Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

Hyunseo had just hung up the hour-long call she had with her mother upon knowing that she would soon be among Inkigayo's newest MC lineup. The moment her manager announced the news after IVE's SHOW WHAT I HAVE concert in the US, she was over the moon and immediately called her mother to celebrate the good news after reaching the hotel. Wait, who did he say was gonna be MCing with me again? Whatever Hyunseo's manager said after was all but a blur to her. She quickly searched for anything to do with Inkigayo MCs on Naver and clicked on the first article that popped up.

‘ZEROBASEONE Han Yu-jin, IVE Lee Seo, and Moon Seong-hyun, New MCs for Inkigayo’ Oh. Han Yujin. That awkwardly shy boy from her class in Hanlim who suddenly appeared on Boys Planet, the international sensation of a survival show, and made it into the final lineup. Of course Hyunseo knew him.

It’ll be fine. I’ve been an idol for like, almost three years! I can do this!

Yujin was drenched in sweat after an intense dance practice session with his members in preparation for their latest comeback. He felt a buzz in the pocket of his sweatpants and fished out his phone.

-

woonhak

hey bro have fun on inki

make sure you dont fuck up on live my man

:)

-

Yujin had almost forgotten about the news of him becoming Inkigayo’s newest MC along with Leeseo and Moon Seonghyun. Wait. What the fuck. He hadn’t registered the fact that Hyunseo would be MCing with him. The acclaimed "Hanlim Goddess" among students who had been all the buzz upon entering high school and just so happened to be Yujin’s classmate.

Who the hell even thought of this lineup?

“Is this some MC gathering or what?” Yujin whispered into Wonyoung’s ear as she rang the doorbell of Hyunseo’s hotel room.

“I have no idea. She just summoned us over I guess.” Wonyoung replied, shrugging her shoulders as she fought back a yawn.

The door swung open. “Come in,” Hyunseo was already in her favourite set of overpriced Gelato Pique pajamas that Rei had bought for her in Japan. The two older girls plopped themselves on the king size bed, their eyelids slowly starting to fall shut. “I need to ask y’all some questions about MCing.” Their youngest looked dead serious yet worried at the same time. Both nodded their heads, clearly ready to answer any queries Hyunseo had about how to learn the ropes of being an MC.

“Um…how do you manage nervousness and awkwardness when MCing for the first time?” Hyunseo looked down at the sheets, feeling slightly shy for having to ask such a question when her unnies knew her as the girl who was more excited than nervous for their debut stage as rookies.

“Oh! That’s easy! Just engage in some small talk at a level you think the other party can handle and just smile.” Yujin blurted out as if it was the simplest thing in the world. “Worked for me anyways!”

“Same, just that I would engage in more professional topics to talk about, unlike complaining about that one cameraman at Music Bank who can’t get his angles right.” Wonyoung said, shooting Yujin with a sharp glare.

“Hey! I wasn’t that unprofessional!”

“Don’t think that I couldn’t hear you talking to Jihoon and Sungchan in the waiting room before pre-recordings!”

As Yujin and Wonyoung started bickering, Hyunseo was still stuck in deep thought. That wasn’t really the kind of advice I wanted to hear… “Wait, Wonyoung-unnie, can I ask for some other advice privately ?” She made sure that last part was as soft as she could. Her “Forever Unnie”, as saved on her Kakaotalk, gave her a knowing smile and shooed Yujin back to their room, saying that Yujin couldn’t function on as little sleep as they could.

“Unnie…how was MCing with Sunghoon-sunbaenim and Hanbin-ssi?”

“Well…I guess you could say it was good? If this is about Jebewon’s Yujin, maybe I could give you some more specific tips?” Wonyoung gave her beloved “little sister” a wink. Hyunseo froze. Then gave a slow, small nod.

All nine of the ZEROBASEONE members were huddled around their sad excuse for a ten-seater sized dining table their company provided them, gobbling up their dinner. Yujin stirred his malatang mindlessly, showing that obviously something was weighing on his mind. “Yujinnie, why aren’t you eating? Are you feeling sick?” His forever doting hyung, Gyuvin, quickly pressed a huge palm on his forehead.

“Growing children should never skip meals!” Hao chimed in, eyeing his precious durian that had been exiled to the mini fridge on the balcony.

