​black sorrow †

"big... i believe we're decent enough?" luciel throws a soft chuckle. he hasn't been looking at social media much, or ego-surfing and all that. he's never been an internet guy... though the social media workshop he took months ago was eye-opening. attending and squeezing in those monthly workshops paid off. when noel takes a step back, luciel looks at him from head to toe, then gives a thumbs up to the older boy. "fresh and attractive," he comments. just like their concept. "professionals always have an eye for detail, though... these styles of clothing still takes a while to get used to," he laughs lightly again when he hears what noel said next. "but will i remain your bias forever?" a tease.

“i suppose there’s advantages to being lime’s first boy group in some time” noel shrugs “but we did work hard for our debut, so it does feel deserving to be here” noel nods. noel was aware they had an advantage even before debuting, debuting under a big company, but noel wanted to make sure that people liked them for being talented, and not simply because they were under lime.

quietly reaching up to fix his hair a little, adjusting his bangs so they'll look optimal in their selca(s) together, haneul grins at his friend and grabs some tissues to blot the sweat off of his forehead. "we have to! i haven't checked online to see what's popular within the group but i personally think we need to push the 01 line more," he says with mock seriousness, nodding grimly.

"i think they should?" he says, unsure actually because he hasn't really been keeping track of what has been posted and what hasn't so far. he probably should check online and see if their fans are happy with the content they've been given so far.

he poses with a thumbs up, angling his face in a way he was told that looked the best, and then a half heart on his cheek as his second pose while giving the perfect, shining smile. luciel notices that posing for the camera comes more naturally to him now, and that bit of stiff awkwardness is slowly fading away. “how did they turned out?” he asks as his eyes continues to look at the phone, waiting for haneul to show the pictures.

a vybe mission starter for @lucielxbe

being able to perform at prestigious events like the busan asia one festival is something that he had never really imagined he would be able to do. perhaps it's because his dreams had been shattered a few years earlier from his old company dissolving, but it's something that hadn't even been on his dreams list when he had been thinking about how he wanted his career to go in the future.

but this feels different. the cheers of the fans when they step onto the stage, and hearing the fanchants as they perform their debut song is such a crazy experience that haneul wishes they could do this more.

maybe one day they would be able to hold their own concert in a big stadium like this.

"let's take a selfie together," haneul says, finding luciel backstage once they've finished performing.

he takes one look in the mirror, fixing his hair if there was any strange loose hairs flying around and checking if his makeup still looks decent after all that sweat — which yes, it still looked good. thanks to the makeup professionals for that! “that’s true~ let’s show off 01 line more,” luciel says with a laugh. “i wonder if they’ll actually post it later…? otherwise i’ll convince our manager a lot.” it’s not all the time the pictures gets posted.

there was so much going on now that noel had debuted, his schedule hadn’t gotten the slightest bit slower or empty, it was practice after practice, and then they had other stuff than practice to do as well. noel was enjoying it all, having fun with dancing this much, and though the fansigns had slowed down, they still had time to interact with fans, like at music festivals.

he doesn't have the passion required to comment on the performance, too many bright lights directed towards the stage, blinding him. seonghan is a consumer by default, no accolades of his own to critique or compliment what he's watching and listening to. there's a cascade of warm colors over their heads, orange and yellow mixed into one with a dash of green; what he assumes is a dynamic entrance into the industry coupled with a playful greeting.

how fitting, seonghan thinks as he listens to the loud cheers of the audience, welcoming them with open arms. a spotlight hangs over each member, landing on luciel eventually, the boy who managed to wrestle his way out of the dark and into the light.

and yet, seonghan remains, shrouded by the shadows. like he always was, always will be.

luciel has no reason to, but he'll seek seonghan out again tonight. this time, seonghan finds him beforehand, faced with the back of his childhood friend in an area too secluded for a rookie idol. just then, his phone vibrates in his pocket—so he picks it up and says, "looking for me?"

seeing the other boy surprised isn't anything new, it's something he keeps pulling out of luciel, to an almost unhealthy degree. "do you need my congratulations?" he retorts back, kickstarting yet another game of cat and mouse in the form of verbal conversation. he smiles, elusive as ever, returning his phone to his pocket. "someone made me promise, so i came."

what else is there to say? regardless, luciel looks at him as if he's searching—craving—for seonghan's approval. "it was a really bright and energetic stage. everyone seem to be enjoying themselves." generic words, generic compliments.

it was a childish promise made a few months ago, and yet baek seonghan kept it. a silly promise, with memories of a heated bite. it’s all healed up on his neck by now… what a pity. it was only a wound that could heal, and not a scar that could fade.

the boy listens to those simple compliments. he’s expected this, and yet he couldn’t help but to smile at those empty praises. it’s so seonghan-like of him - to fulfil a promise heartlessly as cruelty spills from his lips, with that pretty face.

it starts falling on deaf ears as luciel fixates his gaze on seonghan’s face a little too much. he’ll probably point that out later, make fun of it perhaps. luciel only snaps out of it with the sudden question. he blinks again at that. “you… want me to leave?” he asks softly. “if i stayed, would you stay with me then?” this and that doesn’t makes sense; but when has their relationship ever made sense?

vybewave ♰⸝⸝ for @noelxbe

it has truly been busy, the amount of workload is horrendous, there’s hardly much time to work on hobbies and all that. they can’t afford it, especially since they recently debuted. life goes on nevertheless, it’s just been busier now. the life of being on stage, facing the camera almost all the time—something luciel has thought about in the past few months, became real. he’s used to smiling, at the very least. amongst music show promotions, fansigns and photoshoots; vybe is part of a lineup for the trendwave concert in incheon. it’s a little different than music shows, but it’s the same— rehearsals, and then the actual concert later on during the day. “is the mic working, hello~?” luciel speaks into his mic. “noe- wook, is it working?” he turns to him. it’s still odd to call him by another name now, after all those months of being together.

noel honestly wasn’t aware how busy idol life would be. noel had always been a busy man, originally handling school and multiple jobs, then school, trainee life and multiple jobs, then it switched to work and trainee life. when noel joined project green, he said goodbye to his part-time jobs, thinking then he would be less busy, but no, he had basically been more busy. there wasn’t much time to relax, especially now that they had debuted, it was schedule after schedule.

