drabble dump; kpfm 9.0 [qmi, jongkey, gen]

[alaeaureae.livejournal.com]

drabble dump from kpfm9.0 challenges


things we want, things we have ; qmi
but she knows she has a curse on her / a curse she cannot win / for if someone gets too close to her / the pins stick farther in

kyuhyun has never been one to believe in love.

(maybe at one point he believed in the idea of love, but it was so long ago it might as well have never existed)
 

he believes in the words on the page, the numbers scratched out under his pen. he believes in getting paid at the end of the month, and that the usual pub will be open when he eventually has to eat that night. love, he's found, is too fickle to stay with someone who doesn't believe in it, and too whimsical to stay with one who does.

zhoumi has always believed in love.

(maybe at one point his smile faltered when he says this, or maybe it was at more than one point, but he has never been one to keep track of those details)
 

he believes in fate and destiny and making your own happiness. he believes in hand-holding and the hope of forever ever afters. he believes in finding people you love, and giving yourself to them heart and soul. love, he's found, comes to people who love.

he has always believed in love

for everyone except for him, that was.
 

- you're here a lot, aren't you?

- yeah. so what?

kyuhyun looks up disgruntled from the notebook he's scribbling furiously in. zhoumi slips into the seat across from him and smiles.

- you look like you could do with some company

- no i don't

kyuhyun frowns, bends back to his work, taps his pen against the notebook when the answers don't jump out at him. he ignores the man sitting across from him.

- it's bad for your digestion; working while you eat

when he looks up, the man is still there. he has a stupid smile, kyuhyun thinks. and a big nose.

- you're bad for my concentration

kyuhyun snaps at him, goes back to ignoring him.

- am i?

zhoumi muses over this carefully, shrugs, and disappears back into the kitchen.

(there was a time when kyuhyun believed in the idea of love. he was seven years old and he would hold the hand of the girl from across the street. his sister would laugh and tell them stories about princes and princesses, about happily ever afters.)
 

- oh, it's you!

zhoumi sounds delighted. kyuhyun looks at him blankly.

- i'm sorry, i've never introduced myself. i'm zhoumi. you come eat at the place i work a lot, but i guess i've never caught your name.

- i've never given it.

zhoumi only smiles brighter at this.

- can i ask what it is?

- yes. but i won't answer

(there was a time when zhoumi didn't believe in love. he was five years old, or six, or seven; he's forgotten. he would laugh and smile and play with the other children on the street, but before long he would be doubled over in pain and his mother would run after him and rub smoothing circles on his back and whisper apologies after apologies.)
 

zhoumi finds kyuhyun in the park one day.

he's sitting on a bench, a telegraph crumpled in his hand. his expression is stony, enough that zhoumi hesitates when he approaches him, before he sits down next to him.

- people say time heals all wounds

he speaks softly, eyes watching the leaves rustle in the wind. kyuhyun makes no indication that he's heard.

- they don't heal, you know. it would be wrong if they healed. but they wouldn't want you to be unhappy either; they don't want you to hurt.

zhoumi doesn't think kyuhyun is listening. or maybe he is.

- even if people leave, we don't have to leave them

- what do you know?

so he was listening, zhoumi thinks, looking beside him in surprise. kyuhyun is staring at him, eyes surprisingly clear.

- what do you mean?

his tone is light, unassuming. it would be wrong to assume.

- you don't even have any friends

kyuhyun stands abruptly, leaves with zhoumi staring after him, wondering when kyuhyun noticed. oh, he thinks to himself. so that's what it is.

it isn't that he's never had friends. there was the boy down the street a few years younger than he was, who would let him sit by the window when he played violin. that lasted until he asked him one day why he never played with the others and if he wanted to play with him - zhoumi smiled, said sorry, and turned tail and fled. there was the girl who always visited the market at the same time he did, who once left a handful of flowers by his door, who tugged shyly at his hands - and zhoumi, being optimistic and believing in the power of love had pulled her close and whispered into her ear, and - it had ended right there.
 

