2022 Round 1: Quotes

[hwarium]

Status: Closed This round has closed. It remains open for fills, comments and remixes, but prompts are no longer accepted. Seventeen Holidays Round 1: Quotes About "If I loved you less, I might be able to talk about it more." "What is grief, if not love persevering?" "You kept me like a secret but I kept you like an oath" Calling all readers, lovers of poetry and music, screen and stage. Quote collecters and lyric hoarders, unleash your archive. Each prompt must contain a quote - you can combine them, add commentary, link to articles, and more. Steal from a literary classic, or WeVerse drama. Have fun! Examples Minghao + Ocean Vuong The most beautiful part of your body is where it's headed. & remember, loneliness is still time spent with the world. Ocean Vuong - night sky with exit wounds Hoshi/Anyone; "Beauty is terror" Thinking about these two quotes together and the idea of on/off-stage personas: "Beauty is terror. Whatever we call beautiful we tremble before it. And what could be more terrifying or beautiful, to the Greeks to to our own, than to lose control completely?" - Donna Tartt, the Secret Histories "I am calm in everyday life but when I put on my in-ear device and step on stage, I can feel the tension and hear the cheers getting louder as the music gets louder. When the staff tells me it's time to step on stage, I feel something boil inside me. I feel it steaming inside and I think I have to give a burst of something, spill what is inside me." - Hoshi in Hit the Road Ep. 04 Any ship; "It's been so many years" Hello, hello there, is this Martha? This is old Tom Frost And I am calling long distance Don't worry 'bout the cost. 'Cause it's been forty years or more Now Martha please recall Meet me out for coffee Where we'll talk about it all. Tom Watts - Martha 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 to something interesting; Copy+Paste the following HTML into your comment and edit the sections. Feel free to add as much detail as you want! <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; Change the subject to [FILL], you may add a title or stay chaotic; 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 DATES FAQ BAITS ✧ FILLS ✧ ❮ ROUND 1: QUOTES ❯ ROUND 2: ALTERNATE UNIVERSES ROUND 3: LAST WORDS

Comments

[jevno]

Ship/Member: Any, maybe soonwoo
Major Tags: N/A
Additional Tags: character study
Do Not Wants: None

Prompt:

truth without love is brutality, love without truth is hypocrisy (warren w wiersbe)

Re: [FILL] you know i'll do anything you ask me to

[seokmin_liker]

AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH!!!!!!!!!! thank you so much for making this about sapphics and booseok and tangerines i love this so much!!!! the pining, the BOOSEOK of it all... impeccable. love is stored in the citrus!!!

Dogs

[bluerthanbluets]

Ship/Member: Any permutation of svt dogboy line?
Major Tags: N/A
Additional Tags: Optional/interesting if low fantasy/bizarro fiction adjacent
Do Not Wants: None

Prompt:

I am carrying a dog in my hands
& every time I think of you
another dog appears in my hands.

I always think I won't be able
to carry any more dogs & then I
think of you & another dog

appears & it looks like I can do
what I thought I couldn't do.
I know how this is going to end.

-- Dalton Day (full poem)

Re: [FILL] heliotropism

[hwarium]

I first scanned this fic when I was doing 17hols admin and immediately I was just stunned with those 'oh, oh oh' feelings. I feel so immensely blessed you wrote this, it is truly something that only seems to exist in short fiction and would be too wasted in a longer fic bc I would just skim over it to get to plot. But like this, I read and reread and bookmark to revisit because I know I will think about this.

I love it because it writes out a particular moment so well, when there's a bump in Seungkwan and Vernon's relationship and everyone is high-strung and sensitive but outwardly calm. I really felt Vernon's discomfort, especially the specific feeling of not really wanting to be at a party (the vibes are off). It feels a little bit like a liminal space, like you're watching a renaissance painting in motion and everything else is part of the composition and you're just the observer. Hansol wanting to leave (He wishes Mingyu had a cat he could follow out into the hallway), Joshua checking on him in english, Jihan having a conversation in the kitchen, Jeonghan looking at his phone when Seungkwan comes out to chat. Those were small details but it made it feel so real for me.

