Status: Closed
This round has closed. It remains open for fills, comments and remixes, but prompts are no longer accepted.
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
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Prompting
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Filling
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Remixing
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[FILL] are any of us ever truly alone?
Major Tags: N/A
Additional Tags: character study, idolverse, fame but not the way you wanted it, what does it cost to be an idol and what does it look like on other people, love as a duty at first but also love of that duty makes it also a choice in a way
Permission to remix: please ask!
wc:1354
hello wife <3 thank u for this delicious quote i have been thinking about it ever since i saw it.. not sure if i actually filled this prompt correctly but i think for a first junhao this is a valiant attempt
***
Minghao was always serious.
Immovable but not immutable. So proper, not prone to bending or breaking. He reminded Junhui of a tree.
Minghao was the type that liked to place down roots and settle, for lengths on end, sifting through the mysteries of the universe with the patience of someone way beyond his age, even if the answers never revealed themselves in the end.
Junhui was nothing like that.
He’d tried to, at first.
You have a handsome face, Seungkwan would always despair while disciplining himself on some newfangled health routine that he’d picked up from the depths of the interwebs, wrangling whoever he could into doing it with him, couldn’t you be a little bit more serious, Moon Jun? You have an image to protect! And because he had 12 other people to think about – 12 other dreams to think about – Junhui tried.
It didn’t work. It felt like putting on clothes that didn’t belong to him. A part of Junhui ached when he saw everyone else around him put on theirs, too, mouths pinching themselves into polite smiles even when it got too uncomfortable underneath the spotlight. It hurt to hold himself a certain way all the time. He was one of the older ones, a hyung to look up to, but the role always felt clunky in his hands when he’d wielded it.
Sometimes Junhui would look at himself in the mirror and fail to recognize the picture staring back.
This is how you have to be, their CEO said, and they’d all accepted it, heads bowed and fingers trembling as they slipped their rings on. Back then, everyone had just wanted to be liked.
A little folding, a pinch here and there – it was all worth it in the end, if you earned some love. A small part of Junhui wanted that too. Of course he did. But in the wake of all he’d lost to get to this point, Junhui was suddenly nervous. Who could he be if someone else decided all of that for him?
Minghao never wavered. He nodded once, and that was that. Nothing else had to be said or taken into consideration. The burden was his to bear.
Junhui wanted to reach out to stop him, to at least make him think a little carefully about what was being done to him – to them all – but when Junhui looked into Minghao’s eyes, determination blazed bright and true. He held so much more courage than Junhui could ever hope to have in a lifetime.
So he held his tongue and let Minghao step past.
He’d tried. It didn’t work.
This was, in part, because Junhui was extremely flighty.
He knew this. His members knew this, and they loved him regardless.
Junhui, as they all knew, was the type to go online shopping in the middle of the night to acquire the necessary materials for a niche product he’d spotted on Weibo, only to lose interest by the time it made its way from the supplier to their dorm. He liked to hop from one thing to the next as they sparked his interest, bouncing around from place to place, sending texts into the group chat regardless of an answer. Calls to nowhere.
The first years were suffocating. They had debuted yet, but they were hardly free, always set in motion. Always on the run from something and towards another. Junhui found it hard to take a breath. He struggled with the weight of expectations that strapped him down into place.
He wanted to be free.
He wanted to stay.
He didn’t know what he wanted anymore.
Those first years, Junhui was always lumped next to Minghao. He hardly minded. Sometimes it felt nice to be a part of a whole, even if they weren’t that similar in the first place. It always ended up being Minghao who had to take care of Junhui, instead of the other way around.
On paper, it made sense: both performance unit members, not the best at speaking just yet, foreigners in an industry where sameness was the best way to survive.
A marriage of convenience, he joked, to which Minghao always rolled his eyes.
“Everything becomes convenient to you,” Minghao pointed out.
Junhui wondered if it was the same for Minghao. Minghao, who was infinitely more thoughtful than Junhui was, always so careful about everything that he did, so that in the end it looked like an act of deliberation instead of something he’d mindlessly just stumbled into.
Junhui caught himself before he asked the question. He didn’t know which answer was worse.
Somewhere along the way the pressure lifted. They all felt a little more free. But there Minghao remained, by Junhui’s side. Constant.
One time Junhui was lazing around in the dressing room, clips in his hair. He’d turned the volume of his phone all the way up because everyone had already left to get their makeup retouched or their wardrobe fixed, and it was better to hear the sound coming back at him than nothing at all.
There was only Minghao in the room, anyway. He was always listening to Junhui, ever since Junhui had walked up to him in that green room and accidentally spat on his face trying to use a language that was neither of theirs. He was always listening even if he pretended that he wasn’t.
