Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

Jay did not know how he ended up here, in front of the CEO of Source Music.

Actually, he did, but he really didn’t think this through as much and he blames the whiskey and the staff in charge for En-O’Clock. He hoped that whoever thought of this challenge had a very bad day, he hoped they’d trip on a rock or something. Maybe have both sides of their pillow warm.

He also blames his stupid luck for picking this challenge.

The challenge was the members were tasked to do something that is unexpected of them and post it on the official YouTube channel and have the fans vote once all the members posted theirs. They also have to choose randomly the specific requirements for their video.

Jay to his luck. Was required to find another idol to accompany him in doing the challenge, and he was supposed to choose what kind he would do.

The second task was easy enough he chose to dance to something that would suit Sunghoon and Heesung more, and probably Jungwon too. And to be honest he wasn’t even sure what type of dance genre it was. Was it contemporary? Yeah, that’s probably it. With that problem out of the way he now has a bigger problem.

He needed another idol to do it with him.

That stressed him the most.

He was a shy person, believe it or not, he had the least friends outside of ENHYPEN. Other than TXT and Yujin from ZEROBASEONE, he had no one. And even with the 6 people mentioned he was still shy.

It was a good thing his manager knew him well enough that he couldn’t ask people himself so his only task now is to think about who he would ask.

That was a separate problem entirely. So he decided to grab a bottle of whiskey from his collection to ease his stress and search for performances by other idols. His manager suggested starting with a fellow HYBE artist, so it would be easier on his part. And then he stumbled upon that one performance.

He scolded himself for not thinking of it sooner.

A performance that flooded his timeline. By one of the artist, he actually admired and looked up to. He was lowkey their fan. How couldn’t he, they were captivating to look at during performances. They’re known to be one of the best all-rounders in their generation. They were born for the stage.

Yunjin of LE SSERAFIM.
His alcohol-induced brain decided to inform his manager immediately. It would’ve been more ideal if it was a message like this.

‘I think Yunjin from LE SSERAFIM would be a great performance partner’

But no. He decided to say.

‘Hyung can you schedule a meeting with Source, I want Yunjin from LE SSERAFIM’

And honestly, Jay would like to put the blame on his manager just as much. Because what do you mean you just scheduled a meeting without clarifying further? Why didn’t he question his artist on why he wanted Yunjin? Better yet scold him for acting like he owns the company to request a meeting like that. Like, he did it no questions asked. There should have been questions.

So Jay is here. In front of the CEO of Source Music, who was looking at him expectantly.

“Thank you for meeting with me sir,” Jay said formally, he thanked his ability to calm himself because truthfully he wanted the earth to swallow him whole and maybe bolt out of the meeting room.

“Yes, now what would this meeting be about? It looks important because it is not every day an artist outside of my label would come to meet me.” So Sungjin replied calmly, with a hint of curiosity.

Jay let out an awkward breathly laugh. “Yes uhm– I would like to ask if it would be okay to ask Yunjin from LE SSERAFIM to help me with a challenge.”

That made CEO So’s eyebrows raise. “What challenge?”

Now Jay really wanted to scream at the people in charge of En-O’Clock. But he remained composed. “Our variety show, En-O’Clock, gave us a task with a special requirement, and mine was I need to ask another Idol to join me.”

“And what challenge would that be.”

“We are to do something unexpected, and it will be posted on our Youtube channel and the most votes wins. I was planning on doing a contemporary dance, something outside of my usual genre and I thought that Yunjin-ssi would be a great performance partner…” Jay said a little hesitantly, mentally he was already banging his head on the table in front of him.

“And what is the prize if you don’t mind me asking? Is there even a prize?”

And there it is, the question that even Jay couldn’t believe the answer is. So in a small voice. “Bragging rights…and a—uh–a surprise prize, uh me and the other members don’t really know… We just want to win.” He finished with his face forming o_o face, extremely awkward.

A beat of silence. Jay looked anywhere else other than the CEO’s face, his manager beside him clearly trying and nearly failing to keep his face neutral. He finds this so amusing, and Jay wants to strangle him, what is he doing here if he’s not talking? ‘This is his fault’

The silence was broken when the CEO let out a hearty laugh. Nearly tearing up from laughter, Jay felt his face go really warm sure that his ears are red by now.

The CEO finally composed himself. “So you’re telling me, you went here to ask me if I could tell Yunjin to do the challenge with you?”

Jay shook his head, he didn’t want to force Yunjin, he was here to ask if it would be okay to ask Yunjin, and he said exactly that. “No sir, I’m here to ask if it’s okay for me to ask her if she would be willing to do it with me.”

The Mr. So, stared at him, blinking at Jay's way of thinking. “You do realize that this sounds like you asking for her hand.”

Jay froze. His mind went blank then and there.

What?

If he wasn’t red already he definitely is now.

“I–I, No si—” Jay couldn’t even form a sentence now.

Mr. So let out a laugh again. “I’m just messing with you, kid. You can ask her and I will allow it if she agrees. That is why you ask, right? But you really didn’t have to she’s her own person and an adult. Not to mention she has creative freedom in her contract so she’s free to do it. You didn’t really need to ask me you know.”

Jay finally found his words. “It would be the polite thing to do, sir.”

Mr. So just chuckled. “Well you, got my permission now. You may go.” Jay bowed once again and left with his manager. Finally able to breathe the moment he closed the door of the office.

Meanwhile, Mr So watched him leave. And mumbled to himself. “This collaboration would be big I can already see it, two of the most talented and popular HYBE idols, not to mention people shipping them. Yeah, this will be big.” then he chuckled to himself, “I have a feeling this won’t end as just a collaboration. I should call Taeho and make a bet.” He reached for his phone searching for the BeLift CEO’s contact.

Just outside Jay was walking beside his manager. Sulking.

“Hyung! I can’t believe you didn’t say anything what were you even doing there if I was the one talking.” he pointed at his manager “You even have the audacity to laugh.”

His manager Yuki just let out a laugh that echoed in the empty hallway.

“Hyung!! It’s not funny!! I was about to die of embarrassment!”

“But you didn’t. And besides I did more than I had to. I already scheduled a meeting, I came to for moral support you were supposed to do it alone.”

Yuki replied and Jay just grumbled, still sulking. Then suddenly buried his face in his hands thinking about the interaction.

“Gods I want to jump off the rooftop.”

“Maybe not do that, it would be hard to find a 7th member. And besides you’re not getting out of the challenge that easy.”

Jay huffed. Meanwhile, Yuki just shook his head, he had delt with these boys since their debut, and Jay acting like this was not new to him. In fact, Jay’s only-child tendencies pop out here and there when he’s in his presence. He faced a still-embarrassed Jay who refused to look at him.

“So, when are you going to ask Yunjin-ssi about the challenge?”

That stopped Jay dead in his tracks. His face turned into horror and slowly turned to Yuki. Before he can even do anything else Yuki beats him to it.

“No.”

“I haven’t even said anything yet!”

“You’re going to ask if I could ask her for you.”

Jay’s face lit up, hopeful. And gave his best pleading look. He doesn’t do this often, he hates aegyo, but, desperate times call for desperate measures.

“Ple–”

“No.”

“OH COME ON!”

Yuki just walked ahead, with a pleading Jay behind him.

With no luck, Jay just stared out the window, as they were driving back to their dorms, Sunoo and Ni-ki tried to tease him. But Jay wasn’t talking to anyone lost in his thoughts on his new problem.

How would he ask Yunjin for the challenge?

Chapter Text

Jay was stressed.

He didn’t drink any whiskey this time, he learned his lesson. But now he was contemplating doing so, maybe it could give him the confidence to ask.

Yeah, no.

He was weighing his options, and asking for help from his manager was out of the question.

‘Stupid hyung,’ he thought. 

He was walking to the ENHYPEN practice room when he saw their choreographer talking to someone in the hallway. He doesn’t recognize the person, so he only bowed to them as he walked past. But their conversation made him slow down his pace.

“Soyeon-unnie, I need you’re opinion on this. Jake was asking for help, and I need a second opinion.”

‘Jake? We can ask Minseo-noona for help?’ Jay thought as he knelt down to pretend to tie his shoelace so he could hear more. The boys weren’t allowed to share their performance ideas, making sure that it would be a surprise to all. However, they didn’t say that they can accidentally find out from someone else.

“That’s not bad, the girls did something similar. And Yunjin-ah did really well—”

Jay didn’t hear the rest of her sentence because the name mentioned made his brain stop. 

‘THAT’S IT! I’ll ask Minseo-noona for help’ 

“Jay? Are you okay? You’ve been tying your shoe for a while now,” a voice broke his thoughts. It was his Minseo-noona. He stood up quickly. Too quickly, he stumbled back falling on his butt.

“Clumsy boy, aren’t you?” The other woman said, Soyeon was the name he believed.

Jay stood up properly and bowed to both of them again.

“My apologies.”

“You were listening, weren’t you? That’s cheating, you know.” Minseo said teasingly.

“The rules said we aren’t allowed to talk about it to the other members, technically I didn’t, I just happened to hear it.” He gave a smug grin, looking as innocent as ever. 

“Uh-huh, so what’s your plan?”

Jay opened his mouth. Then closed it again. Now is his chance; both of the women looked at him expectantly, and from the information he gathered, this Soyeon woman was linked to LE SSERAFIM. 

“I was thinking Contemporary…”

“Contemporary?” Both women said at the same time.

“That’s definitely unexpected.” Minseo mussed.

“He looks like he can pull it off, though,” Soyeon commented.

“Thank you, Ma’am.” Jay bowed again, but Soyeon waved him off.

“You don’t need to call me that, it makes me feel old, just call me noona.”

“Okay.”

“Moving on, what song are you dancing to?” Minseo cut in.

Jay was silent.

“I can’t believe you haven’t thought of it yet, so what’s your requirement?”

“Actually, I was hoping Soyeon-noona could help me with it.”

“Me?” Soyeon said, surprised.

“Yes, my requirement is I need to do the challenge with another idol, and I–I thought that Yunjin-nim would be a great partner.”

“Yunjin? Wouldn’t Kazuha be more fitting? She did ballet.” Minseo cuts in again, and Soyeon nods in agreement.

Yeah, Jay hasn’t thought about that. But he already made up his mind about Yunjin, and he’s sure that the CEO of Source would be surprised if he suddenly asked Kazuha.

“I uh— It’s because she did ballet that made me hesitate…I feel pressured.”

Soyeon hummed and was actually thinking. Sure, Kazuha would make a great partner, although she’s not sure that the two of them could provide the chemistry to make the performance captivating.

“That is true, Zuha would easily fit, but I’m not sure she and Jay have chemistry.”

“Chemistry?” The choreographer and idol said simultaneously.

“Yes, chemistry. Look if you want to win, you need to captivate your audience.” Soyeon replied.

“So… you’ll help me?”

“Not only that, I will oversee your production myself. I need to make sure the performance would make my girls shine.” 

Minseo turned to Jay excitedly. “You lucked out Jay, you have the LE SSERAFIM performance director to help.” Jay’s mouth formed an O shape. 

‘So she’s their performance director for one of the top performers in the K-pop scene these days.’

“Let me tell, Yunjin.”

“Actually, I would like to ask her if she wants to do it. I don’t want to make her feel like she’s required to do this, and I told the CEO that I would ask.” That made the two women look at him.

“Which CEO?” Minseo inquired.

“Source Music CEO,” Jay replied, and that made the two women speechless at Jay’s dedication.

“So you’re telling me you asked the CEO of Source before you asked Yunjin?” Soyeon asked, still not believing he did that. It sounded like a suitor asking the parents first.

“I–yes? Isn’t that how I should’ve done it?”

“You sound like you’re asking something different,” Minseo replied. Jay reddened.

Soyeon shook her head, deciding to spare the boy of teasing and do him a favor because he’s clearly lost on how to ask. “Alright, follow me, let’s go to the girls to ask. They’re resting now in their practice room.” Minseo does not want to miss the action.

“Wait I want to go too, let me watch.”

Jay looked at her exasperated. “What about practice?”

Minseo waved him off. “You can’t start without me anyway. Let’s go”

“You said their resting, I don’t want to disturb them.”

Soyeon opened her mouth to respond, but Minseo beat her to it.

“Just say you’re afraid of talking to her.”

“AM NOT.”

Soyeon grinned. “Great then you won’t have a problem in talking to her now, so chop-chop.” she turned around and walked ahead. While Jay actually malfunctioned, again scolding himself mentally for not thinking things through. Minseo snickered at him and took the sleeve of his jacket to pull him.

They reached the outside of the practice room, and Jay’s feet somehow cemented themselves on the floor.

“Don’t be nervous, my girls don’t bite.” Soyeon teased. Minseo followed with. “Look, all you got to say is. ‘I need your help for a challenge for a variety show.’ That does not sound hard.”

“That’s like I’m demanding her to do it with me.”

“See, you know what you’re supposed to do, so let’s go inside.” Minseo grinned while she and Soyeon took each of his sleeves and opened the door to pull him inside.

The LE SSERAFIM girls are all minding their own business. One was curled up in the corner, Jay couldn’t make out which member because they were wrapped up in a blanket. Kazuha was stretching, and on another corner was Sakura crocheting, on the couch was Chaewon focused on her phone, on the other side of the couch made his breath hitched, it was Yunjin. Wearing glasses, looking so focused while reading her book. 

‘Oh, so that means the blanket burrito was Eunchae.’ He thought as he stood there awkwardly. 

Kazuha was the first to spot them from the practice room mirror. She stood up hurriedly, seeing her sunbaenim gracing their practice room. She bowed, “Sunbaenim.” Her actions caught the other members off guard, and they turned to the door and found their Soyeon-unnie holding their sunbaenim by the sleeves. They hurriedly stood up, Sakura going to Eunchae to wake her up.

Jay bowed as well and stayed silent. Awkwardly looking at them. Soyeon looked at him and sighed.

“Girls, you know Jay from ENHYPEN, right?” and they nodded, now all side by side, Eunchae arranging her hair that was messy from her sleep. None were expecting a visit from a sunbaenim.

Chaewon is going into her leader mode. “Let's introduce ourselves,” before Jay could stop them. “1,2..”

“Hello, we are LE SSERAFIM,” they said in chorus. And out of instinct, Jay was going to do ENHYPEN's usual greeting with hand, but stopped himself and settled for a bow.

“Hello, thank you for having me.” Once again, looking awkward

“I can’t believe I have to do this, kids these days,” Soyeon mumbled to herself before turning to the girls. “Jay is here to ask one of you something,” as she now took him by the arm and pushed him near the girls.

“I— Uh…” He could hear his choreographer giggling, clearly finding his suffering amusing. The group looked at him expectantly. So he took a deep breath, collecting himself. ‘You’re an idol, you can act, you can fake confidence, do it now,’ he repeated to himself in his mind. Unknown to him he was actually heard. It took everything for the girls to hold in their laughter. 

“Right, Uhm, Yunjin ssi.” Yunjin was caught off guard by the callout to her specifically. “I was act— I mean I want to ask if you want—wait no—I want to ask if it—I—” he couldn’t find the words. 

“You’re doing great, sweetie!” Minseo yelled behind him. He could hear the grin on her face. His ears felt warm.

Sakura decided that Jay needed a little push because he was clearly struggling. “It’s alright, sunbaenim. Take your time.” That made Jay even redder. But a thought came to him.

“Sunbaenim? Aren’t you my sunbaenim?”He asked confused, forgetting his initial shyness. All of them looked at him extremely confused. One, because of the lack of shyness, and two, because of the sudden question.”

“Yes, ENHYPEN debuted before us…” Sakura replied.

Jay tilted his head absentmindedly. “But you debuted at IZ*ONE though…you and Chaewon-sunbaenim.” It was the girls' turn to tilt their heads. Minseo face-palmed behind Jay.

Soyeon sighed and cleared her throat. “Jay, you’re getting sidetracked.”

“Ah– right. Yunjin-nim, I was wondering if it would be okay to ask you if I could ask you to do a challenge with me…” The redundancy of his sentence made the rest even more confused.

“Come again?” Yunjin said. Jay stopped for a moment, replaying his sentence in his head. Minseo and Soyeon snorted behind him. And Kazuha and Eunchae are biting their lips, holding in their laughs.

Minseo decided to interfere because at this point she was getting second-hand embarrassment. “Jay, why don’t you start with why you’re asking?” Jay nodded and turned to them again.

“Me and the members have a variety show–I mean, what idol group doesn’t these days– but yeah, it's called En-O’Clock, I’m not sure if you heard of it…” 

“Jay.” Soyeon cuts in before he rambles.

“Right uhm, we were filming the last episode last week, and the challenge was we were to do something unexpected. And will post on our YouTube channel and the fans will vote after which they like the best…We also have specific challenge requirements.” He said a little too quickly. The girls looked at him expectantly again. And Jay was starting to feel like they were judging him. Chaewon decided it's time for her to speak now.

“And why does it concern Yunjin?”

“Oh right, my requirement was I need to find another idol to do it with.”

“And you chose Yunjin?” Chaewon clarified.

“Yes, Ma’am.” That made Chaewon’s face cringe at him calling her Ma’am, Jay panicked thinking he offended her. And that she’ll forbid it. “I’m sorry did I offend you? I mean I won’t force her, I can think of something else, sor–” 

Chaewon lifted her hand, signaling him to stop. “No, I just felt weird that you called me ‘Ma’am,’ it made me feel old. Don’t do it again.” Jay looked down and nodded. “Yes, sunbaenim, I’m sorry.”

Yunjin finally processed what Jay said. “What kind of challenge, sunbaenim?” Jay’s eyes widened, both from her talking to him and the title sunbaenim. 

“You don’t need to call me sunbaenim. You’re older than me, it feels…” Jay mumbled. “And, the challenge I was planning is to do a contemporary dance…” The girls nodded, taking in the information. 

Eunchae then asked, “Wouldn’t Zuha-unnie fit that genre better?” Jay did not know how to reply to that. He couldn’t really say, ‘Yeah, I was watching her performance from MAMA her collaboration for the intro, and decided that she would fit. And I didn’t bother looking at anyone else.’ So he settled for this.

“I thought Yunjin-nim would be a great partner.” 

A beat of silence at that dangerous statement, without context, it can be taken as something else entirely.

Jay was confused at their expression. And now that he thought about his words clearly, he paled, which was a funny sigh;t he went from red as a tomato to white as a sheet.

It was then Soyeon who saved him. “What he means is that he thought that performing with Yunjin would be the right choice. And, I actually agree, I’m not sure if Zuha and Jay can show chemistry that would captivate the audience.” 

“And Yunjin can?” Sakura asked.

Soyeon replied. “I mean look at them.” And everyone did. “They have the vibe that says ‘Look at me’ and if you guys didn’t know many people are begging HYBE to have their collab. This is the chance.” 

“Why does it feel like you’re dedicated for this to happen,” Chaewon said skeptical at the performance director's eagerness.

Minseo decided to join the conversation. “Because she is.” 

Jay quickly added. “But you don’t have to if you don’t want to. I came to ask please don’t feel pressured to do it just because they think so.” Sakura decided to make him feel comfortable by trying to tease him. “But you want her to do it as well.” 

“I—yes…if that’s okay. With you.” He looked at Yunjin, directly into her eyes.

Minseo was silently hitting Soyeon from behind him, and Soyeon was shaking her as well. Two shippers were born. Yunjin, despite having them in her view, was shocked to have met eyes with her sunbaenim and the sincerity of his voice.

“I-” Yunjin started before turning to Chaewon, “Is it okay?” Chaewon nodded and replied, “You should the CEO first.” Before Jay could say anything.

“Soyeon, actually Jay already did.” The girls turned to him quickly. 

“Did you expect me to say yes?” Yunjin asked skeptically, but really she’s teasing him.

“Well, not exactly? I actually asked if it's okay to ask you if you wanted to.” Jay replied, surprising himself that he spoke without a hint of nervousness now.

That made Chaewon and Sakura’s eyebrows rise. That was an unexpected move on his part. Asking permission from the CEO before the artist even agreed. Once again, out of context would sound something else.

“Oh” was the only thing Yunjin could say. She looked behind him to her Soyeon-Unnie, who held a thumbs up. “Okay, let’s do it.” Jay let out a sigh of relief and bowed.

“Thank you so much. Don’t worry, I’ll give you something in return for your troubles.” Yunjin waved her hands.

“No, no. You don’t need to. It’s fine.”

“But I should.”

“And I said you shouldn’t”

Jay tilted his head with a random burst of confidence, yeah, he’s getting comfortable now. “But it's rude to refuse a gift.”

Yunjin was taken aback at the sudden shift of confidence from Jay, and before she could retort.

“Oh shit, Jay time to go Yuki is looking for us,” Minseo said.

Jay nodded and turned to Yunjin again. And once again surprised everyone by bowing to the floor. Which made Yunjin panic. But before she could ask him to stand up.

“Thank you for accepting.” After that, he stood up, and Minseo took him by his sleeves again and pulled him out.

The girls were silent.

Soyeon clapped her hands. “Alright, break time's over, start stretching again. We’ll work on the choreo once again.”

Chapter Text

The girls are cleaning up their belongings, ready to go home after a grueling day of practice and the unexpected visit from their sunbaenim. That they haven't even touched after the interaction. Yunjin was spacing out both from fatigue and thoughts about her agreeing to the challenge. She didn’t really think it through at that time, she may look like she did, but really she was busy processing that another artist she looks up to asked to collaborate with her, and this time its not about making music or a feature, no, it's about dancing. And it's not even a TikTok challenge type of dance. It was a contest that would be featured on a YouTube channel of another artist.

“What do you think, unnie?” Yunjin didn't hear. She was broken out of her train of thought when she was nudged.

“Huh?” 

Chaewon rolled her eyes before teasing her, “What's in your mind, you thinking about Jay-ssi?” 

“What no! What were you saying, Eunchae?”

“Eunchae wasn’t the one calling you, Yunjin-ah,” Sakura said with a teasing grin. And Kazuha followed with, “Wow, Yunjin-unnie, are you so distracted by Jay-sunbaenim that you don't recognize our voices now?”

Eunchae faked cried, “And I thought you loved me.”

“I hate all of you.” 

Just then, the elevator opened, and before they entered, they saw the some of the ENHYPEN members–Bickering? It was Jay, Jake, and Sunghoon. More on Jay and Jake shouting at each other, and Sunghoon watched with a smile, but when he realized that there are other people entering the elevator, he bowed between the two J's, effectively cutting off their bickering, and followed, bowing to them, now making room for the girls. 

Jake wasn't done, because he sneaked in a light slap before moving a little closer to the girls, surely Jay wouldn't hit him back with the girls in the elevator. He was right, but that didn’t stop Jay from glaring at him. Jake, feeling smug, leaned on the wall. Sakura realized he was about to lean on the buttons, but before she could stop him, he had already leaned. The buttons were already broken, and Jake broke them even more by leaning on them. The elevator came to a full stop. And the 8 of them were silent.

“What happened?” Kazuha broke it first.

Sakura looked at Jake, Jay caught that she looked so piecing things together.

“What the hell did you do?” He said to Jake. His tone shocked the girls.

‘So that's how he talks without being shy.’

“Me? Why me?”

Jay couldn’t really say he's basing it on Sakura looking at him, so he resorted to, “It feels like something you would cause.” 

“What's that supposed to mean?”

Before they could argue further, Sakura stepped in. “What he's probably saying is you leaned against the buttons.” Which made Jake immediately get off the wall and see sure enough, all of the buttons were pressed, and somehow led them to a full stop.

“Oh.”

“Now what,” Sunghoon said. 

Chaewon walked to the buttons and pressed the emergency button. It didn't work, she tried again it still didn't work.

“Maybe press it for more than 5 seconds? It might be a security thing to make sure it couldn't be pressed accidentally,” Yunjin said.

Nothing happened. Sunghoon looked at it closely. “There’s no light.” Everyone turned to him. “If there's no light, it means it's not working.”

Jay groaned and mumbled, “For a company worth billions, they can't even fix an elevator.”

Eunchae added. “There are two other elevators broken.”

“Maybe it's a sign we should use the stairs more often,” Kazuha said in her usual smiley tone. 

Chaewon groaned, “We already have stairmaster at the gym, and you're expecting us to use the stairs?”

“It saves electricity?” Jake answered.

“Again, it's a company worth billions, a few minutes in a machine wouldn't do a dent.” Jay said, then followed with “Also, the only stairs available are the emergency exits.”

Eunchae, ever the curious, tilted her head. “Why can't we use that?”

Yunjin grinned, “Because it’s not an emergency.”

“I can't believe you guys are making jokes when we're literally in an emergency.” Sakura clearly done with them. 

“I wouldn’t really say we're in an emergency.” Jake started, “We’re more in an unfortunate situation.” Jay continued. Jake snapped his fingers and pointed at Jay, “What he said.”

Sakura inhaled deeply and slowly before speaking again. “Well then, I'm tired, it would be nice if we start thinking about how to get out of this ‘unfortunate situation’”, making quotation marks in the air.

Jay and Jake looked around. Jake brightened, having an idea. 

“Jay, pick me up.” 

“What?” Everyone else said.

“I want to check if we can get up from the roof.”

Chaewon crossed her arms. “And what would that accomplish exactly?”

Jake grinned, “It would cross out one of the ideas on how we can get out, now, Jay, get down.” Jay rolled his eyes but did so anyway.  To the girl's surprise, Jay put his head in between Jake's legs from behind and effortlessly carried him on his shoulder. 

“Can you move to the other side. Maybe it's there,” Jake said, pointing to the opposite wall.

“What am I, your trusted stead?”

“Yes, now go,” Jay grumbled and complied anyway.

“Aha! It's here!”

“Great, you found it, what now?” Chaewon said sarcastically.

“We try to open it, what else?”

“Wait!” Sakura stopped him. “What if it operates again while we're there?”

Yunjin raised her hand as if in a classroom. “Also, how are we sure we're near an elevator door. HYBE's building isn't exactly the normal height for buildings.”

Jake shrugged, “We won't know unless we try.” he checked the hatch again. “Does any of you have a screw driver?”

“Why would we have a screw driver” Sunghoon said.

“I do!” Eunchae said, earning confused looks from the others. She handed the screw driver to Jake.

Kazuha asked the question everyone wanted to ask, “Why do you eve–” She was cut off when the lights went out.

Chaewon yelled first. “What the hell did you do, Jake?!” formalities now forgotten.

“I haven't even touched it yet!”

“Then get the hell down before you break anything else!” 

Jay crouched before Jake could even protest; he wouldn't dare to face an angry Chaewon. 

Yunjin opened her phone flashlight and accidentally had it pointed at Jay's face , so the sudden blinding light made him reel back. 

“Fuck” as he covered his eyes recovering.

“Oh shit, I am so sorry I didn't know you were there.” Yunjin panicked and, without thinkin,g went to him and placed a hand on his shoulder. 

“No, it’s fine, I was just shocked.”

Sakura started thinking, staring at Yunjin and Jay, her eyes landing on Yunjin’s phone, then she suddenly face-palmed. “Of course! We haven't tried calling for help. Check if you guys have a signal.”

Jay checked his and found nothing. “I'm pretty sure elevators block signal.”

“I got nothing,” Kazuha said.

“Same here,” Eunchae, Sunghoon, and Chaewon said at the same time.

“My phone is dead,” Jake said.

Sakura rubbed her forehead “Damn it.”

“Maybe we could just wait? I'm sure they'd notice 8 idols missing.” Eunchae suggested.

“And if they don't?” Sunghoon said.

“We starve?” Jay said.

Jake decided to try and lighten the mood, “Speak for yourself, there are seven of you here, I'll wait you guys out.”

Jay deadpanned, “Everyone in favor of killing Jake for food first say I”

“I.” everyone chorused.

“Rude.”

Kazuha sat down exhausted, followed by Chaewon. Jay took off his jacket to put it on their legs because they're wearing shorts. They gave him a grateful smile.

Jay stared at the elevator door and thought back to when the elevator stopped. Formalities now forgotten. “Noona, what floor did you guys get on?” He asked Sakura, who didn't mind the sudden informal speech.

“5th floor.”

Jay realized, then mumbled to himself as he checked the door again, “The floor where the cafeteria is. So it’s standard size.” Then turned to Sakura again. “Did Jake lean on the wall when the elevator moved or just as the door closed?”

“The door just closed. But I felt us move.”

Jay snapped his fingers. “That's it. Hoon, carry me, Jake, hold a flashlight, and give me the screwdriver.” The two immediately moved.

Yunjin loomed at them. “What's happening?”

“If we stopped when the door just closed and we moved, that could either mean we already went down a little or we didn't move at all.”

“And you're checking the roof to confirm it?” Sakura finished.

Jay just nodded, getting to work. He pried the door easily. “Huh. That was easier than expected. Jake caught” as he dropped the screwdriver, preparing to climb out. 

Chaewon stopped him. “How about you check first before you get out?” 

“Oh okay, can I have a phone?” Eunchae gave him hers. “Thanks, Manchae.”

The girls exchanged looks. Jay called Eunchae the nickname they and the fans use. How did Jay know that?

“Can you carry me if I stand on your shoulder?” Jay said to Sunghoon.

Sakura moved to Jake. “Jake, give me the flashlight support, Sunghoon.”

“Yes ma'am”

So they tried to stan,d but they wobbled, which gave Chaewon a heart attack. 

“Be careful! Don't do it, it's risky. Jay, get down!”

Jay decided that since Sunghoon can't support his feet, he decided to just carry himself.  Shocking the girls with his display of strength. He puts the phone on his mouth, the light wasn't much, but it was enough for him to make out the surroundings. He made a muffled sound. But sounded like there was something wrong, so Sakura immediately yelled

“Jay, what happened? Get down!”

And Jay lowered himself, and Sunghoon made way for him. And he plopped down.

“I was right, we didn't move as much.”

They nodded. 

“And what exactly are we going to do?” Chaewon inquired.

“Sunghoon and I will open the door outside.”

“What?” everyone chorused

Sakura ran her hand through her hair. “Are you out of your mind?!”

Yunjin thought for a moment. “I mean it could work.”

Chaewon spun to her so quickly it was a wonder that she didn't get whiplash. “You are insane.”

“What can we lose?” Sunghoon shrugged.

Sakura is now frustrated at their lack of regard for their safety. “Your head! You could lose your head.”

Jake then chimed in, “It's worth the shot?”

Sakura threw her hands in the air while Chaewon pinched in between her eyes.

Chaewon sighed, “Fine, but be careful! The moment this thing moves I want you both inside.” Sakura looked at her. “You’re letting them?!”

Chaewon pointed at them, “Look at them, they're probably going to do it anyway.”

Sakura buried her face in her palms. “I feel like I'm going grey the more I spend time with the three of you,” referring to the boys.

Jake let out an offended gasp, “I've been a good boy! Why am I included?”

Yunjin deadpanned, “You're the reason we're here.” Jake opened his mouth but closed it again.

Meanwhile, Jay was already getting to work, jumping and pulling himself out. Sunghoon followed just as easily. They examined the door, and Jay's head popped down, startling the girls.

“Hey, can I have the screw driver, and Eunchae do you happen to have other tools with you?”

Eunchae rummaged through her bag. “I have a hammer.” Her unnies plus Jake looked at her confused.

“Why do–” Jake started, but was cut off by Jay.

“Reach that for me, Jake. You can question her later once we get out.”

The others weren't sure what the two Parks were doing, but they could hear metal clanging.

And then Sunghoon's head popped down. 

“You should start coming up now, we managed to make a gap just enough for us to pull it apart, but we need you girls to he ready to run out.”

Kazuha is skeptical, “Wouldn’t that cause the lock to break out?”

Jay's voice rang out, “Not really, you girls coming out here wouldn't change anything, and doors opening usually mean that the lock is stronger.”

Yunjin is even more skeptical, “I'm not sure tension works that way.”

“We can argue about that later now. You girls come out, don't worry, we'll hold you. Jake, help them.” Jay barked out orders. And Jake turned to the girls. “Alright, who's first!”

They all hesitated, before Yunjin sighed and went first. Jake was ready with his hands together for her to step on, Jay waiting at the hole. Once Yunjin was high enough, Jay effortlessly pulled her up. Steadying her by the waist when she landed her feet on something solid. She blushed at the contact, and Sunghoon pulled out Chaewon. It went on Jay and Sunghoon alternating in carrying the girls. Then both reached inside to get Jake.

“On the count of three. If the gap is wide enough, start going out one by one. Do you girls understand?” Jay said.

And they nodded.

“Okay

1,

2,

3” 

And so the two Parks pulled and sure enough, they could fit, and they don't even need to crouch.

“Go now.” And one by one they went out, Jay and Sunghoon were the only ones left when they felt the elevator move.

“Shit”

They let go of the door. Jumping back inside the elevator. On the other side, the 6 were panicking.

“Jay/Sunghoon!”  They all yelled.

Hearts pounding. 

Then the door opened again, this time with the elevator. The two Parks sprawled on the floor. Panting.

Then Jay let out a laugh.

“That was something.”

Legs still felt like jelly after that burst of adrenaline, the boys crawled out, and so the 8 sat in a circle in the middle of the hallway. They were silent. Before Sunghoon broke it.

“We haven't introduced ourselves properly.” Yunjin let out a laugh, and everyone soon followed. 

They were found by Manager Yuki.

“How did you guys end up here. The rescuers were waiting for you on the ground floor, but lo and behold, no idols, only a jacket. You lot gave us an aneurysm!” he scolded them.

LE SSERAFIM manager followed behind

“Thank God you girls are okay! What the hell happened? How did you manage to get on this floor?”

The girls, plus Jake, look at Jay.

Chaewon answered, “Jay and Sunghoon got us out.”

Jake added sarcastically, “It was a fun bonding moment.”

“Great way to get to know each other,” Kazuha just as sarcastic.

Yunjin’s eyes landed on Jay to find him already looking at her. He gave a small, shy smile and stood up. Offering his hand to both her and Sakura, who was beside her. Which the two gladly accepted, and Jay pulled them up.

Once they're up, Yunjin didn’t realize she didn't let go of Jay's hand, and Jay was the same. 

Jay turned to the rest of the girls. “Next time we get to interact, maybe not that kind of interaction,” everyone let out a laugh.

“Alright, let's get you all home.” Yuki pressed the other elevator.

Sakura immediately “We'll take the stairs, thanks.” Everyone nodded in agreement and walked to the fire exit before both managers could say anything. They just watched the 8 walk and noticed something that the idols might not have.

Jay and Yunjin are still hand in hand.

Chapter Text

The next time the two met was when they were talking about the details for the challenge itself and the timeline of it all, from learning the dance, picking a place to film, and outfits. The En-O'Clock producers wanted to have an episode dedicated to each of the members' creative journey. They wanted to give the boys full control over how they branch out of their comfort zones. That means they need to film the ‘First meeting’ of the two idols.

Jay was the first thing the video saw. It was a close-up of his eyes, he said nothing and only widened his eyes before moving the camera away from his face. 

He walked around with his camera angled to barely show his face, which was covered in a face mask.

He was outside walking to the HYBE building, then he showed the plastic bag he was holding in his other hand.

“I went out to a coffee shop, and I bought cake for a very important person for this challenge. I think it was shown in the last episode on what requirements we have for this challenge, but if you must know, I will be collaborating with another artist.” he shook the camera showing that he was excited, but not as aggressive as one would usually. “And this is for them. I read online that they like this flavor, but if my information is wrong and they don't, I have a backup plan. I can't show it right now, but when I get inside the company building, I will.”

Cut to him now seated on the floor of the  ENHYPEN practice room.

“I'm back. The members aren't here with me; some of them are probably doing their own challenge, but I think some are just spending their downtime at the dorm. But anyway, this is my plan B.” He took out a container from a paperback beside him. “This might give a hint on who I'm collaborating with. But look,” he made ‘Tada’ hand gestures. “It’s Greek yogurt. I've seen that she enjoys, from what I saw from fan videos, and it came with fruits, so I hope they enjoy that as well.” 

Then he paused and he looked around, trying to find the words to say. “I'm quite nervous to meet them. I'll give you guys a hint, again, they're also another HYBE artist, and I look up to them because I think they're extremely talented. And I know I would regret asking them for this challenge.” He gave a tight-lipped smile. “Our meeting would not be until another hour because they have a schedule beforehand, she actually felt bad that I might have to wai,t but I told them that it was fine, and it was me who was asking for a favor, so I would be the one to adjust to their schedule.” 

He unknowingly revealed the gender, so the editors, to build suspense, highlighted his words ‘she’.

“Until then I will search for a song that we'll be doing, the performance director said I should find at least 3 so we could weigh which would work well for the both of us,” he then grinned “A performance director! When I was asking about the artist I will be collaborating with I actually talked to their performance director, then they offered that they'll oversee the whole production.” he pointed at the camera “Look forward to it, because I'm going to win this” before the footage cuts again.

Now off camera, Jay was scrolling through Spotify Playlists to find something. He went scrolling for a good 20 minutes until he ended up with three songs

• War of Hearts by  Ruelle
• Swan Lake by Tchaikovsky(?) Honestly, Jay couldn’t pronounce it, but he found it soft, elegant, and magical, so he added it to his options.
• The instrumental for Black Swan by BTS.

He had the three songs on repeat while he waited, to get a feel of the music, imagining how he would embody them through his movements. Visualizing how he would dance it with Yunjin. He won’t be the one choreographing Soyeon Amy LE SSERAFIM’s performance director will be there for that. But he liked to at least anticipate something. His mind betrayed him by conjuring up an image of him and her ending the routine face inches apart. That made his eyes shoot open, and his ears burned. 

