muse: lee juyeon x reader (2nd person perspective)
genre: revolution! au, angst + fluff
word count: 1315
warnings: none
summary: what kind of revolution had room for love?
notes: should be self explanatory, but this was inspired by tbz’s reveal (catching fire) performance bc i am so fucking gone for it !!! also lowkey inspired by this post here lol . hope y’all enjoy <3
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“It’s almost time,” Juyeon whispers the moment you two meet in the middle of the dance floor. His face is hidden behind a beautiful mask of midnight, the black velvet decorated with glossy raven feathers and golden thread that matched the trim on his costume. You had spent days on the entire ensemble, making sure he would blend in with the aristocrats seamlessly, though looking at his bedazzled figure now you wonder if you had done your job a little too well (your quickening heart certainly thinks so). Grateful for your own mask to hide the rising blush in your cheeks, you nod, curtsying briefly before taking the outstretched hand he offers.
“I know,” you reply, settling your fingers on his upper arm as he slides his own around your waist, pulling you close. The hand that holds yours gives a light squeeze, and at the start of the violins, the two of you are gliding away in a flawless waltz, one taught by Changmin and practiced every night for the past month. “I’ve been watching the clock.”
Hanging on the far side of the ballroom, the giant golden disc in question glimmers idly, its hands moving tortuously slow on its journey to midnight. You and Juyeon have been waiting hours for that final strike, the cadence that signaled the end of a day and the start of another. Somewhere in the castle, the other Phantoms were waiting for it too— the strike that will determine the fate of the world.
Yet a part of you wishes it would never come. A selfish desire, considering all the work and planning everyone had put into tonight, to ensure that not a single thing would go wrong. There were lives at stake, after all. Except it really hadn’t occurred to you until now— spinning around a room that sparkled as if it were from a dream, held so delicately by Juyeon like you were a pair of noble lovers who didn’t have sharpened blades hidden within your gilded clothing, didn’t have a mission sitting heavy on your shoulders— that maybe you wanted this moment to last.
“What’s on your mind?” His voice is soft in your ear, a lyrical lilt that blends right into the orchestra playing in the distance. It’s familiar, one you have come to know like a dear friend over the years of working together, and right now it has never felt more comforting. Taking a breath, you allow yourself to relax a bit, to enjoy this dance that neither of you were actually invited to in the first place.
“Truthfully?”
“Truthfully.”
“Well, besides the dread that I might mess up and cause the entire mission to fail,” you laugh deprecatingly just before he twirls you, “I’m wondering how I managed to make you look so good.”
When you return to his arms, you find yourself pressed flush against his chest, his gaze peering curiously into your own through that mask so rudely concealing his flawless features. His tongue darts out briefly to wet his lips, and you’re suddenly hyper-aware of how close your faces are. “How do you mean that?”
“I— I’m admiring how well your costume turned out,” you manage, hoping your painfully red cheeks aren’t too evident beneath the glow of chandeliers.
“And not the person wearing it?” There’s a gleam in his eyes, one you haven’t encountered before. While you felt unnerved, something about it made him even more endearing. Made you want to cross the borders you hadn’t ever dared cross.
Scoffing, you reach up and flick him in the forehead. “I didn’t realize you were such a narcissist, Juyeon. Maybe you should’ve been born a prince after all.”
He smirks, “Well, that might become reality soon enough.”
It was thrilling, talking about the downfall of the royal family in their very own ballroom. Their lavish lifestyles and selfish rule were heard of by many across the kingdom, but known most of all by those that worked in the palace. After years of witnessing their incompetence to save or even care about the dying country, a number of you finally decided that it was time to end their reign. With the help of some nobles like Changmin and Sunwoo, the band crafted an elaborate plan to expose the royal family’s crimes and steal the crown, to be carried out over the period of a year. The months had passed by quickly, and soon the preparations were finished. But your jobs weren’t complete yet— even if the people were now festering with anger, the fuse that would spark everything was still unlit.
And time was running out.
“For the record, you should have more confidence in yourself.” Juyeon is still staring down at you when you come back to your senses, hands falling to rest on your waist as you slowly sway to the final measures of the song. “Everything is going to go well, you’re not going to mess anything up.”
You raise an eyebrow. “And why should I believe that?”
He bites his lip, nervous for a reason you cannot decipher. “Because you have me?”
“And you’re enough?”
“I mean, I should hope so.”
The violins have faded and everyone around you is bustling to join in on the next dance, but neither of you dare move, suspended in your own little bubble at the edge of the ballroom.
“You know,” he says, breath soft on yours, “You look really good in your dress too.”
“Sunwoo is watching,” you blurt dumbly, as if the duke’s son could do anything to stop the two of you right now. Juyeon pauses, eyes falling to your mouth. “I don’t care,” he declares, and before you know it his lips are warm against yours, gentle and sweet and tasting like the strawberry champagne you had passed off to him earlier.
