hyeongjun sits and fiddles with his hair, the curls go smoothly over his forehead. he listens carefully to what the other has to say, he’s surprisingly interested in what the other has to say. he nods and mumbles out a yeah. the male pouts as he notices one curl isn’t as curled as the others. he puts a hand on his head and shakes it, that should be enough for making his hair look good again. it seems like beomgyu has finished talking, hyeongjun wants to say something now. “you know what sucks?” he pauses. he begins thinking about it.
“the fact that i don’t have a boyfriend”
with beomgyu it doesnt bother hyeongjun that he knows he’s gay, because he’s comfortable with beomgyu.
the thought bothers hyeongjun, how he’s utter alone, and that the reason for that probably is because he’s gay, because he likes boys. there’s almost no boys in this country that likes boys too, and if they do they’re not half as open as hyeongjun, so hyeongjun can never guess it. “it sucks a lot” he begins speaking again. “ah i wish i wasn’t single” he says as he cups his head and begins pouting.
When Daehwi had first mentioned the idea to Beomgyu he had no idea things were actually going to turn out like this. A casual girl group discussion turning into a ‘couldn’t it be fun to make a proper dance cover group?’ to ‘oh what if we got that guy from tik tok to join us?!’ and now the trio of adolescent boys were sitting in a baskin robbins munching on each their ice cream in the hot summer weather of Seoul.
Somehow Beomgyu had got hold of the fellow dancer and now that they had cleared the most important basics (like making sure no one in the group had the same ultimate bias which could potentially lead to squabbles) there was just one thing left to think of. Dramatically letting his spoon swoop from his mouth with a popping sound Daehwi pointed it first to Eric and then to Beomgyu. “So,” he began slowly, dragging out the suspense. “What should we actually call our group?”
beomgyu’s gifts for him was out of this world. he hadn’t been expecting anything of the sort, felix was never one to formally celebrate his birthdays. maybe in the past, his brother would come and surprise him—these days, however, he spent them alone. he was fine with that, he didn’t dare ask for anything more. according to him, he had enough already.
so when beomgyu brought in two bunnies, felix was at a lost on what to do. he wasn’t prepared for new roommates, much less those that need proper care. immediately upon arrival, he looked through the internet for resources on how to care for bunnies. felix bought a proper, much cuter cage, decorated and coloured a light purple for the two bunnies, one that was big enough for the both of them. other than that, though, he was still pretty clueless.
“beomgyu...” he speaks up after a moment of staring at the bunnies, and them staring back. “shouldn’t we give them names?” he asked, turning his head to look at his roommate. “have you thought of possible names? i haven’t. i’m not creative enough,” he says with a sigh.
for now, the cage was devoid of anything except for the fake grass and wooden plate for their food. “we should get them toys too, don’t you think?”
✞ JULY EVALUATION
* SUMMER PARTY ; COMPLETE
with @rkseunghun @ianrk @mxnark @beomgyurk @rkserim
also mentioned: @haknyeonrk and @rkmiya
july 31st, 2020
he’s nervous the day of the performance, and he wonders if this will always be the case. maybe one failed evaluation has scarred him for life, and he’s doomed to have it flash through his mind before every performance. he reminds himself that that was different; he couldn’t prepare for a switch in their music to go along with an already difficult dance and a daniel that felt drastically less skilled somehow, despite it being mere months ago.
maybe it’s just new confidence. maybe it’s that this performance is fun, and was his idea-- his evaluation to begin, and his evaluation to finish more than any others with dancing included.
regardless, that new confidence wavers a little as they’re on deck, following several wonderful performances that daniel tried to enjoy in full but ultimately failed to with this performance heavy on his mind. thankfully, there are still plenty to come, and depending on whether he nails it or fails it, he’ll be able to enjoy them once this is all said and done. there’s the promise of the party on the other side of this too, and one way or another, the performance will come and pass, and--
no, that’s not a winner’s mindset. wasn’t he thinking mere days ago about how much fun he had working on this evaluation? it’s more important now than ever to look like he’s having fun, here on this rooftop in the middle of summer, performing a song that’s full of energy to keep the crowd of other professionals in this industry lively and enjoying the performances. (there are idols there too. he tries not to think about that too much either, or his nerves multiply.)
no, they can do this, and they can do well. he is confident, even as the nerves still flutter in the pit of his stomach when the audience claps after the performance they will follow. he needs a little more confidence, so he says a quick prayer, and flashes back to when he felt the most himself: ironically, while pretending to be someone else. he thinks of empty enigma stages, and his element, and cameo, and he tries to bring some of him back. it worked well for him on the mgas, so why not now? why not every performance from here on out? he can do it.
