avirjin: (Default)
Title: Taking that First Step
Fandom: Exo
Focus: Suho-centric, Kai/Suho
Genre: Gen
Rating: G
Length: Drabble, 200 words
Summary: Junmyeon and Jongin aren't quite friends. Not yet, anyway. 




His knee twinges just looking at the staircase leading out of SM's basement level. It’s a familiar feeling – the ache, the weariness – and Junmyeon wishes Minho was still around to help him up.

“Sunbae,” Someone calls out, hesitant, distant. A voice he’s not intimately familiar with, that has always lingered in his periphery instead. “Need some help?”

Junmyeon turns back towards Taemin’s friend, a polite smile masking his earlier grimace. “Oh, Jongin, you didn’t leave yet?”

“Lost track of time,” Jongin explains quietly. Junmyeon expects the conversation to stop there considering their admittedly impersonal interactions usually end that quickly, but Jongin surprises him. “Is your leg hurting? I could give you a lift.”

The concern is new. From how he usually rejected Junmyeon’s friendly offers of after lesson meals, it had seemed like Jongin only cared about his dance practices. Junmyeon feels his smile softening into something real.

“I’d appreciate that,” Junmyeon says, choosing honesty over courtesy for once since Jongin’s done the same. “Hyung will treat you to ddeokbokki later, okay?” he insists as they start slowly making their way up.

“You don’t have to…”

This time though, Junmyeon doesn’t think he’ll let Jongin get away with a no.







Original Post: Here.
Cross-posted:
Here.
Prompt: It all begins (began) here.
Author's Note: Written for EM's EX'ACT Drabble Competition's final round. Inspired by several anecdotes shared by Suho. The first (if I remember correctly) was that he and Kai were not actually that close until about two years into their training together, the second was that Suho would regularly treat the other trainees to food, and the third was that during their predebut period when Suho had his leg injury (around 2008-2009), Kai would offer to give him piggyback rides when leaving the practice rooms because Suho was in so much pain and he would've had to walk up and down the stairs in the SM building otherwise.

Suho and Kai's relationship has always been something I'm fond of looking at, not just because I ship them lol, but because they were the two longest trainees and they were both very close with SHINee. I wanted to write from that angle, that due to not being close yet, they might've seen each other as the "friend of a friend". It actually doesn't show too much, but I also wanted there to be an underlying current of... Not quite heartache, not quite loneliness, but something close? After Super Junior debuted in 2005, SM had wiped out most of their male trainees, to the point where Jonghyun was mentioned as either one of the few remaining trainees left before SM accepted more, or the first of the new generation of trainees that would eventually become SHINee and EXO. And Junmyeon was right there around the same period, and if I remember correctly from what Chanyeol and Sehun once mentioned, he was considered part of the "hyung/sunbae" group of trainees. He was rather close to SHINee, especially Jonghyun and Minho, to the point where they thought they might debut together, but then SHINee debuted and his leg injury happened and no one knows what happened in what order but I think I wanted the aching feeling Suho feels in this drabble to be the result of both, although it can easily be attributed more to the physical pain. But Suho here is also feeling worn down because his closest friends have debuted without him. A lonely feeling. And it doesn't show quite as much, but I originally wanted Kai to feel something similar due to the absence of Taemin and how that would affect his rather introverted nature. Maybe it made him more willing to reach out to something like Suho after their initial interactions seemed to do the exact opposite of taking off. Who knows. But in the end, they became very close, although I couldn't show that here obviously. Close to the point where Suho was considered Kai's mentor, where Kai was the one Suho went to when he ran away from home. 

I think friendships, relationships are interesting, probably because I'm not so great at them myself. I wanted this drabble to be about how the two of them had to reach out for each other, and maybe it was in extenuating circumstances where Suho needed the physical aid or they were both lonely because they had been left behind by those closest to them. But more than that, there had to be earnestness on both sides I guess? Kai's earnest desire to help someone, Suho's earnest gratitude rather than the polite courtesy and his own desire to truly deepen their burgeoning friendship.  

By the way, the "step" in the title is a pun. First step up the stairs, first step of their friendship. Not a very good one, but a pun nonetheless lol
avirjin: (Default)
Title: Winter Delivery
Fandom: Exo
Focus: Kai-centric, Kai/Suho
Genre: Fluff
Rating: G
Length: Drabble, 351 words
Summary: Jongin and Junmyeon take a walk in the snow.




Junmyeon sneezes, the sound so abrupt and tiny and ridiculously cute that it reminds Jongin of when one of his babies do the exact same.

"Please don't compare me to your dogs, Jongin," Junmyeon reminds him with a wry smile, "no matter how cute they are." It's obvious he's not in a bad mood though, Junmyeon rarely really is around him, even when they're out in the cold he hates so very much. At least it's not snowing, though Jongin wouldn't have minded that at all. Little flakes of snow landing on his tongue, on Junmyeon's hair. That wouldn't have been so bad.

"How much longer until we get there anyway?" Junmyeon asks, leaning in closer to him. They're standing shoulder to shoulder now, and even through layers and layers of sweaters and coats, Jongin feels his arm burn from the contact.

"Not much further. Thanks for coming with me, hyung."

The smile Junmyeon gives him is blinding, not too different from the ones he's always offering up to the cameras, to their fans but despite having seen it hundreds and thousands of times, Jongin still feels his cheeks warm when it's directed so obviously at him. "I haven't seen your parents in a long time. I should let them know I'm still taking good care of their maknae."

Jongin looks down at the small pile of neatly wrapped presents in Junmyeon's arms though. The gifts themselves aren't burdeningly huge -- in fact, they're all rather tiny in size -- but there's so many of them. "You didn't have to bring them anything though. Mom said so."

"Only the top two are for your parents," Junmyeon says, clutching the pile even closer to his body, as if they were heat packs rather than little boxes probably poking into his skin, "the rest of these are for your babies." This time, Jongin doesn't get to see the way Junmyeon smiles, whether it's filled with pride or even a little sheepishness, because Junmyeon hides it behind the scarf around his neck, wound almost as tightly around him as his grip around Jongin's heart.







Original Post: Here.
Prompt:
Hey, it's winter. So let's do cute winter things.
Author's Note: Written for a Pursuit during SWAU. Don't talk to me about titles, I'm going through a dry spell. But honestly, there's something sweet about a guy who would not only give your parents Christmas presents, but your beloved dogs as well. I know at the time I wrote this, I had an inkling of how it's also sweet because while Kai seems somewhat religious according to rumors, Suho is Buddhist and thus technically wouldn't celebrate Christmas except socially, not that he'd be the first Buddhist to lol. Small things, small romances.

avirjin: (Default)
Title: Unnecessary
Fandom: Exo
Focus: Jongin-centric, Kai/Suho
Genre: General
Rating: G
Length: Drabble, 456 words
Summary: In Jongin's opinion, Junmyeon does too much for him. To him.




"Take some more," Junmyeon says, using his pair of metal chopsticks to snatch a slice of sizzling pork belly from underneath Chanyeol's nose and set it down on Jongin's plate. The only thing that keeps Jongin from thanking him -- ready to shove aside that childish resistance, the urge to say "I could've gotten it myself" without meaning it -- is that Junmyeon immediately sets his sights on Moonkyu's plate, and then Sehun's. 
 
Jongin lowers his gaze and plucks the piece of meat up, only to drop it back on his plate. 
 
"Don't play with your food," Minseok says from the other end of the booth, and Jongin hates how that immediately makes Junmyeon turn back to him with a small frown. 
 
He looks like he's about to say something -- only three years older, only a year more of experience in the company and Junmyeon thinks he's some sort of super sunbae -- but instead, he turns back to Minseok and says cheekily, "not all of us are old in both age and at heart, Minseok-ah." 
 
The rest of the trainees laugh in-between bites of food, gulps of cider. Jongin tries to too, as Minseok playfully grumbles about Junmyeon having no place to speak, about the hypocrisy of calling him old, but not hyung, but it's not the full-bellied, back-slapping laughter he's prone to. 
 
