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Entry tags:
17hols + dream girls fest 2023
originally posted for 17hols 2023 + dream girls fest
17hols prompts left for others to fill:
(no fills unless stated otherwise)
* this was technically illegal under fest rules
** because i just decided so
*** not doing prompts left for dgf because that was way too many and my snipe rate is much worse!
#1 - 396w
the poets are right - wonwoo/jeonghan, wonwoo & seungcheol - au
Prompt:
***
Wonwoo, how can love change? Isn't it a promise until death?
&
It isn't possible to love and part. You will wish that it was. You can transmute love, ignore it, muddle it, but you can never pull it out of you.
E.M. Forster
+
"I think Jeonghan put a curse on me," Wonwoo said.
"Don't tell me you believe in those," Seungcheol said. He smiled and his eyes creased just so, so Wonwoo knew he was being pitied. "Have some more hot chocolate," he urged, pushing a mug across the table.
The sun blinded them both as it shone in through the lodge windows and yet Wonwoo's gloves were still soaking wet from stopping each of his falls earlier. The watery cocoa was disgusting, but drinking it was better than tripping over his skis. Wonwoo took the mug.
"It's complicated," Wonwoo said after downing half the cup, hesitating because Seungcheol would never understand, head over heels as he was. But he was unlikely to let them leave the resort without some kind of proof that Wonwoo was feeling better, or at least had some kind of personal growth moment. Learned from the mistake of getting attached to Yoon Jeonghan, even though Seungcheol didn't exactly practice what he preached there, even if he wouldn't admit it.
"What is?" Seungcheol folded his hands, watching expectantly.
"I can't stop thinking about him," Wonwoo almost said, since that language would certainly speak to Seungcheol. But the thought of his feelings being conflated with Seungcheol's wholehearted, one-sided adoration made him want to throw up.
"The last words he said to me are haunting me," he almost said. Wonwoo had approached him that night at Mingyu's but it was hard to tell, in the end, who had broken up with whom. As Jeonghan finished the last of his drink on the balcony, was he telling Wonwoo that Wonwoo was wrong about his own feelings, that he'd be running back to Jeonghan before long? Or was Jeonghan trying to confess, say that he still cared about Wonwoo and always would?
"I'll never be able to let go," he almost said. The poets are right: love is eternal.
"He's ruining my afternoon," Wonwoo said at last. "I keep falling over because he's cursed me to never be good at skiing."
Seungcheol's eyes softened and he stood up, pulling his hat and gloves back on. In that moment he looked a bit like a superhero to Wonwoo.
"We can do it," Seungcheol declared confidently, taking his hand like they were truly in it together. "I'll teach you. We won't let Jeonghan win. You'll be a master of the slopes in no time."
***
#2 - 638w
synonyms for confession - wonwoo/jun - au
Prompt:
***
“We can’t date,” Junhui says.
It’s five days after Wonwoo said something, an ill-advised and clumsy decision. No one thought it would be him, and worse, no one thought Junhui would say anything but yes, or me too, or whatever it is that would be a positive response to Wonwoo doing the equivalent of walking in front of an incoming train and waiting for someone to save him, the red warning lights flashing in tandem.
“Junhui—”
Junhui can’t even look at him now, launching into his next prepared spiel. “And you must be wondering why I drove you all the way out here just to reject you. Well— I think you deserve an explanation.”
“I don’t think I—”
“You see, Wonwoo, it’s not that I don’t like you. In fact— it’s not about that. I really do care about you so much, Wonwoo. You mean so much to me, and you don’t know it and I don’t say it. I swear.”
“But you don’t love me,” Wonwoo says.
Junhui falters briefly, then continues: “It’s not about that. It’s not even about me. It’s because I— think so highly of you that I don’t want to hurt you. Wonwoo, I don’t want you to hate me.”
“I could never hate you.”
Junhui spares a glance. Wonwoo is looking over the metal railing at the evening skyline of Seoul, the city before them. The wind threading itself through Wonwoo’s hair the way he once did, and later wished he could.
“You never gave me a chance to explain myself. You just ran away,” Wonwoo says. When Junhui doesn’t answer— “I didn’t say what I said just for fun.”
“And I know that, Wonwoo, and I took it seriously. Really. It’s just so— difficult.”
“Difficult,” Wonwoo repeats.
Junhui takes a deep breath. “I think— you deserve better than me, Wonwoo.”
“Who are you to say what I deserve.”
“I know you, Wonwoo,” Junhui says, vehemently. “I know what you want and what you value and I know you just— I know in that moment you just loved me too much, too irrationally, and that it goes against everything you stand for and hold sacred. And I knew you would regret it, as you did.”
“I didn’t,” Wonwoo responds, but with false conviction, the sunset bleeding in the backdrop of the sky. “The regret was fleeting.”
