"There's no better distraction in this world than losing oneself in books for a while."
- Magnus Bane (Chain of Gold)

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Did you see my bag? (where?) Did you see my bag? (where?)
It's hella trophies and it's hella thick (hella thick, hella thick)
What you think 'bout that? (well) What you think 'bout that? (well)

The song and the volume stirred the nerves of his brain as if he was a zither from a Chinese xianxia novel and a serious action scene was going on, continuously pulling at his nerves and making his already tired mind go wild.

I bet it got my haters hella sick (hella sick)

"Ava!" he yelled as soon as his booted feet landed inside the hall, an exasperated sigh left his lips.

Come and follow me, follow me with your signs up
I'm so firin', firin', boy, your time's up

He stomped his way to the huge divan settled in the living area and almost cried out loud. Ava had her head dangling down the edge of the divan while her legs rested on the place her head was supposed to be, her mouth was agape and she seemed to be sleeping soundly.

"You pea-sized brained piece of crap! How can you sleep with such a song and volume!?" he yelled at the top of his lungs but as if he was the crap he just addressed - she continued sleeping, genuinely not giving a single fuck about him.

Keep on and runnin' and runnin' until I catch up
How you dare? How you dare? How you dare?

He felt like the lyrics were directed towards him and his eyes legit flared, "Look, how I dare!" and with that, a tight smack landed on the drooling girl's head, instantly making her jump out of the seat.

"Better."

"What the fuc-" Ava jolted to her feet realizing who the assaulter of her sleep was, "Asher! You little muddy baby pig's feet!" she lunged forward ready to bash his head in the wall until it formed a human-faced dent but Asher was already on his heels, jumping back to the end of the corridor and the door crashed on her face.

"Just get out or I'll murder you!" she rammed on the wall, her blood boiling to the point that she felt it would evaporate.

"Dream on."

❈❈❈

"Sweetheart, granny misses you. Why don't you tag along this time?" Asher looked up from his plate listening to his mother's words, she spoke pure Korean even though she was pretty habitual with English and the native accent. It was kind of her way to educate them, give them a part of the culture they were very far away from.

Lee Seo-Jin was a traditional Korean mother, very cultural, and felt pride in how her children looked every bit as Asian as she was.

She was studying in London when she found Charlie Blackwood, it was love at sight. Well, that's what they at least told their three kids. Asher, Ava, and Leo grew up in a surrounding where love was a blessing. Their parents were always like those protagonists, straight out of fantasy romance books Asher had a whole room filled with. Those small bickerings and sweet moments they shared in front of them were exactly what they believed love was like.

It wasn't like they were always perfect, in fact, Asher loved how they were so imperfect. Charlie loved teasing her and Seo-Jin had quite a temper but the way they worked out in the end was all that mattered.

Asher always listened to his parents sharing stories from their young years and how they almost broke up for the 30th time.

Charlie Blackwood, the name well-known throughout the UK . . . was once just a name, lost among thousands of Charlies and Asher admired how Seo-Jin was the backbone of the entire foundation behind Charlie.

"Mom, you know I've got a project coming along," he replied to his mother whose lips were puckered in a pout, he couldn't help but smile, after all, she looked so cute.

"Come on, Asher! There's still a lot of time to do that and who knows? Maybe, you'll end up finding a hot ass boyfriend too," Asher chuckled at her attempts to tempt him.

"Why is it so normal for mom to talk about big bro having a boyfriend?" Leo asked from the side, looking up with his dark blue eyes that were a copy of Charlie, "In TV shows, they make it sound like such a no no thing."

Seo-Jin laughed at that, "Because Mom loves Hyung and cares about him," she messed the little one's dark hair to almost a bird's nest then.

"And boys are hot, and my hot little baby deserves someone equally hot!" she smiled, poking that one dimple on Asher's left cheek.

"Excuse me?" Ava raised her head from her phone, piping in like a little feminist.

"Girls are sexy, darling," Seo-Jin winked at her.

They chuckled for a while and ate in silence until Charlie slid down an envelope to Ava's side, "I heard about it and the timing is perfect so . . ." Ava squinted her eyes in a questioning manner at him but soon realized and almost tore the envelope to pieces.

"She went mad again," Asher sighed.

In the envelope, sat three tickets to the upcoming concert in Korea, the very next day of their landing, "There's one extra for Leo."