Jongin pretends he doesn't notice Junmyeon slipping him another slice of meat again, ignoring it once again for the kimchi on the other side of the plate. It's sour and tangy in his mouth, and his throat thirsts for grease and fat and comfort even as the smoke from the table's grill chokes him. 
 
"I'm going to get some air," someone else says before Jongin gets to, forcing everyone to move out of the narrow booth. There's enough of them that there's tripping over feet, the shameless theft of food from each other's plates; in the chaos, Jongin feels frail fingers wrap around his wrist and tug him towards the doors of the restaurant. 
 
Junmyeon's hair is gross from sweat, from both practice and being in a crowded space with half a dozen other guys. It reflects the orange of the street lights, moreso than the build-up of oil on his face. It's a familiar sight. 
 
"You didn't have to do that," Jongin says belatedly. Didn't have to give him the meat, didn't have to divert Minseok's attention, didn't have to give Jongin an out just because they both knew he'd rather be home in bed with an hot pad or a cold compress or something against his back, not like his ratty sweatshirt that's slowly growing tighter with every move Junmyeon makes.
 
Junmyeon lets go of his wrist, still smiling.







Original Post: Here. 
Prompt: "Do you think it's possible to love someone your whole life and never really realize it until something happens that makes you see?" - Rosalee Futch, Win a Date with Tad Hamilton!
Author's Note: Originally I was planning to compile my free kicks, but I decided to just post them separately instead. Why not. This was the first ever free kick I did, though it basically was the same as the old, prompted 30-minute challenges the writing memes used to do. Anyway, this is set pre-debut. I love the idea of Suho taking care of Kai since the time they were trainees up until now lol. I don't know if either of them are truly in love at this point, but at least Kai should be feeling that tenderness that is born when someone seems extra considerate of you lol The title comes from Suho's unnecessary actions and Kai's unnecessary reaction to them.
avirjin: (Default)
Title: Prices
Fandom: Exo
Focus: Suho-centric, slight Suho/Kai
Genre: Angst
Rating: PG-13
Length: Oneshot, 2623 words
Summary: As far as Junmyeon knows, there's no price too great for him to pay when it comes to his friends. Junmyeon doesn't know very much. Fullmetal Alchemist (2003 ver) AU.
Warning: Highlight to read. Non-explicit character death, as per the AU.





Water, 35 liters. Carbon, 20 kilograms. Ammonia, 4 liters. Lime, 1.5 kilograms. Phosphorus, 800 grams. Salt, 250 grams. Saltpeter, 100 grams. Sulfur, 80 grams. Fluorine, 7.5 grams. Iron, 5 grams. Silicon, 3 grams. And trace amounts of fifteen other elements.

Junmyeon is certain that while those are the correct measurements of the elements required to make an average adult human body. He's also certain that Oh Sehun was composed of both more and less than a such a cheap shopping list.

"But how do we account for his soul?" Jongin asks during their trip to Central. He trails behind Junmyeon, his steps slow and sluggish as he waits for Junmyeon to appraise yet another vial of saltpeter. They've spent the past few weeks visiting the finest apothecaries the nation could offer, window-shopping for the best ingredients money could buy. Only the richest -- and, of course, the State Military -- could afford such exorbiant prices, but for Junmyeon it might as well have been pocket change.

Like Sehun would have accepted being recomposed of sub-par materials simply bought from a local market.

One thing that Junmyeon's vast fortune couldn't buy though was the one thing Jongin had always been most concerned with, always bringing it up in their conversations ever since Junmyeon had finally let him in on the plan he'd spent the past seven years researching and preparing for. The human soul had always been a tricky thing to work around, but surely Junmyeon could figure something out now that he had Jongin on his side.

"Maybe if the two of us put a little more energy into the transmutation," he answers softly, but with very little confidence. He holds the vial of saltpeter closer to his eyes, examining it once more before setting it back on the shelf with a frown. With so many impurities, there's no way it'd hold up in an actual human transmutation. "Although I should still probably provide the bulk of it."

It's only right after all. It's Junmyeon's responsibility, Junmyeon's fault.

He reaches out to take Jongin's hand, already ready to head back over to the store's supply of lime, but Jongin manages to slip right out of his grasp and walk over to the display himself. Nineteen year old Jongin is a lot different from twelve year old Jongin, but at least that much hasn't changed.

"This looks good," Jongin comments, leaning over the display with his back facing Junmyeon. He's grown so tall, his shoulders so broad and muscled. Junmyeon wonders if Sehun would have grown up the same way, sprouting up like a particularly handsome sunflower. Always looking away from Junmyeon. "I think you should buy it."

And Junmyeon listens without even looking at the cost of the lime, eagerly pulling out his wallet and walking over to the clerk on his own. It's a small price to pay, comparatively.



Junmyeon's family owns an estate out in Resembool, one of the few properties to survive the town's bombing by Ishvalan terrorists in retribution for the civil war. That had been years ago, when Junmyeon had been a child and safely spirited away to Central for the time being. Despite the fact that his father had landed a solid position teaching at the capitol's top medical school and his much older brother had found himself a place in the Amestrian military academy, Junmyeon and his mother had returned to the family home once the conflict had ended.

That had been when he met Zitao, Jongin, and Sehun.

In spite of their age difference, Junmyeon thought of them as his friends. Maybe Zitao felt the same way, but Jongin and Sehun had always insisted on referring to him as their glorified babysitter. It wasn't too much of a stretch -- Junmyeon was the one to pick them all up from their houses in the morning and walk with them to the town's school-house, and a majority of his early adolescent years had been spent happily keeping an eye on them for their parents.

"Don't you ever get tired of this?" Jongin asked as he laid in the grass a healthy distance away from where Junmyeon was stretched out. Zitao and Sehun had been rolling around on the ground closer to the river and attempting to toss each other into the water, although Sehun's strategy seemed to involve more slumping on top of Zitao's body like a heavy rock than any actual force. "You're so old, and you're still hanging out with us kids."

"That's because I like you kids." Which was true. Junmyeon probably liked the three of them most out of all the people in his life.

And as he sat on one of Resembool's grassy banks, listening to Zitao and Sehun's playful yelps echo through the air and watching Jongin's hair ruffle in the summer breeze, he realized he'd do anything for them.

The year Junmyeon turns fifteen, Sehun collapses with very little warning in Junmyeon's house. So little warning that by the time Junmyeon finishes frantically telephoning his father in Central for medical advice -- because surely, surely, one of the top doctors in the country could easily fix this -- Sehun's been pronounced dead by the town's doctor for reasons Junmyeon still doesn't quite understand.

Everything about it is painfully short and frighteningly quick, passing through at whirlwind speeds before Junmyeon can even begin to understand anything.

By the end of the week, he's already watching Sehun's coffin close for the last time. Zitao is crying into his shoulder, his tears soaking through the brand new suit Junmyeon's mother had ordered just for the occasion. For the first time in a long while, Jongin is holding his hand of his own free will. It's smaller and less warm than Junmyeon had expected.

Junmyeon sleeps over at Jongin's in the weeks after, his own house haunted by all the memories of Sehun lounging around the house while petulantly asking for things, as well as the few times Junmyeon had refused him. Regret lingers in every corner, and every time he closes his eyes, he sees Sehun's face and finds himself wondering what he did wrong that day.

"You didn't do anything," Jongin says quietly each night, his voice steady and almost reassuring. He never reaches for Junmyeon's hand again though, and in the darkness of the room, Jongin's eyes accuse him instead.

He's right -- Junmyeon didn't do anything. He didn't do anything when Sehun had collapsed, when Sehun had laid there on the ground as his life slipped away.

"I'll figure something out," Junmyeon promises, more to himself than to Jongin or even Sehun. His fists tighten in the blankets, and he hears Jongin sigh before they drift off to sleep.



Alchemy.

That's the solution, or looks to be it anyway. Junmyeon finds out about it when a young man clad in the same blue military uniform as his brother comes into the town, flashing a silver pocketwatch at anyone who asked.

"Alchemy can be used to fix anything," the soldier had said, sitting in Sehun's chair as Junmyeon's mother fetched him a glass of tea, "for a price."

