EIGHT

     -

     hearing a familiar voice behind him, jiho spins around in the chair he had settled himself in and, for once, doesn’t stop the smile from spreading across his lips at the sight of his boyfriend walking towards him. “hi,” he greets back, feeling a bit breathless at the sight of the other. it’s stupid, and maybe he’s too enamored all things considered—they’ve been dating for maybe 3 months and he’s still as shy around the other as he had been when they were dancing around each other—but he thinks he’s allowed to feel this way consideing they don’t get to see each other as often as he would like. 

     “uh, not really.” he chews on his bottom lip, adjusting his glasses as he glances at the lyric sheet he had been looking at before the other had arrived. “i mean, i’m always nervous before recording so that’s nothing new …” he idly taps his fingers against the paper before he scrunches up his nose. “i’ll take one positive affirmation if it’s not a compliment though!”

not that this is his studio or anything, but eunho can’t help but be a little hyperaware of his surroundings. notably, he kind of wishes there was a plant or something in here to spruce things up. it’s looking way too big with just the two of them, after all — though he’s never minded being alone with jiho.

he’s just, you know, nervous.

plus, with nothing else to focus on but jiho, eunho can’t really do much to control the stupid smile that keeps threatening to break past his aura of professionalism every time they so much as make eye contact. 

“gasp, lee jiho nervous before recording? never would have guessed!” eunho jokes, as he taps his pen against the thin stack of papers in front of him. “wait — no compliments?” he looks up, his expression positively wounded at the idea of being unable to shower his Business Acquaintance (slash boyfriend) in praise. eunho hums, leaning back in his seat, a contemplative glint in his eyes. “you’re going to hit it out of the park. i mean, you’re lee jiho. of course you’ll do great.” he smiles, sincerely. “and even if you’re having an off-day, luckily for you, we have plenty of time and i have the patience of a saint,” eunho teases.

he marks up the lyrics sheet a couple of more times — mostly unintelligible scribbles that only make sense to eunho — before jerking his thumb over his shoulder to the actual recording booth.

-

“actually…” he mutters, gaze darting from the abstract squares on the page to the bag at his side. a few moments of shuffling through crumpled sheets of song lyrics, empty snack wrappers, and wires, he pulls out a clunky polaroid camera. “i was looking for some cheap equipment at this old electronics store, and found this. check it out!” he holds the device out to the other with a half smile. despite his externally mellow demeanor, yunho was absolutely giddy over this find. “still works just like new. i’ve got a few reams of film… trainee photocards?”

he doesn’t really mind yunho’s company, to be honest. or, well, it’s probably more accurate to say eunho vibes with yunho. he’s a much calmer presence than eunho could ever be but there’s equilibrium in opposites (or whatever—something like that).

eunho lets out a pensive little hum, leaning back in his seat as he stares at the scribbles (“brainstorming”) on the paper in front of him. he’s usually more organized, more prepared, about this kind of stuff. but he’d never once anticipated being instructed to attend isac, and in the hubbub of everything else, it’d unintentionally fallen to the backburner.

“photography?” eunho echoes, tilting his head back and staring at the ceiling. there are some gears turning—albeit slowly—in his mind, and he’s about to say something when yunho continues, and oh! “oh, sick! this looks cool!”

trainee photocards? 

eunho blinks, before slowly bobbing his head up and down.

“i like it,” he says, once to himself and then again to yunho: “i like it!” eunho leans forward, propping his elbows on the table and looking at the camera curiously. “trainee photocards, huh? should we just snap a couple of photos of all of the trainees that’ll be at isac? or everyone period? maybe the really popular ones? aw, but i think taking a photo of everyone would be nice. might be a good opportunity to introduce some new faces to the crowd, too! they could write short notes on the back of the photos like, ‘don’t catch a cold!!!!’ and it could be cute!”

the gears in eunho’s mind are operational now. 

the night before had been another one of those long nights in which gitaek struggled to settle enough for sleep. a night spent on tiktok, writing lame song lyrics, and spamming his boyfriend with memes he found on twitter. by evening time he was feeling his lack of his sleep deep into his bones but instead of attempting to nap he was seeking out his roommate. it’s been a good number of months now since he moved in and he’s really starting to get comfortable here. finding solace spending time with eunho opposed to avoiding him.

he’s always liked the older but gitaek is painfully shy by nature and it took time for him to be a bit warmer. 