"Dad, you know me the best!" she cried out of joy glomping his neck.

"If you're that happy, how about you let me meet Avery?" he asked in a hopeful voice, hugging her back but she jumped back, smiling like a broken doll.

"A big no."

❈❈❈

In a world filled with reality named pollution, only fiction was his invincible ozone layer. Nothing truly mattered when he was between those pages. Asher's ice blue eyes shined whenever he read about the beautiful tales of love and passion.

Leo shared the same eyes as Charlie and Ava the same as Seo-Jin but Asher, his were the lightest - so cold yet so warm.

"Me too," I said. "But let's be terrified together."

I slipped my hand into Oliver's and we sat for a while in silence. And I was pretty sure this was how love felt: fuzzy and scary and confusing and light enough to whisk you away like a Tesco's bag on the wind.

He shut the book reading the last line and almost jumped out of the bed, aggressively punching the air but before he could settle down the overwhelming feelings . . . the door opened and a jumping small bean came running to him.

"What the fu- Ava?" he stuttered, flinching back.

"Ash! Look at this, come on," she settled on his bed, almost sitting on the book laid there.

"Get your fat ass up from it!" he pushed her away, snatching the book from under her and returning it to the shelf but not before giving it a last caress.

"What happened now? Ava, why do you always have to drag me in this?" he sighed but laid next to her to look at her phone screen with her.

"You like it! And don't you dare deny it," she smiled and snuggled in to cuddle with him.

Ava and Asher fought for almost every single breath but when it came to understanding and supporting, no matter what, they knew they could count on each other. After all, Asher and Ava came out together in front of their parents. It wasn't like Charlie or Seo-Jin ever made them feel bad about it but no matter how frank, they were still their parents.

"Which song?" Asher asked lazily.

"Cypher pt.3."

"Why do you listen to such loud songs while going to sleep?"

"Who's sleeping? We're going to vibe tonight!"

And before Asher could say anything, one of the earbuds was pushed in his ear and the sound boomed in his head. His entire skull felt like a tabla being aggressively rammed on in a classical Indian theater.

"Fucking decrease the volume!"

"Oh! Sorry . . . I forgot your ears are *sensitive*," she made the word sound so weird that Asher almost rammed her head into the wall.

"I just don't want to go deaf."

❈❈❈

It was past midnight and Asher could feel his eyes getting heavy but Ava was still wide awake, watching videos and passing comments.

"Let me tell you, Black swan is a masterpiece!"

"I've got that memorized by now, Ava," Asher grunted lazily, trying to shake her head off his sore arm.

"Just look at them! The visuals, the vocals, the rap, the cinematography, it's just the definition of perfect!" Ava sighed overwhelmingly and Asher couldn't deny that either.

"And Jimin, he looks so elegant and beautiful."

"Don't you think he's a bit too skinny for his age? He for sure has an eating issue?" he didn't dare say disorder but Ava's expression darkened as if it was not just a comment but she personally felt depressed over it, "Well people have good metabolism too so, who knows?"

"If I get a chance to meet him, I want to tell him that his figure doesn't matter, we like him the way he's."

Asher stared at her in confusion, he had no idea about any of the members' personal life or story. He just liked the songs and he watched anything Ava showed him. So, he continued with whatever he had to say, "I personally like Yoongi and Namjoon more, to be honest, they have that vibe of late-night deep talks."

Ava scoffed, "You're too gay to say you don't like Jimin. Stop being an arsehole already."

Asher yanked his hand out from beneath her, "Being gay doesn't mean I need to like every single man in this world! And you know, it takes more than just gender for me."

Ava chuckled mockingly. It wasn't like she wasn't aware of his sexuality, it was just a different type of satisfaction in teasing him.

He always prioritized feelings over everything, one of the reasons why he was single for the past three years. He had just cut himself off after his last boyfriend's death like he had no idea how to date or give someone his heart again. Well, let's keep that story for next time.

"And he's just not my type?" he said and Ava laughed, cocking one of her eyebrows up at his questioning tone.

"Yeah, if you say so."

Asher had his patience running low, he raised his left leg and kicked her butt out of the bed like a donkey gone wild.

"Get the fuck out of my room!"

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a/n:
The book Asher is reading is 'Boyfriend Material by Alexis Hall' and it's one of my favourite M/M romance books tbh. Do give it a try, I'm sure Luc and Oliver will not disappoint you.