48G ▸ [ advanced ] discussion

Rating: Teen and Up Audiences
Archive Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Category: M/M
Fandom: CGD48 (Band)
Relationships: Lee Daewon/Seo Hwijae | Jaeson,
Characters: Lee Daewon, Seo Hwijae | Jaeson, Yeo Hyunjin, Song Yoonoh | Daniel, Kim Jaejin, Seo Byungchan, Kim Taeil, Go Sooyeon
Additional Tags: Angst, Soulmates, Alternate Universe – Soulmates, Hanahaki Disease, Angst with a Happy Ending, Rivals to Lovers
Language: English
Stats: Published: 2018-02-08 Words: 654 Chapters: 1/1 Comments: 1263 Kudos: 453 Bookmarks: 2315 Hits: 9823

my heart
48gstan

Summary:


History repeats over and over again until one of them learns from their mistakes.

Notes:


hahahahaha im not sorry

(view spoiler)[

Hwijae finds it deeply unfair that of the two of them, it had to be him that got the disease.

Not like it’d do anything to him, he thinks bitterly as he hunches over a spare bucket he’d stolen from the cleaning storeroom. Probably just keep being perfect as per usual. It’s hard to picture his rival in this position, curled up in some forgotten corner and spitting flower petals into a bucket in the vain hope that his voice won’t be too hoarse for the next performance. He should get up, he knows – it’s time for practice, and someone will come looking for him sooner or later – but part of him can’t find the energy. (At least it’s only a team practice, so he won’t be there, Hwijae thinks, but it doesn’t entice his legs to move)

When he does eventually get there, he finds out that actually, he was wrong. This is a top ten practice session (he suspects they’d have everyone if they could, but fitting forty-eight people into the practice room when they’re all dancing might be a little difficult). Hwijae stares for a second too long at Daewon, in the centre, then groans and moves to his own spot. Yoonoh is laughing, he thinks, but Yoonoh is also a brat, so who cares what he thinks?

An hour in, Daewon stumbles. Someone rushes over to his side – Taeil, he thinks. That’s the other Team D member in the top ten, he remembers. Their whispers sound louder than they are, probably because everyone else is dead silent.

“Joohyuk told you to rest.”
“I slept almost all of yesterday. I’m fine.”
“Clearly you’re not! If you were fine, you wouldn’t have stumbled.”
“Taeil, I stumbled because I’m clumsy. Nothing more to it.”

You stumbled because your feet are giant. Hwijae knows better than to say it out loud, but he’s sorely tempted. (What can he say, he’s a little bitter about his height.)

After the practice, he leaves as fast as he can. Then he goes back to the dorms, and stares at the ceiling thinking about why any part of his brain would ever decide that Daewon is pretty, or likeable, or worth falling in love with. Even though he already knows the answer. Everyone knows the answer.

The next morning, something is different. He falls out of bed when he wakes up, coughing and dizzy. His head hurts, his lungs hurt, he feels like he’s choking. He guesses it’s progressed faster than he was expecting it to. Hwijae gets up anyway, coughs the usual bucketful of flower petals, then heads to practice.

But he never gets there.

~~

When he wakes up in a hospital bed, Hwijae finds himself hyperventilating, unused to having clear lungs. The company took care of it, the doctors say as they perform routine checks. If your condition improves, you’ll be discharged at the end of the week.

He finds himself staring at the ceiling, wondering who the hell gave the company the right to make that kind of decision for him. (You did, a voice in the back of his head says. When you signed that contract, you did.)

Three days later, he’s discharged from the hospital but told to go easy on the practicing and performing for a few weeks. He wanders around the practice room, then sits with his back against the mirrored wall and closes his eyes.

When he opens his eyes, there’s a boy there. A pretty, tall boy who looks familiar, who introduces himself as Lee Daewon. Who mumbles something about I’m sorry, and I’ll get it right this time. Who hugs him and says I’m glad you’re back from hospital, the understudy isn’t bad but they’re not you, like that is supposed to mean something to Hwijae.