“Is this about you being one of Inkigayo’s newest MCs?” Their ever-perceptive leader Hanbin asked, casting a worried glance towards Yujin.

“Uh…I’m fine I guess but could I ask y’all for some advice on MCing?” Yujin pried Gyuvin’s hand off his face.

His eight hyungs immediately looked at him, trying to give him their fullest attention while munching on their food.

“Ok this is gonna sound weird but how do I not explode on live broadcast?”

“Is this about Leeseo-sunbaenim?” Hao wondered aloud.

Taerae dropped his piece of tteokbokki. Matthew and Gunwook stopped their attempt at replicating the pepero game with a strand of naengmyeon. Ricky almost choked on his three-minute meatball. Jiwoong practically spat out his drink.

A beat later, a flurry of questions came from the shocked members. “He’s MCing with IVE’s Leeseo?” “Yes? You mean you didn’t know?” “I don’t even read the news bro.” “Wait, how do you even know all this shit?”

Hao flailed his arms in exasperation, “God forbid a man be a devoted girl group stan!” Hanbin quickly attempted to soothe his boyfriend, “Why don’t we ask Yujin?”

All eyes were on Yujin. Suddenly, a voice broke the silence. “Wait, I just figured it out. Does this mean Yujin likes Leeseo?” Gyuvin blurted out between sips of his favourite mango smoothie.

Another wave of chaos was unleashed.

Amidst the commotion, Yujin quietly retreated to his room, the only haven of silence in that noisy dorm. As he slowly closed his eyes, all he could see was that bright, blinding smile. Hyunseo’s smile. Damn it.

Chapter Text

It was 7p.m. at one of Starship Entertainment’s practice rooms. Hyunseo had just started her first dance practice for the song “Rum Pum Pum Pum”, the special stage for the new MC trio’s debut.

She was so out of it.

She couldn’t grasp the moves as well as she usually could and turned slightly late for the intro part. Luckily, her other co-MC Seonghyun was struggling just as much—he was an actor, after all—so she could pass it off as just keeping up with him.

Get yourself together! The three upcoming MCs would be reviewing the stage formation and practicing as a group later. Hyunseo couldn’t afford to make such mistakes, especially when she was the most experienced among the three, not to mention she was also part of IVE’s dance line along with Gaeul and Yujin.

I wonder if Yujin is memorising the dance better than me. After all, he did earn an ALL-STAR and receive compliments from legendary dancers Choi Youngjoon and Baek Koonyoung during the star level test at the start of Boys Planet. He’s in Hanlim’s Practical Dance Department, right? Hyunseo vaguely recalled her friends from that department gushing about how cool the dance prodigy was during lessons.

She ran her almond-shaped lilac nails through her hair and paused. Wait…why do I even know all these stupid little things about him?

Yujin was at the room next door practicing the choreography of “Rum Pum Pum Pum”. He was extra nervous as it would be his first performance with other artists but was still fully immersed in practice and picking up the moves fast. He was there to work hard to prepare for his special stage as a new Inkigayo MC.

So this is where she trains all the time, huh? He eyed the two black walls and two huge floor-to-ceiling mirror walls, starting to think of the detailed presentation on the “nation’s maknae” that Hao had delivered to all the members last week.

“If she’s the nation’s niece, why don’t we make Yujin the nation’s nephew?” Taerae, supposedly his number one fan, suggested.

“Hear me out guys, her favourite colour’s purple and Yujin’s representative colour is pastel lilac according to Namuwiki. Are y’all seeing what I’m seeing?” Gyuvin was already on that soulmates fic grind.

“Bro, you two literally share the same specific favourite fruit,” Gunwook said as he requested Gyuvin to add him as a co-creator on the AO3 fic.

“I can’t believe that our maknae might actually turn out to be straight,” The group’s number one fudanshi, Ricky, couldn’t fathom the thought of their youngest, who was practically raised by four couples, ending up liking girls.

Hold up. Why'd I actually remember all this shit? Yujin couldn’t understand why everything about Hyunseo was always left in the back of his mind, almost as if the regular flow of new information just wasn’t able to displace it.

Soon, it was time for the first script read-through of the three hosts of Inkigayo.

“Hello, I’m Moon Seonghyun, pleasure to meet you two.”

