Idol - Vocalist/Songwriter / Seoul Cyber University Student (2025) Major: Applied Music.
Bisexual.
Dating Thomas Fan.
10/24/1999.
24.
Rabbit (Korea)
Authored by Redeim.
Offline.
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Post by Kim Kangwan on Dec 6, 2018 0:12:04 GMT -8
(August 2018) Kangwan felt like he was vibrating with excitement. Thomas would (or, should, maybe) be there any minute. Kangwan wished he had the freedom to show Thomas around, but even getting the manager to let him out for tonight was difficult enough. Sneaking past a couple fans outside the dorms was also difficult, and however long he was out was how long he had to make up for in practice, since that's what the others were presently doing. e got a seat at the cafe, one out of the way from the view of the window, but still visible from the door. He hoped the directions he had given Thomas made sense. He was never good at giving directions. His leg bounced as he stared out the window, or at least what he could see from his spot. There was so much he wanted to do with Thomas, if only his schedule would let him. Tags: Thomas Fan Qiwang
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Assistant Manager at Dreams Ent.
Gay.
Dating Kangwan.
02/04/1999.
25.
Tiger (Korea)
Authored by Etienne.
Offline.
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Post by Thomas Fan Qiwang on Dec 6, 2018 2:06:22 GMT -8
Thomas had flown out of Seattle at about 11:30 in the morning and arrived in Seoul nearly 12 hours later at 3:15 in the afternoon technically the next day. He'd spent a while in the airport getting through customs and retrieving the one bag that he had checked, but travelling fairly lightly had its advantages, and knowing that he'd be in the furnished dorms made his life a lot easier. He'd finally gotten to the university campus just before 6 pm, and he was for sure kind of disoriented about what time it actually was. He'd been able to quickly check in to the dorms that he'd been assigned to, and he was told that his orientation as an international student would be the next morning, so he was pretty pleased that he actually made it to the cafe where Kangwan had directed him to meet by 6:30, which was within the half hour range that he'd told Kangwan he hoped he'd make it there. He knew that he was still travel rumpled, but he was too excited to get the chance to see Kangwan after a few months apart to worry about it too much.
The little cafe was tucked out of the way, and he was really glad that Kangwan had given him the name of the place along with directions because he'd just been able to put it into his GPS, and it had navigated him there. He tucked his phone away as he slipped into the coffee shop, and to his delight, Kangwan was sitting in a sort of tucked away part of the coffee shop. There wasn't anyone else there other than a disinterested looking barista behind the counter, and Thomas walked over to where Kangwan was sitting quickly, and said, "Hi, long time no see."
He felt awkward suddenly, and he asked shyly, "Um, I'm going to order something, do you want something? Is it OK to hug you?"
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Idol - Vocalist/Songwriter / Seoul Cyber University Student (2025) Major: Applied Music.
Bisexual.
Dating Thomas Fan.
10/24/1999.
24.
Rabbit (Korea)
Authored by Redeim.
Offline.
|
Post by Kim Kangwan on Dec 6, 2018 11:10:11 GMT -8
Kangwan looked up, a smile breaking onto his face as he saw his boyfriend. "Hi! I missed you!" It felt like it had been an eternity since they saw each other, even though they video chatted almost any chance they had. "Yes please! A hot chocolate. And yes." Kangwan replied, getting up in order to receive a hug.
He could imagine Thomas was tired. He was never good at adapting to time changes, and if it hadn't been for his schedule, he would probably still be taking naps in the middle of the day. Though now, he was back to his pre-States schedule, often staying up until 2 or 3am songwriting, or practising, or something else along those lines. Now that he was an adult, the band could kept out later, no longer restricted by the 10pm minor idol curfew. "Did you want me to go up with you, or do you think you're comfortable enough ordering?" He only half teased his boyfriend.
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Assistant Manager at Dreams Ent.
Gay.
Dating Kangwan.
02/04/1999.
25.
Tiger (Korea)
Authored by Etienne.
Offline.
