Ep. 1.5: The actual first meeting

Jinyoung’s walked off the moment the cameras switched off, and Yugyeom’s left facing the crew alone. He quickly thanks everyone for their work, and heads off from the corner of the café. He doesn’t bother trying to find Jinyoung, because he knows he’s probably hiding from him. It’s what Jinyoung’s always done in the past anyway, his immediate reaction to things he doesn’t understand.

Yugyeom’s seated on the floor of the dance studio, t-shirt plastered against his back from the intense practice earlier. Everyone has left to get lunch, but he pushed himself too hard just now, so he’s still in the room, stretching out his legs, hoping he’ll be good enough to still dance later. He’s leaning forward when the door click opens, and Jaebum, one of the older trainees, walks in with a new guy he’s never seen before.

“Hi Yugyeom, there’s a new trainee, he just got here. Can I trouble you to show him around? I need to go off so I can’t bring him myself.”

New trainees come in often enough, and even if Yugyeom’s usually too young to be the one bringing them around, he’s definitely familiar enough with the company to guide a new guy, so he tells Jaebum okay. Jaebum gives a bright thanks and leaves almost immediately, leaving Yugyeom to talk to the new guy, whose name he doesn’t even know yet. Figuring he can take the initiative, Yugyeom wipes his damp hands on his pants before he sticks it out, “Hey, I’m Yugyeom. I’ve been a trainee for a year so far. What’s your name?”

The boy in front of him gives a slightly wide-eyed look of surprise, before saying, “I’m Jinyoung, I just joined today,” although he doesn’t take Yugyeom’s offered hand.

Yugyeom retracts it, quickly moving it to rest on his legs like he hadn’t really meant to give a handshake earlier. Whatever, right? He then takes a second to assess the guy in front of him. The new trainee, Jinyoung, has a serious face, although it reads more as neutral than grumpy. When he was walking through the door with Jaebum earlier, Yugyeom had noticed that Jinyoung is just slightly shorter than Jaebum. The general serious air surrounding the guy and his relatively tall built makes Yugyeom think Jinyoung is probably around Jaebum’s age. He chucks that thought aside though, because he suddenly realizes he might have taken too long to reply, so he hurriedly says, “Park Jinyoung? You have the same name as our CEO?”

It isn’t the most exciting reply, and Yugyeom winces inwardly when Jinyoung gives an awkward smile in response. “Yeah hyung, I know. Jaebum hyung said the same thing earlier.”

Yugyeom’s still berating himself in his head for his lame re