2026 Round: Quotes

[hwarium]

Status: Prompting Closed This round is now closed to further prompts but remain open for fills and remixes (forever!). Seventeen Holidays 2026 Round: Quotes About "Enter any body of water and you give yourself up to be swallowed. Even the stones know that." "beauty is terror" "Would you fall in love with me again, if you knew all I've done? The things I can't undo. " Calling all lovers of poetry and prose, rhyme and reason, screen and stage. Welcome to the Quotes Round, where every prompt must cradle a quotation (or two, or three). Mix the media and let the synergy birth a new order, or keep it short and let the subtext speak its secrets to the right writer. 🛑 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 ✧ 2026 ROUND: QUOTES ✧ 2026 FILLS MASTERLIST NOTION DATABASE (ALL FILLS) ARCHIVE: 2021 ARCHIVE: 2022 ARCHIVE: 2023 ARCHIVE: 2024 ARCHIVE: 2025

Comments

there's a path but my heart does not follow

[hwarium]

Ship/Member: Any / emotional avoidance line (Jun, Wonwoo, Jeonghan)
Major Tags: N/A
Additional Tags: breaking up at the airport (bonus challenge: they don't talk about breaking up
Do Not Wants: None

Prompt:

乌云无语晕开
当时没说的爱
你是离开我是未来

The love left unspoken was scattered
By the storm clouds without a word
And you stepped away from my future

- 寂寞号登机口 / Silent Boarding Gate - Jun

love language: violence

[hwarium]

Ship/Member: Any, but jihan would go crazy though
Major Tags:poem contains gendered violence
Additional Tags: Mutual self destruction, lovers to enemies (who are still lovers), only falling in love with people who hurt you, learning to unlearn your hurts, I would fall to my knees if this was toxic yuri
Do Not Wants: None

Prompt:

A woman like me
with soft hands, not hands of the field, but
hands meant to stroke and soothe, needs a weapon,
so I studied The Art of War and watched boxing, and
where else was all this rage to go? Is this too dramatic?
Find another story. Find a lie. In love, body after body
fell beneath my own, though my own was broken,
and I made love like a sea creature, fluid as if boneless
though my bones would rattle if not for the fat I cherish.
Wouldn't you? And I grew to love the heavyweights,
myself with one in the ring. Imagine him punching
me, and punching me again, saying I'm sorry, so sorry,
to have to love you this way.

- Taking it Vievee Francis

the only way out is through

[klav]

Ship/Member: Any
Major Tags: N/A
Additional Tags: love(?) despite doom, no-win scenarios, consider horror/dystopia/sci-fi
Do Not Wants: None

Prompt:

I wish to lock eyes across a dance floor from you while something our mothers sang in the kitchen plays over the speakers. I want us to find each other among the forest of writhing and make a deal. Okay, lover. It is just us now. The only way out is through.
―Hanif Abdurraqib, A Little Devil in America: In Praise of Black Performance


TV Tropes’ definition of a Despair Event Horizon:
The line that, once crossed, destroys any last remaining sense of hope. It could be for a cause, a person, a situation, or simple survival. A character has given up on it, and there is no going back.

stay

[klav]

Ship/Member: Any, Minghao/Any
Major Tags: N/A
Additional Tags: consider a separation—could be geographic, temporal, permanent, temporary, unwilling, or life-saving, but a separation all the same.
Do Not Wants: None

Prompt:

It's as if when you're in the forest, you become a seamless part of it. When you're in the rain, you're a part of the rain. When you're in the morning, you're a seamless part of the morning. When you're with me, you become part of me.
―Kafka on the Shore, Haruki Murakami


What takes place in me stays there.
―Frank Bidart


Mitsuha: There's no way we could meet. But one thing is certain. If we see each other, we'll know. That you were the one who was inside me. That I was the one who was inside you.
―Your Name (2016)

if i could be under your skin

[deadwine]

Ship/Member: Any but consider booseok
Major Tags: N/A
Additional Tags: the gay hockey boys, anyone?
Do Not Wants: None

Prompt:

But the time gon' stop
When you and I make our lips lock baby (oh-oh-oh, trust me)
And once again you made me
Misplace my pride, baby (oh-oh-oh, so trust me, oh-oh)
Promised myself never again
But you got me doing the same thing all over again

-RM ft. Paul Blanco & Mahalia, Closer

even if i break in regret, i've loved us after all

[deadwine]

Ship/Member: Any (Minghao? One of Network Love line?)
Major Tags: N/A
Additional Tags: disbandment/member departing group/canon-divergence
Do Not Wants: None

Prompt:

Sky fallin' easy
Lookin’ forward
Reflected in my eyes
"A flying bird leaves no trace"
Steppin' on the ceiling
Lookin’ for a reason
I close my eyes, deeply
And fall asleep in the noise