And then the characterisation shining through ("He doesn’t like the possibility that he’s been the possessive type all along" -- so good. party loud but thoughts louder), and most of all, Jeonghan being empathetic and caring (but the insinuation that something is off for him too and he also wants to go -- if you don't mind sharing I would love to hear any headcanons about "[Jisoo] looks a little relieved to have something to distract him when he notices Hansol"). I smell a backstory.
+++ seungkwan being so nosily concerned about vernon smoking and jeonghan's supplements. but it feels like he's filling space with the latter and with the former... a possessive kind of interaction. like reclaiming their previous dynamic, or enjoying the opportunity to nag again. super interesting. And of course as a triangulation lover I'm obsessed with Seungkwan thinking Vernon is leaving with Jeonghan LIKE THAT and Vernon recognising and being mortified. "something complicated passing his face that Hansol probably couldn’t parse even if he were stone cold sober." SEUNGKWAN I READ YOU!!! (tl;dr so many characterisation points were weaved in subtly and I am in awe)

Thank you so much for writing this and for stopping by 17hols *___* would love to read more from you!!

(Also not the line 'everyone turning towards a small sun' and the title being heliotropism aka sunflower syndrome. brb superimposing metaphors and manifesting verkwan dynamics)

Re: [FILL] feel it in my face when i least expect it

[seokmin_liker]

ohhhhhh they are so wonderful and warm and seokhao. absolutely melted at this!!!!

Re: [FILL] you know i'll do anything you ask me to

[lovekyeoms]

AAAAA ty for the comment! sapphic booseok with yearning seokmin really kept me up at 2am… i mean have you seen his facial expressions in those pics??? love is stored in the citrus indeed!

Re: [FILL] your dreams in your hands

[hwarium]

ah 2018 lofty minghao. Main impression is from his fashion, especially his airport fashion during CYZJ filming. This is the mullet era and he used the airport like a runway -- cinched waists, skinny jeans, and glasses perennially on the tip of his nose. In a few pictures he actually looks like Zhou Zhennan haha (e.g. https://twitter.com/withthe8_1107/status/990127013997432832). Knowing what they are liked in 2021 and looking back on CYZJ, Minghao felt like he was exploring a persona. Jun feels very much himself (albeit crazier haha), but Minghao kind of felt like he was exploring ways to 'wear' himself. It felt like an exterior he built. Just the way he carried himself on the show felt self-conscious (btw this is all personal speculation and vibes!) I read it as him seeing CYZJ as an opportunity to recreate himself and find his own ground outside of seventeen, espcially after his back injury and hiatus. He's a person with a lot of pride to me. (shrewd is such an accurate word!)

Minghao has mellowed out and matured since then, but I think 2018 was a period of learning how to deal with Fame. I think his doodle diary choreography also links to this era (especially Falling and the Ellish one), and the Minghao we see now is one that developed after self-reflection and realising what worked.

thank you for the down-low on yanan *___* had no idea he had an unhinged side to him too (still remember wu jiacheng imitating yanan spacing out, sitting on the floor, drawing circles on his knee haha). This sounds like exactly the behaviour Jun would enable, like if you put then together in a room the energies would just multiply and Minghao would be helpless to stop it happening. But despite Jun being also a little bratty, he's self-conscious, and now I wonder if Yanan can bring Jun out of his self-reservations.

(++ thank you for explaining how this fic came to me, that's super interesting)

Re: [FILL] a big speck in your white world

[(Anonymous)]

omg thank you so much for writing my prompt. i love it, it's heartbreaking and perfect ;-; </3

[FILL] if my heart was a house / you'd be home

[shuamuses]

Ship/Member: junhui/wonwoo
Major Tags: N/A
Additional Tags: idolverse, i will never stop thinking abt 8jun’s homecoming to korea, honestly more of a character study than shipping but it’s Still There, established relationship, i’m really not used to writing smut so please don’t come for me
Permission to remix: Yes

edited: crossposted to ao3 (https://archiveofourown.org/works/36290578)
***

he stumbles back into his apartment and the air is quiet and still. it’s not that the others didn’t care that he flew in to seoul today. it’s two in the morning and junhui cannot bring himself to blame them for not staying up. it’s not the first time he’s left and returned, and surely it will not be the last, with his life always caught between these two points. two push pins stuck into the corkboard map on his wall. the handwritten welcome home, junnie! banner taped up against the wall of their living room and a standing arrangement for breakfast in the morning together is all he needs to know that he is home.

