only fools.

NEWSIES MUSICAL REHEARSAL alec son

@alecsun just posted a photo!

alec has, and always will be, a good brother. it’s no secret that alec is kind, anyone can tell from a glance. his older brother has the sweetest smile, which only annunciates alec’s gentle nature and mannerisms. of course, alec isn’t without his quirks. but ultimately, that merely adds to alec’s charms. aiden, having lived with alec for most of his life as a child, had always admired the other. now that he thinks about it, he doubts they’d ever had any major rifts between them.

he wonders when that has changed. no, they’ve never had an argument that blew out of proportion—but there was distance. physically at first, with alec being miles away. then, aiden finds himself in legacy too. by that point though, there’s already that wall between the both of them. maybe alec hasn’t seen it, aiden hadn’t noticed either, not until now. not until it’s glaring at him right in the face.

because even though alec has been telling aiden a lot of things—from his love life, to gushing about his new girlfriend, to how much he misses canada—aiden hadn’t been doing the same. hasn’t for a while now.

it’s not alec’s fault, of course. it’s all aiden, in the end. alec’s gentle and caring nature may be what pushed aiden to stay quiet, not wanting to burden his already busy brother, wanting nothing more than for alec to focus on his own worries and his career. aiden strives to be as kind as the other, so he keeps to himself, only to make it even worse for alec instead. the irony.

aiden thinks of everything alec has done for him, and then about how he feels like he hasn’t been able to return any of it.

alec’s messages come in not too long after, but he takes eons to look at it. it’s strange, being wary around his brother like this. aiden can’t help it though. knowing alec, and how forgiving he is, aiden knows that he’ll be met with nothing but concern; which aiden doesn’t believe he deserves.

(  ✉  )     outgoing   →  alec (famous era)  !

··· sent: i mean… ··· sent: maybe i didn’t, but i could have. ··· sent: if it was someone else who caught me. ··· sent: or what if word got out? ··· sent: and by association, i hurt your career? ··· sent: it is a big deal. they’d make my scandal yours. ··· sent: but i didn’t think of that when i should have.

for a while, aiden leaves it at that, staring at the fond nickname alec had given him on his screen. it stings, somewhat—alec’s unconditional love, when aiden feels as if he’d done everything to not be allowed within its sphere anymore.

but he’s grateful. he’s always grateful to his brother.

( even then, he still can’t answer alec’s questions. are you okay? what good will telling alec that he’s banned from future dreams for a year would do? or that he had to watch himself on tape, the humiliation that he had to face? if he told alec the truth, wouldn’t that just make him worry more? he doesn’t want to add more to alec’s plate. not anymore. )

     he’s not sure what to expect in reply from his brother. it’s never really been this way before—he thought he had always known aiden the best. perhaps things had changed when he had left, even though he had tried his best to still always be there for the younger. the timezones had made things a bit difficult, but the life of a trainee meant he was up at all hours, working to better himself and he had tried his best to be open to aiden about all his struggles and the things he was going through in his life. 

     he hadn’t wanted aiden to feel like he had been left behind.

     and then aiden had come to korea and it had been like a small weight had been lifted off of his shoulders, and he had nothing to worry about now that his brother was here with him. under the same company! it had been all his dreams come true and more. despite moving to lgc agency, he still tries to talk with his brother whenever he can, updating him about random things in his life and even just chatting about mundane things in their chat. 

     so he waits, wanting to know how aiden was feeling, wanting to know how he could possibly help. maybe he’s always been a bleeding heart, but alec doesn’t think it counts when it’s his own baby brother that he wants to help. if aiden would let him. 

     when the messages come in, alec is both surprised and unsurprised at their contents. he reads through the messages a few times before he just sighs and shakes his head fondly. aiden has always somewhat been like this, but he thinks perhaps his own career taking off hadn’t helped.

( 4 ) new messages:  the more superior son

> then i would’ve dealt with it > we would’ve dealt with it together > you’re just as important to me as my career is, you know > more important, i would argue 

     he considers just leaving it there, tapping his finger against his wrist as he stares down at his phone. he knows by now, how stubborn his younger brother is, and he probably wouldn’t be able to convince him with words alone but considering the punishment the younger is going through, he probably won’t be able to see him anytime soon. it’s unfortunate, but it’s also their reality right now. he decides to send another message, just a reassurance on his part. 

