2025 Round: Quotes

[hwarium]

Status: Open Prompting is currently open. Prompting is open from 28 December 2024 to 19 January 2025. Seventeen Holidays 2025 Round: Quotes About "the poem begins not where the knife enters, but where the blade twists" "beauty is terror" "you'll just have to taste me, when he's kissing you" Calling all readers, lovers of poetry and music, screen and stage. Quote collecters and lyric hoarders, unleash your archive. For this round, every prompt must contain a quote - you can combine them, add commentary, link to articles, do whatever. Steal from a literary classic, or copy a hit tweet. 🛑 HOLD UP If this is your first time on 17hols please check out our About Page which has helpful information about dreamwidth and HTML. We are a prompting fest where all the action happens in the comment section. Rules Sign up is not required. Fills have a minimum of 400 words for prose, haiku-length for poetry (3 lines), and 400px by 400px for art (memes are also art). Other mediums are fine too! There is no maximum cap. Tag and provide content warnings at your discretion, but a good guide are the Ao3 four (Graphic Depictions of Violence, Major Character Death, Rape/Non-Con, Underage) and this list of common CWs (cr: SportsFest). NSFW/Explicit content should be tagged NSFW art should not be visible, please provide a link and a warning. You may crop the artwork and embed a SFW preview. How it works Prompting Click on [Post a New Comment] at the bottom of this post; Change the subject; Copy+Paste the following HTML into your comment and edit the sections. Feel free to add as much detail as you want! Need ideas? Check out our 2021 and 2022 Quote rounds. <strong>Ship/Member:</strong> Any <strong>Major Tags:</strong> N/A <strong>Additional Tags:</strong> N/A <strong>Do Not Wants:</strong> None <strong>Prompt:</strong> <blockquote>[QUOTE GOES HERE] </blockquote> Filling Reply to the original prompt; You must change the subject to [FILL] - this is to help the mods track. Feel free to add a title Copy+Paste the following HTML into your comment, edit the sections, and add your text. You may also upload your fill to the AO3 Collection. <strong>Ship/Member:</strong> Any <strong>Major Tags:</strong> N/A <strong>Additional Tags:</strong> N/A <strong>Permission to remix:</strong> Yes/No/Please ask *** Remixing Post as a reply to the fill you are remixing, using the same HTML as above; Change the subject to [REMIX]. Art/media Upload your work to any platform (twitter, imgur, youtube, soundcloud, google maps, etc.) Using the same HTML code as above, copy the link into your fill or remix. That's it! Optionally, you can embed a picture into your comment. Please use the following code instead. (To explain, the HTML resizes your picture to 400x400px so that it fits on most screens. Users can view the full size if they click on it. You can also add a link to your work on twitter so that others can share it, or to any other website you want) <strong>Ship/Member:</strong> Any <strong>Major Tags:</strong> N/A <strong>Additional Tags:</strong> N/A <strong>Permission to remix:</strong> Yes/No/Please ask *** <img src="INSERT IMAGE URL" width="400px"> <a href="INSERT ANY URL YOU WANT">TEXT THAT DESCRIBES THE LINK</a> Note! On dreamwidth, you can't edit a comment once someone has replied to it. Navigation ABOUT FAQ TWITTER BAITS ✧ 2025 ROUND: QUOTES ✧ 2025 FILLS MASTERLIST ARCHIVE: 2021 ARCHIVE: 2022 ARCHIVE: 2023 NOTION DATABASE

Comments

You Cross the Line

[halotolerant]

Ship/Member: Minghao/Any
Major Tags: N/A
Additional Tags: first times, something-to-lovers, 'crossing the line' and what that leads to
Do Not Wants: supernatural,

Prompt:

In the night
I spill the light
You cross the line
I want you

THE 8 ‘Orbit (轨道) (feat. JinJiBeWater_隼)

I don't find it irritating

[halotolerant]

Ship/Member: Jeonghan/Any
Major Tags: N/A
Additional Tags: being in a band with the most effective winner cheater of all time, love
Do Not Wants: I know the song is 'actually' about drugs but not addiction please, how about the lyrics at face value?

Prompt:

You get under my skin
I don't find it irritating
You always play to win
But I won't need rehabilitating

I think I'm on another world with you
With you
I'm on another planet with you
With you

The Only Ones, 'Another Girl, Another Planet'

[FILL] REM

[m1ntea]

Ship/Member: Seungkwan/TXT Soobin
Major Tags: None
Additional Tags: Canon Divergence
Permission to remix: Yes

***

“—kwan-ah, hey, wake up.”

Seungkwan groans, reluctant to leave his dream behind. It’s one he’s been having frequently lately, half-memory and half-fantasy: he’s at the filming site from the Hybe Game Caterer’s special, surrounded by verdant grass and white pop-up tents, but there’s no one else there except for Seungkwan and Soobin. Music is playing in the distance, and Soobin is smiling at him.

Come on, hyung, Soobin says. Don’t you want to dance with me?

A hand jostles his shoulder, finally pushing Seungkwan from dream into reality. He blinks open eyes heavy with sleep and makeup, letting the world slowly come into focus. The first thing he notices is his manager, looming into his field of vision— the culprit who disturbed Seungkwan’s sleep. The next thing he notices is another blurry shape behind his manager, significantly taller and better dressed.

“It’s okay,” the blur is saying in a familiar voice. “I don’t want to disturb him, I can come back later.”

“Soobin-ah?” Seungkwan croaks out. He nearly brings a hand up to rub at his eyes, before catching himself at the last second. His makeup artist is on her break right now, and she would have his head if she came back to all her hard work smudged to hell.

“Hi hyung.” The blur inches closer as Seungkwan’s manager moves out of the way. Seungkwan blinks again, and again, until Soobin sharpens into focus. “I’m sorry, I really didn’t mean to bother you. I just had a bit of downtime, so I wanted to come say hi.”