And he finds himself falling all over again – but this time, Daewon is there to catch him.

(hide spoiler)]

Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Archive Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Category: M/M
Fandom: CGD48 (Band)
Relationships: Kim Jaejin/Yeo Hyunjin
Characters: Kim Jaejin, Yeo Hyunjin
Additional Tags: use as desired
Language: English
Stats: Published: YYYY-MM-DDWords: X Chapters: X/X Comments: X Kudos: X Bookmarks: X Hits: X

please don't
2jin1stwin

Summary:


┃It's harder than it used to be to just tell Jaejin no, and
┃Hyunjin can't tell if it's terrifying or liberating.

Or, five times Yeo Hyunjin told Kim Jaejin no, and one time that he didn't.


Notes:


i knooow its cliche but like did u see the part in their last vlive when jaejin was like hyung why dont i practice with you but hyunjin was like "no." but he said no so soft and like his voice wasn't soft but i KNOW he's soft

Rating: Explicit
Archive Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Category: M/M
Fandom: CGD48 (Band)
Relationships: Ha Junho/Lee Changmin
Characters: Ha Junho, Lee Changmin, Jeon Heejun, Kang Hajoon, Kim Minho | Patrick, Han Minwoo, Byun Minho, Im Woojin, Ha Junseo
Additional Tags: Angst, Pining, Slow Burn, Emotional Sex, I don't think you understand how many feelings I have about junchang
Language: English
Stats: Published: 2017-02-14Words: 61,439 Chapters: 1/1 Comments: 453 Kudos: 4,320 Bookmarks: 583 Hits: 14,982

standing facing each other
therealones

Summary:


Junho can still remember the day they met, almost seven years ago, back in 48 Entertainment's shittiest training room. Back then it had felt like the world was against them, with nothing left to lose, and everything left to gain, and he wonders if he can ever go back to that feeling, wonders when Lee Changmin became something he had to lose.


Notes:


look i know i know i KNOW but after watching their duet stage of between me&you at their last concert i just.

(view spoiler)[

"You're going to miss our concert."

"I am," Junho says.

He wants Changmin to rage. He wants him to be angry, angry that Junho is putting his own career before the group, that he's not going to be there to sing his lines. He wants Changmin to yell, scream, something other than that perfectly composed I see that Junho always gets. He wants something that might let him know that Changmin cares about Junho even a fraction of the amount that Junho does him.

"I see," Changmin says.

Junho thinks that no, he doesn't, really. He doesn't see what has been laid out in front of him, doesn't see what is his to take and god, Junho has been his to take since the first day in the practice room.

(hide spoiler)]

Rating: Teen and Up Audiences
Archive Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Category: M/M
Fandom: CGD48 (Band)
Relationships: Nakano Tetsuya/Nitta Kenji,
Characters: Nakano Tetsuya, Nitta Kenji, cameos from the other japanese members
Additional Tags: Canon-compliant, Light Angst, nothing serious just some oblivious gays, honestly just a short soft slightly angsty fic abt my fav ship, they've never been a thing but i can dream, Slow Burn, the slowest burn ever
Language: English
Stats: Published: 2018-07-12 Words: 21,672 Chapters: 7/7 Comments: 31 Kudos: 123 Bookmarks: 15 Hits: 1245

i'm fine
48leader

Summary:


There are many things that Tetsuya wishes he had done differently. And there are many things he wants to never change.

Notes:


listen theres no way these two aren't like... secretly dating or in love or something they're the gayest couple i've ever laid eyes on

(view spoiler)[

“I missed you,” Tetsuya murmurs, face buried in Kenji's shoulder. “I missed you so much. Take me back to Osaka with you.”

Kenji smiles softly. “One day,” he whispers. “One day, when we're both free.”

He doesn't want to destroy Tetsuya's hope.