( 3 ) new messages:  the more superior son

aiden​:

“hey now,” aiden pretends to take alec’s accusatory tone ( which isn’t even that sharp, but it’s all in good fun and also because he likes to mess with alec ) to heart, grabbing hold of his chest, mimicking those dramatic moments within movies; the only difference here being that alec is the actor between the two of them, so he probably didn’t look that convincing to the other. regardless, he still tries to seem hurt. “i’d bring you goods so often when i was still living there! anyway, maybe next time?”

but right now he feels kind of watched, which isn’t a feeling he’d like to have to creep under his skin when he’s eating some donuts and reflecting about his sweet hometown. aiden raises an eyebrow at the other, taking a quick glance at the person he thought had noticed alec—surely no nasty rumour will come out of alec sitting in a dunkin donuts, right? there’s nothing suspicious about this ( minus the gloomy aura that’s seeping out of their joyless figures ) nor will make a dent in alec’s reputation.

aiden hums, shoving his donut before alec’s face in an attempt to hide his brother’s face, but it’s half-eaten ( plus donuts have a big hole in the middle, which probably doesn’t help ), so now alec just looks even stupider. aiden laughs a little, a part of him hopes someone caught this image—he’d snap a picture himself. he doesn’t want to dirty his camera though, his fingers are covered in sugar and a dash of oil, after all.

“you’re so famous now,” he teases, the light slowly returning to his face. “i wonder if your fame will reach canada at one point. probably? eventually?” of course alec will get recognised more often in korea than back home, but it’s still a possibility. “my brother is one of the top actors in legacy entertainment, he can’t eat a donut without a mask, he can’t drink his americano while looking gloomy,” he singsongs to a random melody.

   he’s not quite sure what aiden had noticed to react like this, so he doesn’t say anything in response, just laughing at his brother acting dramatic. “well, we’re both living here now so ...” he points out, knowing that it didn’t really matter who won the argument here. he laughs though, imagining them flying home to canada and just picking up tim hortons while there.

   or better yet, if their parents came to visit and their only request was tim hortons. not unrealistic, honestly.

   he laughs when there’s suddenly a half eaten donut in his face, and he’s not quite sure how but the gloomy atmosphere between them has been lifted just from aiden being a bit silly. he doesn’t think he could be too homesick—not when aiden is here now. it had been harder before, when he had been in seoul all by himself and had no one really to talk to about being homesick. but now that that he has one of the people who had given him a reason to be homesick for canada here with him? it’s less likely now.

     “i wouldn’t really say so,” alec comments, shrugging as he picks up his donut, this time with the intent of finishing it rather than staring at it forlornly. he takes a bite, shrugging again. he knows that, because of the hallyu wave, there has been a greater interest worldwide in k-dramas, and he’s an actor in said k-dramas ... it’s an interesting thought. he had never even really considered it. 

     ( backdated to june 7th, some time before midnight )

things were busy as of late and while yura has never once minded it (to her, being busy was better than not), she did feel sad that she didn’t really have the time–or energy–to do something more for alec’s birthday. but to be honest, she also wasn’t sure what she could do especially after he had gifted her the couple rings for their anniversary. as someone who was always competitive, she couldn’t help but want to do something better for her boyfriend (although–and she would not admit this out loud–it’s mostly due to her wanting to because he deserves it) so it was killing her inside that she was not only stumped on ideas but time.

in the end, she settled on sending him her ‘gift’ through kakaotalk for now and she would think more carefully about a physical present so once she had the time and the dorm was quiet, she hurries to the bathroom and double checks she locked the door after ensuring no one was around outside. she’s glad no one seemed to see her along the way–hopefully–or they might question why she was bringing a cupcake into the bathroom.

then she opens her phone camera and fixes any stray strands of hair, making sure everything was in place before taking a deep breath. she can’t believe she was going to do something like this but for alec, she could be a little embarrassing. it’s not like anyone would see this but him, anyways, so after another moment to gather herself, she sets up her phone on the counter then pulls the cupcake out of its packaging, sticks a candle in and lights it up, then immediately hits record on her phone once she was done.

“happy birthday to you~” she quietly sings while holding the cupcake in front of the phone, the food taking up half the screen and her smiling face filling up the other half. “happy birthday dear alec! happy birthday to you,” she finishes with a small cheer. “now make a wish and blow out the candle!” obviously, he can’t, because it’s a video so she does it for him–after giving him a few moments to make a wish if he wanted to, of course–and laughs. “i’m sorry we can’t celebrate in person on the day of but i hope this will do for now! i’ll make it up to you when we’re both more free, i promise,” she adds on before giving a wave to the camera. “i’ll see you soon, okay?”

she hits the record button again, ending the video, then moves on to the second part of her gift: a series of photos she’d send in a row after she had sent the video. the first is a photo of just her hand (the same one she wears their ring on) making a finger heart, the second is a slightly bigger heart she makes with both her hands, and the final is one of her making a heart over her head with her arms.

it’s then that she notices the time approaching midnight and since she wanted to be the first to greet him, she waits until the very last minute before she starts sending her messages.