“You’re not bothering me,” Seungkwan says, the end of the words embarrassingly garbled by a yawn. Years of conditioning have him immediately bracing to be clowned by at least one, if not many more, of his group members, but the teasing never comes. He’s using this waiting room alone today, courtesy of a drama OST that went viral enough for one of the music shows to invite him for a special stage. Minghao and Vernon stopped by earlier in the morning to offer support during the pre-recording, but they’ve since departed for other schedules. At the moment it’s just Seungkwan and the handful of staff who came to help— and now Soobin, too.

Soobin, who looks quite literally like something out of Seungkwan’s dreams. His hair is slicked back, and he’s wearing a fitted black suit. He’s a guest MC for the day, and the theme seems to be something around secret agents. Seungkwan doesn’t know, and he doesn’t particularly care. All that matters is that Soobin looks good.

Maybe Seungkwan is still half-asleep, lost in a haze of large hands, long legs, and a sheepish smile, because it feels easier than anything to reach out and hook a finger through one of Soobin’s belt loops. Soobin makes a noise of surprise, but goes along easily when Seungkwan pulls him closer to the couch he’d been napping on.

“Hyung?” Soobin asks, laughter in his voice.

“How long do you have until you need to get back?” Seungkwan stares up at Soobin and wonders if he’ll dream about this later, too. If this small interaction will become yet another of his recurring dreams.

Soobin glances to the corner, where a large clock hangs next to the TV used for monitoring. “Mm, at least ten minutes? Maybe twenty.”

“Stay for a bit?” Seungkwan finally lets go of Soobin’s pants and pats the space beside him on the couch. “Tell me what you’ve been up to lately.”

“You’re just going to fall asleep again,” Soobin teases, but he sits all the same. The couch is small, and he and Seungkwan end up pressed together from thigh to shoulder. Seungkwan immediately feels himself melting into the comforting warmth.

“I would never!” he tries to protest, but the effect is ruined by another yawn. Soobin snorts out a laugh. “Okay, I might,” Seungkwan acquiesces. “But I still want to hear about how you’ve been.”

Like this, still wrapped in the tail end of his dreams, it’s easy for Seungkwan to rest his head against Soobin’s shoulder; easy to imagine that this isn’t just a stolen pocket of time, but rather where they’re meant to be.

“Actually, it’s kinda funny,” Soobin says. “I’ve been hoping to have a chance to chat— I wanted to tell you about these dreams I keep having.”

Re: [FILL] REM

[ninamonday]

HELLO!!!!!! my boobin whom I love more than anything! You have captured their shy cuteness so charmingly here 💖🌈🦄

the end of the world as we know it

[svteen]

Ship/Member: Any
Major Tags: N/A
Additional Tags: apocalyptic/post-apocalyptic vibes? sf of any kind? zombies and aliens and robot uprisings, oh my
Do Not Wants: None

Prompt:

I just woke up from a dream
Where you and I had to say goodbye
And I don't know what it all means
But since I survived, I realized [...]

If the world was ending, I'd wanna be next to you

- Lady Gaga, Bruno Mars - Die with a Smile

(please take this extremely literally)

[FILL] REM pt 1

[halotolerant]

Ship/Member: Seungkwan/Soobin TXT
Major Tags: N/A
Additional Tags: NSFW (probably M rated), canon compliant, first time, getting together, references to Soobin's hiatus & (light) mental health stuff in the context of recovery
Permission to remix: Yes

***



“Well, why don’t you both have dinner here, then?” Jeonghan is leaning casually against the cut-through arch between the dining area and kitchen, like standing up fully would lend too much formality to the occasion.

Soobin shoots a look at Seungkwan, who is blinking owlishly at Jeonghan, his hair a perfect post-sleep puffball. He doesn’t look annoyed by the suggestion, but he does look confused, although that too could be the fact that he’s just been woken up by Soobin’s arrival.

“Would that be OK, though?” Soobin prompts, feeling terrible all over again. He’d spent so long planning how he was going to greet Seungkwan, and how he was going to behave like a person who knew who they were, and how he was going to articulate the answers to likely questions like How are you doing? and Are you feeling better?, and instead the door had been opened by Yoon Jeonghan, looking mildly annoyed, and the question Did Seungkwannie invite you and forget to tell me? Soobin closes his eyes briefly: “Is that OK, Seungkwan-hyung, if you’re so tired? I don’t want to stop you resting.”

Seungkwan runs a hand over his face. “I’m a terrible host! Oh my God, look at me.”

“No!’ Soobin protests, urgently. “I shouldn’t have come over without double-checking the time still worked, and it’s not like it’s your fault your flight was delayed.”

Seungkwan gives him a grateful smile, eyes bright, cheeks round. Soobin doesn’t blame him for one second for having arrived back from the airport and just gone to sleep – the man has just finished a ten-date concert run in Japan, he’s got a wider Asia tour starting in weeks and the scant downtime between the two he’ll be promoting a BooSeokSoon comeback. Indeed, he has to be at the practice studio early tomorrow and all this week, which is why this evening was going to be the only time he had free to take Soobin to dinner.

This is the first occasion on which Soobin has left his apartment in three days. And it had loomed so large in his mind he’d never even thought to check-in or remind Seungkwan about it.

“I can just go,” Soobin points out now, and bows. “I’m sorry, I really didn’t think. You’re so busy anyway, it was so kind of you to try and fit me in but I don’t want to…”

“But I’d like to see you!” Seungkwan protests. “Soobin-ah, please. I’ve been looking forward to this! Hyung is so sorry,” Soobin looks at him and for a moment he can see something – urgency, anxiety – in Seungkwan’s gaze. Then subtly, something shifts, the performer coming forward instead and Seungkwan strikes a pose, pouting. “Come on, Soobin-ah,” he complains, “aren’t you going to entertain me like you promised?”