(hide spoiler)]

Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Archive Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Category: M/M, F/M
Fandom: CGD48 (Band), GNM48 (Band)
Relationships: Nakano Tetsuya/Nitta Kenji, Ikeda Hitomi/Nitta Kenji
Characters: Nakano Tetsuya, Nitta Kenji, Ikeda Hitomi
Additional Tags: Angst, Pining, Unrequited Love
Language: English
Stats: Published: 2018-03-28Words: 12,836 Chapters: 1/1 Comments: 48 Kudos: 137 Bookmarks: 62 Hits: 538

the other name for love
therealones

Summary:


And he has watched Kenji through it all: his bad days and his good ones, his worst failure and his greatest success, all of his tears and his smiles — oh, his smiles, bright as the day itself, and oh, how badly Tetsuya wishes that he were the one to bring the sunshine to Kenji's face.


Notes:


ok after kenji sang this song at his solo fanmeet just... the FEELINGS. tell me it wasn't about tetsuya. fucking tell me it wasn't. i dare you

(view spoiler)[

Tetsuya knows better. He knows better than to hope; he always has.

But when Kenji tells him, "Tetsu, I think I'm in love," it still steals the wind from his lungs. Tetsuya has always known reality. He knows, he knows, he knows — he wishes, he wishes, he wishes — but the reminder of his truth is no less crushing.

"I'm in love," Kenji repeats, like he can't quite believe it.

Tetsuya does. He does, because he knows those eyes which follow her, because they are the ones he has watched Kenji with. He does, because he recognizes the way he says Hitomi like it holds the warmth of all the smiles in the world, because Tetsuya has caught it almost rolling off his own tongue too many times.


Do you know the other word for love? Kenji had asked him once, back when they were trainees, sneaking out to the Han river to eat cup ramen and speak their mother tongue. Foolishness, he had said.

Kenji, Tetsuya had said, and the older boy had taken it as a warning.

Maybe Tetsuya should have, too.

(hide spoiler)]

Rating: Teen and Up Audiences
Archive Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Category: M/M
Fandom: CGD48 (Band)
Relationships: Lee Daewon/Seo Hwijae | Jaeson,
Characters: Lee Daewon, Seo Hwijae | Jaeson, Song Yoonoh | Daniel, Yeo Hyunjin, Kim Jaejin
Additional Tags: Spiderman AU, hwijae is spiderman, daewon is the pretty boy he has a crush on, it's very gay, Mild Angst
Language: English
Stats: Published: 2018-09-09 Words: 12983 Chapters: 1/1 Comments: 9 Kudos: 196 Bookmarks: 58 Hits: 12853

by a thread
spideyjae

Summary:


"So," Daewon starts, and Hwijae already knows he's going to struggle to get out of this one. "You going to tell me why you told me you couldn't go to homecoming (and ergo help with organisation) because you were busy but told Yoonoh you didn't have a date?"

Hwijae should give an excuse. He knows he should. Yet all that manages to come out of his mouth is: "Wait, you're friends with Yoonoh?"

or: hwijae is a struggling superhero-slash-teenager with a massive crush on the popular boy daewon. ft annoying but loyal friend yoonoh, aunt may!hyunjin and jaejin as jaejin bc what the hell.

Notes:


as you can probably tell, i love spiderman!hwijae

(view spoiler)[

"I'll be back in a minute," he says, and swings away.

(He isn't back in a minute, as it turns out, but he apologises with a kiss on Daewon's cheek as he enters Chem on Monday.

Yoonoh teases him relentlessly about it for the next month, until Hwijae faceplants into a billboard and he gets new ammunition.)