he rolls his luggage into his room as quietly as he can, cringing at the light squeak of rubber wheels against the tiled floor. it’s too late to unpack, really. that task alone would almost guarantee a sleepless night, the time instead filled with rounds of laundry and the neat allocation of new homes to the souvenirs he’d acquired on his trip to china. instead, he opts to take a hot shower. he cranks the steel handle as far to the left as he can, one last cold breath sucked in before the water scalds his skin into a rosy pink. travel is a dirty endeavour, and the first shower to scrub off all the grime of sitting in cars and waiting rooms and planes is always the most satisfying. he takes his time with it, luxuriates in the way the heat from the water wakes up every single nerve ending on his skin. there’s no one else he has to save the hot water for, anyway, and that alone is a rare and precious occurrence now that he’s back in the shared dorm apartment.

junhui dresses simply, after. just a pair of worn grey sweats and a loose-fitting white tee, comfort clothes thrown on with the intention of going to sleep, except he can’t. he stares at the ceiling. stares out of the window. stares at the covers that should be familiar, considering they are his own, but these are all sights and tactile sensations that feel too raw. too different. too unlike the surroundings he’d forced himself to get used to, all those nights spent alone in his temporary apartment. the sheets are all wrong, and somehow the pillow no longer feels like the right density even though he’d literally just bought it a month before leaving for his overseas schedules.

—

he finds himself standing in front of another apartment door with a key tucked into his palm, its serrated edges pinching at his skin. it’s like sleepwalking, he tries to convince himself. it’s not like he consciously did this, it was just what his body did on autopilot. sought something familiar to ground himself when he felt so incredibly displaced. he turns the key, huffs a victorious laugh when it slides smoothly in the lock, and lets himself in, padding a path he needs no map for.

junhui knocks gently at the door, once and then twice. wonwoo could still be awake, he reasons, still stuck in the pixels and colours of his video games. the light spilling under his door seems to suggest that, anyway. he sighs at the lack of response, but it’s too late to turn back now. he turns the doorknob gently and pushes it open just a crack at first, then all the way. there he was. the smile that lifts junhui’s face is immediate. wonwoo had fallen asleep with the lights still on, fingers still clamped vise-like around his phone rotated in landscape position. obviously he’d still been gaming, junhui thinks with a fond smile, even though i’ve told him a million times to get proper rest.

it is routine, this: taking wonwoo’s metal-rimmed glasses gingerly off his face and setting them on his nightstand. plugging his phone in for him. turning out the lights so he can actually get a good night’s sleep. routine enough that junhui begins to feel a little more settled in his skin, a little less like he’d lost something of himself in the air between korea and china. he decides against waking wonwoo then, choosing instead to slip under the covers beside him. he falls asleep like this, nose buried in the scent of wonwoo’s fresh shampoo and the musky smell of his skin.

—

he wakes to a round of kisses being pressed to his face: forehead, eyelids, cheeks, the tip of his nose. when junhui squints his eyes open against the sunlight filtering through the room in a golden column, all he sees is wonwoo with a triumphant grin spread across his face. this is his most cat-like feature, junhui thinks. the way he’ll wake up whenever he wants and make it your problem immediately, but you’d have to risk your life to wake him up anytime else.

“hi,” he mumbles, his throat still dry from sleeping.

“welcome home,” wonwoo murmurs, his hand roving across the plane of junhui’s chest under the covers. as if he’s trying to memorise the shape of him once more. as if he’s trying to convince himself junhui’s actually here. “i didn’t think i’d see you till this evening.”

“i came in last night,” junhui replies sleepily, the fact that it’s entirely obvious eluding his mind. “thought you’d still be awake.”

“you missed me that much?” the smile on his lips is gloating and satisfied, even without junhui’s acknowledgment of the truth. “what did you miss, hm?”

