sypnosis: both you and Vernon are idols and hes struggling with his own jealousy that he thinks isnt justified.
Vernon watched every step you’d make, cheering you on silently and loving every moment the camera would focus on only you. It wasn't often when your respective groups would promote at the same times but whenever they did he always made an effort to see as much as your performance as possible. You brought so much joy into his life and he couldn't quite understand why but when you two first met as a group to awkwardly exchange albums he caught himself fixed on only you. A few months later you two are now here, happily dating and still a bit awkward around each other but that was just your two personalities clashing together to form one huge mess.
“Vernonie you can look away from the screen for second and she will still be there you know?” Seungkwan teased him by nudging him to the side and watching y/n just as he was. “Ah, still can’t believe she’s so pretty but just as awkward as you…” Vernon could not even fight that statement as it was the truth, but he didn't mind, at the end of the day he was just happy you two were together.
“Speaking about crazy things to believe, why haven't you two gone public yet. Or at least snuck out for date late at night because video calls and very short lived conversations here don't seem too fun for a young couple? Maybe even just a car date, i'll drive it'll be like I’m driving my son and his girlfriend to the movies! What do you say Vernon?” Seungcheol wrapped his arm around his shoulder, giving him a gummy smile that quickly went away when Vernon quickly turned down the odd offer.
“We’re fine Seungcheol, if anything I need some help getting over other things” Maybe he shouldn't be thinking of these sort of things just before a performance, he could end up fumbling on stage and making himself look bad, but also if he didnt at least say what was bothering him then he could have the same outcome. “I think I’m jealous” Not only was the interest of just Seungcheol peaked but so was every one of his members which made embarrassment set in.
“What exactly are you Jealous of?” Joshua came up from what seemed like out of nowhere to join the conversation.
“I don’t know, other guys I guess” He heard one his members snort and now he was just starting to feel stupid, like these feelings. “Maybe we should just dro-”
“He’s right, let’s drop the conversation and bring it back up at the dorm but right now we have to perform, clear your head, it’ll be fine” Minghao patted him on the shoulder as they all started making their way to stage. On their way there, Vernon was lucky enough to pass by y/n.
“You did great out there y/n” He sort of whispered to you as your members started giggling and whispering amongst each other while they watched your quick exchange.
“You’ll do great yourself!” You threw him two thumbs up and he immediately felt a tad bit better, he needed some support from you to clear his head long enough to make it through the performance.
“I can’t believe I was the one who fumbled” Soonyoung was groaning and pouting all over the waiting room over his little mess up, which wasn't even truly his fault.
“Your shoelace got untied, let it go. It wasn't even a big slip anyway, and plus we were practically done with the set. Don’t be so dramatic” Seungcheol was doing his best to help soonyoung get over his little slip up while it seems everyone had forgotten about Vernon talking about being jealous. Which he was okay with honestly. It was going to save him from saying anything dumb. Joshua plopped down beside him, handing him a bottle of water, Vernon ended up chugging it not even truly realizing before how thirsty he was.
“It’s normal to be jealous yanno?” To his own dismay, it seemed like Joshua was the only one who didn't forget about their conversation earlier. “Your girlfriend is pretty, guys like pretty girls, she's an idol, she’s gonna get male attention no matter what. Of course you’ll be sitting here feeling jealous when there's tons of guys eyeing her and screaming her name. They wanna be with her too yanno. And I'm not saying this to make you self conscious or anything but its the truth” Joshua just looked at him, what he said really didn't make him feel all to better about anything. So Vernon was just at a lost as to why he felt the need to tell him such a thing. “Girls scream your name, girls want to be with you, a lot of our fans are really pretty you can't deny it, so it's safe to assume she's jealous too. Why wouldn't you two be? It’s normal Vernon, just talk it out with her. She’ll get it and you’ll feel better talking about it with her” Okay, now he understood, it was probably a bit selfish of him to only have thought of his own feelings and not even considered the idea that you two could be feeling jealous of the girls you're around and the girls that call out your name.
“Thanks Josh, I’ll talk to her when we get back to the dorms” He and Joshua ended up knuckle punching each other and chuckling a bit best bros lol before turning towards Seungkwan and Seokmin who were playing a game in front of everyone.
Vernon had been thinking about what Joshua had told him since they left the venue and now his mind was trying to come up with different ways in which he could bring up his own jealousy with you. Truth be told the only reason you two ended up dating was because you were friends with Seungkwan first and you confessed you had feelings for Vernon, which ultimately lead to Seungkwan setting you two up because in his own words they both are ‘too dense to even realize they're hungry’.
