Face The Truth - Han Jisung x Reader (Fae AU)

Epilogue

A light tinkling rang though the shop as you pushed open the door to the little bubble tea shop. The familiar smell of sweet tea and cakes filled your nose and immediately made your shoulders relax. You stopped by the counter to order yourself your usual drink and then headed off to the booth in the back corner of the shop, opposite the blonde already seated.

You slid yourself into your seat, smiling brightly as Jisung as he frowned at you.

"You are late again." He clucked disdainfully, but you only chuckled.

"I'm sorry, my sister was teaching me how to make rainbow bread." You explained but Jisung only shook his head at your excuse.

"I swear you spend every second of your day over at their apartment." He said disapprovingly, but you could see the smile curling at the corner of your lips.

"I'm sure my sister would say the same thing about you." You retorted and he smirked at you, full of cocky bravado. These days you spent half your time with Jisung and half your time with your sister and Lottie. You were barely at your own home these days, which you didn't really mind seeing as it wasn't the most welcoming space in the world.

But still, every Tuesday and Thursday after school, you and Jisung would meet up at the Boba place his aunt and uncle owned and you would help him with his school work.

The tutoring sessions had only been casual at first, Jisung would occasionally ask you for help on a few of his assignments, but eventually you decided to put away a few hours every week to really help him as best as you could.

And besides, you could never get over how cute he looked when he was poring over his pages of work, eyebrows creased in concentration, as he was now. He had a half eaten plate of cake beside him, a few crumbs scattered on the surrounding pages. He was working hard, so you had to resist the urge to reach out and run your hands through his hair.

He had dyed it blonde months back, a few days after the two of you had returned from your challenges. He said he wanted to make a change in his life, in whatever we he could. And one of those things had been bleaching his hair blonde. You didn't care, you thought it looked great on him.

The past few months after the challenges were finished were rough to say the least. On the positive side, you were closer with your sister than you ever have been in your life, and your relationship with Jisung had done nothing but flourish. In truth, you weren't sure if you could survive if you didn't have him in your life. He had become as important to you as food and water.

But that didn't mean things were fine either. Nights were rough. You would often wake up in a cold sweat, chest heaving uncontrollably. Sometimes you dreamed of being pulled under the depths of murky water, sometimes it was your throat closing over as poison invaded your body. But most nights you were plagued with images of Elariel's dead body leaking blood on the forest floor, of the sound of Invidia's head as it thumped to the ground. Sometimes it was Jisung or your sister bleeding out on the forest floor, with you standing above them, a sword dripping blood in your hands.

Jisung suffered them too sometimes, though his were more often filled by Ira's harsh words. You comforted each other when you could, but there were many nights you woke alone, your chest hollow as you sobbed into your pillow.

You had kept the sword. You didn't know what to do with it, but you knew you couldn't get rid of it. Some night you couldn't fall asleep until you had it in your arms, wrapped in a shirt to keep the sharp edges from cutting into your skin. But sometimes you couldn't even bear to look at it, the sight of it making you sick to your stomach as you were reminded of what you had done.

Despite all this, you kept going. You kept living as best as you could, not letting the memories that haunted you hold you back. It was impossible to forget them, but you were free from those fae now, and you weren't going to let them haunt you anymore.

As it turned out, Avaritia's gift had been permanent. It had taken you a while to adjust to seeing the world anew, everything seeming to glow and sparkle with a new kind of beauty. But as well as this, every now and then you'd catch sight of something not entirely human. A small figure darting in and out of bushes at children's playgrounds, people in the street with skin the bright hues of purple or orange, long human-like figures dashing in between the waves in oceans and rivers.

You hadn't realised not everyone could see them at first, and you feared that the fae were coming for you, that they had realised you'd murdered two of their own. But soon you came to realise that they had always been there, that without your knowledge hundreds of fae had been living alongside humans, disguising themselves to camouflage into human society.

It was still strange seeing them every now again, and they weren't very common in the busier parts of the city, but it was just another thing you had to grow accustomed to.

"I don't understand this one." Jisung interrupted your thoughts, frowning down at his paper. You leaned over to look at the mathematical algorithms he had scribbled all over the page. You slowly began to explain it to him, making sure he understood it properly.

After everything that had happened, you were mostly thankful for Jisung. The two of you had only gotten closer over the months, and now he felt as familiar to you as your own arm or leg. After you had confessed the truth to your sister, Jisung had felt compelled to try and fix his own situation.

He still didn't want to tell his parents about what he'd done, but he did go and find the kid he hurt, and ended up apologising. You weren't there for it, because Jisung said he needed to do it on his own, but apparently he had broken down in front of the kid and basically gotten on his knees to beg forgiveness. The kid - named Seungmin as you'd learned - had forgiven him, and they'd actually become quite good friends afterwards. Jisung still randomly apologised to him sometimes, though Seungmin assured him everything was ok.

After that, all you and Jisung had been doing was healing. You talked often about what happened, and came to each other when negative thoughts couldn't seem to leave you alone. Standing side by side, you took each day as it came, different people than you had been before those ghastly challenges, but stronger in the ways that counted.

It was Jisung who had kept you going these few months, and it was Jisung who managed to make you bear every day that came. Those challenges were the worst thing that ever happened to you, but they also gave way to the most beautiful thing that ever happened to you.

A waiter came over and placed your cup of bubble tea before you. You thanked him and took a big sip enjoying the taste of the tapioca pearls as they burst in your mouth. Your life would never be normal again, but you didn't think you would want it any other way.

Through all the struggles, the nightmares, the guilt, you knew that some part of you was truly happy. You had opened yourself up to the world and you had received love from those around you.

"Yeah, no, I still really don't get it." Jisung complained and you laughed. You leant across the table and pressed a soft kiss on his lips, not being able to resist. "Maybe we should just ditch the homework altogether." Jisung said jokingly, though you knew he had already given up on it.

"Mm, only if you let me eat the rest of your cake." You bartered. Jisung wasted no time sliding the plate over to you.

"Absolutely." He smirked. "You doing anything tonight? I was thinking you could come over and we could watch Shrek." He asked, grinning like a child.

"Sounds like a plan." You chuckled and he clapped his hands excitedly. You would never get tired of seeing him excited like that.

There may have been dark moments in your life, times where you were consumed by the misery that the nightmares would never end, and the suffering would be forever. But it was moments like these, moments where Jisung's bright smile was enough to make you forget about everything bad that had ever happened to you, that made your life worth it.