#points of intersection

headcanons about chayenzo immediately after they move to italy

[basically I have a lot of HCs and feels but no patience to write an actual fic atm]

"the mafia family is like a pride of lions," vincenzo warns chayoung as soon as she makes her decision to follow him. with him by her side, no one will dare to confront her directly but they will surely size her up.

as if she needs to be worthy of standing next to him

when he is the one who's to be doubted of being worthy of even love and, much less, her.

"i made sure i am indispensable to the cassano family." that's what he had to do to survive.

"everyone is precious to someone," chayoung says, wistful with late realization.

to be protective of one's own, what it means to be a family —chayoung reassures vincenzo that she understands now. now, they both do. vincenzo sits by her side as she pauses for a moment to miss her father. "tesero mio,"

he knows she can hold her own, but she doesn't have to; they're partners after all. been through hell and worse and back as the devils themselves.

"you've seen what I can do."

yes, he has seen plenty that fills him with awe.

not everyone loves her (she doesn't expect them to), but no one undermines her position as the consigliere's partner. no one can even argue, she makes sure of that first thing. there is much affection a genuine smile can get you, and the rest can be won over with bared teeth.

vincenzo lets chayoung earn her place in the mafia. he knows she will find it more satisfactory that way, never one to back down from a challenge. (she does just that before she can even converse in italian)

(so she's bad at two things: directions and languages)

(but she seems to pick up swear words just fine, complete with the hand motions)

she doesn't let anyone mispronounce her name, unlike the lack of care he showed for his in korea. unlike him, she is concrete, sure, and proud of her identity.

chayoung decides to study italian law so she can practice there with vincenzo

he tries to tutor her, but those sessions quickly dissolve into debates under the pretense of application for the sake of arguing (for fun) which then escalates into sappy staring into each other's eyes or sex on the study table because chayoung's vicious tongue makes vincenzo's blood roar in the best way.

"what weird foreplay," luca commented when he once walked in on them mid-debate, almost spitting into each other's face.

chayoung jokingly tells him to kindly piss off, throwing the words she learnt from him back at his hasty retreat.

she actually doesn't mind that luca follows around vincenzo for 'safety purposes'. it's nice to know that vincenzo has a trusty friend here, and luca is becoming a friend to her too.

he offers to drive them and offers his presence too when chayoung secretly plans a day trip for vincenzo, a full year after he lost his mother.

vincenzo's got a sob welling in his chest since chayoung woke him up with a "joohyeong-ah" and told him to leave his fringe natural and soft, and the sob and the tears swell up when they got to the steadily streaming river. one year is too short a time to forget anything

especially not his mother, and his korean name that's only remembered by him and chayoung and now luca.

vincenzo doesn't want chayoung to take his family name. there's no need for her to be a mrs. cassano — to be labeled as his in such a way. he doesn't want to have her like that

he wants her to remain as a hong, keep alive the memory of her father.

but he also knows first hand that there are privileges (along with the responsibilities) that come with being a cassano. it's a dangerous world chayoung angrily and recklessly lives in.

thank you very much for the ask!! my answers are all from my chayenzo fics so I hope you ship them too hehe (also i really really love your blog mochapearls!)

from this writer/follower ask game:

💘 - Favourite line from a fic/hc I’ve finished?

(this was so difficult, all my lines are my babies, i'm going to cheat and give my top 3)

"then, they will do to each other the opposite of ruin." [i will be your throne]

"how vanishes a soul, the last syllable of contenti (ti as in ti amo, as in there—the ghosting utterance—he wants to find a 'happily ever after') before the cindering fireplace, his adoptive mamma’s rocking chair reduced to ashes, the smoky extension of the gun barrel’s end." [succession]

"Then, he murmurs a last blessing on the smooth expanse along her right shoulder where there would’ve been an exit wound, should the bullet have pierced through her body and embedded itself in his heart, her flesh, bone, blood and all ornate, as intended." [in light of golden days]

🧠 - Random hc about a character or story plot?

i've thought about this for a chayenzo prompt (summer) but never got around to writing it. post-canon, chayoung visits vincenzo in pagliuzza during summer.