sunny side up

Yumi wondered if she was dreaming. Had she fallen into a drunken sleep? Was she going to wake up, face down in her makeup table, home from her party? Was Sunny going to be in someone else’s arms? No. Her imagination was never this vivid. She hadn’t been willing to let herself imagine such a thing, except in her most vulnerable moments. They hadn’t been together long, but the memories always stood out. She supposed time didn’t always mean anything. 

Some part of her brain reminded her that they were in a maze where anyone could find them. However, that part of her brain was quickly squashed by the rest of her. She kept her mouth locked on Sunny’s. This was a terrible mistake, but she was not going to stop it. She had tried and had made herself miserable for years. Just for tonight, she could stop the wondering. 

Finally she pulled away to breathe. Before she could think better of it, she began to speak. “Do you want to…” she trailed off. After a few more attempts she managed to get out the words. Yumi was not used to making these kind of advances. She didn’t even like to normally. But, Sunny was always an exception. “Do you want to come over?” 

Yumi said it like a question, but the answer was clear. Sunny hadn’t woken up that morning intending to spend the night with the women who broke his young and fragile heart. But that was Yumi. She knocked he walls he’d built up in the intervening years as easily as if they were made of toothpicks. Sure, she had her fair share of help from the shots flowing through Sunny’s veins, but either way, he was putty in her hands. A niggling voice in the back of his mind wondered if she planned it this way, planned to trap him like this. It was drowned out by the miasma of want that swallowed him up. 

Sunny answered Yumi’s question that wasn’t really a question with another kiss, deeper and more desperate. He was going down, anyway. He might as well enjoy the ride. He pulled away, eyes scanning her face, before lacing his fingers with hers. Sungjae lead Yumi out of the maze  — an impressive feat on its own, given how intoxicated he was by both her and the booze. His free hand pulled his phone out of his pocket. He quickly shot off a message to the discreet taxi service he always used. A car was waiting for them by the time they reached the exit. Sunny slide inside, pulling Yumi along with him, into his lap. He pressed his lips against her neck, breathed in her scent. Nostalgia mixed with his painful longing. He wasn’t sure he’d be able to make it all the way back to Yumi’s place. From the moment he saw her, Sunny never stood a chance.

❨ starter // @fmdsungjae​​ ❩

Even though he had been there at the masquerade ball for a few hours, he was just making his way towards the escape room. His group members were all scattered around throughout the ball, doing one thing or another, including his boyfriend, so he didn’t really feel like seeking them out just so he could go to the escape room. However, it didn’t make sense for him to go alone. They were letting people inside of the room in groups of six to eight, and even though he technically didn’t need a partner, he knew that it would be a lot more fun if he had a partner there with him. He stopped short when he came across Sungjae, who was lingering near the entryway to the escape room. “Hey,” he reached out and tapped him on the shoulder, before taking off his own mask so he could get a better look at the younger male. “Did you want to go in with me? We could help each other out. Maybe even win that free trip. How does that sound?” 

Sunny had been contemplating the escape room. He wanted to go in, but he’d never done an escape room before. He was sure he could do it, but.... it would be embarrassing if he didn’t make it out. As much as he wanted to win something at this party — a prize, an evening with someone he’d regret in the morning, anything  — losing was something for which his ego would not stand. So, Sungjae was more than happy to give Samsoo a broad smile.

“Like a great plan,” Sunny said, shuffling closer to the groups going into the escape room, still facing this heaven-sent hyung. “With the two of us, I don’t see how we couldn’t win.”

Yumi couldn’t exactly disagree with him. She was sure Sunny could be on his deathbed and still look like an angel. Really, it was vastly unfair that he only seemed to get better looking every day. She looked down at his clothing and started giggling uncontrollably. She leaned in to whisper into his ear. 

“We match.” 

Yumi was referring to the fact that she had dressed as a version of her favorite princess and Sunny, for lack of a better term, was definitely a prince. Though, with him, it was hard to know if it was intentional or not. He had that kind of energy any day. Really, anyone would be happy to go with him today. The thought made her upset.

