2025 FIC YEAR IN REVIEW

[girlishpop]

Total number of completed stories: 11 fics/drabbles on ao3 + 19 dreamwidth/twitter fics and drabbles
Total word count: 43,996 words


General fic stats for 2025
Word count on AO3: 36,072 words
Average Words Per Story: 3,279 words
Number of fics on AO3: 11 fics/drabbles
Fandoms written for: enhypen, fromis_9, illit (& triples (not included in ao3 stats))

Shortest Story: death becomes him (488 words, enhypen, heeseung/sunghoon)
Longest Story: softest shade of my heart (14,235, enhypen, sunoo/jungwon)


Chronological breakdown:
(fics and drabbles posted to ao3, twitter, and dreamwidth)

january
enhypen | softest shade of my heart| e ; idolverse a/b/o (part two of “let the light devour”) ; sunoo/jungwon

february
fromis_9 | set on it | g; gyuri/jiheon
enhypen | it’s okay to best love the taste of your own blood | m ; vampire au / let the right one in adaptation ; sunoo/jungwon
illit/triples | 380nm | t ; canondivergence ; moka/kaede
illit | make my heart quake | e ; uni au; yunah/minju

april
enhypen | heeseung x controversially young gf jw | g ; au ; heeseung/jungwon
enhypen | shotgunning | t ; au ; jay/sunghoon
illit | aim high | g ; professional cheerleaders au ; yunah/minju
enhypen | the sound of keychains, clinking | e; omega finishing school au ; multiship (jay pov/centric)

may
fromis_9 | watch out! | g ; canon comp or mild au? ; chaeyoung/jiwon
enhypen | twt drabble 01 | au ; sunghoon/jungwon
enhypen | twt drabble 02 | canonverse ; heeseung/jay
enhypen | twt drabble 03 | d:u you au ; heeseung/jungwon
enhypen | twt drabble 04 | au ; jake/jay
enhypen | twt drabble 05 | canonverse ; heeseung/jungwon
enhypen | twt drabble 06 | au? canonverse? ; sunghoon/jay
enhypen | twt drabble 07 | canonverse ; ni-ki/jay
enhypen | twt drabble 08 | d:u you au ; heeseung/sunoo/jungwon
enhypen | twt drabble 09 | canonverse ; sunoo/jungwon

june
—

july
—

august
enhypen | idyllicism | g ; his dark materials au ; heeseung & jungwon

september
—

october
enhypen | tooth, tusk, antler | t ; magical au / gods & fae ; heeseung/jungwon
enhypen | what YOU really need is a femininomenon | e ; r63 au ; jake/jay
enhypen | avulsion fracture | t ; canon compliant ; heeseung/sunghoon
enhypen | taste memory formation | g ; canon compliant / gen ; jungwon-centric
enhypen | sincerity | t? ; au ; heeseung/jay
enhypen | let me stay a little longer in the sun | g ; canon compliant / gen ; heeseung
enhypen | witching hour blue | t ; romance:untold arcanum au / magical au ; jay/sunghoon
enhypen | death becomes him | e ; desire:unleash au ; heeseung/sunghoon
enhypen | see me, next to you | t ; vampire au ; sunoo/jungwon

november
enhypen | domine dirige nos | m ; kuroshitsuji au; heeseung/jungwon

december
—


Overall Thoughts:
Looking back, did you write more fic than you thought you would this year, less, or about what you'd predicted?
both more and less, i think.. i’m not a very prolific writer, i’m still too moods based (in my writing, as in when motivation dies i struggle to complete works), and some of the stuff i had planned to post this year are still just wips but.. i have still written a decent amount of fic for me, and i’ve posted A LOT of shortfic?

i probably was hoping and perhaps expecting to post a couple more fics tho, if i’m honest.

What pairing/genre/fandom did you write most?
for fandom.. clearly enhypen lmao.. for ships i mostly played around with the usual subjects and i think it ended up being mostly jungwon or jay ships? and i never really think about my works in terms of genres buti’ve been having a lot of fun playing around with some darker themes, different types of supernatural/magic aus, etc..

