𝐜𝐥𝐨𝐬𝐞 𝐭𝐨 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐬𝐮𝐧.

"she more then got out," he sighs as he feels the gentle pressure of her foot against his thigh, thinking about how his cat has ran him ragged for the past hour. "i was about to head down to grab somethin' out my car and that little speed demon took off right out the door. for a princess she sure doesn't want to be saved," he groans, slowly sitting up and running calloused fingers through dyed strands. honestly, he was surprised anyone had come out to check what was happening. insu was not complaining at all that the one who happened to come to his aid was june, though.

"this is her favorite brand of food too," she says softly, worriedly - danbi leaves some food in the canister after filling up the dishes, holding it up and shaking it as though it would bring the missing cat out of hiding. tux always came barreling in whenever she heard the sound of this particular container, not wanting to miss out on her favorite flavors. "she loves salmon," danbi continues, watching as the rest of the alley cats take turns devouring the dry food. some stretch out lazily once their bellies are full, while others take a few strides towards their caregivers, headbutting danbi and insu's legs in gratitude. the brunette smiles at the felines, reaching out and scratching behind their ears. "you guys haven't seen her, have you?"

still, his lips quirk up in a semblance of a smile at danbi's words, agreeing that the cat is most likely close by, feeling danbi's presence solid beside him as the rest of the cats finally go their own ways. once it appeared they were not going to find their fur friend there, he started to lead them away towards their first destination on their little impromptu search mission. "she's probably fine," he assures breezily, ignoring his own worry and instead focusing on comforting the other woman's worries. "she's probably off doing... cat things, or something. lazing around without worrying about us being worried about her," he continues, shaking his head and keeping an eye out for any sign of the cat as they walked. he can't help but laugh at the simple phrase 'strutting her kitty stuff', trying to conceal it with a haphazard cough, turning his head away to hide his amusement. at least danbi was keeping the optimism alive, something needed at the moment in their shared anxiety and worry. he appreciated that about her. she tried her hardest to make others smile and it was a change of pace from just about everything insu tended to deal with on a daily basis.

he’d say as much, but insu doesn’t complain, and daeho is mollified quickly by the conversation. “it’s a shitty job, so i can’t really fault them. but i let them in all the time, so, yknow…” because of his working hours, daeho often accepts other’s packages. and he doesn’t mind it, but this drive halfways across the city is testing his patience a little; not because he minds the excuse to spend time with insu (and melissa) but because of the inconvenience of it all.

“yes, yes. you two are real lifesavers.” he rolls his head over against the headrest, blinks up at insu in a laughable imitation of the sort of coy flirting he often witnesses at the bar. it takes only moments before he cracks up, though - he can’t find it in himself to keep the bit going for too long. “and it’s nice to finally meet melissa. i’ve heard so much about your girl, i can’t believe you’ve been keeping us apart for all this time. worried she’d like me better than you?”

the laugh he lets out is almost pulled from his chest, loud and boisterous at the other mans words. he peers over to daeho and has a mind to wink at him but instead turns his attention back to the road. "nah, my baby is loyal. she wouldn't dare look at another man," he says with faux confidence, before pausing, then looking at his cars dash with a squint. "right melissa?" he asks her as if she could answer, before catching sight of the same car from before as he pulled up to the red light.

annoyance flares through him, swift and unbidden, and didn't think twice before leaning forward, making sure he held the other drivers gaze; he then swiftly raised up his middle finger and mouthed 'fuck you' before easily switching gears as the light shifted green, engine purring aggressively as the car took off. his gaze can't help to flick over to the speedometer, watching it tick up at least ten over the speed limit in seconds. there was the quick thrill he tended to seek when it came to speed, but then he remembered immediately after that he wasn't alone in his car. his annoyance began to wane, forcing his foot to relax on the gas pedal and flexing his fingers on the steering wheel as he gathered himself. he leant back into the leather of his seats, not looking at daeho just yet as he exhales. "fuck, sorry about that," he apologizes, sounding almost sheepish despite it all, shaking his head as if it could also shake off the way he acted. "assholes like that just irritate the hell out of me. hope the extra speed didn't scare you."

he tries to focus on something else, latching onto the next point of conversation. "hey now," he starts, flicking strands of hair from his vision, the annoyance finally bleeding out of his body and right into the cars engine, replaced with a bit of fondness at the banter. it was comfortable and grounding.

