Ship/Member: Soonyoung/Wonwoo Major Tags: The Soulmate Goose of Enforcement Additional Tags: side gyuhao, high school au, coming-of-age Permission to remix: No, please.
It's hard for Soonyoung to pinpoint which came first: the butterflies in his stomach or the goose.
Okay, that's a lie. Soonyoung doesn't make a habit of lying to himself; he promised his mom that he would never lie, not even when he knows Minkyung-noona is secretly sneaking out of their house to meet up with Seungcheol-hyung at the arcade behind their school to play Dance Dance Revolution and maybe kiss. "I want my precious Soonyoungie to always feel like he can be himself," his mom said to him once before, "I want you to always feel like you can be true to who you are, and to know the same of others. You don't need to hide. That is how you can live a principled life with others."
Sure, his mother was actually just referring to the fact that Soonyoung refused to leave his bedroom when his voice first start cracking and his face sprouted hair in the ugliest patches—it was embarrassing, how could he dare to face his classmates—and she wanted to instill confidence in him. But regardless, Soonyoung has always carried her words of wisdom with him.
So he tries to be true to who he is—and the truth is this: Soonyoung knows the butterflies came first.
It first happened six months ago, a frustrating addition to his life when Soonyoung's voice just finally stopped pitching in the middle and ends of his sentences, and sometimes the beginnings, and he learned to shave without cutting himself or missing any spots. The pimples are still there and his teeth are still not perfectly straight, but it's fine and he got braces last month. Soonyoung can be patient. The calamity of puberty has finally crested over, he thought, and he was more than okay with that.
Except it turns out that puberty was just the calm before the storm because then Soonyoung went and did the stupid thing; he developed feelings for his best friend.
He's had feelings before, Soonyoung thinks. There's Jisoo-hyung in Minkyung-noona's grade, who used to smile at Soonyoung at the hallways and pat his head gently. There's also Jeonghannie-hyung, who would teach him how to play MapleStory and tell Soonyoung that he's cute because he keeps dying to the slimes.
But there's no one like Jeon Wonwoo, and there's never been feelings like he has for Jeon Wonwoo either.
Jeon Wonwoo is annoying. He hasn't learned the perfect formula of body-spray-to-body-odour ratio yet, he never wears his glasses enough even though he squints without them, he likes to bite Soonyoung's shoulder and his arms and sometimes teases Soonyoung to the point where he wants to stamp his feet and yell at him. There are too many photos of them bathing together as kids because their moms thought it was cute, and Wonwoo knows about the first time Soonyoung woke up with a wet spot in his pants and cried because he thought he peed himself. It's horrible and stupid and ugly.
Except it doesn't matter because Wonwoo also always gives Soonyoung his portion of kimchi, even if Wonwoo likes spicy food more than him. He still tries to teach him MapleStory, even after Jeonghannie-hyung gave up on him. He teases Soonyoung for dying often, but he waits for him to respawn anyway and never leaves him behind. Wonwoo knows about Soonyoung's first wet dream because he cried about it, and he never once made fun of him for it. Sometimes—and this is the worst part—Wonwoo holds Soonyoung's hand and doesn't even seem to notice when Soonyoung's heart pounds so hard that his palms grow slick with sweat. Wonwoo never pulls away or think he's gross.
When Soonyoung first notices the butterflies that erupt in his belly whenever he's with Jeon Wonwoo, the ones that make him feel like he could float away from how hard they flutter, he knows that the Goose is not far behind.
And so he's not surprised when his Goose shows up exactly six months later, at the foot of his bed on the cusp of his 17th birthday.
It's just that Soonyoung is not ready for what comes next.
Some people wait forever for their Goose to appear, and sometimes they never do. Some people are born with their Goose, an occurrence so rare and revered that it almost always makes the news.
The science isn't precise for when and how the Goose will appear, but that's because it's not a science at all. Still, the phenomena is well-documented throughout history; Europeans once saw the Geese as a foreboding omen associated with witchcraft, while the Chinese associated it with luck and fortitude. In Korea, the Geese were always more auspicious than ominous, but it depended on which part of history you were looking at.
Nowadays, there is one congruent agreement about the purpose of the Geese. The Geese appear as a manifestation. It's meant to be a guide of sorts, one that directs you to your soulmate. Your Goose sometimes appears before you even meet your soulmate, before you even realize you have feelings, and sometimes it appears much later. There are times when it manifests for both soulmates at the same time, and times where only one person ever receives a Goose at all. The most delayed documented record was when two friends found their Geese when they were both 80 years old, a full fifty years after they first became friends.
