Chapter 2: <span class='smalltext text--lighter'>Comment on <a href='/story/view/1334291/2'>Before</a></span>
I've lost count of how many times I've read this masterpiece! i just ing love this story !!!!!!!

Chapter 2: Thank you for the 2nd chap^^

Chapter 1: Wow
wait... why am i crying?

Chapter 2: GREETINGS FROM MY VERY NEW, VERY EXPENSIVE AND VERY Y LAPTOP-KUN! ITS FIRST TYPING MISSION IS STRAWBERRIES & CIGARETTES AND THEN ALICE-SAN WILL HAVE TO READ AFTERGLOW AGAIN AND APPRECIATE IT IN ALL ITS GLORY BEFORE LAPTOP-KUN MOVES ONTO HIS NEXT MISSION. BUT LEMME TELL U THAT AFTERGLOW HAS TAKEN A PIECE OF MY HEART LIKE IT DID FOR YOU AND IT HAS TAKEN RESIDENCE THERE. LAPTOP-KUN APOLOGISES FOR THE DELAY AND ON THAT NOTE, HOW MUCH TIME DOES IT TAKE FOR YOU TO CONSTRUCT THESE MASTERPIECES!? REGARDLESS OF LENGTH, THE BEAUTY OF EMOTIONS THAT YOU CONVEY THROUGH YOUR WORDS AND YOU CREATE THROUGH YOUR WORDS, EVERYTHING IS SO VIVID TO THE IMAGINATION - LIKE IT'S A MOVIE THAT'S UNFOLDING RIGHT BEFORE MY EYES. I AM BEING 100% HONEST HERE WHEN I SAY IT'S REALLY EASY TO VISUALISE YOUR WRITING. LIKE - THAT IS NOT THE CASE FOR ANY OTHER FIC I'VE READ. BUT THE IMAGERY COMES SO EASILY HERE THAT IT JUST HITS MY HEART RIGHT ON THE BULLSEYE. LIKE I SWEAR, THAT SCENE WHERE THEY FELL INTO THE POOL, I SAW ROMEO AND JULIET. JONGMEO AND KYUNGLIET LMAOOOOOOO. BUT UM, SERIOUSLY, THAT SCENE WAS SO FREAKING BREATHTAKING, IT STOLE MY BREATH AWAY AND HOW THE POOL/THE WATER IS LIKE A REOCCURING SYMBOL - HOW KYUNGSOO AND JONGIN'S FEELINGS FLOW BETWEEN ONE ANOTHER, THE FREEDOM OF BEING SUBMERGED UNDERNEATH THE WATER WHERE NO ONE CAN SEE THEM, THE TRANQUILITY AND THE THRILL. AND THAT SCENE WHERE KYUNGSOO WATCHED JONGIN "SLEEPING" - MY HEART WAS BEATING JUST AS FAST AS SOO AND THE JONGIN THERE, I IMAGINED HIM AS THAT BALLET PIC WITH HIS BLOND HAIR IN A BLACK TOP LEANING BACK AGAINST THE WALL???? AND SPEAKING OF THAT, ALL YOUR DESCRIPTIONS ARE RLLY REFRESHING - YOUR DICTION AND THE WAY YOU SPAN OUT THE STORY - IT'S AN AMAZING BLEND OF DESCRIPTION AND EXPOSITION. I REALLY RELATED TO KYUNGSOO'S FEELINGS OF EVERYDAY BEING LIKE A DULL ROUTINE AND HOW EVERYONE IS THE SAME OLD AND HOW EVERYTHING FEELS LIKE IT'S JUST OUT OF CONVENIENCE. WHICH MAKES JONGIN AND KYUNGSOO'S RELATIONSHIP SPECIAL BC ALTHOUGH THEY ARE IN THE SAME TOWN, SAME SCHOOL - THEY ARE LIKE TWO PEOPLE FROM TWO DIFFERENT WORLDS COLLIDING - LIKE STAR-CROSSED LOVERS LMAO. BC AT THE END OF THE DAY, THEY KNOW THEY LIVE IN THE SAME HOMOPHOBIC, NARROW-MINDED WORLD WHERE WORDS SPREAD FAST AND CHASES AFTER THEM. AND UM, I REALLY RELATE TO KYUNGSOO BEING CALLED A MONSTER FOR HIS UNORTHODOX EATING HABITS. DONT WORRY, JONGIN, HE WONT BITE IN THE OTHER PLACE THAT YOU WANT HIM TO ON, ALRIGHT. ALSO I'M REALLY SORRY IF MY COMMENTS EVER GET REPETITIVE BC THAT JUST MEANS YOU ARE