“And I don’t mind getting lost here with you.”

Her face flushed as she realized she had said that out loud. Somewhere in her brain, she connected the dots that her hand was still on his chest. But, she could hardly seem to move it. Instead, she just kept turning redder and redder, as if she was a teenager telling someone she liked them for the first time. She tried to open her mouth and will anything to come out, but it seemed to be a lost battle. She just kept staring into his eyes. 

Oh, this was bad. 

His mother, entirely aware of how she’d come to her place in the Baek family, had always warned Sungjae to be careful of beautiful women with kind words. Sunny never paid much mind to this advice. He was smarter than his father. But, looking down at Yumi, so pretty and bright, Sunny felt the fear his mother had always tried to instil in him. 

Despite how she was dress, Yumi wasn’t a princess. At least, she was not the innocent kind with little animal friends. She was a sorceress, powerful and enthralling. Somehow, in just moments, she had managed to put a spell on Sunny once again. Not that Sungjae was much of a prince, either. He was no knight in shining armor. He couldn’t save himself, much less anyone else. Did he even want to save himself in that moment? Sunny gripped Yumi’s hand tighter, the answer clear. 

No, he didn’t. 

A late coming arrival in what had been years of bad choices, Sunny dipped his head down to meet Yumi’s height. His dazed eyes fluttered closed as his lips touched hers. Regret would surely follow, but it hardly mattered. He’d never admit it, but Sunny had been waiting for a chance like this for a very long time. 

&open

the party wasn’t bad. she still wasn’t sure about how she felt being forced to go but it wasn’t the worse. it didn’t stop the fact that she didn’t want to be with a large crowd, she felt like shit. and she was praying that she managed to avoid people. ( even walking in, she prayed that a bunch of people wore green so she wouldn’t stand out. ) if anything, it was nice to look at. she just felt a little lost. 

which meant, she needed to find something to focus on and the scavenger hunt seemed like a good idea. it’d keep her moving and soon enough, it would be time to go home. the only problem? she managed to hit a snag. “how many jack-o-laterns have you managed to find so far?” it came out a bit random but she was seriously curious. “if you’re actually doing trying your hand at the scavenger hunt. i’ve managed to find three so far.”

What was this about jack-o-laterns? Had she had too many or had he? Sunny quirked his head to the side, very much like the puppies people always compared him to. He had to think for a moment before he remembered the scavenger hunt. Truthfully, he hadn’t paid much attention to the activities available apart from the open bar. Something like a scavenger hunt seemed too childish for the mature persona he wanted to get across. Still, there was a vague notion of a prize attached to this little kids’ game Rina was playing and Sunny was nothing if not competitive. Alright, he’d bite.

Sunny gave Rina one of his signature smiles, a mischievous glint suddenly appearing in his eyes.

“Ah, I was just about to start, actually,” he lied casually. “I’m sure if we team up, we can find them all quicker. You know what they say about two heads being better than one.”

nostalgia; masquerade event

for @fmdsungjae​

Yumi had never expected to end up tipsy at a work event, but she had apparently lost her sanity at the sight of Sunny flirting with someone else. It was not really her fault. Sure, she’d had a great time promoting, but lately, her feelings had been overwhelming, especially since their last interaction. She had done her best to avoid him the rest of the evening. She had done an admirable job until she managed to find herself in the garden, hoping for some air. 

Instead, she had managed to wander into the maze, her addled brain making that think it was a good idea. She nearly slammed into someone turning the corner, already lost. She cleared her throat to apologize, but lost the ability to form words.

Sungjae was there and instead of becoming more sober with her trip outside, Yumi suddenly felt even more intoxicated. She licked her lips in hopes of trying to form a coherent thought. “You look nice,” she blurted out, not realizing her hands were still on his chest.