Soonyoung is somewhere in the middle of the spectrum, neither an anomaly nor the standard. He's relatively young, only officially just turned 17 on Monday, and has met his soulmate before he's even graduated high school. There’s no one else in his grade who has a Goose yet, at least not that Soonyoung is aware. Some might say that he's the lucky sort, to know he's fated to be with his best friend.
In Soonyoung's opinion, it's an inconvenience. One that he's never asked for.
Soonyoung stares at the bird.
She has almost entirely white plumage, with a few grey feathers on her head, back, and flanks. Compared to some of the Geese that Soonyoung has seen, she’s pretty small—but Soonyoung knows better than to underestimate her. He’s seen her in flight, and he’s seen her weaponize her short bill against his leg hair like she’s plucking at weeds.
He supposes he should be grateful that she’s otherwise quite friendly. Soonyoung has heard rumours about Donghyuck from Jeonghan’s sister’s class, and the massive Canadian Geese that dogs at his heels, nipping and honking with a terrifying ferocity with every step. No one wants a Canadian Goose.
“Please do not attack me again when Wonwoo gets here,” he begs, flattening himself along his bed to be on eye-level with her. Last time, he tried to reprimand her and received a beak to his nose for his trouble. She stares at him unflinchingly. “At least do it quietly. He’s already suspicious, I think.”
The Goose does not respond. Soonyoung briefly wonders whether he should give her a name.
It doesn’t matter, because in the next second, she descends on his legs once again. With an infuriating deftness, she manages to squeeze her beak into the tender spot between his pants and his socks and starts yanking at his leg hair. Evil, evil creature.
“Ow—”
A knock resounds through the door. “Dummy, you’re going to make us late again,” he hears Wonwoo say through the door. Soonyoung’s heart instinctively flutters at the sound of his deep voice—he’s not used to how deep it is now yet—before panic overrides his system. “Your mom said she went to wake you up an hour ago.”
Soonyoung clamps one hand over his mouth, and pushes gently at his Goose with the other until she dislodges from his leg hair.
“Coming!” he shouts, and scrambles to fix his pants, then his shirt, and his tie. He has to wrestle away from his Goose as he hastily throws his notebook into his bag, feet slipping over the hardwood floor as he slides to a stop in front of his mirror to double check his hair and to make sure remnants of his breakfast aren’t stuck between his braces. Another 30 seconds is wasted trying to keep his Goose from leaving his room—and then he’s out.
“Hi,” he says, a little breathlessly, as he stares up at Wonwoo. He smells a little too strongly like Axe Body Spray Crushed Mint and Rosemary once again, which used to give Soonyoung a headache, but now he only gets a stupid stomachache from how much the scent reminds him of Wonwoo. Soonyoung likes it now, which is gross. “Sorry.”
Wonwoo gives him a look. He’s been giving Soonyoung this look a lot lately, somewhere between concern, worry, and something Soonyoung doesn’t know how to read. “You’ve been taking a long time to get ready lately.” Wonwoo says, but not with impatience. Soonyoung’s too scared to think it might be concern, but he thinks it might be anyway.
His traitorous heart pounds in his chest. There’s an echoing thump on the other side of the door, but Wonwoo doesn’t seem to notice. He’s still staring at Soonyoung.
“Uh...” Soonyoung says, shifting around. He wipes his palms on his uniform pants and hopes Wonwoo doesn’t notice. He’s never been good at lying. What can he say that won’t arouse further suspicion?
Wonwoo adjusts the strap of his messenger bag and curves a hand over the flap of it. He seems to be waiting for Soonyoung’s response.
Thankfully, he’s saved by the bell when his mom rounds up the stairs and catches sight of them standing in the hallway. “Ah, ah,” she tuts, patting Wonwoo on the face and Soonyoung on the head. “Won’t you two be late?”
It’s only then that Wonwoo drags his eyes away from Soonyoung. He breathes a little easier.
“Yes, auntie,” Wonwoo says politely. He casts one last look at Soonyoung, his mouth set in one grim line, and then he’s smoothing a hand over his messenger bag before he turns to head back down the stairs.
As always, there is no Goose that follows close behind Wonwoo. Soonyoung tries not to notice the way his stomach plummets, as it does each morning.