“this.” it’s too early for words, so he decides to just show him. junhui bridges the space between them, bringing his mouth to wonwoo’s in a sloppy kiss and swallowing the soft moan he gets in return.
“and this.” he traces his fingers across wonwoo’s jaw, his throat, feeling his pulse jump staccato against his skin.
“and this.” he slides his palm around the growing length in wonwoo’s shorts, grinning smugly at the hoarse whine that escapes the other’s mouth.

it’s meant to be a tease, really. just a way to get back at the cocky smile on wonwoo’s face, his question implying that coming to his room deep in the night was a surrender. but every further step they take in the early morning haze only reminds junhui and wonwoo how much they actually have missed being this close. skin to skin, the friction and heat only pulling them closer together.

they shed their layers quickly, instinctively, junhui kicking off his sweatpants while helping to tug off wonwoo’s shirt. there is nothing elegant or beautiful about the way they make love. it is a tangle of limbs and mouths, and neither of them are awake enough to be careful with the slick wetness of lube and spit. when wonwoo first presses himself into junhui he almost cries.

Re: [FILL] you know i'll do anything you ask me to

[(Anonymous)]

oh my god. thank you for your sapphic booseok, i didn't even know this would be better. this.. felt so personal and seokmin!!!! the way he yearns!! seungkwan and the pull between them, oh my god!!! i am feeling so, so happy after reading this. thank you for writing for my prompt. have a nice day!! <3

i've loved you

[slytherminie]

Ship/Member: Any
Major Tags: N/A
Additional Tags: confessions at the end of the world or confessions that feel like the end of the world
Do Not Wants: None

Prompt:

And I know that love is just a shout into the void
And oblivion is inevitable, and that we're all doomed
And that one day all of our labors will be returned to dust
And I know that the sun will swallow the only earth we will ever have
And I'm in love with you, sorry

— j'san, i'm in love with you, sorry

Re: [FILL]: go choke (me)

[slytherminie]

i came back here to reply to comments but i don't even remember what i wrote in this (fortunately) haha nice gif usage i agree

Re: [FILL]: go choke (me)

[slytherminie]

when the man you want is so perfect that it stratches the inside of your brain, if i was near mingyu at any time i'd feel the exact same way!! glad i did your prompt justice hehe thank you!!!

Re: [FILL]: go choke (me)

[slytherminie]

<333 mwah thank you!!

Re: [FILL]: go choke (me)

[slytherminie]

thank you for reading!! <3

Re: [FILL]: asystole

[slytherminie]

he's so mean :(( but that makes me love him more :(( thank you for reading as usual!! <3

Re: it hurts, it hurts, it hurts

[slytherminie]

seokmin angry moment!!!! we need more!!!! thanks for reading love <3

Re: it hurts, it hurts, it hurts

[slytherminie]

it's really sooo fucked up to think someone would try to feel emotions more only to end up being heartbroken, and experiencing the worst ones first. thanks for reading, i'm glad you liked it!!

Re: it hurts, it hurts, it hurts

[slytherminie]

exactly!!!! give him a killer moment (quite literally)!!!!

Re: it hurts, it hurts, it hurts

[slytherminie]

<33 thanks for reading!! happy you liked it!!

Re: [FILL]: feast on your life

[slytherminie]

:( because he's so full of love, what would he be without that love?? where would he go?? :((( thank youuuu you're so good to me!!!

Re: [FILL]: feast on your life

[slytherminie]

maybe i am!! maybe i've always been!! <3

Re: [FILL]: feast on your life

[slytherminie]

;-; thank you so much for reading, so glad you found this engaging!!

Re: [FILL]: feast on your life

[slytherminie]

aaaa i'm sorry, tbh i broke my own heart as well. oh mingoo indeed :(( thank you for reading!!

[FILL] i found me in you

[hoshism]

Ship/Member: soonyoung/wonwoo
Major Tags: N/A
Additional Tags: established relationship, non-idol au, seeing pieces of yourself in the person you love and vice versa, domesticity
Permission to remix: yes!

word count: 1495

hopefully i managed to somewhat capture the essence of the prompt! i kinda wrote this in an incomprehensible blur so. apologies in advance

crossposted to ao3: https://archiveofourown.org/works/36275356

***

Soonyoung wakes up in a bed and a shirt that do not belong to him.

