CHAPTER 17
⤫ AEON : END OF AN ERAChapter 17
((Okay so, to understand the following: I used a plot-generator to generate a JinHoon fanfic straight out of a crack lab, read it here first. You’re welcome. Also try it, the fics it generates are hilarious.))
It was nice to be home again. Seunghoon didn't really like staying at the group dorm, there were way too many people on way too little square meters for his liking. For convenience sake they didn't really have a choice during promotions, it would mean more hours of sleep if Seokmin only had to make one stop before a 4am pre-recording, but that didn't mean he had to like it.
It was much nicer at the apartment he shared with Chanhee where there was just one person to deal with, and even that was too much sometimes.
Chanhee was lounging on the living room sofa, laptop on his lap, scrolling through whatever sites he frequented on boring afternoons. Seunghoon was playing around on his guitar, seeing if any melodies where coming out today but mostly just passing time too. Neither of them had any schedules and everyone else was busy.
He still remembered the days when any kind of free time was a luxury they weren’t getting, endless practices and tours and flights. He used to daydream about chilling with his guitar when they were hopping from country to country every few days. Now he was bored.
Perspective.
Out of nowhere Chanhee burst out laughing so hard his voice must have hit soundwaves that weren’t even discovered yet. “H-Hoonie!” he choked out between convulsions of laughter. “Oh my god you have to read this!”
Seunghoon rolled his eyes. “Are you reading fanfic again? Why do you do that to yourself? Who’s the ship now and don’t you dare read me the filthy bits I still have nightmares from your last one.”
“How could I not when gems like these exist?!” Chanhee exclaimed, brushing a tear from his eyes. “It’s not I swear. Are you ready for this?”
“No, but something tells me that won't stop you,” Seunghoon said.
“‘Two Begrudging Uncles Hitting on to the Beat, by Lavendermalibu.’”
“What kind of name is Lavendermalibu? That doesn't make any sense.”
“That's the part you're zoning into? Out of all of that?”
“Fine. Who are the ahjussis?”
“You,” said Chanhee. “And Jinyoung.”
Seunghoon groaned. “That's the unluckiest ship in the world. I didn't even know there were any fans left who were that delusional. Impressive, really.”
“It's from 2015, I think. Come on stop groaning it's really short I promise.” Chanhee cleared his throat before continuing in his dramatic narrator voice. “‘Kim Seunghoon was thinking about Seo Jinyoung again. Jinyoung was a brave super poopy with dark biceps and sweaty glutes.’”
Seunghoon snorted. “Sweaty glutes? Really?”
“I know right!” Chanhee said gleefully. “This is amazing! There's more: ‘Seunghoon walked over to the window and reflected on his Sticky surroundings. He had always loved Smokey MAMA's afterparty with its dull, drab drunk idols being embarrassing. It was a place that encouraged his tendency to feel annoyed.’”
“Rude.”
“But true.”
“Still rude. At least they got the MAMAs after party down accurately.”
“Shht, let me continue,” Chanhee said and cleared his throat again. “‘Then he saw something in the distance, or rather someone. It was the a brave figure of Seo Jinyoung.’”
Seunghoon snorted even harder. “That’s one way to put it.”
“Are you going to keep interrupting me?”
“You’re reading this for me aren’t you?”
Chanhee laughed. “No I’m definitely reading this for me. Ahem. ‘Seunghoon gulped. He glanced at his own reflection. He was a hopeful, rude, soju drinker with freckly bicepts and pink glutes. His friends saw him as a spilt, stale super gay. Once, he had even jumped into a river and saved a strong one of the many Hyunas.’”
“Okay now you’re ting me, it does not say freckly biceps and pink glutes. This has got to be a joke. And it cannot just call me a super gay, that’s classified information!”
Chanhee laughed. “Someone knoooows! If it’s joke it’s the best one I’ve ever heard in my life." He cleared his throat before continuing in his orator voice. "‘But not even a hopeful person who had once jumped into a river and saved a strong one of the many Hyunas, was prepared for what Jinyoung had in store today.’
The flash storm teased like dancing SISTAR, making Seunghoon melancholy. Seunghoon grabbed a glittering disco ball that had been strewn nearby; he massaged it with his fingers. As Seunghoon stepped outside and Jinyoung came closer, he could see the cold glint in his eye.’”
“That part’s accurate.”
“Shhhht let me continue. ‘Jinyoung glared with all the wrath of 3685 sad mushy members of btob. He said, in hushed tones, "I hate you and I want some peace and quiet."’”
“It’s uncanny how spot on they got Jinyoung.”
Chanhee snorted too. “I know right?! It’s his spitting image. ‘Seunghoon looked back, even more melancholy and still the glittering disco ball. "Jinyoung, you're a flipping dip," he replied.’”
Seunghoon actually burst out laughing this time. “That did not go where I thought it would go but oh my god it’s so true!”
Chanhee wheezed too. “I knew you’d love that part. ‘They looked at each other with nostalgic feelings, like two disgusted, determined dispatch journalists smoking at a very drunk after party, which had kpop music playing in the background and two begrudging uncles hitting on to the beat.’”
“It can’t really say that,” Seunghoon said. “I can believe everything else but this.” He leaned over the back of the sofa to peer at the screen. Yep. There it was. It was all there.
“Told you I wasn’t lying!”
“Hey I’m not the uncle though, they’re separate.”
“I think it’s a metaphor for you both,” Chanhee said.
“Right. It’s a real literary masterpiece.”
Chanhee cleared his throat pointedly again and continued. “‘Seunghoon studied Jinyoung's dark bicepts and sweaty glutes. Eventually, he took a deep breath. "I'm sorry," began Seunghoon in apologetic tones, "but I don't feel the same way, and I never will. I just don't hate you Jinyoung."’” he said it dramatically, with all the emotions he possessed.’”
“Please, god, release me from this torture,” Seunghoon said. “I swear I’ll stop being a sinful sodomist just save me, please.”
Chanhee was laughing so much he was having trouble continuing. He took a desperate breath and half-giggled the ending to the story. “‘Jinyoung looked reverent, his emotions raw like a wet, wide whole bottle of gin that was already almost empty. Seunghoon could actually hear Jinyoung's emotions shatter into 9569 pieces. Then the brave super poopy hurried away into the distance.
Not even a drink of soju would calm Seunghoon's nerves tonight.
THE END’”
“That was it?”
“Do you want more? I can find more.”
“God, no!”
“Admit it, that was amazing.”
Seunghoon laughed. “It was definitely…. Something.”
“I am going to print 9569 copies of it and use it for wallpaper all around the apartment.”
“I hate you so much.”
“Come, sit!” Chanhee patted the sofa next to him. “We’ll find a truly awful one of mine to make things even.”
“Why do you do this to yourself?”
“It’s fun!” Chanhee protested. “Come on!”
“Fine,” Seunghoon said, but he was grinning as he dropped onto the couch. “But it has to be the same author.”
“A fan, I see.”
“Nothing else will compare.”
“Are you sure? This one ships me with Kim Jong Un.”
“You've always had a taste above your station."
“Why are you so cruel to me?!”
“Because you deserive it!”
“So what you’re saying is,” Minjun started. “If I sign with you I’m guaranteed to debut, but it’ll be with some nugu group?”
