lines.

( sms: superhero oppa ✨ ) still worried… :( but, i do believe in you!

( sms: superhero oppa ✨ ) you are as strong and as mighty as a lion ㅋㅋ

( sms: superhero oppa ✨ ) were you peeping on me? 😱 how did you know i watched sherlock yesterday night?

( sms: superhero oppa ✨ ) nope! not hungry! tonight’s dinner was delicious. i hope you’ve eaten too 

( sms: superhero oppa ✨ ) unsent: i’m texting you because i feel anxious about you being in danger and i already miss you, kae oppa…

( sms // roro ) believe in me then. and don’t worry so much.

( sms // roro ) change my name to lion so that you’ll remember and remind yourself that I’ve got this. if I sucked I don’t think I’d make it this far anyway.

( sms // roro ) i’ve eaten! you always watch crime shows before you start worrying a lot so. 

yeah my university over accepted and is stuffing us in a hotel SO while i work out moving in and if i have wifi and classes and all that jazz I’ll be trying to get through replies, but this week and next will be devoted to getting used to my classes SO here’s a tracker o/ to anyone starting school soon good luck darlings! <3

plotting: @pullstrings 

owed starters: @baudellare @cespires

( sms: superhero oppa ✨ ) i promise i’m not following you, oppa! but… please promise me to stay safe.

( sms: superhero oppa ✨ ) okay?

( sms: superhero oppa ✨ ) if something were to happen to you, i would never smile again

( sms: superhero oppa ✨ ) unsent: because you mean the world to me and i wouldn’t be able to bear it if i lost you to reality, too.

( sms // roro )  hey don’t worry i’m good. it’s really nothing major. ( sms // roro ) -------- you’ve been watching crime dramas again haven’t you? ( sms // roro ) look I’ll be fine alright? ( sms // roro ) been doing this for a while so have some faith in me?

/ @asteriose

“so you drown what you’re afraid to hear?”

sounds familiar. 

it’s probably not as clear cut as all that. and jc’s probably not talking about the same kind fo fear that kae knows. but then what fear does kae know, fear at fingertips or from it. fear from things or thinking of things. he knows fear and doesn’t hide from it anymore. he hasn’t touched a pen in a month, he knows fear.

TO GET HER HANDS ON interesting information isn’t an easy job nor has it anything to do with the way countless of movies like to paint      it’s hard to always keep an eye open, to dig around in the dirt to get a bit of something she can use later on. it’s a cutthroat business, one she sometimes wishes she could leave behind      she should’ve listened to her father and become a teacher.

not that she has really that much of a choice left now. “that’s such a negative way of putting things, kae. wouldn’t you prefer to think that he does his job well?”

it’s not like sieun hasn’t expected for him to catch up on her little quirks and acts: they’ve encountered one another often enough to be aware of each other’s existence and occupations but that doesn’t make her job any easier. if anything, it adds to her workload given kae’s position. so she raises her head to meet his gaze with an emotionless expression, daring him to keep on distracting her more if he wants both of them to lose their jobs.

“let me suggest this: you tell me who you’re working for this time and i’ll see if i can give you something in return.” information, she means. it’s crucial for a person to know who they’re working for, lest they get mixed up in some shady business.

not that she thinks kae particularly cares, but she somehow has to get his attention. “deal?”

the job is as boring as it is testing. pulling at the grey areas in his mind to see what he’ll choose. a paycheck over what’s right and wrong.

he’s met many people like her, and the amount of people like her determines the importance of the case. so far he’s escorted out three and thrown out two. they’re doing his job and he’s doing his, it’s a dichotomy that exist only to push and push. 

he’s got a few things to get used to these days. using minimal force, people calling him kae, and training hiro. he has to be a professional as he is acceptable for this job to work and as it stands it’s become increasingly difficult not to reach for his pocket. he doesn’t though, he reaches down and pets hiro’s head, scratching at the part of his ear that tells him to calm down. and so he does, and so kae returns his attention to sieun.

his last job was too uptight, shows in his movements so forcing a smile is probably better than not. relaxing is the only option.

“his job, is to sniff out troublemakers, so if you’re on that list, it’s a problem.” a problem that he thinks he’s allowed. but it’s also a problem of tenacity, kae being too tired for the push he’s supposed to give back. so really it’s not much of a problem as it is an overhaul. much like the information she’s asking for.

