BANG CHAN SUPER BOWLdominATE SEOUL (240901)

BANG CHAN ✦ SUPER BOWL dominATE SEOUL (240901)

In the New World

summary: a blurb with Eric from A Quiet Place: Day 1., because I'm an emotional mess after watching that movie and need to let my feelings out. Eric meets a new stranger on the ferry. cw: gender neutral reader, spoilers for A Quiet Place: Day One. words: 600.

In the new world, white noise transforms into an acute drill within the eardrum. Sharp like teeth of the demonic angels that fell from the sky, as quickly as a flick of the wrist. 

Heartbeats become war drums, the whistling of the wind like a flatline on a hospital machine. 

During the cataclysm, he learned that the faint, scratchy crunch of old graphite against withered paper could feel like the warmest embrace. If it wasn’t for the circumstances, he never would’ve turned to such an unimportant noise.

There, in the safe haven of a rusty, crowded ferry, he hears it. His cheek – that’s nuzzled against Frodo's silky fur, his now fostered child – turns languidly over the direction of it. There’s someone on the opposite corner of the ferry where he shies away; they hunch over their legs as they nervously scribble away. Their grip on the pencil is shaky, with urgency or fear, he can’t quite discern. However, in the last hours of his life, he’s realized how interlaced both emotions can be. 

The sight reminds him of her. He wonders if you’re writing poetry like Samira did. He’s aching for the missed opportunity to have heard her voice read her poems. Even whispered, her voice had been deep and soothing, and wise beyond her years. Although now that he realizes, he never even learned her age, how could he know? 

How does your voice sound? What are you writing? Will he even have the chance to know? The remnants of hope in his heart are frail, yet resilient. 

His gaze lingers as if thoughts alone could become loud enough to be heard on your end of the ferry. His eyes widen when by some strange miracle you turn. 

There’s a moment of acknowledgment – eyebrows that shoot up gradually ease upon reading each other’s energy. Despite his family wanting to encase him in a mold, pushing him to pursue a “serious” career, he never stopped believing in magic. Now, more than ever. He’s learned that a simple smile can emit sunlight when the days have been as grey and thunderous as his have been. 

Your smile specifically feels like the safe, welcoming of a towel wrapped around your shoulders, on one of those distant summers when you’re back to reality after spending all evening enjoying the sea.

And then, your smile widens further. You lift the notebook from your lap, and he almost sacrifices everyone in this boat to the monsters as laughter surges up from his chest – reigning it back just in time. 

It’s a drawing of him cuddled up with Frodo, and he can’t stop grinning. He nods his head, which you reply to with yet another kind grin, and an empathetic bat of the lashes, before scribbling something on another page of the notebook. 

You write your name, and he feels his galloping heart slow down. He tries to mouth out his own, but you frown. He shakes his head with another silent chuckle. 

He takes a deep breath, cautiously standing up with Frodo in his arms, with you mirroring his actions, gingerly walking the distance until you meet halfway. 

In the new world, a stranger can become your salvation. And something so simple as the sound of the graphite against a well-worn paper can feel like a miracle. 

Like magic. 

Like home, in a new pair of eyes.

SH 💫 [240904] Instagram Story Update

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me: okay, so, are we fighting or are we flirting? because i'm getting mixed signals here

vampire: my fangs are literally inches from your throat right now

me: that doesn't answer my question