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This is the most maknae he’s ever looked…

+ bonus: How did they manage to dwarf him?

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Will always and forever appreciate some good-ass eyecatches. Lazarus' in particular has a classic vibe to them that almost takes me back.

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i believe in mizi beating the shit out of luka supremacy

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DO YOU BELIEVE IN ANGELS? Angels, saviours, idols. What do you see when you look over the edge?

LEXIE LIU MAGICIAN (2022) // ARTMS VIRTUAL ANGEL (2024) // LE SSERAFIM UNFORGIVEN HIGHLIGHT MEDELY (2023) // ARTMS BIRTH (2024) // THE BOYZ LET YOUR WHISPER BE... (2023) // WAYV TAKE OFF (2019) // THE BOYZ WINGS OF DESIRE (2022) // WAYV TURN BACK TIME (2020) // SEVENTEEN HOT (2022)

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commentary: tell me what's the perfect time

act i. kim mingyu | act ii. yoon jenghan

this was simultaneously the easiest and fastest section to write while also being the one that likely takes me the longest. jeonghan is incredibly transparent when he wants to be and, out of these three, i find him the most similar to myself, making him the easiest to write. that being said, it's harder to navigate his relationships because he's very much in the middle. he's not with seungcheol, but they're not both definitely single and separate either. he's not with mingyu, but they spend too much time together to not be either.

scene 2: 2025 this particular scene started out as a series of interviews, with both seungcheol and jeonghan explaining the film, almost letting the reader see them as fans of the actors would. however, as is par for the course with my writing, they hijacked the plot and the scene ended up centering on the more hidden aspect of their relationship, the part that the public doesn't get to see, whether in canon or as actors in this fic. at the crux of their relationship is knowing⎯⎯⎯jeonghan knowing about seungcheol's feelings for him, jeonghan knowing about mingyu's feelings for seungcheol, seungcheol knowing about jeonghan knowing about his own feelings. that same clarity doesn't exist within the other pairings. i'll leave seungcheol to explain his own side in act iii, but jeonghan doesn't know exactly where he stands with mingyu, nor does mingyu know where he stands with either of them.

scene 3: 2021 i do wonder if it's because i've written mingyu and jeonghan together so often (vivisection of the heartstrings of a boy who believed in life was also, initially intended to be solely gyuhan, and yet.) that they come together so easily, but this particular scene felt the most natural to write. there was, of course, inspiration from their moments together while shooting going vol 2., but also their previous time together as roommates. i feel like they've brought that up a lot more than either jihoon or seungcheol have, with respect to any of the possible pairings to be made there, though i could be wrong, so i assumed that it made quite the impact on both of them. that, and all the time they spend together.

scene 4: 2023 this was a personal favorite to write and, right when i got stuck in the middle of it, canon irl jeongcheol accounts of them chasing each other in streets surfaced, giving me the perfect material to round out their date, given that i have absolutely no experience in that realm. also: jeonghan looks at seungcheol and the years slip away until all that remains is them, two kids chasing their dreams, running in the same direction once more. it's here that i have to admit that i'm always hesitant to include jeongcheol or to make them a focus of gyuhancheol fics. perhaps it's because they're a main pairing, one of the most popular in the group, but the propensity of their appearance overshadowing the other pairings was a worry that i had. it's all too easy to see their dynamic as jeongcheol + mingyu, and i wanted to take care to make it very clear that this was never meant to be that way, and that they will never be that way either. they all have unique dynamics within each of their pairings and all three of them are lovely together too. with that out of the way, i think it's also important to address that there is some tension between them. their circumstances were very different, and in many ways, though jeonghan took care of mingyu and seungcheol, it's implied that he takes mingyu's "side" in terms of who he agrees with about the doyoon incident and how things are handled. it doesn't mean that jeonghan loves seungcheol any less, but it does mean that they're both prone to mistaking each other. in true jeongcheol fashion, they don't fight with each other, of course.