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Post by Thomas Fan Qiwang on Dec 6, 2018 11:43:31 GMT -8
Thomas quickly took the chance to wrap his boyfriend in a hug. He didn't linger too much, even though he wanted to because he wasn't sure quite how careful he was going to need to be now. That was a conversation for later. He whispered, "I really really missed you."
Once he stepped back, he looked over at the ordering area. He grinned at Kangwan's teasing and replied, "Ordering I think I can handle. That's even something we practiced in class. Maybe keep an eye on me and come jump in if I start looking panicked. Hot chocolate, got it. I am going to get caffeine so that I can stay awake until like ten or eleven so that I'll be on the right time schedule faster."
He was glad that there was no one else in the coffe shop though because he did stumble a little over his order. He managed to get it right on the second try saying it and he triumphantly brought back both their orders, hot chocolate for Kangwan and hot tea for himself. He sat in the chair across from Kangwan and let their knees brush together under the table. He asked, "How's training been recently?"
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Idol - Vocalist/Songwriter / Seoul Cyber University Student (2025) Major: Applied Music.
Bisexual.
Dating Thomas Fan.
10/24/1999.
24.
Rabbit (Korea)
Authored by Redeim.
Offline.
|
Post by Kim Kangwan on Dec 6, 2018 12:24:58 GMT -8
"I missed you too." Kangwan practically whispered. He nodded in response to Thomas' request while he ordered, sitting down and watching his boyfriend carefully. A playful half-smile was on his face as he watched Thomas stumble a bit over the words, only beaming brighter when he successfully ordered and brought back their drinks. "Thank you. Nice job." He praised.
His smile faded a little at the mention of training, and a cute pout formed instead. "I've had to do a lot of extra practice to catch up, but I'm getting there, and thankfully my body had some sort of... dance memory, so readjusting while on stage has thankfully not been an issue." He stretched out, back straight against the back of his chair. "But... that didn't stop me from messing up during Music Core and naturally it's all over YouTube now." He chuckled a little, wrapping his hands around his drink. "Thankfully my songwriting and singing wasn't affected by not doing it." He took a sip before continuing, "I have to practice after we're done here. But, I have freedom to stay out for a while, so... ten or eleven, you said? We could probably do that!" His grin returned, "I brought a hat and mask with me, too, if you wanted to go exploring. Although a couple fans spotted me on the way over here, no one's noticed me yet since I've been sitting here."
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Assistant Manager at Dreams Ent.
Gay.
Dating Kangwan.
02/04/1999.
25.
Tiger (Korea)
Authored by Etienne.
Offline.
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Post by Thomas Fan Qiwang on Dec 7, 2018 0:29:35 GMT -8
Thomas sipped his tea and thought for a second, mulling over the information that Kangwan had given him. He watched Kangwan while he did it, enjoying just being in the same space again, and finally, he said, "I'm happy just sitting around here and talking, but I'm also happy to go exploring. Mostly, I'm just happy to get to see you. But I'm also not exactly my most awake and thinking right now."
He toyed with the thought for a second and then added, "I, uh, may have had YouTube recommend one of those videos to me. I watched you perform during the live stream, but that's just because I like seeing you, and I don't get why people would make a big deal about a mistake like that. You just came back, and you're out there doing your best."
Thomas nudged Kangwan's knee lightly with his own and added, "Probably lets not keep me out until ten or eleven. I should probably unpack my stuff into my dorm room at least some. I have a roommate in theory, but he wasn't there when I checked in. And like, I want to take a shower before bed and stuff. I don't want to keep you out too late either. You've told me how little you sleep sometimes. How about we do something until like 8:30? That's enough that I will have stuff to keep me busy in my dorm until I need to fall flat on my face."
He wondered how much Kangwan needed to be careful of being seen, and realized that was probably something that he just needed to ask his boyfriend. He asked tentatively, "How careful do you need to be of being seen out at all. If someone takes a picture of us out doing friend things, what happens? I don't want to put you or your career at risk, and some of it's obvious, but you're going to have to point me in the right direction on some of this. If you think that it would be a good idea to go out and explore, I would love to get my bearings around here a little more with you."