-THE8, Skyfall

semi-well-adjusted despite everything

[infrequencies]

Ship/Member: Any, but consider Minghao, Hoshi, Woozi
Major Tags: N/A
Additional Tags: the usual BBB-isms, perils of idol life
Do Not Wants: None

Prompt:

Fame as a way of weaving a larger narrative about yourself

Fame as a way of that narrative being taken from you

Fame as a way of turning you into something you aren’t

- from Autopsy (of an Ex-Teen Heartthrob) by Avan Jogia

play some games with the smoke

[infrequencies]

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

Prompt:

"If you pull the soul from the body, and the body dies but the soul does not, has there been a death? Can you be a man without a body? Can you be a man if all you are is body, if the soul is lost, or broken, or—"

- from Boys with Sharp Teeth by Jenni Howell

[infrequencies]

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

Prompt:

“We see by the light of who we are.

Look at us: You inside me

inside you. We’ve lived inside

each other from the beginning.

And from before beginning.

Before the world was ever found.

Before the world was found, I say,

I dwelled inside you,

and you breathed all through me,

in my body and its happiness,

in my body and its loneliness.”

- from The Undressing by Liyoung Lee

exit route

[infrequencies]

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

Prompt:

Bare feet on the concrete
Freckles on your knees
Searching for a blood stain
Bandages are clean
Baby take it easy
Following a whim
Listen how the heart beats
Lying next to him

- Whim by Hayley Williams

I am the floodlights that pour on to you
Your bare back is glowing so helplessly consumed
You swallowed a sparrow and it's clawing up your throat
You said "It's a bad time to love me, you shouldn't be looking so close"

- Molars by Evelia

language / barrier

[lachrymosy]

Ship/Member: Any, but consider gyuhao or wonhui
Major Tags: N/A
Additional Tags: canonverse optional but beloved <3
Do Not Wants: None

Prompt:

"…Humans are innately predisposed to exploit code choices as negotiations of 'position.' That is, speakers use their linguistic choices as tools to index for others their perceptions of self, and of rights and obligations holding between self and others. In turn, as in any negotiation, others can agree with or dispute the socio-pragmatic goals of such linguistic moves" (Myers-Scotton, 1993, p. 478).

- Myers-Scotton, C. (1993). Common and uncommon ground: Social and structural factors in codeswitching. Language in Society, 22(4), 475-504.

I don't understand but I love, but I love you

- Seventeen

we've both been very brave

[infrequencies]

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

Prompt:

All the words that exists in the world
It's enough for just the two of us to know, with all my desire
With the growing wave of emotion
You know, there are more important things than words between us, right?

- I Don't Understand But I Luv U by SEVENTEEN

SHANE: Hey, uh, I have an idea. How about you tell me everything that's on your mind, but in Russian?

I won't understand, but maybe it'll help.

- Heated Rivalry episode 1x05 - I'll Believe in Anything

you're just a fallen superstar

[lachrymosy]

Ship/Member: Hoshi/any
Major Tags: N/A
Additional Tags: enlistment era
Do Not Wants: None

Prompt:

I think since debut I’m just living as Hoshi. Kwon Soonyoung’s life doesn’t really exist.

- Hoshi, SEVENTEEN: OUR CHAPTER

What are we now but voices
who promise each other a life
neither one can deliver
not for lack of wanting
but wanting won’t make it so.
We cling to a vine
at the cliff’s edge.
There are tigers above
and below. Let us love
one another and let go.

– Tigers, Eliza Griswold

match point

[(Anonymous)]

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

Prompt:

what do you do when they're the ones with natural talent but you're the only one entrusted with the glory? when you know your best friend would kill to have your wife, wouldn't you bear being unloved? when you know your wife would kill to have your healthy body, wouldn't you let her have it?

(from this challengers letterboxd review) (https://letterboxd.com/raksharks/film/challengers/)

sinew

[(Anonymous)]

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

Prompt:

“Sometimes I imagine what it’d be like to / show you I’m alive. The thrill of it. The sharp / inhale. The nerve exposed. The bone.”

- Kate Baer, from “First Love,” What Kind of Woman

spousal privilege

[(Anonymous)]

Ship/Member: Any, but consider Seokhan, Jihan, Haoshua
Major Tags: N/A
Additional Tags: N/A
Do Not Wants: None

Prompt:

sexiest reasons to get married:
1. so you can't be forced to testify against each other
2. to get divorced

(source) (https://www.tumblr.com/1percentcharge/790596695623892992?source=share)

filial piety

[lachrymosy]

Ship/Member: Joshua Hong (/any)
Major Tags: N/A
Additional Tags: N/A
Do Not Wants: None

Prompt:

Q: Is there something you spent the most money on?