- people say love conquers all

kyuhyun looks straight at zhoumi, a challenge in his eyes. he still doesn't believe in love, but, he thinks, he believes in zhoumi.

zhoumi looks straight at kyuhyun, a smile slipping along the corner of his eyes. he laughs then, lightly.

- do they? i didn't realise you cared about such things, kuixian

- kyuhyun

kyuhyun corrects him, but too half-heartedly to mean it.

- kuixian

zhoumi is teasing. kyuhyun frowns.

- what about you?

- what about me?

- you know what i mean, zhoumi.

zhoumi laughs again, leans back in his chair.

- love does conquer all, kuixian.

- all except for you, apparently.

zhoumi shrugs. smiles.

- no, especially me

it's not the end of the world (yet); jongkey
when you meet someone and then the next day it's as if you don't know how you ever lived without them

"Who are you?" Jonghyun stops sniffling long enough to ask, snot leaving a wet streak along the length of his sleeve. He doesn't put his feet down though, swing still swaying gently under the beam, although he does cast a curious sideways glance at the person who'd been sitting in the other swing for the past however many minutes he's been there - Jonghyun doesn't know, he doesn't have a watch. Not anymore. He doesn't have a lot of things anymore. A lot of people don't have a lot of things anymore.

He's still looking at him too, Jonghyun realises. "Why are you staring?"

"It doesn't matter who I am," the other boy says. "But you can call me Key."

Jonghyun snorts. "That's a stupid name."

"Not any stupider than you," Key retorts.

"Hey, I heard that!"

Key rolls his eyes at him, and Jonghyun only wants to kick him more. "Yeah, well you were supposed to, stupid. Anyway, hurry up and stop crying, it's not like it's the end of the world."

But it is—, Jonghyun wants to say, biting at his lower lip as tears threaten to overflow again. Everything's gone, and everyone's gone. He doesn't know where his mother is or his father or his sister, and he doesn't know where this swing is but he's sitting on it anyway. His cheeks are wet again, tongue salty. "But it is!"

"No it's not," Key says crossly. "You're alive, so it's not the end of the world."

"What does that even mean?" Jonghyun asks, without thinking about what it could mean at all. It's choked through sobs, sobs that abruptly end when the other boy stands up and grabs the chains of Jonghyun's swing, leaning down. His eyes open wide.

"It means you need to wake up," Key is saying.

Jonghyun blinks away dampness in his eyes as sun streams in through the windows. There's someone in bed next to him, and it's not his sister - but no, that makes no sense. He stretches, working out the kinks in his back.

"Jjong?"

"Mm?" He rolls over, stares at an unfamiliar face for a split second before it becomes familiar, or rather, a face that was always familiar.

"You awake?" Key's voice is bleary, sleep hoarse.

"Yeah," Jonghyun replies. "I'm awake."

best bandmate ever; qmi
in which zhou mi keeps a straight face and kyuhyun should be nicer to the fans

"Kui Xian."

Kyuhyun didn't budge.

"Kui Xian."

Kyuhyun still didn't budge.

"Kui Xian," Zhou Mi whined insistently, nudging Kyuhyun with his foot. "Look at me!"

Kyuhyun rolled over, murder in his barely open eyes. Zhou Mi decided that it was cute. "What. And can it wait until the morning."

"Maybe," Zhou Mi admitted, shrinking back a little when Kyuhyun turned on his glare to full power. "But I didn't want to forget what I was going to say!"

"Morning," Kyuhyun repeated, rolling back over so his back was facing Zhou Mi, pulling the blankets over his head.

"You're so mean," Zhou Mi huffed. "But look, why don't you do that too? Play Starcraft with your fans—it's a great idea for fan service!"

"I would crush them and then they would cry," Kyuhyun retorted.

"So you are listening to me!"

"Am not."

"Anyway, you should be nicer to your fans, Kui Xian. Otherwise you might catch a cold from all the ice in your heart."

