Snippets
White DaysA/N: I have so many fics I've started but will probably never finish so what better way to start off 2016 than to set some of them free in all their abandoned glory?
1) Seulrene ghost? afterlife? AU
When Joohyun opens her eyes, the first thing that registers is that she’s not in her bed. She’s on the floor, gravel sticking to her cheek and to her clothes. She feels sticky, like she’s sweating through her clothes except she’s not. It’s empty around her, and for a moment, Joohyun wonders if maybe she’s in some weird lucid dream.
“Hey.”
Joohyun looks up and is immediately blinded by light. She squints until a figure comes into view.
“Hi.”
The girl beams down at her, hands on her knees as she leans down to stare Joohyun in the eye. She’s strikingly pretty, and even in Joohyun’s state of confusion, she feels flustered.
“What’s your name?” she asks, tilting her head.
“Joohyun.”
The girl nods, stepping back. She grins, holding her hand out for Joohyun to take and when Joohyun does, she’s surprised at the lack of warmth. It’s not cold either. Her touch is just there.
“Well, Joohyun, I’m Seulgi,” she introduces, lifting Joohyun up, but when she continues, Joohyun wishes she would have stayed on the ground. “Welcome to the afterlife.”
--
Joohyun doesn’t know how she died. She doesn’t even know when she died, but she takes the news surprisingly well.
Seulgi, as Joohyun learns, has been dead for a long time. Or so she says. Time is apparently nonexistent in the afterlife.
“Why does the afterlife look exactly like Seoul?” Joohyun asks as Seulgi leads her out of blinding white and into a bustling urban city.
Seulgi looks back at her, ponytail swishing back and forth as she does. The corners of her lips tug up into a crooked smile.
“This is where you died,” she explains. “Anyone who dies in Seoul stays there until they move on.”
“Move on?”
“You know, when your spirit settles.” Seulgi answers, shrugging like that’s common knowledge Joohyun should have known.
Joohyun nods. “Right.”
2) Wenrene/Seulrene Soulmate AU
There was a story going around when she was younger that when you meet your soulmate, you feel it everywhere, like a strong hit to the gut that rips through your entire being.
That’s what happened to Bae Suji anyway, and she was the girl who had the body of a sixteen year old at thirteen, so everything she experienced was ultimately treated as fact.
Wendy doesn’t feel any of that.
She almost misses it completely, more excited over the warm cup of coffee in her hands to care about the fact that there’s only seconds left on her clock.
It happens quickly - Wendy’s mind too focused on other things to realize she’s walking into someone else’s path - and then her coffee is on the floor, liquid burning her skin, and maybe that’s why she doesn’t notice the series of zeroes that line her wrist.
It’s cliche really, like every romantic comedy Wendy’s ever seen, an accident of fate that hurts more than it should.
“I’m so sorry!”
Wendy feels the jolt when she touches her, waking her from the trance she’d been in. She’s so pretty it’s hard to look away.
“No, it--” Wendy coughs, throat suddenly dry, “it was my fault.”
She smiles and Wendy feels her heart flutter in the kind of way she thought only happened in fiction.
“It was both our faults.” she tries and Wendy grins, ducking her head to hide her blush.
She realizes it then that her timer is done, and there’s a moment of shock followed closely by an unexpected feeling of bliss because this girl is her soulmate and suddenly the idea of it all doesn’t sound too bad.
“Joohyun!”
Wendy flits her gaze up to the newcomer, swallowing when she sees that yes, this girl is also impossibly beautiful.
The new girl takes one look at the two of them and the coffee on the floor before she turns teasing eyes to Wendy’s soulmate.
“What happened? I only left you alone for two minutes.” she laughs, squeezing the other girl’s shoulder before smiling mischievously at Wendy. “You’ll have to excuse Joohyun unnie, here. She’s got two left feet sometimes.”
Joohyun, Wendy thinks, her name is Joohyun. The name sounds sweet and Wendy can’t wait to taste it on her lips when she says it out loud.
“It was an accident.” Joohyun whines and Wendy can’t help that she finds it adorable.
“It was my fault, actually.” Wendy offers, flushing when they both turn to her at the same time. “I wasn’t looking where I was going.”
The other girl beams and Wendy doesn’t miss the way Joohyun latches onto her arm. An uncomfortable feeling settles in her stomach when she looks at them
“I’m sorry about your coffee. Let me buy you another one.” Joohyun says, smiling kindly at Wendy, and Wendy swallows nervously.
