"I'm sorry, what?"

"A producer from MBC wants you to be in their upcoming variety show. I don't know the details yet but there will be a meeting in two weeks and they will discuss the concept with you." Jongin was shocked by this news. He can't even get enough screen time on variety shows because he is not as witty as Baekhyun, let alone give him his own variety show.

"B-but why me? I mean it's not that I don't want to, it's just that I at variety shows. Will the other members be there too?" Jongin gives a concerned look at his manager. 

"They didn't mention the other members, I think they specifically asked for you, Kai." The manager can see how worried Jongin looks. He went inside the waiting room to gather the other members leaving Jongin outside, leaning against the wall. The door opens and Kyungsoo and his group comes out.

"We'll see you later, man" Luhan gives Jongin a high five then a bro hug.Tao, Yixing, and Minseok follows and gives him a nod and waves at him goodbye. 

Kyungsoo looks up to him "you ok?" Jongin nods and smiles awkwardly. 

"I'll see you around then, bye" Kyungsoo smiles and turns his back following the rest of s.

Kyungsoo's smile didn't leave his face as he walks along the corridor of the building. For some reason, he feels good today. Not sure if it's from the good performance they had delivered or this is just one of those days that he feels delighted. But whatever the reason is, he's not complaining. He can go by the day and get work done without feeling too tired.

*   *   *

Kyungsoo's group goes straight to the SM building to practice, since they still have one month left for promotions and they have appearances on several shows. 

"I think we should start with stretching" Minseok sits on the floor with his legs spread apart. Everyone follows the oldest and they begin counting. 

Kyungsoo stands up and grunts "can we just do some vocal exercises first?" Of course, Kyungsoo is at a disadvantage because he's mostly trained for singing. Although Luhan's also in charge of being a vocalist, he's a pretty good dancer too.

"More reasons you should stretch Kyung, you need some flexibility. We're a dance group so it would look nice if we're all flexible. Besides, you've had enough vocal exercises, don't strain your voice too much." This one of the moments when Yixing actually acts like a real leader. He's leadership don't show much on cam but when it calls for, he definitely has a strict side to him. 

"Why do I have to be in a group full of talented dancers?" Kyungsoo sits back down and he tries to touch his toes with his hands. 

After a series of stretching exercises, the group proceeds to practice the choreography of their new comeback song.

*   *   *

At the other group's dorm, Jongin talked to Junmyeon in his room to ask him regarding the new variety show.

"Did manager hyung mention to you anything about an upcoming show?" Jongin sitting on his bed while hugging a plushie given by a fan

"An upcoming show? Not that I know of" Junmyeon raises his eyebrows, sitting on Sehun's bed across Jongin's. "Why?"

"Well, earlier today he told me that I was chosen to be part of a variety show."

"So...?" 

Jongin lies down and flails his legs dangling down from his bed "Hyung! I can't do it." He covers his face with the plushies he's holding.

"What the Jongin?" Sehun points at him and laughs. "What's wrong and why are you on my bed hyung?"

"I'm awkward as hell. You know being awkward isn't cute anymore once you pass your teenage years."

"Don't worry, just do your Squidward impersonation and people will still like you, kkamjong" Sehun pats Jongin's head and the other shoos it away.

"Didn't we agree that you guys are going to stop calling me that?" Jongin throws pillow at Sehun which he missed and ends up hitting Junmyeon.

"Not until you guys stop teasing me about Luhan hyung" Sehun lies flat with face down, trying to hide his pink cheeks. "And hyung get out of my bed please." 

Junmyeon gets out of their room and the two youngest turns off the light and doze off.

The next day, Jongin receives a call from their manager that he has a meeting with the producers of the upcoming show.

"Junmyeon hyung what do I do?" Jongin is still apprehensive about this whole variety show thing.

"You know what, just think of this as an opportunity for you to grow." Chanyeol sits down next to him while eating blueberry flavoured yogurt. 

"Chanyeol's right. Maybe you can learn from this experience. After this you may become more comfortable on screen. It has been almost four years Jongin since our debut and you're still camera shy." Jongin listening attentively to Junmyeon giving him pieces of advice when he's phone vibrated. He grabs his phone from his back pocket and sees a text message from the manager telling him to get ready because they're going to the the MBC office for the meeting. 

"Holy , I better go get ready. I guess I'll just have to man up." Jongin stands up and goes to his room to change.

The hyungs are right, Jongin thought, he could use this a learning experience. Four years in the industry and Jongin is still uncomfortable, he needs to step up his game or his fans will think he's boring. 

*   *   *

"Annyeonghasaeyo" Jongin holds out his hand to shake the producers' hands and bow respectfully. "Nice meeting you"

Jongin looks around to see if there are any idols present but he finds no one except him. He enters the brightly lit conference room and makes his way to the chair. Jongin didn't expect to be the only one in this 

"So you probably heard from your manager that we have chosen you to star for our upcoming travel variety show," the head PD smiles at Jongin, feeling hopeful.
"Travel variety show!?" Not only Jongin is going to be on his own on this variety show but it's going to be outside of South Korea too. Great, another thing to worry about, Jongin thinks, I can't even utter a single English sound without sounding too Korean.

