autumnal.

— a helping hand.

whoever would encounter qiang he in the hallway or out about in the parks,  they’d never expect the man to be this quick-witted,  always having a rebuttal laying atop the tip of tongue,  ready to fire it at whoever deserved it.  this time the victim happened to miyoung,  who,  admittedly,  was left unfazed by anything he said.  she had been called a brat countless of times before and it was still a pretty tame term compared to other things she was named.   besides,  she knew she was not an angel,  never lacked self-awareness in any way.

she remained quiet for the time being,  busied herself with her phone and merely lifted a hand to wave goodbye to the leaving prefect.  she didn’t understand what he meant by claiming he was not “on par” with her taste.  was he selling himself short or was it an indirect attack against her apparently poor taste?  a small puff escaped pursed lips and she only perked up at the smell of her favorite food filling the room,  pleasantly surprised he actually fetched what she desired.

“are you not eating with me?”  she asked,  deflated;  eating alone always felt awful.  as her parents’ favorite daughter,  she would always be surrounded by them whenever meal time would arrive,  a ritual she appreciated even now.  “join me or i’m not eating.”  despite her tummy proving qiang he she was,  indeed,  hungry,  she crossed her arms,  refusing to start eating.  looking at him like the spoiled,  demanding little brat he claimed she was.

Qiang He paused, his chopsticks halfway to his mouth as his gaze slid over to the girl on his bed. He took in her crossed arms and pouty expression, though he was sure it was supposed to look cool and demanding. To him she just looked grumpy and a little desperate for company… not that she would ever admit. A smile played on the corners of his lips as Xavier hummed for a moment before rolling his chair over to the transfigured table, plopping his bowl of noodles down as he nodded. “Your wish is my command, Miyoung-ssi,” he replied teasingly.

He began to eat, savouring every flavour as he kept half an eye on his companion and her—in his opinion—rather lacklustre dinner. “Are you really only going to eat an avocado salad?” Qiang He asked, eyebrow raised as he looked at the greenery in the bowl. “I know it’s nutritious enough but… you do realise that being as active as you are that your body also requires carbohydrates to function, right? You’re not going to get fat if you eat a plate of pasta every once in a while, even if you have a nice cream sauce on it. You’re probably in calorie deficit with the way that you train every day.” It was probably too touchy a subject that he’d chosen but Xavier was sometimes incredibly dumb despite his academic brilliance.

Continuing to eat, Qiang He stopped talking, concentrating on picking every piece of remaining vegetables from his bowl and transferring them to his mouth. With a small sigh he finally put the bowl down and leaned back in his chair, satiated and content. “So, Miyoung-ssi, are you planning to stay the night or do you want me to carry you on my back to your dorm? It’s your choice really. I can easily sleep on the sofa.” Xavier’s voice was soft and easy going with the merest hint of prodding teasing accented by his sparkling eyes and the curve of his lips.

— lunch break

inori liked to observe,  and boy,  did she observe a lot.  perhaps more than she should,  more than she actually liked to.  a certain grad student caught her attention lately;  they worked together at the hospital wing,  which allowed the junior to notice the dark eyebags being a constant on his face and the fact that he was always busying himself with his studies.  at times he’d even forget to snatch something to eat.

which is why she seeked him out on her free day,  bag of self-made onigiri and takoyaki dangling in the hold of her fingers.  inori was sure xavier did not remember to have lunch,  and she prayed this certain girl she kept noticing around him wouldn’t be there,  too.  the smile blossoming upon rosy lips when he spotted her was an instant reaction she couldn’t quite control,  didn’t want to,  anyway.

“ah!  sorry,  sorry,  i’ve been busy cooking.  as you’ve already noticed.”  hum in her voice as the plastic bag was placed down on the emptied spot on the table and she took a seat beside him.  “i figured you didn’t get to eat,  yet.  you know,  staying healthy is also important as a doctor and student.”  her chin rested upon curled digits and the raven haired looked at him with all the attention in the world.  still couldn’t help the curious remark,  “are you alone today?  i usually see you hanging out with a very pretty girl.”