Heat rose up Sunny’s neck to his ears, a flush hidden by the night and darkness in the maze. Why did it have to be like that? Why did such a small touch, such simple words have to effect him like that? He’d blame it on the free flowing spirits at the party but was it really that? Sunny didn’t even know why he’d ended up outside in the first place. Or maybe he did, but he didn’t want to admit it. One minute, he was warm and cozy by the bar, nearly home free talking his way into spending the night at some girl’s place, the next he’d felt the sting of a cold breeze on his face. Yumi always did this to him. And he let her.

“I always look nice,” Sunny said. He wanted to sound more disinterested than he was. It wasn’t particularly effective when he stared at Yumi’s lips so intensely. The secluded nature of the maze, the shadows, it all reminded him of the way things used to be. It should have helped harden Sunjae’s heart. It didn’t. 

Sungjae’s hand moved to cover Yumi’s own on his chest. He had intended to remove it, end the physical contact and give him some breathing space. This intention seemed lost on his body, the thought in his mind not connecting with his muscles. 

“You’re going to get lost in this maze, Noona.”

« 🁣 ⤳ open starter. »

Joonsoo placed the weight down on the ground, glancing over at the other person with an amused look on his face. “You having a little bit of a struggle there?” He asked playfully, cocking up an eyebrow. The two of them currently occupied one of Joonsoo’s favorite places in Seoul - the gym. It was private owned and exclusively for high profile people, or people that could afford to pay the membership fees. He had been going there for several years by that point, frequenting the establishment so much that he was on a first name basis with most of the staff and the owner. He had actually been on his way to the gym when he ran into the other idol he was with, and unfortunately for them, they had made the bad choice of asking where he was headed. Which quickly led to Joonsoo offering to bring them along. And once Joonsoo offered to take someone to the gym, he rarely if ever took no for an answer. Even if he tried to pretend to give them a way out of it. “I told you that you didn’t have to come along if you didn’t want to..” He tacked on to the end of playful question, shrugging his shoulders. “Want to take a break before we start working on our legs?”

“No, I’m good to keep going” Sunny said through gritted teeth, finishing a rep. He powered through his set continued to speak. Sweat dripped down his face. This was much already more than he’d been planning on doing for the day. “Unless you need a rest.”

Sunny’s massive ego wouldn’t let him admit defeat.  Baek Sungjae did not know the meaning of the word. Not that this was a competition. Sunny didn’t need to compete with the visibly more built Joonsoo. Sunny’s fans were perfectly happy with his level of muscle. They were on different levels and that was fine. Except it wasn’t. Not for Sunny, at least. He didn’t handle not being the best very well. 

Sunny had been initially happy at the opportunity to hang out and bond with a senior like Joonsoo but it snowballed all too quickly.  Furtive glances at Joonsoo’s lifting lead to more weight, more reps, longer sets. Sunny was in over his head. He’d be absolutely wrecked tomorrow. Not great for his Jus2 unit schedules. 

Huffing and puffing as he set down his weights, set finally finished, Sunny looked away from Joonsoo. “Maybe a quick break.”

.・゜゜・☽ ｏｐｅｎ ┊ huiseon was by no means graceful. but she also wasn’t klutzy. she liked to think she fell in the inbetween like most people. it was however uncharacteristic of her to trip on thin air.

she was happy to be at the party. it wasn’t like they had a choice. they were required to make an appearance and stay. she enjoyed parties. she was walking into the lobby when she stumbled falling onto the floor face down. some people fall gracefully, but huiseon wasn’t so lucky. she made her way to get up when she felt someone behind. she turned around to come face to face with whoever saw her embarrassing fall. “hi. just checking out the floor. making sure the floor is sturdy.” she said with an awkward smile trying to hide her embarrassment.

Sunny bit back a laugh when Huiseon took her nosedive. Well, he tried. Altruism and sympathy weren’t among his strongest character traits and there was little to be done about the quiet snicker that escaped his lips other than attempt to cover it with clearing his throat. Really, any impartial witness would have agreed it was funny to see an idol whose job it was to be perfect at all times face plant. Still, there was definitely a chance to appear more caring than he actually was. 

