“This is Jinki. Please be nice to him since he'll be your new producer from now on,” The short manager said to Kibum who stood beside him. He bowed politely and greeted, but received no answer. It was awfully weird considering Kibum was a well-known celebrity within the industry - he never expected anyone to be stand-offish with him, or blatantly rude like this fellow in front of him.

“He's supposed to be my producer, but he can't even greet me correctly?” Kibum leaned over to his manager to ask with an annoyed look on his face. He could be haughty and a bit narcissistic at times, but to his friends, he was the nicest person on earth.
“He's mute,” The manager said in a flat voice, aggravated with Kibum's attitude already, “so be nice! We don't need to switch another producer just because you seemingly can't get along with them,”

Kibum huffed; it was true that he was difficult to work with, but it wasn't because he was fussy about his work for fun or just to be problematic. He was a perfectionist, and even he knew such people were terrible to work with - he always wanted things a certain way, and if his producers couldn't see his vision, then they were useless. His manager often scolded him that he was too rigid in what kind of music he wanted to put out into the world, but Kibum saw it as pursuing what he really wanted. If he let his producers walk over him and change what ideas he had to what they thought was better, wouldn't it be more of their work than his own? He wanted to put himself in his music, so he had fixed thoughts and ideas about how he wanted his lyrics to be, and how his instrumentals should be. Thankfully, his lyricist, Jonghyun, had never let him down, so there had never been a reason to change him around for someone else.

Kibum then felt a blush creep to his cheeks when he realized his new producer heard what he had said to his manager who had just left. He expected Jinki to be angry, to have a bad first impression of the idol, but he simply smiled in an understanding way. He had been through this sort of misunderstanding so many times, so he was used to it. And he wasn't a malicious person, so he wouldn't hold such things against anyone.

The idol shuffled into the familiar room, feeling a little awkward; he didn't know if he should apologize, of if it had been forgotten already as Jinki sat in front of the producer's table.

“How do you communicate?” Kibum asked after about a minute of rather uncomfortable silence, and the producer turned to him with another expectant smile; this too, was something that was often asked.

The elder one began moving his hands to make gestures that Kibum could only guess was sign language. He was embarrassed for asking how Jinki communicated (he felt like he should've known something like that as a grown man), and now he felt even more embarrassed to say he didn't know sign language. His face was furiously red, but Jinki's shoulders raised and dropped in such a way that it looked like he was laughing without a sound.

“We can communicate like this too. Don't worry,” Jinki scribbled down on a little whiteboard which was the size of a textbook, and Kibum nodded in relief. It'd be weird to talk to someone who wouldn't talk back, and it would surely take some time to adjust to waiting for Jinki to write down his replies in his elegant handwriting. But Kibum could handle it.

“I've already worked on a song for you. You can let me know what you think,” The producer wrote on his little board, and Kibum nodded silently.

He hadn't expected a song waiting for him already, but he guessed it was just Jinki's way of testing the waters. It also helped Kibum decipher what kind of skills this new producer had.

It was a light, breezy, retro type of melody, definitely something Kibum liked. It also fit in with his usual style, so he was surprised to find he didn't have as many criticisms as he did when working with his other producers.

“I like it. It's something I'd work with on a normal basis. But I'd boost the bass some more to give it more power. I'd reduce the sound of the keyboard, too, since it comes on very strong, and I wouldn't want people to mistake the song as an EDM type instead of hearing the retro elements. That should be the main thing people think of when they hear it; retro,” Kibum explained to the man that stared up at him, his fingertips beneath his chin as he listened, and Jinki nodded silently before he turned to his equipment.

His chubby fingers moved quickly and smoothly, correcting all the things Kibum had concerns about. Expectedly, it sounded much more like what the idol would promote and enjoy, and it was also much catchier than Jinki's original version. Even he liked this revised version more.

Kibum smiled satisfied. It had never been this easy to get what type of song he wanted from the previous producers he had worked with, so if this is how Jinki would always react, Kibum would be more than happy to work with him.

“Keep going like this, and we'll get along just fine,” Kibum said with a smile as he patted the other man's shoulder. For the first time maybe ever, Jinki felt like he was somewhere where he could shine, even if he wasn't like everyone else.

Kibum and Jinki truly got along well - the producer knew what type of songs Kibum liked and wanted, so he always tried to build songs which fit what the idol wanted. There were rarely any times where Kibum had anything he wanted to change within the songs once Jinki found the right balance between EDM elements and retro ones. Of course, the company pushed Kibum to have EDM songs here and there, a few ballads, and other things that he didn't particularly like, but with Jinki handling it, Kibum felt at ease. Whatever instrumentals he made came out good, and most title tracks (and even b-sides!) were a hit both nationally and internationally.

However, after about a year, things began to get weird.

Jinki seemed to have his own vision now, and while it didn't go against what Kibum wanted, the producer often butted heads with Jonghyun who made his lyrics too promiscuous for what Jinki had intended the song to be. While he planned for the songs to be love songs, Jonghyun wrote ual innuendos and other types of things - though Kibum enjoyed the input from both Jonghyun and Jinki, he didn't like it when they fought. They aggressively signed one another (since Jonghyun somehow knew sign language), and for some reason, it was more upsetting for Kibum since he didn't know what they were saying.