Sighing, he hoists his backpack higher up on his shoulders. There’s another thump at his bedroom door, and he knows his mom hears it at the sigh she lets out and the glance she gives Wonwoo’s back, before kissing the top of Soonyoung's head.
Soonyoung ignores his Goose. With a hole burning in the pit in his stomach, he follows after Wonwoo.
Whenever they’re at school and Soonyoung is at least ten blocks away from his Goose, it always gets a little bit easier to be around Wonwoo again.
The reminder that he’s in love with his best friend never completely goes away. It’s nigh impossible, with how Soonyoung looks at Wonwoo’s chapped lips and wonders whether their first kiss would be just like his favourite dramas.
But it’s easier without his Goose to remind him that maybe his love is unrequited, that Soonyoung might have fallen for a soulmate that does not love him back as anything other than as a best friend. In the rhythm and syncopation of their school, Soonyoung can let themselves be as they always are: Jeon Wonwoo and Kwon Soonyoung.
That’s what being a teenager is, anyway, isn’t it? New changes that come unbidden, sudden, and startlingly daunting—and learning how to ebb and flow to the best of their abilities. Compartmentalization.
It’s pretending that his chest doesn’t throb when Wonwoo’s foot slides under the table at the library and prods his shin to keep Soonyoung awake while they’re studying, or when Wonwoo always has a faint smile, patient as always, when he helps Soonyoung with his math homework. It’s ignoring the longing that clumps down in his stomach when Wonwoo touches his neck or the small lobes of his ears, as if Soonyoung’s just an extension of his own body. It’s ignoring how Soonyoung thinks he could live like this forever: going to the arcade after class with Wonwoo, eating tteokbokki by the train station near their academy, surviving on Melona popsicles and the buzz of cicadas when they walk home together long after the sun sets.
The world feels infinitely quiet when he’s with Wonwoo. For all that Soonyoung embodies restless energy and vivacity, he thinks he enjoys this the most—that he can truly, sincerely rest whenever he’s with Wonwoo.
He wonders whether Wonwoo feels the same way.
For now, Soonyoung decides, they don’t have to let a Goose change anything. They can be perfect like this, too.
Re: [FILL] fowl play (1/3)
Major Tags: The Soulmate Goose of Enforcement
Additional Tags: side gyuhao, high school au, coming-of-age
Permission to remix: No, please.
A Goose Legend:
Soonyoung - Shetland Goose
Wonwoo - Red-Breasted Goose
Mingyu - Chinese Goose
Minghao - Embden Goose
It's hard for Soonyoung to pinpoint which came first: the butterflies in his stomach or the goose.
Okay, that's a lie. Soonyoung doesn't make a habit of lying to himself; he promised his mom that he would never lie, not even when he knows Minkyung-noona is secretly sneaking out of their house to meet up with Seungcheol-hyung at the arcade behind their school to play Dance Dance Revolution and maybe kiss. "I want my precious Soonyoungie to always feel like he can be himself," his mom said to him once before, "I want you to always feel like you can be true to who you are, and to know the same of others. You don't need to hide. That is how you can live a principled life with others."
Sure, his mother was actually just referring to the fact that Soonyoung refused to leave his bedroom when his voice first start cracking and his face sprouted hair in the ugliest patches—it was embarrassing, how could he dare to face his classmates—and she wanted to instill confidence in him. But regardless, Soonyoung has always carried her words of wisdom with him.
So he tries to be true to who he is—and the truth is this: Soonyoung knows the butterflies came first.
It first happened six months ago, a frustrating addition to his life when Soonyoung's voice just finally stopped pitching in the middle and ends of his sentences, and sometimes the beginnings, and he learned to shave without cutting himself or missing any spots. The pimples are still there and his teeth are still not perfectly straight, but it's fine and he got braces last month. Soonyoung can be patient. The calamity of puberty has finally crested over, he thought, and he was more than okay with that.
Except it turns out that puberty was just the calm before the storm because then Soonyoung went and did the stupid thing; he developed feelings for his best friend.
He's had feelings before, Soonyoung thinks. There's Jisoo-hyung in Minkyung-noona's grade, who used to smile at Soonyoung at the hallways and pat his head gently. There's also Jeonghannie-hyung, who would teach him how to play MapleStory and tell Soonyoung that he's cute because he keeps dying to the slimes.
But there's no one like Jeon Wonwoo, and there's never been feelings like he has for Jeon Wonwoo either.
