17hols | Round 2: Alternate Universes

Entry tags:

2021

Round 2: Alternate Universes

Status: Closed

This round has closed. It remains open for fills and comments, but prompts are no longer accepted.

Seventeen Holidays

Round 2: Alternate Universes

About

Sometimes its the characters that move us, but sometimes we fall in love with the the world behind the story. Something transformative occurs when we place the characters we love in an unfamiliar world, like the light has shone on a new side and we're seeing them anew.

Run to the classics; revisit the magic of Harry Potter, the heart-punch of a Pacific Rim drift, the warmth of a Coffee Shop AU. Or maybe dig your fingers into a story that blew your mind - Battle Royale, The Raven Cycle, Interstellar - or demand better from a book that let you down (The Poppy War fin- mmph). Perhaps! You might combine two of your fandoms for maximum joy (Haikyuu and Tennis adjacent mutuals, I'm looking at you.)

The possibilities are literally endless. Do it for the aesthetic, do it for the drama.

Examples

Wonhui x MDZS/Untamed

Wonwoo as Lan Wanji, Jun as Wei Wuxian (Minghao as Jiang Cheng?). I want a cast that feels betrayed and shocked at Junhui's demise but then gradually learning his reasons behind it.

Mingyu/Seungkwan Debating AU

Imagine them as third speakers in the high school circuit. Rivals! Mortal Enemies! Prepared case summaries derailing into personal attacks, and then when their coach calls them out on it they become passive aggressive e.g. "there are major flaws in the opposition's arguments..."

Jeonghan as Mal from Inception

Any Jeonghan ship will do. I just want him to chaotically haunt a person while being sexy about it.

Rules

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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 to the art. 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 to something interesting and saucy;
Copy+Paste the following HTML into your comment and fill in the sections. Feel free to add as much detail as you want!
Ship/Member: Any Major Tags: N/A Additional Tags: N/A Do Not Wants: None Prompt:

Filling

Reply to the original prompt;
Change the subject to [FILL], you may add a title or stay chaotic;
Copy+Paste the following HTML into your comment, fill in the sections, and add your text
You may also upload your fill to the AO3 Collection

Ship/Member: Any Major Tags: N/A Additional Tags: N/A Permission to remix: Yes/No/Please ask ***

Filling with art/media

Do the same as above, also;
Upload your work to any platform (twitter, imgur, youtube, soundcloud, google maps, etc.)
Insert the link to your work, done!
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)

Ship/Member: Any Major Tags: N/A Additional Tags: N/A Permission to remix: Yes/No/Please ask *** <img src="INSERT IMAGE URL" width="400px"> <a href="INSERT ANY URL YOU WANT">TEXT THAT DESCRIBES THE LINK</a>

Navigation

ROUND 2: ALTERNATE UNIVERSES

ROUND 3: SCREENCAPS

ROUND 4: WHO, WHERE, WHEN

REMIX ROUND

Threaded | Top-Level Comments Only

Ship/Member: Any, cameo of minghao as the only racer who can dress themselves
Major Tags: N/A
Additional Tags: bleak boyband bingo dynamics but make it MOTORSPORTS
Do Not Wants: None

Prompt: the ~dynamics~ when work shapes a relationship and the ~tension~ when you're not sure if the relationship can exist outside of work.

BBB-adjacent thoughts: being in this tiny group of people on the planet that understands what it's like to be on a track, in a machine that can go over 200 mph, in a race that can kill you. They can be professional rivals or lifetime enemies or even lovers, the relationship is up to you! but I would love to see the influence of work tinting every reaction.

Edited 2021-01-14 10:31 (UTC)

Ship/Member: any(*)
Major Tags: N/A
Additional Tags: formula 1, the rituals are intricate i know they are
Do Not Wants: None

Prompt: take ur pick between sebchal dynamics where person a is a 4x world champion losing his touch and person b is the young rookie prodigy hired to replace him. to quote a tumblr post "what do you do when the reckless prodigy who's meant to replace you venerates you instead like you're the only reason why he's driving?" the mentor/student dynamics, the (respectful) MATURITY GAP!!! the YEARNING the "oh no i'm meant to hate you and i sort of do because you won't stop crashing into me on track and ruining the race for the both of us but you're the greatest talent i've ever seen and you look at me like this (*for the sheer record this screams seokwoo)

