* flame ,

( ... )

he doesn’t know why he was so worried. hyunbin was right and it should have been so obvious that the other likes him back. now that it’s out in the open for both of them to know, he’s starting to realize that it’s kind of always been this way. “i-i wasn’t doubting!” he denies, attempting to shake off hyunbins hands so he could speak a little more properly. unable to hide how happy he is in his voice or eyes. “so–so does this? does this mean we’re like dating now?” god could he be anymore lame.  

it’s still a little surreal for him, most likely because hyunbin just recently had his gears turned correctly and came to a very real conclusion. or maybe he’d known all along, what his feelings for gitaek really were, but it didn’t feel like there was a need to change anything. their friendship meant too much to let go over a chance at romance, especially when he doesn’t know how gitaek feels about it all himself. of course, now that he’s aware of gitaek’s feelings, that changes things. he wants to try it out—holding hands, secret looks, but of the less platonic nature.

for hyunbin, it has to be gitaek.

the way his words were slowly clicking for his friend, trapped underneath him because hyunbin, with utmost grace, dropped himself onto gitaek out of pure excitement—it made him laugh. he isn’t laughing at gitaek, he’d never do that to the teenager, more so the entire situation. how long had gitaek felt this way about it? how long did they spend dancing over these emotions when they could have sorted things out from the start? hyunbin’s probably overthinking things, it’s not like they’re in their middle ages looking back on what could have been.

no, they’re here, in the now. and they’ve made it. together.

he releases gitaek’s cheeks from his grip, just to give the other his speech back. “you’re so cute, are you embarrassed?” he asks, that same teasing tone in his voice. “that’s right! take good care of me, boyfriend. from now on, we’ll sneak out of this building to go on dates! wouldn’t that be an adventure?” he’s half joking—actually, now that he thought about it, he’s looking forward to doing that.

but back onto more pressing matters.

it’s been somewhat of a wild ride. Insoo can’t say his week has been the best, to be honest. He’s trying though, pushing through all the things hes been thrown at with recently his grandmother falling ill and now having to take more than his mind can handle. In any case, she’s been getting better so he’s been making time little by little to get back to the grind and focus on what he wants to do. At the end of the day, the smallest things, the good things are what he wants to focus on.

call him sentimental, but as soon as hyunbin enters his train of sight, he feels like he can breathe again. Something about him is refreshing, and simple, and yet incredibly refreshing. “Sure?” He says without thinking too much of it. He needs a break after all, something or someone to rest for, anything to escape would be nice at this point. “What’s the name of the band?” though regardless of who it would be, he would still go- he’s somewhat curious as to who it could be. After all if it’s someone he enjoys in particular, he could probably enjoy himself some more. “It’s been a while since I e gone to a concert….” he wants to thank him for inviting him, even if it was last minutes

he doesn’t know what everyone has been going through, but with their official debut in japan being pushed back and everything else, he’s sure that the tensions are high. hyunbin knows there may be other things that could contribute to a damping mood, but he hopes that he can at least lighten things up a little more. this is exactly why he decided to take insoo to a show that will hopefully help the older smile freely.

when insoo mentioned a concert from a band, hyunbin merely smiled, albeit a little cheekily. “yeah, it’ll be fun! it’s not exactly a show from a band, though. you’ll know what i mean soon enough!” he doesn’t want to ruin the surprise so early on, so instead he hastily grabs onto the other’s hand and ran—he’s excited to let insoo see what hyunbin had invited him to. “come on, hyung! we can’t miss it for the world. i’ve actually never really been to one of these before.” he hopes that didn’t reveal more than it should.

so, hyunbin’s not exactly what compelled him to sign up for dream team legacy. yeah, he is a pretty sporty person—it helps that he’s tall and his long limbs help him run around faster, or reach higher during games of basketball. that being said, he does realise that dream team legacy isn’t exactly a simple competition. it’s more of a relay race, but extreme, different than what he had done in high school. hyunbin’s rather excited about it all, the thrill of going through each one makes it worth it.