‘Where did that come from?’ he thought 

Before he could dwell on it even more, his manager, Yuki, approached him.

“Yunjin-ssi will be back in HYBE in a few minutes Let’s go to the meeting room to wait.” 

Jay nodded and collected his things, and it was then that Yuki noticed Jay with a paper bag. Curious, he decided to ask, even though he had a good idea of what’s for. “What’s in the bag?”

“Food.”

“I already brought you food, did you not like it?”

“I liked it, I already finished it. This isn’t for me.” Yuki secretly started to smirk. he’s going to collect his bet winnings from Minseo later, but first, he needed to hear it from Jay himself.

“Then who is it for then?” 

“Yunjin,” Jay said as if it were the most normal and obvious answer in the world.

“I didn’t know you two were close for you to be buying her food, and not even using honorifics.” 

Jay stopped dead in his tracks. “No, no, no. It’s not like that. I just bought her food as a thank you…and it just slipped”

“Okay, if you say so.” 

Jay eyed him suspiciously but said nothing more and walked in the meeting room where, Soyeon Amy was already waiting. She turned to him when she heard the door opening.

“Oh. Jay, you’re here, sit there. I take it you did your homework?” referring to him finding songs.

“Yes I did, should I play it?”

“Please do, I also asked Yunjin to suggest a few, if that’s alright with you?” Jay nodded immediately with no hesitation.

“If Yunjin-nim thinks it would be good, then I trust her.”

Yuki and Soyeon raised their eyebrow.

“That’s a bold statement towards a person you just met,” Soyeon said, failing to hide the grin from her tone.

“I met her in person only until recently. But I watch a few of their content and listen to their discography. Her artistry is something I admire.” 

Soyeon nodded in understanding. Unknown to Jay, Soyeon and Yuki were hitting each other under the table, giddy because of Jay’s words. Soyeon and Minseo manage to rope Yuki into their shipping agenda, and the manager joined after a few convincing arguments and is now the first member of the shipping agenda formed by Soyeon and Minseo, currently still recruiting.

Yuki then spoke up. “I’ll call the camera crew so they can document this. We need footage of the creative process.”

Soyeon nodded, “Let’s wait for them then, in the meantime,” she pointed at Jay, “You, mister, I want to know what you think about Yunjin.”

“Pardon?”

“I need to know what you think about her so I can work around that, I can build a strong chemistry.”

“I– do I have to?”

“Yes, I told you we need chemistry so you can captivate the audience even more. Don’t you want to win?”

“Of course, I want to win.”

“What’s the prize by the way? I want a portion.” Jay stopped while Yuki who heard let out a laugh.

“Why? What’s funny is it bad?”

“No… just bragging rights,” Jay answered, as Yuki was dying in the background

“You can’t be serious. All this effort for bragging rights?”

“Well, we’re competitive…” Jay trailed off, and Yuki continued for him 

“But they said there's more we just don’t know what.”

“Aren’t you the manager, wouldn’t you know?” Soyeon said to him, and Jay looked at him as well expectantly.

“I don’t know, they didn’t say, my guess is they’re still thinking about what to give.”

Jay mumbled. “It better be a paid vacation.”

Soyeon entertained the idea, “How would that work by the way the rest stays while one goes out?”

Jay thought momentarily, “Honestly, I don’t care, I just want to win. As long as they won’t pull ‘the experience you went through is the real prize’ type of shit, I’ll riot.”

“So you’re saying that performing with Yunjin isn’t something to cherish?” Soyeon teases. She got the reaction she wanted when Jay froze blood traveling to his ears. Jay couldn’t respond because he was once again saved by perfect timing; the camera crew came. And started setting up. And when they were given the go-ahead to talk about the performance itself, they did. The earlier teasing atmosphere was now gone as Soyeon went into performance director mode. The two of them talked about possible outfits, settings, movements, and even scheduling. But everyone in the room noticed something. 

Jay always brings Yunjin into account. Her well-being and comfort come first in the decisions he made, unconsciously. Whether it was the outfits or the schedule, Jay always says, if it works for her, then they’ll go with that. 

They were about to go into more detail about what they're going to do in each song that Jay suggested, comparing which one they would embody more and express properly. When the door opened slowly, and Yunjin came, it was clear that she ran, but Jay assumed that she probably went to a photoshoot because of how good she looked.

Yunjin bowed before fully entering. “I'm sorry for being late. I had to stop to change clothes,” as she bowed again. 

‘Oh? So this is just her casual clothes? She looks amazing’ Jay thought as he stood up and pulled the chair for her.

“It's fine you haven't missed that much, and besides, we can fill you up on what you've missed.”

Yunjin sat on the chair Jay pulled for her, “Thank you, Sunbaenim,” as she met eyes with him. 

They've passed the Senior-Junior type of relationship thanks to the elevator incident, they're now at an acquaintance level, but for the cameras, they have to act that this was their first meeting, and they've only just recently met.

Soyeon was briefed about this being their ‘first’ meeting. “Jay-nim, this is Yunjin from LE SSERAFIM, the one I told you about.” 

Jay, now seated beside her, bowed slightly. And to preserve the image that they've only met, they introduced themselves once again. Although the subtle smile from Jay, even though it was under his mask, didn’t go unnoticed by some people.

Jay personally filled Yunjin up with what she had missed along with occasional comments by Soyeon. Jay asked her every once in a while what she thinks about things. And urges her to give her thoughts about it.

“I don't want to intrude, sunbaenim, it's your call.”

“But I trust your artistic judgment. I want to know your side, and if you're comfortable about it. And I will tell you about what I think about it.”

So Yunjin did, and the meeting went on.

Before it was, Yunjin Jay and Soyeon were talking. But now it was more like Jay and Yunjin just brainstorming ideas. Soyeon smirked as she watched the two talk to each other without her. She was right, with the way the two are interacting, chemistry was naturally there. The camera crew was also in awe of how they naturally clicked. The cameraman made sure that they captured the natural chemistry, deciding that they would capitalize on this.

But the two were lost in their own world, extremely focused, listening to the music Jay chose and Yunjin giving her opinion on it and even adding a suggestion of her own.

Middle of the Night by Elley Duhé.

Yunjin watches Jay as he listens to it, getting a feel on the music. Yunjin absentmindedly started mapping his features.

‘He has a scar on his nose. And he pouts when he's focused,’ she noted in her mind. She didn’t even realize that the song was done, and Jay looked up to look at her. 

Chocolate brown met dark brown. Yunjin’s breath hitched.

‘She has mesmerizing eyes’

‘His eyes are sharp’

It only lasted a second.

“The song is good, what do you think, Jay?” Soyeon  cutting in between their little moment. As much as she ships them, they're on camera, and too much chemistry is dangerous.

Yunjin cleared her throat and looked at Soyeon. And Jay straightened up.

“I think it was great also, although I'm actually struggling to choose now,” he turned to Yunjin. “Which one do you prefer? We can use you're if you want.”

Yunjin shook her head. 

“I also, actually don't know what to choose. I liked the ones you played, and I've been actually imagining how we could do each song, so I can't really choose. They all sound amazing.” Jay nodded, giving her a small smile. 

“Alright,” Soyeon cut in again, “Would you two be down that we do all four?”

“All four?” the two said simultaneously.

“Yes, all four. IF. You both are down for it.”

The two shared a look. But Jay spoke first 

“Are you sure? I don't want to burden you. You guys are going to put more effort into this than you should.”

Soyeon shook her head, but before she could say anything, Yunjin spoke with a soft smile.

“It's fine sunbaenim, besides, we're idols. We're paid to perform.”

“Only you aren't getting paid for this. But I C–”

“Don't say you'll pay us because we agreed to this without payment, so you will not add payment to the mix.” Soyeon cuts him off.

“Just because I said idols get paid to perform doesn't mean we don't enjoy it. I would love to perform them with you.” Yunjin said sincerely.

Jay gave a small, shy smile.

“I look forward to performing it with you too.” 

Soyeon clapped her hands, not letting their little moment linger any longer than it should. Sure, she ships them, but it's getting dangerous. ‘They have more spark than I thought.’

“Alright, well, do all four then, we'll choose which we like better. Now let's talk about schedules. Yuki-nim said you boys are relatively free for the month, no traveling.”

Jay mumbled to himself, “I couldn't believe it myself.” Yunjin heard him and gave snort. Jay looked at her and smiled. 

‘Cute’

“Yes, well, the girls are mostly on music show,s so we'll find a way to fit that in. We can allot 2 to 3 weeks for practicing, and we can think about filming some other time.” The two nodded. “Is that okay with both of you?” 

“Yes”

“Great! Meeting adjourned then.”

As they all packed up, it was then that Yunjin was reminded that they were being filmed. Her thoughts started running. 

Jay thought that since Soyeon ended the meeting, the camera crew would end the tape as well, so he took the paper bag he brought. And went near Yunjin.

“Yunjin-ssi.” 

Yunjin turned to him, “Yes, sunbaenim?”

Jay reached outfor  the paper bag. “I bought this as a thank you for accepting.  I saw the cake in the café, and after searching online, it said that you liked this flavor. But if you don't, it's fin,e I can take it from you, and uh, there's Greek yogurt there. I uh, you do like Greek yogurt, right?” 

The more Jay talked, the more his confidence faded. Yunjin was shocked that Jay would go out of his way to get it, so when she took a peek at the cake he was referring to she gasped. And before she could stop herself.

“OMG!  I've been craving this. Thank you! I love this flavor.”

Jay let out a small chuckle and gave her the sweetest smile. “I'm glad my research is right then.”

Yunjin looked up and saw the smile he was giving and found herself smiling as well.

The camera caught it all.

Chapter Text

Jay left first because according to Manager Yuki, he had another place to be in, after he bowed to them all and gave a small wave to Yunjin, he left with a smile. Yunjin exits the room after thanking everyone. As she walks with her manager, her manager notices that Yunjin has a slight skip on her step, Yunjin is always a happy person, she always does random things, and normally her having a light skip isn’t exactly out of the ordinary, but she wanted to ask anyway.

“Say, what's got you so happy Yunjin-ah?” her manager inquired.

Yunjin slowed “Huh?”

The manager let out a small laugh, “I said what’s got you happy like this.”

Yunjin tilted her head, “I’m always like this though?” That made her manager shakes her head, ‘So she’s playing dumb’

“Yes, I know that but you would normally tell me right away, so what is it now?”

A pause. Yunjin didn’t really know…Actually she did, she’s just not sure-sure.

“I’m just happy, that’s all.”

“And it doesn’t have anything to do with the food you just got?”

Another beat.

“Fine, yes it's because of the food. I’ve been craving for this flavor since yesterday I just didn’t get the chance to drop by.” She went with this instead, theres nothing inherently wrong with this answer, surely her manager should drop it by now.

“Uh-huh, and it’s only because of the food?” 

Damn

“What else could it be about,” Yunjin said hesitantly for about a split second. But that was enough for the manager to get her answer.

“You hesitated.”

“I DID NOT!”

Her manager laughed at her loudness. 

“Come on, let’s get you home so you can rest. You and Jay-ssi are going to start tomorrow, before both of your practice with your respective groups.” 

Yunjin let out a humm, and her manager noticed again that her humm was more energetic than her usual one, she was about to brush it off as her overthinking things, but a glance at Yunjin looking at the paper bag she was holding, wearing a fond look. She doesn’t look at food like that, she normally looks at food hungrily and as if it was sent from the heavens. But now, she looks at it with softness. 

This continued up until they've reached the car her manager looked from the passenger seat and saw Yunjin still staring at the contents of the paper bag. 

“Yunjin-ah if you're worried it's going to go away you should eat it already,” she said teasingly.

“Huh?”

Her manager just shook her head letting out a small laugh. And ignored Yunjin's whining asking about what she said, and asking what was so funny.

Yunjin didn’t get her answer so she was walking to the elevator in their apartment complex her manager long gone. She was pouting subconsciously, mumbling about what could her manager say that was so funny to her. She opened the door to her shared unit with Kazuha and Chaewon fully expecting at least one of them on the couch only to find.

“Eunchae?” 

The said member sprawled on the couch lifted her head up.

“Hi, unnie!”

“What are you doing here? Kkura-unnie is your roommate now you know.” Yunjin said teasingly.

The younger rolled her eyes as she sat up, and then her eyes landed on the paper bag, the orange-haired woman put down on the coffee table. “What’s that?” Eunchae tilted her head, “I asked a question first,” the older of the two replied.

Eunchae crossed her arms “Unnie you’re so immature,” she huffs out. Yunjin met her head on by also crossing her arms giving the maknae a smug look. “That’s no way to talk to elders.” 

“Kkura-Unnie!” Yunjin’s smug face dropped as did her arms. “YAH! No fair don’t call Kkura-Unnie into this!” Like a mother cat hearing her kitten in danger, Sakura came out from who knows where. Immediately shushing the two.

“Stop being too loud. It’s 11 in the evening, there are people asleep. What happened? What did you do Yunjin?” Prompting Yunjin to put her hand above her chest offended, “Why I—This is favoritism, how are you even sure it was my fault?” earning her a raised eyebrow, “Eunchae was the one calling.” Sakura deadpanned.

“She could be lying!” 

Sakura turned to Eunchae, “Are you lying?” Mimicking her Yunjin-unnie a few seconds prior, by placing her hand to her chest, mocking her voice “I would never.” Sakura shook her head then her gaze landed on the same paper bag on the coffee table. “What’s in the bag?” Eunchae grinned in triumph, she’s getting what she wanted after all. Meanwhile Yunjin groaned. “I’ll answer that, but tell me why are you two here anyway where are Zuha and Chaewon-unnie?”

Instead of answering right away, “You asked first and Eunchae asked the same thing as me, and that’s why the two of you are bickering?” Yunjin nodded like an excited puppy, making Sakura sigh, “Chaewonie went out with Minju they’re walking Shiro, Zuha hasn’t returned from her own schedule yet, so me and Eunchae decided to wait for you here. Now answer the question” 

“It’s from Jay,” trying to keep a casual tone. However, Sakura and Eunchae perked up, upon hearing the name, “Oh?” they both said in the same teasing tone. And Yunjin held up her hand attempting to stop them from saying anything further, “Don’t–” Eunchae already taking out the container, “He bought you greek yogurt?” Sakura also taking a peak “Andd, he bought you the cake you’ve been craving?” 

“He said he read online that I like the flavor so he bought it as a thank you gift when he walked by it in a cafe.”

“And the Greek yogurt?”

“In case his research was wrong and I didn’t like it.”

“He’s prepared I’ll give him that.” Sakura nodding, as she handed the container over to Yunjin, “So,” She paused dramatically, giving a playful smirk, as Yunjin rolled her eyes getting forks for all of them, “How was the meeting?” Eunchae practically bouncing, “Yeah, yeah! When are you two starting? What’s the game plan!”

“Well, were starting tomorrow, before any of our practices and another before we head home, Jay’s the one adjusting because they’re relatively free this month—” Eunchae couldn’t help but comment, “That’s the first.”

“I know right! I’m not even sure if I should be amazed or feel bad on how hectic their schedules are. But back to the story, we’ll do all four songs we found—”

“All four?!?!” The two replied shocked.

“Yeah, we could choose so, Soyeon-unnie suggested we do four, and we agreed.” Sakura nodded taking in the information, “What are the songs?”

“I recommended ‘Middle of the Night by Elley Duhe’ Jay had three songs prepared, apparantly Soyeon-unnie told him to, Swan Lake, War of Hearts by Ruelle, and Black Swan by BTS sunbaenim.” Eunchae made an O sound. Then her facial expression shifted.

“So that means the two of you would be spending, WAY too much time together.” Sakura grinned at the implications.  “No wonder you look excited Yunjin-ah.” 

“I’m not, if do, its because of the food.” Yunjin said defensively, and Sakura’s grin widened “Food that Jay-ah bought you, also don’t play coy, believing that he only bought it because he came across it in a cafe, he specifically looked for it, since he took his time researching your preference.” Eunchae adding, “And!! What are the chances that he bought it the same time that you were craving it! I SAY ITS FATE!”

“Let’s not get ahead of ourselves it’s just a coincidence.”

“Orr, it could be fate.”

“Doesn’t ENHYPEN have a song called Fate?” Eunchae clapped and nodded enthusiastically agreeing with where her unnie is taking this discussion. “See Yunjin-unnie, it could be a sign!”

“It’s a sign for you two to stop and eat some of the cake before I hide them for myself.” Sakura rolled her eyes taking the for to take a piece of the cake but just as she put the cake in her mouth she smirked, “How selfish of you, wanting to have Jay’s gift all to yourself. I didn’t know you’re possessive like that.” Then popping the cake into her mouth watching Yunjin freeze mid-chew and suddenly start coughing, reaching for a glass of water. Eunchae watched the scene unfold while laughing, pthe oor girl couldn’t even put the cake into her mouth.

Kazuha came home to them at that moment, Yunjin whining to Sakura who was just watching her while enjoying her cake, and Eunchae laughing her ass off.

“Yeah, I’m too exhausted to ask,” she mumbled before walking to her room leaving the three behind to crash on her bed.

Chaewon never came home that night. 

The next morning, Yunjin was already ready and is headed to the company, it was supposed to be only she and the rest of the girls would follow since they were not needed until 12, but they wanted to watch them practice for the first time, Chaewon said she’ll meet them there, ignoring the questions of where she was. It was easy for the girls to be there because Soyeon Amy said to keep the whole secret from the other members, Jay will be using the LE SSERAFIM practice room. And it is more convenient for Yunjin anyway, the only downside is that the rest of the members of LE SSERAFIM would have full access to watching them practice. 

To Yunjin’s relief, Soyeon shooed the girls away. 

“Jay will probably be too nervous to even move so out with you three. You can watch them when Jay gets more comfortable. I will not have Jay lose this competition.”

“You’re serious about this,” Chaewon commented.

“I want to win, since I promised to supervise, its my performance director's reputation on the line here.” Sakura said bluntly, “Nobody told you to do it Unnie.” but was dismissed with a wave, “I know that but since I’m already here, I’m going to make sure Yunjin shines and Jay wins.”

Yunjin was warming up on the floor when the door of the practice room opened, and in came Jay, wearing sweatpants and a loose shirt. Even though he was wearing a mask, you could see him smile at her, his eyes smiled as well. Making Yunjin smile at him too.

Jay heart did something at her smile. Her smile somehow always has that effect on him. He put down his things and started warming up besides her. He accidedntally checked her out and noticed something.

They matched coincidentally 

Their journey officially starts in about 10 minutes.

Chapter Text

Jay was on the floor stretching, and Yunjin was already doing jumping jacks, and Jay wanting to break the silence, after all Soyeon said, if they were to pull this off they need to have chemistry and to do that they need to atleast talk to each other.

But how.

He really didn’t know; he normally isn’t like this, he could hold a conversation even if he’s shy, but somehow he couldn’t with women.

Yeah, that was his problem. He doesn’t know how to interact with women. Damn his fans weren’t wrong to say that ENHYPEN are bitchless. He hated the term, but he understood what they meant. Fortunately for him, Yunjin is a known yapper and has the ability to make people comfortable around her, however, Yunjin also found herself struggling to start a conversation. 

For some reason, Jay’s opinion matters more than it normally does with others. Normally, she would approach a person and talk to them with little to no expectations other than breaking the ice, but she hesitates with Jay. With absolute strangers, she can strike up a conversation with no problem, probably because they’re strangers. This is Jay, a sunbaenim she actually looks up to… that was a weak argument because she literally managed to befriend other seniors. She really can’t pinpoint what sets Jay apart.

Fuck it.

“So..”

They both started. At the exact same time

“Oh, I’m sorry you first.”

Again at the same time. They paused to see if the other would say something. 

“No. You–.”

That’s the third time. And Jay smiled, before giggling. That made Yunjin’s insides stutter. She never thought a grown man giggling would make her feel like that. How can someone be hot and cute at the same time? She didn’t even notice that she let out a laugh, and Jay’s eyes softened as he listened to her laugh. Her laugh is contagious, so he found himself laughing as well. After a while, they calmed down a bit. And Jay decides he’ll break it this time.

“I guess we’re both awkward in this whole thing, huh?” 

“What are you talking about? I’m doing great.” Yunjin said teasingly, silently praying that Jay would catch her teasing tone. Thankfully, he did. “I can tell, you practically ooze confidence. Teach me your ways, oh great ace of LE SSERAFIM,” he teased back, bowing. He got the reaction he was hoping for. He made Yunjin laugh.

‘If I get to hear that every time I act like a fool, I’d do it every day’

“How about a few ice breaker questions?” he started again once Yunjin calmed down. Her smile widening even more. “Oh? Alright, where do we start?” her tone easy.

“MBTI?”

“ENFJ previously INFJ.”

“Oh? I didn’t take you for an I.”

“Is it because I’m loud?” she said in a teasing tone, Jay shook his head immediately. “No, I saw that you can talk to people so easily, you made friends with your back-up dancers once.” That made Yunjin’s eyebrow raise. “You search online about me?”

“I–I’m a fan?” Jay gave a small awkward smile. Yunjin not able to hide her shock didn’t control the volume of her voice. “NO WAY YOU ARE?” that made Jay let out a laugh.

“Yeah, is that hard to believe?”

“Why?!?”

“Are you questioning my taste? And besides, why not? Great music, amazing lyricism, and captivating performances, what’s not to like? Also, you girls are funny.” 

“That’s why you called Eunchae, Manchae.”

“I did?”

“Yeah, at the elevator.” Jay made an O shape with his mouth. “I didn’t realized I slipped.” making Yunjin let out a small smile, “Anyway, you never said your MBTI.”

“ENTJ.”

“Oh? I didn’t take you for an E.” She parroted. Jay just smiled and rolled his eyes. “Alright, let's get personal, favorite color,” Yunjin said mock-seriously.

“Wow, you’ve crossed the line,” Jay said in a blunt tone, thinking Yunjin wouldn’t get the reference, was about to take it back, when. “OMG! HUNGER GAMES!” Yunjin beamed, getting excited seating beside him on the floor, but is practically bouncing. 

Cute.

“I didn’t think you would get the reference, I was about to take it back.”

“ARE YOU KIDDING?!? I LOVE HUNGER GAMES! But seriously what is it?” 

Jay hummed for a bit, thinking “Green and sometimes purple.” Jay swore he didn’t know she could brighten even more, because her smiley face turned even more brighter. “I love purple!! It’s my favorite!!” Jay found himself smiling wider. “Alright your turn you ask something.” Jay thought for a moment. 

“Well I already know some of your basics since I’m a fan so why don’t you ask me.” 

Yunjin wiggled her eyebrows teasing, “Stalking me I see. But anyway since when did you become a fan.” Without missing a beat, “Since HYBE Catereers.” Yunjin gaped at the information. “That long? Why?”

“Like I said, why not. Also you girls are our first juniors in the company so I wanted to support you guys even though I can’t really scream it.” 

“I didn’t think you would be the member from ENHYPEN that would.”

“Should I be offended?”

Yunjin frantically waved her hand, “NO NO NO, It’s just, you don’t really show much interest after HYBE Catereer.”

Jay gave her a small smile, “Well I can’t really give them reason to hate you girls specially since you were going through so much already at that time, a male idol giving attention would really bring hate to you girls.”

“But you boys were going through a hate train during that as well.”

Jay hummed, “Guess we grew stronger from that, just like you girls did. If it makes you feel better even though I’m a year late, and I’m not sure if it would really mean anything, but, I’m proud of you girls.” he gave her a little nudge, and noticed her changing shade from his sincere confession.

“That means a lot actually. Thank you.” Just as the two were about to continue their little question game, Soyeon walked in, and saw the two of them seated extremely close to each other, a few inches apart. Definitely wasn’t expecting that.

“Oh good, you both are here and you’re getting comfortable.” The two of them noticed their short distance and immediately stood up and both took a step away from each other. Soyeon just shook her head, they’re acting like teenagers that was just caught hugging.

“Alright, I take it the two of you already warmed up?” The two nodded. “Okay, then we’re going to start with the basics. This is contemporary something you both dabbled on but aren’t actually used two, especially you Jay. Am I right?” Jay just nodded. “I also realize that maybe we need other help so I enlisted Zuha for this,” 

Yunjin’s face fell. Oh no. She’ll face hella teasing for this and Jay looked nervous, even though he said that he didn’t choose Kazuha for this because her having experience in ballet intimidated him, wasn’t just an excuse on the spot. He genuinely is intimidated, because he’s going into this as basically a beginner and Kazuha is a world renowned ballet dancer, his heart cannot take that.

And as if on cue Kazuha came in with a smug face, she’s going to enjoy this. Soyeon clapped her hands again, “Alright, I was a little late because I was talking to Zuha about possible steps for you to do, and she made amazing suggestions, and she will teach the two of you some basics. Now, before that, Jay, how flexible are you?” 

“Uh, well, I’m hypermobile?”

“You are?” The three said simultaneously. Jay nodded and used his hand as an example, by pressing it until it was flat against his wrist, making the three women reel back in both amazement and minor weirded out. “Why is it that weird?”

“More like surprising, That’s better oppa, is it only the wrist? Can you do a split?” Kazuh beamed. 

“Does jazz split count?” And to prove his point, he did one. Soyeon tapped her chin thinking, “We’ll see, but I’ll note that skill of yours. Let’s start with War of Hearts, so the first 2 lines ‘Come to me in the night hours’, since this is about Jay, you will be the one calling, and Yunjin will hesitate. ‘I will wait for you,’ we’ll make it like Jay is yearning for Yunjin. Sounds good? I want to see how the two of you interpret it first, then we’ll go from there.” The two nodded, and Kazuha, although she came here for fun, actually turned serious and monitored the two closely.

Yunjin turned her back on Jay, and Jay made a gesture like he’s screaming for her, Yunjin watches from the mirror, and taking ‘I will wait for you’ as her cue to turn to him. Before they can do more Soyeon cuts in.

“Okay, let’s stop there, Jay, you won’t scream for her, you whisper, and Yunjin, make him yearn for you, not go to him the moment he asked.”  Kazuha also added her opinion, “Oppa, you should pull your hand to your mouth like this and extend it like you're holding your words, and you like push it towards Yunjin-unnie,” as she demonstrates, “and unnie, maybe try hesitating before turning away again.”

“Zuha is right, also, Jay don’t just stand like that, look more like a desperate boy, hunch back a bit, you're looking confident. Again.” 

They did it with the comments in mind and, “That’s a little better but, MORE YEARNING JAY!! AGAIN!” 

They did it again.

And again.

And again.

“Alright, take five, I feel like there’s something missing. You both are doing fine already but it feels like it’s lacking.”  Kazuha agrees with her Soyeon unnie until it hit her. “Their chemistry. It’s there they just need to be more natural.” Making Soyeon humm. “Zuha is right, the two of you already have more chemistry than most people who just started working together but in this song and the other 3 all share the same storyline more calling to the other. So how about this the rest of the session until tomorrow I need the two of you to spend time together, do anything to build more chemistry and then we’ll see from their. And I was informed that we’ll be filming a the step by step process with the songs. So look out for that. Alright Zuha let’s go and leave the two be.” Kazuha groaned wanting to watch them, but reluctantly followed. The partners are left alone.

They both looked at each other.

So, how will they do this exactly?

Chapter Text

The staring went on for a good few minutes, before Jay decided to start a conversation.

“How do you want to do this?”

“If you word it like that, it’s like we’re going to commit a crime.”

“You know according to K-pop stans, male Idols interacting with female Idols IS a crime.”

“Well then, that makes us Bonnie and Clyde then.” She gave a sly smile, that Jay found adorable, so he reciprocated it. Huh, he finds most things she does cute. Then he remembered the lyrics to her group's new EP, and to make things even better, it was her part.

“ So tonight, 안겨 네 품 안에, Bonnie and Clyde it, oh ” He sang with his whole heart and Yunjin beamed even more. “So you are a fan!”

“I keep telling you why don’t you believe me, also, how could I not know the song? It’s everywhere and rightfully so.” Yunjin rolled her eyes, but couldn’t stop the blush creeping on her cheek. “I feel like you’re just saying things.” Then, when she turned around, her heart stuttered when she saw how sincere Jay looked. “I don’t lie about things I like, you know.” Yunjin didn’t have a response for that so she just cleared her throat, “How about we play 10 questions.” She switched the subject and turned away to get water, somehow the conversation made her thirsty, behind her Jay smiled softly.

“Alright, you start,” Jay said as he plopped down the floor leaning against the mirror wall.

“Why me I asked last before Soyeon-unnie came.”

“Well, I know a few things about you already so it’s only fair.” Yunjin thought for a moment, thinking about all the information she had about Jay so far.

He’s an only child, born the year following hers, and, was his birthday around April? He’s skilled with guitar, he showed it during Weverse con and a collab stage. He was American as well.

“Are you part of the maknae line?” Jay was surprised at the unusual question, but decided to tease her. “Wow, so you really don’t know about ENHYPEN then.” Yunjin’s eyes widened, and she  was scrambling to find the right words to take it back, Honestly, she felt guilty she knew little to nothing about her sunbaenim, and the audacity for her to claim that she admires him. Jay, noticing her panic, decided to speak before she could. “Hey, it’s alright, I’m just joking, you don’t have to know all of that, and besides, I understand that our group isn’t that well known for that to be an obvious question.” Now Yunjin feels even more guilty and sad, how can ENHYPEN look at themselves and call themselves unknown when they were breaking records and keeping up with big names, left and right? But at the same time, she understands that they aren’t promoted well domestically.

“But to answer your question. No I’m not part of the maknae-line, I’m actually the second oldest.” 

“I don’t think you guys are unknown.” Jay raised one eyebrow at the sudden confession, before he could say anything, though, “You guys are actually really popular and I look up to you guys as artist. Often when talking about achievements, we hear, them referring to you boys, with ‘The youngest group ever’ and you guys debuted really young are making an impact on your own, you guys manage to keep up achievement-wise with BTS, SEVENTEEN, and Straykids, sunbaenims, and I admire that. I hope you guys don’t see yourselves lesser artists.”

That made Jay’s insides melt, he honestly never thought he needed to hear that from someone, especially if that someone is also, someone he looks up to, he let out a soft chuckle, so the two of them look up to each other then, “You know, the funny thing is I look up to you as well.” 

“Me?”

“Yes, you, Ms. I want to change the Idol industry. You were at a survival show, even though you got eliminated you didn’t give up, and when you did, fate called you back into this industry. Within months after your debut, you released self-composed and produced songs, that talk about things that most idols were too scared to voice out. Early on in your career, you managed to point out the major flaws in the industry. Your pen game is top-notch. Your stage presence is captivating, and your passion.” Jay paused, Yunjin read his expression as it changed from something borderline serious to something soft, as if he were reminiscing, “You are born for the stage. I’m glad you came back.” 

“It means everything to hear that from you.”

“Well, I hope you won’t get tired of it, because I will be hear to always remind you if you start doubting yourself.”

“And if it’s a recurring thing?” Yunjin teased, but deep down she genuinely wanted to know.

“Then I’ll be here.” Yunjin smiled, then turned away to calm her insides, this is dangerous.

“Alright, your turn, your shifting the subject away from you.” Jay let out a laugh

“Alright, favorite hobby.” 

“Writing songs. When is your birthday?”

“You’re going with the basics, huh?” Jay jest, making Yunjin roll her eyes, “Well, Mr. FearNot, you have an unfair advantage and stop changing the subject.”

“April 20, 2002.”

“Six months younger.”

“Yup, so that means I should call you Noona.” Making Yunjin reel back in cringe, yeah somehow when it comes to him, she didn’t want to be called Noona. “Please don’t, we’re both American it’s weird and it’s only six months!”

“I wonder what Heeseung-hyung would say you are a few days older than him.”

“Doesn’t matter our friendship, so my decision. Your turn.” Jay let out a chuckle. 

“Why don’t you say something about yourself that you think I wouldn’t know?” Yunjin tilted her head, “That seems unfair.” Jay shrugged, making Yunjin sigh. And thought for a moment, before groaning. So Jay let out a laugh. “Okay, I’ll tell you things about me and you what’s yours.”

“Deal.”

“I’m allergic to cats, some flowers, and sometimes dogs.” Yunjin formed an O with her mouth, “Mine’s, pineapple, kiwi, yogurt, basically any dairy, garlic, ginger, and eggs.”

“But, you’re favorite is yogurt.” Yunjin held her head high as if declaring her defiance. “That won’t stop me.” And there it is, Jay’s contagious laugh, Yunjin feels a different sense of accomplishment in making him laugh.

“Alright, next, I went to Hanlim.”

“Oh!! Same, I didn’t graduate there though.”She paused for a moment, before lighting up again. “Favorite animal?” Jay thought for a moment. “Yours is Jellyfish.” making Yunjin roll her eyes, “I know that genius, I’m asking what’s yours.”

“I–” Jay really didn’t have one, and he decided, why not let her decide. “Let’s make this interesting, what do you think it is?”

Yunjin not backing down from a challenge, started thinking, completely oblivious that her chosen animal would be right regardless. “I feel like an owl, oh wait, an otter!” Jay couldn’t really say both. “One answer only.” making Yunjin let out a whine mumbling how it’s unfair. Jay smiled fondly. For someone who hates aegyo, she’s naturally cute without trying. 

“Final answer, Otter!” Jay let out a laugh, “You’re right.” it was a good thing that he’s ENHYPEN’s encyclopedia, because he knows about otters well enough to play along with her guess. “Specificallys sea otters. They have cute pockets.” 

“I KNEW IT!” she even pumped her fist. Making Jay laugh so hard he threw his head back. They went on like that until, they reached the topic of dancing. 

“Let’s dance right now!” 

“What?”

“I said let’s dance right now, lets find some dances we can do.” She stood up to go to the computer in the practice room to immediately search songs for them to dance to. Jay followed, and saw a camera that HYBE issues to every group to film content. 

“Hey, what if we film ourselves dancing.” Making Yunjin stop scrolling and look at him. “Really? Why?”

“I don’t know, they wanted to show the process of this challenge, and part of it is us building chemistry. If they don’t use it we can just say it’s for memories.” Yunjin thought for a moment. “Alright let’s do it! Start the video now while I search for something.” Jay obeyed. 

Now on cam. 

“Hello. I’m not sure if this will be released, and if it will, I’m not sure where, so I’ll introduce myself anyway. I’m Jay from ENHYPEN. And today, I’ll be filming a dance video with my partner here.” He walked towards Yunjin, “Say hi and introduce yourself.” Yunjin was shocked at the sudden camera, “Wait, I’m not camera ready yet!” as she attempted to push it away, but Jay gently stopped her, “You look great come on,” Yunjin although reluctant did as she was told although she still has her hand over her mouth. 

“Hello, I’m Yunjin of LE SSERAFIM!” Jay’s giggle was heard. “See, that wasn’t too hard.” then he placed the camera on the table making sure both of them are visible then walked towards her as she searched for choreographies they can copy. The camera caught Jay naturally standing a little closer to her that necessary, and Yunjin although her breath hitched ever so slightly, didn’t show it. She applauds herself for not flinching. And honestly, Jay’s presence was welcomed. After a few more minutes of searching. 

“How about we do the ‘HOT’ challenge?” making Yunjin do a full stop, “Like our song ‘HOT’?” Jay nodded. “Yeah, since I wasn’t the ENHYPEN member to do it I wanted to try it, actually, now that we’re on the topic of challenges with your songs. I also want to do the ‘EASY’ challenge.” Yunjin gaped.

“Really?” Jay nodded like an excited puppy. “Yeah, I always liked the EASY choreography, and I wanted to try the HOT as well.” Yunjin nodded.

“Alright lets do EASY first.” As she approached the camera and went near the mirror wall and placed the camera there.”So which part specifically do you want to do?” And to her surprise without hesitation, “The dance break part.” Yunjin laughed.

“Wow, you’re really prepared.” Jay laughed as well, “Of course, I’ve been wanting to do a LE SSERAFIM dance challenge.”

“But you did with Eunchae for Perfect NIght.”

“Well, yeah it was my first challenge with a girl group, and I wanted to do it again.”

“Well, it's not our fault ENHYPEN is busy, that they can’t spare us time to do a challenge.” She tease,d making Jay let out a mock offended gasp. “Why I– I would’ve made time, you know!” That got a laugh out of her again. “Sure, whatever you say, kind sir. Now, do you already know the choreo? Mr I wanted to do the challenge?” Jay demonstrated, he did manage to do it, but Yunjin’s keen eye noticed some parts that needed refinement and if they’re going to do this she wanted to do it perfectly. “Your form on this part is nice but your jump is a bit low, and you lost energy at this, your foot positioning was a bit off here, so we’ll work on that.” The camera visibly saw Jay gulp. He did not think this through, but her going into serious mode was attractive, but scary since he’s on the receiving end.

After taking in her comments, he tried again.

“Again.”

He did. 

“One more, your energy on the arm swing.”

He continued until he finally perfected it to her standard. It didn’t take that long, only a few more tries, “Alright, now we see how well we’ll sync.” 

Music played and, to their delight, they synched almost instantly, the only thing was the height of their jump. “Should I lower my jump?” Jay said, after Yunjin hummed, thinking. “Let me try matching yours.” So they did again. Yunjin barely got it, “I’ll lower my jump.” They tried again this time Yunjin was higher. Jay’s perfectionist personality started seeping out, “Can you jump for me I want to know how high I’ll jump to match.” Yunjin did as she was told. “Is that your consistent jump?” Yunjin rolled her eyes, “You’re doubting my consistency?” her tone light. 

“Just making sure. Let’s run it again.”

