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Round 2: Alternate Universes
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Status: Closed
Seventeen Holidays
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
How it works
Prompting
Filling
Filling with art/media
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[FILL] but you'll never have my heart
Major Tags: N/A
Additional Tags: bond AU, lounge singer seokmin
Permission to remix: Yes
***
“Twenty four million in the pot already,” Jeonghan says, staticky through the earpiece. It’s obvious he’s trying to hide a smile. “Thought you were slated for surveillance tonight, 007?”
Mingyu doesn’t respond.
A: He’s staring right at Xu Minghao across the poker table because the croupier’s laid down a river card and Minghao’s just raised, gone all-in with twelve million, and Mingyu has thirty seconds tops to call his bluff or make his own move.
B: He’s done surveillance already, and he knows Jeonghan knows this, too. So, predictably, all Jeonghan is doing is gleefully poking fun at him for his current situation.
See, although the hotel ballroom is choked with bejeweled emissaries and diplomats and the just-plain-filthy rich, it was a simple enough job to pick Minghao out. What with his eye-catching grace and sleek Valentino jacket and pearls tight against his neck and all. Mingyu trailed him to the poker table. It was going fine. He had eyes on the burly blonde bodyguard on Minghao’s right. Things were planned to head south tonight with regards to that fucker.
But then, in an utterly humiliating turn of events, a few minutes before Minghao decided to throw twelve fucking million into the ring, Mingyu happened to look over at the man singing by the bar.
It was the voice that did it. An oddly familiar voice. Something Mingyu had maybe heard once in a dream or a more peaceful alternate universe, a little heartbreaking and sticky sweet, spreading like syrup under the shuffle of the chips and the croupier saying “The big blind is now one million dollars.”
And Mingyu needed, with a sort of desperation he should’ve known to avoid, to know who it was coming from.
Of fucking course he recognized Seokmin Lee.
But something about him made Mingyu’s palms sweaty all of a sudden, as if for this one night Mingyu wasn’t an MI6 agent but instead an audience member at a nightclub enthralled by a red-curtained lounge singer. It was like all the opulent light in the room had refracted off the chandeliers and Dom Perignon-filled crystal flukes and was now glittering within Seokmin as he sang, in his shimmering dusky eye makeup, in the gold choker that sat nestled above his delicate collarbone.
In the single star-shaped earring that brushed against his sharp jaw after he made direct eye contact with Mingyu and closed his eyes and reached for a high note, his face melting into some kind of ecstasy. Like he was having a fucking religious experience.
When Seokmin opened his eyes, he was smiling out of one side of his mouth. He knew Mingyu was watching. The expression looked so uncharacteristically coy on him that Mingyu had to look away real fucking fast, pretend he wasn’t flushing down to his goddamn Tom Ford silk bow tie, and think:
Well, shit.
Unfortunately, he hasn’t really been able to stop thinking that. Especially now.
Minghao is still waiting on his move. After that unfathomable twelve million dollar raise, the casino fell dead silent. Seokmin fell dead silent. This means that now Seokmin’s watching the table now. Watching Minghao. Watching—
“Focus,” Jeonghan chides softly in his earpiece. Focus. Focus. No distractions. He can’t let Minghao slip away. Not now. Not here.
Mingyu looks down at the table. Pushes his chips forward.
“Fourteen million five hundred thousand. All in.”
Murmurs ripple through the room. When Mingyu glances up again, he swallows hard in surprise. Seokmin’s standing behind Minghao’s chair, now, a single eyebrow raised. One of his long fingers, the one with a slender silver ring around it, plays with his bottom lip. He’s threatening to stretch into another arch smile.
He’s so strangely dangerous up close. His frame is so much bigger than Minghao’s. All potential energy.
Mingyu looks once and sees a pretty lounge singer with eyes that hold obscure secrets behind them. He looks again, forces himself to remember their long bruised past. Sees Seokmin as he is: a renegade for hire, always poised like a black widow, slipping into a performance of easy naïveté. His body tense and waiting, hiding no less than five blades.
Mingyu can almost feel the knife strapped against Seokmin's thigh. Mingyu has been on his knees with the cold tip of that blade flush under his chin, tilting his head up. He remembers what Seokmin told him then. That same dangerous half-smile on his face.
You should be more careful, double oh seven.