“I found a new singing competition show from England with choirs that I thought he’d like!” Soobin explains very hastily, not breathing between the words, and looks at Jeonghan again, hoping he hasn’t got the wrong idea. Because yes, Soobin is both hypnotised and terrified by the idea of entertaining Seungkwan in, uh, suggestive ways, but the topic has never been broached between them, and how could it be now? A year ago, perhaps, when Soobin felt like himself, or knew what himself felt like, and could be charming and pretty. Not now, confused and spiky as some damp creature fighting out of a chrysalis, wondering which limbs it has.

Jeonghan’s impassive face tilts in the other direction and he gives one, slow, reptilian blink. “I’ll order us all some chicken, since you’re staying,” he says calmly, and propels himself upright. He walks across the room to the dining table, to where there’s a chunky laptop with barcodes and serial numbers stuck all over it. “I should do another hour’s email for the office before logging off. Seungkwan-ah do you two want to be out here, or in your room?”

Soobin’s breath catches in his throat.

Seungkwan stretches, popping his neck, his hands out in little fists. He’s in soft pyjamas with an alternating pattern of stripes and candy-canes, and doesn’t seem to be wearing underwear, something Soobin feels deliriously conscious of.

“We’ll sit out here,” Seungkwan announces, and rubs the corner of his eye. “My room is a suitcase meltdown the likes of which have never before been compassed by human experience.”

“Don’t get cold,” Jeonghan instructs him and then picks the laptop up, wandering over to what Soobin knows from his three previous visits here is his own bedroom. “I’ll time the chicken for about ten.”

Seungkwan plops down on the sofa, and looks up expectantly at Soobin.

Soobin, in the clothes he picked out for the restaurant he’d thought Seungkwan was taking him to, adjusts his trousers and sits. Behind him, he hears Jeonghan’s bedroom door open and close.

“So, tell me about this choir show,” Seungkwan says, voice soft. He brings his knees up under him, bending his legs so his impressive thigh muscles bulge in the trousers, and Soobin reaches for a blanket from the arm of the sofa nearest him, offering it over.

“You’re so sweet,” Seungkwan tells him, and Soobin feels the words like the kick of heavily mentholated cough syrup running down inside his chest, a jolt of sensation and colour. What is he doing? What on Earth is he doing? He’s a mess right now, he has no business being here feeling joy about his exhausted hyung dropping the act and smiling at him.

Soobin’s lived in dorms for all his adulthood. It’s not bad, five members is manageable, he likes them well enough. But when he visits Seungkwan and Jeonghan’s place, he feels like he’s getting a glimpse of something, like the little scenes you sometimes see in lit tower block windows from the evening Metro, before the blinds come down. Domesticity. And Jeonghan and Seungkwan aren’t even dating, this still isn’t it, the world he can only half-imagine.

Truly, he can’t imagine it. How it would feel, to share an existence with one, specific, chosen person. To be with someone in the way where they would become your family; that close, that deeply rooted.

“Here, let me show you the intro,” Soobin says, getting out his phone, opening his browser. He reaches across the sofa, making sure Seungkwan can see the screen despite the near-sightedness he really should wear glasses for, but won’t. He watches Seungkwan, watching the clip, and can’t help looking at his lips, which are just a little dry right now, but still plump and red. If Soobin lived here, if they were like that, he would get up and wander to the bedroom, pick up a lip balm, bring it back, do you want anything else while I’m up, darling?

“Shift over here,” Seungkwan instructs, “then we can share the blanket too.”

Soobin shifts. They sit side by side, thigh to thigh, and Seungkwan rearranges the blanket over both their knees. Quite genuinely, it would be a bit easier if Soobin threw his arm around Seungkwan’s shoulders. Or if Seungkwan did it to him, but oh – oh, no, Soobin mustn’t start thinking about that. His skin can almost ache with the not-touched feeling, when he’s near Seungkwan, sensitive with consciousness.

“You’re good at doing what you’re told,” Seungkwan observes, and then clears his throat. Soobin stares at the floor. He’s blushing. He hopes Seungkwan doesn’t look up yet.

He shows Seungkwan some choice clips of the show. They hold the phone between them, fingers brushing. At some point Soobin realises that they could probably screencast to the television, but he doesn’t say anything. Perhaps it’s broken. Perhaps Jeonghan doesn’t like other people using the apartment’s Wi-Fi.

Jeonghan was going to do an hour’s work in his room. Will he come out soon? Soobin half hopes so, because that would interrupt this tension, and yet also half-prays some non-serious but time-consuming crisis will keep Jeonghan tethered late, and Soobin and Seungkwan undisturbed here, alone.

“Oh, I really liked that one,” Seungkwan comments, “are there any more like that, more acapella?”

“Um,” Soobin tries to cast his mind back, and puts some prompts in the search bar. His history flashes up on screen for some reason – surely it doesn’t usually? – and it’s nothing he should feel ashamed of, but he didn’t want to talk about that stuff. The hiatus stuff, the digestive issues his therapist says will improve only when he’s less stressed. The stuff in his head. He feels a trickle of sweat run down his back. Seungkwan will probably make a joke, now.

“When I had my wellbeing break,” Seungkwan says softly, after a moment, “everyone kept asking me how I was, and that was often the worst I felt in a day. I didn’t invite you over here to make you feel worse.”

“But you invited me to cheer me up?” Soobin guesses. It’s a nasty, heavy feeling, like eating too much undercooked pancake too fast.

“I invited you because I missed you, Soobin-ah, and one of my most dependable characteristics is a complete absence of self-denial,” Seungkwan gives a little huffed laugh. “But obviously I don’t object if you feeling good is a side-effect.” Seungkwan licks his lips. He’s still shiny and puffy from sleep, but he pushes his hair back from his forehead in an attempt to settle it. He shrugs a little, offering up his open palms like he’s apologising: “I like being with you a lot.”

Soobin turns that over. Tries to breathe. Is this his cue to do something? Should he? Must he? He had always thought Seungkwan would, when it came to it, but perhaps that right now was Seungkwan trying to… but perhaps it wasn’t? What Seungkwan said wasn’t a crazy thing to say to a friend, even a friend you’ve only met in private at your house four times.

