matter?” The shorter man asked naively.

“Nana is famous—that’s why James knew of her. Their relationship will cause a stir.” L stated in a slightly bored tone as he created little designs I the snow directly below him.

“Oh… hmm…” JoKwon pondered the issue. “Well if we can’t keep the stir from coming why not just let it come?”

“They could get hurt and it might ruin the relationship.” L retorted.