smile when you speak
krystal/suho, pg, 1000w
sometimes, joonmyun had the pleasure of having soojung snort at his questions and lame jokes.
title from i'll do anything for you by foster the people, which is a lovely listen along with this fic, i think!
It’s around the sixth time Joonmyun’s attending one of these gigs that Kyuhyun kept inviting him to, and he’s starting to understand why people liked them so much. The mood was relaxed, the drinks were cheap, and the bands were actually good. Kyuhyun always had good taste, so he wasn’t so surprised.
He liked to pretend he was here solely for the music, but while he enjoyed it, he didn’t know shit about it. The most he would do is ask Sehun or any of the regulars around there what the name of the band is if they played a cover of a song he actually knew, nodding with his eyebrow raised when answered. Sehun always snorted when he did that, but shook off Joonmyun’s questioning glance afterwards.
Sometimes, he had the pleasure of having Soojung snort at his questions. The first few times, it was embarrassing to a fault, but nowadays, he knew that she was just like that. A snort, a small laugh, a pat on the back, a sly grin, her eyes twinkling throughout. That was just the way she was, and Joonmyun liked it a lot.
He saw her in a corner outside the bar, where there weren’t many people, having a smoke while Jongin and Amber stood by her, laughing, probably at a sarcastic comment she threw at them. He guessed by the way she held back her own laughter with a bite of her lip.
They all waved him over as he approached. He greeted them, familiar and comfortable. For how intimidating this whole crowd of musicians, artists, and writers were, they were pretty welcoming, having indulged him since his first night there.
“Congratulations on graduating!” he said, nodding towards Jongin and Soojung. “Fresh out of college, huh? That seemed too long ago.”
“You’re ridiculous, Joonmyun. It was literally three years ago for you,” Amber said, hitting his arm with her beer bottle.
“Really? Feels like it’s been ten,” Joonmyun joked, getting hit again. He glanced as Soojung’s lips quirked.
“Maybe it’s your boring job,” Jongin suggested. “All that finance shit must be stressful. Ages you a lot.”
“Hey! Economics are exciting,” Joonmyun said with a frown. This time Soojung really laughed. He smiled, rocking on his heels to get rid of his nerves.
“You really are ridiculous,” Soojung said, shaking her head. “What the fuck even are stocks?” Joonmyun laughed and shrugged, when Soojung continued. “Hey, I’m really asking! My sister talks about them a lot, I have no fucking clue what they are.”
“This conversation is too grown up for me, I’m gonna get a mocktail,” Amber mused, clinking empty bottles with Jongin, who shrugged after her. Joonmyun nodded but his insides fluttered as he watched them leave. When they went inside the bar, disappearing from view, he looked back to an expectant Soojung.
“You really want to know?” he asked her, cautious. After she nodded, he continued, joining her in leaning against the wall behind them. “Ahh, um, they’re like, investing in a company. So when you buy stocks, you’re like, paying for a part of the company. That’s really basically it.”
She cringed and held his arm with her free hand. His pulse went up a bit and he gulped down. “I guess I get it, I just don’t get all those numbers on Bloomberg,” she said earnestly, dropping her cigarette and crushing it with the tip of her sneakers. “Should I bother?”
Joonmyun stared at her. Watched the slope of her nose, the dip of her lips, painted with a faded deep red, as she frowned. Saw the uncharacteristic unease in her eyes. He hummed. “I don’t think it’s important.”
“I feel like I should be more aware of all this real life stuff,” she said, muffled as she replaced the cigarette between her lips. All without removing her hand from his arm, clutching as if it mattered. He stood as still as possible as to not remind her that she could let go.
He kept quiet for a bit, watching her light her cigarette and take her first drag. She looked away for most part, towards the more crowded parts in front of the bar doors, concealing the rock music within. But she glanced at him periodically, eyes unreadable.
“What’s on your mind?” he asked as casually as possible, leaning towards her.
It was her turn to hum, then she exhaled. He watched the way smoke left her lips. “I guess real life is just being scary. No big deal.” She shrugged her tough girl act back on, the one that matched her distressed jeans and dirty Nikes - all as if she didn’t drop the bomb of her vulnerability onto Joonmyun’s head.
