the power of three.

rkjeno·:

siyeonrk

to say siyeon’s nervous would be an understatement. just from the weight of her picnic basket alone it’s plain to see she’d stress baked enough to feed the entire park, but if that doesn’t give it away, the way her fingers dance across her knees should. they’re pulled up against her chest, her back turned to jeno to look across the crowd. the gentle hum of life around her is muffled by her thoughts— would he like her? did she dress nicely enough? would he like what she’d prepared for them to eat? she hums to herself, tucking a loose strand of her behind her ear. 

there shouldn’t be anything to worry about. jeno will have put in a good word, if not because he’s her best friend, then because jeno is too nice not to. but she knows the impression she gives off, knows what she thinks of herself. if eric is anything like jeno, maybe he won’t mind that her usual clothes are blindingly bright or that her words are often rather firm and brash, but she doesn’t know that yet. she just knows that until he arrives, she’s going to continue wiggling her feet and tapping her fingertips against her knees. hopefully, it won’t take long. 

normally, jeno would be fixated on siyeon enough to notice how nervous she seemed. he was usually pretty good at reading her, but his mind was too preoccupied for him to entirely notice. truthfully, he’d been out of it ever since he found out about eric. carrying around such a huge and horrible secret weighed him down, making him a hundred times heavier than usual. he wasn’t constantly smiling or making jokes, he was far away, lost inside of his own mind. he agreed to do this because he wanted to start making an effort at strengthening his relationship with eric now that he knows he’s his brother, plus it was important to siyeon…

but he couldn’t help but feel there were more important things for him to be doing. with every day that passed by without him telling his mother the truth, or at least confronting his dad, he felt worse. he almost felt like an accessory to the crime, given he is withholding the information. it felt wrong… dirty… but he doesn’t want to focus on that. he wants to have a good day, he just wishes that it wasn’t so hard. finally, he turns to look at siyeon, trying his best to seem in good spirits. “he’ll be here. maybe he got lost in the crowd.”

eric’s been trying not to think about it. that day at jeno’s when they figured it out had been one of the scariest days in eric’s life, and he’d been pretty on edge since. he’d been trying not to show it though, putting on a happy, bright, unbothered exterior so that know one knew he was constantly terrified of this situation going south. he’s scared that jeno blames him for ruining his perception of his family, and probably eventually the reality of his family, since eric assumes it’ll eventually come out and he’ll have been the catalyst to his family falling apart.

but, he’s got to pretend everything is okay for his own mental stability right now - he can’t let his worries take over, especially not this weekend when he’s got so many people to spend time with. two of those people being jeno and a long-time friend of his, siyeon. eric has heard a lot about her, and knows she means a great deal to jeno. so, he has to make a good impression. 

only problem is he’d just fallen in the river with chaewon and had literally only minutes ago waded out and parted ways with her, sending her off with his soaked plaid shirt to cover her white dress. he’d left her with other friends, knowing he needed to get to this picnic with jeno and siyeon, even if he was soaked and shivering. luckily it’s sunny, so he’s rapidly drying off as he walks across the grass, heading for the couple he can see on a picnic blanket not far away. “jeno!” he calls out as he gets close enough, finally stopped beside the blanket and giving a slightly embarrassed smile. “uh… sorry about… this,” he gestures at his soaked self. “i fell in the river.”

.into the future

kdyxrk·:

Dongyoung was carrying their picnic basket in one hand, as his best friend grabbed a hold of the other one. The older boy let out a soft chuckle. Eric seemed kind of excited, which carried on upon his friend as well. “Now that I see how thrilled you look, I’m getting pretty curious, what they might tell us.”

He sighed lowly and side eyes his friend, before nudging him gently in the ribs and uses his aegyo voice to speak up, even though he hates those kind of stuff and knowing well enough, that he’ll surprise Eric. “Sohnny-ah~ what are you saying. I know you’ll be the king of kings one day, so don’t forget about me~ please! Aing!” He lets out that noice with a ‘v’ sign gesture from his hand, before slightly shaking off his shoulders and laughing. “This was hard… you should be honoured.”

They stopped right in front of the booth. It took him a few seconds to answer his friend’s question. “Hm, I’d say health. Mine and of those most close to me. Cuz it’s the most important thing. If you’re healthy, you can achieve whatever you want to…” He rang twice at the small shiny bell, as the board over the door said and waited for their turn. His eyes shifts in the younger boy’s direction. “What about you? What are you most curious about?”

eric’s never had a tarot card reading before, but he’s heard a lot about it - how a few randomly picked cards can tell the reader so much about you; your past, present and future. he’s thinking about what he could possibly learn from the reading when he’s shocked out of his thoughts but dongyoung’s aegyo voice. his head whips round to stare at him, before he laughs. “what was that?!” 

it’s very nice of dongyoung to say that, but he knows it’s not true, and he’s just saying it to be kind. he’s most likely going to have a mediocre life, but eric’ll just be happy if he’s comfortable in his boring life. he’d like enough money to have a family, but he’s not sure how realistic that is. “oh, totally. super honoured.” he replies, squeezing dongyoung’s arm as they reach the tent. “i dunno about that, though. i don’t have the talent to be the ‘king of kings’.”