💌 sent to ↝ sunshine ☀️          ↪ 3…          ↪ 2…          ↪ 1…          ↪ [ video ]          ↪ HAPPY BIRTHDAY!!!!!!!          ↪ [ picture 1 ]          ↪ [ picture 2 ]          ↪ [ picture 3 ]          ↪ i really wish i could do more for you 🥺          ↪ but this is all i can do for now…

then, she records a voice clip–the real embarrassing part of the entire gift–and sends it before she has second thoughts, not even stopping to check if alec has said anything during the time she was recording it.

💌 sent to ↝ sunshine ☀️         ↪ [ voice note ]

“i know i don’t say it often, and i’d rather say this to your face, but…” yura’s voice is uncharacteristically nervous and hesitant, something she’d never show to anyone but alec (or if she was in seriously dire circumstances), and she pauses for a few moments before taking another deep breath. “i love you!” she almost shouts the words out in a rush but remembers where she is and dials it down. “i’m so glad you were born. i hope this is a good start to your day and that you enjoy the rest of it– but i also hope this will be the best present you get!” her voice sounds more like normal now, her usual teasing tone flowing back into her words. “you deserve so much and more, and i’m so happy i get to be with you to celebrate your birth even if we aren’t, you know, actually together right now,” she laughs. “but i’ll make it up to you as soon as i can, i swear! happy birthday, alec!”

     the messages that pour in at midnight are honestly somewhat surprising. it’s not that he hadn’t expected them, but it’s also that exactly—he hadn’t really expected them. he had been on twitter just before and had been following along in one of the hashtag trends that his fans had made for him and had just sort of been grinning to himself as he read it. some fans were a bit over the top, and of course there were trolls who used the hashtag to say mean things but he was pretty good at just skipping over them. 

     after talking to his parents, he scrolled through the notifications carefully and smiles to himself when he saw the one contact name he had been looking for in particular. not that he would’ve held it against her if she had been late, but he’s pleasantly surprised that she’s at the very bottom of all the notifications, indicating the timing that she had been first. 

     it warms his heart to know she was putting this much effort in, despite being insanely busy with crystallis things. 

     he clicks into her chat, reading the messages and raising his eyebrows when a video loads instead of anything else. pressing play once it’s loaded in kakaotalk, he has to bite back a smile as he watches it on low volume, trying his best not to let out any noises because of how cute yura was being in the video. this is a rare image that he doesn’t see on her very often, and when the video ends he quickly clicks on the down arrow to save it to his phone. he knows she wouldn’t mind, since they both know he would never share it with anyone, and it’s for him anyway. 

     he wants to keep it forever. 

     the pictures load next, and his grin only widens slightly when he sees the ring on her hand and the photos that follow it. he unashamedly saves those too, making a mental note to favourite them in his photo album so he could look at them when he was feeling down or anything. god, could he love her any more than this? his chest was feeling warm, his heart full and that’s when he sees the audio message pop up. 

     he had been about to type a message, but he keeps his words to himself for now, deciding to reply at the very end when he had listened to the audio too. 

     her opening words have him anticipating, and it’s not for nothing when she says the words he had been hoping to hear. he’s pretty sure they’ve only ever said it to each other in person a few times, probably only enough to count on one hand—though that was because of how busy their schedules were and not because they hadn’t wanted to say it. but he makes sure to end most days with those words, and starts some mornings with them if he can because he just wants her to know that he does love her and hopes that her days start and end well. 

     he doesn’t think he’ll ever get sick of hearing them and he hopes she doesn’t either. 

     the rest of the message is just as sweet as the beginning and alec finds himself grinning from ear to ear as the voice note ends, and he stares at his phone for a moment before he starts typing quickly. he’ll have to figure out a way to save the voice note later, but right now he’s just giddy that she had sent it to him to begin with. 

( 12 ) new messages:  🖤🖤🖤

alec is a good person. it’s easy to come to that conclusion from a single interaction. but aiden was granted the privilege of living with alec son, of growing up with him, of being cared for by him since he was young.

( and it was alec who gifted him with his first ever camera, a simple toy that opened his eyes to a window of memories. he doesn’t think he’ll ever be able to give alec a gift as impactful as that. )

to aiden, alec isn’t just a good person. he’s also the best brother he could have asked for.

so the guilt that came from almost messing up what alec worked hard for in a moment of weakness hasn’t gone away, even as alec’s big day approaches. even more so now, since he can’t celebrate with his older brother the way he wants to.

he can make promises, though. and he’ll keep them.