Joshua: Just my mom? I think I told her not to work anymore. If my mom wants to do something, I can support her 100%. If she wants to start something new, I'm always ready.

– Joshua Hong

...You remember your mother,
her precision a ceremony, as she gathered
the white cotton, slipped it over your toes,
drew up the heel, turned the cuff. A breath
can uncoil as you walk across your own muddy yard,
the big dipper pouring night down over you, and everything
you dread, all you can’t bear, dissolves
and, like a needle slipped into your vein—
that sudden rush of the world.

– Ellen Bass, Any Common Desolation

i set my clocks early 'cause i know i'm always late

[lachrymosy]

Ship/Member: Jeonghan/any but I would like to suggest Jeonghan/Monsta X Hyungwon
Major Tags: N/A
Additional Tags: pining, scheming, flirting, despairing, adhd vibes if that clicks for you
Do Not Wants: explicit sexual content

Prompt:

Write me off, give up on me
'Cause darling, what did you expect?
I'm just off, a lost cause
A long shot, don't even take this bet
You can make all the moves, you can aim all the spotlights
Get all the sighs and the moans just right

– Fall Out Boy, A Little Less Sixteen Candles, A Little More Touch Me

i'm only lost if you don't look for me

[lachrymosy]

Ship/Member: Seungcheol/any (jeongcheol would be great though)
Major Tags: N/A
Additional Tags: canonverse optional
Do Not Wants: None

Prompt:

“We don’t live forever, so when I love someone, I want to love a few people, and give all my love to them.”

– SCoups, SEVENTEEN: OUR CHAPTER

So this is what it is to love someone
You wear your heart upon their sleeve

– Snow Patrol, The Forest is the Path

good goodbye

[dearmonday77]

Ship/Member: Minghao or Vernon
Major Tags: N/A
Additional Tags: N/A
Do Not Wants: Major Character Death

Prompt:

Even as the whole world is looking down on me
Even if there is no one on my side, next to me
Don't worry, it's okay
I'll stay right here with me
I'll be on my side instead of you

Goodbye will hurt me, but I'll let the teardrops fall
Even if I break in regret, I've loved us after all

- Hwasa, Good Goodbye

the coffee and the milk

[harbourdreams]

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

Prompt:

Yet we continued to pay our mortgage, the signature of our self-deception, and two and a half more years went by like this, even though our fantasy of a child had long since died and the morning came and went when we both woke and heard in each other’s voices that it was over, and one of us got up anyway to make the coffee, and the other put a coat over their pyjamas because we’d run out of milk.

— from Enter Ghost by Isabella Hammad

i am like you so i want proof of what you're feeling

[deadwine]

Ship/Member: Seungcheol/Mingyu
Major Tags: N/A
Additional Tags: pwp, cxmshot all puns intended?
Do Not Wants: None

Prompt:

Our sign without a name tag
Drive us crazy with euphoria
Woah-ooh, woah-oh
You make me come and go
Babe, baby, you're worth it (Worth it)
Put it on me, nah, ah-ah

-CXM, Worth It

[(Anonymous)]

Ship/Member: Any, but consider Minghao, Jeonghan, Joshua, Wonwoo
Major Tags: N/A
Additional Tags: last ditch effort at a second chance romance
Do Not Wants: None

Prompt:

How do you express to someone that you didn’t necessarily love them when you said so at first but now, years later, after you have already made it perfectly acceptable for him to love other people because you said you didn’t need it, that now you want him to devote himself to you on bended knee? Not even, and that was worse! She didn’t need anything from him! She was completely content to love him this way, heartsickly, for the rest of her life and it made her gag.

- from Gifted & Talented by Olivie Blake

open / close

[(Anonymous)]

Ship/Member: any, but consider Joshua, Minghao, Jihoon, or Jeonghan
Major Tags: N/A
Additional Tags: N/A
Do Not Wants: None

Prompt:

As I learned Japanese, roamed through Ueno and the elevator of that ryokan, I learned to isolate myself through language—from English to Korean to Japanese. It was so effective it was frightening, as if I could guard against others like a spy. Where I could hardly open my mouth before, it now seemed that no one could speak to me. Languages, as they open you, can also allow you to close. When I felt myself running toward seclusion, I heard my grandmother and my great-grandfather urging me to try—and how much harder one must try when learning to love. She never asked me to speak but to understand, rather than endure to forgive, and never to sacrifice, only to let go.

- from The Magical Language of Others by EJ Koh

enjoy the silence

[(Anonymous)]

Ship/Member: Cheolhao, Wonhan, Soonhoon, Verhao
Major Tags: N/A
Additional Tags: N/A
Do Not Wants: None

Prompt:

Sharing space with Minjun taught her silence could also be a form of consideration, that it was possible to be comfortable without needing to fill the silence.

- from Welcome to Hyunam-dong Bookshop