french fries & milk ice-cream// JENLISA ONESHOTS

fingers tap into what you were once

-jenlisa eternal sunshine of a spotless mind au-

i want to cry my eyes out every time i think about this fic. i would rather fling myself off a cliff than read this again because it is that heart-wrenching, but also i want everyone in the world to read it and experience the brilliance of this story. so pls don't hate me 🙏😬

title is from mumford and sons' whisper in the dark

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The city is warmer than Lisa remembers, and she can feel herself sweating under her coat as she disembarks from her plane. The last time she was here, it had been relatively cooler - she still remembers the shiver that went through her as she looked back one last time over the city before getting into the connecting tube.

All of three years ago. Back then, she'd been so sure she'll never go back.

Then again, here we are, she sighs as she lines up to get her bags from the conveyor belt. Even the airport has changed much in the years between - glossy and new and alien. All of it makes Lisa want to take a step back and breathe in.

This is no longer home.

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Lisa finds herself in one of the newer hotels in town - like the rest of the city's she's seen so far. Lisa had carefully plotted her first few hours in, painstakingly avoiding the usual haunts to avoid unnecessary hauntings: Old diners along old university roads, and all that jazz. She'd even taken to renting a car, even if she hates driving, because she doesn't really want to take the train or the bus, and it's really not because she's opposed to public transport.

Lisa sighs as she sits carefully upon the edge of the hotel bed and removes her shoes. It had only been an hour-and-a-half long flight, but everything just aches.

Well, it could be the city, closing in on me. Lisa lets out a little laugh and shakes her head, the small sound bouncing off the walls. She rolls her sleeves up both her forearms and unbuttons her shirt down to the second button. She's warm and she's starving and looking out the city's twinkling lights, she doesn't quite know where to go.

There used to be a time I knew this place like the back of my hand. She digs into her pocket and slides out her phone: Three messages and one missed call. Grace.

Flight landed safely, Lisa replies. I'll call you in the morning. She hits send, thinking twice about ending it at that. Shaking her head, she sends another one: I love you.

The reply comes some fifteen seconds later. Love you, too.

And then, Come back to me.

Lisa sighs, pocketing her phone again. She thinks about the city she left - about the life she's made there for the past three years, and the girl who's waiting at home. When she moved out of here, she never really thought she'd be starting over easy - but Grace was there, and the rest, as they always say, is history.

Written by the victors, Lisa reminds herself. Rewritten by survivors.

Lisa finds herself walking to the diner across the road from her hotel. It amazes her how this part of town could have grown into something like this - so alive and flourishing. Three years ago, it had been an empty place.

Now everything is just filled. Lisa wonders what else has changed around here. The thought makes her head throb.

Her phone rings incessantly throughout her dinner. Taehyung. Lisa ignores his call pointedly, though by now, he must have already figured out that she's arrived.