“Hi, I’m Leeseo but y’all can just call me Hyunseo. Nice to meet you two.”

“Hi, I’m Han Yujin, looking forward to working with you two.”

The group exchanged polite bows. Just then, Hyunseo and Yujin’s eyes met. And darted away a split second later. Seonghyun could’ve sworn that he saw both their eyes falter.

“Please show us the nominees for the winner of the spring season!” Hyunseo read her lines smoothly and with just the right level of energy needed of a music show host. Still, she could feel someone’s lingering gaze on her—even without lifting her head up from the script.

It was Yujin’s. It always had been.

Afterwards, the MC group practice began.

Fortunately, Hyunseo didn’t do too bad for a first practice. Her moves were clean, flowy and elegant, her trademark as part of IVE’s dance line. Seonghyun, on the other hand, seemed to forget some of the key choreography points but still, not too shabby for his first group dance practice. But Yujin was still the best. He had already internalised all of the moves, adding his own touch of flair to his parts. The sharp, powerful yet controlled movements Hyunseo had seen since Boys Planet up till now were still there.

“This part went so smoothly, right?” Their teacher praised Yujin as the trio reviewed their monitoring video. Hyunseo noticed his shy smile at the compliment of the choreographer. I never knew he was so…charming.

Practice formally ended at 11p.m. Seonghyun left with his manager as soon as they wrapped up, not forgetting to say his goodbyes and thanks of course. “Great work!” Hyunseo bowed with thanks towards the backup dancers and staff with her classic bright smile plastered all over her face. Yujin followed likewise but he didn’t seem like he was leaving soon…

Chapter Text

Everyone except for Hyunseo and Yujin had already left the practice room, even their managers were waiting outside, catching up on sleep they would be missing during the upcoming comeback period.

Yujin had been practicing hard for the past two hours, trying to perfect everything down to the smallest detail, while Hyunseo was deciding which ending fairy pose would suit their special stage best. They hadn’t spoken to each other at all the entire time, preferring to focus on what they were doing individually.

Eventually, exhaustion got the better of the two. Yujin squatted down, catching his breath after dancing tirelessly. Hyunseo sat down with her legs crossed, sneaking a peek at him. He had rolled up his black sleeves just above his elbows, showing his forearms, and a pair of white sweatpants. As he swept his long black bangs away from his eyes, Hyunseo quickly looked down at the wooden floor, hoping he hadn’t caught her staring. He seems oddly handsome… Not the kind she saw regularly amongst her fellow idols.

Yujin had been trying not to show that he was staring at Hyunseo the whole time they were together. The long bangs seemed to have worked. But now, he could actually see her. Her disheveled yet perfectly glossy and healthy dark brown locks. Her long-sleeved Chrome Hearts T-shirt and grey sweats. Her refreshing and pure face. Yet, it stood out from the many pretty faces he always saw.

However, Yujin noticed that Hyunseo’s complexion was pale. Is it another one of those diets Starship puts her on? He stood up and went to grab his bag, rummaging through the singular leather glove, toothbrush, eye mask from some random Thai airline, tangled earphones, fake glasses and bulky black headphones. Here they are.

Hyunseo felt a soft tap on her shoulder and turned behind. “Here. You seem low on sugar.” His expression a combination of slight concern mixed with a small smile.

A gentler one.

A genuine one.

One that she had never seen before.

In Yujin’s palm were a few of her favourite peach-flavoured sweets. Hyunseo’s eyes lit up, immediately ripping open the soft pink wrapper and popping the candy into her mouth. “Thanks, I forgot to eat dinner before practice,” She flashed a grateful grin at him, “In fact, this brand is my favourite!”

I knew that, dummy. Somehow, Hao’s presentation had actually come in handy. In preventing Hyunseo from passing out, of course. “Me too,” Yujin leaned back on his hands, glancing sideways at her, “Did you really forget to eat or is it something else?” She didn’t reply. I suppose my guess was right.

“Wait, I almost forgot. Could I have your contact for the GC?” Hyunseo flicked out her iPhone 15 Pro Max that fit snugly in the Earpearp x Lauren Jung Twinkle Paradise case. Her nails are really pretty. Yujin keyed in his Kakaotalk ID and passed the phone back to its owner.

