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Standing side by side behind the corner of a filming set are two nervous individuals who happened to be guests for the variety show they’re going to appear in. Despite the number of times they’ve been in the show, it’s unusually nerve-wracking yet exhilarating for the both of them. It’s likely due to the fact that they are not appearing along with their other group members and also, most importantly, coming out as more than just friends or group members for that matter.
To them, appearing in this show is another steppingstone into showing their true selves and proving everyone and even, themselves, that they’re ready for any obstacles thrown to them. Just being able to be in the show still felt like a dream and that very well just shows how far they have come. It’s about time.
“Recording’s about to start! 1! 2! 3!”
The sound of a clapped slate resonates the whole studio.
It isn’t a lie when all they can hear is their heart palpitating in their chests from all the noise mostly coming from the set while waiting for their cue to enter. And, it’s as if like they had planned it, they turn to look at each other with eyes filled with excitement and determination. They smile with crinkling eyes.
“You ready, Soo?” asks the taller of the two, raising his eyebrows in anticipation and looking at the other with warmth in his eyes.
The guy in question nods gently in return, his eyes mirroring the same sentiment.
“Heechul! Since White Day is coming, what are your plans for White Day?”
Snapped out of their short moment, both of them decided to go back to being on high alert once again, waiting for the right time to enter. It’s their cue.
Here goes nothing
“…I’d be no surprised if Janghoon were to give his partner a building instead of chocolates”
Laughter ensues.
“Yaaa hahah that would be one hell of a gift”
In the midst of the ongoing chatter being held in the set, a head pops outside the false window.
“Did someone say White Day?” chirps the newcomer, with a bubbly smile followed by a chuckle.
“KAI!!”
The instant uproar in the set have already caused both guests feeling a little bit shy making them cringe while looking at each other in embarrassment, and the second guest hasn’t even appeared yet, now hiding behind the front door. But even so, the opening act must continue and so with the memorized script in mind, Kai continued to speak, “I brought my boyfriend with me today.”
As expected from the main casts of the show, their exaggerating reaction has never been a disappointment with a few exclamations from some of them. Their eyes even seem like they’re about to bulge out of their sockets, going back and forth between the guests and the staff behind the cameras, flabbergasted at the choice of guests for that episode.
“Don’t tell me- “
Woosh!
Before one of the main casts can even finish his sentence, the second guest opens the sliding door to reveal himself.
“Hello, guys!”
An even bigger chaos erupts.
“D.O!!!”
“DIKA! DIKA!”
While the commotion hasn’t ease yet, both D.O and Kai slowly walk their way over to the podium located in front of the whole classroom set, facing the main casts. Even when they have arrived, they’re still able to see the surprise across their faces while standing before the podium.
With shyness still getting in the way, it still feels weird and awkward for them to appear in the show as a couple. And with eyes being so attentive towards them, it definitely isn’t helping.
The one with the shortest stature among the cast whose name’s Soogeun, voices out with a smile, looking at the guests with astonishment in his eyes, “Please introduce yourselves.”
It’s D.O’s turn to say his line first. Kai and the others look at him in anticipation.
“Hello! Transferring from Love Is All That Matters High School, the one whose voice oozes like honey, I’m D.O”
He turns to Kai while internally cringing.
“And the one whose dance moves could kill everyone, I’m Kai. Please take care of us!”
It doesn’t take a second for the cheers and applauses to come after that, welcoming them. They smiled in relief, happy to start the filming on a good note.
With the topic fillers out of the way, it’s about time that someone asks the couple questions that people have been dying to ask.
“I’m quite curious actually. Like why you chose to appear in this show.” The question came from the Yeongcheol, the one sitting in one of the front seats, whose jokes known to lack humor in it.
Lucky for them, they had already discussed about this beforehand. Hence, being a natural, Kai starts to answer, “We actually kinda got influenced by Hyuna and Dawn appearing in this show a few years back. We were thinking that if we were to publicly reveal ourselves as a couple in a show, it will help break the stigma against the LGBTQ+ community here in South Korea.”
He pauses and looks at his partner before continuing, “And we also thought that Men on a Mission would be the most appropriate show for us to officially reveal our relationship as well. We have always enjoyed being here too.”
As D.O’s listening to the other and observing the main casts, he feels the sense of pride wash over him. Just seeing them being attentive and respectful towards Kai, makes him feel contented.