Setting: Gaming Cafe Date: September 10th, 2020 Time: 6:49pm Characters Involved: Guanting & xxx

It had been two weeks since his birthday had passed and Guanting still hadn’t properly celebrated it. Besides the usual little dinner he had with his group members every year, a tradition resembling something that an actual family would do, Ting didn’t really have the time to do much of anything else. Unity was in the middle of their promotional cycle for Kick It, one of their most successful promotional cycles to date. As someone who was passionate about performing and who had dedicated his life to performing, he was happy to accept Unity’s success as a birthday present. It was the greatest birthday present he could have ever received. But as a recently turned twenty one year old, he wanted more than that. 

“Thanks for coming out with me.. I didn’t really get the chance to do anything for my birthday when it passed a few weeks ago, and I wanted to go out at least once to celebrate, you know?” Even though he might not have been as big of a gamer as a lot of his peers in the idol industry, he did enjoy it quite a bit and he hadn’t had the chance to go to a gaming cafe in a long time. “Oh! Maybe after this we can get some drinks and takeout and go back to my apartment? We can have a movie marathon! Do you like horror movies?” 

Eyes wide and faltering smile, Sunny hesitated. He had intended this outing to be a quick hang out to boost his reputation as a good sunbae and hyung, hopefully overwriting at least a little bit of the view that he was everyone’s dongsaeng. Ting was much more enthusiastic than he’d envisioned. Sunny briefly considered backing out, blaming a nonexistent practice session or forgotten appointment, but he didn’t have the heart. Sunny’s birthdays had always been lavish affairs with so many people he didn’t even know them all. The idea of running out on Guanting’s only birthday celebration felt sleazy, even for him. He’d just have to buckle down. It wasn’t like Sunny was not used to putting up a front. This one was just a bit different than his usual.

“Ah, no horror movies; I’m not a fan. I like action movies,” Sunny said, hoping to hide his pause behind that excuse. Even then, he didn’t want to admit that he was genuinely too much of a coward for horror flicks. “But I can definitely buy you a yummy dinner! What kind of food do you like? Barbecue? Hotpot?”

Jude wondered why the hell he had to practice during the few days he had before yet another comeback. He did not mind working a lot normally, but he did mind all the frequent traveling overseas. It did a number on his immune system. Yes, they had the best amenities, but that did not stop everything from being a fucking petri dish. Still, he had to prepare for the demanding dancing that was involved with doing ON. It was different than Black Swan. 

He was right outside of Gold Star when he was attacked by who was probably his least favorite member of Impulse, Sunny. He had looked down on all of Impulse (though really, he looked down on most people), but Sunny was a special case. Jude did not want to admit it, but the cocky bastard was ridiculously attractive and he knew it. Jude, solely on principle, had not slept with him even though he always knew that was an option.

It did not help that Sunny never missed an opportunity to remind Jude how much taller the damn Impulse member was. Jude was annoyed by it and by him, which was why if they were not in public, Jude might have pushed Sunny for nearly toppling him over. “If you are going to be a freakish giant, can’t you at least control your damn limbs?” Jude scoffed. “If you threw me into the street, I would have taken you with me.”

 “Hyung, if I wanted to hurt you, do you think I’d do it where dispatch and sasaengs could see me?” Sunny practically shuddered at the thought of rabid genesis mauling him for daring to harm their precious angel Jude. Hmph, if they only knew what he was really like. But hey, maybe some of them were into that...

“It’s not my fault I couldn’t see you. You’re too tiny to see, like an annoying little bug.”