Kyuhyun rolled over, and stared at Zhou Mi. "What."

"What?"

"Where do you even come up with lines like that? More importantly, how do you say it with a straight face."

Zhou Mi grinned, poking at Kyuhyun's frown. "More importantly, you should be nicer to your fans," he said, dodging the question entirely.

"And this couldn't wait until the morning." Kyuhyun sighed, and rolled back over for the second time in maybe as many minutes.

"Kui Xian."

"If I say yes, will you shut up and let me sleep?"

Zhou Mi hummed, wrapping an arm around the other man and curling up a little closer. "Maybe," he said. "But if you don't I won't let you sleep tomorrow," he warned.

Kyuhyun elbowed him half-heartedly in the stomach. "You are the worst bandmate ever," he griped.

"I know," Zhou Mi said, smiling into the back of Kyuhyun's head. "Even though you don't think that's true at all."

"Shut up."

Zhou Mi grinned. "Good night."

taemin-centric
something about a description goez here

To him, the first beat is a dream. The second beat is a dream too. And the third, and the fourth. He is dreaming, and he is going to live his dreams.

They tell him to smile. He smiles.

They tell him to sing. He sings.

It's only when he stops counting, that he starts to wonder where the dream is. Or maybe it's because he starts to wonder, that he stops counting.

They tell him to dance. He dances.

They tell him to laugh. He laughs.

They tell him to make friends, and he does. His friends smile with him, sing with him, dance with him, laugh with him. They hold his hands and rub circles on his back when he's sitting in the van on the way to a photoshoot, still not awake. They fuss over him because he's the youngest, and this annoys him because this isn't how he'd thought it would be.

To him, the beats have run one into another, each eight-count blurring into one. One and two and three and one and five and seven ands, all mixed up and jumbled like dance practice with math homework and voice lessons all tumbled into the same evening until he isn't sure which one it is.

He smiles, because they tell him to smile.

He sings, because they want to hear him sing.

They are tired when the day ends, each falling apart into their own world, bound by extended proximity and nothing more. He's tired of seeing their faces, sometimes. They're tired of seeing his face, sometimes.

So he locks himself in a room by himself, and sorts out the numbers and the words until the first beat is the first beat and the second beat is the second beat. Rearranges everything until they're straight and not tangled, each eight-count its own set of eight.

He dances, because he needs to dance.

He laughs, because he wonders what went missing along the way.

いつもそばにいるから; qmi
there is traffic, kyuhyun is late, and zhou mi hears things

"You're late."

Zhou Mi spoke without looking up, the shadow of a person slipping into the stool next to him enough of a confirmation. The plant in the corner of the counter bobbed with the disturbance, giving a slow nod of its head, agreeing with Zhou Mi's words.

"Traffic," Kyuhyun said shortly. "It was really bad."

Zhou Mi nodded, wrapping his fingers around the styrofoam cup. "It must have been really bad," he pointed out. "You're very late."

Beside him, Kyuhyun sighed. "I know, I'm sorry okay? It's not like I wanted to be sitting in traffic either."

"I know," Zhou Mi said quietly. It was his turn to sigh, his free hand running tiredly through his hair, pushing his bangs back above his eyes before they flopped down again. "I'm sorry, Kui Xian, I know how traffic can get. It's just that today was important. Would you like me to get you something?"

"Not really," Kyuhyun said offhandedly. "I'm good."

"I'll get you something," Zhou Mi offered anyway, slipping out of his stool. "So stay here."

He took Kyuhyun's silence for acceptance, wandering over to the counter. Kyuhyun really was late. His own latte was already cold, and the foam had disappeared a long time ago, but he hadn't wanted to finish it before Kyuhyun had arrived. He perused the menu, wondering what to throw at Kyuhyun that wasn't a coffee; a little boring, after sitting in traffic, Zhou Mi decided. Vanilla was safe. "Tall Vanilla Latte please," he ordered. "Actually, make that two."