They got it. Yunjin clapped once clearly proud. “Okay, lets do it for real now, let me get my phone.” Jay took a sip of water and without thinking, used the hem of his shirt to wipe the sweat, giving Yunjin a clear view of the fruits of Jay’s constant practice and workout to make them visible, Yunjin’s ears pinked because from what she knew, Jay rarely showed skin, especially in his abdomen part. “We’re going to post it?” Jay’s voice broke her running thoughts, she shook her head both as an answer and to get rid of her thoughts. “I’m not sure? If they allow us. Also, fans would get suspicious, so maybe let’s keep it in drafts then post it after the video for the En-O’Clock is posted.”

“Oh, right. Okay, let’s do it then.” Yunjin smiled, the realized something, “Hey, I want to do an ENHYPEN challenge as well.”

“Alright, what song do you want?” Yunjin thought for a moment. “Something that has a similar vibe to EASY? To make it fair.” Jay nodded, thinking, “I think I have something, but first let’s film EASY, also do you want to do two? Since I’m going to do HOT as well,” Yunjin, without looking up from her phone as she finds the audio, “Sure, why not, it will be fun. And we can start now.” She placed the phone against the wall. 

“Maybe we should use the phone stand,” Jay suggested as he took the stand. “Oh! Right”

The first take they awkwardly forgot how to start the challenge. Yunjin laughed, “Wait, do we handshake or something? Or we just go straight to dancing.” Jay shrugged, “Let's do this?” 🤘 (idk what it’s called so I’ll just use this) “You know American rockstars,” 

“That’s what they call us?” 

“Yup,” Yunjin nodded, “Alright lets do it.” And they got it their second try, they even improvised on the ending, by mimicking playing guitar riffs. After reviewing the clip Yunjin saved it in drafts before turning to Jay and finding that, his face was dangerously close to her’s, she didn’t even notice Jay reviewed the clip as well, his presence near her felt natural, that she didn’t question the closeness, they both reeled back in shock. And Jay sheepishly said, “Sorry.” Yunjin waved her off, and quickly changed the subject, “Can we do the ENHYPEN challenge first?” Jay cleared his throat, “Sure, I was thinking Brought the Heat Back, do you know that song?” Yunjin nodded, “I actually like that song, though Moonstruck is my favorite.” That. Shocked Jay, “You listened to ROMANCE: UNTOLD?”

“Of course, there’s a reason it won ALBUM of THE YEAR Daesang.” She said with pride. Jay smiled, heart soaring. “Alright, any specific part?” 

“Maybe the chorus part. But,” She groaned, facing a difficult choice, “I really want to do the dance break part too,” Jay smiled, flattered. “We can do both.” Yunjin visibly light up, like a golden retriever being told they’re going on a walk, “REALLY?!” Jay chuckled, Yunjin noticed he does it often around her, “Yes, really, whatever you want.” Yunjin ignored the flutter of her insides and actually started bouncing out of excitement. 

“LET’S GO LET’S GO!”

“Hold on, Jumpy, we have to see if you know the choreo yet.” 

Yunjin gave him a sheepish smile, “Can you teach me?” Jay laughed fondly, “Alright, Jellyfish, let’s see what you got.” Yunjin felt giddy at his nicknames. So Jay went on teaching her. They giggled and teased each other in between sometimes playfully poking each other, more on Jay poking her cheeks, and sometimes her forehead. Yunji retaliated targeting his stomach. 

They were lost in their own world. Completely forgetting that they set up a camera, and it caught everything.

Once, Yunjin can do it up to Jay’s standard, which was originally supposed to be more lenient since it’s Yunjin, but the female ace noticed quickly and told him to show no mercy. Jay really didn’t have to do much because Yunjin was amazing and a quick learner. So on with the filming.

“Should we do the same pose?” Yunjin said while stretching her limbs, preparing for the strong choreography, ENHYPEN really has one of the most difficult choreographies these days. Jay hummed, “I was thinking doing the fanning thing from the HOT choreo, since the song is about heat as well. And it could tease that we’re doing the HOT challenge as well.” Yunjin nodded liking the idea. So they started. The part of the song they did for the first TikTok, was from Pre-Chorus all the way to Post-Chorus. Yunjin clearly enjoyed the dance, as it was seen both on the TikTok Draft and the video on the camera. They ended it with a high-five before going out of frame at the opposite direction. After it ended Yunjin was still practically bouncing.

“Let’s do the dance break now!” She yelled, as if she didn’t finish practicing and actually doing a powerful choreography, Jay chuckled at her enthusiasm but he wanted to check first, “Hold your horses, the dance is not going anywhere, drink some water first.” He said fondly as he reached for the water bottle. Yunjin accepted with a smile, but was still bouncy. Jay took a towel and surprised her by wiping her sweat as she drinks. “You’re still sweating let’s take five first.” Yunjin was proud and thankful that she didn’t choke or spit out the water out of surprise at his sudden gesture. But she played it cool, “Let’s do it now and then we take five.” Jay sighed before looking at her fondly, “As you wish, Jellyfish.”

And dance they did, thanks to Yunjin's enthusiasm, they managed to get it first tr,y and as promised, they took five, they decided to engage in small talks.

But it lasted more than five, because they went from small talk to long conversations, about their struggles, experiences, and a few stories. It was a marvel that the camera, which by the way was still forgotten,the mic didn’t pick up most of their conversation, because it was certainly not supposed to be aired. Jay remembered it when he looked around, though. 

“Oh, shit, the camera.” Yunjin whipped her head, and mirrored him, “Oh shit, do you think it caught that?” Jay hummed as he stopped the recording and decided to review it quickly by fast forwarding to the end only to find that the only thing it picked up was their occasional laughs. Both let out a sigh of relief before Jay turned to her with a smile, “So about that Ice cream incident with your sister.” Yunjin beamed at Jay clearly listening to her every word, and she went on once again.

Unknown to the two, it was already 6 AM, of the following day, and both their managers are on a man hunt, because none of them realized, including the members, that they were missing an idol each.

Chapter Text

The two didn’t realize how much time had passed. They finished practice with Soyeon and Kazuha around 6 PM, they started early in the morning, 12 PM. In their defense in days offs that time is considered early for idols as busy as them are. They managed to spend time together the whole night without ever checking the time, even when they opened the practice room computer, and even opening their phone to film the TikTok. Their members from their respective group all assumed that the two are already asleep in their own rooms. Only realizing they weren’t when Ni-ki went into Jay’s room to ask him to make breakfast, and Kazuha planning to wake up Yunjin so they can head to the compony for practice.

And thats the backstory, why both of their managers barged into the practice room visibly stressed, startling the two who were in deep conversation, planning to cover a song with their guitars.

“THERE YOU TWO ARE!” Yuki, ENHYPEN’s manager, screamed the moment he processed the sight before him.  Yumin LE SSERAFIM’s manager is just behind him.

“You were looking for us hyung?” Jay said innocently, extremely confused on why his manager was so pissed, “Is it time to go home unnie?” Yunjin followed, just as innocent and confused.

“Go home?!? You two should’ve already been home hours ago!” Yuki said exasperatedly.

“What are you talking about?” Jay said, growing more confused. “Have you two checked the time?” And the two opened their phones. Yunjin answered first, “It’s 8:20, two hours since we finished practice.” The two managers looked at them dumbfounded. Yumi said something first, more like yelled, “Two hours? You two have been here since last night! Did you two not realize it’s been 14 hours!” Yuki followed, “IT’S 8 IN THE MORNING!”

“WHAT?” the two idols said. And sure enough, after looking at the digital clock, it clearly said AM, Yuki ran his hand through his long hair and paced around, “So you two are telling me, you spent the whole night here and didn’t notice?!?” The two nodded sheepishly; both couldn’t believe it either. 

“What did you two do for 14 hours?” Yuki said, growing more stressed with every word, Yumi also had questions of her own, “Better yet, what did the two of you do to not notice the time?” The two shared a look.

“We talked, got to know each other since Soyeon-unnie and Kazuha said we should work on our chemistry.” 

“Also, we danced a bit.” Jay chimed in, and Yunjin turned to him to agree, “Yes, that.”

“You both danced?” The two managers said in sync. 

“Yup!” Yunjin said, popping the P, “We filmed TikToks, the managers looked at them again, bewildered, “TikToks?” 

Jay answered, “Yeah, we did EASY and HOT, and did Brought the Heat Back,” while Yunjin nodded before holding up two fingers, and added, “Two times.” 

Yuki couldn’t believe what he was hearing. “So none of you two ate anything?” and the two shook their head. “I can–. Unbelievable. UNBELIEVABLE!” he threw his hands up in the air. “Alright, you two,” pointing at both of them, “Pack your things and head to the car. We’re buying food, and the two of you sleep, I’ll tell Soyeon-noona to push back the practice until 1 PM,”

“Also, change your clothes, you two have been wearing those since yesterday,” Yumi added. The two did as they were told but not before exchanging cheeky grins. Unknown to them Yuki begrudgingly handed 15,000 KRW to a grinning Yumi. In one of the standard vans provided by HYBE for their artist, the two idols found themselves at the seats behind as the two managers sat in front. 

“We’re eating out together?” Jay said with a hint of surprise in his voice, Yumi shook her head. “No, it’s too risky, we can’t risk rumors now, but we are going to a cafe to pick up some food, Yuki hummed in agreement, then met Jay’s eyes from the rearview mirror. “Also, were dropping them off before I take you to your dorm, we’re also buying food for the others since YOU, left them to starve.” Jay rolled his eyes while Yunjin let out a smile.

“Oh please, Hee-hyung could cook ramen for them, and we wouldn’t have spent the night if you realized you were missing a member.”

“Oh, so it’s my fault then?!?” Yuki said, Jay clapped back with, “If you let me drive to the company alone, it would’ve been my fault.” Before Yuki could retort, Yunjin cuts in curious, “Wait, you have a license? I thought none of the ENHYPEN members have one?” Yuki was heard grumbling again, “He got one without telling us,” Jay rolled his eyes again and spoke up to his defense, “There wasn’t a clause that I needed to ask, and besides, I passed it with a perfect score, Why won’t you let me drive?”

“A warning would’ve been nice, and don’t forget why your keys were taken,” Jay rolled his eyes once again. Yumi asked before Yunjin did, “What did he do?”

“He drove the members to the company without telling me, and I thought they were kidnapped or something.” Jay smiled smugly from his seat, which Yuki caught when he glanced at the mirror, “Don’t laugh, brat, I swear I’m going to have grey hair watching you seven.”

“And, I thought ENHYPEN was the most peaceful group in HYBE,” Yunjin let out an offended sound at her manager’s words, 

Yuki sighed, “If that’s true I cannot imagine the chaos the other groups cause, the seven of them may seem like angels—” “We are,” making Yuki shoot Jay a look, “but they can be little shits most of the time. 

“Aww you love us.”

“Debatable.” Jay shot Yunjin a look, and mock-whispered, “He loves us very much, he allows us most of the time,” making Yunjin laugh. Yumi, who was reviewing the clips Jay and Yunjin impromtu vlog, and was planning on sending this to Soyeon and Minseo. Yes, she was also roped into the two’s shipping agenda. Even went to make a bet with Yuki earlier that the two idols would be together, but Yuki argued it could just be a coincidence that the two were both missing. 

During a red light she nudged Yuki and showed the mini-vlog specifically the part where Jay was teaching Yunjin the dance, “Should we have this included on Jay’s episode in En-O’Clock,” Yuki hummed thinking, while starting the car again once the light is green, “No but we can add it to one of their logs? Yunjin-ssi?” who looked up, “Would you want to have a vlog showing your side of things during this whole challenge, Yumi and I were talking about it and your other manager, they were asking if it would be okay to use this for one of your content?” Yunjin nodded, “Sure, Yuki-nim.” Yuki and Yumi nodded, before Yuki made a turn to an alley towards a secluded cafe. “We’re here, change of plans, we eat here, since it’s someone I know’s establishment. Don’t worry, we’ll have some privacy here,” as they all unbuckled their seatbelts.

“What about the others at the dorm? They better not burn my kitchen,” Jay said as he wore his jacket, Yuki chuckled, rolling his eyes, “Heeseung, said Jake ordered food for them,” He reached the door first and opened it for them. Jay gestured the two women go first. Once they entered, Yunjin was in awe. “OMG this place is so cute!!” Jay looked at her fondly and chuckled and with his hand ghostly on her back gesturing for her to take a seat, the action didn’t go unnoticed by the managers, Yumi followed the two and sat beside Yunjin who sat across Jay, Yunjin was taking pictures of the place, the owner came by to give them the menu, Yuki with them, Jay recognized the owner, it was Yuki’s fiance. 

“Oh? Noona, this is your cafe?”

“Did Yuki not tell you?”

“No! He only said it’s someone he knows,” the woman turned to Yuki, who was glaring at Jay, but the moment he caught his fiancée's eyes, he immediately softened. “So, I’m just ‘someone you know’ then,” Jay grinned triumphantly behind her, extremely proud he got his hyung into trouble. “Babe, I can explain—” Jay decided to save him, realizing it’s not a good look infront of Yunjin and her manager, “Oh right. Noona, this is Yunjin from LE SSERAFIM and her manager, Yumi-nim.” she immediately softened her expression, “I know I’m a big fan Yunjin-nim, nice to meet you!”

Yunjin smiled, “Hello, nice to meet you too, Your cafe is cute, I will definitely comeback here!”

“You flatter me, Yunjin-nim. Now let me take your order.” Yuki was pumping his fist out of victory; he got out of that scolding, and was about to sit beside Jay, but a look from his fiancée stopped him, so he went to the counter. Jay grinned when Yuki looked back to glare at him.

While waiting for food Yunjin was scrolling on Instragram after posting a few pictures of the cafe aesthetic on her feed, she stumbled upon reel, it was two people a boy and a girl dancing to Shape of You. she actually liked dancing with Jay so she immediately tapped Jay’s hands which was resting on the table and excitedly showed the video and even without her saying anything, “Sure, lets do it!” Yunjin grinned, clearly excited. Yumi watched the interaction, “Do what? What are you two planning?” Yunjin excitedly showed her as well, and Yumi couldn’t hide her surprise. It was clearly a couple dance, and although she must agree that Jay and Yunjin would fit the dance style, it’s the steps itself, “Are you two sure?” The said two tilted their heads. “Why not?” They said simultaneously. Yumi looked at the two of them, checking if they were actually serious. 

“It’s a couple dance…” a few beats passed and the two grew alarmingly red. They both tried to stutter out a reply, or some sort, but Yumi decided on a whim to try to make it happen, she was enjoying their reaction, and the engagement it could bring, though weighing in the looming hate that would definitely come their way again, it would be worth the shot, but the only person who can decided this, “Alright, if you two are sure, I’ll tell Soyeon-ah if she’ll give you two a go signal.” The two froze, and before they can process Yumi had already sent the message to Soyeon, and even found the video itself. Yunjin recovered first and was about to nab Yumi’s phone to unsend it before it was too late, but Yuki came to bring them their food.

Great distraction, because it was only then that the two realized how hungry they are. They gobbled up the food in an instant, Jay looked up from her food to see Yunjin looking like a chipmunk and let out a giggle after swallowing his food, Yunjin looked at him and gave him a playful glare after, picking up on why he was giggling, Yuki turned to him shocked, he had never heard Jay giggle like that, while Yumi found it cute that Jay was comfortable enough to giggle infront of them.

After they finished the managers watched as the two walked out of the cafe conversation not stopping, Jay opening the door for her letting her go first, still focused intently at her yapping her heart away a fond smile on his face, from what the two hear they were talking about playing guitar after their practice later that night, learning each others songs and others, and even planning on filming it. They walked slowly too, like they were savoring every moment, the two managers shared a look a silent message that something was brewing between them, Jay even opened the door for her. The ride to LE SSERAFIM dorm was silent save for the two watching on Yunjin’s phone, watching guitar covers of ENHYPEN and LE SSERAFIM songs,

“Oh shit, I forgot my guitar isn’t fixed yet.” Yunjin pouted, making Jay tilt his head, “Why, what’s broken?” Yunjin sighed.

“I haven’t changed the string yet, and I left it at my grandparents' place.” Jay nodded and said something that definitely shocked Yuki, “I can lend you one of mine. Let me show you a picture of them and choose which you want to use.”

Jay? 

Letting another person use his guitar? 

Not just letting. 

He offered. 

He offered.

He offered.

Yuki remembered how pissed Jay was when one of the members touched his guitar and accidentally dropped it, albeit his anger never lasted long anyway but he was genuinely pissed and didn’t talk to anyone until he was fully calmed down.

So him offering, Yunjin a person he met recently , understandably shocked him. He’s more down bad than he thought. He chuckled silently to himself, he’ll definitely share this to Soyeon, Minseo, and Yumi later. Once they reached the girl’s apartment complex Yunjin waved at Jay before exiting the vehicle and latter had a stupid smile on his face, and the moment the closed Yuki immediately jumped to teased him, “You looked like an idiot.” Jay looked at him offended, “Wow, rude.” Yuki smirked, “That’s what you get for getting me in trouble.” Jay huffed at him before clapping back, “Well, I was just telling the truth.” 

It was silent of a moment, Yuki thought sleep finally got Jay, until a determined voiced proved him wrong, “Hyung, I know what to give Yunjin as a thank you for accepting doing this challenge,” Yuki raised his eyebrows intrigued, “What were you thinking?” his posture lazy leaning by the door, waiting for the red light. 

“A custom guitar from Gibson.” 

It was a good thing that it was a red light because Yuki whipped his whole upper body so quickly his seatbelt pulled him back ever so slightly, “You can’t be serious!”

 Jay. Was, in fact, serious.

Yuki, after searching his face, realized he was really serious, 

“Hyung, the light turned green.” Yuki quickly got back to driving, head still spinning from Jay’s bold decision, unable to wrap his head around it, yet he decided to follow up with a question, “Is it because her guitar is broken, Jay you can just buy her strings or even fix it yourself?”

Jay looked confused at that, “She can do it by herself, she probably makes more money than me anyway—” 

‘Doubtful,’ Yuki commented in his head.

“—and besides, it’s more sincere that way.” Yuki just nodded quickl,y still processing.

“And what design are you exactly thinking?”

“I was actually thinking of having an artist commission it, or just give a description to the shop.”

“Maybe, getting you a finance manager isn’t a bad idea,” Jay rolled his eyes at his hyung’s suggestion, “This isn’t an irresponsible purchase, I thought this through, you know.”

“How long have you thought of it exactly?”

“... a few minutes ago. But that’s besides the point, I’m going to do it anyway even if you don’t agree.” Yuki just sighed, he new that very well, Jay would seem like a guy that would listen to rules, and he normally is, but when he does decide to bend the rules or go around it, he’s pretty damn good in doing it, “When do you plan to do it,”

“Tomorrow at the latest, I want to have it done by the last day of us working together.” 

“Would we film it?”

“I don’t know, you decide.” Yuki just nodded at Jay’s response. And once they reached the ENHYPEN dorm, Jay got down and suddenly the exhaustion from his sleepless night with a few dancing caught up to him and he didn’t even bother changing before diving into his bed. In his dreams, his brain managed to conjure up an image of a guitar, and it was so Yunjin coded, he woke up just to write down the details he could remember, and went back to sleep. Yeah, he’s so serious about it. And he hopes Yunjin enjoys it.

Chapter Text

Yunjin was woken up by Kazuha, who sports a teasing grin, and a very angry Chaewon.

“Where the hell have you been?” Chaewon said, her hands on her hips clearly pissed, meanwhile, Kazuha beside her was wiggling her eyebrows, “And who were you with unnie?”

Making Yunjin groan and was pulling her blanket to cover herself again, but Chaewon stopped her by pulling on the blanket on the other end, “Oh no you don’t! You are going to stand up and get ready because you’re going to tell me where you were, and we’re heading to the company, we have practice.”

Yunjin groaned and was about to stand up, but Kazuha, assuming that she wasn’t, suddenly pulled her by the leg, “Yah! KAZUHA I’M GETTING UP QUIT IT!” The culprit gave an innocent grin and said just as innocently, “Oh. I thought you weren’t, but hey, you’re up now!” Yunjin just grumbled and stood up to get dressed and put on light make up, while she did, Chaewon and Kazuha were watching her like hawk, Yunjin felt it, those two pairs of eyes watching her, clearly waiting for something, “You two have questions, ask now you’ve already woken me up anyway, get it over with.” Yunjin said as she works on her eyelashes. 

Without missing a beat, Kazuha went straight to “Okay, me first, who were you with, unnie?” Yunjin could already feel the teasing and willed herself to sound as casual as possible, “With Jay, you said we work on chemistry, that's what we did.” She could see how Chaewon raised her eyebrows in her mirror. 

“What kind of work did you two do?” Chaewon said suspiciously as if implying something, Kazuha, however, wasn’t as subtle as her leader, “Omg Yunjin-unnie so scandalous!” she said both teasingly and actually serious. Yunjin turned a bright shade of red and whipped to her roommates so fast.

“It’s not what you think! Clean those dirty thoughts of yours!” Yunjin said in a panic, Kazuha’s smirk widened, “And what exactly were we thinking, unnie?” Yunjin just glared at her, “You know what.” Kazuha and Chaewon just laughed while Yunjin continued with her makeup. To her relief, the car ride to the company, they were talking about anything else other than anything related to Jay. 

Once they reached the company lobby, they met up with Eunchae and Sakura, who rode in a different van. They encountered familiar faces; well, everyone is familiar, but that's besides the point. But it was ENHYPEN, this time complete rather than only the 02z. They all bowed to each other, Sunghoon gave a small wave while Jake sneakily held out his fist for the girls to fistbump and they endulge him but just as sneaky, even though HYBE staff are all bound by NDA contracts, they couldn’t really risk it, however, the rest of ENHYPEN noticed and gave the three confused looks. They parted ways and continued on with their group schedules. Not before Jay and Yunjin locked eyes, then gave each other a small smile.

On the boys’ side, they all surrounded 02z about their short interaction with LE SSERAFIM members. Jungwon was the first to ask, “Hyung, what’s with that with LE SSERAFIM-nim?”

“Oh, we became friends,” Jake answered. The rest, minus Jay and Sunghoon, all tilted their heads, Ni-ki curious, “When?” Sunoo followed with “And how?”

“Well, a few days ago, we got stuck in the elevator together,” Sunghoon said, then Jay added, “We trauma bonded.” Heeseung blinked, then spoke, “ That’s it?” Jay crossed his arms, “We’ll have you know, we were in a very difficult situation, we can’t even call for help.” Jungwon worried, “And how did you get stuck?” Jay and Sunghoon immediately pointed to Jake, and in unison said, “Jake broke it.” Jake looked offended by the sudden betrayal and immediately went on the defensive, “It was an accident, and besides, if it weren’t for me, you wouldn’t have been friends with them.”

Jay rolled his eyes, ‘If only you knew,’ he thought, but ultimately said this, “Yeah, because of your stupidity, we got stuck in an elevator. Not really an ideal start for friendship.” 

“Psychology says that people who share the same trauma actually form stronger bonds.” Sunghoon said, Jay looked at him blankly, “Who’s your source?”

“Source Music,” Sunghoon said with a grin. Making all his members roll their eyes, Sunoo cuts in before Sunghoon could say anything else, “Anyway, Jay-hyung, where were you last night?” Jay, without thinking, said, “I was with Yunjin.” A few beats of silence, before the rest started bombarding him with questions, before he could begin answering them or even scold them for being loud, Minseo and their other choreographer, Yeorum, came to find the chaotic scene in front of them.

Minseo was quick to step in, because the six were so close to toppling Jay, “Woah woah, what’s all of this chaos?”

“Jay-hyung spent a night with a girl!” Jungwon said, tone clearly suggesting something different. Jay immediately turned red, “YAH! Don’t word it like that, we only talked and danced.”

“The whole night?” Everyone in the room, including the two choreographers. All eyes are on Jay.

“Yes! What were all of you thinking?” Jay knew exactly what, but he refused to acknowledge it.

“You guys makin—” Ni-ki started, but Jay immediately stopped him, “No! I wouldn’t do that to her. We were literally just talking, getting to know each other!” Which made Heeseung raise his eyebrows. “Like getting to know as friends or…” 

“Friends! Now, can we please start practice?”

Minseo smirked and said in a satisfied tone. “If this was all it took to get one of you to beg to start practice, we should do this more often.” Jay grumbled, “Don't even think about it.”

Practice started, they're working hard because after Coachella, they're going to have a comeback, and all members are also rushing their solo challenges. After practice, the boys are all found lying on the floor, all exhausted from Minseo's strict teachings for the day. Jay stood up first; he and Yunjin had a two-hour practice for the challenges, and apparently, his members have their own time for their respective challenges.

Jay and Yunjin were set to go through War of Hearts one more time before moving to Middle of the Night. After double-checking the schedules, Soyeon decided to cut Black Swan entirely and only focus on the remaining three songs, seeing as the two were quick to memorize the choreo, it was easy to fit all of it within the week before ENHYPEN is set to travel to the States. They will be filming after they return. But that was just a rough sketch of their schedule and frankly Jay didn’t really want it to end yet, maybe he can convince the higher ups to give the two of them a chance to collaborate again, but that will largely depend on whether their performance for this challenge would gain positive response from the public, but yeah he was willing to fight tooth and nail if it ment shielding Yunjin from hate. They already went through a lot, and he wasn’t about to let another hate train start. 

Hopefully, it was just him overthinking things, but the possibility was very high. His train of thought we stopped when Yuki, along with their other manager, Haesoo, came into the practice room.

“Alright, the practice room for each of you are already set so start moving.” the other manager said after looking at the company issued tablet, “Everyone except Jay listen to your room assignment, before any of you ask why Jay already has one, it’s because of he was scheduled it earlier and by himself.” Effectively erasing the confused look the six were giving Jay, who was already packing up his things. He was about to exit when Yuki spoke with a firm tone, “This time to avoid a missing member, I want all of you in the lobby by 12 sharp,” giving a pointed look to Jay, who mocked a salute and left the practice room since he was excused.  

He was waiting for the elevator, and when it opened showed Yunjin who was too busy on her phone to notice him entering, he smirked at a thought that came into his mind, he silently scooted near her, surprised how even then she didn’t move, he took a peek and found that she was studying the choreo for Shape of you, Jay watched her for a moment, she looks cute so focused, her glasses look adorable on her. He was also thinking of a way to get her attention, so he settled for blowing on her ear. She reeled back, surprised by someone doing that, and when she saw who the culprit was, wearing a cheeky grin, she playfully slapped him on his shoulder, “Why would you do that, jerk.” Jay laughed his head throwing back, then leaned on the elevator wall, Yunjin had to admit looked attractive, especially since he was sporting a cheeky grin but his eyes looked at her fondly, “You were to focused on your phone to notice a person standing very near you so I had to get your attention.”

“A tap on the shoulder would’ve been nice.” She crossed her arms, and Jay mirrored her.

“That would be touching you without consent.”

“And blowing on my ear is better? I didn’t give you consent to that.”

“I didn’t touch you, though.” Just as he finished, the elevator door opened, and he immediately left, a yapping Yunjin, who refused to lose to his logic, walked behind him. She was so focused on yelling at him that she didn’t even notice Jay was already carrying her duffle bag for her. Just as they reached the LE SSERAFIM practice room, Jay turned to her, “Where are your members by the way? Are they going to watch us?” Yunjin shrugged, maybe? I went down to the gym for a second. Chaewon-unnie was with me, but stayed, and Kkura-unnie has vocal lessons. I have no idea where Eunchae is, but Zuha is already inside.” Jay nodded, then opened the door for her to go in first, and to their surprise, a camera was waiting for them. They both bowed to them before going to the side to drop their things. 

*On cam

Soyeon spoke up, “Alright, come to the camera, you two, and introduce yourselves.”  Jay looked at her and the camera, “Is it recording?”

“Yes.”

“Oh,” was the only thing Jay said, then turned to Yunjin, who was putting away some of her things then stood up right next to him. They’re standing side by side, both unsure of what to say,

“Do we just say hi?” Yunjin asked, then Jay asked another question, “Is this for En-O’Clock or for her FimLog?”

Soyeon pointed to the camera at the right behind her, “That’s for Yunjin’s FimLog,” then pointed to the camera that Jay was pointing before, “That’s for En-O’Clock.” The two nodded, then looked at each other, then at Soyeon. Yunjin nudged Jay, who asked, “How do we do this? Do we make an intro for us?”

“Do whatever you feel is right.”

The two idols shared a look again. Yunjin shrugged, wordlessly saying it was Jay’s call.

Jay bowed, “Hello, I’m ENHYPEN’s Jay, and with me.” He used his hands as if showing off a magic trick. To present Yunjin, who smiled and bowed, “Hello, I’m Yunjin from LE SSERAFIM, thank you for having me.” Her hands clasped in front of her, and Jay with his behind him, he then looked at her directly, “Thank you for accepting this challenge with me Yunjin-nim,” she smiled, then Jay turned to the camera, “I mention before that I will be doing a challenge with another idol, and Yunjin-nim, was kind enough to do it with me.” Yunjin nodded along clapping her hands softly, Jay looked at her and with an imaginary mic held it towards him as if interviewing her, “How, do you feel about this challenge, Yunjin-ssi, this is something outside of the genre LE SSERAFIM, usually do,” they held his ‘ mic ’ towards her, making her laugh, and played along, “Well, it is definitely a challenge, but I am glad I accepted. It is a great opportunity for me to branch out of my comfort zone,” Jay retrieved his hands and turned to the camera, “You heard her folks, please show us some love!” Then bowed, Yunjin following in suit, their giggles heard. 

The staff around, including Kazuha, all watched in awe at their natural chemistry. To Soyeon and Kazuha, they were surprised their chemistry progressed this much in a single night. Then, after they stood up properly, Jay spoke up again, “Actually, Yunjin-ssi, isn’t the only LE SSERAFIM member, that is helping me with this challenge,” he held his hand towards Kazuha who was shocked by the sudden focus, “Kazuha-ssi, will be teaching us basics in the dance style,” Kazuha awkwardly bowed and gave a little wave, clearly holding back a laugh, Yunjin, out of view from the camera, was heard giggling. The camera returned to Jay, “We weren’t able to film it, but yesterday, we have already finished the choreography for the first song, War of Hearts, and today we will be going over it again, before moving to the next song. Please stay tuned.” 

*Cut to them already in place

“ Come to me in the night hours..”

Jay was seen standing in the middle, motionless, breathing heavily. Yunjin was on the far left, then suddenly walked towards him, circling him but never touching. Jay motioned to reach for her, but stopped himself.

“ And I can’t sleep, ‘cause thoughts devour… Thoughts of you consume ”

Jay then suddenly reached for her wrist, as he did, she spun into his arms, and once she was against his chest, Jay’s hands fell on her waist. 

* FLASHBACK (from the first lift)

After perfecting the basic steps, Jay and Yunjin are now tasked to do a trust fall. So there will be full trust when it comes to the lifting parts. Yunjin was half nervous and half calm, because really she knew Jay could lift her; other than his visible muscles, Jay already proved he could during the elevator incident.

She found herself standing on top of a table. Jay was near and was ready to catch her; in the event that he couldn’t, there was foam that would catch her fall. 

“Alright, Yunjin, you just close your eyes and fall down,” Soyeon said. Yunjin closed her eyes and was about to do it, but stopped a split second before she could.  Soyeon sighed, but she couldn’t really blame her, so she turned to Jay, who also had a look of understanding and determination. 

Soyeon turned back to Yunjin and helped her get down and placed a hand on her back. “Look, it’s okay to be scared, but if it will help, Jay could demonstrate by lifting you up.” Yunjin spoke without thinking, “I already know he could lift me, he did it before, quite effortlessly. It’s just…different because I’m falling.”

Soyeon was baffled at the new information, “He lifted you before?” Yunjin nodded, “Yeah, when we were stuck in the elevator and he pulled us out one by one to the roof of the elevator.” She said it so nonchalantly as if the whole them getting stuck and even going through the roof was a normal occurrence. Before she could question further, Jay was standing behind Yunjin, his hands hovering about 10 inches away from her sides, “May I?” he whispered, so soft. Only Soyeon noticed, but Yunjin’s breath hitched. But she recovered quickly and nodded, “Go ahead.” 

Jay’s hands felt warm and secure on her waist. He lifted her until her feet were one and a half feet above ground. Still not putting her down, Jay spoke again, “Would you be okay if I tried you around?” Yunjin could feel her heart pounding, but muttered a small, Yes. And that was enough for Jay to turn slowly. And after that, put her down gently. Yunjin felt herself let out a huge breath. Then turned to Jay, “Okay, I’m ready, let’s do it.” Jay helped her up the table by helping pick her up by the waist again and placing her on top. Yunjin was shocked at first but quickly recovered. Once she was ready, she closed her eyes before she counted down, though she reminded Jay one last time, “You better not drop me, if I die, I’m haunting you for life.” Jay let out a deep chuckle, “Don’t worry, I’ll always be here to catch you.” 

Soyeon could hear the sincerity in his voice, and she knew Yunjin did as well. She watches Yunjin let out a small smile, before finally let herself fall, she squealed slightly, but felt strong arms, holding under her legs, and another securely on her back hands gently but firmly holding her shoulders, her arms she didn’t notice were already looped around his neck, they stared at each other in what felt like eternity, she saw Jay’s eyes dropped to her lips and he absentmidedly licked his lips, and it was then Yunjin realize her eyes fell to his as well. Soyeon watched them and decided to step it. 

“That’s great! Are we ready to do the choreo? Or do you two need to practice more?” Jay didn’t notice he still hadn’t put Yunjin down, nor did she, but their attention was on Soyeon. “You can put her down now, Jay.” The two finally realized, and Jay quickly but gently put Yunjin down, and as if nothing happened, Yunjin played it cool by saying, “Yes, we can go do the choreo now.”

*PRESENT

Jay lifted her just for a second before she escaped once again, Jay stumbling back.

“ I can’t help but love you, even though I try not to. ” 

Jay started moving frantically, trying to escape the force pulling him to her. But Yunjin moved, captivatingly, effortlessly making him turn to her, even if he tried to stop himself, everything stopped when she reached him and placed a hand on his chest, just above her heart. 

“ I can’t help but want you… I know that I’d die without you. ”

Then suddenly the music swelled, and Jay exploded at her touch, hands on her waist again this time spun her around, only to put her down gently and staggered back, Yunjin ran to her, and Jay against his better judgement catches her, but before he could lock her safe in his arms, Yunjin pulled away again, Jay fell to his knees.

“ I can’t help but be wrong in the dark, ‘cause I’m overcome in this war of hearts. ”

His movements suddenly turned wild, messy, showing the inner turmoil of his emotions. He approached her swiftly and lifted her again. Rather than attempting to hold her again, he let her go, and she landed gracefully, standing just a meter away from him, so still like a ghost. He reaches for her again, then an invisible force holds him back, 

“ I can’t help but want oceans to part… ”

One final attempt, with all his might, he pushed forward to reach her, but she stepped back as if she wasn’t there anymore, as Jay fell on one knee, then looked at his hands, full of hatred, 

“ ‘Cause I’m overcome in this war of hearts ”

Until the end of the song, he danced as if making final attempts in searching for her, slipping onto his knees, turning around, and finally, as the final note came. He slowly sat down, curled up to himself, and buried his head in his knees that were against his chest.

The staff around them all clapped, amazed and captivated at the emotions the two managed to convey, and one of the audio technicians was almost crying.

Kazuha accidentally slipped into informal speech, “Unnie! Oppa! That was amazing!” Everyone in the room barely acknowledged her slip up but it was for sure will surely be caught by fans. But that’s a problem for later. Yunjin and Jay finally approached each other, and Jay held up his two hands for a high five, which Yunjin eagerly reciprocated.

Soyeon clapped at them, “Amazing job, you two. We can move on to the next song, but we will be going back to that song if needed. I was right, you two together are captivating, I couldn’t take my eyes away from you two.” Yunjin couldn’t help herself and teased her, “But isn’t that what you’re supposed to do, unnie, watch us?” Kazuha giggled and added, “Yea,h unnie!” Soyeon’s eyebrow twitched, “I will make you two do an extra 1 hour of practice, you know.” Yunjin and Kazuha both held up their hands in surrender. Jay approached them again, holding two paper cups, and handed the other to Yunjin as he took a sip on his. Soyeon clapped her hands, “Okay, since you two did a great job, take five.”

* Cut to Jay sitting on the farther corner, wiping his sweat

A person behind asked him why did, he chose Yunjin specifically, and in a hushed voice since Yunjin went out to the bathroom, “I was actually watchin idols performance, hers was the 8th video, and I found her captivating to I asked my manager if I could arranger that, and here we are.”

“How did you get THE Soyeon Amy to help you?” the same person asked.

Jay decided to answer honestly, “Well, I was actually struggling to ask Yunjin-ssi, and I happened to stumble into Soyeon-nim in the hallway, and I asked her if she could help me ask Yunjin-ssi, and she agreed, and even offered to supervise.”

“And how is working with her so far?” 

Jay’s expression morphed into fondness that anyone with eyes could see, “Really amazing, I’m lucky she agreed.”

As if on cue, Yunjin entered the practice room again. She was caught on camera in the reflection, and Jay’s eyes were trained on her. As she walked in.

Chapter Text

* On Cam (Yunjin’s Fimlog )

The first thing heard from the clip was giggles, and the video was pitch-black, the next thing that was heard, 

“Oh shit. I forgot to take the cover off.” The sudden light was blinding to the video, and then another blinding thing was seen, Yunjin in all of her sweaty glory(she looked ethereal), her smile so blinding.

