Chapter Text
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“I’m going to go live now,” Juhoon said, reaching for his phone.
“I’ll join too,” Martin said quickly, his voice slightly muffled by the plastic cap over his hair. “I’ll join you as soon as this stuff is rinsed out and dried. Give me twenty minutes.”
Juhoon snorted. “Are you sure you’re going to be done in twenty minutes?”
“True.” Martin glanced at the clock, then at him. “Maybe thirty.”
Juhoon laughed as he pushed himself up from the couch, grabbing his phone and the half finished drink he'd left on the table.
“It’s okay, I'll start without you.”
“Don't start anything embarrassing.”
“I won't.”
“You always say that.”
Juhoon was already walking toward the door, smiling to himself. “See you later.”
A few minutes later, he was sitting cross legged on the hotel room floor with a tray of sushi spread out in front of him, his phone propped against a water bottle as the Weverse live connected. The comments started pouring in almost immediately.
“Hello everyone.” He smiled at the screen, reaching for a piece of salmon. “I just got back.”
A comment suddenly caught his eye.
“Why am I eating sushi?” he read aloud, tilting his head. “Because we’re in Japan. It would be a crime to eat anything else right now.” He laughed and reached for another piece. “Tomorrow is Inkigayo stage, so today is kind of our last free day. We’re just... resting. Mostly.”
“Oh have you guys seen? Our Keonho and Seonghyeon are MCs tomorrow!” He added proudly. “They've been practicing their lines a lot… please show our maknaes a lot of support.”
He returned to his meal, the silence of the room filled only by the soft hum of the air conditioner and the distant muffle of traffic outside his open window. He was halfway through a piece of tuna when the door clicked. It wasn't a full opening, just a cautious, tentative poke of a head into the room.
Seonghyeon appeared in the gap, his expression one of focused determination, likely on a mission to find their missing teammate. “Keonho-ya, are you–”
He froze. His eyes locked onto Juhoon, then flickered to the phone propped up against a water glass, and finally to the glowing screen of the live broadcast. For a split second, Seonghyeon’s face went through a sequence of emotions: confusion, sudden realization, and a flash of sheer panic. He had almost asked if Keonho was in there, a question that would have revealed he had been wandering the halls looking for someone who wasn't even in the room.
He quickly recovered. Instead of leaving, Seonghyeon stepped inside, trying to act completely normal.
“...Uhh Juhoon hyung?” Seonghyeon asked, his voice now a pitch too high to be truly natural. “Oh. Are you having sushi?” He stepped closer, his gaze intensely focused on the tray as if the arrangement of rice and fish were the most fascinating thing in the hotel.
Juhoon looked up. He gave Seonghyeon a quick, searching look. For half a second, their eyes met. Juhoon understood.
Whatever Seonghyeon had been about to say, it was clearly not something he wanted thousands of people hearing. “Yeah,” Juhoon said easily. “Do you want some?”
“Nah, I’m fine.” Seonghyeon said, his voice faltering slightly. “I was just wondering if I could ask you something, but I’ll ask you later since you are on live right now.”
“Oh okay, no worries then.”
Juhoon glanced at the camera again. “Actually, Seonghyeon is working on our third album right now.”
Seonghyeon blinked, and for a second, he just stood there staring at Juhoon.
Juhoon stared back, his expression completely blank for all of half a second before the corners of his mouth lifted into an almost painfully innocent smile.
“He's been really busy with it,” Juhoon continued.
Seonghyeon frowned slightly. “With…?”
Juhoon held his gaze. “Our third album.”
There was something in the way he said it. Just a little too deliberate: a tiny emphasis on the third album, followed by the briefest glance toward the phone.
Seonghyeon's eyes flicked to the camera. Oh. Right. He was supposed to take the hint.
“Yeah,” Seonghyeon said quickly, nodding. “Very busy.”
“Lots of practice.”
“Mhm.”
“Recording too.”
“Yeah.”
Juhoon smiled again, satisfied.