“Well,” Minghao says softly, “I think I’ll call your bluff on that one.”
Three players. Mingyu has to come out on top. The mission necessitates it.
The croupier calls the showdown. The entire room is holding its breath. Mingyu should be looking at Minghao, but he can’t stop looking at Seokmin, who is leaning forward imperceptibly into the silence, his choker glinting in new light against his throat, his eyes dancing.
He’s having fun. He’s enjoying this. Watching Mingyu squirm.
Minghao lays his cards down, and the murmuring rumbles back to life and Mingyu tears his eyes away.
Ace of Clubs and 6 of Hearts. Full house.
Seokmin smiles almost ruefully, a dimple deepening under his mouth.
“Monsieur Kim?” the croupier says.
Mingyu keeps staring into Seokmin’s eyes. Holds his half-lidded gaze for one, two, three seconds. Lays his cards down without looking away.
Five of spades and seven of spades.
The room bubbles like the overspilling fizz of champagne and bursts into applause. The croupier lays the cards down. Seokmin’s expression holds steady, which is more than a little off-putting.
“Straight flush. Monsieur Kim wins.”
Before Mingyu can even stand, the blonde bodyguard places a burly hand on Minghao’s shoulder.
“Mingyu,” Jeonghan says, a distant warning in his ear, but Mingyu is frozen, because Seokmin is still staring at him with that heavy gaze, trying to read the story.
It’s thrilling to be stared at by Seokmin. Mingyu knows him. Mingyu knows how it feels to be taken apart between Seokmin’s fingers like a puzzle.
“Mingyu, they’re standing up,” Jeonghan says, sounding as helpless as Mingyu feels. He’s feeling the cold blade against his chin. He’s feeling so many terrible and dizzying things. He stands, his hands needlessly fixing his bow tie, the chatter in the room all dull and fuzzy like an old radio.
Seokmin leans forward, elbows on the table. His cheekbones sharp above the shadows. Mingyu can smell his cologne.
“What’s wrong,” Seokmin whispers, one hundred percent earnest for a single precious second.
“It’s Minghao. It's- will you help me,” Mingyu murmurs.
“What the fuck are you doing,” Jeonghan hisses.
Mingyu is humbling himself. Losing his control and more than a little bit of his dignity, as he always tends to do in front of Seokmin.
“I don’t want to have to do this alone,” Mingyu admits softly. To Jeonghan, to himself.
To Seokmin.
Seokmin’s smile widens. He’s as beautiful as a lily of the valley and twice as deadly.
“I thought you’d never ask,” he says.
***
Re: [FILL] but you'll never have my heart
Re: [FILL] but you'll never have my heart
Re: [FILL] but you'll never have my heart
anyways its 12am and im finally treating myself to this and i devoured it entirely
here are some notes:
- ... once in a dream or a more peaceful alternate universe, a little heartbreaking and sticky sweet, spreading like syrup one of my favorite things of all time about seokmin is his voice its rly like honey so thanks for throwing this in and stabbing me w it
- also the thing about mingyu saying dk looking like he was in ecstasy n experiencing religion.... he wanna f*ck him sooooo bad....
- god dk is so delicious thru mingyu’s pov i really have to commend u on that???? like??? help???? ( He’s so strangely dangerous up close. His frame is so much bigger than Minghao’s. All potential energy. also if this is commentart on the general broadification of svt himbo line ur doing fantastic. i too am noticing)
- mingyu Squirm. suffer for all the heartache u’ve caused me!!!
- also the brilliant pacing and interjections that jeonghan makes near the end has me also leaning on the edge of my seat anxiously awaiting for the ball to drop i thought that was super smart :’0 i couldn’t help but be there w mingyu, unsure of the next move, high stakes and all
- THIS WAS SO GOOD SERIOUSLY.
!!!;’dmfnnfhdjsjcnc there is something about seokmin bond girl that is making me so FERAL i enjoy seeing him in different masks sooooo much *____* (ie. the confidence, the dangerous, the enjoyment/amusement of making mingyu squirm yummm) u write seokmin so well (and through other povs too) and i always always always will love ur writing.... there’s nothing like it ki thank u for writing <333
Re: [FILL] but you'll never have my heart
Re: [FILL] but you'll never have my heart
Re: [FILL] but you'll never have my heart