Junmyeon knows all about prices, even if he's never had to worry about paying for them. Not everything has a price -- if Junmyeon could buy alchemic talent, he would have done so immediately instead of struggling with the simplest of transmutation circles and chemical break-downs for so long -- but there are a lot of things Junmyeon can buy. Rare and expensive alchemy texts and the time and patience of the best alchemists willing to tutor him.

"Fifteen's a little old to start learning," one of them notes, looking over his glasses at Junmyeon like he's trying to break him down to his bare elements, "and you're saying you've never even tried before?"

Junmyeon flushes in embarrassment, his hands clenched into tights fists underneath the desk.

"I have motivation now. Determination."

If nothing else, Junmyeon proves that much. Jongin, who takes to coming along to Junmyeon's lessons now that one playmate is six feet under and the other has thrown himself head-first into his family's automail business, takes to the lessons much more quickly, already advancing well past Junmyeon by the end of their first year, but Junmyeon keeps at it.

"It feels good," Jongin says as he presses his hands to a transmutation circle drawn in the dirt. Blue light flares from the circle, and from the ground arises a life-size puppy chiseled out of rock. It looks suspiciously like one of his own dogs. "Having something to do with my hands. No wonder Zitao decided to take up automail. It's nice not feeling useless."

"Idle hands," Junmyeon replies as he, too, draws the now familiar alchemic runes into the soft earth. He tries for a different transmutation and winds up with a rough, rock goblet filled with water drawn up from the soil. Not too shabby.

While Junmyeon doesn't improve by the leaps and bounds Jongin does, he progresses at a steady rate. By the end of his sixth year of study, he's certain that he's almost ready, and on the sixth anniversary of Sehun's death, he gathers Jongin and Zitao and lets them in on his plan.

"Didn't you tell me human transmutation is illegal?" Zitao asks, now staring at Junmyeon with suspicion. He's nineteen and towers over Junmyeon now, and his disapproval is intimidating. Jongin, who is almost as tall and grown, stares at him with the same intensity.

Junmyeon bites his lip. "But it's Sehun." He knows his voice is heavy with desperation, but for good reason. With each year he struggles with alchemy, more of his memories of Sehun fade with time. How long until he forgets the sound of his awkward laugh, or the way his eyes narrowed whenever he grinned? Junmyeon doesn't think he can afford to wait any longer.

"Fuck, hyung. Was that the whole reason behind this?"

Jongin looks almost disappointed in him. Junmyeon can't even look at him when he silently nods.

He hears Jongin tell Zitao to leave, something about how they had to talk about this alchemist-to-alchemist, and as the front door closes, he braces himself. He tries to tell himself that nothing Jongin says to him can shake his resolve now, not after years of working up to this point -- but Jongin's previous words echo in his ears, speaking of nothing and uselessness.

Jongin will always hold power over Junmyeon, the same way Sehun still does from beyond the grave.

"You think you already know everything you need?" Jongin asks from the door, and Junmyeon can hear him slowly walking back over.

Junmyeon nods again, for some reason too nervous to open his mouth. His throat feels so dry.

He hears Jongin sigh again, just like that night so many years ago, and even with his eyes closed he can see the shadow Jongin casts as he stands over him.

"I wish you'd told me when we started this," Jongin mutters, and Junmyeon looks up in shock, "You know I want him back just as much as you do." He almost reaches out for Junmyeon's hand again, but stops himself just in time. "Let's do this, hyung."



They set up their purchases in Junmyeon's basement.

His mother has long left the Resembool estate, beckoned back to Central's bright lights and socialite circles, and with his brother still in the military, the running of the estate falls on Junmyeon's weak shoulders. He's a lenient master though, and when he tells the few servants he keeps around that they have the week off, no one is surprised.

"No disturbances," he promises Jongin as he lets him in through the front door, "just you and me."

Jongin just brushes past him, complaining of the summer heat.

It's cooler in the basement, where they spend hours drawing out the transmutation circle the two of them had worked to develop. Junmyeon had done most of the planning, combining various other circles he'd come across in his studies until he felt he had developed the perfect one, while Jongin was in charge of making sure the actual construction of the circle on the basement's hardwood flooring was perfect. It's almost midnight by the time they finish, chalk dust all over their hands and their nerves racing.

"Remember what I told you," Junmyeon says as he wipes his hands on his pants, "don't put in too much energy. Let me handle it, I just need you to help me visualize Sehun and direct the transmutation."

Jongin is silent, and Junmyeon's almost certain he'll argue back. He's gotten more contrary over the years, although he has been following Junmyeon's lead for the past year.

"Are you sure this will work, hyung?" Jongin finally asks. His voice is so small.

Of course Junmyeon isn't absolutely sure this will work out. He's tried to calculate all possible rebounds and problems, but human transmutation is illegal for a reason and it's not like there's very much research available about it to anyone who isn't a State Alchemist.

But that doesn't mean he can't try.

"Not at all," he says honestly. "So this is your last chance to back out, Jongin."

A part of him hopes Jongin will take it, that Jongin will walk out of his house and take up a proper profession like Zitao has. Use that to cope with the death of his best friend, a wound that was never allowed to properly heal as long as Junmyeon kept promising hope he couldn't even guarantee.

But there's another part of Junmyeon that knows he can't do this alone. Jongin probably knows it too.

"I'm not a kid anymore, hyung," and Junmyeon knows that already. "I can handle this, too. Probably better than you can."

Junmyeon chuckles bitterly, because that's probably true.

Only it's not. As the room flares in dark purple light, both of their hands positioned firmly on the transmutation circle, Junmyeon realizes just how wrong the two of them were. He hears Jongin's scream amidst the crackling of the sparks in the room and realizes that neither of them were ready for this.



Junmyeon wakes up to a blinding white. There's no end in sight, and when he sits up, all he can see is a giant stone door hovering a few meters away from him with the impressive engraving of a tree of it.

So you're awake.

He turns around to find a white silhouette, whose outline is surrounded by an aura of black particles. It's seated quite casually on whatever counts as the floor for this place.

"Who are you? Where's Jongin?" he asks it, feeling dazed. His head hurts, and his memory up until that moment is a bit of a blur.

The silhouette shrugs its shoulders at him. I am what you call the world. Or perhaps the universe, or perhaps god, or perhaps truth, or perhaps all, or perhaps one. And I am also you. It doesn't make much sense, if anything it makes Junmyeon's head spin even more.

And then he hears the doors behind him creak open.

Welcome, you fool, who doesn't know his own place.

The last thing Junmyeon sees are those razor sharp teeth pulled back into a wicked smile as the tangle of shadowy limbs tear into his body and drag him through the door. The silhouette's lips move one last time before he finds himself in complete darkness, centuries of knowledge being shoved into his mind until he feels like his head is going to burst, but even as he fights to block out the pain, its last words echo mockingly in his ears.

Seven years of hard work, good job, Junmyeon.






Original Post: Here.
Author's Note: This one required SO MUCH EDITING omg orz. I honestly didn't know where I was going to end up when I wrote it, I literally started it just for the punchline. I just sat in the shower one night, thinking about an anime AU and who in Exo would pull human transmutation and I thought that the "
seven years of hard work gj suho" joke from EM over his fake-crying was a perfect fit. orz and then somehow backstory came up? But it didn't match my first section at first, hence the editing.

Anyway. So. If we go by the 2003 version of FMA, Suho would have lost a few limbs, Kai would have lost his body, and Sehun would have become Sloth, except maybe with power over wind rather than water? Anyway I'm not writing that far so... Ahem. Actually, Suho probably would have lost both legs at the kneecap and below, given his knee injuries irl. The important thing was that there was a difference between this and the actual FMA canon. They still grow up in Resembool together, but I wanted there to be a different feeling. Suho has the confidence and drive and desperation to try human transmutation, but he's so certain he's useless and interprets everything and everyone around him as accusing him of such.

