january, 2016

the girl giggled as doyoung pulled her cap lower to cover more of her face. the sound, which was like handmade windchimes moving with a calm breeze, made the boy's heart flip in his chest. she wrapped a delicate hand around his wrist and carefully pushed it upwards, shifting the cap with it. she caught his sparkling eyes and smiled brightly as pink blush dusted his pale cheeks.

the urge to pinch his cheeks quickly vanished when doyoung pushed her cap, covering her eyes and leaving the girl blind.

he laughed, and she smiled shyly before lifting the cap once again. she opened her mouth for a snarky comment, but a gasp pushed itself out before she could stop herself.

"doyoung, look!" she whispered, her eyes widening with childish glee as she pointed to the store behind her date's head.

doyoung turned back to follow her finger and visibly sagged when his eyes landed on the overly lit store. the boy groaned as he faced his girlfriend, his face pouty but his eyes playful and mischievous. "mirim, no. let's get ice cream instead."

the girl shook her head stubbornly in response.

"you do know what'll happen if this gets out, right?"

"yes."

"i'll be ruined. my career, my future members, everything! i haven't even debuted!"

"i know."

"and you still want to go through with this?"

mirim rolled her eyes playfully, a wide grin on her face. she grabbed doyoung's hand and pulled him into the build-a-bear.

doyoung's face instantly reddened when he noticed that the store was only filled with children and tired-looking parents. he wanted to turn back, but the bright smile that took up his girlfriend's face made him stay.

of course, he'd been joking around earlier, but there was some seriousness behind his words. he was still a trainee, an sm rookie, and getting caught in a dating scandal was likely to end his career before it even began.

doyoung tugged his own white baseball cap over his healthy black hair. there'd been talk about bleaching it or dying it orange once he debuted, but doyoung wasn't one hundred percent set on that yet.

mirim's grip tightened around his hand when she saw something that caught her eye. the bunny boy was practically dragged as she hurried towards the build your own section.

"yah, doie, look at all the cute plushies!"

doyoung couldn't help but chuckle as mirim's voice raised three octaves. she gently ran her finger over the multiple plushie 'skins'.

"yeah, cute," he mumbled, but his eyes weren't on the stuffed animals. mirim looked back at him with sparkling eyes and stepped back to be by his side.

"you choose."

the boy scoffed, a grin tugging at his lips, "no way. we're here for you."

"and i want you to choose."

"mi-"

"we'll be here for hours otherwise, so..." she trailed off and glanced up at him without moving her head.

doyoung rolled his eyes and sighed, but the grin didn't leave his lips. rather than argue with the stubborn girl, doyoung scrunched his nose at her and turned towards the wall of plushie skins. her giggle echoed behind him as he focused on the decision.

his eyes scanned the multiple options; honestly surprised with the number of options there were to choose from. narrowing his eyes, the boy held his breath as he started down the third row.

then, his gaze stopped.

he wasn't sure what it was about this particular bear, but it caught his eye. while all the other skins were bright and colorful, this one was a dark blue, almost grey color. it reminded doyoung somewhat of an over-ripened blueberry. the fur wasn't as short and neat cut as the rest, which only grabbed his attention more.

mirim glanced between the wall and doyoung, trying to spot where exactly he was looking. without even realizing it, her face mimicked the small smile pulling at her boyfriend's lips.

doyoung reached out after a second of silence passed, his fingers barely brushing against the toys soft fur. dropping his hand, the boy faced his girlfriend, eyes wide with a mix of anticipation and anxiety. when he saw a frown on her face, his smile instantly dropped.

"what? y-you don't like it?" his voice came out much softer than he meant, but mirim only huffed as she grabbed the plushie.

"oh, doyoung..." she sighed, but he caught the hidden, happy shine in her eyes. "i love it! this is the same one i was looking at! how did you know?"

before the boy could respond, mirim threw her thin arms around him and placed her head on his chest for a second. though she wanted to stay there much longer than a few seconds, she knew that they were probably getting strange looks from the other customers and employees passing by. so, with her cheeks bright pink, mirim pulled away and took doyoung's hand in hers once again.

and so, the couple took the plushie to the stuffing center, choosing not to put a voice box inside, and adopting the stuffed animal. at the little adopting section of the store, doyoung and mirim huddled around the piece of paper-treating it as if were the birth certificate for an actual child.

mirim placed the pen to her lips as she thought, the actions making doyoung's stomach fill with butterflies. the boy thought he could actually see a light bulb appear above her head as she gasped loudly.

"i got it!"

without emphasizing, mirim scribbled something on the paper before stepping back with a satisfied smile.

doyoung knelt closer and squinted to get a better look at her quaint handwriting. the word miko was written on the line labeled 'name'; the i dotted with a small heart that made doyoung smile fondly.

he stepped back and gently placed a hand on the small of her back. "miko, huh? a japanese name... i like it."

mirim giggled and pulled their new child closer to her chest, "yeah. i thought it'd be cute since we watch a lot of anime together. plus, it means beautiful child, i think."

"and annoying," doyoung added, earning a light punch to the arm. both laughed and stepped into line with both their plushie and their certificate.

while checking out, they were positive that the cashier was judging them and wondering what on earth two nineteen-year-olds were doing in a build-a-bear. luckily, the cashier settled with only shooting occasional questioning looks rather than speaking to them.

once they had their receipt, the two turned to leave. however, before exiting the store, mirim slipped her hand out of doyoung's grasp and 'stealthily' hurried back to the adoption section.

doyoung watched with a brow raised in confusion and amusement as his girlfriend quickly scribbled something on the little tag attached to the bear. when she was satisfied with her work, she looked around, grinned at the mom scowling at her, and rushed back to doyoung's side.

he stared at her, the same look of confusion and amusement still on his face, as she casually slipped her hand back in his. when she did look up at him, she wore an innocent smile as if nothing had happened.

then, without speaking, she held the bear up to her boyfriend to show off her work.

written on the tag was the word miko; the i dotted with a heart.

• • •

hi!

this is the first part of my new book "build-a-bear": a short nct 127 story. since it takes place over a long span of time, winwin will be included! it may seem fluffy at the moment, but this book is listed as angst, so i have big plans for the following parts.

this book will remain 13+ for the most part... but there will be some more mature content included later on *cough* ch. 7-9 *cough*. i will put a warning before those more adult chapters just in case.

there will also be a bxb pairing and mentions of other lgbtq couples, so if you're not comfortable with that, you can skip ch. 4. in advance, i am not trying to assume the member's sexual preference (and that goes both ways). i have created my own versions of the nct members for entertainment purposes. the other characters are all original that i came up, so if they happen to share a name with a character in another book, i apologize. this is book is purely fictional.

that said, as fans, we should love and accept our idols for who they are :)

if you're sensitive to mature scenes and mention of things such as homosexuality, slightly adult scenes, and drug use, this might not be the best book for you... but if you are okay reading things along those lines, i welcome you to build-a-bear!

i don't own build-a-bear workshop or nct 127, but i do own the idea (i am unaware of anyone else coming up with an idea like this, but i could be wrong). so please, if you'd like to write your own version or use the idea, please ask or give credit!

anyways, this book will have 12 parts. it will be published all at once, so please look forward to it!

thank you to any and everyone who reads. you mean a lot to me :))

4/1/20