If he didn’t have somewhere to be, Sunny probably could have stayed bickering with Jude for hours. They’d always had an antagonistic relationship. Sungjae was sure it was because Jude was jealous that ever since they’d known each other, even though he was everyone’s junior, he was already a head taller. His mom used to say that people who didn’t treat him well were jealous. It’d always made sense to Sungjae. The reality show competition to debut hadn’t helped raise their opinions of each other, especially when Origin won. Or when Impulse debuted less than a year later. Their careers were a series of never-ending one ups. Origin’s recent success was just the latest bit of salt in an old, festering wound. That day, Sunny didn’t have the time to pick at the scab.

where do broken hearts go

@fmdsungjae​

Yumi had met him roughly three years ago, months after she had her heart broken by her fiance. She had avoided any social interactions; she had only been at that party because a dongsaeng had begged for her to be at their birthday. She had slipped and Sunny had caught her. It was like a kdrama; she had fallen for him hard. The next few months had been amazing, but she had broken things off. He was young. He had his whole life ahead of him and she could not put her heart on the line like that again. 

She hadn’t thought that he felt that strongly about her, but his face after she broke up with him had torn her heart apart. She had hurt him and she knew it. So, Yumi had done her best to avoid him; any time they found each other in the same room ended her crying in a bathroom stall later. Of course, while she had emotionally damaged him, she didn’t expect to one day physically damage him. A water spill made clear of that as she barreled towards him, knocking them both to the floor. She gasped from above him. “I am so sorry!”

Sunny groaned. Not an entirely unfamiliar sound, but this was not the usual, gratified sound that escaped his lips. It wasn’t so much the impact — his attacker was a small thing, after all  — but the way his head banged against the floor with a dull thump which elicited such a sound from him. If he didn’t have a concussion from that, he was at the very least don’t to have a headache for the next several hours. As a dancer, he was used to pain, but general his head was exempt from that rule.

He would, in hindsight, blame the metaphorical stars swimming around his head for everything that followed. 

It was instinct if nothing else that made his hands move to hold Yumi close to his body. His hands wrapped around her waist as they had so many times, before he even opened his eyes. I was a natural reaction to her body atop his, muscle memory. 

“Noona,” Sunny said in a low whine. He’d regret that later. Sungjae spent the last three years glaring at Yumi across hallways and backstage. Oh, how easily he fell back into old habits. “That was not nice.”

It was hardly the first unkind thing she’d done to him.

Sunny was about to run through the choreography once again when his phone’s alarm echoed loudly through the practice room. Ah, shit, was it time already? Sunny’s lips pursed as he looked at the time, hand tapping anxiously at his leg. He could squeeze in just one more chorus, right?

Wrong. 

By the time Sunny was done, showered and power walking out of the Gold Star building, he was beyond late. His gaze flit between the time on his phone and the street ahead of him, but he wasn’t much paying attention. Really, it should have been no surprise when he came to a sudden, thumping stop after bumping into someone.

Yejun had never been in a hostage situation before, but he assumed this was very similar. He usually didn’t spend the night with anyone to avoid any small talk (though he was quite a bit nicer during the after glow). Cuddling? He only did what required of him on camera for genesis and was always annoyed when the cameras were gone, quickly shoving anyone away. Now, Sungjae had him encased in his freakishly long limbs and Yejun couldn’t make him fucking move. Really, he would be more aggressive if it wasn’t for the fact that he needed Sunny. Otherwise, someone would probably notice at their performances if the maknae was missing.

Yejun continued to squirm and wondered if he could just hide him in the closet until the interview. That was when inspiration finally hit him. 

“Maybe next time we should go to Disneyland instead. Dumbo might be better for your little heart instead of drinking with the adults. We can even get you some little ears. I’m sure the fans will love that.”

Sungjae’s eyes opened into a beady glare, set on the mussed up muss of silver hair in front of him. Could Jude hyung just let him sleep? Why did he always have to bring it back to that? Between the two of them, anyone would assume that Yejun was the younger one, from his slight stature to his impish face. And yet Sungjae was doomed for all eternity to be the maknae. Maybe his blood alcohol content hadn’t quite gone all the way down yet, because Sungjae proceeded to do something very, very stupid. 

One arm snaked from around Yejun’s stomach to under his chin, the other around the top of his head. Sunny held his hyung in a headlock not strong enough to hurt him but certainly tight enough to keep him from squirming his way out. Sunny might get called out by netizens for only working his vanity muscles in the gym but his arms had some real strength to them.