OR maxiel dynamics where one of you is a proven race winner and former #1 driver of the team thirsting after championship. you have the car, you have the skill, but you also have a new teammate who's a child prodigy with severe daddy issues and grew up too fast too soon just to be in f1. and yet. you fall in love with him anyways. even when his dad is pushing your team to promote him as the #1 driver, even when your team starts to favor him as the #1 driver. you live in the same country in the same building on the same floor and quickly become best friends. how could you not fall in love with him? anyways it culminates in on-track tensions becoming so severe it causes a crash while negotiating off-track relationships (WELL DONE BAKU) and ends with you leaving the team and joining another rival team (yearning? yearning even as rivals?) (**ok but imagine verkwan)

and if u really want 2 kill somebody consider brocedes dynamics

Edited 2021-01-14 07:53 (UTC)

Ship/Member: any ot3 pairing but ESPECIALLY 97z
Major Tags: N/A
Additional Tags: polyamory
Do Not Wants: None

Prompt: something something TRIANGLES ARE THE STRONGEST GEOMETRIC SHAPE IN EXISTENCE and THE WORLD'S FIRST THREE-PERSON JAEGER POD OPERATES A LOT LIKE THE LAW OF TRANSITIVITY: if person a can bond with person b and person b can bond with person c, then in theory person a can bond with person

Edited 2021-01-14 08:05 (UTC)

ship/member: seungcheol/joshua
major tags: N/A
additional tags: hockey, friends to enemies to teammates/friends again, sports as an excuse to further examine relationships n particular characters
Permission to remix: yes!

***
a/n: i actually feel so feral. the brainworms have seized me here is 1k+ of cheolshua as childhood friends turned hockey rivals turned teammates. as someone who’s played comp sport for a majority of my life and sports is something that i consider a big contributor to my development as a Person i’m surprised i haven’t written any sportsfic yet. i know only the barest of things about hockey (what i know is what ive read from fredrick backman’s beartown/us against you + also being an avid fan of the sj sharks for some reason from the 6th-8th grade) nd i wrote everything first before looking up the particular players only to find that their dynamic was eerily similar to the cheolshua i envisioned in my mind . fun fact in this universe i want to write hockey player and figure skater seokhao as well maybe one day i’ll get there.

***

Seungcheol likes to stay at the rink late at night, long after everyone else packs up for the day. His feet are screaming at him to rest, his body aches with years far beyond anything he should be feeling at the tender age of 27, and his shirt completely soaked through with sweat, but this is when he feels the most alive.

The ice is a fearsome beast. It’s also where Seungcheol chooses to make his home.

He supposes it says a lot about who he is, fundamentally, as a person — the willingness to return and tend to your craft every day, no matter how many times you get cut up by its sharp teeth.

Hockey is a hungry sport. It demands a certain kind of devotion, the kind that eats away at your youth only to spit you back out once it’s gotten sick of how you taste, looking for its next prey, the next generation of players that are always younger. Always faster. Always better.

(If you’re smart enough, you start to wonder where the time’s gone. If you’re like Seungcheol, you start to look for more of it. You try to make deals with the devil, because there are no nice gods, and when that doesn’t work, you claw your way towards the top, sweating blood along the way. Anything to extend your time on the ice and ignore the years left behind you. Anything to stretch out the ones still in front of you, as best you can.)

Seungcheol skates around idly, shifting his stick from hand to hand as he haphazardly lines the pucks up. He’s practicing his slapshot today, the sting of being unable to make the shot in scrimmage earlier during practice still fresh in his mind. The red cross of the goal winks at him from a good ten yards away, mocking him.

Seungcheol takes a deep breath. Winds up, and lets the pucks fly. It sounds like gunfire.

Bang.

Bang.

Bang.

He makes every single shot.

“Didn’t think I’d find anyone here,” a voice says from the stands. Seungcheol has to squint to see, and even then all he gets is a silhouette backlit by the few lit stadium lights the janitor leaves on for these solo sessions. “Forgot who I was dealing with, for a second.”

Seungcheol skates up slowly to the boards. There’s this humming in his gut. I’d know you anywhere. The whole thing unravels like a dream, one that Seungcheol is faintly aware he’s had before, only because he knows how it ends. Every single time.

Joshua Hong comes into focus, a beanie drawn low over his forehead, hands stuffed haphazardly his pockets. He’s grinning, lopsided. It does funny things to Seungcheol’s stomach.

