Archive of Our Own ^beta

Thank you @yennolenno for agreeing to take on my commision and make Mahou!Soo come to life!!! HE'S SO CUUUUTE!!!

It’s as if the ring of the bell is different when he steps in.

Kyungsoo swears that’s the case. He can go hours without any sort of discomfort behind the till, without wondering if his name tag is on the right way up, or if he’s managed to wipe cacao powder onto his cheek once again. But whenever he steps in, it’s as if Kyungsoo becomes hyper aware of every single bone in his body and how they move and oh my god what does he usually do with his arms? Does he really just stand there, behind the cake display, like some sort of NPC?

It shouldn’t be that way, considering Strawberry Dreams, the café he works at, is quite a busy place and there are literally people stepping in and out of the doors every minute. But maybe it has to do with how he, Jongin, just happens to look like he stepped right out of Kyungsoo’s dreams.

Seriously though, how is it fair that Jongin got everything? He is tall, muscular, and generally built like a Greek god. His skin is flawless, his eyes piercing, and his hair effortlessly flawless. And his smile! Kyungsoo has dropped cups to that smile, more than once (much to horror). All in all, Jongin is Perfect, capital P.

Kyungsoo, on the other hand, got blessed with narrow shoulders, eternal baby fat, and a nail-biting habit he has never been able to shake. That, and a big fat crush on Jongin.

He tries to pretend he hasn’t noticed the other as Jongin gets in line, instead staring intently at the customer in front of him as they pay for their coffee. Don’t look at him. Don’t look at him. Don’t make it obvious you would drop anything for him and marry him in a heartbeat if he asked. Don’t look- SHIT! You looked! Stupid! Now you’re blushing! God! Your ears are burning! OMG! He’s gonna know!! Keep calm Kyungsoo! Keep calm!!

He continues to stare at the customer in front of him, taking a full 10 seconds to realize it’s a new customer, and they’ve been slowly pushing the packaged cookie closer to him as an indication of what they want to purchase, a sign which Kyungsoo has ignored.

With mechanical movements he takes the cookie, not acknowledging the fact that he hasn’t even welcomed the customer, and scans it in.

“That will be 1050 won please.” He says, his voice strained with the effort of not sinking into the crust of the earth and disappearing.

The customer says nothing as they pay, and then Jongin appears in front of him, a small smile on his face and his hair tussled by the wind. Kyungsoo’s knees grow weak.

“Long day at work?” Jongin asks.

“Uh-huh.” Kyungsoo says, nodding and feeling a giant grin grow on his face. He has no idea what Jongin is saying.

“Sucks.” Jongin comments, pulling out his wallet. “I hope you get off early today.”

“Uh-huh.” Kyungsoo nods again, eyes glued to Jongin’s. They’re so beautiful.

“Do you?” Jongin asks, raising an eyebrow. God. His eyebrows! Even they are beautiful! Kyungsoo didn’t even know beautiful eyebrows were possible until Jongin showed up.

“Uh-huh.”

Jongin blinks, his (beautiful) eyebrows slowly starting to furrow. He straightens up, the searching for bills in his wallet forgotten as he looks at Kyungsoo.

“Kyungsoo? Are you okay?” He asks, sounding a little concerned. Oh my god! Concerned, for him! Jongin truly is the kindest person ever! Even when he’s just there to grab his post-work latte he makes sure to check in with Kyungsoo! He’s even concerned for him! Wait...

Kyungsoo feels his eyes widen, the realization that he hasn’t hear a word of what Jongin has said dawning on him.

“Oh my god!” He blurts, heat rising on his cheeks so fast it feels like they’re burning. “I’m so sorry I- I sort of spaced out.” He shakes his head, looking around himself and decides to panic-clean away the pencil next to his till. He manages to bang his elbow into the cake display next to the till in the process. He pretends like nothing and looks up at Jongin, entire arm throbbing in pain. “The usual?”

Jongin laughs, and Kyungsoo prays to a higher power to just fucking take him out, right there and then.

“Yes.” Jongin says, and Kyungsoo quickly busies himself with punching in the usual order of a plain latte, no extra shot, but a little bit of extra milk that he voids the charge for.

The very first time Jongin had entered Strawberry Dreams, Kyungsoo had been on barista duty and accidentally made Jongin a really weak version of a latte. (He might have been trying to remember how to function around a handsome man, but that was neither here nor there.) By the time he realized his mistake, it had already been too late, and the bell was already ringing out, signalling Jongin’s exit.

But Jongin had returned, the very next day, and excitedly told Kyungsoo that their lattes were the best he had ever had, and that usually he found the coffee flavour too strong, but here it was absolutely perfect. Ever since then, Kyungsoo had made sure to always either add some extra milk as he prepared Jongin’s drink, or to add some extra milk to the order.

“Anything else?” Kyungsoo asks, trying to remember how to stand like a normal person. He settles for casually resting against the counter. It’s anything but casual.

“No.” Jongin shakes his head, before pausing and looking up. “Actually, yes. You never answered my question.”

Kyungsoo blinks, every curse he knows firing off inside his head.

“Do you get off early today?” Jongin helpfully supplies and Kyungsoo nods as if he knew that was what Jongin was referring to the whole time.

“No. I’m closing today.” He says with a grimace. Jongin nods in understanding.

“Be careful on your way home.” He says, holding out a 5000 won bill. Kyungsoo accepts it with a frown, silently asking Jongin why.

“Co-worker’s younger sister got robbed on her way home from work the other night.” Jongin says, and Kyungsoo’s mouth drops open.

“Is she okay?”

“Yeah. she didn’t get hurt or anything.” Jongin says, brushing the question away. “But, she is still shaken by the whole thing.”

Kyungsoo nods, worry gnawing at his insides. From the look on Jongin’s face, it must really be bothering him. He can only imagine how it must feel for the co-worker, or the sister.

“Here.” He says, reaching for their bestselling tart. It’s a lemon-strawberry tart, a pink heart set in the lemon filling and strawberries dusted with powdered sugar and topped with sugar pearls lining the outside. “Maybe this can cheer her up?”

Jongin’s face immediately lifts, the smile returning to his lips.

“That’s an excellent idea! How much is it?” He asks, digging out his wallet once more.

“Just take it!” Kyungsoo says, already reaching for the little boxes they use for transporting pastries. “It’s on the house.”

“Oh no. I couldn’t possibly.” Jongin says, shaking his head. Kyungsoo speeds up his movements, making sure he has the tart securely packed away and bagged before Jongin can find his wallet.

“It’s the least I can do.” He says, sliding the bag over toward Jongin. Jongin hesitates for a moment, wallet halfway out of his pocket, before he slips it back inside with a sigh.

“You really don’t have to do anything. You do know that?” He says, taking the bag with a grateful smile.

“I know. I just, hope this can help cheer her up.” He says with a shrug.

Jongin smiles at him once more, eyes warm. Kyungsoo can feel a smile of his own tugging at his lips, earlier embarrassment forgotten as feels himself drown in Jongin’s deep gaze. Jongin is smart, Kyungsoo can just tell, but that sort of smart that comes with empathy. Jongin doesn’t think he’s better than anyone. In fact, Kyungsoo is convinced Jongin would be the best tutor there is.

He can see it in front of him. Jongin, next to him in bed, one of those classics Kyungsoo was supposed to read in high school but never did in hand and Kyungsoo cuddled up next to him. Jongin speaks about the book, explaining the story and all the complex layers to him. Kyungsoo can see his eyes burning with passion and his arms gesture as he paints scenarios for Kyungsoo, before kissing him deeply.

A pointed couch breaks him out of his daydream, and just like that Jongin’s rock hard abs and intellectual analysis goes up in smoke.

“Oh, Sorry.” Jongin says with a small bow before quickly, far too quickly, stepping out of the way so the next customer can place their order. Kyungsoo wants to glare at them, so so bad! But as always, he can’t find it in himself to do it. They couldn’t know they were interrupting his extremely important daydream, and they probably just want some coffee. Awe. Kyungsoo should probably apologize for making them wait. 

The rest of his shift passes uneventfully. The thoughts of Jongin, his smile, and how happy the tart would probably make his co-worker’s sister keeps Kyungsoo’s mood high for the remaining few hours though. That, and the customers.

He knows a lot of people hate dealing with customers, and he has to agree that yes there are some that he’d rather not have the misfortune of serving, but he honestly loves it. It probably has a lot to do with the café itself.

The interior flirts with the aesthetics of the 20s, but instead of the dark woods and deep colours the place is decorates with dusty pinks and cream whites. The most striking feature is the ceiling, which is painted a striped white and pink. Strew all around the café are large plush armchairs and delicate metal tables. There are four special tables with backdrops and themed decorations where you can take selfies, often occupied by a group of schoolgirls having ordered almost everything on the menu. The deep windowsills are full of plants where little figurines hide, and along the edges of the windows a geometric art-deco pattern runs in gold.

The food offered is also one of the reasons they’re so popular. They offer macarons in all flavours imaginable, each dusted with a little image in either powdered sugar or cacao. Hearts, stars, bears, flowers and berries. They also have special figure macarons, which change each month. Right now, just in time for school to start once more, it’s a little Gudetama figure hiding under a blanket. Equally as popular are their pastries, fruit tarts with designs infused into the filling, cakes in pastel colours and overflowing with cream, and petit fours that certainly aren’t bite-sized. Their signature white chocolate strawberry Frappuccino is also a huge hit.

All in all, people who enter the place can’t help but be happy. The whole place is designed to whisk you away to a magical alternative reality where none of the troubles and stresses from your life could reach you.

Kyungsoo just loves seeing the way people’s eyes light up as they step inside, and hearing people discuss which cake to pick this time. One of his favourite things is watching the groups seated at the themed tables and see them all huddle together to take pictures to eternalize the happy memory.

The whole place was like an instant mood boost. That, and it is almost impossible to be anything but happy in a pink frilly apron.

But still, an eight-hour shift is an eight-hour shift and by the time the last guest has left the café and the till is ready for counting Kyungsoo is more than ready to go back home.

“Shit!” Sooyoung says as she pulls up her phone, her whole face screwing up into a grimace for a moment before she turns to Kyungsoo with pleading eyes. “Hey, Kyungsoo-oppa?” She asks, and Kyungsoo knows that voice.

“Go. I’ll be fine.” He says, sending her a quick smile before turning back toward the till. He had never been the best at counting. He needed all the brain power he could spare.

“Are you sure?” She asks, a concerned frown on her face. Kyungsoo can see her inch toward her jacket already though and knows she’s only asking out of politeness. He doesn’t mind. He knows she lives far away, and the trains are few and far between. He’d rather she came home early. Besides, counting another till adds like 3 minutes to his night (unless he gets the math wrong), so it’s not as if he’s be late home or anything.

“Yes. Now go, before you miss your train!” He ushers, punching in 9x1000 in the calculator, just to make sure.

“You’re too kind Kyungsoo-oppa! See you tomorrow!” She calls as she rushes toward the door, bag halfway slung over her shoulders and arms struggling to push through the sleeves of her jacket.

“Bye!” He calls after her, sighing as he moves on to the coins. They’re the worst.

Everything ends up being correct at the end, and Kyungsoo decides to celebrate by treating himself to one of the leftover macarons as he gathers up the trash and gets ready to head outside.

It’s already dark outside and the chill of the night has started to set in. Shrugging his shoulders high up around his ears he hurries through the small back alley and over to the container. Heaving the large bag into it takes some doing, but he’s a strong independent man and he doesn’t need to be over 5’6’’.

Once he’s done, the cold has already taken hold of him and the dim alley is giving him the creeps. One bag left, then he can go back home and cuddle up in bed and watch Netflix until he falls asleep.

As he turns around his eyes lock with a pair of bright yellow ones. He stills, his brain helpfully supplying him with every single horror story he’s ever heard and seen, before he realizes it’s just a little cat.

It meows, tail swishing once before it sits down and watches Kyungsoo expectantly.

“Hello.” He holds out his hand and allows the cat to nose at it. “You scared me half to death there didn’t you?”

The cat lets out a mreep and pushes its head into Kyungsoo’s hand. With practiced movements Kyungsoo begins scratching it behind the ears, cooing at the cat as it starts purring. (He knew all those times he’d stopped to pet strays hadn’t been a waste of time.) After a moment it turns around, allowing Kyungsoo’s hand to stroke over its spine and up its tail before it turns to look at Kyungsoo again. It lets out another loud meow.

“Are you hungry?” He asks.

The cat meows again.

Was that a yes? Probably. Did they have anything suitable for cats in the café? Probably. But he couldn’t very well take it back inside. Food safety and all that. But...he could bring something out. His managers never need know. They wouldn’t miss some cream, right?

“Wait here.” He says, pointing at the spot where the cat is sitting before inching over toward the door. His eyes remain locked on the cat as he moves, waiting for it to try to follow him. But it’s as if the cat understands, and as the door slides shut between them it’s still waiting patiently where Kyungsoo left it. 

He hurries into the kitchen and has a small freak out over which bowl would be okay to leave outside before he decides that one of the disposable sauce pots would probably be okay. Next he grabs some of the cream from the fridge and decides to steal that tuna tin that has been sitting in there since before he started working there (the date is still ok, he does check).

After some struggling with the can opener he shuffles back out into the alley, half surprised half not to see the cat still sitting exactly where he left him.

“Here.” He says, crouching down on the ground and carefully putting down the two containers. “The edges are still sharp.” He adds, pointing toward the tuna. The cat looks up at him for half a second before getting onto his feet and slowly approaching the food.

It noses at it for a long moment and Kyungsoo is almost afraid it will reject it before it slowly starts lapping at the cream.

“I’ll leave you to it. I don’t like people watching me eat either.” He says, standing back up and heading inside for the second trash bag.

When he returns to the alley the cat his happily eating of the tuna, and Kyungsoo feels a small smile tug on his lips. Maybe the cat will visit again? He’ll have to buy some tuna to keep here in that case. Or maybe some real cat food? But it would be mighty suspicious if he started showing up with cat food in his lunch bag, and even if management trusts him and has given him a lot of freedom, he’s not too sure they would approve of a stray in their back alley. Tuna it is.

He huffs as he heaves the bag into the container. He probably has time to stay and make sure the cat finishes the meal. Then he might get some pets in too. He decides staying is a good idea.

He crouches down by the cat once more, resting his elbows on his knees and his head in his hands as he watches. It has switched to lapping at the cream again, not paying Kyungsoo any mind. He doesn’t mind. He likes just watching, knowing he could make someone’s evening a little better. Even if it was just a little cat.

Something glints in the corner of his eye, and Kyungsoo turns to look.

There, almost entirely tucked in under the container, is what looks like a small keychain. Kyungsoo cocks his head, getting a better look at it. It’s about palm sized, and in the design of a jam cookie. The edges are scalloped, and the middle is a cut out in the shape of a heart in a metallic red. The whole thing is covered in glitter and rhinestones, probably meant to be the powdered sugar, and the chain shines golden.

It looks expensive.

With a sinking heart Kyungsoo realizes it’s probably one of those collectors’ thingies he sees the high school girls go on about, and that one of them probably dropped it and it made its way out here somehow.

Awe. The girl must be devastated. He’ll put it in the lost and found and hopefully it will make its way back to the owner. Maybe he’d even ask a few of the groups coming in, if he sees any of them sporting a similar key chain.

He shuffles over to the container, easily getting hold of it and fishing out the keychain.

A gust of air rushes through the alley, tussling his hair and tugging at his shirt.

Suddenly, a bright light surrounds him. The alley that was around him just moments ago disappears and he seems to be floating, weightless, in a yellow and pink shimmering light.

The key chain lifts from his hand and hovers in front of him, before it flies toward him, hitting him square in the chest. He curls together, wanting to groan but not a sound escapes him. A strange feeling creeps over his head, before suddenly long hair tickles his cheek. He lifts his head just in time for the strange feeling to move on to his arms.

As he holds them up in front of his face the yellow light surrounds them like ribbons, moulding themselves against his skin, before seeming to shatter to reveal a pair of pale-yellow lace gloves.

The strange feeling moves on to his legs, and Kyungsoo stretches them out only to see his clothes have somehow disappeared. He gasps, the yellow light wrapping itself around his legs and this time leaving behind a pair of thigh high socks with bows at the top and a pair of pale-yellow Mary janes, the buckle in the same shape as the jam cookie key chain.

The strange feeling now reaches his middle, and Kyungsoo twists, trying to get any sort of grasp of what the fuck is going on, when a braid hits him in the face. He splutters, hearing the light shatter again and suddenly he’s very aware of the fact that he’s suddenly wearing something he wasn’t just a moment ago.

In a heartbeat, the strange feeling centres in his chest, right where the jam cookie key chain hit moments ago, and Kyungsoo presses his hands against the spot. The feeling continues to build, until it seems to break free, and Kyungsoo feels something press against his palms.

He pulls them away, only to see what seems to be a rod emerging from his chest. He would scream, if it weren’t for the fact that he is 100% convinced he’s either in a coma or dead.

As the rod bursts free, a large bow springs out from the middle of his chest, the jam cookie key chain at its centre.

With lack of anything better to do, Kyungsoo grasps the rod. The next second he feels ground under his feet once again, and then the light flashes around him, and just like that everything is back to normal.

Except it’s not! Because Kyungsoo’s legs are very cold, and when he looks down, he’s wearing only a short, extremely poofy, pale-yellow skirt.

He startles, almost falling over as he stumbles on the heels of his Mary janes. Paired with the skirt is a sailor top, like the high school girls wear, except it too is pale-yellow and right above his heart is the huge white bow, the jam cookie in its middle.

He looks around, eyes wide as saucers, and as he moves, he realizes something is different with his hair too. He reaches up, and finds his hair has not only grown, it has also been braided into shoulder length braids secured with the same jam cookie symbol as he keeps finding everywhere, and it’s an ashy brown colour now.

He freezes, trying to process everything that has just happened, when he realizes he’s still holding on to something. It’s the rod that emerged from his fucking chest?!?! It’s about the length of his arm and surprisingly heavy.