“No, no it’s okay.” she tries, but Joohyun shakes her head.
“Please, it’s the least I can do…”
“Wendy.”
“Wendy.” she repeats slowly as if testing the sound on her tongue.
There’s something about the way she says Wendy’s name, the way the syllables curve as they leave that just sounds so inexplicably right that makes Wendy weak in the knees, but when Wendy follows Joohyun’s hand as it trails down Seulgi’s arm, settling into Seulgi’s own waiting palm, she thinks she might fall for another reason entirely.
On both their wrists, for all the world to see, are two timers that have already ended, and Wendy feels it everywhere, a strong hit to the gut that rips through her entire being.
Joohyun is Wendy’s soulmate.
Wendy isn’t hers.
3) Wenseul high school AU
“Son Seungwan!”
Wendy already knows who it is without looking. The more sane, practical part of her mind tells her not to turn around because it’s barely seven-thirty in the morning and there’s really no need to be yelling her name out like this when they’re the only two people on the road.
She looks anyway.
“I’m going to make you fall in love with me.”
And wishes she hadn’t.
Seulgi grins and Wendy stares, either because she’s shocked or flustered or both, but it’s early and she’s not entirely sure she just heard correctly.
“What?”
Seulgi nods, pleased with herself for reasons Wendy can’t understand.
“Well, that’s all I wanted to say.” Seulgi smiles, reaching up to brush Wendy’s bangs into place before skipping passed her. “See you in class!”
Wendy’s still confused, but now she’s also blushing because Seulgi wants to make Wendy fall in love with her and her fingers felt nice when they touched her forehead and Wendy isn’t sure what any of this is supposed to mean and honestly, just what the hell, Kang Seulgi, what the hell?
Wendy’s late to class.
---
“Are you--”
Joohyun stops herself, and Wendy spares her a glance to see her gaze set on the chocolate on Wendy’s desk.
“Is that…”
Wendy nods as Joohyun inspects it closer.
A little red box with a neat bow wrapped around it stares her in the face. Wendy doesn’t know what to feel.
It’s not even Valentine’s day.
“Who’s it from?” Joohyun asks, reaching for it, but a glare from Wendy stops her. Wendy doesn’t even know why, but the idea of Joohyun touching the small gift makes her feel strangely possessive, which brings on a whole new wave of confusion because Wendy’s usually nothing less than giving.
It’s all Seulgi’s fault.
“Seulgi.” Wendy answers, Joohyun’s responding burst of laughter making her flush. The card that had been attached to the small gift suddenly feels heavy in Wendy’s pocket and on instinct, she reaches for it.
“Why is Seulgi giving you chocolate?” There’s a teasing smirk on Joohyun’s face that makes Wendy feel warmer than she already is. She doesn’t want to tell Joohyun that Seulgi’s on a mission to make Wendy fall in love with her, but at the same time she does because Joohyun’s one of her closest friends and, more importantly, she’s one of Seulgi’s closest friends and if there’s anyone who can explain why all of this happening, it would be her.
She doesn’t tell her.
“I don’t know.” Wendy sighs, fingers running over the card in her pocket. “Seulgi’s weird like that.”
“True.” Joohyun laughs, nodding her head in agreement. “Seulgi’s always saying nonsense things. This shouldn’t even surprise me.”
Wendy frowns at that.
Nonsense things? Was her declaration yesterday one of those nonsense things? Is Seulgi just messing with her?
And then Wendy frowns at the fact that she’s frowning because, if anything, Joohyun’s words should be comforting, not depressing.
Stupid Kang Seulgi.
“Yeah,” Wendy agrees, crumpling up the card, “it shouldn’t surprise me either.”
--
Son Seungwan,
There’s a quote that says ‘to love is to burn.’ Well, I hope you know I'm already on fire.
Enjoy the chocolates!
Love, Kang Seulgi.
4) Wenseul idol AU
Kang Seulgi is shorter than expected.
And startlingly normal.
Not that Wendy was expecting her to be some sort of pretentious celebrity, but she’s worked with a lot of big names before and usually they have a presence about them that slaps Wendy in the face as soon as she walks into the room.
But the girl in front of her, with her hands hidden in the sleeves of her sweater and her feet tapping anxiously against the ground, seems more like someone Wendy would meet on the street rather than one half of an idol duo who’s sold more with one album than any of the other artists’ Wendy’s produced for combined.
