hello, dreamer!

at the end of the day, they were all v&a.

“i will be doing a little dance for you, no worries!”, minjun said doing his immediate dance, already celebrating yushin’s upcoming throws, his hits, not his misses. there was a competition happening, but they should also focus on something cooler, like showing the audience they had good teamwork and how they could have fun while fighting to not get penalized for their misses.

but minjun couldn’t hide his face when yushin missed his first throw, but didn’t stop doing his dance, clapping excitedly when he hit the target the next one. “yes, hyung! you did it!”

sticking out his tongue, minjun shook his head, and immediately laughed when he heard the mission thrown on his shoulders. “no pressure, right? let’s see if i can keep up with this.”

if that had been a dynamic involving his groupmates, minjun would’ve responded to that question in a sassier way, teasing his hyungs with jokes about them being too old and not understanding a simple task. they would throw jokes his way, and they would have a great time playing that game. but he couldn’t extend the same thing to someone from another group, someone he wasn’t familiar with. the question was still reverberating inside his head as a bad joke, something that caught Minjun off guard, and he realized how different the cha siblings were; it was so easy to talk to sori, he remembered. “well…” he wondered what would work better for them, but in the end, minjun just did what he always did during moments of tension (maybe they were taking that game too seriously?) - he showed what he meant. “try doing this.” minjun took one of the rings, aiming at one of their selected targets, but before he could throw it, he closed his eyes for a moment, sighing so deeply that he momentarily felt his ears closing, and there was no noise around him. then, as he exhaled, he threw the ring, granting them a point. “it always works for me, hyung. it doesn’t hurt to try. i’m sure we’ll go great.”

hyoseop didn’t have a lot of idol friends, and majority of the other idols on tva he had barely spoken to. he’d gotten quite close with kai and baekhyun, but the two ended up leaving, and just as he was getting closer with seyoon, he left too. the type zero members had always been the idols he was closest to, but as they left and left, it was difficult to get close to the other members.

he was familiar with the fabula members, being friends with minji, being sori’s sibling and having interacted with eunhye here and there, but most other idols in legacy, he was quite unfamiliar with. he hoped this show would gain him some new idol friends, because he surely needed that, someone besides his sister to talk about idol stuff with.

he heard some staff members saying they looked silly, but in a positive way, and minjun wondered if their sudden chemistry would look good on camera when they aired the competition. 

it reminds him of those carnivals that he used to see on tv as a kid, where americans went to those massive summer festivals and fairs, and indulged in popcorn, crowds, and expensive games like this. he supposes he doesn't have to pay, or be around crowds, and there's no food right now, but they're playing one of the games. yushin's never actually attended many fairs here, nor has he indulged in any of the sideshow games since he was often too cheap to pay for games that he'd be guaranteed to lose at.

being placed in different units sometimes sets them apart, and that could be something to create just the wrong environment, but minjun is an observer; he knows how to make things a little less tense and more fun for them. 

he’s glad, for example, that his partner isn’t as competitive as he is; not that he couldn’t handle if Yushin were, but it’s easier for him to focus on his own performance, not exactly minding if things go wrong during that task.

minjun was definitely surprised. no, he was in shock; that would be a better definition for the feelings he was trying to hide while wearing his best poker face. cha hyoseop was praising his dancing? and was asking for advice? in which alternate universe did he land, and that was his new reality? “s-sure! anything you want from the routine, let me know what you wanna do, i’d love to help, hyung.” his voice faltered a little when he answered, but he tried his best to look as cool as the guy in front of him; as a member of versus, they all had a reputation to keep. hyoseop wanted to try the chorus. right. the hardest part indeed. minjun himself took most of his practice time with those lines, trying to get everything right together, instead of working on vocals first and then the choreography; his brain worked better that way, but he didn’t know if the other man would follow the same routine. “let’s do it. how do you wanna do it? practice lines and tempo first, and then add the choreo, or the other way around? what works the best for you?”

hyoseop still felt like he needed help with dance, even though he’d been an idol for a while, and a trainee for even longer, he still struggled a bit when it came to dance. sure, he’d gotten far, but he still looked at other idols and felt like he had long to go. he never asked for help with rap, he was confident with that, and knew how to practice by himself. but when it came to dance? he was willing to take advice from a dongsaeng.