scene 5: 2025 this is the closest we get to anyone addressing their situation. jeonghan has a tendency to view things conservatively⎯⎯⎯even if it's almost obvious that mingyu adores jeonghan, he won't see it like that because it would be worse to get his hopes up, even if he knows that seungcheol is infatuated with him, he won't reciprocate because he cares too much about both of them to let either of those be true. on a lighter note, i think this is where i really hit my stride with writing gyuhan. they're adorable with each other, jeonghan relies on him a lot, and mingyu always wants to be needed. this scene ended up being a culmination of all of that, and you really get to see what it's like when two elder siblings are together. which is quite different from the dynamic they both individually have with seungcheol. perhaps this is when jeonghan accepts that mingyu is equally infatuated with him. perhaps this is when mingyu understands the depth of his feelings too. perhaps: "he looks up at jeonghan the same way he always does, round eyes wide and pleading, always so sure jeonghan will be the one to leave. he doesn't answer."

scene 6: 2015 jeonghan has a tendency to take on responsibility for everything he isn't even responsible for. seungcheol and mingyu's falling out would have happened regardless, and this is something he struggles to accept, which is why it felt prudent to include this scene, as opposed to anything else. despite how much they care about each other, there's a fundamental misunderstanding that jeonghan cannot correct. could not have corrected. where mingyu fell head over heels, seungcheol's state as the leader of a failing idol group couldn't have made him a worse partner. that, paired with the confusion of his feelings for jeonghan, the forced fanservice, and the general chaos, meant that neither of them were seeing each other on the same wavelength. jeonghan, who saw this from the outside, could easily piece it together, but even so, he remained powerless. as for the rest, well, seungcheol will have to share that.

scene 8: 2022 the more scenes i divulge, the more i realize it's impossible to share much about seungcheol's relationship with either of them without first sharing seungcheol's side of the story. this scene in particular, seungcheol is hardly mentioned, but i wonder if it's obvious that they hold back on his behalf. or that they don't hold back on his behalf, because they know that he'll catch up. just as in act i, this scene is a love letter to gyuhan, both in our universe and this one. that, and jeonghan wants mingyu bad. which gives the entire scene a different tone from its first iteration in act i.

scene 10: 2025 i think it's interesting that even when they're not on the best terms with each other, they couldn't be happier for each other. as for the rest? well, i'll save that for when seungcheol has shared his side of the story.

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commentary: tell me what's the perfect time

act i. kim mingyu.

let me preface this by saying that the initial idea for this entire story came from an edit of mask girl (i think?) of nana and that other actress with champagne coast in the background. from that, somehow it spiraled into this 60k (and counting behemoth) exploring these themes i've always found myself drawn to.

it was never meant to be gyuhancheol. this is hard to explain in that, obviously, this was meant to explore all three povs in this new setting. initially, when i thought of writing it, it was supposed to be just gyucheol. but when it comes to any pairing within these three, it feels almost impossible to ignore the third. whether it's writing jeongcheol and finding mingyu present even in just the dialogue, or writing gyuhan and finding seungcheol embedded in their wardrobe, or writing gyucheol and finding their adoration for jeonghan seeping through the scenes, it's hard to write something that separates these three like that.

scene 1: 2025 there were three scenes in mind when i first started writing. three scenes and a dream. this was the first of them. the idea of a motel in the middle of nowhere and the neon lights of the pool sign permeating from the highway may be inherently american, and adapting this vision for characters whose identities i didn't want to strip and americanize for the sake of this vision, meant focusing on why they were out there and framing their entanglement without focusing on the setting as much. so. mingyu is left to witness jeongcheol and he feels like a voyeur because everything he knows about their relationship is through viewing it on screen. whether it's through his own film where he's essentially directing their relationship OR whether it's when he sees their "dispatch reveal," neither jeonghan nor seungcheol are telling him anything about them. they're both focused on mingyu in different ways, and they're obviously into each other too, but it's all unspoken.

scene 4: 2021 having shua as mingyu's fwb while mingyu was away discovering himself in film school was something i went back and forth with a lot. on one hand, there's nothing that would hurt jeonghan more than to imply that while he'd been in seoul, pining for mingyu, his best friend was busy hooking up with the object of his affections, but on the other, gyushua have been traveling around together a lot. obviously, it was the former. the angst was too good to pass up. and it fixed the problem i had before of mingyu being a "perfect" character. where seungcheol, young as he is, wrongs mingyu in not reaching out to him, and jeonghan, who can't let go of mingyu OR seungcheol, despite knowing that he's hurting mingyu by staying in touch with seungcheol and that he's hurting seungcheol by leading him on, mingyu remains relatively innocent. obviously, neither of them are intentionally malicious, but it does add depth to their character. mingyu was, ironically, harder to write, especially since this relationship was hardly the focus of anything.