“You can’t see yourself the way I do,” Junhui asserts. “And you know that I’m silly and make awful jokes and don’t think too hard about things and you always consider things from every angle and I just can’t believe you didn’t think this through. You must have been blinded to that because you liked me so much, you couldn’t even think about how I’d never work for you. I’d never last with you. You’d fall out of love with me.”
“Listen to what you’re saying,” Wonwoo says, voice tight. “You’re the one who’s overthought this.”
“I don’t want to get hurt because you didn’t,” Junhui returns. “You might not be capable of hating me, but that doesn’t mean you can’t still hurt me. It’s better to be scratched than knifed,” he says. “And you’ll find someone else.”
“Junhui,” Wonwoo says slowly, searching his eyes, “I want you.”
Junhui exhales. “I don’t think I can love you how you want me to and how you need me to. I don’t know if I can love anyone that much.”
“You’re wrong,” Wonwoo answers, reaching for his hand and making the barest contact before Junhui wrenches it away. “I know you can and you have. And one day you will see it too. I never wanted more than you could give me.”
“I just don’t have that much faith in myself.”
Wonwoo draws back and looks at him desperately. “What about what you want, Jun-ah? Can’t you be selfish for once?”
“I want you to be happy,” Junhui answers.
***
A/N: and then (some weeks later after further agonies) they get together. happy ending!!!
***
#3 - 574w
idolization - kep1er yujin/xiaoting - canon
Prompt:
***
Xiaoting woke up from a nap to a plate of sliced strawberries on her bedside table. Yesterday it was medallions of cucumbers with a sprinkle of sea salt. The day before it was a cup of jasmine tea, carefully covered to preserve the heat.
She opened the door to her room with a forkful of strawberry in the other hand. Yujin immediately powered off the TV and turned around to face the wrong way on the couch. She’d risk falling off if she wasn’t more careful. “Oh, you’re awake!”
“Mmm,” Xiaoting sounded through the chewing. “Thank you.” She pointed at the plate in the room behind her.
“Of course,” Yujin said, her cheeks flushed red. It always sounded almost like worship, the way she’d thank Xiaoting for the opportunity to perform kindness for her. It was egotistical to think that way, but Yaning said the same thing, albeit facetiously.
FU YANING
no…
At the end of the day it was less that Xiaoting didn’t believe it was possible and more that she simply did not want it to be true. Yes, she’d said over the phone, Yujin openly confessed to finding her beautiful; yes, she regularly flouted the duties of a leader to be impartial in favor of, well, favoring Xiaoting; and everyone in the group was well aware of this. But that was the thing. Isolated atop her pedestal, what did it really mean to be loved by anyone at all?
“We should talk,” Xiaoting said reluctantly, the bright afternoon sunlight feeling entirely inappropriate for the incoming downer of a conversation that she had been dreading.
“About what?” Yujin asked. She was humming as she did the dishes, her orange rubber gloves scrubbing away at the food scraps Hikaru and Hiyyih had left on the coffee table last night. Xiaoting got cold feet just watching her. It was like Yujin was born to labor, she thought. It was like the selflessness of motherhood was her destiny.
“I don’t think you should be so nice to me anymore.” Xiaoting looked down at her feet, almost regretting having said it. Yujin seemed so innocent that talking about this might just hurt her instead of providing any benefit. But it was the right thing to do. Wasn’t it?
Yujin peeled the gloves off and washed her hands before answering. “Why?”
The callousness of it almost startled Xiaoting. I think you like me so much that you don’t see me, she wanted to say. “I’m afraid the others think you’re playing favorites.”
“Did someone complain to you?”
“No,” Xiaoting said. “I can tell, though.”
She leaned in closer to look her deeply in the eyes. “Are you getting bullied?” Yujin looked, possibly, genuinely concerned for her.
Xiaoting shook her head frantically. The scapegoat wouldn’t work any longer. “No one is doing that,” she said. “I think it is a bit burdensome.”
“What is?”
Your form of love. “The weight of popularity,” Xiaoting said. It was crushing her to say this.
Yujin pulled her into a tight hug and it crushed her more. Xiaoting was frozen in place at first, taken aback, her body relaxing slowly in Yujin’s arms. It was dangerous, to succumb so easily to the warmth of another person.
“I will always be here for you, to help hold you up,” Yujin whispered. Yujin did not understand. Xiaoting could not hear any trace of insincerity in her voice.
***
#4 - 551w
aged like fine wine - twice jeongyeon/sana - canon
Prompt:
***
“Can you take her soju away?” Jeongyeon asks Nayeon from across the table, laughing. It comes out as a joke, but she really kind of means it.
“Don’t, Nayeon unnie, please don’t,” Sana begs, clinging to her arm, “I love you so much, too.”
Nayeon snorts. “It doesn’t sound like you love me nearly as much as you love Jeongyeon, I am seriously third-wheeling it here.”