“Hello Fearnots! If you’re wondering what I’m doing, I will show you who I’m with,” she then pointed at a person lying on the practice room floor, completely washed out, their arms and legs spread out, they looked like a starfish gasping for air.

She approached them with the camera pointing at the floor, and it was none other than Jay, who opened his eyes to find a giggling Yunjin, “It’s Jay from ENHYPEN!!” Jay, realizing a camera was on him, playfully swatted her away. So Yunjin flipped the camera to her again, “And as you can see, Mr. Rockstar is completely washed right now and is acting very cranky.” A huff was heard from the background, making Yunjin laugh again.

“If you’re wondering why we talk so casually, because we’re friends now! Jay-sunbaenim became just Jay.” Then rustling was heard off cam and a very tired voice, “And Yunjin-nim became just Yunjin.” Yunjin nodded, then quickly clarified, “I told him not to call me noona, before any of you come after him!” as she pointed to the camera accusingly, “So a bit of story time, if you came here directly and you haven’t watched it yet, and actually I’m not sure when this will be released, BUT, I will tell you anyway,” A chuckle was heard off cam, making Yunjin turn to the source, and gave a smile, “Mr. Rockstar here,” she shifted the camera so Jay would be visible, “Has a challenge for En-O’Clock, and it involves another idol, guess who he asked to join him.”

She gave a cheeky grin, then she started looking for a water bottle when Jay handed her one. She let out a small thanks before drinking. After that, she addressed the camera again. 

“Right now, we’re on break from practice,” then Jay chimed in clearly shocked at the word break, “What? I thought we were done for the day?” making Yunjin laugh, then she shook her head, “Soyeon-unnie found out that, your call time, from your manager was at 12 AM, so she wanted to extend for an hour,” then she reached for the nearest phone, Jay’s, and showed it to the camera, “Time check it’s 9:28 PM right now. And we should be done by 10:30? I think,” then Jay chimed in, “I hope,” Yunjin’s smile widened, “Jay hopes, and I do to, slightly, because after our practice, me and Jay are actually going to do something, so please stay tuned,” Jay nodding besides her, then parotted her, “Stay tuned.”

Yunjin turned to look at him, “Should I explain what we’re doing exactly? Like a brief explanation?” Jay answered with a question, “Doing right now? Or for later after practice.” 

“Right now. Or maybe both,” Yunjin replied, earning a thumbs up from Jay, “If you want too, I’m not sure some FearNot’s would what our contents anyway,” Yunjin shook her head then turned to the camera again, “I hope you guys showed love to Jay’s challenge, I want him to win.” 

“Would you like me to explain the challenge?” Jay told her, making Yunjin shake her head, “I’ll do it, so essentially, ENHYPEN are tasked to do something unexpected of each member, we don’t really know the prize or if there even is a prize, but I want him to win.” Jay smiled beside her, “Yes, because my win is her’s, technically, since we’re partners.” Yunjin nodded in agreement, and reciprocated the high-five that Jay was offering, then turned to the camera again, “We are a team show both of us love,” before they could continue, the door was heard opening, followed by a voice.

“Breaktime’s over, come on you two, let’s work on the lift again.”

Yunjin turned to the camera one last time, “I’ll see you next clip!” Then stopped Jay as he was planning to stand up, by holding the hem of his muscle shirt, “Say goodbye as well.” Jay complied without question, waving at the camera. Yunjin was satisfied and then covered the lens with her hand.

*Cut to next clip.

Yunjin took her hand off the camera, “Okay so we’re done with practice for today, and we made progress, someone kept mixing the two choreography.” the person she was refering to suddenly appeared on screen, and directly addressed the camera, “She’s not telling the full truth, we both we’re making mistakes, she keeps jumping too early,” Yunjin rolled her eyes, and playfully pushed his face out of frame, “Hey this is my vlog so I’m the main character.” Jay was heard laughing, although he could be seen from a reflection behind Yunjin, although it was obscured, it was clear that Jay was laughing while throwing his head back.

*Cut to next clip

Yunjin and Jay we’re now walking in the hallway, “So, we’re heading to the studio, specifically ENHYPEN’s, because we’re going to do something, and I think some of you will enjoy it.” They reached the door, and Jay was seen opening the door for her to walk in first, Once she walked in, she looked around her eyes immediately landing on a few guitars on the corner, then as she looked closer, she actually recognized a few of them. “Oh? Is that the guitar you used for Weverse con? 2023?” Jay nodded, surprised she even knew, before he could voice that out, she started speaking again, “Ooh! That’s the one you used when you covered Standing Next to You, and for MAMA collab stage, right?” Jay nodded again, “I didn’t think you would know.”

Yunjin turned to him, completely forgetting the camera, “Of course I would, it’s always in my timeline, when it first came out.” Jay smiled, appreciating the thought that she would watch content related to him even if it’s just passing by her feed, “You can choose the guitar you’ll borrow.” Yunjin’s eyes widened, and she blinked as if confirming if she heard right.

“Really? Are you sure? I don’t want to intrude…” She said, waving her free hand. But Jay brushed her off, “I offered now, choose your mighty weapon.” Yunjin giggled, then looked at his options, and then chose the Fender. Jay smiled at her choice. 

“Alright, Ms. American Rockstar, what are we playing today,” Jay said in a sly tone, while he sets up the camera, Yunjin was tuning the guitar, once she was done she looked up to him, her hair flipped on it’s own as she did, then she looked at nothing in particular thinking, then pulled out her phone, “I was doing some snooping around, and since we agreed in doing each other’s songs, I actually found this,” She showed him a video of a fan playing Shout out, the one they were playing was not in the original song, and was completely fanmade, and actually sounded nice. 

“Your fans are begging you to cover this, and I decided to take matters in my own hands,” she said in a proud tone, making Jay throw his head back again, laughing, then bowing dramatically, as one would a royal. 

“Be my guest, miss.” 

Yunjin attempted it first, having only learning it visually due to her lack of guitar, it was understandable she wouldn’t get it right away. Jay watches her with a fond smile, completely forgetting about the camera. Yunjin looked up and saw Jay looking. The look in his eyes made her heart stutter, “Hey, don’t focus on me, play something!” Yunjin said, playfully hitting his leg, making Jay giggle.

Giggle!

“But wouldn’t you get distracted?” Jay said with an easy smile, Yunjin rolled her eyes, then answered, in a playful challenging tone, “You’re doubting my skills?” Jay played along by raising his hands in surrender. 

“Alright m’lady, what should I play for her Highness today?” He even bowed towards her. 

Yunjin pretended that the nickname ‘m’lady’ didn’t make her knees weak; it was just a nickname, and yet it made her feel giddy. “Whatever you think, do you know any of our songs?” Jay said nothing and started playing 1-800-hot-n-fun. Yunjin’s jaw dropped as she watched him effortlessly play it.

“You’re not going to sing? I’m playing your song, and you’re not singing?” Jay said in a challenging tone, Yunjin snapped out of thought and started singing,

“I like to dance when I party

I like to kiss everybody.” 

“Where the heck is Saki?” Yunjin was shocked when Jay sang with her, she smiled as she sang the next line. It went on until the end, they exchanged lines, and Jay made sure she sang her part. Once they were, Yunjin immediately spoke, “Did you just learned that?” Jay smiled smugly and shook his head, “I told you I was a fan, remember? When you guys first performed it at Coachella, you guys did amazing, by the way, I wanted to learn it, it was my top song when CRAZY was released.” Yunjin’s mouth formed an O.

“I—Thank you for learning it, and enjoying the song.” Yunjin gave him her blinding smile after thanking him. Making Jay smile again, “Like I told you, what’s not to enjoy about your songs? I’m glad you let me play it.” Yunjin shook her head, then leaned her chin on the guitar body now resting on her legs, then looked up at him, “What other songs of ours have you learned?”

Jay’s head malfunctioned at the sight, and it was a good thing that he practiced it; he started playing the guitar cover he found last night of their new B-side, ‘Ash.’ Yunjin tilted her head, not recognizing it. Jay watched her face turn to confusion, then he smirked.

“Wait, what song is that? Is that ours?” Yunjin said, listening intently to the song, making Jay smirk even more, “You don’t recognize your own song? What will FearNots say?” Yunjin ignored his teasing tone and continued listening, Jay continued to play for her. They were near half of the song when Jay stopped for a moment, chuckling before he spoke, “Maybe this will help you remember.” He played the guitar riff before the final chorus, and Yunjin’s face went from confused to realization to dread. She wrote that song, how could she not recognize it? She screamed as Jay laughed.

“OMG how did I not—” She groaned slapping her forehead, she was about to do it again when Jay stopped her by placing his hand on her forehead then rubbed his thumb where she hit, “Don’t hit yourself, and besides the song didn’t have guitar until near the end anyway,”

Again.

It made Yunjin’s heart stutter.

It was unfair.

She unconsciously pouted, “When did you learn that? And how many do you know exactly?” She changed the subject, acting like the gesture meant nothing, when really it made her mind hazy. Jay looked at the ceiling, trying to remember, then went back to his guitar and played the intro of Perfect Night, but only that. Yunjin’s eyebrows shot up, “You even know Perfect Night?” Jay nodded, a smile never leaving his face. Yunjin noticed that it doesn’t leave his face most of the time when he’s with her. But she threw that thought away when he spoke again, “Yeah, when I was asked to do the challenge with Eunchae, I was excited. So I learned it,” then Yunjin remembered something, “Wait, I saw a post saying you told a fan that you’re learning it and you’re going to post it. What happened?” Jay made a small Ah sound, also remembering suddenly, then pulled out his phone, “I think it’s in the draft?”

“Why didn’t you post it?”

“I— actually don’t remember, I think I got busy and too much time has passed, and it would be weird to post it.” he paused, then looked at her. “Should I?” Yunjin was surprised at his sudden suggestion. “You decide, but wouldn’t they get suspicious?” Jay nodded understanding, “Right, maybe after the challenge is posted.” Then Yunjin looked down at the guitar on her lap, “Alright, my turn. I’ll try it again.” When she finished, Jay clapped for her, maybe a little over the top, but Yunjin relished the attention and even bowed.

“You did great!!” Jay said enthusiastically, and Yunjin’s smile widened. “That’s a big compliment from Mr. Rockstar of Kpop himself.” Jay shook his head at the moniker, “I don’t think I deserve that title,” he said, but Yunjin pressed on, even pointing a finger at him, “YET! Don’t put yourself down. You have the most potential!” 

“Because I have many guitars?” Yunjin huffed and decided to show him why she thinks that he IS the Rockstar of Kpop. So she decided with his collaboration with the Japanese rock band GLAY. 

“On the way to hell”  The following lyrics was in Japanese, and if Yunjin was being honest, she’s just learning that language and right now, she’s shit at it. So she settled with, “Nnnnn-n!” 

‘Yes, when in doubt with lyrics, humming it is the right way.’ She thought, Jay then laughed at her attempt at Japanese. Yunjin stopped, “Alright, different example then.” 

“And I will love you, baby, always

And I'll be there forever and a day, always”

Jay’s ears were blessed, she sang with her heart, and she even added her own spice to the song. And she wasn’t done.

“I'll be there 'til the stars don't shine

'Til the heavens burst and the words don't rhyme

And I know when I die, you'll be on my mind

And I'll love you, always” 

Truthfully, Yunjin watched only his cover last night before she slept; she’s been seeing it on her feed, and it was safe to say she wasn’t really paying attention to the lyrics, only his voice. So she skipped to the verse that was all over the internet. 

“Through the wind, Through the snow

Through the driving rain

I'll crawl all the way home

Baby baby baby baby”

The way she sang her heart out made Jay completely forget that she skipped plenty of verses, but it didn’t matter, she’s here singing her heart out, to prove her point that he deserved the title, but seeing her sing really made him think, that she really was an ace because she managed to pull it off as well. 

Just as powerful.

Once Yunjin stopped, she was a bit out of breath but still smiling, “So do you believe me now? I’m here struggling, while you did it effortlessly.” Jay tilted his head, a smile once again forming on his lips, then reached for a water bottle for her. He decided to play along.

“Not bad, Jellyfish. In fact, I think you deserve the title as well.” Yunjin shook her head instantly. Then looked him in the eye, “You deserve it and I will fight for it.” Jay momentarily was shocked, but shook his head, giving in. He noticed he couldn’t really protest against her. “Yes, your Highness.” But Yunjin held his shoulder, “You need to believe it too, you know?” Jay hummed, “Maybe, someday.” After he said that, he wished he had a camera, because the smile on her face that followed was camera-worthy. The idol completely forgot that he was on camera.

“Alright, that’s a promise, I will be here to witness that. But now, dear Rockstar, can you teach me one of your songs?” Jay nodded with a smile.

“What song?”

Yunjin almost instantly, “The song you did for weverse con!” 

“Attention, please?” 

“Of course I’m going to give you attention, you’re going to teach me.” 

Jay bit his lips, holding in a laugh. Yunjin immediately dove into questioning, “Why? What’s funny?”

Jay let out a laugh, making Yunjin hit his legs, “YAH!”

“Alright, alright, I’m sorry,” he was not sorry, he found her too cute, “The song is titled Attention please.” 

“Oh.”

“Alright, I’ll demonstrate first and see if you can follow.” Yunjin nodded, and is now completely focused. After Jay did, she attempted a few times, even asking him to repeat it a few times. Jay was patient in teaching her. Then Jay did something that surprised her. He placed the guitar safely beside him, then bent down, and used the under of her chair to pull her near him, he did it quite effortlessly, she knew that he was attempting to go behind her and show her how, her breath already hitched at the distance, but before anything, Jay said, “May I?” And Yunjin nodded. Jay plucked the strings just behind her, he was making sure he was respectful, as much as possible, not brushing any skin.

That didn’t stop Yunjin’s heart from beating rapidly, though. Her heart could be a beat, for a song.

She should remember this for future reference, definitely not because she wants to relish this moment. Definitely not. 

Thankfully, she’s a damn good guitarist if she says so herself, so she got it straight away with Jay’s guidance.

She did one demonstration, and Jay smiled proudly when she did it perfectly. He offered a double high five, and she reciprocated eagerly.

“Let’s run it together. Yeah?”  Yunjin nodded excitedly. She even sang a few lines.

“ attention please!

모두 날 주목해 싹 다 날 주목해 get it, get it

근데 대체 너는 왜 나를 못 본 척해?

왜 또 못 본 척해? panic, panic”

Jay watches her sing his part, and he couldn’t help but notice how passionate she sang it, and how she looked like she was enjoying it. He didn’t even notice they finished. Yunjin looked up, grinning. Jay watched and swore that her hair flipped up in slow motion. He snapped out of his thoughts when Yunjin turned away from him and to the camera.

“FearNots! Did you see that?” Jay chuckled as she talked to the camera, but was shocked when she turned the camera to him, “So Mr. Rockstar. How did I do?”  Jay played along and pretended to think. 

“I’ll give it a 9?” Making Yunjin do a mini celebration, Jay looked at her amused, “You’re not going to ask, why a 9?”

“I don’t care, it’s already a high praise coming from you!” It was probably meant as a joke, but the way her eyes lit up and the way she said it sounded so sincere. 

“Well, I’ll tell you anyway, you’re missing a one point, because you’re the number one rockstar.” He said with a sly smirk, but somehow he made it look a little awkward, which Yunjin found endearing. She let out a hearty laugh, then looked at him with shining eyes. “And I thought, it’s because you’re the number one rockstar,” Jay shook his head and moved to go out, making Yunjin laugh again, and reach out to stop him by holding his arm. 

“Don’t get shy, Bon Jayvi. We have songs to play!” she playfully said, Jay mockingly sighed exasperated, but indulged her anyway.  Before she could speak, Jay started playing, Sweet Child O’ Mine, Yunjin, recognizing the song immediately, joined. Jay smiled at her immediate pickup.

They played until their hearts content. And when they ended, Yunjin went to the camera picked it up, “I hope you guys enjoyed our mini jamming session, we’ll see you in the next clip!” She turned her head to Jay, “Come here, say goodbye.” Jay complied, and waved goodbye, and he was the one who covered the camera.

*Off cam

Yunjin put the camera down and took off the guitar strap, and moved to put it in the case, but Jay suddenly spoke, “You can bring it home for now, you said your guitar is broken and is at your grandparents.” Yunjin turned to him, surprised, “Are you sure? I don’t want t—” 

“I insist, and besides, you can practice more songs we’re going to jam together more in the future.”

The word future made her heart soar at the implication the friendship won’t end at the challenge; she nodded, accepting the guitar.

They engaged in easy conversation as they walked to the elevator up until they reached the ground floor, and when they reached they got out, they saw that their managers and a few staff are waiting infront of a different elevator, none of their members in sight. Jay walked to Yuki to ask, “Hyung, what are you guys doing here, where are the members?” Yunjin right behind him.

Yuki sighed before answering, “Your members are stuck in an elevator. Along with the rest of LE SSERAFIM.”

“Again?!” the two said. Yumi, who was also beside Yuki, nodded.

“They’ve been there for about half an hour now,” Yumi said, Yuki followed with, “Apparently, it could take a little longer.”

Jay and Yunjin were silent, before Jay spoke looking at Yunjin, “10,000 KRW, that Jake was the one who caused it.” Before Yunjin could respond Yuki cuts in, “Don’t make that bet because they went inside an elevator that was scheduled for maintenance,” Jay pouted, but Yunjin brightened suddenly getting an idea, “10,000 KRW, that Chaewon-unnie already strangled Jake,” Yumi cuts in, “I’ll take that bet, Kkura stopped her.”

“I’m with Yumi-nim,” Jay said.

They waited for a few more minutes when the elevator door opened, and saw the 10 all on the floor. Jay tilted his head, then immediately moved to help Eunchae and Kazuha up, “Are you girls alright?” Then he moved to help Sakura and Chaewon. His members look at him, offended. 

Sunghoon voiced out their collective thought, “We’re your members yet you helped them first?”

“You guys can stand up on your own.”

Yunjin took a picture of the boys still lying down, before asking, “What happened?”

Jay smirked, “Was it Jake again?” Jake stood up and moved to kick him, but Jay was faster and hid behind Yunjin. Sakura came to Jake’s defense again, but it came with a jab, “Surprisingly, no. The company’s I think.” Chaewon and Sunghoon then said in chorus, “Nah, it’s Jake’s.”

Jake let out an offended noise. Kazuha sensing, an argument would form again decided to shift the conversation, “Oh, Yunjin-unnie, the rest of the boy’s wanted to ask you something.”

“We do?”

Kazuha rolled her eyes, “Can they speak with you informally? They already do with us.”

“Oooh!” The boys chorused, Yunjin blinked before, “Of course!” 

Yuki clapped his hands to get all of their attention, “Okay, seeing that none of you are injured, let’s go home, because none of you have eaten yet, and all of you need rest.”

As both groups walk to the parking lot, Jake suddenly hit Jay at the back of the head, “Where have you two been!? You two left us!” Jay turned to him and was about to retaliate, but Heeseung held his shirt. 

“How is it our fault?” Yunjin spoke, clearly amused. Kazuha nudged her, “What happened to us staying together? You two weren’t with us when we got stuck!”

Jay spoke, “Next time, don’t ride the elevator with Jake.” Jake moved to hit him again, when Chaewon screamed, “See! I told you that you were a bad omen!”

“This is bullying. And haven’t you heard of the saying; Once is chance, Twice is a coincidence, Three times is a pattern.” Jake said defensively.

“Quoting Teen Wolf, in the year 2025,” Yunjin said teasingly. 

Kazuha suddenly brought up the UNO game, “Well, at least it was another great bonding experience, we even got to play UNO.”

The mention of UNO suddenly sparked the argument with Chaewon and Jake, Ni-ki being roped into it.

Chapter Text

*On Cam (Yunjin’s FimLog)  

The first thing the video showed, was a surprising sight, it wasn’t Yunjin, but Jay, who looked like he just woke up from a nap, he actually did, both him and Yunjin took a nap break actually. Yunjin took the couch in the LE SSERAFIM practice room, and Jay took a yoga mat and used hoodies for his pillow. 

He was woken up by Soyeon, the only words said, “Take this camera, this is for Yunjin’s vlog, I need you to wake her up for practice.”  And Jay wordlessly took the camera before he could even process, the whole thing was already being recorded from the corner, so the camera caught Jay just sitting there with the camera still processing everything, and through muscle memory just opened the camera. 

For a good 1 minute, it was just him staring, and with his voice a little deeper having just woken up. 

“Hello, En… FearNot, if you’re wondering why I'm the one you are seeing, I don’t know either. I also know that you guys are wondering where is the main character for this vlog,” he turned the camera just a bit and a curled up Yunjin was seen, she was covered until just bellow her nose, by a blanket, looking adorable, “Yunjinie…” due to his brain still recovering from sleep, he didn’t notice the slip-up “... Was working really hard last night? It can't be helped, we came from practice with our groups. So FearNots, I am tasked to wake her up.”

Jay scooted over but didn’t make a move in actually waking her up yet, because, one, he really wanted her to rest, and two, there’s actually no number two; he was just thinking about the same thing.

He unknowingly mumbled, “She looks so peaceful, I can’t disturb that.” He heard someone whistle from the side, and when he turned to the source, he got the signal. He stood on his knees and looked at her softly, and hesitated, where could he touch her that wouldn’t offend anyone, so he settled for.

“Hey, Jellyfish, wake up.” he poked her cheek, making her steer lightly, so he poked again,

“Soyeon-noona said to wake you up. Come on, Jellyfish, open those eyes.” The nickname was sticking; he said that as a joke, to tease her, but now it fits, it comes naturally to him. She opened her eyes and then covered herself with the blanket, both because she saw the camera and because she was scared that she was unpresentable in the industry standard. It was also because Jay was waking her up. 

JAY!

Jay, sensing she didn’t want to be seen, turned to the camera again, “And mission accomplished, Her Highness is awake.” he covered the camera with his hand and turned it off, as he was walking towards Soyeon to hand over the camera, he noticed the other camera also filming him, he bowed to the camera before heading to Yunjin again, and crouched just in front of the couch, to whisper to her. 

“Hey, I’m not sure if you think that you’re not camera-ready yet, but I can cover you as you prepare. Would you like that?” he could see Yunjin nodding under the blanket, so he took the hoodie from the floor and stood up in front of the camera.

Truthfully, he didn’t need to, because the editors would edit it out anyway, but it’s the thought that counts. Yunjin was grateful. Jay caught a glimpse of her, just woke up face, and his breath hitched. God has favorites, and she’s definitely one of them.

* End of the clip 

Yunjin, after being satisfied, tugged on Jay’s shirt, making him turn.

“How do I look?” Yunjin asked, not knowing the look she gives him makes his heart race. Jay barely got it out, “You look great!” Yunjin smiled at him before standing up. They were now standing just mere inches from each other. A clap was heard from the side, they both turned, and Jay recognized them as one of the cameraperson from En-O’Clock.

“Alright, you two come closer to this camera, this is for En-O’Clock, say hi and explain which part of the challenge preparation you two are doing today. Sound good so far?” the cameraperson, Sonjae, explained to the two idols. They both nodded, and Sonjae spoke again, “Alright! Roll the camera!”

*On Cam (Jay’s En-O’Clock)

The two weren’t that prepared for it to roll right away, so they shared a look, Yunjin gestured that he goes first, so without thinking. Jay spun around once before bowing like a prince. He looked up and said in English, “Hello! My name’s Jay.” Yunjin laughed instantly, before copying him, and in English, “And, I’m Yunjin.”  The next thing that followed caught her off guard, and from the looks of it, even Jay, because he did it without thinking, “And we are….” Jay stopped and looked at her, “What are we?” Yunjin stood for a second before nearly falling over from laughing. Her laugh was contagious, and the staff around them laughed along with her.

“Do we just think on the spot?” Yunjin said while laughing, Jay shrugged, then suggested, “We say what we think, on three?” Yunjin nodded eagerly, practically bouncing, said, “Let’s do it!”

“1”

“3”

The two said at the same time, making both of them fall to the floor, both from embarrassment and from laughing. Yunjin was still laughing, “1 to 3 or 3 to 1?” Jay held up two fingers; he couldn’t stop laughing, still. Once Jay finally calmed down.

“3 

2

1”

“Yunjay/Jayjin!” Jay and Yunjin yelled out respectively.

Once again, both fell to the floor, but the camera caught Jay placing his palm on the part of the floor where Yunjin's head was going to fall. She was too busy laughing to notice, 

Then, the door of the practice room opened, and it was the rest of the LE SSERAFIM members, and the first think they see, was the two of them laughing, and then the camera panned over to them. Stunned by the sudden camera, they all bowed. The two on the floor slowly stopped laughing and looked at the newcomers. 

“Member-deul!!” Yunjin yelled as she scrambled to stand up and ran to them. As Jay sat up.

“What are you guys doing here?” Yunjin asked when she reached them. “Zuha, said we could watch,” Sakura answered. “Did Soyeon-unnie allow this?” Yunjin asked again.

“Well, she did say we couldn't watch because we might make Jay-oppa nervous,” Eunchae answered. “He still probably is,” Yunjin replied. Chaewon wasn't having it and took action, mainly just to tease Yunjin, and partly because she's curious on how the two are faring.

“Do we make you nervous, Jay-ah?” Chaewon called out, she got a, “No, Noona!” Chaewon turned back to Yunjin with a smirk, who rolled her eyes, “Introduce yourselves first!”

They were about to protest but Jay stepped in, literally stepping in front of the camera, “Guys, we have a surprise guest to watch us today,” he then stepped aside to show them, “Please introduce yourselves.” Jay said with a shit eating grin. Yunjin grinned as well, thinking she had her revenge, but Chaewon pulled her with them, and started the group introduction, forcing Yunjin to do it with them.

Jay clapped at them, then approached them, once again, holding his invisible mic. “It’s a great honor to have the LE SSERAFIM in En-O’Clock. How does it feel?” he pointed the ‘mic’ towards the five, Chaewon played along, but not before snickering with the girls at Jay’s antics. “Oh, it is also an honor to be here, thank you for having us.” Chaewon answered as if she were in an actual interview. The other members even played along by bowing. Jay smiled, before talking to his mic again, “Well, as far as I can remember, LE SSERAFIM, is the first ever guest at En-O’Clock,” he suddenly turned to the camera staff, who nodded, but the person beside them mouthed ‘first group’ Jay made an O shape before continuing, “Yes, you ladies are the first group to guest in En-O’Clock.”

The girls let out an ‘Oooh’ noise, then lightly clapped, but Jay suddenly turned back to the camera staff, and one of ENHYPEN’s managers, “Am I the only one with a requirement for another idol?” the said manager just replied that it was against the rules to give any information away, “Yeah, but technically LE SSERAFIM are the first group?” Jay asked, and the staff looked at each other then a variety of reactions followed, some did a thumbs up while the others just shrugged. The girls watched giggling, while Jay pressed on.  “Would all of our episodes be released all at once? Or one by one.” 

“All at once/One by one.” 

The girls laughed at the answers. While Jay just stared at them, before, “Can my video be uploaded first so LE SSERAFIM are the first group to guest?” the manager clarified whether he was referring to the challenge or the behind the scenes. “Behind the scenes.” the staff once again, talked among themselves, before one answered, “The releasing of behind the scenes, are based off, of the order of choosing the requirement.” Jay thought back for a second before pumping up his fist in celebration, because he was the first to choose. 

Soyeon cuts in before Jay could continue his impromptu interview, saying that they will start running Middle of the Night now.

*Cut to the next clip

"I summoned you, please come to me..."

Yunjin and Jay circled around each other, Yunjin in a trance-like state, Jay dances around her, she reached out to him, but he steps back, his movements started moving sharper, mirroring the emotion of inner torment. While Yunjin danced fluidly, tempting him to come to her.

Then, she lifted her arms, as if she casted a spell.

“Drink from my cup”

Jay falls to his knees infront of her, she brushed pass him, Jay following like a string pulling him like a puppet.

“Come lay me down, ’cause you know this sound…”

Desperately, Jay reached for her hand, Yunjin extended hers. Once their hands met. Their moves mirror each other, slow and connected. Cheeks brushing against each other.

“you know this sound…”

They pulled apart.

A beat. 

Then it dropped.

“In the middle of the night... I’m yours to tame…”

Jay turned fast, and they both meet in the middle. Jay lifted Yunjin up in a horizontal spin, as she drops into a dip. They break apart again, Jay started dancing like he was fighting a demon, his footwork unmatched. Yunjin stood to the side. Before breaking into a sprint

“I crave your taste… ” 

They collide in a tight embrace. Jay’s face brushing against her neck. Then he stumbled back again, hounding his chest as if it burned, as he falls, Yunjin walks over him, as she did her own dance solo, dancing elegantly, swan like even. Jay backrolled to stand up, and when he was on his feet. Yunjin leaped into his arms, with full trust. He spins her before letting her fall through his arms like water.

“ I’m getting what is mine…you gon’ get yours,”

Jay dances alone, like a possessed man, before Yunjin appeared behind him again and pulled him to anothe slow, but restraining duet.

“ And just call on me…”

They danced apart, before meeting at the middle again, Yunjin’s hand over Jay’s heart, Jay being respectful, placed his on her wrist caressing the pulse point. Their forefeads are pressed together, eyes closed. Yunjin mumbled ‘Call me..”

“ In the middle of the night… I’m yours to tame…”

Jay lifted her up from the floor once again, as she spread her arms like it was her wings. Before she was put down gently.

’til morning comes”

The two danced in tandem, in fast and fluid sequences. Before Yunjin collapsed on his arms. Jay catching her and spins her around once more, this time, gentle. She curled up against him, as Jay lowered them both to the floor. Hands intertwining over his heart.

*End of clip

The two still laid there, out of breath. While the rest of the peopl in the room, especially the LE SSERAFIM members, were all cheering. Yunjin stood up first, pulling Jay along with her, their hands never left each other since after the music stopped. They only let go when the girls went to Yunjin to hug her for, the performance. Jay watches them with a fond smile. The girls have the purest bond, he’s lucky that he has his own. But watching the 5 hug each other, makes his heart melt.

Then the girls started jumping in a circle, hands all together, Eunchae noticed him watching, then she took his hand and pulled him between her, and Yunjn. And that is how, the clip of Jay jumping around with the LE SSERAFIM members was born. 

*Off Cam 

The 6 idols were now seated in a circle on the floor. The camera crew decided it was enough for the day, and in an hour, it would be the fimmies’ time to practice again. Jay felt bad that he took off some of the time that Yunjin could’ve used for rest. 

“Thank you again, and I’m sorry for taking up your time.” Jay suddenly said, making Yunjin turn to him wide eye. “What are you talking abou? We already talked about this. I said it’s no problem, don’t say sorry.” Yunjin replied.

“It’s just I took off sometime that you could’ve used to rest.” Jay said meekly. Making Yunjn roll her eyes.

“You know even if you didn’t have a challenge Jay, Yunjin would find other things to do.” Chaewon talked before Yunjin, who nodded at her statement. “And besides you’re acting as if I don’t enjoy doing this with you.” 

Her four members all turned to her. 

Interesting.

Jay opened his mouth to respond, but Yunjin placed her hand on his mouth. “If you say another word, I’m going to have you do our warm ups with us.” Jay’s eyes widened both from her touch and the thought of doing those cruel warm ups.

The four once again watch her, and her actions.

Very interesting. Indeed

Chapter Text

Jay was preparing his things to leave while the girls were preparing for practice. Soyeon walked back in and saw Jay about to leave, “Jay?” Soyeon called out, making Jay stop and turn to her.

“Do you have practice as well?” she asked. Jay shook his head. “Are you going to do something?” Jay shook his head again.

Chaewon picked up on where Soyeon was going with this and cuts in. “Would you like to stay to watch us practice?” Jay perked up.

“Really?” Jay realized he sounded a little bit too excited, so he cleared his throat, “I mean. If that’s alright with you…” Soyeon shook her head. “Jay, we offered, why wouldn’t it be okay? Come stay.” Jay grinned before taking a seat on the floor. He watched them as they were warming up, and just by watching, he already felt tired for them. He already knew that their workout is no joke, and what their doing is considered a warm up? Yup, he will not survive. Suddenly one of the other managers of LE SSERAFIM came inside, looking pissed. Soyeon was quick to inquire, “What’s got you so pissed.”

“Those damn live band bailed on us last minute, we can’t practice, 1-800-hot-n-fun, with a band right now. Soyeon nodded. Meanwhile, the girls who were listening, then Yunjin remembered something, “Would a guitar be just fine?”  The manager nodded, “Yes, Yunjin-ah, but you can’t be the one playing.” Yunjin grinned, “I know,” and without another word went directly to someone specifically.

Jay who was just quietly sitting was stunned, when Yunjin crossed the distance in such short time, and pulled him up by the arm, and in front of the manager, “He can.” the other manager, doesn’t really know ENHYPEN so this new face confused him, “And he can play the guitar?” Yunjin nodded, “Yup, he’s an up-and-coming rockstar!” Jay whipped his head to her so fast, he couldn’t really say anything or even move because Yunjin was holding on to him so tight.

The manager turned to him directly, “Do you know how to play the song?” Jay nodded, while Yunjin grinned triumphantly.

“Alright, Yunjin, give him a guitar.”

Jay finally found his voice, “But, I’m Jay of ENHYPEN.” The manager seemed unfazed, clearly not understanding the relevance. “Alright, Jay of ENHYPEN, play for us.” The next thing Jay knows, Yunjin, was already handing him the Fender that he lent her, and was instinctively tuning it. 

The girls watched him as they put on their mics and in-ears. 

“Does he actually know the song, unnie?” Kazuha asked, adjusting her in-ear.

Yunjin nodded, while testing her mic, “Yup!” Eunchae giggled, “I can’t believe we have him to play as our background.” 

“Imagine if Jay would play for our concert.” Sakura said as a joke, but Soyeon appeared behind them, “Should I arrange that?” she said teasingly, and the group only shrugged. Before more was said, Jay tested the guitar by playing the guitar part of Ash. Everyone watches him in awe, even Yunjin, who has already seen him play it before. Then, when he looked up to say he was ready, he was shocked that everyone was already staring at him, not knowing what to do at the attention, he just gave an awkward smile.

Soyeon clapped her hands, getting their attention, “Alright, girls in position, Jay start on my count.” Jay nodded as the girls went to.

Soyeon signaled to Jay, and Jay started. 

“Really, I'm honestly just sad about my shoes

Yeah”

Soyeon was monitoring the girls, but she could see Jay from the mirror, so focused on playing, but also mouthing the words of the song. She could also see Yunjin glance in Jay’s direction, from time to time, as if waiting for him to watch her, making Soyeon smirk. 

Once the song was done, Eunchae sprinted to Jay, jumping up and down, while questioning what other song of theirs he could do. Kazuha followed, asking when he learned it. Jay was smiling fondly at the maknaes while entertaining their questions, the unnies were calmly walking towards him, also asking their own questions. Soyeon called for them again, saying they’ll practice Come Over next. Chaewon had an idea, “Jay-ah, do it with us.” 

“Pardon?”

“Come over, do it with us.”

“I don’t know the choreo.” Jay said, trying to get away, but Yunjin and Sakura took one of each his arms to pull him near the center, “We’ll teach you,” the two said at the same time. 

The process was, well, a process. Jay was great for the most part. The head isolation, he was great at it, he was a little lost at the arm choreography, but he managed. It was the intro he struggled. He couldn’t get his leg up that high that quickly.

In his first attempt, he fell down because the momentum of his leg pulled his other causing him to fall down. The girls rushed to him, checking if he was okay. He was just out of breath. They all laughed it out, and ended Jay’s lesson there. And the practice continued as normal.

It was break time and the staff were playing songs, one of which was, Sway by Michael Bublé. Jay was coming out of his shell and was actually energized, especially since it was only him and the girls inside. He started dancing to the song, the girls were laughing at him.

“Join me!” Jay told them that while dancing, Chaewon didn’t waste a second and pulled up Eunchae with her. Kazuha pulled Sakura, who was peacefully crocheting, with her. 

“Yah!” Sakura yelled, but couldn’t really do anything now that she was up.

Yunjin was laughing at them all while taking a video with her phone, but Jay didn’t spare her because he danced near her and pulled her up. So the 6 of them were dancing. Jay was even singing along with the song. It was meant to be playful, but it accidentally sounded really good.

They continued to play around for a bit, dancing with no specific choreography, to different songs, all just vibing. Until Shape of You played.

Yunjin immediately turned to Jay, who was already looking at her, and without a word, stood in position; the rest just watched.

“Take my hand, stop, put Van the Man on the jukebox

And then we start to dance, and now I'm singin' like”

They did the moves smiling, Jay with his hands on her waist, directing her as she hopped,

“Girl, you know I want your love

Your love was handmade for somebody like me.

Well, come on now, follow my lead

I may be crazy, don't mind me.”

Their moves were clean, their dance style complemented each other. Despite adding their own twist, they moved in sync.

“Say, ‘Boy, let's not talk too much’

Grab on my waist and put that body on me

Well, come on now, follow my lead

Come, come on now, follow my lead, mm”

Yunjin smirked as she pulled Jay close, her ears were burning, though. Jay enjoyed it just as much. They finished, and the girls all screamed. Hyping them up. The two didn’t even notice Soyeon came in and was now screaming with the four.

“That was so good! Are you guys filming?”  Soyeon asked excitedly, the two shook their head. Eunchae suddenly yelled, “I DID!”

Soyeon high-fived her, “Nice one, Manchae, give it to me, I’m going to give it to your managers.” Eunchae grinned, Jay and Yunjin ignored them as they went to get water, talking among themselves. The rest were watching them, Kazuha whispered, sounding smug, “Looks like I’m going to win.” Sakura rolled her eyes.