“Your dancing is super good, by the way,” She remarked as she added Seonghyun and Yujin to the new group chat, “Wish I had the stamina to practice nonstop.”

“Not as good as your hosting skills. I don’t even think the mic will help with my volume,” He attempted to return the compliment as smoothly as possible, shrugging his shoulders. Hyunseo giggled.

Silence fell, but it felt different now. Comfortable.

She didn’t force any small talk like other girls usually did. She didn’t make things awkward like those students in his department. She was an E who could read the room and make people feel at rest.

He didn’t reduce her only to her looks like other boys usually did. He offered her something to snack on when he realised her pale complexion. He actually saw beyond her excuses for skipping dinner. He was an I who could notice the little things most people swept away.

“Well, it’s late, you should get some rest. It was nice seeing you again outside of school, I think we’ll get along well as MCs!” Hyunseo waved, blinding him with her smile yet again.

Yujin waved back, packing his belongings and signaling to his manager who had just woken up.

The day of their debut as hosts on Inkigayo had finally arrived.

Makeup artists finishing up the final touches of Hyunseo’s makeup, hairstylists spraying down the last strand of Yujin’s bangs, producers and cameramen moving around the stage for lighting checks. The three MCs were preparing for the pre-recording of the special performance early in the morning.

As he took a bite of Inkigayo’s specialty, the classic heart-shaped rice puff, Yujin looked towards Hyunseo. She was debating whether or not to wear a hat with her stylist. It doesn’t matter. She looks cute either way. Hyunseo thought the red, black and green plaid beret looked nice on her despite not normally wearing hats.

Yujin was checking the moves right before rehearsal in the mirror just outside the stage. Hyunseo was waiting for the staff to help secure her new purple bedazzled mic, a gift from Rei on her birthday. She really likes purple, doesn’t she? He took a quick glance at her from the corner of his eye.

After the quick rehearsal, it was time for the actual pre-recording. While Yujin continued to check the moves even on stage, Seonghyun and Hyunseo interacted with the many fans watching below.

“I’ll try to do a bit better! Oh…the first stage is so hard…” The young actor was definitely feeling the pressure to perform well.

“DIVE~~” Hyunseo called out affectionately. Cheers erupted in support of their beloved maknae. Seeing that Yujin was still focusing on practicing, she decided to greet his fans for him. “ZEROSE~~” Hyunseo burst into laughter upon hearing the loud shouts for her. “Oppa, what’s the name of your fandom?” “I don’t have one…heh.” The two continued to wave for their fans.

Yujin heard someone call out his fandom’s name. It was Hyunseo. With a smile so wide and full of joy. He couldn’t help but let out a small smile too.

“You did really well today! All that hard work didn’t go to waste, huh?” Hyunseo looked up at Yujin as they left the stage.

“I could’ve done it better though…” He seemed very wistful about the performance he did while he held up his portable dark green fan.

Sensing Yujin’s disappointment, she broke off a huge piece of her rice puff and offered it to him. “I’m sure that if you did your best, your fans will love and enjoy the performance fully,” reassuring him that his efforts were more than enough.

And there it was.

Her smile.

The one that always made him feel at peace.

Chapter Text

Jang Wonyoung was never one to actively reach out to other idols she worked with out of professional settings, some being the biggest bimbos she had ever interacted with offstage. The only exception was Sunghoon, her co-MC of one year on Music Bank who was somewhere between a friend and more than that. However, she did respect and genuinely enjoy working with one other MC.

It was Hanbin, the star Boys Planet contestant who debuted as “Mnet’s son” and took South Korea by storm. He had MC-ed with her last year at AAA 2023 and his hosting skills were impeccable for a rookie idol, impressing the industry veteran Wonyoung. Above all, he was a member of ZEROBASEONE, the same group Hyunseo’s new co-MC Yujin was in. That was all that mattered.

Wonyoung scrolled through the heaps of contacts she had saved on her phone, her thumb landing on ‘ZEROBASEONE Sung Hanbin’, leading her to his Kakaotalk. She began carefully crafting out the message she had planned on sending.

As Sung Hanbin quietly shut the door behind him, Gyuvin beckoned him over to the desktop, eager to start their recent favourite game. Just as he took a seat on the custom gaming chair at the desk, his phone buzzed. “Why does this always happen just as I’m about to take a break!” Hanbin was exasperated. Gyuvin continued spinning around in his chair, wondering how long it would take before they could begin.