“You’re being ridiculous,” Sana whines. Then she hiccups, blinks. Continues, face close to Nayeon’s. “It’s just that Jeongyeon looks really pretty today. Like really pretty. Like I want to—”
Their manager practically jumps in to calls cut on the filming but not before a camera catches Jeongyeon’s wide-eyed, documentary talking head stare.
“You’re fucking crazy,” Nayeon scolds, Sana looking upset. “If this wasn’t a pre-shot video—”
“I’m 27,” Sana argues, “Or 26, or whatever I am now in South Korea. I can’t keep track!”
“That’s not an excuse to talk about,” she lowers her voice, “wanting to, I can’t even say it,” she finishes, the manager and assistant PD having come up to tell Sana to keep it in check.
“It was fanservice,” Sana says haughtily. “It’s fun to say. I wouldn’t—”
She stops. Nayeon glances quickly at Jeongyeon before realizing that was even more incriminating.
“Drunk content was a mistake,” she says, finally sighing and going to get a bottle of water. “We’re not listening to anything but Alcohol-Free on the way back!”
Sana sticks her head out to yell back between the two staff members, stunned: “That’s an actual punishment!”
Jeongyeon follows Nayeon to the snack table. “What did she whisper to you,” she asks, “I want to know.”
Nayeon looks at her like she’s crazy. “You...” She chugs half a water bottle and pulls her hair back. “You want her.”
“That’s not what I asked.”
“You really are third-wheeling me,” Nayeon complains. “I can’t even lie to you and tell you I think she was playing games, but I can’t tell you what I really think because you’re going to leave me here and end up in her room.”
Jeongyeon rolls her eyes. “You are so dramatic,” she tells Nayeon. “Sometimes it’s just girl of the month with Sana.”
Nayeon throws up her hands. “I am not getting involved in this.”
Sana apologizes to Jeongyeon in the van while Nayeon is asleep. (She’s so bad at keeping her promises.)
“You don’t have to,” Jeongyeon tells her. Nayeon is alone in the backseat and she can’t even pretend to look busy on her phone.
“You don’t have to look at me,” Sana says like a mind reader.
“You were drunk,” Jeongyeon says, like the end of that conversation.
“I wasn’t that drunk. Maybe a little,” she admits. “But really, not that drunk.”
“Well,” Jeongyeon starts, “I think I know you well enough not to be hurt by the things that you say.” It sounded awful as soon as she said it.
The van rumbles on for a few blocks before Sana speaks again with some hesitation. “Some feelings are easier to hide in plain sight.”
The last thing Jeongyeon wants is to do exactly what Nayeon expected of her. But maybe there’s a sort of comfort to that predictability.
“Did you mean what you said to her?” Jeongyeon asks, glancing behind them.
Sana’s face lights up. “Do you want to find out?”
***
#5 - 1130w
you're gonna miss that plane - stayc sumin/isa - canon
Prompt:
***
“How long ago did Sumin-ssi move to Los Angeles?” Chaeyoung’s manager asked from the driver’s seat of their rental car. Chaeyoung sat in the back, nervously twisting her hair and letting it fall back against her shoulders.
“I think it was about a year and a half ago,” she said. It sounded much better than the truth, which was that she knew it was a year and 10 months to the date last Thursday.
“Does she like it here?”
“I think so,” Chaeyoung answered. This one she was less sure of. Sumin had impulsively packed her bags and told them she was going to take a hiatus from dramas and vacation with her sister; they had thought nothing of it until three months had passed and suddenly she was enrolled in an acting school and was renting an apartment. ‘It just happened like that,’ Sumin had said over a group video call, and after a few questions she deftly changed the subject to Jayoon’s niece and which of them was going to be the first to have kids. It was about that time, after all.
Chaeyoung had recounted the story to her father, who frowned over his naengmyeon and told her the US visa wasn’t interchangeable in that way. ‘I had no idea,’ Chaeyoung said softly. They had never had to take care of their own papers when traveling for work.
He saw her face fall and kindly said, ‘I would rather think she was lying to you than the US government.’
The car was passing the shoreline now, and Chaeyoung could see the beautiful sunlight reflecting against the water. “I can see why she wouldn’t want to leave,” she said.
“I guess this is it,” Chaeyoung murmured, looking at the tall apartment building in front of her. It didn’t exactly look as nice as their Seoul place from a few years ago, but Sumin was probably classified as unemployed at the moment. She got out of the car and her manager let the engine run, parked by the curb.
“I can’t let you get kidnapped in a foreign country,” he said. “I’ll leave when Sumin-ssi comes out,” he relented. “Unless you want me to trail you two.” He was being completely serious.
“Please don’t,” Chaeyoung begged. “My next schedule isn’t for a week, anyhow. There’ll be time to find me.”
“Okay, call me by 11pm,” he said, checking his watch. “I—”
“You have my location and the list of places we’re going, yes,” Chaeyoung said, losing focus as the apartment front door opened and Bae Sumin exited, flying down the steps to crush her in a bear hug. Sumin’s sunglasses fell on the way, and Chaeyoung’s kindhearted manager went to go get them while the girls got used to the idea of each other again.