“I like being with hyung, too,” Soobin hears himself say. His mouth is dry. “I would… like to do it more. I think…” he runs his tongue along the inside of his teeth, feels the shapes of them. His perfect, straight, flawless teeth. He’s always been so perfect, all his life, fitting bits of himself to configurations he isn’t naturally. “I think you make me happier than most things.”

The words out of his brain sound awful - crazy, bizarre, something to pull away from.

There’s a soft pressure against his knee. Seungkwan’s hand, resting gently, warm through the blanket. If anything, he’s drawn closer. Soobin’s heart is thudding in his chest. A desert plant might feel like this when there’s a rumble in a cloud above, a darkening, burgeoning sky.

He looks up at Seungkwan’s face, at Seungkwan’s lips. Seungkwan is staring back at him, his gaze darting over Soobin’s features too.

“You deserve more time than I ever seem to have,” Seungkwan says softly. And he runs his hand gently over Soobin’s hair. Soobin can’t help but lean into it. His whole body is aching now. “Especially this evening.”

Soobin closes his eyes. He might make a little noise. The aching is transformed, like standing under a warm shower, cascades of sensation over his skin as Seungkwan touches him, still just a gentle hand to his hair, to the side of his face. Under Seungkwan’s fingers, Soobin feels the right shape completely.

“Hyung…” he murmurs, breathless.

“I ought to be a better person,” Seungkwan says, almost to himself. “But that’s something I’ve never, ever managed to be and I mean, holy shit, look at you.”

Soobin draws back a little, gazing at him, feeling the air move in and out of his mouth. “What?”

Seungkwan makes a noise himself, and rises, and Soobin finds himself half on his back on the sofa, Seungkwan over him. From one or other of their movements a side table falls over with a loud crash, but Soobin barely notices.

“I want you to,” Soobin tells Seungkwan, urgent, forgetting to second guess himself: “I want it, I want you to do that to me, don’t worry.”

Simultaneously, Seungkwan growls, and at the same time the familiar strains of what Soobin suddenly realises is ‘Super Tuna’, start blasting from the direction of Jeonghan’s bedroom. Seungkwan looks up, narrows his eyes in annoyance and then laughs resignedly. “He thinks he’s so funny,” Seungkwan mutters.

Then he looks down at Soobin again. Soobin, who has ricocheted from aroused to startled to afraid to dismayed and back again in what feels like ten seconds, looks up. He’s been taught a thousand things about how to look alluring, he’s had lip fillers and tooth veneers and cartilage shaves and laser hair removal and in this moment he can’t think of the art of any of it. Jeonghan and Seungkwan’s fancy designer cushions are digging into his back, he has Seungkwan’s knee solid and unbelievable between his legs and Seungkwan’s mouth hovering over his. And in the background, BTS Jin voicing a tuna who sings hyung, hyung, please take me.

“My room is a suitcase meltdown,” Seungkwan says seriously.

“I don’t f-fucking care,” Soobin tells him, very nearly getting the words out without a stutter, and that earns him another smile, and finally, finally, Seungkwan’s lips against his own, and they almost don’t manage to move.

-

“How many times can he stand to loop that song?” Soobin wonders aloud, speaking the words at the top of his head because it was that or oh wow your dick is so big.

Above him, over him on the mattress that they have mostly cleared of clothing, Seungkwan chuckles. “Hyung is impervious like a cockroach,” he explains. “Do you mind?”

“No!’ Soobin reassures him, and moves to push down the waistband of his own underwear.

“Have you done this before?”

“Done what?”

Seungkwan kisses him again. “We don’t have to do anything in particular. We don’t have to do anything you don’t want.”

“I want this so much,” Soobin puts his hand on Seungkwan’s waist, daring. He moves it round, feeling the bone of Seungkwan’s pelvis, and Seungkwan gasps, and Soobin is on fire with life, immersed in a kind of ease, of instinct, he’d forgotten he could feel. “I’m trying to figure out what I want, I’ve been trying, and I don’t know half of it yet, I don’t know… I was fifteen, and then ten years passed and I don’t know… I don’t know what it is I want, or the company wants, the band wants, my family wants… Except this. I want this. Me. I want you.”

“Jesus,” Seungkwan swears. He drops for a moment, pressing his lips to Soobin’s neck. “I’m not impervious,” he murmurs, “heaven help me.”

“You’d be my first, though, if that’s what you mean,” Soobin confesses, and the triumph of the way it makes Seungkwan buck against him, shuddering with need.

Re: [FILL] REM pt 2

[halotolerant]

-

“Does that mean the takeout has arrived?” Soobin asks, softly, when the ‘Tuna’ loop is abruptly replaced by BTS J-Hope ‘Chicken Noodle Soup’.

“You’re getting it,” Seungkwan says approvingly, and strokes his hair again. Soobin is lying with his head pillowed on Seungkwan’s chest, adjusting to all the ways his body feels now, some sore, some humming, some sticky, all amazing. With a groan, Seungkwan stretches again – “You may laugh now, but after age twenty-five your neck will fight you too, I promise” – and starts moving, dropping one more, quick kiss to Soobin’s mouth before looking for his clothes.

Out in the living area, Jeonghan has arranged containers of food on the dining room table. When he sees them emerge, he pushes something on his phonescreen and the ambient music abruptly stops.

“I had a wonderful emailing session, thanks for asking,” Jeonghan greets them calmly. “I’m going to tell you both all about the boss of mine who doesn’t understand how file paths work or recall that our entire SharePoint has migrated to a new domain. Listen well, and praise me frequently for my forbearance.”

It’s a good meal, and Soobin finds himself with more appetite than he’s had in a while. He feels fizzy, out of sync with the world in the best possible way, as though he’s a traveller from another, better time. Seungkwan is there, Seungkwan is looking at him, under hooded eyes, Seungkwan wanted him, kissed him, touched him. Seungkwan was inside him, not even an hour ago! Soobin doesn’t know how he’s going to leave, now. He casts his mind over what he knows of Seungkwan’s schedule – when can they do this again?