I'm not sure what I wanted his feelings towards Sehun to be. Towards Tao, Kai, and Sehun, he probably felt like their protector when they were kids. And with how Sehun abruptly died, he felt like he failed them and that failure lingered with him. Suho always feels intimidated by Kai though, but I wanted there to be this slight... I wanted the feelings to come from Kai's side first. He's the one who feels uncomfortable initiating with Suho, the one tries to comfort Suho and get him to move on, the one who feels the heat first. But then when you look at the ambiguity of Suho's feelings about Sehun, that's one of the reasons Kai doesn't do anything. A dead boy still holds so much power of Suho, but what Kai doesn't realize is that he holds just as much if not more. 

As for Sehun's death... I didn't get to graphic. Not just because I wasn't sure how to have him die other than mysteriously, but because I'm more cautious about how I write death now ever since I found out how much Boss dislikes deathfics. For me, death is a fascinating subject, but I can see where it could be upsetting for others so I steered clear for the most part.


And poor Tao got the short end of the stick. He gets Winry's role, but without the romance. If this was longer, he would have been their support system, because he loves very much and very easily and that's what both Suho and Kai needed. The main reason he became the automail mechanic was because I liked the idea of all of those piercings on him and him working with metal, it's just unfortunate it took him out of that action.

As for the technical stuff. The measurements are lifted from FMA. I couldn't find a way to convert them to a preteen Korean male body :( Because that's the age they probably would have brought Sehun back as? Truth's dialogue also comes from the show's subs. Honestly, the whole story was supposed to be heavy-handed so that there would be a greater, comedic contrast to the "7 years" punchline, but it got too heavy? And I got too attached.

avirjin: (Default)
 Another long break from writing anything on EM lol although I guess it's because it's less of a fic meme these days, which makes me sad :( Nonetheless, I was happy to see that someone decided to run another one-sentence challenge! It's been about two months (18 parts!!) since one of these, I've missed them. I mean, Exo's even come back in the time it's taken meme to get back to these lol

Unfortunately, I was sleeping when it happened so I didn't post any of my fills onto meme even though I still tried them out because I was so terribly late u__u Anyway, I still feel iffy about my characterization, in addition to my writing, so it wasn't a huge loss? It's been so long since I wrote anything... I miss it.

ETA - 06/14: EM had another challenge lol I'm surprised it happened so quickly. And someone said we're doing another tomorrow?! Ah... lol

ETA - 06/16: I missed yesterday's, but it was a SHINeexo challenge anyway lol. Although I guess it would have been nice to write for my old fandom again. Honestly, I didn't miss the timing for today, I just didn't have the confidence to post it. Oh well. I have a final to by studying for anyway. I don't think I'm going to do particularly well, especially if I'm wasting my time on one-liners, but I just need to get a 67 to get a C in the class. Low-ballin' it lol, I'm just so burnt out.

ETA - 06/17: I also wrote three Xiulay today, but I posted that separately since it was a series of connected drabbles and they weren't one-liners anyway. Maybe that's why I had trouble getting the last one done today. But surprise! I managed to write about all twelve members at least once, I'm rather surprised. (On a more negative note, I'm pretty sure I failed my final. At least I can write my frustrations out.)

ETA - 06/20: The challenge was really an iTunes shuffle one today, but since my iTunes library's been... well it's not pretty and it hasn't been since 2010, lol. But given the state of things, I just went for the typical one-liners prompted by the generators. Only two today though because one of the prompts was bulimia, and even though I swore I'd stick to whatever prompts I'd get, I had to break that promise for that one. Smh.

ETA - 06/22: The challenge was girl!exo one-liners. It was interesting, and a little pornier than I was honestly planning? But not too much, I'm still a novice in the grand scheme of things. Anyway, today's fills were really supposed to be for yesterday's challenge, but I didn't finish until the day had already passed. 

ETA - 06/26: Honestly, these were the responses for 06/23, but I've been really slow bt-ing so I missed the challenge by a long-shot lol. Still managed to post one though, but it was on 06/24, which will have its own responses.

ETA - 06/27: These were meant to be for the 06/24 challenge. Obviously I missed it, but once again, I finished them anyway. Now I can focus on finding a birthday present for my friend lol. Oh, also of note, I broke 2k! What a surprise. Honestly, I probably broke it earlier if I included the xiulay, but I'm not so lol


06/13/13 responses:

Kris x D.O - Trivial Pursuit
 
It's stupid to think that a few stretches every morning will actually make him grow taller -- if that were really the case, he wouldn't be in this predicament in the first place -- but even harsh reality doesn't keep Kyungsoo from reaching for his toes and contorting his body each morning in ways only Jongin or Zitao are really capable of, and it doesn't keep him from dreaming of meeting Kris's lips one day without a bruised ego and three pairs of insoles.
 
 
Sehun / Tao - Disney princesses
 
"My hero," Sehun says, his voice neutral enough that Zitao can't make out his typical earnestness as he pulls Sehun by the wrist away from the mob of screaming fans -- but when Zitao finally turns to look at him, to tell him it wasn't a big deal or that he would have done it for any one of the others, the sheer tenderness in Sehun's smile and crinkled eyes stops in him in tracks and snatches the breath straight out of his chest.

(a/n: This is referring to the June 3rd trip to Changsha Airport where the place was so crowded and chaotic because of the fans that people were getting hurt. Apparently Tao went back to help Sehun, so there's a silver lining to every horror story I guess. Anyway, this is a loose interpretation of the prompt, but anons on EM had been referring to Sehun as Tao's chinaboo princess so a damsel in distress situation seemed right.)
 
 
Sehun / Tao - pre-debut vids 
 
"You accidentally recorded," Zitao informs him in stumbling Korean after they've been standing in the same intimately close poses for over a minute waiting for the flash to go off, but Sehun decides then and there to make the most of an awkward situation by slipping his free hand into Zitao's jeans as the cellphone camera's red light continues blinking at them.

(a/n: This is referring to this predebut picture. Sehun's hand placement is so questionable ;3 On a funny note, Taohun's been so popular lately, I'm a bit surprised.)
 
 
Kris / Kai - have we met before?
 
Yifan remembers how small and timid Jongin had seemed years before either of them expected to debut as he danced around the hallways of SM with graceful, light-footed steps that Yifan couldn't help but envy; but years later as they stand together on stage, he wonders where this new Jongin -- the one with a strut in his step, a sultry look in his eyes as his skin glistens from sweat under the stage lights -- came from, whether this Jongin had been there all along, hidden behind little Jongin's deep stares and shy smiles.

(a/n: Messing with the distinctions between the real person and the idol persona is always one of my favorite topics, but Boss told me that too many people rely on the stage names to make that distinction. I want to change from that, so I focused on the idea that Kai's idol persona is still a part of him, even if it's one that Kris doesn't recognize.)



06/14/13 responses:

Baekhyun / Lay - strip club
 
"Lighting is everything! The wrong angle could turn Lu Han into a gross old man instead of a fresh-faced rent boy no matter how well he's working that pole," Baekhyun insists as he fiddles with the dials on the control console, glancing over suspiciously as if he's not sure the club's new hire completely understands him; the sad thing is that Yixing knows all too well how right Baekhyun is because he's actually witnessed Lu Han in all of his hungover glory, dark circles and crow's feet exaggerated by poor morning lighting.

(a/n: Can be read as Layhan, but that doesn't necessarily mean it is lol. Also me poking fun at Lu Han's face just because I can \o/)

 
Chanyeol x Sehun - The Dreamer
 
Fourteen-year-old Oh Sehun is scrawny and little and stares at Chanyeol from a distance with these stupid, shy eye-smiles and his pink, wet tongue sticking out of his mouth in a way that makes Chanyeol wonder how much taller would Sehun have to grow before Chanyeol could get away with sucking on it without having to bend over quite so much.