The smell emanating from the plastic bag made his stomach growl, reminding Xavier that he had indeed forgotten to eat lunch at a reasonable time yet again. He licked his lips as he opened the bag carefully and drew out the food items with a nod of approval. “Don’t mind if I do,” he murmured before taking a bite out of the homemade onigiri, closing his eyes in pure bliss. He polished it off quickly and quietly, giving Inori a thumbs up as he chewed to indicate his happiness. “Oh, this is superb, Inori-san. You’re a really great cook. Thanks for looking after your forgetful senpai.” He grinned at her and skewered a takoyaki ball with a toothpick watching the steam rise off it.

“Pretty girl?” Xavier repeated, gently blowing on the surface of the batter before popping it into his mouth and chewing thoughtfully trying to make sense of who she was talking about. Who had he been spending much time with? “Ah, you mean Miyoung-ssi? Mm, I think she had extra practice today or something. Either way I’ve been holed up here for most of the day working and studying,” he replied and smiled at her, continuing to eat at a steady pace.

with @msuinori

It wasn’t unusual to find Xavier in the hospital wing working and even less so to find him working during his lunch break. If he wasn’t attending to a patient then he was making sure the hospital wing was fully stocked to provide the best care possible and if he wasn’t doing that, then he was studying, books and notes spread out neatly in front of him in the little office, quill in hand.

Being a graduate student was difficult, but being a medical grad student was brutal. There were just so many things to memorise and learn. Not just the traditional medical knowledge but also the magical side of things, the Healer aspect of it all and trying integrate it all together. It was exhausting but oh so rewarding. Just the thought of being able to help people in the future was enough to keep him going.

— a helping hand.

stubborn as she might have been initially,  miyoung was not starry-eyed.  she was well aware of possible consequences following reckless actions or behavior.  it wasn’t as if she was forced to face others in this condition.  qiang he’s room kept her sheltered from prying eyes and she was definitely going to use this day she’d be spending inside his four walls to keep herself entertained. 

except qiang he was not playing by her rules,  started to create his own.  it took her by mild surprise — he never gave the impression to be this playful with that ever present kindness he displayed to everyone;  near angelic,  the sweet,  untouchable grad students people admired.  except miyoung always sensed there was more to him than he showed.  

it made everything suddenly so much more entertaining,  even if she wasn’t fond of having someone try to play her game better than herself.  “oh,  yes.  yes!  a double cheeseburger with all the unhealthy fats to clog my pores and turn me into a greasy human being.  what else would i ever desire in life.”  she responded to his teasing,  cheeky grin resting on petal-colored lips.  her gaze lifted,  wandered from the screen of her phone to the outfit he chose to wear.  a single brow lifted,  judgemental.  

“wait.  are you going to go get food dressed in … grey and yellow?  do you not know this is a forbidden color combination?”  she asked, appalled at what she was witnessing.  “please.  qiang he.  please.”  a hand came to rest atop her chest,  her flair for dramatics seeping through.  “change this yellow something for black or white.  for your own good and the sanity of my eyesight.”

Qiang He smiled back briefly before sensing a shift in the mood, eyebrows rising slightly. Uh-oh, now what? Oh. He plucked at his yellow sweater with the word ‘Geumsong’ embroidered across the front and gave her a shrug. “Does it really matter?” he asked, looking down at his clothing choice not seeing anything wrong with it. It wasn’t like he was going off on a dinner date or anything. Besides, what was wrong with yellow and grey?”

The grad student walked over to his desk. “I happen to quite like yellow as a colour you know,” he said with a smile as he picked up his wand, tapping his grey joggers with the tip, inky black radiating from the contact point. A minute later he was wearing black pants and more of a mustard colour sweater, a grin on his lips as he adjusted his glasses on his nose. “Yellow and black is pretty classic, isn’t it? It’s a little bit more acceptable, no?”

— a helping hand.

his fingers on her ankle did bring forth the familiar feeling of pain,  throbbing and awful to deal with,  and she did pray it was not serious.  the worst case scenario of being unable to train for weeks did saunter around in her head,  dreading it more than anything.  thankfully qiang he’s words eliminated such thought and she could hear herself sigh,  all tension she,  uknowningly,  stored in form of stiff shoulders dropped from them,  too.

except he put a ban on using her foot,  her reaction an automatic response to such claim;  brows furrowed and feline-like eyes narrowed,  resembled an angry little cat with the way she was frowning at him in a matter of seconds.  “what do you mean …. no weight until tomorrow?  are you exiling me from life?  keeping me locked inside this room?”  a flair for dramatics did follow her words,  the movements of her flailing hands.  this was not how she imagined the day to go.