“eh! i’m glad to hear you’re willing to help me” he smiles to the other “you’ve been an idol for so shortly, but you’re still so talented at dance, i can’t help, but be jealous” he pouts, a short laugh following. it did feel a bit weird that hyoseop had to ask for help from someone who had been an idol for a lot shorter than him, but hey, he needed the help.

“oh god, hyung, don’t say that! i’m sure you’re just as good, i mean, i’ve seen you since your debut, ok! you guys are great, i’m a big fan!”, he bowed down respectfully before they could move to find a spot in front of the mirror.

they had some practice to do, and minjun felt the weight of leading hyoseop through his dancing process - he found the routine of breaking the whole choreography into small, not sequential, and from easiest to hardest, the best way to cover it all perfectly. some people didn’t like the way he did it, but in the end, it worked fine.

minjun always admired certain idols when he was a trainee. he used to spend most of his free time secretly watching their practice, trying to absorb everything he could during their boothcamps or training events when the idols were working as mentors. so to work with them, especially when legacy decided to pull one of those events where all their groups would interact, was both challenging and exciting. he couldn’t help being amazed by how professional everyone was handling the task to work on a brand new song in such a short amount of time, when most of them were also busy with comebacks. when hyoseop spoke to him, minjun tried his best not to look alarmed or act like a fool - he should’ve been used to being recognized by other idols when he was also one, but that always failed him.  “hi, hyung!” he bowed his greeting and smiled, as he looked around, at everyone else, and finally at the man in front of him. “everything is going great. the song is a challenge for me as well. but i heard your rap lines, you were doing good!” but then he stopped for a moment, an idea crossing his mind. “would you like to practice together?” he could add that it would be such a dream to practice with a member of one of his favorite groups, but he didn’t want to sound like a silly fanboy.

opportunities like these were nice for hyoseop, every idol was usually busy, so it was often difficult to find time to spend with idols that weren’t in your group. he hadn’t realized how little legacy idols he were friends with, while he knew the names of the people in this practice room, a lot of them he had barely spoken with before. it was nice to finally have time to spend with other idol friends, but it was also exciting to interact with the idols he hadn’t given much time before.

“s-sure! anything you want from the routine, let me know what you wanna do, i’d love to help, hyung.” his voice faltered a little when he answered, but he tried his best to look as cool as the guy in front of him; as a member of versus, they all had a reputation to keep.

hyoseop wanted to try the chorus. right. the hardest part indeed. minjun himself took most of his practice time with those lines, trying to get everything right together, instead of working on vocals first and then the choreography; his brain worked better that way, but he didn’t know if the other man would follow the same routine.

title: put a ring on itpartner: @lgchyoseopevent: project tva 003

sometimes it was hard to notice, but minjun was used to competition. Having spent most of his life inside a pool, dealing with coaches and the weight of always delivering excellence in the form of new records and breaking them, gave him an eye for noticing when things were about to go wrong. he noticed it first when hyoseop threw the first ring (and missed it) for their task, and he sighed deeply, trying to focus more or find something to blame for his performance. minjun wanted to talk to him, but since he wasn’t close to the type zero member, even if they did interact during award ceremonies or promotions whenever their schedules clashed, he wasn’t sure if his words would be well received. in the end, minjun didn’t want their performance to look poor; he didn’t want to lose to anyone else, so if he could help the older man out, even if his words disappeared in thin air after a couple of seconds, he should try. “hyung.” he started, shifting his weight from one foot to another, suddenly unsure about what he was going to say. “maybe you should take a deep breath before throwing it again. we’re just getting started.”

hyoseop has never been particularly smart, his sister definitely got the brains, but being physical? hyoseop was always good at that. he used to be on the swimming team, along with on the volleyball team, and basically whatever sport he tries, he’s good at it. that’s his thing, he’s good at being physical, which makes you question why he’s a bad dancer then, but ask him, and he wouldn’t be able to answer.