Wonwoo’s room has blackout curtains, but Soonyoung still feels the essence of morning, letting out a yawn and rubbing at his eyes. The pillow his head rests on still carries Wonwoo’s scent, earthy and grounding. Soonyoung relaxes back into the sheets, and they welcome him like he was always meant to be there.

It doesn’t take long for his brain to register that he was alone in bed. Soonyoung misses Wonwoo’s presence already.

He eventually rises to his feet, stretching his tired arms high above his head, before making his way over to the window and throwing open the thick curtains. The flood of light burns his eyes for a few seconds, before he adjusts and takes in the warm blues and golds of the day ahead.

Mornings were not a friend of Soonyoung’s for the longest time. However, he’s developed a newfound appreciation for the way the early skies greet him, the way the sun falls on the slants and curves of Wonwoo’s face whenever they wake up together, and Soonyoung’s never seen anything more beautiful. You’re a bad influence, Wonwoo whispers into Soonyoung’s skin whenever he succeeds in dragging his boyfriend back into bed and disrupting his morning routine, though, the fondness in his voice gives him away every time. Mornings meant having the person he loves all to himself, just for a little while, before having to engage with the real world, so how could Soonyoung not grow to love them?

Soonyoung navigates the apartment like the back of his hand; the bathroom is three strides away from the bedroom, it’s a sharp right turn to make it to the living room, and two precarious steps back to avoid treading on Misun’s cat-bed. From the looks of it, the cat in question has already woken up and gone to make herself comfortable on the balcony, leaving behind a trail of dry food that Wonwoo must have fed her this morning. How sweet.

The houseplants that Jisoo gifted Soonyoung for his birthday sit on a shelf by the front door, decorating the hallway with brilliant greens and pinks and yellows. Your apartment doesn’t get enough sunlight, Wonwoo had reasoned when Soonyoung wanted to keep them in his own dingy little bedroom. He likes this arrangement more, though; the colours fill the space like they’ve always belonged there.

His eyes are still bleary when he makes it to the kitchen, but Soonyoung would recognise the outline of Wonwoo’s back anywhere, the shape imprinted in his mind just like his credit card pin or his own birthday. Soonyoung walks forward, the tiles cold beneath his feet like always, and hops up onto the adjacent kitchen counter. Wonwoo doesn’t seem to notice him yet, humming along to the music playing through his earbuds as he busies away on the stove. Soonyoung’s eyes are drawn to the way Wonwoo’s arms flex under his shirt as he grips the pan, stirring the vegetables around. He finds everything Wonwoo does attractive, even if he is currently burning whatever he’s trying to make.

Wonwoo is not a good cook. The Wonwoo that Soonyoung knew from when they first started dating would’ve given up at the first sign of the singed smell coming from the rice cooker, which is now switched off. The damage is already done though. Seeing his mess all the way through to the end was a very Soonyoung-esque move. It brings a smile to Soonyoung’s face; perhaps he is a bad influence after all.

He pokes Wonwoo with his foot to get his attention. “Whatcha making?”

“Breakfast.” Wonwoo’s voice is low and raspy as he responds, tucking away his earbuds. However, his face lights up like the sunshine spilling in through the window as he turns to look at Soonyoung. Soonyoung feels the warmth from both filling his chest. “Well, trying to.”

“Let me help.”

“I wanted to surprise you, though.”

“I know you too well for you to surprise me.” Soonyoung jumps down from the counter and takes the pan from Wonwoo. The vegetables were on the verge of being unsalvageable, but it wasn’t anything some sauce and extra seasoning couldn’t fix. Wonwoo wraps his arms around Soonyoung like a blanket while he cooks, pressing kisses to his boyfriend’s forehead, and now Soonyoung truly feels like his day has started. Wonwoo’s touch is like coming home when you didn’t even know you were lost, and Soonyoung has never felt a greater sense of belonging than in his embrace. Soonyoung lowers the heat on the stove and leans up to meet his lips instead, but Wonwoo tilts his head away before he gets the chance.