“Seulgi-ssi?” Wendy says, and the girl shoots up, bowing deeply in greeting before Wendy can even blink.
“Hello!” she bows again. “It’s nice to meet you!”
Wendy coughs, awkwardly bowing back because Seulgi’s so much more important than she is and yet she’s treating Wendy like Wendy’s the one with her face plastered on every billboard in Korea.
“So,” Wendy begins, sitting down across from her, “this is your first solo album?”
It’s just a meeting today, to lay the groundwork for the kind of album Seulgi wants to make. Wendy’s meeting with the company didn’t give her much to work with, and so here she is, talking to Seulgi, herself, who’s apparently been allowed some input to the creative process. Perks, Wendy supposes, of being one of the their biggest moneymakers.
Seulgi bites her lip. “Yeah, it is.”
There’s trepidation in her voice, her eyes downcast. She looks small, like she’s hoping her sweater would swallow her.
“Are you nervous?” Wendy asks kindly. She doesn’t seem like the type to be, but Wendy’s quickly learning any preconceived notions she’s had about the girl were clearly wrong.
Seulgi smiles wryly. “People are expecting a lot from me. I don’t want to disappoint them.” She rubs the back of her neck, smile turned sheepish. “Sorry, was that too honest?”
Wendy shakes her head. She appreciates Seulgi’s sincerity; it’s better than anything else she could have hoped for in the girl. “Not at all.”
Seulgi grins and it reminds Wendy so much of a child, it’s hard for her to imagine that this is the same girl that wore a suit and danced on a chair in a way that was so inherently attractive, Wendy couldn’t even finish the video.
She tosses that memory away quickly.
“You know,” Wendy says, “I’m a little surprised your company contacted me. My music isn’t exactly your…” she gestures towards Seulgi vaguely, “uh, style.”
Seulgi shrugs. “It’s not Red Velvet’s style, you mean.” Seulgi smirks as Wendy feels her ears warm. She leans forward and on impulse, Wendy leans back. “I like your music.” Seulgi tells her bluntly. “When they told me I was going to have a solo album, I told them I wanted to work with you.”
Wendy’s brows raise, surprised with the sudden revelation.
“Why me?”
Seulgi’s eyes are kind beneath the sharp lines of her makeup. It makes looking at her more difficult than it needs to be.
“I like your music.” she answers, but something tells Wendy there’s more to it than just that. She doesn’t bother with trying to figure out what.
“Well then,” Wendy grins and Seulgi mirrors it, “it’s an honor to work with you.”
“Likewise.”
Kang Seulgi, Wendy thinks, definitely not a typical idol.
She’s just not sure if that’s good or bad.
Wendy opens her eyes to a headache and a memory that feels too faint to be real but too detailed to be fake.
She blinks her eyes to adjust to the light, taking in her surroundings, and tries to remember why she decided to jump to this specific moment.
She’s in a coffee shop. It’s raining. Her hands are cold. Someone’s going to die.
Wendy gets up, walking calmly outside. There’s a girl about to cross the street, swaying side to side as she holds onto her umbrella, but what she doesn’t know is that there’s a car about to run the light, going way too fast to stop before it hits her. She moves to step off the sidewalk, but Wendy grabs her, pulling her back towards herself.
She’s confused, Wendy looks weird, and the only thing that gets hit is the poor umbrella that she’d dropped.
It’s a far better scenario to the one Wendy remembers, where she’d heard the crack of her skull against the pavement and watched as the blood pooled around her head.
She rids herself of the memory, focusing on the girl who’s very much alive and too close to Wendy’s body for it to be considered appropriate.
Wendy smiles.
“Hi.”
The girl looks at her strangely, stepping back so that they aren’t breathing each other’s air.
“Hi?”
Wendy coughs, rubbing at her nape as she tries to come up with a reason for why she randomly grabbed this girl she doesn’t know.
“Uh,” she grins sheepishly, gesturing to the coffee shop behind them. “Would you like to get some coffee with me?”
The girl tilts her head, regarding her with a raised brow. She’s pretty, and that sudden observation has made Wendy very aware of how insane she must look to her. At least her sudden invitation won’t seem out of the norm anymore. She probably gets hit on daily.