— FIRST CHAPTER: HELLO (@ VYBE.LIME)

hansol tightens his hold on luciel’s hands and swivels them in a half-circle so luciel’s now the one skating backwards. it’s a more difficult maneuver since he won’t be able to see where he’s going, but that’s the point. you’ll have to trust me, it’s meant to say.

“i told you a looot ‘bout me, so now it’s your turn.”

a glint in his eyes is the only warning he gives before he starts pushing luciel to go faster, all while rapid-firing questions.

“why is your name luciel? what does it mean? est-ce français? is that a name you were given, or do you have a korean one too? why is thinking a luxury to you? what is it that you don’t wanna think about? aren’t you being a little contradictory? you say you don’t dare to think about it, but you’re wearing scents as a reminder. so which is it?”

hansol abruptly stops. the momentum brings him a step too close.

he’s been thrown a barrage of questions; a clearly, vehement attempt at not just peeking into his life, but to understand. luciel briefly entertains the thought of answering every question.

“my name… i thought it was pretty,” luciel hums. there’s nothing too special about it. he looked into an english book, and there happened to be a character with the name luciel. that is all there is to it. “did you forgot about my korean name? it’s ji-hyun…~” he enunciates. it’s not a secret that he chooses to go by his english name.

then he glances into hansol’s eyes. “contradictory, you say… haha. i suppose i am.” but for how much hansol is trying, he feels a little pitiful for the other boy.

for seonghan, it would’ve been just another day. nothing out of the ordinary, hours spent training for a dream he doesn’t quite have. he expected this outcome, finding no trouble falling into this habit of constant rehearsals, a new schedule to adhere to. that’s how his day was meant to play out, until it was disrupted by a voice calling out to him—oh, it sounds a little more eager than usual. what could be the special occasion?

at another time, seonghan could’ve pretended to have missed the sound, carrying on towards wherever he was headed. today though, luciel was louder, the soft-spoken voice he keeps leveled reaching an unusual height. it’s enough to make seonghan stop in his tracks, allowing luciel to cross the short distance between them. eventually, he finds luciel taking his hand, presenting him with a box, a bit more decorated than he expected it to be.

“giri choco,” seonghan repeats, followed by an amused hum that luciel must be familiar with. “then i can assume you’ve prepared these for all your friends, haven’t you?” he questions pointedly, that same smile etched onto his face, despite his tired eyes. “it can’t be for just me, since you’ve collected a few friends along the way. what about your soon-to-be group members?” he asks, whispering to luciel’s ear—this is still somewhat of a secret, after all. not everyone can know. “did you give them any?”

then the smile on luciel’s lips twitches just a little, barely noticeable—to the regular person, that is. it’s not going to miss seonghan’s eyes, whenever the boy leans into his ears for a whisper, there’s some sort of power his voice has over luciel. his beautiful, soft voice that never matches his venomous words.

whispers that would jolt luciel awake, or lull him into deep slumber like a lullaby. this time it’s the former. if he was a character in a manga, there would’ve been a small blush drawn on one of his cheeks.

“i’m always thinking about-” then the words dies in his throat. luciel blinks, did he heard that right? he looks into seonghan’s eyes and starts squinting.

i’m not the first? who else would give you chocolates…?

“… you have admirers?” he questions. an honest, yet absolutely senseless question. luciel sounds dumbfounded. “here? you’ve charmed others already?” as he continues going on asking, he’s starting to look even more aghast, as if a cold bucket of water dumped on his head.

what the hell, why is he so… affected by this?

luciel presses his lips into a line, resisting himself from frowning ( of course, it doesn’t works ). “ever the popular baek seonghan…” he mumbles with a heavy heart. crossing his arms, he takes a glance at the little box on seonghan’s hand, then returns his gaze to seonghan’s face.

“truthfully, i’ve read most of the books here…” luciel eyes the shelf once more, glancing over the familiar titles. this is when it makes him realise that oh, he does read a lot…? it doesn’t occurs to him how much he’s read, luciel doesn’t keeps a book tracker of the sorts. “so please, go ahead with taking that one. i hope you enjoyed it as much as i did,” he returns the smile. it’s not a bad feeling to have someone take his recommendations. the boy nods as he listens to a fellow book lover’s talk. luciel doesn’t reads much romance, but he’s also not foreign to stories that aren’t completely happy. “alright, i’ll keep those titles in mind then, wuthering heights isn’t a very happy story either, haha~” “i suppose i did tried to write before, back when i had a little more time but… it’s hard, to write nice stories,” luciel laughs softly. “i’m not a very creative person, but i did thought about publishing a book of the sorts when i was younger.”

“ah i wish i had more time to read” she nods a bit “if i had the time i would be through all of the books here as well, sadly school takes up a lot of time” she shrugs. “but it’s a hobby i’m glad to have, you learn a lot from books, even the fictional ones” she hums. “i’m a slow reader though, especially when i read in korean, english is still somehow easier for me”. “i’ll take this one home with me then… thank you for the recommendation, i’ll be looking forward to reading it” she shows a smile to the stranger.

he nods along to the girl’s words, “reading does gives you a lot of knowledge, even odd facts sometimes.” when he thinks about it, he does has random bits of unusual information stored in his brain. “english…? are you not from here?” he blinks.