Round 1: Quotes

[sleepyshamrocks]

Each prompt should be centered around words that have already been said.

Possibilities include a quote of any kind:

• Existing works (books, poetry, TV shows, movie scripts, video game scripts, song lyrics, articles)
• Speech (celebrity, netizen, anonymous)
• Anything else that fits!

Example:

Characters/Ship: ITZY Ryujin/Chaeryeong
Tags: alternate universe - fantasy, ryujin is marceline chaeryeong is pb!!
Prompt:

Marceline: I dreamed about you while I was in my poison coma. I was all old and withered, and you were still nice and pink.

Princess Bubblegum: You think I'm nice?

-- Adventure Time 7x12, "Stakes Part 7: Checkmate"

Click here to view the fest rules.

RULES

• You are not required to have a Dreamwidth account to participate. There are no signups necessary. You may post anonymously if you want.
• There will be 4 rounds of this fest and 1 round will be opened each week of the fest. Rounds will be left open for fills and comments, so there is no deadline for participating.
• Prompts do not have to be claimed before you write them, and they can be filled by more than one person.
• There is no minimum or maximum word count for fills. In the spirit of the fest, we encourage you to write shorter works!
• Users are allowed to crosspost their fic on any other site, such as AO3. However, we ask that when possible, writers post the text of their fills as a reply to the prompt and include a link to an AO3 post if they choose to do so, instead of just linking to an AO3 post in their comment. This helps keep discussion in our community!
• Feel free to subscribe and join the comm to keep track of updates and view them on your reading page.

CONTENT
Prompts and fills have to center around K-pop girl group member(s). This includes:

• All active and former girl group members
• Female soloists
• Female members in co-ed groups
• Any female idol or trainee affiliated with K-pop (e.g. GP999 contestants, AKB48 members who featured in Produce48)
• Slash, gen, het, and trans works are all accepted as long as they involve at least one girl group member

PROMPTING

To prompt, reply to a round post and copy the following template in.
<strong>Characters/Ship:</strong> <strong>Tags:</strong> <strong>Prompt:</strong> <blockquote>Content here...</blockquote>

It will look like this when empty:

Characters/Ship:
Tags:
Prompt:

Fill out the form with your prompt. You can also write in "Any" to give the writer freedom to choose their own. For example:

Characters/Ship: Any
Tags: canon compliant, no major character death
Prompt:

Blow all my friendships
To sit in hell with you
But we're the greatest
They'll hang us in the Louvre

- Lorde, The Louvre

FILLING

To post a fill, post a comment reply to the prompt you wrote for and copy the following template in. Title your comment with [FILL] followed by the title of your ficlet.

<strong>Characters/Ship:</strong> <strong>Tags:</strong> <strong>Permission to Remix:</strong> Yes/No/Please ask - Content here...

It will look like this once filled out:

[FILL] still I fall

Characters/Ship: Aespa Winter/Karina
Tags: idolverse, predebut, shared trauma
Permission to Remix: Please ask
-

Content of fill here...

Please provide content warnings for Graphic Depictions of Violence, Major Character Death, Rape/Non-Con, and Underage as well as NSFW/explicit content.

REMIXES

You are welcome to remix fics that the original author has approved for remixing. A remix is a work directly or indirectly inspired by another work.

To post a remix, post a comment reply to the comment you remixed and copy the following template in with your info. Title your comment with [REMIX] followed by the title of your remix.

<strong>Characters/Ship:</strong> <strong>Tags:</strong> <strong>Permission to Remix:</strong> Yes/No/Please ask - Content here...

Comments

[angeltide]

Characters/Ship: Any
Tags: post-breakup, regret & longing
Prompt:

I'm black and blue to tell the truth
It's breaking me, I'm not just losing you
I'm losing what you saw in me
Why'd you let me let you go?

— ONE OK ROCK, Let Me Let You Go

[(Anonymous)]

Characters/Ship: Any
Tags: supernatural, ghost/monster/cryptid hunter, can be f/f or gen
Prompt:

"Due to my strong personal convictions, I wish to stress that this film in no way endorses a belief in the occult."
- Michael Jackson, "Thriller" Music Video

Re: [fill] Can't stop thinking about you (I'm sinking alone)

[(Anonymous)]

Oh, no. :o Kim Jiyeon, nooo! << my thought process throughout the fic.

This was delightful to read! I'm op, thank you so much for the fill, and the pain in my heart. I'll be thinking about this for the next couple of weeks, oh gosh. <3

[fill] until the moon can't be seen in the night sky (that's when i'll meet you)

[(Anonymous)]

Characters/Ship: itzy chaeryeong/ryujin
Tags: sageuk au, korean shamanism, allusions to planned animal sacrifice, mention of blood sacrifice, many liberties taken with factual and historical accuracy, ambiguous relationship
Permission to Remix: Yes
-

ryujin tracks her down in the room of imperial records, checking between the stacks until she locates the source of the sniffling.

"your highness?" she crouches down and gently pulls chaeryeong into her arms, paying no mind to how it crinkles the heavy fabric of her ceremonial hanbok. chaeryeong doesn't say a word but clings to her all the same. just like she always has. "it's alright. your imperial father changed his mind and called off the rites today. your dogs are back in your rooms."

chaeryeong doesn't move. ryujin continues to coax and pat her back until the tension seeps away and she finally raises her head slowly, like a fern unfurling at dawn.

fear and grief linger in chaeryeong's eyes. this is a reprieve, not a pardon, though neither of them says it aloud.

"were they scared?" her voice comes out wobbly and makes ryujin chuckle even as she shakes her head gently.

"i think all the fuss and music excited them." ryujin pulls out a handkerchief and chaeryeong turns her face up obligingly so ryujin can dab at the streaks left by her tears. "they'll probably be asleep by the time you get back. can you stand? here, lean on me. i've got you."

ryujin can never have her. not the cherished second princess of the kingdom with her sweet smiles and sharp tongue, the princess already engaged to a prince from a neighboring kingdom. but as she helps chaeryeong to her feet, holding on tighter than she needs to in this moment, ryujin can pretend.

***

only the emperor and his imperial bloodline have heralds. chaeryeong doesn't need one to know when ryujin arrives in the garden to answer her summons - the heavy scent of ceremonial incense arrives on the wind long before ryujin appears in her sight.

"your highness," she greets with a bow. although ryujin isn't wearing her shaman robes today, chaeryeong's new maid is staring at her with what can only be called awed fascination. ryujin smiles at her when she catches her eye, and the girl's cheeks instantly turn pink.

"leave us," chaeryeong snaps, her good mood dissipating in an instant. her staff are banished with an impatient wave of her hand. and to ryujin: "walk with me."

ryujin follows behind her as befitting of her status. it has to be enough. if ryujin were a man, chaeryeong would never get to walk with her at dusk without a chaperone at all.

"have you recovered fully?" walking ahead, chaeryeong can't see if ryujin's steps still pain her. shamans of the imperial court serve at the emperor's mercy, long live his majesty. if a sword dance ceremony is what the spirits demand to ensure his longevity, then so be it. if the youngest of the shamans must submit to having her back sliced open with a sword to appease a malicious spirit, then so be it.

"i am well."

always the same soft answer. chaeryeong would still choose this over silence.

"walk with me." chaeryeong leads the way deeper into the gardens where the chirp of crickets hides her quickening breath, just as the long shadows conceal the color on her cheeks. later when night falls, she can claim fear of stumbling in the dark to explain why she holds ryujin's hand, just as the cold will give her reason to walk close side-by-side.

next month, she'll leave home to travel to the palace of her new husband in a procession with all the court to send her off. but tonight there are only the stars to bear witness to chaeryeong shyly curling her fingers around ryujin's hand. only the mugunghwa blossoms hear what ryujin says in return.

love in slow motion

[(Anonymous)]

Characters/Ship: Any
Tags: idolverse, any au really
Prompt:

I just get caught up in the rat race I'm running
Chasing a moment I'm hoping is coming
If I stopped and took a look around
It's in front of my eyes, eyes

Baby, let's slow down time
Maybe just press rewind
Darling, that dress reminds
Me of the first time
- Love In Slow Motion, Ed Sheeran

[baechuzz]

Characters/Ship: any
Tags: any
Prompt:

love, lay me down under grass &
sunlight, and touch me [right here]
and here and here, where the ache
& hurt have gone to nest.
[(now again)] my fingers will find
yours, tangle & sweeten the air,
and the birds will cry (for)
us alone.
— sappho, fragment 83

[FILL] too much, not enough

[baechuzz]

Characters/Ship: WJSN Eunseo/Yeoreum
Tags: not quite exes, mentioned fwb, second chances
Permission to Remix: Yes
-

ao3



It’s funny when you know someone for your whole life and then suddenly you don’t. It comes quickly, a lightning bolt of acknowledgement, as Yeoreum tries to send a message to Juyeon with only the curve of her lips and her gaze, but Juyeon only furrows her eyebrows. Understanding always ran deep between them; maybe because throwing sand into each other’s faces in kindergarten, then walking home from middle school in the early summer heat with melting popsicles making their hands sticky, later drinking together as Yeoreum finally joined Juyeon to their dream university — maybe Yeoreum thought they all left a mark on them.