“Okay,” she says finally and Wendy’s eyes widen to comical size. “But,” she continues, brushing away wet strands of hair clinging to her face, “you have to get me a new umbrella.”
Wendy laughs, nodding easily.
“Deal.”
The girl beams at her, the corners of her eyes crinkling together, and she looks so pretty under the rain, Wendy’s glad she jumped through time just to get here.
“I’m Wendy.” she tells her, holding the door to the coffee shop open for the both of them.
She smiles. “Seulgi.”
Technically, this isn’t even the beginning.
It starts with a journal.
Seulgi's seen enough dramas to know right away that there's something off about the small thing. It’s in the back of the library, hidden between two encyclopedias that are so out of date, Seulgi wouldn’t be surprised if it said the Earth was still flat. It's a little dusty, a little worn, and it has that weird old book smell that Seulgi usually steers clear from.
That should have been sign number one.
But Seulgi can be too curious for her own good, and so, against her better judgement, she opens it.
Empty.
That should have been sign number two.
Also against her better judgement, Seulgi pulls out a pen. It's supposed to be therapeutic to write your thoughts out, and Seulgi's carried this secret for so long, she's pretty sure she qualifies as needing therapy. Plus, secret journals are a staple for girls her age, right?
Writing it out doesn't physically make her feel any better, but it is rather cathartic to see her stupidity laid out in front of her, clear as day. There's nothing flowery about it.
I have a crush on a girl.
It's a little pathetic, honestly. Crushes on people of the same gender aren't that uncommon, but it's supposed to be harmless and, really, there's nothing harmless about the uncontrollable way Seulgi's heart wants to beat out of her chest at just the mere sight of her. It's sappy and gross and all the things Seulgi never wants to admit to out loud, but it’s okay, that's what the journal is for.
She's in the middle of contemplating how to describe her smile without being overly disgusting when she looks down and sees writing that definitely wasn't there before.
Tell her.
That should have been sign number three.
Seulgi isn't one to believe in magic, but there's no other way to describe it. (Later, she'll put it all to fate, but for now it's just surreal.) If she were anyone else, she probably would have dropped the journal and ran away, but it's Seulgi so all she does is shrug and pick up her pen again.
I can't.
Why not?
It starts with a journal, but, really, it doesn’t start there at all.
Because she’s my teacher.
7) An alternate to the above AU
I think I like someone.
Joohyun traces the words slowly, smiling as she reads.
People often write in library books, and normally Joohyun doesn’t bother with entertaining the useless ramblings, but this isn’t an actual book and the secret confession feels sweet, innocent in its earnestness.
Joohyun reads it again once more before flipping to the front cover. It’s a small journal, leatherbound and filled with conversations between people Joohyun’s never heard of. Joohyun has no idea what it’s doing in the school’s library, but the idea of having secret conversations with someone she doesn’t know is strangely exciting.
“Unnie? Are you over here?”
At the voice, Joohyun hurriedly pulls out a pen, scribbling out a reply quickly before stuffing the journal back into its place between the large books.
“Oh, there you are.” Sooyoung motions her over, feet tapping against the ground. “Come on, lunch is almost over!”
“Sorry, I was just-” Joohyun looks at the journal, carefully hidden away, and shakes her head. This will be her secret, she decides. “Nevermind. Did you find your book?”
Sooyoung nods, waving the old textbook wearily. “Unfortunately. Now I actually have to do that book report.”
Sooyoung leads her away from the library, lamenting her current life as a second year while Joohyun does her best to listen, but her mind betrays her and all she can think about is the journal and all the secrets it must hold.
She hopes she gets a reply.
They’re in Joohyun’s room, sprawled lazily next to each other, quiet and relaxed.
The sunlight streaming in through the curtain hanging over Joohyun’s window bathes them in streaks of red and orange, and Joohyun appreciates the way the light makes Seulgi’s skin glow.
Seulgi wasn’t supposed to be here, but Joohyun didn’t have the heart to turn her away when she’d showed up earlier that morning, strands of hair clinging to her face and skin wet from the rain. Her chest had seized at the sight and she’d pulled Seulgi in without a second thought, mumbling incoherent words into the crook of her neck as she pushed the younger girl back against the door.
She hadn’t even considered the consequences of her actions at the time, but Joohyun finds she still doesn’t care. The rain had stopped long ago, but Seulgi was still there and Joohyun doesn’t think she could let her go so easily this time.