he’s starting to think being tall isn’t all that benefitting at this moment though, his arm and legs tangled by ropes. part of the challenge is to free himself somehow, he’s not exactly sure he’s able to do that. it’s harder than it looks, really. whenever he’d see this type of challenge on tv he’d tell himself he could get out within a short amount of time, but he’s proving his past self wrong. hyunbin struggles with all his might, but instead he’s just waddling in place trying to keep himself upright.

looking over at his fellow members, it doesn’t seem like he’s the only one having trouble. he calls out to ( @lgcjinseo ) with a whine, “hyung, this is so hard—i swear i’m going to trip.” maybe he shouldn’t have said anything, because right after he said that, hyunbin sways and falls—he manages to catch himself though, and he hopes he doesn’t actually jinx himself next time.

word count: 305 +6 composition (m), +2 notoriety

when it came down to it, the sports festival is one of the greatest parts of the year. if it wasn’t for the fact that he just got into the band path this year, hyunbin would even claim it’s the most fun and exciting part. there’s more than one discipline that he’s interested in trying out, although if given the opportunity he’d probably throw himself at every single one. he was always the type to try everything out, after all. that hasn’t changed no matter how absurdly tall he has gotten.

╰ don’t think about it,

@lgchyunbin

Seojin shuffled through a deck of options in his head. He wasn’t one for surprises. In fact, he rather detested them when they were brought his way. However, the purpose of this new assignment ( if you will ) was to promote a sense of thoughtfulness toward others going down the same path. He needed to fabricate something special for his given person: Hyunbin. The teen happened to be the youngest in their group. Seojin thought of him as far more bright eyed and optimistic than himself. That was the thing about youth, wasn’t it? When Seojin was his age, he ㅡ No, who was he kidding? He wasn’t quite an old man yet.

A proper idea came to him in the middle of one of his sleepless nights. He gazed down at the relatively new guitar he cradled in his lap, thinking on how satisfying it was to run his fingers along an unmarred surface just waiting to be used until it fell apart.

They were fortunate enough to have plenty of time to fit the event into their schedules, so he sent Hyunbin a message in his blunt fashion to meet him outside their dorm so he could deliver him to his surprise. Although, Seojin wondered why he insisted on taking him somewhere instead of simply giving him a gift. The crutches he sported ( by force and insistence from their manager ) made getting around more difficult than it should be, but it was nothing that would keep him stagnant.

Seojin waited patiently downstairs, teeth clenched from the cold air pressing against his face. He lifted his hand awkwardly to wave the young trainee his way. Internally, he prayed that he could pull this off smoothly.

“Hey. Are you… all set to go?”

when it was announced that they’ll be preparing something special for those who walk the same path, hyunbin hadn’t thought about it too much. he was distracted by the other announcement—that they’ll be able to compose a song that they can potentially use for the future. it’s not like he completely forgot though, after all his partner for the composing assignment is the same person that he has to surprise. that being said, it kind of slipped his mind that he’ll be receiving something too, nor does he expect anything extravagant or try to guess who drew his name.

it’s not difficult to please the young boy, anyway.

and so, throughout most of his time he’s either trying to figure out lyrics for the song or figuring out what special event to make himself. it’s one of those days that he’s brainstorming for the song, childishly chewing on his pencil as if that’ll help him think of something. the sound of a notification from his phone captured his attention though, wondering what it could be.

oh right—he’s supposed to be getting his own surprise too! hyunbin sends a smiling emoji along with a message telling seojin that he’ll be there soon. clumsily, he shoves everything he had laid out back into his bag and skips over to where seojin is waiting. when he sees the other waving at him, he waves back with a lot more enthusiasm. “hello, hyung!” he says in greeting.

once he’s stood before seojin, his lips stretches into a wide grin. “i’m ready! should i close my eyes? but i might bump into something along the way.” now that it’s finally settling in that he’s getting his very own present, it’s hard for him to contain his excitement.

there’s a flash of disappointment when it was announced their promotions in japan was delayed, his plans to explore every nook and cranny postponed to another day, but that quickly faded when mihi told them that they’d be given the opportunity to compose a brand new song. the best part is—there’s a chance the song they make would be used for their group in the future! hyunbin is more than excited, eager to start working on the get go. out of the other tasks they were given this trimester, he’s most enthusiastic about this one.