Maybe Yeoreum thought that mark was forever. That it curved under their paper-like skin like the blue of the arteries, like it was in their blood flow. I know you, you know me — it was the deal. It sat silently between them. When Yeoreum reached her hand out and Juyeon intertwined their fingers. When Juyeon held back her own rambling to give way to Yeoreum, knowing Yeoreum is a coward and would swallow the bitter feeling clawing at her mind a thousand times before she shared them to anyone.

“What?” Juyeon asks, the crease between her brows deepening. “Your face is funny.”

Misfired communication, Yeoreum reasons. It’s okay, it's been a while.

“I think that girl is checking you out.”

Juyeon, lacking tact, immediately follows Yeoreum’s line of vision. The girl looking at Juyeon blushes and snaps her head back to continue her excited conversation with her friend. Juyeon turns back, frown even deeper.

“That’s the reason you look so constipated?”

Yeoreum scoffs. “It’s been a while, Juyeon. How was your exchange programme?”

New York City did Juyeon good. The calm confidence that lingers around her is something Yeoreum might’ve been familiar with but not the whole world. Now, in her baseball cap and long, inky hair, the Juyeon Yeoreum knows the most is shared with the whole world. In exchange, she’s the one being pushed to the precipice, holding onto a ghost she used to know.

“Yeoreum.” Some instincts die hard. The wild hammering of her heart against her ribcage at the way Juyeon says her name is one. “Why are you doing this?”

The coffee in her hand is bitter, but no amount of sugary syrup will change it either. So Yeoreum sips away, the biodegradable straw melting into a slush as she grinds on it with her teeth.

“What do you mean?”

The sigh leaving Juyeon’s lips is exhausted. Like they fought this fight one too many times.

“You— It’s already over between us. So why are you trying to dig up a corpse now?”

It’s also funny, when you break up with someone without ever realizing you are together. Because Juyeon offers love freely and it's easy to misunderstand. Maybe it was because Yeoreum was so used to seeing Juyeon kissing her friends, that the question hadn’t even been realized inside of Yeoreum before it was too late. Maybe because it was Yeoreum who fell first out of the easy rhythm of their communication, when the easiest explanation was right from the very first moment.

Maybe letting things escalate between them before clearing the situation was the real problem.

There’s a slice of cheesecake in front of her, stained purple by blueberries. Her stomach lurches at the sight, suddenly nauseous, but she cannot stop staring at it. Just in case the look she would find in Juyeon’s eyes were not kind to the tender ache of her soul.

“I missed you.”

Yeoreum, just as expected, had a Juyeon-shaped hole in herself, with torn and ragged edges, a forever pulsating hurt, after Juyeon left. It’s an odd thing; Yeoreum’s thumb hovering over the birthday text and never actually sending in, when only two years ago Juyeon wouldn’t go an hour without spamming her phone with every passing half-baked thought she had. Turning back to say something to Juyeon, only to realize she's not a lingering presence anymore. Making Juyeon’s usual coffee instead of her own on autopilot because of the mug she grabbed hastily.

(The oddly shaped mug Juyeon brought back from a ceramic class, too big and too unconventional, yet it found its way into Yeoreum’s kitchen shelf in no time. The tulips painted on the side are a nice touch, though.)

It's normal. Friendships fall apart, even when they seem unbreakable. Juyeon outgrown being part of Yeoreum, and the careful sheen in her eyes tell her that Juyeon will not even try to fit herself back next to Yeoreum. And it's fine.

She’s learnt to live with that.

Another sigh.

Juyeon is not built for long-lasting rage and her fury tempers out with time into a crash of forgiveness. Everything is written on her face, and Yeoreum just needs to take one step further to read the alien script to relearn understanding her. To her surprise, her resolution gives way with the meek plea Yeoreum has to offer after years spent apart.

“New York was fine. But I’m back now. I missed home.” Hastily, Juyeon pulls the plate in front of herself, stuffing her mouth full. Chewing on it and washing down with coffee, she looks at Yeoreum from under the rim of her cap. “I missed you too.”

Everything changed, yet nothing at all. They just became unfamiliar; a bicycle ride after years of not sitting on one. Juyeon does things now that are not how Yeoreum expects her to react and yet, they still ring true. The small nudge under the table, to push Yeoreum out of her wonderment with a touch of electricity. Two years — two years was enough for Juyeon to shed the role of being her best friend, but not enough to reinvent herself from scratch.

“I’m glad you accepted my invitation today,” Yeoreum treads into the topic slowly. “I was afraid you haven’t forgiven me yet.”

Juyeon takes off her baseball cap, running her fingers through her hair. The panes of her face, the soft curve of her nose, the brightness of her eyes — they are permanent images burnt into her mind. She notices new things: another ring piercing on the lobe of Juyeon’s ear, a peak of ink under the sleeve of her flannel shirt.

She shakes her head, almost chiding.

“There’s nothing to forgive. You were right that time,” Juyeon starts. “We were nothing back then. I had no right to claim you when I didn't have the courage to ask you out.”

But you did, Yeoreum wants to say, I just didn’t care to listen.

Because Juyeon wears her heart on her sleeve and Yeoreum is more than a good observer. If she wasn’t so adamant on jumping into conclusions on her own and acting from self-preservation, this wouldn’t have happened. Or maybe it would’ve still.

“I had time to marinate with my hurt and I realized how unfair I was to you. But then I was already sitting on the plane and I didn’t know if you ever wanted me to contact you again,” Juyeon says, resting her chin on the back of her hand, closing her eyes like the conversation exhausts her. Eyes fluttering open, turning to crescents with a hidden smile, she asks, “You and Yeonjung— are you still together?”

Yeoreum fumbles a little bit.

“No, ah— we weren’t that serious.”

“Pity. I liked her.”

It’s an odd thing to say about a girl Yeoreum stopped their situationship for and consequently ended a decades long friendship by sheer misunderstanding.

“Yeoreum,” Juyeon calls her, her voice dipping deeper. “Be honest with me for a second. You called me here to make up, I guess. What do you want us to be exactly?”

To go back to a better time, is what comes to her mind instinctually. But then again, being twenty-one and stumbling into bed with your best friend, to get rid of the pent up stress from university is not a better time. And Yeoreum grew too. There are things she wants to tell Juyeon. She drinks coffee now, as her Master’s took a toll on her and she missed a part of herself, and the odd-shaped tulip mug kept refilling with steaming coffee. She works for the advertising company she interned for a summer ago and she likes her co-workers. She learnt she didn’t need to reshape herself to be accepted, and now she has more friends than ever before.

Love between them was a disruption, almost strangling what they built together brick by brick over the years. Yeoreum misses the simplicity that existed before it.

“I want to be friends with you again.”

Juyeon lets out a deep breath, the tense line of her shoulder dropping. The smile curving on her lips shocks Yeoreum for a moment, an artifice of the past.

“That I can do.”