dongyoung’s curiosity is much more wholesome than eric’s, he thinks. maybe eric should try and be less selfish in his thoughts. just because he wants to, doesn’t mean he can stop wondering about his romance prospects though. “well…” he blushes a little, avoiding looking at dongyoung as he replies. “i kinda wanna know if i’ll ever find love, i guess. i think they can tell you that stuff. lame, i know.” his eyes are glued to the entrance of the tent, waiting for someone to come out, or to call them inside. after a minute a voice calls out for them to come in, so he tugs on dongyoung’s arm to urge him inside.

splash.

chaewonrk·:

     for @rkxric. ✨

chaewon has been on a swan paddle boat once before. she was really young at the time and hadn’t actually done any of the paddling. her legs couldn’t reach the peddles back then. all these years later, at the grand height of 157cm, she can only just about reach them. she pushes along regardless, making the most use of her toes and the ball of her foot in the process. and it’s fun, really, it is … for the first fifteen minutes anyways. after that, the novelty is all gone. 

“my legs hurt,” she whines, pulling her feet back from the paddles. chaewon turns to eric with a roll of her neck and pouts at him, hands lying dejectedly in her lap. “whose idea was this again?” she asks, crossing her arms over her chest. she knows all too well that she was the one who originally pointed out the swan boats in the first place.

“urgh …” it feels like the last few weeks of training are finally catching up with her. this is what happens when she takes a day off. her body is fighting back against her new daily routine, it seems. she’s always been active, but she hasn’t been this active in a long time. “i just need to stretch my legs.”

hindsight is 20/20. chaewon doesn’t mean to stand up, she only lifts her butt off the seat by the tiniest bit as she leans forward to stretch, but it’s enough for the swan boat to start rocking back and forth. bent over as she is to try and stretch her hamstrings, chaewon’s sense of balance is thrown off, and that’s all it takes to send chaewon off the side of the boat. she lets out a yell, and quickly scrambles to the side of the boat, trying and failing to hoist herself back on. she holds on to it with one hand, and reaches up to eric with the other. “help! fucking help!”

eric had only ever been on a paddle boat once before. it’d been one of those weekends his dad had taken him out when he was young, back in LA. they’d gone to a really big lake where there were these same swan paddle boats and eric had begged him to go on one. he’d laughed and agreed to one short ride. they spent ages on the boat, eric staring around him in awe and his dad doing all the leg work. 

now, he’s tall enough to paddle himself, finding it not too difficult thanks to all the cycling he does. “i’ll paddle then, don’t worry.” he says with a smile, enjoying himself too much to want to head back yet. he likes being out on the river with chaewon, noticing how the sun reflects on the little ripples in the water, and gazing at the buildings on the other side of the river and their outline against the blue sky. he deigns not to answer her question, since he knows it was her who pointed them out - though he was just as enthusiastic, if not more so, to take them out on the water. 

“well, maybe you should cycle more, like me.” he says teasingly, grinning mischievously across at her. he doesn’t mind being the sole paddler, though he can see this getting tiring after a while. it’s a lot more difficult to push two people around in a boat with no help than it is to push two people round when both are pulling their weight. 

it’s a good thing they left their belongings back in the rental booth for the swam boat, as the next thing eric knows he’s watching chaewon topple overboard into the water. a horrified cry escapes him, hoping to god she can swim as he leans over the edge to grab her hand. he’s trying his hardest to pull her in without letting himself get pulled in, but he must’ve messed up his balance, because seconds later he too is falling into the water, almost toppling in right on top of chaewon. he bobs to the surface and spits out some water, blinking in shock, before he slowly starts laughing. 

.that’s what friends are for

yuzurk·:

admittedly ever since yuzu started training for heartz, picking something up in yongsan to take home had been just easier and simpler than ordering from the usual places she’d like to frequent. one of those being the delivery service eric worked for. the guy was a nice one; ambitious, hard-working, friendly and kind. 

so in a way it doesn’t surprise her all that much when he does show up at her door one evening after making sure she was home. 

she still stands in the doorway as he makes his way to her door, a brow raised and a lopsided, amused grin on her lips. “missed yer favourite customer that much, eh,” she jokes, knowing the two of them were more friends by now than just customer and server. be it in a cafe to share some barista knowledge or her chatting him up after he delivers her a jumbo chicken pizza with garlic and extra cheese; those two always found themselves sharing a neat chat.

“c’mon in,” she says after having teased him long enough, stepping aside with a friendly smile. the beer he held along with the pizza was definitely an appreciated extra as well.

eric’s rather excited to see yuzu, she’s always managed to entertain him even if their conversations were short ones - she’s just the type of person eric likes. so, as he nears her door and sees her already standing there waiting, he grins. “definitely.” he responds, thinking about how long it had been since he last saw her. she’d been busy, and while he isn’t one to pry, he can’t say he’s not curious about what’s been keeping her so busy. 

he’s more than happy at the invitation to come in, his legs aching from a long shift of cycling around delivering pizzas. it never gets any easier, sadly - he does have some nice thighs though. making his way inside he sets the pizza and beer down on her kitchen counter after slipping his shoes off by the door. “so, how’s my favourite customer been recently? you seem a lot busier.”

he tugs off the red baseball cap with the pizza place logo on it and shoves it into the pocket of his jacket, which he then shrugs off. “i don’t know which kind of beer you like best, so i hope this is okay.” he pats the top of the beer cans.