The manager guy frowned. “One of the members recently got a great amount of press from a drama he starred in. It won’t be nugu much longer.” He honestly looked pretty boring, some middle aged guy in a dress shirt with sleeves pushed up to his elbows, slacks, and glasses. A dime in a dozen around the upper floors of any entertainment company, Minjun had never really given those kind of guys some mid before. He’d kind of hoped the manager of his future group would be someone cool and young. This guy looked plain boring. An actor though? At least this nugu group wasn’t chanceless. He might just entertain the idea.
It had all started a week ago at the trainee evaluations. There had been an mysterious figure watching along, someone none of them had seen before. Then, a few days ago, he’d been approached by the same guy asking if he wanted to debut with some no name boy group instead of waiting to see if JYPE would. Minjun, of course, had considered it. It’d be foolish not to consider each and every opportunity that came onto his path. So here he was. He hadn’t said how seriously he’d consider it, though. The company building was pitiful, honestly. It didn’t look like anything he wanted to, you know, devote his youth and future career to. But that actor bit, he was curious about that he had to admit.
“What drama?” he asked out of curiosity.
The manager smiled. “Reply 1997.”
“Really?” Minjun’s eyes widened and he scooching to the top of his seat. “Who was it? Wait, was it Yoonjae?”
“It was!” the manager said. “So you see, we are quite certain that Aeon’s comeback efforts will prove more than satisfactory.”
Okay.
Okay.
Where should he sign?
What Boring McBoringshirt meant in normal not dead inside Korean: the drama was the bomb, the guy was the bomb, so obviously this comeback was going to be the bomb too. Oh yes, this changed things. This changed everything. “So, why do you need me?” An established group of seven with a now star actor under their belt didn’t seem like the kind that needed an addition, not that he was complaining anymore.
“Two of the original members left during the hiatus,” the manager said. He’d definitely introduced himself at the start of all of this but, honestly, Minjun had forgotten his name about the same time he’d said it. “The CEO thinks that 5 is too low a number for a boy group, and he wants to introduce more visuals into the group. That’s where you come in.”
Aaah so he got to be the visual too! This was sounding better and better by the minute. “Where do I sign up?” Really, he’d made his mind somewhere around the words Reply 1997 and Yoonjae. He was so looking forward to meeting Yoonjae! Well… Woo… something? He’d work on the whole actually remembering his name thing. Yoonjae was the important part, anyway.
The manager produced a contract and a pen to sign it with. “Don’t worry about JYPE, we’ll handle the transfer and contract breakage fees and all of that. If you’re up for it we can have you transferred to Aeon’s dorm today, I’ll personally drive you to pick up your things. Sound good?”
“Sound great!”
And just like that he was on his way to grab his stuff and move into a shiny new dorm! It took a little while to gather his belongs from where he’d tossed them all over the trainee dormitory, all the while he was giddy with excitement. He was debuting! Hah, guess he’d really been true to his word to Inshik before! This was a perfect opportunity and no way he was going to let it pass by.
He was debuting!
ing finally.
And as a visual no less. Finally someone who appreciated his god given face, he didn’t even have to visit Gangnam for it. Take that plastic losers! Before he knew it his suitcase was tossed into the back of the car and he was off to whatever place he was going to stay at now. Aaaad then the car pulled into a parking lot.
The new dorm was… an acquired taste. It much shabbier than the JYPE training dorm, but at least he wouldn’t have to share it with as many people? And if he was debuting then he could live in rags for a bit, they’d build themselves up to deserve better quarters soon enough. After all, their group had Yoonjae, nation’s son, and Minjun, soon to be nation son-er. Nothing could go wrong there! The manager directed him to throw his stuff into a room with two double beds in them, though one of them was broken and the other currently being used as storage. Minjun had to toss all the discarded clothes and facial creams and stuff off the bed to even be able to sit on it. Oh well. He was sure the owner of the facial creams (he checked the label, ew Etude House why wouldn’t you use Tonymoly the packaging was so much cuter) wouldn’t mind.
“Are you ready?” Manager dude called from the living room. “Come on, I’ll drive you back to HQ to actually meet the members.”
Right! Meeting the members, that was a thing. “Coming!” He couldn’t really remember any of their songs or ever really hearing anything about them so that would be interesting. He wondered what their sound was. He hoped it wouldn’t be something super cute or whatever. , he probably should have asked that before signing the contract. Not that it would have mattered, really. Yoonjae tho.
His heart was actually hammering when they approached what manager dude called the trainee basement. He was actually going to meet Yoonjae! And the other guys, he supposed. But mostly Yoonjae.
“Why do I have to do it twice?” a voice within was audible even from outside of the door. “You’re going to drop me!”
“Wonwoo gets pushed up too and he doesn’t complain,” Another voice said, and Minjoon recognized this one! Y o o n j a e. “Trust us, we’re not going to drop you.”
“Easier said than done! No no no no no stop, hyung, you’re going to drop me!!”
The manager knocked and opened the door and five curious eyes stared right at him. Two of them were holding up another. Minjun immediately recognized one of them as Yoonjae and felt his heart flutter. He looked exactly the same in real life.
“Who’s that?” the other one who was holding the guy up asked.
“This,” the manager says with some reluctance. Rude. He’d caught that. “Is your newest group member, Shin Minjun.”
A silence hang in the air. “What now?” Yoonjae said.
“With the loss of two members, the CEO thought it prudent to add a new member,” the manager explained. “To bolster your numbers.”
“Isn’t an even number harder to choreograph for?” the one standing to the side asked.
“Six or seven is the optimal number for a boy group,” the manager said.
“You can’t just add someone new!” Yoonjae protested.
“Well, I mean, he can,” the one to the side said. “It happens all the time.”
“Not helping!”
“Maybe we should stop talking before the esteemed CEO decides to add a seventh,” the one who’d been holding down the feet of the hanging guy muttered. Minjun narrowed his eyes. He’d heard that, too.
“Why are you doing this?” Yoonjae asked, getting up from his position and all but launched the one he’d been holding up all the way to his feet. “We don’t need any new additions. We’re fine as it is.”
Not exactly the reaction Minjun had hoped for.
“Minjun here is a good dancer and a capable rapper and vocalist,” the manager defended him. Minjun crossed his arms. Good. About time someone stood up for him. “He will make a fine addition to the team.”
“How old is he even?” Yoonjae continued. “He looks way too young to be debuting.”
“He’s only a year younger than Baekhyun was in 2010,” the manager said. “Don’t be unreasonable, Chanhee. I expected better of you.”
“Unreasonable? I’ll sho-” Yoonjae -or Chanhee he guessed? - sputtered. The squinty eyed one got up and put a hand on his shoulder and Chanhee stopped at least, crossing his arms and glaring instead.
“What about the choreography?” the one to the side asked. “We’ve been practicing the steps the choreographer showed us yesterday and the formations are sometimes very specifically tailored to five people. It will be difficult to alter that to six.”
The manager nodded. “I understand that, Wonwoo, I would have liked them to have waited for the contract negotiations with Minjun to be over before you started recording and learning the dance but the CEO thought it would be more time-productive to start already. Nevertheless the choreographer has been informed and will edit the dance accordingly and for this comeback Minjun will only take a few of Wonwoo’s lines.”
“What?” Minjun frowned. How was he supposed to show off his genius and visuals if he barely had any lines?