The shaft is in the same pale-yellow colour as everything else, and at the bottom is what looks as a large, red, heart-shaped ruby. At the top is what Kyungsoo can only describe as a cupcake, the liner striped white and yellow and the cake a pale brown colour. On top of it is a heavy layer of white frosting, then a splattering of jam. Two jam cookies, both with red heart-shaped rubies in their centre, is stuck into the frosting.

He blinks, grasping at anything to help him figure out what the fuck had just happened. Somehow, through magic or some other sort of divine power, he has been transformed into some sort of cosplay of a magical girl? Even his hair has changed! Just as if...

A thought hits him. Slowly, hesitantly, Kyungsoo inches his hand toward his crotch just to make sure-

“HEY!”

He jumps, raising the rod and turning toward the sound.

“Is the touching yourself really the first thing you’re going to do?” The cat asks.

“I wasn’t going to touch myself!” Kyungsoo cries.

A moment of silence passes between them where the cat gives him a judgemental look and Kyungsoo’s brain slowly processes the fact that the cat had talked.

“What are you?!” He asks, feeling panic bubble up inside of him. “What is this? Did you do this to me? You did this to me!” He accuses, raising the rod as if to swing it at the cat, thing, whatever.

“No.” The cat replies, rolling its eyes. “The amulet did, clearly.”

“Clearly?” Kyungsoo parrots.

“Yes. Besides, what could I have done? I’m a cat.” The cat continues, lifting a paw and starting to groom it.

“Cats aren’t supposed to talk!” Kyungsoo corrects, because that’s the one thing he feels 100% certain about right now. Everything else is just a big mess of what the fuck and god please help me a cat is speaking to me and I’m wearing a skirt!

“They aren’t?” The cat stops its grooming mid lick, looking up at Kyungsoo with surprised eyes. Kyungsoo nods in reply. “Damn you Jongdae! He told me cats talk in this dimension too!”

“This dimension?” Kyungsoo asks, a new panic grabbing hold of him. Had he somehow dimension hopped? Was he even on earth? Would he even see his family again?

“Yes! You see, where I come from, it’s quite normal to be able to communicate cross species as long as the cerebrum is sufficiently developed and the species in question can register EES, which brings me to why I’m here-... Are you okay?” The cat cuts itself short as it sees Kyungsoo sink down into a squat and bury his head between his legs.

“Yes, yeah, I just- I just need to breathe a little.” Kyungsoo mumbles weakly, panting heavily as he tries to make either heads or tails of what is going on. Has he gone insane? Is that what sad happened? But he hasn’t noticed anything wrong with him? In fact, he has been feeling fine, great even. And now he is feeling, panic. Just sheer panic!

“I guess that can wait.” The cat mumbles to himself before walking up to Kyungsoo and butting its head against his knee. “Just breathe. It’s all okay. Everything is as it should be.”

Kyungsoo screws his eyes shut and listens to the cat’s reassuring words, pointedly ignoring that it is a cat speaking them. Slowly, he can feel the panic recede, and his painful grasp on the rod easing. The gentle buffs of the cat’s head and the silky texture of its fur provide a great distraction and within a few minutes Kyungsoo finds he has regained enough control over himself to scratch the cat behind the ears.

“Where am I?” He asks, deciding that if he indeed has dimension-hopped he should at least learn where he was.

“The alley behind Strawberry Dreams.” The cat replies, purring deeply as Kyungsoo scratches his chin.

“So, I haven’t dimension-hopped?” He asks.

“No. Why would you think that?” The cat asks, butting against Kyungsoo’s fingers as they still.

“Because I’m in a dress and I’m talking to a cat!”

“Oh! Well that’s because you were chosen.” The cat explains as if it’s obvious.

“Chosen?” Kyungsoo asks.

“Yes. By the EES amulet. You and it are compatible. A receiver and sender. It’s quite rare, you should count yourself lucky! Only people with extremely strong EES can be chosen.” The cat continues in the same tone.

“Oh?” Kyungsoo shifts, feeling a little spark of pride over having strong ES or whatever it was the cat had said. Not that he knows what it is, but he’s going to assume it’s a good thing until proven otherwise. “Thank you.”

“You see-” The cat begins, ignoring Kyungsoo’s comment.

“Can I return to normal?” Kyungsoo interrupts, not feeling susceptible to a science lesson right now. Not that he ever is, or has been, but that’s neither here nor there.

“Why would you want to do that?” The cat asks.

“Because I want to go back home. And my legs are cold.”

The cat looks down at Kyungsoo’s legs. Goose bumps have risen along the skin and a light shiver runs through his body in the light breeze.

“Oh. I did not think of that.” The cat sits down and looks him over for a short moment before seeming to nod. “Yes, you return to normal and we can continue this tomorrow. You seem to be in need of a rest.”

Kyungsoo nods, shifting once more and squeezing the rod in his hands as he waits for the cat to continue. When it’s clear it won’t he asks:

“And how do I return to normal?”

“Oh! Just say Cookie Crystal Transform and you’ll go back to normal.” The cat says and Kyungsoo feels his eyes widen again.

“C- Cookie Crystal Transform?” He asks.

A gust of wind whips around him, sending his skirt and braids flying. The light appears once more, blinding as it surrounds him.

A second later it’s gone and he’s sitting on his butt on the dirty alley ground, the key chain clutched in his hand and his normal clothes back on his body.

He blinks, slowly checking every part of himself to make sure he’s really returned to normal, before scrambling to his feet and rushing inside as quickly as possible. He slams the door with all his might and locks every single lock on it, despite procedure saying only one is necessary. Procedure be damned! There is a talking cat on the other side of that door.

Once he’s sure it won’t be getting into the café, he grabs his bag and jacket and rushes out of the café, barely stopping long enough to make sure the door closes properly, before he’s sprinting full sprint toward the bus stop.

He just wants to get back home, curl up in bed, and pointedly not think about anything that happened in that alley.

By the time he’s gotten to work the next morning Kyungsoo has almost managed to convince himself that last night had just been a dream. It has to be, because there is absolutely no way that he could have both met a talking cat and transformed into some sort of knock off sailor moon in the same night, let alone the same hour.

So no, it had all been a dream.

And no, the key chain that now weighs heavy in his pocket is just something he found on the ground and then his mind made up some super weird stuff about it all when he got home. It wouldn’t be the first time he’s dreamt of what has happened at work. Although, he has to admit, usually it’s a lot more him having to jump on the chairs to deliver a cup of coffee that never seems to spill to his old high school teacher than talking cats behind a dumpster.

To make sure, he had asked Sooyoung whether she had seen a cat when she had opened that morning, and thankfully her answer had been no. Which, in Kyungsoo’s mind, meant that whatever it was that had happened, hadn’t happened at all.

That still leaves the problem with the key chain though. He doesn’t want to just leave it among the lost and found, both because it looks expensive and like a collectors’ item, and because he kind of wants to get rid of it as soon as possible.

So, he ends up asking every single person who looks even the slightest like they would be a collector of whatever line the key chain belongs to if they have lost it, but all his efforts are for naught in the end. He can’t even find whatever line it might belong to, despite spending his entire 20-minute break googling it.

Maybe it is homemade? But that would only make things so much harder! He really has to find the owner then! He would be so sad if something he had made had gotten lost, and he just hates the idea of someone else being that sad. No. He can’t give up. He will continue to ask people about it until he’s found the owner.

With his mind made up Kyungsoo tucks the key chain back into his jacket pocket and hikes his bag up on his shoulders. He only worked 5 hours today, and he’s off tomorrow, so the search will have to wait until he’s back at work.

“See you Friday!” He calls to Sooyoung, who gives him a quick wave between customers, before he steps out of the door and heads over to his bus stop.

The sun is shining today, making him smile, and the bus is on time. He gets a seat at the very back, his favourite tunes playing in his headphones as he fingers the key chain. He keeps an eye on the many ads on the sidewalks outside, hoping to spot anything that reminds him of the key chain. Maybe he can trace the owner through a fan forum or something if he finds out?

Three stops before his, an old man steps onto the bus, and despite there being plenty of young people who could give up their seats for him, no one does. So Kyungsoo stands up and gestures for the man to come over with a smile. He gets a grateful handshake in return, and when he steps off the old man calls another ‘thank you’ after him.

With a spring to his step, Kyungsoo makes his way toward his apartment. He’s still fingering at the key chain in his pocket. It has grown warm, probably from his body heat, and he finds it to be a comforting feeling. For half a second he contemplates keeping it, but he feels so bad over the thought he immediately changes his mind. It’s not his.

He takes the stairs up to his street two at a time, backpack bumping against his back with each step, and rounds the corner with a small spring. He’s going to nap when he gets home, he’s decided, because today is just one of those days and he just loves sleeping.

He smiles, and looks up toward his building.

He skids to a stop.

Outside the door to his apartment sits a grey cat. The very same cat he had seen last night in the alley. It looks at him with large yellow eyes, ears perked up attentively and the tip of its tail twitching ever so slightly.

“No!” Kyungsoo says, pointing at the cat. “No! You do not get to just show up like that!” He shoos at it, waving his hands to try and get it to move. The cat blinks once in reply, before letting out a small ‘meow’.

“Go! I don’t want to be your chosen one or whatever it was you said!” Kyungsoo continues, still waving at the cat to try and get it to move. It doesn’t. Instead, it gets up on its feet, stretches that way only cats can do, and butts its head against his leg with another meow.

Kyungsoo takes a step to the side, trying to usher the cat away from him. But it just continues to butt up against him, stopping to look up at him and meow ever so often.

He sighs. It’s clear the cat isn’t going to go away. It seems intent on sticking as close to Kyungsoo as possible. Maybe he had actually met and fed a cat last night, and that is why it featured in his dream. That would kind of make sense, considering he usually dreams of things he has experienced.

“Alright then. But stay quiet! I’m not supposed to keep pets.” He says as he scoops the cat up and hurries into the apartment house. If it truly was a talking cat, it would have spoken by now, he decides as he rushes up the stairs, cat clutched against his chest.

With a well-timed twist of his wrist and bump of his hip the lock to his apartment opens and Kyungsoo steps inside, quickly closing the door behind him. The cat meows again, butting its head against his hand.

“Behave...please.” Kyungsoo says as he sets it down and toes off his shoes. Does he even have anything at home that he can feed it? He slips on his slippers and heads over to the pantry, ignoring how the cat noses at his shoes before cautiously continuing into his apartment.

Tucked away behind a package of beans Kyungsoo is never going to use is a can of tuna. Kyungsoo pulls it out and clears a spot on the counter for it. (He really needs to do the dishes but uuugh, boring!) He rummages in his cooking tool drawer for a can opener before getting to work on the tuna.

It’s quick work and soon he has a little bowl of tuna put away on his tiny balcony next to a bowl of milk for the cat to drink. Now the only thing missing is the cat. He turns around, looking over his combined living room and kitchen and finds no traces of it. He moves over to his bedroom, finding it pawing at his pile of dirty clothes.

“There you are!” He says, crouching down next to it. “Dinner’s served.” He adds as he reaches out, waiting for the cat to acknowledge him before he starts petting it. The cat turns to look at him.

“Where did you put the key chain?” It asks.

Kyungsoo shrieks. With a flail he falls back, hands reaching out for something to stop his fall. He manages to grab his duvet, and pulls down his entire plushie collection on top of him.

“No!” He shouts, struggling to sit back up. “NO! You do not get to talk!” He points at the cat, glaring best he can.

“Why not?” The cat asks, walking up to him to sniff at him. Kyungsoo shies back, putting his stuffed penguin between himself and the cat.

“BECAUSE CATS AREN’T SUPPOSED TO TALK!” He cries, shooing at the cat. “And yesterday was just a dream, so this probably is too! So, I’m just going to pinch myself and then you’ll be gone!” He continues, closing his eyes tightly and pinching himself.

He does not feel himself wake up. He pinches again.

“Is it working?” The cat asks.

“Shut up!” Kyungsoo snaps, sending the cat a glare before pinching himself again and wincing. It hurts. He pouts, looking down at his arm. Why isn’t it working.

“I’ll scratch you if you want.” The cat says, and Kyungsoo turns his pout toward the cat.

“Not helping!” He huffs, hugging Mr Penguin tightly.

The cat sits down and sends him a bored look, as if asking him if he’s done soon. Kyungsoo isn’t. He’ll pout a little longer thank you.

“Do you have any idea how long it took me to find you again?” The cat asks. Kyungsoo ignores him, burying his face in his plushie. “I didn’t have anything to scent you on, since you just ran away, so I had to call in back up. Do you have any idea how embarrassing it is that I lost our chosen one?”

Kyungsoo shifts, still not wanting to look up from his safe spot behind Mr Penguin, but it does sound like the cat went through an awful lot just to find him again. Maybe he should listen to him…

“Please tell me you didn’t throw the key chain away.” The cat says, and Kyungsoo can feel its eyes drill into him. “No. No you didn’t! Do you have any idea how important that was? It’s a state of the art EES converter! Without you literally can’t do anything!”

“I didn’t throw it away.” Kyungsoo mumbles.

The cat stops its ramblings, looking up at Kyungsoo with wide eyes.

“You didn’t?” It asks.

“No. I thought a customer had lost it so kept it.” Kyungsoo continues, still speaking into his plushie.

“A customer? But I told you it was yours.” The cat says.

“Well, maybe I don’t want it.” Kyungsoo says, peaking up over the penguin at the cat. It’s staring at him with intense eyes, and if cats could frown, he’s sure the cat would be doing so.

“Why not?”

Kyungsoo shrugs.

“You don’t know?” The cat’s ears twitch in annoyance. “But you know that you don’t want it.”

Kyungsoo shrugs again.

“I don’t even know what it is.” He says, squeezing his plushie tight. “I don’t even know your name. Or if you have one. Maybe you’re just ‘cat’” He continues, looking over at the cat.

The cat’s ears twitch once more, before they suddenly droop a little and the intense look in its eyes disappears. It takes a few steps forward until it can butt its head against Kyungsoo’s leg.

“I’m Minseok.” The cat says. “I come from another dimension, and I’ve come here because we need help. There is another people wanting to use earth as a source of power so they can attack my people.”

Kyungsoo blinks, looking down at the cat. He vaguely remembers the cat talking about other dimensions last night, but everything else is completely new information. It all sounds a little too science fiction-y if he is to be honest. But then again here he is talking to a literal cat, so maybe it isn’t so far-fetched after all?

And, besides, if they need help, he can’t really deny them that, now can he? Although he’s not entirely sure what he alone can do. But, if the cat is confident in his ability to help, then Kyungsoo will do his best!

“Okay.” He nods, sitting up a little straighter. “Alright. I’ll help.”

The cat’s ears twitch again before it buffs its head against his leg again.

“Come on then. I’ll explain it all after I’ve had dinner.” The cat says and walks out of his bedroom. Kyungsoo is left staring at the spot the cat was in just moments before.

“So, what you’re saying is that...” Kyungsoo trails off, trying to find the words to repeat what had just been explained to him.

Minseok had been very throughout. A lot of terms and stuff. Equations (or he thinks that’s what they were). All that sort of smart stuff that isn’t exactly Kyungsoo’s forte. But, for a moment, he thought he had it. He really did. For a split second, it was so so clear. And then it just disappeared.

“You didn’t get it at all did you?” Minseok asks, pausing the grooming of his paw.

“No!” Kyungsoo protests, pouting at the cat. “No, I got most of it...parts of it...a tiny bit...” His voice grows quieter with each addition, his head sinking until he’s practically hiding in his cup of instant ramyeon. “It just...sound like uni level science you know. I didn’t do that level.”

“It’s not university level science.” Minseok protests.

“Fine, like senior year of highschool.” Kyungsoo mumbles.

“No. No it’s not even doctor in the subject for 20 years level. You guys haven’t discovered this yet.” Minseok corrects, putting down his paw so he can stare at Kyungsoo with intense, yellow eyes.

“Oh!” Kyungsoo perks up. Then it that case no wonder he didn’t get it!

“Look. I’ll go through it once again, and I’ll try to put it on your level. Okay?” Minseok says, his tail flicking once. Kyungsoo nods and dives in for another slurp of ramyeon.

“There is this Alien race called the Izuks who are trying to take over my home planet.” Minseok begins.

“I got that part!” Kyungsoo interjects with a happy smile. Minseok rolls his eyes.

“Please just pay attention.” He says and Kyungsoo gives the cat an OK sign. “So, the Izuks have been trying to take over my home planet for quite some time now, but we have been able to hold them off. However, we recently found out that they have a plan to target earth in order to tap into your EES, emotional energy spectrum, in order to power something that we believe to be a super weapon. EES is a source of power that can be incredibly powerful, and therefore incredibly destructive if tapped into. You see, if you happen to find EES that resonate at the same wavelengths, its power is amplified exponentially. Meaning that if you were to find several sources that resonated at the same wavelength, you could tap into what is practically endless energy.”

It all sounds very clever. Very clever indeed. Kyungsoo thinks he’s still following. He isn’t quite sure what exponentially means, and the mention of wavelengths brings back bad memories of failed physics tests, but he’s following along. Bad guys want energy. Earth got energy. If bad guys get energy, then it would be bad. Got it. It’s like every action movie ever! Cool.

“So, why is this important?” Minseok continues, and Kyungsoo freezes, hoping the question is rhetorical. “You see, you humans are already extremely strong conductors of EES. And the fact is that you tend to resonate with each other during shared experiences, which makes earth basically just a giant battery. We believe this is why the Izuks chose to target earth out of all the viable locations between here and their home planet. The way you interact with each other seem to both draw from and feed into the EES-spectrum that surround you, and despite humans individually producing-”

He wonders if Jongin would understand all the sciency stuff. He probably would. Jongin seems like he is really smart. Like really really smart. He probably has probably gone to university. Probably has a degree even. Oh! Oh, Kyungsoo likes smart men. Especially if they’re handsome too. Handsome like Jongin, with his high cheek bones, broad shoulders, and kissable lips. Very kissable lips.