THE QUEEN OF CONSISTENCY, OK. AND I LOVE THE REALISM OF EVERYTHING AND HOW IT'S ASSOCIATED WITH THE SENSES - LIKE HOW JONGIN SAYS IT'S MUCH "COLDER" INSIDE, HOW THEIR LIPS BLEED WHEN THEY KISSED EACH OTHER (PAIN) AND THEN THE LONGING IN JONGIN'S EYES - HONESTLY THOSE SUM UP KYUNGSOO AND JONGIN'S RELATIONSHIP WELL LMAO. I HONEST TO GOD LOVE EVERY SCENE IN HERE - ESPEICALLY THE PART WHERE KYUNGSOO LIGHTS UP JONGIN'S CIGARETTE FOR HIM - I FEEL LIKE THAT'S BEEN BURNED INTO MY MEMORY FOREVER??? LIKE...THE INTIMACY, THE WARMTH, THE TRUST WHICH THAT PART JUST EXUDES!! T^T AND THE WAY JONGIN KNOWS KYUNGSOO'S NAME WHICH CONTRADICTS KYUNGSOO'S INITIAL THOUGHT THAT JONGIN PROBABLY DOESN'T KNOW HIS NAME - LIKE I'M SO HAPPY THAT I CAUGHT ONTO THAT BC U THOUGHT WRONG, SOO. AND WHAT MAKES ME LOVE THIS PREQUEL SO MUCH IS THE PIT OF DESIRE WHICH WAS ALREADY THERE. KYUNGSOO'S ATTRACTION TO JONGIN AND IMO, JONGIN'S ATTRACTION TO KYUNGSOO TOO - WITH HIS LINGERING GAZE AND THEN THE LONGING IN HIS EYES - AND HOW HE KNOWS HIS NAME AND THE WAY HE ASKED SOO WHY HE WAS OUT THERE ALONE. I THINK HE ALREADY SENSED THAT KYUNGSOO WAS LIKE HIM. WHETHER IT IS THAT THEY ARE BOTH SAD, LONELY, OUTCASTS IN A PLACE WHERE NO ONE CAN BE RLLY EXCLUDED BUT SOMEHOW STILL ARE OUTCASTS. AND SERIOUSLY THE WAY YOU DESCRIBED JONGIN, HOW CAN ANYONE EVER BE ABLE TO RESIST HIM!? AND CAN I PLEASE HAVE A STRAWBERRY LOLLIPOP TOO :((( AND I LOVE HOW THIS STILL ALLUDED TO THE SONG!! WITH THE BITTERNESS OF JONGIN'S CIGARETTES AND THE SWEETNESS OF JONGIN'S STRAWBERRY LOLLIPOP. REAL QUESTION IS, WILL THERE BE A SEQUEL!? WHEN THEY'VE GROWN UP OR THEY'RE NEARLY GRADUATING AND MIGHT BE LEAVING THAT TOWN - WHICH RLLY REMINDS ME OF STEPHEN KING'S STAND BY ME!? THIS PIECE OF ART IS RLLY AN AMAZING PALETTE OF CONTRASTS - THE BITTERNESS OF CIGS/SWEETNESS OF STRAWBERRIES, THE FREEDOM THAT THE WATER SYMBOLISES BUT THE FEAR OF DROWNING/SUFFOCATION THAT FOLLOWS, THE BLOOD THAT IS A CONSEQUENCE OF THE SWEETNESS OF THEIR KISS, THE COLD SIDE OF HUMAN NATURE BEING MUCH SCARIER AND MUCH MORE UNBEARABLE TO THE COLD WATER AND THE COLD NIGHT THAT A TOPLESS (VULNERABLE) JONGIN EXPOSES HIMSELF TOO, THE SENTIMENT THAT KYUNGSOO THINKS JONGIN DOESN'T KNOW HIS NAME BUT THE REALITY IS A TRUTH THAT THEY BOTH CAN'T REALLY BEAR ALONG WITH A MILLION OTHER THINGS ALL BLEND TOGETHER TO CREATE A FEELING OF - "LONGING" AND THE HEARTACHE THAT IT CARRIES. I KNOW I HAVE PROBABLY SKIPPED OUT ON ANOTHER THOUSAND NUANCES BUT I PROMISE I WILL TRAIN LAPTOP-KUN WELL SO HE WILL BE A SEASONED EXPERT IN DECONSTRUCTING THE MARVELLOUS BEAUTY WHICH IS YOUR WRITING FROM YOUR BEAUTIFUL FINGERTIPS WHICH MY FUTURE DYOLAMB WANTS TO KISS. REALLY, THANK YOU FOR YOUR ART AND THANK YOU FOR YOUR HEART <3 YOUR WRITING IS BEAUTIFUL LIKE YOUR SOUL WHICH SHINES LIKE THIS GEM OF A FIC. MY FAIRY AIRI!!!

