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“Thank you hyungs! Today’s radio was another success!” Youngjae beams at them with his signature sunshine smile.
“Ah, I’m so glad the jobless members of Got7 were able to provide entertainment.”
Jinyoung’s words are paired with a whiskered smile but Youngjae nevertheless begins to fall over himself assuring his hyung that the team had wanted JJProject there and it was an honor even though the other members couldn’t make it. Jinyoung adds a pout which leads Youngjae to frantically shout, “but I didn’t even want the other members here! I don’t even like them!!!” Jinyoung’s expression almost cracks at that exclamation but his acting prowess shines through and he maintains the facade.
“Jinyoung-ah you’re literally dropping an album in a week, stop being mean to Youngjae.” Jaebeom’s smiling voice breaks through the duo’s chaos and, as it has always done for a decade now, immediately calms them down.
Unfortunately for Jaebeom, this means Jinyoung’s devastating pout is aimed directly at him now. On cue, calm, chic leader Jaebeom is replaced with a flustered, rapidly reddening demeanor. He bends his head and clears his throat, avoiding eye contact. Youngjae swings his gaze to Jinyoung, expecting to see Jinyoung triumphantly smiling at his ability to perpetually off-center their leader. Instead, he’s shocked to find Jinyoung awkwardly looking away too.
The youngest member in the room looks between the other two, trying to gauge what was going on.
Cautiously Youngjae throws out some bait, “you know… if I took a shot of soju each time you both mentioned “please call me” to each other during today’s show… I would be passed out right now.”
He’s rewarded immediately. Both men turn scarlet red, fidgeting with their jackets and glasses. To his next question of, “how long has it been since you’ve called each other anyway,” the room is subjected to a mumbled chorus of jumbled words. In the midst of the cloud of excuses, “busy schedule” and “don’t want to interrupt” can be made out.
It’s Jabeom’s grumbled “I don’t want to be a bother to him” that finally gets a full volume response.
“Hyung you would never be a bother to me! Ever! I always want to hear from you!” Jinyoung blurts out several decibels higher than his normal speaking voice. He flushes in embarrassment when the remnants of his exclamation echo through the room, not having realized how loudly he’d stated it. Youngjae has to draw up every professional skill he has to not burst into a fit of giggles.
“You want to hear from me?” Jaebeom’s shy voice cuts through Jinyoung’s embarrassment and he turns to find the leader staring at him, warm eyed and with a tentative smile, “...cause I always want to hear from you too Jinyoungie.”
Jinyoung bursts into a smile then too, and Jaebeom’s crooked shy one grows to match the other’s wide grin until they are both standing there beaming at each other. Locked gazes exchange messages and thoughts as if they were in some kind of interdimensional phone call at that very moment.
“AHEM.” A comically loud throat clearing interrupts the two and they turn to find Youngjae rolling his eyes at them. “That’s great, we have reestablished a fact that everyone else in the world has known for more than a decade. Can you both leave my studio now, I have a radio show to run?”
The two hyungs are herded out of the studio room and to their respective cars. Just before they get in, they turn to make eye contact. “So… I’ll call you?” Jinyoung says, the words feeling weird and foreign in his mouth since he’s never had to ask before. Jaebeom responds with his crooked smile, recognizing the other’s discomfort the way he’s always been able to read his emotions, “yeah.. And I’ll call you too.”
It’s awkward but it’s enough. Both men turning back into their cars with warm smiles on their faces.
Jaebeom settles into his seat and closes his eyes, reveling in a feeling he’d been bereft of for a few months now. Just as he’s drifting off his phone buzzes in his pocket. Taking it out, the earlier wide beaming grin returns. After taking a moment to enjoy seeing a caller ID he had not seen for too long, he picks up.
“Hi Jinyoungie.”