As they clear up, Seungkwan takes a bag of trash down the hallway to the garbage chute. Soobin volunteers at the sink, and Jeonghan dries. He wonders how much Jeonghan heard, really. Seungkwan clearly adores his hyung, but Soobin’s always been a little scared of him.

“I’m sorry about the table,” Soobin finds himself saying.

“You should be careful,” Jeonghan answers. He’s doing circular drying motions on the plate in his hands, but he’s looking directly at Soobin. “Knocking over tables and so on. People can get hurt too.” He puts the plate in a stack, picks up another. “Are you bleeding, at all? It’s OK to talk about it. I have some cream stuff if you are, it’s better to deal with it right away, trust me.”

Soobin can feel the blush on his face. He doesn’t want to think about how Jeonghan knows. “That’s OK, it’s… it’s fine. Seungkwan-hyung looked after me. I know he always would.”

Jeonghan offers another very level gaze. “You be sure and look after him too,” he says. Then he takes the latest plate directly from Soobin’s gloved hands. “If you want to come over here sometimes when I’m working from home, you’re welcome. I get lonely, when they’re all away, and I know the nonsense the labels do with people who are supposed to be resting, ‘accidentally’ leaving lyrics and timetables and internet sentiment analysis around.”

Soobin blinks at him, surprised. “That’s on purpose?”

“That is an entire strategy,” Jeonghan nods. “Come over here and tidy your boyfriend’s room for him instead.”

“Hyung!” Seungkwan complains, and Soobin looks round to see he’s back from his garbage chute trip, standing in the doorway.

“Do you not want a tidy room?” Jeonghan asks.

“I mean, we don’t have to be…” Soobin stops, twisting his hands together. He had, he realises now, kind of thought that maybe they were. Or would be. He hadn’t, anyway, stopped to think that they wouldn’t. That actually people hook up all the time, and don’t date, especially in their industry.

He looks up when he senses Seungkwan walking towards him. He’s seen Seungkwan flirt and tease with the best of them, he’s seen Seungkwan obfuscate and bullshit and charm. Right now, Seungkwan’s eyes are very wide.

“I’d like to be, if you’d like that,” Seungkwan says softly. “I wasn’t going to ask yet,” and he turns a glare in Jeonghan’s direction, “but, I mean, you’ve got me. You know that, right?”

Soobin is still staring, as Jeonghan wanders away, cackling. “Glad that’s cleared that up,” he says opening his bedroom door and then closing it behind him. Seconds later from the house speakers, there comes in a blast the opening bars of BTS Jungkook ‘Seven’ ft. Latto.

“He thinks he’s so funny,” Seungkwan repeats, rolling his eyes.

Soobin shrugs. “He kind of is,” he says, and smiles, and bends down to kiss Seungkwan again.

Re: [FILL] REM

[m1ntea]

couldn't resist the boobin bait!! thank you for the lovely prompt (and the excuse to write more boobin) 💕💕

once you turn they hate us

[svteen]

Ship/Member: Any
Major Tags: N/A
Additional Tags: N/A
Do Not Wants: None

Prompt:

Your words up on the wall as you're praying for my fall
And the laughter in the halls and the names that I've been called
I stack it in my mind, and I'm waiting for the time
When I show you what it's like to be words spit in a mic

- Imagine Dragons, JID - Enemy

Re: [FILL] bright dead things

[klav]

YEEEEEAAASSSSSSSS ARE WE KIDDING!! fraught beautiful ambiguous poetic showstopping! You understand now that he wouldn't have been able to satisfy the madman in you, anyway, *___*

it's not truly 17hols until there is a haoxing from pb :') thank you for this tradition friend it makes me so giddy!

don't you know who i think i am?

[infrequencies]

Ship/Member: Any
Major Tags: N/A
Additional Tags: morality complex/corruption arc
Do Not Wants: None

Prompt:

Another knife in my hands, a stain that never comes off the sheets
Clean me off, I'm so dirty, babe
The kind of dirty where the water never cleans off the clothes
I keep a book of the names and those
— I Never Told You What I Did for a Living, MCR

"When I’m fighting, the whole world goes away and I only know one thing. that I’m gonna win and they’re gonna lose. I like that feeling."
— Faith Lehane, BtVS

[FILL]: running through the halls of your haunted home

[thesolemneyed]

Ship/Member: Seokmin/Wonwoo, Wonwoo/Jeonghan
Major Tags: MCD ? Previous character death ?
Additional Tags: being haunted by your future boyfriend's ex wife-husband
Permission to remix: Yes

***

Seokmin scuffs his feet into the dent at the bottom of the stairs, hands deep in the pockets of his coat. There is an old tissue rubbing against his knuckles, but he’s already wearing his shoes to prove a point and he doesn’t want to make his way to the kitchen to reach the bin. On the side table, the lamp flickers once, but Seokmin keeps his gaze fixed straight ahead, towards the door.

“Sorry — I’ll just be two minutes.” A floorboard creaks as Wonwoo stumbles out of the bedroom, pausing at the top of the stairs to pull an apologetic face down to Seokmin. “I can’t seem to find my damn glasses.”

“Have you tried the top of your head?” Seokmin is only mostly joking, laughs as Wonwoo pats his hair and frowns. “Bedside table?”

Wonwoo grunts and heads back into the bedroom, a soft cheer trailing down the stairs when Seokmin is evidently proven right. He appears once again, now with two ties in hand. “What do we think? Red to go with the ugly trousers my grandma bought or green to match my socks?”

Pondering, Seokmin tilts his head. They were meant to leave fifteen minutes ago and he has to swallow the irritation on the tip of his tongue. “Red.” He leaves out that Wonwoo’s brother’s girlfriend actually bought him the ugly trousers. And that he bought the green tie that Wonwoo is now discarding on the railing. “Red and green will make you look like a Christmas ornament.”

“Well,” Wonwoo laughs. “’tis the season.” He plants a kiss on Seokmin’s cheek as he reaches the bottom of the stairs, hand firm on Seokmin’s shoulder. “You don’t want to hang me on your tree?”