“fine.  i  won’t move”  she agreed eventually,  only after a brilliant idea struck her mind.  he wanted to keep her here?  she was going to use it to her full advantage.  petite figure shifted on his bed,  careful to not drop the cool pack,  until she was comfortable enough,  laying there like a queen  —  expecting to be treated as such,  too.  “i’m hungry.  get me an avocado salad,  if you’d be so kind.”  sugar sweet voice and batted eyelashes as ring-clad fingers fished for her phone in the pocket of her cardigan.  “oh,  and tea.  green tea.”  

Of course. She was one of those. And by those he meant patients who did their best to resist the doctor’s orders and end up fucking themselves up more. “I said what I said,” Qiang He stated bluntly, looking at Miyoung with an arched eyebrow. “You need to let the joint heal and for the swelling to go down.” She really was a stubborn one, but then again he shouldn’t have been surprised.

He kept his eyes on her as she began to shift, ready to stop her from trying to escape out the door but was pleasantly surprised when she just made herself more comfortable on his bed. Qiang He couldn’t help but chuckle softly as the realisation hit that he’d walked into a particular dangerous trap. Miyoung was going to use him to the best of her ability to do everything for her.

A servant and his queen.

The game was afoot and he wasn’t going to give in so easily. With a nonchalant stretch, he rose up from where he sat to walk over to his wardrobe pretending not to have heard the other’s request as he picked out some casual grey joggers and oversized yellow hoodie. Qiang He half debated changing where he stood just to prove a point but felt that it might be taken the wrong way so he made his way to the bathroom without a second glance. A minute or two later he emerged, sending his used clothes floating through the air to his laundry bag.

— a helping hand.

only after speaking did she realize just how bold her statement was,  how shameless and reckless it could have painted her out to be.  which wouldn’t be a lie - she was bold,  reckless and shameless and didn’t actually feel any sort of regret for her choice of her words.  she was sure qianghe,  as a doctor,  would understand what she meant and didn’t take her words the wrong way.

this proved to be true when he offered his room and there was a tiny hint of a smile lingering on rose-colored lips.  she knew of his tendency to pretend in front of others rather than show his true emotions,  expected nothing less from a man who was more mature than others of his age.  “all mine?  why,  thank you.  how kind.”  she responded through a brief laugh.  yes,  a laugh.  quiet, but genuine.  “i can walk.  if i lean on you,  people might believe we have a thing going on.”

they made their way to the dormitories of the geumseong house and miyoung was glad the walk wasn’t all too long.  solely the stairs were a bit of a challenge,  but she sighed out in relief when her body finally got to slump atop the mattress of his bed and her shoes were carefully taken off.  “so,  what is the verdict on my injury?”  she asked,  eyes trained on the swollen ankle she was sporting before she looked up at qianghe,  hoping to hear it was nothing serious after all.

It wasn’t every day that he brought someone back to his room. In fact, he rarely did if ever. Qiang He didn’t exactly have any close friends despite his caring, friendly image, he’d always been too busy with his studies to form any deeper bonds beyond any superficial niceties. Miyoung’s request had caught him off guard but he knew that she didn’t mean anything by it, she was just trying to protect herself from any perceived weakness.

He sat down on his office chair and rolled over to where the other sat on his bed, gently lifting her ankle onto his lap to examine it. There was no doubt that it was swollen but as deft fingers touched the ankle he concluded that it wasn’t anything too serious. The trick was to keep Miyoung from walking on it for at least a few hours. Qiang He hummed taking a compress bandage from his bag and skillfully wrapping up her foot and ankle. 

“You aren’t allowed to put any weight on this foot until tomorrow,” he said bluntly, keeping his eyes on her joint, “your ankle is sprained but it doesn’t look too severe even with your dumb attempt to mask it and carry on as usual. It could’ve ended badly you know? You need to rest with it slightly elevated and I’ll give you an icepack to help reduce the swelling.” With the flick of his wrist he summoned a cold pack which hovered next to him as he finished with the bandage, laying her foot on the chair he just occupied. He placed the cool material on her ankle adjusting the temperature with his wand.

