[His hand lands right on top of Leona's head, heavier than usual, scruffling into his hair just a little. Insistent. It brings them shoulder to shoulder, and Yoojin doesn't back off.]
Sorry, I'm gonna keep being nosy, 'cause this really bothers me. Get used to it.
[He takes a long, deep breath and lets it out in a huff.]
They should have been happy. A little kid mastering power like that? That's awesome. I already knew you're smart as heck, but that's genius-level stuff. And it can't be easy to control! You only lost it twice in your whole life?
[Yoojin leans forward, determined to look Leona in the eye.]
Once was because of me! I used two skills on you, both of them S-rank or higher. All the other S-rankers I've tried those on, guys with just as much destructive potential as you and who work just as hard to tamp it down, also blew their tops the first time. Yoohyun turned a 5-star Hong Kong hotel into a melted beachfront crater!
If you've been reining in power like that all this time, and people still talked that kind of trash about you, then I'm sorry, but they're the stupid jerks who need to change.
[Yoojin is allowed to catch Leona's eyes— but only because he is staring so wide eyed, so still, when Yoojin speaks, like a deer in the headlights. Like a little boy who's just heard something he never expected anyone to say.
All his life, it has been Change, Leona. All his life, if he would just smile more, if he would just sing and dance and be carefree, if he would just be softer and less rigid, if he would just get off his ass and contribute, if he would just dedicate himself, if he would just, if he would just, if he would just.
But he's always known that he is under an unmoveable weight. That nothing he could change— because at some point, he had bothered trying— could move that weight, could change the fate he had resigned himself to. Changing himself, having hope that circumstances would change when he did, had just become a repeated exercise in futility.
No one had ever bothered to say anyone else should change toward him. No one had ever bothered to agree that it was unfair, or to apologize that it was unfair even if it couldn't be changed. No one had ever bothered to affirm the worries of a scared child who was being treated like a monster. It's a validation unlike Leona has ever heard in his life, and now that it's right in his lap, Leona doesn't know what to do with it.
So he doesn't immediately respond to Yoojin, his mouth stretching into a taut line, and instead, looks away from him, trying to duck out from under his hand.]
His dislodged hand drops to Leona's shoulder, giving it one firm squeeze, before Yoojin chooses to respect the unspoken request to leggo.]
One last thing and I'll have said my piece.
People call things "dangerous" when they want to say "harmful" or "bad," but that's not what the word means.
Sure you're dangerous. So's Yoohyun. So are the monsters I raise and most of the people I work with. Heck, even I'm dangerous, in the right conditions.
[He says that neither boastfully nor as if reinterpreting "danger" to implicate himself, but as a fact. Yoojin's hurt people. Yoojin's done worse than hurt people, and not always by accident.]
That means people should listen and try to be more considerate when we say something's wrong, not less. Everybody's safer that way, them and us. It shouldn't just be on you to predict every possible way you could hurt someone. Everyone else can take a little responsibility for themselves, too.
[It's not like Leona disagrees with Yoojin. It is, however, that the influx of kindness is a little too much for him. Like when someone is starving and tries to eat too much in response, and only ends up overfilled.
And so, unable to take any more, Leona turns to Yoojin in a quick motion. His hand presses against Yoojin's chest, presses him back down against the ground they were just laying on.
He looms over Yoojin, eyes still and expression unchanging, framed by his hair and his braids, staring him down, like there's something there in him Leona can see deeper into.]
Yoojin looks up at Leona, face shadowed with nightmares that have nothing to do with him; eyes round with curiosity, not nerves; head empty of even the lick of sense to tell him he should be afraid.
It isn't that Yoojin is perfectly nice or perfectly smart. Or even that he's perfectly honest.
But he does come across as a terrible liar. And right now, nothing about him is giving any tells, anyway. This is just how Yoojin feels.
Leona's elbow bends, and he drops so that the front of him is still weighing down on Yoojin's torso, crossing his arms over Yoojin's chest and perching his chin on his arms.]
Take responsibility for yourself and get some sleep, then.
I'm tired of this conversation.
[THAT HE STARTED BECAUSE YOOJIN WAS DEFINITELY TRYING TO EXIT]
It's the strange show of tenderness, the unexpected weight of Leona getting comfortable on his chest that makes a sudden flush of awareness wash across his skin. Not Leona looming over him with that intense look on his stupidly beautiful face, not the easy, unstoppable way he pinned him back to the ground. No, anyone would feel like this if a warm, wild thing deemed them a safe place to lay their head. He's been granted a gift beyond valuation. Even if Leona weren't a heavy-ass jock made of muscle, Yoojin could never move again.
More than that, he feels seen in a way he doesn't usually allow. That, in turn, makes him feel a way he hasn't felt in a long time.
Swallowing, Yoojin blinks up at the too-blank sky a few times, then turns to cover a weak laugh with the back of his wrist.]
You're such a cat, man.
[Face still half-hidden, he sneaks in one last ruffle of Leona's hair. He figures he's allowed that in exchange for his services as a cat bed.]
Fine. Good night, sourpuss. See you in the morning.