Weird, how Juyeon crosses bridges Yeoreum wouldn’t even dream to attempt to try. How even though Yeoreum threw rocks in it and it rippled with crashing waves, the lake of their friendship seems to smooth out and Yeoreum can almost see their reflection in it.

take a moment, leave it all behind

[(Anonymous)]

Characters/Ship: LOONA Yves/Jinsoul
Tags: Road Trip AU, Canon Compliant, Established relationship
Permission to Remix: Yes

sorry dreamgirlfest admins it didn't fit in the comment box: ao3 (https://archiveofourown.org/works/46318201)

[FILL] loose threads

[skyclectic]

Characters/Ship: Taeyeon/Jessica
Tags: Post-disbandment, Unresolved Feelings, Romance
Permission to Remix: Yes
AO3 Link
-

I’m in love with the idea of us
What we once were
Or what this once was

I’m stuck somewhere between then
And now, because

I’m still in love
― Resort x SHN, The Idea of Us



“I didn’t think I’d ever see you here.”

The familiar voice cuts right through Taeyeon and her body reacts immediately, heart jumping into her throat too hard, too fast. But there’s no real way to prepare for a lightning strike. And when Taeyeon turns around, the first sight of Jessica Jung feels exactly like getting struck by lightning, burning through her with the force of a hundred thousand volts.

It’s unfair how the years have not dimmed her beauty in the slightest. In fact, Taeyeon thinks Jessica at thirty-six is even more breathtaking than Jessica at eighteen.

Taeyeon feels almost faint as she wonders how the universe can be so cruel as to engineer this very moment to happen in the most unexpected of places. She hasn’t seen Jessica in person in over a decade. It’s ironic how the first time is at Cape Sounion, on the precipice of a cliff on the southernmost tip of the Attica peninsula.

In the shadows of the Temple of Poseidon just behind them, Jessica’s presence eclipses even the setting sun.

“Jessica.” Taeyeon hopes that the tremor in her voice is barely noticeable.

“Taeyeon.” Jessica’s lips quirk faintly. She seems almost serene. Unruffled. Taeyeon envies that.

They settle into momentary silence, watching the sun dipping below the horizon. The sky is a beautiful watercolour painting of dusty pinks and vivid tangerines. It’s breathtaking. And incredibly romantic. Taeyeon forces all thoughts of romance away. Not when she’s standing next to Jessica. Nothing good will come out of it.

Instead, she thinks about what the tour guide had said earlier. The Temple was built on this cliff because it’s a perfect vantage point; flanked on three sides by acres of the bluest sea, an incoming ship would have nowhere to hide its approaching presence.

If only Jessica’s like that too, Taeyeon thinks bitterly.

Some warning, even just a minute to steel her heart, would have been great. But the truth is, Taeyeon never sees Jessica coming.

“I’ll give you a ride back to Athens,” Jessica says as the sun slips the final degrees out of view.

Taeyeon stares. Athens is almost two hours away. “Are you sure that’s a good idea?”

“Has it ever been?” Jessica’s lips twist into a wry smile. “It’s been years, Taeyeon-ah. And we’re both adults now. We can survive being in the same car together.”

We were adults too in 2014 when we unravelled completely, Taeyeon thinks. And I barely survived, then.

Jessica’s smile softens around the edges when Taeyeon hesitates. It feels like an olive branch.

Or maybe it’s the first step in rebuilding burnt bridges.

Maybe this is what forgiveness looks like.



Jessica pulls over for gas. Taeyeon sits in the car, trembling under the weight of years and years of memories unravelling at her feet. She had spent the better part of a decade keeping everything, keeping Jessica, carefully buried in a deep ravine. Someplace she hasn’t ventured to in a really long time.

And yet, here she is, trapped in a car in the heart of Greece, as everything comes flooding back in. Taeyeon hates how she can’t tear her eyes away from the windshield. From a horizon coloured with Jessica and the familiar way she purses her lips as she waits in line to pay.

Taeyeon used to think she’s over it; she’s not in love with Jessica.

Maybe she was at one point. But not now. Not after more than ten years. She can’t be.

But the panic rising in her throat, and the way her hummingbird heart hammers against her ribs, makes Taeyeon think she’s wrong. This feels a lot like –

Her fingers are shaking so badly it takes her three tries before she manages to dial Tiffany’s number. It’s 4am in California. But Tiffany picks up anyway, listening patiently as Taeyeon talks herself into a frenzied spiral.

“It’s just Jessica,” Tiffany finally says. She sighs softly in the way she often does when she needs to tell Taeyeon something she’s not ready to hear. “You’re panicking because it’s Jessica. You always panic when it’s Jessica.”

The air wheezes out of Taeyeon’s lungs. It’s just Jessica.

That much is true.

But it’s also just Jessica.

And therein, lies the problem.

“It’s different for me,” Taeyeon says tremulously. She breathes, refocusing her gaze on the new moon peeking out from the rapidly darkening sky. “It’s different because –”

“I know,” Tiffany cuts in, mercifully saving Taeyeon from completing the sentence, from finally standing still long enough to stop avoiding the shipwrecked pieces of whatever she and Jessica once shared. “But, Taeyeon-ah, what’s the worst that can happen?”

Taeyeon has no answer for that.

What’s the worst that can happen when everything else has already happened?

Her ribcage is a junkyard of broken parts; she and Jessica have already ruined each other beyond repair hundreds of moons ago.



When they were younger and untainted by each other in irreversible ways, they had a stupid fight during a dance practice for their debut song. What had started as annoyance over a missed dance step escalated into a shouting match that left half the group in tears and Jessica and Taeyeon locked in a furious impasse that lasted through the rest of the practice session.

But that same night, Jessica had cornered Taeyeon in the kitchen of their dorm and held out a tub of ice cream like a peace offering.

I don’t really like Strawberry, Taeyeon had said, and Jessica had only given her a small, fleeting smile, before she pulled out another tub from the freezer. Chocolate Mint. Taeyeon’s favourite.

They had settled on the floor, backs pressed to the kitchen cabinets, cradling their own tubs. Jessica had apologised first, and Taeyeon had echoed just a heartbeat after, and they had laughed at how silly and dramatic the fight was. And they’d laughed all over again through the pain of matching brain freezes, fingers cold and sticky.

I like that we’re in sync even for this, Jessica had said, sunlit laughter heavy in her voice. It makes me think that no matter what happens after we debut, we’ll always be on the same page.

Taeyeon had said nothing, too distracted by the way strips of amber light from the ceiling cascaded down Jessica’s face and settled in the hollow of her throat. She had only stared as if in a trance, seized by a sudden, inexplicable urge to press her lips against the warm honeyed dip of Jessica’s clavicle.


—————————


Somehow they end up back at the hotel Jessica’s staying at. It’s a terrible, terrible idea; she should have dropped Taeyeon off at her rented apartment instead. But Taeyeon is quiet as she slips past Jessica into the room, sinking into the only armchair in the corner.

Jessica takes a deep, steadying breath and spots the half-empty bottle of Merlot she had ordered from room service last night. “Wine?” she asks, throwing Taeyeon a glance. At Taeyeon’s nod, she pours two glasses and passes one to Taeyeon, trying not to flinch at the split-second brush of their fingertips.

This is probably a terrible idea too, Jessica thinks, as she settles on the edge of the bed directly opposite Taeyeon’s armchair and takes a measured sip of wine. But Taeyeon is here, in her hotel room, closer than she’s ever been in so, so long.

Seeing Taeyeon at the Temple of Poseidon earlier had shocked Jessica enough to turn her completely numb. And Jessica Jung, Creative Director of Blanc & Eclare had taken over, perfectly calm and composed.

But now, with Taeyeon looking up at her through sorrow-tinged eyelashes, she only feels like Jessica.

She feels eighteen again, standing together on a stage, Taeyeon’s hand in hers as their hearts soar skywards along with their childhood dreams. And somehow, she also feels twenty-five, hurt blossoming in her chest at the way Taeyeon refuses to look her in the eye as the world splinters and burns down all around them.

This isn’t how Jessica has pictured this. She’s always imagined a reunion to be fraught with violent words, with so much anger and deep-seated hurt shattering all around their feet. But if she’s honest with herself, she hasn’t been angry at Taeyeon in years.

That white, hot rage and all the hurt she had felt, had dissolved into a resolute kind of sadness. A bone-deep regret for how they had ended things. And for what they could have been if it all hadn’t unravelled with an unforgiving kind of finality.