— a helping hand

this was hell.  complete,  utter hell.  an aching ankle she had to suffer from ever since yesterday’s cheer practice was harder to handle than she expected.  keeping up the picture perfect facade in public when she actually felt like crying did prove to be a challenge,  but miyoung believed she was doing a decent job covering up the injury – no one had asked her about it,  nothing appeared out of place.  

until she heard a voice,  his voice,  had his hand on her shoulder and horrifying words spoken to her.  she canted her neck,  looked up at the grad student as if she had just been caught in the worst of acts,  a terrible crime.  “w-what do you mean?  i’m fine.  totally fine.  see?”  for sheer emphasis,  she lifted her foot,  wiggled it a couple of times.  along with it came a wince from her shoulders and the scrunching up of features in pain.

fine.  he had seen right through her act,  but she refused to let herself be taken to the hospital wing.  a place where anyone could be seeing her in this state.  “you can take a look.  i guess.”  she eventually agreed,  cleared her throat and adjusted the bag on her shoulder.  “but not here.  nor in the hospital wing.  take me somewhere nowhere will see us.”  her words were definite – she wasn’t going to accept it any other way.

Qiang He raised an elegant eyebrow as Miyoung wiggled her foot in an attempt to disprove his observation about her injury but only succeeded in further showing that she did in fact require medical attention. That girl, honestly. From what little interactions they had had together he’d manage to glean that she was quite the perfectionist and had an image to uphold—at any cost. He sighed and ran a hand through his hair as she continued to prove a difficult patient, striking through every possible place of treatment.

“Take me somewhere no one will see us.”

He blinked in surprise at the bold request but could guess that she was desperate. If anyone saw her appearing weak her whole reputation could crumble. On some level Xavier understood her reluctance to be treated, he himself had a carefully crafted persona of a friendly and dependable older brother figure, but there were days when he wished he could just brush people off without so much as a care in the world.

with @msumiyoung

Qiang He hoisted his bag over his shoulder, bidding goodbye to the head nurse in the Hospital Wing and the other part timers, and headed out. Being a graduate student was definitely a challenge but with that challenge came a wealth of experience and knowledge, something that he loved wholeheartedly. Working part time in the Hospital Wing gave him a good opportunity to try out the more practical side of his education, since dealing with actual patients with real ailments was different than just reading about theory in a textbook or listening to a lecture.

He was on his way to the library to pick up a book concerning the properties of willow bark in healing potions when he spotted a familiar figure. Qiang He hesitated for a moment, watching the other, wondering if they would feel like he was overstepping some invisible line if he approached. After a brief internal struggle his concerned, Healer side won, so he adjusted his course and walked over quietly to lay a gentle hand on her shoulder.

buzzer meme: open !!

❌ - for a wrong person buzzer

dumpling doc 🥟 (@libaozi)  • 5 minutes ago

first of all how dare you @.byul

dumpling doc 🥟 (@libaozi)  • 2 minutes ago

wait no sorry not you. you didn’t do anything. or have you??

🆘 - for a stressed buzzer

dumpling doc 🥟 (@libaozi)  • 1 hour ago

buzzer meme: open !!

❓ - for a confused buzzer

dumpling doc 🥟 (@libaozi)  • 2 minutes ago

is it just me or do the hwaseong bunch seem unusually... rowdy of late? like who spat in their beancurd? 🤔

dumpling doc 🥟 (@libaozi)  • 1 minute ago

buzzer meme: open !!

💭 - for an unsent buzzer

dumpling doc 🥟 (@libaozi) DRAFTED

I’m circe and this is my boy qiang he aka xavier, your resident geumseong grad prefect and all round good, caring, upperclassman. majoring in healing with a minor in medicine. there’s nothing on his blog atm but just hmu if you want to plot! I’m in the discord server as well as on twitter as kimhosungmp3.

some quick plots:

fellow graduate student friend

friend from home

tutoring help

academic rivalry

a person who he just doesn’t like. they just don’t vibe well

that geumseong student who keeps getting into trouble and makes qiang he lose his mind

unrequited crush

exes! open to both male and female muses

I threw the quaffle and it hit your head and now you have a concussion but it’s really your fault for reading in the quidditch stand during practice