He hoped that Kangwan would understand what he was trying to ask. He didn't know that much about what Kangwan did other than the music stuff and training long hours. He had all of Kangwan's music on his phone now, and he followed what Kangwan's group did a little bit, and watching them on shows had been interesting and good for his Korean comprehension, but he'd avoided the fan spaces because it just seemed uncomfortable to him because he knew Kangwan and he'd talked to his groupmates.
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Idol - Vocalist/Songwriter / Seoul Cyber University Student (2025) Major: Applied Music.
Bisexual.
Dating Thomas Fan.
10/24/1999.
24.
Rabbit (Korea)
Authored by Redeim.
Offline.
|
Post by Kim Kangwan on Dec 7, 2018 12:08:37 GMT -8
Kangwan chuckled lightly. "That's fine. I understand if you want to relax. We can sit here for a while longer."
He sighed, "Of course it did." A smile played on his lips, "They didn't really make a big deal of it, thankfully. After it happened, I was worried the band would say something but they just said it was okay and I should practice that part more. I'm lucky to only have a small handful of videos about it. I'm sure you've seen those videos of like "idol mistakes" or whatever they call it." His smile widened into a grin, "I haven't seen it in any of those yet, so that's something."
He seemed to deflate and pouted at Thomas. "Oh fine. I'll take you home early then." He said, punctuating his sentence by sticking out his tongue. "I can show you some key stores on the way there... Although Kiwoong would probably know better than me. Can I give him your number, by the way? He mentioned in passing he wouldn't mind having someone to study with, or hang out too."
"I'm allowed to have friends." He said with a small chuckle. "And the dating ban is up after a year in Dreams, so I could date too. Just..." He faded off, looking away. "The CEO never said specifically I'd be fired if I got a gay dating rumor, but well... I'm sure you've heard about how well regular dating rumors go and I don't want to put you in any danger from fans. Oh. Being friendly with us might make fans not like you a little. Or they'll try to be extra friendly hoping to get to meet us... It happened when someone once mentioned they were childhood friends with Taehoon." He thought over what he may be missing. "Uhh... thankfully, we can still do things like hold hands or cuddle, because skinship is a thing and it's a blessing for any and all undercover queer people." He shrugged, "I'd assume it's pretty obvious what needs to be avoided in public... Hopefully at some point we can get you access to our dorms and we can hang out there sometimes." He looked to Thomas, realizing he had been rambling. "Did I cover everything?"
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Assistant Manager at Dreams Ent.
Gay.
Dating Kangwan.
02/04/1999.
25.
Tiger (Korea)
Authored by Etienne.
Offline.
|
Post by Thomas Fan Qiwang on Dec 7, 2018 20:29:21 GMT -8
Thomas smiled at Kangwan and said, "Exploring for a bit is definitely good. I got maybe two hours of sleep on the flight. That's only the third time I've ever been on a plane in my life. The first and second time were going to and from the state competition for track the year it was in Eastern Washington, and those were short flights. I've been doing a lot of sitting. Plus, I'm excited to see what's around here."
He nudged Kangwan's knee again lightly with his own, "I want to spend all the time with you, but I am going to be here for the next four years at least if everything goes according to plan. I'm direct admitted with a private scholarship, and as long as I can keep my grades up, which isn't something I've ever really worried about, there's no reason for me to not be around."
He blinked a few times at the request and then replied, "Yeah, you can give him my number. Or my chat ID. It keeps throwing me off when you say his name because my brain just processed that as could you give me my own number. I wonder if I'll end up with any classes with Qiwang."
Thomas chuckled a little bit and said, "I think that covers all of the immediate concerns, but I'm probably going to let you sort of navigate hand holding and stuff in public at least at first. It's a lot of different and new stuff. So note to self, don't be blatantly obvious, and you're probably OK. And I'll keep an eye out for the people who might end up treating me weird because at some point we get seen together, or hell if people around campus notice that I know the other Qiwang. But at the same time, I've shown up on your social media a few times, and you told me the first time that there was always a chance that people would recognize me because of that. Wasn't that why you were so worried about making sure that Inkar and Liz were very clearly not someone you were dating when they showed up in your social media posts?"
