SOMETHING PRETTY,

Juwon was almost convinced that her chances of passing this exam was close to zero percent. Not because she didn't study — she has way too much free time on her hands not to — but because she couldn't.

Literally.

You see, Heeseung's existence thrived off attention and without it, he would shrivel up and die. So of course Juwon keeps him company when Heeseung needs it. He also happens to have horrible timing. So there the two were in the library once again, Juwon trying to cram all the things she had learned the last semester into her head and Heeseung sitting across from her, repeatedly slamming her laptop shut.

Juwon had let him off the first three times, just because he had promised he would take care of Riki on the weekends while she worked but he was finally starting to get on her nerves as he closed the laptop for the fourth time. "What, Heeseung?" she asked, frustrated that he wasn't letting her focus.

"You're not looking at me," Heeseung complained, frowning. "I'm trying to tell you something."

"You can tell me later." Juwon opened her laptop again and continued on with her notes, scanning over the old lessons. Without looking away from the screen, she reached into her pocket and pulled out her wallet, sliding it across the table. "Go buy yourself something pretty, princess," she said before ignoring his presence completely.

"But I don't wanna," he groaned, kicking her legs lightly from beneath the table. When he received no response from her, he sighed loudly (a little too loudly for the librarian's liking) and walked away, sulking. "Buy yourself something pretty, princess," he mocked Juwon's voice. "What am I supposed to do with twenty-three bucks? Broke bitch."

"Oooh, I'm telling Juwon," he heard from behind him. Heeseung turned around and impulsively rolled his eyes at the sight of the person as it was none other than his roommate, Jay.

"What are you even doing here?" Heeseung asked. "I thought you were in charge of Riki today."

"What? I thought you were in charge of Riki," he said.

"No," Heeseung said slowly. "Juwon left you in charge of Riki." Jay stared at Heeseung blankly, panic slowly settling into his body. Heeseung's eyes widened as he realized the situation. "It's Monday, Jay!"

"Well, how was I supposed to know when I spent the last two weeks locked in my bedroom?"

"That's your fault, dumbass!"

Jay was absolutely terrified of Juwon, even though he would never admit it. Though they did get along at times, their encounters mainly consisted of angry yelling, wrestling, and aggressive pillow fights (Juwon always won). The only time when that wasn't happening was when Juwon was asking him for help with "her son," Riki, the fifteen-year-old who isn't allowed to cook unless he's under her supervision. Jay never complained about this, however, because he was pretty fond of Riki and managed to be one of the only people the boy actually got along with.

Jay quickly put the comic book he had in his hand back on the shelf. "Where even is Riki?" he asked, pulling out his phone to text him.

"I don't know!" Heeseung said. Now he was starting to panic as he looked back around the corner to check on Juwon. Thankfully, her eyes were still glued to her laptop's screen. He sighed. "Do you know her password?" he asked.

"Yes, because Cha Juwon would entrust Jay Park with her house," Jay said sarcastically. "Of course I don't know her fucking password!"

"Then figure it out!"

"How is that supposed to help?!"

"Shut up, I'm calling Riki."

Riki didn't pick up until the fifth ring. "What?" he asked, his voice muffled.

"Are you eating?" Heeseung asked, both angry and confused.

"Yeah," Riki said. He paused and Heeseung could hear him chewing. "And what about it?"

"Nothi—"

"WHAT ABOUT IT, LEE?!"

Before Riki could yell at Heeseung (for absolutely no reason at all) any more, Jay grabbed his phone and held it next to his hear. "Dude, where are you?" he asked. Heeseung heard Riki's voice instantly lower, making him scoff. "The house? Who's hou— my house? What are you doing there?" Jay's eyes widened, "Heeseung's ramen?!"

"He's eating my ramen?!" Heeseung asked loudly, earning him a few annoyed stares. He smiled apologetically and turned back to Jay angrily. He grabbed the phone from Jay's hand, "I swear, if you weren't living with Juwon, I wo—"

"You'd what, Lee?" Riki cut him off, taunting him. "What would you do? Huh? Huh?" Before the kid could say anything else, Heeseung hung up.