“I think there’s a good chance your dad actually will if we don’t leave now.” Despite his smile, Seokmin feels every minute drag against him with increasing persistence. “We’re going to be so late.”

Wonwoo only offers a grimace, checking his hair and straightening his tie in the mirror hanging by the front door. Satisfied, he turns to Seokmin again. “You look nice.” He holds out a hand which Seokmin accepts, then tugs until his face is only inches away. “Nervous?”

Seokmin tries not to appear caught off guard, then smiles as softly as he can. “A little,” he lies. “You?”

But Wonwoo just shakes his head. “Why would I be? They’ll love you.” He gives Seokmin’s hand a squeeze. “Come on.”

The chill from outside feels like a smack across the face and Seokmin sucks in a deep breath, double checks that he has his keys as he steps across the threshold. As he turns to pull the door closed, his eyes stray to the divot in the floorboards. He realises that the dirty tissue had fallen out of his pocket and was fluttering there, caught against the bottom step by the icy winter wind.

Frowning, Seokmin slams the door shut behind him.

***

“How have you been?”

It’s been over a decade since Seokmin saw Wonwoo last, but he seems fundamentally the same. His haircut hasn’t changed, his shabby jumper, a little large around the shoulders, glasses with frames too thick to be considered trendy. A beer can is growing condensation on the table in front of him, his book discarded — and Seokmin can’t even be angry that Wonwoo is still the kind of guy who will bring a book to a bar because he’s here and real and looking at him.

Wonwoo’s shoulder jerks noncommittally. “Surviving.” His voice is quiet but carries easily over the rumble of the bar. “Doing my best.” He swallows, gazes at the space just behind Seokmin’s right ear. “You?”

“Surviving.” Seokmin smirks as he says it, but it falls flat in the space between the two of them. “Trucking along.” He sits, unbidden, in the seat across from Wonwoo. He’s too warm in his wool coat so he sheds some layers and spreads them out so no one else can join the table. “Work’s shit.”

Wonwoo glances back at his book for a moment, a degree of longing in his eyes, then seems to resign himself to being disturbed. “What do you do for work?”

“Same as before.” No look of recognition from Wonwoo, so Seokmin continues, “I’m a data analyst. Soulless, but I can work from home and I’ve been given a whole week off to hang out with my family for the holidays.” He grins. “It pays the bills.”

A slow nod. It’s clear that Wonwoo doesn’t have much interest in the world of predicative models or spreadsheets. “What are you doing now?”

Last time he checked, Wonwoo was in the final stages of training to be an inheritance solicitor. But that was five years ago, so maybe he’s had a change of heart since then. “I’m a lawyer.” He takes a swig of his beer, still not meeting Seokmin’s gaze.

“What kind of law?” The chair creaks as Seokmin settles back and crosses his feet at the ankles. He doesn’t know anything further than what he’s gleaned from the assholes he works with, but it won’t hurt him to at least appear interested in Wonwoo’s boring job.

Wonwoo sighs a little. “Family law. Wills and civil disputes and stuff like that.” He sounds like he’s had to explain this at far too many family parties and is more than fed up of it.

Trying his best to look interested, Seokmin nods. He leans forward conspiratorially, hunched over his glass of lukewarm lemonade. “Have you ever had to defend someone who, you know, definitely did it.” Wonwoo looks nonplussed. “Like a wife who for sure killed her husband for the dosh or something.”

The colour drains out of Wonwoo’s face and Seokmin feels his stomach plummet as he realises what he’s said.

“No. I didn’t. I mean.” His straightens his spine, panic thick in the back of his throat. “I’m sorry. I don’t know why I said that.”

Wonwoo drains the last of his beer as he stands, setting the can down between them with a clink. His hand is shaking a little and he wrestles his way back into his thick down jacket. “It’s fine.” His voice cuts through Seokmin will a chill. “See you around.”

“Fuck.” Seokmin slouches further into the creaky leather of the chair and groans.

***

Wonwoo:
Thank you for the flowers.
How did you get my address?

Seokmin:
your wedding invites

Wonwoo:
You still have those?

Seokmin:
i throw nothing away

ever
its one of the reasons my ex broke up with me

Silence again on Wonwoo’s end, although Seokmin’s phone tells him his messages have been opened. He swallows, then types,

Seokmin:
i really am sorry
i didnt think
it was very stupid of me

Wonwoo:
It’s okay.

A pause, the bubbles lingering at the bottom of Seokmin’s screen.

Wonwoo:
It’s nothing I haven’t heard before anyway.

Something catches in Seokmin’s throat and he lets out a long slow breath.
Seokmin:
you dont deserve that
i remember from your wedding how perfect you were together. you loved him a lot. he knew that and anyone with any sense would be able to see it.
jeonghan was lucky to have you

More dots at the bottom of the screen. They disappear, then appear, then disappear again. Seokmin senses himself lingering on the edge of a precipice.

Seokmin:
let me buy you a drink to apologise
please
its been too long. i miss you.

He thinks that Wonwoo isn’t even going to open the message when the reply materialises.

Wonwoo:
That’d would be nice. Thank you.
I miss you too.

***

The restaurant is crowded with families full of festive cheer and there is mist on the windows which makes Seokmin shudder. Yelllowish light bathes Wonwoo’s face with a sickly glow, but someone he still manages to look handsome on the other side of the wobbly table. “I thought you said you were buying me a drink?”

“The drink comes with a pizza. Did I not mention that part?” Seokmin grins, tilting his head in a way which Jihoon once described as endearing and then instantly regretted.

Wonwoo rolls his eyes, but doesn’t get up. “This place isn’t even good,” he says softly, conspiratorially. “If you wanted to ask me for dinner, you should have at least asked for my recommendation first.”