He glanced back at the corner of the coffee store once, after he'd paid for the drinks. A heavy rain had started up outside; he wasn't too surprised, it'd been overcast the whole day, but Zhou Mi had never been one who'd enjoyed rainy days. They were spilling against the window, visible even from this distance. He winced. It'd make traffic even worse than it already was, no doubt. They'd have a hard time getting home. "Two tall vanilla lattes?" the barista called.

"Thank you!" Zhou Mi smiled at the girl, and was rewarded with a slight blush as she handed him the two cups.

"What took you so long," Kyuhyun mumbled when Zhou Mi returned, sliding one of the cups across the counter.

Zhou Mi frowned lightly. "It wasn't that long, Kui Xian. You're just impatient."

"You could've just gotten me a coffee, you know. I like coffee. Lattes make you fat."

Zhou Mi snorted, lifting the lid of his own to let it cool. "I'm not fat," he said indignantly. "So? How was your day?"

"We don't have to talk about this," Kyuhyun groaned. There was a thunk that must have been Kyuhyun's chin hitting the table as he slumped down. "I'm pretty much the office gopher. And then some moron in a truck flipped over a car or something and backed up traffic for miles."

"It can't be that bad," Zhou Mi reassured him. "The gopher thing, I mean. Everyone starts from somewhere, right? And then it'll be over before you know it and you'll be running the place. And I guess we can't do much about traffic. I'm sorry I yelled at you earlier."

"You're too optimstic," Kyuhyun complained. "So? How was your day?"

Zhou Mi laughed at Kyuhyun imitating him, crossing his legs under the table. "It was alright," he said. Outside, the rain pounded a steady stacatto against the glass before painting fluid ribbons of distorted storefronts. "I have something to tell you," he announced quietly.

"Oh?"

Zhou Mi hesitated, mouth opening, but words not coming out. He took a deep breath, and held it in until there was no choice but to let it go, forcing the words out with it. "I got an offer," he said.

"Congratulations," Kyuhyun said without a pause. He sounded genuinely happy, and Zhou Mi wilted a little. It must have shown, because the next thing Kyuhyun asked was "so what's the catch?"

"It's in China," he said. "I can't stay here."

Kyuhyun scoffed, a light laugh in his voice, the laugh painted heavy with regret. "Obviously. Where else would it be?"

"I'm sorry," Zhou Mi said.

"What are you apologising for? Isn't this what you've wanted since forever?"

Zhou Mi shook his head. "I don't want to leave you," he explained. "And you have to stay here. I want to stay with you here."

Zhou Mi could hear Kyuhyun roll his eyes at him, and wrapped his fingers around the cup a little tighter. "Look, there's such a thing called cellphones and internet these days. I don't know if you've heard of them, but they're pretty handy for keeping in touch."

"It's not the same," Zhou Mi insisted. He sighed. "I'm going to turn it down."

"What?" He could feel Kyuhyun glaring daggers at him, without looking up. "No you're not. You're going to take up that offer and be brilliant. Now hurry up and finish your drink so we can go celebrate in style. Besides, I remember something pink and obnoxious on the fridge about an aniversary."

"You mean, get drunk," Zhou Mi pointed out with a laugh, not disagreeing with the part about 'pink and obnoxious'. It had been pretty pink, and fairly obnoxious, but he'd figured it would get Kyuhyun's attention. "And you haven't touched yours either," he said, nodding at Kyuhyun's untouched drink.

"Whatever, I'll have it on the way," Kyuhyun said dismissively. "I'm not so uncoordinated that I'll spill it when we walk."

"But it's raining!" Zhou Mi protested. "I don't have an umbrella."

"Fine, we'll call a cab. But you can't just stay here forever."

Zhou Mi shook his head. "Yes I can," he said stubbornly.

Sungmin sighed. "No you can't, Zhou Mi. Let's go." The look in Sungmin's eyes was strangely pitying; Zhou Mi looked away.