"this ain't about me," he retorts quickly, tone feigning seriousness despite the quirk of his lips. he can see daeho relax in his peripherals and feels a sense of pride that the other man felt comfortable enough to relax like this, even if it's in his car. "this is about you, nerd. i understand fuck all about the tech but i think it would be kind of cool to watch you work on somethin' every once in a while." he did find it fascinating, in a way, how the mechanics of tech worked even though the idea of handling it, himself, bored him to tears. aside, insu actually enjoyed his companionship with daeho, and spending time with him was never a hardship, anyway. "those things come with fucking, uh, instruction manuals and shit, right?"

"it's, uh...." doyun starts, his foot still blocking the door from closing as he glances around the hallway for a clock. "i dunno what time it is actually. aren't you usually up by now, though?"

it's early, that much doyun knows. he knew it was early when he was squinting at the sunlight streaming through his curtains, knew it was early when the urge to walk across the hall for help struck him. he'd feel a little bad about it if he wasn't so focused. maybe. maybe not. it is insu after all, and doyun does like annoying him.

"get the hell out of my doorway, you ant," he grumbles, applying more pressure to the door but it still, frustratingly, not budging in movement. he exhales through his nose, eyes rolling up to look at his celling with annoyance when asked about usually waking up around this time. "yeah, when my alarm goes off you shithead. you bangin' on my fucking door this early in the morning is not the wakeup call i need. what the hell do you even want?" he is ready to crawl back into his bed, but he knows that by the time this whole interaction is over he will have to begrudgingly make his coffee and shuffle though his morning routine. insu's about to tell the him to, disrespectfully, fuck off once again when he chances a glance down and sees the weirdly cute expression on doyun's face; he grimaces and immediately puts away that train of thought. "stop that, you weirdly big-eyed freak of nature," he starts, looking at the gameboy in doyun's hand and taking it out of his grasp with less force then intended.

"god, how old is this fuckin' thing?" he grumbles, turning it around once in his hand, curious. he peers to doyun and then back to the gameboy and gives a defeated sigh. he yanks his door open, allowing doyun access to his apartment. "hurry up and get the hell in here before i throw this thing out the window, too." the threat was only half-hearted. he had already thrown the stupid little brick of a phone doyun had been using before he replaced with with something more modern, so if he got annoyed enough, well...

he makes way into the living room, inspecting the gameboy in his hands again. he sees the back and groans. "this thing takes batteries? will it even fuckin' open if i... jesus christ." he makes way to his tool bag to grab a screwdriver and then into his kitchen. despite how aggressive each slam of the drawers sounded as he opened and closed them, insu was, in fact, looking for what he needed. it was just par for the course that he would talk shit the entire time he does so.

he leans over the counter in his kitchen and works on opening the relic of a gaming console with his screwdriver, the device somehow in good condition despite being something insu has only seen while browsing the internet. he passes it off as doyun being a weirdo collector and fumbles around to get the old batteries out. the logo on them look just as dated and he grimaces, tossing them into the trash and replacing them with newer ones that he, thankfully, kept around for emergencies.

welcome to ansong's first ask meme weekend! we hope these can help you all learn more about each other's muses and foster lots of in character interactions! to participate in the ask meme weekend please reblog this post! we ask that you please only send questions to those who have reblogged the post. please try to send out at least five questions or prompts to different muses for them to answer before answering your own! this ask meme weekend will last from november 15th until november 17th @ 11:59pm est. while you can only send in asks during this timeframe, you have up until november 29th @ 11:59pm est to answer any you received! for these, any three emoji memes answered OR any one dialogue starter prompt will count towards next week's activity check (november 23rd)! please tag all these as as:meme001 and, of course, have fun! <3

the idea comes to him in a flurry of others that are nonsensical and follow no logical path while he scrambles up from the floor with the gameboy in hand. the door gets stuck as he tries to open it but with a swift kick to the hinges (for posterity sake, is what doyun tells himself) it swings open as doyun stumbles across the hall and knocks on insu's door. "hey," he says before he even hears movement behind the door. "hey! i know you're awake, i need your help!"