It wasn't technically a lie. They'd actually been working on their third album a lot lately. It was probably the easiest excuse Juhoon could've given him without making anything sound suspicious.
Seonghyeon nodded to himself. Okay. Got it. Juhoon gave him one last pointed look before turning back toward the phone.
“Anyway,” he said casually, “you should say hello before you go.”
Seonghyeon immediately understood that this was his cue to leave.
“Okay.” He stepped closer to the phone, giving the camera a small wave. “Hello, everyone.” The comments immediately filled with hearts and greetings. Seonghyeon smiled as he glanced down at the screen, his nerves finally settling now that he knew Juhoon was covering for him. “Please look forward to our third album,” he said. “We've been working really hard on it lately.” That much was true, at least. “And please support us tomorrow at Inkigayo too.”
Juhoon nodded beside him.
“Okay, I'll let you continue with your livestream now.”
He gave the camera one last wave. “Bye, everyone!” Then he stepped back toward the door. As his hand closed around the handle, he glanced over his shoulder at Juhoon. Juhoon was already looking back at him. The smile on his face was small, almost amused.
Seonghyeon mouthed a silent, Thank you. Juhoon just waved him off. Seonghyeon slipped out and quietly pulled the door shut behind him. Only then did he let his shoulders drop. He hadn't even realized how tense he'd been until he was standing alone in the hallway. He looked down at his phone.
Still no message from Keonho. “Seriously…”
He started walking again, finally heading toward the room he was supposed to have been looking for in the first place.
Seonghyeon made it halfway down the hallway before stopping. He pulled out his phone again, staring at the last message he'd sent Keonho.
seonghyeon: ahn keonho where are you??
seonghyeon: you promised we could practise together
Still nothing – it had been almost half an hour since the messages had been delivered. He sighed and opened their group chat instead, scrolling back through the messages until he found Keonho's room assignment. Of course.
He stared at it for a second. Then at the room he'd just walked out of. He felt stupid. Keonho didn't share a room with Juhoon. He shared with James. He'd known that. Everyone knew that. Somehow, his brain had decided to forget the most basic piece of information and send him wandering into Juhoon's room instead.
What the hell was I thinking? Maybe it was the nerves.
Tomorrow would be their first time MCing Inkigayo together, and Seonghyeon had to admit he was a little nervous. He'd never been completely comfortable doing MC stages – there was something about standing in front of the cameras with a script in his hands, trying to remember every cue while making everything sound natural, that always made him a little more tense than usual.
And doing it with Keonho probably wouldn't help either. He already knew he'd get flustered if Keonho started making him laugh or leaned over to say something during their cues. He really didn't want to mess up in front of everyone, especially when he'd been practicing so much. So maybe that explained why he'd spent the last twenty minutes looking for someone whose room he already knew he could've gone straight to.
He sighed and shoved his phone into his pocket and headed toward Keonho's actual room. When he got there, he knocked once before pushing the door open.
The room was quieter than he'd expected. Seonghyeon pushed the door open a little further and peeked inside.
“Keonho-ya?”
No answer.
He stepped inside, closing the door behind him. James' things were scattered around one side of the room, but the other bed was untouched. A backpack sat on the floor beside it, and Seonghyeon immediately recognized the familiar keychain hanging from the zipper. So he was here.
“Ahn Keonho?”
“Over here.”
Seonghyeon turned toward the voice and found him sitting at the small desk by the window, a printed copy of tomorrow's MC script spread out in front of him. His phone was beside it, playing a recording of their rehearsal from earlier that day.
“You're finally here,” Keonho said.
Seonghyeon stared at him. “I've been looking everywhere for you. Why haven’t you been answering my messages?”
Keonho raised an eyebrow. “You texted me?”
“Obviously.”
“Sorry, Hyeon-ah. I had my phone on silent.”
Seonghyeon let out a long sigh and dropped onto the edge of the empty bed. “I went to Juhoon hyung's room.”
Keonho blinked. “Why?”
“I thought you were there.”
“You thought I was in Juhoon's room?”
“I don't know.” Seonghyeon covered his face with both hands. “Don't make me explain it.”