• • •

"I literally don't get you," Heeseung said, watching as the fifteen-year-old Japanese boy downed his third cup of ramen. "You were literally clinging onto me two days ago and now you're threatening me."

"The circle of life," Riki said with his mouth full.

"I'm gonna hit you."

"That's abuse," the boy said. "And I'm not your kid."

"You're not Juwon's kid either," Heeseung said, scoffing.

"That was mean."

While those two argued in the kitchen, Jay paced back and forth in the living room, wondering how Riki had even gotten into their apartment in the first place. "I don't even remember giving him the password," he mumbled. "He didn't hack it, did he?"

"Riki's too stupid for that," Heeseung said from the kitchen.

"Shut up, you skip your classes," Riki talked back.

"You skipped an entire school year."

As the two of them continued to argue, Heeseung's phone buzzed with a message from Juwon, asking where he had taken her wallet. Of course, she didn't bother to ask if he was even okay. Just as he was about to type an answer, Riki reached across the table and grabbed the phone from his hand. Heeseung sighed, not even trying to take the phone back from him.

"I don't want to be here," he complained to Jay, letting Riki do whatever he wanted with his phone. (At this point, he was bound to get an earful from Juwon either way.) "I'm supposed to be buying myself something pretty, not babysitting a child."

"Dude, no one's stopping you," Jay said. "It's obvious Riki likes me better than you anyway. Go get yourself a hair clip or something."

"That'd be nice," Heeseung mumbled tiredly, taking his phone back from the boy once he was distracted. Riki glared at him and left the kitchen, probably on his way to make a mess of Heeseung's bedroom. "A hair clip for the princess." He scrolled through Riki's responses, only finding pictures of himself that Riki had taken and sent to her. A small smile made its way onto his face.

(Heeseung didn't actually hate Riki. Yes, the teenager did try to piss him off on purpose but he could never actually bring himself to hate him. Though he was living with Juwon, Heeseung also felt like he had to protect him and secretly referred to Riki as his "kid" as well. He'd never tell him that though — Riki would only make fun of him for it.)

"Why don't you just get something for Juwon instead?" Jay asked, sitting on the chair Riki had left empty. He winced when he heard the boy's evil laughs from the hallway.

"Y'know," Heeseung started, "that's actually not a bad idea."

By the time Heeseung had made it back to the library, the twenty-three dollars Juwon had left in her wallet were gone and the boy held a plastic bag in his bag. He entered the library excitedly, despite the librarian glaring at his back as he walked past her. Heeseung made his way to the table Juwon sat at, eyes droopy as she tried her hardest not to fall asleep. Heeseung walked around her quietly, making sure she didn't notice he was already there. Once he was behind her, he reached into the plastic bag and pulled out a pair of bunny ears, placing the headband on her head.

Juwon flinched and turned around, greeted by a smiling Heeseung. "You've been gone for two hours," she said, watching him walk around the table and sit across from her. She lifted her hand and touched the bunny ears he had put on her. "Is this what you spent my money on?" she asked.

"I bought you something," Heeseung said, resting his face on his palm. "You look cute."

"I'm flattered," Juwon said, rubbing her eyes in an attempt to feel less tired. "I still have a three pages left." She looks at Heeseung, raising an eyebrow. "Can you manage without me for half an hour?" Heeseung nodded.

As Juwon studied, Heeseung stared at her, his eyes (literally) twinkling and a soft smile displayed on his face. She looked so tired, dark circles starting to take their place under her eyes, but that didn't get in the way of how beautiful she was anyway — even with the bunny ears on her head. Heeseung pulled out his phone and opened the camera before secretly taking a picture of her. His smile grew as he looked at the picture.

"What are you looking at?" Juwon asked, closing her laptop. Heeseung looked up from his phone, shaking his head.

"Nothing," he smiled. "Just something pretty."

• • •

juju tf away from me 👽
look at what my son sent me

seung the rat 🐀
HAHDKAHS PLS WHAT THE FUCK