madeoutcreek | overdue 17hols post

SOME THOUGHTS

*gets on soapbox* this was the only writing i did all of winter so that was nice. i started like 5 more fills by round 2 but never got around to finishing them up or editing them LOL. i feel like my fic writing changed and grew a lot even within the last couple of months? like even though i wasn't writing as regularly i become more cognizant... i think? i wish i didn't burn out post round 1 but that's really just so on-brand for me. AND THE FILLS I RECEIVED... they were sooo lovely i thoroughly enjoyed reading everyone's interpretations of my deranged prompts and seeing them in my inbox :] i think i will be participating next year but i need to take it less seriously idk... also i lowkey got sick of posting shortfic so for the rest of the year im trying my hardest to write longer things (this is going poorly rn bc school but im trying to be positive about it) i think i also expected a little more engagement at first but its not that serious plus im pretty shit at making online friends anyway sfjdgjf

SOME THROWAWAYS... IDK

But Joshua still found it in himself to feel a little grateful, even though Jeonghan’s offer was really just a request for unpaid house-sitting. He probably feels really guilty about letting Joshua ever leave his sights in the first place, and is trying to reverse what is irreversible. That’s okay. Joshua lets himself go along with it. He loves him, even when it looks like this. Even when Jeonghan does whatever he can just to have Joshua back in his soft palms, the same way a god would.

Joshua doesn’t know exactly what led him to take him up on the offer. Maybe he’s just as easy as Jeonghan assumed he was, and he wants a piece of Jeonghan near him while he’s away like a safety blanket.

Either that, or he’d accidentally let himself get sent away.

Wide awake, Joshua sits up on the bed and glances at the window, and finds nothing. The sound of labored, heavy breathing continues, slowly intensifying like a heart’s pulse. Joshua knows about things of life and nature. He knows that there has to be a body to take breaths like that.

So now they have something, and it happens out of order. They are going to try to make something click and fit, inside of them both. If it doesn’t work, they will most likely try again.

“Lighten up,” Wonwoo half-jokes instead, dodging him. “I’m just being nice.”

Seungcheol quickly gets in the driver’s seat and glances at Wonwoo for a moment, curious eyebrows taking a new shape as his gaze moves along the length of Wonwoo’s body.

His eyes flick back up to Wonwoo. Water keeps dripping from his bangs onto his nose. There is no longer a question lingering between them, but a demand.

Soonyoung’s hair is falling out in clumps.

Or—Soonyoung’s hair was falling out in clumps, several hours ago when he was showering. Thin, ugly tufts of soapy platinum blonde had landed on the shower pan like bits of duckling fuzz between his feet. He’d immediately stopped working the shampoo into his scalp then, trying to minimize whatever breakage he could. It hadn’t been the first time he had bleached his hair, but it was the first time his scalp had felt so… tender. Almost painful. He saved himself the strain of going in with a conditioner and got out of the shower. Tried to go about his day.

An entire schedule later, and he’s in the backstage bathroom having a breakdown. Hands tightly gripping the counter, and then his face scrunching up into a terrible pucker because he’s trying his best not to cry in the mirror.

Soonyoung can’t go bald—he’s too young and his head is seriously way too enormous for it. And more importantly, he’s an idol. He needs his hair. He needs to be able to dye and bleach and manipulate his hair if he’s going to continue being an idol. His appearance is meant to be pliable, meant to be masculine and feminine and plucked away at and shaved and picked and pulled apart.

This is what the job entails.

“Me and Mingyu aren’t friends anymore,” announces Seokmin midway into the lunch period, unceremoniously plopping himself at the table Jihoon’s seated at. “Just letting you know.”

Jihoon’s hand freezes as he’s reaching for more white rice. The steam wafts in the air and fogs his lenses. “Really,” he says absently. “What’d he do to you?”

The unsaid implication of his words–it was Mingyu’s fault–has Seokmin speechless and sputtering for a brief moment. “Um, well. I think– I think it was, uh, kind of a collaborative effort?”

“Sounds friendly to me,” Jihoon responds lazily in between a careful mouthful of rice. It is so, so warm. He doesn’t care about Seokmin and Mingyu’s supposedly ailing friendship, not right now, anyway.

“No! No, it wasn’t friendly. I just mean, I didn’t let him hurt me, or something. We fought fairly and equally. With magic. Obviously.” Seokmin clenches his fingers into angry fists on the wood table, exhaling.

Jihoon’s eyes go wide. “Uh-huh. Using magic at a magic school, right.”

“I mean he didn’t beat me just because I’m weak or something, because I’m not.”

“Of course you aren’t,” Jihoon says. Slowly, he shuts his lunch box. “You’re one of the most capable students here. Right?”

“Right,” Seokmin murmurs. He doesn’t look so convinced of either of their words.

“So,” Jihoon continues. “There was… a fight? A duel? Set the scene for me, since you’ve interrupted my lunch.”

“Oh,” Seokmin whispers, wide eyes finally taking account of Jihoon’s bored expression and the chopsticks in his hand that he’s now rendered useless for the moment. He has half a heart to look guilty about it. “Sorry, Jihoonie. But it—it’s important! Mingyu crossed a line!”

He’s still talking around the root of the situation, Jihoon realizes, because it’s Seokmin, who’s usually apologetic with his words and feelings–except for when the tempestuous storm is directed at Mingyu, apparently.

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

From:

seokmin_liker

hello i'm glad 17hols was a good experience for you!! totally get what you mean about burning out after round 1 lmao... but i adored your fills. like not to be me but your seokgyus in particular were exquisite. and the gyuhan gerri/roman!!! i think about it all the time. hope ur well <3

madeoutcreek

ahhh thank you so much for the kind words and encouragement it means so much to me ♡ i think i read a couple of your fills but i'll definitely go back and read them. hope you are doing well too!!

sof

overdue 17hols post

overdue 17hols post

no subject

no subject