scene 6: 2016 remember when i said i had three scenes in mind when i started writing? this was not one of them. this was, however, the first scene i wrote for the entire fic, so perhaps i'm rather attached to it. i often view jeonghan and mingyu as two sides of the same coin, two people who are always so willing to be whatever someone else needs but in such different ways. ways that might not be so different after all, if they take a step back and look at it. is this me rejecting the gyuhan opposites agenda? not quite. they are different, in personality, but fundamentally, they want the same thing. writing jeonghan is always so refreshing because he's so loving and intentional about it, but he's also so accidentally romantic. he reminds me a little of writing minho, and how his most romantic lines are said without much thought to being romantic and simply with intention. ("If it’s a choice between being your hyung in secret or loving you openly, I know which one I’d pick." it's not a confession, and yet.) i will admit that i hesitated to include the scene at all. being outed, publicly and forcefully the way is mentioned, felt cruel to include. but the fic largely centered around this initial idea, that everything shatters and slowly, kintsugi. and perhaps it was a copout to not include the healing process, but it was an intentional one. mingyu, in this universe, is limited to his bandmates and trainees and when the fallout renders him without either, it provides a greater opportunity for growth, away from the people he's known the most. an intentional chance for him to explore unseen, in more ways than one.

scene 7: 2025 it was in writing this scene that i really started to fall in love with the characters more, particularly seungcheol. it's in this scene that he really shines and i think it shows in the dialogue, which i had a lot of fun writing too. seungcheol's naturally lovable and adorable, a really kindhearted person to the core, but for him to be in this position, he's naturally frustrated at being misconstrued but he's also frustrated with himself because he's less sure of his feelings. also: how would you have me? // watch your words.

scene 8: 2022 at this point, i did start to wonder if this first act had too much of a focus on gyuhan. but with little background to build up either of the other two relationships, especially from mingyu's point of view, it only felt natural to lean into it and let the others tell their own story. this was likely one of the few scenes where i just let the scene carry its own weight, with little thought to the word count or where it was going. i got stuck in the middle three separate times and decided to just let mingyu and jeonghan decide what happens. decide they did. mingyu's openly a romantic, so of course he quotes jeonghan's words back to him. of course he remembers, and uses them at the time he does. he's intentional about it too, but intentionally romantic. it is a confession, in a way. more than jeonghan's was. i know the fandom tends to view jeonghan as the schemer, likely due to his gose persona, but i'd argue mingyu's more of the schemer between these three. jeonghan is happy with the love, no matter what form, but mingyu is intentional when he says it here, almost like it's a turning point for him.

scene 10: 2025 seungcheol is adorable and i think it really shines here. told from mingyu's perspective, we're starting to see that mingyu's closer to forgiving seungcheol, that they're reaching an understanding. and the hints of gyuhan too. nothing is ever as unknown as it seems, and no one is ever as oblivious as we may think they are. except seungcheol, maybe.

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tell me what's the perfect time ACT II: YOON JEONGHAN

“Jeonghan-ah?” Jeonghan looks at Seungcheol and the years slip away until all that remains is them, two kids chasing their dreams, running in the same direction once more. Perhaps that’s why he shoves Seungcheol to the side after letting the door fall, already taking off because he knows which one of them is in better shape. “Catch me if you can!” He sings.

read it here

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do NOT send nood(les)

Mingyu has squeaked before. On numerous occasions, Seungcheol likens him to a dog for it, like a Siberian husky with an attitude problem. Never mind that all Siberian huskies have an attitude problem, they’re also noisy. This was not Mingyu though. “Yah!” He cries out again, still staring up at Mingyu with wide eyes, who’s now looking down in horror, not just at the beautiful man but his bag. Specifically, his bag full of ramen. Mingyu’s brand new Japanese kiosk ramen.

read it here

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tell me what's the perfect time

Jeonghan’s heel rests against Seungcheol’s thigh as he sprawls out along the bed. Seungcheol sits just above the foot of the bed, kneading his ankle and drawing him closer by the foot.