Chapter 2: Thanks dear for the 2nd chapter... love it

Chapter 1: I want to cry

Chapter 1: Please take responsibility for how soft you've made my heart and how soft I am for you. Like strawberries and cigarettes, this story was so bittersweet. There was the vibrancy, the slight sourness within the sweetness of strawberries that can be found in their relationship. Along with the veil of smoke, the mystery, the bitterness and the tightness within Kyungsoo's chest who has so many things on his mind, so many things to ask Jongin. Jongin, the spark, who set Kyungsoo's heart on fire. This story really is perfection me, I love it in so many different ways for so many different reasons. I really love how Jongin was a bad boy in here, so mysterious yet so alluring! T^T And the silver hair, PLEASE SLICE ME! And the piercings and tattoos. I AM WEAK. I really love all the detail you've added in like the rickety ladder, the zippo lighter with the CUTE POLAR BEAR ON IT - for some reason, I was just able to picture everything that you wrote and I really loved the pictures that popped up in my mind - like Kyungsoo and Jongin, skinny dipping in the water together! <3 I really love how you blend the lyrics into the story seamlessly. I would love to hear Kyungsoo cover a Troye Sivan song one day and I really heard Troye Sivan's voice through Kyungsoo when Jongin leaves him wanting more, when Jongin leaves him to go back to playing his games. T^T I love how they're young and reckless but to me, their love is FREAL LOVE (pcy). The kind of love they won't be able to forget just like how I won't be able to forget this and move on from this. That scene at the pond. M a g i c al. I love how Kyungsoo doubted Jongin catching him when he falls at the beginning, it really struck a chord when Jongin says that of course, he would! And it really hurt because Jongin wouldn't be able to tell the world that Kyungsoo is his due to the homophobia in their SMALL TOWN! My heart skipped a beat when Jongin placed his palm for Kyungsoo to hold onto and even if Kyungsoo thinks he's nonchalant, Jongin always seems to catch on to how he's feeling. Kyungsoo might think Jongin as the type that's "young, wild, and free," and I really think Jongin is the type who wants to be free too yet is frustrated because I feel like in a way, he is anchored/stuck to something. Really, this story is refreshing because of how it made me feel something I haven't in a while especially when it's just a short one shot. I haven't been able to read fics lately except for my friends but I definitely have to devour yours - especially because I consider us friends now! Unless you wanna break my heart ahahahaha. But really, I loved this a lot. It was beautiful in such a melancholic way. Thank you so much for writing it. Thank you so much for your art, thank you for your heart!

Chapter 1: i’ll be waiting for the prequel and sequel authornim ; )