Kyungsoo sighs, the bite of ramyeon that has been hanging from his chopsticks for the past minute slowly slipping back into the Styrofoam cup.

“-which is the same technology we have equipped your keyring with. It allows you to- Are you even listening to me?” Minseok asks, making Kyungsoo twitch and almost drop his chopsticks.

“Yes!” He lies. “Bad guy wants EMS stuff-”

“EES.”

“EES yes! They want the EES stuff that we humans have, because they want to use it to power a weapon, and I have to stop them using...the...EES?” He trails off, hoping he got that last part right. He wasn’t quite listening.

“Yes, I was just getting to that part. The keyring we gave you is a piece of technology that allows you to tap into the EES field around you and draw from its power. With this, we believe you will be able to help us stop the Izuks from draining earth of usable EES.”

“Oh, okay.” Kyungsoo nods, pulling the keyring out of his pocket. It doesn’t look like it’s a piece of technology. It looks like it’s plain metal through and through. But then again, this whole EES thing sounds kind of sci-fi-y, so he guesses this thingamabob is as well. “Just one question, no, two questions actually.”

“Shoot.” Minseok says, laying down and making himself comfortable in a little loaf pose.

“What is EES and why a magic girl?” Kyungsoo asks. Like, he gets the whole fighting evil for the sake of goodness. But he doesn’t get why he has to be dressed like a magic girl doing it.

“What do you mean?” Minseok asks.

“What do you mean ‘what do I mean’?” Kyungsoo shoots back, unsure of how his question could be misunderstood.

“‘What is EES.’ EES is EES. It’s an energy spectrum. It exists around you. It just is.” Minseok says.

“Yeah but what is it made of?” Kyungsoo clarifies.

“It’s energy. It isn’t made of anything. It’s a universal law. Energy cannot be created or destroyed, only converted.” Minseok says, and Kyungsoo frowns. He thought that stuff like wind and waves and sun and all that could make energy. He guesses that was wrong. Maybe it’s another thing humans haven’t discovered yet.

“Okay...but the magic girl thing then?” He asks.

“Oh, that. Well yes, that is really quite interesting actually. Our scientists did a lot of research to find out what imagery gives the highest EES output in you humans, and we found out that magic girls were among the top ones, because their existence is something you associate with positive emotions. The fact that they are often depicted as fighting for the greater good was deemed very appropriate, because then other humans would react positively to your presence and further increase EES output. We chose your theme to be cookies, because like magic girl, the happiness associated with them is great for EES output.” Minseok explains, voice very matter of fact.

“Oh! So EES is happiness?” Kyungsoo asks, finally feeling as if he got some clarity into this whole energy spectrum thingie.

“No! It’s a byproduct of happiness.” Minseok sighs.

Kyungsoo nods. He gets it. He gets why they chose the whole magic girl thing too! (Although he kind of fears they think it’s a real occurrence and not just a made-up thing, but he guesses he’ll deal with that later. Minseok seems smart. He probably knows)

“Do you understand now?” Minseok asks, and Kyungsoo can proudly reply that yes, he does. “Finally.” Minseok sighs, standing up and arching his back as he stretches, before stepping up to Kyungsoo with light steps. Kyungsoo reaches out to give the cat a pet, feeling Minseok start to purr under his hand.

“Wanna watch some TV with me?” Kyungsoo asks, wondering what sort of shows cats likes. Probably animal planet. Or maybe baking shows, since they liked to knead things. He’d have to try a few to see what Minseok liked best.

“Will you pet me?” Minseok asks, pushing his whole body against Kyungsoo’s arm and almost tipping over his cup of ramyeon. Kyungsoo quickly picks it up, and then grabs Minseok with is other hand and carries both of them over to his couch.

“As long as I don’t have to hear any more science talk.” Kyungsoo says, to which Minseok lets out a little meow of protest. Still, the cat happily snuggles up in Kyungsoo’s lap, his little paws kneading at his sweatpants as Kyungsoo lightly scratches him behind the ear.

Maybe having a pet cat isn’t so bad, as long as it’s quiet.

When it’s time to sleep that night, Kyungsoo finds he has a hard time letting go of everything that Minseok has told him. The whole thing, aliens, energy fields, him standing as the barrier between it all. It just seems so much right now, here, in the dark in his bedroom.

Minseok is already sleeping next to him, and Kyungsoo doesn’t want to wake him up to ask his questions. He isn’t even sure what those questions would be. He isn’t sure of everything. What had seemed so clear earlier tonight suddenly feels so fuzzy. How is he supposed to use this EES field? How is he supposed to fight these Izuks? How is he, a lone person, supposed to be able to protect all of earth from a whole alien race?

Oh god! How is he supposed to do that? He isn’t very good at anything! He will probably not be very good at protecting earth either! And then he will be letting everyone down! Minseok will be so disappointed in him. Not to mention the whole earth.

And Jongin!

Jongin would probably be disappointed in him too. He doesn’t want Jongin to disappointed in him. He wants Jongin to think he’s good at things! He wants Jongin to like him, to want to hang out with him and get to know him (and maybe even kiss him). If he let the earth get all its happiness stolen away by some evil aliens that were going to use it for their super weapon, then he had pretty much screwed any and all chances for Jongin to ever like him!

So, he simply has to be good at fighting the aliens! He simply has to! If he ever wants to go out with Jongin he will have to save the earth! Yes! That is it! He saves the earth and then Jongin must want to go out with him! Yes. Yes, he’d simply fight the Izuks and win.

Yes.

He just hopes it will be a while before he faces the Izuks for the first time.

Of course, luck wouldn’t be on his side.

It happened while he was on his way home from the grocery store, hauling a giant bag of groceries. He had decided on taking the shortcut through the alleyway (the one he didn’t take when it was dark outside because it was just too spooky for his taste) and halfway through it he had met a group of school girls who had cooed loudly over Minseok, asking him if the kitty always followed him like that and bending down to pet him.

Kyungsoo had hung around for a short moment before deciding that he couldn’t wait any more time. The ice cream he had gotten was probably already starting to melt and it was making his hands so cold his fingers were starting to ache. No, it was time to go home and eat said ice cream until his tummy ached instead.

That was when he had heard the girls scream behind him, and upon turning around he had spotted what could only be an Izuk.

Which brings him to now.

The Izuk is dressed head to toe in purple robes, its eyes are covered by a black mask and its mouth is grinning wildly. In its hands it’s holding what Kyungsoo can only describe as a triangle shaped umbrella, which it points at the schoolgirls. A bright light surrounds the girls, and as Kyungsoo watches they all slump over, their energy seeming to get sucked out of them.

“Kyungsoo!” Minseok’s paw swats at his pants, making Kyungsoo tear his eye away from the sight in front of him. “What are you waiting for?! Transform and fight the Izuk!” Minseok calls.

Oh right! Shit! This is what he had gotten that key chain for. Right. He has it in his pocket, he just needs to...he tries to shift the grocery bag enough to grab the keychain, but it’s too heavy to hold in one hand.

“Uh, my groceries?” Kyungsoo says, indicating the bag with a flick of his hand. In front of him the Izuk lets out a laugh that seems to bounce off the alley walls.

“Transform!”

Kyungsoo jumps, quickly putting down the grocery bag before reaching into his jacket pocket and pulling out the key chain. It glints int he sunlight as Kyungsoo holds it out in front of him, eyes still uncertain as he sends Minseok a look.

Before the cat can scream at him again, he calls:

“Cookie Crystal Transform!”

In a flash the bright light surrounds him, blinding out the alleyway around him. He can feel his feet lift off of the ground underneath him, weightlessness overtaking him as the keychain leaves his hand and flies into his chest.

He curls up, feeling that strange sensation from last time wash over him. He sees the yellow light curl around his hands again, shattering moments later to reveal a pair of gloves. His legs come next, and Kyungsoo stretches out, turning as the ribbons of light transform into a pair of socks and shoes.

His middle comes next, the light first transforming into a figure-hugging bodysuit before his skirt seems to grow out of the waist of the bodysuit, poofing out. He can see his long braids swirl around him as he turns, the process not as shocking as last time but just as frightening.

Suddenly there is pressure on his chest, and Kyungsoo closes his eyes and presses his hands over his heart. He can feel the rod emerging, but not having to see it makes it a little better. He lets it push his hands away, and as he feels the giant bow puff out behind it, he opens his eyes and grabs the rod.

His feet hit the grounds, the bright light disappearing instantly and Kyungsoo is suddenly very aware of everyone’s eyes on him. Even the schoolgirls’. Did they see everything? Everything? Shit! He should do something! A pose! Like the magic girls on tv!

Quickly, he brings he spreads his fingers and brings his hands up next to his face, intending on pulling a cute pose he’s seen girls do at the café.

The metallic ‘clunk’ of his rod hitting him in the head fills the alley.

Bending double, Kyungsoo clutches at his forehead, embarrassment burning high on his cheeks. This is going so bad! So so bad! He can’t do this! He’s not meant to save the world! He’s just plain old boring Kyungsoo who isn’t very smart or very pretty. He can’t do this!

“What are you doing!?” Minseok calls from next to him. “Fight it! Come on!”

Kyungsoo looks up through blurry eyes, seeing the Izuk has turned his attention toward him now, and is slowly moving forward. It isn’t walking, instead hovering an inch above the ground, its robes bellowing around it. It still has the umbrella looking thing in its hand, a light building in its middle as if it’s charging up. For what, Kyungsoo doesn’t want to know.

Suddenly, the reality of the situation hits him, and adrenaline floods his body. His first instinct is to just run, sprint as fast as possible. But he can’t move. He’s frozen, half doubled over, rod clutched against his chest, and eyes locked onto the Izuk as the light continues to build in its weapon.

Behind it, the girls are laying on the ground, soft whimpers filling the air. They’re weeping, quietly, their eyes hollow as they stare lifelessly at the world around them. Kyungsoo doesn’t want to end up like that!

“HELP!” He screams, his voice breaking off into a whimper.

“What do you mean help?! Fight it yourself!” Minseok shouts.

“How!?” Kyungsoo turns to look at the cat, wondering what the fuck he’s supposed to do against an alien with a supergun??? He’s just a boy in a dress! He can’t even walk in these heels, much less fight in them!

“Use your rod!” Minseok shouts, his voice taking on a desperate tone as the Izuk stops in front of the pair of them, a low hum coming from the gun in its hand. “Jam Jam Cookie Beam Attack!”

“Jam Jam Cookie Beam Attack!” Kyungsoo repeats, the rod suddenly growing warm in his hands. The cupcake at the top begins to glow.

A gust of air lifts Kyungsoo’s skirt, small sparks of light like snowflakes appearing in the air around him and getting pulled into the rod. Kyungsoo can feel it, its power, in his chest. It’s building stronger and stronger by each passing moment, until Kyungsoo just knows it’s ready.

“Now swing it!” Minseok calls!

Kyungsoo does as he is told. With a roar he swings the rod with all the strength he has, aiming right for the Izuk’s head. It leaves his hands, sailing through the air for a short second, before it hits the Izuk in the temple.

Both the rod and the alien tumble to the ground, and a second later the cupcakes sparks and bright, pink light beams out of it, hitting the alley wall. It bounces up the wall, before dissipating in a rain of pink sparkles that rains down over them.

The Izuk twitches on the ground, knocked out cold.

“What the fuck was that?!” Minseok screams, making Kyungsoo turned his eyes toward the cat. Minseok’s yellow eyes are wide with shock, matching Kyungsoo’s own that are threatening to pop out of his head.

“I-” Kyungsoo begins, turning back toward the Izuk. Had he just- had he just- had he just done it? Had he won? He had won!

“I did it” Kyungsoo whispers, a surprised laugh bubbling out of him. “I did it!” He repeats, turning back toward Minseok with a smile threatening to split his face in two. “I did it!”

“You threw your rod! That’s what you did.” Minseok says. “Why did you do that?!”

Kyungsoo blinks, looking back at the Izuk, the rod, and finally his empty hands. Oh right, he had.

“You were supposed to swing it! That’s state of the art equipment! Not some sort of club!” Minseok growls. Kyungsoo looks down at his feet, the smile dying on his face and his shoulders hunching.

He hadn’t thought it through. He had just, not wanted to end up like one of those girls. Shit! The girls!

With a gasp he looks up, spotting the girls still on the ground behind the Izuk. Their eyes are still as empty, slow tears still dripping down their cheeks.

He hurries over, stumbling in his Mary jane heels, and bends down next to the closest girl. She can’t be older than 14. Sadness instantly fills him, guilt over not being quick enough, over not being able to stop the Izuk from doing this to them. If he had just been better, if he hadn’t frozen up like an idiot and just been brave and done what he was supposed to then maybe this wouldn’t have happened.

It is all his fault.

“I’m sorry.” He whispers, gently wiping away the tear rolling her cheek.

Warmth fills his palm, surging out from deep inside his chest. Something tells him to press his palm against the girl’s heart, so he does.

He gasps as the warmth shoots up his arm. The cookie in the middle of his ribbon glints, suddenly bathing the two of them in bright light. Kyungsoo can feel power build behind it, the same that had built when he used the rod, yet different somehow. It fills his chest, eating away at the sadness he feels for the girl until all he can feel his warmth and safety.

He wishes he could give the girl the same.

The next second the power surges through his arm, shooting out the pads of his fingers and into the girl.

She gasps, her eyes growing wide. The colour returns to her cheeks, his eyes growing awake and alive.

Kyungsoo pulls his hand away as she suddenly sits up, her curious eyes taking in the scene around her before landing on Kyungsoo. The eyes widen, a bright smile growing on her lips as she takes in Kyungsoo.

“You saved me!” She says. The next moment she has thrown her arms around his shoulders, a happy laughter bubbling out of her. Kyungsoo blinks, unsure of what just happened, and looks over at Minseok for guidance.

The cat is bent over the weapon the Izuk had been carrying, paws pressing against its handle.

As Kyungsoo watches it hums to life, before closing with a snap. Kyungsoo can feel the power he had felt within him twice already ghost past him, and suddenly the other girls are moving, the light returning to their eyes and their tears drying up.

The girl hugging him pulls away, happily calling for her friends who blink in confusion.

“Kyungsoo!” Minseok calls, gesturing with his head that they need to leave. Reluctantly, Kyungsoo stands up. He doesn’t want to leave the other girls behind. He isn’t sure they’re alright yet. They are waking up, sure, but not nearly as quickly and as happily as the other girl did. He doesn’t want them to remain sad.

Still, he grabs his rod and hurries over to his grocery bag, showing the rod inside and picking it up so he can follow Minseok who is hurrying out of the alley and into another darker, and more secluded one.

That night on the news, there is a report on the attack. They call it a mugging. None of the girls remember anything that happened, but the happy girl remembers Kyungsoo, vividly describing the ‘girl in yellow’ who saved her.

“She was like Sailor moon! Except she had this crystal cookie on her chest. It glowed! I bet she defended us from the mugger! Like some sort of crystal cookie princess!” She says, her eyes still sparkling with happiness.

The news reporter ends the report by thanking the ‘cookie princess’ for saving the girls and reminding the citizens that if they were to see a mugging themselves to call the police instead of interfering.

There is no mention of any Izuk, or any alien being at all.

Kyungsoo isn’t sure what to feel about it all.

“Did you see the news last night?”

The question wouldn’t usually catch Kyungsoo’s attention, but he’s still on edge from last night, so any mention of the news has him dropping whatever it is that he’s doing to eavesdrop. His fingers slow their movements where they’re wiping down the steam wand as he focuses in on Sooyoung and Kibum’s conversation.

“About that mugging?” Kibum asks.

“Yes, exactly. Isn’t it buck wild that like a real-life sailor moon appeared?” Sooyoung continues, voice thrill with excitement.

Kibum makes a noncommittal sound before greeting the next customer. Kyungsoo resumes cleaning the coffee machine, making sure to empty and clean both portafilters while there is still a lull in customers. An order for a plain latte comes in on the order screen and Kyungsoo immediately begins grinding up the beans needed for it.

“I don’t know if that’s really what happened.” Kibum resumes the conversation. Kyungsoo’s hands slow again, continually grinding the tamper down onto the freshly ground beans.

“What do you mean?” Sooyoung asks.

“Well, I mean... What do you think is more likely? That the poor girl made up her childhood hero in shock, or that an actual magic girl appeared?” Kibum says. Kyungsoo klicks the portafilter into place.

As the machine starts humming it drowns out the sound of his colleagues, but he can still make out Sooyoung protesting that she didn’t mean a real magic girl but just someone who was dressed like one.

He misses the next part of the conversation as he steams the milk, the loud his making whatever they’re saying inaudible. Once the milk is done the pair of them have moved on to talking about whether it was a cosplayer or just someone with unique fashion who had intervened, if anyone at all, and Kyungsoo decides they probably don’t suspect him. Probably.

Everyone he’s heard talking about it today (and there has been quite the few) believes whoever or whatever saved the girls from the mugging is a girl, which eliminates him from suspicion. He still hasn’t seen himself whenever he’s transformed, so he doesn’t know if his face changes.

But then again, even if it didn’t would anyone be able to recognize him? If Sooyoung showed up to work suddenly dressed like Goku he isn’t sure he would recognize her. He can barely recognize actors when they’re dressed as different characters. But then again that might be a him thing. Is he Louis Lane? Fooled by a pair of spectacles and unable to tell Clark Kent from superman? If Jongin were to turn up one day with glasses on, would he fail to recognize him?

No, no that would be impossible. Jongin is far too handsome for Kyungsoo not to recognize him. He can imagine his face right now. His plush lips and happy smile. Those eyes that seem to twinkle so beautifully. The locks that always look effortlessly styled.

“I was wondering when you would acknowledge me.” A deep voice says and Kyungsoo jumps, realizing he’s been staring at Jongin for the past few seconds. His eyes widen, his ears immediately starting to burn in embarrassment.