The manager was obviously getting impatient with both sides. “It’s just for this comeback, Minjun,” he said as he pinched the bridge of his nose. “You’ll get more lines next time.”
Fine. Whatever. Debuting was more important right now than how many lines he got.
“Look at it this way,” The manager said. “Jinyoung, you’ll have an extra pair of hands to support you in the dance segments. I know it scares you to be pushed up from the floor to a standing position and vice versa. Now you have more support.”
“I guess,” the Jinyoung guy muttered.
“And for the others, it’ll be good to have a fresh face in the group, or do you really want Jinyoung to be the maknae?”
“I think he’d make an excellent maknae,” Chanhee grumbled. Wow, Minjun’s respect for this guy was plummeting fast. “Do you know a guy with more aegyeo than our Jinyoung here?”
Jinyoung stepped back and shook his head. “N-no I-” The squinty one snorted.
“Alright, I will leave you to get acquainted,” the manager interjected. “There’s not much Minjun can do today. Tomorrow I will take Minjun to record his lines and you will all have a session with the choreographer who will be amending what you’ve learned so far, but it should only delay the schedule by a day or two at most. I’m sure he’ll catch up quickly.”
“It’s not him I’m concerned about,” one of them muttered.
Manager guy sighed. Minjun rolled his eyes, what did he have to be tired about? Minjun was the one who had to actually deal with this . “Take him through the song, please. I’ll be back soon to deliver the new line division.”
The manager left the room and in his wake was a lot of awkward silence. “Hey,” Minjun said eventually. If he had to be the bigger guy (theoretically at least, all but the Jinyoung guy were taller than him goddamnit) then so be it. Shame on them. “I’m Shin Minjun. Though you know that already I guess, manager dude said that. What’s up? New group mate and stuff. Maybe try not to be a for the first ten minutes, cool?”
Chanhee opened his mouth but the squinty one elbowed him and he just crossed his arms. More silence. Great. They just kept staring at him like this was a zoo and he was behind the plexiglass. Finally one of them cleared his throat. “I’m Cha Wonwoo,” he said. “This is Seo Jinyoung,” he indicated the not maknae anymore (Minjun would make a much better one, he agreed with manager dude). “Bang Youngbae.” The one he pointed to did a weirdly pathetic cheerful sort of wave. Wait, he hadn’t said anything this entire time, Minjun had forgotten he existed at all. He just looked really uncomfortable and did the most half hearted and pathetic wave Minjun had ever seen. “Kim Seunghoon,” he pointed at the squinty eyed one who just looked back at him with disinterest. “And-”
“Woosu,” Minjun interrupted him. “I know who he is.”
“Good for you,” Yoonjae/Chanhee/Woosu replied.
“His name is Woo Chanhee,” Wonwoo said. “Though, yes, his stagename is Woosu. You’ve seen the drama then?”
Minjun nodded. At least this one was civil. “I have.”
“Pleased to meet you Minjun,” Wonwoo said. “Can I talk to you for a second?”
Minjun shrugged and followed the guy out of the room. Just before he left he was sure he could hear someone muttering behind his back but he couldn’t quite make it out. Well, there his good mood went right down the drain.
“Sorry about the reactions of the others,” Wonwoo said. At least someone was aware that they were being real jerks to him. “But you have to understand that we weren’t expecting this at all. We were completely blindsided. We’ve been a group for almost three years now, it’ll be difficult to get used to a new member but I’m sure things will smooth over quickly enough once they get over the shock of it all.”
Minjun crossed his arms. “That doesn’t mean they get to be jerks to me. They don’t even know me!”
“Be that as it may,” Wonwoo said. “You’re trespassing right now. Give them time, okay? They’ll come around.”
“Fine,” Minjun grumbled. “But they had better come around. This .”
“I know. Come on kid,” Wonwoo steered him back towards the practice room. “Let’s go teach you the song.
“He’s the worst!” Chanhee said, head leaning on the cafe counter. “The absolutely worst. What the hell was Helix thinking?! He’s annoying! He’s contrary! He’s insolent! He thinks he’s always right!”
“He’s a teenager,” Hyeran provided. “I think that’s the word you’re looking for.”
“He’s a teenager!” Chanhee threw up his hands dramatically. “How are we supposed to work with that?! He doesn’t fit the group at all! None of us are teenagers anymore!”
“You’ve only spent 5 days with him,” Hyeran said. “Come on, give him a chance.”
“Youngbae hyung isn’t helping either, his non existent leadership basically enables this kid to do whatever the hell he wants. Ugh. Kill me now I beg of you.”
“What happened to ‘yay Aeon is coming back’! Your career is back on the raise!” she dropped her tone low in a mockery of his own voice. “‘Hey everyone, I’m Woo Chanhee and I won best couple at the drama awards I’m so awesome fear meee.’ Where’s that gone?”
“I do not sound like that!”
“You definitely sound like that.”
“You do kind of sound like that,” Seunghoon added.
“I hate it whenever I bring you along,” Chanhee grumbled. “You always take her side!”
Seunghoon shrugged. “She’s always right.”
Hyeran grinned and high fived him. Chanhee just groaned and dropped his head on the counter again. “Victimized in my own cafe!”
“What do you think of this newcomer, Seunghoon?” Hyeran asked, ignoring the overdramatic mess probably drooling on her counter right now.
“He’s… not very easy to work with,” Seunghoon said. “Chanhee has that right. But I don’t think we’re very easy to work with either. I mostly just kind of ignore him.”
“Which doesn’t help either,” Chanhee pointed out. “I just-UGH.”
Seunghoon nodded. “Yeah that about sums it up. We’ve got no choice in this matter, anyway. We’ll have to work with him so might as well try to work with him as best we can.”
“Easy for you to say,” Chanhee said. “You barely exchange two words with him.”
“It works for me.”
“UGH.”
“When do you have to get back?” Hyeran asked. “Do you want to stay and chat a bit? I hardly see you anymore.”
“We’re doing comeback preparation,” Chanhee said. “It’s all I can do to make coffee run excuses. Half the time Seokmin hyung offers to do them so I have to keep on working.”
“We can stay for as long as we can justify stalling,” Seunghoon said. “Though I suppose the practice room is going to be on fire no matter when we return. Now or in thirty minutes, does it really matter?”
“That bad, huh?” Hyeran asked.
Chanhee sighed. “Our leader can’t lead, our newest maknae is a little who can’t do as he’s told, Jinyoung has no patience for him either and will probably snap any second, and Wonwoo is… Wonwoo.”
“It’s that bad,” Seunghoon confirmed.
“How are things going here?” Chanhee asked.
“Same old same old,” Hyeran answered. “It’s quiet today, though there seem to be some people waiting outside for some reason.”
They both turned around to look out the window and, indeed, there were some curious onlookers trying to peer through. The door opened and a trio of girls came in, giggling as they eyed Chanhee and Seunghoon and got to the counter. “How may I help you?” Hyeran asked cautiously.
Only one of the girls even noticed she had asked and nudged the other two to attention. All three almost looked startled at being asked what they wanted to order in… a cafe… They peered at the menu while continuously glancing at Seunghoon and Chanhee.