“You’re scared of something,” he repeated after her, assessing her with furrowed eyebrows and a small, hesitant smile. Her bare shoulders, unshaking as her hair swept over them from the wind.
She glared at him for a few seconds before twitching out a smile.
“Nah, forget about it, I’m not,” she took it back, laughing as she took another drag. “I’m not scared of anything.” She stomped her foot lazily for emphasis.
He laughed along with her. “You shouldn’t be. The thing is, no one understands what they’re doing with their lives. No one gets what’s going on.” Joonmyun stared at her profile, her eyes elsewhere, but her smile telling. “You just have to keep pretending you know what you want, and just go for it.”
There was silence for a bit, small smiles in between.
“And you’re good at that, you know? Knowing what you want. You’re pretty decisive,” he said to her, nodding his head affirmatively.
She laughed. “Is that how you compliment people? I’m decisive?” She twitched her nose, looking up at the night sky. “You’re something else, Joonmyun,” she said as she tightened her grip on his arm.
“It’s an important life skill,” he added, smiling at her easily.
She laughed again, then shrugged as she stomped out her cigarette butt. “I guess I am decisive,” she said, then laced her arm through his, standing up properly from where she was leaning on the wall, draggin him up as well. “Buy me a drink, Joonmyun.”
He widened his eyes and licked his lips, stunned, hopefully not for too long. “Uh, yeah. Okay.”
“Okay,” she echoed, just staring at him with that glint in her eye and that grin on her face, on the brink of awkward laughter. “Come on.”
A/N: i've been wanting to write this part of this AU for forever, but never really had the chance to do it. i was weirdly inspired today and wrote a bit of it. i wanted to write a whole long one with a solid plot and all, but it's not really working out for me right now, but i want to keep writing this AU tbh! so weird how i just decided to write today, really. it was out of the fuckin' blue.
kind of the future in the same universe as dream your dreams away and if i impress you, but really, it's just because it's a setting i like writing. they're not that related.
this was very unedited, i'm sorry for any grammatical or spelling errors. i haven't written creatively in forever.
enable me!!!! @fatpillows on twitter.
sometimes, joonmyun had the pleasure of having soojung snort at his questions and lame jokes.
title from i'll do anything for you by foster the people, which is a lovely listen along with this fic, i think!
It’s around the sixth time Joonmyun’s attending one of these gigs that Kyuhyun kept inviting him to, and he’s starting to understand why people liked them so much. The mood was relaxed, the drinks were cheap, and the bands were actually good. Kyuhyun always had good taste, so he wasn’t so surprised.
He liked to pretend he was here solely for the music, but while he enjoyed it, he didn’t know shit about it. The most he would do is ask Sehun or any of the regulars around there what the name of the band is if they played a cover of a song he actually knew, nodding with his eyebrow raised when answered. Sehun always snorted when he did that, but shook off Joonmyun’s questioning glance afterwards.
Sometimes, he had the pleasure of having Soojung snort at his questions. The first few times, it was embarrassing to a fault, but nowadays, he knew that she was just like that. A snort, a small laugh, a pat on the back, a sly grin, her eyes twinkling throughout. That was just the way she was, and Joonmyun liked it a lot.
He saw her in a corner outside the bar, where there weren’t many people, having a smoke while Jongin and Amber stood by her, laughing, probably at a sarcastic comment she threw at them. He guessed by the way she held back her own laughter with a bite of her lip.
They all waved him over as he approached. He greeted them, familiar and comfortable. For how intimidating this whole crowd of musicians, artists, and writers were, they were pretty welcoming, having indulged him since his first night there.
“Congratulations on graduating!” he said, nodding towards Jongin and Soojung. “Fresh out of college, huh? That seemed too long ago.”
“You’re ridiculous, Joonmyun. It was literally three years ago for you,” Amber said, hitting his arm with her beer bottle.
“Really? Feels like it’s been ten,” Joonmyun joked, getting hit again. He glanced as Soojung’s lips quirked.
“Maybe it’s your boring job,” Jongin suggested. “All that finance shit must be stressful. Ages you a lot.”