“I- I- Uh? Jong- What- Uh- I? You? Uh- What are- what are you doing here?” He asks, desperately trying to figure out how to stand properly. Both feet next to each other? No, no that makes him feel like a robot. Hip cocked out? What is he? 13 years old? No, maybe leaning causally against the serving area? He bends down, realizing that it’s too low down when his elbows take forever to touch the surface, but he’s committed at this point. So, he follows through, and instantly regrets it.

Jongin gives a laugh, making Kyungsoo’s knees feel weak. God! Everything he does makes him look like a model! It’s unfair!

“I’m getting my latte, actually.” Jongin says, nodding toward the cup in Kyungsoo’s hands.

Kyungsoo looks down, spotting the latte he just finished. The regular strength latte. His eyes widen impossibly further as he stares at it. FUCK! No, no he can’t serve Jongin this!! He can’t serve him something he knows he doesn’t like! That would be so mean! Oh, he should have paid attention instead of eavesdropping on Kibum and Sooyoung. Then he would have known this was Jongin’s order. He messed up!

“Sure! Yes! Let me, just.” He stands up, looking around in panic for any way to make this right. He doesn’t want to make Jongin wait for his coffee, but then again, he can’t knowingly serve him coffee he doesn’t like. Not when Jongin’s told him how this is the only place he goes to. Jongin would be so disappointed if the coffee stopped being good here too. He can’t have Jongin be disappointed.

He turns around and a thought hits him. Before he can think his plan through is fingers have let go of the mug. As it shatters against the floor, he realizes how awful this plan is. Not only has he wasted a coffee, he’s wasted a mug and both their and Jongin’s time too.

“Oh god!” Sooyoung gasps, jumping at the sound of the shattering mug. “Kyungsoo? What happened? Are you okay?” She dives down on the floor in front of him, carefully gathering the larger pieces in her hand and throwing them in the trash.

“I’m sorry.” He mumbles as he crouches down next to her. He should be cleaning it up. He was the one who dropped it. He doesn’t want to be a bother. God this was stupid.

“It’s okay. Accidents happen. Make a new one and I’ll clean this up.” Sooyoung says, giving him a smile and a nudge with her elbow.

With guilt pooling in his middle, Kyungsoo stand up again and turns around, coming face to face with Jongin. Oh...right. This couldn’t get any worse!

“I apologize. I’ll make you a new one at once! I’ll hurry, don’t worry.” He rushes out, immediately moving over to the coffee machine and restarting the process.

“You didn’t cut yourself, did you?” Jongin asks, leaning forwards over the counter. Kyungsoo stills, his guts tightening again. He shakes his head. “Good. I’ll be sitting over there. Take your time with the latte. I’m in no rush.” He says, offering Kyungsoo another smile, which barely helps with making him feel better, before walking over toward one of the empty tables.

Sooyoung finishes her cleaning when he’s halfway through making the new latte for Jongin, making sure it’s just right this time as some sort of weak attempt to make up for making him wait. As she stands up, he quietly whispers out another apology, but she only laughs it off, telling him it’s okay once more.

Her cheerful tone helps cheer him up a bit. It was a mistake after all, even though he did sort of plan it. He didn’t think it through, and in the end no harm seemed to have come. He feels his lips quirk up a little bit as he pours the steamed milk into the mug.

Maybe this is what Minseok was talking about when he said that humans had particularly strong EES. Happiness is contagious after all, and Sooyoung’s is definitely giving him the energy to smile himself. Was that what he had done to the girl, when she had woken up and been that happy? He would like to do that again, to give someone such unbridled joy.

He’s always striving to make everyone around him happy. Maybe now he could truly do so.

With a newfound spring in his step he walks over to Jongin’s table, latte in one hand and a complimentary macaron in the other. As he sets it down on the table Jongin looks up from his laptop, his eyes immediately brightening when he sees Kyungsoo.

“Here. It’s on the house, as an apology for dropping your coffee.” He says and pushes the little plate toward Jongin.

“Oh, there is no need.” Jongin replies, trying to push the macaron back but Kyungsoo insists, refusing to take no for an answer.

“It’s really no problem, Kyungsoo.” Jongin says when he finally accepts the little cookie. “It was an accident. They happen.”

“I didn’t want to keep you, you’re always so busy.” Kyungsoo says, wiping his hands on his apron. Once again, he struggles with standing as he usually does. Every position feels awkward and weird under Jongin’s gaze. Yet, he doesn’t want to step away.

“Not today, thankfully.” Jongin says, closing the lid of his laptop ever so slightly. “Or well, I am. But I don’t have anywhere to go. I was asked to revise our project timeline and decided that there would be no better place to do it than here.” He explains, reaching over to his mug.

“Oh!” Kyungsoo replies, realizing instantly that he knows nothing about project timelines. But he hopes it isn’t too hard! But then again Jongin is very smart. He’s sure he can work it out no matter what’s wrong with the original timeline. “I’m happy you like it here.” He adds earnestly.

“Whenever I go here, all my stress just seems to melt away.” Jongin says, bringing the mug up to his lips and taking a sip. He gives a small moan, one that makes Kyungsoo want to hide in the back room and scream for a little while because oh my god that was the hottest thing he’s ever heard.

“You’ve outdone yourself, Kyungsoo.” Jongin says as he sets the mug down. Something blooms in Kyungsoo’s chest, large and all-encompassing and completely and utterly wonderful. He can feel his entire face grow red from blushing, but he doesn’t care. All he cares about is the way his heart is racing in his chest and his middle is swirling with a thousand butterflies.

“It’s just a latte.” He says, trying to brush the compliment away.

“It’s more than that. It’s the way you put such care into everything you do, for everyone, no matter what. I can’t tell you how many times I’ve walked in here feeling miserable only to cheer up the instant you greet me. There is just something about you that makes me happy. It’s like you’re my own little container of happiness.” Jongin smiles, his eyes soft as he looks at Kyungsoo. “I’m sure many people here feel the same.”

Kyungsoo feels a smile of his own grow on his lips. His hands fist in his apron as he tries to contain the happiness that fills his chest. He would have never thought that he, little clumsy he who is not particularly good at anything, could ever make anyone feel like that. Sure, he always tries to make sure everyone’s visit to Strawberry Dreams is a happy one, but he couldn’t even have dreamt of his efforts actually having such an effect. And especially not on Jongin of all people.

“Thank you.” Is all he can get out, his body feeling overstuffed with emotions. It’s like it will start seeping out of him in any minute. Or maybe he’ll just start crying like an idiot. Both are equally possible. “You make me happy too.” He whispers, before the embarrassment grows to much and he blurts out something about how he has to get back to the counter to deal with the queue before feeling the table.

Once he gets back to his station both Kibum and Sooyoung quickly corner him, interested looks in their eyes as they ask him why his ears are so read and if there is anything happening between him and ‘the handsome regular’.

He can only giggle in reply.

“They’re here!”

Kyungsoo blinks, watching Minseok’s ears flick once, twice, before the cat stands up and locks eyes with him.

“Kyungsoo, follow me!” The cat says before shooting out of the bedroom within the blink of an eye. Kyungsoo slowly lowers his iPad, pausing the movie he was watching.

“Who’s here?” He asks, reluctant to get out of bed. He’s already in his jammies, and he still has 5 minutes left on his face mask.

“The Izuks! They’re close! Come on!” Minseok calls. Kyungsoo sits up, pulling his headphones out of his ears and trying to catch a glimpse of Minseok.

“What, now?” He calls back sticking his feet into his slippers.

“Yes, now! Come!” Minseok calls and Kyungsoo can hear him pawing around at his shoes. With a barely suppressed sigh and a pout he stands up, shuffling out to Minseok who is sinking his teeth into Kyungsoo’s vans to pull them out of the shoe rack.

“I need to get changed.” He mumbles absently, looking around his place for wherever he left his trousers. He always takes them off the moment he gets home.

“No, Kyungsoo. Now!” Minseok says, turning his eyes to glare at Kyungsoo. There is something in those eyes, an urgency Kyungsoo isn’t used to seeing, that makes him stop and the reluctance he’s feeling melt away. With a nod he steps into his hallway and grabs his coat.

There are people out there who need his help. He has to help them.

The next moment he’s out the door and running down the stairs, Minseok right next to him showing the way. The cold wind blows right through his thin pyjama pants and the street is dark and empty around him. Barely anyone is out at this time of night, and for a split second the longing to go back home and just sink into bed shoots through Kyungsoo’s chest.

But no! He has to help whoever the Izuk is attacking! He has to! He was chosen for this task. He is the best, the only compatible one. Minseok told him so himself. And now he has to do what everyone expects of him.

“This way!” Minseok calls, taking a sharp left into an alleyway. Kyungsoo follows, sides aching from the running. In front of him, Minseok has stopped, tail pointing straight up and ears alert as he looks toward the mouth of the alley a few meters in front of them. There is a faint light coming from it, and as Kyungsoo stops, hand pressing against the stich in his side, he can feel it. It’s that energy, the one he feels during transforming, and when he used his staff, except it’s being taken away from him instead of centring in on him like he’s used to feeling.

“There.” Minseok whispers. Kyungsoo nods, still trying to catch his breath from the sprint.

“What do we do now?” He asks, slowly straightening.

“What do you mean?” Minseok asks, turning to look at him. “You transform, and then you kick their ass. Simple as that!” He says.

Kyungsoo meets his eyes, feeling his eyebrows slowly rise. “Oh. Oh, right.” He nods, pulling the jam cookie key chain from his pocket. Of course. He was a magic girl now. That is how things go. He transforms, he kicks ass.

He raises his hand and draws a deep breath.

“You’re still wearing that thing.” Minseok says. Kyungsoo blinks, looking down at himself, before realizing what Minseok is referring to. With heating cheeks, he pulls off his face mask and throws it onto a pair of garbage bags next to them. Was wearing that the entire time?

“Now transform.” Minseok says and Kyungsoo feels himself pout.

“I was just about to when you interrupted me!” He protests.

“Well I can’t have you looking stupid now, can I?” Minseok argues. Kyungsoo pouts some more. He just sprinted across the block like a crazy person in his jammies. Minseok should have let him get changed if he didn’t want him to look stupid.

“I’m not looking stupid.” He mumbles.

“Yes, yes now come on.” Minseok says, tail irritably swishing back and forth.

“You know you could be a little nicer.” Kyungsoo says, fingering the keychain. The little grooves of the jam cookie dig into his fingertips, leaving behind little indents.

“Kyungsoo we don’t have time for this!” Minseok sighs, and if cats could look disappointed, they would look like Minseok is doing right now.

Kyungsoo feels his heart give a twist. He doesn’t like disappointing people. Minseok is right. Now is not the time for this conversation. He is supposed to be helping people! He just wishes Minseok could be a little kinder. A little bit more encouraging. He knows he’s not very good, but he is trying his best!

Kyungsoo looks up, steeling himself for his transformation, and comes face to face with an Izuk.

Its mouth is open in a wide grin, the umbrella looking gun in its hand raised. Behind it is another, a container of something bright yellow and sparkling in its hands. EES, Kyungsoo realizes. As if in slow motion, the Izuk points its gun at Kyungsoo.

“Cookie Crystal Transform!” Kyungsoo screams.

The alley lights up, a blinding light forcing the Izuks back. Kyungsoo feels himself rise, his hair growing as his clothes seem to melt off of him. Warmth fills his chest as ribbons surround him, clothing him with his uniform. He turns, feeling the skirt bloom from his waist before the warmth in his chest centres on one point.

With a small smile he crosses his hands over his chest, feeling the rod emerge. He sweeps his hands out, setting the rod free as the ribbon springs out in its place. He grasps it, feeling its power resonate in him.

The next second his feet hit the ground, and Kyungsoo flashes a bright smile and a piece sign. His magic girl pose (that he selected after careful evaluation (read: spending his entire lunch break trying to figure out other magic girl poses and failing))

The Izuk screams, a hissing angry sound that instantly fills him with fear. He holds out the rod in front of him, eyes wide as he stares down the Izuk. Somehow, it looks a lot more powerful than the last one. A lot bigger, and angrier.

The Izuk raises the gun once again, and before Kyungsoo can blink it has fired a shot. He can feel it fly past him, his braids flying from the force of it.

“Kyungsoo get down!” Minseok calls.

He turns, looking behind himself. The shot has landed in the other end of the alley, and just as Kyungsoo realizes what Minseok has said, it explodes.

White light blinds him, the air around him alight with energy for a second before the wind roars around him. The shot is sucking him in, everything in. He stumbles, struggling to dig his heels into the ground underneath him.

“Use your rod!” Minseok screams, voice barely audible. Kyungsoo screws his eyes shut, the panic as loud in him as the rush of air around him. With a scream he swings his rod toward the shot, the energy spiking within him.

“JAM JAM COOKIE BEAM ATTACK!” He screams. Light glows at the centre of the cup cake, sparkles of yellow light being pulled towards it. The next moment the energy bursts free, shooting a ray of pink light right toward the shot.

The moment it hits the pull of air stops. Still, Kyungsoo’s hair and skirts flap around him as he pulls more energy from his chest. The beam grows brighter, lighting up the entire alley, before stopping. The next second the shot blinks, before exploding in a puff of shimmery pink smoke and yellow sparkles.

“Not that! The Izuks!” Minseok calls.

Kyungsoo turns around, rod in a strong grip in his hand and determination in his eyes. These Izuks won’t know what hit them. He swings the rod again.

“Jam Jam Cookie Beam Attack!” He calls.

Nothing happens.

He blinks.

Minseok blinks.

The Izuks would surely blink they too, if they had eyes. Instead, they grin again, the one in front throwing the gun to the one behind as he starts walking toward Kyungsoo.

“Jam Jam Cookie Beam Attack!” Kyungsoo calls again, shaking the rod to try and get it to work. “Why isn’t it working?!”

“You used up all the ambient EES in your last attack!” Minseok calls, rushing past Kyungsoo as the advancing Izuk draws nearer. Kyungsoo stumbles backwards, still shaking the rod to try and get anything to happen.

“What do you mean?” He calls, looking around for anything that can help him.

“We need to get someplace where there are more people!” Minseok calls from the mouth of the alley.

“No! What if they get hurt!” Kyungsoo stumbles, the heels of his Mary jane shoes making it difficult to walk. Or maybe that’s just the panic bubbling inside him.

“Kyungsoo we have to! Run!” Minseok calls behind him. Kyungsoo shakes his head. There has to be another way! He can’t let more people get hurt. He came here to save whoever the Izuks were attacking! Not to get more people into trouble!

He stares at the Izuk in front of him, hands anxiously squeezing the rod in his hands. A chuckle fills the alley, hollow and empty. It’s the second Izuk, container still held in its arms as it opens its mouth as if to sink its teeth into Kyungsoo.

The container!

Kyungsoo stares up at the Izuk in front of it. It’s huge, taller than anyone he’s ever seen. Its fingers are clawed, and this close Kyungsoo can see that in its mouth it has multiple rows of teeth, like sharks.

He has to get past it!

He plants his feet firmly on the ground, ignoring the way Minseok is screaming at him from behind, and holds out his rod as if he were to do another attack.

The next moment the Izuk lunges, claws sweeping down toward Kyungsoo. Kyungsoo crouches and dives forward, right through the legs of the Izuk. (Sometimes being 5”6’ has its advantages.) He straightens the next moment, sprinting as quickly as he can in his heels toward the other Izuk.

It takes a surprised step back as Kyungsoo raises his rod and swings, hitting the container square in the centre.

It bursts, drowning them all in sparkling yellow light.

Instantly, he can feel the energy around him, flowing through him as though it were his blood. He turns, light as a feather, and comes to a stop behind both of the Izuks.

“My name is Kyungsoo, and I protect this earth and everyone around it!” He states, feeling his hair flutter around him as the air sparks with energy. “And I will not let you hurt it!”

He raises his rod over his head, already feeling it start to pull in energy. With all the force he can muster he swings it down toward the Izuks who are scrambling to get away.

“Jam Jam Cookie Beam Attack!” He screams. The next second pink light bursts free from the cupcake at the top of the rod, filling the entire alley in front of him. The Izuks scream as they’re swallowed by the light, the outlines of their bodies crumbling away the next second.

Kyungsoo grasps the rod with his second hand, pulling more and more energy from within himself and through to the attack. Blood is pumping in his ears, and the air feels thin around him. But he keeps going. He has to! He has to stop the Izuks! He has to save the ones they were attacking! He has to stop them!

His knees give out the next second and the bright light dies down as he sinks to his knees. His lungs ache as he pulls in breath after breath.

The alley in front of him is empty, gun, container and Izuks undone by his attack. He feels a tired smile grow on his lips. He did it. He did it.

“Oh my god Kyungsoo!” Minseok calls, the cat rushing forward toward him as the rod tumbles from Kyungsoo’s hands. “That was amazing!” The cat says, tiny paws stepping up on his knee so he can buff his head against Kyungsoo’s cheeks.

“Really?” Kyungsoo asks, feeling happiness bloom in his chest. “Even though I used the rod as a club?”

“I’ll pretend I didn’t see that.” Minseok says, buffing his head against Kyungsoo’s chin. Kyungsoo lets out a tired laugh, barely having the energy to pat Minseok.

“What...what happened?” A voice asks behind him.

Kyungsoo turns his head, watching a group of surely ten salarymen slowly get to their feet. They look sore, one or two of them wearing their ties around their heads as though returning from a night of drinking. They probably were, when the Izuks attacked them.

“Did...did you save us?” One of them slurs, looking at Kyungsoo. Kyungsoo gives a small nod. Suddenly starting to feel shy. He shakily gets his feet under him and stands up, support himself against the wall.

“Thank you.” The salaryman bows, stumbling forward a little. The other ones seem to notice him, their eyes widening as they take in his outfit and where they are.

“Are you like...a magic girl or something?” They ask.

“Uh, yeah...” Kyungsoo says with another nod. “I have to go!” He turns around and begins hurrying back down the alley as quickly as he can muster. It’s not quick, but it’s quicker than a group of drunk salarymen who just woke up from being knocked out.

“Wait!” One of them calls. “You forgot your, uh, weapon!”