“It’s not done yet, they’re only warming up,” she said, clearly undeterred. Soyeon leaned into them, “You girls have bets as well?” she whispered. The four looked at her, surprised, “As well?” they all whispered back. Soyeon nodded before whispering, “I have one with Yumi and ENHYPEN’s manager, want to join?” The four eagerly nodded. 

“What are you guys whispering over there?” Yunjin said, approaching them, Jay was packing his things from behind her.

“Are you going, Jay?” Chaewon asked, ignoring Yunjin’s question. “Yeah, noona, Yuki-hyung is calling me, thank you for having me.” He walked towards them and offered fist bumps, but when he reached Yunjin, he changed into a double high-five.

Once Jay left, Yunjin turned to them again, “What were you girls whispering about?”

Sakura shrugged, “I don’t know what you’re talking about.” Yunjin pouted, which was wiped off when Eunchae asked, “Hey unnie, why did you have Jay-oppa’s guitar? You were the one who walked in with it.” Yunjin froze, thinking on how to avoid this, “Huh?” was the best thing she could come up with. They all saw through her. They were going to push her even more, but a knock was heard at the door. Soyeon was the one who approached, and behind were Jungwon, Sunoo, and Jay. Chaewon brightened at the sight of her two current favorite boys.

“Jungwonie! Sunoo-yah! What are you two doing here?” Chaewon asked cheerfully. Making Soyeon look at her, did she miss a chapter or something? Since when was Chaewon close with other ENHYPEN members? And to her surprise, the rest of the girls also approached them. Apparently, the two bought a box of cookies for the girls and asked Jay to accompany them. Soyeon watches Chaewon and Sakura coo over Jungwon and Sunoo. A thought came to Soyeon as she watched them interact: if the girls are bonding with the boys, maybe she could organize a collaboration stage for all of them. The thought made her smile. That would be big.

The eight of them were engaging in easy conversation, even teasing each other. Jay, acting like he wasn’t here for about 5 hours now.

Jungwon looked around the practice room when the attention wasn’t on him, when he noticed a familiar case on the corner of the room, he would normally brush it off as something probably common, but no. His Jay-hyung is always particular about where he places his guitars. 

“Jay-hyung, why is your guitar here?” Jungwon asked, pointing at the case, making everyone turn to the guitar. 

Kazuha asked without thinking, “How’d you know it’s Jay-oppa’s guitar?” Sunoo’s eyes widened, “So it’s actually Jay-hyung’s guitar? I thought it was just something similar,” he said with his hand over his mouth, Jungwon nodding beside him, also shocked that it was actually Jay’s.

“I borrowed it.” Yunjin said after a while. The two maknae’s whipped their head to her so quickly, “And he let you?” the two asked shock evident in their voice, making Yunjin confused. 

“Yes. Why?” 

They all turned to Jay, who surprisingly has an almost unreadable expression. Before anyone could question him about anything, he checked his phone, before pulling the two boys up with him. 

“That was a lovely chat, but unfortunately, we must take our leave.” He bowed forcing the two to bow with him before dragging them out.

Yunjin turned to her members and saw that they did the same. “Why were the two reacting like that? Is it a crime, that I borrowed Jay’s guitar?” Eunchae opened her phone and in about 2 minutes she found their answer. 

“Jay doesn’t like anyone touching his guitars.” Eunchae read out loud.

“WHAT!?” Yunjin yelled. 

Her thoughts were running. He doesn’t? Why did he let her then? Why did he offer?

While she was busy thinking for answers the four were exchanging glances.

Chapter Text

* On Cam (Yunjin’s FimLog)

Yunjin took her hand off the camera, and the first thing they saw was her grinning. And in an excited voice, she naturally talked in English because she was so excited. “Guys, I have something to show you,” a voice cut through, “I can’t believe I agreed to this.” Yunjin was seen sticking her tongue out. “Oh please, you’ll live. You asked for my help, and I did. AND you agreed that I can show them this,” She turned back to the camera, “Anyway, before I was interrupted, I will show you my handy work,” she said while her grin grew wider by the second

She turned that camera to a pouting Jay, but the main attraction was his hair. It was tied in the middle, and it looked like a sprout. Without turning the camera away from Jay, Yunjin spoke switching back to Korean, giggling, “So I noticed Jay was struggling because of his hair, it’s getting longer, he didn’t have his cap with him, so I gave him a spare hair tie of mine, and well, it was a sight to see him struggle with that as well.” 

“I wasn’t struggling!” Jay yelled, making Yunjin giggle behind the camera. “You were!” she countered. “You couldn’t get it right,” she turned the camera to her, “So as the good Samaritan I am. Helped him. And as you guys can see, although his hair is getting longer, it’s not enough for a bum, so we settled with this, but his hair is too fluffy so it falls down.” she turned it back to Jay, then her hand was seen arranging his sprout again, “It turned out to be a sprout.” She moved beside him and placed the camera in front of both of them. “Right now, we’re on a break, now we’re doing our 3rd and final song. Also, for context, on why we’re doing 3 songs, because we couldn’t choose a song, and we wanted to do all three. And we’re in the process of learning the third.” After she finished, Jay chimed in, but his focus was on her. 

“I’m actually planning on asking if we can film all three.” Yunjin looks at him, “REALLY?” Jay nodded, smiling fondly at her loudness, “I mean the rules said we should do something unexpected, and who would expect me to do contemporary, not once, not twice, but three times.” Yunjin was practically bouncing, making Jay chuckle, “Calm down, Jellyfish, I’m not sure if they’ll let us yet.”

“I have a feeling they will,” then she remembered something.

The clip for Yunjin’s FimLog from there, and the editors decided to use the following clips for Jay’s En-O’Clock video.

*On Cam (Jay’s En-O’Clock)

“What about our outfits?”

Jay opened his mouth before closing it again, “Should we look online? I mean, we could ask our stylist, but I wanted to have your opinion on it,” he said. Yunjin tilted her head, taken aback, “Me? Why would my opinion matter?”

“Because I want you to be comfortable with what you wear,” Jay said, looking at her with this look in his face, that Yunjin couldn’t pinpoint what, but whatever it is, it makes her heart flutter. She played it off with a nod and took her phone and opened it, she went to Instagram, forgetting to switch the account from her public to her private. Jay peered over her shoulder. 

“Should we just look for inspiration, or should we look at something fans would want us to wear?” Yunjin asked as she scrolled, Jay thought for a moment, before suggesting, “Do you know those posts with some outfits captioned, ‘who in enhypen,’ things like that?” Yunjin nodded and then started browsing. Then she found something, “Ohh maybe this one for you.” 

The outfit was a velvet red color, the top was a long-sleeve, the key point was that it was backless, a single chain attached from both shoulders, emphasizing the length of the shoulder. Jay’s eyebrow rose from the suggestion, then looked at the caption. “They said, Sunghoon would fit it best.” Yunjin playfully rolled her eyes, “Which makes it even more surprising that, its you,” she emphasized by playfully poking him on his chest, “will wear it.” Jay just shook her head, “Alright, let’s put a pin on it.” Yunjin hummed before suggesting again, “Maybe we could add a more flowy sleeve.” Jay nodded again.

“Should we find a different outfit for the songs?” Jay proposed, making Yunjin nod her head, then Jay added, “We should match as well, let's find something in the same color.” Jay reached over to tap her phone to find it. 

He accidentally liked the post.

Jay froze, making Yunjin confused.

“Hey, why are you so stiff? What’s wrong with liking the post? We can just unlike it.” She unliked it, hoping to ease whatever made Jay freeze.

“It’s your public account,” Jay mumbled, but Yunjin heard him; she quickly assured him, “No, it’s not, look, it’s my…” She looked at the account, she froze as well “Oh shit.”

A beat of silence

Both if them started panicking.

“Maybe nobody noticed?” Yunjin let out nervously. Jay gulped and nodded, “Yeah, maybe.”

Another beat.

“We should check X,” They both said simultaneously. When they opened, they couldn’t find a post about it. Making Yunjin sigh out of relief, “There’s no post about it,” 

“Yet,” Jay added, Yunjin hit him gently at the chest with the back of her hand. “Don’t jinx it.” she chastised him, making Jay smile a little. “Alright, maybe nobody noticed, let’s find something for you. This time we use my private account.” 

This time it was Yunjin leaning in close, neither of them noticed that Yunjin’s cheek was already. It felt so natural for them. Jay was scrolling on a specific account when Yunjin broke the comfortable silence, “Which song will we use these outfits?” Jay hummed before responding. Yunjin noticed he always hums before answering; it’s cute.

“Maybe War of Hearts? Because of the color.” 

Yunjin suddenly snorted, a thought coming into her mind, “You’re going to a war with a backless top?” Jay paused scrolling to playfully flex, “Have you seen these muscles? They’d be intimidated.” Making Yunjin roll her eyes, before laughing, and pushing him slightly, before pulling him back and to scroll for dresses. Jay let himself be manhandled by her; she can do anything to him, and he wouldn’t bat an eye. Then he stopped scrolling when he found something, and Yunjin pointed at the same thing before looking up at him.

The dress was the same color as Jay’s, the bodice was a smooth satin halter neckline, her shoulder exposed, the sleeves were made of translucent red mesh, which started just below the shoulders, in a detached manner. However, it was a little bit too revealing for their liking, especially since there would be lifts involved. They shared a look, both understanding each other's concern, “I mean, this is only for inspiration, right?” Jay reminded, Yunjin nodded.

“We can move on to the other songs then, Middle of the Night?” Yunjin spoke, before Jay could reply, Yunjin’s phone rang. It was Chaewon.”

Somehow, both of them felt uneasy with the call, but seeing as Chaewon wasn’t stopping, Yunjin answered. 

“Hell—” Yunjin started.

“Please tell me you liking that post is fake.” Chaewon cutting her off, her tone dangerously close to something Yunjin did not want to hear.

“Uh—”

That was all Chaewon needed to hear for her confirmation. 

“WHAT WERE YOU THINKING? LOOK, YOU CAN SNOOP BUT AT LEAST MAKE SURE IT’S NOT YOUR PUBLIC ACCOUNT.” 

Yunjin pulled the phone away from her face as if Chaewon's screaming made wind for her to reel back. “Unnie, Jay accidentally liked it.”

Jay spoke beside her, “It’s true, noona, I did it, I’m sorry.” Chaewon’s voice softened, “It’s fine, Jay-ah. But we can’t really say that you two are together, that’s why it was liked accidentally,” she reassured him.

Yunjin looked offended at the change of tone and how it was suddenly okay. She even mouthed a ‘wtf’ to Jay, who fought hard to suppress a smile. Suddenly, Chaewon’s voice changed again, and Yunjin felt even more offended because it was directed to her once more. “You better fix this, Yunjin,” she ordered her, then she hung up without another word. Yunjin suddenly hit Jay.

“This is your fault!” Yunjin huffed, “You think of an explanation.” Jay remembered the camera that was filming them. He pointed at it, “We can ask not to cut that part out.”

“Great idea. But I need a solution that would be applicable right now. Like right now.”

“You can say it’s an accident.”

“That doesn’t exactly explain how I ended up on ENHYPEN’s side of Instagram. I need more.”

“Say that your friend asked for help in checking something, and you accidentally pressed it.”

Yunjin groaned and mumbled, “Fuck it.”

‘I can explain the liking of the post related to my Sunbaenims, and it was purely an accident, and I was not snooping. It came up on my feed, and a friend of mine's black cat was terrorizing me. And he accidentally liked it because he was going for the screen. It was a mistake and I apologize for it.’

Jay read as she typed, and snorted, making Yunjin nudge him to stop. Once she was done, she huffed, “Whether they believe this or not, I don’t care, I’ll wait for this vlog to be released.”

Jay felt guilty, “If they harass you, I’ll tell them off,” he suggested. Yunjin shook her head, “That would make it even more suspicious.”

“But it’s not your fault,” Jay mumbled, looking down. Yunjin's gaze softened, and without thinking, her hand reached to her head, petting him as you would a cat. “Hey, it's fine, it's done now.” Seeing as that didn’t do much to ease him, she decided to distract him.

“Let's dance,” she suggested while standing up. Jay looked up at her, and at her extending her hand to him. “Now?” he asked. Yunjin nodded, and Jay smiled as he took her hand. He didn’t actually have her pull him up, but it's the thought that counts.

*Switch back to Yunjin's FimLog

Jay stretched, as Yunjin scrolled near the practice room computer, “What are we going to dance?” she called out. “You decide,” Jay called back, making Yunjin groan. 

“Don't make me decide, I'm indecisive.” She looked over her shoulder, pouting slightly. Making Jay laugh, then he approached her. 

“Maybe something by BTS-sunbaenim.” Jay suggested, Yunjin beamed, “Let’s do it! We can never go wrong with them.”

They chose to do Go Go, specifically the dance break part. Jay was a little behind Yunjin, but he could see her smile as they danced. It makes his heart flutter. 

They continued to dance. They did; Rover by KAI, Rock With You by SEVENTEEN, Best of Me by BTS (Jimin and Jungkook’s duo dance).

While catching their breath, Yunjin turned to Jay, slightly out of breath, “Are you willing to do a Girl Group Dance with me?” she questioned hesitantly, which Jay caught her tone. 

“Yeah, why wouldn’t I want to dance?”

“Oh, it’s because…” she didn’t really know how to voice out her thoughts without Jay getting offended.

“Is it because of our group's reputation? The toxic masculinity image?” Jay remarked no real tone behind it, he said it calmly, making Yunjin’s eyes grow wide, as she immediately shook her head.

“It’s just… I rarely see you do it…” Yunjin hesitated, really she knows Jay was right, even though she didn’t knew much of ENHYPEN, before her getting to know them better, that was the reputation they carried in stan tweet, even though from what she heard from staff, and what she sees now is far from the truth. “And it looked like none of you boys liked doing it,” she continued, closing her eyes, she didn’t want to see Jay’s face, would it be hurt? Disappointed, she looked at him like that? Or mad that she assumed. 

She felt a hand on her head, making her open her eyes to look at him. He had a small understanding smile, “Hey, don’t feel bad that we have that kind of reputation. People will say what they want to say; see what they want to see. As long as the people that matter know we’re not like that, that’s all that matters.” Then he tilted his head, “Do you see us that way?” 

Yunjin immediately denied it. “Of course not!” Before she could explain further, Jay ruffled her hair, “I believe you, now enough of that, choose a song for us to do!”

“What are your conditions?”

Jay was confused, “What conditions?”

“Like I choose and you don’t have any objection, whatsoever? Or you have a no-go?” Yunjin’s expression from a few seconds ago was long gone, replaced with a mischievous grin. Jay didn’t know whether to coo or be scared.

“Nope, none whatsoever. You have free rein.” Jay responded with fake confidence, which was short-lived when Yunjin's grin widened.

Oh, no.

“Pinky-promise it?” she held up her pinky, looking at him expectantly. “Pinky promise that I have free rein and you have to do what I say for the rest of the night.” 

“I have a bad feeling about this. Since you’re obligating me to a pinky-promise,” Jay looked worried. Yunjin said nothing, only wiggling her pinky finger, Jay sighed before locking fingers with her.

The deal is done, and Jay grew even more nervous when Yunjin turned to the computer and typed way too fast for his liking.

‘ She’s prepared, I’ll give her that.’ He thought, as he watched her. His heart dropped when he saw a familiar thumbnail.

Oh no, indeed, because the song her cursor was hovering over. Took the world by storm last year. 

Smart by LE SSERAFIM

“This alright for you?” She teased, Jay fought back a groan, remembering their pinky promise, and he reluctantly nodded. Yunjin beamed, then she suddenly remembered something.

She opened her phone to look for it, and when she did, she eagerly showed Jay.

It was a video of a male FearNot who was dancing to Smart in full outfit resembling Chaewon’s. 

“You said I have free rein, right?”

“You want me shirtless and in shorts?” Jay responded agape. Yunjin nodded, then added, “I mean, you can keep the pants, I want to see you wear a skirt over it.”

“Where would I even get those?” Yunjin sauntered to the cabinets in the practice room. Right, it was LE SSERAFIM’s practice room. Yunjin, after rummaging through the cabinet, held up two pieces of clothing.

“How are you sure that those will fit me?” It was a futile attempt, but he was running out of options. Sure enough, it was in vain, because Yunjin demonstrated with a grin, by stretching it out.

“Alright, let’s do this!” Yunjin said as she approached him.

*Cut to next clip

The next clip was Jay shirtless save for the tube top that Yunjin made him wear, and a short skirt over his sweats. He was bending down slightly because Yunjin was tying his hair again for the sprout.

Once she was satisfied, she sprinted to the computer to play the song and went back beside Jay.

“I'm a smarter, baby, smarter, smarter, baby, smarter

하날 보면 열까지, 간파해서 돌파하지

Wanna be a winner, wanna be a winner

계획대로 돼가지, 난 나비가 될 애송이”

Jay tried so hard to match Yunjin’s energy in shaking ass, but his shyness is getting the better if him. But at the end of the day, he’s an idol, and his group is known to perform, so he pushed through. Once the song was done, Yunjin squealed in delight after getting Jay to do the song. Meanwhile, Jay was burying his face in his palms, not believing he just did that.

On camera too.

Yunjin walked to the camera and picked it up.

“That is all, folks. Once in a lifetime show by the Rockstar of Kpop himself.” Jay’s groan was heard in the background, making Yunjin smile, “See you in the next clip.” As she covered the camera with her hand.

* Off cam

Yunjin turned back to Jay after turning off the camera, her breath hitched when she got a proper look at Jay, in the impromptu outfit of his. His abs… it wasn’t chisled, rather it was lines, not deep but still visible. If you ask her she prefers it like that, she liked that about ENHYPEN, they don’t really follow much of K-pop trends. 

She felt her cheeks heat up as she turned away.

Then the practice room doors opened, and to Jay’s horror.

It was the rest of LE SSERAFIM, and Soyeon. To make matters worse, ENHYPEN piled in behind them.

Everyone froze.

A few beats of them just staring at each other, nobody knows how to break the silence.

Until Ni-ki and Eunchae took out their phones and snapped pictures of Jay.

Chapter Text

The events that followed are exactly what you’d expect when you find a man wearing nothing but a tube top and a skirt over sweats.

Jay was suddenly bombarded with questions. Ni-ki and Eunchae didn’t stop with their paparazzi-like picture taking, and even Sunoo joined in taking a video of everything.

“ALRIGHT!” A voice cut through the chaos, and they all turned to see Soyeon, who was fighting a grin. “One at a time, Jay is having a hard time answering.” 

Jay groaned. He had hoped Soyeon would save him. He gave Yunjin a half-hearted glare, who just grinned back at him. At least they all slowed down with the questions.

“I’ll start!” Kazuha raises her hand, “Oppa, why are you wearing that?”

Chaewon followed up with, “And how the hell did you manage to fit without bursting it?”

Before Jay could answer, Ni-ki voiced out his concern, “What happened to one question at a time?” Sakura waved him off, “Don’t mind it, it’s both along the same lines anyway.” That made Ni-ki unknowingly pout, which was a rare moment for him.

Jay sighed. There was no escape anyway, but he couldn’t really say that he and Yunjin were filming for her FimLog, so he settled for telling half of the truth, “Yunjin and I were dancing, and Yunjin asked if we could do a girl group song.”

“That doesn’t exactly explain the whole costume.” Jake countered, Chaewon crossed her arms with a small smirk clearly enjoying this, “I assume it was Smart?”

“Before we danced Yunjin asked if I have conditions, like, what I won’t do and shit.” Jay started, then Yunjin cut him off, “He said I have free rein.” Then she held out her hands towards Jay as if presenting him to them, “Tada! I had him wear this.”

Eunchae was biting her lip to stop herself from laughing. The rest of the boys were the same, until she remembered something she saw, “Was this inspired by the fan boy dancing on stage? The one with a muscular build?” Yunjin nodded excitedly.

“YES!” She exclaimed. Jay groaned even more.

“I cannot believe you agreed to it.” Heeseung laughed, walking to him and leaning his elbow on Jay’s shoulder, “You could’ve said no.” 

Jay looked away and mumbled something. Sakura heard him but wanted to have him say it out loud. “What was that, Jay?” She teased, Jay groaned once again, then buried his face into his palms.

“I pinky promised,” a muffled reply. 

A beat passed.

Then two beats.

Before, “You…” Sunghoon started.

“Pinky promised?” Jake continued.

“YOU?!”  The rest of ENHYPEN exclaimed. Jay just went to his clothes, fumbling with the string of the tube top. The girls laughed and pulled him towards them before he could reach them.

“Take a picture with us first!” Chaewon laughed, grabbing his left bicep. Jay moved to pull away, but Eunchae and Kazuha took his other arm, and Sakura pulled him in between them. And to seal the deal, Yunjin pushed him down into a squatting position and leaned on his head. Sunoo is ready with his phone.

Jay was forced to smile for the camera; it was visibly awkward, but the girls were all smiling like they just won a major award. The moment it was done, and Jay finally got away from them, he changed in the speed of light and said nothing after that, despite all of their teasing.

Soyeon and Yumi are sitting in the HYBE cafeteria, talking about the upcoming schedules of the girls, when they spot a visibly stressed Yuki, with a grinning Minseo behind him. She sees the two of them and immediately walks towards them, pulling Yuki behind her.

“What’s got you so stressed this time?” Soyeon asked as the two sat down.

Yuki groaned, banging his head on the table. “Those two are a nightmare.”

“Yunjin and Jay?”

“Yes, those two. The editors for En-O’Clock are complaining about having a hard time editing their clips because they do a bunch of random stuff that would eat screentime.” Yuki ranted, and Yumi instantly related ot his problem.

“FimLog editors, too. They’ve been complaining that the two barely have any usable clips.”

Minseo furrowed her brows, “I thought Yuki said they do many random stuff, why not use those?”

“Usable, like, clips that wouldn’t start a dating rumor,” Yumi complained. She then took out a company-issued tablet, where most of the clips the two have collected have already been uploaded.

“Look at this,” 

She plays a clip.

*Clip

It was the same day that the two decided to jam together for the first time, Jay and Yunjin sitting on different chairs and at a respectable distance of about 2 feet, when Jay decided to reach down to bellow Yunjin’s seat and effortlessly towards him. Yunjin’s cheeks were dusted with pink.

*End clip

“Damn that would’ve made me fall,” Minseo commented.

“Forget falling, I would’ve asked ‘what are we’, right then and there,” Soyeon remarked.

Yuki rolled his eyes and opened his own tablet. “And this one, it was going so well before Jay decided to do this.”

*Clip

It was the two of them just finished doing throws and jumps, Soyeon was giving them comments, and the two were listening intently. They were also closed together when Soyeon showed them the video of their attempts. Innocent so far. Until Jay was caught by the camera stealing glances at Yunjin, scanning her face, memorizing every detail. And just before the clip ended, Soyeon turned away to put away the tablet, when Jay reached towards Yunjin's face, picking a stray eyelash that got stuck near her eye. His face was extremely close to hers. Yunjin’s breath visibly hitched, but she didn’t pull away; she didn’t even look uncomfortable.

*End Clip

“Right in front of my salad. How many moments like that did they manage to sneak in without me knowing?” Soyeon shook her head.

“A lot.” Yuki and Yumi replied. And Yuki played another clip.

*Clip

The two were doing jumps when Yunjin messed up the timing. Fortunately, Jay had fast reflexes and caught her, and instinctively shifted his hold, and was carrying Yunjin, bridal style, her arms wrapped securely around his neck. They stared at each other for a few seconds. Until Yunjin’s eyes dropped to his lips, and she watched as Jay unconsciously licked his lips, she didn’t even realize she did the same. They were broken out of their trance when Soyeon clapped her hands, signaling they should do it again. Yunjin stole one last glance at his lips before patting him on the shoulder, a sign to put her down.

* End clip

“The tension holy shit,” Minseo remarked as she ate popcorn.

Soyeon turned to her, “Where did you get that? Give me some.” She reached into that bag as Yuki played another clip.

* Clip

The two were standing in the middle of the practice room, it was clear that their actual practice was finished because the lights were dimmed, and Soyeon and any other people were nowhere to be seen.

They just finished dancing, something before Jay turned to Yunjin, suddenly having an idea.

“Hey, do you know that one trend?”

“What trend?”

“It was during the pandemic, I think it was a Latino song..sobro…sorbe?” Jay was raking through his head, while Yunjin looked at him, trying to see where he was going with this.

“Let’s check TikTok.” She opened the app, “What does it sound like?”

Jay hummed a tune, very familiar to Yunjin.

“Sobredosis?” She clicked on the video, and it was a couple dancing. “What about it?” 

Jay opened his mouth.

*Pause clip.

The three turned to Minseo, who paused the video.

“Hold up, is he going to say what I think he’s going to say? AND ARE THEY GOING TO DO IT?” Minseo was practically bouncing on her seat.

“Girl, I’m just as excited as you, but we won’t know if we paused now, move.” Soyeon pushed her hand and pressed play again.

*Resume clip

“I don’t know why I brought it up. I just remembered it and remember saying, ‘wow, me when.’” Jay admitted, and Yunjin stared at him for a second before bursting out laughing.

“No, because same. The people who did it were so cute, I wanted to experience it as well.” Yunjin agreed, her hand on her hips as she looked up at him, their height difference was not that big, she’s sure that if she wore heels, she’d be taller. But it was the way Jay carried himself that made him taller than he is. And personally, Yunjin liked their height difference.

Jay laughed along with her, “It made me feel so single, but I really wanted to try it someday.” Yunjin watches Jay’s expression carefully, and without thinking.

“Maybe, today’s the day.”

“Pardon?” Jay blinked.

Yunjin finally processed her words and started stuttering out, “I mean, I..I. We can do it now? You could do it with… You know what, never mind. Forget I said anything.” She was beet red, and was about to turn away, embarrassed, when Jay spoke up.

“Is that you offering?” Jay’s smile was gentle, and it was inviting her to be comfortable. To play along with him.

“Only if you accept.” Yunjin smiled back. 

Jay took her hand, and they both danced.

*End clip.

Soyeon and Minseo squealed, not caring how stressful it was for Yumi and Yuki. To hell with them needing clips, and that the video was clearly unusable. Their ship is sailing, and is sailing fast and strong.

“More more!” Soyeon exclaimed.

“Don’t you two realize how hard the editors' job is right now?” Yuki grumbled.

“Oh, we do. It’s just. LOOK AT THEM. That’s my OTP right there.” Minseo beamed.

“At this rate, Kazuha would win their bet,” Soyeon mumbled.

“Oh? The girls have bets as well?” Yumi was half-surprised because part of her knew that they would.

“The editors were also making bets. From what I heard.” Yuki commented.

“Wait, I want to start a new bet as well. 20,000 KRW, they get together by the time the challenge is done.” Minseo declared.

“Nah, both would take their time to get to know each other more, I’ll match that with them getting together a few months after.” Soyeon challenged.

“Those two stayed 14 hours in the practice room on their first day of practice. Just talking. I’m with Minseo.” Yumi bet.

“I’m also with Soyeon.” Yuki chimed in. “Jay doesn’t like rushing things. Especially things like this. Although… He is planning on giving Yunjin a custom guitar as a thank you.”

“WHAT?!” the women all exclaimed, making a few of the other staff in the cafeteria look at them. 

“When did he say that?” Soyeon asked in a hushed tone now.

“Literally the day after they spent the night together.”

“Damn, that boy is down BAD.” Yumi mused. 

“Of course he is, he offered to have Yunjin use one of his guitars.” 

“NO WAY.” Minseo was baffled.

Before anyone could say anything more, a notification interrupted them.

A new clip was uploaded. 

Yuki played it.

*Clip

Yunjin and Jay we sitting on the floor once again, this time closer to the camera, it looked like they placed it on a chair, so it would be leveled to their faces,

Yunjin started, “Jay forced me—” “Dared! You lost a bet—” Jay interrupted making Yunjin roll her eyes, “Fine dared me, to make a stan account for ENHYPEN, so we can snoop around. And this is my profile.” She showed her phone to the camera. Her username was @pocketzenthusiast. Her header was Ni-ki. Jay was her pfp. “Jay forced me to use his photo. But anyway, we’re going to try to join communities. I would want to join group DMS, but that wouldn’t be the best idea, and it would be too far. So we’ll stick with reading tweets.” 

She was already typing before she stopped and looked at the camera again. “By the way, if this clip is uploaded, I will be deleting the account.” She went back to typing again and then turned to Jay, “What should I tweet?”

“Say you’re new to stan tweet but is already an Engene.”

Yunjin nodded and began typing again, then Jay decided to have a little fun himself, “What if, when you tweet it, I’ll respond using the members’ account, that way they’ll have to use the clip, and you get attention.” Yunjin laughed while nodding, clearly finding that idea to be a great one. 

“Let’s do it.”

*Pause clip

“Check X,” Yuki said. Minseo and Yumi immediately moved, and when Minseo showed him, he face-palmed so hard.

It was already all over the ENHYPEN side of  Twitter.

“I swear.”

Soyeon resumed the clip, curious about why Yuki was so stressed.

*Resume clip

“Hello, but I’m a new Engene. I discovered them through Jay from Bon Jovi, and I fell in love with Pocketz. But I’m still relatively clueless. Where do I start?” Yunjin read as she typed. Jay was leaning near her, nodding as she spoke. “Andd, post!”

Jay grinned and opened his own phone, going to the ENHYPEN members’ official Twitter account and searching for her account. Copying Yunjin, reading out loud as he typed, “Welcome to the fandom! Thank you for looking into us. I hope you enjoy!”

“Now we wait for chaos.” Jay grinned.

*End clip.

“These two are insane.” Soyeon gawked at the two idols’ audacity. No wonder Yuki was stressed.

Meanwhile, the said two weren’t done scrolling. This time, they did it off-camera. The two managed to join, enssera community, and scrolled through what fans of both groups wish would happen.

“OMG! They call you Bruni.” Yunjin exclaimed as she saw the clip, which she immediately liked. She held up the screen beside his face. The picture of Bruni, the fire spirit from Frozen 2.

“OMG! YOU DO LOOK LIKE HIM!” She laughed. Jay just watched her and playfully rolled his eyes.

“No, I don’t.” He scoffed playfully.

“You do! I’m going to call you Bruni now!”

“Please don’t,” He protested, but there’s no real resistance behind his tone.

“You can’t stop me, you keep calling me Jellyfish, so I will call you Bruni!”

“Whatever you say, Jellyfish.”

Yunjin giggled, then continued her scroll. “They’ve been begging for us to do a guitar duo.” Yunjin chuckled, then looked towards her right where Jay’s face was close to hers. Their eyes met, her eyes flickered to his lips, before meeting his eyes again. Jay shrugged.

“I mean, we already filmed one before, should we do one again?” Jay suggested, and Yunjin brightened, nodding enthusiastically. Jay chuckled fondly and softly pinched her nose before he could stop himself. He couldn’t help himself really. Yunjin was too cute sometimes.

They played till their hearts' content.

While playing, Jay watched her close her eyes as she played, feeling the music. He then remembered the guitar he was planning on giving her. It was set to be delivered tomorrow, just in time for them to film the challenge.

He hoped, this thing they’re building won’t stop tomorrow.

Chapter Text

*On camera (Jay’s En-O’Clock)

The clip opened up with Jay and Yunjin being filmed from the corner of the practice room. They were dancing. Jay was already setting Yunjin down to finish off the routine, once her feet were planted on the ground, their faces inches closer to each other. The music fades as their lips are just centimeters away.

“AND CUT!” a voice rang out. And the two idols both collapsed to the floor out of exhaustion. Their heavy breathing was heard from the floor.

The clip was then cut to Yunjin, who was wiping her sweat, Jay a little to her right, drinking from a water bottle.

They were approached by their managers and Soyeon to brief them about the plan.

“Tomorrow, we will be heading to our shooting site, and we will be filming the whole day.”Soyeon started, “Our schedule has always been tight, but the two of you managed to complete and master three different routines in record time. Making it possible. However, tomorrow we will be going head-on without running through the routine with your outfits. But with the boys leaving the day after for the States, we have to.” The two nodded, taking in the information. Then Yuki spoke up, “We’re ending the practice here because you two need rest, so let’s wrap up for the afternoon.”

The two started bowing to the staff around them, thanking them for their hard work for the day, and then they accidentally bumped their heads into each other. Making the staff around them giggle.

Yunjin laughed, her loud one. Jay laughed along, but his hands instinctively rubbed her head, the spot where he had accidentally bumped into her. She smiled at the gesture.  Then the clip was cut from there.

*Off cam

Jay was still rubbing her head when Yuki cleared his throat, making the two look at him, Jay’s hands dropping to his sides, but still bruising against Yunjin’s. Something that didn’t escape Minseo’s eyes, she came to watch her idol, Jay, dance, even though she had no part in creating the routine, she is ENHYPEN’s usual choreographer, also deep down, she ships the two and wanted an excuse to watch them.

“When I said I need you two to rest, I mean it, so I know you two probably have plans for dancing, playing guitar, or whatever. But zip it tonight. Yunjin-ssi, you will go home with your members, and you,” Yuki pointed at Jay, “Are going to the practice room. A package arrived.” That made Jay’s ears perk up. Yunjin, beside him, nodded and went to collect her things. Truth be told, they actually did have plans; they were going to play and sing together. But maybe next time.

She bowed to the staff again and waved to Jay before following her manager out of the room. While walking in the hallway, she didn’t realize she was smiling, as she recalled the giggles and jokes she and Jay shared that day. She was also excited about the fun they would have tomorrow while filming. Jay makes everything fun. Laughing was always easy with her, but something was different with Jay; it was a different kind of joy.  Then she suddenly froze. Tomorrow was their filming schedule. That means the challenge would be done.

Oh.

Would that mean she and Jay wouldn’t talk anymore? She didn’t even have his contact yet. Is tomorrow the end of this unexpected friendship? Well, probably not since their two groups are already acquainted, but would that be all it would be? Surely not, at least from her perspective, she and Jay are building something else. Right? She’s not delusional…Right?

“Yunjin!”

Her train of thought was stopped, and it was then she realized she was standing in front of the facial scanner, and the gate was already unlocked. And her manager was already on the other side, waiting for her.

“Oh, sorry.” She shuffled out of the gate awkwardly. Looking back behind her to check if she was blocking someone, thankfully, there was no one.

“What took you so long? Did the facial recognition not work again?” Yumi asked, but she knew damn well it worked perfectly, she already saw the gate opened in front of Yunjin. But she’s concerned. Yunjin was lost in thought for a hot minute.

“Yeah, it didn’t recognize me again,” Yunjin mumbled, and her walk was slow. Maybe if she got home a little slower, tomorrow wouldn’t come so quickly. 

Yumi could only watch, deciding against talking to her about it.

Meanwhile, Jay walked inside the ENHYPEN practice room, beaming when he saw a big box in the corner. He immediately took the camera that Yuki was holding, turned it on, and walked towards the corner.

* On cam

The camera captured a grinning Jay, who was looking at the package, then started searching for a pair of scissors to open it with. When he found it, he turned to the camera.

“Hello, everyone! Look what just came in,” He panned the camera to the box he was laying it down on the floor gently. “This is a gift for Yunjin! It will be a thank you gift, even though she said I shouldn’t, but that won’t stop me.” He smiled as he set down the camera, making sure the angle would capture him unboxing, but Yuki came and held it for him.

“I ordered this a week ago, just a day after our first practice,” He said as he gently cuts the tape of the first box, “I won’t spoil what it is, but it’s very her coded,” he smiled again, “I hope she will like it.”

He continued taking out the multiple layers of protection, and finally, he reached the guitar case, which he excitedly showed to the camera. “It’s a guitar!” he grinned, “Actually, this would also be the first time I will look at it because, when I ordered it, I only gave a description of what it should look like, the details I wanted it to have, so we will find out together.”

He carefully opened the case, and the sight made him and the voice behind the camera gasp. Even though it was not visible, Yuki was gaping as Jay picked up the guitar from the case. The guitar was beautiful.

The guitar features an elegant and ethereal design, the body is a mesmerizing dark red with flame-like wood grain beneath. Gold and brass accents in the body, control knobs, and the strap buttons, adding to its luxurious touch. The fretboard features custom inlays, depicting floral patterns, and the edge of the guitar was trimmed in gold. To make it more personal, the body features intricate jellyfish motifs in a golden hue.

It was so Yunjin that Yuki couldn’t help but marvel at how the guitar company got Jay’s rough description. Jay showed the guitar to the camera more clearly now. Mouth still open, as he was still processing the product of his idea. It was better than he imagined. “Yeorobun! Look.” He stared at it for a little longer before mumbling. “Should I write something?” He turned to Yuki, looking for his opinion, when he nodded, Jay got to work looking for a piece of paper. 

“I won’t show the letter unless she wants to, but it will be a message for her.” Jay said as he writes, not looking up, “But you get to watch me write it. So that’s something.”

He folded the piece of paper and slid it into the case before placing the guitar over it. But a voice stopped him, “You’re not going to sign it?” Yuki chimed from behind the camera.

“The card? I already did.”

“No, the guitar.”

“Why would I sign the guitar?”

“You're Jay of ENHYPEN.”

“Yeah? And she’s Yunjin of LE SSERAFIM.”

“You signed the one you gave your dad.”

“What about it? He’s my dad.”

“...”

“...”

The two just stared at each other, but from the viewer’s perspective, it was just Jay staring, before a sigh was heard.

“Why do I even bother.”

Then the clip was cut from there.

The next clip was Jay in the car, looking like he had just woken up and was waiting for somebody; he had a paper bag on his lap. Then the car door opened, and Jay’s face instantly lit up. A woman with orange hair entered.

