#bejaeyoung

welp, she’s made it, she’s a trainee again. last year her group disbanded and seira was left with not at all knowing what she wanted to do with her life. she had to figure if she wanted to stay in korea or move back to japan, if she should start studying again. she’d become a barista, not exactly a job she was too fond of, but she had to do something to keep a roof over her head and keep food on her plate. she wasn’t actually sure if she should try becoming an idol again or not, becoming an idol once was already unlikely, could she manage to do it twice? and as much as she hated next gen, it was what made her realize she wanted to become an idol again.

and next gen might not have given her a contract, but a few months passed and here she was, a trainee again, she sits in a practice room with jaeyoung, dragged him along because she has an idea. “i know i’ve been an idol before, but i still lack a bit in dance skills…. which is why i’ve dragged you along today” she smiles at the other. “i’ve talked with one of my past members, who also has managed to become a trainee again, she was our main dancer so i asked her for advice and” she claps her hands “she said yoga is the best way to warm up! she said she dances better after she’s done yoga so we’re going to attempt that… please attempt it with me! i don’t wanna do it alone” she shows her puppy eyes to the other.

there's some tension on her team for the finale. she feels like that's an understatement, too. for one, ren hates two members of the team. he's managed to keep it together, but nayoung knows him and knows he's barely holding it together. siwoo and jay also seem to be good friends whose powers combined may lead to disaster if not handled properly. she's pretty sure luciel and siwoo still have some sort of beef, too. all in all, it's a mess, and it shows in their performance. it's a total lack of synergy, and nayoung has little patience for it all. so she does what she usually does: tries to solve the problem as soon as possible.

nayoung knows it won't be easy, and doesn't expect her idea to fix everything. she just hopes it helps. she knows there's a possibility that it'll backfire, but nayoung is also aware that sometimes confrontation is necessary to work through any negative feelings toward one another. if this activity ends up starting a fight, it's probably a fight that needs to happen to clear the air and let the group as a whole move on and focus more effectively.

naturally, not everyone was happy about the exercise, but they ended up relenting and agreeing to participate. she had them draw pieces of paper numbered 1-7 to determine the order they sit in in the circle.

fate would have it be that some of the team members with the biggest problems with each other are seated together. luciel is seated on her left, and siwoo next to him, followed by inho. next is jay, then ren, and seira rounds out their circle, seated on nayoung's right.

"okay, let's go left in the circle. say something nice about the person to your left, and share something you're proud of yourself for related to next gen," she reminds everyone. "i'll start."

"i'm proud that i was able to help two teams take first place this season," she says, and she hopes it doesn't sound like she's bragging, or taking all the credit for it. "and of the team members, of course," she adds for good measure.

next, she has to say something nice about luciel - or jihyun, as she should probably call him. "i like that jihyun is good at handling criticism and applying it quickly, even if it's hard to hear." she's talking about her calling him forgettable. he certainly took what she said to heart, and earned praise from the judges last episode.

"okay, your turn," she smiles at him, and it might actually be uncharacteristically warm.

siwoo, while never having had an artistic eye for interior design, does take some sort of pride in the way he's placed the things in his room. he's never been a maximalist, preferring to keep the decor of his room simple, with just the right amount of items room solidify his character as well.

black, white and brown, everything neatly arranged. books placed atop a table, candle warmer by his bedside and rows of cologne lined up nicely atop his dressing table. while siwoo's room is somewhat simple ( and may, or may not, scream money ) — it's cozy. at the very least, it is to him.

amongst the carefully curated items in his room, sits ( lies? ) a boy on his bed. but jay doesn't look out of place at all. if anything, siwoo thinks that jay's the only thing that truly belongs. his heart swells, but it isn't a feeling he's unfamiliar with anymore. jay looks pretty there, on his bed, but jay looks pretty anywhere, really. he stares for a moment, wanting to jump into bed with jay once more, but his body is still wet from his shower.

he walks towards his closet, and pulls out a white t-shirt to wear. it's the weekend, finally, and he doesn't need to spend it at the lime building, torturing his legs with choreography that would now haunt him in his sleep. he can spend it like this, with jay ( he wonders what it might feel like, to spend everyday like this with jay ).