Keonho laughed.
“It's not funny.”
“It is a little funny.”
Seonghyeon lowered his hands and glared at him. “You're supposed to be helping me practice.”
“Okay, okay.” Keonho picked up the script and walked over to his bed. “Come here.”
Seonghyeon followed him, still holding his own copy of the script loosely in one hand. He hesitated for a moment before sitting down beside him, leaving what he thought was a reasonable amount of space between them. Keonho looked at the gap. Then he looked at Seonghyeon. Then, without saying anything, he reached over and tugged lightly at the sleeve of Seonghyeon's hoodie. “Closer.”
Seonghyeon looked down at his hand. “We have scripts. You don't need to sit on top of me.”
“I can't see your page from here.”
“You have your own page.”
Keonho considered this for a second, then shrugged. “Still.”
Seonghyeon rolled his eyes, but moved closer anyway. Their knees brushed when he shifted. The contact was brief, but Seonghyeon felt heat rush straight to his face. He immediately looked down at the script, hoping Keonho hadn't noticed the sudden color in his cheeks.
To Seonghyeon’s relief, Keonho didn’t seem to have noticed. The room had grown quieter than it had been earlier, with most of the others occupied elsewhere. Juhoon and Martin were still doing their livestream down the corridor, while James had conveniently decided that he was suddenly very interested in showering in the other room – the one that was technically supposed to be shared by Seonghyeon and the managers.
He'd taken one look at Keonho asking Seonghyeon to stay behind and practice, raised his eyebrows, and announced that he was “definitely not going to get in the way of anything,” before disappearing with a grin that had made Seonghyeon suspiciously certain he was going to hear about this later.
Keonho sat with his back against the headboard, one leg stretched out and the other bent slightly, the script resting across his thigh. Seonghyeon tucked one leg underneath himself and leaned forward, scanning the pages until he found the part they'd been working on.
They'd been stuck on it for nearly ten minutes now. Ten minutes on one line. One line that, objectively, wasn't even difficult.
Although Seonghyeon couldn't even blame him that much. The line was in Japanese, and while both of them had practiced enough to be a bit more comfortable with the language, neither of them were perfectly fluent at it. There were still certain pronunciations that felt unfamiliar, little differences in rhythm that were easy to trip over when they were nervous or speaking too quickly.
Seonghyeon had already read it to him several times. Keonho had repeated it back. They had tried it slowly, then at normal speed, then with the proper emphasis.
Somehow, every time they reached that exact sentence, Keonho found a new and increasingly ridiculous way to get it wrong.
“Okay,” Seonghyeon said, pointing to the page. “One more time.”
Keonho nodded, looking down at the script with an expression of exaggerated concentration.
Seonghyeon started from his cue. Keonho waited for his turn, watching the words on the page with an expression of exaggerated concentration. Then he said the line wrong. Again.
Seonghyeon stopped. He stared at him. Keonho stared back.
“What?”
“You said it wrong.”
“I did?”
“Yes.”
Keonho looked down at the script as though seeing the words for the first time. “Ohhhh.”
Seonghyeon took a slow breath. “Again.”
Keonho smiled to himself and quickly hid it by looking down. He loved this. Not the practicing part, necessarily. The line itself was boring. He'd known how to say it since the second attempt.
It was Seonghyeon. There was something ridiculously cute about the way Seonghyeon got when he was trying to teach him. His eyebrows pulled together, his lips pursed slightly whenever he was thinking about how to explain something, and whenever Keonho made the same mistake twice, there was always that tiny sigh before he tried again.
“You're putting the emphasis on the wrong word,” Seonghyeon explained, moving closer so he could point at the sentence. “Here. This part.”
Keonho nodded. “Okay.”
“Listen carefully.”
“I am.”
Seonghyeon looked at him suspiciously. Then he read the line. Slowly. Every word carefully pronounced, the sentence broken into its smallest pieces so there would be absolutely no possible way for Keonho to misunderstand it. Keonho was too busy watching Seonghyeon's mouth as he spoke. By the time Seonghyeon finished, Keonho had completely forgotten which part they were practising.