Kyungsoo turns around in time to see him pick up his rod from the ground. He feels his eyes widen and his cheeks heat up. He shuffles back to them, bowing and thanking them profusely as he accepts it.

“It’s nothing. You saved us after all!” Is the answer. “What can we call you by the way?”

Kyungsoo blinks, drawing a blank. All he can think of is that he probably shouldn’t give them his real name. He should probably keep this at least somewhat hidden, considering magic girls are just supposed to exist in fiction.

“Uh...Jam Cookie...Guardian?” He says and the salaryman gives him a thumbs up before bowing down deeply.

“Thank you, Jam Cookie Guardian.” He says, pulling down the salaryman next to him in an equally deep bow. Soon the whole group is bowing, proclaiming their thanks to the ‘jam cookie guardian’.

Kyungsoo blinks, uncertainty twisting in his guts, and flees the scene before any of them can look back up.

“Of course. I can hear it on you. You should rest up Soo, don’t worry about the café. We can handle it!”

“Thanks, hyung.” Kyungsoo mumbles and curls up tighter under the blanket. “I’m hoping I’ll feel-”

“I know you Kyungsoo, and I forbid you from coming in until you feel better. Take as many days as you need, we’d rather have you back late and in tip top shape than early and still sniffling.” Kibum warns, but there is a warmth to his voice that makes Kyungsoo feel a little better for half a second.

“Alright.” He agrees, hugging his plushie tight to his chest.

“Rest up now.” Kibum says. Kyungsoo nods and makes a noise of agreement before they both say their goodbyes.

He drops his phone and lets it disappear in the many blankets piled on top of him, he’ll deal with finding it later. He rolls over on his back, plushy hugged close to his chest, and lets out a deep sigh.

3. 2. 1. And-

The guilt hits him like a punch in the stomach. He hates calling in sick. He doesn’t even feel that bad! He’s sure if he just put his mind to it and took an ibuprofen or two he’d be able to work. He doesn’t even have a long shift. 5 hours. He can handle that. He’s just slacking off and making life so much harder for all his co-workers and friends.

He hates himself.

He rolls over on his side and curls up again, letting his head slide in under the blanket. He just wants to disappear. Why did he have to get sick! He felt so good yesterday, so happy over having had defeated the Izuks and making Minseok proud of himself and saving those men. How could he go from that to feeling like he can barely keep his eyes open overnight?

He pouts, feeling bad for himself, and then feeling guilty over feeling bad for himself. He doesn’t even have it that bad. He pouts a little more, hugging his penguin plushie tight. It makes him feel marginally better.

He decides he should probably just sleep the day away, hope that makes him feel better. With a little wiggle he makes himself comfortable before making a little hole in his mountain of blankets from which he can stick out his nose so he can breathe properly. He sighs, sinking into the mattress, and closes his eyes. Napping always makes him feel better.

He wakes up to something cold sniffing at his nose and something small prodding at him through the mountain of blankets. His vision is blurry when he opens his eyes, his mouth tasting slightly metallic as he swallows to try to make it less dry.

Minseok is sitting in front of him, golden eyes wide and ears twisting as he looks at Kyungsoo.

“Shouldn’t you be at work.” The cat asks, prodding at him again with a paw. Kyungsoo huffs, lips automatically pouting as he is reminded of his situation.

“I’m sick.” He mumbles, wiggling a little so his face his free from the blankets. Minseok’s head turns to the side, his ears twisting once more, before he bends down and licks Kyungsoo across the forehead.

It’s wet and scratchy, and not at all what he needs right now. He whines, bringing his hand up to wipe away the saliva left behind by the cat.

“As I suspected.” Minseok says with a nod. “I analysed your EES output and it’s almost completely depleted. I was worried this would happen after your last attack yesterday.”

“What?” Kyungsoo mumbles, only half listening. He can barely keep up with the sciencey stuff on a normal day. Definitely not now, when his brain feels like mush.

“You used far too much of your own EES charge in the last attack. And now you need to recharge.” Minseok says, laying down like a little loaf in front of Kyungsoo. Kyungsoo pouts a little, looking up at Minseok with large eyes. He doesn’t get it.

Minseok rolls his eyes, but still dutifully answers.

“Your battery ran out.” He says. “And you need to charge it back up.”

Kyungsoo pouts, sliding back into the mound of blankets. He messed up. Somehow. Even though he saved everyone and defeated the Izuks, he messed up. He lets out a pitiful whine, pressing his palms against his eyes as if to hide further.

“Why didn’t you tell me something like that could happen?” He whines from below the pile of blankets. He can feel Minseok step up on it, his tiny paws stepping over his legs and abdomen (managing to step right on his bladder for one excruciating moment), before settling in on top of his stomach.

“Because I didn’t think it would. Only those who are extremely proficient with EES can pull from their own pool. The rod isn’t even designed to be able to do that.” Minseok explains, his paws kneading little biscuits on top of Kyungsoo.

This has Kyungsoo peeking out from below the blankets once more, eyes pitiful as he looks at Minseok for further explanation.

“The rod is designed to power itself from the ambient EES that exist around us. It’s only designed to use as much as the different attacks require, not more or less. But you seem to have some kind of inherent connection to EES, and you managed to not only make the rod pull in more ambient EES than programmed, which made your attacks stronger, you also managed to reach into your own EES storage and have the rod pull from that.” Minseok explains, shifting a little to fold his paws in under himself.

“Is that what I feel in my chest when I use the rod?” Kyungsoo asks, propping himself up a little on one of his many pillows.

“Yes.” Minseok nods, eyes slowly closing as he sinks into the blankets.

“I’m sorry I used too much energy.” Kyungsoo mumbles, reaching out to pet Minseok. The cat pushes his head back up into Kyungsoo’s hand.

“You did good yesterday, Kyungsoo. Don’t feel bad.” Minseok says, pausing as Kyungsoo scratches him behind the ears. “I’m proud of you.”

That makes Kyungsoo feel marginally better, the lethargic feeling lessening somewhat and the first smile of the day creeping up on his lips. He did good.

“Now rest.” Minseok gets out between purrs. Kyungsoo nods, sinking into the pillows and continuing the slow stroking of Minseok’s fur.

He falls asleep after a few minutes, and doesn’t wake up until late in the afternoon, his stomach growling and his bladder pressing. As he gets out of bed, he feels almost normal. His legs are still a little shaky, and his mind feels sluggish, but he should be able to go to work tomorrow.

Once he’s tended to his most pressing needs, he sinks down in front of the tv with a blanket and a cup of instant noodles. Minseok Joins him, curling up pressed to his thighs. Half-heartedly, Kyungsoo starts flipping through the channels, looking for anything to watch.

“-a curious repeat of last week’s events, the so called ‘magic girl’, now named Jam Cookie Guardian, saved another group from an attempted assault last night. Kim Taekook, who is one of the victims from last night, has shared his side of the events.”

Kyungsoo’s finger stills on the next channel button, his eyes widening as he sees the salaryman from last night appearing on the screen.

“We were on our way home from some norebang, and suddenly these weirdos in capes appeared in front of us. They shot us with this thing, and then I passed out. But when I woke up, I saw this magic girl, fighting them off! They had a rod and this pink light was flowing out of it and then the bad guys were gone. They said their name was Jam Cookie Guardian, and that they would protect us, and they were all yellow and cute.” The man describes, seeming still shaken up and confused over the events.

Kyungsoo send Minseok a look, wondering how bad it was that he was seen. He has no idea how secret this whole thing is supposed to be.

“We have a picture of the ‘magic girl’ that one of the victims snapped as they hurried from the scene last night.” The news anchor continues, and the screen is filled with a picture of Kyungsoo’s retreating back in his magic girl form, the skirt bellowing around his legs and his braids bouncing with the steps.

“So far, we do not know what sort of weapon the assailants used, but the victims have been examined by a doctor who has not found anything worse than bruises. Once again, we urge the public to call the police if they witness any kind of disturbance, and not get involved themselves.”

“Uh oh.” Kyungsoo breathes as looks down at Minseok. The cat looks back up at him, eyebrows raising.

“Uh oh?” He repeats.

“This is bad, isn’t it?” Kyungsoo asks.

Minseok shakes his head, ears flicking a little at the unnatural movement.

“No. We figured you would get exposed at one point or another. In fact, we counted on it. This way, your appearance at future Izuk attacks will reassure the victims and increase the ambient EES.” Minseok explains before starting to groom his paws.

Kyungsoo blinks, looking back at the TV where the news has now moved on to the weather forecast, and shrugs. He guesses he really didn’t mess up last night then. Who would have known the one thing he is good at is actually being a magic girl? What an unexpected turn of events.

Another, far more unexpected turn of events, is the absolute madness that meets him at work the morning after. The café is even more packed than usual, and when Kyungsoo arrives for his afternoon shift the line stretches almost to the door.

Kibum explains, over the hiss of the coffee machine and the clutter of cups, that a rumour has surfaced that the Jam Cookie Guardian frequents Strawberry Dreams because of that keychain Kyungsoo had found and asked everyone about a few weeks ago. So, everyone is here in hopes of catching a glimpse of them.

Which is also why there is suddenly Jam Cookies for sale in their cake display and the manager is busy in the back discussing ways to make a character macaroon of Jam Cookie Guardian despite no-one knowing what they truly look like.

Yet, despite how it usually would, and probably should, stress Kyungsoo out, it doesn’t. Never before have people been happier. The schoolgirls eyes sparkle as they spot the jam cookies in the display. The businesswomen happily indulge in some childish joy. Even the businessmen who just want their coffee and leave are brush away the apologizes over tardiness and business, the joy seeming to have infected them to.

It’s wonderful, and it makes Kyungsoo feel like he actually can make a difference for the first time in his life.

The café doesn’t calm down until about 30 minutes before closing. Kibum dramatically pretends to collapse into the seat behind the counter when he gets the first break from running the coffee machine in hours, and Sooyoung giggles at his antics before draping himself over him equally as dramatic, making him complain loudly.

Kyungsoo laughs, wiping down the counter before leaning against it and taking the first deep breath in what feels like hours.

“I thought the rush would never end.” Sooyoung says, reluctantly getting up from on top of Kibum when he starts pinching her sides.

“This Jam Cookie Guardian better show up if this is the way things are going to be from now on.” Kibum says, sitting up more properly.

“Yes! I want to see them! Their outfit was sooo cute! Sooyoung says, leaning back against the counter.

“You don’t think it would get even busier if it did show up?” Kyungsoo asks, knowing full well he will never show up here in his magic girl form. People who don’t known him probably won’t figure out it’s him, but there is no way that Kibum and Sooyoung wouldn’t. Even if Minseok was okay with his magic girl form being known, Kyungsoo isn’t okay with people knowing it’s him.

Kibum pulls a grimace.

“Probably.”

Sooyoung sighs, but nods.

“Still, I hope I get to see them some day.” She says, grabbing a rag and beginning to wipe down the coffee machine. “It feels like I’ve been transported into one of the mahoo shoujyo animes from when I was a kid you know. I used to ask my parents to make me a magic girl for my birthday for years you know.”

Kyungsoo lets out a small giggle. He has to admit, Sooyoung would actually be perfect as a magic girl. Not only is she beautiful, she also has that happy go lucky attitude Kyungsoo associates with magic girls.

“Things have finally calmed down, I see.” A warm voice says from the other side of the counter, and Kyungsoo whips his head around. Jongin is standing on the other side of the counter, a wide smile on his lips. Instead of the usual suit and gelled up hair Kyungsoo is used to seeing him in, he’s in a turtleneck and bomber jacket, and his fluffy hair frames his face beautifully. He’s done the impossible. He’s gotten even more gorgeous.

Kyungsoo grips the counter with all the strength he has to stop himself from turning into a little puddle on the ground as his knees threatens to give out.

“Jongin.” He gasps, his cheeks feeling incredibly hot. In fact, everything feels incredibly hot, as if he’s about to melt, and the source of it all is Jongin’s smile. “Hi.” He gets out weekly.

“Sorry I’m late. You were so busy earlier that I didn’t want to add onto it.” He explains, running a hand through his hair. Kyungsoo nods, not hearing a single word because wow, that was the sexiest thing he’s ever seen. “Why was that, by the way? I thought you only had new character macarons the first of each month.”

Kyungsoo blinks, the 1 percent of his brain not screaming over the god of hotness and perfect boyfriends that is Jongin prompting him to answer the question.

“Uuh. We don’t.” He says, shaking his head slowly. Jongin blinks, as if waiting for more, and Kyungsoo starts to realize he’s done it again. He’s gotten so caught up in Jongin that he’s completely missed what was said. Fuck! Jongin must think he’s an idiot!

“Well, uh, apparently, people think Jam Cookie Guardian, the magic girl from the news you known, frequents this café.” Kyungsoo explains, forcing himself to sound as normal as possible.

“Oh! Really? Well, I hope they do. What place would suit them better than Strawberry Dreams.” Jongin says with a small laugh. Kyungsoo feels a stupidly wide grin grow on his lips. “It would be safer for them too, to visit cafés instead of breaking up assaults. I hope they’re careful out there.”

If Kyungsoo thought he couldn’t fall more in love, then he was wrong, because he just did. Hearing those words, hearing that Jongin worries for him, and thinks of him outside of the café (even if he doesn’t know it’s Kyungsoo) makes Kyungsoo’s heart race so hard it almost breaks out from his chest. He feels as though he’s suddenly walking on clouds, as if he’s surrounded by pink light, and all the EES in the world suddenly lives inside his heart.

“Do you wanna go out sometime?” He blurts out before his brain can check in and make sure that asking Jongin for a date right now is a wise, or sane, thing to do.

Jongin’s eyes widen, surprise written in every muscle of his body, before he shyly turns his head away. Kyungsoo soars a little higher. He’s never seen Jongin be shy before.

“Sure.” Jongin nods, looking back up at Kyungsoo with a grin that is far too composed for how gooey Kyungsoo feels. “It’s about time I am the one bringing you coffee, instead of the other way around, right.” Jongin says. “Let me give you my number and you text me when you’re off and I’ll make it happen.”

“Yes!” Kyungsoo says, fumbling for his phone in his back pocket before thrusting it out to Jongin, afraid that he’ll change his mind any second, afraid that this is all some sort of exhaustion illusion formed by the absurd amount of orders he’s taken today.

Jongin takes it with a smile, opening up the case to input his number and stopping for a second. His fingers close around something small and slowly lifts up the jam cookie key chain.

Kyungsoo feels his eyes widen, his body crashing down to earth hard enough to hurt, and his racing heart coming to an abrupt stop in his chest.

“So ,this is the reason people think the Jam Cookie Guardian comes here?” Jongin asks, rubbing a thumb over the red gem in the middle of the jam cookie. “I remember you showing it and asking me about this the other week. Did you ask every other guest as well?” Jongin looks up at Kyungsoo, who feels his face go from corpse pale to tomato red in a second.

“Yes.” He mumbles. “I wanted to make sure it got back to its original owner.”

“All this fuss for a keychain.” Jongin shakes his head and hands it back to Kyungsoo, who pockets it. “Only someone with a heart of gold would go through this much trouble to return something so small as a keychain.” He says, looking up at Kyungsoo with a smile. “That’s why I admire you so much, Kyungsoo.”

Kyungsoo feels himself turn impossibly redder, forgetting every- and anything he knows about acting normally, and instead giving Jongin the peace sign in some sort of weird ‘Thank you’. It makes Jongin laugh, and Kyungsoo is once again soaring on clouds, convinced that this is the best day of his life as he watches Jongin key in his contact information.

“In the amusement park?” Kyungsoo asks, frowning at the entrance in front of him. There are short lines at most of the tills, it being the middle of the day of a weekday, so it isn’t as busy as the weekends, but there is still a fair amount of people around. “Are you sure?”

Minseok tsks from his place down by Kyungsoo’s feet, his tail swishing in annoyance.

“Of course, I’m sure!” Minseok protests. “All intelligence we’ve picked up the past few hours have pointed toward this place being targeted. Plus, I can feel it in my whiskers.”

“But before they’ve only attacked small groups. Why would the suddenly take on a huge amusement park?” Kyungsoo asks, trying act like he isn’t talking to a cat. He doesn’t think he’s succeeding judging by the stink eye the teenagers next to him is sending his way.

“Because amusement parks are like the happiest places on earth! The EES is practically overflowing! It’s the perfect target!” Minseok explains, standing up and buffing against Kyungsoo’s leg.

Kyungsoo nods. That kind of makes sense. “Like a bank robbery.” He mumbles. Minseok stills by his feet, but thankfully doesn’t ask Kyungsoo to explain himself. Kyungsoo isn’t sure he would be able to if asked.

“Okay but how do I get in there?” Kyungsoo asks. “Do you have like some magic money or something I can borrow?”

“No? Why would you need that? Just walk in.” Minseok says, sitting back down and flicking his ears in annoyance.

“I can’t.” Kyungsoo sighs.

“But everyone else is.” Minseok nods toward the tills, where a family of four just went through the turnstiles.

“Yeah because they paid for it. I don’t have 59 000 won to spare for this! That’s like two weeks’ worth of food!”

“I’m sure they’d let in a magic girl for free.” Minseok says, looking up at Kyungsoo. Kyungsoo looks down, meeting the cat’s eyes. The cat raises his eyebrows, or at least as much as a cat can do so, and Kyungsoo looks back over at the tills before turning back to Minseok and nodding.

Finding a place to transform takes a little doing, but eventually they find an unlocked utility room where Kyungsoo slips in. The run back to the entrance tills is the most embarrassing thing he’s done all his life, especially considering he stumbles approximately a billion times in the kitten heels.

Or was the most embarrassing thing he’s ever done, right after stepping up to the entrance till and meeting the eyes of the underpaid part-timer working there.

“Hello. I need to get in there.” He says, pointing toward the amusement park with his rod.

The part-timer blinks, before leaning forward to her microphone and saying, in a tinny voice.

“59 000 won for an adult.”