"Yeah, it's going to be in Paris" the youngest PD added, constantly clicking his pen which makes Jongin more uncomfortable. 

yeah, a non-English speaker going to a non-English speaking country. This is going to be really fun. Jongin sinks down into his chair at the thought of this. Lowering his snapback to avoid showing his eyebrows meeting in the middle. 

"Don't worry though, you're not gonna be alone" the assistant PD reassures Jongin who's obviously nervous like crazy on his seat. "Someone from your company will also be with you."

Jongin sighs in relief, at least there's some incentive.

"He's your junior, D-Diyo?"

"D.O. Do Kyungsoo" the youngest PD corrects the other.

Jongin leans forward so he's elbows rest on the table. "Uh, I'm going with him? I'm gonna be... on the show... with him... with D.O.?" emphasizing each syllable, Jongin clarifies with the PDs leaving his mouth gaped. He hopes he heard the, wrong, wishing it was Luhan or Taemin instead. 

The head PD looks at Jongin then to the manager and back to Jongin. "Why? He's your junior from your company, you two must get along, right? Or are you two not in good terms?" 

"Of course. They have a good relationship. Right, Jongin?" The manager taps Jongin's shoulder to agree with him. Jongin is out of words so he just nods.

"Ok so we'll start filming next month." The head PD organizes his stacks of papers and places them inside a folder. "I've talked to Kyungsoo's manager and by that time, their promotions are over so we'll be good to go. And by the way, Kyungsoo doesn't know that you're the other cast, he just knows that he's going with another idol. You know, just to add a little more flair" the head PD explains.

"Can I ask you one thing though? Why did you choose us?"

The assistant PD looks at his notepad with what look's like notes about the two's profile. "I've seen that for both of your groups, you two have the biggest fan base. Well, Kyungsoo is second to Luhan but we wanted to get a native Korean on the show since we want to market kpop."

Jongin finally understands why he was chosen. It's not like he can pretend doesn't know this fact but, no doubt, he has the most number of fansites among the members of his group. Also, of course, the PDs will cast him since he's the main visual of one of the most successful groups in kpop, given their purpose of the show.

As they leave the room, worried look is imprinted on Jongin's face. Do Kyungsoo is going to be on the show with him. After an uncomfortable encounter with him in the past, Jongin is going to spend time with him. He seems to be more worried about that than how he can be interesting on the show. 

*   *   *

Kyungsoo stares at their manager noona with his eyeballs looking like it's almost gonna pop out of his eye socket. 

"I don't understand why would they pick me." Kyungsoo follows their manager walk down the hall of the SM building.

"They say they wanted you on the show so it's going to be great Kyungsoo, didn't you say you wanted to live in Paris?" Manager noona looks back at Kyungsoo and raises her eyebrows.

"It's New York, noona" Kyungsoo corrects her.

The manager waves her hand, "it's the same thing, both are foreign countries"

"Actually they are citi--, uh, never mind." On Kyungsoo's periphery, he can see a tall figure wearing a snapback, black tank top, and skinny jeans emphasizing his long toned legs walking towards him.

The tall figure stops, hesitating whether to greet Kyungsoo or not. Kyungsoo bowed, initiating the greeting upon seeing the tall figure in front of him. Jongin bows in response. 

Jongin feels a little more self-conscious "I should bow down because you're older." He remembers he's going to be on the show with him so he should try to act comfortable around him.

"You're my senior so I should be the one doing it" the two laughs awkwardly.

Jongin realizes that he's blocking Kyungsoo's way, stands against the wall. "I'm sorry"

"It's okay" Kyungsoo shows off his heart-shaped smile, "I'll see you around!"

Kyungsoo walks towards the door exit.

"Good luck on your performance, hyung" Jongin shouted.

Kyungsoo looks back at a shy Jongin and waves "Thanks!" Still, with the smile on his face. As he gets out of the SM building, he muttered to himself, aww how cute. 

Outside the SM building, fangirls crowd near the entrance holding their cameras up high to get a good shot of the idols. Some are wearing school uniforms, using their smartphones to capture the boys. The fangirls scream as if they are in a concert. 

"Who's cute?" He didn't even notice Tao was already standing next to him and did he say it out loud?

Surprised, he turns to look at Tao. "You are, Tao, you are cute!" Kyungsoo says with sarcasm.

"I know" Tao giggles like a teenage girl in which Kyungsoo looks at him with an unamused face. Tao and Kyungsoo together with the other members enter the car as a swarm of fangirls take photos of them and trying to get closer to their idols.

Just like Jongin, Kyungsoo isn't ecstatic about this news, but at least he's grateful he has been chosen.

too much dialogue :| i need to balance dialogue and narrative. 

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