![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
monsterdaddy) wrote2025-04-29 12:06 pm
no subject
Sorry, I'm gonna keep being nosy, 'cause this really bothers me. Get used to it.
[He takes a long, deep breath and lets it out in a huff.]
They should have been happy. A little kid mastering power like that? That's awesome. I already knew you're smart as heck, but that's genius-level stuff. And it can't be easy to control! You only lost it twice in your whole life?
[Yoojin leans forward, determined to look Leona in the eye.]
Once was because of me! I used two skills on you, both of them S-rank or higher. All the other S-rankers I've tried those on, guys with just as much destructive potential as you and who work just as hard to tamp it down, also blew their tops the first time. Yoohyun turned a 5-star Hong Kong hotel into a melted beachfront crater!
If you've been reining in power like that all this time, and people still talked that kind of trash about you, then I'm sorry, but they're the stupid jerks who need to change.
no subject
All his life, it has been Change, Leona. All his life, if he would just smile more, if he would just sing and dance and be carefree, if he would just be softer and less rigid, if he would just get off his ass and contribute, if he would just dedicate himself, if he would just, if he would just, if he would just.
But he's always known that he is under an unmoveable weight. That nothing he could change— because at some point, he had bothered trying— could move that weight, could change the fate he had resigned himself to. Changing himself, having hope that circumstances would change when he did, had just become a repeated exercise in futility.
No one had ever bothered to say anyone else should change toward him. No one had ever bothered to agree that it was unfair, or to apologize that it was unfair even if it couldn't be changed. No one had ever bothered to affirm the worries of a scared child who was being treated like a monster. It's a validation unlike Leona has ever heard in his life, and now that it's right in his lap, Leona doesn't know what to do with it.
So he doesn't immediately respond to Yoojin, his mouth stretching into a taut line, and instead, looks away from him, trying to duck out from under his hand.]
no subject
His dislodged hand drops to Leona's shoulder, giving it one firm squeeze, before Yoojin chooses to respect the unspoken request to leggo.]
One last thing and I'll have said my piece.
People call things "dangerous" when they want to say "harmful" or "bad," but that's not what the word means.
Sure you're dangerous. So's Yoohyun. So are the monsters I raise and most of the people I work with. Heck, even I'm dangerous, in the right conditions.
[He says that neither boastfully nor as if reinterpreting "danger" to implicate himself, but as a fact. Yoojin's hurt people. Yoojin's done worse than hurt people, and not always by accident.]
That means people should listen and try to be more considerate when we say something's wrong, not less. Everybody's safer that way, them and us. It shouldn't just be on you to predict every possible way you could hurt someone. Everyone else can take a little responsibility for themselves, too.
just. just trust me just trust me
And so, unable to take any more, Leona turns to Yoojin in a quick motion. His hand presses against Yoojin's chest, presses him back down against the ground they were just laying on.
He looms over Yoojin, eyes still and expression unchanging, framed by his hair and his braids, staring him down, like there's something there in him Leona can see deeper into.]
no subject
[Honestly. He gets this a lot.
Yoojin looks up at Leona, face shadowed with nightmares that have nothing to do with him;
eyes round with curiosity, not nerves; head empty of even the lick of sense to tell him he should be afraid.
He just asks,]
Leona?
no subject
It isn't that Yoojin is perfectly nice or perfectly smart. Or even that he's perfectly honest.
But he does come across as a terrible liar. And right now, nothing about him is giving any tells, anyway. This is just how Yoojin feels.
Leona's elbow bends, and he drops so that the front of him is still weighing down on Yoojin's torso, crossing his arms over Yoojin's chest and perching his chin on his arms.]
Take responsibility for yourself and get some sleep, then.
I'm tired of this conversation.
[THAT HE STARTED BECAUSE YOOJIN WAS DEFINITELY TRYING TO EXIT]
no subject
[Oh.
It's the strange show of tenderness, the unexpected weight of Leona getting comfortable on his chest that makes a sudden flush of awareness wash across his skin. Not Leona looming over him with that intense look on his stupidly beautiful face, not the easy, unstoppable way he pinned him back to the ground. No, anyone would feel like this if a warm, wild thing deemed them a safe place to lay their head. He's been granted a gift beyond valuation. Even if Leona weren't a heavy-ass jock made of muscle, Yoojin could never move again.
More than that, he feels seen in a way he doesn't usually allow. That, in turn, makes him feel a way he hasn't felt in a long time.
Swallowing, Yoojin blinks up at the too-blank sky a few times, then turns to cover a weak laugh with the back of his wrist.]
You're such a cat, man.
[Face still half-hidden, he sneaks in one last ruffle of Leona's hair. He figures he's allowed that in exchange for his services as a cat bed.]
Fine. Good night, sourpuss. See you in the morning.
no subject
What can I say?
I'm beholden to my feline nature.
[If Yoojin feels Leona lean his head into that ruffle, no he doesn't. He's just getting comfortable.]
G'night.
[So what if Yoojin can't use his fear resistance spell? What can get to him through Leona?]