✴︎ scorton's creek by velvetseulgi

ft. saerom. fromis_9.

The library was surprisingly empty when Jiwoong arrived in search of his partner in crime, expecting to find her huddled amongst mountainous piles of boring law textbooks. Instead, he found Davin hunched over her laptop in one of the many private rooms of the place, scrolling mindlessly through her painstakingly detailed itinerary for their group trip to Jeju - which was to occur in a few weeks time.

"Thought I might find you in here, Yang," Jiwoong playfully poked her arm in order to get her attention, however Davin pushed his hand away and continued to pick at the callouses on her palm, which he noticed immediately. "And what's got the 'Great Yang Davin' so nervous? Think you've failed your exams?"

"First of all - Woong you bitch! I wasn't even thinking about that, but now I am! And second of all, I'm not nervous - I'm just a little bit stressed out at the fact that the owners of this holiday home haven't gotten back to me yet about our check in times..." Davin bit the inside of her lip, hard enough to almost draw blood, as her left leg bounced up and down restlessly. Sensing her tension, Jiwoong slipped into the chair beside her and placed a comforting hand on her shoulder.

"Would it kill you to just... chill out for a minute?" He laughed, reaching over to close her laptop with his free hand - much to Davin's disapproval - and turning her to face him properly. "Your head's always somewhere else. Just.. relax. I'm here."

"I know..." She sighed, a smile slowly breaking out across her face as she realised how easy it was for him to calm her down. Jiwoong seemed to know the right thing to say in every situation; it was as if knowing her were second nature. "... I need you to be honest with me, because I know you out of all people will give it to me straight. Do you think this trip is a mistake?"

"Well, it's a bit late to back out now," Jiwoong chuckled, but then awkwardly cleared his throat when he registered the seriousness of her expression. "...Of course not. You wanted to do something nice for all of our friends; give them a break from the utterly excruciating monotony of their daily student lives. I wouldn't call that a mistake." 

"But what if this entire thing is a terrible idea?" Davin retorted, running a hand down her face in frustration. "Everyone keeps dancing between 'yes' and 'no' when I ask if they're coming - and with good reason. I mean, we both know how Hanbin feels about... and then Hao and his rivalry... and don't even get me started on the whole Matthew fiasco. Do you have any idea how much baggage is going to be coming with us?"

"Presumably a lot, considering there's 17 people going-"

"Not that kind, you idiot!" Although she was on the verge of shouting, Davin found herself laughing alongside Jiwoong as she began to see the absurdity of her outburst. "... I'm overthinking this, aren't I?"

"Perhaps," Jiwoong replied, causing Davin to shoot him a confused look. "Or... maybe you're just someone who cares a lot about the people she loves, and wants them to be happy despite all the things they may be dealing with."

In a fleeting moment, she swore she could see something genuine behind those usually vacant eyes of his. But whatever affection, whatever fondness she thought she had witnessed seconds ago was long gone, disappearing just as quickly as it came. 

"... Okay, stop with the sentimental shit, otherwise I might actually throw up," Davin shook her head smiling, falling back into the easy-going rhythm of their banter. With a tired sigh, she opened her laptop again to check her inbox. No new messages. "Dude, if they don't respond to me within the next 5 minutes, I'm putting someone's head through the wall."

Hearing her threats, Jiwoong slowly shuffled his seat away so that he would be out of Davin's reach.

"How about we do something fun to pass the time then?" He suggested, readying himself to stand up. "I could go and-"

"We could make a list!" Davin excitedly exclaimed, clapping her hands together as though that were the greatest idea she could've possibly come up with.

"... I was going to say that we could get coffee, but sure," Jiwoong sat back down, raising a judgemental brow in her direction.

"Are you fucking stupid? What coffee shop is going to be open at 9pm?"

"It was just a suggestion-"

"Anyways, I haven't had a chance to allocate the rooms yet - you can help me with that," In one swift movement, she brought up a new document on the screen which had all of their friends' names listed. "There's only 6 bedrooms... and 17 of us. Majority have a mixture of double beds and single beds which is great, minus the master bedroom... and what I can only assume to be a kids bedroom."