“you came all the way in here without knowing who or what you were looking for? sounds like a bad trade.” he’s supposed to know things like this, details behind who he’s guarding and what they’re holding. half the time he can’t be made to bother, sometimes sieun makes him want to. 

kae’s speeding down the highway fast enough to feel blood in his ears. fast enough to drown out the worries in his head, blur it with lights and momentum. because yes, he should slow down but also he should get to the studio as soon as possible. kae doesn’t have measurements for how he should place his worry, doesn’t know how to handle it when it gets too high and the past rears it’s head. he just knows how to act.

[ sms: roro ] hey, wanna finish that movie you told me about? one message in as he was coming into the apartment, errands settled and stress sliding off like his coat.

[ sms: roro ] are you ignoring me because i’m home late? mature the tension doesn’t really build until half an hour passes. because kae knows rosé and knows how quick she is to agree or disagree, to scold him for his late nights or at least - at least tell him where she is. at least respond. but he also sees the hint of destruction in her, that little push that studying the arts rubs off on everyone. that nudge to the cliff to either drown and soar and not think out the jump.

[ sms: roro ] you okay? need me to come pick you up? he knows even when it’s late that she’ll respond. he knows that even when she’s doing nights at the studio she’ll respond. it’s just how they operate. it feeds the anxiety brewing in his mind well and it eases the short insecurities she’ll throw his way. so when an hour goes by with no response he’s back up. coat on, shoes on, worry gearing up like a steel wall. he gives himself fifteen more minutes, breathing and rationale fighting to gain control - before he’s out the door.

so he’s speeding, speeding and checking his phone, moving but not thinking. worrying and worrying and knowing it won’t end until he knows she’s alright. 

when he pulls up to the studio he’s breathing hard, when he finds his way in he’s breathing harder. he goes to her studio by muscle memory alone and nearly shuts off when he reaches the door. he doesn’t wait for her, moves and moves and moves until the only thing separating them is the sliver of floor from his knees to her arms.

the first time she says it hurts, he doesn’t get it.

she’s a little off, masking it with laughter and hands in his. masking it with her hands wrapped around a bottle and the other in his shirt. lightheaded and smelling sweet as hell. like the shirt she’s still wearing from his closet and the peach vodka she’d downed two seconds earlier. he doesn’t get it because they’re both a little off, basking in that mindless kind of love.

“it’s gonna hurt.” he says it with a laugh. the same laugh that only she can hear, that he thinks he can never let loose again. he says it like most people do, like most artists do when stabbing into flesh with a needle. over and over. he repeats it softly, silly and with lips to her ear. because they knew it’d hurt it’s a fucking tattoo. but they prepared.

the second time she says it hurts her fingers tighten. pull into his shirt and pull him into her. he expected that too. he expects pain tolerance as something that’s fleeting. some have it some don’t. he expects maybe a few tears and a few curses. a few flinches and burns as the body gets used to it. accepts and submits.

‘kae....fuck ---- wait. it stings.’

the third time she says it - people say third times the charm, it’s really ring ring ring goes the alarm. and it hits quick, because fingers start to dig, words start to break out, choked and quick. she’s not flinching she’s drawing, fleeing the touch, and fleeing him. he hasn’t touched her with it since the second cry, so he’s left staring, left to holding and searching.

“what’s wrong -??” the words come out as he sees it, and as he sees it her cries pierce. it’s quick really. it’s a sight he won’t ever forget. scribbles on the skin, bubbling, boiling, shifting over and under and searing. the tattoo - or what’s begun of the tattoo, running across her skin, disrupting it like cars on gravel, setting her voice off through the studio. off and around. rippling her skin as it rips through and off her. in him like he feels the pain, against him like he thought his heart wouldn’t rattle. pulling skin and pulling off. black invading and elevating.

as she screams ( it’s ripping off! it’s ripping my - make it stop!!! ) as he whispers ( i’m here - i’m here - i’m sorry - i’m sorry - i’m so sorry..... ) the devil says, ( welcome back. )

repost, replacing the old information with your muse’s information. pass it on to your mutuals for a better understanding of their muses.

face claim: song mino name: kae  age: 24 gender: male nationality: korean. birthplace: seoul, south korea. birthday: may 6, 1993 star sign: taurus residence: one bedroom rooftop apartment in gangnam. ( neighbor to the adorable @asteriose B)  ) marital status: single. alignment: neutral good.