It was Yunjin! Like the pro idol she is, she immediately found the camera that was filming them, and gave a wave. 

“Oh! Look what I found last night.” Yunjin excitedly showed Jay her phone. Jay leaned in closer towards her so he could peek properly. Yunjin giggled as she showed a post ‘announcing’ their collaboration stage for Weverse Con. Jay’s eyebrows rose. “I didn’t know we had a collab upcoming.” Yunjin laughed; it was music to Jay’s ears. 

I want to keep making her laugh.

“Maybe we can.” Jay blurted out without thinking. Yunjin stopped and looked at him. Unknown to the two of them, one of ENHYPEN’s managers, who was driving, nearly pressed the brakes. Yunjin’s manager also froze.

Yunjin looked at him closely, “Oh my god, you’re serious!” she gaped at him.

“Why not. If they want it to happen, why not make it happen?” Jay shrugged, “I remember they posted something like that last year, too,” he recalled.

“Will they let us though?” 

The two turned to their managers in the front, who looked at each other. 

“You both perform on different days,” one of them answered.

“Which makes it even better, they won’t expect it.” Jay reasoned.

“What would you two even play?” This time, Yunjin’s manager asked.

“I can play 1-800-hot-n-fun while the girls dance,” Jay answered.

“Can you even play that?” Jay’s manager asked, clearly trying to dissuade Jay from deciding. Neither of the managers can really flat-out refuse or agree. But they’re trying to keep Jay’s idea just an idea brought up in this car ride only. 

“He can!” Yunjin confirmed for Jay, “We actually did it before. Right, Manager-nim?” Yunjin called out to her manager, who sighed in agreement. He actually saw Jay play it, he was the one who told him to. But by then, he didn’t recognize him as Jay of ENHYPEN…well, Jay introduced himself, but he thought he was joking. The last time he saw Jay was online, and he had silver hair at that time.

The two managers were silent. “Does silence mean yes?” Jay asked hopefully. Yunjin, beside him, nodded. 

A few more beats of silence, the two idols held their breaths, before Yunjin’s manager sighed, “Ask Soyeon-nim first.”

“Yes!” The two pumped up their fist simultaneously and high-fived each other. The rest of the ride was the two of them goofing around, Yunjin teasing Jay, with her new favorite nickname of his, Bruni, searching online and comparing it side-by-side with his face, asking him to mimic the expressions so she could take a picture. Jay indulges her with a fond glint in his eyes.

The clip was cut from their, the editors didn’t want to use it initially, the tension was thicker than before, but spoiler alert, they got what they wanted.

The new clip opened up with Jay freezing, even though it was spring. Their filming site was actually at a high altitude, not to mention it was near nightfall, matching the vibe that Soyeon Amy was going for. Jay was wearing a corset vest with a long tail on the end. The under color is a blood red shade, while the vest itself is a beautiful black with a few roses design scattered elegantly. You’d think that would’ve been enough to shield him from the cold, but no, his under shirt was the problem it was thin, and his sleeves from the shoulder to his mid bicep was nonexistent, his very thin sleeves are attached by a few threads from the shoulder of the vest to giving a torn effect. Jay was shaking. Yunjin suddenly came into frame from behind him. Unlike Jay, she was wearing a padded jacket over her outfit.

“Oh!” Yunjin exclaimed, “Where’s your jacket?” Jay turned to her in surprise, “Why does she get to wear her’s?” he complained to the stylist, half-playfully, half-serious. Yunjin laughed behind him.

“Yunjin-ssi is wearing a sleeveless outfit.” The stylist answered as they went to him, making finishing touches to his appearance. Jay’s complaints about himself all died in an instant, “What do you mean sleeveless? It’s freezing, you’re going to make her film sleeveless? Give her another layer.” 

Yunjin wanted to giggle. It was sweet that Jay was concerned for her, but there really wasn’t a problem in the first place. Before she could cut in, Jay continued his rant about her health. The stylist cuts in. “Her sleeves are detachable, while yours are not, which is why you can’t wear a jacket; it will ruin your sleeves. Stand over there now,” she pointed at the portable heater.

The events that followed were supposed to be removed from the episode entirely, but with the lack of clips usable for Jay’s En-O’Clock episode, the editors decided to keep them. 

Yunjin shook her head, then followed Jay to the heater, and without thinking, took his right hand and started rubbing it between her hands. Jay froze; thankfully, Yunjin didn’t notice, and Jay felt his insides grow warm.

Why even use the heater at this point?

Yunjin kept doing it, switching between his hands, making small talk with him, which thankfully distracted him enough that he wouldn’t fully melt to the floor. 

The two of them were too lost in their conversation to notice Yumi and Soyeon hitting each other, out of frame, a few feet away. Both were clearly giddy at the two, hand in hand, talking seriously. The two women couldn’t exactly hear them, but their delusional asses assumes that they’re confessing to each other. When in reality the two were debating on which Hogwarts house the other is. A debate that Jay doesn’t really plan on winning, only to see Yunjin make those expressions that he found extremely cute.

The next clip was Yunjin now in her full outfit, Jay right behind them, listening to the Director on how they’re planning on filming this, the camera movements, when a sudden wind blew. Yunjin, although her outfit has more layers, it didn’t do much for warmth. Jay used himself as a shield from the wind after he ignored the voice in the back of his head to hug Yunjin to shield her from the cold. Yunjin shot him a grateful look, which he promptly returned with a small smile. He even made a point of flexing his body bigger so he could cover her even more.  

Jay’s suggestion of doing all three songs was approved, and the sequence was the same as the order of the songs they learned. War of Hearts, first. 

The camera pointed at the ground, the grass was slowly returning to its color. The song starts, the camera slowly moves, while strings play, and the camera slowly shows Jay, standing motionless, his heavy breathing on beat.

“Come to me in the night hours..”

The camera panned, then Yunjin came to the frame, walking towards him, circling around him, Jay tried to reach her with one hand, but his long sleeves on the other looked like it was binding him.

“And I can’t sleep, ‘cause thoughts devour… Thoughts of you consume ”

Just as Yunjin turned away from him, after watching him being bounded, a sudden strength came to Jay and he lunged for his wrist, Yunjin spinning into his arms, stopping when there was not space between them, her hands resting on his chest, while his, traveled from her arms to her waist.

“Ooh-ooh

Ooh-ooh

Ooh-ooh, ooh-ooh”

They swayed for a bit, Yunjin resting her forehead on his chest, Jay caressing the back of her head. 

“Ooh-ooh

Ooh-ooh

Ooh-ooh, ooh-ooh”

Then they stopped. Yunjin pulled away ever so slightly. Then motioned to leave his arms again. Then the beat dropped.

“I can’t help but love you, even though I try not to. ”

He lifted her up, spun for a second before she got away again, she moved captivatingly, as if taunting him to come closer. But Jay’s movement was a frantic contrast to her entrancing motions, his sleeves acting like shackles that he fights to break free from. His face was written with desperation and struggle. 

“I can’t help but want you… I know that I’d die without you.

Shadows creep and want grows stronger…”

Jay performs floorwork, curling around himself, and Yunjin circles him. Then she stopped her torture for a moment, walking to him, placing a calming hand on his face.

“...deeper than the truth.”

Then he exploded, his hands like magnets attached to her waist, lifting her up properly this time, but with another touch, but with a different movement from Yunjin, Jay dropped her once again. She lands gracefully, repeating her spell-like dance, and he stumbles back. Just as Jay recovered, Yunjin ran to him again, and like always, he opened his arms,

“I can’t help but be wrong in the dark, ‘cause I’m overcome in this war of hearts.”

When he caught her holding her high in his arms, like a burden he couldn’t drop, he tried to secure her in his arms once more, but they broke into explosive turns and partnered spins before she spun away fully, and he fell to his knees before he could.

“I can’t help but want oceans to part… ‘Cause I’m overcome in this war of hearts”

Yunjin toys with him again, allowing him to twirl her around, brushing her hand, touching him from behind, before disappearing from his vision. With one final attempt, Jay surges forward, reaching towards the last place he saw her, before collapsing on his knees.

“Ooh-ooh

Ooh-ooh

Ooh-ooh, ooh-ooh”

He swayed against the entrancing voice, before he sat on his feet, then curled up against himself, knees against his chest, and then he buried his head there.

“CUT!”

Jay shot up, as if he hadn’t done one of the most emotional dances he had done in his life, and bolted straight to Yunjin, who was beside the heater. The staff all laughed and clapped at him. Praises for the two’s performance were thrown around. The director, after monitoring their first take, walked towards them.

“Take five. Warm up, and then we go back to film a few of it’s parts again but different angles,” The director told them both, before turning to Yunjin directly addressing her, “Yunjin we’ll be taking solo shots of you doing your solo part,” He turned briefly to Jay, “You can keep warming up, here Jay.”

“No, I’ll join her,” Jay volunteered without missing a beat, shocking both Yunjin and the director.

“Are you sure? You don’t have to, you know? It will be Yunjin focused, you’re solo shots are already done.” The director explained.

“I know, but I don’t want her to freeze on her own there,” Jay realized how that sounded and tried to brush it off by saying, “Also, there are also parts that I think I could’ve done better.”

His poor attempt was futile because Yunjin’s ears were already red, and her insides were fuzzy again. The staff around them who heard were already passing around bills, someone made bets, or was making bets.

“Well, if you’re sure,” the director shrugged, deep down, they actually wanted to see more of the two; their chemistry is too good not to capture. This might be his greatest work yet. “Warm up well.”

The director turned to walk away, “You didn’t have to, you know? I can do it by myself.” Yunjin murmured to him, her hands were shaking, she wasn’t really sure if it was the cold or because of her heart beating uncontrollably after Jay’s declaration, it was sweet of him to join her, but she didn’t want for him to spend more time in the cold than he already did, his outfit was already not built for the cold.

Jay noticed her shaking hands and took both of them between his larger hands, sandwiching them with his, “I know, but I want to.” Jay looked up to meet her eyes, determined to show her his sincerity. “So let me please?”

Her racing heart stuttered. 

Is this the war of hearts the song meant? Or am I interpreting the song wrong?

She nodded, forcing a smile. Well, truth be told, none of her smiles with Jay are forced; this one was forcing it to be casual rather than giddy. 

What is it with him and making me smile?

Their moment was cut short when the director called for them. And true to Jay’s word, he did it with her; they both did their own ad-libs, Jay reaching out his arm within frame while it was focused on her, and she made a point in shooing it away, rejecting him, making sure he doesn’t fully enter the frame. Then, on her last close-up, she used it to get close to Jay, ghostly. Before pulling away, with a sinister yet soft smile.

“CUT!” 

Yunjin’s face changed from the cold persona to the bubbly girl she is, and latched on to a kneeling Jay, tugging him up, and hauling him to the heater, keeping him close. Jay chuckled as he let himself be manhandled by Yunjin.

The next clip was Jay finally allowed to wear a padded jacket. It was a good thing, too, because with his outfit, and if he wasn’t allowed to once again, he would riot. His outfit was a satin red backless top, with thin necklace-like chains connecting the shoulders with another dangling from the middle of the connecting chain; the sleeves were less flowy than the previous one. His pants are a lighter color than his top, also loose for movement. He was in the middle of answering a few questions for En-O’Clock. The question was:

“ What did you enjoy the most throughout the process of this challenge?” 

Jay thought for a moment, not because he didn’t enjoy it, but because there were so many moments where he felt an overwhelming sense of joy that he couldn’t choose one. But they all have one thing in common, though: Yunjin was there. 

Before he could filter the words coming out of his mouth, “Getting to know Yunjin.” The cameraman and the audio-person froze; he wasn’t supposed to say something like that. Before they could do anything, Jay continued, “I looked up to Yunjin as an artist, and getting a chance to collaborate with her is an honor,” he smiled softly, this time the two staff in charge of interviewing Jay are long passed frozen, now they’re panicking, Jay’s confession was raw, “In over 2 years—nearly 3 years of her debut, she managed to collab with big names, and amazing artists. When manager-hyung told me to look for an artist I would want to collab with, within HYBE first, I went to her performance first…” he was cut off when Yunjin suddenly opened the tent, holding a chip bag, looking excited.

“Oh shit I didn’t know you were filming something.” After realizing, she turned to leave, when Jay’s voice stopped her.

“How much did you hear?” 

“I didn’t hear anything? Why?” She tilted her head, curious.

Jay shook his head, before switching the topic, he was not mentally prepared to face Yunjin’s reaction to his honest thoughts.  “Why’d you come here by the way? You looked excited.”

“Oh, I wanted you to taste this chip the stylist gave me,” she waved the bag, shaking its contents, “but I can give it to you after this.”

“Feed me now, you’re already here now anyway,” Jay said that so casually that it set out alarms in the other three people’s heads.

“ ABORT! ABORT! ABORT!”  

If the two staff weren’t panicking before, they sure are now. Meanwhile, Yunjin’s head malfunctioned completely, but somehow her hands moved on their own when Jay opened his mouth. In his mouth, the chip went.

“It’s good!” Jay smiled at her, and she swore that she didn’t know her heart could go that fast; she felt it beat before the sound. She smiled back at him when Jay laughed at her red ears, hitting his arm softly for laughing at her. 

The cameraman was not having it anymore and stopped the clip there. It was clear what Jay was talking about: his favorite moment.

The next clip was Yunjin watching something intently, looking so focused, the camera panned to the thing that she was watching, and it was Jay filming a solo part, it was the transition from the first song to the next. Eagle-eyed fans noticed a discarded padded jacket on the side. Any other person would shrug it off as Jay’s because he was filming right now, but the jacket looked too small for Jay’s frame. Conveniently, the jacket Yunjin was using was larger than the one she was wearing the clip before.

She noticed the camera focused back on her again, and she smiled and playfully gestured silently to Jay, kneeling on the ground, with the camera moving around him. She even went as far as to move to have a closer look. 

“They should use that as the thumbnail. Jay’s exposed back would pull thousands instantly.” Yunjin mumbled to no one in particular. Unknown to her, it would make the final cut of the behind-the-scenes, and the editors even complimented her idea by placing text in the final upload. 

Then it came time for them to film the second song. Yunjin’s outfit was the same color of Jay’s outfit, it was an elegan dress, with a slit on the side starting from her mid thighs, her leves were loose her shoulders exposed, and on her back rather than backless it was a see through mesh with a beautiful rose art.

Then the music started, the initial instrumental for Middle of the Night was extended for the sake of filming. The first thing the camera focused on was Jay’s back, The edited version showed Jay’s tight costume from the previous song was shredded, turning into ashes, then changed to his now backless outfit. Then, after moving away, Yunjin was seen from the corner of the frame walking towards him, stopping just in front of him. And with a ghostly touch, brought him back to life, and Jay stood up like he was being pulled up by a string.

But this time, Jay’s eyes flashed red for a split second, casting Yunjin into a trance as well. Soyeon Amy made sure to add ENHYPEN’s vampire lore into Jay’s challenge. And so the two circled to the other, both moving in a trancelike state, dancing around each other, Yunjin reaching out to him, he steps back. Then his movements started getting sharper, while Yunjin’s fluidity kept growing stronger, tempting him once again.

"I summoned you, please come to me..."

She had had enough and held a hand up, fully casting her spell.

“Don’t bury thoughts that you really want…”

Jay sank to his knees before falling to the floor, curling into himself, before dancing lying down as if searching for something inside him. Then Yunjin stood just above him, her hands forming a makeshift cup.

“ Drink from my cup..”

Jay eagerly crawled up and just as his lips could even reach inches from her hands, she pulled the string she attached to him and danced like she was controlling his movements, and he followed.

“ Come lay me down, 'cause you know this sound…”

Desperately, with a final attempt, Jay reached for her hand, and Yunjin extended hers. And when they did, her strings on him broke, and they started dancing together this time, moves mirroring each other, slow and connected. Until they’re in each other’s arms, faces close, cheeks brushing against each other. They took a step back from each other.

Then the beat dropped.

“In the middle of the night... I’m yours to tame…”

They turned back to each other, and Jay lifted Yunjin in a horizontal spin, then she dropped into a dip. Jay’s footwork was unmatched, as Yunjin watched from the side before she broke into a sprint.

“Just call my name, I'm yours to tame…”

They collide in a tight embrace. Jay’s face brushing against her neck. Then he stumbled back again, hounding his chest as if it burned, as he fell, Yunjin walks over him, as she did her own dance solo, dancing elegantly, swan-like even. Jay backrolled to stand up, and when he was on his feet. Yunjin leaped into his arms with full trust. He spins her before letting her fall through his arms like water.

“In the middle of the night, in the middle of the night”

They twirled around side by side before Yunjin came inside Jay’s arms again, starting another lift. But this time, Yunjin wrapped her legs around Jay’s head, performing acrobatics. Before she dropped to her feet. 

“These burning flames, these crashing waves

Wash over me like a hurricane

I'll captivate, you're hypnotized

Feel powerful, but it's me again.”

Yunjin pulled her hand away as if burned, but made herself light as she purposefully fell like you would when a wave hits you, Jay catching her last second, and they turned like a hurricane. Yunjin looked at Jay with captivating eyes, Jay fell under her spell.

“In the middle of the night, in the middle of the night

Just call my name, I'm yours to tame

In the middle of the night, in the middle of the night”

They continue their dance, mirroring each other, then in tandem, and then complementing each other. 

“...in the middle of the night, oh, whoa”

They stopped chest to chest, Yunjin’s hold from his hands traced his arm until she reached his neck, and she wrapped her arms around his neck, Jay’s hands followed her’s up and settled on her face, cradling her face, thumbs brushing on her cheek. Eyes still locked onto each other.

“CUT!”

And just like that, Jay’s warmth slipped from her face and went to her waist when Jay pulled her with him to walk to the heater together. Her arm also wrapped around him. When they reached the tent, Jay handed her his jacket and took a seat in front of the heater, his back still bare. She didn’t argue about having his jacket, they already had it just before he shot his solo shots. So, instead, she took hers and draped it over his back and took the hot packs that their manager was offering and shared them with him.

The next scene was the two of them side by side, monitoring their take for the second song. It turned out really well, no extra shooting needed. The staff around them clapped when the director announced that they would only use that one take, and the two took a few playful bows. Neither of them ever stays away from each other for more than a few inches.

Cut to the next clip, and the two were once again side by side; this time, there was a larger distance in between them compared to the previous clip. Yunjin was the focus of this clip this time.

“My feet are cold,” she pouted to the camera unknowingly. Jay was behind her, chewing his food, but was listening to her, “We’re taking an hour break, because for the last song, after the beat drops and the vibe changes, we’re going to film it at night.”

She picked up her bento and a separate container, to show it to the camera, “Look at this, yeorubun!” she pointed at the separate container, “I feel like you guys would be envious of this one,” she tapped the container to further emphasize it, “This dish right here was made by Bruni!” then to her delight the camera actually did pan to Jay who was eating, when he noticed that the focus was on him he made a little peace sign and continued eating. 

“I bet you guys are envious I get to taste the great ENHYPEN cheff’s food,” she grinned and even made a point of taking a bite from the food, then as she was chewing her face shifted to something teasing, “Member-duel, I’ll tell you guys how Jay’s cooking taste like. You guys wished it was you, huh?” Jay snorted beside her, making her laugh as well.

Jay finished chewing and swallowed his food, then he turned to Yunjin and held up his imaginary mic once again. “Ms. Huh, how would you rate the food from 1 to 10?” Yunjin grinned at him and played along.

“10 being the best?”

“If that’s what you want,” he replied charmingly. Yeah, that threw her off. But she quickly regained her composure, then pointed to the bento, saving his cooked food for last, “This is 9 out of 10.”

“I was talking about my cooking.”

“You said rate the food, this is food. I will come back to yours later.” Yunjin, before she could think, winked at him before going back to rating the food. Until she reached Jay’s cooking, “And that’s all,” she paused dramatically to look at Jay, before bursting into laughter at Jay’s pouty expression, clearly eager about her honest thoughts, she reached over and rubbed his cheek as you would a dog, “Stop pouting, Bruni. I’m going to rate it now.”

Out of the frame and the view of the two idols, Yuki face-palmed at the affection Yunjin showed. Don’t get him wrong, he’s all for his ship having development, but couldn’t they choose any other time than now, where a camera was 2 feet from their faces?

Jay watched her intently, eyes mixed with emotion that Yuki could only interpret as eagerness…and tenderness? Oh god. Yuki wanted to groan out loud. Fans would definitely notice that.

“The texture is good. Smell. Phenomenal. Appearance.” Yunjin started critiquing it as if she were a world-renowned food critic, making Jay roll her eyes, but the fond look on his face betrayed his facade. “Appetizing. Now for the taste,” she paused dramatically, “Amazing, I give it a 20 out of 10.”

Jay's smile after that was blinding after her rating. Even did a victory wiggle on his seat, making Yunjin laugh at his silliness. Then, in an attempt to defuse the situation, one of the staff members decided to ask.

“Yunjin-ssi, how were you throughout the whole challenge preparation? What was your favorite part?” It was a poor attempt from the staff, but Yuki had already given up, and that prompt from the staff felt like it would be the final blow. So he just held his breath, closed his eyes, and prayed that it wouldn’t be too controversial for the camera. Surely, Yunjin wouldn’t forget that this is a camera, and fans take things in their interpretation and blow it out of proportion. 

And without hesitation.

“It was one of the best experience I could hope for,” a cheerful Yunjin declared, as Yuki let out a little sigh of relief—okay it wasn’t too bad, it was almost professional— but Yunjin decided to put the first nail in the coffin, “Jay is one of the best artist I’ve worked with by far, and he’s extremely underrated.” 

“You’re just saying that because I’m here.” Jay teased, but really he didn’t know how to hold a compliment. And then Yuki felt his heart dropped, when Yunjin decided to hit another nail, “I would say it even if there isn’t a camera on me, and if you’re not here. I would tell everyone how much of a great artist you are, and I love working with you on this.” and then the final blow to drive the nail in, “And I would want to work with you more in the future.” then another hit—just to make sure that it was fully in— she leaned closer to him, nudging his shoulders with her’s, “Don’t sell yourself short Bruni.” Of course, she had to include his nickname.

Jay nudged back, smiling. Of course, he decided to put in his own nail. But really, Jay had the most nails in that coffin. “Alright, Jellyfish, if you say so.”

Then a savior came and cut in on their moment, much to Yuki’s relief. The stylist came to get Yunjin, who stood up to follow, but of course, without ruffling Jay’s hair, and waved to the camera, even sending a flying kiss to them. Jay decided to wave bye as well, he’s going to get his 10 minutes of shut-eye. The clip was cut from there.

Yunjin was sitting on Jay’s shoulder. That was the first thing the next clip showed. They were standing, well, JAY was standing under a tree. Both of them are in their new outfits, and Yunjin was seen holding something.

“Jay, can you move a little to the left? I can’t find the nest.” And he followed carefully without complaint. And it was then that a voice from a distance was heard.

“YAH YAH, JAY BE CAREFUL WITH YOUR KNEES”

“YUNJIN DON’T MOVE SO MUCH JAY COULD DROP YOU.”

More scolding was heard from a distance, but the two focused on their mission of bringing the bird to its nest. After Yunjin found the nest, Jay set her down gently and decided to be playful. Tapped her arm before running away. “Tag, you’re it.”

Yunjin, without hesitating, ran after him, “YAHH!”

The clip cut to the two of them chasing each other from a distance, a voice from the side of the camera calling them back, but the camera was trying it’s best to zoom in into them, and they manage to get the camera focused just intime for Yunjin to pounce at Jay making the two of them to fall to the grass Jay cushioning Yunjin’s fall, their loud laughter was heard. Their managers rush to them, ready to scold them and to check for any possible injury.

The next clip was them, sitting together again with a phone, the camera set on the table in front of them.

“So, we were banned from leaving here until we start filming.” Yunjin grinned at the camera as she explained, then nudged Jay beside her, who was scrolling on his phone. “So, me and Jay decide to entertain ourselves by playing some filters on TikTok.”

“To make things interesting, the loser will have to do something on stage,” Jay added while scrolling. Yunjin nodded in agreement.

“As you folks know, Jay is performing at Coachella,” she paused and cheered for him, making Jay laugh.

“Following our sunbaenim’s footsteps,” Jay boasted confidently.

“Eh? Sunbaenim? You’re our sunbaenim.” Yunjin looked at him, baffled. Jay’s face went from proud to realization. Yunjin cackled at his face, “Yah, Bruni, why are you so forgetful?” Jay hid his face behind her shoulder, away from the camera.

“Let’s just play a game.” Jay tried to brush off, but Yunjin wanted to protest, but decided to spare Jay from the embarrassment. “This one,” Yunjin leaned in closer to take a peek at Jay’s chosen game. It was a shooting filter and looked easy enough, “Alright, let’s do it!” She agreed.

“Do we film this?” Jay shifted a little so the two of them would fit the frame. 

“You decide,” Yunjin shrugged, and Jay pressed record. 

Once it was recording, “Ladies first.” That was enough to unlock Yunjin’s competitive energy. Her first attempt was a failure, making Jay laugh.”

“That doesn’t count, I didn’t know how to do it,” Jay laughed even more as she defended herself.

“Alright, let’s try this, me first,” Jay straightened up to play, while Yunjin watched from beside him, her forehead peeking at the corner of the screen. Jay didn’t get a perfect score, but he was the highest so far. He turned to her smugly, “Beat that,” he provoked.

“Now I get it!” Yunjin pretended to crack her knuckles, “Watch me, Bruni.”

To Jay’s shock and dread, she was doing well, too well. And then she won. Jay’s jaw dropped as Yunjin shot up to her feet, jumping in victory.

“You lose!” Yunjin pointed at him, “You’re going to curse on stage.”

Jay groaned before responding, realizing he couldn’t get out of this anyway, “What will I say?” Yunjin immediately took out her phone and started scrolling through her stan account, “I have this saved and I was going to ask you to do it anyway.” she paused dramatically and gave him a mischievous glance, “But since we made a bet, now you have to do it.” once she found it she eagerly showed Jay.

Jay’s eyes narrowed as he looked at the tweet Yunjin was referring to, and it was a video of her, during last year’s Coachella, she was delivering a very iconic line, “Coachella! ARE YOU GUYS READY? TO SHAKE SOME FUCKING ASS?”  

“You want me to say that?” Jay was baffled but also excited to do it.

“Yeah! Look, your fans are asking for it?”

“Really? How come I didn’t know, and I snoop in En-twt?” 

“Well, it’s not exactly just En-twt.” Yunjin sheepishly admitted, “It’s actually both of our fandoms in one? They call it enssera nation, and there are actually many fans that love both of our groups equally.” 

“I didn’t know that.”

“Now you do, I was looking for things we could do together that fans would like, and I went in a deep dive on this enssera agenda. And I found out, wow, they were waiting for us to interact.”

“You and I? 

“Not just me and you, but anyone in our group. We starved them.”

Jay chuckled, but before he could answer, one of the LE SSERAFIM managers, who wasn’t Yumi, “Do you two remember the TikTok challenges you filmed a week ago? The pr team approved of it. It’s already up.”

“Really?” The two said simultaneously.

The manager just nodded in confirmation. Then showed them the post, and sure enough, all four TikTok challenges they did are up.

“I got to see the fans' reaction,” Yunjin said as she went to refresh her timeline, but before she could scroll, another manager made themselves known.

“Unfortunately, that will have to wait. The two of you will be filming the last song.”

Yunjin pouted but was wiped off when Jay nudged her, “Come on, the longer it’s posted, the funnier the fans’ reactions are.” he comforted, but then did something that made Yunjin’s ear burn, he leaned in close to her ear, “If its a bad reaction I’ll have your back don’t worry.” his words came out soft, only for her to hear. Her mouth opened to respond, but no words would come out. Jay offered his arms to her, and she just shook her head and took his arm, brushing off his words, acting like it didn’t fry her brain, and kickstart a marathon in her heart.

The next song started with the two of them in the same position as they were in the previous song. The camera was circling around them, their clothes changing, until the final turn, Yunjin disappeared from Jay’s arms. And Jay walked around searching.

His outfit was full white: a sheer, loose-fitting blouse with a deep V neckline and long, airy sleeves. The fabric is lightweight and semi-transparent, allowing light to reflect softly off it, adding a dreamy effect; his pants are wide-legged, same material as his top, giving the same flowy feel; and a sash woven from his shoulders, draping him until his arms. The problem was that the material was so thin that it gave an airy and flow effect.

Meanwhile, Yunjin’s outfit was the same one she used for the HOT music video, where the girls shot on the beach, but this time, rather than thick boots, she was wearing white stockings that reached her feet in a slipper-like manner, her toes exposed. And her sleeves are longer and more veil-like. She looked like a goddes in Jay’s mind and he’s damn sure everyone would agree.

He danced on the ground, the spot where she last stood, as if Yunjin had just been swallowed by the ground, and then a veil passed over his head, and there she was, behind him looking just as relief to see him. Jay scrambled to his feet, reaching for her, but her sleeve was suddenly pulled. Jay leaped to her and pulled her sleeve, cutting it from the invisible force, and they danced together. Alternating from waltzing, Jay, twirling her around, carrying her,

The music started to accelerate, and she spun away from him, hands linked together, but before she could spin back into his arms, the force was back, and she was pulled away from him. 

Then the music changed, and so did her outfit, from her pure white dress turned into her flowy black dress she was wearing on that one EASY concept photo where she was sinking in the water, mirroring her emotions that she felt when separated from her lover she sat there on her knees as her clothes shifted. 

Then the camera panned to Jay, who was pulled down by what seemed to be his own sleeve. He moved as if fighting the chains. He stopped, seemingly exhausted, looking down. The camera moved closer to him until he suddenly looked up, his long sleeves brushing the camera lens, covering it for a moment, before it focused back on him. This time, his outfit was fully black.

He started dancing in a way that he was fighting something, while Yunjin was doing floorwork, desperate to get away. When Jay reached her, he gently pulled her up. But her sleeves pulled her down, so Jay lifted her in a powerful, high overhead lift. Yunjin was finally free, because as she was in the air, her arms outstretched like wings finally free from her confinement.  He lands her gracefully and gently, then they begin circling each other, their distance going from a foot to inches closer each turn. Their hands went from brushing their fingertips until they pressed their palms together, and finally, they interlaced. Jay’s other hand went to her waist, and Yunjin’s found his shoulder, then it traveled to his neck until his cheek. Their bodies sway as the music fades

Their faces inches apart, and without knowing, completely forgetting the camera that was a few feet away from them, Jay looked down at her lips, and when he looked up to meet her eyes, and found her looking at his lips as well, he didn’t know what controlled his body, but he found himself inching a little closer, and she did the same. Until their lips brushed each other, almost feather-like.

Every staff member on the side held their breaths as some watched from a distance, the others watching on the monitor that was filming in real time. Soyeon and Yumi are shaking each other. Yuki is biting his fist. Even the cameraman near them held his breath. The director kept watching, seeing as none of the staff are stopping them, he knows that a kiss scene would make too much noise, and he’s not sure if the two plan to pull away, so he pulled the cameraman behind Jay so it would cover their faces if they actually meet. He decided that he would let the viewers interpret it. He was so focused on directing the cameraman when squeals and cheers were heard, and the two realized that processing the noise pulled away instantly, but only a little.

“I–” Jay started, but Yunjin, burying her face on her shoulder, stopped him, so he instinctively wrapped her, cradling her head. Thinking, she probably regretted it.

“CUT!”

Chapter Text

The minute the videos were posted. The internet exploded. The videos weren't uploaded all at once, but at 30-minute intervals.

The first video, the HOT challenge. The video was on all official accounts of every platform, immediately, fans went wild.

“HELLO?”

“Am I dreaming?”

“WDYM MY AMERICAN ROCKSTAR DUO IN ONE FRAME”

“NO FUCKING WAY”

“TWO GORGEOUS PEOPLE IN ONE FRAME”

“There’s more talent in this video than some groups combined.”

"AN UNEXPECTED DUO. WTF"

Fans were flabbergasted at the sudden post for two main reason: One, Yunjin and Jay are known to be shipped by people, and of course the general public assumed that HYBE would avoid dating rumors by keeping them as far away from each other as much as possible; and two, an ENHYPEN member already did the HOT challenge with the girls. No one was expecting them to do it twice with another ENHYPEN member, because as far as the public knows, LE SSERAFIM and ENHYPEN are barely friends. 

Kpop stans are also known to have a habit of looking into things deeply. So they started theorizing why another challenge with ENHYPEN.

“ IS THIS A COLLAB I’M SMELLING?”

“They look like they came from practice. Did they do something?”

“PLEASE TELL ME YOU’RE GOING TO PERFORM TOGETHER.”

“There’s no way HYBE would let them just post this without another purpose.”

“Those two are hiding something, I can feel it.”

“‘Bringing the Heat to #JAY’ This has to be a teaser that they did ‘Brought the Heat Back’ challenge”

“NOW SING TOGETHER”

Some made memes out of the situation.

“ Fearnots and Engenes making up after this video was released,” posted with a picture of two siblings inside a massive t-shirt that says ‘Our get along shirt’

“Jay probably saw this and said, ‘I’ll give you this instead’” the post QRT a fake announcement of them having a collaboration for Weverse Con

“Watch delusional people, see their 5-second eye contact at the start, and say they’re dating. (Delusional person is me)” 

“Damn, I have to fight Jay too? Sir, get in line!” one posted, and someone replied with a picture of Jay at the gym, “Girl, I hope you’re ready, look at this man.”

“You swan. He swan. Both of you swan.”

“When I saw Yunjin and Jay Park, I was expecting the other one. I’m so glad it's the pretty Jay Park.”

“SHE FINALLY GOT THE RIGHT JAY PARK.”

Most people also started shipping, the ship was already semi-popular, especially in SEA countries, but with the TikTok post. The ship spread like wildfire.

“I don’t care if I can’t have Yunjin. But Jay better have her.”

“A pretty woman with a pretty boy is so rare these days.”

“HELLO? MR. PARK, WHAT WAS THAT LOOK?”

“Her smile I—😣”

“DID YA’LL SEE THAT LOOK THEY GAVE EACH OTHER?”

“Nah, there’s definitely something between them.”

“THE CHEMISTRY IS SO URGHH.”

The two managed to pull even non-fans or fans of Kpop in general. 

“I’m not from here, but I do know these two. And their chemistry is unmatched.”

“I’m not into Kpop, but are they dating?”

“I thought Kpop fans don’t like boy and girl idols interacting. If they get this many great responses, they should keep doing it.”

“I have watched this video for over 20 times, and I definitely see something going on between them. And I’m not even a fan.”

And then the second video dropped. EASY challenge with Jay, the video showed why their groups are known to be powerhouse performers.

“HOLY SHIT NOT ONE BUT TWO?”

“NO WAY!”

“Better late than never, I suppose.”

“Jay, you’re 1 year late to the challenge.”

“I imagine the two of them realizing they didn’t do an EASY challenge last year so they decided to do it now.”

“Oh, we’re getting that challenge with an ENHYPEN song.”

“By this logic, are we getting a CRAZY challenge as well?”

“They really said, if one wasn’t enough to show our chemistry, here's another.”

“OMG I JUST NOTICED THEY HAVE THE SAME OUTFIT AS THE HOT ONE, THEY FILMED IT ALL AT ONCE.”

“The way this TikTok was filmed without the fancy camera movements tells me these two filmed this on their own.” 

Reply^:  “Imagine that they posted this on their own without telling the staff 

Reply^^: “It’s actually on brand for the two of them.

The discussion about EASY and HOT wasn’t even close to done when the ENHYPEN account posted the Brought the Heat Back, chorus version.

“I swear these two thought, better late than never, when they were doing this.”

“THE SAME FUCKING OUTFITS, THEY WERE PREPARING SOMETHING I SWEAR.”

“If this wasn’t enough to prove they’re at least friends, you people are delusional.”

“People who say that they’re not friends are more delusional than people who believe they’re dating.”

“Yunjin being able to keep up with hard choreography and one of the MAIN dancers of ENHYPEN is such a flex.”

“The fact that Yunjin did the actual choreography, with the same energy as the boys would when they perform. And not the easy version for female idols, solidifies Yunjin’s position as one of the best female dancers.”

“Such a queen behavior, keeping up with Jay.”

“Oh what the hell, I’m going to stan LE SSERAFIM, purely because Yunjin can keep up with Jay.”

“See how they both matched each other's energy? That’s bestie behavior.”

Reply^: “Bestie behavior? More like couple goals. 

“They did the HOT fanning motion. I feel like they posted the video in the wrong order.”

Not even 20 minutes passed when the Dance break version dropped, and rather than using the TikTok audio, they posted the one with their raw audio, not muting the two’s giggles.

*Video

Yunjin looked back at Jay, who was a step behind her while waiting for the cue, Jay nodding at her encouragingly. Then they dropped with the beat.

And then Jay’s high note came, and Yunjin decided to sing Jay’s part, even dancing to his choreo

I can't stand it

while Jay watched behind her. Then took Sunghoon’s line.

Trying hard to endure, endure, endure, endure, endure, endure

Then the video ended with Jay raising his hands high, and Yunjin, even though she could reach it on her tippy toes she decided to jump to reach it. Jay’s other arm was ready to catch her in case she mislanded.

If the people haven’t lost their minds from the prior three videos, they definitely lost it now.

“THERE’S NO FUCKING WAY.”

“THE HIGH NOTE???”

“AND THEY SAID, FUCK THE PEOPLE SAYING YUNJIN COULDN’T SING.”