“Hey!”

“You haven’t brushed your teeth yet.”

Soonyoung pouts. “You don’t know that.”

But of course, Wonwoo knows. There isn’t much about Soonyoung that Wonwoo doesn’t carry around in that pretty little head of his — like a human Pokédex, Hansol would probably say.

They eat their breakfast standing up, leaning against the kitchen counter, with Soonyoung using Wonwoo’s shoulder as a headrest. Between Wonwoo’s poor cooking and Soonyoung’s attempt to save the meal, the flavours have cancelled out to taste like absolutely nothing. At least it’s edible, Soonyoung tries telling himself as he bites into a bland piece of carrot.

“Nice shirt.” Wonwoo comments, tracing his thumb along the edge of where Soonyoung’s collarbone and the hem of his clothing meet. Soonyoung remembers how awkward Wonwoo used to be when it came to initiating contact, but now he can hardly keep his hands to himself. Not that Soonyoung would ever complain.

It’s not mine, Soonyoung almost says, but it doesn’t feel right on his tongue.

It’s interesting how elements of Soonyoung and Wonwoo have bled and melded into one another over time. The dish soap by the sink is the brand Soonyoung always buys since it reminds him of his mother’s house. The washing line on the balcony holding an array of Soonyoung’s socks and Wonwoo’s pants — or were they Wonwoo’s socks and Soonyoung’s pants? — sways in the summer breeze outside. The glasses Wonwoo’s wearing are his backup pair; his regular ones are sitting on Soonyoung’s bedside table, alongside a tiger plushie and a book Wonwoo keeps meaning to read but never gets around to.

Soonyoung wonders when the notions of yours and mine began to feel arbitrary. All around him, he only sees us, ours.

God, how corny. It sounds like something out of those dramas Mingyu keeps recommending to him. But that’s what love feels like, right?

He glances up at Wonwoo to find his boyfriend already looking back at him, a soft smile playing at his lips. He wipes away a piece of cabbage that finds its way onto Soonyoung’s cheek and eats it off his own thumb. Soonyoung’s subsequent eye roll does nothing to stop the deep ha ha ha that rings low from Wonwoo’s chest. Wonwoo loves him so much — it’s obvious in the way he looks at Soonyoung like nothing else in the world matters. And Soonyoung gets it. Everything he sees on Wonwoo’s face mirrors what Soonyoung feels in his heart, and somehow it all just clicks.

“I love you.” It’s not the first time Soonyoung has said it, nor the first time that he’s meant it. Soonyoung hardly remembers a time in his life when he didn’t love Wonwoo — but now he sees the fragments of Wonwoo that reside within himself, and the pieces of Soonyoung that live inside Wonwoo. It’s overwhelming, like seeing the world burst into colour for the first time after living a life in greyscale. Soonyoung has never been great at finding the words for all that he feels, but he’s never needed to.

Wonwoo blinks back at him, mouth full of rice. Soonyoung has never loved someone so much. “But… I burned breakfast.”

Soonyoung grins. “Is that what this relationship is hinged on?”

“I hope not, or you’ll probably end up leaving me soon.”

“Nah, wouldn’t dream of it.”

Wonwoo agrees to clear away the dishes. Despite his earlier complaints, he leans down to kiss Soonyoung as he reaches over for his empty plate. The move was probably a lot smoother in Wonwoo’s head, Soonyoung thinks, but he smiles into it anyway, lacing their fingers together as they melt into each other. Wonwoo’s cheeks are pink when they pull apart for air, and Soonyoung thinks it’s the prettiest he’s ever seen him. Though, Soonyoung thinks Wonwoo looks prettier every single time he sees him.

“I love you too.” The words never get old leaving Wonwoo’s lips. Soonyoung looks down at their joined hands, running his thumb over Wonwoo’s rough knuckles, and decides that he never wants to let go.

“I know.”

Soonyoung is not a philosopher, but he understands everything in the entire world now. Everything has meaning to him because he loves Wonwoo and Wonwoo loves him, and that’s all he’ll ever need.