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“Your next interview is in an hour, and then right after another photo shoot scheduled for the day.”
Jihoon listlessly nodded away at his manager’s words, his eyes staring out into the world. Objects start to merge in his vision as the car speeds along. Whatever his manager says goes into one ear and out the other.
“Jihoon-ah are you listening to Minseok-hyung?”
His eyes look from the window to the owner of the voice. The assistant manager and translator looked at him with his doe eyes, making him a little nervous.
“Uh, yeah Joshua-hyung, I was listening” He replies, making the older one smile. The older manager sighed and let out a tired laughed. “You only ever listen to Joshua; your favoritism is really showing here Woozi-ssi.” He teases. Jihoon felt his ears heat up a little from his manager’s observation.
Joshua lets out a tiny laugh, waving his hand like it would deny the statement. “C’mon Minseok-hyung don’t tease him like that.”
The older manager let out a joking sigh, complaining again about how the younger clearly has favorites.
“He’s just a better talker than you Minseok-hyung, that’s why.” He jests, making Minseok let out a dramatic gasp and the younger manager giggle out loud. “Now Jihoon, stop teasing him just because he did the same to you, that isn’t really nice of you.”
Jihoon made a (joking) mocking face at the both, making the two managers let out a boisterous chuckle at the younger’s rather cute actions.
“Don’t worry Jihoon, after the photo shoot; you have no other schedule for the next few days.” Joshua tells him, trying to motivate him to get through the day.
“You can go out on a date with Shua after all of this Jihoon~” Minseok adds, making the two heat up in embarrassment. Jihoon lets out a fake annoyed scoff, telling him that wasn’t a good incentive to get him through the day.
“Aw, so you don’t love me enough to finish your schedules?” Joshua jabs, making the youngest between the three of them slump in defeat. He just can’t win against the two of them. The two managers shared a high-five in victory.
“You guys suck!!”
The backstage area of the TV studio where Jihoon’s interview was going to be held was bustling with a lot of movement and noise, Minseok had left his side to talk to one of the stage directors about the flow of the show. Joshua was by his side while he gets his make-up touched up to run through some possible questions to be asked and some english slangs he could say during the interview.
“So I should say ‘lezgeit’ to hype the crowd or not?” He asks innocently, the make-up artist holds their laugh as they dab on the foundation. Joshua lets out a little hum, trying to think of a valid situation to say the phrase. “Well, you could… maybe I should signal you when to do it.” He thinks out loud.
Jihoon tilted his head before going back to his original position before the make-up artist could complain. “Maybe tap my thigh if you think I should say it?” He suggests. Joshua nods at the suggestion, remarking that that was a good idea to do. The two bounce back and forth with the checklist the translator made for today’s talk.
Minseok comes back to tell them that the shoot would start in a few minutes. The two stood up to follow the elder, hands brushing against each other but never really holding one another. A tall man suddenly approaches them; Jihoon assumes he’s the stage director Minseok has been talking with for the past hour or so.
English words were being thrown back and forth; he could only understand a few words like “soon” or “few minutes”. He starts spacing out a little, looking around the backstage area, watching the staff run around the room with various equipments to help the show run smoothly.
A tug at his collar brings him back to reality, He looks to his side to see Joshua fixing his outfit, removing any creases his eyes spot on his shirt. The taller lets out a proud little huff after doing so, making Jihoon let out a tiny chuckle. “Is everything now up to your standards now hyung?” Joshua nods in agreement, making him giggle more.
“The show starts in two minutes” one of the staff yells out. Joshuas hand pats Jihoon’s shoulder, a smile etched on his lips. “Remember the signal okay?” He told him. The younger nods, before the intern taps his shoulder and guide them to where they where suppose to enter.
“And now please welcome South Korea’s genius idol and producer, Woozi!” The host says to the audience. Jihoon walks out to the stage, Joshua trailing behind him. He greets the host with a firm handshake and a small smile and his translator does the same.
After exchanging formalities, the three of them take their seats and start on with the long list of repetitive questions. “So welcome to America Woozi. How are you enjoying your stay so far?” The host asks Joshua immediately goes to work on translating the words of the host. “Ah, it’s good, it’s good. It’s uh, a very fun country.” He replies
“Wow your English is very good.” They compliment, making Jihoon smirk proudly. “I’ve been practicing.” He adds, making the host dramatically gasp. “Then can we continue the interview without your translator?” They joke. Immediately, Jihoon said no, making both the host and Joshua laugh at his panicked response.
“Don’t worry Woozi-ssi, they’re joking.” Joshua said, trying to calm him down a little. A little “Oh?” left Jihoon’s lips, making the audience coo at his adorable action.
The interview goes rather smoothly, Joshua listening and translates each and every word coming out from the host and Jihoon’s mouth, trying to keep up with the rather fast pace the whole talk was going. Jihoon was kinda getting bored with it, the interviewer was a nice person sure, but they were kinda boring him.
So he decides to mess around with Joshua’s flow.
After the audience dies down from Jihoon’s use of lezgeit, the host asks their final question for the hour.
“So, what’s next for you? What are your plans for the next few years” The host asks. Joshua once more translates more for Jihoon to answer. The younger one smirks, the response already layout in his head that is sure to make the older one very flustered.
“Well I can’t really tell what would happen in the future, but as long as I’m making music and I have him by my side, I think I’ll be okay.” He says, a hand secretly going to hold one of Joshua. The rather bold confession the idol made the translator speechless, he felt his face heat up a little.
“Well what did he say Joshua?” The interviewer asks, obviously clueless about what just happened. He shook his head for a moment, trying to regain his compsure.
“Uh, He said he doesn’t know what the future holds for him, but as long as he gets to continue to make music and he has his fans he’ll be alright.” He translates, trying to cover up how flustered he was at the moment.
The audience lets out a woah and applauds him for the answer (Albeit the wrong answer). Jihoon was happy, he got to make Joshua lose his cool like that for even just a second while they were working
After getting off the set, thanking the staff for their hard work for today’s show. Minseok had went ahead to look for where the driver had parked. Both their hands were once again brushed against each other, their pinkies linking with one another. Joshua lets out a tiny huff and looked at the younger with an angry face (or he tried to look like he was mad.)
“What you did back there wasn’t cool you know.” Joshua says, making Jihoon tilt his head in fake innocence.
“What do you mean? I didn’t do anything but answer the interviewer’s questions as honestly as I can.” He retorts, making the translator huff once more in annoyance. He uses his free hand to pinch the idol’s cheeks in retaliation. “Do that again and I’ll turn in my letter of resignation.” He threatens not so seriously.
“You wouldn’t dare, you love me too much to do that.” Jihoon answers back rather confidently. Joshua said nothing, instead choosing to engulf the small hand with his. ”You’re sadly right about that Jihoonie.” He admits, looking at him with a loving gaze.
Jihoon made a gagging noise before giving the taller a small peck on the cheek.
“Hey lovebirds, we have a schedule to follow!”
They looked behind them to see Minseok with a rather (faux) annoyed look. The boyfriends looked at each other then back to the manager before laughing out loud. Hand in hand, they once again following the oldest to go on with their rather packed day.