Sumin looked like she was going to cry. “Chaeyoung-ah!”
“You changed your perfume,” Chaeyoung got out. That was not all - Sumin’s hair was lighter like she’d been in the sun this whole time, her skin tanned, but most importantly - she looked happier.
“Yah, so did you, brat,” Sumin retorted, lightly punching her in the arm.
“Oh yeah, I did,” Chaeyoung realized, laughing with her. It was so nice to see her in person but also to feel her touch, know that she was still a real person. “I missed you so much.”
“I missed you more, I bet.”
“Then why didn’t you come back?” And visit, Chaeyoung meant to say. But deep inside she wanted to know that too.
Sumin slung an arm around her shoulder and said, “Let’s go.”
They drove around in Sumin’s sedan avoiding the subject and Chaeyoung was happy to try to forget about it for a few hours.
“How was KCON?” Sumin asked, laughing - Chaeyoung hated MC work because it triggered her anxiety. Chaeyoung considered lying to her but just said ‘I did it for the free plane ticket,’ which Sumin didn’t do anything but hum at. Then they ate at a restaurant in the arts district that Sumin had scoped out on Instagram beforehand, even asking the waitress to confirm during their order that neither of their dishes had any of the foods Chaeyoung couldn’t eat in them.
“You still have that long list saved on your phone?’ Chaeyoung asked in awe. “In English?”
Sumin scratched her head sheepishly. “I was just hoping you hadn’t developed any new allergies in the last two years.” They swapped dishes halfway through dinner and to her delight Chaeyoung liked both of them.
“Don’t shop too much,” Sumin warned as they walked it off - “I have a pile of presents back in my apartment I need you to take back for me.”
“Yah, unnie!”
“I knew you would make some room,” Sumin said, grinning.
In retaliation Chaeyoung sent a very unflattering picture of her to the STAYC group chat. Within minutes Yeeun sent a laughing sticker and Seeun said [send a picture of both of you!] It was a good excuse to take a selfie.
“We’ve taken a lot of pictures of each other,” Sumin said.
“I want more,” Chaeyoung said, leaning in to take the photo on her phone. “Plus, you look so silly in most of them.” Sumin slapped her for that one.
It was almost sunset when they rolled into the crowded beach parking lot. Sumin had to make liberal use of her car horn to scare someone else away from her spot.
“You’re so brave, unnie,” Chaeyoung said, admiring her skills.
“Well, no one else will do it for me.”
They walked out onto the pier as the sky had just started to turn a brilliant red.
Chaeyoung just stood there against the railing in awe. “I always wanted to see this.”
“I’ve seen the sun set in LA so many times,” Sumin said, happy watching her that happy. “I haven’t been here since my sister left, but it never gets old.”
“Will it ever be enough?” Chaeyoung asked. It was hard to keep the hurt out of her voice without sounding pathetic or callous instead. It was hard to know what to show to Sumin, exactly. How do you say you miss someone without begging them to come back? How do you say you support their decisions without saying you don’t mind not seeing them for months on end?
“We should talk more,” Sumin said, taking her hand. “I’m sorry.”
“I’m sorry too,” Chaeyoung told her. She let go and they watched the sun set into the ocean.
“I’ll explain when I get back,” Sumin said earnestly. “I just need more time.”
I’ll hold you to it. I’m looking forward to it. Chaeyoung wanted to say, like a patient friend would. When would that be? “My flight is tomorrow morning,” she said instead.
“Stay over then,” Sumin asked.
“It’s getting late,” Chaeyoung said, pulling out her phone. “Let me call my manager.”
17hols prompts left for others to fill:
- it's not working out [1 fill]
- we haven't talked for days [1 fill]
- what do you know about me? [1 fill]
- you'll know [1 fill]
- the poets are right - wonwoo/jeonghan, wonwoo & seungcheol - au - 396w*
- synonyms for confession - wonwoo/jun - au** - 638w
(no fills unless stated otherwise)
- let this shit go
- the rose of love
- swimming in my t-shirts
- i ruin you and save you
- save your love
- can’t help myself
- pristin disbandment
- sumin mat-unnie-isms
- suchae predebut lore
- summer will be over soon
- lsfm f1
- yunjin swift
- the classic f/f/m love triangle [1 fill]
- nevertheless,
- just wanna live a real life
- plus one
- idolization - kep1er yujin/xiaoting - canon - 574w
- aged like fine wine - twice jeongyeon/sana - canon - 551w
- you're gonna miss that plane - stayc sumin/isa - canon - 1130w
* this was technically illegal under fest rules
** because i just decided so
#1 - 396w
the poets are right - wonwoo/jeonghan, wonwoo & seungcheol - au
Prompt:
Noona, how can love change? Isn't it a promise until death?