“Eh… hi?” Chanhee said uncertainty. Seunghoon supposed they were fans, this had been happening outside every so often as they walked to and from the company hq, but it was the first time they had followed him into the cafe. Seunghoon just took a step to the side, they were never here for him anyway.
The girls whispered together until one of them, the bravest one apparently, stepped forward. “Excuse me, are you Woosu? From Reply 1997?”
Chanhee smiled that smile he put on whenever any of his fans were around. It was still kind of crazy to think that he had fans in the first place, but over the past few weeks he’d been stopped on the street more and more often. Seunghoon supposed they should have known someone might see Chanhee enter the cafe. He mourned the quiet space and chill conversations if the news came out that Woosu from Reply 1997 frequently went here for his coffee, though at least it would be more sales for Hyeran.
He stayed out of sight while Chanhee smiled and signed some notebook or other and took a selfie with the girls. He noticed Hyeran looked a little annoyed too. He supposed it wasn’t very fun to see her man get fawned over by strangers, though she should have known what she was getting into. He knew they’d first kissed on the evening Chanhee had announced his casting, that same night Chanhee had burst into the dorm and told Seunghoon all about how he’d kissed Hyeran and how great it had been (following up with an ‘oh, yeah, and also I got cast in that drama’, idiot). At that point she really had no right to complain. Which, to be fair, she didn’t. Not out loud at least. He couldn’t fault her for silently complaining with her face, hiding her feelings had never been her strongest suit.
He checked his phone, purely out of habit. No messages of course. Why would there be messages?
“Here are your coffees,” Hyeran said pointedly, placing the coffees on the counter with a little more force than necessary. Seunghoon snorted but thankfully she didn’t notice. Smooth.
“Oh, look at that,” Chanhee quickly grabbed one of the trays. “I have to go bring this coffee to my group members. My Aeon group members.. Anticipate our comeback in a month or so! Byeee!”
Seunghoon snorted again as he grabbed the other tray and followed. They were quite the smooth pair, those two. “Bye Hyeran!”
There were a couple more onlookers outside but Chanhee managed to brush past them with polite thank yous while Seunghoon followed. “You’re getting good at avoiding them,” he said.
“I’m not gonna look any gift fan in the mouth,” Chanhee said. “Even if they can be a little inconvenient when you’re really trying to caffeinate your group so they don’t all kill each other. Though I won’t pretend I’m pleased they found out about Hyeran’s cafe.”
“Hey at least the cafe is doing well with all of those hopeful girls wanting to sneak a peek at the mighty Woosu,” Seunghoon pointed out.
“True!” Chanhee grinned. “There’s that at least.”
Fans. If all went to Helix’ plan they would all have fans soon enough. He should be excited about that, wasn’t it everything he’d wanted? For people to listen to him sing and to adore him? He supposed one didn’t become an idol trainee if they didn’t want to be adored, deep down. He’d probably feel different when it actually were his fans instead of just waiting on the sidelines for them to fawn over Chanhee, not sparing him a second glance. Probably.
Chanhee held the door open for him before they reluctantly descended into the trainee basement.
“Now taking bets on who survived,” Seunghoon said.
“Youngbae has been working out a lot,” Chanhee pointed out.
Seunghoon laughed. Cute. “He’d be the first casualty. My vote goes to Wonwoo. Beware the quiet ones.”
“You’re plenty quiet nowadays.”
Seunghoon laughed. “Maybe you should be more wary then.”
Chanhee laughed too and put his elbow on the doorhandle. “Well, here goes!”He pushed open the door and- well nothing was on fire.
“You’re doing it wrong again. It’s left first, then right, how hard is that?!”
“You’ve been in his group for literally days! What makes you think you know what’s right?”
“Well, I mean, he was right. Hyung, it’s left shoulder forward.”
“I’m so sorry! I’ll do it better next time!”
“That’s what you sad the last 10 times too!”
“It’s not literal fire?” Seunghoon offered.
Chanhee just sighed. “Yo! Coffee break!”
Minjun made a face. “Did you remember to get me cocoa?”
. They had not. “Coffee or nothing,” Chanhee said.
“Cocoa has too much sugar,” Wonwoo added. “I don’t think we’re supposed to have that.”
“But I don’t like coffee!” Minjun whined.
“Then drink water!” Jinyoung snapped. “Like a normal person.”
Yeah, this was going to be a very very long day. Long month. Long year? Long career? They’d have to get used to each other at some point, right? What was that about those idol stories about members getting along perfectly like they were siblings all along?
He sighed. He sat in the corner and sipped his bitter coffee.
Ah well. Time to ignore it all again, it had been working for him the past 5 days, it would work for him the next year, right?
Right
“Look at how cool it all looks!” Minjun went around the set of their music video with wide eyes of wonder. He was such a rookie, except Jinyoung had never been this unprofessional when Aeon had first debuted.
They all filtered into the actual studio after the stylists were done with them (for now). Jinyoung had missed all of this dearly. The styling, the cameras, the whole actually doing it part. Practice was all well and good, confined to the stuffy practice rooms perpetually smelling like sweat, but it hadn’t really felt real until he saw the black eye of the camera pointed his way. This. This was real. This was really happening.
He had to admit, as idiotic as Minjun was acting, the set did look very nice. Possibly the nicest set they’d ever had, though it could compete with The Chaser. There were huge gears piled all around making the box-set not look so… box-ey. Not only that but there were huge clocks in the background too which looked really cool, it all created this really three dimensional look and hid the fact that, yep, they were just in a studio dancing. He approved. It had been a while since he had felt this content about everything that was happening with Aeon!
“There’s even a gear on the floor!” Youngbae said excitedly. Of course their ;leader’ wasn’t held back by pride either. “It really is cool!” So much for professionalism.
Their outfits were nice too, he did have to admit that. Sleek grey tailored suits for each of them. No bare chests for him this time, thank god, or whatever the hell thoae Standing Still costumes had been. Just dressed up in fancy suits. He liked it. It was classy. The whole production was probably more expensive than any of their MVs had been so far. Helix really wasn’t messing around with their comeback. Jinyoung smiled. This was finally it. Finally it was what it should all have been all along! The song was good, the styling was good, the MV was good. This had to be it. If they didn’t chart with all of this then he didn’t know what they had to do.
“Apparently we’ve got some scenes with a girl as well,” Chanhee said, quickly checking himself out in a nearby mirror, because of course he was.
Wait, a girl! Could it be? Jinyoung’s eyes widened. “Do you know who it is?” What if- what if it was her?!
“I don’t!” Chanhee said. “I haven’t seen any of the other trainees in a while. I hope whoever it is is a good actress.”
Please be Hana, please be Hana, please be Hana.
He hadn’t seen her since she’d introduced herself two months ago. Like Chanhee said, they hadn’t seen any of the idol trainees. Probably because they’d been blocking the only training room in Helix, they might have had to do their practice elsewhere.
He noticed Chanhee rolled his eyes as he watched Minjun and Youngbae playing around with the gears, making dumb faces in between the gaps and generally being immature. At least Chanhee agreed, though Jinyoung didn’t really want to say something about it.
The director clapped his hands. “Come on, get ready to shoot the first dance takes.” He already sounded annoyed. Jinyoung was pretty sure it was going to be as long a day for him as it was for them. He really hoped they wouldn’t annoy him further but with Minjun and Youngbae in the group he feared the worst.