once he's dressed, he sits next to jay, already missing his friend's ( ... friend's? ) warmth. "my feet feel fucking sore from practice all week," he says, stretching them just slightly. but he leans himself close to jay, and allows himself to bask in the simplicity of this moment. "but it's fun," he admits, having slowly built an affinity for dancing of all things.

he likes the feeling of jay so close to him, feels like a reward from having spent hours upon hours everyday practicing. "my grades are going to fucking slip though, urgh," time spent training, is also time spent away from actually studying, time that siwoo could spend pulling up his grades — maintaining his scores. he sighs, it's a problem he doesn't want to think about, but it is a problem nonetheless.

— COMPANY NOTICE

SONG JAEYOUNG has joined studio delta as of JUNE 5, 2024.

time isn't exactly something that's always boded well with siwoo. a topic that's sensitive to him, because of his inability to run from it - and siwoo, in his own words, had always been a marathon runner. and yet now, he's realized just how precious time is.

he feels as though he's had no time to himself at all, no time to breathe. while their debut hadn't been amazingly received (in siwoo's standards) by the public, they'd done well enough to garner the attention of some; siwoo appearing on a few variety shows, bagging himself a three-month long ambassadorship with adidas, and the boys appearing on music shows.

when they aren't on music shows, their faces are shoved in the faces of cameras, being told to film their web-variety, pose for the camera, and what not. and when cameras aren't shoved into their faces, they're practicing for comebacks and performances.

siwoo has found that time is scarce. so much so, that he's been struggling with sending jay his daily messages filled with selfies - he doesn't completely ignore his boyfriend, of course not! jay lives in the back of his mind, and siwoo is in constant worry about what jay is doing, how he's coping - if jay even misses him, remembers his existence. but it's hard to constantly check-in on your boyfriend when you have five other members you have to check-in on as well (the woes of a leader, though siwoo doesn't think he's been a very good one); and your schedules are constantly packed and piling up.

one thing that siwoo is sure of, is that he misses jay. and more than anything, he misses the time they'd had alone; be it in the comfort of siwoo's car, his bedroom or just anywhere, really. just him and jay, with no worries surrounding either of them.

it's a rarity for siwoo to be here nowadays, most of the training is done at the lime company building, and he barely makes his way to axis. still, there were one or two equipments he'd preferred at the larger building, and by coincidence, jay would be there as well.

he'd sent jay a text, asking where his boyfriend was, only to be met with no reply. which meant that jay was at the studio, working on music.

he walks into the studio, fully expecting jay to be immersed in music-making, only to see his head resting against the table, lips parted slightly with his notebook open. siwoo smiles, gentle as he grabs a chair and takes a seat next to the boy.

he doesn't wake jay up, instead he stares at the boy in front of him and gently, he tucks a strand of hair behind jay's ear. so pretty, he thinks. he's pretty and he's all mine. his heart swells, but he knows better than to kiss jay in that moment.

after a moment of admiring the face of his lover, siwoo tilts his head, staring at the screen in front of him, wondering what exactly jay had been working on to the point of exhaustion. without much hesitation, he presses play, and he's met with a song that he knows only jay can write. he listens to the lyrics, hands reaching out to hold jay's unknowingly as he interlaces their fingers out of habit.

now, even the smallest things. i'll save half of them for you, take my hand. i feel like i've finally grown, even if it's just a little. you can take my half.

+3 instrument: drums, +2 live performance

+5 composition

+3 instrument: guitar, +2 live performance

+5 composition

with the debut of lime's boy trainees, chaerin couldn't help but feel more and more impatient. however, realistically, she knew that it'd be a while until a girl group were to debut, which meant that all she could do for now was continue to wait and practice.

she's been wandering around the axis labels building after getting in some late night practice on her own when she stumbles upon jaeyoung lounging around himself. taking a look down at her phone, she frowns because it's quite late, but it isn't too surprising to find another trainee around at this hour.