— Jeonghan, 211219 YZY fansign
***
Wonwoo, how can love change? Isn't it a promise until death?
&
It isn't possible to love and part. You will wish that it was. You can transmute love, ignore it, muddle it, but you can never pull it out of you.
E.M. Forster
+
"I think Jeonghan put a curse on me," Wonwoo said.
"Don't tell me you believe in those," Seungcheol said. He smiled and his eyes creased just so, so Wonwoo knew he was being pitied. "Have some more hot chocolate," he urged, pushing a mug across the table.
The sun blinded them both as it shone in through the lodge windows and yet Wonwoo's gloves were still soaking wet from stopping each of his falls earlier. The watery cocoa was disgusting, but drinking it was better than tripping over his skis. Wonwoo took the mug.
"It's complicated," Wonwoo said after downing half the cup, hesitating because Seungcheol would never understand, head over heels as he was. But he was unlikely to let them leave the resort without some kind of proof that Wonwoo was feeling better, or at least had some kind of personal growth moment. Learned from the mistake of getting attached to Yoon Jeonghan, even though Seungcheol didn't exactly practice what he preached there, even if he wouldn't admit it.
"What is?" Seungcheol folded his hands, watching expectantly.
"I can't stop thinking about him," Wonwoo almost said, since that language would certainly speak to Seungcheol. But the thought of his feelings being conflated with Seungcheol's wholehearted, one-sided adoration made him want to throw up.
"The last words he said to me are haunting me," he almost said. Wonwoo had approached him that night at Mingyu's but it was hard to tell, in the end, who had broken up with whom. As Jeonghan finished the last of his drink on the balcony, was he telling Wonwoo that Wonwoo was wrong about his own feelings, that he'd be running back to Jeonghan before long? Or was Jeonghan trying to confess, say that he still cared about Wonwoo and always would?
"I'll never be able to let go," he almost said. The poets are right: love is eternal.
"He's ruining my afternoon," Wonwoo said at last. "I keep falling over because he's cursed me to never be good at skiing."
Seungcheol's eyes softened and he stood up, pulling his hat and gloves back on. In that moment he looked a bit like a superhero to Wonwoo.
"We can do it," Seungcheol declared confidently, taking his hand like they were truly in it together. "I'll teach you. We won't let Jeonghan win. You'll be a master of the slopes in no time."
***
#2 - 638w
synonyms for confession - wonwoo/jun - au
Prompt:
"You'll find some lovely accomplished girl, who will adore you, and make a fine mistress for your fine house. I wouldn't. I'm homely and awkward and odd and you'd be ashamed of me and we would quarrel - we can't help it even now! - I'd hate elegant society and you'd hate my scribbling and we would be unhappy and wish we hadn't done it and everything will be horrid."
"Anything more?"
"Nothing more-- except that... I don't believe I will ever marry. I'm happy as I am, and love my liberty too well to be in any hurry to give it up."
"You will care for somebody, and you'll love him tremendously, and live and die for him. I know you will, it's your way, and you will and... I'll watch."
from Little Women (2019)
Additional Tags: idolverse if you like..., that tweet that went like wonwoo wants to be jo so bad but he's laurie, “I'll stare directly at the sun but never in the mirror”, heavily inspired by but divergent from little women (2019)***
“We can’t date,” Junhui says.
It’s five days after Wonwoo said something, an ill-advised and clumsy decision. No one thought it would be him, and worse, no one thought Junhui would say anything but yes, or me too, or whatever it is that would be a positive response to Wonwoo doing the equivalent of walking in front of an incoming train and waiting for someone to save him, the red warning lights flashing in tandem.
“Junhui—”
Junhui can’t even look at him now, launching into his next prepared spiel. “And you must be wondering why I drove you all the way out here just to reject you. Well— I think you deserve an explanation.”
“I don’t think I—”
“You see, Wonwoo, it’s not that I don’t like you. In fact— it’s not about that. I really do care about you so much, Wonwoo. You mean so much to me, and you don’t know it and I don’t say it. I swear.”
“But you don’t love me,” Wonwoo says.
Junhui falters briefly, then continues: “It’s not about that. It’s not even about me. It’s because I— think so highly of you that I don’t want to hurt you. Wonwoo, I don’t want you to hate me.”
“I could never hate you.”
Junhui spares a glance. Wonwoo is looking over the metal railing at the evening skyline of Seoul, the city before them. The wind threading itself through Wonwoo’s hair the way he once did, and later wished he could.
“You never gave me a chance to explain myself. You just ran away,” Wonwoo says. When Junhui doesn’t answer— “I didn’t say what I said just for fun.”
“And I know that, Wonwoo, and I took it seriously. Really. It’s just so— difficult.”
“Difficult,” Wonwoo repeats.
Junhui takes a deep breath. “I think— you deserve better than me, Wonwoo.”
“Who are you to say what I deserve.”