(hide spoiler)]

Rating: Explicit
Archive Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Category: M/M
Fandom: CGD48 (Band)
Relationships: Nakano Tetsuya/Nitta Kenji, Ikeda Hitomi/Nitta Kenji
Characters: Nakano Tetsuya, Nitta Kenji, Ikeda Hitomi
Additional Tags: Angst, Angsty Smut, Unrequited Love, Alternate Universe - Canon Divergent, Future Fic, Affairs
Language: English
Stats: Published: 2018-03-28Words: 31,832 Chapters: 1/1 Comments: 48 Kudos: 137 Bookmarks: 62 Hits: 538

if you
therealones

Summary:


There is no room for lovers in this lifetime.


Notes:


i'm sorry for making kenji like this @48ent please don't sue me

(view spoiler)[

"Nakano-san." He says the words, cool and sharp, with deliberation as he straightens his collar. They are a knife, and he twists it deep into Tetsuya's heart. In the reflection of the mirror, he can see the hurt bloom across Tetsuya's face.

Don't waver, he tells himself. There is no ending where they can be together. Kenji knows this. They gave up their right to be happy, together, years ago. For Kenji to leave what he has in that desperate pursuit would be foolish, selfish. Cruel. He doesn't want to be the villain in this story anymore. He doesn't want to keep hurting the people he loves, the people he loved. So he lets go, because otherwise one of them will always be left hanging.

Tetsuya starts, "Kenji—"

"Nakano-san," he repeats, with all the coldness he can muster when the way Tetsuya says his name feels like all the days of summer. "Do understand that this is the last time that we'll be meeting each other like this." He drapes his coat over his arm, reaching for the doorknob. "Do understand my position and yours."

He has responsibilities in his life. To himself, to Hitomi, to the company — and to Tetsuya. He is an old colleague, a senior in the industry, and that is all that he can be. Nothing more and nothing less. There is no room for lovers in this lifetime. He closes the door behind him with a click, and doesn't look back. He can't. To look back would be to get lost in this tangled web all over again.

It's better this way.

(hide spoiler)]

Rating: Explicit
Archive Warnings: Major Character Death, Graphic Depictions of Violence
Category: M/M, F/M, F/F
Fandom: CGD48 (Band), GNM48 (Band)
Relationships: Ha Junho & Ha Junseo, Ha Junho/Lee Changmin, Nakano Tetsuya/Nitta Kenji, Kim Jaejin/Yeo Hyunjin, Kim Taeyong/Shin Dasom, Lee Jangmi/Park Chansung, Kwon Ahra/Moon Sora
Characters: Ha Junho, Ha Junseo, Lee Changmin, Park Chansung, Nakano Tetsuya, Nitta Kenji, Kim Taeil, Seo Eunbyul, Kang Heejin, Seo Jina, Kim Jaejin, Hirabayashi Kazuma, Shin Dasom, Kim Taeyong, Kwon Ahra, Moon Sora, Ikeda Hitomi, Cha Jihoon, Lee Jangmi, Inouye Sachiko | Sachi, Yeo Hyunjin, Seo Hwijae | Jaeson, Beon Nana, Lizzie Seo, Lee Daewon, Park Eunhye, Choi Nayoung, Seo Byungchan, Lin Kahei
Additional Tags: Alternate Universe, Fullmetal Alchemist AU, Angst, like, LOTS of angst, Alchemy, Prostheses, Ensemble Cast, ha brothers, junchang automail sex: everything you never knew you needed, tetsuken are royai because to write otherwise would be sacrilege, seo eunbyul is lust because i still don't buy that snake's story, kahei is nina, sorry kahei, everyone is in this, e v e r y o n e
Language: English
Stats: Published: 2016-04-25Words: 387,832 Chapters: 52/53 Comments: 3,449 Kudos: 13,537 Bookmarks: 6,422 Hits: 59,738

again
fortyeights

Summary:


As their world crumbles down around them, all that Junho wants is to get his brother's body back.


Notes:


okay but like... how could i not?