LIKES —

drink: tea, occasionally alcohol, mango bubble tea food: spicy chicken stew, shrimp chips, seafood anything day or night: night time. song: exchange quote: "work work work work work.” pet: hiro ( doberman ) color: black, ruby red

LOOKS —

body type: mesomorph eye color: dark brown hair color: black body reference: x ( broader shoulders, taller and more built than the fc )

keeping a straight face usually isn’t hard. he’s mastered his appearance when he’s on duty, back straight, shoulders squared, suit stiff and tailored. he can be lax on certain jobs, lean and relax in seats but when politicians are involved kae has to be on his best behavior. even if that means fixing his face for dirty money.

where there’s dirty money and dirtier stories there’s always one face he expects to see. a face that makes it hard to keep his composure and hard to really to keep his last sliver of relaxation.

he’s led to her side by hiro pawing across the building. at first kae was suspicious of hiro’s sudden movement, knowing that when the job’s this serious hiro only moves when there’s danger. he thinks the dog hates guarding as much as he does. then he catches sight of the familiar figure, hunched over by a door and out of place in every sense of the word. kae’s quiet up until he’s behind her.

kae breaks his composure for a raised brow and crossed arms. not as menacing, partially professional and all judgement.

reality bends around places like this.

recently kae’s been wondering why he spends more time at the ballet company. he has his job yes, but when he’s not in meetings and discussing terms he has no reason to stick around. no reason to watch the burn and break of souls that happen every minute. he’s seen a girl go from on top of the world to burning in the core before, and he watches it happen like clockwork. tears of failure, tears of happiness, interchanging much how fate likes to toy with people.

he’s watched it, felt it, lived it. and maybe that’s why he sticks around.

maybe he can’t help but understand this kind of torture. and maybe he can’t get rid of the torture he does to himself by choosing to remember and stay in his past. 

it’s nearing midnight when he’s done his errands, when he can finally leave. with hiro pushing at his hand and waves to those who’ve started to acknowledge his presence. he’s come to know quite a few as passing glances and partial waves. everyone with a partial place in his day, and a plait in the idea that he exists separate from them.

some exist more than others, some draw him in more than others and haeun’s one of them. as much as she’s a reminder, a memory, she’s an existence, bold and bright rather than bitter. that’s why it’s pleasant to talk to her, why it’s okay to stop and talk and reminisce silently. it’s because she’s one of the breaks in this separation that he’s okay with his offer, okay with taking her home, for more reasons than on the surface.

“you guys leave late, if they didn’t close for cleaning at night, some of you would sleep there I bet.” kae can rarely talk easily during the night, got too many thoughts swimming around but he makes it work. “in fact, think I saw a girl sleeping there once, was doing a sweep of the floor when hiro nearly ran into her. wasn’t a pretty sight, she attacked me with her gym bag. you guys keep bricks in there.”

reality breaks again with his laugh, though light and not bouncing through the car it’s a laugh. it’s a start.

there’s no real basis to this. sure kae could try to find one, pull whatever rationale and run with it but he’s lost the urge to do so since he started the complaint. it wasn’t much of a complaint either. hiro could eat whatever he wanted, literally anything and be fine. he didn’t have the same constraints as other dogs and exercised enough to match any diet.

“he’s gonna love you after this, he hasn’t had chili in a good year.”

fact is, kae’s fed hiro an entire bowl of spicy noodles - on a good day hiro might even get half a waffle cone. 

today kae tries to put his worries in other places, like with a pet that doesn’t really need it, in something trivial to offset the harsher things. maybe if he worries about small things more, he’ll forget about bigger things. it’s an awkward kind of tunnel vision but he wants to make it work. he must suck because hayden sees right through it.

“i’m just saying, i don’t want to go home with my dog farting chili cheese all night.” there might be a little something more in that. like he doesn’t want to go home with everything still spilling out him, worries and stuff. but he leans his chin in his hand and grins instead, his other hand reaching to pat at hiro’s head.