#nikxcul

Key cursed as the heater refused to work more in spite of the adjustments he had done to it in the morning. Nighttime was falling over Russia quickly, and he knew that if he didn't do something, they would end up freezing one of these days.

      "Ki?" Nicole said softly.

      Key looked up immediately, eyes filling with concern. Nicole tried to take a step forwards, but she was still to weak and so Key moved fast to catch her in his arms before she fell on the ground.

      "What are you doing in here? I told you you need to rest, that means no getting up," he chided with a soft voice as he put an arm around her shoulders and the other under her knees, scooping her up effortlessly.

      "I could… I can help," she said, pouting.

      But even that seemed to tire her out, Key noticed as he saw her eyes fluttering shut. She was fighting to stay awake, he knew that. Never liked to stay asleep when her twin was not beside her.

      "You can't, not yet… your powers are too fickle and they are draining you of your energy even when you aren't using them," Key said as he moved back to the living room without making use of his speed.

      "But I don't like to leave everything on your shoulders…" Nicole replied.

      "That's okay, because I am your older brother," Key retorted as he put her on her bed and tucked her under all the blankets and jackets he had managed to get in the last few weeks.

      "You are older for two minutes," Nicole pouted, eyes half-opening to try to glare at her brother.

      It made Key chuckle, the heaviness of his worry become just a tad lighter with this. Nicole too was smiling, but she looked so frail and pale and tiny under all the blankets that Key moved to her side, laying down next to her. Nicole was quick to snuggle into his side, and he caressed her hair gently.

      "I miss having you taken us everywhere. Like during spring. That was a fun day. I wonder what that bear thought when we disappeared from his sight in less than a blink."

      Key laughed softly as he tucked a lock of red hair behind her twin's ear.

      Before Nicole's powers had become a burden, Key would use his abnormal speed to take her here and there. They visited Moscow once too. But as she grew weaker, Key had been unable to use his speed anymore. It made her dizzy and worsened her condition.

      "Ki, I don't want to slow you down," Nicole said after a while. Key thought she had fall asleep, but she was seeing him instead.

      "Nikki–"

      "No. Listen to me. You are strong and you can take revenge for all that we lost," she said, her hand coming out from the blankets to take his. Her grip wasn't as strong as it should, but Key could also detect energy crackling from her skin. Her eyes began to change of color too and he got a bit scared for her health. "Promise me you will carry on."

      "No, Nikki, we have–"

      "Are the Maximoffs here?" someone called outside of the place where they had been staying now.

      Kibum frowned. Then, he felt Nicole's grip on his hand weakening and he turned his gaze back at her. Horrified, he saw Nicole had fainted and the blue veins along her face and neck were clear for anyone to see.

      "Nicole! Nicole! Wake up!"

      He continued to scream, not giving a damn about the men in black hurrying their way inside.

      "She will be fine," a man said once the both of them had been moved into a building he didn't recall seeing anywhere in Saint Petersburg. Key looked up. He didn't trust the man with the mask. "We have been looking for the two of you for a while, you know?"

      "Whatever for?"

      The man was smiling. Key didn't know how he knew it, but he did. It didn't make him feel any better.

      "We know you have a pending debt with the Avengers. Our organization can help you to collect it. And also help Nicole with her powers."

      Key didn't trust men with masks that gave help so easily. Nicole and he had been orphans for so many years they knew good people were as scarce as sunny warm days in Russia. But he knew when good chances were around, and Nicole needed this.

      "Promise me she will be safe and we have a deal."

      The man's smile was widening behind his mask, Kibum knew that too. But behind him, in a room with strange energies, Nicole was getting back her life. He would take the both of them away from this.

His left eye was covered with a patch. He wished he had been able to come back to see her without it, but it was just his luck that the moment he stepped out from the subway, he felt the same strange vibe that seemed to envelope him at the worst times possible. After a month with this, he was used to the feeling and what it caused: his left eye always changed the hazel coloring to a jet black one.

He came back to his senses after listening to a frantic scratching. His gaze dropped after hearing Mely whimpering behind the door.

So this was it.

He moved towards the door and knocked, clammy hands smoothing down nonexistent creases on his pants.

x☂: My muse runs to your muse's house on a stormy night.

Vartouhi hated having to break into someone’s home again. It had been so long; normally she was close enough to a friend’s place that she could make it before the storm grew worse. But it crept up on Seoul; one minute the sky was azure blue with fluffy white clouds. The next, it was raining, the sky went dark, and lightning flashed ominously behind the clouds.

When she shut the door silently behind her and locked it, she heard the sound of glass hitting the floor. Startled, she thought to flee, but then she heard a groan of--frustration? Pain? She couldn’t tell. Though she knew better than to suddenly reveal herself in a stranger’s apartment, she couldn’t help but wonder if the person needed help. So, she slowly crept to the end of the wall, peeking around the corner.

On the living room floor, a woman was picking small pieces of glass out of her shin. There were more shards scattered along the floor, along with liquid that burned Vartouhi’s nose when she next took in a breath. Alcohol. The woman’s face was cherry red in the apples of her cheeks, and it was clear to Vartouhi that she was drunk, as she had trouble pressing her fingers around each piece of glass and keeping a grip on them. Vartouhi watched her make three more nicks in her fingers before deciding she should help.

               Weird Conversations I’ve Actually Had Sentence Starters!

Doubling over as a volcano of laughter erupts from her lungs, small hands clutching at the growing pains in her stomach from the excess howling, it’s no surprise when she finds herself rolling on the floor with tears spilling from her eyes. Frankly, although this particular phrase wasn’t the punchline – it was the deliverance which emphasized the humour of her stories; her animated expression and earnest tone make Hyosung spill into hysterics. 

“Oh lord, your stories– jeez --why are they so bloody hilarious?” Although the tears had subsided, her laughter did not and so each word comes out as a strangled wheeze. Tolerance wasn’t even an issue between the two; their friendship had been based upon the importance of blind (at least to an extent) acceptance and never had she been the type to tread on eggshells nor careful not to offend. It was all light, all supportive even with the onset of amusement. 

Send me a “✬” and I’ll generate a number (Childish activities version) — nikxcul

( 7.  building snowmen )

Quality time between the two had been something that had become rare, a once in a while type occasion—but he enjoyed it, nonetheless. Holiday season has rolled it’s way around again, winter chilling and filling the air, snow blanketing the ground in heavy sheets of sparkling white. Yunho had always been the type to enjoy every season, and he always managed to find beauty despite the freezing cold; and it was never hard to see the beauty in his friend, either.  The only thing the male had had to worry about was making sure his camera was not soaked by snow or too frozen to operate, though that wasn’t something on his mind at the moment, a ball of snow beneath his hands rather than the black device he usually held. He had surprisingly left it inside for the day, his focus on the craft they were preparing. 

[ s m s ] minho. : I hope not… At least you’re okay but did you hurt anyone in your blackout last night?

[ text : Nicole ] I don’t recall any violence but i do remember self humiliation

[ text : Nicole ] I am going to ask you not to judge me though i believe it’s a little too late.

[ text : Nicole ] Well now that you know it’s possible..don’t ask me how i don’t have a single glimpse of what happened last night.