(  ✉  )     outgoing   →  alec (famous era) !

··· sent: happy birthday! ··· sent: i know you’re busy. ··· sent: and i’m… jailed. ··· sent: but, i promise i’ll bake you the best cake ever. ··· sent: once i’m free, of course. ··· sent: have a good day! don’t forget about me! ··· sent: and thank you. for being my brother.

     when his birthday comes, he’s not surprised to get a call from his mom right at the stroke of midnight. it’s both of his parents on facetime and he’s used to this by now, considering they’ve done this ever since he moved to seoul to quote unquote follow his dreams. he remembers the first years, having struggled here on his own because he didn’t quite understand the customs and the practices despite being fluent in the language. back then, aiden would usually pop in too and alec would get to smile and see his entire family on a screen. 

     it only got better since aiden came to seoul too, and even got accepted into legacy as a trainee. having family nearby was great and almost an instant cure to any homesickness that he had.

     even two and a half years later, he feels the same way.

     once he’s finished with the call with his parents, he moves to kakaotalk to check all his notifications. there’s a few that stand out to him, and his brother’s is one of them. he knows the other is sort of in a lockdown right now so he’s more appreciative than ever that the younger is messaging him for his birthday. 

     it could be the most lackluster message ever and it would still bring a smile to his lips. lucky for him, it’s never a lackluster message and this year is not different despite the current circumstances.

     he feels the corners of his lips pulling into a grin as he reads the words on his screen, shaking his head slightly to himself and rereading all the messages once before typing a reply.

( 11 ) new messages:  the more superior son

LGC STYLE INTERVIEW alec son

LGC BABYSITTING SERVICES INTERVIEW alec son    

@alecsun just posted a photo!

CASTING CALL 008 AUDITION alec son  

hanbyul chuckles, glad to hear that the other is also a fan of korean bbq. she wonders if the staff had thought about people who might be vegetarian or vegan, but maybe there wasn’t anyone on their team who fell into those categories. anyway, she’s happy to be here and she is definitely going to be enjoying this meal.

“me too!” she exclaims, giggling behind her hand as she looks up at him. “should we go make sure there’s nothing else we need to do before we can take our seats?” she asked, her head nodding towards some of the staff people who seemed to be guiding people to where they needed to go next. she’s never sure what is expected of them, if they have to take photos before they start to eat or if they can take their places at the table.

     he nods, agreeing easily to that. he doesn’t want to sit before all the senior staff and actors got here, and he also isn’t sure if there’s going to be a particular seating arrangement or not. considering that both he and hanbyul had had main roles in the drama, he wouldn’t be surprised if they were sitting together along with hankyung. but also, he doesn’t know if he wants to sit with the senior actor considering he feels oddly shy around him, despite having worked together for so long now.

rieon​:

     it doesn’t take long for rieon to react to that answer, all to used to their bantering, so he frowns. “you’re supposed to agree with me, not give a safe pr-approved answer like that,” he sighs, shaking his head as if he’s actually disappointed. “i even consider you my favourite cousin but i see how it is.” for added effect, he pretends to turn his nose up until it’s quickly replaced with a mischievous look upon seeing alec’s reaction to realizing what workshop he’s in. he think it’s hilarious and he’s partly glad that his friend seemed clueless and just blindly followed rieon to this workshop - the other half of him feeling kind of bad because he knows alec and dancing don’t really go together.

     rieon bursts out laughing once he hears the other’s answer and watches him act as if he’s really in an interview. “you’re not even as bad as you might think,” he says, trying to reassure his friend of his skills - and he honestly isn’t. even if you couldn’t dance at all or were just bad at it in the beginning, rieon’s learned–and seen firsthand–that training can teach anyone to dance. they don’t have to be the best or even above average either, they just need to be able to keep up with others and not stand out terribly if they can’t.

     however, alec wasn’t in that category in his opinion; sure, it would probably be one of his weaker skills but the end result as never something to scoff at. his cousin always worked hard and practiced harder when it came down to it so if there was anyone who commented on his dancing and said otherwise, he’d surely have words for them. which is why he can say, with confidence, that alec son can dance. “i give you my seal of approval,” he nods firmly. “but with that being said… we have another question for you.” since alec was going to play along with his joke, rieon would continue it too - and he knew just the thing to ask.

