Chapter Text
Sanghyeok wakes up at the break of dawn, just like any other day. He starts out his day with meditation, laying out his yoga mat in front of his favorite window. He hears the sounds of his fellow players waking up and stumbling into the kitchen after a couple of minutes. He finally rolls up his mat before changing into a comfy set of clothes for the arduous day ahead.
He sets out to the kitchen, seeing Minhyung and Minseok sitting at the kitchen table, scrolling through their phones quietly as they munched on cereal.
“Are Rando hyung or Hyeonjun up?” Sanghyeok asks, grabbing himself a snack out of the fridge. Minseok grumbles in response, as Minhyung shakes his head. Sanghyeok gently strolls to their doors, knocking and ensuring the lights are on before leaving.
Sanghyeok sends a quick text to their manager that they were soon ready to head out, only 15 minutes behind schedule. He gathers up the four sleepy players and guides them down to the van.
The ride to their first stop of the day was quiet. Everyone aside from himself and Hyeonjun slept, leaving Sanghyeok to enjoy the rain passing by his window. The peace was quickly over once they arrived at their destination: a studio for their upcoming shoot. The five of them shuffled through the rain inside, Minseok quickly looking for the nearest snack table to fill up his tummy. Minhyung accompanied him, and Hyunjoon and Hyeonjun moved to find a quiet place to sit. Sanghyeok remained near the set as he was briefed on the team’s schedule by the photographer’s assistant. After writing it all down in his notes, he walked over to where the team had managed to capitalize an unused sofa.
“Man, it sure is pouring,” Hyeonjun commented, gazing out the small window above the couch. Minhyung glanced up and towards the window.
“I wonder if the streets will flood,” Minhyung adds. “That wouldn't be good. I have nice shoes on.”
Minseok whines loudly, “I don't want to walk in the rain!! It’ll mess up my hair!” Sanghyeok laughs. He looks out the windows and notices how large the clouds look today. He watches as a particularly large flash spreads across the clouds.
“I think it'll get worse before it gets better,” Sanghyeok comments, pulling out his phone. He finds a weather app which forecasts thunderstorms for the rest of the day. “Good day for hot pot.”
Hyeonjoon smiles lopsidedly, “I agree. We should get something warm for lunch.” Minseok quickly nods along, looking pensively towards the stormy clouds.
An assistant comes over to usher the boys towards the set for their group photos. They all quickly get up on the green screen set, posing as the photographer asks.
“Okay, now you need to act super serious. No laughing. Almost angry.” The photographer says. The boys line up and do their best to maintain their most serious faces, with Minseok and Hyeonjoon occasionally breaking out into laughter after seeing someone else’s face. Sanghyeok does his best to maintain a straight face and be professional.
A particularly loud boom hits the studio. Minseok yelps, stumbling a little bit from the startle. Minhyung quickly catches his arm before pulling him upright again. He whispers to Minseok, “It’s just thunder. It’ll be okay.” Minseok nods quickly, taking a deep breath. The other three look on carefully, waiting for Minseok to settle before carrying on with the shoot. When Sanghyeok turns back towards the photographer, he catches the faint shimmer of gold out of the corner of his eye. GenG. He’s searching for someone in particular before the photographer calls him back to attention.
“Back to what we were doing! Same deal, look serious. We need to hurry up, so please take this seriously.” The photographer shouts. Sanghyeok didn't love his tone but he quickly complied, knowing the faster this is over with- the better.
Soon, the photographer was waving them from the set. He quickly called Sanghyeok back.
“We’re doing more shots. Just wait for a second there.” The photographer demanded, as an assistant ran over and touched up his makeup. He closed his eyes and she brushed powder along his face and fixed a few stray hands of hair. Her hands disappeared and he reopened his eyes, only to be met with the dark irises of none other than Jeong Jihoon. Jihoon flashed a smile at him.
“Hi hyung.”
“Hello, Jihoon,” Sanghyeok shyly responded, glancing away from Jihoon's strong stare.
“Long time, no see.” Jihoon responds, tucking his hands into the pockets of his jacket.
Sanghyeok nods, “I went home for the offseason. My family was having a get together with my grandmother.”
Jihoon smiles in response. He opens his mouth to reply before another big boom hits the building. He frowns.
“Sure is stormy today,” Jihoon comments, noticing Sanghyeok’s brows furrowing. “What’s wrong, hyung?”
“Minseok is scared of loud noises. The thunder was scaring him earlier,” he sighs. “I hope that one didn't scare him too badly.”
Jihoon nods in understanding. A green box is brought towards them on the set. It’s about 2 feet up in the air. The photographer directs them to stand on it. Jihoon jumps up, offering a kind hand to Sanghyeok. Sanghyeok gracefully takes it, stepping up onto the platform with the elegance of a cat. He notices how soft Jihoon’s hands are, but his attention is quickly redirected as the photographer starts yelling instructions. They're positioned shoulder to shoulder, slightly angled towards each other as they are to stare at the camera and cross their arms. They quickly get in position, and the photographer’s camera starts flashing.
A loud boom hits again. The floor shakes. The lights go out. Sanghyeok jumps, startled by the sudden screech he knows is Minseok’s. He grabs the sleeve of Jihoon’s jacket instinctively. Jihoon’s hand comes to cover his.
