#sparkweek2026

Hehe someone in the discord called them spArklets 🥹🫶 ty AJ

Back to drawing on ibispaint 🥳

"Ah, right, I did notice the butterfly. It's pretty." The doctor smiled when I nodded seriously. It was the prettiest mark on my body so I was ready to cry if it was ruined, but the doctor said, "You came in quickly so as long as you take care of your injury properly, the scarring should be minimal. Your noona's mark will look just fine."

I sighed with deep relief and sat back as Noona spoke to the doctor about wound care. Thank goodness. The injury would heal but Noona's mark… If anything had happened to it… No, I would be very careful.

Soon, Noona and I left the hospital. At this hour Mom and Dad might have already left for the night but just to be safe, Noona took me to a late-night cafe. She quizzed me on what the doctor said earlier to make sure I had been listening—like I wouldn't when taking care of her mark was so important—and an hour later we headed home.

Mom and Dad's car was gone, so we entered with less hesitance than usual. Of course it was still a messinside, they wouldn't have bothered to clean up after themselves. Noona started to move things back to where they should be and shooed me away when I tried to help. "You'll pull the stitches if you move around too much," she scolded, herding me to our room without touching my back. "How did you already forget what I quizzed you on earlier? Just rest, it'll only take me a few minutes."

I sulked but obediently went inside, and once Noona had cleaned up and come back, we went to sleep.

In the morning Noona checked my back. Everything looked fine and she reminded me again to be careful, to which I nodded dutifully.

Just as she was telling me that I could put my shirt back on, she paused.

"Noona?" I said, puzzled.

Her hand gently brushed the back of my neck, shifting a lock of hair. Then Noona said, "You have another soulmark."

"What?!"

"You really love your members a lot."

Noona's statement, simple and decisive and filled with warm amusement, rang in my ears as I made my way back to the dorm.

Soulmarks were a representation of your soulmate. When they first appeared they were colorless; only after a "true moment of connection" would soulmarks on each end be filled with color and you would officially be considered Bonded.

Like most idols, spArk covered their soulmarks, so I didn't know anything until I saw without the cosmetics: Lee Cheonghyeon's jellyfish, Jeong Seongbin's torch, Park Joowoo's orchid, Kang Kiyeon's candied apple, Choi Jeho's anatomic heart.

And my redwood tree, climbing up each of their spines, just as it climbed Noona's.

It seemed like the System's idea of a sick joke. I refused to think about it—then Kiyeon yelled at me, we made up, we Bonded, and it couldn't be stopped.

My Bond with Noona, before, had always been quiet. She grew upset when I cut her away from my feelings entirely, but I tried not to bother her in general. Bonding with spArk, even just with Kang Kiyeon at first, had been overwhelming by comparison. Eventually I grew used to the casual ebb and flow of emotions that weren't my own. When I left, sealing my end from theirs as best I could, I told myself I was simply returning everything to its natural state.

Between my shoulder blades, Noona's butterfly—beautiful and purple again despite the ugly scar cutting through it—informed me of her continued happiness long after we parted ways. I felt, also, Lee Cheonghyeon's loud joy echoed by Park Joowoo's quiet amusement, Jeong Seongbin's playful annoyance, Kang Kiyeon's exasperation and Choi Jeho's fondness.

And I heard it too as I opened the door to spArk's bustling voices, which quieted as soon as I called, "I'm back!"

"Welcome back!"

"How was your noona?"

"Cheonghyeon did you just step on Jeho hyung?"

"He's fine!"

"Noona's great," I told Joowoo, ignoring Jeho on the floor looking like he was trying to become the first ever person to transport their soul to another galaxy. "She asked about you guys." That got everyone's attention. Kiyeon helped Jeho off the floor, both of them watching me too closely to seem natural.

"What'd she say?" Seongbin asked, failing to not sound too curious.

I smiled, and told them.

"Yeah Noona, they're like family. Um, not that you're not too, of course!"

Noona laughed and ruffled my hair. I resisted the urge to slap her away, thinking about what terror I would invoke if I went outside with ruined hair, and she laughed harder at whatever she saw on my face. "I know. I love you too, my little brother." All thoughts of my appearance fled, my cheeks burning. "But I bet you can't wait to go home now."

"I like being with you," I told her, "and Mother and Father, too."

"And you'll always have a home here," she said, affection flowing through the Bond. "It's different though, right? You've known them longer than me."

I couldn't tell her that I'd known her all my life. And truthfully, I didn't know this her—my Noona whose name was Yeo Hana, whose girlfriend was her colleague and my fan, whose parents would adopt a baby girl and raise her with love and seek to know her little brother too. It was a delight to get to know her, though, without debt or duty or fear binding us together.

Just a butterfly and a tree.

Noona would always be my home, my first home. But.

Cheonghyeon hadn't actually thought of what to say. He shifted to stretch his legs across the couch and press his ankle against Kang Kiyeon's, sending a flood of warmth through their Bond. Kiyeon's fingers relaxed and he sent back a quiet answering nudge. Cheonghyeon looked back at his work with a lightened heart as beach sounds filled the room.

He loved the beach. He always suspected he would, and he was pleased to have been right. It was open and full of noise and activities he could watch for fun or inspiration. If he hadn't wanted to just see spArk so much more, he might have directly taken a train to the beach to wind down when he left his family's house early.

It was as this thought crossed his mind that he felt a crawling up his spine. He abruptly sat up, prompting Kiyeon to look up too though he didn't say anything when he met Cheonghyeon's wide eyes. Seconds passed but the feeling didn't fade.

Lee Cheonghyeon wrestled with his shirt and flung it off, spinning around for Kiyeon to see. "Is it there?!" he demanded, fidgeting anxiously.

"It's there," Kang Kiyeon said, baffled.

Cheonghyeon twisted his head as though he'd be able to see his own back but he only saw flashes of brown. "Where did Iwol hyung say he was going again?"

"PT, supposedly," Jeong Seongbin answered as he walked into the room. He frowned at them. "Lee Cheonghyeon, why are you—" He stopped when Lee Cheonghyeon turned his back towards him. "Oh."

Cheonghyeon scoffed. "'PT.'" Like he'd believe that.

He found out the answer an hour later.

Cheonghyeon sat for a few moments after getting off the phone with his dad, then flew out of his room.

The last vacation he fought with his family, Kim Iwol took him to the beach and gave him inspiration and something new to love.

This time, Kim Iwol gave him his father's blessings and their Bond.

Lee Cheonghyeon found him sitting in the living room and he threw his arms around him from behind. Iwol startled. "Cheon—" He cut off as Cheonghyeon buried his face into the side of his neck, right near his turritopsis floating behind his left ear.