Status: Open
Prompting is currently open. Prompting is open from 28 December 2024 to 19 January 2025.
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.
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Prompting
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Need ideas? Check out our 2021 and 2022 Quote rounds.
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Remixing
- Post as a reply to the fill you are remixing, using the same HTML as above;
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[FILL] 始终有限
Major Tags: N/A
Additional Tags: high school!AU, weather forecast: rain with a chance of breakup
Permission to remix: Yes! (Junhui's POV?)
***
“How does it go? The saying?” Wonwoo glanced at him as they waited on the platform, the cold bright lights of the station reflected on his glasses like a twinkle. “If something truly belongs to you, let it go and see if it comes back?”
“Do you believe that?” Minghao said, “That some people are never meant to be yours?”
Wonwoo tilted his head, chin dipping into the red scarf wrapped around his wet shoulders. He was contemplative, and seemed for a moment that he had something profound to share, but the moment ended with a burst of soft laughter.
“Yes, of course. Keria. Faker? I could never date them no matter how much I adore them. Even if I told them please, please go on a date with me I’m good at League,” Wonwoo shook his head and scratched his ear, “Sorry, I know your question was more nuanced.”
The lights on the edge of the platform started blinking faster. Overhead, a polite voice made the announcement Please stand clear. The train was to arrive, exactly as scheduled.
“No, I think you’re right,” The corner of Minghao’s mouth twitched, “Of course some people are never meant to be together. You and me, Soonyoung-hyung and Seungkwan —”. Wonwoo laughed at that “— New Jeans and HYBE. I think the question should be, how should you know, whether the someone is someone you’re not meant to keep?”
Like clockwork, the doors of the carriage lined up with the platform gates. Minghao glanced at the station list on the signage above. This one was the express, not a train going local.
“I’m on the next one,” Minghao said, “I’ll see you in class tomorrow?”
“Good night Minghao,” Wonwoo waved, “Sorry we didn’t finish taking about Junhui.”
“All good hyung, you gave me something to think about,” Minghao waved back, just as the door closed and the train left without him.
Someone he was never meant to keep.
Yes. They were talking about Junhui.
The signs were there, like a well written book with carefully placed clues. A gun on the dining table, a knife by the bed, a stray comment about a locked room. Theatre club darling, street grime breakdancer, teacher’s pet, aloof delinquent. Handsome, lanky. Popular, reclusive.
Placing Junhui and Minghao side by side was just an invitation to comparison.
Junhui always shone brighter from the very beginning. At school his smile was an aura that warmed the space around him. The harshest teachers seemed to melt, the coldest girls seemed to soften. He won the awards that won the school front pages in the local newspaper. Junhui was friends with the cooler kids, Kwon Soonyoung respected his opinions when it came to stage direction, and once (or twice!) Yoon Jeonghan came to speak to him.
Junhui was a year older, so they only met because Minghao took advanced maths a year early and both of them took the summer course at the cram school. Minghao recognised Wonwoo from library duty and Wonwoo was sitting next to Junhui.
How does one summarise a love story into a paragraph?
Minghao would rather not think about the beginning, as he sat here thinking about the end. He’s at the school gates, waiting for Junhui and Wonwoo to come out so that they can walk to cram school together.
The signs were there. Junhui was graduating soon, but he wanted to go to theatre school, not university. Their city did not have a theatre school. Maybe it was exams, but Minghao could count on one hand the number of dates that were Junhui’s idea, and not Minghao’s. And maybe it’s just a habit, how Junhui reaches for his phone when there’s a lull in the conversation. And maybe it is forgetfulness, how Junhui says goodbye after already turning around to go.
Recently there was a listlessness to Junhui, a point on the horizon that his gaze drifted to. It’s easy, to slip into a habit of wondering. Going to arcades and wondering if Junhui wanted to be elsewhere. Having ramen and wondering if Junhui preferred malatang.
Sitting next to him, and wondering of Junhui preferred someone else. Wu Jiafan who was funnier. Yanan, who was more handsome. Or even Wonwoo, who was smarter.
Speaking of.
“Hey.”
