stairway to heaven

lgcjiho·:

———- how Not to hide your crush 101

     the concert that day was exhausting—not that the concerts everyday weren’t exhausting but you get the gist—and jiho finds himself zoning out on his bed once they’ve returned to their rooms to retire for the night. it’s not even that late, but honestly? he’s really tired and he’s really considering sleeping earlier than usual, even though they have the day off tomorrow. 

     he has to make his nightly call first—because even his exhaustion couldn’t make him skip that—but other than that he absolutely does not want to do anything. 

     all of his roommates are in the room right now, all of them doing something or the other and not paying any attention to him. he rolls onto his back, glancing over at @lgcseul who had the bed next to his. “seul-ah,” he calls out, because he’s currently playing a game on his phone and can’t see the clock on his own screen, nor can he see the one that’s on the side table between their beds because of how blind he is. he mostly just wants to know if it’s time for him to call. 

     “what time is it?” he asks, not expecting anything aside from the other’s answer, or perhaps a turning of a phone screen towards him. hopefully it’s late enough that all the junior producers have also returned to their rooms. he just wanted to say goodnight. like how he had been doing every night since the tour started. 

     not important. 

     “do you think everyone is back in their rooms by now?” he asks offhandedly, looking up from his phone as the screen loading the next game shows and he waits for iseul’s answer to both questions.

as much as iseul loves performing, boy does it drain the energy out of him like someone pulled a plug out of a bathtub and all his energy, the water, has swirled away down the drain for the day. he’s limp, laying on his bed scrolling through social media on his phone to see what people who came to the concert are saying. iseul likes to read the posts where people just press random keys and use crying emojis to express how much they loved it - it took him a while to understand that they weren’t actually sad though. 

he’s thinking about going to sleep soon, knowing he’ll need his rest as they’re far from done. it’s hard to drag himself away from the posts and the pictures people took and people recounting how ‘it was the best night of their life’ and other similar things. it’s nice to see people enjoying their hard work, and any time he sees someone who’s got a profile picture that’s a picture of him he feels all fuzzy and happy inside. 

of course, there’s a few negative posts, but iseul’s found himself pretty good so far at tutting at the mean posts and moving on to the nicer ones. he’s just closed the social media app when his attention’s drawn by the calling of his name from the bed beside him. he’s too lazy to read the time himself, and having just locked his phone so its now showing the time really big, he simply turns his phone to show jiho so he can read it himself. 

lgcyoungmin·:

a sore throat and a runny nose don’t come by very often to youngmin. he could count the amount of times he felt under the weather with his fingers (either that, or he blatantly ignored the signs because it didn’t feel important). he usually came out fine after a day or so with the aid of warm chicken soup, but that didn’t seem to be the case this time around.

his runny nose and scratchy throat persisted for days, even after he ate bowls of that same soup, granted youngmin couldn’t replicate the exact recipe. his head was spinning more often than usual as well, his face warm, hindering his abilities to practice properly. it was only after the trainer told him to rest properly and not to attend tomorrow if he still haven’t recovered, did youngmin set out to find out what was wrong with him.

he swiped out his phone from his pocket, running to google and typing down his symptoms. within the next second, youngmin let out a screech. “oh my god? oh my god!” he clasped onto iseul’s shoulder, squeezing a little, his face showing absolute terror. “my dear friend… i may be on the verge of death!” he sniffed, shaking the other a little. “what do i do?! my dreams are still up above the clouds, i’m no way near reaching them!”

frantic, he shoved his phone to iseul’s hands. “look! it says i have something serious!”

— @lgcseul !

iseul’s never been the best nurse. he’s had friends who’ve fallen ill before, and many a time shared a dorm with a flu-ridden friend who iseul tried his hardest to be considerate of, but he’s not naturally good at it, he doesn’t think. he can make soup, and get medicine, but he feels as though that falls short of being a good nurse. however, when youngmin starts showing signs of coming down with something iseul finds himself wanting to cook him soup, wrap him in a blanket and make him rest until he feels better. 

iseul isn’t too worried about catching whatever youngmin’s got, since he’s always had a pretty strong immune system, and even when he does get sick he’s only ever sick for a couple days anyway. so, he’d taken it upon himself to watch out for him and make sure he stayed hydrated and warm and didn’t exert himself too much. 