when he steps on stage, he believes it, even as he looks out at the crowd-- even as he spots haknyeon and the rest of per_se, then and*roma, and his eyes settle on sunmi momentarily. that desperation to prove himself returns, but it’s also accompanied by a desperation to have fun, and a smile that stretches across his face.
it’s a good thing, too, because he sings the first lines, and sets the standard for the entire rest of the performance.
i wanna run to you
all my senses are looking for you right now
he doesn’t have many lines, but he doesn’t mind it. he actually enjoys this choreography, and is content to just dance for most of the song. he hopes the others, most of which it’s their first evaluation, are enjoying themselves too.
maybe, just maybe, in one of the rare times he dances near the front, he’s intentional to catch sunmi’s eye, and even more determined to finish out strongly.
thankfully, he does, and despite all of his previous doubts, the confidence of a job well done and a channeled alter ego has him think as expected.
school was one of those things where you either loved it or hated it. bomin didn’t really care for it. he understood the importance of an education but other than that, he never really liked trying in school. especially when his parents compared him to his siblings who seemed to excel at everything they do. that’s why bomin had other interests which conflicted with his studies and prompted his teachers to reprimand him for things. things that weren’t necessarily his fault.
like completely bombing the last science test? totally not his fault. but falling asleep in class and missing the notes thus leading to bombing his test? definitely his fault. not that it’d teach him to stop staying up late just to edit his youtube videos. regardless, bomin was the kind of guy to deal with his punishments and detention wasn’t too bad. he could kick back and chill and bide his time.
speaking of detention, it seemed like he wasn’t the only one who got in trouble judging by the presence of another student. a classmate of his. bomin wracks his brain searching for a name until it pops up: choi beomgyu. they were, after all, close to each other in the roster. he’s never really stricken a conversation with the guy even after all this time and since soobin wasn’t around to entertain him, bomin might as well try. “so, what’d you do to get detention?”
First Edit/Drabble: Happy Christmas Jangmi! I’m so glad I got lucky enough to have you as my giftee! I hope you’ll like this little AU~
TW: Injuries, blood, slurs, prejudice and weapons
Genre: AU, Family, Fluff, Angst with a Happy Ending
Google Docs version
Second Edit: Happy Christmas (again~), Jangmi~
Hehehe, bet you didn’t think you’d be getting two gifts from me, hm? Truth be told, this was my first gift to you, but I though it was a little small orz. Hence the drabble I wrote for you too uwuIn any case, I hope you like both of these little presents and hope you have a wonderful Christmas~
Youtube Playlist!
~Bonds Beneath the Waves~
A sweet melody penetrates the air, a song of death disguised as a lullaby. As predicted, the boat deviates from its course, towards the young maiden on the rocks. She smiles, already knowing she has her prey with her grasp, her sky blue tail flickering slightly in anticipation. Her voice lilts higher and louder, carried by the wind to the sailor with a vacant smile on his face. Just a little more and…
Her song is suddenly cut short to be replaced with an inhuman shriek of shock and anger as a wave of water suddenly cascades over her. The hapless seaman forgotten, Yoona twists to where she knows the unwelcome surprise came from, her suspicions confirmed as she meets a pair of mischievous brown eyes which suddenly dart out of sight in a flicker of red and black. Without a second’s hesitation, she dives into the sea, intent on making the younger merman pay.
“MOONBOK!”
The only answer is a victorious cackle, her cousin sparing her a shit-eating grin as she chases him. His ornate tail kicks up sand and water in his attempt to buffer Yoona enough to make his escape. Because despite his playful attitude, Moonbok knows that once his cousin gets her hands on him, it’s all over. His father and uncle (who didn’t like him to begin with) would end him, if Yoona didn’t beat them to it. Still, he looks back again, that grin back on his face as he beholds Yoona’s expression.
“Maneater, maneater~! Noona is a maneat-uaaaaaghhhh?!?!”
Moonbok’s taunts are cut short as his tail gets tangled in a patch of seaweed he’d missed while teasing the older mermaid. With a panicked noise, he only manages to entangle himself further before Yoona catches up with him. And as Moonbok had feared, her retribution is swift and merciless.
The older girl tackles him with enough force to propel him out of the seaweed, one of her arms lock around his torso while the other scrabbles to seize whatever part of him she can reach. (Moonbok has no doubt it would be his throat.) But while his cousin has the element of surprise to her advantage, he has his strength; though he looks small and delicate, he is far more powerful than he appears. He fiercely wriggles and grapples with her, smacking his tail (gently) against Yoona’s until he manages to free himself and the chase begins again. They scatter fish and other merpeople in their wake, both of them ignoring the annoyed looks and chiding comments.
“You’d think the children of nobility would behave better than this!”