“hyung.” his voice is soft and successfully hiding how tired he was feeling. “have you started working on your solo project?” is his way of greeting as he drops into a seat beside eunho. his laptop bag set on the floor and he ends up giving into the desire for attention as he drops his head onto the olders shoulder, wanting to see what he’s up to. 

he wants his style as a producer to be hard to pinpoint, to be honest—which is probably the exact opposite of what it means to have a trademark. but eunho can’t really help himself. he’s easily excited, and he likes trying as many new things that catch his eye (or, well, maybe his ear) as possible. it might not be productive, either—how’s he supposed to get better at one style if he’s already dividing his attention on two, three, and the list goes on...

his attention snaps up from his laptop when he hears gitaek’s voice, the tension in his shoulders leaving in tendrils when he feels the weight of the younger’s head.

a new songs starter for @lgceunho​

jaesun would be lying if he said he wasn’t just a little bummed at how things played out in future dreams. as someone who had been in the company the longest, he really thought he had the best shot at being chosen for the first group. there’s a small part of him that wondered if this meant that his opportunities for debut were really just gone at this point. if that were the case, shouldn’t they have just told him that he should think about a different plan? why continue to keep him locked up?

as he sat with eunho on the song, the thoughts whirl around in his mind that say and he forces himself to snap out of it. “sorry, could you repeat what you just said?” he asked, “something about this part of the song?” he throws the other an apologetic look. ‘it’s time to focus, jaesun,’ he tells himself. if he doesn’t now, he really will be out of a job.

it’s probably a stressful time for everyone participating in future dreams—especially the ones who were holding out hope for a speedy debut. eunho sort of gets it (he probably can’t empathize completely; but at the very least, he’s aware of his limits), and he probably wouldn’t want to be in their shoes.

“nah, don’t worry about ti! no need to apologize,” eunho says easily, tapping one end of his pen against the stanza he’d been looking at. he glances at jaesun, an easy smile on his lips. “we’re kind of ahead of schedule anyway. but yeah, this part of the song—especially these two lines—i think might be a little better if you made sure to separate them... so they don’t kind of blur into each other. i mean, the last word of this line, and the first word of the next one...” he trails off.

eunho presses his lips into a contemplative line before tilting his head to the side, gaze scanning the lyrics sheet for other sections he’d like to work on. they’ve been at it since this morning and even now—during a quick break—they’ve been chatting, idly, about bits and pieces of jaesun’s lines in an effort to fine-tune it.

it’s an exciting opportunity, getting to work with people he once trained next to—in an entirely different capacity. maybe it’s a sign of how far everyone’s come (or maybe eunho’s getting ahead of himself again).

producing’s his job, but he does have fun with it more often than not. and while he’s definitvely had fun working with his other future dreams partner—jaesun—the incoming one is a source of both trepidation and anticipation for eunho.

he clears his throat before entering the designated studio of the day, peeking his head in through the doorway and noting @lgcjiho— that’s right, his boyfriend—has beat him here. “hi,” eunho greets, the smile on his lips splitting into a grin way too easily. he enters, letting the door close behind him. there’s a notebook tucked under his arm, along with a stack of papers. 

there aren’t any cameras or anything like that here, and eunho could very easily walk right over and peck jiho on the forehead—but he doesn’t.

they’re here to work (or whatever!) and also eunho doesn’t want to risk letting himself give in to distractions.

he seats himself in the chair at the monitors, twirling it around so he’s facing jiho. the smile on eunho’s lips softens, presses into a firmer line as his gaze flickers from jiho’s face to the lyrics sheet he’s managed to find amidst the stack of papers from earlier.

