#astro soap

[yehetno]

answers and questions

cha eunwoo/moonbin, FEELINGS

~300 words

Bin pokes a finger into the soft skin of Dongmin’s cheek.

Dongmin doesn’t quite stir.  Rather, he exhales deeply, and his brow furrows, but Dongmin remains unroused.  Dongmin is tangible, warm and pliant to the touch.  He’s right in front of Bin, so that’s a start.

He wonders what might happen if Dongmin’s eyes were to flutter open, what kind of emotions might flicker in his eyes before reverting to a mask of neutral indifference.  

Wondering is something he does a lot lately, and he mostly wonders about Dongmin, like he’s a teenager again, consumed by burgeoning and difficult to control feelings, wrought with inconsequential insecurities.  Bin forgot, for a fleeting moment at least, that pieces of him will always be locked in a closet.  He is a harsh word away from flinching and retreating back to the safety of lying.

He retracts his hand, curling it back against his chest and repositioning his face against the pillow.  He holds onto Dongmin’s nonchalant confession, letting words intended for someone else echo in his ears.  

“Love isn’t bound to the body. At least, it’s not for me.”

Bin hates to hang his hopes on a hushed comment.  There is so much leeway, so much room for interpretation, and his heart, naive as ever, speeds down the unpaved path with little regard for what surprises might exist down the way.  Really, there is only one way to find out, and at this point, one answer that might save him from heartbreak. 

Maybe he’ll ask Dongmin after sunrise, when the fog of the night clears and when his thoughts can be reigned in on command.

The words tumble past his lips in a clumsy attempt at practice: “Could you like me? Like me?”

“I could love you.”

--

i’m not dead, just busy.

<3 lmk your thoughts.  have a day!!

[sanshrek]

When you're in a vlive but eunwoos parents aren't home

[yehetno]

becoming strangers

cha eunwoo/moonbin, angst (?), est. relationship, doubt

~400 words

Sometimes, they forget.  It is easy to leave promises in the past as time eats away at the exact wording, and they all too willingly rewrite their memories to permit small transgressions.  

Bin forgets that Dongmin is brittle and must be handled delicately; he seems so strong until the moment he crumbles in front of Bin’s eyes, trying to pound away the feelings expanding in his chest with a closed fist and hot tears.  Dongmin forgets Bin needs small signs of unwavering affection like trailing his hand across Bin’s back while moving from the dining room to the kitchen.

Dongmin fears they are becoming strangers; every day he sees a part of Bin he doesn’t recognize.  Instead of deepening his affections, instead of feeling like it’s another little discovery for only him to treasure, it feels like Bin is changing.  It’s alienating.  Moon Bin is in transit, on the way to becoming a new version of himself, and with each cell replaced, Dongmin worries that Bin is slipping away.

Bin, well, Bin does not quite know what to make of it.  They began as a fairy tale with a ‘once upon a time’ and a prince unhappily walled away in a tower, and at some point, the ‘happily ever after’ became difficult.  Dongmin gets quiet at the wrong times, and Bin desperately wants to know his mind, his heart, and his soul.  The walls that Bin aggressively tore apart are being rebuilt one brick at a time, and he wonders when he’ll have to come crashing in again, if he can come crashing in again.

It comes to a crossroads after one particularly uncomfortable fight.  They exchange words in quiet anger, holding back tears, choking on frustration. Dongmin declares that maybe they should take a break.  He’ll crash on Sanha’s couch, and Bin can stay where he is.  

Bin wallows.  Without Dongmin waking him up and offering the tiniest placation, his confidence dwindles.  He thinks they’re doomed.  Jinwoo scoffs at him and flicks his forehead.  He is surprised he needs to spell it out for Bin, after all, he is supposedly in love with Dongmin.  He tells Bin that Dongmin choosing to leave was a way of showing affection.  Dongmin does not want Bin’s schedule and transit arrangements to become muddled and messy.  He would be an idiot to give up; their messages might be difficult for the other to decipher, but they say the same thing.

At ten in the evening, after spending nine days in Sanha’s living room, Bin comes to Dongmin.  Dongmin opens the door, and with two words, Bin reminds Dongmin of everything:

“Come home.”

--

if it feels like it’s been a billion years since i’ve written anything that because it’s been a little too long...  i’m not sure how i feel about the narrative perspective, so you’ll have to tell me how you feel about it.

sorry for being the Worst(TM).