     “is it correct to assume that you wanted to hang out with your cool cousin oh rieon more than thinking about whatever workshop it might be, and that is why you didn’t consider the possibility?” the smile on rieon’s face as he asks this is even more mischievous than before, almost bordering a shit-eating grin because he thinks he has alec right where he wants him– and if not then he’d like to see how his cousin answers this.

     he can’t help but actually feel somewhat reassured by what rieon says. he would never consider himself a dancer, especially since pre-legacy alec would definitely be classified as someone with two left feet. he’s not even trying to fish for compliments or anything, because he remembers when he first started as a trainee, he had been asked whether he was sure he wanted to go down this path.

     his answer had been yes, even though mentally he’s pretty sure he probably would’ve said no. he had never been sure of a career as an idol, and now that he’s been acting for more than a year? he knows that the company made the right choice here for him, and honestly alec could not be happier in his career right now. acting was something he had always been interested in anyway, and he’s happy that it seems to be working out for him. his roles have been received generally pretty well, and most news online when his name came up was positive. so he hopes it’s only going to get better from here.

     “as the better dancer between the two of us,” alec says, nudging the other with a laugh. “i appreciate it. but that doesn’t make me any happier to be in this workshop,” he shakes his head, sighing afterwards. he’s not going to leave, by any means, even if he had joked about it earlier. a workshop he hadn’t chosen with his cousin was probably still going to be more fun than a workshopb he had chosen without his cousin. 

hayoung​:

“oh,” she gasps. honestly, she is impressed by the little girl’s response. at her age, hayoung would literally run away at the sight of anything green ( even now she is not a big fan of some ). “you are eating so well, minju.” the idol compliments, patting the girl’s head with a gentle smile curving her lips – maybe she should’ve listened to her mom when she was a child and she wouldn’t be so weak now. “if you keep eating your veggies you will grow fast like a bean sprout and have a lot of energy to play with your friends.” she repeats the words she used to hear and ignore, and the girl seems proud.

holding the bunny doll so they could measure it, hayoung suggests once alec gets the height in numbers, “mm should we feed him carrots so he can be as strong as you?” minju, as expected, is quick to run to find a plastic carrot in the fake food basket to do as she was told. grinning widely, she can’t help but think that if all the kids were cute and nice like her, hayoung wouldn’t be so exhausted now.

she blinks up and turns her attention back to the actor. “oh i see…” she mumbles thoughtfully. “i thought it was a myth to make kids eat things they don’t want but maybe they didn’t lie. it could be just genes though.” she would never know because sometimes it felt just like luck or whatever. “but i’ve been drinking a lot of milk tea these days so we will see in the next months…” she laughs heartily, very aware that it’s not the same and she’s not going to grow when she is already twenty.

     maybe it’s because he’s usually been the type to eat everything and anything—since around the age of ten, at least—he had somewhat expected this answer from the girl. though, he’s also surprised too, considering he hadn’t been too sure—the horror stories he had heard about parents trying to get their kids to eat vegetables maybe convincing him otherwise. though, he’s proud that minju had confirmed that she did eat vegetables. 

     thinking about it now, he has friends now that don’t like eating vegetables so he feels a bit more impressed.

     “she’s so cute,” alec comments, watching as minju runs off to get a pretend carrot from the play kitchen. he’s not too sure if she’ll remember to come back to them to show them the carrot though, considering he’s watched many a kid just up and leave in the middle of playing and completely forget to come back. he watches her fondly from afar, wondering if he would ever have a kid that was as cute as she was.

wookjin​:

wookjin couldn’t help the grin that formed when he saw the kids’ determined expressions. if he ended today by creating a new generation of enthusiastic competitors, today would be a win in his book. but, to do so, he knew he had to succeed fairly. “i would never think you would hyung.” he assured the other. “this is a fair game,” he added as a kid fell and left the mat giving wookjin a dirty look, which the very mature wookjin replied to my sticky his tongue out at the child. 

he looked down at his position and had to stop himself from letting out an expletive, there were kids and cameras after all. still, he replied “alright, no problem” though he sounded much less sure of himself than before. his entire left side had to stay secure in the red spots he was stuck at while he moved his right foot over to join them from yellow, all while keeping his right hand on yellow. also not falling over or hitting a kid. he thought someone must have turned the heat up as his left hand started to feel slippery from sweat as he moved. it was a bit of a struggled because of that, but he was successful in his readjustment. he couldn’t help an excited “score!” being let out in english.

     he watches the interaction between the kid who had just been eliminated and wookjin, shaking his head fondly. he pats the floor next to him, in case the kid wanted to join and maybe spin the arrow but he leaves instead and alec just shrugs. some kids could be sore losers, but he’s sure that he probably just wanted to go and play something else now that he couldn’t play twister anymore.