“I’m sorry.” Taeyeon’s voice sounds like heartbreak. Her mouth twists wryly. “I should have said that to you so many years ago. Instead of –”

“I’m sorry too,” Jessica cuts in. She suddenly cannot bear the thought of reliving every single one of those anger-filled days that came on the heels of her departure from the group. She doesn’t need Taeyeon to drag up the memories either. “Neither of us is blameless. We’ve both done things we shouldn’t have.”

Taeyeon exhales slowly. She puts her empty glass down. “How did we get everything so wrong?”

Jessica’s eyes burn. A strangled laugh somehow escapes her throat instead. “It’s you and me. We feel too much and care too much.”

Something in Taeyeon’s expression clouds over. She lowers her gaze to the carpeted floor, as if weighing her next words very, very carefully. Jessica waits, holding her breath, holding all her unresolved feelings by a thread, because the alternative is to lay them bare at Taeyeon’s feet.

When Taeyeon lifts her gaze again, Jessica loses all the air in her lungs. The expression on Taeyeon’s face is so intimately familiar, and Jessica’s heart aches at seeing it all over again. Just like that, Taeyeon draws every single one of Jessica’s feelings out into the open.

“Even now?” Taeyeon breathes, shifting forward until her knees knock into Jessica’s own. “Do you still feel too much and care too much, even now?”

Always, Jessica thinks wretchedly. Her heart is racing. Her entire world is narrowing. And Taeyeon is so, so close.

“If I didn’t, you wouldn’t be here now, Taeyeon-ah,” she whispers, soft and breathy.

Taeyeon hears it for the plea that it is and cups a warm hand over Jessica’s face, drawing her in.

Taeyeon tastes like wine, which is new and different from all the kisses seared into Jessica’s memory. But everything else, from the way Taeyeon slides a hand into her hair, to the way she swipes her tongue over Jessica’s lips, is exactly like how Jessica remembers.



The way they stumble into bed is exactly like how Jessica remembers too. Jessica marvels at the way they fall into each other in the same perfect choreography, like her body remembers what it’s like to have the heat of Taeyeon’s touch searing into her skin.

Her head is spinning. Everything seems to be surging in time to the cadence of their staccato breaths. Taeyeon leans down, pressing warm lips against the curve of her breast and Jessica can only arch her back, trying to get Taeyeon even closer.

“It’s okay,” Taeyeon murmurs against her feverish skin. “Just let go. I’m here. It’s okay, Sooyeon-ah.”

Like always, the way Taeyeon’s voice shapes around her name, the name Taeyeon reserves just for her, is Jessica’s undoing.



Later, much later, they lie on their sides in bed, trading kisses that feel too soft, too apologetic.

Jessica wonders if they’ll ever reach a point where they stop trying to apologise through loaded gestures. There’s still so much left for them to unpack, but she’s not worried about finding enough shipwrecked parts for them to salvage. Not anymore.

She reaches out, pushing back the waves of hair cascading over Taeyeon’s shoulder, fingers lingering on the crescent dip of Taeyeon’s neck: that perfect curve kissed by silvery light streaming into the room. Jessica leans in, giving in to the urge to press her lips against moonlit skin.

She feels it, the way Taeyeon chuckles; she’s always been ticklish. Jessica can’t help the smile that blooms on her face at the warm vibrations making a home at the base of Taeyeon’s throat.

“I should go soon,” Taeyeon says after another minute, her palm sweeping up and down the crest of Jessica’s hip. Like she’s laying an anchor. Staking a claim.

As if Jessica still has a heart left to claim. She’s lost hers years ago to the woman in her arms now.

And maybe it’s taken them this long to find their way back to each other. But Jessica is tired of counting sunsets without Taeyeon by her side.

So, she just presses her forehead to Taeyeon’s clavicle. Breathes her in.

“Stay,” she says. “I want you to stay.”

[FILL] pinterest board of our future

[eelegy]

Characters/Ship: Loona, Heejin/Hyunjin

Tags: bittersweet, exes, unresolved longing, vague future fic

Permission to Remix: Yes

-

Heejin almost doesn’t recognize her, but once it clicks, she's calling out, “Hyunjin?” across the coffee shop from her place in line. The woman—well, Hyunjin—looks up, startled, scanning the shop for whoever called her name. Her eyes pass over Heejin twice before Heejin feels insecure that Hyunjin doesn't seem to see her, and so she waves, shy and small.

Hyunjin studies her for a second before it registers. Heejin can see it click in Hyunjin’s mind. “Heejin!” Her smile is wider than Heejin’s expecting, and she can still see the crease on her cheek from that time in the kitchen. It's definitely her Hyunjin.

Her Hyunjin. Heejin isn't sure she has the right. Hyunjin isn't hers any more than the barista is. She's as good as a perfect stranger. Hyunjin retrieves her coffee from the pick up counter and crosses the shop to join Heejin, whose spot in line hasn't advanced at all.

Heejin can't believe that after all this time, they've run into each other like this. Did Hyunjin shop here often? As Hyunjin stands beside her, Heejin can smell the familiar scent of her perfume, still the same as before.

“So, how have you been?” Hyunjin asks, breaking the silence.

Heejin shrugs, “Just the usual. Work and stuff. You?”

Hyunjin nods. “Same here. It's crazy how time flies, isn’t it?”

Hyunjin glances away awkwardly, and Heejin’s hit with a pang of sadness. She and Hyunjin had been able to communicate in glances. But that had been before. Now, she finds it hard to look at her.

This isn’t what it was supposed to be like. In her dreams, Hyunjin would come waltzing back like she hadn’t left at all. Like Heejin hadn’t mailed her stuff to Haseul’s just so she wouldn’t have to see her. Like Haseul hadn’t had to mediate between them until she’d given up and let them become strangers. Heejin wonders if Hyunjin hates her. All of her own anger had given away to embarrassment years back.

Hyunjin clears her throat. “I hear you’re a senior director now?”

“Yeah,” Heejin looks up, startled. “How—”

“I ask Haseul sometimes.” Hyunjin says, rubbing the back of her neck. Her tell for embarrassment.

Heejin opens her mouth and closes it. There are so many questions rushing through her head. She wants to ask, Do you miss it? Being soulmates? Having an other half? Did you know I still have the pinterest board of our future bookmarked on my computer? What comes out instead is, “I’m sorry.”

The corner of Hyunjin’s mouth quirks up. “What for?”

[FILL] Hold On Tight

[sapphicorbit]

Characters/Ship: Aespa Karina/Winter
Tags: cyberpunk?, future alternate universe, action, karina's ability is inspired from aespa lore
Permission to Remix: Yes
-

Think about it, Karina. The same people that promise you freedom are the very ones imprisoning you.

Karina scoffs, remembering what she had been told by her current assignment during their first confrontation. She rubs at the now-healed incision behind her ear; a simple, yet cruel reminder of what awaits her if she fails a second time.

She isn’t chasing a cyberkinetic for the greater good. She doesn’t care for whatever this Winter has done to terrorize the cybernet. Her hands are tied and if capturing the target means she can prolong her own life for just a little longer, then so be it.

Her augmented hand beeps. 19:29.

The dark looming clouds overhead shimmer a cascade of colors as the artificial lights of the city beam and saturate the cool night air. Being this high up gives her a taste of the Earth’s natural wind currents, as opposed to the stagnant air in the slums and bustling streets. The noise pollution is nearly nonexistent, almost serene.

She observes and zooms past the buildings, hunting for suspicious heat signatures with the modified lenses she’d received for the assignment.

The feds had told her to standby at the tallest scraper as intel informed them of Winter possibly attacking the city’s main telecommunication towers tonight.

Though Karina thinks otherwise. If the information has leaked this far for them to set up, she doubts someone that can easily manipulate their tech would get caught in the process.

The air quickly changes to static, her augmented hand ticking and jittering uncomfortably, as if it has a mind of its own and can sense the change.

She hears it before she feels it: A large rumble from the telecom towers erupting as one begins to tilt, crashing right into the next one. City lights flicker and buzz along with the damage done to the towers, followed by a large explosion that finally kills a large portion of the digital screens showcasing ads and direct news feeds.

Smoke billows and begins to darken the radius of the towers. Orders are barked into her earpiece to engage the target, and to keep her alive. Karina gauges the distance between the falling tower and the rooftop she’s on and she pivots, extending her right hand in a downward angle to launch herself with the force of her augmentation until she reaches the right trajectory to land safely atop one of the telecom towers. As she nears the tower, she once again extends her right hand to grip onto the nearest piece to latch onto. The screeching sound of metal grates at her ears as she uses the large framework to slow her descent.