[yehetno]

i think i might have some unresolved feelings toward you

moon bin/ cha eunwoo, actors!au, they’re a mess

~500 words

To be completely honest, it wasn’t Bin’s finest idea.  Sure, the look on Dongmin’s face was delicious when their eyes met on the first day of shooting.  Dongmin’s indignation and the offense of seeing Bin and Bin’s trailer on the set filled him with a sense of retributive spitefulness.  He thought it was worth every drop of pain and worth each hassle just to see Dongmin’s silent annoyance.

The problem, unfortunately predictable, was that he still had to film a movie with Dongmin.  Minhyuk texted him every day to inquire about their relationship status, reminding him of the rumors swirling around the project, the pop culture media’s insatiable desire to worm its way to understanding the downfall of their golden couple, Bin and Dongmin.

Once again, Dongmin was a fixture of Bin’s life, dramatic antics gilded over with his Korean Sweetheart act.   There they were, day-in-day-out, pretending to fall in love according to the script.  It was only natural for the lines between Bin and his character to blur ever so slightly.  The ease with which he forgot how easily they fell apart frightened Bin.  The more time he spent around Dongmin, the more he fell back in love, which was a problem.

Dongmin glanced at his script and shifted his apathetic eyes to Bin, licking his lips and reading in a dead voice, “I’ll wait for you, no matter how long.”

Bin raised an eyebrow, a taunt naturally bubbling up.  A lack of witty banter was never the problem with their relationship.  Distance was their downfall. “Wow, you aiming to get a best actor award with that performance?”

Dongmin flicked him off, leaning back to laugh bitterly, “I can’t get into the role when you’re standing there in leather pants. Leather.  It’s a period piece, Moon Bin.”

“Well, I don’t need a costume to embody my character or imagine a scene; it’s called acting,” Bin snipped back.

Dongmin snorted, crossing his arms and wrinkling his script without sparing a glance.  “Right now, it feels like I’m telling Moon Bin that I will wait for him, and I can’t do that.”

Bin quickly reread the scene, “Do you want to pick up at the kiss, then?”

Dongmin rolled his eyes, “What are you trying to imply?”  He took a step forward and poked Bin’s chest with a stiff forefinger, “That I want to kiss you?”

“Do you?”

Dongmin fisted Bin’s shirt and pulled him closer, “Watch me lay one on you and not feel a thing.”

It came out of his mouth before he could properly think through the consequences. “Try.”

“I’ll succeed,” Dongmin challenged, a determined glint in his eye.

“Go ahead.”

“I will!”

“Who’s stopping you?”

And then Dongmin kissed him.  It was an aggressive push forward, almost angry, like Dongmin believed he could hate-kiss his way through it and make it to the other end of the moment without any damage.  His tight-lipped approach melted away quickly, and it was a soft and kind and forgiving kiss.  His fingers slowly released Bin’s shirt, leaving his hand over Bin’s heart.

Dongmin pulled away with eyes closed, a pained expression on his beautiful face.  Bin took a step back, and Dongmin remained frozen in place, only letting his hand fall to this side.  “Fudge,” he breathed.

--

idk where all my commentary has gone, soo... give an author some feedback?

[yehetno]

pinocchio

moonbin/cha eunwoo, android!moonbin, famous!eunwoo  rigid sentence structure

~ 300 words

Android model MB2601 does not understand the significance of several things in his knowledge base.  For example, Lee Dongmin is also Cha Eunwoo, and more often than not, Lee Dongmin insists on engaging in typical human-only mannerisms with MB2601.  He has given MB2601 a nickname, Moon Bin, asking if MB2601 likes it and thinks that it suits him.  It registers as an anomaly in his internal processing because MB2601 has no opinions; opinions and feelings and fancies and so forth are of no use to an android whose purpose is to perform housekeeping tasks.  Opinions are subjective, and MB2601 is wholly objective as it is coded into him.

MB2601 requires more data to fully serve the needs of Lee Dongmin.  He has been assigned the duty of companionship for Lee Dongmin, which is yet another inconsistency for MB2601′s attempts to process reality.  There are perfectly functional companion androids that are designed and coded for the express purpose of simulating genuine human interaction.  MB2601 is insufficient.  He needs an updated software package that will allow him to remain functional and useful to Lee Dongmin.

Lee Dongmin addresses MB2601 as Moon Bin and asks if he thinks that Dongmin looks nice.

MB2601 wonders what Moon Bin should say.  He knows that the socio-cultural script requires that he tell Lee Dongmin that his outfit is sufficient.  However, that script implies closeness, a kind of intimate closeness that relates to dear friends and romantic partners.  MB2601 believes he is supposed to generate a compliment.  He speeds through the rough characteristics of attractiveness.  Facial symmetry, strong jawline, well-defined muscles and so on and so forth.