It felt weird being here without Joowon. Usually he’d be the one to instigate a cheer and bring them together, to get them all in line before the director and bowing their greeting before the guy could even think about getting annoyed. He always knew exactly what to do and when to do it.
He missed Joowon a lot.
Nothing to do about that he supposed. Joowon had walked out all of his own accord. Left them all to their own devices. And now they’d be showing him exactly what he was missing. It’s all they could do. What did they say about revenge through success or something of the sort?
They got to their places and the music started. Jinyoung felt his heart hammer in his chest every single time he had to trust the guys to push him up and to lower him back down. Why did he have to be the one who had to do all that?? And why did Minjun have to be one of the ones he had to trust?! He sort of trusted Seunghoon with it, and was glad when the choreographer had switched him instead of Chanhee, but he trusted Minjun about as far as he could throw him.
He liked the rest of the dance well enough, at least there was that, though the body rolls felt a little awkward. Just the lifting and lowering… he still had bruises from the times they’d dropped him just last week. At least it wasn’t like Standing Still again, anything but that. He’d let them lift him over and over for an entire song before he had to do that suggestive dance again.
They ran through it a half dozen times before the director okayed them and they were shooed off the set for some re-configuration. The stylist and assistants came to dab at their sweat and make sure their careful makeup wouldn’t be ruined, and meanwhile a familiar face was leaning against the wall, dark hair falling contrast with a pristine white dress.
“Hey losers,” Seoyeon said. “Another day another MV, huh?”
“Really?” Chanhee asked. “The sent you again?”
“Do try to contain your enthusiasm, oppa.”
“Hah,” Seunghoon said. “He’s right, the fans are going to think the company just really ships it.”
“Honestly this whole plot is just Wow 2.0,” she said. “Apparently I even disappear at the end.”
Chanhee laughed. “I guess we can never keep the girl, huh? Wow, Paradise, The Chaser, Standing Still, Nothing’s Over… There’s a pattern here.”
“Don’t want the fans thinking they have competition,” Seoyeon pointed out.
Seunghoon snorted. “I like you.”
“Who are you?” Minjun bounded up to them.
“Charmed,” Seoyeon said sarcastically.
“Hey Seoyeon!” Youngbae soon followed. “This is Seoyeon, she’s cool! She’s gonna be in the next girl group! Seoyeon, this is Minjun, our newest group member.”
“So this is the squirt,” she said, amused. “He’s a shortie.”
“You’re way shorter than me,” Minjun pointed out.
“Doesn’t change the fact that you’re a shortie too.”
“Don’t mind her,” Youngbae said quickly. “She’s just like that.”
Next girl group! Of course there would be a next girl group, and Jinyoung knew exactly who would be in that. “How, eh, are the other trainees?” He asked, trying to be very smooth about it, while Seunghoon and Chanhee were whisked away to change.
She cocked her head. “Why are you asking?”
“I don’t know, I’m just curious!” Was it just him or did it get a lot warmer in here all of a sudden?
“Gongjoo is a stick in the mud as ever and Bongcha still hasn’t learned to shut up,” Seoyeon said. “I would die for them.”
“Is there just the three of you?” he asked, cautiously. “That’s not a very big group.”
“There were more before,” Seoyeon said. “But they dropped like flies when the whole Aeon hiatus happened and nobody cared about us anymore. You weren’t the only ones affected by your failure, you know.”
Jinyoung exchanged a look with Youngbae, neither of them knew how to respond to this. He thought she was being really unfair but he didn’t really want to come out and actually say it. Not to her face, at least.
It was Wonwoo who answered after a very uncomfortable silence (and Jinyoung hadn’t even seen him approach, how did he always do that?!). “It’s true, I can imagine something like that has consequences for everyone in the company.”
“Oh, I didn’t mean it like that, I’m sorry,” Seoyeon said. “Sometimes things just come out. You know how I am.”
“Pretty rude it seems to me,” Minjun said.
“Yeah, that sounds about right.” She smiled.
To Jinyoung’s surprise Minjun actually smiled back. “It’s refreshing!” he said. “You can stay.”
“Oh, however will I thank you for your generous approval?” Seoyeon said the way only Seoyeon could, but she was still smiling.
They were…. Getting along? That just made Jinyoung more confused. Then, before anyone knew it, Chanhee and Seunghoon were done changing and getting styled and Seoyeon was shooed off to shoot their scenes with the piano without ever answering the single question that was on Jinyoung’s mind:
What about Hana?
And thus the day dragged on and on. MV shoots took so long and Seokmin had confiscated their phones for the day in case someone tweeted something he wasn’t supposed to (mostly Minjun, who was profiting so hard from the phone privileges that Aeon had earned for themselves, by which he meant at this point even Seokmin knew that they would probably riot if he tried to actually take their hard-earned phones away). There was nothing to do but attempt to tolerate Minjun as he blabbed a mile a minute about how excited he was to debut and how Seoyeon noona was really cool and how the set design was so pretty and high budget and how he wished he had his phone so he could tweet all about it.
Had he been this annoying during his first MV recording? It felt so long ago, when they’d recorded Wow. Seoyeon had been there too, as bitter as she was now, and the plot had really been quite similar. Huh. He liked to think he had handled his first time with a little more dignity.
He sighed. He was really trying to give Minjun the benefit of the doubt but it was really hard sometimes. Especially once he started complaining about being hungry again. They were all hungry, none of them had eaten anything more than some fruit today, they’d been dieting for weeks. It really wasn’t helping to have someone constantly broadcast what they were all feeling.
Thankfully soon enough they were being whisked into new costumes and running through the dance again, and once again Jinyoung lost 10 years of his life every single time Minjun and Seunghoon pushed him up from the floor.
And then they were back to being dabbed by assistants while the new set got rearranged into whatever the scenes with the girl needed. Jinyoung was pushed towards the changing area and he tried to get changed as quickly as possible so he could join the others before the stage hands were finishing putting all the props in place. This time! This time he would ask!
“So, how’s that new trainee Helix reeled in?” Chanhee asked just as Jinyoung came out of the changing area. His heart skipped a beat, finally!
“You mean Hana?” Seoyeon asked. “She’s been a riot that’s for sure.”
“Isn’t she one of the SM rookies?”
“She was,” Seoyeon confirmed. “Didn’t fit their image apparently. She says she doesn’t mind one bit. She says she’ll show them exactly what they’re missing, actually did a little hip while she said it. Honestly she strut right into the practice session like she owned the place.”
Chanhee raised his eyebrows. “You sound like you admire her for it.”
“Of course I do!” Seoyeon said. “How could I not? That women is a hurricane in a bottle and I don’t know about you but I want to be on the front row for this.”
“Well she’s gonna be in your group,” Chanhee pointed out. “I’d say that count as front row and then some.”
“You got me there. She’s cool though, she works hard and seems very committed to getting along and being a team, and anyone who’s like that is okay in my book.”
So Hana had been part of the SM rookies? She really didn’t seem like she fit their style, SM’s idols were all prim and proper and Hana was, how had Seoyeon put it? A hurricane in a bottle? He’d only seen her once but he knew that much. But maybe that was the point of why she was here now. Helix seemed really good at poaching trainees from other companies if Hana and Minjun were anything to go by.