Kyungsoo squirms, trying not to panic. He doesn’t even have his wallet on him anymore so even if he wanted to, he couldn’t pay. He has no idea where his normal clothes go when he transforms, but he for sure doesn’t have access to them until he transforms back again.

“I’m Jam Cookie Guardian.” He says. “There is going to be an attack in there soon.”

“Sorry. Cosplayers have to pay too.” The part-timer says through the tinny speakers.

“I’m not a cosplayer!” Kyungsoo protests. The protest is met with a sceptical raise of the eyebrows.

Just as the part-timer is about to speak once more, an explosion goes off inside the amusement park. Screams fill the air, before a bright, poisonous purple light erupts from the free fall tower. The part timer blinks, meeting Kyungsoo’s eyes for a split second, before nodding her head in toward the amusement park.

Kyungsoo wastes no time jumping over the turnstiles, almost rolling his ankle in the process, before starting to hurry as quickly as his heels allow him toward the centre of the commotion. People pass him as he runs, hurrying the opposite direction. No one seems to notice him, which he silently thanks the gods for because he can’t run in these shoes to save his life!

“Fuck this!” He shouts after nearly rolling his ankle for the third time. He stops, crouches down, and curses some more under his breath as he fiddles with the clasps on his shoes. They’re cute and all, but they have never been opened before, so the leather is stiff and stubborn.

Finally, he gets both the clasps open. With a grunt he kicks the little kitten heels off before he sets off running again. The screams have quieted by now, and the running of people have slowed down, most people either hiding away inside the little shops or having left the park.

He rounds the corner, and feels his eyes widen in terror. In front of him are almost 10 Izuks, guns brandished and aimed toward the groups of people around and under them. One of the pulls the trigger as he watches, and from the muzzle toxic purple light erupts, surrounding the people in front of the Izuk. They stiffen for a moment, before they slump together, eyes empty and hollow.

“STOP IT!” Kyungsoo screams, making all the Izuks stop and look over at him. One by one, their mouths open in vicious grins, one of them says something intangible, and the Izuk closest to Kyungsoo points their gun right at him.

“Jam Jam Cookie Beam-!” Is all Kyungsoo has time to get out before the ground explodes at his feet. He flips, the world tumbling and turning before his eyes as he’s thrown through the air. He has no idea what’s up, or down, but something he knows all too well is the distance to the ground beneath him, and how that distance is rapidly shrinking.

He clings to his rod, praying he lands somewhere soft.

A loud floop sounds above him, and suddenly his rapid fall slows. The world stops spinning, and a moment later his toes makes contact with the ground. He looks up, seeing how the cupcake at the top of his rod has transformed into a giant balloon that slowed his decent.

As he watches, it shrinks back down into its original size.

“Kyungsoo!”

Kyungsoo turns around, spotting Minseok running toward him as quickly as his short legs can bare him.

“You can’t take on them all with just your beam attack!” Minseok calls, jumping up on the fence next to Kyungsoo and coming to a stop on one of the poles. “You need to use the bubble attack!” Minseok says.

Kyungsoo nods, trying to remember what that attack is. He only remembers Jam Jam Cookie Beam Attack. That and hitting people in the head with the club. Both very effective.

“When you have a group of them in front of you, say ‘Sparkly Bubbly Joy Attack’, and swing your rod, and that should hit them all.” Minseok says, looking behind himself. “Look out! Here they come!”

Kyungsoo looks up, spotting a group of Izuks come walking toward him, a dark aura hanging over their forms. One of them stops, reaching its hand into a bush next to it, and pulling out a crying child.

“Stop! Let him go!” The mother screams as she stands up, holding on to her son with all her strength.

Kyungsoo nods, gripping his rod as tightly as he can. No time for hesitation or doubt. He has to stop this attack.

The other four Izuks are still advancing, ignoring the commotion behind them. One of them already has their weapon raised, ready to fire at Kyungsoo again. Kyungsoo takes a deep breath, steeling himself, before digging his feet into the ground and starting to run straight toward the Izuks.

That has them stopping, hesitating for just the shortest of moments, but that’s all Kyungsoo needs. Already swinging his rod over his head, he shouts with all the power he can muster:

“SPARKLY BUBBLY JOY ATTACK!”

He leaps up into the air and swings the rod down at the Izuks. The air rushes up around him, lifting him higher and he curls his legs up under himself, as if squeezing the energy out of himself.

A spray of bubbles burst forth from the tip of his rod. They’re shaped like hearts and stars, yellow or pink and reflecting a pastel rainbow as they shine in the sunlight. They fill the air in front of him, a few of them gently popping on their way. The Izuks growl, howl, as they’re encased in the bubbles, trapped.

The bubbles grow more and more opaque, until Kyungsoo can no longer see the Izuks inside of them. He stretches out his feet, feels himself be gently lowered toward the ground, and the moment his toes touch the ground the bubbles pop and disappear.

And with them the Izuks.

All that’s left is a small EES tank, and the Izuk still holding on to the child. With a piercing scream it lets go of the child and rushes forward, sharp claws glinting in the sunlight. Kyungsoo gasps, barely managing to sidestep as they swing down toward him.

The Izuk screams again. The sound beats against him, making him stumble. The claws swing down again and Kyungsoo raises his rod. The impact of the Izuk’s claws against the metal sends shocks down his arms. He whimpers, feeling fear fill him.

“Minseok!” He screams, struggling under the force of the Izuk. This close, he can feel its breath against his face. It opens its mouth, revealing the rows upon rows of teeth inside. Kyungsoo screams.

“You can do it!” A child’s voice calls from behind him.

Kyungsoo feels his eyes widen, his head turning back for a second. The moment of distraction is enough for the Izuk to overpower him. It throws him aside. His back hits the fence, the air going out of him.

“Don’t let the bad guys win!” The child screams. “You can do it!”

Every part of his body hurt. He can’t breathe, his chest struggling to pull in enough air. There is an incessant ringing in his ears, one that drowns out the world around him.

Yet, their cheers break though.

The cheers of the people around him. They tell him they believe in him. That he has to get up. That he can do it. That he can win!

He opens his eyes, seeing the Izuk standing over him, gun pointed at his head. His rod lays in front of him, just within reach. He reaches out. He can hear the Izuk chuckle above him, before the air fills with the sound of its weapon powering up.

“Watch out, Cookie Guardian!” The child screams.

Kyungsoo does the only thing he can think of. With everything he has he swings the rod up, striking the Izuk right between the legs.

The effect is instantaneous. The Izuk whimpers, its gun dropping from its hand as it doubles over.

Kyungsoo scrambles away, quickly getting up on his feet and feeling the cheers from the people around him empower him. He hurries over to the EES container left on the ground and stomps his heel down on it as hard as he can.

The air whips around him as the EES bursts free. He can almost feel himself glowing, the power coursing through his veins.

“This stops now!” He calls, pointing his rod toward the Izuk. “Jam Jam Cookie Beam Attack!”

The power builds in his chest, before rushing out of his arm. Through the rod a pink beam bursts forth, enveloping the Izuk who screams. The next second its form disappears, crumbling away to nothing, before the beam disperses in a burst of stars.

The people cheer around him, and Kyungsoo sucks in as much of that energy as he can. The noxious purple light is still surrounding the free fall tower, and there are more Izuks on the loose. His work is not done.

He turns toward the little child, seeing his eyes sparkle as he looks up at Kyungsoo.

“Thank you.” He says as he crouches down. He presses his hand toward his chest, just above the bow, and centres the EES. The next moment he feels something land in his hand, and when he holds it out a perfectly baked jam cookie rests in his palm. He holds it out for the child, who takes it with a gasp.

“Stay safe while I take care of the other bad guys.” He says, and the child nods, clutching the jam cookie with both hands.

He stands up, meeting the eyes of the mother who mouths ‘thank you’ before turning on his heel and rushing straight toward the free fall tower.

When he arrives, the remaining Izuks have managed to wreck even more havoc. There must be at least 100 persons, if not even more, collapsed around them, the EES sucked out of them. Kyungsoo can feel that the lack of EES in the air around him, and thanks his past self for sucking in as much of it as he did earlier.

The moment the Izuks notice him their leader screams, pointing a clawed finger at him. The rest of the Izuks jump into action, raising their guns.

Kyungsoo runs, avoiding the shots as the land behind him.  His sight is set toward the fountain in three levels a few meters ahead of him. Stepping off of the ledge he leaps onto the first level, the air feeling as if it’s helping guide him. He jumps up on the second level, and the third.

He springs off the fountain, swinging his rod in a while arch and shouting:

“SPARKLY BUBBLY JOY ATTACK!”

An ocean of bubbles bursts forth, rolling in a wave toward the Izuks. He can hear them fire the guns, can see the bursts get swallowed up by the bubbles. A moment later the bubbles swallow the Izuks as well, their screams muffling and disappearing.

Kyungsoo’s feet touch the ground, and at once the bubbles burst. The Izuks are gone, the threat is over.

He lets out a breath, feeling relief wash through him as he looks around himself. He did it. He saved them all. He dispersed of yet another threat.

But, the EES still hasn’t returned to the air around him. And the people on the ground still stare with hollow, empty eyes. Something is wrong. The EES the Izuks sucked up hadn’t been returned when he defeated them.

He bites his lip, feeling sadness well up inside of him. He can’t leave these people like this. What’s the point of saving everyone if he still leaves them like this, weak and without hope, joyless? He can’t do that. He wants to help them too.

His first fight pops up in his head, how he had helped that girl recover by placing his hand on her chest, by transferring some of the EES he himself had inside of him to her. Maybe he can...

But he hasn’t got enough EES himself. He doesn’t want a repeat of last time. But...

He turns around, viewing the area round him. It’s almost as if he can see it, the EES revealing itself to him all of a sudden. It’s lingering in the rides, in the stands, in the ground.

He draws a deep breath, grabbing the rod with both hands. The wind rushes past him, making his skirt flutter and his braid wave. He closes his eyes, centring himself, before raising the rod high above his head.

A blinding light surrounds him, beaming out from the cupcake at the top of his rod. It reaches out, touching the park around him, every place where a happy memory has been made, where children have screamed with laughter, where friends have hugged and smiled, where new couples have formed, and old couples have awoken that spark anew. Everywhere someone holds dear, it touches, and brings a part of that happiness with it.

It’s overwhelming, aching as it swells in Kyungsoo’s chest. His hands shake, his grip so tight it hurts, but his determination is stronger than any pain, or fear, he’s feeling.

The next second he opens his eyes, focuses on the free fall tower still faintly glowing purple, and points the rod toward it.

At once, that blinding light gets sucked back into the rod, into Kyungsoo, who almost blacks out from the energy, before a beam of pink light shoots from the rod. It strikes the free fall tower, forcing away the purple. Pink light swirls around it, climbing higher and higher and higher, until the whole tower glows pink for a second.

The beam stops, and the next second the pink light bursts. A cascade of bubbles and sparkles rains down over the park, down on top of the people passed out under the tower.

As Kyungsoo watches they begin to wake, the spark returning to their eyes as they sit up. He sees people raise their hands in the air, catching the bubbles and laughing as they burst into pure EES.

He did it. For real this time around. This time, he truly, really did it. He made it all better. He made people happy. He did.

He smiles, and walks away.

The footage of his fight is all over Naver the next day. It’s on everyone’s lips. A real magic girl, protecting them. People are posting theories about what could have happened at the amusement park, who the bad guys were, and who he was. There are special news broadcasts made just to have experts confirm they know nothing about what happened.

That does nothing to stop the rising popularity of Jam Cookie Guardian. People are making tutorials on how to achieve his braids, there are people vowing to cosplay as him, stores selling out of yellow skirts and endless of recipes of jam cookies being shared.

It’s surreal, and a little frightening. But Minseok reassures him that it’s all good. So Kyungsoo just smiles and lets the mania wash over him.

Strawberry Dreams is even crazier than it was after the last time. Any fears Kyungsoo had of either of his co-workers recognizing him from the footage is dispelled the moment he steps behind the counter and gets called at to restock the cake display, and instead replaced with fears of how they’re supposed to manage this crowd.

Word has gotten out that the café has some sort of connection to Jam Cookie Guardian, and everyone is curious to get a glance of the real magic girl. On the second day their manager has arranged for professional guards to stand outside the café to make sure the inside doesn’t get overcrowded, and the line for a table is over two hours long at its longest.

No matter how many character macarons they make, they always seem to runout, to the despair of many of the guests. Kyungsoo always feels his heart twinge as he has to tell them that sadly there won’t be any more until tomorrow, and that no he cannot put some away for them. Once again, he wishes he could do more, could do something to make everyone happy. But like always, he falls short.

He pouty until Jongin show up. He’s smiling as he steps up to the till despite telling Kyungsoo he’s had to wait 10 minutes in line just for a takeaway coffee.

“It’s worth it, to see you smile.” He says. The snorting giggle Kyungsoo lets out at that is anything but flattering, neither is the way his entire face flushes red or the way he suddenly seems to have too much saliva in his mouth because omg how does one talk?!? But that doesn’t matter, because like always, Jongin just seems to make everything better.

By some miraculous chance Kyungsoo manages to gather enough courage to text Jongin that same night, telling him he’ll have that Thursday off. Once Jongin confirms that “It’s a date then.” Kyungsoo cannot for the life of him do anything but scream, and roll around in bed, and watch the message over and over again, and then scream a little more, much to Minseok’s confusion.

The night of the date Kyungsoo is a nervous mess. He has not gone out in ages and every single outfit he owns has somehow become ugly overnight. He doesn’t feel comfortable in anything, and he looks stupid in everything. Even skinny jeans and a T-shirt manages to look awful on him. How, he doesn’t know. It just does.

The fact that he knows Jongin will be looking absolutely gorgeous doesn’t make things better. No matter what Jongin comes dressed in he’ll look like a model that’s just walked off the page. Oh my god, what if he wears that turtleneck again? The one who hugged his chest so tight and made Kyungsoo just want to bury his face between Jongin’s pecks.

“-ngsoo? Kyungsoo!?”

Minseok’s voice breaks him out of his daydream of a sweaty Jongin pulling off his shirt, revealing a golden chest with rock hard abs underneath. He blinks, turning to look at the cat with wide eyes.

“You’ve been staring at your shirt for the past five minutes.” Minseok says, jumping up on his bed and sitting down.

Kyungsoo pouts, looking at the cat with big eyes. Minseok rolls his eyes and sighs, but dutifully turns his eyes toward the open closet and looks over the options inside.

“Your grey pants and that blue shirt with the yellow square.” Minseok says. Kyungsoo pulls the garments out of his closet, holding them together and feeling his eyebrow raise. It’s actually not bad. Good even.

A smile spreads on his lips, butterflies bubbling up inside him as looks at the clothes. Yes! Jongin would like this. It’s smart, but not boring, and well-dressed without being too formal. Perfect!

Ten minutes later he’s all dressed and on his way out through the door. It’s still an hour until he is meeting Jongin by the Han river, and it only takes 30 minutes by subway to get there, but Kyungsoo likes to have time over. You never know what could happen on the way there, and he doesn’t want to keep Jongin waiting.

The sun has just begun setting when he arrives by the Han river. The previously blue sky is slowly turning pink, the backdrop of the city contrasting beautifully with the bright colours of the sunset. It’s like a movie, and Kyungsoo can’t wait to share it with Jongin.

It’s going to be so perfect! The two of them walking hand in hand, conversation flowing between them with such ease you would think they’d known each other for years. At one point, they’ll stop to watch the sun set. Kyungsoo will say ‘it’s beautiful’, and Jongin will reply ‘yeah’, and Kyungsoo will think he’s talking about the sunset but actually Jongin is looking at him. And then Kyungsoo will turn around, the setting sun sparkling in his eyes, and Jongin will become so overcome by Kyungsoo’s beauty, that he just has to kiss him then and there.

Kyungsoo giggles, his face heating up as he plays through the scenario in his head once again, this time adding Jongin’s hand cradling his cheek before kissing him. His cheek burns so badly he has to hide his face in his hands when he imagines Jongin’s lips pressing against his. He feels like he could fly, and the date hasn’t even begun yet!

He has to calm down, or he will be a mess when Jongin arrives. He claps his cheeks, trying to force the redness out of them, and takes a deep breath. His heart is racing in his chest, his middle full of fluttering butterflies. He feels like he’s glowing.

He forces another deep breath into his lungs, and another, and one more, until he’s able to stand still once again. The fluttering has calmed down in his middle, but not entirely died down, a constant reminder of why he’s there. He swallows down another giggle, smoothing down the hair by his temples.

He hears footsteps behind him, and all at once his calm demeanour is undone. With a radiating smile he turns around, ready to greet Jongin.

The Izuk in front of him pulls the trigger.

It’s sheer instinct that makes him throw himself to the side.

The light beam shoots out across the Han river, striking a wave and exploding. Screams fill the air as more Izuks appear, materializing out of thin air around him. He scrambles, trying to get his feet back under him as the Izuk aims his weapon at him once more.

The second shot misses him by an inch, striking a nearby bench and deflecting off into the setting sun. He runs, as fast as his feet can carry him. Behind him, he hears the Izuks laugh, a sound that chills him to the bone.

He doesn’t stop running until he reaches the edge of the park, realizing that he has long since lost his Izuk follower. His pants are torn at the knee from how he’s thrown himself to the ground, and there is gravel embedded in his palms.

With a shaky breath he sinks down into a crouch, eyes burning as he realizes all the effort he went through to look good for Jongin was for nought, destroyed by the Izuks.

Something moves in the corner of his eye. Minseok is hurrying over to him, tail bushy and ears almost flat against his head. Kyungsoo pouts at the cat, hoping he has some other magic solution.

“WHY HAVEN’T YOU TRANSFORMED!?” Minseok screams, coming to a halt in front of him.

Kyungsoo blinks, mouth opening but no words coming out.

“The Izuks are wreaking havoc just a few blocks over! You need to get there as quickly as possible!” Minseok says, looking twice as big from the way he’s puffing up his fur.