“Hey! Economics are exciting,” Joonmyun said with a frown. This time Soojung really laughed. He smiled, rocking on his heels to get rid of his nerves.
“You really are ridiculous,” Soojung said, shaking her head. “What the fuck even are stocks?” Joonmyun laughed and shrugged, when Soojung continued. “Hey, I’m really asking! My sister talks about them a lot, I have no fucking clue what they are.”
“This conversation is too grown up for me, I’m gonna get a mocktail,” Amber mused, clinking empty bottles with Jongin, who shrugged after her. Joonmyun nodded but his insides fluttered as he watched them leave. When they went inside the bar, disappearing from view, he looked back to an expectant Soojung.
“You really want to know?” he asked her, cautious. After she nodded, he continued, joining her in leaning against the wall behind them. “Ahh, um, they’re like, investing in a company. So when you buy stocks, you’re like, paying for a part of the company. That’s really basically it.”
She cringed and held his arm with her free hand. His pulse went up a bit and he gulped down. “I guess I get it, I just don’t get all those numbers on Bloomberg,” she said earnestly, dropping her cigarette and crushing it with the tip of her sneakers. “Should I bother?”
Joonmyun stared at her. Watched the slope of her nose, the dip of her lips, painted with a faded deep red, as she frowned. Saw the uncharacteristic unease in her eyes. He hummed. “I don’t think it’s important.”
“I feel like I should be more aware of all this real life stuff,” she said, muffled as she replaced the cigarette between her lips. All without removing her hand from his arm, clutching as if it mattered. He stood as still as possible as to not remind her that she could let go.
He kept quiet for a bit, watching her light her cigarette and take her first drag. She looked away for most part, towards the more crowded parts in front of the bar doors, concealing the rock music within. But she glanced at him periodically, eyes unreadable.
“What’s on your mind?” he asked as casually as possible, leaning towards her.
It was her turn to hum, then she exhaled. He watched the way smoke left her lips. “I guess real life is just being scary. No big deal.” She shrugged her tough girl act back on, the one that matched her distressed jeans and dirty Nikes - all as if she didn’t drop the bomb of her vulnerability onto Joonmyun’s head.
“You’re scared of something,” he repeated after her, assessing her with furrowed eyebrows and a small, hesitant smile. Her bare shoulders, unshaking as her hair swept over them from the wind.
She glared at him for a few seconds before twitching out a smile.
“Nah, forget about it, I’m not,” she took it back, laughing as she took another drag. “I’m not scared of anything.” She stomped her foot lazily for emphasis.
He laughed along with her. “You shouldn’t be. The thing is, no one understands what they’re doing with their lives. No one gets what’s going on.” Joonmyun stared at her profile, her eyes elsewhere, but her smile telling. “You just have to keep pretending you know what you want, and just go for it.”
There was silence for a bit, small smiles in between.
“And you’re good at that, you know? Knowing what you want. You’re pretty decisive,” he said to her, nodding his head affirmatively.
She laughed. “Is that how you compliment people? I’m decisive?” She twitched her nose, looking up at the night sky. “You’re something else, Joonmyun,” she said as she tightened her grip on his arm.
“It’s an important life skill,” he added, smiling at her easily.
She laughed again, then shrugged as she stomped out her cigarette butt. “I guess I am decisive,” she said, then laced her arm through his, standing up properly from where she was leaning on the wall, draggin him up as well. “Buy me a drink, Joonmyun.”
He widened his eyes and licked his lips, stunned, hopefully not for too long. “Uh, yeah. Okay.”
“Okay,” she echoed, just staring at him with that glint in her eye and that grin on her face, on the brink of awkward laughter. “Come on.”
A/N: i've been wanting to write this part of this AU for forever, but never really had the chance to do it. i was weirdly inspired today and wrote a bit of it. i wanted to write a whole long one with a solid plot and all, but it's not really working out for me right now, but i want to keep writing this AU tbh! so weird how i just decided to write today, really. it was out of the fuckin' blue.
kind of the future in the same universe as dream your dreams away and if i impress you, but really, it's just because it's a setting i like writing. they're not that related.
this was very unedited, i'm sorry for any grammatical or spelling errors. i haven't written creatively in forever.
enable me!!!! @fatpillows on twitter.