"...Kids bedroom?" Jiwoong snorted, struggling to maintain his composure.

"Yeah... It's two sets of bunkbeds," Davin smacked his arm as he laughed harder. "It was the only place the site had on offer! I wasn't going to bankrupt myself for a silly vacation!"

"Okay! Okay!" Jiwoong pretended to be wounded by her barrage of attacks, but took the opportunity to catch her hands in his. "Let's sort some rooms, shall we? Oh, and we are getting that master bedroom. I'm not sharing with anyone else."

"That's because you're obsessed with me. Find a new person to be the object of all your desires, Woong."

"Object of my 'desires'? Keep dreaming, Davi."

Once satisfied, the two got to work by putting together several potential room combinations. It proved more difficult than they originally thought, remembering that certain friends of theirs may or may not dislike others.

"You can't put her with him; are you crazy? She'll eat him alive!" Davin pointed out before deleting their two names.

"But you can accept these three staying together?" Jiwoong gestured at the group of names, to which Davin scowled.

After another 30 minutes or so, the rooms had been finalised. The pair leaned back in their chairs, somewhat content with their choices. 

"... This won't cause problems, will it?" Davin questioned, suddenly feeling a sense of regret as she gestured vaguely towards the document filled with the trip's room arrangements. 

"If it does, then we'll just sit back in our room and let them argue between themselves, watching the entertainment unfold,' Jiwoong joked, although he too was unconvinced.

As if saved by the bell, the familiar sound of a notification pinged through the speakers of her laptop, indicating that Davin had received an email. Without wasting a moment, her hands flew to her keyboard as she opened her inbox with anticipation, internally praying that the sender was whom she hoped it to be.

"Check in... After 3...  Oh thank god!" Davin jumped to her feet, Jiwoong instinctively matching her movements, and she impulsively wrapped her arms around his neck whilst pulling him down into a hug. Letting out a warm chuckle, he hugged her back. "I thought we were going to have to re-book the rental cars, but it all worked out... thankfully."

She felt his body ripple with laughter against hers, and so she hugged him even tighter. However, the heartfelt moment was cut short by an unexpected buzz from Jiwoong's phone. Reluctantly, he untangled himself from her grasp to check who it had come from.

"Oh.. it's.. Nara," He squinted to make sure it really was her name he was seeing, the happiness from his body visibly leaving when realises that his ex had contacted him after many months of ghosting him following their breakup. "... I'll ask her what she wants later, right now-"

"You should call her back," Davin nodded, her eyes telling him that it was okay to go, even though it was the last thing she wanted him to do. "You never know; it could be important."

"... If you're sure," Jiwoong didn't press further into why Davin accepted so quickly, rather grabbing his bag and keys from the table. "See you later, Davi."

And with that, he vanished out the door.

'Every time I see him,'

Davin sighed, packing away her things.

'I can't tell if my heart's fluttering, or if it's breaking.'

inside mat's mind

✶ ꒰ ⋆✴︎˚｡⋆ ⋮ this shall serve as my christmas present to you all ❤️ with sheer willpower and a dream, i somehow managed to write 4/8 of the character introductions in the last few days. as you can see, this is how the cast will be introduced 😁 one by one..

over the next few days, expect some (not all) of the slot introductions to be released. hopefully before the new year they will all be out 🥳 also:

have the room arrangements been made? yes.

will i reveal them to you guys? no...t yet.

✶ ꒰ ⋆✴︎˚｡⋆ ⋮ anyways, choosing for scorton's creek was difficult because the forms i received for the slot were very diverse and each had their own strengths. but ultimately, i just really enjoyed reading your form lar and i felt that davin was the perfect addition to this crazy group of friends so thank you for creating her 🫶

i hope y'all had/have an amazing christmas, and i'll hopefully see you guys tmrw ❤️ stay safe and take care !!!