pairing up wasn’t that much of a hassle, he’s glad to be with ( @lgcinsoo ). being around the other also helps him complete his other mission, where he’d have to surprise the older with something special. spending more time with insoo means it’d be easier to find out what the other likes. all in all, things are working in his favour more than he thought it’d be. not everything is smooth sailing though, there’s always at least one problem.

he’s still not exactly the best at writing lyrics.

composing the song? fiddling with musing to make a harmonious melody? hyunbin would say he’s confident in himself for that. but when it comes to the lyrics, he isn’t that good yet. most of the time, his best friend, a producer through and through, would help him with that. hyunbin is determined to complete this with his own efforts (and insoo’s) though, so that’s out of the question. staring at a blank piece of paper in his hands as he sits beside the older, hyunbin lets out a huff. “hyung, any luck? i’m like—totally blanking out right now! i keep trying to think of... something resounding. or maybe i shouldn’t be so focused on making it sound sophisticated? i mean, not everyone cares about that, right?”

unsurprisingly, this is a question that he had asked himself multiple times before, even more so after entering the band path. he knows the basics of guitar, learned it in the past although he decided to wholly focus on the keyboard for now. “i already started a long while ago but haven’t been able to pick it back up again, but i really want to master the guitar at one point. that and the bass—after watching insoo hyung i want to try out the drums too. so many options, not enough time!”

his eyes immediately light up at this question after having read it, his lips stretching into a wide grin. the first person that comes to mind is a familiar face. “i mean, of course i want to collab with the senior artists in the company. my cousins are also in this company, and i’d be happy to collab with them too. there’s someone i want to compose a song with though, someone i’d love to share a stage with someday even if our paths are different.”

this is an easy question to answer. “naturally, it’s that i got myself into the band path and started performing under legacy!” he answers without missing a beat. there’s a lot that he knows he can be proud of (one of those being that he managed to actually get himself into a relationship with his long time crush even though it took them a while to get there, but he can’t exactly say that out loud with a camera pointed at him). “i mean, being in a band has been my dream since i was a little baby. probably since the moment i was able to form thoughts, or something. it’s just my calling.”

he blinks. if he was to be completely truthful, he wasn’t expecting this type of question. when it comes to his family, hyunbin doesn’t have a lot to talk about. sure, he had his cousins, but when most people think of family, the first people to come to mind are parents. hyunbin doesn’t exactly have the best relationship with his parents—or a relationship at all, really. most days, he tries not to think about it. there’s no running away from this, though.

“all i can say is, my parents aren’t exactly... around that often. so, in a way, it did make me a bit more clingy to the senior trainees around me. i like being spoiled. ah—not that it’s bad or anything!” he’s not sure what to say, not when his parents don’t have the strongest presence in his life. “in short... i suppose you can say they shaped me quite a bit.”

filming? tourism korea? it sounds like something he had done, but can’t quite remember from the top of his head. hyunbin furrows his eyebrows, trying to recall what exactly that is so he doesn’t disappoint his fans for his lack of answers. “oh—that... cf thing. i remember that now! honestly, i was a little dumbfounded on what i was supposed to do. like, it’s not really my thing to be in front of the camera and pose or act, you know?”

THREAD SWEEPING !!! so as to not overwhelm myself this trimester i’m going to drop a few threads. thank you for those who threaded with me, i’ll always be happy to plot out something new with you (even if they’re not for events).

the requirements for this task in particular is quite interesting, to say the least. he did find it a little odd that legacy didn’t host their very own special secret santa, considering how they always go all out for every occasion, only for it to be revealed that they’re going to do exactly that—just the band path, with their very own secret santa event. hyunbin doesn’t have the best planned surprises, usually they’ll come out as pranks more than gifts. that being said, he does want to get closer to the others who are pursuing the same path as he is. so, he pondered over what special present he could give.