He didn’t have the chance to ask anything more, the crazy filming carousel started spinning again and Jinyoung was swept away to try and suppress his awkwardness long enough for the director to get some decent shots and not get too annoyed with him. He failed, of course, and still got the ire of the director when he failed to produce any chemistry with Seoyeon whatsoever. He was supposed to be the one who was waking up in bed next to her but those plans were quickly scrapped in favor of a scene where he just ‘sketched’ her (in reality the sketch was already on the paper and he just moved the pencil to hopefully make it look like was was totally doing this while also not instantly ruining the paper). Absolutely zero physically contact worked a lot better for him, apparently.
As soon as the director freed him from his shame he went to sit in a corner and sulk. It felt so to be a constant disappointment, why couldn’t he just have some chemistry with a girl? He liked girls! Like, a lot. It’s not like he had any trouble admiring girls any other time. It was just… different to have to actually talk to them and touch them and- now he was blushing. Why was he like this?!
“What are you angsting in the corner for, hyung?” Minjun dropped down next to him. Curse his luck.
“Nothing,” Jinyoung said. “I’m just waiting. I’m not angsting.”
“Oh please,” Minjun said. “I could feel the angsting aura from a mile away.”
“I’m not angsting!” Jinyoung burst out. Why wasn’t he just bothering someone else? “Do you hear that? I think the stylist is calling me for an outfit change, bye!” He scrambled up and left Minjun alone.
Ah, he was so hungry! He was going to devour whatever food there was for lunch. If there was food at all. Oh how he hoped there would be food. But his figure- oh no he couldn’t devour anything. He shouldn’t. His stomach grumbled in protest.
The rest of the day and night went smoothly at least. After he had taken considerable time to get over the firsthand embarrassment that had been his scene with Seoyeon he actually did okay on the others. They got some food halfway through (meager chicken but still, god he’d forgotten how miserable idol diets could be, but it was worth it for the abs) and that made everything that much more bearable, the little bit he’d allowed himself to eat.
At the end of the day he felt like he could sleep for a week, knew that he’d only get to sleep for 4 hours, but also knew that they had filmed what was their best music video so far.
It was finally happening. The light at the end of the tunnel. All thanks to Chanhee.
Aeon was back again.
Youngbae was about as excited as he’d ever been to go to a music show. This was finally happening again! Not even that, but they even got a single minute to perform a second song! When had that ever happened before?!
And then when they’d actually gotten to the Music Bank venue, there were actually some fans waiting for them. Fans! For them! With signs and everything!! There were actual people who were, well, essentially making their lives about them. It was awesome!
Seokmin lead them to their waiting room, a much better deal than they’d gotten for the last few comebacks that was for sure. Their stylist was already there, or at least he assumed that’s who she was since she was carrying a bunch of clothing bags and junk, but he’d never seen her before.
“Noona?” Wonwoo asked with a frown. “Where is Ahyoung? Where’s our usual stylist? And what are you doing here?”
“Good morning to you too, Wonwoo,” she said a little prickly.
“You were on hiatus for a while,” Seokmin said gently. “She had to move on to other artists and she couldn’t just drop them and hop back in. We’ve had to hire a different stylist.”
This Yoonah looked at all of them with impatience already present and the day had only just begun. She gave him bad feels. “Come on,” she said. “First on in the chair, I don’t care who it is.”
Youngbae glanced at the others, unsure of what to do, until Wonwoo stepped forward to be the first in the chair and he released a breath.
“Look at all of this!” Minjun said, eyes large as saucers. “So this is what it’s like to be at a music show!”
Seunghoon leaned in to Chanhee. “I give it a week before he’s sick of it.”
“A generous estimate,” Chanhee replied back.
Minjun just glared at them.
At least Seokmin had allowed them to keep their phone this time! It would at least be a distraction for the long waiting hours, though honestly he’d never minded the waiting times that much. It was just something that was a part of the whole ordeal, wasn’t it? He browsed twitter for a bit while he waited for his turn to get his makeup done. He’d signed up for an account this morning while they got their done since a whole bunch of other idols had done it, but he wasn’t really sure how the whole thing worked, honestly. He didn’t really feel like he had much interesting to say but he supposed a music show would be something cool? He’d gotten some likes when he’d tweeted about drinking some water so that was good right? Or the tweet about being on his way to Music Bank? But then Minjun had all but screeched when he saw the tweets he’d already posted so maybe not?
“Please don’t post anything on your social media,” Seokmin said. Youngbae all but dropped his phone. “Everything you want to post should go through me to make sure that it’s suitable. Company orders.”
“O-okay?” Maybe he shouldn’t tell him about the 15 tweets he’d already sent?
Jinyoung grunted. “Really?”
“Really,” Seokmin said firmly. “This is your image we’re talking about.”
“Don’t you trust us?” Chanhee demanded.
Seokmin sighed. “It’s not about trust, it’s about creating a fool proof image. You know as well as I do that a single mistake can undo all of your hard work, Chanhee. Every post goes through me and the marketing department if I’m not sure. And only via the official group accounts, no personal accounts.”
Ha ha. Oops.
Well, in that case there was nothing he could do except play this new game he’d installed on his phone instead. It was like this game where you set up a bakery? Oh but there were so many waiting periods, maybe he should just spend a little bit of money and buy some coins so he wouldn’t have to wait for the timer to run out?
And so much of the day passed. They did their rehearsal while Minjun excitedly talked through everything with starry eyes. It was kind of cute, honestly, how excitable this guy was about everything. It kind of made Youngbae more excited too! They managed to not drop Jinyoung or Wonwoo throughout the rehearsal too so that was good! They hadn’t dropped either of them for like two weeks now, how was that for achievements! He was really proud of it.
Then they changed into their stage outfits (kind of boring suits, honestly, Youngbae was disappointed their outfits weren’t cooler) and had to do a second dress rehearsal. Same old same old, really, but Minjun devoured it all with saucers for eyes.
“Let’s go back to the dressing room,” Youngbae said when their rehearsal was finished. Where was Seokmin? He was pretty sure that he was supposed to herd them back to the changing room but he wasn’t totally sure. He missed Joowon so much it hurt.
“What are we waiting for?” Minjun asked. “Let’s go watch some girl group performances! They should be rehearsing now, too, right?”
“You are way too excited about that,” Seunghoon muttered.
“Aren’t you?” Minjun demanded. “Have you seen what Girls’ Day is wearing today? I want to catch a glimpse of that or die trying.”
“You realize anyone could hear you right?” Chanhee asked. They were still standing in the hall next to the stage entrance. “Aren’t you, like, 15?”
“Your point?” Minjun waved his concerns away. “I’m sure they all feel the same way. Those shorts are that short for a reason after all.”
“Can we?” Jinyoung asked. “Go watch, I mean?” He looked at Bae.
“Eeeh,” Youngbae looked around for Seokmin but the manager was nowhere to be found. Oh no he really wasn’t sure if they were allowed to sit in the audience or not! “Well, eh, I guess? It can’t hurt? Maybe?”
“I see others sitting in the chairs sometimes when we perform too?” Wonwoo offered.
“Alright!” Minjun cheered. “Let’s go!”
“I’m gonna go do… something,” Seunghoon said. He slinked off before Youngbae could say something about it.
“Come on, come on, come on!” Minjun was already halfway across the hallway. “Girl’s Day is right behind us and I am not missing them!”