“I know you, Wonwoo,” Junhui says, vehemently. “I know what you want and what you value and I know you just— I know in that moment you just loved me too much, too irrationally, and that it goes against everything you stand for and hold sacred. And I knew you would regret it, as you did.”
“I didn’t,” Wonwoo responds, but with false conviction, the sunset bleeding in the backdrop of the sky. “The regret was fleeting.”
“You can’t see yourself the way I do,” Junhui asserts. “And you know that I’m silly and make awful jokes and don’t think too hard about things and you always consider things from every angle and I just can’t believe you didn’t think this through. You must have been blinded to that because you liked me so much, you couldn’t even think about how I’d never work for you. I’d never last with you. You’d fall out of love with me.”
“Listen to what you’re saying,” Wonwoo says, voice tight. “You’re the one who’s overthought this.”
“I don’t want to get hurt because you didn’t,” Junhui returns. “You might not be capable of hating me, but that doesn’t mean you can’t still hurt me. It’s better to be scratched than knifed,” he says. “And you’ll find someone else.”
“Junhui,” Wonwoo says slowly, searching his eyes, “I want you.”
Junhui exhales. “I don’t think I can love you how you want me to and how you need me to. I don’t know if I can love anyone that much.”
“You’re wrong,” Wonwoo answers, reaching for his hand and making the barest contact before Junhui wrenches it away. “I know you can and you have. And one day you will see it too. I never wanted more than you could give me.”
“I just don’t have that much faith in myself.”
Wonwoo draws back and looks at him desperately. “What about what you want, Jun-ah? Can’t you be selfish for once?”
“I want you to be happy,” Junhui answers.
***
A/N: and then (some weeks later after further agonies) they get together. happy ending!!!
***
#3 - 574w
idolization - kep1er yujin/xiaoting - canon
Prompt:
I always thought I might be bad
Now I'm sure that it's true
'Cause I think you're so good
And I'm nothing like you
— Rebecca Sugar, Love Like You
***
Xiaoting woke up from a nap to a plate of sliced strawberries on her bedside table. Yesterday it was medallions of cucumbers with a sprinkle of sea salt. The day before it was a cup of jasmine tea, carefully covered to preserve the heat.
She opened the door to her room with a forkful of strawberry in the other hand. Yujin immediately powered off the TV and turned around to face the wrong way on the couch. She’d risk falling off if she wasn’t more careful. “Oh, you’re awake!”
“Mmm,” Xiaoting sounded through the chewing. “Thank you.” She pointed at the plate in the room behind her.
“Of course,” Yujin said, her cheeks flushed red. It always sounded almost like worship, the way she’d thank Xiaoting for the opportunity to perform kindness for her. It was egotistical to think that way, but Yaning said the same thing, albeit facetiously.
FU YANING
Voice Call ✆ [01:04:59]
yeah yujin unnie is in love with you lol
no…
my sweet summer child
At the end of the day it was less that Xiaoting didn’t believe it was possible and more that she simply did not want it to be true. Yes, she’d said over the phone, Yujin openly confessed to finding her beautiful; yes, she regularly flouted the duties of a leader to be impartial in favor of, well, favoring Xiaoting; and everyone in the group was well aware of this. But that was the thing. Isolated atop her pedestal, what did it really mean to be loved by anyone at all?
“We should talk,” Xiaoting said reluctantly, the bright afternoon sunlight feeling entirely inappropriate for the incoming downer of a conversation that she had been dreading.
“About what?” Yujin asked. She was humming as she did the dishes, her orange rubber gloves scrubbing away at the food scraps Hikaru and Hiyyih had left on the coffee table last night. Xiaoting got cold feet just watching her. It was like Yujin was born to labor, she thought. It was like the selflessness of motherhood was her destiny.
“I don’t think you should be so nice to me anymore.” Xiaoting looked down at her feet, almost regretting having said it. Yujin seemed so innocent that talking about this might just hurt her instead of providing any benefit. But it was the right thing to do. Wasn’t it?
Yujin peeled the gloves off and washed her hands before answering. “Why?”
The callousness of it almost startled Xiaoting. I think you like me so much that you don’t see me, she wanted to say. “I’m afraid the others think you’re playing favorites.”
“Did someone complain to you?”
“No,” Xiaoting said. “I can tell, though.”
She leaned in closer to look her deeply in the eyes. “Are you getting bullied?” Yujin looked, possibly, genuinely concerned for her.
Xiaoting shook her head frantically. The scapegoat wouldn’t work any longer. “No one is doing that,” she said. “I think it is a bit burdensome.”
“What is?”
Your form of love. “The weight of popularity,” Xiaoting said. It was crushing her to say this.
Yujin pulled her into a tight hug and it crushed her more. Xiaoting was frozen in place at first, taken aback, her body relaxing slowly in Yujin’s arms. It was dangerous, to succumb so easily to the warmth of another person.