It had been a few hours since they got back to their dorms and Vernon was completely settled by this time, so he figured this was a good time to call you up and try to get himself to talk about how he's feeling.
Going through his contacts he got a bit distracted by the image you had set as your image. It was his favorite photo, it was cute but not in the typical way, your face was covered in frosting and you had a huge smile on your face. The day he took that photo was on your birthday, you tripped while trying to get into your seat and face palmed into the cake he brought you. It was really unforgettable. Anyway, he got himself to finally press the call button and he was going to do his best to not avoid the conversation he wants to have with you.
“Hello?” you had whispered into your phone which left him a bit confused.
“Hey y/n, i just wanted to talk to you about som-”
“I’m sorry Vernon but is it important? I have to meet with someone and I can’t be late. Could we talk about this later possibly?” Maybe he should have texted you first to make sure you even available, he felt a little stupid honestly. Was this important? Who were you even going to meet at night?
“Oh, uh yeah, it can wait, call or text me when you can…” Vernon ended up bringing the phone away from his face without even hearing your answer and when he heard the dial tone playing, signalling that you had hung up he groaned loudly. You told him everything and now he felt like he was turning into a pile of goop. Who were you going to meet? And why were they so important for you to meet? If it had been your ceo that you were going to see, you would've told him right away, that's what you always did. It seemed like the effect of what Joshua told him earlier had faded. Until Vernon heard from you he was going to remain a fumbling mess.
Vernon was startled awake by his ringtone, he took a glimpse at the time reading 3am and your name under he felt instantly worried him so he took no second longer to answer your call.
“y/n what's wrong” he sounded terrible groggy, he was embarrassed but he didn't really have the energy to focus on that right now.
“Nothing is wrong silly…. I just want to hear your voice” He was always just a bit confused when he was fully awake but having just been woken up, Vernon was struggling really hard to form a sentence.
“Im awake” He heard you faintly giggling before someone in the background went about shushing you.
“I'm sorry for waking you, maybe we should head to bed, Goodnight Vernon” And that was that, you hung up on him yet again, he would've stayed awake longer but the bed was pulling him back forcefully to fall asleep.
When he finally did wake up in the morning he almost convinced himself that it was simply a dream so he thought nothing of it. Then after finally taking a quick glimpse at his call history a bit more anxiety awoke inside of him. Last night was weird, you weren't one to ever turn him away or hang up calls, and with his prior issue of jealousy he could barely manage to think straight. So he just lied there staring at his ceiling, trying to convince himself that his jealousy wasn't important enough to bring up to you. He stayed like that for a few hours arguing back and forth with himself trying to figure things out, but just the sheer thought of you possibly liking someone else felt like a punch in the gut. He had to call you and this time he was not going to let you hang up. Reaching for his phone and calling you up he took a deep breath and was pleasantly surprised when you answered basically right away.
“Vernon! good mor- well more like afternoon, you must've been tired huh?” Even through just the tone of your voice he could tell you were smiling widely.
“Y-yeah, well no, I've been awake for a few hours actually” He didn't really think about how he should ease into the conversation, and even though this was all he had running through his mind he didn't want to over think his words.
“Oh well, you should've called me earlier I would've sent you some breakfast that we made over at my dorm”
“You could still se- wait no y/n I'm calling you because we need to talk. Talk about us?”
“Oh-” you paused “uhm what specifically” he now could very easily tell the difference in the way you spoke and now he was feeling more nervous than before.
“I- I'm jealous y/n. I think I'm jealous of the fact that maybe some of your fans see you in person more than I do. Even though it sounds kinda du-”
“No! Vernon, it's not dumb. I'm really glad you brought it up because I thought I was insane for feeling the same way. You know, all these pretty girls will talk to you and get to see you often but the most we get is a video call on good days” Vernon's own worries are now slowly slipping away from him and he couldn't help but sigh I'm relief to your response.
“....wow, I am- relieved” he face palmed himself and grunted just before sinking into his bed and wanting to punch himself for not getting this out sooner.
“I think we're both just, doofs…. Cause I would never want to be with anyone but you” y/n practically whispered the second half of that sentence into the phone and it was the reassurance Vernon needed. On one hand, he always knew you were happy with him and wouldn't leave him for another, but jealousy really gets to a person.
“I'm happy with you, y/n. We can make this work for as long as you want me by your side” His own face was burning up, why did he say something so dramatic and embarrassing. But it was true, as long as you would continue to want Vernon in your life, he'd stay right by your side.