Maybe this one is different.

“You really haven’t changed, have you?”

Seungcheol would be lying if he said he had.

Where Choi Seungcheol is painfully transparent and simple, Joshua Hong remains a fucking enigma, slippery as the ice that they play on. No matter what Seungcheol does, he just can’t get close.

It’s always been like that, ever since they were young, two bright and brilliant stars, the greatest players of their age.

What are the odds that a town gives birth to two hockey prodigies? One in a million, experts would say. Or something with even slimmer odds than that. It’s highly unlikely — and yet, it happens.

Little Choi Seungcheol, born, bred, and carved for the ice, meets Joshua Hong, a boy who knows nothing about it, who knows nothing about the sacrifice it requires to keep it.

They both grow to love it in their own ways.

Joshua takes to it like a duck takes to water, stays in it because it’s fun and he’s good at it. It starts out as a hobby for him, but as the years go on by, it starts evolving into something more: a ticket out, an escape, a better life. Joshua grabs on tight and never lets go after that.

It takes a little while for Seungcheol to get there, but when he does, it’s just like breathing, a rhythm wired into his bones, etched so deep into his muscles that he cannot forget it. Hockey is all that Seungcheol knows, all that he cares to know, all he wants to do.

Joshua’s natural talent is enviable, but it is Seungcheol’s tireless hard work that helps him keep up. The both of them only have eyes on each other, anyways. They’re leagues above all the rest.

Of course they have a history together. How could they not?

“Your new teammate, Joshua Hong.” Jihoon says gruffly, shoving forward a boy Seungcheol thought he left behind on the ice years ago. “Just picked him up from the Blues.”

Seungcheol feels slightly unhinged, eyes greedily drinking in the familiar crease in between Joshua’s brows, gentle slope of his lips, those wretched kind eyes. All these years spent looking at Joshua through a screen. It still fails to do him justice.

“Some of you should be more familiar with him than others.” Jihoon aims this barb directly at him, Seungcheol knows it. “He’s one of the best forwards the game has ever seen. We’re lucky to have him.”

Someone hoots. “Shit, Jihoon, he’s lucky to have us.” There’s a stomping of feet and a roar of approval at that one, raucous laughter in the air.

“Well,” their manager says with an awkward tilt of the lips, “don’t maim him or anything. We’ll test him out on the ice this afternoon.”

When Jihoon leaves, the locker room is dead silent, holding its breath. Everyone’s looking at them because their history has been retold and replayed a million times by every big media outlet, cruelly publicized and wrung out and strung up for everyone to see.

Once upon a time, it was just those two against the world. After an unforgivable betrayal, four world cups (two apiece), and several career-threatening injuries, they’re back to where they started, nine years later, on the same team.

Joshua stares at Seungcheol and he feels eighteen all over again, the years they’ve spent apart crumbling away instantaneously. Some things never change. He still can’t tell what Joshua’s thinking, can’t get into his head. He loathes to think what Joshua sees. Seungcheol’s always been incredibly easy to read.

He gets up, throws a towel over his shoulder. Ignores the stunned breath that Joshua takes and offers him a hand. “Welcome to the team.”

“I thought you hated me,” Joshua says honestly, breath billowing in the cold of the rink.

Seungcheol lets out a low bark of laughter. “Don’t tell me you believe everything you see on TV.”

Joshua studies Seungcheol for a little longer, lips quirked up in a smile. Seungcheol consciously straightens up, stops leaning on his stick for support.

“So, are you just gonna stand there, or are you going to show me, Mr. Greatest Power Forward of All Time?”

Seungcheol grins. He’s not exactly sure what this means for them, starting over like this again, but hockey is a language they both know like the back of their hand. This, they can do. It’s what they’ve been doing all these years, after all.

It’s just hockey.

“Thought you’d never ask.” And off he goes.

Edited 2021-01-14 11:16 (UTC)

(vernon voice: oh wow)

thank you so much for writing this, I enjoyed it so much because it held something about cheolsoo that matched with the prompt, but also shone a light on something about canon cheolsoo that's going to make me think for a bit.

