off limits ✧ zb1 applyfic

✧ fourteen

These days, it was increasingly rare for Poison's shared house to be so silent. As they all turned older, they tended to spend more time here rather than at their parents' home, tiptoeing their way into independence. Manager Jeong's moving out had also impacted that quite a lot: everyone was much louder in his absence. So as Jaewook sat on the couch of their dorms, her legs crossed, she appreciated the unusual quietness of this place. She'd asked everyone to leave for the afternoon, for a reason they couldn’t pry out of her even if they tried.

And that reason was knocking on the door.

Jaewook nonchalantly stood up and walked to the door, tugging on her sweatpants. She'd hardly made an effort to look presentable, but she had a bit of a feeling that wouldn’t matter anyway. Her guest of honor was easily impressed.

"Matthew," she greeted him as he opened the door. "Welcome to Poison's headquarters."

He chuckled in response, taking a step inside the house. "Wow, it's cleaner than I expected."

"Well, Minnie is quite serious about everything behind tidy. Just take your shoes off and follow me."

Jaewook watched silently as Matthew shed his jacket to hang it on the coat rack. Everytime she saw him, she couldn’t help but be fascinated by the poofiness of his honey blond hair. It was so thick and voluminous it threatened to swallow his entire face. Which would be a shame, considering his face was quite a cute sight. Still, his hair made him look like a golden retriever. A small one.

Finally comfortable, Matthew followed her into the leaving room.

"So, you live here?" he asked as his eyes wandered over every inch of the room.

"Not really. I only come to practice, and sometimes I sleep over, when I don't want to deal with my father’s bull. And I guess I also come here to teach you, now."

Matthew nodded, a small smile on his face. "I see. Why are we doing the lesson here, by the way?"

Jaewook winced as she stretched her arms over her head. "If we did it at my dad's, he probably wouldn’t be too happy. He doesn’t really approve of this whole band thing. If we did it at my mom's, she would be super nosy and think we're dating or something. So, this place is perfect." She then knocked on the wall, smiling. "And has good acoustics, too."

Plus, it would be an extra pain doing it at her father’s. Considering he'd seen Matthew at a previous business gathering, he'd probably get really annoying. Either he would pester her about not being a bad influence to the son of a business partner, or he would push them together in hopes he would be a good influence on her instead. Neither of these seemed like something Jaewook wanted to waste her time with. She was the one to decide what she wanted from Matthew. And well. Vice versa.

As he settled on the couch, Jaewook went to grab her acoustic guitar from the room she shared with Chaewon. These days, she wasn’t able to play it as often as her electric guitar, but even just holding it brought back memories of her younger self, trying it for the first time.

"So, you said you played for a bit?" she asked as she approached him, guitar in hand.

Matthew rubbed his nape, a bit embarrassed. "Yeah, I wasn’t really good. My sister is actually better at it."

"Hmm. Then we should just start with the basic chords, then. No need to teach you how to hold it."

She handed him the guitar, and he stared at it hesitantly for a full ten seconds, before he finally dared to grab it. Matthew seemed to be barely an inch shorter than her, yet the guitar seemed massive in his hands. Jaewook tried to hold in a mocking chuckle as she plopped down on the sofa's arm rest, her leg bumping into Matthew's side. He looked up at her briefly, his eyelashes fluttering, before he brought his attention back to the guitar in his hands.