“I will always be here for you, to help hold you up,” Yujin whispered. Yujin did not understand. Xiaoting could not hear any trace of insincerity in her voice.
***
#4 - 551w
aged like fine wine - twice jeongyeon/sana - canon
Prompt:
A and B find out that their fans ship them together. A decides to ramp up the fanservice with B, but B starts to question their feelings for A in the process.
Tags: alcohol, unrepressed masked want, sorry for off-screening your prompt op!, what sana says would have been explicit so i declined to choose exact words***
“Can you take her soju away?” Jeongyeon asks Nayeon from across the table, laughing. It comes out as a joke, but she really kind of means it.
“Don’t, Nayeon unnie, please don’t,” Sana begs, clinging to her arm, “I love you so much, too.”
Nayeon snorts. “It doesn’t sound like you love me nearly as much as you love Jeongyeon, I am seriously third-wheeling it here.”
“You’re being ridiculous,” Sana whines. Then she hiccups, blinks. Continues, face close to Nayeon’s. “It’s just that Jeongyeon looks really pretty today. Like really pretty. Like I want to—”
Their manager practically jumps in to calls cut on the filming but not before a camera catches Jeongyeon’s wide-eyed, documentary talking head stare.
“You’re fucking crazy,” Nayeon scolds, Sana looking upset. “If this wasn’t a pre-shot video—”
“I’m 27,” Sana argues, “Or 26, or whatever I am now in South Korea. I can’t keep track!”
“That’s not an excuse to talk about,” she lowers her voice, “wanting to, I can’t even say it,” she finishes, the manager and assistant PD having come up to tell Sana to keep it in check.
“It was fanservice,” Sana says haughtily. “It’s fun to say. I wouldn’t—”
She stops. Nayeon glances quickly at Jeongyeon before realizing that was even more incriminating.
“Drunk content was a mistake,” she says, finally sighing and going to get a bottle of water. “We’re not listening to anything but Alcohol-Free on the way back!”
Sana sticks her head out to yell back between the two staff members, stunned: “That’s an actual punishment!”
Jeongyeon follows Nayeon to the snack table. “What did she whisper to you,” she asks, “I want to know.”
Nayeon looks at her like she’s crazy. “You...” She chugs half a water bottle and pulls her hair back. “You want her.”
“That’s not what I asked.”
“You really are third-wheeling me,” Nayeon complains. “I can’t even lie to you and tell you I think she was playing games, but I can’t tell you what I really think because you’re going to leave me here and end up in her room.”
Jeongyeon rolls her eyes. “You are so dramatic,” she tells Nayeon. “Sometimes it’s just girl of the month with Sana.”
Nayeon throws up her hands. “I am not getting involved in this.”
Sana apologizes to Jeongyeon in the van while Nayeon is asleep. (She’s so bad at keeping her promises.)
“You don’t have to,” Jeongyeon tells her. Nayeon is alone in the backseat and she can’t even pretend to look busy on her phone.
“You don’t have to look at me,” Sana says like a mind reader.
“You were drunk,” Jeongyeon says, like the end of that conversation.
“I wasn’t that drunk. Maybe a little,” she admits. “But really, not that drunk.”
“Well,” Jeongyeon starts, “I think I know you well enough not to be hurt by the things that you say.” It sounded awful as soon as she said it.
The van rumbles on for a few blocks before Sana speaks again with some hesitation. “Some feelings are easier to hide in plain sight.”
The last thing Jeongyeon wants is to do exactly what Nayeon expected of her. But maybe there’s a sort of comfort to that predictability.
“Did you mean what you said to her?” Jeongyeon asks, glancing behind them.
Sana’s face lights up. “Do you want to find out?”
***
#5 - 1130w
you're gonna miss that plane - stayc sumin/isa - canon
Prompt:
suchae's la vlog "it's been long since we've been on a date" <3
Tags: vague post-disbandment future fic, 'before trilogy' influence that i didn't notice until writing the ending LOL... totally before sunset inspired***
“How long ago did Sumin-ssi move to Los Angeles?” Chaeyoung’s manager asked from the driver’s seat of their rental car. Chaeyoung sat in the back, nervously twisting her hair and letting it fall back against her shoulders.
“I think it was about a year and a half ago,” she said. It sounded much better than the truth, which was that she knew it was a year and 10 months to the date last Thursday.
“Does she like it here?”
“I think so,” Chaeyoung answered. This one she was less sure of. Sumin had impulsively packed her bags and told them she was going to take a hiatus from dramas and vacation with her sister; they had thought nothing of it until three months had passed and suddenly she was enrolled in an acting school and was renting an apartment. ‘It just happened like that,’ Sumin had said over a group video call, and after a few questions she deftly changed the subject to Jayoon’s niece and which of them was going to be the first to have kids. It was about that time, after all.