(a/n: Simple enough, right? Chanyeol is dreaming of the day Sehun gets tall enough to kiss lol. Chanhun is actually one of my top OTPs at the moment, and more than anything I'd like a predebut fic about them because there are a few accounts of Chanyeol doting on Sehun or being weirdly possessive? lol anyway, Sehun joined SM when he was fourteen and Chanyeol joined when he was sixteen, but they were both brought in the same year. Fun facts lol)
 
 
Chen / Chen - keep your cool
 
Like everything else about joining SM, the news that Jongdae is going to debut comes too quickly -- he knows for a fact that some of the guys here have been training for years -- but as he stares into the mirror of the company bathroom he snuck into while his new manager wasn't looking, he takes a deep, calming breath and finds his reflection smiling back at him reassuringly.

(a/n: Set predebut when Chen was told he'd be a member of Exo. He doesn't strike me as the overly confident type when he's alone, for all of his snark and bravado, but as someone who will still carry through and wouldn't let himself get psyched out quite so easily :3 )
 
 
 
Sehun should really know better when Zitao holds open the door to the restaurant for her and offers nothing more than a mischievous smirk, but her breath still hitches sharply as Zitao's long fingers graze the bottom of her skirt, freshly manicured nails trailing along the sensitive skin of her upper thigh.

(a/n: The only one I actually posted on meme because I was late, once again lol. Rather than being from a prompt generator, it was a request for girl!Taohun. I wonder if I should have used girl names, but the only difference would have been probably Sehun to Seyeon tbqh.)



06/16/13 responses:
 
Kai / Xiumin - fortune-telling 
 
Lu Han is the one who comes up with the idea of using fortune ladders to allot roommate assignments during one of their overseas trips, but as Minseok follows the inked trails down, it's Jongin's name -- nice, quiet Jongin who sleeps like a log and doesn't wake up at ungodly hours of the night to start pillow fights or pinch his cheeks -- he finds at the other end of the line marked with his own name.
 
(a/n: This is a fortune ladder, although they're usually read vertically rather than horizontally. Each end of the other ladders would have been labeled with another member's name. Because you make it on your own, it's usually one-of-a-kinda and pretty random. It can be used for decision-making as well as fortunes.)
 
 
Kai / Xiumin - heroic deeds
 
Minseok pulls Jongin aside after one of their dance lessons because whatever the other trainees are planning for the top candidate for the position of SM's next golden boy is most likely going to be petty and immature; while the rest of them may be children, Minseok -- despite his tiny stature and his rather inconspicuous presence -- is a grown man and like hell is he going to let this happen under his watch.
 
(a/n: I wanted to write about Xiumin as the adult he is. It's something I feel like people tend to forget just because of his face. Once again, Kai is a passive presence :( 66th exo ship lol But yeah, here, Xiumin is less of a hero and more of a mature adult, but that's still something to be proud of :3)
 
 
Suho x Tao - dying will
 
"Another one from China," someone whispers into Junmyeon's ear, voice dripping with condescension as they watch one of the new guys introduce himself -- but rather than his dark eyes or heavy accent, Junmyeon notices the strong set of the kid's jaw and the overflowing confidence in the kid's stance and remembers a time when he used to be able to recognize those qualities in himself.

(a/n: Rather than going for the typical character death route, I decided to interpret "dying will" as more like "fading determination"? Suho has been training for years and he keeps seeing all of these new kids strutting in and Tao just happens to be the most recent. And he doesn't know when or how he lost that... spark that newer trainees like Tao walked in with.) 



06/17/13 responses: 

Chen / Luhan - gay vampires
 
It's a pity that Jongdae's pretty skin is fang-shatteringly difficult to pierce, and even moreso that his cold blood is stale compared to the fresh tang of actual human blood -- but he lets out these delicious little moans that have Lu Han nibbling his neck anyway, hungry in a way that won't destroy Jongdae like all of his other nightly treats. 
 
(a/n: They're both vampires. That's it.)
 
 
Chen / Luhan - volunteering
 
Lu Han gets picked for the dance-off of course -- the program is being recorded in Beijing and the MCs are obsessed with showing him off like some sort of hometown hero -- but it's both surprising yet, in retrospect, expected when Jongdae's arm shoots up like a rocket after the MCs ask for one of the others to go up against him, all too eager to soak in the limelight.
 
 
Suho x Kai - Raspberries
 
It's only after their youngest have been given their obligatory coming-of-age presents that Junmyeon whips out a bottle of expensive bokbunja that shines a deep ruby red under the living room lights, pouring each of them a glass with experienced fingers and watching them down it with excited giggles, all while pretending he doesn't notice the way the wine's rich red color stains Jongin's lips.
 
(a/n: Kyungsoo, Tao, Kai, and Sehun came of age this May. Bokbunja is Korean raspberry wine that's supposedly it's naturally sweet, but not too alcoholic so it seems like a good choice for celebrating the coming-of-age of the younger members. It may also improve libidos ohohoho.)
 


06/20/13 responses: 

Luhan / Sehun - wilted roses 
 
Lu Han constantly, loudly reminds everyone he doesn't like people on his bed, but that doesn't stop Sehun from sitting down on it anyway so he can pull the blankets up over Lu Han's sleeping body -- Lu Han may be the hyung, but as Sehun looks down at how the faded red dye of Lu Han's hair draws out the pallor of his skin, he figures that hyungs deserve just as much care as maknaes sometimes.
 
(a/n: Lu Han is the wilted rose -- he's pretty and currently red-headed, but even he will start looking and feeling like... tired and shit because of life and time. Inspired by someone on EM saying that their head-canon was that Sehun's a functional adult, probably in response to how everyone makes him out to be this immature brat.)
 
 
Kai x Tao - Four Humors
 
"My grandmother would make this for me when I was growing up. Good for the body," Zitao announces as he switches out Jongin's water bottle for a thermos of tea smelling strongly of peaches and ginger, and when Jongin looks up at him -- tired and sore from a long day of rehearsals -- Zitao mimes drinking it and smiles when Jongin obediently copies him with an endearingly grumpy expression.
 
(a/n: Rather than delving into the Four Temperments associated with the Four Humors, I decided to focus on the underlying principle of it all: balance. We usually only hear about the excesses or deficiencies, but if you were healthy, it meant the four bodily fluids were balanced, making that balance the underlying goal. This balance was maintained by diet and activity. Sanguine calls for sweets, melancholic calls for fruits, choleric calls for fluids, and phlegmatic calls for ginger.)
 


06/22/13 responses: 
 
Sehun x Xiumin - goodbye, my almost lover
 
Minseo is so tiny in Seyeon's arms as they hug each other good-bye that it's hard to remember that she's the unnie, although after EXO-M's plane to China takes off Seyeon can't imagine how she'd ever forget Minseo's quiet, strong, reassuring presence during the years they spent walking down the corridors of SM together, their hands mere centimeters apart but never quite touching.
 
(a/n: Xiumin and Sehun both joined SM in 2008, so they trained together for approximately four years. An interesting match with their age gap, and long enough for at least a sense of familiarity to build up.)
 
 
Baekhyun / Tao - commercial filming
 
Their first CF as twelve members is for some fizzy juice brand Baekhee finds too tangy to really enjoy, but then Zitao spills a can of it all over herself in-between takes and Baekhee spends the ten minutes the production staff gives them for clean-up with Zitao's sticky fingers in her mouth, savoring the sweet taste as she sucks each digit clean and Zitao dirties her free hand under Baekhee's mini-skirt, rubbing her thumb against Baekhee's clit and curling her fingers in Baekhee’s pussy until Baekhee comes all over her with a muffled moan.
 
(a/n: The Zitao I'm using here is 紫涛 rather than 子韜. I'm not sure if that's correct, but a friend told me that it was the prettier option and raised no objections. Google says it means 'purple wave' which is nice enough in my opinion. :3 I wanted to describe Tao's fingers but I couldn't do it, but at least I managed girl smut for the first time? Kinda.)
 
 
Baekhyun / Tao - karaoke room 
 
The best thing about all of their maknaes now being of drinking age is that when they celebrate their comeback, there's no excuse why everyone can't get ridiculously drunk at one of SM's high security noraebangs -- so drunk that all Baekhee has to do is sit back and enjoy the show, pretending that her panties aren't already soaking wet from watching Zitao alternate between obnoxiously grinding up against Chanmi and shamelessly making-out with Minseo.
 
