"Back in the spotlight" Kim Juhoon X Reader
SYN. What happens when two childhood model friends are reunited after debuting under the same label?
.✦ ݁˖ Childhood friends → lovers trope. Contains: ILLIT, CORTIS, romance, mentions of ' R U NEXT
グダグダ言うけど、君に恋してるよ— ILLIT, Sunday morning ☁️
For the first few seconds, neither of them moved.
The hallway around them remained just as chaotic as before—staff members hurried past carrying camera equipment, managers called out schedules, and idols bowed politely as they passed one another—but for Y/N and Juhoon, it all became background noise. They simply stared, each trying to process how someone who had once been part of their everyday life had suddenly become a stranger they hadn’t seen in years.
It was Juhoon who finally laughed first.
Not because anything was funny.
Because he genuinely couldn’t believe this was real.
“…You actually exist,” he said, shaking his head.
Y/N laughed too, her smile growing wider by the second.
“I was about to say the same thing.”
“My manager literally measured me last month.”
Martin, who had been standing beside Juhoon this entire time, slowly looked between them with raised eyebrows.
Before Juhoon could answer, Y/N grinned.
“I’ve known him since he was missing his front teeth.”
“Oh, I’m absolutely starting.”
“He cried because he lost a race to a seven-year-old.”
Martin immediately burst into laughter.
“It is now,” Y/N replied with a smug smile.
Juhoon groaned dramatically, rubbing a hand over his face.
“I waited years to reunite with you and this is what I get.”
“Oh, you expected me to be nice?”
The members of ILLIT had slowly wandered over by this point, curious about why Y/N suddenly looked so comfortable around someone she’d just bumped into. Wonhee tilted her head before looking at Juhoon.
“The one you always used to talk about when we were trainees.”
Her face immediately turned bright pink.
Wonhee innocently continued before Y/N could stop her.
“You had a box of old modeling pictures with—”
The younger girl immediately clamped her mouth shut.
Juhoon slowly turned back toward Y/N.
“…You kept our old pictures?”
Y/N looked everywhere except at him.
“They’re just… memories.”
His expression softened almost instantly.
This time, Y/N looked back up.
“My mom refuses to throw anything away.”
A tiny laugh escaped her.
“My parents still have that commercial where you dumped fake ice cream all over me.”
“The director told me to.”
Both of them laughed, and for a brief moment it genuinely felt like they were twelve years old again, teasing each other between photo shoots while waiting for the cameras to reset.
Reality came back much sooner than either of them wanted.
A staff member called out, “CORTIS! Five minutes until rehearsal!”
Another manager immediately answered, “ILLIT, we’re heading to makeup!”
The smiles on both of their faces faltered.
“…Already?” Juhoon asked quietly.
Neither of them seemed ready to leave.
There was still so much they wanted to ask.
When had he started dancing?
Did he still draw during long car rides?
Did she still collect tiny keychains from every city she visited?
Did either of them still remember the little café they always stopped at after shoots?
Years of questions sat between them.
Yet neither had enough time to ask even one.
Juhoon rubbed the back of his neck awkwardly.
“I’m really proud of you.”
His eyebrows shot upward.
“I stayed awake until almost three in the morning because I had an overseas schedule.”
Juhoon couldn’t stop smiling.
“I watched your debut too.”
The hallway suddenly felt much quieter.
“You were busy trying not to get eliminated.”
“You weren’t supposed to.”
For a second, neither of them spoke.
She remembered just how lonely those survival show months had been. Every performance had felt like carrying a mountain on her shoulders. Every ranking announcement had made her wonder if her dream would end that day.
Without ever saying a word…
Juhoon had quietly been cheering her on.
She smiled so softly that even she didn’t realize she was doing it.
He shrugged, almost embarrassed.
“I wasn’t going to let you lose.”
Their managers were now gesturing more insistently.
Juhoon hesitated before pulling something from his pocket.
Y/N looked down at it before immediately understanding.
“We really let years go by without exchanging numbers again, didn’t we?”
Within seconds, they were typing their contacts into each other’s phones like they hadn’t spent nearly half a decade apart.
Juhoon glanced at the name she’d entered.
Neither of them changed it.
Some things didn’t need to.
As they handed their phones back, Martin suddenly leaned toward Juhoon with the biggest grin imaginable.
Juhoon immediately sighed.
“You were smiling differently.”
“I did not have heart eyes.”
Martin looked toward Y/N.
“…Did he always deny everything?”
Y/N nodded without hesitation.
“I am literally standing right here.”
Martin and Y/N high-fived.
Juhoon stared at them in complete betrayal.
“…You two have known each other for approximately six minutes.”
“And yet,” Martin replied confidently, “I feel like we’ve been friends for years.”
“Because you’re both teaming up against me.”
“Correct,” Y/N said with a laugh.
Her manager called her name again.
This time, there was no delaying it.
She took one step backward before offering him a small wave.
Then, almost instinctively, he added—
“…Don’t disappear again.”
Y/N’s smile became gentler.
With that, they turned and walked in opposite directions.
Neither of them looked back immediately.
They both told themselves they needed to stay professional.
But after taking only a few more steps…
They both glanced over their shoulders at the exact same moment.
Their eyes met once more across the crowded hallway.
This time, instead of surprise…
The kind of smile only shared between people who had once known every version of each other.
Neither of them noticed the rookie camera operator standing nearby, absentmindedly filming backstage B-roll for a behind-the-scenes video.
The lens had captured everything.
Their synchronized look back.
The footage lasted less than thirty seconds.
No one thought much of it.
Not until it was uploaded to the music show’s official YouTube channel later that evening.
Within an hour, fans had clipped that tiny backstage moment and shared it across every social media platform imaginable.
“Wait… why do Juhoon and the ILLIT member look like they already know each other?”
“THEY LOOKED SO COMFORTABLE???”
“Did anyone else notice they both turned around at the same time???”
“I’m telling you, that’s not a normal first meeting.”
“Someone investigate immediately.”
By midnight, the clips had millions of views.
And somewhere in their dorms, both Y/N and Juhoon were completely unaware that the internet had just begun asking the same question neither of them had expected to answer.
Who exactly was Kim Juhoon to Y/N?
