Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

Starlit was a duo. Everyone knew that.

Two members, two voices, two halves of a unit that had debuted together and built their name side by side. For fans, it was impossible to separate them. The marketing, the music videos, the stage arrangements, everything came in pairs. Seon Ahyeon and Lee Sejin. Starlit only made sense when both names were said in one breath.

Everyone knew that. Except Ryu Gunwoo. Well, he knows Starlit is a duo, but he refuses to acknowledge the other member.

Gunwoo ran a fansite called Ahyeon Planet, and his photos told a different story. Scroll through his account and you'd never guess Starlit had two members. Every shot was angled, cropped, or blurred until the only person left in focus was Seon Ahyeon, his bias. If Lee Sejin happened to be standing in the same spotlight, he was reduced to a shoulder, a sleeve, a blurred outline. Sometimes he was there so obviously that people pointed it out in the replies, circling the cropped edges as proof. Gunwoo never responded.

Within the fandom, he had a reputation. The polite term was "Ahyeon-only." The less polite one was "akgae."

The arguments came in waves. Some fans complained that it was disrespectful, that ignoring one half of a duo was basically erasing the group itself. Others defended him, insisting that good previews were good previews, no matter what. And Gunwoo stayed silent, uploading new sets without a single mention of the other name in Starlit.

It wasn't that he hated Lee Sejin, at least not in the way people accused him of. He just didn't see the point. To Gunwoo, the music, the stages, the heart of Starlit lived in Seon Ahyeon alone. His lens wasn't for documenting balance. It was for capturing one person exactly as he wanted the world to see him and if that meant cutting out the other half of a duo every single time, then so be it.

In the Starlit fandom, Ahyeon Planet was both admired and side-eyed.

Other fansites had cultivated a kind of personality online. They replied to their followers, they posted memes, they shared cute anecdotes from fansigns. Gunwoo never did. His account was a gallery, nothing more. Previews, sets, the occasional schedule update. No chatter, no jokes, no opinions. If anyone tagged him in discourse, they got nothing back.

That silence shaped his reputation. People imagined him as cold, maybe arrogant, maybe a little unapproachable. Some said he probably sneered at other fansites behind their backs. Others claimed he must be a perfectionist, pouring all his energy into editing instead of small talk. The truth was less dramatic.

Gunwoo just didn't feel the need to explain himself.

In person, he was easy enough to spot if you knew what to look for. A black cap tugged low, glasses perched on his nose, camera strap slung across his chest. He kept his expression flat even in the middle of a screaming crowd, watching the stage with the calm of someone at work rather than at play. While other fansite masters cheered or waved their lightsticks, Gunwoo's hands stayed steady on his camera. Deadpan, always.

That was what made his previews so striking. He didn't chase the funny expressions or chaotic moments. He caught the clean lines of a performance, the unguarded second where Ahyeon looked almost unreal. It was focus, pure and simple, and it gave his shots a sharpness that others struggled to match.

His followers adored that. They called his photos art, they said his timing was insane, they swore his previews looked better than official press pictures. And then, inevitably, someone would reply: Yeah, but he never posts Lee Sejin.

That was the constant refrain. Gunwoo's reputation was never just about his talent. It was about the hole in his feed where the other half of the duo should have been.

Some fans tried to excuse it. It's his account, he can choose what he wants to shoot. Others weren't so kind. Imagine being in a two-member group and some fansite pretends you don't exist. The arguments flared up every few weeks, circling back whenever his photos went viral. Gunwoo ignored them all.

He wasn't doing it to pick fights. He wasn't even doing it to make a statement. He simply preferred it this way. A cap tugged low, a camera in his hands, Ahyeon in his viewfinder, the rest of the world cropped out.

::

The fansign hall was loud, brighter than it looked in fancams, filled with the constant rustle of paper bags and the squeak of sneakers against the floor. Gunwoo had managed to secure a front-row seat, a spot close enough that every shot should've been perfect. He'd lined up his gear: lens checked, cap tugged low, glasses pushed up the bridge of his nose.

Today was supposed to be easy. Seon Ahyeon was in a white knit sweater that softened his frame, hair dyed a warm brown that caught the overhead lights just right. Every angle screamed preview material. Gunwoo could already imagine the captions: our angel in winter colors.

Except there was one problem.

Lee Sejin.

It was like the man had decided to ruin him on purpose. No matter how Gunwoo adjusted, Sejin drifted into every frame. Leaning toward fans, flashing grins, sitting just close enough to Ahyeon that their shoulders brushed. Even when Gunwoo zoomed, Sejin's arm or profile cut into the edge of the shot.