Alas, the chase ultimately ends in Yoona’s victory as she manages to use her agility to her advantage, popping up in front of her cousin and pinning him to the seabed before he can do anything more than let out a startled yelp. Having finally subdued the younger, she delivers a swift whap of her tail to his, rolling her eyes at the over-dramatic wail that’s his response.
“Oh get over yourself, I didn’t hit you that hard!”
Moonbok lets out another put on whine, unable to suppress his grin despite the situation. Gently, but insistently, he wriggles and whines until Yoona relents and releases him, a smile on her own face at last. Giving himself the once-over and shaking his tail out, which turns his lower half a blur of black and red that makes Yoona laugh, Moonbok affectionately bumps foreheads with her, his grin gone from mischievous to warm and soft.
“Sorry, noona. But if Uncle had found out you’d been luring more humans to the rocks…” he trails away, making sympathetic face in response to Yoona’s disgruntled expression. Even if Yoona’s father mistrusted and hated humans, he still forbade leading them to their deaths for no discernible reason. As expected of the Elder of their clan.
“I just wanted to sing…” Yoona mumbles, a pout on her face. At her Moonbok’s raised eyebrow and ‘are you for real?’ look, she snorts and gently shoves his shoulder.
Alright, so she did want to make the humans suffer and pay for their misdeeds against their family, their kind and Mother Ocean herself. A hand encircling her wrist drags Yoona from her dark thoughts and she meets her cousin’s eyes again, seeing that while his expression is still its usual soft and gentle one, though also laced with concern.
The upset must have been showing on her face. She sighs and shakes her head before pulling him into a hug and running a hand through his black-green tresses.
“You’re a good boy, Bokkie…” she murmurs softly, releasing him from the hold and signalling for him to turn around and sit on the slab of rock beneath them. Once Moonbok has sunken down onto it, she drifts behind him, beginning to braid his hair, trying to restore some semblance of order to him before they returned to their families and the inevitable lecture that would be awaiting the both of them.
“They’re not so bad, you know. Humans. Yes, some of them are can be awful, but most of them are kind and treat the ocean well. Believe me noona, I’ve seen it when I go to the surface. I know you and uncle hate them, but…” Yoona lets Moonbok chatter on, a sad smile on her face.
Her cousin is so naive and innocent when it came to the surface world.
She’s terrified he’ll pay for it with his life someday.
~~~
Yoona’s fears almost come true within the next moon when she sees Moonbok being dragged from the ocean screaming and thrashing, torso covered in wounds. And his tail, his beautiful tail, impaled by a harpoon. Yoona can only stare in horror at first while Moonbok’s sister screams hysterically, and it’s not until her cousin is hoisted from the water completely does she react, racing to the surface. As her head breaks the water, she sees Moonbok’s seemingly lifeless body being pulled aboard a fishing vessel, jeers and disgusting comments coming from the sailors on board.
(The ’nicest’ comment is one musing about selling ‘fishboy’ to an aquarium. The rest Yoona blocks out as best she can)
Gritting her teeth, Yoona throws her head back, singing louder than she’s ever done before, determined to save Moonbok by any means necessary. It takes a few moments, but finally she entrances them, leading to the boat to the sharpest outcrop of rocks she can find. As the boat crashes onto the rocks and break, startling the humans out of their trance and into a panic, Yoona darts towards it, pure fury propelling her forward.
She leaps out of the water and onto the rapidly disintegrating deck, sparing the terrified and doomed men nothing more than an inhuman screech of rage, wrapping her arms tightly around Moonbok. The boat is pushed even harder onto the rocks, water crashing onto the deck and sweeping men to their deaths. Yoona leaves them to their fate, clutching Moonbok tightly and using her tail to propel them both back into the sea, to safety.
To where she prays her cousin can be saved.
~~~
It takes all of the magical knowledge their grandfather possesses and all of the healing abilities Moonbok’s father has amassed, but they claw the young merman back from the brink of death. When she hears the news, Yoona breaks down in her father’s arms, sobbing and thanking the gods for their mercy. It still takes a week for her cousin to awaken fully from the magically induced healing sleep he’d been under and in that time, Yoona learns that Moonbok had been attempting to free a school of fish from being captured and in the process had been harpooned under the belief that he too was a rare fish. Yoona curses the humans once more, these evil creatures that polluted her home and tried to take her cousin from her just as they had taken her mother all those years ago.
When she finally has permission to visit Moonbok, tears falls again as she beholds him lying on his bed, angry scars across his torso and his tail; once a mesmerizing gradient of black and red, marred by silver scales, indicating where the harpoon had pierced him. At her sob, Moonbok looks over and laughs weakly.
“Ah…. Noona’s crying. Uncle is gonna end me for sure this time.” he teases, pulling himself upright with a hiss of pain and in spite of Yoona’s protests. When Yoona only reaches for his hand, Moonbok lets out an unhappy noise and pulls her into as tight a hug as he can bear. (Which isn’t very tight, but it’s as warm and affectionate as ever, which is what really matters.)