What pairing/genre/fandom did you write that you would never have predicted in January?
for enhypen: nothing much really.. i’m so boring and like what i like? in a sense perhaps the hoonseung drabble? heehoon kinda fell in my shiprankings from like last summer but then i suddenly and intensely was back in having feelings about them again, like properly.. but i much prefer them as heehoon to hoonseung in general lol. also maybe the jay/ni-ki bc i think i was open to it but.. not rly thinking that much about it? #memoryloss

for girl groups tho i don’t think i could’ve predicted any of the ships? maybe gyulheon was on my mind from my re-fromispilling in late 2024, but i’m not sure i was imagining myself writing anything focused on them (i did have them as a minor sideship in my abandoned(?) fake historical omegaverse au)

What's your own favorite story of the year?
some of my drabbles r the best in terms of writing and i just adore them a lot, but i guess. idk. the heewon and heesunwon twitter drabbles are some of my favs. avulsion fracture and taste memory formation i adore. but perhaps it’s okay to best like the taste of your own blood is very close to my heart? it’s not my best but i love it so so so much.. it’s very special to me. but like all of my longer/full finished fics are dear to me in their own way tho (aside from what you really need is a femininomenon)

Did you take any writing risks this year?
not really.. kinda pushed the envelope with death becomes him and the extended metaphor of the drabble, but other than that.. i haven’t played with technical elements much, i haven’t really tried new for me stylistic choices tho i did some mild playing around with formatting/style in the heejay drabble and the moka/kaede drabble from girlsfest, and mb some more stuff on the enhy prompt meme, etc. maybe doing a more old school omegaverse fic was a bit of a risk lol but idts..?


From my past year of writing, what was…
My best story of this year:
DEATH BECOMES HIM…. it’s only a drabble but i think it’s my best writing, and the response from fellow promptmemers make me fairly confident i’m not just crazy. fuck i really think it’s so good and i will hype myself for it.

also, taste memory formation. and kinda avulsion fracture too. but taste memory formation.. aurgh. fuck. and looking back i’m also still really proud of how the moka/kaede triple drabble 380nm turned out?

My most popular story of this year:
softest shade of my heart has the most kudos/hits/comments, but it’s also been up since mid january so it does have a bit of an advantage… 2nd most kudos goes to what you really need is a femininomenon which has really good stats for a fic of mine lol and has only been up since october

Story of mine most under-appreciated by the universe, in my opinion:
ITS OKAY TO BEST LOVE THE TASTE OF YOUR OWN BLOOD.. fuck it, my baby.. listen i get why it didn’t do better, from ship to tropes to au to rating etc, and admittedly it is a little rough around the edges, a little bit overwrought and kinda purple in some parts re the prose.. the fake het with boynoo, a slightly clumsy reveal for jungwon that might turn some off , etc.. sorry to list all the issues and turn off everyone who hasn’t already been sweet enough to check it out. but i love it so much. and i really think it deserves more. the people who have read it and finished it generally seem to really like it tho, so there’s always that. :’)

also surprised by the arcanum jayhoon not getting even 10 kudos? but got some good comments on promptmeme so i’m more fine with that and i still feel ok with it.

Most fun story to write:
might have been idyllicism, but some of the drabbles/shortfic ive done from the prompt meme also flowed really smoothly… also domine dirige nos, once i got going properly? idk in a way.. if a fic is completed i enjoyed the process enough to be able to push through lmao

Story with the single sexiest moment:
is it bad if i say death becomes him as whole lmao?.. sorry if that’s weird. i do generally think the sex scenes i post r p sexy, which is why i felt confident enuf to publish them tho lmao

girl!jake slicking up her strap with lube in “femininomenon” is perhaps another contender tho. it might not do much to others but for me it’s the standout moment of that fic lmao

Most "holy crap, that's wrong, even for you" story:
idk i dabbled with some darker themes again this year, like all the d:u you aus? but i guess the more obvious picks might be either death becomes him, or the sound of keychains.. but it was on purpose? so i’m not that horrified.

Story that shifted my own perceptions of the characters:
none really.. if anything writing has just confirmed how i see the characters? like if i play with them in a way i normally wouldn’t, it doesn’t tend to open my third eye it just confirms that it’s either something i can see only happen during specific circumstances OR that idt it's fully in character for the version that exists in my head.

Hardest story to write:
of those that have been completed… softest shade of my heart or the sound of keychains.. the sound of keychains is a tricky one bc i had a pretty bad fever for much of the writing of it so some parts are really blurry in my memory, but i was also really forcing it to complete it before i lost motivation. and because sometimes when i write i kinda do like. method acting but in writing form. so i made myself upset a lot to write some parts of it lol.

softest shade was just tricky because it kept growing and growing and growing lol, and because of that the pacing ended up a bit slower than intended? i also went back and forth a lot on the sunoo+sunghoon argument, the duration and intensity and what was said, and how i wanted to characterise them both.. i was also still delusionally thinking i might still continue the series at the time so i found myself scrambling to add scenes that included more members than just sunoo/jungwon..