Thomas stretched his legs a bit and checked the time. They still had a while before his imposed wanting to be back at the dorms and he said, standing with a smile, "Come on, show me what it's like here."
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Idol - Vocalist/Songwriter / Seoul Cyber University Student (2025) Major: Applied Music.
Bisexual.
Dating Thomas Fan.
10/24/1999.
24.
Rabbit (Korea)
Authored by Redeim.
Offline.
|
Post by Kim Kangwan on Dec 8, 2018 14:09:51 GMT -8
Kangwan nodded, "Long plane rides are... tiring. But yes, let's get out and stretch our legs." He agreed. He smiled softly, "I know, but in that time, my band has probably no less than ten concerts abroad and three to five comebacks. I'll be busy, and I want to be able to see you as much as possible." He insisted.
He let out a chuckle at Thomas' comment about his bandmate. "Well, it is a problem we knew would come up eventually. But the very first night?" He teased lightly. "It'll really be interesting when you two are in the same room. Aren't you going to go by Thomas in school, so it won't be a problem?" He asked.
"Okay~" He said in response to the skinship. He nodded, "yep. Though it seems like in recent years idols are allowed to have friends, so that's good." He rolled his eyes, "Fans seem to think since we don't have a lot of time, we lose our old friends. And that's true for some people, but not all. Especially not someone like me, who had a lot of time to re-make friends."
He stood up with an "ok!" and pulled on the hat and mask he had before grabbing his drink. "Let's go exploring!" He paused, giving Thomas a smile only made obvious by his eyes, "Don't forget what my face looks like; you'll see me like this a lot." He teased.
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Assistant Manager at Dreams Ent.
Gay.
Dating Kangwan.
02/04/1999.
25.
Tiger (Korea)
Authored by Etienne.
Offline.
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Post by Thomas Fan Qiwang on Dec 8, 2018 15:05:49 GMT -8
Thomas grinned and let his arm brush against Kangwan's shoulder and arm as they headed out of the coffee shop. He said, "We'll definitely make the most of the time, but sleep is still important, even if neither of us get as much of it as we probably should. I know that your schedule's going to be intense sometimes, and sometimes I'll be in the middle of finals week and things will be hectic. We'll have to find the right balance, and that will probably take some time, but I am definitely willing to take that effort."
Thomas looked around a bit as they started on a path actually outside, curious what it was like around the university, and also if they were going to run into any of Kangwan's fans, which he wasn't entirely looking forward to, but he knew would happen eventually. He told Kangwan, "My advisor I was talking to over the internet said that I should try to use my Korean name, and that's Kiwoong for the same reason as other Qiwang's is. And my roommate is Chinese, and I suspect he's going to end up calling me Qiwang since he doesn't speak English pretty much at all. We've talked a little bit online too. So I don't know what I'll be most used to be people calling me by the end of the term. I guess it probably makes more sense for your group to call me Thomas if nothing else though."
Thomas dropped an arm over Kangwan's shoulders briefly, saying, "Don't worry, I won't forget what your face looks like, and if I was ever too worried, I think I could probably find more pictures than I could ever actually get through."
It was warm out though, so he dropped his arm back to just brushing against Kangwan's soon enough. He asked, "What are places I should know about right around here?"
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Idol - Vocalist/Songwriter / Seoul Cyber University Student (2025) Major: Applied Music.
Bisexual.
Dating Thomas Fan.
10/24/1999.
24.
Rabbit (Korea)
Authored by Redeim.
Offline.
|
Post by Kim Kangwan on Dec 8, 2018 16:36:27 GMT -8
"I am too." Kangwan agreed, a soft smile playing on his lips. He led Thomas to a side street, pointing out a few of his favorite restaurants and coffee shops. He didn't immediately respond right away, instead griping about how disappointed he was the first time he went to an American Baskin Robbins as they passed one.