“Not good? What do you mean not good? I used to come here every single week for Free Slice Friday!” Seokmin feels almost personally offended at the small slice of his childhood being besmirched. He wrote about this place in one of his early college essays where he had to describe a favourite memory for a creative writing module he was forced to take. His first kiss was in the alley down by the bins and he broke his wrist one year trying to impress his crush with his skateboarding tricks right outside this very front window.

But Wonwoo doesn’t seem impressed by any of this information. “That was before it was taken over by a chain. No more Free Slice Friday, I’m afraid.” He waits for the waiter to take their orders, then pours himself a glass of water. Over the rim, he says, “Jeonghan made me boycott this place after they announced they were axing that deal.” He holds Seokmin’s gaze steady, the glint of the lamp outside catching on the glaze of his glasses.

“Well, I’m with him. Let’s not pay tonight.” Seokmin keeps his voice low, forces Wonwoo to lean in a little. “It’s been far too long since I’ve dine-and-dash-ed.”
Wonwoo’s laugh is refreshing. “Not a good habit for you to reinstate. Maybe leave that one in your twenties.” Outside, a car sloshes past, spattering what used to be clean, white snow up onto the sidewalk. The sound is almost perverse in the quiet between them.

Another head tilt and Seokmin purses his lips, watches Wonwoo’s eyes flicker down to catch the movement. “It’s probably not my worst habit, if I’m honest.” He takes a sip of red wine, the taste rich and dry on his tongue.

“It’s not?” Wonwoo mimics Seokmin, the drink staining his lip a deep burgundy. “What is, then?”

Seokmin pretends to think, a finger lightly stroking his chin. “Well, I do hog the covers when I sleep.”

“That is pretty awful.” Wonwoo is resting his cheek on one hand now. He looks almost like he’s having a good time. “Unforgivable, I think.”

“That’s not even it. I’m also a chronic procrastinator.”

Wonwoo chokes. “What was that?”

“Pro-cras-tin-a-tor,” Seokmin wheezes. “Don’t get that one confused.”

“Right. My bad.” Wonwoo dabs at his mouth with the corner of his mouth with his napkin. “Well, I bite my nails. If that helps.”

Seokmin pulls a face. “It doesn’t, actually. That’s gross. There are more germs under your nails than on a toilet seat.” He vaguely remembers reading that fact in a Christmas cracker once. He glances at Wonwoo’s nails — they seem perfectly manicured, not at all bitten.

“Jeonghan used to say the same thing,” Wonwoo admits. “He hated it.”

“Then I agree with him again.” Seokmin raises his glass in something almost like a toast. “Do you want to know my worst habit?” Wonwoo tips his head in a silent question and Seokmin smiles. “I never know when to give up.”

***

The house is nice, Seokmin thinks. Classy. It’s certainly a step above the one bed apartment in the city that he’s just signed the lease on.

Wonwoo pauses on the top step. “Thank you for driving me home,” he says quietly. “I was wondering if you might like to come in for a coffee.”

Fireworks whiz and pop in Seokmin’s stomach and he has stop himself from punching the air. “If you’re sure,” he says gladly, his hand already on the railing by the front door, crowding easily into Wonwoo’s space. Their breath mingle into mist between them.

“It’s a little messy. I wasn’t expecting company.” The hallway is dark but seems totally acceptable. The moonlight hits the shining wooden floors, gleaming in the white of the night, catches on the edge of a framed photo in the entryway. “I also have some nice whiskey you might like.”

“I won’t be able to drive home if you ply me with drink, Wonwoo.” Seokmin pitches his voice low as he hangs his coat up on a peg behind the door. He slips out of his shoes and feels the gloss of the floor beneath him, slippery on his socks.
Wonwoo just huffs a laugh, doesn’t look at Seokmin in the dim hallway. “I have a spare bed if you need.”

Seokmin just hums.

***

“It’s been a while,” Wonwoo whispers. His glasses were discarded downstairs, his shirt somewhere on the landing. “I haven’t since…” he trails off.

“It’s okay.” Seokmin runs his hands down Wonwoo’s arms, lacing their fingers together. He edges closer, looks up at Wonwoo through his lashes. Their tongues taste like liquor and the cheap rice snacks Wonwoo found in his cupboard. “I don’t mind.”

And he doesn’t.

Wonwoo is unhurried, generous in bed, although Seokmin gets the sense that he is holding out on him somehow. It doesn’t bother him until they are wrapped around each other in the early hours of the morning, Wonwoo snoring gently in Seokmin’s ear.

He sits up, shivering in the chill away from Wonwoo’s body. There are no photographs in this room, but the bedding is a higher thread count than Seokmin would ever bother to splash out on and there are fake flowers in a vase near Wonwoo’s head.

“What time is it?” Wonwoo rolls over, reaching out a hand across the sheets in search of Seokmin’s.

Seokmin looks down at the ring, brazen on Wonwoo’s finger. “Still early,” he mutters. “Go back to sleep.”

***

“Where did you find that jumper?”

Seokmin looks down at himself. He thought the cream complimented the colour of his eyes. “It was in your cupboard,” he says blankly. “Sorry. I thought I’d borrow it. Is that okay?”

“It’s not mine.” Wonwoo sits down at the table, serves himself eggs directly out of the pan. “Please put it back.”

***

Cross posted to ao3 :3

ex-friends to the end, better off as lovers

[infrequencies]

Ship/Member: Any, but consider Joshua or Minghao
Major Tags: N/A
Additional Tags: ambiguous relationships, idolverse or celebrity-adjacent, the one you got away from or the one that got away?
Do Not Wants: None

Prompt:

You searched the world for somethin' else
To make you feel like what we had
And in the end, in Wonderland, we both went mad
— Wonderland, Taylor Swift

Rolling Stone: How do you feel about the way that friendship [Taylor Swift and Dianna Agron] was covered in the media? You two were shipped.

Dianna Agron: Shipped?

RS: You two were made out by the media and some fans to be in a relationship.

DA: That is so interesting. I... I mean, there have been many stories about my dating life that are so wildly untrue. That's funny.