-

IVE Jang Wonyoung

Hi, this is IVE’s Jang Wonyoung! I heard that a member of your group, Yujin, will be MCing together with our Leeseo on Inkigayo soon. I was just wondering if he too had any concerns about hosting a music show ^^

-

Well, he certainly didn’t expect the icon of K-Pop’s fourth generation to be the one messaging him at this time. “He too…does she mean that Leeseo-sunbaenim also had worries like Yujin’s?!” Gyuvin looked over at Hanbin’s phone screen, his eyes widening at the deduction.

“I’m not sure. Let me answer her first. And don’t worry. I won’t make it seem like our Yujinnie kind of likes Leeseo-sunbaenim before she says it first. Or never.”

-

ZEROBASEONE Sung Hanbin

Hello! Yujin is definitely nervous for the new gig but he’s been a special MC before so I think he’ll get the hang of it soon. He did ask us how to properly interact with other idols like Leeseo when hosting so that it would be less awkward on camera for them 😊

Meanwhile, Matthew was texting Rei about how red Yujin’s ears went whenever they mentioned him and Leeseo and she was texting him about how Leeseo got flustered when Yujin said her real name for the first time.

-

reinyourheart 𐦍

i bet that they wont even be able to make eye contact on the first day of the job

MOOtthew

guess who already started that 100k word slow burn fic 🙏🙏

reinyourheart 𐦍

def gyuvin

maybe gunwook

MOOtthew

HOW DID YOU GUESS THAT RIGHT

ARE YOU IN OUR WALLS RN

anyways whole house in chaos over this yujin leeseo situation(ship?)

reinyourheart 𐦍

same here !

except hyunseo doesnt know that we can tell..

WAIT

combined gc with everyone ?

i NEED to yap beyond ive borders

MOOtthew

YES

ON IT AS WE SPEAK

-

‘ JEBEIVE UNION ’ was created.

MOOtthew added hanbitna , Jiwoong , zhanghaoworldtopstar , TAERESA , lovelicky , gyub , wookie

reinyourheart 𐦍 added ~ yujin , ~ Gaeul , ~ Wonyoung , ~ jiwon

reinyourheart 𐦍

hi @gyub send fic link

gyub

https://archiveofourown.org/works/67190470/chapters/173522731

here damn

is this gc for us to yap

about my son

and his crush

that he hasnt realised is his crush

YET

hanbitna

Yujin is literally me and Hao’s son

What are you on

~ jiwon

why is yujin-unnie the son of a gay couple

and since when did she go by any other pronouns??

~ yujin

jiwon

you DO realise that theyre talking about the other yujin

hyunseo’s likely crush

~ Wonyoung

I can’t believe I texted Hanbin so vaguely so that I could gauge if Yujin likes Hyunseo back just to have Rei and Matthew make a gc

Also um..this might not be the most appropriate thing to say right now but

Hyunseo kind of thought that Yujin

Swang the other way

Or both

lovelicky

so basically gay or bi

not surprising since me and gyub raised him

gyub

BI ICONS RISE

[photo attached]

why did i just spot matt and wook

sleeping on top of eo on the sofa

~ Gaeul

Are Jiwoong and Taerae together?

zhanghaoworldtopstar

HOW DO YOU KNOW THAT

I PROMISED TO KEEP IT A SECRET

~ Gaeul

I had a hunch

Matthew and Gunwook are sleeping together

The whole industry knows that you and Hanbin are married

Ricky and Gyuvin are probably watching Netflix together

And Yujin apparently has a crush on Hyunseo

So it leaves those two.

TAERESA

we were supposed to keep it quiet

but i guess this is how we’ll be breaking the news to the rest of yalls?

gyub

WORLD PAUSE

DID I JUST SPOT YUJIN

SMILING

AT HIS PHONE

WTF JSFKSJFKSFJSJSFSJ

IM ACTUALLY BAWLING MY EEYS OUT RN

~ jiwon

WAIT

WHY DID I SEE HYUNSEO

TEXTING SOMEONE SAVED AS

YUJIN (NOT UNNIE DONT MIX UP)

WITH PURPLE

AND BLACK HEARTS

LAKSDFJAKSDGHAFH