"I suppose that makes sense; if you have one, or have the opportunity to have one, may as well use it. Though it does sound like you'll be using three names, at least for your first year. Especially since, when I talk about you to my band, I use Thomas, and so that's what they're used to." He explained.
He laughed at the comment about his pictures. "Fair enough." He said through giggles. He looked around some more, "umm... a good thing to note is the street with the cafe, if you turn towards the 7-11, you'll end up right back on campus after the... underpass. After the underpass. Otherwise, that cafe we were at gets really crowded around finals time. Or at least it used to, I have been there since before leaving the first time so I don't know if that's still the case. Um..." He held a finger up to the mask, tapping his chin as he looked around. "The school has a couple cafeterias on campus, but otherwise the most popular restaurants are in this area. Since this area is a college town, there's a lot of things for students. Oo! Artbox." He said suddenly, pulling Thomas into the shop. "This is a stationary shop, and it has a lot of cheap and cute things." He picked up a stuffed animal keychain. "See?" He stopped being distracted, though held on to the keychain, and looked at Thomas more seriously. "This is a good shop for cheap stationary, but if you would prefer Daiso, there is one around, but you'd have to ask Kiwoong to show you where it is. I can never find it, even when he gives me directions."
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Assistant Manager at Dreams Ent.
Gay.
Dating Kangwan.
02/04/1999.
25.
Tiger (Korea)
Authored by Etienne.
Offline.
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Post by Thomas Fan Qiwang on Dec 8, 2018 17:13:00 GMT -8
Thomas nodded a lot as he listened to Kangwan's explanations. When Kangwan brought the name thing up again, he shrugged a little bit and said, "I'm used to having more than one name to respond to, and Kiwoong is close enough to how people used to mispronounce Qiwang when I was still trying to go by it as a kid that it seems close enough. I didn't really start just giving up and using Thomas all the time at school and stuff until middle school. There's a reason my Chinese is so much better than Theo's even though he's older and our parents spent more time working on his Chinese. I did stuff with it a lot more. I am glad that I'm starting to sound less childish now that I've taken some classes as not a literal child though. I mean, there's a small part of me that thinks it would be kind of funny for your band's Qiwang and I to just call each other that, but I also see the confusing factor."
Thomas smiled fondly as Kangwan dragged him into the Artbox. There was a decent amount of useful stuff, including nice pens that he was definitely going to come back for. He noticed Kangwan lingering over the keychain and decided that he would come back and get something cute for Kangwan before the next time they saw each other. It seemed like something Kangwan would enjoy. He said, "I see why you like their stuff. If nothing else, I'll come back here for pens, and it seems like a good place for small gifts to send home. I might get Qiwang to show me where the Daiso is too though."
He asked thoughtfully, "Are there any restaurants around here that I should definitely go to or not go to? Are there any restaurants you want to go to before I go back to my dorm. It occurs to me that I'm hungry, and that is one of the many things other than exhausted that my brain has been trying to point out to me."
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Idol - Vocalist/Songwriter / Seoul Cyber University Student (2025) Major: Applied Music.
Bisexual.
Dating Thomas Fan.
10/24/1999.
24.
Rabbit (Korea)
Authored by Redeim.
Offline.
|
Post by Kim Kangwan on Dec 9, 2018 12:02:18 GMT -8
"That's fair." Kangwan said with a shrug, knowing what Thomas meant. His name was butchered quite a few times when he had first gotten to America, but by the time he left he had interacted with enough people that knew how to properly say his name that the other he met at least of learned. Plus, 'Kangwan' was a lot easier to say than 'Qiwang' or 'Kiwoong.' He chuckled, "It would be funny if you two just both called eachother Qiwang. But also, neither of you are fluent in Korean yet and you should both practice with each other!" He fake-scolded, though his face was anything but menacing at the moment, especially not when he was still holding the keychain, and used the hand he was holding it with to prod Thomas' chest.
