#hdyeonseok

written for gu yeonseok (@hdyeonseok) ♡

chaeyeon is trying so so so hard to look like she's paying attention to <3 him <3, really, she is, except the universe is cruel and he is standing approximately twelve feet away looking like he walked straight out of an editorial spread designed specifically to ruin her life. ridiculous. unfair. borderline illegal. and he's totally not paying attention to the way she's twirling her hair; she even did the bend and snap.

four  (or  was  it  five?)  in  the  morning  was  a  godless  hour,  a  liminal  space  reserved  only  for  the  devoutly  industrious  or  the  delightful  oddball.  sena,  naturally,  hovered  somewhere  comfortably  in  the  middle.  the  sleek,  tinted  leviathan  of  a  van  idled  in  the  deepest  shadows  of  the  agency's  basement,  the  engine's  hum  a  low,  vibrating  purr  against  the  cold  concrete.  he  had  intended  to  slip  out  like  a  spectre,  yet  escape  was  rarely  so  easy  when  you  were  the  illustrious  sena  kairi.

he  had  barely  placed  one  polished  prada  loafer  on  the  ground  when  a  hand—heavy  with  a  gold  rolex  and  the  brazen  entitlement  of  a  politician  well  loved  by  the  common  folk—tugged  him  back  into  the  plush  leather  interior.  sena  did  not  flinch;  he  merely  pivoted,  fluid  as  mercury.  the  kiss  was  a  tad  too  passionate  for  sena's  liking  but  he  let  it  slide  with  the  practiced,  terrifying  perfection  of  a  seasoned  idol  putting  on  a  show;  even  if  he  had  retired  from  the  limelight,  old  habits  died  hard,  and  sena  quite  liked  donning  the  costume  without  the  exhausting  demands  of  the  stage.

when  he  finally  pulled  away,  he  offered  a  coquettish  smile  that  was  all  warm  sugar  and  smooth  wine.  "i  miss  you  already,  uiwon-nim,"  sena  crooned,  the  melody  of  his  voice  smooth  as  silk  over  steel,  and  no  one  could  tell  he  was  fashioning  lies  from  thin  air.  he  used  the  address  with  the  explicit  intention  of  stroking  a  fragile  ego.  "please  don't  make  me  wait  for  too  long."

singing and dancing at least have counts, shapes, a beginning and an end you can memorize until your body stops arguing. but standing in the same room as another person and not knowing when or where to look, when to speak, how long to pause before it becomes strange, that feels like being dropped into the middle of a song. at least she notices yeonseok before she decides to approach. he is rather… noticeable. loud, even when he's not speaking. sakura tells herself she will only pass by, maybe nod his way then her steps slow against her own reflexes and she comes to a full stop. after a small, silent negotiation with herself, she takes two steps closer than necessary. close enough that she can hear the faint sound of his breathing, which feels like an invasion, even if she is the one doing the invading.

"…hello," she says with a bow, a fraction too late. or maybe too early. it is difficult to tell. her hands stay very still at her sides, thinking if she moves them, something important will fall apart. "i was… observing," she adds, because it feels like an explanation is required. "you." that sounds wrong. she tries again like stepping across stones in water.

"you dance with… intention," she settles on saying something that feels true. "even when you are not dancing." sakura nods once, she has completed social task one of the day. "i would like to learn how you do that," she says rather matter-factly.

technically, she tells herself, this isn't against any rules. she's not an idol yet. technically. she's in a pre-debut project, a walking loophole with lip gloss. besides, it's not even that big a tattoo, a little something that's nothing, probably stupid, probably symbolic in a yearbook-quote kind of way. anyway, it's too late to chicken out now. the parlour smells of disinfectant and regret. minah's perched on the cracked leather chair, knee bouncing, phone flashlight on. she looks halfway between a pop star and a crime in progress, hoodie rolled up, fingers stained from yeonseok doodling little hearts on her wrist with the marker while she waits.

"right, so let me get this straight," she says, fixing yeonseok with a look that could curdle milk. "you dragged me here, made a whole song and dance about how you're getting your belly button pierced..." she snorts, because of course he did, "and now you're bottling it? i put glitter on for this, mate. actual effort."

turning away from seeing her brother and yeonseong's, mihyang can't stop the sigh from leaving her lips. this was what? her brother's third attempt at the civil service exam? at this point, she thinks it'd be quicker for her to disguise herself as her brother and pass the test for him. though, that would be a disservice to whatever role they put him in if he were to pass.

"do you think they do better when they're studying together, or should they be separated?" she whispers to yeonseong with a slight chuckle hidden in her voice. yeonseong's brother wasn't the first person to come over to the won's to get help with his studying. with her family's reputation, there was always someone knocking at their door, begging for their help.

while her and yeonseong's brother were stuck getting lessons, she was given the lovely task as acting as babysitter for yeonseong. and she means it when she says lovely because one, he's great company, and two, with him around, her family has started nagging a lot less about her marriage.

the shore was nothing new to aria. frankly, she has a feeling that she visits this place more than she can actually remember. sometimes, she'll wake up with sand in her shoes even though she can't recall ever visiting the ocean in those shoes. however, whatever it was, aria preferred to brush it off. she could never handle a thousand thoughts in her head at the same time anyway.

"god, i love the smell of the ocean. it practically feels like home to me." she's not completely wrong, but it's been forever since she's really treated this place like home. it was more like a playground to her.

Tokyo is a city Riyan loves and frequented loads in his teen years, but he doubts he'll be doing much sight seeing this go round. The schedule Kairi had handed them that morning sat forgotten in his lap. He wanted to be surprised but expected at least a baseball game appearance HYDRA secured tickets for. And sure enough, they had a baseball game appearance right on the dot. Unfortunately, Riyan had spent many years being moved from one place to another by managers and security staff to be impressed by an itinerary.