the voice is what sets him into motion. he doesn't bother to grab anything to toss on, as he assures himself that he doesn't need to look presentable. it's just doyun; at this point he's seen far more of insu with articles of clothing off then on. no, he grumbles and all but stomps his feet towards his door, fueled by sleepiness induced rage at being woken up at—he quickly tosses a look at the clock on his wall—seven a-fucking-clock in the goddamn morning.

he swings the door open with more force then necessary and levels his harshest glare in doyun's direction. he's probably a sight: no shirt, hair in disarray and sticking up in several directions, and clad in his courage the cowardly dog boxers (they were on sale and they looked funny, fuck you very much). "what the fuck do you want? do you even know what time it is?"

there's the soft crunch of autumn leaves beneath their feet, the sidewalk leading to the back alley behind the apartment building painted in bright marigolds and rich carmine. the weather has turned colder in the last few days, and the trees have grown barren from the harsh winds that have swept by, leaving their leaves to scatter around the ground in a sea of autumnal aesthetics. it's a picturesque sight, like something out of a magazine she's seen at the checkout line at fresh fields, but danbi finds it a little bittersweet to experience the seasons change. she wants to indulge in the last few weeks of harvest bliss, but knowing that the warm colors coating the ground will soon vanish and be replaced with the cold touch of winter leaves her feeling a little unsettled, worried.

"it's getting colder out, don't you think?" danbi shivers slightly, bracing herself as the breeze picks up, drawing the container of cat food closer to her chest as she walks beside insu. to someone looking from the outside in, the two of them might seem like an odd pair - insu being the embodiment of leather jackets, ripped jeans and the remnants of cigarette smoke and patchouli, while danbi is everything soft and gentle and cream-colored, the personification of warm florals and light, but cozy knits. but truthfully, she's never once considered how the two of them might look when walking side by side. after all, she's only seen insu as insu, never haven taken his outward appearance into consideration. to danbi, insu is someone she likes to spend time with, and someone who she considers kind, generous and has a good heart.

"hopefully the kitties won't be too cold tonight. i'll have to bring them some blankets tomorrow," she continues as the two of them make their way towards some cardboard boxes at the back of the alley, a makeshift home of sorts that her and insu put together besides some food and water bowls. as if on cue, several cats emerge from the boxes and nearby trash cans, all meowing in greeting and curling their tails around her and insu's ankles. the two of them have gotten into such a routine of feeding the stray cats together over the last few weeks that it seemed like the felines have caught on themselves and have now recognized them, making sure to greet the two of them.

"yeah, it's about to be freezin' cold starting december. better invest in a good jacket. winters here are cold as fu—sh—hell." he sighed and slowly tossed his head back, looking at the changing leaves as he wonders why he always felt the inclination to appear more put together and "better" in danbi's presence. insu knew how he was, knew how he appeared and what kind of vibe he gave off to others. in most cases, he liked it that way. liked the mask he wore well enough; a part of him needed it to navigate the sea of... everything surrounding him and the confusion he felt. yet when he was like this, walking alongside danbi, he wanted to maybe seem like someone who could be relied on. and that confused him more then anything else.

her shiver gives him pause, and for a few heartbeats insu debates giving her his jacket so she could brave the wind. and yet, still, something keeps him at bay, hesitant. his fingers curl around the lapel of the leather for a beat before ultimately slipping back down to tuck into his pockets, a weird sort of feeling washing over him as he does so. it tended to come around often when in danbi's presence—a desire to look after her, and even wilder so, to protect her. it was as if something tugged at his mind and his heart every time as to why, like there was a reason, like it wanted to remember even if he couldn't.

he focuses on the small flare of anticipation as they draw nearer to the cardboard boxes, unable to stop the small, fond smile at the sight alone. "i'll help you bring them down, if you want," he offers easily as he watches the boxes shift a little bit as their footsteps draw near.