Biggest disappointment:
not finishing the heewon part of my idolverse a/b/o, not finishing the r63 sunwon fic, not finishing the r63 hoonjay, not writing more femslash….. etc etc etc.. not picking up the heeseung isekai again, not picking up/finishing the heejay lesb au,,

& kinda mid/low engagement n reception to fic i think deserved just a little bit more, and perhaps more specially me personally getting too swept up in my general fandom anxieties abt how ppl perceive me / my taste / my prefs / my writing/fics etc. kinda. and this feels bad to say. but what you really need[..] being my 2nd most popular work this year? I AM SO SO SO GRATEFUL FOR ANY AND ALL ENGAGEMENT. and idt it’s a bad fic but it’s just. it’s not my best. it’s not my second best.. but it’s a slightly funny pwp and that makes all the difference apparently.

Biggest surprise:
how much canonverse and magical aus and r63 i’d end up writing maybe? dabbling in triples fic? the kinda hilariously accidental negative reception to my explicit yunju fic / make my heart quake with the mods of girlsfest realising nsfw works should be tagged and me feeling really singled out/embarrassed about it, and it getting my only kinda negative comment of the year the moment i posted it to ao3. crylaffing now when i think about it, but i was so shocked n crashing out over it at the time.

Most unintentionally telling story:
everything that is telling is intentionally telling. i think. doesn’t mean it isn’t embarrassing to be called out on lmao but i’m not reading anything back and being surprised or realising that it’s showing too much or more than intended lmao.


Highlights + Wrap-up:
Favourite Opening Lines (3):

There is a knife lodged in the wall next to Sunoo. The bruising on his cheeks looks like blush in the dim light.

— twt drabble 08, heeseung/sunoo/jungwon

"Hyung-nim," Sunghoon says. He has always been as polite as he is beautiful, always overly concerned with propriety. It was charming, in a way. It made him seem so distant, never quite present or allowing himself to just be in the moment, in other ways.

The knife in his hand has Heeseung's blood on it.

Or, rather: The knife in Sunghoon's hand is clean. It will have Heeseung's blood on it.

— death becomes him, heeseung/sunghoon

They’ve joked about it many times before — ‘what if we actually kissed, one of these days’ one of them would say, the other laughing and agreeing, ‘wouldn’t that be so funny?’

It perhaps wouldn’t be as funny as they themselves think, if the looks their friends will sometimes give them when they get a bit too into whatever line of thought they’re pushing to the fullest, a long term habit of creating an in-joke of an in-joke of an in-joke having formed. A multiverse of their creation, a bubble that is difficult to penetrate from the outside. The looks are exasperated, somewhat fond, and just a little tired of their joint shenanigans.

— watch out!, chaeyoung/jiwon


Favourite Closing Lines (4):

Fast forward— Jungwon is nearly five years into his debut. The sharpness of his jawline remains stubbornly hidden by roundness, but Jungwon has always been too stubborn for his own good. He is getting closer to fixing it.

His scalp burns from the bleach as the hairdresser touches up his roots, the last time for this cycle of dyeing. Blonde, and then a toner for the photoshoot for the concept pictures. The smell of the chemicals is familiar by this point. He swears he can almost taste the sweetness of ice-cream again.

— taste memory formation, jungwon

“You work hard,” Heeseung says. His eyes are gentle, soft. The timbre of his voice is too. Sunghoon wonders if touch from Heeseung would be the same.

It meant something, coming from Heeseung. It meant very little to Heeseung, probably. It was important to Sunghoon, then and now.

— avulsion fracture, heeseung/sunghoon

The screen casts Kaede’s face and the room beyond with a purplish blue light; violet is the shortest wavelength. Does this mean this is the closest she can be to Moka now?

— 380nm, moka/kaede

Embracing who you are, working on becoming who you want to be. These concepts don’t have to exist as opposites.

“Ah, don’t worry so much,” Sunoo coos, his smile blossoming into something much brighter, “you can’t control everything— and you’re doing amazing already.”

Perhaps it’s true that some things can be laid to rest for the moment. That Jungwon can allow the parts of his brain working overtime to turn off for a little while; to quell the worry, to instead revel in the warmth of Sunoo’s body next to his and of knowing one another so intimately in a new way.