The location of the hacker continues to pierce her eardrum as they pressure her to immediately get into the thick of the girl’s capture. It’s much too easy for Karina to adhere to the directions, to keep up with the action.

Across the next tower from her she sees the multiple heat signatures of patrol drones. They’re keeping a figure within their headlights, not allowing an escape from their line of sight. It’s Winter.

Karina jumps between the steel apparatus to close in on her target. As she nears she begins to charge her right hand, and unbeknownst to her, the augment surcharges.

One by one the drones following Winter malfunction and drop. Karina moves past them to get on a lower level of the girl, aiming to slow her down long enough for more drones to come in and distract her.

Unfortunately, when she swings her fist to send a shockwave, it instead explodes, projectiling her target into the nearest building. The blast sends Karina’s own body down a story, harshly landing on top of a flat beam.

Through the ringing in her ears, she’s still able to hear the commander shout, “Karina! Stay on her fucking tail! She’s draining the drones.”

Grunting, she picks herself up and speeds forward, sending another shockwave to break through the building. The glass panels shatter and wind thrashes into the floor, scattering office material and glass around the area.

She gets a layout of the building sent through her lens and quickly scans, only to realize that the top floors don't have any occupants, making it that much easier to locate her target.

Karina notices her in one of the elevators flying down past the floors. Winter is headed to the basement garage.

She sighs.

Time to free-fall again.

As Karina heads to the large opening she’s created with another shockwave, the elevator doors ping open.

Knowing Winter’s abilities, it can’t be a coincidence. She reaches out for her earpiece and notices the silence from the other end. Contact is severed. Almost like Winter planned for this to happen…

She’s waiting for Karina.

Not having a choice in the matter, Karina enters the elevator.

As she stands there waiting, she contemplates on what she should do. She looks down at her hand, closing it into a fist. The cyberkinetic would easily take control of her hand, so now her weapon is also her weakness.

The elevator’s doors open, arriving at the lowest level. There in the middle of the garage parking lot stands Winter. Karina cautiously steps out.

“You know what I can do, so listen to me for just a minute as I don’t have much time before they arrive.”

Karina holds a snarky response and waits for her to continue.

“I’ve already destroyed the implant behind your ear. You’re free, so long as you decide to leave with me. I’m not holding you hostage—we both know once they find out it's no longer working, they’ll see you as a threat and get rid of you.”

Karina raises her fists in defense. “If what you say is true, then I can escape well on my own.”

Winter frustratingly shakes her head. “And then what?” she questions. “I’m not your enemy. They promise so much to keep you obedient, but I can help you. We can help each other.”

Karina doesn’t need help.

She’s lost everyone for receiving help; those she cares about dying for the stupidest shit.

“Why me?”

“It has to be you, Karina.”

Their conversation comes to a halt when the garage shutters are rammed into by armored vehicles heading straight for them.

“The elevator!” Winter shouts.

Karina pivots and sends a shockwave for defense as an onslaught of bullets begin to rain down on them. The feds must’ve figured out she’s no longer a dog on a leash.

Winter quickly gets the elevator to seal shut and shoot up the building. Their bated breaths fill in the silence within the elevator.

Karina meets Winter’s gaze. “What now?”

“I was hoping our way out was through the garage, but they reacted quicker than I imagined.”

The doors ping open once again, drone headlights now aiming down on the both of them. They slowly step out.

“I can only keep so many drones off us,” Winter warns as she drops a handful of the crafts from the air.

Karina quickly scans their surroundings. The drones can’t kill them, as they’re most likely being televised (unless Winter is able to prevent that from happening). The ground floor is a no-go.

She guesses this might be their best shot.

“I’m gonna try something and I need your trust. Can you get us to go rogue for a minute?”

Winter responds with a hesitant nod, and Karina goes to adjust her hand augment.

If she can replicate the surcharge, then she can possibly destroy more of the towers and further cause chaos, messing with the city lights just long enough for the two to lose their attention.

Karina can’t help but grin. She turns to Winter and explains her plan.

As all the drones begin to fall, Karina swings her arm towards the telecom towers, the shockwave so large the recoil sends Karina back a few meters.

The tower taking the brunt of the force explodes. The other towers surge in a chain reaction, and once again the lights of the city flicker before turning off.

Karina turns to the saturated part of the city reduced to shadows. She’s certain if she could hear past the ringing in her ears, she’d be able to hear the traffic and pedestrians' shared disgruntlement.

Karina reaches her hand out towards Winter, her augmented one recharging at the moment.

“Hold on tight.”

[(Anonymous)]

Characters/Ship:
Tags:
Prompt:

“You kiss the back of my legs and I want to cry. Only / the sun has come this close, only the sun.”
— Shauna Barbosa, from “GPS,” Cape Verdean Blues

[(Anonymous)]

Characters/Ship: aespa karina/winter
Tags: soulmates au, handmaiden/princess au
Prompt:

useless, useless…
your cries are song, my body’s not me…
no good…my idea
has evaporated…your hair is time, your thighs are song…
it had something to do
with death…it had something
to do with love.
- Li-Young Lee, "This Room and Everything In It"

[(Anonymous)]

Characters/Ship: aespa karina/winter
Tags: any
Prompt:

The centre of every poem is this:
I have loved you.
I have had to deal with that.

- Salma Deera, Letters from Medea

[(Anonymous)]

Characters/Ship: any
Tags: exes (reconciliation optional)
Prompt:

I want to search for her in the offhand remarks.
Who are you, taking coffee, no sugar?
Who are you, echoing street signs?
Who are you, the stranger in the shell of a lover,
Dark curtains drawn by the passage of time?

[FILL] literally slay me

[(Anonymous)]

Characters/Ship: LE SSERAFIM Hong Eunchae & Everyone
Tags: idolverse, monster hunters, mild gore
Permission to Remix: Yes
-
ao3 link! (https://archiveofourown.org/works/46340671)

"Eunchae, do you want to sit down maybe?" Chaewon suggested.

"Do you want some water?" Sakura moved to stand up, but every muscle in Eunchae's body tensed up, and Sakura froze, not wanting to frighten her further.

"I’m good, thank you," Eunchae said, voice small. "I'm fine over here."

Chaewon shot a helpless glance back at the other girls. "Aegi, you don't have to be scared of us. I promise we can explain everything."

"Explain?" Eunchae's voice was becoming decidedly shriller. " Explain? You just stabbed a girl to death! "

"I know it seems that way, but really-"

"Seems?" Eunchae gestured at the ground between them, where, sure enough, the body of a pale-skinned girl was crumpled facedown, a pool of blood collecting under her torso.

Yunjin winced, lowering her still-raised bloody knife.

"I mean," Sakura seemed to scramble for an answer. "She was a sasaeng anyway." It was a weak excuse even if it hadn't been a lie.
"Sasaengs are still people, unnie!"

"Debatable," Yunjin muttered, and was harshly elbowed by Chaewon.

"Hey!" she yelped, shooting Chaewon a glare, then faced Eunchae, seemingly already tired of diplomacy. "You want an explanation, Eunchae? She's not even human. She's a wraith, and we're monster hunters. That's why we killed her."

"Yunjin," Sakura said sharply.

"She already thinks we're crazy!" Yunjin handed her knife to Kazuha and held out her own bloodied hand to Eunchae. "Come around this side and look for yourself. It's not a real girl."

Eunchae was definitely not going to do that. She felt a kind of hysteria building up in her, looking between her members, the body, and the door. But then, even if she left the dorm, where would she go? She couldn't drive. It was the middle of the night. Her phone was in another room. Could she run to her neighbors? Did she even know anyone else who lived in this building?

"We should move it," Kazuha murmured, snapping Eunchae out of her panic. "It'll be awful to get out of the floorboards."

"If we'd killed it properly it would've disintegrated," Chaewon said.

"Not like it matters. She caught us anyway." Yunjin dropped her hand and lowered herself to a crouch. "Eunchae. Come here." This time it wasn't a plea, and Eunchae obeyed on instinct. She wanted to believe Yunjin, she really did. She also didn't want to risk setting her off and getting stabbed. She crept forward, as Yunjin pulled the girl's arm out from under her and flipped her body over, brushing the hair from her face. Eunchae's breath stopped in her chest.