Youngbae filtered into the seats behind them. Girls’ Day was already on stage doing their dance with the suspenders, and Youngbae had to admit it looked really y though he felt very bad thinking that. He actually looked away halfway through and spent the rest of the song looking up at the ceiling instead. He didn’t think the others noticed.
“Are you okay?” Wonwoo asked. Oh shoot! “Why are you looking at the ceiling?”
“Oh- nothing! I mean I thought I saw a bat up there!”
“A bat?” Wonwoo frowned. “I don’t think those even live here. Are you sure?”
Shoot shoot shoot. “Eeeh no? I mean I thought I saw something but I haven’t seen it yet. I guess I was wrong haha!”
Wonwoo shrugged. “If you say so.”
Infinite had their rehearsal next and the guys lost interest very quickly. Youngbae kind of liked their song, it was cute and upbeat, but he also still felt like he was supposed to hate them for taking the synchronized thing from them so he didn’t cheer very loudly. Joowon would have probably appreciated that kind of solidarity. Or maybe he would have wanted Youngbae to not be silly and be civil. He wasn’t sure.
Next up was G.Na which brought at least Minjun and some of the others back to attention. She was really very pretty, and definitely had very nice s- oh no he was definitely not supposed to be looking at her s! He looked at the ceiling again for most of the song. Why did she have to have such a y dance too?! He felt like he was cheating on Jinah even if- even if-
He looked harder at the ceiling.
“Wow she looks even better in real life!” Minjun said.
“She does, doesn’t she?” Jinyoung said. “We get to give her our CD later too!”
“Really?!”
“Girls’ Day too.”
Minjun whistled softly. “Being an idol is great!”
There was another female duo who were doing some kind of slow song with a fan dance which was actually really cool. They sounded really good!
“The one with the bangs is really pretty,” Wonwoo said.
“There’s something about her,” Chanhee agreed. “She’s one to watch, I think.”
“They’re nugus,” Jinyoung protested. “I doubt anyone is watching them.”
“So were you guys,” Minjun reminded him. “Maybe even are, we still need to see if all that acting stuff actually paid off with sales.”
“I’m just saying,” Chanhee said slowly. “She’s magnetic. I think she might get there if they give her the chance.”
“Like you, huh?” Wonwoo asked with a smile.
“Well I wasn’t going to say it, but yes.”
They were halfway through SHINee’s rehearsal when Seokmin burst in. “There you are!” he said, exasperated. “You were supposed to come right back to the changing room so Yoonah can touch up your makeup, and you still have to hand out your album as well, have you even signed them yet?”
Youngbae felt himself go red. “I-I’m sorry! I thought it would be okay to just watch for a bit!”
“You’ve been gone for over an hour!”
He gulped. “Really? Has it been that long?” None of them had a watch or a phone on them to check the time with!
Seokmin sighed and pinched his nose. “Come on. And where’s Seunghoon?”
“I don’t know,” Youngbae admitted. “Isn’t he with you?”
“Obviously not.”
Youngbae felt so guilty the whole way back to the waiting room. Why did he always mess up like this? Joowon would not have messed up. He would have probably brought them right back to begin with, or otherwise he would have known something to say to Seokmin to make him less angry. Why wasn’t Joowon here?!
Right. Because he’d left them. It still felt awkward waking up in his old room all alone. All the Joowon-ness was gone from the room. It was just… lonely to sleep in a room alone now. No Joowon. No Jinah. Just Youngbae.
Seokmin put them to work signing the various albums they’d be giving away, which was a little boring but otherwise alright. They just signed their names and that’s it. There weren’t any groups around that they actually knew well enough for a personal message or anything.
“I have practiced my signature for years just for this moment,” Minjun said with a grin. “Well, no, I practiced it for the fans, but Girls’ Day will have to do.”
They were almost done when Seunghoon finally came back. “Eh, sorry,” he muttered. “I had to do something. What did I miss?”
Seokmin sighed more. “Just sign your name on the albums and then you can go hand them out.”
Youngbae sae Seunghoon lean in to talk to Chanhee again. “Have you seen a smoke machine malfunctioning somewhere?” He overheard Seunghoon ask. “Anywhere at all?”
“Huh. No. Why would you ask that?” Chanhee asked, confused. “That’s an oddly specific thing to ask.”
“I couldn’t find her either,” Seunghoon just said. “I guess she’s not promoting right now.”
“What are you talking about?”
“Nothing, it’s not important. Hand me the pen, will you?”
“How did you manage to already smear your makeup?” Yoonah complained while attacking Minjun’s face with a powder brush. He didn’t seem very apologetic at all.
Youngbae just sat down on the sofa and waited for Seokmin to tell him what to do next.
Seokmin checked his watch impatiently. “Seunghoon, are you almost done?”
“Just one more,” Seunghoon said.
“You can’t take too long since you wasted a lot of time watching the rehearsals,” Seokmin cautioned. “So just deliver the CDs and come back quickly, okay?”
“Okay,” Youngbae and Minjun said at once.
Seokmin sighed. “Please let this go well,” he muttered.
It was both nice and weird to have Seomin back again like this. They’d hardly seen him for over a year and now he was living in that little room at the dorm again. Youngbae had missed him, honestly. It was nice to have someone around who knew what to do.
And then Seunghoon had finished signing the last CD and Seokmin all but pushed them out of the room to hand them out. “Not you Seunghoon, Jinyoung,” he said. “I’ve got something I need to talk to you about. Everyone else, get going!”
“Can we go to Girls’ Day first?” Minjun asked. “Oh man I can’t believe I’m actually going to see them up close! Talk to them! Being an idol is literally the best thing in the world!”
“We’re going to go in the order of change rooms,” Chanhee grumped.
“No fun.”
Youngbae did his best to get them to go through the other artists quickly, though it was very hard to peel Minjun away from just about any female artist. There wasn’t really anyone they’d seen a lot before. None of the groups they’d talked to before aside from SHINee who they’d only talked to a little bit (and it was kind of intimidating to talk to them since they were so big and from SM and they felt like kings). He thought he’d done an okay job but Seokmin was still annoyed when they got back.
“Come quick, get your mics.” He helped clip the mic packs on and attached the headsets. “No time to check your makeup, you were this close to being late. Didn’t I say to make it quick?”
“I tried!” Youngbae said.
“No matter. Off you go, your pre-recording starts in 20 minutes.” And before they know it they were herded toward the stage area again, all like it had gone before.
Nothing could have prepared Youngbae for what it was like to actually step onto stage. There were cheers so loud they went straight through his earpiece. He took it out just to hear them better. There were so many people in the crowd who’d brought signs or banners. So many people in the crowd screaming their name.
“Are they- are they all for us?” he asked no one in particular.
“Oh you bet they are,” Minjun said. “This. Is. Amazing.”
“That’s a lot of fans,” Seunghoon said softly.
Jinyoung’s face had lit up too. “They’re all here for us, tell me they’re all here for us.”
“Well yeah, it’s your pre-recording,” a staff member said with a roll of her eyes. Like she couldn’t believe these dumb idols. Well, not even like, probably. She probably just couldn’t believe these dumb idols. “The only ones we let in for the pre-recordings are fans of the artist.”
Jinyoung grew beet red at the comment. “Well- I mean- I didn’t mean it like that.”