Jeon Wonwoo is annoying. He hasn't learned the perfect formula of body-spray-to-body-odour ratio yet, he never wears his glasses enough even though he squints without them, he likes to bite Soonyoung's shoulder and his arms and sometimes teases Soonyoung to the point where he wants to stamp his feet and yell at him. There are too many photos of them bathing together as kids because their moms thought it was cute, and Wonwoo knows about the first time Soonyoung woke up with a wet spot in his pants and cried because he thought he peed himself. It's horrible and stupid and ugly.
Except it doesn't matter because Wonwoo also always gives Soonyoung his portion of kimchi, even if Wonwoo likes spicy food more than him. He still tries to teach him MapleStory, even after Jeonghannie-hyung gave up on him. He teases Soonyoung for dying often, but he waits for him to respawn anyway and never leaves him behind. Wonwoo knows about Soonyoung's first wet dream because he cried about it, and he never once made fun of him for it. Sometimes—and this is the worst part—Wonwoo holds Soonyoung's hand and doesn't even seem to notice when Soonyoung's heart pounds so hard that his palms grow slick with sweat. Wonwoo never pulls away or think he's gross.
When Soonyoung first notices the butterflies that erupt in his belly whenever he's with Jeon Wonwoo, the ones that make him feel like he could float away from how hard they flutter, he knows that the Goose is not far behind.
And so he's not surprised when his Goose shows up exactly six months later, at the foot of his bed on the cusp of his 17th birthday.
It's just that Soonyoung is not ready for what comes next.
Some people wait forever for their Goose to appear, and sometimes they never do. Some people are born with their Goose, an occurrence so rare and revered that it almost always makes the news.
The science isn't precise for when and how the Goose will appear, but that's because it's not a science at all. Still, the phenomena is well-documented throughout history; Europeans once saw the Geese as a foreboding omen associated with witchcraft, while the Chinese associated it with luck and fortitude. In Korea, the Geese were always more auspicious than ominous, but it depended on which part of history you were looking at.
Nowadays, there is one congruent agreement about the purpose of the Geese. The Geese appear as a manifestation. It's meant to be a guide of sorts, one that directs you to your soulmate. Your Goose sometimes appears before you even meet your soulmate, before you even realize you have feelings, and sometimes it appears much later. There are times when it manifests for both soulmates at the same time, and times where only one person ever receives a Goose at all. The most delayed documented record was when two friends found their Geese when they were both 80 years old, a full fifty years after they first became friends.
Soonyoung is somewhere in the middle of the spectrum, neither an anomaly nor the standard. He's relatively young, only officially just turned 17 on Monday, and has met his soulmate before he's even graduated high school. There’s no one else in his grade who has a Goose yet, at least not that Soonyoung is aware. Some might say that he's the lucky sort, to know he's fated to be with his best friend.
In Soonyoung's opinion, it's an inconvenience. One that he's never asked for.
Soonyoung stares at the bird.
She has almost entirely white plumage, with a few grey feathers on her head, back, and flanks. Compared to some of the Geese that Soonyoung has seen, she’s pretty small—but Soonyoung knows better than to underestimate her. He’s seen her in flight, and he’s seen her weaponize her short bill against his leg hair like she’s plucking at weeds.
He supposes he should be grateful that she’s otherwise quite friendly. Soonyoung has heard rumours about Donghyuck from Jeonghan’s sister’s class, and the massive Canadian Geese that dogs at his heels, nipping and honking with a terrifying ferocity with every step. No one wants a Canadian Goose.
“Please do not attack me again when Wonwoo gets here,” he begs, flattening himself along his bed to be on eye-level with her. Last time, he tried to reprimand her and received a beak to his nose for his trouble. She stares at him unflinchingly. “At least do it quietly. He’s already suspicious, I think.”
The Goose does not respond. Soonyoung briefly wonders whether he should give her a name.
It doesn’t matter, because in the next second, she descends on his legs once again. With an infuriating deftness, she manages to squeeze her beak into the tender spot between his pants and his socks and starts yanking at his leg hair. Evil, evil creature.
“Ow—”
A knock resounds through the door. “Dummy, you’re going to make us late again,” he hears Wonwoo say through the door. Soonyoung’s heart instinctively flutters at the sound of his deep voice—he’s not used to how deep it is now yet—before panic overrides his system. “Your mom said she went to wake you up an hour ago.”