Where Eunchae had expected the face of a girl her own age, there was instead something that could only be described as corpse-like. The skin was grayed and wrinkled, its mouth stretched too wide open, revealing rotting teeth. Where her eyes should've been, were empty sockets, underscored with black tears.

White noise filled Eunchae's head.

The next thing she knew she was bent over their kitchen sink, heaving and gagging around last night's dinner. She tried to calm herself down, but it was so hard when the image was burned in the back of her eyelids, the body in their living room filling up all her senses, making her stomach turn.

Someone's hands steadied her as she vomited, drawing circles on her back and pulling her hair away from her face.

"You're okay." Kazuha's voice, soothing. "You're alright. Just try to breathe."

Eventually, Eunchae's stomach stopped rebelling, and she was able to stand up straight again. Kazuha handed her a tissue and a cup of water to wash her mouth out with, and Eunchae took it with shaking hands and tried to reorganize herself while Kazuha washed out the sink. Eunchae realized as she regained her bearings that the other girls were not in the kitchen with them.

"Where's everyone else?" she asked, voice hoarse.

"Cleaning up the remains," Kazuha said. She took the empty glass from Eunchae and rinsed it as well. Normally, Eunchae liked it when the older members handled things for her, but she felt so off-kilter already, so out of the loop, that Kazuha's attention only made her feel even more helpless than she already was.

"What is that thing?" she asked finally.

"A wraith. There's more of them here than at our old dorm. Kkura-unnie is trying to figure out why."

"Do…do you guys do this all the time?" Eunchae still felt lost. "How have I never noticed?"

Kazuha finished cleaning and washing her hands and leaned her hip against the counter. Eunchae noticed that Kazuha looked as exhausted as she herself felt. "Not all the time. It's a once-in-a-while thing. That wraith was a sasaeng. Chaewon suspected she'd try something, but we didn't expect her to break into our dorm. We didn't really have a choice in how we dealt with it."

"Are all sasaengs wraiths?"

"No. Most are just people.” She paused. “A shocking amount are liches, though.”

"Oh. Cool." Eunchae felt faint. She walked over to the kitchen table and sat down heavily in a chair, burying her head in folded hands.
Kazuha crossed the room to sit next to her and pulled Eunchae one-armed into a hug.

"Manchae, don't cry. I know it's a lot. I had nightmares for a week after my first kill."

Eunchae hadn't even realized she was crying until Kazuha mentioned it. She lifted her head to wipe the tears away from her eyes and tamped down her quiet sobs. She was sure she looked absolutely pitiful, but she had the right, didn't she? Her group members were monster hunters. Her group members had been monster hunters for..for how long?

"How long have you been doing this?"

"I've only known it for a few months, but the others have been at it since debut. Chaewon and Kkura taught Yunjin. Apparently, it was a whole thing in IZ*ONE."

"IZ*ONE was a cult?"

"I mean, no? Other idols do it too. It’s more common than you'd think. Personally, I find the whole thing a bit...much. And above our pay grade." Kazuha grimaced. "You're not supposed to be involved until you're twenty, but Yunjin slipped up and left her bloody bat where I could see it."

"They're not very good at this secret thing," Eunchae said weakly.

Kazuha sighed. "No, they're really not. But they're good at monster hunting. They help a lot of people. And they would never let anything happen to you or me. They didn't want you to have to worry about something like this until you absolutely had to."

Eunchae thought back to everyone's expressions in the living room. Everyone had been tense, but although Eunchae had at first interpreted it as anger, or even aggression, she now saw it more as fear for Eunchae's safety, or possibly fear of her response. They didn't want Eunchae to think badly of them.

A bit of shame curled in Eunchae's gut. How could she doubt her members so easily? She should know by now that they'd never hurt her.

"Don't feel guilty," Kazuha said, reading Eunchae's mind. "I think you had a perfectly normal reaction to the situation. I mean, monster hunters?"

Kazuha rolled her eyes. "I didn't even see a body, so Kkura spent an hour convincing me not to call the police."

"You would call the police on them?" Eunchae asked.

"You're asking if I would call the police on serial killers?" Kazuha was incredulous. "I would turn in my own mother if I thought she was bashing people's heads in with a baseball bat."

"Well thank god we're not killing real people then."

Eunchae turned to see Yunjin leaning against the wall in the hallway, still in her bloody clothes. Her smile was strained. The air smelled strongly of bleach.

"Thank you for staying with her, Kazuha," Yunjin said.

Kazuha shrugged. "I wasn't going to help you with the body either way."

Yunjin huffed, then fixed her gaze on Eunchae, eyes wary. "How are you feeling, baby?"

Eunchae looked at Kazuha, who gave her an encouraging nod. She swallowed, the bitterness of bile still pungent on the back of her tongue, and faced Yunjin again. "I feel alright now. I'm sorry I freaked out earlier. I promise I'm not scared of you all."

Yunjin let out a deep breath. "Thank god," she said, painfully relieved. "And don't apologize for freaking out. We're sorry that you had to see that. Literally just wipe tonight from your memory and don't worry about it anymore."

Eunchae had no idea how on earth she was supposed to do that, but if this really was just a thing that idols did, maybe it was just part of protocol. She was only sixteen, which Eunchae personally felt was way too young to be going around merking zombies left and right even if there hadn't been an official rule about it.

"Where are Chaewon and Sakura-unnie?"

"Making some calls," Yunjin said vaguely. "Do you want to talk to them?"

"Don't I have to?"

"Well, yes, but I was trying to give you a sense of agency," Yunjin admitted. "We can wait until tomorrow, though."

As if Eunchae was going to get any sleep after this.

"No, it's fine. We can do it now." Eunchae didn't consider herself a very good actress at all, but she was doing a pretty good of convincing herself, at least, that this was all normal and fine, and that she had nothing to worry about. And maybe if she could convince herself, it might be enough to appease the others. She couldn't have them thinking they'd traumatized her for life. Sure, they had, but Eunchae thought that under ideal circumstances they wouldn't have done it on purpose.

Yunjin either believed her or was taking advantage of her willingness to cooperate, because she didn't attempt to verify a second time. She just held out a hand, and this time Eunchae actually stepped forward and took it. Yunjin's hands were cold, as if she'd just been outside, but they were clean, no sign of blood or dirt on them at all.

"Let's go wait in the other dorm. The solvents we use to get ichor out of carpet make me want to hurl."

Eunchae just clutched onto Yunjin's hand tighter and nodded. She reached a hand back for Kazuha, giving her best pout to urge the other girl forward, but she needn't have expended the effort, because Kazuha was already walking towards them. She laced her fingers tightly with Eunchae's.

"Change your shirt first, unnie. You're a walking biohazard," Kazuha requested. "I'll walk Eunchae over."

Yunjin waved away the concern. "Our dorm has seen worse than a bloody t-shirt. It’s fine.”

Kazuha sighed, long-suffering, but followed dutifully as Yunjin led their little chain out of the hallway. The two older girls didn't spare a single glance at the spot in the living room where the wraith's remains lay, but when Eunchae looked from the corner of her eye, breath held against the competing smell of blood and chemicals, she saw the floor a pristine white-as if there'd never been a body there at all.

[FILL] if there's no tomorrow

[skyclectic]

Characters/Ship: Sana/Nayeon
Tags: Post-Apocalypse AU, Established Relationship, Love In A Hopeless Place, Non-liner Narrative
Permission to Remix: Yes
AO3 Link
-

Please don’t be fooled by the lies that there is no light anywhere
Together, we’re going to have a dream we’ve never seen before.
― Everglow, First



But I like the way you feel
In the flames of the candle
― Fletcher, War Paint


Sana startles awake at the sound of a loud metallic clang, reaching immediately for the dagger next to her head. She only relaxes, dropping the knife back onto her makeshift bed, when she registers that it’s just Nayeon.

Just Nayeon with smudges of dirt on her cheeks and a sheepish heart-shaped smile. Nayeon holds out the can in her hand, looking at Sana with a tenderness that cleaves Sana’s heart in two. Like she’s offering Sana the world instead of baked beans.