EDIT: next chapter is the last one, guys... it's been a wild ride <3

(view spoiler)[

- junho and junseo are brothers who tried to bring their mother back w/transmutation
- that obviously did not go as planned bc junho is down an arm and a leg
- .............and junseo has literally no body
- so junho became a state alchemist to try to get junseo's body back
- and, like, oh, idk, his own arm and leg
- ahra is izumi and sora is her dead lesbian lover instead of a child bc why not
- kenji is the flame alchemist and tetsuya is his right hand man (obviously)
- LIKE HOW COULD TETSUKEN NOT BE ROYAI,,
- "would you follow me" "if you asked, even into hell"
- coughs tetsuken coughs
- jaejin, hyunjin, jihoon etc are also part of his team
- taeyong is hughes which makes dasom gracia sorry @ both of them
- kahei is nina... sorry kahei lmao
- eunbyul is lust that fucking snake
- also taeil is greed
- changmin is junho's loving automail engineer who berates him for messing it up
- chansung is the commander in the north
- somewhere along the way junho saves the world and gets junseo's body back
- and also gets laid ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

(hide spoiler)]

Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Archive Warnings: Major Character Death
Category: M/M
Fandom: CGD48 (Band)
Relationships: Nakano Tetsuya/Nitta Kenji
Characters: Nakano Tetsuya, Nitta Kenji
Additional Tags: Alternate Universe - Mythology, Reincarnation, Angst, Tanabata, Star-Crossed Lovers
Language: English
Stats: Published: 2018-07-07Words: 47,856 Chapters: 5/5 Comments: 749 Kudos: 3,537 Bookmarks: 922 Hits: 24,738

amanogawa
fortyeights

Summary:


Across galaxies, across lifetimes — Tetsuya will always find his way back to Kenji.


Notes:


i get that no one is ACTUALLY a princess but like...

Rating: Teen and Up Audiences
Archive Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Category: M/M, M/F
Fandom: CGD48 (Band)
Relationships: Cha Jihoon/Seo Jina, Ha Junho/Lee Changmin, past Park Chansung/Lee Changmin, Lee Changmin & Jeon Heejun, past Jeon Heejun/Park Jisoo, Kim Minho | Patrick/Kang Hajoon, Kang Hajoon/Jeon Yohan | Han, Kim Minho | Patrick & Jeon Yohan | Han, Han Minwoo/Im Woojin, Byun Minho/Lu Xiang, Lu Xiang/Oh Rhujin, Byun Minho/Ha Junseo
Characters: Cha Jihoon, Ha Junho, Lee Changmin, Jeon Heejun, Kim Minho | Patrick, Jeon Yohan | Han, Kang Hajoon, Han Minwoo, Oh Rhujin, Im Woojin, Byun Minho, Ha Junseo, Seo Jina, Lu Xiang
Additional Tags: Alternate Universe, based on tbz boy mv, it's a mess and u know u love it, i even don't know what's endgame now
Language: English
Stats: Published: 2017-09-29  Words: 73,987  Chapters: 1/12  Comments:24  Kudos: 143  Bookmarks: 10  Hits: 99

boy
team gr8

Summary:


I’m your boy, find me
Your only boy, don’t let go of this hand
Look into my eyes and tell me
Tell me what you want
I’ve been waiting for you

I’m the only one, your boy

Junho thinks there must be something between him and the guy he just met. Changmin doesn't believe love is anything but betrayal. Han and Patrick are crushing on the same guy but none of them know it. Xiang might be in love with a boy he'll never see again. Junseo may just have a crush on his best friend. Minho is in love with someone who is in love with someone else. Woojin thinks he might be setting himself up for a huge fall. And Jihoon is the only one who is happy.


Notes:


my first team c fic and u bet it's gonna be a mess
edit: team c + xiang bc i love him

(See the end of the work for more notes.)

(view spoiler)[

Chapter 1


He finds Heejun lying on the roof, eyes closed, earbuds plugged into his ears. The sky above them is bluer than ever and the clouds sail across it slowly, like ships out on the sea. Changmin lies down next to his friend, folding his hands under his head. He squints up at the sun, unsure if the tears he’s holding back having anything to do with the light.