“JAY LOOKING AT HER PROUDLY?!!?!?!? PEEK BOYFRIEND BEHAVIOR”

“NAHH YUNJIN HITTING JAY’S HIGHNOTE? WITH EASE?”

“I find it funny Yunjin could do it easily standing up, but decided to copy Jay on how he does it in the choreo.”

“They really said, ‘You thought we were done? Hold my beer.’”

“This better meet a collab stage, I’m going to riot.”

“A guitar collaboration next, please.”

“The fact that the two of them chose to do Brought the Heat Back twice, rather than do the other two comeback ENHA made is actually so funny to me.”

"HOW IS NOBODY TALKING ABOUT THAT ARM WAITING TO CATCH HER"

"WE'RE THIS🤏 CLOSE TO JAY HOLDING HER WAIST"

"A MALE IDOL AND A FEMALE IDOL HAVING SKIN TO SKIN CONTACT? I NEVER THOUGHT ID SEE THE DAY"

All this noise is happening while the two said idols are filming, teasing each other, and finally, going to talk about something important. 

Chapter Text

The following minutes were a blur to Jay, but he knows two things: one, his arms are still around Yunjin while they bow to the staff, congratulating them, and thanking them for their hard work, and two, they kissed. They. Kissed. He kissed her. HER!

The scene replayed in his head, her lips felt exactly as they looked. It was soft, plump, and honestly kissable. He will not lie and say he never thought of what it would be like to kiss her, not in a weird way, it's natural when you look at her lips. And he was ashamed to admit he looked at it more than he could count. He's actually scared that Yunjin found him kissing her weird and violated her personal space. A voice in the back of his mind tells him, she leaned in as well. But he's firm about getting verbal consent always. 

Beside him, Yunjin was also in a haze. Holy shit, she kissed Jay. She still couldn't believe it, stupid Jay and his inviting eyes, but really she's to blame for looking at his lips. But for the record, Jay also looked at her’s so it's both of their fault.

Fault. That leaves a bad taste in her mouth. That word makes the kiss feel like a mistake. It's not a mistake, not for her, at least it felt right. The timing was perfect, she's not stupid, and she's an F an empath. And most importantly, a hopeless romantic. She's sure that there was definitely attraction between them, and something was brewing between them within the short period of time they were seeing each other daily.

The main question is, does Jay want to go forward with this? She didn’t really know. But she intends to find out, and from the glance they both steal after that kiss tells her, he wants to talk about it as well. And part of her wishes this would go somewhere, and maybe not too fast, she wants to take this slow. She swears that the video she accidentally stumbled upon about Jay's type based on astrology and how he is when in love, was really giving her hope. She's an astrology nerd at heart.

She took a peek at him again and saw him already looking at her. She gives a shy smile, and Jay's smile and small nod tell her they're going to talk later, and she's equally excited and scared.

She forced herself to focus on what her manager was updating her about the upcoming schedules, with Soyeon Amy chiming in about her recent performance during practice and even praising her for her performance today. Until Jay came by and gave both her manager and Soyeon a paper bag, she turned to him in surprise, and at her peripheral vision, she saw his managers doing the same with the other staff.

“Jay-ah, I told you, you don't need to give us anything for doing this,” Soyeon chastised him teasingly, but her appreciation was evident.

“Well, then, it's not a thank you gift. But a gift.”

“You know you're not making sense, right?” 

“Yes, I do. It's not a thank you gift, it's just a gift, no thank you there.” Jay puts his hands behind him, looking like a proud child winning an argument. Making Yunjin laugh at him, Jay's heart did a somersault.

“I also have something for you,” Jay turned to her, getting her attention, “And it's just a gift, not a thank you gift.” But when she opened her mouth to respond, Jay added, “It's rude to refuse a gift.” That made her sigh. Jay grinned triumphantly and took her hand gently.”Let's go!”

“What? Is it not here?”

“It’s in the car.”

“We're not going to film it?”

“Do you want to?”

That made Yunjin pause, slowing down her steps,“Let me ask you first, do you think my reaction would be worth remembering?”

And without hesitation, “Yes.” Yunjin motioned for the camera to follow. When they reached the car, Jay stopped just as he was going to open the back, turning back to Yunjin, “Can you turn around for a sec?”

Yunjin raised her eyebrows but did so anyway, another camera was on her face, she looked at it with mocking confusion, and mouthing nonsense, gesturing that Jay was acting mysterious. Meanwhile, the camera focused on Jay showing him taking out a big box. Rather than giving it in the case itself self Jay decided to give it in the inner box, where the case fits perfectly.

“You can turn around now.”

Yunjin excitedly turned around and tilted her head when she saw a big box. “Why is it big?”

“It's a big gift.”

“What’s inside?”

“You open it to find out.”

Yunjin gave him a look, “Can I at least have a hint?”

“Jellyfish.”

Yunjin’s eyes widened, “You got me a Jellyfish?!?” Her loud voice caught the attention of the staff around them, and they all started inching closer, all curious about the big box and if it is really a Jellyfish.

“See for yourself.”

Yunjin walked to the box and opened it. It was lying horizontally, so it was easy, but she was already doubting the jellyfish's guess. But Jay isn't one to lie. Could it be a massive figurine?

She managed to open the box, and there was protective foam, so it must be fragile. She took off the foam sheet slowly and gasped, recognizing the item. It's a guitar case, her head snapped to Jay so fast to find him arms crossed, looking at her fondly, waiting for her.

“Stop being so boyfriend-coded if you're not mine yet!” She yelled in her mind, completely missing the word yet that her mind had sneakily put there.

She took out the case slowly from the box, extremely careful, from the looks of the case it's expensive and knowing Jay, it definitely is expensive. She glanced at the camera that was pointed at her and saw people crowding her.

To build suspense, also to make sure she's not dreaming, she opened the case slowly and subconsciously closed her eyes. When she heard gasps, she opened her eyes, and her jaw dropped.

OH. MY. GOD.

It was beautiful. She looked at Jay excitedly, who nodded, gesturing for her to pick it up. Her hands shaking from excitement and awe, she picked it up. She felt Jay's presence closer to her now, which was comforting. Her fingers traced the art of the gold jellyfish on the surface of the fretboard. She admired the guitar. And plucked the strings, getting a feel for playing it. She wanted to cry, it was beautiful.

She placed it gently back in its case, Jay was going to ask if she liked it. But he was cut off when Yunjin jumped onto him, hugging him. Yeah, she completely forgot the camera right there. Jay momentarily shocked, steadied himself so she won't fall.

“So you like it then.” He concluded teasingly, Yunjin pulled away slightly, but her hands on his arm while jumping in her place.

“I love it, the design, the color,” as she stopped momentarily and pointed at the guitar, “THE JELLYFISH,” she ran her hand through her hair while she continued gushing over the guitar Jay counted 8 times, she mentioned the jellyfish. Once she calmed down slightly.

“Where did you get it? I never thought anyone would design something like this.”

“I…” Jay started, clearly unsure of her reaction to what he's about to reveal, “it's..uh..custom made?” He squeezed out the words towards the end.

“WHAT?”

“You can’t give it back, it's a gift.” Jay put his foot down, knowing Yunjin would probably give it back to him.

“Fine,” Yunjin huffed out playfully, “Will you tell me how much it is?”

“Nope.”

“What company did you have it custom-made for then?”

“Nice try, you're gonna search the range if I tell you.”

“Please?” The look she gave him made his knees weak; it was so unfair. Her brown eyes are mesmerizing. But he must stay focused, so he closed his eyes, looking away, “Not telling.” But her pouting never stopped. She only did when she continued to bug him about it for about 5 minutes before giving up, thinking she was going to find out one way or another anyway.

Now she’s already changed into a hoodie and sweat pants and was packing her things with the staff inside her trailer, when a knock came at the door. The staff let the visitor in. It was Jay, now in his casual clothes, who actually looked like he had come from a lecture at a prestigious university. It was honestly on brand for him. He came in with that shy, boyish smile of his, always the charmer, even if he never noticed himself.

“Hey! What are you doing here?” Yunjin approached him cheerfully, but really, she already knew why he was here, and she was making sure that they had this somewhere away from her nosy unnies can hear. So she stopped in front of him just as he was 2 steps in.

“I…I wanted to talk to you, is that okay?” Jay hesitated; this was it. They're going to talk about it, he had a feeling deep down that they both want something to happen out of this, but he can't be sure. He wants to hear it from her rather than assume it himself. 

“Of course!” Yunjin replied a little too quickly for her liking, she cringed slightly before remembering people are in the trailer with her, namely her managers, that will drive her back to her dorm, so she decided to check in with them, if how long the two of the can talk before they have to go. Yumi and her other manager nodded, Yumi with a thumbs up, her face clearly giddy, while her other manager mouthed 20 minutes, although professional, the small smile on their face says otherwise. “Let’s talk somewhere more private.” She turned back to Jay, grabbing his arm to pull him away. She had a feeling Soyeon was about to scream something that would embarrass her. 

They walked side-by-side with inches between them, shoulders brushing, her hands tucked in her hoodie pockets, while Jay’s rested politely behind him. There was a silence between them. It wasn’t awkward silence; it was almost like their normal comfortable silence, this time with obvious nervousness in the air. 

They reached the field where they were chasing each other this afternoon, Jay stopping when he saw a flower on the ground, so he picked it up. Yunjin stopped a step ahead of him, then looked at him expectantly. Both were waiting to see if the other wanted to start the conversation.

“So…”

“So…”

It was cliche, the two of them starting at the same time, but it’s actually something the two would do. Jay let out a breathy chuckle, and Yunjin giggled softly.

‘So it’s not just me nervous then.’

‘Good, he’s nervous too.’

“You first,” Jay beat her to it.

Such a gentleman. Okay, Yunjin, you can do this. Just lay it out.

“So…” she started. Go girl, you can do this. She hyped herself up one last time. “We both want to talk about the same thing, right?” Her hands are getting clammy, but she forced herself to be confident. Jay let out a shaky breath of relief and nodded, his shy smile creeping back to his face.

“Do you regret it?” Yunjin decided to ask.

“Well…” He started, and Yunjin felt her heart drop. Did I read it all wrong? “...I regret not asking you first,” he said softly, “I thought my first kiss with you would be me asking you if it’s okay first. Sorry if I got lost in the moment there. I should’ve asked first.” 

Badump. Badump. Badump.

Oh, she’s so getting back at him for this feeling. Two can play at that game.

So she tilted her head, “You dream about kissing me?” she teased.

“Since the moment we first danced together, when our faces were 5 inches apart.” He admitted sincerely. 

Yunjin was taken aback. Well shit, I didn’t expect him to admit it. Her face heated up, and without meaning to, she walked towards him, burying her face on the closest part of him, his chest, hiding her face. “Why would you say that? I was unprepared,” her voice muffled in his clothes. Jay chuckled and, as if second nature, wrapped his arms around her. The wind was blowing colder. 

“Sorry, I couldn’t help it,” he murmured against her hair. He rubbed her back gently, but pulled away again shortly to look her in the eye. He brushed the hair away from her face.

“So…I didn’t regret the kiss, I assume you didn’t regret it as well. What now?” Yunjin spoke first without breaking eye contact. 

“Well…I wanna know what you feel about all of this.”

“I…I can’t describe it, but when I’m with you…you make things light, I…want to keep you in my life a little longer.” Yunjin confessed, “I know, I’m known for someone who can lay bare my emotions, but I don’t know why I can’t now. I can’t explain it, I just know it’s here and it’s real.”

“Maybe, it’s not something for us to put a label on yet,” Jay uttered, “We can take our time.”

“So, we’re doing this then.” Yunjin wanted confirmation.

“Yes, if you want to.”

“We’re starting tour soon.”

“So will we.”

“Then are we sure we’re going through with this?”

Jay hesitated, “I…I understand if you’re hesitant, I am too, but I want you to know. I don’t want to end it here. And, if you are willing to do it, I will too. I want to do whatever makes you feel comfortable.”

“We’ll both be busy.”

“I can make time,”

“You’re doing a European tour, we’re here in Asia.”

“We barely sleep anyway.”

Yunjin gave him a disappointed look and reached out to pinch his cheeks, not too hard but hard enough for him to feel her scolding. “If we’re doing this, I don’t want you to exchange your rest for me.”

“So we’re doing this then? You want this too, right?”

Yunjin sighed, “Of course I want this, I’m negotiating with you right now.” She didn’t let go of his face just yet, but she did stop pinching, now it was cupping his jaw, her thumb on the spot she had pinched, “I don’t want to rush this…I know we both understand that we’re both busy people, and our health is important.”

“We schedule our time then.” Jay smiled hopefully. Yunjin held out her other hand, her pinky outstretched. 

“If we do this, we take it slow, okay?” and without hesitation Jay locked his on her’s, and for good measure kissed it, 

“I promise.” Then, asking for a promise of his own, held his other pinky to hers, 

“If you have anything to say, any problem, or concern. Tell me.”

Yunjin smiled, locking fingers with her, “Only if you do the same.” She kissed it as well, sealing their deal. “So what do we call ourselves then?” She asked.

“I don’t want to call it situationship.”

Yunjin crinkled her face, clearly disliking the word, “Definitely not.”

“Something serious?” Jay offered.

“Well, we need a label,”

“Getting serious.”

“Do you not see us as a serious thing right now?”

“Wait, no, I uhm….almost girlfriend and boyfriend?”

“...”

“...”

“Okay, that’s too soon.” Jay quickly corrected himself. 

“Glad we’re communicating this clearly,” Yunjin jests. Making Jay laugh, then looked at her fondly, Yunjin felt warm, not the embarrassed kind of warm, but she felt giddy. They’re really doing this.

“So our current dilemma is, we need a label, but it can’t be boyfriend and girlfriend, or situationship.” Jay listed out jokingly, and Yunjin nodded with a smile. She looked at him, waiting, admiring him. Jay caught her eye and smiled back. Then, as if a thought hit him in the head, his smile grew wider.

“How about this?” he took her hand and brought it to his lips before speaking again. “You and I.”

“Me and you?’

Jay nodded, humming, “Just us, going in our own pace, the two of us learning about each other together. Just the two of us seeing where this will take us.”

Yunjin reached out to his hair, arranging it even though it wasn’t messy in the first place, even brushing imaginary lint off of his shoulder, distracting herself, prolonging her answer just to tease Jay.

“Me and you, then.” Yunjin declared.

“You and I,” Jay concluded.

They locked eyes for a moment, and Jay found himself inching closer, pressing his forehead against hers. Yunjin gladly rested, meeting him in the middle, closing her eyes, feeling him. “Don’t close your eyes,” Jay murmured, and the mesmerizing brown, fluttered open. “Your eyes are my favorite thing to look at,” he confessed quietly.

“And, I thought it was my lips,” she teased, and just then Jay’s eyes landed on her lips.

“Can I?” he muttered, his breath hitting her face softly, and instead of answering, she tiptoed slightly, and just like that, the only thing Jay could think about was her. Yunjin smiles against him.

Then they found themselves walking back slowly. No, they’re not holding hands, they agreed that it will only be the two of them. Jay’s hands are on his pocket Yunjin’s are behind her, they were just enjoying the silence between them when Yunjin realized something. She nudged him playfully.

“You know, I finally know what’s our label.”

“I thought it was You and I?” Jay playfully nudged her back but gently.

“Other than that of course,” she rolled her eyes, then stepped in front of him. Although their height different is not that large, roughly 3 inches, Yunjin still looks up a little, so she looked at him and tiptoed a little so they’re eye-to-eye. “We’re dating.” Then dropped form her tiptoe and walked ahead.

Jay momentarily froze on the stop but shook his head walking behind her and leaned near her ear. “Thank you.”

Yunjin smiled and stopped in front of him again looked around real quick and went for a hug. Burying her face on his neck, “Good luck in Coachella.” Jay wrapped his arms around her, taking in her warmth.

“Wait for me?”

“Of course.”

Chapter Text

The car ride to the LE SSERAFIM dorm was quiet; both idols rode together to the set, but are in different cars on the way home. Yunjin’s managers, plus Soyeon, are with her in the car, Soyeon insisting she ride with them in case Yunjin would spill something, or even give an update on the status of their relationship. But Yunjin had her headphones on and was humming to the music; she decided to listen to ENHYPEN songs after realizing that she was missing out. She had Orange Flower (You complete me) on repeat. She was also scrolling through fans' reactions to her and Jay’s TikTok, giggling at the comments such as:

WE’VE WAITED FOR SO LONG OMG

FINALLY HYBE LISTENED

HYBE American Line, I never thought I’d see the day

This is getting realer than I expected. The user who posted the original fake news that the two will have a guitar collaboration for Weverse con quote retweeted the TikTok with a screenshot of their post.

Yunjin continued to giggle while scrolling through the tweets and comments, not realizing Soyeon was beside her waiting, and her patience was running thin. Her inner shipper cannot wait. Her curiosity is through the roof. 

“That’s it!” Soyeon exclaimed, making Yunjin jump. 

“What’s it?!?” Yunjin took off her headset, looking at her performance director.

“Tell us what happened!”

“Something happened?” Soyeong wasn’t sure if Yunjin was teasing her by playing dumb on purpose, but she looked genuinely confused. She groaned.

“You and Jay!”

“What about me and Jay?”

Okay, Yunjin had to be joking now, Soyeon thought.

“What did you two talk about?” Yumi turns from her seat at the front, as much as her seatbelt would allow her.

“Why do you ask?”

“Because I wanna know if I won the bet or not!” Soyeon slipped. Yunjin blinked, Soyeon blinked back, Yumi face-palmed, while the other manager who was driving made a sound something in between groaning and stifling a laugh, how he managed to do that was not the focus of everyone in the van, though.

"You made a bet about me and Jay? With who? Why would you do that?” Yunjin was taken aback. Why would her performance director be interested in her and Jay? She got that they needed chemistry, but why the bets? She watched as Soyeon glanced at the passenger seat, immediately piecing things together.

“You made a bet with Yumi-unnie?!?”

“Well, not just us?” Yumi admitted.

“There’s more of you?! Who?”

“Yuki-nime and Minseo,” the two older women immediately dragged the two with them, even if they weren’t here, if they went down, they’re taking the others with them. “Also, some of the staff, from the shoot, who saw the two of you leave to talk were betting if the two of you are together or not.”

“WHAT?!” Yunjin’s voice was loud; it was a wonder that their ears didn’t bleed since they’re in a small, closed space. “WHY?!”

The way Soyeon looked at her was something between ‘Are you serious?’ and ‘Wtf?’

“Can you blame us?” Soyeon gesturing to herself and the two managers upfront.

“What are you talking about?” Yunjin crossed her arms defensively. 

“Yunjin, Sweetie. The two of you, since day one, have something going on.”

“No? We just met,” She said, uncrossing her arms

“The two of you stared at each other every chance you got.”

Yunjin argued, “Jay could barely look at me when he was asking me about the challenge in the practice room,” crossing her arms yet again.

“I was talking about the ‘First meeting’ we filmed,” Soyeon said, making quotation marks.

“Well, it was our first time working together,” she answered with a shrug

“You didn’t look at the other artist you’ve worked with that way,” Yumi pointed out, joining in the conversation.

“I always look at the artist I’ve worked with,” her voice went up an octave for a split second before she covered it up by clearing her throat.

“Do you look at all of them like they're something you want?”

Yunjin blinked, “I look at them with admiration,” was her excuse.

“It’s different with Jay,” Soyeon countered.

Was it really that different? 

“It’s different because his age is closer to mine.” That was a questionable argument, Yunjin knew that, but what else could she say? And sure enough, Soyeon raised an eyebrow.

“Alright…” Soyeon paused, “Then explain the way Jay looks at you, then.”

Shit.

“Looks at me like what?”

“Now you’re just playing dumb.”

“No, I’m not,” Yunjin says defensively, her mouth unconsciously forming a pout.

“The boy looks at you like you hung all the heavenly bodies.”

“He told me he looks up to me.”

“That’s not just admiration,” Soyeon was relentless.

“Since when can you read eyes.” Yunjin challenged, raising her eyebrow, but was waved off by Soyeon, “Oh, please. I’m not a great performance director for nothing you know. Why did you think I pushed you two to do this challenge, there was a spark,” she paused looking for another word, “A chemical reaction, you’re great at science, you understand what I’m trying to say right?”

“I failed chemistry.”

“Well, doesn’t matter, what matters is I saw potential, you two did not disappoint for the most part—”

“For the most part?!?”

“—and I want to know if there’s further development.”

Yunjin paused. She was weighing her options here. Personally, she doesn’t want to deny Jay, but then again, the two promised that they’d keep things between the two of them just in between the two of them. 

“What do you want me to say?”

“Are you two together or not?!?” their driver yelled.

“No!” 

It’s not a lie, they’re in their dating phase, not together-together, yet. Baby steps.

“Then what did you two do?” Yumi says exasperatedly.

“I’ve been telling you! We just talked.”

“That’s it? I let you two have 20 minutes just to yourselves, and you ended the talk with nothing?” The manager driving would’ve turned in his seat if he could.

“What did you two talk about?” Soyeon pressed.

“Can we get back to the part you said we didn’t disappoint for the most part?”

“You two danced around each other too much; it was annoying,” Soyeon said, annoyed, making Yunjin let out an offended sound.

“We were literally supposed to be dancing with each other.”

“And? There was no progress.”

Rude. There was plenty of progress between them. Yunjin was about to retort, but bit her tongue. 

“I don’t see why it’s so important to you guys.”

 Yunjin was expecting another yelling about the bet or something else. But when Soyeon’s voice came out as soft, “Because maybe you’d be happy.” She opened her mouth to respond, but Soyeon spoke again before she could, “I know performing, making music, dancing. They all make you happy. But, Yunnie, don’t you want to find something more? Look, I’m not going to push you, I know you have plenty of things to keep you happy, but maybe, just maybe, having someone could give you something more.”

Yunjin was silent, thinking. Yes, she was happy with performing and with her hobbies, but deep down she wanted to share that happiness with someone; someone outside of her members, her family, and friends. And maybe, that could be Jay, and if all of their time together outside of them practicing for the challenge says anything, Jay understands her. They both share the same interest, well, some of them anyway. Jay doesn’t read that much or draw that well. She likes musicals, but Jay doesn’t. Jay likes to cook, and although she knows how to cook, she couldn’t say that it’s one of her hobbies; it was more like a necessary skill. They both like guitars, though, and dancing, and singing. Those were their favorite pastime in their alone time.

She’s looking forward to more moments with Jay like that. Jay might look calm, but she can be just as chaotic as her, matching her energy when needed. There was no rush, but she wanted to get to know all about Jay. There were more things she was bound to discover about him, and she couldn’t wait. She really wants to know where this thing they’re building takes them. 

Realizing she didn’t give an answer to Soyeon, shook herself out of her thoughts and smiled a little, “Thank you, Unnie. For worrying, but don’t worry too much. I’m working on it,” Maybe a little hint wouldn’t be too much. She’ll leave it to their imaginations. 

“Wait, what do you mean you’re working on it?” Soyeon demanded, which Yunjin promptly brushed off, “I’m going to nap a little, all that filming sucked my energy.”

“Yah! Give us answers first,” Yumi yelled from the front.

“Good night, everyone.” Yunjin singsonged as she put on her headphones, pressing play on one of her favorite ENHYPEN songs, Moonstruck. Effectively blocking out their noise, demanding clarification. 

Yunjin thought that when she reached their dorm, she was going to just lie down and continue to scroll through comments in her bed, but just as she was switching out her shoes for inside slippers, Chaewon and Kazuha burst out of their room skreeching something, and a sudden force hit her from her right side. By the time she processed what happened, Sakura had already pulled Eunchae, who tackled her. 

“WHAT IN THE WORLD ARE YOU GUYS DOING!?” Yunjin yelled from the floor, clearly offended that not only was she tackled but also left on the floor.

“We want answers!” Kazuha and Eunchae yelled back.

“FOR WHAT?!”

Before any more yelling could be done, Sakura held up her hand, “Let’s tone down our voices, we’ll wake up the neighbors at this point.”

Chaewon finally took Yunjin’s hand to pull her up. “Alright, sit down on the couch and give us answers,” she ordered.

“Can I at least change first?” Yunjin asked, there was no point in deflecting anyway, these were her members, they could see right through her. Hopefully, she could answer without saying Jay and she are dating already, but not boyfriend and girlfriend.

“Fine, 15 minutes, anything more we’re breaking down your door, we have questions and we need answers,” Chaewon replied, glancing at the maknaes when they were about to protest, but shut their mouth when they caught their leader’s stare. Sakura nodded to Yunjin, gesturing for her to go change as she went to the couch, continuing her crochet project. She and Eunchae share a different unit, but knowing today was Jay and Yunjin’s filming, she wanted answers as well. After all, she has 15,000 KRW on the line. 

Yunjin came out of her room, now in her pajamas, to find the members all perched on the couch waiting for her.

“You guys really waited for me?” she groaned as she made her way to the bean bag on the other side. “Yes,” was the answer she got, making her sigh.

“Fine…Go on, ask away.” Yunjin resigned, and when all four of them opened their mouths, “One by one.”

“Leader first!” Chaewon quickly declared, making Yunjin roll her eyes, while the rest grumbled. All of which Chaewon ignored, “When did you two film the TikToks?” 

Before Yunjin could even open her mouth, “Oh come on, Unnie, even I can answer that!” Kazuha cuts in. “They filmed it the night the two disappeared!”

“You don’t know that!”

“Actually, Zuha’s right.” Yunjin confirmed, “Next question.” 

Eunchae bolted at the chance, “What did you two do?” she asked eagerly, and once again, before Yunjin even got the chance to answer, another member spoke.

“Yah! We’re wasting our questions.” Chaewon scolded.

“You wasted yours first!” Kazuha argued, “Wait, we get one question each? When was that established?” Eunchae asked.

“Since now,” Yunjin answered, “And we filmed today, if you’re asking about the day we filmed the TikToks, we were dancing, getting to know each other, and stuff. Soyeon-unnie and Zuha said we should get to know each other for chemistry.”

“How was the shoot? Did you enjoy it?” Sakura asked warmly. Yunjin was already bombarded with questions by the other three and was probably tired.

“Yah! Unnie, that's unfair, why do you get  two questions?” Eunchae and Chaewon protested. But Sakura waved them off, “They’re along the same line anyway, her answer would be relatively the same, now shut up, and let Yunjin answer the questions.”

“It was fun! I don’t want to spoil it, but we did all three songs.”

“All three?” the rest repeated.

“Yeah, all three, we both loved the choreo, so Jay asked if we could do it,” she paused for dramatic effect, “And tada! We filmed it all, the whole dance for each song we took in one take, but we had to re-do close-up shots.” she then went on and yapped, while the members watched her interested as she made gestures on how the set looked, how far they went. One thing about Yunjin is that she will Yap. And with the right question, they could get plenty from her. They all mentally patted their Kkura-unnie’s back for her smart question.

And before Yunjin knew it, she shared things she wasn’t really planning to, “Then we found a bird, it was a baby bird, it fell from its nest…”

“Is it okay?” Kazuha gasped, covering her mouth.

“Yeah, it was okay, anyway, I asked Jay to carry me so I could bring it back to its nest, then after Jay put me down, he suddenly yelled tag and ran. I, of course, did not let it slide and ran after him.”

“How old are you two? 6?” Chaewon shakes her head. Meanwhile, Eunchae listened intently, “Did you catch him?”

“I did, I tackled him to the ground.” Yunjin beamed proudly

“You tacked…”

“Him.”

“To the ground?”

“...yeah?” Yunjin confirmed hesitantly, something tells her she’s going to regret sharing it, and she was right, because she watched as her members started buzzing from excitement.

“Did you land on him?!”

“Were your faces just inches from each other?”

More and more questions started piling in. Before she had had enough, and really she wanted to avoid this conversation with them, she couldn’t handle the teasing. “Yah Yah! I said one question only!”

“Oh, come on!” they protested.

“We’re done for tonight, you’ve all got your one question answered.” Yunjin stood up ready to walk to her room.

“I haven’t asked mine yet.” Kazuha spoke making her freeze.

“You haven’t?”

“No.”

Yunjin replayed the moments prior, “You asked about the bird.”

“Yeah, but that’s a follow-up question that doesn’t count.”

“Yes, it does.”

“Kkura-unnie did that too.” Kazuha countered. 

“Fine,” Yunjin finally agreed.

“Zuha-yah, think about your question carefully,” Chaewon, who was sitting beside her, encouraged. Then Eunchae reached for the two of them, plus Kkura, for a huddle, “Let’s brainstorm.”

Yunjin groaned as she watched them, although there were no real hard feelings.

After a minute of discussing, the three turned back to her, “Alright, I have my question,” Kazuha paused for dramatic effect.

“Did something happen between the two of you? Like a development in your relationship.”

Chapter Text

Well shit .

Yunjin has two options here: deny everything or tell her members. The first option was, honestly, impossible for two reasons; one, she can’t lie to save her life, and two, even if she did, her members would see right through her. Maybe a half-truth wouldn’t hurt.

“We kissed,” she mumbled, barely heard. 

“Yah! Stop mumbling, tell us properly,” Chaewon scolded, already annoyed, and bouncing with anticipation.

“Yes, something happened…” A little louder this time, she chickened out, deciding that it was best to keep them guessing.

“WHAT?!?” 

Questions started pouring in, but Yunjin held up her hand, “Alright, you’ve all used up your questions, and frankly, I need sleep, so goodnight.”

“HEY WAI—” they started, before getting cut off by Yunjin again, “Goodnighttt~~” she loudly singsonged, closing her bedroom door. Jumping onto her bed.

As she was about to plug her phone into a charger, a message popped up.

- Look! Yuki-Hyung sent me this, apparently some of the staff took pictures of us.

Then a picture followed, it was the two of them sitting side by side talking to each other, followed by another of the same moment, but this time Yunjin's head was thrown back laughing, and Jay laughing beside her.

Before she could type out a reply, another message was sent.

- I saw you read this, but you don't need to reply. Rest. You can reply tomorrow, because if you reply right now, I won't get any packing done.

- Goodnight, Jellyfish.

She smiled, then bit her lips as she typed back.

- Goodnight, Bruni. Safe skies, message me when you land.

Just as she was turning off her phone, Jay replied with a sticker of an otter saluting, making her giggle. She exited the app only to find that her members had been bombarding the group chat with questions. She was going to ignore it, but then read that they were planning on asking their managers and Soyeon Amy tomorrow. She immediately messaged them all ,forcing them to keep a secret.

- I want to surprise the members when the challenge is released. Please don't tell them anything that happened during the shoot. Also, Jay wanted privacy.

She received different types of replies, her Yumi-unnie agreed but not without teasing her, Soyeon-unnie whined but eventually agreed, while her other manager just sent a like emoji. And finally, she can sleep.

Sure enough, the next morning she woke up and went out to prepare herself yogurt for breakfast, she found her members already awake and making what seemed to be yogurt, which was weird because only she and Kazuha eat yogurt, and Kazuha prefers making it herself rather than having other people do it.

“Good Morning, Yunjinie/Unnie!” They all chorused as she took a seat, and Sakura placed the bowl of Greek Yogurt in front of her.

“Here, we made you breakfast,” she smiled sweetly, making Yunjin give her a confused look.

“Kkura-unnie?”

“Yes?”

“Why are you being so sweet?”

“What are you talking about? I'm always sweet.” She answered innocently enough. Yunjin scoffed, “Sure, but only to Eunchae.”

She was met with an innocent smile. Too innocent, “Well, that changes now. Eat up, we're heading to HYBE soon.”

" I bet this won't last an hour ,” she thought as she took a bite of the breakfast prepared right in front of her, “ not bad, it could've used more cream, but oh well .” Then she glanced up and saw the members stealing glances at her, “ Yup, they're waiting for me to talk about yesterday more, jokes in them I won't say shit .”

Once she finished her food, she stood up to clean her plate when Chaewon swooped in and took her plate, “Don't worry, I'll clean this go change.” Yunjin raised her eyebrows at the sudden action but said nothing and went to change anyway.

I wonder how long they are going to keep this up?

The ride to the company building started with the other members fighting to sit in the same van as Yunjin, Kazuha, and Sakura won, but ultimately was futile, because Yunjin had her noise canceling on and was passed out, or at least pretending to be passed out to avoid questioning. 

When they arrived, she opened her message app to send a quick update to Jay.

- You’re probably still in the air, but I needd to tell you this.

- The members are being weird, they prepared breakfast for me and didn’t let me wash my bowl

- But honestly, it's just them trying to fish out details from yesterday. LOL 

- Anw, safe skiesss <3

She closed the app and continued arranging her things, a soft smile painting her face, which didn’t go unnoticed by her members. 

Meanwhile, in the US, Jay was walking around in the store, looking for snacks with the members. Jay was throwing random snacks into the basket as his members watched. They all noticed something. Those weren't Jay's usual snacks; in fact, they were nowhere near his taste.

The members all shared looks as Jay was reading the packaging of a certain bag of chips, and he looked extremely focused, his mouth forming his natural pout.

“Jay-ah,” Sunghoon started breaking Jay out of his focus, “What are you reading?”

“Better yet, why are you reading it, hyung?” Jungwon added. “I'm checking for the ingredients. I need to be sure about food allergies,” Jay said casually. Too casually. The boys looked even more confused, because Jay doesn't have food allergies, only to dogs, cats, and flowers.

“Why does it matter if I read it or not?” Jay asked, genuinely confused with the questioning, also getting annoyed by the second.

“Nothing, it’s just,” Ni-ki paused to look at him and the snack in his hands, judgingly, “not like you, hyung.” he finished with a suspicious tone. Jay just rolled his eyes, and before he could retort, his phone buzzed with a notification. The members watch him open his phone with speed, and how his face softened and a smile graced his lips as he typed on his phone, abandoning the bag of chips in the cart and started walking, pushing the cart with him.

Yunjin was telling him about something she saw while taking a walk. Apparently, she saw a dog wearing glasses dressed in a suit. She even made a pun; the dog looked Furrfectly sophisticated. He laughed as he read that, his laugh startled his members and earned him weird looks—judging him.

He looked dazed as he continued typing. Then Ni-ki decided to test a theory, “Hyung, can we buy this?” he asked, holding up a bottle of Gin. “Sure, kiddo, put it in the cart,” Jay replied, not really looking up it didn’t even seem like he understood what he said. The boys then got the hint and started testing out their own theories.

“Hyung, there's this shop I've been wanting to go to. Can you come with me and buy me something?” Sunoo asked, trying to see his reaction. 

“Sure, why not—” was the answer he got, and Jay still wasn't looking up; he was giggling at something he read.

“Jay, you'll pay for dinner tonight, right?” Jake tried. Heeseung and Sunghoon, besides him,  clapped his back, gesturing that it was a great idea. Even Jungwon agreed, giving Jake a thumbs-up.

“Okay.”

It was then the boys celebrated, pumping up their fists, yelling, “YES/ HELL YEAH,” breaking Jay out of his concentration.

“SHHHH! Why are you guys shouting?” Jay shushed them. He looked up from his phone to see his 6 idiot members looking at him with gleaming eyes. “And, why are you guys looking at me like that?”

“You said you’ll pay for dinner.” The said members all chorused.

“What? No, I didn’t.” Jay stated with furrowed brows.

And on cue, Jungwon took out his phone and pressed something, 

“Jay, you’ll pay for dinner, right?” 

“Okay.”

Jungwon—just to prove a point—started replaying the last line repeatedly, until Jay, finally, lost his patience, “Alright!” he inhaled to calm himself, “Let’s just go pay for these and we’ll get food.” He grumbled as he pushed the cart.

When they reached the self-checkout station, he picked up the bottle of Gin and looked at the members, confused, “Who put this here?” he eyed all of them one by one.

“You did, hyung,” Ni-ki replied, innocently. But Jay’s eyes narrowed at him, and he placed it back in the cart. Just as he turned his back to the members, he heard a soft, ‘damn it,’ and just rolled his eyes as he took out his card to pay for their groceries. 

“Carry this to the car, I’ll go check something out, wait for me there,” he told them while heading out in the parking lot. Jay is the only one with a license among the group.

“Can I have the keys?” Jake asked.

“No.” Jay deadpanned.

“How would we unlock the car, then?”

Jay just raised his hands to show the keys and unlocked the door. Exaggerating a shrug, before turning around to cross the road, the rest of the boys groaned, “WAIT FOR ME IN THE CAR!” Jay called out as he was crossing.

Sunoo, however, didn’t move. He watched where Jay was going and saw that he was walking to a bookstore. And Jay is many things, but not a bookworm. What on Earth is he going in there for? 

“Hey, Jake-hyung,” Sunoo called out without turning. Jake responded with a hum, “Did I read that wrong, or is Jay-hyung going to a bookstore?” Jake followed where Sunoo was looking, and sure enough, “No, you’re right. That’s a bookstore,” he paused before realizing, “He went in there?!” 

“I know, right?” 

Ni-ki came from behind them, “Jay-hyung is acting weird,” resting both of his arms on both of their shoulders, “I mean, Jay-hyung has always been weird.”

“But this is next level, I know.” Sunghoon continued, as he walked towards them, too.

“What do you think happened? Didn’t he have a schedule before we flew here?” Jungwon brought up.

“Maybe something happened during his schedule.” Heeseung joined them. Now all of them are lined up waiting for Jay to finish his strange quest in a bookstore.

Meanwhile, Jay was on the phone.

“Hey, look, it's the book you told me about.” Jay picked up the paperback book from the shelf, its size looking small in his hands, “It’s smaller than what I expected.” He held it up to the camera of his phone, showing the person he was in a call with.