The air between them, the feelings bubbling in his heart? None of those things feel different to before, but there is something fresh budding beneath it all. At his core Sunoo is loving, warm and bright and happy. He makes Jungwon happy too.

— softest shade of my heart, sunoo/jungwon


Favorite 5 Line(s) from Anywhere:

Heeseung breathes out. His breath clouds in the air where it slowly sinks into fine mist and fog over the ground, white, the type of fog that Jungwon’s kind can be found dancing in when the dusk falls on meadows. Here is only Jungwon, and his feet feel light when the mist caresses him. As if something in him is being called, asked to move. To dance. Jungwon keeps his feet planted in place, toes digging into the ground. The moist moss, damp soil. Earth. Pine. Fern.

There seems to be a silence that settles into the forest when Heeseung is around. Deer are hunted, so why does this god seem so much like a hunter? Why does this god answer to the call of blood?

Heeseung’s teeth are large. White. Shaped like human teeth. Humans eat everything they can get their hands on. Jungwon speaks, aloud this time. Says,

"Heeseung."

— tooth, tusk, antler, heeseung/jungwon

It hadn’t quite been a constant, what she felt for Gyuri. It couldn’t have been. But she had been in love at fifteen without knowing it, and at nineteen, twenty, too, only recognising it as pre-emptive loss for Gyuri's upcoming departure from the group. Jiheon is now twenty-two and in love with the same woman. Nowadays Baek Jiheon knows her heart well.

— set on it, gyuri/jiheon

Minju hadn’t thought of herself as someone able to pull it out of the other girl until recently, but Yunah was much more receptive to someone else taking charge than it might seem at first.

— make my heart quake, yunah/minju

Rays of sunlight catch the miniscule scales on her wings, resulting in flashes of a small blue spark almost like anbaric, or lightning.

Heeseung watches the butterfly, as though mesmerised by its bright blue colour, He holds a finger out, as if he’s waiting for it to land. He looks gentle.

Jungwon holds his breath; waits for Heeseung’s face to light up with recognition for what the butterfly really is.

Not an ‘it’. A daemon. (His Yiseul.)

Lee Heeseung does not disappoint.

— idyllicism, heeseung/jungwon

“Don’t cry,” Jungwon says, his voice slight and trembling. His fingers are sure when they touch his skin, thumbs wiping away the rivulets of tears until his cheeks are almost dry. “Don’t cry, you don’t have to. Not anymore, I’m here now— b-but it’s okay if you need to. Okay?”

Sunoo looks at him, at the blood smeared messily around his mouth and the sharp little teeth within it. The blood drying underneath his nails. Maybe that’s the problem too, that Jungwon is here now. He shudders out a breath, the tears starting anew. As if able to read his mind, Jungwon makes a pained little noise.

“Don’t— I’m sorry, okay,” Jungwon pleads, “I didn’t mean to scare you, I’m sorry, don’t hate me, please don’t cry because of me—”

And Sunoo hates to admit that he does a little, hates Jungwon just the tiniest bit, for not being who he thought he was. More than that he hates that he hates Jungwon with that tiny sliver of his being, when he feels so much pain from seeing him like this; sympathy cutting at his heart like a knife. Jungwon’s fear and worry, his pretty eyes like two endless pools of ink or a small piece of the universe cut from the night sky, at once so dark and clear.

Sunoo wonders if this is what it’s like, truly seeing another person for what they are. Devastating. Terrifying.

Seeing is knowing. An intimate act of love. Sunoo lets Jungwon dry his tears. He too has been seen.

— it’s okay to best love the taste of your own blood, sunoo/jungwon


Do you have any fanfic or profic goals for the new year?
not really, i write because i enjoy writing / the process / and sometimes finishing something feels really good. i would like to finish at least two of my current wips and post them though.. not naming them incase that’s a curse lol.

but. as always when i’m back in kpop: WRITE MORE GIRL GROUP FIC. idk what happened to me but for the past like.. decade.. (wtf holy shit) but i’ve ended up becoming so uncertain n insecure abt writing it? it's fun though, and i've been warming up by writing r63 i think... there's a certain vulnerability in my mind when i write actual girls, and a bit of guilt when i'm too mean that i don't feel when it comes to m/m or yurified r63 yaoi?

but yeah. not pushing myself too hard re productivity, etc. it tends to backfire. anyhow, this was fun. i was hoping to do the fic commentary version in the same go, but it was too overwhelming .. might still do that one later on?