Minghao looked up at him from where he was reading, clearly irked by the sound but trying to be a better person about it. Minghao held his tongue, and Junhui wanted to ruffle his hair for it.
Sometimes it felt like an unspoken victory, when Junhui was able to annoy Minghao, just to see if he could get a reaction out of him.
“Doesn’t it bother you? The sound?” Minghao asked instead.
Junhui took a moment to think about it.
“Nope,” he answered easily. Minghao twisted his lips into a half-grin, half-grimace, and all fond, Junhui liked to think.
They returned to their respective universes without saying another word. Minghao stayed in the room and Junhui dialed down the volume just a bit.
Another contract renewal came and went. This time all thirteen of them decided not to sign, even without talking about it. They’d laughed when their votes were revealed, though for some their throats were thick with tears when it happened.
Junhui was one of the members who were not as affected. In a way he had begun, without even realizing it, preparing for the end. Like it was inevitable instead of something to be avoided.
He’d reasoned with himself: he could hardly expect to be the same person he was when he started this journey. Sometimes a dream turned sideways, turned into something else entirely. What their story really needed was to come to an end, in order for the next chapter to begin.
Minghao was somewhere in the middle. He stayed stone-faced throughout the entire meeting, so still that Junhui wondered if he would finally crack.
He hoped Minghao knew that he was allowed to break, if he needed. Junhui would be there to catch him. They all would.
“Don’t look at me like that,” Minghao says when everyone else is out of earshot.
Junhui pretended to play dumb. “Like what?”
Minghao was the only one, still, after all these years, who never let it slide. “Like you’re worried about me. I’m fine.”
Junhui shrugged. “If you say so.”
“Do you think you’re going to try anything else?” Minghao asked, quietly. Junhui knew what he was really asking — will we have more time together? Will I see you on stage again?
Junhui took a while to craft his answer. “I don’t think so,” he mustered up brightly, but the end of his sentence came out stilted. “I think I’m done.”
Minghao became silent and Junhui smiled, folding him into a hug.
“It’s not the end of the world, Minghao. You know where to find me.”
Besides, Junhui knew: Minghao was different than he was.
He would make it.
Re: [FILL] are any of us ever truly alone?
He reminded Junhui of a tree. how could you do this, take a known quote about jun and flip it around like this, im rattling you...the sturdiness that people see in jun but he sees in hao and not in himself T____T
the way the narrative flows, how jun has to stifle what he thinks is flightiness and yet some part of him knows it's not right, "make him think a little carefully about what was being done to him – to them all" and then biting his tongue and getting on with it....jun acts of service are so personal and dear to me, though im not sure this counts as that exactly
A marriage of convenience, he joked, to which Minghao always rolled his eyes.
“Everything becomes convenient to you,” Minghao pointed out.
Junhui wondered if it was the same for Minghao. Minghao, who was infinitely more thoughtful than Junhui was, always so careful about everything that he did, so that in the end it looked like an act of deliberation instead of something he’d mindlessly just stumbled into.
Junhui caught himself before he asked the question. He didn’t know which answer was worse.
jun's practicality versus minghao's thoughtfulness......head in hands, this is my shit, this right here. of course jun would wonder whether it's deliberate for minghao and minghao would feel what goes, goes is how jun is looking at it!! UGHHH
and oh how you drew it to a close
“Do you think you’re going to try anything else?” Minghao asked, quietly. Junhui knew what he was really asking — will we have more time together? Will I see you on stage again?
Junhui took a while to craft his answer. “I don’t think so,” he mustered up brightly, but the end of his sentence came out stilted. “I think I’m done.”
Minghao became silent and Junhui smiled, folding him into a hug.
“It’s not the end of the world, Minghao. You know where to find me.”
Besides, Junhui knew: Minghao was different than he was.
He would make it
even till the end, the kind of unwavering steadiness he sees in minghao but actually he holds all that and more when it comes to believing in minghao and his potential and his future....im just a simple 8junist and canonverse fucker you have really given me everything for this prompt, thank you...put this on ao3 already so i can bookmark it hehe ily <3
Re: [FILL] are any of us ever truly alone?
Sometimes it felt like an unspoken victory, when Junhui was able to annoy Minghao, just to see if he could get a reaction out of him. [...] They returned to their respective universes without saying another word. Minghao stayed in the room and Junhui dialed down the volume just a bit. two people existing in the same space but on entirely different planes of existence... idk why i love this so much.
junhao have such an interesting relationship (the "marriage of convenience" is a v good descriptor) because they definitely "had to" get close out of necessity and especially at the beginning they weren't super used to each others differences, but they've grown to appreciate each other in a different way!! i love how you ended it with junhui trying to look out for minghao, when previously he might've been more reliant on minghao to look after him.