DEAR / BLUE

“you know,” ruby droned, looking from her bright blood red stiletto nails to the girl beside her. “i’ve always wondered something about you.” to be frank, she’d wondered more than her own fair share of certain somethings regarding her fellow soloist. no doubt that luna’s star shone brighter than most, but no one’s star was brighter than ruby’s own as far as ruby was concerned and that was a fact. “what are your fans called? like, what is their name?” she cocked her head to the side, blinking genuinely interested brown eyes at luna. “tasteless? bored? other synonyms i could think of to describe both you and your music?”

  oh boy, here we go. she should have known it was far too peaceful when ruby decided to conveniently site beside her despite the copious amount of empty seating. glancing away from her notebook and towards ruby, luna arched her brow. there was no way she was genuinely interested in her fan club name. she doesn’t answer, instead waiting for the punchline -- there always was one with ruby. and sure enough, there it is; and it doesn’t hit nearly as hard as she expected it to. “if you’re going to waste my time, can you at least be funny? that was weak. almost as weak as your stage presence.”

Ever since the higher-ups at so!ar had told her that she’d finally get to debut, and as the leader no less, Hyeran had spent every waking hour practicing. The girl that wouldn’t leave the practice rooms until midnight began staying up until two in the morning. That day, her dance teacher had finally taken notice of Hyeran’s deterioriating state and forced her to go home before the sun set. As she left the building, Hyeran noticed her old friend sitting outside, soaking in the sun. “Hey stranger,” she said, coming up to Luna. “Wanna grab something to eat? My treat.”

   it was a nice day. perfect for writing, in her opinion, and it was good to get out of her dim studio once in a while. she was enjoying the sun and humming as she jotted down lyrics, until a shadow looms over her and she feels a rush of panic. quickly averting her gaze upwards to the culprit, she blinks owlishly up at the girl and whines. “hyeran! you scared me.” she rests her hand against her heart for dramatic effect. “really? well, i’m glad you offered, otherwise i’d make you buy me something to eat just for scaring me!” quickly shoving her belongings into her bag, luna stands and glances around. “where do you wanna go? it’s up to you, i’m not picky.”

𝕀𝕋 ℍ𝔸𝔻 𝔹𝔼𝔼ℕ 𝔼𝕏ℂ𝕀𝕋𝕀ℕ𝔾 when she was first invited to do the special stage for that week’s music show — molly was always keen to showcase the skill that had won her her nation title, after all — but now that she was here and backstage, with the other girl she was meant to duet with … there’s a formality that accompanies her motions, a stiffness that riddles her shoulders with tension no matter how hard she attempts to unravel it. a small, cordial bow of her head accompanies what an attempt at a friendly smile. “hi, luna !” molly greets her as warm as she can muster, but anyone who knows the star well knows it’s unexplainably lacking. “it was exciting to hear we were doing this stage together, don’t you think ?”

it was clear she was out of her element. luna rarely appeared on shows, preferring to keep a low profile at festivals or intimate concerts. there was something painfully artificial about broadcasts, but they weren’t any more artificial than the girl she was meant to duet with. “molly, hi! how are you?” she grins, mimicking molly’s rather halfhearted, in her opinion bow. the tension in her tone, although wrapped prettily in a bow and tucked neatly away, fails to fly over luna’s head and she thinks molly should stick to singing rather than acting. “it was, and such an honor too. can you believe out of everyone, they picked us for the stage? what luck, huh?”

                 𝐼𝓃 𝒶 𝓃𝑜𝓇𝓂𝒶𝓁 𝓈𝒾𝓉𝓊𝒶𝓉𝒾𝑜𝓃, 𝒽𝑒'𝒹 𝓉𝓇𝓎 𝓃𝑒𝓋𝑒𝓇 𝓉𝑜 𝒷𝑒 𝒾𝓃 𝒻𝓇𝑜𝓃𝓉 𝑜𝒻 𝓅𝑒𝑜𝓅𝓁𝑒 𝒾𝓃 𝓉𝒽𝒾𝓈 𝓈𝓉𝒶𝓉𝑒. but this wasn’t a normal situation. what took him from a lively presence to heavily intoxicated had been the time with some wrong people and heavily traumatized memories. something in his mind shouted that he should’ve gone home, just sleep it off and wake up extremely sick the following morning, but at least free of anything embarrassing. but as he thought of this, his body took a completely different root, ending up at her door. in any normal scenario, they shared the label and that was it. but somehow, he had found in her something so much deeper, the dainty girl seemed to be more than aloof and futile —— she actually cared. body stumbles and lands against the frame of the door, heavy intoxicated breath before his knuckles find the door “ —— luna ! ” he shouts, disregarding the neighbours or, if by any chance, any company she might have.