“Hey,” he says, his voice rough with disuse.

“Hey,” Heejun replies, as gentle as the breeze.

Changmin swallows hard and closes his eyes. “You’re right,” he whispers. “Love is dead.”

He lets the tears roll down his cheek, hoping they’ll dry in the sun.

—

Junho: hey.
can you like
pick me up

Jihoon: why

Junho: i may be a little drunk
just a little

Jihoon: wtf man
i told u i have a date with jina now

Junho: yeah i know i’m sorry
…
can you still pick me up?

Jihoon: no.
walk home.

Defeated, Junho tucks his phone away. It’s almost dead and he doesn’t know if he’ll make it home by tomorrow. Or if he’ll make it home at all. Groaning, he pushes himself off the pavement with difficulty. His head spins and he really doesn’t think he’s going to make it back in one piece. But goddamn, he has a class tomorrow he can’t afford to miss, so he puts his first foot forward, followed by the other, over and over.

He doesn’t even know if he’s going the right way. It doesn’t take many steps before his vision starts to really blur and he can no longer walk straight. Is it just me or is the world turning on its side? he thinks as his leg collapses under him, sending him crashing to the pavement, and he realises he’s about to get a big fat kiss from the earth when suddenly he’s jerked back up by an arm on his shoulder.

“Dude, are you okay?”

Junho turns and holy fuck, the handsomest man on Earth is standing in front of him. How is your skin so spotless? he opens his mouth to ask, except the words don’t form and he’s left gaping there like an idiot.

“You really don’t look okay,” Mr. Handsome mutters, sighing softly. “Come on, get up, let’s get you home.” He picks up Junho’s arm and slings it over his shoulder, then proceeding to heave Junho up. Oooh, strong, Junho notes in his head. “Can you use your legs? I can’t carry you like this the whole way,” Mr. Handsome interrupts.

“Oh right,” Junho mumbles, finally getting his body to function again.

“So he talks,” Mr. Handsome grunts. “Okay, drunkard, where were you headed?”

“Uh… Train station,” Junho forces the words out of his sluggish mouth. Mr. Handsome nods and they set off, walking in mismatched steps and almost falling on both their asses multiple times. Junho keeps silent the whole way, trying not to embarrass himself further in front of the nicest, most good looking stranger he’s ever met. It must take a lot of guts and years of training to be able to withstand the smell of alcohol on someone’s breath, and yet this stranger pulls it off.

The whole way, Junho can’t stop thinking about how nice this feels. Not the alcohol — that sucks — but someone dragging him home in the middle of the night. Seems pathetic if he thinks about it. But slightly less pathetic if he thinks harder. He’s been really lonely lately, okay? He admits it. He misses his twin. His roommate is always out with his girlfriend. Heck, all his friends have girlfriends and Junho’s the only one left to die in a ditch alone. He almost died in a ditch just now.

Then Mr. Handsome came along, and now Junho knows what it means to be “swept off your feet.” Childish, but Junho’s always had a knack for childish.

At the train station, Mr Handsome stops at the entrance. He lets go of Junho’s wrist, unslings Junho’s arm and nudges him forward gently. “I’m actually heading the other way, so…” He gives Junho a worried look. “Will you be alright from here?”

“Yeah!” Junho replies, too enthusiastically. He can’t help it. He can’t let this complete stranger know that Junho somehow feels sad that they’re parting, or that Junho suddenly feels this overwhelming sense of panic that they’ll never see each other again, and this whole walk to the train station will become just a dream that he’ll eventually forget — except Junho really doesn’t think he can forget him.

“Okay,” the other man says, taking a step backwards. Junho wonders if he should ask for his name, or at least give him his. Mr. Handsome takes another step and waves his hand, “You take care.” Junho opens his mouth and he thinks he might just say it — “Wait, people say love at first sight is complete bullshit but my life is complete bullshit so I think I’m in love with you.” — but he just watches him go.