the screech and sudden grabbing of him makes him jump, though, not expecting the quick movement and loud noise. he’s about to reprimand youngmin for getting excited when he should be resting, when he realises what he’s fussing about. taking the phone from youngmin he reads whatever horrible diagnosis the internet had given him and rolls his eyes. 

iseul loves singing, though maybe not as much as dancing. but, practising his parts for the legacy boys songs, though tough at first, was rewarding, considering he felt comfortable in the parts he’d been given. sure, he’d like more lines, but he had to remember he was one of the last minute placements in project origin, not one of the boys who’d been in future dreams, so he had to work for what he wanted, since he had yet to prove himself as much. 

so, when it comes time to record his parts for ‘thursday’ a song which he personally liked a lot, he wasn’t so much nervous as excited. when he’d gone in to record his lines for miroh, of which there were few, he’d been so scared it’d taken about ten minutes for his hands to stop shaking and for him to feel comfortable in the recording booth. 

now, two songs later he felt far more at ease in the little booth, the producer on the other side of the glass giving him the cue to begin singing. it takes a few tries, as he gets a feel for what the producer wants, and where he wants bits louder, or more powerful, or quieter and softer. it doesn’t take much longer than when he’d recorded for miroh and round 2, despite him having more parts in this song. 

he comes out of the booth with his parts recorded and a smile on his face, feeling as though he’d finally done something right. he’d been feeling discouraged after struggling with recording the other two songs, and had been wondering whether he’d ever get it right, but finally it seemed he’d practised enough for something. 

lgcminjun·:

he knew that they’d be doing more than stare at the camera and read off of a script. if minjun was correct—and there’s a chance he wasn’t, he wasn’t too well-versed in everything yet despite trying to be—variety shows is a place where fans could see idols acting different to their personas on stage. so maybe it was alright for minjun to mess up a little bit, let everyone see that there was more to him than his on-stage presence.

hearing that iseul wasn’t all calm gave minjun some sort of clarity, it eased his worries a little bit. “you might be funnier than me. looks like i have a lot to learn from you.” minjun replied, trying to ease himself into the situation. “i think i’ll be relying on you quite a bit this time.” iseul seemed to have more ideas than he did, at least. not that he knew what iseul had in store.

minjun waves his hand a little, swatting the idea away. “you’re pretty too. actually, i think you’re more hot than pretty? you’ll be fine out there, i’m sure. you’re entertaining on stage and off stage.” minjun hoped his compliments sounded sincere, he meant them. he doesn’t give praise out if he didn’t mean them.

iseul links his arm through minjun’s for a moment, the physical contact helping him feel more grounded. he’s got so many worries despite knowing he can make people laugh that just holding onto someone else makes things feel less scary. physical touch always calmed him down. “maybe but... it’s not all about being funny. i’m... worried they’ll cut me out a lot because there’s so many of us and i’m... not one of the prettiest boys here. you don’t have to worry about that though!” he tries not to sound like he’s being a downer, since it is exciting, but he finds it hard to hide when he’s nervous. 

he’s a little shocked though when minjun says he thinks he’s hot. sure he’s been told that before by guys but usually they’re either intoxicated or just looking to be invited back to his bedroom. “you... think so?” something about hearing it from minjun, someone who iseul thinks is incredibly beautiful, makes him feel better. he’s a good friend, and iseul thinks he likely wouldn’t say it if he didn’t mean it. 

“thanks...” iseul says softly, stunned at the genuine praise. he’s not sure he believes it’s true, but he thinks if minjun believes he’s hot then maybe someone else might too. he’s probably not really hot, but he hopes that if someone can like his personality enough they might be fooled into thinking the same as minjun. “that... makes me feel a bit less scared.” he owes it to minjun to help him through this now, since minjun helped him. 

There we go. 

Giving that hand a quick squeeze and a pat, Yonghwa made sure his expression was ever doting. 