“But, Jongin.” He stammers. He’s got plans! He can’t go off fighting Izuks right now. He has got to meet Jongin. This is a once in a lifetime chance for him!

“NOW, KYUNGSOO!” Minseok growls. Kyungsoo flinches, looking down at the ground.

He doesn’t want to. But...if it’s like Minseok is saying, and the Izuks are truly wreaking havoc, then people must be so scared, and sad. Guilt coils in his guts. It would be his fault if he didn’t go save them. All his fault.

But. He can’t ditch Jongin. Not without an explanation. Even more guilt joins the swirling ball in his middle. He simply has to do both. That’s the only option. There is still some 20 minutes until he’s supposed to meet Jongin. He can make it. If he hurries, he can save both the people, and meet Jongin.

With a determined nod he pulls the jam cookie key chain from his pocket.

When the second Izuk blast hits him in the chest, he questions what he’s even doing here. He was supposed to go on the date of his life tonight.

When he screams himself hoarse as he sends out yet another Jam Jam Cookie Beam Attack, he begins questioning every decision he’s ever made in his life. Every single one that has led up to him being here.

When he almost collapses after finally banishing the last of the Izuks, every muscle screaming at him to rest, he almost breaks into tears.

When he arrives back at the Han river, bruises forming all over his body and gravel still stuck in his palms, and sees that Jongin is nowhere to be seen, he does break into tears. Every single feeling he’s ever had wells out of him at once, like a horrible vomit. His chest aches with each sob, snot and tears covers his face.

A woman gently helps him over to a bench and offers to call a cab for him, and it only makes Kyungsoo feel worse. He barely managed to fight of the Izuks, he’s wasted Jongin’s time, and now he’s wasting the time of strangers. He’s the worst protector of earth, the worst date in history, and now the most annoying stranger ever.

Somehow, he manages to calm down enough to pull up his phone and call Jongin. His hands shake so badly he can barely hold it against his ear, and every second that passes drags on like a year. But Jongin does answer, and Kyungsoo can’t stop himself from doing what he had promised himself not to do.

He lies. He tells Jongin he couldn’t get there because the Izuk attack held up the subway lines. He tells Jongin he had no service. He tells him he’s so sorry, and that he’ll make it up to him.

When Jongin sighs and replies “It’s okay.”, Kyungsoo begins questioning why he even agreed to be a guardian to begin with.

He feels horrible for the next few days. Kibum and Sooyoung both notice, and try to cheer him up, but he doesn’t want to be cheered up. He deserves to feel awful. He’s a failure. He doesn’t even deserve to feel sorry for himself. But he does.

Jongin doesn’t show up at the café that afternoon, or the one after that.

Kyungsoo locks himself in the bathroom during his break and tries to remember how to breathe.

There is another attack, early in the morning the following week. Despite the adrenaline pumping through him, he can’t focus, and what should have been a simple fight (there are only five Izuks after all) is anything but. It takes forever, and once he’s finally done, Minseok screams at him for not taking it seriously.

When he’s back in his normal clothes, he’s an hour late for work. An hour late for opening. Meaning that he’s left Sooyoung there on her own to deal with the morning rush. He’s left her to try and do in the 10 minutes before opening she has everything he’s supposed to do in the hour before opening. Meaning setting out cakes, counting the tills, wiping down all the tables.

Kibum is waiting for him when he shows up, anger clear in every line of his body. They’ve called in Yerim, Sooyoung’s friend who helps out when no one else can cover for a shift, and both of the girls look stressed out of their mind.

“We’ll talk later.” Is everything Kibum says as he thrusts Kyungsoo’s apron into his hands.

“I thought I could trust you, Kyungsoo!” Kibum growls, and Kyungsoo shrinks further into his chair. “Do you even have an explanation?!”

“I got held up.” Kyungsoo whispers. The lump at the back of his throat makes it hard to speak.

“An explanation for why you didn’t let anyone else know?” Kibum clarifies. “Sooyoung was close to tears when she called me and told me nothing was prepared when she showed up. If we had just known, we could have adjusted for it, Kyungsoo.”

Kyungsoo says nothing. He knows Kibum is right. He should have said something. But he couldn’t. Because he was busy getting his ass beat by some aliens who has decided to make his life hell for no reason other than the fact that some other aliens decided he is the one who is supposed to do the heavy lifting for them.

“I, we, need you to be a team player! I know you don’t like asking for help, and I know you think you can solve everything, but when it comes to Strawberry Dreams, we all need to work together.” Kibum says, voice exasperated.

“I know.” Kyungsoo says, voice hoarse from how hard he’s holding back tears.

“Next time just call, okay?” Kibum sighs. Kyungsoo nods and flinches when Kibum’s hand lands on his shoulder, and pulls away when the fingers give a kind squeeze.

“See you tomorrow.” Kibum says, lingering in the doorway to the staffroom for a moment as if to add something more, before shutting it behind him.

It takes Kyungsoo five minutes to get himself back to a place where he can get out of his seat and pull on his coat. He leaves out the backdoor, not wanting to meet the disappointed looks of his co-workers as he passes through the café.

He can’t even begin to imagine what they think of them now. They probably all hate him. Rightfully so. He let them all down. They trust him. They expect him to be there and do his part. And he can’t even manage that. He almost made Sooyoung cry. The mere thought has him gasping for air, guilt hitting him with the strength of an Izuk blast pistol.

The cool air feels good against his face for half a second, until he opens his eyes and spots Minseok sitting by the dumpster in the alley, just like he had done that first day they had met each other.

“If you had focused on the battle you wouldn’t have been late to work.” Minseok says.

Something cracks inside Kyungsoo.

It’s Minseok’s fault. All of this is Minseok’s fault! Him being late for work! Him missing his date with Jongin! Jongin not showing up! The café being beyond crowded! Him being a magic girl! The Izuks showing up to begin with! It’s all Minseok’s fault! If he hadn’t showed up in Kyungsoo’s life none of this would have happened. He would have been fine! He would have gotten his date with Jongin and it would have gone perfectly! Everyone would have been happy had Minseok not showed up. No one would be disappointed in him had Minseok not showed up. He wouldn’t be an absolute failure if Minseok hadn’t showed up. If he hadn’t found that stupid key chain and become a magic girl, none of these things would have happened.

“I’m done.” He says, his voice cracking.

Minseok looks up, ears pointing and tip of his tail twitching in interest.

“I’m done! You can find another magic girl!” Kyungsoo continues, pulling the key chain from his pocket.

“Don’t be silly, Kyungsoo. You can’t just stop. The key chain chose you after all.” Minseok says, standing up.

“Well, it can find another person, because I’m not doing it anymore.” He says, holding out the key chain toward Minseok. The cat’s tail swishes in irritation.

“We can’t just find another person! You agreed to this Kyungsoo! You can’t just back out because things got hard.” Minseok argues.

“I can, and I am.” Kyungsoo says, tossing the key chain toward Minseok. It lands a foot in front of the cat, the red heart shaped gem in its middle dull in the low lighting of the alleyway.

“Don’t be stupid Kyungsoo!” Minseok hisses, swatting the keychain back in his direction. Kyungsoo steps over it and begins to walk away.

He’s done. He’s done disappointing people. He’s done being a failure. Minseok will have to solve this problem on his own. Besides. It wasn’t like Kyungsoo was even good at being a magic girl. He’s probably doing him a favour by quitting. Anyone who picks up that keychain would do a better job than Kyungsoo has done. Anyone else but him.

“Kyungsoo! Come back!” Minseok calls after him.

Kyungsoo doesn’t turn back around.

There is a report of an Izuk attack later that night on the news. Ten people have been sent to the hospital. The doctors don’t know what’s wrong with them. Words like fatigue, thousand-yard stare, and trauma are mentioned.

Kyungsoo feels so guilty he locks himself in his bedroom and hides from the rest of the world until his next shift at work.

No one is angry with him when he shows up at Strawberry Dreams, which makes the guilt lessen somewhat. In fact, everything is as though nothing has happened. As though he never messed up, as though he never let everyone down, as though he isn’t personally responsible for 10 people losing their happiness.

It makes it easier to pretend everything is okay, makes it easier to force a smile onto his lips, to let Sooyoung joke with him, to not be disappointed when once again Jongin doesn’t show up.

Every day it becomes easier, until it doesn’t feel like he’s pretending until he walks back home, passes Minseok, and chooses not to let him back in.

The unthinkable happens a week into his pretending.

Jongin appears in front of him, a shy smile on his lips and 5000 won ready to pay for his drink.

“Jongin!” Kyungsoo gasps, fingers halting on the register.

“Hi.” Jongin says, pushing his hair out of his face. “A latte, please.”

Kyungsoo’s smile falls, the painful awkwardness of it all hitting him, and suddenly he wishes Jongin had chosen to never return. If this is how it’s going to be from now on, a painful reminder of how badly he screwed up, then he would rather not have it at all. But then again, he probably deserves this. Like some sort of twisted punishment for how awful he’s been toward everyone.

“The usual then.” He tries to joke, inputting the order.

“Yeah.” Jongin nods, handing over the note and accepting the change.

“It will be ready in a minute.” Kyungsoo says, his grip tight on the counter. His chest aches.

Jongin nods and turns away, his hands folding the receipt and tucking it away in his wallet before pushing it down into his pocket. Like he always does. A painful mimicry of normality.

Kyungsoo swallows down the pain.

“Kyungsoo.”

Jongin’s voice makes him look back up, painful hope rising within him before he can squash it down.

“When do you get off today?” Jongin asks. Kyungsoo feels his eyes widen, the hope daring to swell in his chest.

“In an hour.” He replies. He barely even dares to breathe. The moment feels so fragile, so impossible, that even the smallest movement can shatter it forever.

“I just thought, you know how I said it was about time for me to buy you a coffee. Well, today is as good a day as any.” Jongin answers, a small smile playing on his lips. “That is, if you have time, of course.”

“I do!” Kyungsoo blurts out, the world suddenly so much brighter around him. At the centre of the brightness Jongin’s smiles grows, mirroring Kyungsoo’s own growing smile. His cheeks hurt, but for once, it’s a good pain. It’s the pain of being so happy he barely knows what to do. It’s the pain that comes when the tension suddenly releases from your shoulders, when your fears slide away. It’s the pain of having so many butterflies in your stomach that you feel like you might explode into a cloud of happiness and pink fluff any second.

“I’ll wait by my table then.” Jongin says with a small laugh. Kyungsoo hears himself laugh in reply, a goofy laugh, but he doesn’t care.

He didn’t fuck it all up. He didn’t ruin everything. He, somehow, some way, didn’t. Somehow, no one at Strawberry Dream hates him. Somehow, Jongin doesn’t hate him. Somehow, he hasn’t messed his life up despite everything.

As if a veil has been lifted from his eyes he can see the happiness around him again. He can see the smiles of friends catching up and sharing exciting news. He can see the joy of people tasting treats and making happy memories. He can feel the magical wonder that lingers within the wall.

And in the centre of it all is Jongin, sitting at his table with his latte. He doesn’t have his laptop open today, or any notebooks. Every time Kyungsoo looks over he’s staring at him instead, returning the smiling Kyungsoo sends him. It’s like magic, that magic he’s always been so proud of, that magic he can finally make himself contribute to.

That hour passes quicker than any hour ever done. Before he knows it, he’s sinking into the chair opposite Jongin, heart threatening to break through his chest from how hard it’s beating. He hasn’t stopped smiling the whole time, and his cheeks are definitely aching, but he doesn’t care.

“Hi.” He whispers.

“Hi.” Jongin replies with a flirty smile.

His world turns upside down.

Glass rains down on him as the windows leading out to the street are blown out. The pressure wave from the explosion is enough to send him tumbling out of his chair, the table tipping down over him and people screaming around him. The class cuts into his hands as he lands with a hard thud, the wind getting knocked out of him.

He barely has time to raise his head before the whole place is drowned in a harsh, white light, blinding him. It burns, and he has to cover his eyes to stop the pain.

When the light fades and he opens them again, sunspots dance on his retina. The dust is thick in the air around him, and all he can make up is a large shape outside the café, cape flapping around its ankles and umbrella shaped gun in its hands.

The Izuks!

He coughs, scrambling up to his feet and looking around. Everything is in disorder. The door has been blown off its hinges, the curtains torn from the blast. The floor is a jumble of tables and chairs, and as he moves shattered glass clirr under his feet. In the slowly settling dust he can make out the guests and his co-workers. No one is moving, their eyes eerily empty.

Horror fills him, panic striking sharp and accurate right in his heart. He stumbles, feeling weak, hopeless, helpless. No. No this can’t be happening. NO! This cannot be happening! Not like this! Not to his friends!

Someone coughs behind him.

Kyungsoo whips around so quickly he sends a cloud of dust up in the air. Jongin!

There, on the floor, is the crumpled form of Jongin. He coughs again, weakly. Kyungsoo dives down on his knees, gently touching Jongin’s shoulder. Jongin’s head lolls over toward him. His eyes are empty, a void where happiness usually sparkles. But they’re not dead.

“Jongin!” He feels tears prick in his eyes. Jongin barely responds. His eyes roll over toward Kyungsoo, complete lethargy in them. Nothingness. He’s been sucked dry. As Kyungsoo looks around, spotting more people coughing weakly and sighing, he realizes that’s what has happened to everyone. The Izuks have sucked them dry, taken their happiness.

“I’m so sorry, Jongin!” His voice cracks as he tries to brush the dust away from Jongin’s face. He barely seems to care. It’s so unlike him. So cruelly unlike him. He, whose smiles Kyungsoo has grown to expect, whose kindness is so all encompassing, whose heart has always held space for everyone, now a hollow shell of who he was.

It’s not fair!

“Please come back!” Kyungsoo begs, the tears mixing with the dust on his own cheeks. Outside the café the destruction continues, the Izuks not even sparing the ruins of Strawberry Dreams a second thought. Kyungsoo lets out a sob. He can’t even do anything to stop them. He threw away his one chance, and now he’s paying the ultimate price. Selfishly he sacrificed Seoul, maybe even Korea and earth, because he couldn’t handle things getting hard for one second.

A fresh wave of tears makes his way down his tears as he stares at the ruins around him. Oh, how cruel, that the Izuks’ weapon hadn’t affected him too. How cruel that he too can’t be a hollow shell on the ground. How cruel that he has to suffer through this all, knowing it’s his fault and he can do nothing about it.

“Kyungsoo!”

He turns toward the call, spotting a small grey cat jumping through what was once the windows and into the ruined cafe. A sob breaks through his clenched teeth, a mixture of despair and relief rising in his chest from seeing Minseok. At least he isn’t completely alone.

“Kyungsoo! I’ve looked everywhere for you!” Minseok calls, jumping over a knocked over chair and pattering over toward Kyungsoo. “Are you alright?”

Kyungsoo nods, wiping the tears and dust away from his cheeks. He’s not really okay, but he suspects that’s not really what Minseok is asking about.

“Thank all that is holy!” Minseok gasps, buffing his head against Kyungsoo’s arms and middle. “I brought the jam cookie amulet!” He says, stopping long enough to meet Kyungsoo’s gaze. Kyungsoo feels his eyes widen, the hair on the back of his neck rising.

“I’m sorry that I made you go through this all alone.” Minseok continues, stepping up in his lap so he can buff himself against his chin. “I’m sorry that I wasn’t very supportive. I shouldn’t have made you go through all of this alone. I should have understood how hard it was, and how you needed help.”

He stops, eyes more serious than Kyungsoo has ever seen them. His claws dig into the tops of Kyungsoo’s thighs, but he doesn’t care, because he can see the sincerity in Minseok’s eyes, and hear the desperation in his voice.

“We need your help. I know I have no right to ask more of you but...please, Kyungsoo. My planet depends on it. Your planet depends on it”

Kyungsoo blinks, seeing the jam cookie key chain dangle from Minseok’s collar. He raises his head, looking out at the street outside the café. It’s eerily silent, and Kyungsoo knows it’s because the Izuks have incapacitated everyone.

Everyone except him.

He looks back down at Minseok, feeling determination fill him. With a sharp nod he unclasps the jam cookie amulet from the collar and stands up. The dust and shattered glass fall on him, echoing in the silent café. Slowly, he raises his hand, the key chain resting in his palm, and speaks:

“Cookie Crystal Transform!”

Nothing happens.

He clears his throat, draws a deep breath, and tries again:

“Cookie Crystal Transform!”

Nothing.

Not even the tiniest gusts of winds, not even a faint glimmer from his amulet, not even the faintest hint of anything in his chest. It’s as if the amulet is nothing more than a normal key chain. As if him being a magic girl never happened.

“It’s not working!” He gasps, panic beginning to fill him again. “Minseok, it’s not working!” The air suddenly feels thick around him, the dust clotting up his lungs with grey tar.

“It should work!” Minseok says, seeming equally as confused.

“Well it isn’t!” Kyungsoo shoots back. “Cookie Crystal Transform!” He shakes the key chain.

“It must! Are you even doing it correctly!?” Minseok snaps, ears twisting back.

“Of course I am!”

“Who are you talking to?”

Jongin’s mumbles makes him turn around, meeting the still hollow eyes of the speaker. Jongin’s head lulls over toward him as Kyungsoo watches, eyes hollow as he looks at him.

“What are you even trying to do? You should just give up. It’s pointless. Everything is pointless.” Jongin continues, voice flat and devoid of everything.

“No!” Kyungsoo protests, clutching the key chain tight. “No, it’s not! It’s not pointless!” It can’t be! He cannot give up! He has to make it work!

“Just give up. You can’t do anything.” Jongin mumbles.

“Maybe not me! But Jam Cookie Guardian can!” Kyungsoo insists, trying not to let it show how truly desperate he is in his voice. He fails miserably. The tears are already starting to pick at the corners of his eyes, the crushing feeling of helplessness quickly drowning him.

“The magic girl?” Jongin asks. Kyungsoo nods, showing him the keychain. “You’re them?”

Kyungsoo nods.

