#an ode

Even the lives that we can’t see

The rivers will run and the winds will howl

How dare you say any life is foul

The birds have sung and the frogs have croaked

The beauty around me has left me stoked

When the sun sets and the fireflies glow

I will do my best to show

Love to the world around me

Because they all deserve to be free

From the dirty cities and slums that trap them

And the people around that treat them like scum

From snakes and spiders to deer and cats

Border collies and vampire bats

They're all just trying to survive

So why won't you let them thrive?

And for those that can’t love me back

I’ll continue to love them ‘till I’m blue and black

For I know what it’s like to be despised

Masterlist

Theme: Mingyu is in love with you — deeply — but he keeps you at arm’s length because he’s scared of ruining the good in you.

Tone: Angsty, passionate, emotional — a love that’s raw and conflicted, full of walls trying to protect you from himself.

Setting: You’re the light in his life, and he’s the storm trying not to pull you in — but love, of course, never listens to fear.

You saw it in his eyes before he ever said the words.

The way he pulled back when you got too close.

The way he’d smile at you, then look away like it hurt.

The way his touch lingered — like he needed it — then vanished before it could mean something.

Mingyu wasn’t distant.

He was drowning.

And he didn’t want to drag you under with him.

“I’m not good for you,” he whispered one night, voice rough, hands shaking.

You were sitting in the studio, the only light coming from the city outside.

“Why do you keep saying that?” you asked, heart aching.

He turned his back to you.

Shoulders tense.

Voice low.

“Because everything I love…”

He paused.

Swallowed hard.

”…I ruin.”

But what he didn’t see —

was that you already loved him.

Not just the polished version.

Not just the charming, smiling, spotlighted Mingyu.

But the real one.

The one who stayed late to perfect one line of a lyric.

The one who held in his tears when no one else was watching.

The one who thought he was poison — when he was your whole reason.

You stood up, walked to him, and wrapped your arms around his back.

“Then let me choose.”

Your voice was steady.

Sure.

“If you’re afraid of hurting me… fine. But don’t take away my chance to love you anyway.”

He froze.

Then slowly, painfully —

he turned around and finally looked at you.

Eyes red.

Jaw clenched.

Walls cracking.

“Even if I break you?”

You touched his chest.

“Then I’ll break too. But at least we were real.”

He kissed you like he was sorry.

Like he was scared.

Like he couldn’t stop himself anymore.

And maybe he was afraid.

But love — the kind that chooses even the broken parts —