“I thought you were… I didn’t think… I should have reacted faster, I’m so sorry, Bokkie.” Yoona whispers disjointedly as Moonbok withdraws from the hug to lie back down with a suppressed whine. Tilting his head to look at her, Moonbok shakes his own in response, trying and failing to look stern.
“Stop that, Noona. This isn’t your fault, it’s mine. I wasn’t careful enough and got caught, simple as.” The tone is matter of fact, leaving no room for argument. “What happened, happened. We can’t change it. Let these scars serve as proof of me being an idiot.” His lips quick into a smile. “Besides, I think my tail looks kinda cool now, right? I mean, I won’t be rushing out to get it wounded again, but don’t you think the new scales add a nice touch?”
And despite herself, Yoona laughs and not long after, Moonbok joins in, the sound causing her heart to soar.
He would be alright. Somehow she just knows it. And even if he got back into trouble; either with humans on their family, he’d still have her love and support.
winter singer contest
status: watching the other performances before and after his!
performing always made him feel more excited than he should be, though he thinks today he’s left with a little more adrenaline than usual. he wants to say it’s because it’s been a while since he last performed for something, but wow did he not mind it at all. in fact, he kinda wanted to do something like this again. of course, if someone gave him the opportunity to do so.
one of his favorite things about performance events like this is that he could perform and see others do just the same. it’s ironic, coming from a person who’s not too fond of survival talent shows (excluding the mgas, specifically season 4), but he always found the audience’s perspective as enjoyable as the performer’s. oftentimes, he thinks it’s a relief that he’s not an idol or else a fan would call him out on his jaw being dropped and him being a little too excited over a performance. but he couldn’t help it! even if there was a performance that wasn’t exactly the best, he still found himself enjoying it somehow.
though he is proud of his song choice, watching the other performances did make him think of “what if” situations. “what if i had performed a song in english and showed off how cool and fluent i was? that would’ve definitely given a good impression, too. maybe a better one than for scenery.” nonetheless, he still enjoys the performances, making a mental note to search up these songs on his way home.
he’s glad he can recognize some of the performers here, some being from the tv and others he knew in person. perhaps he was a little obvious with his bias with his cheers when he saw beomgyu, yibo, and younghyun. but he doesn’t go too wild on the supportive shouts that it doesn’t disrupt their entire performance. so he doesn’t have to worry about them being embarrassed and telling him to straight-up be quiet.
as soon as all the performances come to an end, yeonjun waits patiently for the results. he doesn’t expect anything for himself obviously. he may be proud of what he’s done today, but he wouldn’t say he’s winner material.
✞ JULY EVALUATION
* SUMMER PARTY PREP ; COMPLETE
with @rkseunghun @ianrk @mxnark @beomgyurk @rkserim
july 31st, 2020
he isn’t afraid of dancing anymore.
maybe it’s ambitious when he picks the song that he does, dancing included, but he’s managed to avoid dancing in evaluations for the past few months, and he’s ready for the change. maybe it’s even foolish to choose to dance for a performance that will be in front of all the other trainees in samsung’s companies, but daniel’s confidence has grown. he’s not that bad at dancing.
if he thinks too hard about it, he’ll start worrying, and doubting himself, so he doesn’t. instead, he practices hard, as he always does. he’s always been a relatively quick learner, but he finds he picks up the choreography faster than ever as he learns it early in the month.
he chose complete, orchestrating this eval performance, because it was a song he wanted to perform for a year. he first found it when team sphere was looking for songs to represent sphere back in the final rounds of the mgas, but he didn’t even bother offering it as a suggestion because he found the dance too difficult after a mere glance at it.
maybe that’s part of why he wants to do it now too; he always wants to prove himself-- always feels he has to after all of his failures, both to everyone else and himself --and performing a song he thought was too difficult at this time last year is a respectable way to do that.
maybe it’s even more ambitious to add mina and ian to the group halfway through the month, but mina is his sister and ian is his friend; what was he supposed to do, leave them to fend for themselves and find a group among a sea of mostly unfamiliar trainees? it’ll be more fun this way, too, and give daniel, ultimately an introvert, an anchor among trainees he’s unfamiliar performing with. his own morale rises, and he thinks the energy of their new additions suits complete perfectly.
the others-- seunghun, beomgyu and serim --are talented too, and kind, and he’s grateful they agreed to join up with a relative stranger (though he and seunghun were both on the mgas, despite never working together before. he’s glad he gets to now.)
going into performance day, he’s careful, and tries to keep his mindset strong. i’m prepared, he tells himself over and over, and when thoughts of his previously botched evaluation enter his mind, he practices more to drive them away.