but, since he’s so good at physical things, he has a tendency to become… competitive. even when he plays soccer or something else for fun, there comes out a really competitive side in him. and this tva variety show or whatever it was, it kept challenging his inner competitive side.

when he misses the ring, he almost bites his lip hard enough for it to bleed, luckily there's no blood, but ouch, his lip kind of hurts now. he’s not too familiar with his partner for this mission, he knows he’s an idol in versus, but that might be as far as his knowledge reaches. “take a deep breath?” hyoseop stares at minjun, wide eyes, you can almost see the question mark on his face. “how do i take a deep breath?” 

but he couldn’t extend the same thing to someone from another group, someone he wasn’t familiar with. the question was still reverberating inside his head as a bad joke, something that caught Minjun off guard, and he realized how different the cha siblings were; it was so easy to talk to sori, he remembered.

“well…” he wondered what would work better for them, but in the end, minjun just did what he always did during moments of tension (maybe they were taking that game too seriously?) - he showed what he meant. “try doing this.”

minjun took one of the rings, aiming at one of their selected targets, but before he could throw it, he closed his eyes for a moment, sighing so deeply that he momentarily felt his ears closing, and there was no noise around him. then, as he exhaled, he threw the ring, granting them a point.

random starter for @lgcmjun

having worked with minjun in the past, sena was somewhat familiar with him. however, she didn't really know him all that well. after all, they were just in an ad together, which was mainly focused on them getting the job done. however, half a year later, she decided to pay him a visit in the company, just to see how he was doing.

she comes across him in one of the common areas. "hello, minjun!" she says, awkwardly cheerfully for her. however, she has been trying her best to appear a bit more... friendly? less cold? it still feels unnatural though.

it wasn’t normal for them to have many schedules together. This worked more with male idols, but he was happy to interact with everyone in the company, networking was always something good, and for them, who worked together already, things should be easier.

“no need to apologize at all.” minjun said immediately, he didn’t want to make sori uncomfortable for expressing her points and giving him advice so freely he liked listening to other people’s reasons, especially when they did it with the little information he gave her. he found himself nodding at her explanation, his heart going to her when she mentioned her relationship with her brother and her debut. when he thought about it, sometimes he wished there were people who would suddenly appear to present themselves as his relatives, but then he really gave it a thought, and wouldn’t change everything that happened until now. “i guess we have a concept of family and how it should go. we are raised to believe they’ll always be there for you, and when that doesn’t happen, is a disappointment. i can say i held big expectations about my parents and my brother, because i knew i had them close to my heart”, minjun sighed, not meeting sori’s eyes at that time, “but when you have your heart broken too many times, you toughen up and move on.” he shrugged. “do you think i’m a bad person for seeing them as relatives, but not family?” that was something he always thought about. what was their opinion about their distancing?

usually sori would find situations like this one awkward. so openly speaking about their personal lives. sori had never been a fan of speaking about her own life, but minjun had her have the words roll off her tongue, barely even thinking before speaking. it was nice, this was all something she hadn’t really talked about with anyone before. perhaps sometimes, it’s better to let it out, than keeping all of your thought to yourself.

“no” she’s quick to answer, shaking her head. “besides my parents and brother, i kind of see the rest, as just, relatives. they were never there for me, they never felt like family, it’s only recently they gathered interest in me”. “i think there’s some sort of idea that you have to forgive family, because they’re family, but in the end, it’s not sharing dna that makes you family” she shrugs.