Slowly, the corner of Jongin’s lips raise, curling ever so slightly into a minute smile. A humourless laugh comes next, short and quiet.

But it’s enough.

The red crystal in the centre of the jam cookie sparks. The next second a pink glow lights up the café, Kyungsoo in the centre of it all.

Kyungsoo feels his feet leave the ground, the power curling around him as he rises. The key chain lifts from his hand, the light glowing even stronger, before finding its place right above Kyungsoo’s heart.

He curls, feeling the source of power in his chest. His braids tickle his shoulders as yellow light surrounds his arms where they’re crossed in front of his chest. He holds them out above himself, seeing the light shatter to reveal his gloves.

He turns, feeling the ribbons wrap around his legs next. His next step reveals his thigh high socks and Mary janes, the shoes a familiar weight around his feet. He continues to twirl, feeling the skirt bellow out from his waist, the bow grows from the jam cookie at the centre of his chest.

He presses his hands over it, feeling the powers centre. He closes his eyes, knowing that today, this fight, he’ll need every ounce of strength he has. He’ll needs it more than he’s ever needed anything.

When he pulls his hands away, instead of the usual rod only the cupcake rests in his open palms. On instinct, he throws it up into the air, seeing it twirls before a bright flash of light blinds him.

When he can see again, a long staff is twirling in the air above him, the cupcake at the top of it and giant rubies fused into the long handle. A golden jam cookie hangs from a chain at the bottom, the ruby red filling glowing with power.

He reaches out and catches it effortlessly. At the same time the pink light disappears around him in a puff of air, sending the dust in the ruined café flying around him.

“You did it!” Minseok screams at the same time as Jongin mumbles:

“Holy shit.”

Kyungsoo grasps the staff in both hands, feeling it hum in his hands. He turns to look toward Minseok and Jongin in turn, determination burning stronger than anything he’s ever felt before in his chest.

“I’m going to fix this.” He promises.

He takes the first step toward the broken windows, and then another, and another, until he’s running. With a leap he jumps out of the window. But his feet don’t return to the ground. Instead, he continues rising. With each and every step flying higher, and higher, and higher. The power builds an invisible staircase under his feet, raising him up above the destruction and the chaos, until he rises above the buildings.

The EES is scarce in the air around him, but strong within him. He twirls, sweeping the staff in a large arch around him, and feeling it suck up what little EES the Izuks have left behind. It thrums, practically glowing with the power.

The Izuks are all around him, rising from the city below. Dark shapes grinning with sharp teeth and lethal claws, they float upward, higher and higher. He looks around, searching for their origin.

There, above Namsan tower, hovers a large ship. It’s surrounded by a purple glow that is slowly seeping down the tower, poisoning the ground below it and tainting the streets of Seoul. It has a similar umbrella contraption as the guns, like a large satellite disk mounted at its top. Kyungsoo can see the EES inside it, can see the Izuks depositing more and more inside of it.

He takes a step forward, ready to destroy the Izuks once and for all.

A shriek pierces the sky around him. At once every Izuk within a hundred-meter radius around him rushes toward him. Their claws are bared, their guns raised. The sky flashes around him as trigger after trigger is pulled, energy centring at the muzzle before shooting out in a ray of deadly light.

Kyungsoo jumps, soaring up into the air. The winds lift him higher, out of harm’s way. The explosions follow him as he turns, twirling his staff in his hand before gripping it and holding it out in front of him.

“Sparkly Bubbly Joy Attack!” He calls, spinning the staff in a circle in front of him.

The air around him fills with bubbles, flowing endlessly from the top of his staff. They catch the Izuks’ shots, swallowing them and exploding into bursts of pink, pure EES. Kyungsoo swings his staff again, absorbing the energy before turning toward the rest of the Izuks, sending out another wave of bubbles.

They fill the air around him, allows him to leap from them toward the ship as they surround the Izuks in his path. One by one they disappear, until the sky behind him is clear, and the only one left are the ones surrounding the Namsan tower, and the mother ship.

He steps down on a nearby building, hearing the remaining bubbles pop around him. In the slowly setting sun, they turn the sky behind him into a prism of colours, like gems raining down above the city.

“My name is Kyungsoo!” Kyungsoo calls, his voice amplified by the power coursing through him. “I guard this earth! And I will not let you take its happiness!” He slams the end of his staff into the roof he’s standing on, sending out a shockwave around him that has the purple light flowing through the streets below him disappearing instantly.

A low chuckle echoes back at him, building and building and building in power until all the remaining Izuks are howling in jeers back at him. It’s like the heaven is laughing at him, wave after wave of malice rolling over him as the Izuks pull in tighter and tighter toward the mother ship.

“No puny human can stand between us and what we want.” They reply in unison, their voices coming from everywhere at once. “We are the Izuks. We are unstoppable. And you have given us exactly what we wanted.”

Kyungsoo feels his eyes widen, fear blossoming in his chest.

“The rest of the EES.” A voice says from behind him.

Kyungsoo turns. Something sharp hits him in the chest, piercing right through the jam cookie resting over his heart. He gasps. The grin of the Izuk looming above him widens, the sharp needle in his chest pushing deeper. His staff clutters against the concrete as it falls from his hand, all strength suddenly gone from his limbs.

The Izuk presses the trigger of his gun. Kyungsoo screams. The power is ripped from him, sucked from every inch of his being, from every cell, every nerve, every neuron. He can hear the Izuk laugh, see the many rows of teeth glint purple as the light from the mother ship intensifies.

He falls, the needle slipping out of his chest. His body is unable to catch him, and he hits the roof hard, his skull bouncing against the concrete. He can’t move, can’t feel, as the Izuk looms over him, malice written in every feature.

It’s so empty, so meaningless. Everything around him. He feels hollow. Not even that. He is hollow. He doesn’t feel anything, and he doesn’t even care. All he does lay there and wait for what was always going to happen.

He doesn’t even feel guilty over failing this time around. A quiet acceptance filling him as he shuts his eyes to the world around him.

It doesn’t even matter.

A hum fills the air around him. The purple light increases in strength, pressing against eyelids. Kyungsoo can barely bring himself to open them. It doesn’t matter. It’s all pointless in the end after all. Why even try.

The purple light is so strong around the mother ship, so dense, it’s almost blocking out all view of it. The beam extends, right up into the sky until it disappears up into the universe. Like a noxious pillar it darkens the sky over Seoul, seeming to suck up more and more light into its purple glow.

“Goodbye, Jam Cookie Guardian, protector of earth.” The voices of the Izuks mock. The tip of the satellite disk glints, the ball at its centre beginning to faintly glow.

Kyungsoo blinks. Oh, a weapon. He can’t even begin himself to care, bring himself to be sad over the fact that he and everyone around him is about to die. Why even try. Why even bother. It’s all pointless in the end. He was going to die anyway. The people around him were going to die anyway.

His co-workers.

Kibum.

Sooyoung.

Minseok.

Jongin.

They were all going to die anyway.

No. No that doesn’t feel right. They weren’t going to. Not now at least. Not like this. They weren’t supposed to die laying on the floor of in a ruined café, all hope, joy and life stolen from them. They aren’t meant to go like this.

The ball at the centre of the satellite disk is glowing brighter and brighter by each passing second, sucking in what little light is left from around it.

Nothing is meant to go like this. This is not how it’s supposed to end. People deserve better than this. The earth deserves better than this. He deserves better than this.

He turns his head. His staff is still lying beside him. In the dimness, he can just barely make out the faint glowing of the rubies fused into the shaft. He reaches out, fingers closing around it.

He gasps as he feels power, faint but there, move within it. It pulls at him, pulls at his middle, at the slowly bleeding wound above his heart. His shattered jam cookie glints as the powers connect, creating a circuit through him. It burns hot over his heart, but not as hot as the determination that suddenly courses through him.

Two words echo in his head, and as the satellite disk of the mother ship sparks, he thrusts the staff into the air above him, and calls with all his might:

“GUARDIAN RAINBOW!”

The staff vibrates in his hand for a moment before starting to spin. It slips free from his fingers, rising up in the air above him as it spins faster and faster and faster. From its ends a rainbow bloom, spiralling further and further and further out around him.

The next second the poisonous purple light of the Izuk strikes the staff. Kyungsoo screams, feeling the full force of the hit. But he pushes back, pushes back with everything he has, all the determination in his body, all the determination he has ever felt in his life. Every time he’s gone out of his way to make someone happy, every time he’s decided he would try his hardest for the people around him, every time he forced a smile on his lips, forced a laugh, forced himself to spread positivity no matter how hard it was.

The rainbow shield above him holds, the staff still spinning at its centre.

He raises, feeling as if the entire earth is trying to pull him down. But he refuses. He refuses to have gone this far and not succeed. He refuses to try his hardest and not have it pay off. He refuses to give up, to lie down and let the Izuks win.

If they want the earth, they have to through him first.

He draws a deep breath, feeling the wind catch his skirt and hair, making the bow on his chest flutter in the wind. He looks up toward his staff, reaches out, and feels the roof disappear from underneath his feet.

As he rises through the air the beam from the mother ship stops, the attack uselessly deflected by his guardian shield. The spinning of his staff slows, the rainbow redacted, until it’s hovering upright in front of him.

Kyungsoo grasps it tightly with both hands. The energy within it is gone, all the EES in the air around him used up. He can feel none of it in the ground below it, not even hiding in faint memories in the buildings, or in a hopeful lonesome heart. All of it is stored in the Izuk mother ship.

But that doesn’t matter, because Kyungsoo has more than enough happiness within him.

He raises the staff above his head. The final beams of the setting sun hit the crystal infused in the jam cookies in the cupcake on top of his staff.

“This ends now!” He speaks. The wind is circling him, the air around him crackling as tiny sparks form, slowly beginning to get pulled into the top of his staff.

He closes his eyes and opens his heart. EES bursts forward. Smiles shared between friends, laughter at stupid jokes, kind acts for strangers, the smiling faces of his customers, his mother’s favourite song, his brother’s wedding, dogs and cats he’s spotted, sunrises he has seen, successes he has had, things he has done, for himself and for others, Jongin’s smiles.

“JAM JAM COOKIE BEAM ATTACK!” He screams, aiming the staff at the mother ship.

A beam of pink blossoms at the end of the staff, before shooting forward. It tears through the darkening sky, pushing away the darkness. With a thunderous roar it hits the purple beam, sparkling against its surface for a second before breaking through.

Kyungsoo thinks of the hugs he’s shared, the gifts he’s given, the love he’s felt for the people around him. He thinks of the joys he’s felt, of the wonder of life, of waking up every single morning, of sharing that wonder with the world.

The beam strikes the mother ship, swallowing it.

Kyungsoo’s hands shake. His body burns.

Every laugh, every smile, every single moment of happiness surges through him. From the tips of his fingers and toes, from the depths of his heart, from the memories that only exists within him. Every positive feeling he’s ever felt fill him, fills the air around him, fills the staff, the beam, the attack.

He smiles.

The ship fades, layer upon layer being filed away, until the beam hits the tank containing the EES.

It explodes, a rain of golden stars spurting from the top of Namsan tower. It flows forward like a wave, spreading out far and wide, lighting up the night sky and filling the air. It rains down on the city, bringing with it everything that was lost.

People begin to sit up, reaching their hands out for the sparkling gems and laughing as they sink into their skins.

Kyungsoo sinks with them, flowing down through the air, past the many windows of the buildings around him where people wave and laugh, thanking him, past the crowns of the trees where the birds have begun to sing again, past the crowd who lay out their jackets for him to land on.

The colour has return to the world around him, but it has drained from his face.

He can see people cheering around him, strangers hugging each other and celebrating, but he can’t feel any of it. He can’t feel anything. It’s not like before, when the Izuks’ weapon made everything feel pointless and meaningless. This is even more. He can’t even feel that. He feels nothing.

Around him, the world is more vivid than ever before, yet he is nothing.

“Kyungsoo!”

The crowd parts around him, letting through a man clutching a cat. Kyungsoo feels nothing. The man crouches down next to him, the cat buffing at his arm to get him to move. Kyungsoo feels nothing.

“That was amazing Kyungsoo!” The man gushes, bending down over him and pushing a strand of hair away from his face. Kyungsoo feels nothing. The man has sharp cheek bones and tired eyes. His shoulders are broad, and his smile shines bright. Kyungsoo feels nothing.

“Kyungsoo?” The cat asks from beside him. Its paws prod at him, trying to elicit a response. Kyungsoo feels nothing. “No. No Kyungsoo. Kyungsoo! Come one!” The cat steps up on him, buffing desperately at his chin. Kyungsoo is nothing.

“You stupid idiot! I told you not to use your own EES! I told you not to!! You absolute idiot!! How could you!? How could you empty yourself like that!?” The cat whimpers, buffing turning desperate as it tries to get Kyungsoo to react to anything.

Kyungsoo is nothing.

The happiness in the eyes of the man above him slowly start to fade away, quickly being replaced with sadness. His hands cup Kyungsoo’s cheeks, gently stroking his face and calling his name. Kyungsoo is nothing.

“Please. Please Kyungsoo. Please.” The man whispers, pushing the bangs out of Kyungsoo’s face. His eyes shine. The people around him grow quiet, the celebration dying down. Kyungsoo is nothing.

“Please.” The man whispers. “I never got to buy you that coffee. I never got to give you the happiness you’ve given me.” He bends down, pressing his forehead against Kyungsoo’s. Kyungsoo is nothing. His tears land on Kyungsoo’s cheek, following the curve down into his ears and down his neck.

“Please.” The man mouths. His lips press against Kyungsoo. Desperate, yearning, devoted. “Please.” The lips whisper against his before pressing another kiss, and another, and another.

Kyungsoo feels...

Something.

A warmth spreads from the lips on his. It fills his cheeks, follows the man’s caress down his neck down to his shoulder, spreads out through his every finger. It travels down his body, spreads into his chest and lungs with the air he breathes, flows with his quickening heart beat down his body, from the very top of his head to the very tip of his toes.

He gasps, every feeling at once slamming into him. The colours of the world beating against his eyes in the most wonderful mix he’s ever seen. He throws his arms around the man above him, around Jongin, and pulls him closer, nearer. He pushes back into the kiss, craving more as if it’s the air he’s breathing, the sun that fuels him. His hands tangle in Jongin’s hair, his entire body full of butterflies as Jongin sits him up, careful not to break the kiss. His head is spinning, his body tingling, his heart racing in his chest.

He’s almost passing out from lack of oxygen.

He gasps, pulling away from Jongin. His chest cramps, sending him into a coughing fit. Jongin laughs above him, gently stroking his back as Kyungsoo jumps between laughing and coughing.

“Jongin!” He croaks as soon as he can, smiling up at Jongin. Somehow, he is shining the brightest.

“You scared me.” Jongin sobs, laughing as more tears makes his way down his cheeks. Kyungsoo wipes them away, stealing another kiss as he does so. Jongin’s laugh is wet against his lips.

“You saved me.” Kyungsoo replies, staring deep into Jongin’s eyes. He can see everything he’s feeling reflected back at him, and it just makes him feel so much more love for the other.

“You saved us.” Jongin corrects, letting out another laugh and pulling Kyungsoo into a tight hug. “You saved us.” He repeats, burying his face in Kyungsoo’s hair. “You saved us all.”

Kyungsoo blushes, squirming a little in Jongin’s embrace.

“Jam Cookie Guardian saved you. I couldn’t have done it without the powers.” He says. He’s still wearing the magic girl outfit. The little jam cookie clasps on his shoes glint in the setting sun as he moves his feet.

“Don’t sell yourself short.” Jongin replies, arms tightening around him. “You saved us. It was your determination that saved us. We all saw it, when you destroyed that ship. That was all you. we felt the memories, the power you used. It was all you.”

Kyungsoo feels his cheeks heat up, the praise making him feel fuzzy from the inside out. He tightens his arms around Jongin and looks up at the people around him.

They’re all smiling down at him, thanking him. He recognizes most of them. Customers from the cafe, strangers he’s helped, old friends. They are all the people he thought of, who gave him his happy memories. And as he meets their gazes, he realizes he’s their happy memories too, the Kyungsoo that came before Jam Cookie Guardian.

“Thank you.” He whispers, feeling tears prick his eyes. Jongin presses another kiss to his hair. Kyungsoo can hear his heartbeat from where he’s pressed against the other’s chest, and as he listens, he realizes it beats in synch with his.

The people begin to disperse, giving the two of them some privacy. Minseok curls up in his lap, complaining under his breath over how he’ll lose the lustre of his fur from all the stress Kyungsoo is putting him through, but still buffing against his hand and holding onto it with his paws as if he’s afraid it will disappear.

Jongin keeps rocking him back and forth, his tears having dried up long ago but neither of them really wanting to move from their position in each other’s arms. Together they watch the sunset, the shimmering pinks and golds that play across the night sky.

Once the darkness begins to set around them, Kyungsoo shivers, cold in his magic girl uniform. Jongin sweeps his jacket around him as he helps him up to standing. Kyungsoo’s legs feel like jelly. Despite the brightness having returned to his soul, his body is still beyond exhausted.

Jongin helps him with every step, one hand securely wrapped around Kyungsoo’s shoulders, and the other securely holding on to his staff. The ride over to his flat is short, Kyungsoo almost falling asleep in the front seat of Jongin’s car.

Jongin has to carry him up to his flat. As he sets him down in front of his door, Kyungsoo feels his heart twinge in his chest. This would be goodbye, and it feels far too soon.

He grabs Jongin by the collar, pulling him down into a kiss. Sparks run down his spine as Jongin’s hand gently strokes down his cheek. It’s magical.

“Stay.” He whispers as they pull apart. Jongin’s eyes widen, his hand freezing halfway between Kyungsoo’s face and his jacket pocket.

“Are you sure?” Jongin asks. Kyungsoo nods, taking hold of the staff. He glows for a moment, a bright pink light, before he’s returned to his normal clothes, and the staff has transformed back into the jam cookie key chain.

“It’s your turn to make me coffee.” He says as he fishes out his key from his pocket and invites Jongin into his life.