Not once has it ever crossed your mind that something in this world could be described as perfect, because your entire life has been full of flaws up until now. But then Juyeon tilts his head for a better angle and curls his fingers into your hair and you might just pass out from how utterly right this feels. When you tug at his bottom lip, he lets out a soft moan, and that’s all it takes for you to cup his face and press closer, closer so there’s no longer a distance between that leaves your heart wrenching.
You don’t want this to end, you don’t want him to pull away, you don’t want to return to the quiet stares and awkward smiles and unfulfilled longing. Both of you have been wanting this for a while now, you realize with a jolt, and at once you kiss him harder.
Unfortunately, even the sweetest of dreams will cease, come morning.
“It’s time,” you whisper the moment you two separate. Juyeon’s eyes look pained, with a hint of regret, and you almost kiss him again. However, you both know there are far more pressing matters at hand.
There are five minutes until the clock strikes midnight. Five minutes for you to move into position. Five minutes before the country gets completely turned on its head.
Juyeon grasps your hands once more, lacing your fingers together as he memorizes your eyes. “We’re going to come out of this alive, alright?”
You nod, not daring to show any weakness in your final moments together. “Of course. Who else would wear the crown other than you?”
He laughs, pure and bright. It’s enough to light up the sky, you’re certain.
“Ready to catch fire?”
The revolution was starting. Tomorrow, the king will be no longer. Tomorrow, your blade will be stained with blood.
“I have always been ready.”
Tonight, the world will be covered in flames.
“Then let’s go reveal the true king.”
And when the day breaks, Juyeon will still be standing by your side.
some people think writers are so eloquent and good with words, but the reality is that we can sit there with our fingers on the keyboard going, “what’s the word for non-sunlight lighting? Like, fake lighting?” and for ten minutes, all our brain will supply is “unofficial”, and we know that’s not the right word, but it’s the only word we can come up with…until finally it’s like our face got smashed into a brick wall and we remember the word we want is “artificial”.
Not used to being able to comment on things in a post again, but yes, new authors, please ask every one of your friends and family to leave you a review of your book on Amazon!
Trimming your writing has the benefit of getting your point across to readers without using stuffy sentences and filler phrases. Those are the training wheels of beginning writers, but seasoned professionals can pick them out easily.
One such weakness to cut from your writing so it sounds more professional is the word “give.” Here are some examples taken from my own writing.
Example 1:
Original - She gives me an appraising look as I enter the room.
Revision - She appraises me as I enter the room.
Example 2:
Original - She gives a long tired sigh, but smiles at the end of it.
Revision - Her tired sigh ends with a smile.
The meaning stays the same, but less time is needed to read and understand the sentence when that awkward “give” is taken out. Unfortunately for me, both of these examples came from the same scene, making a scene that should last only a few seconds take longer than that to read through.
This seriously changed the entire feel of my last novel (in the best way possible). By shaving down rambling sentences by a few words, I cut my 105k manuscript down to 91k. Seriously. It was amazing. It was tedious af, but it made the entire novel better.
I'm sorry if this is a stupid question, but I've watched some c-dramas and was wondering, when a character is referred to as a "fairy", is that another term for "immortals"? And is it female exclusive? Like I Googled a bit and got the word "xian" (仙/仚/僊), is that the right word/s?
Yes.
C-dramas (especially on iQiyi I think) usually translate 仙女/xiannv as 'fairy' but it has ZERO to with fairies in popular western media or fae of various European folklore, so it just makes things confusing to new audiences. They should really just romanise the Chinese concepts instead...
仙女/xiannü is female exclusive (the 女 part means 'woman'), however 仙/xian just means 'immortal' and can also refer to men. I don't think 仙 alone is usually translated to 'fairy' though.
Immortals in Chinese mythology/folk religion/Daoism/Chinese Buddhism are just beings related to the celestial realms or heavens, such as deities. However certain spirits/monsters/demons are also considered immortals, so that's where you might get hulijing/fox demons (狐狸精) getting referred to as 'fox fairies' in English translations.
仙女/xiannv can also just refer to a very beautiful, pure, dignified (etc) mortal woman. On the internet nowadays, "小仙女"/"Little xiannv" is a derogatory nickname to give to certain women who are perceived as entitled, snooty, demanding of special treatment, etc. Sort of how 'princess' can be used sarcastically.
Fairies in the popular western sense, i.e, sprites and elf like creatures, are generally translated as 精灵/jingling, which also refers to spirits/goblin spirits in Chinese mythology.
To me, 仙 being translated as "fairy" is a sign that the translation is just shit in general.
Immortal or sage, whichever one fits the context, are the acceptable choices. Adeptus is also another okay choice, but definitely not as good as immortal or sage. Fairy, again, is a sign that the translation is shit, because the translator probably trusted google translate, and as we all should know by now, google translate is something only worth ridiculing and not for anything else.
Sometimes, a fic doesn't have to get published, it can just be a series of messages on a Discord channel, between a dedicated group of friends going "oooh, you know what else would be cool?" continuously over a period of weeks and months :)