Sana takes the can with a small smile that she presses to the corner of Nayeon’s mouth. She delights in the way Nayeon lowers her gaze, suddenly shy, a pretty pink tint seared over her cheeks. Sana brushes her thumb over the curve of Nayeon’s dirt-stained rosy cheek. “Thank you, Nayeonnie.”

After months of surviving on cans of baked beans and soup, Sana can hardly stand the taste anymore. But she’s long given up the heart to refuse Nayeon anything. So, she forces herself to swallow the damn beans.

“I have something for you,” Nayeon says after Sana puts down her empty can.

Sana blinks, only now noticing the hand Nayeon has carefully hidden behind her back. There's a hint of nervousness deepening in Nayeon’s eyes as she holds out Sana’s gift.

“I found them at the other corner of the warehouse.” Nayeon bites her lip, gaze raking over Sana’s face, carefully taking in Sana’s reaction. “It’s not the same as pearls but I thought –”

Sana steals the rest of the words right out of her mouth. Because Nayeon has made her a necklace of wild flowers. And it’s both sweet and romantic, in a way that only the end of the world can bring.

Nayeon pulls away and there’s a wondrous glimmer in her eyes as she coaxes Sana to lift her hair. Her fingers are gentle as she slips the woven necklace around Sana’s neck.

Sana kisses her again like this, with Nayeon’s hands curled around her nape, and Nayeon’s love for her resting against the base of her throat where her heart beats.



Sana screams when she’s violently tugged into the laundromat she’s passing by. It takes her a few more seconds of struggling to recognise that the woman before her is Nayeon. She’d met Nayeon days ago in a cafe just down the street from her hotel. They were supposed to go on a date tomorrow, after Sana’s gala dinner for her company’s 50th anniversary.

But then, the meteor hit and it’s a miracle Sana had even made it out of the hotel in one piece. She’s still in her dress – an evening gown that’s made of too much fabric and weighs a ton. The gala dinner was themed Royal Ball and Sana had planned her outfit for months. It feels excessive now.

“It’s not safe out there,” Nayeon says, dragging Sana further into the laundromat, all the way to a back room marked Employees Only. “Let’s stay here for the night.”

She sits Sana down on one of the chairs and hands Sana a bottle of water. After Sana drinks half of it, Nayeon uses the remaining water to gently wipe the makeup off Sana’s face. Sana lets her, still too stunned by what had happened.

“Shit, I’m sorry,” Nayeon says hastily when she accidentally nicks the necklace around Sana’s neck. Nayeon looks so apologetic that it makes Sana want to laugh because who the hell needs an expensive necklace in this kind of situation?

“It’s okay,” she says with a wry twist of her lips, watching as pearls scatter all over the floor.



“How about Hawaii?”

“Hawaii?”

“There are beautiful beaches there we could visit.”

Nayeon does this, sometimes. She’ll pretend that there’s life after this. As if their entire world isn’t confined to empty shells of broken buildings and lonely dead-end roads too full of rubble to navigate through. As if there’s more on their horizon than trying to survive through another hopeless day.

Sana always indulges her. Survival is more than ensuring she doesn’t starve or waste away. And she’ll do whatever it takes to keep Nayeon alive, to keep Nayeon here with her.

“Sure,” she says as a grin blossoms on Nayeon’s face. Sana smiles, teasing. “Is this your way of saying you want to see me in a hot bikini?”

She giggles when Nayeon turns scarlet, spluttering. Sana buries her face in the crook of Nayeon’s neck, chuckling again at Nayeon’s half-hearted grumbles.

It doesn’t take too long for Nayeon to settle, curling an arm around Sana’s waist. Sana exhales slowly, eyes fluttering closed to the sound of Nayeon’s steady heartbeats.



They find a standalone Starbucks in a building that’s mostly intact. The only signs of damage are shattered glass walls, fragments of glass littering the floor and tables like diamonds.

All the pastries and cakes in the display are mould-infested but Nayeon discovers boxes of biscuits and bottled water in the storeroom that they can take.

As Nayeon packs the newfound supplies, Sana makes them coffee in chipped mugs she finds on the counter.

They sit in the middle of the ruined cafe, enjoying their coffee and each other’s company. If not for the destruction all around them, it feels exactly like being on a date.

“Doesn’t this remind you of the first time we met?” Nayeon says, eyes crinkled into pretty crescents.

She knows Nayeon had meant it to be nostalgic. But Sana can’t help the way her heart sinks beneath waves of longing and bone-deep regret.

“I wish I had met you earlier,” Sana says softly. Maybe if they did, they’d have time to be something more than the only two people left alive in a burning world.

They could have been so much more than this.

Nayeon must be able to hear the wistfulness in her voice because she reaches out, taking Sana’s hand in hers.

“I know. But this is what we have now.” Nayeon presses a coffee-tinged kiss to the cradle of Sana’s palm. And suddenly, Sana can breathe again. Nayeon always feels like coming up for fresh air after being underwater.

“I’m glad it’s you, Sana,” Nayeon tells her fiercely. Earnestly. Sincerely. “I’m glad I’m here with you.”



The cafe is mostly empty when Sana steps inside, cloaked in a quiet mid-afternoon lull. She stands in front of the counter, ignoring the pointed glare from the teenager manning the register, and takes her time to contemplate the menu.

“I hear the Lavender Mocha is really good,” a voice says from somewhere to her left.

Sana turns, meeting a warm, honeyed gaze. The first thing she notices is that the woman in front of her is pretty, carrying an air of elegance in her crisp black blazer. Sana thinks she would not look out of place in a movie or perhaps on stage, in one of those idol groups everyone seems to go crazy over.

She tilts her head, taking in the woman’s easy smile and decides to take a chance. Something tells her she should take the recommendation, and also not let this woman leave the cafe without getting to know her first.

It’s a strange compulsion, almost like the universe is nudging Sana to reach out and build a connection. Almost like it’s telling her that if she plays her cards right, this stranger can be so much more.

She turns back to the cashier, now scowling at this interaction unfolding before the counter, and orders two Lavender Mochas. She glances at the woman and there’s definitely vested interest playing around her beautiful, brown eyes. Sana smiles, slow and steady. The kind of smile she knows is hard to resist. “I ordered one for you too. If you have the time to join me?”

The woman laughs, cheeks dusted a pretty tinge of pink. Sana can already imagine collecting future memories shaped around that sweet laughter. She holds out her hand, “Minatozaki Sana. Thank you for the recommendation. I’m sure I’ll love it just as much as I’ll love the company.”

The woman takes her hand and maybe it’s the way she’s looking at Sana, but her heart flutters at the touch. “Im Nayeon. Don’t thank me yet. You might find me to be the most boring person you’ll ever meet.”

“I find that hard to believe,” Sana says, just as the barista calls out their drink orders. “You’re already a breath of fresh air, Nayeon-ssi.”



Time has slipped through Sana’s fingers; she’s long lost track of what month it is and of how long it’s been since.

All she knows is that they’re down to their last candle. Burning with a tiny flickering flame that brings neither warmth nor much light on yet another cold, sleepless night.

Sana takes in a deep breath and it rattles hollow in her lungs. Her heart is cold, heavy with frost and stuck in perpetual winter.

Behind her, Nayeon shifts. Icy fingers sneak underneath Sana’s shirt and sweep up and down her side before laying claim on the span of skin just over the crescent of her hip.

“Sleep.” Nayeon presses her lips to Sana’s shoulder, lingering over the healed scar there – a knife wound from one of the bandits they ran into some time back. Before everything and everyone faded away. It feels like an entire lifetime ago now.

For a moment, Sana loses herself in the swirling eddy of memories and leftover ghosts of everything they’ve lost. For a moment, she allows herself to forget that the world has turned to dust around them.

That they’re all they have left.

She shifts, coaxing Nayeon to curl around her until it’s hard to tell where their disparate edges meet. She brings her hand up to lace her fingers with the hand Nayeon has anchored around her hip.

For now, all Sana needs is this.

Re: [FILL] sweet chaos

[pantomimes]

Nayeon looks healthy and whole, and every bit like she could be the love of Sana’s life.
i could DIE… sanayeon are so dear to me.

this is better than anything i could’ve imagined when i first sent the prompt, thank you so much for filling it and doing it so perfectly!!