- it's amazing how you crafted the arc of a relationship in so little words, and yet it'll stay with me for a little longer
- 'It demands a certain kind of devotion, the kind that eats away at your youth only to spit you back out once it’s gotten sick of how you taste' > I loved this description of hockey, I was more academic than sports, but I relate to this so much, when Seungcheol chased the martyrdom of it
- the contrast between seungcheol's hard work and perseverance and joshua's innate talent!! yahh!! (it reminded me of how SC was the oldest trainee and josh came later, yet they are of the same age -- gosh, I can think about that small town to big stage r'ship all night (WITH RIVALRIES)

once again, thank you!!

karina i'm so SO happy you bit this bait i dangled aghghhisdfhif. as casual sharks supporter (by proximity of living in da bay) i'm so happy u went here.

as always your prose is stunningly breathtaking, and wow, cheolsoo were SUCH a good choice for this particular narrative arc

Shsishsixhadishs as a hockey kid this hit so hard omg the dynamics were great and now I wanna read more ;A;

Ship/Member: Kim Mingyu/Lee Seokmin
Major Tags: N/A
Additional Tags: AU-Formula One, ambiguous relationships, reverse chronology
Permission to remix: Please ask

***
Hi op... maxiel is like my #1 formula one pairing and i always think of seokgyu when it comes to yearning rivalry. i hope you enjoy this

aaaa thank you so much ;___; this is the highest compliment omg i hope i was able to do hockey justice (sportsfic rly has a place in my heart i can't believe i haven't written it before)((also maybe more will be written hopefully later if i get myself into gear))

<33 DIA <333 as someone who admires the way u write prose this is a compliment of the highest order u___u u have no idea how insane this prompt made me ???? initially i was going to do a seokcheol but the moment i wrote one scene i knew it had to be cheolsoo. i'm literally one step from drafting longfic + additional pieces of the universe as we speak

also fun fact i used to work at SAP for a brief bit so i guess there's an additional connection 2 hockey / the sharks

waking up to this comment was an absolute dream thank u for reading and all the kind words about this T__T tbh i wasn't even thinking about canon cheolsoo when writing this i was just possessed by the thought of childhood friends to rivals to teammates again through sports (nd a little bit of how sports can mean different things to different people) but how that u mention it there are just more and more reasons to explore this universe further and i'm excited

YEAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH BUDDYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYY god i can never have enough svt hockey content i love it so much and i especially love the dynamic cheolsoo have here, the uncertainty of joshua and the way seungcheol reassures him by joking even tho it's not really funny, even tho at one point he might have hated him (or if not hated, resented, or if not resented, envied), but that doesn't matter, not now, because they're on the same team. i'm fascinated by the way sports teams in general, and hockey teams especially, handle trades bc they're such a huge part of the game but the ppl who get shuffled around like chess pieces are people all the same and having to restart your life in different places, on different teams w different people you'll have to learn to play w must be so daunting. sorry lol i know this is a lot but it's just nice to think abt this universe where joshua hong gets traded and thrown to a completely different team, but it'll be alright because he has seungcheol there to catch him. history's got nothing on playing a sport you both love and doing everything you can to win, together. thank you for this phenomenal little snapshot, and if you ever wanted to write more i'd be first in line to gobble it up!!!

KARINA u bonked me on the head with this one. once again i am so. how are u SO efficient when it comes to ur writing to the point where this does not feel like 1.6k chelsoo this is 70k worth of friends to rivals to teammates to lovers and i am FULLY LOST IN THE SAUCE!!! "Of course they have a history together. How could they not?" this feels like a headshot right here "It demands a certain kind of devotion, the kind that eats away at your youth only to spit you back out once it’s gotten sick of how you taste, looking for its next prey, the next generation of players that are always younger. Always faster. Always better." AAAAAAAA

i think ive responded to this on twitter and i have a head full of bees to unleash into ur ao3 inbox later but respectfully i passed out when i saw u fill this! i passed the fuck out maxiel is so YEARNY (horny but making it yearning) and to see SEOKGYU WRITTEN IN THIS.............. L FOR ME this was so so so good and so short but it didnt feel like that watching u write about seokmin thru gyu's eyes like that... i am feeling all the emotions and incredibly so

Ship/Member: Any
Major Tags: N/A
Additional Tags: Alternate Universe – Star Wars, Teacher/Student Relationship
Do Not Wants: None

Prompt: Really and truly I have Obi-Wan and Anakin in mind, but bonus points for the Force Bond from The Last Jedi. Student outpacing the Master, things that push you to the Dark, etc.