participating in the sports festival sounds like fun and all—but eunho can’t help but feel a little jittery (without fail, every time) whenever he’s given the opportunity to interact with fans or the population at large. as a junior producer, most of his time is spent in the studio, and while this is exactly the lifestyle he was vying for, the social butterfly in him gets excited at the prospect of mingling.

but mingling with the masses as someone affiliated with lgc entertainment is different from mingling as... well, just kang eunho.

at least he won’t be alone. maybe @lgcnam will be a nice, neutralizing presence. they’re not so familiar with each other that eunho doesn’t have questions or things he’d like to know (for curiosity’s sake) about yunho, but he’s stubborn enough to believe that they’re well on their way to a fulfilling friendship!

“i guess it’d probably be cooler if we did something that was, like, you know! more personal? i mean, not that i think the attendees would mind much regardless of what we gave them, but...” eunho trails off, pensively, falling into silence for a few extended seconds before he snaps his attention back to yunho, the grind that follows automatic. “what do you like to do, yunho? i feel like you’re the artsy type! should we prepare something... artsy?” 

ALSO, i’ve done literally nothing for VLIVE PROMPT 005 so if you have questions pls send them my way (here or @lgcahin) or if you NEED questions, like/reply/im/etc. and i’d be happy to send some to you!

AND FINALLY, i know i’ve been atrociously slow and have massively dropped the ball, but i’d really love to plot more with people and get some more threads going!! so please don’t hesitate to like/reply/im if you’re interested or hit me up on twitter!

while he doesn’t have any real plans (at least, not for the immediate future) to move out of the dorms the company has provided the junior producers who have chosen to stay behind, his second experience filming for royal canin has eunho wondering if he could manage taking care of a dog if he found his own place.

(he could, he thinks. he’s taken care of dogs before, after all. and adopting a dog sounds more and more appealing by the day...)

it’s probably not a good enough reason to move out (especially considering things like rent, and the fact that the dorms really are the most convenient place to be — plus, they’re way nicer than the trainee ones he spent most of his stint at legacy in). that, and service dogs probably aren’t (he knows they aren’t) representative of the entire dog population at large.

still, spending his day working with the friendliest, most well-trained dogs he’s ever met in his life? he can’t help but miss his family’s corgi and wonder why she ended up so spoiled...

because this is his second time, the filming experience has gone a little smoother than it did last time. he still has yura around, after all, if he needs a (very sharp) pep talk. the nerves aren’t as bad this time around, too, and while modeling probably isn’t ever going to be one of eunho’s fortes, he’s still glad he’s had not only one, but two chances to try it out.

the dog he’s been working with for most of the filming sits a distance away by its trainer and eunho’s attention drifts from one end of the filming set to the other before settling back on the dog. 

with the actual instrumental track figured out and complete, all there’s left for eunho to do is finalize the lyrics. it’d been an uphill battle after deciding what kind of vibe he wanted for his k-arts partner — and though she’d been convinced (albeit a little hesitant at first, which was surprising considering how down for everything she’d seemed to be. maybe reality was settling in as they got closer to the show date?) after sometime, he still wanted to make sure that he got the whole track put together, preliminarily, with plenty of time for amendments and overhauls (if necessary).

his partner (or assigned student? he’d insisted on using partner because client sounded really weird, super formal, and definitely not up his family) for the upcoming assignment is, thankfully, a really friendly person. they’re kind, excited, and the only real issue (if eunho can call it that) is that they’re extremely compliant.

