(     *     VALENTINE’S DAY PROMPTS   !

send a symbol from your muse to mine: closed. 

the sky is overcast, with steel grey clouds pulled over the sun - the light coming from above reminds byungchul of a flashlight shining through the sheets of some enormous blanket fort. the imagery inspires a deep nostalgia within him, memories of the person he used to be when he first met haneul. when the only privacy he was used to getting was the secret spaces he could find between the sheets, making his own little worlds. 

so much has changed since then, about them, together and separately. he is so far from that scared little boy, lost to life - and haneul has only grown more into himself, becoming more handsome and more confident through the years. experiencing life with the freedom to love openly has done wonders for that restless heart of his. byungchul wants nothing more than to hold him close and never let go - they have spent too long denying one another.

the weather does nothing to deter his plans for the other; if anything, the low light brings out the warm glow of the lamps he’s arranged around the townhouse rooftop. he’s strewn fairy lights around the enclosure as well, and they remind him of the fireflies in the summer green of haneul’s hometown. there is a bluetooth speaker tucked away out of sight, playing slow, gentle music from a special playlist he’s been building for almost a year now in preparation of celebrating them. 

he extends his hand for haneul to take. there’s a look in his eyes, and a soft smile on his lips, the combination reading easily as overcome with love. when their fingers intertwine, the simple tattoos on their fingers align - two matching rings, their choice for wedding bands. byungchul brings haneul to him, and they move slowly together, swaying back and forth like they’re teenagers in love at some school dance - something they would have never been able to experience as a couple in this lifetime. 

one song fades into another. the evening fades into night. above them, the blanket fort has been rebuilt - the flashlight shining from within is no longer the sun, but the moon. byungchul smiles at the love of his life, and haneul smiles back. 

“hey,” byungchul says, casual.

“hey,” haneul replies.

“happy birthday.”

haneul’s eyes soften, ever expressive. the two share a kiss - they are timeless, both young and old, the instant their lips meet. byungchul holds his back, steady. without even realizing, they have continued their dance. the motion is automatic, the music carrying them.

“happy valentine’s day,” haneul says when they part.

“that too, but i think one of those days is sli-i-ightly more important than the other.” there’s a pause, and then he says, “i mean valentine’s, of course.” 

we obviously don’t want to slow dance in this state @jjkrps

lee kangmin is a mess. he’s made it that obvious the moment he ran back inside the ball to head straight for the men’s bathroom. sure, it’s not the ideal place for him to cry in, especially since it’s not his usual choice when going to the bathroom in general. but it was the closest room he could find that was hidden off from everywhere else. 

he needed to hide. that was clear the moment he realized he was crying while kissing anais. but the moment he opens that door and runs into the stall, he’s able to let out heartbroken sobs into his hands. god, it felt like he had been holding that in for ages. in a way, he has. after he had his realization while knowing that he and her could never be a thing, given the fact that she was very much interested in someone else, the hurt had been slowly growing in his heart. so the moment he’s able to let it out, it feels like... overwhelming to deal with. 

he’s felt this before. after the first night of the carnival where he fought with haejin about hyunki, he had held in all his frustrations and pain until the end of the night. after such a long night, he deserved a good warm in the shower... accompanied with tears that felt like it didn’t come out because of the shower water hitting his face. 

after a few minutes of crying into his hands, however, he hears a different noise besides the silence and his own whimpers. he’s lucky that he didn’t hear the door of the entire bathroom open because he wouldn’t want to be crying while someone needed to go. but it does raise his suspicions, especially because they don’t sound too far off from the sounds of his own heartbreak. 

he leaves his stall and he walks closer to the sound, knocking on the door to be polite. he has a strong suspicion on who it could be, but it’s worth taking a guess. he didn’t want to already prove himself an idiot after what just happened a few minutes ago. 

(     *     VALENTINE’S DAY PROMPTS   !

send a symbol from your muse to mine: currently accepting.

chie has always been the indulgent type, unfamiliar with the word ‘no’ when it comes to what she likes. not ordering something from the dessert menu at a fancy restaurant, putting a sweater back on the rack because of the price, turning the tv off because it’s getting late even if it’s getting good... chie wanted to laugh. what sort of life was that? living between the boundaries, all caught up with restraints? if she couldn’t decide between ice cream and cake, she would order both; if she wanted the sweater, she came home with it in three colours; if she wanted to binge the whole season until eight in the morning, then that’s what she would do.

what she wanted, she would get. simple.

although her more luxurious approach to life makes every day with her partner feel like valentine’s day, it doesn’t diminish the holiday’s importance between them. they’re both a fan - undoubtedly because they’re both obsessed with sweets, pink, and being in love - and this year she wants to go even bigger than before.

peach is high maintenance, and a bit particular - okay, scratch that, he’s overbearingly particular. he throws a fit when things aren’t exactly how he wants them, not that she’s complaining because she gets it, she’s the same way. but they’ve been together long enough now that she knows what he wants and how he wants it. she’s held off on going for this gift idea long enough, she wants to bite the bullet and do it already.

she wants to buy her boyfriend some goddamn lingerie. so that’s exactly what she’s going to get. simple !