“Ah, I'm guessing this is going to be another love song, right? My whole discography is full of them!” Kibum joked one day as he arrived in the studio. He expected to see Jinki's body shake with silent laughter as always, but this time, he seemed to physically deflate as if the joke had hurt his feelings. Kibum couldn't understand why; yes, his discography had a lot of love songs, both title tracks and b-sides, but he didn't think of it as a bad thing. It seemed as if Jinki was more confident with them too. Maybe he thought Kibum was doubting his range somehow? The idol couldn't fathom it at all.

From then on, Jinki leaned towards ballads, an obvious change from what he had done for the past year. Kibum didn't mind it since it still had all the elements he liked, but it did bother him that Jinki was aiming for sad songs instead of his bubbly, cute love songs ever since Kibum had made the light-hearted joke.

Kibum met up with one of his friends, Minho, one night to discuss his current confusion. He had tried to bring it up with Jinki, but the elder man had conveniently forgotten his whiteboard at home every few days. Even when he did have it handy, he pretended to be too busy to discuss anything with Kibum other than the songs at hand.

“Maybe he's just sensitive about it, and now he's trying to show you he can do the opposite so you'll notice his range,” Minho offered as he took a gulp of his beer. Kibum pressed his lips together before he sipped his red wine, shaking his head after.
“I don't know. Ballads is all he does now. Why wouldn't he push for complete EDM songs? Or even slow love songs? He approaches Jonghyun all the time to write some sad lyrics for the instrumentals. It's like he's trying to tell me he's sad without physically doing it,” Kibum sighed as he slumped in his chair. He asked Jonghyun about it, but he had no idea what was going on with Jinki. He was too busy working on songs for his idol boyfriend, Taemin, to ask or really care much.

“Well, isn't that your answer right there? You said he's mute, right? What if music is how he expresses himself? Jonghyun usually writes lyrics according to what he's feeling at the moment, isn't it? What if that's what Jinki does, just with instrumentals?” Minho asked. He didn't really believe this theory, but Kibum's eyes widened in realization.
“It makes sense. He's become so possessive over his songs lately. With the love songs, he had a clear vision for how he wanted it. Him and Jonghyun fought so much because Jonghyun wouldn't write the bubbly lyrics Jinki had in mind,” Kibum explained; everything seemed to fall into place now that he said it out loud! It was obvious from the start!
“You really think he's in love with you or something?” Minho frowned. He was a simple man - if he liked someone, he'd just tell them outright. He didn't see the point in trying to mask it or play games. Then again, he had never been rejected, and the case could easily be different for Jinki who probably didn't have a truckload of confidence like Minho did.

“...he might be? I don't know. I never thought of it like that,” Kibum answered honestly.
“Then go home and think about it. I'd bet that if you spoke to him directly about it, he'd come clean and tell you whether it's true or not,” His friend nodded.
“Minho, you're so smart. Maybe you're not just a beefcake with no brains,”
“Hey...!”

Kibum went home then, trying to think over what the next step should be. Did he like Jinki that way? Sure, he was cute, but would it interfere with their work relationship? The last thing the idol wanted was to get involved with his producer that made hit after hit just for things to fall apart at the seams because they were dating now. As much as he liked his love songs, he did still want some variation, and he was a bit concerned things wouldn't turn out that way.

As with everything, there were both upsides and downsides, but he mulled over it carefully as he laid in bed. He tossed and turned repeatedly, night after night, but he still couldn't come to a firm conclusion. He said yes to himself, then no a few hours later, going back and forth constantly. So, he reached out to the one person he didn't really interact with unless absolutely necessary - Taemin.

He was cute, definitely ditzy, but he was talented for sure. He was an amazing dancer and had breathtaking vocals which Jonghyun loved experimenting with. “Try it in a lower tone,” Kibum often heard. Or, “higher, higher! Use your head voice!”. While this made Jonghyun seem like a strict lyricist bordering on a producer, he said it all with loving undertones, and he loved pushing Taemin's vocal limits just as much as the idol liked presenting these new ideas to his fans.

With only three days before Kibum was set to meet with Jinki again, he met with Taemin at a tiny coffee shop.

“It's strange for you to want to talk to me. Did something happen with Jonghyun?” The blonde asked, casually flicking some of his hair out of his face with a movement of his head.
“No, no. Nothing like that,” Kibum assured him, then pressed his lips together nervously. It felt odd asking for love advice from a younger person, but Taemin knew more about it than Kibum did right now. After all, he'd had many ups and downs with Jonghyun, and they were madly in love. Being connected in work was a bonus.

“I wanted to ask your opinion on something. There's a guy that likes me, but I don't know if I want it to interfere with my work. You know, some people think you'll devote all your love songs to them, and that you wouldn't dare change your style now that you're dating. I don't know what to do,” Kibum laid it all out on the lacquered wooden table.