PLEASE DON’T APOLOGIZE FOR UR THOUGHTS!!! i enjoy them a lot!!!! (if im not mistaken are u perhaps the writer of snwu hockey au???? which?? makes me doubly happy thank u for ur comment)

i agree! i think trades are so common n discussed so blithely (“oh, so and so’s here now” or “so and so went to X’s team”) but exploring what that trade does to an individual, the history behind a player, the entire uprooting that these players need to go through for the better of their franchises is so fascinating... i had so much writing that, even if it was for just a little bit!! i didn’t even think about team dynamics and how joshua will have to balance everything — learning how his teammates play etc — and fight for play time all the while .. it can be extremely stressful so having cheol as a familiar face can b rather reassuring even if their relationship has been ambiguous at best. the trope of rivals putting aside their differences to achieve a common goal has got SO much potential here i’m bonking myself just thinking about it..aGH THANK U SO MUCH AGAIN IVE GOT [MUCH TO THINK ABOUT] n hopefully im able to make this a longer thing in the future!!!

Ship/Member: Any
Major Tags: N/A
Additional Tags: Alternate Universe - Cherry Magic, Mutual Pining, Mind Reading
Do Not Wants: N/A

Prompt: Cherry Magic is a Japanese BL drama where the main character gains the ability to read minds by touching them after his 30th birthday because he's a virgin. He then finds out that the office ace has a crush on him after brushing hands. (tl;dr gaining the ability to read minds, mutual pining)

JAE <3____<3 u seriously shower me w so much love i do not deserve it.. I THINK A GREATEST FEAR OF MINE IS BEING SO . FLOWERY N LONG W MY PROSE WHERE IT BECOMES A TIRING FINAGLE-Y READ so thank u for that compliment dearly. god i want that 70k cheolsoo to exist so bad but it doesn’t so maybe. i will have to will it into existence one day. god im going bonkers thinking about it and thank u for bonking me with this comment much love always

Ship/Member: any is fine!! but id love seokhao or any other ship with either seokmin or minghao!
Major Tags: N/A
Additional Tags: musical theatre au
Do Not Wants: None

Prompt:
person a is a musical theatre actor and person b is their dresser ( heres a video (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bQDJBHpzMPU) that talks abt dressers and how they work). its all abt the physical intimacy and trust!!!

Ship/Member: Minghao/Junhui
Major Tags: Major character death (ambiguous though)
Additional Tags: Angst, jealousy, injury+blood
Permission to remix: Yes

disclaimer i don't know much about ballet + terminology except for what i learned from watching black swan and some googling so. sorry in advance for whatever this is!!

***

Have you heard the one about the two swans? They’re humans, actually, but they have the hearts of birds. In the daylight they’re cursed to grow feathers. One of them is good and one of them is bad. Or maybe it’s the other way around. Both of them are beautiful, and, by the end of this story, dead. One drowns in the lake and the other one, the one with the spotless white feathers, white as enamel, white as bone, ascends to the heavens, consigned to eternal and shimmering perfection.

“Now show me the black swan,” says Soonyoung.

Minghao stares at his own reflection. Inescapable, because they are walled in by mirrors. The sheen of his face. Pale under the dark slick of his too-long hair, pale under the studio fluorescence. He tries to school his expression. Attack. Become a black widow.

“Remember,” Soonyoung says, “you’re a spider spinning a web.”

Minghao knows how to be the white swan Odette like he was born into it. Odile’s fouettes don’t come quite as natural to him. But he’s been studying Junhui in rehearsal, studying so closely that he figures he knows, by now, how it might feel to be Junhui.

How it works is: You raise your leg. You whip it around, transform into a perfect vessel for the spinning. With each rotation Soonyoung says loudly, “Attack it! Attack it—” The room revolves like you have become the lens of a kaleidoscope, a rotoscoping animation, scenes blurring together: Soonyoung, Attack it, the mirror and your own face, which is actually not Junhui’s face but your own and therefore imperfect, which you are realizing now too late in the middle of your idiotic spinning, Soonyoung, Attack it, the mirror and your own stupid face, Soonyoung Attack it the mirror your own wrong face—

Junhui spills into the practice room late and beaming. Minghao is still spinning and Soonyoung is still saying Attack, and Minghao’s foot lands wrong and he stumbles and Soonyoung cuts out in the middle of the word and it sounds like the gasp of someone being stabbed.