Re: [FILL] scariest girl on the cheerleading team

[pantomimes]

the mimin meal was great thank you…

save your love

[hyojungss]

Characters/Ship: any
Tags: in love with your (best) friend who thinks she's in love with someone else
Prompt:

Oh no, she's waiting for no one
Hold on, hold on, I’m a block away

Save your love for someone like me
You don't have to be a part-time
Susie, save your love, and take mine from me

-- susie save your love, allie x ft. mitski

[hyojungss]

Characters/Ship: any
Tags:
Prompt:

I was drinking in the daylight
I was looking for a way to tell you
That without you I don't feel right
Killing myself just to understand you

How could I see you with anyone but me?

-- can't help myself; now, now

(the whole song is like... you like your friend but you can't tell how they feel about you, which probably means they don't like you that way, which means you should stop fantasizing about being with them #___# reality hurts girls)

[FILL] things we carry to the sea

[spasi]

Characters/Ship: red velvet seulgi/wendy
Tags: exes, everything reminds me of you but really its just me remembering how you remember me, mention of blood
Permission to Remix: Yes
-

Seulgi still dreams of the sea in her hometown.

Her mother used to take her around the harbor with her old bike and she would tell stories of the ocean and the secret it keeps.

Do you see those waves, Seul-ah? The sea is never asleep, even on its calmest days, it’s never still. They’re always chasing back the land, no matter where in the world you go. You have to be careful of all their dangers, but if you know where to look, you’ll see all their wonders, too.

She remembers the small ‘lost and found’ station run by the local fishermen, a big box full of objects said to be found in the sea. She never once saw anyone claim a name to them and once asked her mother if she could take a small hairpin she got her eyes on. You shouldn’t take others’ belongings without their permission, my princess, her mother said while brushing her hair. But they never came by to take it, she doesn’t say.

By the end of the year it had turned from a box to two.

At ten, they’re just any other objects—hair tie, shoes, torn books, scarf—things that left her a wonder for life beyond the sand of her home. At twenty, they make her stomach turn over in a way that she can’t explain. Sometimes some things lost are lost forever.

In her dreams, the waves are gentle when they reach her feet and there is an empty box next to her with a familiar ‘lost and found’ tag on it.

When Seulgi wakes up it’s always the same: her skin is itching how it only ever is when she needs to feel the weight of water on it.



Seulgi dreams of her kitchen.

Seungwan likes it here, the natural lighting is so good, I always wanted to have a kitchen like this, she says. Then you can have it, just live here, Seulgi replies—some say it might even sound like a silent plea. Seungwan laughs brightly at the blatant proposal, only moves behind Seulgi to tie her hair carefully.

“You’re making sujebi, right? Need me to get something?” Seungwan asks, her breath warm on the back of her neck.

“I have a list.” Seulgi takes off a piece of paper latched on the fridge and hands it to her.

Later, she would receive a photo of a bear-shaped chocolate drink from Seungwan with a message: it reminds me of my friend seulgi, do you know her? ㅋㅋ



“You like Klimt.”

“I do.” Seulgi answers. “Why?”

“There’s an exhibition in Jeju.”

Seulgi jumps, runs to where Seungwan is sitting to look at her phone. Bunker de Lumieres, sixteenth of November, it doesn’t look real to her. Seulgi glances sideways and meet Seungwan’s eyes, her smile is wide enough to reach each corner of her eyes. It looks more real, now.

“Let’s go.”



“Oh? When did you take this?”

Seungwan doesn’t answer, only beams and lets Seulgi browse through the pictures she had taken of her as if saying: here, look at this, this is how I see you. Seungwan has this way of seeing things as they are, asking nothing except for them to simply continue to be, like being is enough.

Seulgi is no exception.

“You’ve gotten better.” Seulgi wonders what kind of look Seungwan has while capturing her flat on the square of her screen.

“Right?” Seungwan says, thrilled. “You always take pictures of me like this.”



This is the first time the sky looks so blue in her dreams.

She so rarely thinks of Seungwan without thinking of blue, of light slanting through the window as Seungwan plays a song on her guitar and sings for Seulgi, of the glint of in her eye that turns golden where the sun touches, of a smile that once meant something to her, and still does.



The next time Seulgi dreams, there is a mirror in front of her.

She catches her reflection in it and suddenly looking at herself becomes a hard task. So this is how you might see me.

She couldn’t help imagining Seungwan’s face staring back at her in the mirror and, just once, she wanted to see what Seungwan would look like all broken up. Like her.

Her knuckles bloom a shade of red when she’s finished with the mirror. It’s hot and bright down her wrist, if anything, Seulgi thinks it’s too pretty. She thinks about that red and imagines Seungwan with her, maybe, the only beauty on par for challenge is the sight of Seungwan who might take Seulgi’s hand to her mouth and kiss it so her lips would come off the same red.

You see, Seulgi likes to make herself laugh this way, imagining things.

She places the shards of glass inside the box, one by one, her hands smeared with blood.

When she wakes up, they are clean.



Seungwan appears one night in her dream.

She’s already waist-deep in the water and the tide is pushing against her mildly. Her shirt is hanging off her shoulder, and in her hands are shards of glass with all its edges leveled. She doesn’t get washed ashore towards Seulgi, she is so still it makes Seulgi restless.

She flinches when Seungwan—dream Seungwan—finally speaks, “What are you doing here?”

“It’s my dream.”

“Why am I here?”

“I’m not quite sure.” Seulgi says, her gaze lowering. “Maybe I’ve been thinking about you too much.”

“Why?”

Half a laugh is forced out of her lungs at this. Because I still love you, and I know you don’t anymore. I want to be with you, I want it all, I want you to be with me today, tomorrow, and even the day after, and you. Do you know what you’ve been doing to me? Making this graveyard of a sea all around me, leaving something of yourself behind so I would pick up my spoonful of sujebi and taste you, feel your skin like a sheet of paper when it brushes my hand, hear your voice in every shutter of my cameras. You did this and I didn’t even know it until all this water overflowed as I tried so hard to keep them at bay.

“Guess I’m just counting my losses for the year.”

“And I’m one of them?”

“I didn’t want you to be.”

“Seulgi.” It’s the first time in so long she heard her name from Seungwan, it all felt a little too real to be a mere dream. “It doesn’t have to be a loss.”

Seulgi wakes up, wishing she didn’t.



One day the dreams stop, but Seulgi doesn’t forget.

She gathers the stuff she doesn’t use anymore, some reminding her of Seungwan, and puts them in a box. She rows for the harbor and places it where the ‘lost and found’ tag is still hanging, rusty and jagged.

FREE TO TAKE, she writes on the box with a marker.

Every other day Seulgi will take her bike and imagine she is ten again, with her mother on the pedal. She would pass by the harbor and see the box there, tomorrow and the day after, until it disappears. She never stops passing by, taking her time inhaling the salt in the air and the never still water.

There’s a metaphor somewhere in there for how all seas are one. Maybe this water she’s walking on will simply curve itself and turn her path over and bring her where she starts, whether that be further or closer to Seungwan.

Maybe by letting things get lost, she can feign some time as an excuse to find them, or herself.

And then, well.

Then Seulgi doesn’t know what she will do, only that this wind rushing past her doesn’t feel so suffocating for the first time.

[spasi]

Characters/Ship: any
Tags: midnight motorbike ride, watching the world wakes up
Prompt:

I casually put on this black jacket
And sneak into the pitch-black night
I twirl my long hair up and around twice
And then hide it inside the helmet
The cold morning air
Wraps around my entire body

— Anywhere But Home, SEULGI

[(Anonymous)]

Characters/Ship: xiaoting/yurina (gp999)
Tags: any
Prompt:

I keep thinking about something Orson Welles once said. Something like, if you... If you want a happy ending, it all depends on where you stop telling your story. Maybe that's how people keep marching forward. If something goes wrong in there, something happens to me... When you tell my story years from now... Please tell them the one about how I lost my way, and then I found it again. And- and- just...end it there. That will keep everyone smiling.

- Subject 17 - Memo 4, from Assassins' Creed 4: Black Flag

Re: [FILL] Hold On Tight

[(Anonymous)]

Excellent action and intriguing worldbuilding and characters! I really enjoyed reading. I'm OP, thank you so much!