So happy that he doesn’t realise that he’s already reaching for the younger’s left arm and caressing it until Kai decides to remove his hand and instead interlocks their hands together behind the podium which unknowingly made the both of them gaze at each other fondly.
Unbeknownst to them, the main casts have been watching the whole scene with smug faces.
Coming to his senses. D.O decides to add on, “We’re just glad and thankful that you guys allowed us to be in the show.”
Then comes a series of expressions of gratitude from the casts.
“Ayee, we should be the ones thanking you guys for choosing our show.”
Upon hearing the words, they shyly smiled.
“Another question!”
Everyone laughs at the one who raises his hand. It’s hilarious to see him being this enthusiastic in asking questions compared to his usual level of involvement in other episodes. That’s no doubt Min Kyunghoon for everyone. When it comes to the topic of love, he definitely doesn’t disappoint for sure.
As soon as the laughter dies down, he shoots, “So, who confessed first?”
“I bet it was Kai”
“Who knows. It could have been D.O.”
The couple just glanced at each other and chuckled. The older of the two starts to speak, “Well, it’s a long story…”
After going through the mini talent shows and more Q&As, D.O and Kai are finally accepted in the show, as what they would always like to call it. Knowing the show’s routinely schedule, it’s time for the next section.
Generally, there will be a quiz for the main cast to guess the correct answer to the questions posed by each guest. However, the production team has other plans in mind.
Like how game introductions have always been done, it turns out that D.O is tasked to introduce the new game to everyone this time round. Sitting behind the setup which is horizontally placed a few meters apart from the podium, he starts to fill them in with the game rules with the script still fresh in his mind.
“Instead of the Guess About Me segment, there’ll be a special segment called ‘Spin the Bottle: Is it Truth or Lie?’. Firstly, Kai and I will have separate alternate turns with 3 rounds each, to spin this bottle on the Truth or Lie circle board behind this partition.”
He pauses to show the simple set up, raising the partition up and putting it back down.
“Depending whether it’s a Truth or a Lie, Kai and I will have to give one statement about ourselves for each round. And you guys have to guess in consensus whether it’s a Truth or a Lie. If it’s guessed correctly, our faces will be drawn by you. If the guess is wrong, we get to draw on all your faces. And we’ll have to stay at that state for the rest of the filming.”
"Wahhh, so I guess this is the battle of wits between us and the guests," comments Soogeun while he chuckles, amazed at the new game concept.
“So, who’s gonna start first?” Heechul, who’s known for his crazily blunt jokes, asks.
Both guests look at each other. They haven’t really thought of that yet. After pondering for a few seconds, D.O suggests for them to play Rock Paper Scissors to decide who goes first and they both agree to play. It turns out that Kai will be the one to start off the newly introduced game.
With everyone's full attention on Kai, he turns the bottle into a spin. The spinning finally stops after what it seems like a never-ending whirl and shows the player his very first result. Trying not to give away the answer as he feels the intense gazes fixed onto him, he looks at it for a quick second with his poker face on.
Truth
Now, for the statement. He peers at the cue card in his hand, with the statements that were already written by him prior to the filming. He finally picks one as his first question after skimming through the short list. He looks up and smiles, getting a good feeling.
“Okayy! Let’s see if you can guess my first question.” He stops for a second to reorganize his thoughts and starts, “It actually happened during my first solo debut promotion when I was promoting my title track ‘Mmmh’.”
“Yah, that song was definitely something else,” the famous former wrestling athlete quickly adds.
Kai sheepishly laughs. “Thanks, Hodong-ah. Anyways, it was during the time when I finished my rehearsal for one of my stages for Music Bank, where I performed one of my B-side track songs in the album. I remembered that it was the last song to be performed. And in that stage, was only me performing so, the other dancers would usually be in the waiting room by then. But when I went back to the room, there was no one except several bags and some other stuff. So, I assumed that they all went somewhere else for a short break. Since I was quite tired, I just took a nap on the sofa and slept for about an hour until someone woke me up. It was actually a member from TXT. I only got to find out that I was not in my room all along and the room was actually TXT’s. Is it the truth or a lie?”
As soon as the story has reached to the last part, the rest starts to chuckle at his little episode of clumsiness, not caring whether it’s the truth or a lie. All except for one.
