lies about sea creatures
Sep. 1st, 2025 12:09 amtitle: lies about sea creatures
characters: lee heeseung & park “jay” jongseong & park sunghoon & yang jungwon
rating/wc: gen, 1.09k
his dark materials/daemons au, set in the overlap of when heejayhoonwon were all at bighit before → belift. for visualization, misuk is usually a brown lemur, honoria/nora is usually a black billed magpie, seolhwa is usually a new zealand white rabbit (i have an agenda), & woong is usually a rosy boa. thank you stina![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
girlishpop for letting me do this with you and sorry for posting late... i am unfortunately me. please check out her fic!!!!
Heeseung had, unspeakably, been embarrassed of Misuk after he hadn’t made the debut lineup.
It was common knowledge, although not discussed openly, that the daemons of idol trainees tended to settle either extremely young, or considerably late. Misuk hadn’t settled yet, but she was often wrapped around his neck, her little hands fisting the collar of his shirt and Heeseung knew how she looked—the off-putting yellow of her eyes. He was thankful for it, and then felt such a horrible wave of shame about it that he couldn’t look at her for days.
“You can’t be mad about other things and take it out on me,” she’d said one time after he flinched when she’d curled up in his lap. “You’re good at being mean.”
“I don’t mean to,” Heeseung said honestly. Which after thinking about it for a while, he was better off not saying anything at all. Rubbing salt into the wound.
The majority of the trainees at Big Hit Entertainment hadn’t settled yet, but Heeseung felt some kind of duty to be the first and the best. He knew it innately in the way that the trainers and producers looked at him during monthly evaluations, during dance class, during his vocal lessons. Heeseung-ah would be so much better if he’d just settle, we could plan better, he would be more dependable. Heeseung would look at Misuk and when she’d look back, he’d cringe.
Jungwon was the last noticeable trainee to join and he’d been nothing short of normal. A good trainee, sure, but nothing like the talk-of-the-town Sunghoon had been when he’d joined. Jongseong was better about familiarizing himself with everybody.
“He’s cute, hyung,” Jongseong shared after they both snuck out to the convenience store a block or two away—one that the trainers wouldn’t follow them out to. Jay sucked on his juice pouch. “He trained at SM too, I think you should look out for him.”
Honoria perched on top of Jongseong’s head, her talons sinking into the thickness of his hair. She liked to stare at Heeseung a lot, not in the way Misuk did, but something that made him almost equally queasy. At least it was nothing compared to how Sunghoon’s daemon was. No one even knew her name still.
“I’m sure I will,” Heeseung said politely. He didn’t like the feeling he would get when thinking about the capabilities of other trainees, ones he wasn’t friends with. It was easier to be friends with Jongseong who he knew the exact strengths and weaknesses of, the ways in which he was ranked above him month after month. Jungwon was different. But saying that would take the fun out of this; the ease.
“I think he’s friends with Sunghoon-ah too,” Jongseong said cautiously. Honoria fluttered onto the ground and shifted into a guinea pig. Misuk sniffed her carefully and let her get closer.
“Hm,” Heeseung said. “That’s good for them.”
Misuk already knew Woong apparently. Sometimes, the trainers would gently suggest to everyone that it wouldn’t be a bad idea to test how far you could be apart from your daemon without it hurting. Technically, they weren’t allowed to ask that—to minors especially, but everyone knew the farther you could stretch the bond, the easier idol life would be.
“What? When?” Heeseung asked quietly as their dance instructor told them to take five.
She blinked at him. “When all of you were in that other room and left us here. Seolhwa introduced us.”
Heeseung rubbed his head. “Seolhwa? Who’s that?”
“Sunghoon’s her person. Apparently she used to not talk at all, she said she’s trying something different. She and him can be pretty far apart too.”
“That’s,” Heeseung cringed, “nice.”
“You don’t think it’s nice at all. You hate it,” Misuk said. Heeseung scooped her up into his lap and covered his body over her, creating a little cave of darkness just for the two of them.
“It’s none of my business,” Heeseung hissed.
Misuk’s yellow eyes stared unnervingly back at him. “This is the closest you’ve been to me in days.”
Heeseung stilled.