Ah—!

The world flattens. Junhui at the center of it now. He has such guileless eyes. He seems, at every moment, to be hiding nothing at all.

“Soonyoung? Should I try it again?”

Minghao can hear his own voice retreating into soft uncertainty. He would call it uncharacteristic, but it seems more and more lately that he is slipping into whatever this is. Only the white swan, when he should be both.

“That’s okay,” Soonyoung says, eyes fixed on Junhui. “You’re late, Junhui. Go warm up.”

“Already warmed up,” Junhui says, lilting. Grins a little.

Even when he stands at rest he’s perfect. A sunny storybook face. Soonyoung says that when Junhui dances he is sometimes imprecise, but he is always effortless. Minghao could look at Junhui forever. Instead he looks into the mirror again, at his own wrong wrong face, and he wants to scream, or lunge towards Junhui and— and do what?

***

You and I don’t have the hearts of humans, Junhui tells Minghao in his dream, one hand warm against Minghao’s bare chest. Are they dancing? They’re onstage, trapped in gauze made of white stage lights. Minghao looks down and sees a trail of black and white feathers behind them. Yours is beating so fast, little bird, says Junhui, his eyes lined in inky black, his hair pure white, his palm burning into Minghao’s skin like a knife wound. You’re terrified. How can you hide something like that?

***

He fucks up. He can’t hide it. He is trying not to shatter into pieces when he flees into his dressing room after Act 1 and he thinks he’s alone, beginning his crumble, when,

“Rough start, huh?”

Junhui is sitting in front of the mirror. Watching him. They’re almost reflections, but it’s off. Junhui is in his Odile costume with twin sheafs of satin black half-covering his eyelids.

“Get the fuck out,” Minghao says.

No bite to it. Junhui seems to absorb his fury unscathed. Swallows it whole.

All of this should be mine, Minghao wants to say. That’s what he told Soonyoung two hours ago when he, with the force of his own conviction, relegated Junhui back to understudy. Every feather is mine, every feather, he had ground out, feeling like a spider, grasping at invisible threads. Even if— even if he wears it effortlessly, I had to work for it, I had to work myself to the bone and fucking tendons to become someone else. Doesn’t that mean I earned it more? Me? Me me me me me?

“You don’t actually have to become the black swan, you know,” Junhui tells Minghao’s reflection, almost dreamy. “You just have to wear it. Like a costume. Like a masquerade mask.”

“Is that what you do? It’s so easy for you to just say shit like that.”

“If you can’t do it, I can,” Junhui says. Like he’s offering some generous lifeline. Despite himself Minghao steps closer. Their reflections are almost superimposed, so familiar, so alien to each other. What does it feel like to be Junhui?

“I’m only trying to help, Minghao. I can see what it does to you, trying to be Odile. Trying to be something you’re not.”

Minghao looks up from Junhui’s reflection and at his own and is startled by the true malice in his face.

He wonders if Junhui has the same dreams as him. The ones where they have the same mouth, where they are the same creature. Or at least it feels that way. Feels, when Minghao wakes up, like he has two heartbeats.

But he only has one heart, and it’s his own.

“You don’t know anything,” Minghao whispers into Junhui’s ears, sounding like Soonyoung when he says Attack it, and he rears his fist back from the mirror glass.

***

Anyways what is dancing but the soul trying to flee? Take wing from the flawed and imperfect human body? Dancing is not make believe. Dancing is the only true reality. It’s a person saying: Am I not worthy of your love? Can’t you see me now? Wasn’t I perfect?

Minghao has known Junhui for only four months, but he feels so familiar in motion. Junhui came running into the dressing room that first morning, breathless. “I missed my bus! Oh, aren't you Xu Minghao? You're the swan!” And Minghao was too startled to say, Yes, that's me, because Junhui was shy but he wasn't truly hidden. It was strange. When Junhui started stretching at the barre it grew stranger. And when he finally began spinning into his fouettes, Minghao knew with certainty that he had known Junhui forever, knew him as well as he knew himself. From a past life. Maybe they really were birds once. Or extensions of the same soul. A future, or a yesterday, or both.

But it’s negligible now, isn’t it. Now there is only Minghao. Minghao looks down and there’s a floret of almost black spreading across his white feathers like tar, starting from his heart. He doesn’t know what it is exactly but he knows that he’s flying, that he can hear the beating of his wings his ears, that he’s become a swan. The white swan and the other one, too. He is himself and Junhui now. He is both of them at once. He is at the very top of the stairs at the center of the stage.