"Unbelievable," Gunwoo muttered under his breath, snapping another ruined photo. He cursed softly, the sound drowned out by the cheers around him. "I didn't drop half a paycheck for this seat just to get photobombed every five seconds."

The fans beside him were too busy screaming "Sejin-ah!" to notice his complaints. Gunwoo gritted his teeth, shifted his angle again, and focused hard on Ahyeon. Click. Click. Perfect smile, perfect pose until Sejin leaned over to sign an album and half his face filled the lens.

Gunwoo swore louder this time, earning a side glance from the girl next to him. He ignored it, scrolling through the previews already cluttered with Sejin's presence. Cropping would be impossible. The angles were too tight, the light too unforgiving. It felt like sabotage.

"Why can't you sit still," he muttered, dragging a hand down his face. "You're not even my subject."

Up on stage, Sejin moved with the confidence of someone who had long ago learned how to make every fan feel seen. His laughter carried across the room, and he never hesitated to make eye contact no matter who was seated in front of him. Gunwoo kept trying to block him out, but the man was impossible to ignore.

And then it happened.

Gunwoo adjusted his lens one more time, determined to get at least a clean set of Ahyeon's smile. He looked up through the viewfinder and found Sejin staring straight at him.

Not at the row. Not at the crowd. At him. Out of all the people there, Sejin just had to stare at him?!

Before Gunwoo could even lower the camera, Sejin's mouth curved into a grin, and he winked. A full on wink, and it sent the entire venue screaming.

Gunwoo's finger froze on the shutter. The preview burned across his screen, Sejin's wink captured in crystal clarity.

"You've got to be kidding me."

Chapter Text

Gunwoo was pissed. What could've been a perfect picture of Ahyeon got ruined thanks to Sejin. He thought about deleting it, but Ahyeon's angle was so good it would be such a shame if he deleted it, so he let it be. And he doesn't know why, but he feels like he shouldn't delete the photo no matter what.

The staff then directed fans toward the tables for the signing, as this was a fansigning event after all. The fans had albums clutched to their chests, shuffling into lines and whispering about favorite moments from the stage. The air carried the mix of markers uncapped too often, paper rustling, and the constant clicking of cameras.

Gunwoo stayed silent. He had gone through this routine more times than he could count, but it never stopped feeling unreal the moment he actually stepped into the line. That tug in his chest always came the second the distance shrank and the boys were right there in front of him instead of glowing pixels on a screen.

He shuffled forward until Ahyeon's face came into view. Ahyeon's grin broke instantly into recognition, lighting up like he'd been waiting just for him.

"Ah, hyung, it's you!" Ahyeon exclaimed, already uncapping the marker. He tilted his head as if teasing. "So… what name should I write today?"

Gunwoo let out a small laugh despite himself. "You already know."

"Ahyeon Planet, right?" Ahyeon nodded, scribbling it carefully across the page with an extra heart beside it. Then he leaned forward conspiratorially, lowering his voice so the staff wouldn't hear. "You know, I always ask even if I already know. Plus, if you ever decide to change it, I'll be the first to notice."

Gunwoo blinked, caught off guard by how casually sincere the boy was. "I don't think I'll change it."

"Good," Ahyeon replied, flashing him a thumbs-up before sliding the album along and giving him a warm smile. "Thank you for always taking great photos of me."

"Of course, I have to let the world know of Starlit's Seon Ahyeon." Gunwoo managed to say before the staff urged him to move along.

The cheerful noise of the room dimmed in Gunwoo's ears as Sejin came into focus. Well, if it isn't the other half of Starlit whose photos he didn't want to take. For the record, he doesn't hate Lee Sejin, because if he did, why would he even line up to get his autograph? It just so happened that his energy was reserved to take photos of Seon Ahyeon only.

Gunwoo shot a look at Sejin whose posture was relaxed, his hand moving steadily as he signed the page. His eyes flicked up, holding Gunwoo's for longer than necessary. 

"Hello! Thank you for coming again today. It's always nice to see male fans attend our fansign events. What name should I write?" Sejin asked in a friendly manner, marker in hand but never breaking eye contact with Gunwoo.

Gunwoo looked away and said, "Ahyeon Planet."

That earned a small pause. Sejin's brows lifted slightly, though he plastered a huge smile. "Ahyeon Planet, I see. You're loyal as ever."

"It's my page," Gunwoo explained, clearing his throat. "I only post Ahyeon. So if you could… let me keep it that way. Without—" He stopped himself before the words turned sharper than he intended. He tried again. "Without you getting in the frame too much."

That earned a hearty laugh from Sejin. "That's the first time I received a request like that, so of course I have to comply." Then he lowered his gaze and began to write. When he pushed the album back, Gunwoo saw the name "Ahyeon Planet" written neatly beside Sejin's signature, along with a lot of doodles, so much so that it looked less like an album and more like a notebook passed around in class.