"Yes I can," Zhou Mi repeated. Only this time, without Kyuhyun there, it felt a little too empty. "Yes I can."




um the last one—the prompt was a picture of a guy sitting at a coffee store counter by himself. with a plant. clearly, my mind goes straight to 0330. if it still doesn't make sense, um, think something aeris would write!? lmao

Comments

[nimthiriel3.livejournal.com]

:3 I like your writing style

(in the second to last line in the last one, you wrote sungmin instead of kyuhyun :P)

[alaeaureae.livejournal.com]

Thank you!

(i know :D)

[torananashi.livejournal.com]

wait is it supposed to be like that?

Is it what I think it means? ;____________________;

[alaeaureae.livejournal.com]

-___- I typo lots of things but I don't think I've typo'd an entire person (yet)

And, um, probably? :D

[torananashi.livejournal.com]

but thats so sad D:

;_________________________________; mimiiiii

[nimthiriel3.livejournal.com]

:O i get it now

[alaeaureae.livejournal.com]

;;

|D

[roxal.livejournal.com]

wait -- so is kyu like imaginary or dead in the last one? sobs

your writing is really beautiful, though I must admit I had to read the last one a few times then take the cue from 0330. Q__Q I really adored the qmi and taemin ones especially.

[alaeaureae.livejournal.com]

dead. (and imaginary. i realised after maybe he could be a ghost but nah, imaginary)

thank you! mm, i considered editing it to make it more obvious but i got lazy haha. thank you for your lovely comment ♥

[themyrf.livejournal.com]

The first reflected greatly their personalities, second was cute as hell and third's ending was simply brilliant. I don't know how you're supposed to interpret the last one, but I love it with all the options I can come up with~

Good job overall!

[alaeaureae.livejournal.com]

Thank you!

I did have a particular story in mind for the last qmi, but I think it's more fun if a story isn't explicitly told, haha ;;

[16littleseconds.livejournal.com]

i loved all the qmi ones on meme and still love them! ♥

[alaeaureae.livejournal.com]

Thank you, I'm glad you enjoyed them! ♥

[tsunagatte.livejournal.com]

third one makes sense to me?
There're all really good :)

[tsunagatte.livejournal.com]

maybe because I've watched that whole U-kiss interview with Simon and Martina and you mentioned 0330 lol

[alaeaureae.livejournal.com]

lmao by third one you mean third qmi right? XD

maybe i should subtitle it as "there is traffic, kyuhyun is late, and zhou mi is delusional" instead lmao.

[tsunagatte.livejournal.com]

Yes. I do.


Lmao maybe you should

[alaeaureae.livejournal.com]

zhou mi hears things is almost as good.

[tsunagatte.livejournal.com]

LOL I guess. Not quite as direct :P

[yukichi-1004.livejournal.com]

"you're late"

"i'm sorry"

"some moron flipped over his car"

"china"

"sungmin"

"without kyuhyun"

"My mind goes straight to 0330"

....
excuse me will i go sob in a corner

[alaeaureae.livejournal.com]

/hands over box of tissues!?

haha, thanks for reading ♥

[nisakomi.livejournal.com]

WRITE ME QMI FOREBAH

n_n

[alaeaureae.livejournal.com]

lmao. with luck, i'll have really fucking long qmi posted in 2 weeks. with luck.

[nisakomi.livejournal.com]

i will nag you daily on facebook

[alaeaureae.livejournal.com]

lol no need. it has a deadline. in two weeks. lol. i just need to edit it orz

[nisakomi.livejournal.com]

feeds you wontons!

[alaeaureae.livejournal.com]

...I. Would not be opposed.

/too lazy to cook orz

[cairistiona.livejournal.com]

*makes pitiful whining noises in the back of her throat*

THE LAST ONE OH GOD THE FLIPPED CAR OH GOD KYUHYUN WHYYY. ;_____________; SOBBING FOREVER.

I have legitimately wet eyes. :(

[alaeaureae.livejournal.com]

/hands over tissues!?

Thank you for reading ♥