Wonwoo has arrived, uniform still neatly tucked in while Minghao’s was untucked even before he arrived on campus. Junhui’s not with Wonwoo, but that’s to be expected. He’s known for loitering after class, chatting to everyone and drawing them in with his enigma.
Wonwoo must’ve seen something in Minghao’s eyes because he bent down for a moment and then straightened up again, “I’ll go on ahead. Need to buy stationery before class.”
“Sure,” Minghao said, “See you there.”
“Do you have an umbrella? It’s forecasted to pour.”
Minghao looked up. The sky was overcast in the inevitable way that signalled rain. “I’ll be okay. If it rains I’ll make a run for it,” he shrugged, “And if I get wet, I get wet.”
“And then you’ll dry off?” Wonwoo raised an eyebrow.
“I’ll dry off,” Minghao shrugged, “Eventually.”
“Don’t wait too long then, not if it starts raining.”
“Sure, see you later.”
Wonwoo hovered for a second before turning around, just long enough for Minghao to perceive it as something. A good luck or I’m on your side. 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.
Minghao waited for the thoughts to return, for the heat to rise again. A gaggle of students poured out the gate, laughing and nodding.
There was always an opacity to Junhui’s wants. He said yes too easily, to teacher’s requests, to Minghao’s ideas. He had said yes dating Minghao, that late night at the convenience store, both of them eating instant noodles by the window. And he would say yes to Minghao if he asked —
Lets break up.
Minghao’s heart hammered at the words. 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.
It felt inevitable, like a wave coming onto the shore. Unstoppable, no matter what Minghao said, whether he raised his voice or stamped his feet. It was like as Wonwoo said, no matter how much he adored Jun, it will not mean that Jun was any more meant to be his. He could say I love you, but Jun may not reply with the same intensity, or reply at all.
“Haohao. Lost in your thoughts?”
Minghao jumped. Jun had bent over a comical angle, long hair hovering just over Minghao’s forehead. Even upside down he was so handsome. Seeing Jun made Minghao want to grow smaller, stick his bottom lip out in a pout and show his sour moods. Invite the love, the attention. Let Jun ruffle his hair or buy him snacks.
He didn’t want this to end. But maybe it will. Maybe he’ll say something and Jun will only drift even further away.
Or maybe he’ll drift even closer.
But that was a decision for Jun to make, if Minghao gave him that decision.
“Jun-ge,” Minghao stood up, felt the muscles in his leg stretch out and something in his heart relax. He was never a coward, and honesty has never disappointed him. “Can we talk?”
Thank you pb for the prompt that immediately sniped me like a bird out of the air. When I listened to the song it made me think of a moment right after an inevitable breakup, with one side loving the other more but choosing to let go. But as I wrote Minghao, I realised he's the kind of person who will always do right by his heart, even if he knew the outcome.
The title is also from the lyrics of The8's Cold Love. The word 始终有限 means 'limited', but the literal meaning of the characters is 'the beginning and end has been set'. I like how it suggests preordained breadth, and it reminded me of a high school romance that was never meant to last, but was beautiful while it lasted. (In my head Jun8 talks it out and decides that they will break up when Jun graduates but will spend the summer going on dates and bullying Wonwoo).
Re: [FILL] 始终有限
thank you. I'm definitely gonna pick your brain about cold love lyrics as you interpret them someday!
Re: [FILL] 始终有限
Re: [FILL] 始终有限
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
Re: [FILL] 始终有限
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
Re: [FILL] 始终有限
Minghao would rather not think about the beginning, as he sat here thinking about the end. beautiful.... love how you've written minghao reflecting over the relationship, it is sad but you as a reader resign yourself to the same opinion as minghao: it wasn't meant to be.
not to discount wonwoo has a character either because you give him a lot of life. 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. i like his supporting role and the broader context of their friendship trio adding another layer to what it means to break up... minghao is such a logical and emotional person at the same time so it is so interesting to read his thoughts. thank you <3
Re: [FILL] 始终有限
Re: [FILL] 始终有限
also: perhaps my fave line is the one about the two of them inviting comparison. so writerly without breaking the fourth wall, i loved it. happy 17hols indeed this rly is the best time of year!!
Re: [FILL] 始终有限