yours tomorrow: recording diary

[leejeno]

to start this off, yours tomorrow was supposed to be a completely different story with a completely different plot.

well. scratch that, it was three (3) completely different stories actually.


— version one: princess diaries

the original premise of the fic was going to be a princess diaries type of plot. jaemin was going to be a bored, ordinary man at his office desk job who suddenly finds out he's the next crown prince of south korea. how does jaemin find out? well, a fancy car is parked right outside his office building and a smiley man who smelled of lavender was there to greet him, calling him master. what does jaemin do? run for his life lol

this was a more lighthearted, fun interpretation of the fic, of jeno gently guiding jaemin into the world of sudden royalty, of jaemin adjusting to luxury that he never thought he'd attain so suddenly, and of course, slowly falling in love with jeno who patiently stands by him despite his hiccups. tbh i'd like to explore it again one day.

— version two: rebel second prince is brought back to be the crown prince

in this version of the fic, jaemin is the rebellious second prince that left the palace to be his dirtbag self lol he's staying at an apartment near his uni, just doing things that maybe aren't so royal and princely. that's his big brother yuta's (yeah, it was yuta in this version) responsibility anyway—to find a mate and continue their legacy by bearing an heir.

but yuta had other plans. instead, he eloped with someone that wasn't his fiance without a trace. king namkoong brings jaemin back to make him the new crown prince, and as you could have guessed, jaemin did not like it one bit. he makes a fit all the way to the palace where he was brought to by force. and yet all his anger washes away when jeno greets him by the doors. jaemin rushes up to hug him. jeno is the only person he truly cared for in this palace, and if there was one person that could make him stay, it was jeno.

i didn't really get too far with this, but in the few scenes i managed to write for it, i was able to recycle them for the final fic (i.e. sungkyung fetching jaemin with the family car, jaemin storming into his father's office, jeno running to bring jaemin lunch).

— version three: secret relationship + arranged marriage

this is by far the closest version to the final fic. in this, jaemin and jeno were already sneaking around the palace and sucking face lol the fic starts with them at the library at two in the morning, just kissing and laughing. it was basically an open secret to the staff that they were seeing each other, but nobody said anything, until king namkoong suddenly announced that jaemin was to marry renjun, just like the final fic. this fic has a more teasing, flirty and fun tone to it that i was personally was leaning towards to, but in the end, didn't go for.

— the final version: a fusion

the final version of yours tomorrow is a basically a mix and match of the mentioned previous versions. it essentially had version three's general plot, but it had more heavier, more angst tone to it that the second prompt carried. and just like the first version, jeno was gentle and patient as he stood by jaemin's side.

to be honest, i was tempted to drop this project entirely because it was seriously driving me insane, but i'm glad i pushed through because despite my short comings, it turned out better than expected, especially with it being my first foray into a/b/o.

that's another thing—the entire fic isn't even a/b/o focused at all. it's just a regular modern royalty story and they just somehow have very strong scents lol. everytime i get reminded it's an a/b/o fic i go, "quick! mention the scents, the blockers!" so really, if you came here for that element alone, i guess it's a bit lackluster lol. to be honest it's better that way for me—treating a/b/o as something that is normal and that they're just regular people who just go into heat/rut sometime in the month. they're also easily combated with medicine, so when they do go into heat/rut, it's entirely their choice to want to go through with it.

if i had a say in this, the smut wasn't necessary. i even asked my commissioner if it was alright to do non-sexual a/b/o, but of course i honored their request in the end.

overall, this project was a frustration and a half. after countless changes and second guessings, i'm somehow satisfied with it. i'd love to explore more of the this world, especially since the ending was quite open ended. but really, i'd like to think jaemin and jeno are smart enough to keep their relationship to themselves, even if jaemin really wants to show off jeno to the world. for jeno's own safely, it's better that way. i was thinking that maybe namkoong does catch them one day, but says nothing, and just tells him to be careful. that would mean so much to jaemin. well. now i just made myself sad lol.

while writing this fic, i had this yuri on ice ost on loop (amongst other sad songs), and to be honest it heavily affected the tone and the atmostphere i wanted the fic to have. it's ridiculous but i would put this ost on whenever i had to sit down and write. it somehow helped me get into the mood to write it lol. but i digress.

anyway, if i were to add that scene, the fic would get even longer and oh yeah, did i mention this was supposed to be 10k? lol i really need to work on my word count promises and projections. it's not like i wasn't trying either. i deliberately moved the story along into smaller scenes, and only elaborated certain important scenes. but still. i guess i can't help but get carried away, especially when i have to make the confrontation scenes and the anguish just right, you know?

anyway, i'm grateful to have considerate commissioners who don't mind paying extra for me being dumb and not shutting the fuck up orz. thank you guys. there's another commission fic i have lined up to do. another fic projected at 10-15k. right. we can do this. ao3 user pryvate you can achieve this, i believe in you.