( @lgcinsoo ) is the person he should prepare a special event for. he knows that insoo loves the drums, and has a liking for rock and alternative music. hyunbin wants to do something a little different though, branch out to something else that isn’t music. they’ll have plenty of time to dive deep into music when their band debuts (and he believes it will, soon). luckily, he came across the perfect gift by coincidence.

december 14th 2020

as your training group starts its first lesson of the day, the coach suddenly tells everyone to gather around. when you’re all listening, they suddenly call your name. “kim hyunbin…” they don’t sound angry, but they’re not smiling either. are you in trouble? did you do anything wrong? “we heard it’s your birthday… isn’t it?”

before you can react, everyone starts laughing and applauding as a few more staff members enter the room with a cake and a small box. they all sing happy birthday to you, and once the atmosphere calms down again you get handed the box. it contains… letters? “you received a few letters from fans. they also sent this cake. we hope this will brighten your day despite having to come in for training.” 

and right before you all get back to practice, a staff member tells you your gift from the company: a day off to use this upcoming month! you can claim it whenever you want as long as it doesn’t fall on a day with official company or group activities. have fun!

(admin note: apologies if you’re either getting this twice or getting this late!)

the prospect of making something that would be given out to the fans was exciting. even though haein was rather sure that there weren’t many people who knew who was but maybe this would be the perfect opportunity to become a little bit more well known. his athletic prowess was a bit of a concern since he didn’t have any but he could damn well make some tasty cookies and write a nice message on the tags. that is, if hyunbin didn’t accidentally set the oven on fire first.

haein had confidence in the other, his energy matching his own and his enthusiasm endearing him immensely. he was just a tad concerned when it felt like he had a tiny whirlwind in the kitchen zooming about asking questions at a million kilometres an hour. on one his many zoomies haein stopped what he was doing and gently grabbed hyunbin by the shoulders, hooking out a stool for him to sit on and placing him on it like a small child. “now don’t move. I’m almost done with the ingredients, then we can move onto the mixing phase.”

“what I’m doing, my young padawan, is prepping everything we need for the cookie dough—just a simple sugar cookie dough—so we can just add everything to a bowl without worrying.” haein smiled at him as he placed the bowls in the correct order. “as for christmas themed… aren’t we filming after the new year though? wouldn’t it be better if they were new year’s themed? my idea was just to keep the actual cookie simple, like a circle or a star, and write ‘happy new year’ or ‘2021′ on it. is it too… little? boring? ”

there aren’t that many people who could handle his energy and his inability to sit still, zooming around the kitchen. hyunbin always had a knack for trouble, whether he invites it on his own or not. haein doesn’t seem to mind though, hyunbin usually gravitates towards these types of older trainees—at the end of the day, he just likes being spoiled. the other is occupied with the cookies right, but usually, it’s easier to get his attention.

not that hyunbin minds, really. he knows how important these cookies are—there’s a chance they can garner more attention to their name by letting fans taste their lovely cookies! it’s why hyunbin is sitting on his hands at the moment, hoping he doesn’t mess whatever haein seems to be doing. it’s difficult, he’s curious and asking rapid questions. “the mixing phase. that sounds incredibly intense. i’m here for it.”

it’s not really a secret that as an only child, hyunbin finds himself closer to his cousins than the rest of his family members. although some of them lived away from the country, he’d always find a way to converse with them somehow, bother them like the clingy cousin he aspires to be. he’s the baby of the family, he loves being doted on because of it. any attention that his cousins would give him, he’ll eat it all up. it’s no wonder that even when he finds himself in a different path from his cousins in legacy, he’s still scrambling to be with them one way or another.

( @lgcjueun ) is his target for the day, greeting his cousin with a big grin that tells her there’s no way she’ll be able to escape him. he’s not here just because he wants to spend time with her though—he does, what with jueun being so busy he’ll readily admit that he misses the older. as he watches jueun doing whatever she’s doing, humming a random song to himself as he tries to gather his thoughts, hyunbin finally decides to come out with it.

“noona, you’re dating someone, right?” he makes sure to keep his voice just slightly above a whisper, he remembers that not everyone will be happy to learn about this, especially not when jueun is on the road to debut.