“Hyung? Are you okay?” Jihoon asks, and Sanghyeok can feel his breath ghosting near his ear. He gulps.
“Yes, I think so. I’d like to get off this box. I’m scared we’ll fall,” Sanghyeok says, searching for Jihoon’s face in the darkness, but fails to find it. He can hear lots of chattering in the background, and people's phone flashlights turning on. Unfortunately, his eyes just aren't adjusting to the dark, probably due to the stage lights that were on before. Jihoon seems to be having an easier time than him. He feels Jihoon's hand leave his as his jacket slips out from under his grip. He hears Jihoon jump off the platform. Sanghyeok starts to feel disoriented in the dark with nothing to hold onto. He tries to take a step towards where he thought Jihoon got down from, but finds his foot slipping off the edge of the crate. Sanghyeok braces himself for impacts as his body starts to fall with the foot, but it never comes. He feels two strong arms wrap around his waist, quickly stopping him from tumbling onto the concrete below.
“Careful, hyung,” Jihoon whispers into his ear. “You could’ve broken a bone.”
Sanghyeok feels his heart skip a beat.
“Thank you, Jihoon.”
Jihoon’s arms don't loosen from around him.
“Jihoon? Is something wrong?”
“No… Just waiting for the lights to turn on, so I know you won't fall the second I let go again,” Jihoon teases. Sanghyeok reaches up and slaps his shoulder.
“Respect your elders!”
Jihoon laughs. Sanghyeok feels it in his chest. Someone with a flashlight comes running up to him. Sanghyeok is pretty sure it’s Minseok.
“Sanghyeok hyung? Are you alright?” Minseok pants, tear tracks evident on his cheeks. Sanghyeok moves his hand from Jihoon’s shoulder over Minseok's hair.
“Jihoon here saved me from falling. Don’t worry Minseok,” Sanghyeok cooed, pulling away from Jihoon to pull Minseok into his arms. “Where’d Minhyung go? Were you alone over there?”
“Minhyung was gonna get me more snacks. I don't know where he went!!” Minseok panicked. Sanghyeok shushed him.
“It’ll be ok. Let's wait for the lights.”
After about a minute of Jihoon telling Minseok random stories to distract him, the lights slowly flickered back on. Sanghyeok sees a panicked Minhyung standing by the couch they occupied earlier. He pushes Minseok towards him.
Jihoon stands next to him as he watches Minseok run over into Minhyung’s arms.
“You’re a good leader,” Jihoon comments.
“I try my best.”
The photographer quickly ushers them back onto the box to finish the shoot. After about 4 more poses, the photographer says they are done. Jihoon quickly steps down off the box, before grabbing Sanghyeok’s waist and lifting him down. Sanghyeok flushed to the tip of his ears at the feeling. Once again, Jihoon didn’t let go even once Sanghyeok’s feet were safely on the floor. Sanghyeok looked away shyly, looking everywhere but Jihoon’s eyes.
“Hyung.”
“Hyuuung.”
Sanghyeok finally snapped his eyes back to Jihoon’s. He was smiling.
“How do I know you aren't gonna fall again the second you touch the rain?” Jihoon teases.
Sanghyeok rolled his eyes.
“I’m not that clumsy.”
“I can't risk you hurting your pretty hands before we get to play each other this season, hyung.”
Sanghyeok flushed even more, if possible. He feels Jihoon’s hands move to hold his hips.
“Let me take you to your van, at least,” Jihoon asks. Sanghyeok can't say no.
“Fine.”
The room was mostly empty by now, people rushing out to their cars the second the lights returned. Jihoon moves one of his hands to the small of Sanghyeok's waist before leading him towards the front doors. Before they brave the storm, Jihoon pulls off his jacket. He holds it above Sanghyeok’s head as a cover.
“Run, hyung!” Jihoon yells, laughing as he pulls Sanghyeok forward, doing his best to hold the jacket over Sanghyeok’s head. Sanghyeok finds himself quickly laughing too as he stumbles his way to the side of the T1 van. Jihoon drops the jacket onto Sanghyeok's shoulders and Sanghyeok climbs into the van. When he turns around, he notices how sopping wet Jihoon is.
“Run, Jihoon!! You’ll catch a cold!!” Sanghyeok laughs, pushing him away from the car door. Jihoon smiles widely, as he backs away.
“Bye, hyung!!!” he waves as he rushes towards the GenG van.
“So, hyung. Jihoon seemed touchy today,” Minseok teases from the back seat, poking Sanghyeok's shoulder blade.
“Shut,” Sanghyeok hisses, as the van fills with laughter. It didn't go unnoticed how pink Sanghyeok’s ears were.
(Back in the Gen.G van…)
“Jihoon,” Jaehyuk says from next to him. “Why are you soaking wet? You had a jacket. Where did it go?”
Jihoon shrugs. “Lost it. Couldn’t find it. Maybe an assistant will return it to us tomorrow.”
“So, it has nothing to do with the part where you were standing love struck, staring into Sanghyeok’s eyes?” Geonbu chimes in.
“Nope. Not at all,” Jihoon flushes. Jaehyuk narrows his eyes.
“We can all see you blushing.”
“No, you can't.”
“Definitely can.”