He seemed to notice then that he still had the keychain, and finally put it back in it's repective basket, muttering something about coming back for it later. He brought Thomas back outside, looking around to try to answer his questions. "Um...Not really, but... Over that way," He pointed in front of them, "somewhere is this Italian restaurant, and it's really good but also compartively expensive to other restaurants around here, so take that information as you will." He spun around, "Also, over there is a restaurant that serves dog. A lot of foreginers are really cringey about it, so I figure you should be warned. They advertise it on the window, 'dog soup'." He said, saying the food dish in Korean so Thomas would know what to look for. "It's the only restaurant around here that serves it, and from what I know, it's only really popular among the older generations. I've even seen protests around it before." He paused, seeming to think of something but holding off on it to answer Thomas' final request. "There's a hotpot restaurant right near your campus, did you want to go there? I've never been, but Kiwoong told me he went with some old classmates after the entrance exams and it was really good."
He finally continued on his previous thought process, "By the way, there's commonly protests happening around Seoul, and you've never struck me as much of an activist, erm, that kind of sounds like an insult but I promise it's not, but anyway, just a warning that you should probably avoid them. Let other foreign classmates know too, if you hear them talking about it. Politics can often get messy, and it's just... not a good thing."
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Assistant Manager at Dreams Ent.
Gay.
Dating Kangwan.
02/04/1999.
25.
Tiger (Korea)
Authored by Etienne.
Offline.
|
Post by Thomas Fan Qiwang on Dec 10, 2018 2:35:29 GMT -8
Thomas grinned at Kangwan's scolding and told him in Korean, "Did I mention that I tested out of the Korean language learning classes? I've been studying."
He switched back to English and added, "Plus, it's important for me to practice my Chinese too. I got way too close to losing my fluency once, and I don't want to do that again. I'm going to talk Korean to most people, and all my classes are going to be in Korean, well except the Chinese literature class, so I'll see what Qiwang wants on that one."
As Kangwan explained the restaurants nearby, Thomas nodded along and said, "We'll have to keep the Italian restaurant in mind for something special then. But hotpot sounds good for today. Hopefully it won't be too busy. And thanks for the heads up. I'm not too bothered, but it's good to know about something that I could easily see being what someone tries to pull a prank on the foreigner with."
Thomas thought quietly about the protests thing as they walked for a bit, and then he said, "I'll remember that about the protests. I've gone to a few things, did I mention that I walked in Pride over the summer, which isn't exactly a protest, but there are some things in common. But I don't know what's going on here well enough to feel like I should be involved, except maybe Pride because I know that there are marches for that here, I looked it up and the internet knows many things."
He laughed halfheartedly at himself and said, "I can tell I'm tired, my words are a little bit nonsense right now."
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Idol - Vocalist/Songwriter / Seoul Cyber University Student (2025) Major: Applied Music.
Bisexual.
Dating Thomas Fan.
10/24/1999.
24.
Rabbit (Korea)
Authored by Redeim.
Offline.
|
Post by Kim Kangwan on Dec 10, 2018 16:08:31 GMT -8
Kangwan acted offended, "Behind my back?" He joked, lightly hitting Thomas' shoulder. "How dare you." He was already headed for the hot pot restaurant, listening to Thomas. As the other boy seemed to finish his words, he let out a sigh, "I suppose I can't stop you guys from speaking Chinese... And it is good to keep fluency." He felt his cheeks warm up at the comment regarding the Italian restaurant, trying to imagine what counted as 'special.' Their anniversaries? Birthdays? Getting through a semester? Regardless, he hoped it could happen.
Kangwan's eyes widened, "No, you di-actually maybe you mentioned it. The summer has kind of been a blur." He admitted. "Just... be careful if you go to Pride here." He added under his breath, then even quieter, "I wish I could go with you." In theory, he could go, as long as he was in a disguise and didn't stay very long, but it wouldn't be the same.
He chuckled at Thomas' comment, pulling him gently into the restaurant as they arrived, "Then we'll eat and get you to bed."
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