Chaeyoung had recounted the story to her father, who frowned over his naengmyeon and told her the US visa wasn’t interchangeable in that way. ‘I had no idea,’ Chaeyoung said softly. They had never had to take care of their own papers when traveling for work.
He saw her face fall and kindly said, ‘I would rather think she was lying to you than the US government.’
The car was passing the shoreline now, and Chaeyoung could see the beautiful sunlight reflecting against the water. “I can see why she wouldn’t want to leave,” she said.
“I guess this is it,” Chaeyoung murmured, looking at the tall apartment building in front of her. It didn’t exactly look as nice as their Seoul place from a few years ago, but Sumin was probably classified as unemployed at the moment. She got out of the car and her manager let the engine run, parked by the curb.
“I can’t let you get kidnapped in a foreign country,” he said. “I’ll leave when Sumin-ssi comes out,” he relented. “Unless you want me to trail you two.” He was being completely serious.
“Please don’t,” Chaeyoung begged. “My next schedule isn’t for a week, anyhow. There’ll be time to find me.”
“Okay, call me by 11pm,” he said, checking his watch. “I—”
“You have my location and the list of places we’re going, yes,” Chaeyoung said, losing focus as the apartment front door opened and Bae Sumin exited, flying down the steps to crush her in a bear hug. Sumin’s sunglasses fell on the way, and Chaeyoung’s kindhearted manager went to go get them while the girls got used to the idea of each other again.
Sumin looked like she was going to cry. “Chaeyoung-ah!”
“You changed your perfume,” Chaeyoung got out. That was not all - Sumin’s hair was lighter like she’d been in the sun this whole time, her skin tanned, but most importantly - she looked happier.
“Yah, so did you, brat,” Sumin retorted, lightly punching her in the arm.
“Oh yeah, I did,” Chaeyoung realized, laughing with her. It was so nice to see her in person but also to feel her touch, know that she was still a real person. “I missed you so much.”
“I missed you more, I bet.”
“Then why didn’t you come back?” And visit, Chaeyoung meant to say. But deep inside she wanted to know that too.
Sumin slung an arm around her shoulder and said, “Let’s go.”
They drove around in Sumin’s sedan avoiding the subject and Chaeyoung was happy to try to forget about it for a few hours.
“How was KCON?” Sumin asked, laughing - Chaeyoung hated MC work because it triggered her anxiety. Chaeyoung considered lying to her but just said ‘I did it for the free plane ticket,’ which Sumin didn’t do anything but hum at. Then they ate at a restaurant in the arts district that Sumin had scoped out on Instagram beforehand, even asking the waitress to confirm during their order that neither of their dishes had any of the foods Chaeyoung couldn’t eat in them.
“You still have that long list saved on your phone?’ Chaeyoung asked in awe. “In English?”
Sumin scratched her head sheepishly. “I was just hoping you hadn’t developed any new allergies in the last two years.” They swapped dishes halfway through dinner and to her delight Chaeyoung liked both of them.
“Don’t shop too much,” Sumin warned as they walked it off - “I have a pile of presents back in my apartment I need you to take back for me.”
“Yah, unnie!”
“I knew you would make some room,” Sumin said, grinning.
In retaliation Chaeyoung sent a very unflattering picture of her to the STAYC group chat. Within minutes Yeeun sent a laughing sticker and Seeun said [send a picture of both of you!] It was a good excuse to take a selfie.
“We’ve taken a lot of pictures of each other,” Sumin said.
“I want more,” Chaeyoung said, leaning in to take the photo on her phone. “Plus, you look so silly in most of them.” Sumin slapped her for that one.
It was almost sunset when they rolled into the crowded beach parking lot. Sumin had to make liberal use of her car horn to scare someone else away from her spot.
“You’re so brave, unnie,” Chaeyoung said, admiring her skills.
“Well, no one else will do it for me.”
They walked out onto the pier as the sky had just started to turn a brilliant red.
Chaeyoung just stood there against the railing in awe. “I always wanted to see this.”
“I’ve seen the sun set in LA so many times,” Sumin said, happy watching her that happy. “I haven’t been here since my sister left, but it never gets old.”
“Will it ever be enough?” Chaeyoung asked. It was hard to keep the hurt out of her voice without sounding pathetic or callous instead. It was hard to know what to show to Sumin, exactly. How do you say you miss someone without begging them to come back? How do you say you support their decisions without saying you don’t mind not seeing them for months on end?
“We should talk more,” Sumin said, taking her hand. “I’m sorry.”
“I’m sorry too,” Chaeyoung told her. She let go and they watched the sun set into the ocean.
“I’ll explain when I get back,” Sumin said earnestly. “I just need more time.”
I’ll hold you to it. I’m looking forward to it. Chaeyoung wanted to say, like a patient friend would. When would that be? “My flight is tomorrow morning,” she said instead.
“Stay over then,” Sumin asked.
“It’s getting late,” Chaeyoung said, pulling out her phone. “Let me call my manager.”