  the pounding on her door shocks her awake. for a moment, she debates on if it’s worth going to investigate; what if it was someone coming to murder her? she’d seen enough horror movies to know better. but at the call of her name, it clicks - and she immediately knows who’s here and why. with a groan, luna rolls out of her bed and trudges to throw open her door - eyes narrowing as the smell of alcohol hits her immediately. “taemin...” he looked worse than she’d thought, and she has half a mind to slam the door in his face. she doesn’t though, instead gently tugging on his arm and pulling him inside before someone sees ( she could only imagine the headlines this sight would make. )  “are you stupid, or are you stupid? you can’t just show up on my doorstep like that - what if someone saw you?!”

♡ JISOO ♡

she’s very invested in his story. really, she is; she’s always found the shenanigans that groups get up to interesting, even if she was a little envious. resting her head on her hand, luna occasionally nodded to let him know she was listening to his rant.   “why didn’t you guys clean the noodles off the ceiling? you could’ve acted like nothing happened.” shaking her head, luna grins. “no, it’s alright. i love hearing about the trouble people in groups get up to. i mean, it’s unfortunate that you had a rough time but --- wow. what did your manager say?”

                   for how much longer was kim mirae going to let so!ar entertainment walk all over her? she was the type of personality to not fight back or ask any questions. instead, the woman would simply accept things and do her best to fulfill the wishes of others. she had never felt like a leader as everyone in her group was close in age and as someone had already left, she was afraid that primera was already crumbling. while she would have liked to have a solo career, she was the leader and needed to stay loyal to the group. mirae hated it when they would fight with each other; they were meant to be a team but had fallen apart in recent years due to being overworked. as the leader, she had given her all to the company and the group yet there were still problems, problems that she didn’t think she would fix. an unexpected big sigh escaped her. turning to the other person, the woman shook her head. “it’s so hard keeping everyone happy, no? i probably think too much. that’s probably it.”

luna enjoyed being around mirae. the two had grown close over the years and mirae was a comforting force, though, she always thought there was something off. while luna was allowed to vent as much as she could possibly dream of, mirae hardly ever did the same and luna couldn’t help but feel like she was being kept at an arms length. which was fine; some people simply preferred to shoulder their burdens rather than share them.  when mirae speaks, luna is... surprised. that’s the most she’s gotten out of the other, and she worries if she says the wrong thing, mirae will retreat back into her ‘nothing is wrong, let’s focus on you’ persona.  “you do think too much...” she confirms with a smile. “but that’s the thing -- not everyone will be happy, no matter what you do. which is why you should just focus on making yourself happy.” what a hypocrite. “what’s the matter? you can tell me about it.”

when she was asked if she would be interested in working with legacy’s chaemi, luna was more than willing. legacy was a group she’d had her eye on since she’d first heard rumors of the concept and her interest only grew when they’d officially debuted. but that didn’t mean she wasn’t hesitant too -- luna was all too often used to help solar’s other idols and she didn’t even know what chaemi could do. nevertheless, it was a smart move on solar’s part - working with luna was an easy way to gain the public’s interest.    she didn’t hear the door open, much too consumed in the music blaring through her headphones. truthfully, she had forgotten their meeting was today and was hardly prepared to play the part of respectable senior. she liked looking her best and acting proper around her juniors, however at the moment she looked like anything but.  she initially thinks she’s hearing things but the second time chaemi calls out, luna scrambles. tossing the headphones from her head and onto her lap, luna fixes her posture and swivels the chair she’s situated on to face the girl. so that was today? huh. “oh! hello, come in!” she raises the headphones, tapping them with a smile. “i didn’t hear you, i’m sorry. it’s nice to meet you, you’re chaemi, correct?”