"You don't have to make a big deal about it," Misuk said. "We can pretend like we're normal."
There was a small little restaurant a block away from the company building, hidden away by big ferns and hanging lights Heeseung and Jongseong liked to eat at when the conveience store food wasn't filling enough. It was reasonable, although nothing was really reasonable to fifteen year old boys with barely any allowance in their pockets. The owner knew them by face and name though, from all the other times tired trainees would walk through the doors and eat piles of meat, and she was more than happy to give a discount for the future stars.
Heeseung tried not to make it obvious he was glancing at the group of boys huddled up in one of the corner booths.
"They're really not that bad, hyung," Jongseong said.
A lot of the time, Jongseong liked to pretend he was the Heeseung whisperer, as if Heeseung was some impossible creature only someone with a delicate enough touch could wrangle. Heeseung kind of hated it, but stomping all over the importance Jongseong had assigned to their relationship felt like a particular kind of cruelty even he wasn't able to muster. Misuk squeezed his thigh with her little fist hard enough to make him break his stare.
"I know they aren't," Heeseung said, returning to pushing around his yukgaejang with his chopsticks. "It's just, what if they don't last that long?"
"You know you're stuck with us right?" Jongseong said, a little self-deprecatingly. "When you debut, it'll be with this group most likely. Not anyone else."
Heeseung didn't know what to say to that. He looked back to Sunghoon and Jungwon, quiet and squished between some of the louder trainees. Woong was wrapped around Jungwon's neck several times over, like a deadly scarf. Sunghoon's—Seolhwa was no where to be found, probably hopping around the rest of the restaurant. Testing their limits apparently.
Honoria smacked their table with her paw, causing some of Jongseong's plate to spill. "Nora—"
She curled up into Jongseong's lap as a cat and Misuk giggled and slid under the table to probably bat at her tail.
"How about you introduce me to them next practice, okay?" Heeseung said, a sudden bolt of eagerness striking him.
Jay stared back at him.
"Jungwon-ah looks friendly enough," Heeseung tried to smile. Misuk grabbed his leg from underneath the booth and when he met her gaze, he didn't shy away.
characters: lee heeseung & park “jay” jongseong & park sunghoon & yang jungwon
rating/wc: gen, 1.09k
his dark materials/daemons au, set in the overlap of when heejayhoonwon were all at bighit before → belift. for visualization, misuk is usually a brown lemur, honoria/nora is usually a black billed magpie, seolhwa is usually a new zealand white rabbit (i have an agenda), & woong is usually a rosy boa. thank you stina
girlishpop for letting me do this with you and sorry for posting late... i am unfortunately me. please check out her fic!!!!(how real hunger has a real taste)
Heeseung had, unspeakably, been embarrassed of Misuk after he hadn’t made the debut lineup.
It was common knowledge, although not discussed openly, that the daemons of idol trainees tended to settle either extremely young, or considerably late. Misuk hadn’t settled yet, but she was often wrapped around his neck, her little hands fisting the collar of his shirt and Heeseung knew how she looked—the off-putting yellow of her eyes. He was thankful for it, and then felt such a horrible wave of shame about it that he couldn’t look at her for days.
“You can’t be mad about other things and take it out on me,” she’d said one time after he flinched when she’d curled up in his lap. “You’re good at being mean.”
“I don’t mean to,” Heeseung said honestly. Which after thinking about it for a while, he was better off not saying anything at all. Rubbing salt into the wound.
The majority of the trainees at Big Hit Entertainment hadn’t settled yet, but Heeseung felt some kind of duty to be the first and the best. He knew it innately in the way that the trainers and producers looked at him during monthly evaluations, during dance class, during his vocal lessons. Heeseung-ah would be so much better if he’d just settle, we could plan better, he would be more dependable. Heeseung would look at Misuk and when she’d look back, he’d cringe.
Jungwon was the last noticeable trainee to join and he’d been nothing short of normal. A good trainee, sure, but nothing like the talk-of-the-town Sunghoon had been when he’d joined. Jongseong was better about familiarizing himself with everybody.