Taemin sipped his dark coffee, an easy smile coming to his lips. He didn't know who the elder man was talking about, and he didn't care. Maybe it was for the best, considering he'd run off to the studio and tell everyone about it from excitement. He couldn't keep his mouth shut about anything.

“Well, that's an easy one. What does your heart say?” He asked as he cocked his head, giving off a very innocent expression.
“What do you mean?” Kibum asked in confusion.
“Your heart. Do you think you two can find a compromise? Do you want to work on one? Would he understand?” Taemin questioned, “are you willing to try making him see your side?”

Kibum felt flustered as he was bombarded with all these questions. They were sensible, and they really made him reach deep to answer truthfully. As he thought about his replies carefully, he smoothed a napkin on the table.

“I think he'd understand me. He's smart, and talented, and I'm sure he'd see where I'm coming from. I just don't want to hurt him,” Kibum said honestly.
“If you make his heart sing as much as he makes yours, I don't think that would be an issue,” Taemin laughed lightly. All of this seemed so easy for him, and Kibum wished it could be the same for himself.
“Look into yourself and hear what your heart is trying to tell you. You're thinking too much about this all. Just get out of your head! Don't worry about it. You like him, and he surely likes you, so why don't you rely on that to see where this leads you? If you wait too long, things will just wither,” Taemin continued, “if your heart tells you that you could work on things for and with him, why not try at least?”

With that in mind, Kibum made a decision.

He met Jinki in the following days, but he didn't know where to start.

The idol tapped his fingertips against one another softly, creating sounds every now and then when his nails met, as he watched Jinki busy in front of his computer.

“Jinki,” He said softly, “can we talk?”

The elder one casually turned to his friend, but inside, he was bubbling with hope. He liked Kibum, and he felt like he had made it very obvious these past few months - could the idol have finally noticed?

“I know you have feelings for me. I like you too, but I don't want this to change anything. I love how we are right now. We have such a flow going on. We make amazing music together, and that's something I don't want to give up. Do you understand what I'm saying?” Kibum rattled out, his nerves getting the better of him and making him speak much more than he intended.
“When I made that comment about the love songs, I didn't mean it in a rude way. I love everything we've done so far, really. And I don't want that to change. I-I don't want only love songs if we date, but I don't only want sad ballads anymore. I just want whatever we create to be new, fresh, and something the fans will enjoy instead of doing the same thing with different words. I hope you can understand what I mean by it, and-”

During his whole rant, Jinki had come to sit beside him on the sofa, and he stopped Kibum from continuing by putting a calming hand on top of his own. The idol looked at him questioningly, but he smiled when he noticed the understanding look on Jinki's handsome features; how could he be so nervous when it was 𝐽𝑖𝑛𝑘𝑖 he was talking to? He had never been mean, or ignored Kibum's feelings about anything. That's why they made such good music together, and hopefully they'd continue doing that for a long time into the future.

Kibum didn't need to hear Jinki speak to know what he was saying; he could see it all in his eyes right now.

𝐼 𝑤𝑎𝑛𝑡 𝑡ℎ𝑒𝑠𝑒 𝑡ℎ𝑖𝑛𝑔𝑠 𝑡𝑜𝑜, 𝑠𝑜 𝑝𝑙𝑒𝑎𝑠𝑒 𝑑𝑜𝑛'𝑡 𝑓𝑟𝑒𝑡. 𝑊ℎ𝑎𝑡𝑒𝑣𝑒𝑟 𝑖𝑡 𝑖𝑠 𝑦𝑜𝑢 𝑤𝑎𝑛𝑡, 𝑤𝑒 𝑐𝑎𝑛 𝑑𝑜, 𝑎𝑛𝑑 𝑤𝑒'𝑙𝑙 𝑤𝑜𝑟𝑘 𝑜𝑛 𝑡ℎ𝑖𝑛𝑔𝑠 𝑤𝑖𝑡ℎ 𝑜𝑝𝑒𝑛 ℎ𝑒𝑎𝑟𝑡𝑠 𝑎𝑛𝑑 𝑚𝑖𝑛𝑑𝑠 𝑙𝑖𝑘𝑒 𝑤𝑒'𝑣𝑒 𝑏𝑒𝑒𝑛 𝑑𝑜𝑖𝑛𝑔 𝑠𝑜 𝑓𝑎𝑟. 𝐿𝑒𝑡'𝑠 𝑏𝑒 ℎ𝑎𝑝𝑝𝑦 𝑡𝑜𝑔𝑒𝑡ℎ𝑒𝑟 𝑎𝑙𝑤𝑎𝑦𝑠, 𝑎𝑛𝑑 𝑙𝑒𝑡'𝑠 𝑐𝑟𝑒𝑎𝑡𝑒 𝑏𝑒𝑎𝑢𝑡𝑖𝑓𝑢𝑙 𝑎𝑟𝑡 𝑤𝑖𝑡ℎ 𝑜𝑛𝑒 𝑎𝑛𝑜𝑡ℎ𝑒𝑟 𝑓𝑜𝑟 𝑎 𝑣𝑒𝑟𝑦 𝑙𝑜𝑛𝑔 𝑡𝑖𝑚𝑒.