chie has spent the last few years quietly cataloguing her boyfriend’s responses to various clothing items, gauging his reaction on style, fabric, colour. she’s confident about what she’s picked out, and now that it’s here in all of its glory, she can feel her heart fluttering with excitement. it came in a sleek box with a bow on top. it’s got a matching sheer robe with a fluffy trim that’s long, probably won’t be nearly as long on her tall boyfriend but it’ll be a comfortable fit regardless. and the set itself is sensual, with a repeating pattern of golden roses that shimmer in a garden of deep crimson satin. she hugs the set to her chest and revels in the feeling of it against her skin - the thought of hugging him to her while he’s wearing it is even more thrilling.

having known the other since their days at mahoutokoro, cal had expected there to be a candygram for him from jitae. mainly because if he didn’t get one from him, he’d be obnoxious about it until the other would get something. thankfully it didn’t have to go that far as cal sees a bar of candy as well as a note taped against it. immediately after he reads it, he laughs. 

what else could he expect from the boy? all he could do is smile and shake his head as he puts the letter attached in the pocket of his jeans. it’s a relief that he was on his way to the geumseong building anyways, as his only class for the day had ended just moments ago. he walks into the building and walks down the freshman dorm hallways before he finds the other’s dorm. he knows he’s in there. he knows the other well enough that the other couldn’t hide from him. he calls the other’s phone and waits for a reaction from the other side. when he hears the ringtone, he was already prepared to make a fool out of himself. 

(     *     VALENTINE’S DAY PROMPTS   !

send a symbol from your muse to mine: currently accepting.

DEAREST DEIJI, 

i always wanted a storybook romance. when i look at you, everything goes into slow-motion and i get swarmed with sparkles and rose petals - it’s a real fairytale moment! there’s something about that smile of yours, and the way you scrunch your nose up all cute when you laugh. that confused twitch you get in your eyebrow during math class when someone’s just written an answer to the problem on the board. that tiny frown of yours when lunch in the caf is a little bit spicier than you like it to be. i like how expressive you are about everything, you carry all of your emotions with you like they’re just another designer handbag in your collection - and don’t think i haven’t noticed how you have every colour of coach’s hallie line!! you’re so open about what you like. it’s something i really admire, because i wish i could be open about how much i like things, especially about how much i like YOU!! someday i want to be your princess in shining armor... but for now i’m just plain shy :( so until i get a little bit braver, please have this letter to remind you that there’s someone who thinks you’re beautiful in every moment of the day<3 

a continuation, with sage ( @jjkrps​ )

there is a surge of guilt so strong it feels as if her heart has just been stabbed. punished? because of her own actions, her own choices, made entirely separate from sage? but of course he would be punished for something like that, it was her father’s last resort - the last possible way he could get to her without physically dragging her by the hair back to russia.

oh, her father always knew exactly where to hurt someone for things to go his way - that is how it has been her entire life, and she doesn’t know why she thought going to university, literally leaving the country, trying to isolate herself would make any difference. she is still a bird locked behind the bars of a pristine cage, waiting not to be freed but to be killed and eaten. such is her sentence, being a woman of mae blood.

she had recently read a profound passage on relationships, particularly strained familial ones - what had it said? oh, yes, that’s right; love without liking someone was a chain with manacles on either end. it kept everyone trapped. she certainly did not like her father - she wasn’t sure if she even loved him anymore, but she loved sageland without question, and that right there was the manacle that kept her chained to their awful family. until he, too, could escape entirely, there would be no safety, no reprieve, for either of them. and she could never be sure that day would ever come.

“i’m sorry,” she says, her sincerity so raw that it hurts to hear. “i’ll- i’ll come home.” for you, is the unspoken part of her promise, but it is loud and clear with the way she’s looking at him.

@jjkrps

when he had heard that the ball would have many different things to do, there was one that kei hadn’t really been too sure about. the mistletoe. the fact that something like that even existed, especially the kind that would follow you around and even could hex someone if they didn’t go through with kissing, the whole thing just really made him want to skip out on the ball altogether. though in the end he had decided he would attend the little event, not ever really being someone who would turn down the idea of having a little make out session with anyone.

kei had managed to avoid the mistletoe for most of the night, especially when he was around anyone he had previously slept with or just didn’t want to be stuck with, though somehow he had managed to end up under the exact thing he had been sort of avoiding. he wasn’t really complaining right now though because he had to admit, jitae was handsome so actually this whole situation wasn’t too bad for him.

he looks up at the mistletoe that’s now above both of them and lets out a small sigh before he averts his gaze to the male in front of him, a slight smirk appearing on his face as he does. “well, i guess this means we have to kiss. that is unless you want to risk the chance of being hexed.” his tone sounds almost dangerous as he says this, glancing the other up and down before he steps closer to the other until he’s only a couple inches apart.

when it comes to the candygrams, the thing she is most excited for is the letters that would come attached with it. not only that, but she found it surprising that someone would even think of sending them to her. so as soon as she gets it, she takes it from the gifter and reads it quickly before bursting into laughter. 

she claps in amusement over how humorous the other’s message is. he technically wasn’t wrong though—yeonhee did have a questionable taste in men: out of her league. she thanks the sender before she walks off to her next class, pulling out her phone to punch in his number as she goes on her way. she’s immediately brought to voicemail, making her assume he was busy. so she leaves a voice message.