“He’s cute, hyung,” Jongseong shared after they both snuck out to the convenience store a block or two away—one that the trainers wouldn’t follow them out to. Jay sucked on his juice pouch. “He trained at SM too, I think you should look out for him.”
Honoria perched on top of Jongseong’s head, her talons sinking into the thickness of his hair. She liked to stare at Heeseung a lot, not in the way Misuk did, but something that made him almost equally queasy. At least it was nothing compared to how Sunghoon’s daemon was. No one even knew her name still.
“I’m sure I will,” Heeseung said politely. He didn’t like the feeling he would get when thinking about the capabilities of other trainees, ones he wasn’t friends with. It was easier to be friends with Jongseong who he knew the exact strengths and weaknesses of, the ways in which he was ranked above him month after month. Jungwon was different. But saying that would take the fun out of this; the ease.
“I think he’s friends with Sunghoon-ah too,” Jongseong said cautiously. Honoria fluttered onto the ground and shifted into a guinea pig. Misuk sniffed her carefully and let her get closer.
“Hm,” Heeseung said. “That’s good for them.”
Misuk already knew Woong apparently. Sometimes, the trainers would gently suggest to everyone that it wouldn’t be a bad idea to test how far you could be apart from your daemon without it hurting. Technically, they weren’t allowed to ask that—to minors especially, but everyone knew the farther you could stretch the bond, the easier idol life would be.
“What? When?” Heeseung asked quietly as their dance instructor told them to take five.
She blinked at him. “When all of you were in that other room and left us here. Seolhwa introduced us.”
Heeseung rubbed his head. “Seolhwa? Who’s that?”
“Sunghoon’s her person. Apparently she used to not talk at all, she said she’s trying something different. She and him can be pretty far apart too.”
“That’s,” Heeseung cringed, “nice.”
“You don’t think it’s nice at all. You hate it,” Misuk said. Heeseung scooped her up into his lap and covered his body over her, creating a little cave of darkness just for the two of them.
“It’s none of my business,” Heeseung hissed.
Misuk’s yellow eyes stared unnervingly back at him. “This is the closest you’ve been to me in days.”
Heeseung stilled.
"You don't have to make a big deal about it," Misuk said. "We can pretend like we're normal."
There was a small little restaurant a block away from the company building, hidden away by big ferns and hanging lights Heeseung and Jongseong liked to eat at when the conveience store food wasn't filling enough. It was reasonable, although nothing was really reasonable to fifteen year old boys with barely any allowance in their pockets. The owner knew them by face and name though, from all the other times tired trainees would walk through the doors and eat piles of meat, and she was more than happy to give a discount for the future stars.
Heeseung tried not to make it obvious he was glancing at the group of boys huddled up in one of the corner booths.
"They're really not that bad, hyung," Jongseong said.
A lot of the time, Jongseong liked to pretend he was the Heeseung whisperer, as if Heeseung was some impossible creature only someone with a delicate enough touch could wrangle. Heeseung kind of hated it, but stomping all over the importance Jongseong had assigned to their relationship felt like a particular kind of cruelty even he wasn't able to muster. Misuk squeezed his thigh with her little fist hard enough to make him break his stare.
"I know they aren't," Heeseung said, returning to pushing around his yukgaejang with his chopsticks. "It's just, what if they don't last that long?"
"You know you're stuck with us right?" Jongseong said, a little self-deprecatingly. "When you debut, it'll be with this group most likely. Not anyone else."
Heeseung didn't know what to say to that. He looked back to Sunghoon and Jungwon, quiet and squished between some of the louder trainees. Woong was wrapped around Jungwon's neck several times over, like a deadly scarf. Sunghoon's—Seolhwa was no where to be found, probably hopping around the rest of the restaurant. Testing their limits apparently.
Honoria smacked their table with her paw, causing some of Jongseong's plate to spill. "Nora—"
She curled up into Jongseong's lap as a cat and Misuk giggled and slid under the table to probably bat at her tail.
"How about you introduce me to them next practice, okay?" Heeseung said, a sudden bolt of eagerness striking him.
Jay stared back at him.
"Jungwon-ah looks friendly enough," Heeseung tried to smile. Misuk grabbed his leg from underneath the booth and when he met her gaze, he didn't shy away.