—

“I think I might have a crush on someone,” Patrick confesses. The sound of the TV almost drowns his voice out.

“Huh, okay,” Han replies. Patrick waits for him to prod for more details, but he doesn’t.

“It’s really bad,” Patrick adds, flinging the bait into the water. Han doesn’t bite.

“Okay,” Han says again, his eyes not leaving the TV screen.

Patrick gives up. “I’m planning on going to the florist and buying twenty sunflowers so I can dump it over her head tomorrow morning. And then I’m going to hire a plane to fly a bright pink banner that says “I love you” over the campus on Wednesday.”

“Don’t… Do that…” Han says slowly, finally turning to Patrick to give him a weirded out look. “Since when did you like this girl so much anyway?”

Since he gave me a gay awakening by walking past me in the corridor last Tuesday. And also, yeah, I lied! He’s a guy! Patrick thinks about confessing to his best friend since birth — well, Han’s birth, because Han is a year younger than him — that not only does he have a life-threatening crush but is also gay and almost immediately shies away from the thought. It’s a little too soon.

“She’s really pretty,” is all he says.

—

It’s almost midnight but Xiang still sits in the train, waiting for his stop. He has his earbuds on and his playlist on shuffle, but there’s really no need. Besides the train’s tumbles and occasional loud noises, there’s nothing to drown out. The carriage is completely empty besides him.

He’s not sure why he’s still outside. He’s not sure why he left the house earlier this evening either. He really just needed to get out and do something, even if it meant just wandering around the city, listening to music on his phone. Which, by the way, is already at 1%. It’s a crappy phone, he thinks.

And it dies immediately at the thought. Looking down at his phone with slight disappointment, he takes the earbuds out of his ears. It’s only then that he hears the muffled music coming from further down the train. Leaning forward, he looks left and right and doesn’t see anyone.

Reluctant to get up but also curious to see what kind of person blasts their music out loud in the train at midnight, Xiang finally leaves his seat to follow the music. He doesn’t get far before he figures it out.

Peering through the window at the end of the carriage, he stares into the one in front. It’s a sight he’s never seen before. A lone boy — around his age — is dancing around, with a boombox sitting on one of the seats. And it’s not the casual, grooving in the middle of my room when no one’s watching kind of dancing. He’s spinning around the poles, jumping from seat to seat, lifting himself off his feet and swinging around. It’s wild, crazy, bordering on lunatical, Xiang thinks. And yet, he can’t help but want to join in. Which is even crazier, because Xiang has never been a dancer and he’s never been crazy either. But maybe that’s the point.

He steps forward and instinctively presses a hand onto the dirty glass, as if it would magically teleport him into the next carriage. He watches the other boy like that for what seems like forever, completely enchanted by the beauty of it. What kind of higher power sent this boy here? Completely free and boundlessly happy, dancing like he just won the world’s biggest lottery, on the exact same train, on the exact same night as Xiang when he’s feeling like he’s hit his lowest.

It’s completely crazy, he thinks. Or maybe completely magical. Because the boy stops dancing and turns around, as if he knew, and their eyes meet. And it’s in that moment that Xiang understands — he doesn’t know how, he doesn’t even know if he’s sure — they’re the same kind of person. While Xiang wanders the city like he’s lost, this boy dances on trains like he’s lost his mind.

Hey, he thinks, staring back at the boy.

Hey, he feels the boy think back.

And then the train glides to a stop and the boy is out the door, bringing his boombox with him, along with all of the magic. Xiang doesn’t move. Maybe he just imagined it. Maybe they were nothing alike. Maybe it’s all crazy and no magic. Xiang doesn’t follow him. The doors close and Xiang just goes on, further into the night.


Notes:

this is only a pilot, for more chapters please support me on my patreon

(hide spoiler)]