Soonyoung clamps one hand over his mouth, and pushes gently at his Goose with the other until she dislodges from his leg hair.
“Coming!” he shouts, and scrambles to fix his pants, then his shirt, and his tie. He has to wrestle away from his Goose as he hastily throws his notebook into his bag, feet slipping over the hardwood floor as he slides to a stop in front of his mirror to double check his hair and to make sure remnants of his breakfast aren’t stuck between his braces. Another 30 seconds is wasted trying to keep his Goose from leaving his room—and then he’s out.
“Hi,” he says, a little breathlessly, as he stares up at Wonwoo. He smells a little too strongly like Axe Body Spray Crushed Mint and Rosemary once again, which used to give Soonyoung a headache, but now he only gets a stupid stomachache from how much the scent reminds him of Wonwoo. Soonyoung likes it now, which is gross. “Sorry.”
Wonwoo gives him a look. He’s been giving Soonyoung this look a lot lately, somewhere between concern, worry, and something Soonyoung doesn’t know how to read. “You’ve been taking a long time to get ready lately.” Wonwoo says, but not with impatience. Soonyoung’s too scared to think it might be concern, but he thinks it might be anyway.
His traitorous heart pounds in his chest. There’s an echoing thump on the other side of the door, but Wonwoo doesn’t seem to notice. He’s still staring at Soonyoung.
“Uh...” Soonyoung says, shifting around. He wipes his palms on his uniform pants and hopes Wonwoo doesn’t notice. He’s never been good at lying. What can he say that won’t arouse further suspicion?
Wonwoo adjusts the strap of his messenger bag and curves a hand over the flap of it. He seems to be waiting for Soonyoung’s response.
Thankfully, he’s saved by the bell when his mom rounds up the stairs and catches sight of them standing in the hallway. “Ah, ah,” she tuts, patting Wonwoo on the face and Soonyoung on the head. “Won’t you two be late?”
It’s only then that Wonwoo drags his eyes away from Soonyoung. He breathes a little easier.
“Yes, auntie,” Wonwoo says politely. He casts one last look at Soonyoung, his mouth set in one grim line, and then he’s smoothing a hand over his messenger bag before he turns to head back down the stairs.
As always, there is no Goose that follows close behind Wonwoo. Soonyoung tries not to notice the way his stomach plummets, as it does each morning.
Sighing, he hoists his backpack higher up on his shoulders. There’s another thump at his bedroom door, and he knows his mom hears it at the sigh she lets out and the glance she gives Wonwoo’s back, before kissing the top of Soonyoung's head.
Soonyoung ignores his Goose. With a hole burning in the pit in his stomach, he follows after Wonwoo.
Whenever they’re at school and Soonyoung is at least ten blocks away from his Goose, it always gets a little bit easier to be around Wonwoo again.
The reminder that he’s in love with his best friend never completely goes away. It’s nigh impossible, with how Soonyoung looks at Wonwoo’s chapped lips and wonders whether their first kiss would be just like his favourite dramas.
But it’s easier without his Goose to remind him that maybe his love is unrequited, that Soonyoung might have fallen for a soulmate that does not love him back as anything other than as a best friend. In the rhythm and syncopation of their school, Soonyoung can let themselves be as they always are: Jeon Wonwoo and Kwon Soonyoung.
That’s what being a teenager is, anyway, isn’t it? New changes that come unbidden, sudden, and startlingly daunting—and learning how to ebb and flow to the best of their abilities. Compartmentalization.
It’s pretending that his chest doesn’t throb when Wonwoo’s foot slides under the table at the library and prods his shin to keep Soonyoung awake while they’re studying, or when Wonwoo always has a faint smile, patient as always, when he helps Soonyoung with his math homework. It’s ignoring the longing that clumps down in his stomach when Wonwoo touches his neck or the small lobes of his ears, as if Soonyoung’s just an extension of his own body. It’s ignoring how Soonyoung thinks he could live like this forever: going to the arcade after class with Wonwoo, eating tteokbokki by the train station near their academy, surviving on Melona popsicles and the buzz of cicadas when they walk home together long after the sun sets.
The world feels infinitely quiet when he’s with Wonwoo. For all that Soonyoung embodies restless energy and vivacity, he thinks he enjoys this the most—that he can truly, sincerely rest whenever he’s with Wonwoo.
He wonders whether Wonwoo feels the same way.
For now, Soonyoung decides, they don’t have to let a Goose change anything. They can be perfect like this, too.