mago

haneul didn't know how the hell danbi convinced him to do this. actually, that was a lie. he knew exactly how. all she had to do was throw a pout with those sad puppy eyes and the bodyguard was compelled to give her whatever she wanted. it was a weakness that she exploited often, much like any younger sister would with their older brother. and that was pretty much what she was in every sense of the word. after failing his own brother so miserably during their youth, the man was secretly more determined than ever to make things right with the new youngins in his life.

so that was how, despite his disdain for cameras, haneul found himself in front of one. danbi had been dying to film a tiktok with him for a while. han finally agreed along with the condition that he didn't have to dance. he did that once with somi and that was more than enough for a lifetime. " wait, so. . . all i have to do is clap when you say 'give me my money' ? " the bodyguard clarified with furrowed eyebrow. this didn't make any sense to him but hell, if it made her happy. " . . . why ? "

danbi had lost track of how many times she'd asked han to record a tiktok with her. each and every time he conveniently had something else to do and she accepted it...until today. she refused to take 'no' for an answer. but knowing this would be the one and only time he'd ever record any content with her, she had to make the most of it.

the girl sets up her phone against a wall and makes sure they have good enough lighting before stepping back. content that they could both be seen well enough in the frame she turns to him with an innocent. of course he was already suspicious. she never believed he'd be easily fooled so she had to whip out her acting chops. "it's for fun. we get to hype each other up." she explained. "then you go and i'll cheer for you. don't overthink it- but i understand if you don't get it since you probably only like millennial humor."

"i dont know." danbi sniffled. "i think i heard them saying something about a new trend but i hadn't seen anything on instagram or tiktok so i have no idea what they're talking about." and as someone as chronically online as she is that's saying something. danbi's lower lip begins to quiver again hearing his reassuring words. "you're supposed to say that. you're my friend." she mumbles, but it still did make her feel better. she shrugs in response to jaemin's question. she'd honestly lost track of how many times she'd complained and she felt bad constantly asking other's to step in to defend her. it was futile. "no. please don't." danbi says, grabbing a hold of his sleeve to clean her nose as well before he could lower his hand. "thanks, minnie." she says with a sigh and goes back towards the mirror. "well- would you like to do the honors?" she asks, grabbing a pair of scissors and offering them up to him.

the blonde immediately recognizes his voice and is comforted to know that at least it was jaemin who'd walked in to see her breaking down...and thus she's able to cry harder. she sobs got louder knowing he wouldn't judge her for ugly crying in front of him. she allows him to guide her but she refuses to move her hands away from her face. she listened closely to his words and tries to follow his instructions. the bassists breathes in from her nose and exhales slowly from her mouth until she was able to do it without an ugly noise coming out as well. only when she was sure she wouldn't break down again is she able to speak. "look at what they did to me, minnie!" she lowers her hands to reveal that her eyebrows had been waxed off. only the pink hue of the after burn remained to indicated it's loss. "i can hear frollo now. 'you are deformed...and you are ugly.'" danbi sang meekly.

"excuse you! i'll have you know that this is the best the dollar store has to offer. only the best for my babygirl." she says with a grin, happily taking the pink ring once jian had taken the purple one. "the point is to trick you into a false sense of control." danbi says, not placing the ring on her finger but rather fiddling with it. "besides this ring would never fit you and your chubby little fingers." she teased before leaning over to get a better look at his hands. "or maybe it would. you do have very dainty hands. i dont think i've ever noticed that." she teased...mostly. she kind of understood why she'd come across a jian hands fan account that one time. he hands were very pretty. "and also im saving this one for someone else." if her veil wasn't covering her face, her blushing cheeks would be very visible.

“Oh.” It was only one word and yet you can hear the utter disappointment in her voice. She was just starting to enjoy the idea of Jian actually dating. Moreover she was excited to know who’d broken through to him. She didnt think jooha was all that bad to look at. It occurs to her that a maybe she should ask her friends costar out…but the thought of rejection make her cringe. She leans back onto the excessive amount of pillows on her bed. It’s only now that’s she getting truly comfortable that she starts to crave sour patch kids. “Right? And if I’m actually just reading into things then they should really think about a rewrite. They have an extreme amount of homoerotic undertones to just be friends if you ask me.” She says before pausing to think. “Now that you mention it…neither have I. I always have to ask Eden to get the little spiders I find at the dorm. He actually catches them and releases them outside now instead of killing them. I think he's tired of hearing me cry when he kills them." she says with a shrug. "But yeah i think if you ask Ren he'd be happy to have you come along. I'm sure he'll be happy to show off to someone new." she giggles.

"such as?" danbi asks with genuine curiosity. could it be jian had his eyes on someone? could it be someone had finally lived up to his picky standards? most people seemed so 'blah' to him. she wondered if it was possible to actually grab his attention or if he'd die alone with no one to hold but the anakin skywalker body pillow she'd bought him for his birthday. "he sure is!" she says with a nod. "you bet your ass i read it without his permission. on the surface it might be your average action movie but it's so much more than that. you have to read between the lines, jian. who willingly gets their ass beat to defend someone who is horrible to them on the regular and smiles when that person decides to finally let him in the back seat with him after years of pining? someone who is down bad that's who."

Danbi finally lets out the laughter she’d been holding in. It was the good kind. The type of laughter that makes your stomach hurt a little. She was glad she'd shown up. Once she’s able to catch her breath, she nearly raises the veil to get a better look at her friend but she stops herself just in time. That’d be a recipe for disaster if fans spotted her here. They’d never hear the end of dating rumors. She'd just have to keep playing the weird fan a little longer. Though she could admit Jian's acting was getting a lot better. She barely saw a difference between his real smile and the smile he gave her when he thought she was just a crazy fan. The only thing missing was the sparkle in his eyes. “A little crazy never hurt anybody.” She shrugs before raising a hand and leaning over, holding her index finger. “And that’s Mrs.Yao to you.” She giggles letting her hand drop. “For the next couple of minutes I want the full fan experience. I even brought these.” She digs into her dress pocket and pulls out two fake jewel rings. “We have to make this official of course. How else will I be able to collect life insurance after your untimely death where I push you down the stairs.” She joked before placing both rings on the table. “I’ll even let you pick which one you want….but not the pink one. That one's mine.”

danbi's eyes are glued to the screen as she shoves a handful of popcorn into her mouth. she was happy that at least this season wasn't starting with the image of someone's ass within the first 30 seconds. shes just about to shove another handful of popcorn in her mouth when jian finally speaks up. her interest is piqued. jian should know better than to ask such a feat from her. if your best friend cant laugh at you then who can? "no promises." danbi states, turning slightly to face him. "oohh~" shes immediately excited for him upon hearing the good news. she's even more excited when she hears what kind of content they'd be making together. "thats fun." she giggles. "and he's cute." she adds on before gasping. "you know this is must be a very popular genre. ren is working on a bl too."