“damn, i really feel i should get that on a shirt”, minjun grinned, saying after sori “it’s not sharing dna that makes you family”. he wanted to make more fun of that, but the thing is, he found that sentence very close to his heart; lately, he had been feeling exactly that way, the people he chose to be closer to him, from his friends to his loved one, they’re his real family, they’re the ones that matter the most.

but he also would be lying if he said he never thought about giving his parents another chance - if they wanted to be part of his life again, and not because minjun needed them. sometimes that thought would come when he was writing his rap intros and outros, and it would keep him distracted for a long time, until he gave up and focused on something else.

but to be rowon's was an impossible request. it required someone to surrender their freedom and identity and to rewire everything they knew about what was right and what was wrong. before their names should be his—like a bird he captured, kept, and fed, who had long forgotten the world outside of the cage it was put into, they should belong to him. rowon's bird.

rowon's minjun.

that was not who stood in front of him. rowon could only wonder where he'd gone wrong. had he left the door to the cage open? or had he been too kind to let this bird fly around, trusting it to come back to him the same? he should've tightened his grip. then, maybe, minjun wouldn't be looking at him like this—with eyes that betrayed the smile he was forcing.

"are you happy, minjun?"

he only asked because he had a good idea of what the answer would be: yes, but not right now. and he'd choose to hear just the first part.

"i am. i know it may not seem like it whenever i come to you like this, but i am."

his eyes flittered to minjun's lips. he wanted nothing more than to resolve this with a kiss, but that was equivalent to giving a bird water; it would be satiated until it became thirsty again.

"sometimes i wonder if the way i love is wrong. if it's too oppressive, suffocating, or unfair. if you love someone, truly and entirely, you wouldn't want to see them like this, would you?"

rowon lifted his gaze once more. his next question came frayed, stripped bare of intent. he was merely curious.

it all happened when he was younger, when he was growing up, when he tried to be loved and appreciated. but during his journey to become an idol, he learned he didn’t need to search for that; if people couldn’t make him happy, then it was their loss. 

and the person who taught him that, even if they didn’t know, was standing before him, questioning him about something he should know the answer to.

minjun heard a lot about rowon when the two of them started to hang out. from his brother, rowon’s ex, to trainees who wanted the same kind of close relationship with him. even coaches told him to be careful, to not deviate from his goals for something fickle - whatever that was.

“you never made me unhappy, hyung. Sometimes, i get disappointed and angry with you, but you make me happy. i don’t regret our journey.”

and it was true. he often told rowon the reason why he blindly trusted him was that he never lied to him, he never tried to sweeten things for him, and that was true. minjun needed that; he was always aware of where he belonged, not to push his luck. his feelings towards rowon were probably obvious to a lot of people, but the older man, and it was okay. he wanted him to learn that by himself, and if minjun’s gut feeling failed him, then, he’d still be there for him. after all, in all his honesty, he didn’t think rowon would ever fall for him. 

hyoseop doesn’t exactly have a lot of idol friends, so the opportunity to interact with other idols makes him excited. his closest idol friends were parker, baekhyun and kai, but when all of them left type zero, hyoseop started to get some sort of loneliness feeling. sure he has his sister who is an idol as well, but they’re both busy too, it’s not too often they can find time to be together. hyoseop wants more idol friends, he just doesn’t know how to do it, but being “forced” to practice along other idols must give him at least an opportunity to speak with other idols.

hyoseop looks around, biting his lips, there’s a lot of unfamiliar faces, or well, he knows who they are since they’re idols under legacy, but there’s a lot of faces he’s barely interacted with before. when a face walks his way, he decides to interact with the other. “hey minjun” he smiles to the other, “how is practice going for you? the song is different from what type zero usually does, so i’m excited” he places his hands on his hips. “legacy truly does know how to make valentines day and love month feel special” gosh, he hopes it’s not too weird to randomly speak with minjun. 

so to work with them, especially when legacy decided to pull one of those events where all their groups would interact, was both challenging and exciting. he couldn’t help being amazed by how professional everyone was handling the task to work on a brand new song in such a short amount of time, when most of them were also busy with comebacks.

when hyoseop spoke to him, minjun tried his best not to look alarmed or act like a fool - he should’ve been used to being recognized by other idols when he was also one, but that always failed him. 

“hi, hyung!” he bowed his greeting and smiled, as he looked around, at everyone else, and finally at the man in front of him. “everything is going great. the song is a challenge for me as well. but i heard your rap lines, you were doing good!” but then he stopped for a moment, an idea crossing his mind. “would you like to practice together?”