(a/n: Inspired by EXO's appearance on Yoo Inna's radio show.)
 
 
D.O / Baekhyun - panic
 
"You didn't see anything," Baekhee sternly tells Kyungri, scooting away from Chanmi's drawer of padded bras and concealing the bottle of itching powder behind her back; she can't be sure Kyungri with her unfairly huge eyes noticed the latest shot fired in the cold war between Baekhee and Chanmi, but that doesn't stop the guilty flush in Baekhee's cheeks or the adrenaline pumping through her veins.
 
(a/n: Making fun of the sinking of baekyeol lol. Sadly, Kyungri is just a body with a name because I don't know how to characterize D.O for shit yet. Soon.)
 


06/25/13 responses: 

Lay / Kai - hold up
 
One night over a table of mouth-watering and distracting samgyeosal, the managers suggest that the group holds a 'friendly' vote for the top two dancers and, of course, Jongin and Yixing win by a landslide in spite of Jongdae's best efforts; however, that just means they're the ones forced to help demo the new choreography for Wolf the next morning, their death-grips on each other's wrists the only thing keeping them from toppling over on one side or another as they sway like a very pitiful tree and the others stare in muted horror.
 
(a/n: The joke is that Kai and Lay are holding each other up during the choreo. lol I don't know if they're partnered in the actual choreography, but I figured that if it's just practice then it wouldn't be a huge deal since temporary. Also, the managers were plotting this lol. Samgyeosal is grilled pork belly btw.)
 
 
Tao / Xiumin - stuck-up model
 
Physically, the newest Chinese trainee is a lot like Yifan in that he looks like the type of guy who'd be more suited for the catwalk -- tall as a skyscraper with his chin high and his shoulders straight -- but Minseok doesn't realize how right he is when, just like Yifan, the new guy's eyes meet his and he's greeted with a Cheshire Cat smile rather than the snub he'd been expecting. 
 
 
 
The fact that Zitao speaks informally to him doesn't bother Minseok as much as it would if it were anyone else because it's due more to Zitao's nonproficiency with the language than automatically assuming, like so many people, that Minseok was younger -- which is exactly why Minseok takes to correcting Zitao with a gentle, encouraging smile rather than a scolding over manners.
 
(a/n: Based off of two interviews, one in which Xiumin mentioned that one of his problems in life was people speaking informally to him because of his baby face and another one in which it was mentioned that Xiumin made sure to correct Tao's speech so that he was speaking formally rather than informally, which is normally seen as impolite.)
 
 
Luhan x Kai - Shell
 
The first year Lu Han trains at SM, he honestly sees neither hair nor hide of Jongin due to the impenetrable circle of veteran trainees flocking around the younger boy; unsurprisingly, it takes several months of dance classes together and the official announcement of the group line-up for Jongin to seek out Lu Han first, flinching a little when the door of the practice room slams too loudly behind him, but still approaching Lu Han with rather determined eyes for someone so obviously skittish.
 
(a/n: Kai coming out of his shell both literally and figuratively lol /rimshot)
 


06/27/13 responses: 

Baekhyun / Luhan - thief 
 
The two of them don't work together often if only because it feels like overkill on the off-chance that they are partnered up; between Baekhyun bending light around them like an invisibility cloak and Lu Han's ability to lift ridiculously valuable trinkets from their pretty, little pedestals without raising a finger, all the fun gets taken out of the very act of burglary and the whole thing starts to feel like an actual job rather than the petty dalliances of bored meta-humans.
 
 
Baekhyun / Luhan - it can't be removed like a tattoo 
 
"Does the pain ever go away?" Baekhyun asks despondently as they watch yet another media outlet speculate about SNSD's slow, messy disbandment due to conflicting interests between the girls and complaints against apparent company favoritism, and while Lu Han wishes he could answer that time heals all wounds, he still can't face his Mirotic-era poster of DBSK and not sigh over better times and his still-broken heart.

(a/n: Set in the future. Fans can get emotionally scarred for life because of disbandments, just saying u__u, This may or may not be based on reality lol)
 
 
D.O / Lay - ordinary
 
"That's pretty special, that you were already famous in China before all of this," Kyungsoo tells him while they're washing dishes together one night after Lu Han pulls out online clips of Yixing's child star days, but Yixing honestly doesn't feel special at all and hasn't felt so since the last time he performed on a stage for an audience screaming his name, rather than merely blending into a faceless crowd with nothing to show for years besides a heavy heart and his chest filled with longing as he watches others race towards the stars.
 
(a/n: Surprisingly, this is something meaningful despite the fact that these two are lowest tiered in my bias list lol. I think in general, Lay is very interesting and the years where he felt like he had nothing to show for the support he was still being given in-between his time as a child star and Exo's debut must have been... painful? Lack-luster? Ordinary lol /rimshot. I rag on him all the time for fun, but I can respect him a lot for holding onto his dreams for so long. Also inspired by this heehee.)

 


Total Word Count: 2020
avirjin: (Default)
Title: Fission, Fusion, and the Steps In-Between
Fandom: Exo
Focus: Suho-centric, Kai/Suho (Sehun/Youngho, platonic Sehun/Suho, platonic D.O/Kai, past Kyuhyun/Suho)
Genre: Gen, romance, mild angst
Rating: G
Length: Oneshot, 1000 words
Summary: Junmyeon visits Sehun's friend in the hospital and gets more than he expects after years of bitter kisses and loneliness. Hollow Fusion!AU.




Junmyeon kisses two strangers before breakfast and Sehun over his morning coffee. Sehun's lips are always warmer than anyone else's, even when leaving his own that much cooler -- but never quite enough to chase away the memory of a real spark, of another pair that've been seven years gone. He's long since acquainted himself with this familiar bitterness, but that doesn't stop him from trying to wash away the taste of Sehun's lips with copious amounts of coffee.

"I'm insulted, hyung," Sehun deadpans as he pulls back into a pair of patiently waiting arms, missing how Youngho rolls his eyes.

"If anyone should be insulted, it should be Youngho," Junmyeon laughs as he watches them. He pours another packet of sweetener into his mug, stirring until every last granule dissolves. "People don't typically take well to their partners kissing others."

Youngho smiles, lips drawn tight. Junmyeon understands all too well, recognizes the insincerity when Youngho jokes, "You should just take Sehun hyung off my hands." His arm tightens around Sehun's shoulders and Junmyeon aches. His own shoulders sag under the phantom weight of a boy with lanky limbs and horrible morning breath, pressing down and kissing him underneath doorways until Junmyeon barely had the energy to stand, let alone kiss back.

He takes another sip of his coffee. It still isn't sweet enough, but he smiles anyway.




Hospital visits are routine for Junmyeon, who drops by multiple times a day to help out with lethargic patients in-between his shifts at the neighboring research facility. Zitao once called him 'kind', Jongdae fondly adding 'saintly'. It's nothing like that though; all Junmyeon does is graze some stranger's lips with his own, praying there aren't side effects.

"Junmyeon," the receptionist greets when he follows Sehun into the lobby, a proxy while Youngho's in class. She looks surprised -- probably is surprised -- to see him. He'd dropped by two hours prior and usually didn't have enough energy to make it back for another three, feeling sick and stiff with unreleased tension.

"I'm just here as a visitor," he assures her. Sehun holds up a gaudy get-well card, sprinkling glitter everywhere. Junmyeon had offered to buy a professional one, but Sehun had laughed in his face and spent the money on snacks instead.

Junmyeon doesn't know the story of the guy they're visiting, barely recognizes his name from Sehun's ramblings. People end up here for several reasons, some Junmyeon is more familiar with than others.

Sometimes, it's easier not to know.

"I'll stand out here," he says once outside the door. He spends enough time in these rooms already, still recalls the prickle of starched bedsheets against his fingertips, more tangible than the feeling of loss. The sterility of the hallway is more to his tastes, despite the chill. "I don't even know him."

"Jongin's the shy one, not you, hyung," Sehun laughs, eyes crinkled. He tugs Junmyeon's wrist with all the energy he'd swiped from him earlier and storms into the room. "Jongin! What's u--uh."