“Your turn.”
“Right.” Keonho looked down, quickly scanning the page again for the line. He knew he should probably say it correctly this time. Instead, he deliberately switched two of the words around. Seonghyeon stared at him.
“Keonho.”
“What?”
“You did it wrong again.”
“Really?”
“Yes.”
Keonho tried very hard not to smile. Seonghyeon sighed and rubbed his forehead.
“We've been doing this for ten minutes.”
“I know.”
“It's one sentence.”
“I know.”
“And it's Japanese, so I understand if the pronunciation is confusing, but–”
Keonho had to look away for a second. Seonghyeon was being so sincere about it. He genuinely thought Keonho was having trouble.
“– you keep saying the exact same part wrong.”
Keonho looked at him. Because you look really cute when you're frustrated. Because I like the way you say it. Because I could listen to you explain the same five words until the sun comes up. Instead, he shrugged.
“It's difficult.”
Seonghyeon gave him a look. “It's five words.”
“Five difficult Japanese words.”
That made Seonghyeon laugh despite his frustration. “You're ridiculous.”
Keonho smiled. “I know.”
“Okay. Again.” Seonghyeon shifted a little closer until their shoulders were almost touching, angling his script between them so they could both see the line clearly. He ran his finger underneath the sentence, following the words as he spoke.
Keonho listened. He'd known the line for ages. But Seonghyeon looked so cute when he was concentrating. And Keonho wasn't in any particular hurry to stop him.
When Seonghyeon finished, he looked up expectantly. “Okay, your turn.”
Keonho glanced down at the script as though he needed to think about it, even though the sentence was practically memorized by now.
“Again,” he said.
Seonghyeon frowned slightly. “What?”
“Can you say it again?”
There was a tiny crease between Seonghyeon's eyebrows as he looked at him, clearly trying to decide whether Keonho was actually having trouble or simply messing around. “Again? You just heard me say it.”
“I know, but I want to make sure I got the pronunciation right,” Keonho said, keeping his expression as innocent as he could manage.
Seonghyeon hesitated for a moment before sighing softly and looking back at the script. He was too genuinely determined to help to argue with him for long. “Fine. Listen carefully this time.” He read the line again, even slower than before, carefully separating the sounds and giving Keonho plenty of time to hear the difference in the pronunciation.
Keonho smiled to himself. It was almost embarrassing how much he liked this. He could have spent the entire night listening to Seonghyeon say the same five words over and over again, especially when Seonghyeon was this close and completely unaware that Keonho was barely thinking about the script anymore.
“Okay,” Seonghyeon said once he finished, looking over at him. “Now you.”
Keonho looked down at the script. He knew it. Of course he knew it. He had known it since the second time Seonghyeon had corrected him.
Keonho stared at him for a second longer than necessary. “You're distracting.” There was a tiny pause. Seonghyeon's ears immediately turned pink.
“I'm helping you practice,” he said, looking back at the script as though it had suddenly become very interesting.
“I know.”
“Then focus.”
“I am.”
“On the line.”
Keonho looked at him, his smile becoming a little more obvious. “That's the problem.”
Seonghyeon blinked and turned toward him. “What?”
Keonho's expression immediately became innocent again. “Nothing.”
“Keonho.”
“Okay, okay.” He finally looked down at the script, although he was still smiling to himself. This time, when he repeated the sentence, every word came out perfectly. The pronunciation was clean, the emphasis was exactly where Seonghyeon had told him to put it, and there wasn't even the slightest hesitation.
Seonghyeon blinked. His eyes narrowed. “...You knew it.”
Keonho smiled. “Maybe.”
“You knew it the whole time.”
Keonho shrugged.
Seonghyeon stared at him, the realization slowly settling over his face. “You were doing that on purpose.”
Keonho couldn't hold it anymore. He laughed, dropping his head against the headboard. “Maybe.”
“Keonho!”
“I’m sorry!”
“You are not sorry!”
“I am!”