“See how cute he is?” He reached out and placed his free hand underneath Iseul’s face, supporting the other’s chin with his palm while his fingers gave those cheeks a light squish. “Can any of you blame for me having him as one of my favorites in the group?” Yonghwa sighed, shaking his head. He would totally give Iseul the puckered lips back, but it might be too soon. They shall release shipping material gradually and not satisfy every fangirl fantasy at once. 

“What was that?” He shifted his attention back to the fan standing in front of him. She was a bold girl and has challenged them with a rather hazardous question. “Who do I not like?” Yonghwa turned to Iseul, who appeared to be following the exchange, thinking about a response. “I think in general we get along with everyone in the Project Origin group.” Bullshit, he hated that King with a passion. “I do occasionally love squabbling with Dohyun, but that’s because I’ve known him since he was a toddler and we do the typical sibling thing.”

it’s hard not to fanboy over yonghwa sometimes. iseul admires him in a way that you could say he was a ‘fan’ of his. over the months working in close proximity with him though that admiration went from being a fan to being more of a ‘looking up to your friend’ sort of thing. even so, it didn’t mean he didn’t sometimes get butterflies when yonghwa did sweet things like this. iseul loves playing up his relationships with the other boys, making the fans shriek and squeal when he pretends he’s going to kiss them. he finds it funny, and to have yonghwa play back just makes him like him a whole lot more. 

“i’m one of your favourites?” iseul asks with a grin, knowing full well that yonghwa’s just saying it for the fanservice - he’s really not sure who yonghwa’s favourites are, but something tells iseul it’s probably not him. he’s sure he isn’t anyones favourite. but, when the fan asks who yonghwa doesn’t like iseul knows the answer for sure. everyone does, he’s sure. 

at least iseul can see clear as anything that yonghwa hates king. iseul, who loves them both, simply finds it funny. the two most handsome men in the group and they’re enemies. you couldn’t have written it better. 

[ tw // dieting ] 

iseul had never done musical theatre type performances before, which made this entire thing an incredible challenge. singing and dancing and acting on stage in a musical theatre sense was far different to simply performing songs on stage. there were different techniques used and a different way of holding yourself, not to mention he needed to stay in character the whole time. sure, performing usually required him to keep ‘in character’ but usually that character was more so just an exaggerated version of himself, which made it easy to do. this, though, seemed harder. 

vocal practise was difficult, even though iseul liked to think he was pretty skilled already in singing. learning more about projection and the different musical theatre techniques he’d need to master, at first, just had him stressed out. but, with time and hard practise, things started to fall into place and the new skills started to mesh into those he already had until it no longer felt so scary and difficult. 

many a night he’d stayed behind after training finished and spent time working on his own until the early hours of the morning. a few times he’d be accompanied by some of the other boys who found themselves needing to put in the extra hours. iseul was pretty sure he’d never been as stressed as he was during the months leading up to the beginning of their schedules. 

lgcyoungmin·:

youngmin tries to keep himself busy, even in the weekends. whether it be fooling around and running off to god-knows-where, he always finds a way. anything was better than leaving himself behind with nothing but his thoughts to consume him—that was the one and only thing he couldn’t handle.

so, naturally, when iseul invited him over to a cafe, youngmin enthusiastically agreed to the idea. for one, coffee flavours have been taking strange new turns as of late and youngmin wanted to try everything. secondly, iseul invited him. how was he supposed to refuse that?

finding time to hang out with iseul in particular was proving to be rather difficult, even more so when they weren’t in the same training group and were focusing on different things. still, he had been meaning to spend time with iseul in particular, express a ‘congratulations’ for making the cut for project origin.

(in hindsight, he could have sent a text, or pass it on whenever they passed by in the hallways, but that wasn’t enough.)

youngmin chuckled. “something about whipping things just makes them better?” he repeated, finding the line humorous. “you’re right, though! i’ve never been to this cafe before. i’ll probably just copy your order.” he joked, bumping his shoulder to iseul’s with a smile. or perhaps he just desperately wanted that small, physical contact.

“ohhh! let me treat you.” that would be a good start to his ‘congratulations’ scheme. “i don’t usually treat anyone, so you should count yourself special,” he winked. special—that seemed to fit iseul perfectly, somehow.

in the sunlight youngmin somehow manages to look even better than usual. iseul can’t decide whether he begrudges him for it, is if it’s the reason his stomach’s swirling. he thinks to himself that he probably shouldn’t just stare at youngmin as they walk, since it might come off as weird, yet he can’t help but glance up every few seconds, noting how the sunlight almost reflects off of his hair. 