The boy leaning over the bed jerks away, as startled as Sehun's bedridden friend. They look embarrassed, the way they're both shrinking into themselves with twin expressions of shock. Junmyeon can't blame either of them really -- it's happened to him several times.

"Kyungsoo," he calls out, recognizing his fellow volunteer, "sorry for interrupting."

Kyungsoo coughs into his hand, an awkward chuckle slipping out. "It's fine, Junmyeon hyung. Jongin and I weren't as compatible as the doctors hoped anyway." Jongin looks down at his sheets miserably, still flustered, much to Sehun's amusement.

"Always said Jongin was too picky," Sehun laughs, "I don't know how Moongyu hyung put up with him for so long."

Another name Junmyeon doesn't remember, but it's not hard to connect the dots. "Your partner?"

"Not anymore."

Junmyeon recognizes that tone. The slump of Jongin's shoulders, the hurt on his face. Most patients wind up here because of temporary separations from their partners, whether out of necessity like business trips or due to petty arguments, stubborn pride. This is not the case.

This is more like his case.

"How about letting me try then?" he finds himself saying. He grabs the clipboard at the foot of Jongin's bed, flipping through the pages to find Jongin's particular wavelengh. He finds a series of graphs and spikes suggesting Jongin's an extremely fastidious receiver. "Sehun wasn't kidding about you being picky, but my energy's pretty indiscriminate. It's worth a shot?"

Jongin looks mutinous at the suggestion, folding into himself.

"Hyung's right," Kyungsoo says, "He's a pretty compatible guy. It could work." There's a gleam in his eyes as he glances between them. He then proceeds to drag Sehun out, catching Junmyeon's eye once more before shutting the door.

"We don't have to do this," Junmyeon immediately offers, meaning it. Rejection's routine, practically tasteless nowadays -- yet his heart pounds when Jongin bites his lip, deliberating.

"But you think it'll help." More than defeated, Jongin sounds cautious. He exhales and closes his eyes. "Fine."

He tenses, barely flinching as Junmyeon settles on the bed and cups his cheek. It's not until Junmyeon's close enough to kiss him that Jongin shudders, his lips parted as Junmyeon presses down feather-light -- the bare minimum for transferring energy.

But there's more. A spark that doesn't come just from the transfer.

A hand grasps his sleeve, tightening as Jongin kisses back with sweet lips. Junmyeon doesn't resist his pull, doesn't break away until Jongin's moan cuts through the haze because for the first time since Cho Kyuhyun had kissed him good-bye years ago, bitterness doesn't linger on his lips, in his heart. He'd almost forgotten the taste of anything else.

He wants seconds.

"Does this mean I can't kiss hyung anymore?" Sehun asks sullenly from outside. The smack of Kyungsoo's hand against his arm echoes, but all Junmyeon registers is Jongin pressing thin fingers against his lips and the familiar, unparalleled warmth of belonging to someone again pulsing in his own.







Prompt: Exoplosion Challenge #2: Awkward
Author's Note: First and foremost, I COMPLETELY AND UTTERLY FAILED THIS CHALLENGE because it was due on 2/2 and it is currently 2/10. I am a failure, please throw stones at me. I was even almost tempted to break the word count, but my sense of duty and shame overrode that particular temptation. I am still deeply ashamed of myself.

Secondly, this is obviously an AU based off of the manga Hollow Fusion (Shinkuu Yuusetsu) in which the premise is that there are two types of people: suppliers and receivers. Suppliers create too much (life) energy within their own bodies after their toddler years whereas receivers do not make enough to sustain themselves. Possessing too much energy or too little is actually detrimental to one's health and could result in death, so people are paired up with partners according to the compatibility of their energy wavelengths so that a supplier may transfer their excess energy to a receiver. This is only possible through kissing. Most people have pretty specific wavelengths, so kissing someone who isn't specifically synced to them can taste from funny to downright nasty. Also, partners =/= lovers, although it's likely for the two to overlap. Since it's a matter of life-or-death, partners are actually valued more. Very rarely do people split from their partners.

Now that the background info's out of the way, I guess I should point out that the suppliers are Suho, Youngho, D.O, and Moongyu while the receivers are Sehun, Kai, and Kyuhyun. Suho was partnered with Kyuhyun until they separated years prior (Kyuhyun already found a new partner, Suho didn't), Sehun and Youngho are partners, Kai and Moongyu were partners until something happened to Moongyu, and D.O still has his own partner (heehee). He just likes volunteering his energy. Suho survives without his partner by offering his own energy up to any receiver friends and patients he meets, which is possible because he is coincidentially very compatible with people and creates excessive energy even for a supplier. Sehun takes advantage of this in spite of having his own partner lol.

I know I never outright state the rules of this AU -- I tried to avoid using the terms "supplier" or "receiver". Instead, I tried my best to naturally weave in as I could about the universe. Basically anything about energy and lips and the taste of these things. The last thing I wanted to do was info-dump, especially with a word limit, so I decided to write based off of the idea that the characters themselves understand how their universe works so there'd be no point in spelling things out. It's a fact of life, like breathing and going to work.

Anyway, back to the story. Long story short, this is basically an analogy of Suho recovering from a break-up of sorts. I'll continue explaining when it's not stupid-o'clock in the morning again e___e For the moment though, it needs to be understood that every single word was pain-stakingly chosen. Except maybe the bratty Sehun parts, those were an indulgence.

ETA: Okay, I'm more awake now e_e so since I covered all of the au background info, I guess now I can focus on the story itself and how it fills the prompt. 

The first section is really a set-up so that Suho's feelings can be acknowledged, in addition adding the parallel of Sehun's kiss to be later compared with Kai's. Suho himself has a parallel in Youngho (who, if anyone doesn't know, is an 95-er SM trainee who was rumored to be close with Sehun) because he's already gone through losing his partner, so he understands Youngho's paranoia about losing Sehun. The whole "people don't typically take well to their partners kissing others" applies to both of them. So basically, Suho knows those feels lmao. The line is also important because, regrettably, I couldn't fit in any other aspects of Suho's jokester personality in. :( Hopefully if I continue this AU in snippets, I can go for it since Suho will be much happier in them.


Anyway, as for all of the coffee and taste imagery, I thought since this was an AU in which kissing is so important (like, Sehun is breaking major taboos by kissing someone who isn't his partner, but people let him have his way), it'd be important to focus on the sensation of taste. Unfortunately I don't actually drink coffee so my knowledge is lacking lmao. But the theme was that Suho, for all of his kind words and gentle smiles and obliging ways, is actually still very bitter about his experiences and that as a coping mechanism, he's spent the past few years trying to drown himself in other things (especially helping other people, as seen later) in hopes of getting his mind off of it. Sehun's lips don't match up to Kyuhyun's, he has to watch partners all around him every day and pretend that it still doesn't hurt that not only does he no longer have a partner, but that his partner willingly split up from him. That's what makes this awkward, not just Suho kissing someone else's partner in front of them, but having to watch two people who are compatible with each other in every way be happy together in front of him. Like he's a third wheel. It's a bitterness that can't be easily washed away, either by time or how many sugar packets he puts in his coffee. Even the stirring motion's a bit symbolic in that it represents the small actions Suho has to take in order to accept how things are. 

Also, the phantom boy is Kyuhyun who was kinda greedy and used to kiss all of the energy out of Suho. Not that Suho minded at the time anyway. 

So. Hospital visit. Here's the reveal of how Suho manages to cope without a partner -- by throwing himself into volunteering up his lips and energy to complete strangers which I guess could be compared to one-night stands if it weren't a life-or-death situation lmao. In Hollow Fusion, if partners get separated for any reason, they tend to volunteer if possible in order to prevent a real deficit or excess of energy from building up and fucking them over. It has to be with someone compatible enough though, otherwise it can lead to the energy not transferring properly or people getting sick on each other. Suho's compatibility's a bit of a miracle because all he has to deal with is the taste of bitterness, so he throws himself into this multiple times a day. Sad, but helpful. The story explicitly goes on to note that this doesn't make him a martyr or an angel though, no matter what others say. He needs it just as much as the patients do. It's not something he wants to do, but something he has to. 