Gunwoo stared at the page. The little suns, stars, and smiley faces clustered around the letters almost mocked him, like Sejin was deliberately making sure his presence lingered on the paper even if Gunwoo didn't want it.

He raised his eyes slowly, intending to say something but Sejin was already watching him. Not with offense, not even with irritation. Just that relaxed, unreadable gaze that carried a trace of amusement, like Gunwoo had unknowingly walked into a joke only Sejin understood.

"Photos are tricky, aren't they?" Sejin said lightly, twirling the cap of his marker between his fingers. "Even when you try to keep them focused, sometimes something else sneaks in."

Gunwoo tightened his grip on the album. "Yeah. I'd rather it didn't."

Sejin smiled wider, "I'll do my best then."

The staff gave the subtle signal to move the line along, and Gunwoo took the album back. He bowed slightly out of habit, avoiding Sejin's eyes, then stepped away from the table.

It wasn't until he found a spot at the edge of the room, flipping back to the page, that the irritation tangled with confusion. Sejin had written Ahyeon Planet exactly as asked, but beneath the doodles, tucked into the bottom corner in smaller writing, was another line:

I'll always look for you in the crowd to make sure I'm included in your photos. Along with a huge smiley face.

Gunwoo just gaped in disbelief.

::

Starlit got invited to a summer festival stage, and it was bigger than anything they had stood on before. Neon lights washed over the wide open-air venue, and fans packed shoulder to shoulder, their chants pulsing like waves across the crowd. Gunwoo stood wedged between other fansites in the pit, camera raised, eyes trained on one person only: Seon Ahyeon.

The performance started in a rush of beats, Starlit running out in matching outfits that gleamed under the floodlights. Ahyeon hit the center right away, smiling so wide it looked like he owned the entire festival. Gunwoo caught the exact second Ahyeon's arms spread with the opening line, a perfect shot framed in his lens. But almost immediately, the edge of the photo blurred with Sejin sliding into the space just a fraction too close, brushing shoulders with Ahyeon.

Gunwoo lowered the camera for a second, annoyed. Was it necessary? There was plenty of space, yet Sejin seemed magnetized to Ahyeon, weaving into his space again and again. Each time Gunwoo adjusted, Sejin's frame crept into the shot, perfectly in sync with Ahyeon like the two were tethered.

He clenched his jaw and clicked anyway. Ahyeon's angle was too good to throw away, but the nagging frustration only deepened. It wasn't just coincidence, it felt deliberate. Every time Ahyeon stepped forward, Sejin leaned in, laughing, brushing hands, always angled just right to slip into Gunwoo's line of sight.

By the second song, Gunwoo was sure of it. The way Sejin leaned an arm behind Ahyeon during the chorus wasn't blocking the view for the crowd, but from his perspective in the pit, it looked like a perfectly timed sabotage. And worse, Ahyeon didn't seem to mind at all. He just grinned, playful, like it was natural for Sejin to stay glued to him.

Gunwoo's finger hovered over the shutter, hesitation crawling up his throat. He could crop later. He could try to edit Sejin out, but that meant more hours hunched over his laptop, carefully trimming away the edges of someone who insisted on being there.

The set ended in a blaze of pyrotechnics, both boys at the front, their hands shooting up together. The photo would've been flawless, if Sejin weren't right there beside him, stealing half the frame.

The crowd roared. Gunwoo let the camera drop against his chest, exhaling through his teeth. Maybe he'd been too clear at the fansign. Maybe telling Sejin straight to his face that he wanted him out of the frame had backfired. Because if tonight proved anything, it was that Lee Sejin was doing the exact opposite.

Gunwoo tightened his grip on the strap and muttered under his breath, "What the hell is he playing at?"

When the final fireworks died down and the crowd dissolved into cheers, Gunwoo packed his gear in silence. His memory card was full, but the frustration in his chest outweighed the satisfaction of a successful haul. Every other photo looked like a duet instead of a solo.

Back at his desk, Gunwoo scrolled through the photos with stiff shoulders. Ahyeon lit up every frame. Sweat glinting under neon, hair sticking to his forehead, that bright smile never faltering. Perfect, except for the fact that nearly every shot had Sejin's outline bleeding into the edge, half-smiles and arms that seemed to orbit around Ahyeon.

He cropped carefully, again and again, but there was no erasing the fact that tonight Sejin had been impossible to avoid. After an hour of editing, he gave up. He queued the post anyway. He's left with no choice.

Ahyeon Planet @rgw_pics

#Starlit #SeonAhyeon #SummerFestival202x

[4 images attached]

They are all photos of Seon Ahyeon, with Lee Sejin in it.