nightpoem | fic recs: october

i read a lot less spooky fic than i wanted :( but its ok in my head i am extending halloween until christmas... and will continue the supernatural spree. but anyway.. a select few gems from this month !

with the fear by linearity, jayhoon, 12k

thoughts

wow started off the month strong w a really beautiful miracle…. a goat from the past brought back to life. it gives me sm HOPE!!!!! f1 as a backdrop to make jayhoon gay just makes sense given Everything…. im kinda shook how fast they wrote 12k words so quickly after singapore, they were MOVED MOVED. and so am i. this canon aches the way many sunghoon canon character studies do. don’t get me started on perfectionist figure skater sunghoon dealing w his demons. it’ll always hurt!!!! i thought the expression of his neuroticism either through that Wall of Text or the fight club device of “i am sunghoon’s ___” were rly interesting ways of representing his anxious overthinking. of course my favourite parts included sunghoon’s jealousy, either at the movie or meeting max, i will always be challengers zendaya smiling at this kind of thing. i really enjoyed the time jumps and how the story weaved together… i love a Crush that takes Time. and ofc, their entire dynamic that is both Unserious and Serious is captured so well…. like FUNNY but intense. the “What about here?” moment in the hotel room whewwww delicious. but overall so sweet… what a comeback…

“Who said I didn’t care?” Sunghoon snorts, then he adds, before he can think better of it, “I care about everything you care about.”

funeral procession down the forest highway by inblue64, heejayhoon, 7k, ongoing

thoughts

idk i loved this so much and it was such a fun read for october, wrapped me up in the season and got me invested… PLS CONTINUE… i loved the perspective shifts and the second-person narrator… it embodied heeseung so well, as this otherwordly, Monstrous But Not Quite, thing. and toxic me was truly enjoying on the verge of breakup jayhoon. idk i realized i never read jayhoon portrayed like this, i rarely read established relationship to begin with, but this was so interesting to me and all the troubles they’re having feel so real n accurate… wowwww. + the intertextuality throughout, and ch3 in particular had such an amazing style n format.. im so curious to how each of their budding relationships w heeseung will progress omg especially considering the switch-up from jay nsjdfsjd anyway this trio. im seated. some of the prose had such a sharp beauty to it… i admire this work so much for its experimental writing… I NEED MORE!! <3

And in return, the darkness has given him a boy. A boy who only recognizes Jay — not Sunghoon.

The creature turns his gaze back to Jay. “I don’t know. I always come back.” He nibbles at the taro bun. “Maybe I was meant to find you again.”

“Maybe.”

“Jongseong-ah?”

“Hm?” Jay’s voice is still apprehensive, but it’s growing less so every time he speaks, as if he’s blooming open. There’s a warmth to it now, too. Because receiving is in Jay’s nature. Because he’s the warmest thing Sunghoon has ever known.

Sunghoon watches Jay and the boy look at each other, realizing that they’re continuing some old story he has never been a part of. Perhaps he never will.

soft spot by totheendofthelifeline, jaywon, 9.5k
+ sequel: storm, lightning, thunder, 4k

thoughts

WAS SO EXCITED TO READ AN APRIL FIC <3333 and it lived up to all my expectations n more… u understand jaywon like no other im obsessed… the whole premise of a halloween party is sooo fun and im a sucker for ot7 antics in general. EVERYONES COSTUMES!! INCREDIBLE!! i laughed out loud at all of them, seriously fitting and perf. the tidbits of sunsun fighting/flirting u know i was smiling. in both fics, i think youve mastered internal monologue on both sides and u set up something rly interesting with both jw and jay and how they think and how this could potentially lead to misunderstanding or how their wires get crossed. i feel like that’s such a difficult feat but U GET THEM. the shining favourite part is the ikea trip mention <3 <3 and sunoo clocking jay in the closet!! this is canon to me. overall i love the writing style .. it’s so unique witty and full of truth bombs. YEOKSIII from the observant n thoughtful person u are..

Whatever chaos Jake, Ni-ki and Heeseung concoct between them usually spells amusement for everyone except Jay who ends up being the one to clean up material messes, and Sunoo who cleans up the emotional ones. Oddly, the spiritual ones end up at Sunghoon’s feet, his outlook of dogged optimism effective to all of their inebriated self-made crises.

Jungwon isn’t sure this game is going to trigger any spiritual crisis but from the way Jay is sighing like a warming teapot as he loads soju and liquor bottles out of the fridge, he is certain it spells a decent amount of trouble.

A portending rush runs through him.

maybe not today, but i’ll hold your hand by newaches, heejake, 4.5k

thoughts

am i really me if im not reading a fic circa 2020-2022? the friend that can’t, and won’t, move on. their fic, planet of mercy, was one of the first enhafics i read..which i reread recently and it still held up.. so this was no exception. esp because im in a heejake drought and needed this pick me up. this was so funny and sweet and lovely.. i will always be invested in this world. 02z being friends and drunk and trying to get thru school and heeseung being the RA and the way im always locked in for a ‘nothing happens’ plot. i love when enhypen go to college. and all of the shit they get up to. BLESS… the movie night scene was rly magical to me. like in my head it was twinkling. the writing painted the entire vibe and atmosphere so well… just v sweet to see jake make excuses to try to talk to heeseung and their effortless flirting.. n heeseung described as this beautiful fairy creature idk… it was all so cute. so charmed by this !!!

Heeseung is a little like an alien. Jake can imagine two antennas sprouting from his fluffy hair, wiggling whenever he laughs.

Though maybe Jake is the one who has landed on another planet and carried with him all his strange Earthly sensibilities like: boys shouldn’t make him laugh quite this hard, the ramen aisle should be sacred, a space preserved from lingering glances and the brush of fingers across the back of his hand.

along w these, the godsend that was the given-taken promptmeme spurred some seriously beaut works :') i still want to go through the entire fill masterlist but from what i've read it really is a goldmine...

i'm going to include the fills to my prompts here bc i feel rly grateful and touched :')

2006 Honda CR-V by eech, jayhoon
replay me by mocksun, sungwon
some life sweeter than this by exitmusicforafilm, heejay
band aid on a chronic case by plausibility, heejay

just banger after banger. i couldn't have asked for more. READ THESE AT YOUR EARLIEST CONVENIENCE!!! and you can find my thoughts aka rambling + gushing in the comments... hehe

i think i will make a hall-of-fame type post as well, since i haven't shared my all-time favs / goats... coming to a dreamwidth entry near u soon :-)