There should also be elements of trauma? Like Suho is so intimately familiar with this hospital not just because of his volunteer work, but because he probably spent some time here after Kyuhyun left. He's so familiar with it and eager to get away that he would rather distance himself and stand in the cold hallway (when he canonically hates the cold) instead of having to face yet another person who's been separated from their partner long enough for an energy deficit to occur. Especially when instead of it being a stranger, it's someone who Sehun wants him to put an actual name and face to.

Then there's awkward interruption of D.O trying to supply Kai with energy, although they're not compatible enough because sorry Kaisoo lmao. If anything they're like Suho and his various pseudo-receivers in that they can pass enough energy between them for a little while, but it's not as pleasant as actually having a partner who's synced with you. The reason D.O's there is because he's a bit of a nurturing type even irl, but he does have his own partner -- BTOB's Hyunsik lol. Yum. Ahem. Then there's insensitive Sehun bringing up Moongyu (a former SM trainee, Taemin and Kai's rl bff) who for some reason or another can no longer supply Kai with energy. He's still alive, but the important thing is that because he can no longer be partnered with Kai, Kai feels abandoned and kinda angry. This actually makes Sehun's "get-well" card both a little more callous but appropriate because as in the case of Suho, how do you "get well soon" from really losing your partner? But it'd be a downright insult to get a professional, detached card. It's a dumb way of showing Sehun cares about Kai. But in the end, even he can't understand, not like Suho can seeing as he's lived through it. 

It's that empathy that allows Suho to offer his services, but just as easily offer a rejection of those services because he knows it's not an easy decision, especially when Kai is still in the early stages of loss. He'd like to help because he can identify with Kai so easily and I guess that's foreshadowing their compatibility as partners. The "rejection's routine, practically tasteless" thing is just another coping mechanism though. Suho's been so numbed over by the bitterness, which is clarified in the "forgotten the taste of anything else" line. But it's that spark when Kai and Suho kiss that reawakens... something in him. Like when you take a bite of something delicious and realize just how hungry you were before, and how you just didn't realize it. Kai's... that bite. That's how the manga seemed to describe kissing anyway, I couldn't draw from personal experience because I've only kissed one guy and it was literal shit lol. 

And then it ends with petulant Sehun being a brat and being the first to acknowledge that Suho and Kai could become actual partners because he just heard Kai moaning loud enough to be heard through the door. And that's awkward. Heehee. But what matters is that Kai felt the connection just as clearly as Suho did and it's supposed to be such a nice and relieving and perfect feeling and yeah. Stupid sappy stuff. Things aren't perfect -- they still have a lot of trauma to work through along with getting used to each other -- but both Suho and Kai are now on the road to recovery as losing something so important. Losing people who were so important. That recovery is important.

Anyway. For the prompt. Awkwardness, right. You'd think as an awkward person I'd be much better at writing awkward moments, but I can't stand them and I hated this prompt so I went for awkward moments. I listed a few here, but really everything is awkward, haha. And finally the title. It was actually pretty hard to pick a title, probably because my brain was dead from trying to finish this /o\ If I had posted it now, I would have titled it "Compatibility" or something. But this title does have some meaning. Firstly, it's a play off of the manga's name Hollow Fusion. Then there's the concept of "fission" -- things splitting, like what happened to Suho and Kai and their partners -- vs the concept of "fusion" -- things coming together like Suho and Kai will. And all the "steps in-between" part refers to how Suho's been living since his "fission". Yeah. Dumb of me.


And that's it. There's a whole verse I have for this and everyone in Exo has already been partnered up so maybe I'll write more drabbles for it? No promises though.  
avirjin: (Default)
Title: Washed Out
Fandom: Exo
Focus: Kai-centric, slight Suho/Kai
Genre: Gen, mild angst
Rating: G
Length: Oneshot (drabble), 200 words
Summary: Kai takes a shower, Suho interrupts.




Jongin breathes in the steam rising around him. He rests his head against smooth glass, letting the spray of hot water wash away all signs of the day and watching as the droplets race down the paths forged by his hard-earned sweat. When he's like this -- hidden away behind a frosted door, shut off from the world of cameras and fans and never-ending dance practices -- it's easy to forget everything.

All it takes to break the illusion is one word.

"Jongin?"

He groans at the interruption, at the shadowy figure approaching from beyond the door. Eventually, he can see the dull orange of Joonmyun's stupid sweater through the glass. The faint outline of hands appear, cupped around a pair of eyes Jongin doesn't bother meeting.

"Is your back okay? You're supposed to take it easy."

Jongin holds back the growl in his throat, but not the scowl on his face. The glass can only hide so much from someone who's known him for five years.

"I'm fine. I'm done."

Even the running shower can't drown out the sounds of resignation, of a retreat. Jongin watches the last of the water slip through his fingers and into the drain.






Prompts: Taken from seouldout's Round 06 Challenge One
1. Word set: water, heart, black and white (from in_vazn)
2. Picture:
Strangers. London, England. July 2012. by chattelatte @ tumblr

Author's Note: I'm not participating in seouldout, not officially. I decided to give it a try though on my own, which means I'll be following the prompts and the deadlines. This is a writing exercise for myself. A word count limit is actually very difficult to meet, I was constantly going over. This drabble actually uses both prompts as in inspiration. My explanation will likely be longer than the drabble itself, so sit tight or skip it. Either one.

How it meets prompt 1:
There is obviously water all over the place since Kai is in the middle of a shower. The heart is formed when Suho is trying to peer through the frosted glass door at Jongin. If you cup your hands around your eyes, it makes a heart shape. The black and white are actually covered in two ways: one is in how very straight-foward Kai is towards Suho, and the other is Suho's shadowy figure behind the frosted glass -- which often appears off-white. I should know, I googled it.

How it meets prompt 2: 
My analysis of the photo prompt was that is was essentially about the disconnect between two people, as seen by the two people about to walk past each other, probably not even meeting eyes. A disconnect where you either can't meet eyes (the frosted glass obscuring Kai and Suho's views) or you refuse to (Kai not even trying). The fact that the bridge was in the picture, but the people were far away from it made me think of a failed attempt to bridge a gap between people. The gray color of the picture inspired the somber, distant tone. The orange of Suho's sweater comes from the woman's jacket in the photo -- it is eye-catching, but not enough to actually result in the meeting of eyes between people. And then there's the river -- the Thames to be exact. I don't know how it is now, but when I read Heart of Darkness it had a reputation as being polluted, which was another reason for the somber, resigned tone. It also led to the use of water lol. There's also the sense of isolation in the photo, that was transferred over to the drabble by putting Kai in what was essentially a glass box lol

There's more I wanted to say in this drabble. I originally thought I would have had enough words to fit in a non-argument where Kai thinks more about Suho and Suho firmly identifies himself by his role as Suho, the leader of Exo-K and Kai's hyung rather than as Joonmyun. I wanted to have Kai tell Suho to stop smiling, which he knows Suho is doing even when he can't see his face clearly through the frosted glass. I planned for more dialogue actually. I'm glad I got the "I'm done" part in, because it's showing Kai's unwillingness to open up to Suho. He says "I'm done (with my shower)" and means "I'm done with you. I'm done with this discussion." The title barely connects to this train of thought -- "Washed out" refers to Kai's weariness in addition to being a shower pun.

I guess the only other thing I'd like to point out is the ending. It's a bit of a pun -- Suho is the water slipping through Kai's fingers due to the lack of understanding between them, and this is happening as Suho is finally leaving Kai alone. And also, Suho's "power" is water control. While Kai is, by this point, "drained". Heh. And that by that point, it should be possible to read the "resignation/retreat" part as applying to either Suho (who is backing down) or Kai (who isn't even bothering, is hiding away).

Final note: an unofficial inspiration was Maroon 5's "Payphone", specifically the part where "all of our bridges burnt down". About the futility of a relationship where one person isn't even trying.

June 2017

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