Before, the image of Kim Hye-jin in his mind was unassailable, inviolable, and most of all not someone he could ever do anything for. He needed her; she didn't need him. That's what he thought. That is, in hindsight, one of the big drivers of why he failed so hard at supporting her. She didn't look like she needed it. He could only take, never give, because he didn't have anything to offer.

Tae-gun knows that was wrong, now, though. Ever since she asked to be pampered, that day, something changed in him. Like some switch flicking, some angle of reality shifting that made him see things in a way he couldn't. She does need him. She needs him, and, God damn it, he's going to be there for her. He can't be anything short of perfect, that's who he is. He is Lee Tae-gun, Korea's only S-rank esper boyfriend. And while he has a long way to go to get there, he knows that the only way is through, it's putting in the work. This means that he's paying attention.

So while Tae-gun's tried to give her some space and taken the couple of rebukes she gave him lightly, he's... noticed. He's noticed that she's not fine. He's watching for it. He can tell. And it's getting to be a bit too much, she's a bit too distant, and he knows what she looks like when she's demolishing dungeons because they're fun and it's not this.

He needs to talk to her about this. He's not sure how, but the only way to figure it out is by trying.

She arrives back from her latest (soloed) dungeon, cheerily half-singing her, "Tadaima!"

Tae-gun has also been soloing some dungeons, if not quite matching her intensity (which is a wild emotional state to inhabit), so he's also somewhat actively backlashed.

"Okaeri," he calls back, somewhat less energetically than he usually does but not wanting to rain on her parade.

In a short period of time, he has a girlfriend on his lap!

"Hi," she purrs, before she immediately moves to kissing him.

—right, he's somewhat backlashed but also he still has a lot of backlog and all it takes is one touch for his motor to rev all the way up. He's so predictable. 

He's caught her in his arms and is kissing her back, hungrily, thoughts of Having A Conversation momentarily forgotten, and it takes him all of his willpower to pull away and say, "Do you want water or something before I ravish you?"

"No, ravish away!" she chirps, brightly.

He can do that. He can start ravishing her right there and then, and then he can move them to the bedroom, and then there can be some more ravishing on their way to the shower because he accidentally looked at her and remembered how hot she is and how much he likes her, and he should probably give her a break and not ravish her all night long. Her backlash was dealt with a ravish and a half ago anyway.

Mmmmm but it's so nice though, and she doesn't want to have those pesky thoughts anyway.

...okay maybe a little an extra ravishing, as a treat?

Eeeee.

She's still at least pretending to be sensible though, so: water and food? While snuggling? She does have more dungeons scheduled for tomorrow, it wouldn't do to show up to them starved and dehydrated.

Mmhmmmmmm. Tae-gun can cook her something nice, he's been looking up and favouring some new recipes to try so that he can be a better boyfriend.

But speaking of being a better boyfriend, "Hye-jin-ah."

"Mmm?" she wonders, a little sleepily, from where she's perched for food.

There's a bit of a break in the cooking while things are being heated up so he can sit on the stool across the kitchen counter from her and hold her hand, running circles on her skin with his thumb.

"I like you. Really quite an unreasonable amount."

Awwwwwww.

"I like you, too," she replies, with one of her pretty smiles.

"So... I... promised things would change for the better and, and I don't know all of what that means yet. I think I'm, I'm probably gonna make mistakes along the way while I figure out how to be a good boyfriend. But I think a good boyfriend pays attention, and tries to make his girlfriend feel better rather than worse, and tries to support her and be there for her and listen to her. 

"Hye-jin-ah, I've seen you demolish a bunch of dungeon solo while you're having fun, and it doesn't look like this."

She opens her mouth, then closes it.

".... I..." she begins, then stops. She looks down. "It's."

She shrinks a little in her seat, and murmurs:

"They're the only place I feel powerful and in control."

...he lifts her hand up to his lips and kisses her knuckles. "That's so relatable it hurts."

"Yeah. I've heard someone mention before that they think we're both from the same alien planet, they might be onto something," she snorts.

"Bright side, me handling my baggage with this particular vice will help knock out your backlog faster, so, as long as I don't accidentally die, no loss?"

"...no loss? Hye-jin-ah, I wouldn't wish what I've gone through on anyone. The fact that you can't feel in control of the rest of your life, that's, that's a loss."

"Sure, but. ... I don't know how to fix it. How to regain control. It, just. I still don't even really believe everything is over, you know?"

"I... get that." Still running slow circles on her skin with his thumb. "But it's—it shouldn't be something you do on your own. I also promised I'd be there for you and support you, so let me fulfill that promise. Lean on me. Share your burden with me, let's try to deal with it together."

"I'll - try? Am trying, just." She shrugs helplessly. "I feel like there are worse coping mechanisms than flattening a bunch of dungeons solo and giving everyone else a break? I don't know what else to do."

"That's... fair, I don't know, either, but... that was... 'I don't know what else to do' isn't the same as 'we don't know what else to do' and I think even if you and I don't know what else to do that doesn't mean that we don't... Um, I'm not sure that was a good way to put it."

"I think I understood that? Uh. I wasn't... including you in my calculus of 'welp, better fling myself into as many dungeons as they'll let me and see if it makes me feel better,' which. ... I probably should have. Sorry."

He squeezes her hand, kisses it again, then gets up to go finish up the food now that it's probably cooked. 

"And also that there's... things neither you nor I can do alone that we could do together. ...not that I'm thinking of any right now but thinking is also a thing we can do together."