“well, when you put it like that.” iseul laughs, noticing now how suggestive that sounded. he has to stop himself from thinking about that too much - this isn’t the time or place to be thinking about adult activities. he stumbles a little at the bump to his shoulder, thanks to being smaller in build and height than youngmin (certainly not because something about him makes iseul feel off balance at the best of times). “i’ve never been before but i saw good reviews online, and a friend recommended it too.” 

they reach the cafe and iseul gestures to it, slowing his steps when they reach it. “you don’t have to, it’s not like i can’t afford it myself.” something about the  idea of youngmin buying him coffee makes the whole thing seem almost like a date, and iseul isn’t ready to confront how that makes him feel. “but... if you insist. as long as you let me treat you next time.” 

starter for @lgcyoungmin !

weekends are iseul’s favourite. not because he doesn’t enjoy training, because he does - he loves spending all his time honing his skills and bettering himself, because he loves nothing more than singing and dancing. he likes weekends because he knows that without a break he’d go insane. no matter how much you love something you can’t do it all day every day without taking time to regain your energy and focus on yourself in other way besides skills. 

this weekend, he’d decided to ask youngmin to accompany him to a cafe he’d been wanting to visit for a couple of weeks now. he’d heard they were serving that fancy new coffee everyone had been going mad about - dalgona coffee? - and had wanted to try it. he’d asked youngmin because, well, when didn’t he want to spend time with him?

the sun’s shining, much to iseul’s pleasure. he finds he’s happiest in the summer time, even if he does get ridiculously hot, which irritates him. the extra sunlight and long days boosts his mood and motivation a lot, so he’s glad to be able to be out in the summer sun with someone he feels like he doesn’t get to spend enough time with since they’re not in the same training groups, and iseul’s been busy recently. 

.furry friends

insoo reached for the white cat instead, placing him on his lap. he rubbed his tummy gently once it settled on his legs, drawing a small smile out of insoo. he’d become a regular of this cat cafe mainly because yes, it had cats. but he’d decided to come a lot more often to visit iseul, whom he’d found out not too soon after he discovered the place that was also a trainee from legacy. “let him stay here then.” said insoo as he mellowed the cat down, chuckling to himself. “my life?” he asked distractedly, playing with the cat’s hindpaws as gently as he could so he wouldn’t get scratched.

“you know, well-” stammered insoo with a small blush climbing up his ears, a cough following his fluster. “-i mean- not, i dont think so?” he answered honestly, laughing after at his own lame response. “you know, out of all people, my friends included, i think i have the least exciting life ever.” insoo reflected, shaking his head. “i practice, work, then try to spend time with friends as much as i can-” he sighed, running his hands through the cat’s fur. “do you think i should start dating someone?” asked insoo without much thought, not really interested in that but merely as an ice breaker. “which reminds me, how is your social/love life instead,huh?” he asked with a cheeky grin. “and i’m good! no more drinks for now.”

iseul always enjoys seeing the cats warm up to the customers, or more specifically, the regulars. it takes a while for cats to accept new people, though the ones in the cafe were far more used to strangers than your usual house cat. so iseul’s always glad to see the cats showing they trust the regulars, letting them stroke their tummies and relaxing in their laps. insoo is very clearly a favourite among the cats, iseul had come to realise after watching multiple nudge him with their heads for pets during his time in the cafe. 

iseul rolls his eyes and whines a little at insoo, wishing he’d unload some juicy, scandalous stuff on him that would keep iseul interested for at least the next week trying to fish more info out of other trainees until he knew all about whatever fun secrets were going on. he’s nosy, and he’s really not afraid to admit it. he perks up though at the mention of dating, knowing there’s infinite potential for juiciness there. “definitely. do you have your eye on someone?” he asks with a suggestive smirk, glancing over his shoulder at insoo. he’s a handsome guy, so iseul wouldn’t be surprised if he had multiple admirers lined up ready to date him. 