While everyone is happily listening to Kai, D.O’s busy feeling concerned over him as soon as he found the story familiar. He remembers it all too well and he’s sure that the younger won’t be able to forget that very day as well due to the fact that it was deemed as a scar especially for Kai. It’s even to the point that he would avoid anything that will remind him about the traumatic experience at all cost.
Hence, he’s quite perplexed as to why the younger chose to recount an incident that happened on the same day. But he stays silent.
“Hmmm, it sounds like he would possibly be that forgetful.” Heechul voices out.
“Nah, it couldn’t be, won’t you notice the things inside the room would be arranged differently?” the guy with the tallest build argued, eyes squinting suspiciously at Kai.
“But then we’re talking about Kai here. He actually did the same thing before when he was a trainee. I can still remember.”
Hearing that from his senior, Kai is actually quite surprised at the guy’s recollection. It sounds like he’ll be the first to be drawn on. He internally cries and glances at D.O for help while the other just stares at him with his mind still occupied.
Finally, as the main casts agree in consensus that they choose ‘Truth’ as their choice of answer, he lets down his guard and slowly shows the board to everyone, pouting pitifully.
Instantly, the main casts celebrate their first win while gathering around Kai, excited to draw with their markers in their hands. Heechul’s the first one to draw around his eyes.
“But come to think of it. Where was your manager at the time?” asks Sangmin, the one who’s always sitting at the further end.
Just by the word being mentioned, Kai goes unknowingly stiff for a second as flashes of painful memories of the incident came into his mind, but it wasn’t quick enough for everyone to miss it. Unaware and occupied with his thoughts, he starts to fidget and the drawing stops.
Feeling a sudden familiar weight on his lap, he instinctively turns only to see the concerning face D.O is sporting despite it being subtle, slowly turning into a face filled with uncontrollable laughter. And with no explanation, his mind slowly eases just seeing the bundle of joy beside him, making him suddenly feel ultimately grateful for his existence alone.
Knowing himself, he has always avoided the subject for so long and being this open about it, is definitely unusual, coming from him. But keeping to his own promise, he’s ready to let it all go and move on, especially for the benefit of his own mental health.
Once D.O is fully recovered from his belly-aching laughter, Kai gently clasps his hand on top of the older's and smiles reassuringly at him, making sure that the other knows he's fine. D.O smiles back, feeling relieved.
And as the scene unfolds in front of the main casts, they seem definitely confused at the quiet exchange between the guests.
"W-why? Is there something going on?"
Once again, their moment is cut off by Yeongcheol himself.
Kai turns to face them and mentally braces himself. "Youngmin hyung was my manager at that time and that day was also the day he and- “
Just as the realization hits him, Sangmin gasps and interrupted, “You don’t mean.”
Kai nods and says, “Yes, it was the day of the accident.”
As soon as he said it, the unbelievable shock is seen across all the main casts’ faces for the second time ever since the opening. And eventually the atmosphere in the room becomes undeniably gloomy for a moment as guilt seems to slowly overwhelm them as they trudge back to their respective seats.
“Now I feel bad for drawing that,” says Heechul as he pouts.
“It’s really okay. I brought it upon myself anyways,” Kai reassures, rapidly waving his hands. He ponders for a while and continues, “If you guys feel really bad, you can do it the next round.”
“Okay. We’ll do the next round.” Kyunghoon speaks up.
Heechul turns around to look at his fellow colleague sitting behind him and shouts, “Yah! How does that make me then?”
And eventually the filming continues with more dissing, tear-jerking jokes and games.
Finally back to being normal civilians again, both Jongin and Kyungsoo are finally on their way back to their shared apartment in the younger’s car, reaching to their destination in about half an hour.
Seeing the heavy rain pour in the night, Jongin is reminded of a certain someone. He turns his head to face the older.
“I’m sure the both of them are happy up there, right?”
As soon as the car stops before a red light, Kyungsoo slowly holds and pulls the younger’s face to him, leaving a very small gap in between their faces.
“Of course, they must be proud of you.” He says as he smiles. “I’m proud of us and I’m proud of you too. We’ll be fine.”
Just before the green light is on, Kyungsoo quickly places a kiss onto Jongin’s lips. And the night is spent admiring the Han River as the car crosses the bridge.