“OMG! I’ve been looking for that book, EVERYWHERE,” and it was Yunjin, who was in one of the HYBE vocal rooms, glasses on and everything. “Every time I search for it online, it’s sold out.”

“Really?” Jay flipped the book for the summary, “Does that mean it's good?”

“Of course it is!” She exclaimed, “It’s from my favorite author! It’s about…” Yunjin went on about the things she liked about the book, while Jay listened attentively, even humming and asking questions in between. All the while, he was browsing for a hardbound copy of the said book, and he also found another book that Yunjin just mentioned while yapping about her favorite author.

“...so yeah. There’s a reason it’s hard to find,” she was slightly out of breath after her long, passionate rant about her favorite author, and she saw Jay smiling softly at the camera. 

“Well, in that case, I’ll buy it,” Jay said, casually picking up a few French workbooks for himself.

“What?” Yunjin’s brain shortcutted, “You don’t have to. I can jus—”

“Too late, it's in my basket and I’m in line for payment.” 

“You don’t have to.” Yunjin tried to talk him out one more time.

“I want to,” Jay replied softly, looking at her on his phone screen, before looking up again to the line in front of  him, and he is now at the cashier, “I’m up, I’ll call again later after dinner.”

“What are you boys going to have for dinner?”

“I don’t know yet, probably somewhere not THAT expensive. They managed to scam me into paying for dinner,” He paused to answer the register, saying that it would be a cash payment and a paper bag.

“How did they manage that?”

“I don’t know, but I left them in the parking lot and I’m starting to get worried. They haven’t called yet.”

“Well, you are calling me now, sooo…”

“Oh shit.”

Yunjin laughed, and Jay’s panic momentarily melted at the sound. “Go, Bruni. Call me after.”

“Bye, Jellyfish.”

Yunjin's smile widened when Jay winked before ending the call.

Jay ran out the door, and speedwalked across the street to see his members all in the car some asleep, some are on their phones, windows rolled down. Jay looked up the sky the sun was setting, and then his watch and saw it was 30 mins since he left them. He decided to prank them, just to get back at them for somehow having him pay for dinner. He pressed the alarm button, and the car roared alive startling the members, Jay saw Jake’s phone fly out from his hands and hit Sunghoon beside him.

“DUDE! You left us for 30 minutes then you come back to give us a heart attack, what is wrong with you!?” Jake yelled. Jay just laughed and walked to the drivers seat, his members grumbling at him. “The line was long, and I was looking for something,” he explained, putting down the paperbag, and wearing his seatbelt. 

“Whatchu got there, Hyung?” Jungwon asked, already reaching for the bag, before Jay could reach and grab it before him. Ni-ki, who was sitting in the passenger seat, slapped his hand away, “Eyes on the road, Hyung.”

“I haven’t even started the car yet!”

The rest of the boys were already rummaging through the bag. 

“Hyung, since when do you read books like these?” Sunoo moved to take one out, Jay was about to intervene again, but Heeseung, who was seated behind the driverseat blocked him.

“The French book, I get. But these books? Where did you find out about this?”

Just as the boys were about to tease him further, Sunghoon noticed Jay’s ears growing increasingly red—a major tell that he’s getting embarrassed—so he decided to intervene.

“Guys, maybe we should let Jay tell us when he’s ready. It’s probably his new interest. And is getting to know more about it before telling us.” Sunghoon stopped them from taking out the contents of the paper bag; he even took it and placed it on his lap for safekeeping. “Also, he needs to start driving.”

The boys settled down, and Jay shot Sunghoon a grateful look from the rearview mirror. 

Jay will tell me when he’s ready. But something is different about him.

Chapter Text

Jay honestly couldn't remember how he made it here. In the store. With Sunoo and Sunghoon. He didn’t even remember when he agreed to it. Apparently, he did; he agreed to go to the store Sunoo wanted to visit and promised to buy him something. All of the members vouched for Sunoo. He was gonna do it anyway, but maybe sometime, like the afternoon. Not early in the morning when the shop literally opens.

Sunghoon wanted to tag along, Jay had a feeling he wanted to fish something out of Jay, which is something he's afraid of.

Because Jay knows he will open up. It's Sunghoon, his best friend. Sure, Sunghoon would say his best friend is Jake, but Jay sees him as his best friend and one of his longest friends. Heeseung got Sunghoon beat in the longest thing. But Sunghoon can read him like a book.

So when Sunoo was somewhere around the store, a little far from Jay, he felt someone walking towards him, stopping right beside him. Jay didn't need to look to know who it was.

“You’re gonna ask me something, ask away,” Jay said casually, as he checked on the displayed products. He could feel Sunghoon's stare.

“I'm not here to interrogate you, just to remind you. I'm here when you need to talk. You're acting differently,” Sunghoon replied, eyes scanning for any signs of discomfort from Jay.

“Is it a good difference or a bad difference?” Jay walked to a different section, Sunghoon trailing behind him.

“Well, you're smiling differently, and you've been typing on your phone yesterday like your life depends on it.” Sunghoon paused, letting his observations sink in, “You look happier.”

Jay paused; he and Yunjin agreed to keep it to themselves for now, and Sunghoon would back off if he told him to. But Jay wanted to share this; he wanted to show Sunghoon, he had found someone he treasures. Someone outside his group and music that gives him a sense of happiness.

“I've met someone.”

“You have?! Who is it?” Sunghoon was shocked, but he managed to keep his voice level. If Jay were only saying this now, he must want to keep it on the down low.

“I can't tell you yet. But…” Jay paused and looked Sunghoon in the eye, letting out a small smile, “They make me happy.” And Sunghoon believed him, Jay had only smiled like this during performances—No, his smile is different, it was more than what his smile looks like when they perform.

“I'm glad that person is lucky, you know?” Sunghoon placed a hand on Jay's shoulder.

“Nah, I'm the lucky one here.” Jay denies, then turns around to look for Sunoo. Sunghoon caught up to him, draping his arm on Jay's shoulders, “Tell me about them sometime, yeah?”

Jay said nothing, only offering a fistbump. Sunghoon smiled after reciprocating—he can't wait to know more about the person who makes his one and only unit happy.

Back in Korea, Yunjin was heading home from the company. She wasn’t with her members because she decided to stay a little longer, holed up in one of the many studios in HYBE. She’s been avoiding her members, more specifically, their attempts to interrogate her; she told them she’s writing lyrics. She didn’t lie; she did write some, but she was taking a break. AKA watching ENHYPEN content. She was planning on watching it when she got home, but she had a sneaking feeling her members would burst into her room, so she decided to start at the company. Her guitar, the one Jay gifted, was lying on her lap as she watched.

The more she watched, the more she thought—Wow, people are missing out—she didn’t understand why not many people in Korea know about them, they’re funny as hell. Music, masterpieces. Sure, the boys have massive international fame, but at the end of the day, they want to be more recognized in their home country. She had also been snooping in Entwt. Engenes were also funny as heck, admittedly, some were extremely weird and rude. But what fandom doesn’t, she also managed to have a few mutuals that are also FearNots. That’s a plus, it was such a shame that if they actually released the clip of her and Jay making the account, she would have to delete the account. But good things do last. 

She paused, good things last. Thinking about it makes her stomach churn. Jay and her have a good thing going for them. She didn’t want it to end; she refused to do so. Before she could start overthinking, she saw Entwt start putting blue filters over their pfp. Apparently, it’s to support the boys’ upcoming surprise single. It was the cutest thing ever in her opinion, so she decided to join in. Right now, she was chatting with a few Engenes who were excited about Coachella nearing. The van stopped in front of the apartment complex, and she thanked her manager as she got out of the vehicle. Just as she was about to open the door to the apartment complex, her phone rang. When she checked the caller ID, she smiled.

Bruni (with a lizard emoji)

She eagerly accepted the call as she walked in, greeting the person at the desk.  

“Hey, you.” She answered, the first thing she saw was Jay in what looked like a balcony.

“Hey, jellyfish,” Jay smiled, “did you just get home?”

“Yeah, I was in the studio,” Yunjin replied as she waited for the elevator. Jay furrowed his brows. “You should rest. I’ll call later,” Yunjin rolled her eyes as she walked into the elevator. “Just say you don’t want to talk to me,” She teased. Jay let out a mock-offended gasp. “You said that, not me, and besides, you came from work.”

“Well, I didn’t do much this afternoon, mostly in the studio writing,” Yunjin paused as she got out of the elevator, “And besides, talking to you is rest.” She continued teasingly, Jay rolled his eyes, trying to look annoyed, but his smile said otherwise. Yunjin heard a soft, “Flirt.” Making her laugh. She opened the door into their unit and walked straight to her room. She needed to go quickly to avoid her members, also to make sure they don’t find out she’s talking to Jay. “Hold on, I’ll change real quick,” Yunjin said as she put down her bag.

“Do you want me to end the call first?” Jay asked, and Yunjin could see him grow red by the second, making her laugh again, “No, silly, I can just close my camera, tell me about your experience so far back in our motherland.” She took some of her clothes and Jay to the bathroom for a half bath—thankfully, their new unit has a connecting bathroom, so she and Kazuha share one while Chaewon has her own—she muted her mic as she listened to Jay’s story about dinner with his members and how they probably gaslit him into paying for dinner. 

Yunjin finished and changed into her pajamas. She lay on her bed and opened her camera. She’ll take off her makeup later; she was still talking with Jay, and she was shy to show her bare face.

 Jay finished his story and looked at her, “Look at you looking cute, and your pajamas look cute.” Yunjin smiled at the compliment, “Why, thank you, kind sir.”

“You’re not gonna take your makeup off yet?”

Yunjin was shocked that Jay pointed it out, or that he even noticed she had some still on; she went for an almost natural look; not everyone can point it out, even if you stare at it, and Jay managed to point it out. “I’ll take it off later, I’m still talking to you,” she replied.

“Is talking to me the problem? You managed to change even though we’re on call.” Jay tilted his head.

“No, no, it’s just I’m still talking to you,” Yunjin says, emphasizing the still. And Jay understood immediately.

“You don’t have to be shy about your bare face, I’ve seen you barefaced before,” Jay told her softly. It was Yunjin’s turn to be confused. “When?”

“When we’re practicing for the challenge,” Jay casually replied, Yunjin’s mouth formed an O. That makes sense. “Also, you post pictures of yourself bare-faced, and you made a get-ready-with-me video with Vogue.” The moment Jay said that, Yunjin’s brain short-circuited.

“Yo..you watched that?” She knows Jay is a fan, but she didn’t think he’d watch something outside of their usual content like LENIVERSE. 

“Of course I did, I thought I told you I’m a fan?”

“Well, I was thinking like you’d only stick to LENIVERSE, and our music.”

“Well, I’m not that kind of fan,” Jay admitted. He hesitated in sharing more, but if they’re building something here, he wants to be honest, “I’m the kind that buys merch, learns almost everything about it, you know… that …kind.” his voice gets smaller the more he speaks, it’s his first time admitting it to a person, and it didn’t help that it’s the girl he likes. Yunjin, on the other hand, grew red; she was both embarrassed, flattered, and soft inside. Jay admitting that and being supportive does something to her. It was sweet of him.

“That’s…” She paused. Since Jay was being honest, she had to be too. “Really sweet of you.” She smiled when Jay got even redder, “It’s not weird for you? That I do that?” He rubbed the back of his neck. Making Yunjin laugh, as she stood up to go to her vanity table to take off her makeup, Jay was just adorable.

“Of course not, it’s adorable that you’re our fan.”

“I don’t want to be adorable,” Jay mumbled, and ironically enough, he said that with a pout. That got Yunjin giggling even more, “Well, if it makes you feel better, “ She paused for suspense, and to tease him. She even made sure to freeze.

“Nice try,I know you didn’t freeze.”  Yunjin let out an offended noise, “And how are you sure?”

“Your digital clock is still counting from behind you,” Jay pointed out, sounding smug, making Yunjin huff. “Alright, but to continue my point, I watched some of ENHYPEN's content too.” That made Jay freeze, “Really? When?”

“Literally, just before I went home from the company, which is why I'm not tired. And we can talk as long as we like.”

“What made you watch them?”

“Well, I figured. Watching the contents of the person I’m dating is a nice thing to do.” Jay smiled at her admission, “Well, will you look at that, I guess we’re both adorable then.”

“That reminds me,” Yunjin paused, giving him a half-hearted glare, “Why did you let me borrow your guitar if you don’t like people touching it?” She was expecting a bumbling response from Jay, but what she received made her heart melt.

“Is it not obvious? I like you, of course, you’re an exception.”

Damn it.

She felt her face grow extremely warm. Jay laughed. “Well, would you look at that, you’re flustered.” He teased. Yunjin hid her face with her hands, dropping her makeup wipes, “It’s your fault.” 

“Tell me about your nightly routine.”

“Really? Why?” Yunjin tilted her head, confused why he would want to hear her ramble about that.

“Dating means getting to know each other,” Jay answered honestly, not seeing the issue. Yunjin said nothing, waiting for him to continue, but Jay took her silence for something else. “Look, if you’re not comfortable to—”

“No!” 

“No?”

Yunjin cleared her throat, “It’s just…Why are you so sweet?” she groaned, hiding her face again.

“Well, I try,” Jay smiled. “So, what do you do after  taking off your makeup?” Yunjin grinned as she took her phone and her skincare pouch, taking them once again to the bathroom. She decided to do it the way her sister does it on her Get Ready with Me videos, showing off the product brand, what it does, and why she likes it. All of that stuff, while Jay watches and listens to her with the fondest look on his face. He even waited for her to finish, even though he was supposed to leave to go to their schedule, he still waited for her to finish. 

He’s down bad .

Chapter Text

Yunjin was curious. She had seen edits by Engenes about the boys, specifically those edits that showcased how far they’ve come. The closer it is to Coachella weekend, the more she sees them.

One was even a picture of Ni-ki really young, with a caption, ‘Who’s gonna tell him he’s going to perform in Coachella?’ She was not gonna lie and say she didn’t want to cry when she saw that. Because she did, and she managed to stop herself, because she was in the middle of their practice room and was scrolling through her phone during break. 

There’s also a recurring clip. It was Jay writing something with a swollen hand. And it was apparently during his time in I-Land. She didn’t know much about it other than that the boys were formed through that survival show. And how they don’t like talking about it. She didn’t want to ask Jay about it, seeing as the fans keep telling others that he didn’t, so she decided to just watch it on her own. Just to see why and how the boys came to be.

She already opened her YouTube when they were called again for practice, she immediately closed her phone and joined her members in formation.

Practice ended, and they were about to head home. Yunjin was chatting with the members while typing on her phone, searching for a better video compilation of I-Land. When she found one, she made a mental note for her to open it later when she got home. She was going to utilize the ride home for a power nap or maybe talk with her members. Her yapper self won, and she was giggling and cracking jokes with Eunchae and Kazuha, whom she was assigned to go home with. 

They didn’t try and bug her with questions about her and Jay anymore; they stopped a few days ago. She was surprised it lasted for more than two days of them being overly sweet to her and doing things for her. Don’t get her wrong, the members are always sweet to each other, but it gets to a point. But seeing as none of those worked, the four just dropped it, although Yunjin has a sneaking feeling they’re planning for her to slip up at one point.

“Oh!” Kazuha suddenly exclaimed, making Eunchae and Yunjin look at her, “Kkura-unnie and Chaewon-unnie said we should do a watch together!”

“Really?!” Eunchae asked excitedly. Yunjin beamed as well, but her smile froze when she remembered her initial plan. She really wanted to start it tonight. “Tell them I'll join a little late, I have to do something first.” She spoke, playing it cool.

Thankfully, they bought it, “Okay!!” They then proceeded to brainstorm for snacks they'd eat while watching. They manage to convince their managers to stop at a convenience store first, and their unnies will meet them there. Yunjin took a bag of chips—one that Jay recommended—for her to eat while starting I-Land. 

The girls were dropped at their apartment complex, and the meet-up time for the movie was an hour. Yunjin took a quick shower, took off her makeup, and changed into her nightwear. Once she was done, she went to her bed and opened her laptop, already grabbing her snack. Her first mistake was watching it belly down with her back turned to the door; her second was leaving it open for anyone to enter.

“Hey, Unnie. They’re asking what we should wat—” 

She nearly had whiplash with how fast she whipped her head, and there, Yunjin saw one of the biggest tattle tales in the group. Eunchae—who unfortunately has great eyesight—squinted slightly and saw her screen and was curious and actually had an idea what her unnie was watching.

“OMG UNNIE IS THAT I-LAND?” 

“I—No?”

Just as she denied it, the clip of Jay and Sunghoon walking in the forest appeared. Yunjin just turned to her screen as if it betrayed her.

“OMG! It is!” 

Yunjin was about to shush her, maybe bribe her to keep it between them. However, the universe really is against her tonight because Chaewon walked in. “What is?” Yunjin didn't have the time to cover both her laptop and Eunchae’s blabbering mouth.

“Yunjin-unnie is watching I-Land.” Eunchae tatled, even pointing at Yunjin as if snitching to her mother. Yunjin really can’t catch a break tonight because Kazuha and Sakura walked in, both curious why ChaeChaez were crowding Yunjin’s door and what’s taking so long. 

“What’s I-Land?” Kazuha asked.

“It’s the show that formed ENHYPEN,” Sakura answered. Chaewon slow clapped her teasingly, “Wah! Kkura-unnie is updated.” Sakura rolled her eyes and pushed her. “You’ve watched it, unnie? Kazuha and Yunjin asked, surprised. Meanwhile, Eunchae asked, “How’d you know about it, unnie?”

And of course, like the favorite child she was, Sakura answered her’s first, “Well, unlike some people, I know a few things about my sunbaenims,” she said pointedly. She then turned to the other two, “And, no. I haven’t watched it yet. I only saw clips.”

Just like that, all 4 minds connected.

“We should watch it tonight!” the four exclaimed. Meanwhile, Yunjin groaned—she wanted to watch alone. Chaewon saw her and decided to tease her, “Oh come on, Yunjinie,” she singsonged, “it’s a bonding moment…unless,” her eyes gleamed with jest, “You want to watch your boyfriend, fight for his debut spot alone.” 

Yunjin grew red. The three all giggled, “He’s not my boyfriend!” Her outburst made them laugh. She could only mumble, a small fine, and took her laptop to bring it to the couch. Setting it up for the TV. Kazuha and Eunchae went to get pillows and blankets for them, Chaewon getting their snacks and even getting drinks—non-alcoholic—while Sakura ordered a few more food for them. 

When all of them sat comfortably on their couch, cramped but comfortable. Yunjin had to restart the episode. The girls watched, clearly invested, munching on their snacks. 

“It feels so serious,” Kazuha commented, at the very beginning, “It’s way too intense.” Chaewon agreed, “I’m getting goosebumps.” Eunchae added.

Then came the introduction of the contestants; Sunoo and Jake’s unit came in first. 

“AWWW, Sunoo looked so cute!” Chaewon immediately cooed, Yunjin and Sakura looked at her weirdly, and she noticed, “What? That’s my child right there.”

“Jake-oppa looked so young here,” Eunchae mumbled.

Then came Ni-ki’s unit. And all of them collectively cooed, “Ni-ki looks so baby here!” Sakura and Kazuha both exclaimed. Yunjin’s hand was on her mouth, clearly shocked, when Ni-ki’s age popped up, “16?!”  Sakura and Chaewon froze when they realized that was Korean age, “He was 14…”

“So young…” They collectively said, from the corner of Yunjin’s eye, she saw Sakura chewing the inside of her cheek. A few more units came, and they weren’t really interested in them, mainly because they knew who debuted anyway. They do recognize a few of them, some that debuted in &Team. Jungwon finally came into frame, and Chaewon, almost immediately, “My second son!” Sakura playfully whispered to Yunjin, still loud enough for Chaewon to hear, “She really is feeling that mother role.” Making Yunjin snicker.

“I heard that.”

“You were meant to.”

The part where Yunjin was rudely interrupted. Sunghoon and Jay came to the building, Yunjin felt Chaewon nudge her teasingly, and she nudged back. Yunjin watched as Jay walked inside, with Sunghoon following behind him, clearly shy. Then Eunchae realized something, “Whoa, Jay oppa and Sunghoon oppa are the only unit to debut together!” The four all made a surprised sound. And finally, Heeseung arrived. 

“Heeseung-ah’s introduction gave me goosebumps,” Sakura commented as he was introduced as the Ace.

“If I didn’t know who would debut, I could still confidently say he would debut,” Kazuha added, earning nods of agreement. Then came the performances for each unit, and the girls still couldn’t believe how cruel it was for the voting, right in front of everyone, too. 

The first person, Seon? Was the name, Yunjin wasn’t sure, the five couldn’t help but cringe. Don’t them wrong, they’re not hating, it’s just—not the best. They all giggled at Sunoo’s reaction, at the performance. They actually felt bad for the boys watching. Even more when they had to vote. Jay and Sunghoon went next; the countdown for them started. “I swear I cannot stand that sound.” Chaewon mumbled, irritated, “Time to get used to it, I think it's used the whole show.” Sakura replied with a flat voice. The two boys started dancing, and the five girls focused on them. Kazuha let out a giggle at the exaggerated editing, “The editing made them look so cool.”

“What do you mean by editing? That’s all they are,” Sakura said, impressed.

Then the singing, “Oh, they’re doing well.” Eunchae commented

“A little out of breath,” Yunjin mumbled, “But for trainees, they’re good.

“It’s their natural chemistry,” Chaewon remarked.

When it was time for the voting, the girls put their hands up as if they were in the show with them. They all laughed when they noticed they had thought of the same thing. The contestants continued performing, and the five of them collectively raised their hands when one of their boys was in the unit, laughing every time. 

Little did they know, their happiness would change in the next episode. When the producers announce they need to vote out some people from the ground. They all gasped dramatically when Ni-ki voted Taki, and even more flabbergasted when Sunoo was sent to the ground.

“WHAT?” they collectively shrieked. 

They got a better look at the place, and they were shocked by the difference between the ground and I-Land. “I feel bad for the people on the ground,” Yunjin mumbled.

“It’s evil of them to make it drastically different,” Sakura said disapprovingly.

Then the first challenge came, and their heart broke. Jay repeatedly raised his hands and, not getting the part, they winced every time his voice cracked when he practiced for the part he wanted. “I feel even more bad, what do you mean they didn’t pick Jay-oppa?” Eunchae groaned, shoving ice cream into her mouth. “I feel like realistically, it was the smart move,”  Chaewon whispered, “At the end of the day, it’s a competition.” Sakura and Yunjin both shuddered, remembering their own experience with survival shows. 

Then the episode where Jay, Jake, and Ni-ki were sent to the Ground. They shed a tear, well, that was to put it lightly, Eunche and Yunjin were full-on crying. They had to pause first because they needed tissues, and the food that Sakura ordered arrived. The bright side, though, Sunoo made it to I-Land, and they all cheered at that.

It was in the Ground where Jay shone. He was a leader; he led them really well. Even took care of Ni-ki.

“I feel like most people see Ni-ki as a competition,” Eunchae voiced out, “Jay-oppa takes care of him though.” She took a piece of chicken from the box and took a bite before offering it to Kazuha, who gladly opened her mouth.

“He really did raise Ni-ki, I thought he was joking,” Yunjin mumbled, mostly to herself. Sakura heard her but said nothing. They watch as Jay runs the GROUND practice like the military, and manages to make an amazing performance.

Jay and Jake came back to I-land in the next episode; unfortunately, Ni-ki didn’t make it. 

“I don’t know why I feel nervous about Ni-ki,” Chaewon breaths out, as she grabs the bottle from the table to drink, “plus Sunoo,” she continued after taking a sip. “Right? Like, I know he debuts, but my heart can’t take it.”  Yunjin agrees. 

“Hold on, we need a break, my heart can’t handle it.” Sakura reached for the remote to pause the show. Eunchae opened her phone and saw the time, “Unnie, shouldn’t we sleep? We have to work tomorrow, right?” Chaewon, who came back from getting water bottles, “One more episode, then we sleep.” 

Everyone agreed, but before they resumed episode 5, Kazuha spoke up, voice quiet, and the rest all froze at her words.

“Imagine their emotional trauma by voting their fellow trainees out,” she paused, looking for her words, “it’s a heavy burden to carry if you’re the reason they debut,” she looked back to the screen where Sunoo was frozen back in the ground, “and how they felt when they find out the rest don’t want them enough to be voted out.”

“I-Land was such an evil show,” Euncahe declared. They played until they reached episode 6.

“In part 1, Sixteen GROUNDER will go on the final stage for global voting, 6 out of the Sixteen will go to part 2 for a chance to debut.”

Collectively, they all got goosebumps, and with Sunoo and Ni-ki still in the GROUND, they all celebrated. Again, forgetting that the two actually debuted. They finished episode 6 and just as they were going to close it, Yunjin saw the thumbnail for episode 7.

“OH? BTS-sunbaenim was there?” Yunjin exclaimed, and without a word, all of them sat down again, opening the episode, an unspoken agreement. After the bit with BTS, then came the 6 survivors of I-Land. All of them sat properly, one by one; Sunghoon, Jungwon, and Heeseung were called. Then the fourth survivor, they all held each other, then the silhouette of the next survivor was shown, “Oh? Is that Jake oppa?” Kazuha shrieked, but Yunjin shut it down quickly, 

“It’s Jay.”

Just as she said that, a baby picture of Jay in a car—looking adorable, trying to look cool—popped up on the screen, and four of them all screamed, but Kkura immediately shushed them. After Jay, there was Jake, and they all silently cheered. 

Then the announcement for the GROUND survivors came. Ni-ki was called first, and the girls all shook each other, celebrating. They watched as the I-Landers welcomed him, going straight to his hyungs, “Jay looks so proud,” Sakura noticed. “Well, he did cry when Ni-ki was left in the GROUND.”

Sunoo was then called, and when he cried, the girls cried with him, “Ahhh, oppa, why would you cry?” Eunchae whined, reaching for the tissue. “This show is such an emotional roller coaster ride, holy shit,” Chaewon complained, also reaching for the tissue.

“On the bright side, our tears are good for the skin, apparently.” Zuha joked. They reach the episode where Jay was on the brink of elimination. They were all panicking and crying when Jay was writing his letters, “His *sobs* hand *sobs* was swollen*sobs*” Yunjin and Chaewon both tried to voice out between their sobs.

They even shed more tears when Jay and K hugged. But when Jay was announced as third at the global voting, they were shocked at the high rank and were hitting each other—their way of showing excitement, even shedding tears of joy. Then it came to the final nine contestants, they were hyped that all of the contestants were going to perform all together before they announced the winners. They sang along with the contestants, and just as the winners were about to be announced, the TV was turned off.

The girls quickly turned to each other, looking for the culprit, and Yunjin, who turned her head in the right direction, froze. It was their manager holding the remote, looking pissed.

“Here I thought you girls were all asleep, sick, or worse, in danger, but here you are watching I-Land!?” she told them, arms on her hips.

“Unnie, why are you here so early?” Chaewon asked.

“Early!? It’s 1 PM!”

“WHAT?”

“Do you girls not check the time? Did you girls even sleep? We dropped you off around 12 last night!”

The girls all looked at each other, and their manager got their answer. She took a deep breath before speaking calmly, way too calmly. “Alright, you two,” pointing at Sakura and Eunchae, “Go back to your units and rest. I’ll tell them you don’t feel well today.” She was about to turn back and make the calls, but Eunchae called for her, “Can we finish the episode? It’s the last one.”

“Why? You guys already know who debuted anyway,” she answered them.

“We know, but we’ve already made it this far, why not finish it,” Kazuha reasoned, so their manager sighed before opening it again. Then go near the door to make the calls.

When Jay’s name was called as second place, Yunjin’s heart felt warm. After watching him fight for his debut spot, finishing second was the most worthwhile ending for him. “Oh, Kkura-unnie, you and Jay are the same.” 

Safe to say, Yunjin finally understood why the boys don’t want to talk about it and found a new sense of respect and admiration for not only Jay but all of them. And the girls also found a new hatred for HYBE.

Chapter Text

Yunjin should’ve known this was coming. 

The teasing.

The girls couldn’t really sleep that long, and they didn’t want to waste time any longer than they did because their first world tour is starting in a few weeks, and they wanted it to be flawless, so after 5 hours of sleep. They asked their manager to bring them to the company and into the practice room. Their performance director, Soyeon Amy, was more than happy to return even after the girls didn’t show up the whole morning. Personally, she would’ve wanted the girls to rest more, but seeing their determination always takes her by surprise, even after 3 years of watching over them.

Yunjin was standing off the side, drinking her water while watching Chaewon and Sakura talking between themselves, probably commenting about details during the choreography, then her gaze flickered to the maknaes. 

She paused drinking as the two of them were dancing to something that didn’t look anything like their own choreography. She walked towards them to ask what the two were dancing to, then realized when she finally heard what they were humming.

They were doing Into the I-land.

She shuffled beside them, then, naturally syncing with them as they danced the only part of the song they knew, singing the only lyrics they knew, then humming the rest. Their two Unnies saw them and joined them, and they ended up making up their own choreography in the end while humming louder this time. Over time, the humming was mixed with their laughs.

Soyeon found them dancing nonsense now, all of them singing? No, definitely yelling at this point. “You and I!! WE CAN FLYYYY!!”  They still manage to be in tune. She watched as the girls waved their hands around, “Neon tto dareun na nan tto dareun neo.”

“LET'S JUST RUN FOR OUR LIVES!!”

Soyeon’s mouth formed an O on recognition of the song.

They discovered I-land, I see. Soyeon remembered the time watching the program a few times, and she was actually acquainted with one of the performance directors of the show, more specifically, the final performance of that exact song. 

So she knew damn well the reason the girls are belting out this song, also why their practice was initially cancelled for the day, their manager said the girls binged-watch a show without realizing the time. She was going to ask them about it later. 

But this answers it perfectly. 

A grin made its way to her face as she approached the laughing group. “That’s not how you do the dance, by the way,” she corrected them smoothly, making her presence known. They all turned to her, surprised.

“Unnie you know the song?” Kazuha asked.

“Know it? Honey, I choreographed it,” she boasted.

“Really?!” the girls gaped at her.

“No, not really, but my friend did,” she admitted with a grin on her face. She cackled when the 5 of them collectively booed her.

“No need to be rude, I was there when they were practicing for the final stage,” she clarified. The girls all gathered around her and she knew that she was about to be interogated and already know what they’re gonna ask her.

“Okay, I’ll make this quick since we’re behind schedule and we need to run down the choreography one last time,” she paused for dramatic effect. “Yes, I did watch them practice. No, I did not know them before all of this. No, I did not know which member debuted. The person I had a feeling that was most likely to debut was Sunoo because he stood out to me the most.” 

Kazuha opened her mouth.

“No, I did not meet the contestants personally.”

She closed her mouth.

A beat passed as Soyeon waited for any more follow-up questions.

“Okay, my turn,” she exclaimed. “How did you five know about the song?”

“We watched I-land last night,” Chaewon answered honestly.

“Is that the reason why practice was cancelled? You girls watched it all night?”

“Yes.”

A pause. The girls were worried she would be mad.

“And, what prompted you girls to watch it?”

The four members all looked at one person, and Yunjin was trying so hard to keep her composure. But they’re already sporting teasing grins on their faces, and Yunjin cannot lie to them. She can technically, but they’ll know if she did.

They all waited for her to say something before Soyeon got tired. “Look, Yunjinie. You’ll have a less harder time in the future if you just tell your members now.”

“Tell us what?” the four of them yelled. 

Yunjin groaned. “Unnie, I told you not to say anything!” she whined.

Her members let out an offended gasp. and Yunjin couldn’t do anything but close her eyes and wait for the inevitable.

“Why can Soyeon-unnie know and we—your members—cannot know?” Chaewon cried out, offended.

“Because she was there when it happened, of course, she would know,” Yunjin defended weakly.

“So, whatever happened during the shoot is that big of a secret that you can’t even share it with us?” Sakura asked in a hurt tone, and Yunjin was not gonna lie, it did not look like her trying to guilt-trip her; they looked genuinely hurt.

Now she felt guilty, looking at her members, she sighed. There’s no point in hiding now, especially if her members are doubting their relationship as a group. As family. 

She’ll explain this to Jay later. 

She took a deep breath.

“Okay,” she paused, meeting everyone in the eyes, “I’ll tell you guys. But, I will be leaving one thing out.” They opened their mouths to protest. “ONLY, because it’s better when the challenge is released. To have suspense to it.”

She sat on the floor, and the rest followed in suit. 

“After the last scene. Jay and I wordlessly had an understanding that we needed to talk. So when I was already changed and ready to go, Jay came to my trailer asking if we could talk somewhere private.” Her voice was soft, and her ears were burning. She could feel her members watching her. Waiting.

Without meaning to, her members all saw how Yunjin’s expression turned fond as she recalled. “We talked about how our chemistry was naturally there, we admitted that we wanted something more—to keep talking even after the challenge is done. Not just as friends. I told him how, when I’m with him, somehow, things don’t feel that heavy anymore. I don’t overthink around him.”

She played with the hem of her hoodie. “We didn’t really put a label on it. And before any of you say something. We both know that with our careers, we would have very limited time, especially since both of our groups would be on tour. Different time zones and stuff. But we’re both committed to it, and we want to see where we go from here on out. And yes, I watched I-land because of him. I found it unfair that he knows so much about us as a group, and I barely knew anything about him, and since we’re dating now. I wanted to know more, so I wanted to watch where he started.” 

Then she suddenly remembered. “Also, he gave me this custom guitar as a thank you for agreeing to the challenge. And it is the prettiest guitar I have ever owned. He was so thoughtful about it; the details were so sleek and clean. Then I realize right there. I want to have this man. If he did that for me as a friend. What more if we are something more—”

Her members watched as she rambled on about how the two of them have their inside jokes, how Jay made her laugh. They never saw her being this excited for someone. They only ever saw her like this when it came to music. She was also now telling them about their calls, how Jay somehow made her feel like they’re in the same timezone, how he remembers little things she told him in passing. 

“So yeah…That’s it basically. We’re dating—I didn’t tell you guys, not because I don’t trust you guys. I wanted to tell you guys. But I didn’t want to jinx it. Also, we wanted it to be just us for a while. Go about this at our own pace.” She looked at them, eyes pleading and full of guilt. “I’m sorry for making you guys feel like I don’t trust you,” she didn’t even realize her eyes were watering up, as she apologized. And when her members all cooed before gathering her up for a group hug, the dam broke. 

Her members also apologized for forcing her to tell them when she was taking her time. They all ended up crying together.

Soyeon watched as the five of them curled up together on the floor. She actually felt guilty as well for putting Yunjin on the spot, making her tell them everything. She’ll apologize tomorrow, she figured the girls need to sort things out with each other first. 

“Okay, I think you girls have had enough practice for today. You girls should go home and rest.”

Their manager dropped them off at their apartment complex after telling them to actually get some sleep tonight. No more watching anything. Only leaving when they promised to rest. Rather than going to their individual rooms. They actually set up in the living room so they all can sleep beside each other. 

They all went to their rooms first to do their individual nightly routine. Yunjin was sitting in front of the mirror, adding serum to her face while she was calling Jay.

He answered at the 3rd ring. 

“Hey, Jellyfish.” He greeted cheerfully, before Yunjin could greet back, Jay noticed something. “Did you cry? You looked like you just cried.”

Yunjin couldn’t help but pout. He noticed.

“Actually, it's why I called you,” she paused, biting her lip before continuing, “don’t get mad, please.” 

Jay’s eyebrows rose, “Did someone make you cry? Yelled at you?”

“Not exactly. Just promise me that you won’t get mad…Actually, I won’t blame you if you did,” her voice going smaller.

“Hey,” his voice soft, reassuring, “Don’t worry. I promise I won’t be mad. I don’t think I can be mad at you.”

Yunjin nodded, taking a breath. She started recalling the events of today, starting from the part of her watching I-land with the girls. Jay didn’t say anything yet, quietly listening to her. Then she reached the part where she told the members about them. When she finished, she closed her eyes, expecting a scolding or something.

Jay hummed, and when he saw her expression, he immediately reassured her. “Hey, I’m not mad. I don’t think it's a problem if they know. Don’t worry about it.”

“But we agreed to keep it between the two of us.”

“We did,” Jay agreed, “but you also needed to tell your members, you did the right thing. They’re your family. And I kinda knew you would tell them eventually.”

“You were expecting me to slip up?” Her voice came out a little more accusing than she intended, rather than teasing. And Jay scrambled to respond

“No. Not like that. I mean, of course, you wanted to tell them. And like I said, I don’t blame you for telling them.”

Yunjin still wasn’t convinced, so Jay decided to try and distract her. 

“So what was their reaction?”

It worked because she went on a rant about how the girls were actually shipping the two of them since the beginning. Which Jay was shocked about.

“I know, right?” Yunjin answered when she saw his expression. 

Then their conversation flowed from there, shifting from one to another. Laughing a bit. Jay is telling her about his day. Only stopping when the girls were calling for her.

“They’re calling for me,” she turned back to Jay after yelling to the girls she’s coming. “We decided to sleep in the living room together.”

Jay nodded, his eyes filled with something that made Yunjin’s heart flutter.

“Goodnight, Jellyfish. Rest well.”

“Bye bye, Bruni. Have a nice day.”

She was about to end the call when Jay whispered something, and she almost didn’t get it. Because it looked like Jay didn’t even mean for it to come out.

“I like you.”

Yunjin smiled, “I like you too.” 

Jay’s eyes widened when he realized he said it out loud. He opened his mouth. But Yunjin ended the call before he could answer. She laughed as she received follow-up messages from him.

She sent him a kissy face emoji.