as much as iseul would like to think himself creative and intelligent, it seems that might not be the case when he’s faces with the challenge of coming up with a character for himself. the universe that he’s to create his character for sounds interesting, but for some reason, iseul’s drawing a blank every time he sits down to try and jot down ideas for his character. 

at first he tries to think about what would make him look the best - a kind, brave knight who never hurts anyone and always does the right thing. but then he realises how flat and boring that would be. he’s watched shows with ‘perfect’ characters, and they’re almost always forgettable, disposable, and sometimes there just as comic relief, but not in a good way. so, he decides his character needs to be complex, like a real person. 

he makes a list of things he’d like to include in the character. there are things he’d like to achieve, like being humorous, like a good kind of comedic relief, while also being a good knight, one who has impressive skills and isn’t to be underestimated. it takes a while, but he finally comes up with an in depth character he’s happy with. 

the presentation day comes and as he stands in front of the judges he tries to ignore how nervous he is - there’s no reason to be nervous, but sitting in front of such important people makes his palms sweat. “i imagine my knight to be a sort of... comedic relief, almost. he’s witty and sometimes a little scatterbrained. but, he’s smart with his tactics, and is very good at hand to hand combat, but has really awful long-range aim. sometimes he hits a far off mark by complete accident though! even if he’s a little dense sometimes, he’s passionate in a really fiery way, and completely loyal and honest. he’s a good person, but sometimes he can get a little heated when he feels like people he cares about have been wronged. he’s the sort of character who has very obvious flaws, but none that make you really dislike him. he’s very realistic, in that he’s not perfect by any means. he’s got things he has to improve on, and things he’s already amazing at, like being caring! he’s tender and emotional and kind when he needs to be. even if he’s hard-headed and stubborn sometimes, he’s undoubtably a good person, and a good knight, and he just wants to make the world a better, and safer place.”

     @lgcseul​ and i plotted something

     hunji waited outside the shop, tapping his toes, listening to the early morning sounds of children running off to school and parents trying to slow them down. he watched the world turn, the snow melting, and the sun shining. it was beautiful, and rare, he never found moments of peace like this very often. usually iseul was there as soon as hunji was, but today was a bit different. iseul was just running a little late, and ever patient, hunji decided to wait outside so he and his friends could feel the warmth of the indoors together.       the coffee shop was so warm that even just standing by the doors made hunji feel a little jealous. he wanted to go in, take his first sip to get his body started up for the day, but, he waited. he looked around, to and fro, until he finally saw him!      as soon as hunji saw iseul headed for their coffee shop, hunji raised a hand, waving excitedly. “iseul!!”

iseul knows caffeine isn’t good for him, but when he’s got to get up early and go and be active all day he needs something to keep him going, which is why he has yet to cut back on his 2-3 daily, large coffees. he can’t exactly remember how he and hunji came to be coffee buddies, but it’s become a routine of theirs to meet every morning outside the nearby cafe and get their morning caffeine fix together. 

today, though, iseul’s running a little late, having snoozed his alarm one too many times. he’s wrapped up in sweats and a comfy hoodie and a large puffy jacket, trying to fend off the cold as he makes his way to the cafe. he spots hunji from far away, the younger’s tall figure standing out against the people walking along the street. 

starter for @lgcparkdohyun !

when the alarm goes off it takes iseul to remember what it’s for. it’s not often the fire alarm sounds, but he assumes it’s a surprise drill, since, surely, there’s not actually a fire. if it isn’t a drill maybe someone burned some toast or tried to smoke in a secluded corner of the building. there’s no way it’s a real fire... right?

people begin to head out of the building to the meeting point out the front as the loud alarm blares, and it’s not until iseul gets into the hallway outside the practise room that he realises there’s smoke starting to creep along the ceiling above their heads. that’s when he panics, eyes widening. people start pushing as the gravity of the situation sets in and people realise this is an actual emergency. 

after a few seconds of trying not to freak out, iseul slowly begins to think about dohyun, and he wonders where he is, if he’s heading out, if he knows how serious the situation is. his heart begins to hammer in his chest with worry for his cousin, despite knowing dohyun would never even think to worry about him - in fact he’d probably be glad if iseul got stuck in a burning building.