It’s a mirror to all those weeks ago, at the start of filming.

Mingyu sits on the bed and wonders if it makes a difference for him to be there. If it would matter if he just walked out.

(or; Ten years after a failed idol debut, Mingyu finds himself reunited with his former leader and best friend from their trainee days and forced to confront his feelings as he makes his directorial debut.)

read it here

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lesbians, this one's for you:

dopamine

God, Jeonghan. She looks like a goddess, a vision in black and gold, an—

“Angel,” Mingyu breathes, freezing when the word slips out of her. Jeonghan tenses too, but Mingyu just forces a bright smile. “Unnie, you look like an Angel.”

She freezes, her blood running cold. The top. The gold. The sheer beauty, the power and grace that mirrored, in unsettling ways, the Angel's presence in the race. The Angel's hands and her lips.

“You think so?”

read it here

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Favorite thing about Unraveled?

major unraveled spoilers under the cut:

cassius likes art reveal and subsequent keefe-cassius conversation. god it's perfect. that entire chapter is perfection. kissing it on the mouth. shannon really got me with the reveal like i fully did not see that coming, and it's a reveal that actually adds something of importance and is foreshadowed!!!! so basically my favorite form of plot (i know this is technically character but shut up. let me have my moment)

making cassius nuanced is the best thing shannon decided to do with this book, by far. over the course of the series, i have been consistently confused about why cassius wants to join the black swan . . . it's literally everything he stands against. he hates talentless people. he adheres to matchmaking. he's snobby and arrogant and cares way too much about the council's opinion of everything he does. but now!!!! now it all makes sense!!!! because with the reveal that he only uses that as a cover so he can break the rules behind the council's back and nobody will ever suspect him???? and the fact that for nine books that is the exact trap the audience has fallen into???? oh it's so good. so so so so good. like genuinely i had to put the book down at that reveal i was so shocked. and my favorite line in the entire book is "the lost cities are not kind to those who do not conform" or something to that effect. not because of the line itself (we've seen plenty of lines similar to that) but because it comes from the person you would least expect it from. cassius???? and now that you have the background to why he wants keefe to conform so, so badly, it almost makes you feel bad for him, but also he's still abusive even if his heart was sort of kind of in the right place???? kind of???? augh he's just. he's so nuanced!!!!

and the addition that the reason keefe was able to do so well in the forbidden cities was because of his dad!!!! i loved that. when i read stellarlune i was super annoyed that keefe was able to make out so well for himself when he quite literally knows nothing. it just isn't realistic that he somehow got an id or knows how to find the black swan's cameras by himself, but adding an extra layer of cassius backup and advice is just. fantastic. because now, not only is it realistic that keefe was able to make out so well, you can really see keefe struggle with making the logical decision even though he badly doesn't want to accept help from his dad. it's just. so so so so good.

also it's a relatively subtle detail but cassius getting genuinely hurt when keefe insulted his art had me kicking my feet. because!!!! we have never seen cassius like that before!!!! we've never seen him hurt. he's sometimes pissed off, but never like. hurt hurt. so seeing him like that, you can tell that his art really means a lot to him and that he does care about keefe's opinion in some things because keefe's insult made him feel genuinely sad. and it's like you really feel bad for him but also he sucks and is bad so not really. anyway. it's just so good!!!! favorite chapter in the entire book is the conversation between keefe and his dad. shannon cooked so hard with that.

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Not “Only my reading of canon is correct” or “Interpretations are subjective and all valid” but a secret third thing, “More than one interpretation can be valid but there’s a reason your English teacher had you cite quotes and examples in your papers, you have to have a strong argument that your interpretation is actually supported by the text or it is just wrong and I’m fine with telling you it’s wrong, actually.”

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but you were never broken, viktor. 💔 🩹

SHOP.

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soft zaundads...

instagram / twitter

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"Don't fight anymore, you're sisters"

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epilogue: the bluebird and the firefly