1 - 20 of 47 Works by ajayinthedark
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Just the sight of Mark—Mark Lee, Mark—at the steps of the rental was enough to stop Chenle’s heart, then start it again at triple the speed—
God, it had been ages.
It had been ages, but Chenle could never forget Mark Lee.
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Eight hundred ninety-eight miles—eleven thousand, one hundred one kilometers—doesn’t feel like a real distance. The time that’s passed since that summer of sixth grade, since the summer before university, since Jeno picked up his life and moved it to a different continent, doesn’t feel like real time at all.
(Or, over winter break, Chenle visits Jeno on the other side of the world.)
Series
- Part 3 of Size and Space
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Renjun is twenty-four years old when the world ends.
The time it takes to heal isn’t kind—but it’s patient.
(Or, an alternate universe where Renjun and Chenle go to China the summer of 2024.)
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Chenle can’t tell if the promise feels real because it’s real, or because he hasn’t wanted something to be real so much, in so long.
(Or, Chenle, Renjun, classical music, and moving on.)
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All Jaemin can bring himself to say is, “That means they’ll never suspect me as the murderer.”
Chenle’s amusement takes over his whole body, dimples scrunched and shoulders shaking. “I think you’d be able to throw them off even if they did suspect you.”
“Are you encouraging me down a path of crime?”
“I’m calling you charming.” Chenle shakes his head. “I can’t believe I’m in love with you.”
(Or, Jaemin and Chenle get married, and it means a lot of things.)
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Mark turns his head to see Chenle shuffling towards him, nose buried in his green and silver scarf. The tips of his ears are frost-nipped red, and his black hair sports flecks of white snow.
“It’s like the Room of Requirement, you know?” he says, coming to a stop once they’re shoulder to shoulder. “Home moves around inside of you and all throughout the people surrounding you, and when you need it the most, it’ll be there, with whoever you want it to be in. You just have to look for it.”
(Or, Mark, Chenle, and home away from home.)
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“I don’t even know what my music is,” Mark finishes weakly.
“I know that I like it,” Jisung rebukes. “You’re the most talented person I’ve ever met.” When Mark finally lifts his head back up, Jisung is looking at him with sad eyes.
“Write this song with me,” he pleads, “Like we used to. Let’s write together again.”
(Or, Mark helps Jisung write a song, Jisung helps Mark in other ways.)
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The fake engagement becomes an easy routine, and the two of them fall into step together without any hesitation.
But with so many people telling him all about the “new chapter in life” he’s starting, it serves as a painful reminder to Chenle that he still hasn’t mustered the strength to flip to the next page.
(Or, Renjun and Chenle pretend to be engaged for freebies; here’s everything that goes wrong.)
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Different ways to fall in love, be in love, stay in love, and fall out of love, all in one collection.
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Chenle grows up, breaks his arm, grows out, starts XR Adderall, graduates, and begins navigating the horrors of university, all while tugging on his string, until it becomes as natural a habit as breathing and eating and shooting from the three point line.
(Or, Chenle and his red string.)
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Over the next ten years, their rain soaked into the Earth, blooming flowers with new petals to spring forth every day, and not a single morning has passed since where Donghyuck’s first waking thought hasn’t been, I’m so in love with her.
(Or, Donghyuck and Chenle have been dating for a third of their lives and they’re still just as in love.)
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Renjun isn’t stupid.
He knows he’s running on borrowed time.
(Or, Renjun is trapped in a caged corner, and Chenle drops a rope from the sky. )
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The way Mark’s eyes are wide, hopeful, squeezes something deep in Jeno’s chest, but he knows it’s a dangerous path to tread. A weekend turned week with Mark opens the possibility of a week turned two weeks, turned a month, turned the rest of the summer with Mark.
The rest of the summer with Mark means the rest of the summer away from the shore, away from the bags he hasn’t packed, away from the stray cats he hasn’t fed, away from the people—person, one person—he still hasn’t said his goodbyes to.
(Or, over the summer, Jeno goes into the city to visit Mark and an old history—one last time.)
Series
- Part 2 of Size and Space
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Same Dream, Same Mind, Same Night by cafeaujay (ajayinthedark) for hopeboos
Fandoms: NCT (Band)
22 Apr 2024
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Jisung has come to find out that he’s terrible at learning how to do—how to do anything, really.
Maybe that’s why he doesn’t learn that most people don’t fall in love with two people at the same time.
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There are a lot of problems with being in love with Mark Lee. Four are more important than the rest:
1. Mark Lee doesn’t know his limits.
2. Mark Lee is stubborn.
3. Mark Lee is straight.
4. Chenle can’t say no to Mark Lee. -
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Chenle knows the games far better than most people in the Capitol, almost certainly as well as the Gamemakers themselves. People of the Capitol bet to play, people like Chenle bet to win. Between classes, he pours over archived game footage, after hours, he replays years and years worth of interviews—he watches and he memorises and he analyses and he learns.
He could win a game with his eyes closed, dropped right on top of the Cornucopia with nothing but the clothes on his body and the mind in his head.
(Or, Chenle bets on the tribute from District 12.)
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Standing in their new apartment, where one of them is the biggest idol in China and the other is the MVP of the Korean national team, where the living room has enough space for a grand piano and office has enough space for a bicep curler and the bed has enough space for two bodies and a dog, Jeno thinks “someday” has become something of a promise word between them.
(Or, Jeno is a major league baseball player and Chenle is his boyfriend.)
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A Late Blooming Fragrance by cafeaujay (ajayinthedark) for boxysmiles
Fandoms: NCT (Band)
09 Feb 2024
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Chenle thinks about his aunt, lounging in some beach resort in the Indian Ocean having the time of her life exploiting her lowly, humble employee from overseas, then about the ten bushels of wu wei zi he has to pick off the branches by hand tomorrow.
He can feel a migraine starting up as he imagines the phone call tonight, though Donghyuck’s ensuing beam when Chenle asks, “When’s the earliest you’re available?” eases the pain just as well as his mother’s chuan xiong tea.
(Or, Chenle runs an apothecary and Donghyuck needs a job.)
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Now that the consequences are right up in his space, breathing the same air as him, looking at him with a raised eyebrow and bangs still wet from showering, Jisung feels seconds away from passing out from mortification.
Chenle flicks Jisung’s nose, startling him so bad he flinches. It makes Chenle exhale a soft laugh. “You can back out. I won’t be mad. Or are you gonna stick to your promise, Park Jisung?”
(Or, Jisung and Chenle’s first time.)
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A hand on his back stabilises him, and when he turns around, Chenle in all his deep-fried pink hair glory is right over his shoulder with a small smile. He passes a large cup of Renjun’s go-to order while mouthing slowly, Were you waiting long?
Renjun feels his heart skip a beat, then immediately kicks himself for letting his heart skip a beat over Chenle Zhong of all people.
(Or, Renjun is Deaf, Chenle is cute.)