Re: [FILL] 始终有限

[klav]

HWARIUM!!!! I'm sitting in this cafe with a big stupid smile on my face thinking about Minghao as the kind of person who will always do right by his heart. (--and sorry to quote first from your note rather than the fic but! your brain!!) This is so atmospheric and liminal, from the train station to the coming rain. The whole time Minghao is waiting. It's not until the very end that we see Junhui at all, when Minghao has already decided to end things. I love the central questions of this story--what is a love story? how do you know if someone is yours to keep? what do you do if they're NOT? Just perfect philosophy for this trifecta.

Maybe it was nothing, but for Wonwoo, words and actions found it difficult to escape the gravity of his conscience. So the silence was something. -- HELLO JEON WONWOO CHARACTERIZATION OF ALL TIME. I will be turning this phrasing over again and again in my mind it is so rich. The mentions of other svts (specter of Yoon Jeonghan we will never escape you) (Soonyoung and Seungkwan not meant to be) (YANAN) are delicious.

The concept was like water in a room, and Minghao had just placed his hand on the door knob, and felt the force behind it. This line hit like a punch. I /felt/ this with my whole body. It would've been easy to make this comparison with a glass aquarium, or some other structure that's meant to have water in it, but. Water in a room with a door knob. Water flooded where it's definitely not supposed to be. That slight feeling of wrong-ness, of dread, just colored the phrase so beautifully for me.

Thank you so much for this I am kicking my feet and thinking furiously and hehehe-ing at my little computer screen, 17HOLS IS BACK BABEY

i'd rather go blind than let you down

[cheapdates]

Ship/Member: Any + submitting for your consideration jeongcheol, gyuhan, minwon, wonhan, seokgyu
Major Tags: N/A
Additional Tags: us against the world
Do Not Wants: None

Prompt:

I cocoon
'Round your shoulders
When you're half-cut
And you're frozen
And you've got that visible breathing
You're depending on me again

I remember when we
Swapped names and I thought maybe
You'd stay and try and out-drink me
Your friends all hated it

//

And if you wanna shut down and pose as positive and
Hide smoking from relatives and
Rest on me
Honey, that's alright
And if you wanna act more drunk than usual
To help you get away with more then
Rest on me
Honey, that's alright
Honey, that's alright

- cocoon, catfish & the bottlemen

Re: [FILL] REM pt 2

[ninamonday]

I will cry for the rest of my life. They are so tender and beautiful and destined for each other. Also I MISS JEONGHAN and he is so funny and lovely here. Our perfect gremlin angel 🥰 I hope he is well 🥲

Normal

[seraphica]

Ship/Member: Any
Major Tags: N/A
Additional Tags: N/A
Do Not Wants: None

Prompt:

Very normal thing to say, call a family member and read what you typed out loud to them when you get the chance.

Anonymous user on 4chan, March 20, 2023

Refrigerator

[seraphica]

Ship/Member: Any
Major Tags: N/A
Additional Tags: N/A
Do Not Wants: None

Prompt:

It was over something stupid, but I snapped and tried to hit him with a refrigerator.

Heiwajima Shuzuo in Durarara!! (Narita Ryougo)

Spark

[seraphica]

Ship/Member: Any
Major Tags: N/A
Additional Tags: N/A
Do Not Wants: None

Prompt:

So maybe next time we meet I'll be something else, I'll be different. Maybe next time I'll be a spark, and I will burn this fucking world.

R. M. Drake (@ rmdrk) on Twitter.

I beg you

[seraphica]

Ship/Member: Any
Major Tags: N/A
Additional Tags: N/A
Do Not Wants: None

Prompt:

Please leave me out of this. I beg you.

Mandricardo (Listened, Wishing He Hadn't) - [Fate Grand/Order]

Flames

[seraphica]

Ship/Member: Any
Major Tags: N/A
Additional Tags: N/A
Do Not Wants: None

Prompt:

If we go up in flames, we go up in flames together.

It's okay.

I won't leave you to die alone.

Daiya no Ace Act II

Re: [FILL] so make it count

[klav]

This is so lovely and detailed. I can imagine Hansol playing with a Rubik's Cube perfectly. “But a stray Xu Minghao is still a Xu Minghao, so.” !!! Sheer romance <3

hair tie

[(Anonymous)]

Ship/Member: Any, but may I suggest jeongcheol or gyuhan
Major Tags: N/A
Additional Tags: friends with benefits, ambiguous relationships
Do Not Wants: None

Prompt:

You left your hair tie, battin' those eyes
By the sink, you leave 'em behind, I think I know why
I'm just looking for the answer
When's the next time I'll expect ya?

-ØZI, hair tie

Re: [FILL] so make it count

[hwarium]

the way everything got me excited even more I started reading!! verhao dimension jumping is such a combination, especially with minghao's romanticism and vernon's .... easy acceptance of the arcane (heh)

This was such a treat !! the idea of using rubiks cube solve times as a tracker for progress across the worlds, the hint that verhao might be married, but the tiny joy I got at Vernon reminding Minghao to focus on the moment and himself <3 that was so very Vernon of him <3 thank you for writing this

Re: [FILL] 始终有限

[hwarium]

KLAV!! I am the one kicking my feet. the joy of writing for 17hols is special because I get to revisit the characterisation for all these boys but to get your comment on top of that, this is the real Christmas treat <3

Thank you for understanding and seeing all those details!! I think you and your climate disasters/weather metaphors do influence me even after all these years - the flooded room metaphor came because yesterday I walked past a pipe which had burst after heavy rain, and a friend pointed to the houses downstream that were affected. Which in turn led to thinking about how some things in life are inevitable (like a train running on schedule, or an incoming shower), and as humans all we can do is work with it or around it. The premonition of an inevitable event felt like a metaphor for the junhao breakup, and Minghao /is/ currently in that liminal space, feeling the dread in the air, wondering what to do. And it felt a little cheeky, to make that metaphor real and situate Minghao in it.

17hols is forever <3 as are my soft spots for jww and yjh long may they reign