“You're laughing!”
“I can't help it!”
Seonghyeon smacked his arm with the script. Keonho laughed harder, catching the edge of the pages before Seonghyeon could hit him again. “Okay, okay!”
“You wasted ten minutes!” Seonghyeon scolded him in disbelief. “Why?”
Keonho's smile widened, and he leaned back against the headboard, looking entirely too pleased with himself now that he'd been caught. “I liked hearing you say it.”
Seonghyeon just stared at him. His face was getting redder by the second, the color spreading from his cheeks all the way to the tips of his ears, and Keonho couldn't help thinking that maybe this had been an even better idea than he'd originally realized.
“And,” Keonho added, because apparently he had no interest in letting Seonghyeon recover, “you speak Japanese really nicely.”
“Shut up,” Seonghyeon muttered, ducking his head as he tried to hide the smile that had appeared despite himself. Keonho laughed softly beside him, completely satisfied. He had learned the line ten minutes ago. Maybe even earlier. But if making Seonghyeon repeat it meant getting to sit this close to him and watch him blush every time Keonho teased him, then he decided he didn't mind practicing it a few more times.
Almost two hours had passed without either of them really noticing. They had practiced the scenes a few more times, stopped whenever one of them made a mistake, and spent just as much time getting distracted by conversations that had nothing to do with tomorrow's stage. By the end, the scripts were spread loosely across the bed, their pages bent at the corners from being picked up and put down so many times.
Seonghyeon checked his phone and frowned. “It's almost midnight. How did we spend nearly two hours here?”
Keonho looked over. “2 hours already?”
“Mmm.”
Seonghyeon glanced down at the scripts scattered across the bed and laughed quietly. “We should probably stop before we end up practicing until morning.”
The door opened before either of them could move. James stepped inside, carrying a bottle of water and his phone. He looked between the two of them and then at the scripts scattered across the bed. “You're still practicing?”
Seonghyeon laughed sheepishly. “We got a little distracted.”
“I figured.” James set his water down on the desk. “I went over to Juhoon and Martin's room a while ago. They were still live, so I told them they should probably wrap it up.”
“They're still live?” Seonghyeon looked at James in shock.
James laughed. “They were.”
“But I saw Juhoon doing it earlier,” Seonghyeon said, looking genuinely confused. “That was ages ago.”
“I know right? I told them everyone needs to sleep.” James set his phone down on the desk before looking around the room. “We have an early schedule tomorrow.”
Seonghyeon immediately started gathering the scripts. “We're finished anyway.”
“Good.” James nodded approvingly. “Go get ready, then. I'll tell the others too.”
There was something almost amusingly responsible about the way he said it, like he'd quietly appointed himself in charge of making sure none of them stayed awake until three in the morning.
Keonho noticed it too. “Hyung, are you seriously putting everyone to bed?”
James looked at him. “Yes.”
Keonho laughed. “Okay.”
James pointed toward the door. “And you. Teeth brushed, phone down, lights off.”
“Yes, hyung.”
Seonghyeon covered a smile as he slipped his script into his bag. James looked at him next. “You too. Oh and good luck tomorrow, Seonghyeon-ah.”
Seonghyeon looked up. James was smiling warmly at him. “You've worked hard for it. Don't stress too much, okay? You'll be fine.”
A small smile appeared on Seonghyeon's face. “Thanks, hyung.”
James gave his shoulder a light pat as he passed him, then went over to his own bed, yawning widely. Seonghyeon adjusted his bag and looked at Keonho.
“I'll see you tomorrow.”
“Yeah.” He hesitated for half a second before smiling. “Goodnight, Hyeon-ah”
“Goodnight, Keonho-ya. Goodnight hyung.”
The door clicked shut behind him, leaving Keonho and James alone in the room.
“You really practiced for two hours?”
Keonho smiled as he started organizing his own papers. “Something like that.”
James shook his head, amused. “Just make sure you're awake tomorrow.”
“I will.”
“Good. Goodnight, Keonho-ya.”
“‘Night, hyung.”