He pitches backward into the lake, but the lake is only a spotlight and he lands in the middle with his wings spread like an angel, and everyone is cheering. Cheering for him, for only him. He closes his eyes and when he opens them again what feels like one eternity later, Soonyoung is standing over him, dazed with ecstasy. They love you, they love you, they love you, he says. Behind him is Junhui, Junhui— oh, who did Minghao stab, then, in the dressing room?— Junhui, whose guileless eyes see Minghao, really see him, the red-black spreading into his feathers, and Junhui goes stricken suddenly, terrified like a little bird, drops to his knees and with his newly horrified face asks, What’s that on your costume? What did you do, what did you do oh god what did you do, Minghao? And he tries to tell Junhui I was perfect, but before he can the stage lights grow white and fill his vision and it’s like heaven.

***

helloo, when I saw the black swan prompt I was already !!!eyes emoji!! and then I saw you filled it with JunHao and I became a closed mouth scream. What an amazing choice and what a piece to read, I'm already thinking about the synergy between black swan + My I, junhui's idolsona vs minghao's -- it just works so well.

THIS IS SO. i'm obsessed w ur prose actually i adore the stream of consciousness (?) bits in here esp at the end!! coincidentally i listened to my i like right before reading this so i love the black n white imagery in here and i adore how u portrayed 8jun's r/s in this wrt to the Knowing each other juxtaposed w the inevitable clashing, agree w comment above its incredible how seamlessly youve transposed their idolsonas to this new but equally demanding performance-based setting and explored them in here. the concept of them being reflections of each other but different all the same!!! im going crazy thank u for this

ki. ur absolutely insane. this is so good. i know i say this a lot but i think the world of u and ur writing. i think ur brain is so sexy and i could shower u in love 24/7 bc u deserve, bc ur a genius!!!!!! the prose here is so amazing, nd u portray this manic stream of consciousness / desperation / passion / “i want it so bad im on the brink of ruin” so well im so stunned. it was so beautifully and hauntingly written that i know i’ll be coming back to look at this later . for probably ages honestly.

i don’t rly know anything about black swan but having 8jun in this environment set me alight. they suited this so well (also the my i parallels ARE SO BRILLIANT), minghao’s perfectionism and the wrongness of his face vs junhui’s lightness and ease of the spotlight... just mwah... i think what i love most about ur writing are these 2nd person interruptions that are so ghastly and pack a punch.

(ie. “You’re terrified. How can you hide something like that?” and “ Even if— even if he wears it effortlessly, I had to work for it, I had to work myself to the bone and fucking tendons to become someone else. Doesn’t that mean I earned it more? Me? Me me me me me?” )

god. ive got chills ur so good!!!!!!

ahhhh thank you so much!! I totally agree, i thought their idolsonas and my i itself fit black swan so well and i took the opportunity to do something unhinged and totally ran with it!!! i'm so glad you enjoyed it!

THANK U HUI ;_; 8jun slowly traps me within its jaws with each passing day... i think their relationship and how it's developed over the years is so interesting and i love to explore xmh's internal and external conflicts with how he presents himself...thanks so much for ur wonderful words mwah

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Page 2 of 7

Round 2: Alternate Universes

formula 1 // professionalism as a form of intimacy

motorsports would kill a victorian era child

mandatory pacrim au

[FILL] if you’re open, take the shot

Re: [FILL] if you’re open, take the shot

Re: [FILL] if you’re open, take the shot

Re: [FILL] if you’re open, take the shot

[FILL] rearview

Re: [FILL] if you’re open, take the shot

Re: [FILL] if you’re open, take the shot

Re: [FILL] if you’re open, take the shot

Re: [FILL] if you’re open, take the shot

Re: [FILL] if you’re open, take the shot

Re: [FILL] rearview

the dark consumes me

Re: [FILL] if you’re open, take the shot

cherry magic au

Re: [FILL] if you’re open, take the shot

musical theatre au!!!

[FILL] the only person standing in your way is

Re: [FILL] the only person standing in your way is

Re: [FILL] the only person standing in your way is

Re: [FILL] the only person standing in your way is

Re: [FILL] the only person standing in your way is

Re: [FILL] the only person standing in your way is