“Do your parents know where you are?” Joohyun asks eventually, finger tracing indiscernible patterns against Seulgi’s thigh.
“They think I’m spending the night at Seungwan’s.”
Joohyun gazes up at her quizzically. “They actually let you go?”
Seulgi shrugs, lips curved into something between a smirk and a smile. “Seungwan’s in the church choir, they trust her more than they trust me.”
Joohyun smiles wryly, burying her face into Seulgi’s stomach, an apology on the tip of her tongue, but Seulgi doesn’t let her, nimble fingers combing soothingly through her hair.
“I didn’t mean it like that.” she says, hand resting against Joohyun’s back. “It’s not your fault.”
Joohyun knows it’s not, knows it isn’t Seulgi’s either. It’s no one’s fault that Joohyun liked Seulgi more than she should and that Seulgi felt the same way. But it is her fault that Joohyun had gotten reckless once, gotten too high from the rush of emotions she’d been feeling and risked being more affectionate than she was supposed to. They thought they were getting away with it, but secrets always have a way of coming out eventually and the next thing Joohyun knows, she’s a bad influence and Seulgi is to stay away from her.
“You shouldn’t be here.” Joohyun tells her, but her voice is weak even to her own ears.
“Do you want me to go?”
Joohyun would make her stay forever if she could.
9) Seulrene/Seulgi centric AU
Bae Joohyun.
There’s a frenzy when she arrives. The pretty girl from Daegu with a face that belongs in movies. Even her brother, who’s never cared about any of the girls who throw themselves at him, goes out of his way to welcome her to the neighborhood.
Their family comes over for dinner, and her brother combs his hair and puts on his nicest clothes while her mother cleans and her father buys the best meat.
“Look nice,” her mother says, handing her black dress Seulgi knows she can’t refuse. There’s an unspoken ‘for once’ that lingers at the end of her sentence that Seulgi ignores. At least it’s not pink.
Bae Joohyun is prettier than what they say and Seulgi has trouble looking her in the eye.
“Bow, you idiot,” her brother hisses, nudging her sharply.
Seulgi does, muttering out an introduction her parents are probably embarrassed by, as she tries to cover the blush on her cheeks and the sweat on her palms.
Joohyun’s looking at her when Seulgi rises and Seulgi gulps, training her eyes on her parents.
Her brother spends the whole night talking to her, charming her with his stories and his smiles. They’re the same age, Seulgi learns, and they’d make a lovely couple according to her mother, who ushers her into the kitchen to grab the dessert.
And yet, it’s not her brother that Joohyun spends the whole night looking at, nor is it her brother that Joohyun directs all her questions to.
No, Joohyun only has her eyes on her, and later, when Seulgi’s in the kitchen, doing the dishes like the dutiful daughter her mother wishes she would always be, Joohyun finds her, offering her help without even being asked.
Like the perfect daughter, Seulgi thinks dryly, handing her a dish rag.
“I like your dress,” Joohyun says, and Seulgi forces herself not to be fazed because Joohyun is a girl, and Seulgi promised herself that Seungwan was just a fluke, a one time thing. If it’s once, it’s okay, but if it’s twice, it’s cause for concern, and Seulgi’s got enough to worry about as it is.
“Thanks,” Seulgi mutters, scrubbing the plate in her hand until fingers feel like they’re cramping. “I don’t normally wear dresses. I mean, I don’t like to, but my mom, she-” Seulgi coughs, unsure where this is coming from, but it’s hot and if she keeps speaking, Joohyun won’t and Seulgi doesn’t want to think about how nice her voice is, “-she had this dress, so I...I thought I’d wear it…?”
Joohyun laughs and Seulgi feels her ears warm. She leans in, voice a conspiratorial whisper as she says, “I don’t like dresses either.”
Seulgi flushes, shaky hands dropping the plate. Her mother lectures her for clumsiness, but it falls on deaf ears, Seulgi’s mind too preoccupied with the feel of Joohyun’s breath against her ear and the way she’d looked at Seulgi like Seulgi wasn’t a disappointment.
Seulgi has cause for concern.
--
A/N 2: all of these are just snippets. some of these have like thousands of words to them but then i lost inspiration and gave up. i wish i could say these were all the wips i have too but they're definitely not. if you feel particularly attached to any of these let me know and i might finish it idk i don't really write anymore. but happy new year! may 2016 be not terrible?
here's a song just because
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