     -

     the thought hits her suddenly, and she turns her head to look at him. “are you sure you’re talking about your dog??” she’s sure eunha said that eunho is dating these days, which would explain the strangeness in how he’s asking her for gift ideas. and she’s both excited ( because who wouldn’t be! she loves living vicariously through her friends! ), and freaked out ( how is she going to suggest gifts when she can’t even think of one for the person she likes! ) but still determined to try her best. “does your dog maybe like…a blanket? or maybe a care package with pain patches and new sneakers? or maybe a date night?”

oh god. she knows. she knows. how does hyejoo know when literally no one else kn —

(picture: eunha spamming him to death on kakaotalk at god-knows-when-but-definitely-not-a-respectable-hour demanding to know if jang taesung’s really as tall as he looks on vlive. a back-and-forth ensues. in the midst of the sibling squabble, eunho accidentally mentions his boyfriend. he ghosts her messages for an entire twelve hours after.)

hyejoo, bless her heart, is deciding to play along nonetheless. eunho’s way too embarrassed by the fact that they both know he isn’t talking about yeppi (maybe he should get her a dog toy or something for real, though, for being his metaphorical sacrifice) to actually clarify or explain himself, anyway.

“yep! my dog! definitely my... dog.” he falters. “er, maybe more like... a cat...?” no, eunho, just let it go. “huh... care package sounds like a good idea. oh, date night would be good too... but that’d be kind of hard because ji — he, i mean she! is... busy.” (just let it gooooo...) “...busy... doing. busy chasing her tail, and, uh, stuff.”

hyejoo, bless her heart, is playing along, but eunho, shit idiot fucking fool eunho, can’t lie for his life.

(if it wasn’t obvious already.)

he swallows, thickly, jamming his hands into the pockets of his hoodie as he lets his gaze rake over the options they have for dinner. not that dinner between the two of them’s ever a formal occasion or anything, but he’s desperate for a distraction.

“uh,” eunho attempts, feebly. “so...” how does he even go about doing this? the only person he told, he told by complete accident and had to bribe into letting it go until he was emotionally prepared to be way cooler and much more composed about it. he and hyejoo have been friends for too long for him to really feel embarrassed, but then why does he feel embarrassed? “uhhhh...” what’s he embarrassed about anyway? his boyfriend’s really cute, if he has to say so himself. the only embarrassing thing was floundering for an excuse and using his dog, of all things, as a cover-up. 

oh, wait. that is pretty overwhelmingly embarrassing.

what does he think of when he thinks of fall? probably chuseok, but there isn’t really anything from chuseok that comes to mind in terms of a presentable recipe. at least — there isn’t when eunho boxes himself into the world of sweets (his least favorite world, because the only sweet thing he’ll tolerate, to this day, is a good old block of yanggeng; and even that’s in moderation). there’s no rule that it has to be a dessert or some kind of drink or anything, so he figures he’ll do what he does best (er, according to his mom at least, who’s authoritative in the kitchen, especially during holidays).

BACKDATED TO END OF OCT. ‘20

it’s rare for @lgchyejoo to have free time. eunho’s not the issue — as a producer, his schedule’s a lot more lenient than it ever was when he was an idol trainee, after all, and if all goes according to plan, then hopefully hyejoo will be on the same boat soon too. it’d be fun working with more people, for one, but hyejoo isn’t just another person, but one of eunho’s closest friends. 

stifling a small yawn, eunho stretches his arms over his head as they head out for dinner. he checks the time on his phone really quickly before turning his attention back to hyejoo. “i have a question,” he starts, sounding probably much more suspicious than he’d like to. 

it’s not like he wants to keep secrets from hyejoo, but what with how recent his relationship with jiho is, even eunho’s having trouble putting it to words despite how happy the past however many days (not even a week) have been for him. 

-

“mmmm… my partner is very…. excitable.” he pictures the guy he’s working with on this–another talkative person. there’s a brief pause as gitaek cast a look at his bag as if debating on bringing out his own laptop, before he continues. “he has very specific music preferences so it’s been tough.” 

gitaek moves closer and eunho thinks, idly, oh — that’s surprising. he’s not mad about it though. if the younger’s finally starting to give in to eunho’s futile but bountiful attempts at trying to establish some semblance of camaraderie, then he definitely won’t complain.

(plus, whether it’s a positive or negative remains undetermined, once eunho starts talking about music, his mind’s pretty much clouded with that rather than anything else.)