Chanhee just leaned out of the wings and waved and the cheers were deafening. He stepped back grinning. “Yep. This is awesome.”
“Should we do a cheer?” Wonwoo asked.
“Oh! Right!” Youngbae stepped forward and his hand forward. “Cheer?”
The other followed, Minjun the most eager. He was all but bouncing up and down the entire time. “One, two, three,” Youngbae counted.
“Now and forever, Aeon fighting!” they cheered. Well, all but Minjun who’d just said “Aeon fighting” and looked very lost. Oops.
There was no time to say anything about it, the staff were already jostling them onto the stage and Youngbae couldn’t think any rational thoughts anymore. There were just the lights and the loud loud cheers of the fans.
He smiled so big it hurt his face.
This was amazing!
They couldn’t stop talking about it all in the dressing room once the pre-recording was over. “Did you see all those signs?” Youngbae asked.
“I could hardly make out what was written because of the lights, but I think I saw everyone’s name at least once,” Wonwoo said with a smile.
“It feels so nice to be under those lights again, though,” Chanhee said. “Finally!”
“Hmm. Lights…” Seunghoon said and trailed off. Youngbae had learned to just ignore him when he said weird cryptic things Youngbae didn’t quite understand.
“I saw my name once too,” Jinyoung said, smiling was he tried to wrestle out of the suit and into the clothes of their second performance.
“What did Seokmin want to talk to you about?” Chanhee asked Jinyoung and Seunghoon.
“Some project group,” Jinyoung said. “They’re gonna get it going next month, he said! Didn’t say much more but it’d be either me or hyung. Has anyone checked the charts yet?”
“You mean you haven’t?” Seunghoon asked, surprised.
“I tried a bunch of times but the Melon chart was down,” Jinyoung all but pouted.
“Let’s try again!” Minjun bounded up while Jinyoung tried the site again. The Melon logo loaded first and everyone held a collective breath as the rest of the page loaded.
“We’re 27!” Jinyoung whispered. “Oh my god, guys, we’re 27!”
“That’s… good, right?” Minjun asked. “Isn’t it?”
“The best we’ve ever done before is 75,” Chanhee said pointedly. “Yes. That’s good.”
Youngbae beamed. They were 27! That was incredible! He had to tell Jinah somehow, she’d see that all of this wasn’t for nothing. He typed out a quick message for her.
We’re charting at 27!!! Isn’t that incredible?? <
He pressed send. Not the most thoughtful message but he’d been itching for any excuse to say anything to her. He knew she’d been clear about the whole never wanting to see him again thing but that was just her anger speaking, right? It wasn’t like she’d really write him out of her life right? Despite the fact that… she was… she was…
His phone vibrated and he almost dropped it in his excitement to read the message. Oh my god! See?! She was totally still- oh.
> We’re sorry. You have reached a number that is disconnected or that is no longer in service.
What?
Why was it saying that her number was disconnected? He’d definitely selected her number right. It couldn’t be an error. He tried to send another message but he just got the same text back. We’re sorry but this number has been disconnected.
“Hey hyung, are you okay?” Chanhee asked. “You just went white as a ghost.”
Youngbae looked at Chanhee. , he wanted to tell him about what was happening, but how could he? He was supposed to be their leader, right? And Joowon had always shown that being a leader meant putting everyone else first, so he couldn’t just break down in front of them he had to be strong. Right. He had to be strong. “I’m okay,” he said. “I’m just a little bit dizzy. I didn’t eat a lot today.” Wow he as super impressed with himself that he just pulled that lie out of his . Look at him, lying like a pro! Well, he was really hungry, so maybe it wasn’t truly a lie but he was impressed anyway.
Chanhee nodded. “I get that, we’re all hungry. Maybe we can find a vending machine somewhere and sneak some snacks, what do you think about that? Nobody has to know.”
Youngbae perked up a bit. “Okay. Let’s find some food.”
Chanhee leaned towards Seunghoon. “Can you distract Seokmin hyung while we go forage for food? We’ll share when we get back.”
“Sure I guess,” Seunghoon said with a shrug. He walked over to Seokmin and Youngbae could just about hear him say. “Hyung, can I see the schedule again?” before Chanhee all but shoved him out the door.
It took them a while to even locate a vending machine and a little while to get it to work (Chanhee had to hit it at least 3 times before the little packet of chocolate chip cookies they’d asked and paid for actually fell out) before they hurried back to the waiting room and Youngbae giggled at the forbidden-ness of it all.
“Here, take one,” Chanhee said, holding the package out to Youngbae.
Youngbae took one of the small cookies and oh my god it tasted so good. “That’s amazing!” he said, awe-struck. He didn’t think he’d ever eaten a cookie so delicious, or maybe that was just because he was really really hungry.
The last time he’d had chocolate chip cookies Jinah had baked them herself. She’d burnt half of them (Jinah was not a good baker by any means) but they’d been delicious anyway, especially when they’d still been warm and gooey.
The cookie suddenly tasted like ash in his mouth. Well, sweet chocolatey ash but definitely a lot less good than before. Chanhee didn’t seem to notice. “Okay, this is what we’re going to do,” he said. “I’m going to hide the cookies in my coat and then we’re going to sneakily distribute them while Seokmin isn’t looking, but that means we have to distract him from looking at the majority of us the entire time. Are you up for this task, hyung?”
Youngbae nodded. “Let’s do this!”
They slipped back into the room. “Where did you two go?” Seokmin asked.
“Bathroom break,” Youngbae said. It was the first thing he’d thought of. Man, he was becoming a professional liar yet! Wait, would a professional liar be a criminal?
Seokmin raised his eyebrows. “Together?”
“He didn’t remember where the bathroom was,” Chanhee said. “I did.”
“Hm. Good. Don’t want you to get lost again like last time.”
Seokmin turned back to his phone and, while his back was turned, Chanhee quickly handed a cookie to Seunghoon, who took it gratefully and quickly stuffed it into his mouth. Then he handed one to Wonwoo and offered one to Jinyoung, who refused. Only then did he begrudgingly hand one to Minjun, who destroyed it in 2 seconds.
They went through the whole pack with someone distracting Seokmin here and there. Youngbae asked him many questions about the kind of food they were going to eat tonight and when. Jinyoung tried to pry information about the project group while trying to be as inconspicuous as possible about facing the manager towards the wall. Wonwoo asked him how his family doing and couldn’t he look over here while he told the story? Minjun even pretended he thought he had a tear in his costume that needed immediate looking at. All the while Chanhee discreetly passed out cookies and they all munched gratefully on the actual honest to god food.
At the end when the packet was gone he had to admit he felt a little better even if these cookies would never compete with Jinah’s. Maybe he had been hungry. There had to be a totally rational explanation for the disconnection of her phone that had nothing to do with her hating his guts and everything to do with logic and stuff and he was just too hungry to see it. Right? There had to be.
He never got time to think about it thought, before he knew it it was time for them to perform for the live show and start this whole thing all over again.
He’d think more about Jinah later, he would, but for now all he could think of was the screams of the fans and the spotlight in his eyes.
He couldn’t help but feel like everything was a little less awesome than before, though.
Yooo, sorry it's been a while! it took me ages to figure out what to do with the present day bit until formidame showed me the wonders of the fanfic generator. hope you enjoy it!
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