Chapter Text
Tommy heaved out a sigh as he looked up at the building in front of him, big letters spelling out ‘Essempi Records’. A frown seemed stuck on his face and he clutched his bag tighter to his body. G od he missed the boys. Erth disbanded their group before they even had the chance to debut, and he was signed to Essempi almost immediately after.
He wasn’t even 15 yet, no, his birthday was in two weeks. He was supposed to be a soloist, and even trained for about a week to be one- before he decided he didn’t fancy being alone.
Essempi decided to pair him with three people. The three were supposed to be a four-person group, but no one seemed to click with them;Which definitely didn’t intimidate Tommy to hell and back.
The fourteen-year old closed his eyes and breathed in and out, psyching himself up silently. He got almost no intel on who these people were, only that the age lineup was 21, 24, and 26. They said that a very skilled rapper was in the group, as well as amazingly talented vocalists. All they needed was a good dancer, and the company had latched their eyes on Tommy almost as soon as he got in.
Tommy was regarded as a child prodigy in dancing by his older companies he trained at. He was always put in advanced dance classes and even adults had a hard time keeping up with him. How else do you think he survived for so long?
The three had to have heard of him and his skills by now-Essempi had told him that they notified them of him and showed videos of him. He wondered how they felt about him, what their opinions on him were.
Dancing was a very valued skill in the idol scene, and the fact he was one- Tommy is very aware of. If you can’t sing or rap, your saving grace would be dance. And despite knowing this, Tommy is still worried. He tries reasoning with himself that even if they didn’t like him, they still needed him.
He had heard that the three were okay at best when it came to dancing. The rapper was supposedly the only one that could be seen as above average, but that was coming from the other trainees. And it's a very competitive environment, so how could he know for sure if they were telling the truth?
Shaking his head, he rolled his shoulders back and tilted his head up as he walked in. Once the doors opened, his eyesight immediately latched on to the front-desk lady. He never got around to learning her name, but she was nice and gave him candy whenever he looked particularly tired or bummed after a long day of work. Sometimes, she even snuck him a soda or those small cakes you got at the store. He wasn’t allowed to eat a lot of sweet, unhealthy stuff, but he guesses it was better than P-Topia’s rules on food.
P-Topia Entertainment barely allowed their trainees or idols to eat more than two meals a day; And the meals wouldn’t even be that filling. Even though Tommy was only there for about 6 months three years ago, he’s pretty sure he’d never gain back the weight he lost. He looked like a weak twig that fell from a tree.
The front-desk lady smiled at him sweetly, and he slowly walked up to her, trying to figure out how to delay the inevitable meeting of the trio as much as possible.
“Hello dear, how are you today?” She asked in a soft voice. she noticed how nervous Tommy looked, which was strange. She couldn't remember a single day where she saw the kid look as nervous as he does now.
“I’m good,” Tommy paused looking down at her name-plaque-thingy. “Clementine,” he finished off anxiously.
Clementine giggled. “Never thought to learn my name, huh? It’s fine sugarbear, you’ve only been here a week or so. I’ll tell ya, those boys you’re meeting today took months to learn my name.” She leaned forward and put a hand to her mouth as if she was telling Tommy a secret, lowering her tone for more of a comedic effect.
“You know I’m meeting them today?” Tommy was surprised, though he really shouldn’t be. Clementine worked for Essempi, surely she’d know about this.
“Of course, dear. I always try and see what your schedule is for the day every morning, just in case you forget. Don’t worry about them, sugar. Those three boys could never hurt a fly. It may take a second for them to warm up to you, but they really are some of the nicest boys I’ve met. In the years I’ve known them, all they’ve been is respectful and sweet,” she pursed her lips for a second, her long blonde hair falling in front of her eyes as she tilted her head down, “And I know they’ll love you, you really are a good kid.”
Tommy smiled, and Clementine smiled back. She sighed and gave him a sympathetic look, “Alright, sugarbear. You gotta get going now, wouldn’t wanna keep ya waiting.”
The fourteen-year old whined and Clementine laughed. “It’ll be fine. You’ll do great, and you know where my office is if I’m not at the desk.” she said kindly. A quiet way of saying ‘ my door is always open if you need me, I’ll help’.
“Alright, have a good day!” He called, already turning his back towards the stairs.
“Thank you, dear! Have a good day as well!”
And he was off, walking up the glass stairs and towards the room number he memorized while staring up at the ceiling in his dorm room. While on his way, Tommy passed by several people; some were trainees, some were businessmen. Currently, Tommy and the mysterious trio were a very promising group to them, despite not properly knowing each other. They believed within a year, the four would be able to debut.
The bright lights that lined the ceiling and walls strained his eyes and made him even more tired than he was. The excitement of the day prevented any sleep being possible.
The room was quick and easy to find and he went up to it, pressing his ear to the door filled with trepidation.
“How old is he again?”
“Fourteen.”
“Shit, that’s young. Reckon he’ll be as good at singing as he is at dancing?”
“Come on, Wil, we already have two vocalists. I, for one, think he’d be a great rapper.”
“Of course, you’d say that Techno-”
“Boys, let’s calm it. Wouldn’t want to scare the kid away.”
“Maybe we could. Wouldn’t be bad, would it?”
“Wil!”
Tommy let out a shaky breath and stood nervously in front of the door before, in a burst of confidence and stupidity, threw the door open.
Four sets of eyes landed on him. One pair were the eyes of their boss. Another was a pair of bright brown eyes, the man they belonged to had curly brown hair, and a simple white sweatshirt and black sweatpants on. Another man had shoulder-length blonde hair and blue eyes, and looked strikingly similar to Tommy himself, and had a black shirt on with dark green pants. There was another man, the last one, with long brown hair and blue eyes and a grey tank top with black cargo pants.
“....Ayup,” Tommy muttered out. He was wearing a white turtleneck and a bright red jacket with simple cream colored sweatpants. He threw his outfit together this morning and didn’t think about it, sue him.
He could feel the judgemental gaze on him coming from the three men he was supposed to be grouped up with.
“Alright, welcome, Tommy. I’ve already talked about you to these three, and they are aware of you and your skillset. I feel you have great potential with this group.” their boss said, and Tommy could only meekly nod.
Looking up at the three figures that stood confidently and comfortably near each other, he blanked.
What the fuck had he gotten himself into.