“huh? yeah, of course i do! i mean, you’re a junior producer, i’m a junior producer — we have little cubicles in the same studio. we might as well bounce ideas off of each other, right?” eunho grins. “i mean, i even pull people who have nothing to do with creatives into my grip to make them listen to what i’m up to. geez, the number of times i’ve spam texted yura at two in the morning asking if she’ll lend me her ear? crazy. surprising, actually, that she hasn’t killed me yet.” oops, he’s getting distracted again. “rambling, my bad. all this to say, i’d be really grateful if you listened! especially since my partner seems to be down for anything.” 

he’s already busying himself with pulling open the most recent version of his frankensteined track when gitaek continues talking. what a win. gitaek talking more than three sentences, willingly, with eunho. he’ll have to text jiho about it later. with a bunch of crying emojis or whatever.

“aw, we pulled opposites, huh?” eunho asks, letting out a faint laugh. “sometimes, it’s nice having a really specific person who clearly has a vision in mind, but it’s probably a little stifling too, isn’t it? you can let me know if you want some feedback, too! on our k-arts tracks or on anything else you might be working on. this is your first real project in creatives, right? how are you feeling about... well, not just the track, but everything in general? it’s probably been a bit of an adjustment... i know i don’t always seem super reliable, but you can always reach out if you need anything! we’re roommates now, after all!”

@KKANGEUNHO just posted a photo!

happy new year!! went home for the holidays and my sister begged me to start uploading cooler photos on instagram so i'm posting this one instead 😌

-

eunho is well.. eunho. the like coolest person he has met in this company and like gitaek actively admires him a lot. has since they first met. and eunho is a really awesome producer already.

he’d pretty much decided on his own that he would just avoid eunho at the dorms. how hard could it be? just slip around him and it’ll be fine. or so he thinks as he steps from his own room. bag resting on his shoulder intent to head to the company without bothering anyone else in the dorm. he doesn’t expect to see eunho out in the common area when he does, adopting a very deer in headlights look as he stops abruptly. is this how fans feel when they run into their idols in public? maybe. maybe eunho won’t see him…

it’s always exciting when new junior producers join creatives — not just because eunho has more people to bounce ideas off of, but sometimes, he’ll get a new roommate too. luckily for eunho, one of his new roommates is gitaek, who, despite being as easily startled as a newborn fawn, is someone eunho’s very endeared by.

case in point — gitaek attempting to dodge eunho around their own home has done very little to discourage him from continuing to pursue a friendship (or at least a detente) of sorts. today’s no exception. right as eunho looks up from his own computer and beat-pad, stationed at the kitchen table, still in his sleep clothes with his glasses crooked on his face, he meets gitaek’s gaze.

“morning?” he attempts, tilting his head to the side because gitaek looks shocked and eunho isn’t sure why. maybe his bed-head’s especially bad today? couldn’t be the issue though; not when he’s wearing his hood. “you headed out? oh, hey! while you’re here — wait, you’re not in a rush, are you? — do you want to listen to the track i’m working on? it’s for the student at k-arts i was assigned, and she’s been really down for literally everything i suggest, which is sweet, but i want to make sure i’m actually putting together something worth performing —”

oops. maybe he’s talking too much. he gets too easily excited when it comes to his music, and having a roommate he can pester really does wonders for eunho’s creativity. he isn’t sure how he managed for so long essentially on his own. 

“haha, sorry... rambling about myself again,” eunho murmurs, scratching his cheek, meekly. he swings his legs over the chair until he’s facing gitaek a little more squarely — just one indication that he’s giving his attention to the younger boy. how come i never see you even though we live together? he almost blurts out (good-naturedly, of course! he wants to make sure gitaek’s eating and sleeping properly!). instead, he asks, “how’s your stuff going? smoothly? if you want me to listen to anything and give you a second opinion, let me know! i know i spent my first few months in the studio asking all of the senior producers to listen to the same track fifty-thousand times...”