Lee Dongmin falls short on many counts.

However, Lee Dongmin, who is Cha Eunwoo, is well known for being attractive. Furthermore, despite having a checklist, MB2601 would call Lee Dongmin attractive.  Holistically, all of the little imperfections make Lee Dongmin, and Lee Dongmin is--

MB2601 has an opinion.  Lee Dongmin is beautiful.

--

moonbin wants to be a real boy. hence the title.  okay, i’m sorry if this was weird, but it is what it is. also i know that mb2601 is a pretty blah android model name whojit but let me live, this is a quick thingy.

oodles of thanks for your time and support.

[yehetno]

d-6 (day minus six)

cha eunwoo/moon bin, “Resetting”, quasi-amnesia, soulmate-y vibes

~500 words

It’s like driving in a speeding car, feeling the acceleration push back his body as his eyes try to grab for purchase on an immobile item he can see through the window.  And then, the car breaks, and the seatbelt strangles him in an effort to stop the momentum, to keep his body from flying through the windshield.   It’s the snap back into the seat, that’s what it feels like.

Resetting is like a rubber band stretched too far that snaps back into place a moment before it is liable to break.

Dongmin hates Resetting.  He wakes up, and all the desperation sits in the back of his throat, trying to warn him about something he does not remember.  He is one of the unlucky few, or maybe it’s many, that Resets without remembering anything. Well, actually, he has this moment, a split second that carries over with him when he wakes up in his bed on the only day that seems to exist.  At the front end of the terror and wistfulness that slides down his throat is a drop of honey, sweet and blissful, it gives Dongmin hope that his lost lives aren’t wholly terrible.

He wonders how far he had gotten into life before someone hit the reset button this time as he chews on his slice of toast.  He hopes that the prior Dongmin got to the point of not worrying about the Reset, which Dongmin currently finds unimaginable that his days might be occupied with anything but finding a way to neutralize Resets.  To be stuck forever at twenty-three sounds like the worst fate he could be doomed to.

Dongmin decides to go to a bookstore for research.  Maybe he has done this before, maybe it’s a fresh idea, and maybe this is the only idea he ever has and some shmuck at the bookstore that remembers the time between Resets finds him a fool.

He coils a scarf around his neck and hurries off to the store as if it might go somewhere.  The winter winds cut through his layers, infecting his body with a case of the shivers.  The warmth of the bookstore is a delightful reprieve; he wishes his reset point could have been in spring or summer.  He doesn’t remember how they feel anymore.

He weaves his way through the book stacks, and when he finally reaches his section on literature devoted to Resets, he stops.  A tall figure stands at the end of the aisle, looking into an open book, illuminated by the cold light trickling in through the window.  Dongmin cannot explain it because it defies reason.  He walks toward the man, mesmerized by the powerful feelings drawing him toward this stranger.

“Hello,” Dongmin breathes without thinking. The man closes his book and offers Dongmin a smile, a knowing smile.  

“I’m Moon Bin,” he tells Dongmin in a voice with the lightness and sweetness of honey.

--

i don’t really know how to describe this au, so take it at face value?  it’s like time travel but worse with semi-amensia??

i don’t know.  just.... have a good day & thanks for reading

[yehetno]

toe picks & hockey sticks

chapter one is on ao3

soap/binu fluff & stuff

fic summary:

As a professional hockey team takes over part of his rink, Dongmin does everything in his power to dislike them for ruining what little peace and harmony he has left in his life. And Moon Bin does everything in his power to get the cute instructor at their host rink to go on a date with him.

chapter preview:

As he enters the rink, the air temperature drops sharply.  Dongmin smiles and inhales the refreshing air.  He starts skirting around the boards, identifying familiar skaters on the ice.  He glances over to the bleachers, frowning at an entire row of unfamiliar hulking bodies with their backs against the wall.  Funnily enough, he recognizes one of the faces as the man who gave him the hot chocolate last night, Moon Bin.  He wonders who Moon Bin and the strangers might be watching on the ice because he knows all people out there and the few coaches populating the benches.

let me know what you think. <3

[yehetno]

toe picks & hockey sticks ch.3

chapter 3 is on ao3.

it’s binu/soap softness.

chapter summary:

Everyone falls, but it’s the recovery that is important.

preview:

He presses his face into his hands; he rarely has to remind himself that he cannot skate like this anymore.  He teaches because it is the closest he can get to his first love, maybe his only love.  His body is not in the right condition and will never be again.  He lifts his head and exhales.  

thanks for being here<3